Sparkled Beauty

We had nice spring-like weather yesterday, thought I should celebrate with another thermal polish.

I can't believe I haven't featured another one since last August with Layla Thermo Effect No7 which was a Bordeaux to Red colour change. So here is No5, a Dark to Light Violet transformation today.

Can't help but imagining this as lip colours, I would totally wear them and be trendy lol. How come no one made a thermal lipstick with hot pink and dark purple already?

The colour change is quite good with this one. This is two coats, no application issue.

Just wish my nails were longer so the French tip colour shows up more.

So it is another winner. Sorry I didn't get around to show you this one, as the display was long gone and you can no linger find it. A common problem with Layla - beautiful collections that don't stick around long enough, but I won't complain. I'll take what I can get.

Here is a closeup so you can see the tips better. This is how the polish looks right after application. It changes over time depending on the temperature of your hand.

Other than the weather, what is new with you guys? I have been collecting a few exciting new makeup items to test out, stay tuned.

Nail polish wise, I have been trying to find Color Club 7 Deadly Sins set at Winners/ Marshalls with no success :( I think I missed that boat. If you see it around town, can you let me know?

The weekend is quite near, hang in there!

A little purchase at Lawtons last weekend. I meant to post up a haul but didn't get around to it, so let's get straight to the NOTD :)

Layla nail polish is half price this week at Lawtons, and I spotted a Themo Effect display with only a few shades left (reg. $7.99 each). I grabbed 4, and I have No7 to show you today.

There seems to be 8 shades in the Thermo Effect line but like I said, I didn't see them all. No names printed on the bottles but Layla describes No7 as Bordeaux to Red transformation.

No7 is a jelly that dries with a satin finish but is still glossy, hard to describe. First coat was a little sheer and uneven, the colour was also lighter. This was 2 coats, saturated darker red.

I know now might not be the ideal time to show you a thermal nail polish, as my nails have taken quite a bit of "beating" the last week and were chopped down shorter than normal. But I couldn't wait :)

The thermal effect was most obvious on my thumb and pinky fingers, especially right after I applied a top coat or when I washed my hands with warm water.

Thermal nail polish is probably not the hottest trend in the market anymore, but I still think it is fun.

Note that No7 does not have any shimmers. The blue teal sheen you see on the nails was courtesy of CND Effects in Ice Blue Shimmer. I thought it was appropriate to layer an effect on top of another effect :)

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Those had a civic holiday long weekend must have been dreading this Tuesday coming back to work huh? At least the week is shorter now.

Another run of Layla Bubbly Effect in Meringue Pie, since it has been a while :) This time, the base is the gorgeous Sally Hansen Salon Complete in Gilded Lily.

This shade was from the Sally Hansen (LE) Fashion Week (Prabal Gurung) collection, released in the US Fall 2012. I found it in a random display at Superstore one time and couldn't get pass how pretty it was, a foiled old gold with crazy gold flecks.

I used 2 coats of Gilded Lily here and one thin coat of Meringue Pie.

The more I try Layla Bubbly Effects, the more I found that they resemble the look of the saran wrap technique. So it is the lazy and less messy option for those who want to experiment nail art.

With Meringue Pie being white, it would be more intense on top of darker colours like black or dark red. But I really like how it turned out on top of this intense warm gold too.

The only thing with Bubble Effects is you can't tell what effect you are going to get until you put them on. I tried to be consistent, but as you can see here, Meringue Pie appeared more spotted on my pinky, compared to the other fingers.

Don't Gilded Lily and Meringue Pie together look edible, like cinnamon buns with crazy amount of icing? lol

It is raining like crazy today. I am nervous for Squirt's first day of school tomorrow. She's all excited to see her friends, but me, it doesn't get better no matter how many years she has been in school. She tried on the "first day outfit" last night and I wanted to cry. She looked so mature as a fifth grader, but I didn't want her to. Why do they have to grow so fast?

Well, other than that, we had a nice relaxing long weekend. The blueberry picking trip didn't happen because of car problem, but we happily stayed in. How did your weekend go?

I have been testing out a few Layla Bubbly Effect shades, mixed results. I am showing you one today, it is Meringue Pie, a while colour.

The base for this mani in Sinful Colors Why Not, a beautiful pigmented one coater aqua blue. You see, I had the image of the blue sky and white clouds in my head but did not want to do any stamping or free handing. So this was what I came up with :)

Why Not applied pretty true to the bottle colour but since we put a white nail polish over it, the end result looked a bit lighter. Note though, it slightly stained your cuticle during removal.

The trick to Layla Bubbly Effects is to apply one very very thin coat. Wipe almost all the nail polish off the brush, leaving a tiny dollop at the tip and paint the whole nail with it, over the base of course. Any more than this and the bubbly effect would not happen.

And when it did happen, it was pretty random. Some days, it really bubbled up, showing spots (in different sizes) on the nails. Some other days, we see this - mostly stripes with a few spots here and there. On day 2, cracks even appeared on my middle finger (see closeup below).

In the 3 - 4 times I wore Layla Bubble Effect, this was the first that it cracked, with Meringue Pie. It was a bummer, but at least it was only visible when you looked closely. Also worth noting that after day 2, the white layer seemed to rub off a bit around the edges somehow.

All in all, I am not fully in love with Bubble Effects. Though this blue and while combination does look pretty on the nails, with the Layla price tag (between $10 - 15), I would expect a bit more quality control. I bought mine on clearance but still have expectations. Well, on to the next experiment, I guess :)

Have a good Thursday, ladies!

It is an exciting week for shopping deals, which is a great therapy for the little breakdown I had in the weekend.

A quick note to my American readers, Lancome is offering 50% off on their Color Design eyeshadow quads when you buy any mascara at a Lancome counter. Canada is unfortunately not included.

Another note for my Canadian friends, Real Techniques brushes have made the appearance on my Walmart's shelf (see picture). If this little town of Halifax has them, the chance your neighbourhood does too is quite high. At this point, only the brush sets (3, as pictures) are available. Single brushes will be up on Farleyco (direct link) shortly, while waiting for retailers to fully hop on the wagon.

At Shoppers, I combined the x20 points with $75 cosmetics purchase with some good sales. First is the 50% off on selected Cover Fx products.

The flyer only mentioned Conceal Fx but CoverFx announced more products to be cleared out - Radiant Fx powder, SkinPrep/ ClearPrep/ BritePrep/ EyePrep primers, brush cleanser, brushes and kits, at both Shoppers and Murale until April 19, while quantities last.

I picked up the Redness Treat + Conceal kit (reg. $45), ClearPrep (reg. $39) and the 160 Cream foundation brush (reg. $38).

Note that there wasn't any sale sign at the CoverFx section in my store as of yesterday but the products scanned 50% off. It's safe to check at the scanner first before paying. The x20 point event is going on all week, so you still have time :)

Quo brushes are BOGO (the free item has to be the same as the paid item), so I got two of the crease shadow brush (reg. $13 a piece).

Selected Rimmel products are 30% off this week, I picked up some items I have been eyeing for a while:
- Wake Me Up foundation in Soft Beige, reg. 12.99
- ScandalEyes Waterproof eyeshadow stick in Blamed Blue, reg. $7.99
- ScandalEyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal liner in Nude, reg. $7.99.

The Nivea lip butters are in the flyer for 25% off but my store won't get them until some time in March :(

Remember when I told you about Layla's new displays of Caviar and Bubbly Effect at Lawtons?

Well, it's time to say goodbye as they are like 75% off, $3 - $3.75 a piece.

The three on the left are Caviar Effect in 12 Samba, 11 Flamenco and 03 Valzer. I looked up the names on these as all they had on the cap is the numbers.

On the right are Bubbly Effect in 04 Cherry Muffin, 02 Black Forest and 01 Meringue Pie (names on the bottles this time).

On the top are the Vaseline Lip Therapy lip balm in Cocoa Butter, on sale for $1.79 (reg. $1.99) and buy 2 get 4 bonus Airmiles. The cuteness is overwhelming :)

I also made a quick stop at The Body Shop to use my $15 off $40, expiring at the end of the month. Got some gifts which I don't picture here :)

These items are all on sale, thought I should let you know, in case you need some.
- All 100ml hand creams are $10 (reg. $20), so I got the latest scent - Absinthe
- All the EDTs in the Voyage collection are $20 (reg. $25) if you have a LYB card. I got Amazonian Wild Lily
- Love Etc. heart-shaped solid perfume is $5 (reg. $10), and
- Soaps are 4/ $10 (reg. $4 each), Chocomania is a great scent.

Then with a purchase now, you'll get another $15 off $40 coupon on the receipt, good for the whole month of March.

Bath & Body Works has the Signature line on 5/$30 or 3/$24 (excluding EDTs and Forever Red). With the $10 off $30 coupon in a previous receipt, I paid $20 for 5 products (64% - 76% off). This is a lot better than the B3G3F sale they offer quite often.

I got the Golden Sugar scrubs (226g/ 8oz, reg. $16.50) in Twilight Woods, Paris Amour and Moonlight Path, with duplicates.The product is quite new to the line, available in only a few scents for now.

The packaging is gorgeous, with the gold cap and the lower part of the tubes. The pattern at the top is quite sophisticated and eye catching. For $4 a tube, don't mind if I do (haul) lol.

Also, the 3-wick candles are 2/$22, if you need any. I'm not sure how long these sales last, please call up your store before heading out.

It's flakie time :) I have for you today Layla 52 The Butterfly Effect, the intense flakie colour that I had my eyes on the first time I saw the Layla Ceramic Effect display. It took a bit of hunting to finally find it :)

This nail polish is definitely a beauty. The flakes are orange, floating in a dark purple base. Very pretty in the bottle and on the nails.

All pictures except the one with flash were taken outdoor, in the shade, with fresh snow as the background. A very Canadian thing to do for a winter NOTD, isn't it? :)

All fingers have a coat of the base colour (Revlon Royal Cloak) and a coat of Layla The Butterfly Effect, except the ring finger (no base, two coats of The Butterfly Effect). Please click the pics for larger view of the flakes.

Opacity wise, two coat by itself, The Butterfly Effect still shows VNL (only visible in pictures though). With an opaque base colour underneath, one coat is all you need, unless you want more flakie intensity.

I am happy with the way this mani turned out. And dark purple is just the bomb.

The Butterfly Effect looks a little different under flash - the flakies shine a little bit more while the purple base looks more sheer. This proves a base colour before the flakes is a better idea.

I kinda like the long bottle shape of Layla nail polish, save space in my melmer and is easy to hold. Medium sized (10ml). For this particular shade, I need a jumbo bottle :)

The brush is also long but not hard to paint with. The width is perfect, not too wide nor narrow.

Close up, look at the flakies!!! Sorry I couldn't help the excitement.

So, my first experience with Layla Ceramic Effect is a really good one, if you can't tell already. I see that  Layla has a lot of shades in this line but Lawtons only had about 6 on the one display. I'm just glad that we get The Butterfly Effect :)

If you haven't seen the new product updates, Layla has moved on with Bubbly and Caviar Effect lines. Needless to say, I'm more excited for Bubbly Effect, but will wait it out a bit because of the high price tag ($14.99).

This is a haul, plus sale updates, from my first shopping trip since the end of November. Please ignore stuff that isn't new news to you, as I am a month behind on new products :)

Shoppers: I went to two different locations on Saturday to check out clearance items, as Boxing Week sale plus x20 points equal awesome :)

As part of the one-day deal for Saturday, Revlon nail polish were $3.99, including the dual ended Moon Candy Nail Art (reg. $8.49). I got Galactic, Meteor and Moon Dust to join the two I already had (Cosmic and Supernova).

Also bought this Calgon Take Me Away! set with two pair of body cream and body mist (full sized) in the scents Marshmallow and Red Velvet (50% off, reg. $12.99). How awesome is this? I have been wanting to try Red Velvet for a long time, didn't expect to get it so cheap.

Saw some Quo holiday products also 50% off but no sign of the Back to Basics palette. I bought the master brush set, reg. $60.

Lawtons: Remember I told you about Layla Hologram and MagEffect nail polish were cleared out a while ago and replaced by the Softouch Effect and Ceramic Effect shades with $14.99 price tag. It is now their turn to be cleared out for $2.74-$3.74 but not many shades left.

From L-R: Layla SE in 03 Stone and 10 Turquoise Splash, and CE 54 Green Gala and 55 Space Cowboy. I looked up the names as the bottles only had the numbers printed on the lids, a little annoyed by that.

If any of my local readers finds SE 05 Cherry Diva and CE 52 The Butterfly Effect from the clearance corner, please kindly let me know or even better, grab them for me, I kinda have a lemming :)

And more good news: There are two more new displays from the brand.

- Layla Bubbly Effect (imagine OPI Spotted-ish): 01 Meringue Pie (white), 02 Black Forest, 03 Red Velvet Cake, 04 Cherry Muffin (darker red) and 05 Anise Shake (blurple), plus a Bubbly Fix top coat.

- Layla Caviar Effect (don't think I need to explain): 11 shades in individual bead colours and one shade with multiple bead colours (only numbers, no names), plus tiny funnels to drop the leftover beads back into the bottle without a mess.

Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor collection is 50% off this week, I picked up A Gold Winter's Night (left, first row), around $5.50. After checking swatches, I might have to go back for All Is Glam, All Is Bright. On the right is a random find of OPI DS Mystery, $9.99 from a clearance basket with no other OPI shades :)

Second row: Sinful Colors Nova, Super Star, Faceted and Ice Dream (Holiday Shimmers collection), on clearance for $0.99 each.

And before I forget, all Marcelle and Annabelle holiday products I posted about before are half price at Lawtons right now. Best time to get them! I can't confirm the same deal at Shoppers, just because I didn't see any sets at the locations I went to.

Winners: I found a CND display with their famous Effects shades (Pearl, Shimmer and Sparkle finishes) together with other coloured shades, $7.99 a piece.

I was only interested in the Sparkles (who knew, lol) and got all three that I found: Amethyst Sparkle, Jade Sparkle and Raspberry Sparkle. Now on the hunt for Sapphire Sparkle and Crimson Sparkle. Do I need any Shimmer Effects, what are your favorites?

Please keep me in the loop of what goodies you have found at Winners lately.

Lush: My first time checking out their Boxing Week BOGO sale. I only got two gift boxes, reg. $39.95 each.
- Honey Farm (pictured): with It's Raining Men shower gel, Honey I Wash the Kids soap, Honey Bee and Butterball bath bombs and Soft Coeur massage bar (my favorite).
- Holiday Candy Box (not pictured): with Snow Fairy shower gel, Rock Star soap, Candy Mountain bubble bar, Butterball bath bomb and Bubble Gum lip scrub.

I used a stock pic here as it is easier for you to see the products inside and their sizes.

The BOGO sale also includes the Emotional Brilliance colours (reg. $18.95), selected holiday bubble bars and soaps. I am tempted to get the Do Knot Disturb set (reg. $29.95, also on BOGO) as it also has Soft Coeur (retails $8.95 by itself) besides the Sex Bomb bath bomb, French Kiss bubble bar and Lust soap.

I walked by Sears and noticed that selected fragrance sets were discounted between 25-50%, including Kary Perry's and Lady Gaga's, etc. I know Shoppers also has seasonal fragrance sets on sale for 40% off, so if you are looking for a scent, price check to get the best deal among stores.

This is a huge collective haul from different places at different points of time. I was waiting on things to come in the mail to post them all together :)

I jumped on the W7 bandwagon in a heart beat as soon as I saw all 3 shades I wanted were in stock on Nail Polish Direct.

I didn't know much about this UK brand other than the fact that they made cheaper Nails Inc Sprinkles alternatives, only £1.95 a piece vs $11.

From L-R: Mosaic (dupe of Nails Inc. Pudding Lane), Salt n Pepper (close to Nails Inc. Sugar House Lane) and Lava Flow.

The brand only has these 3 shades with this type of glitter mix so far that I know of.

W7 is also known for some cool duochrome shades, I took full advantage of the cheap shipping - £2.95 for 9 bottles.

First row: Metallic Mercury, Metallic Jupiter and Metallic Neptune

Second row: Metallic Mars, Metallic Venus, Metallic Saturn and Diamond top coat (free with purchase of 5 W7 nail polish).

Shipping took a bit more than 2 weeks. My Metallic Saturn came without a name sticker, I tried to email and FB them with no answer. This turned me away from ordering more from them (was lemming some Barry M), so be warned.

With Shoppers' very first BOGO event on nail polish about 2 weeks ago, I got:

- Quo Center of Attention (from a LE display)

- Nicole by OPI Back to Reality... TV (Kardashian Kolor 2012 collection), Coral Denominator (One Less Lonely Girl collection, supposed to be a Canada exclusive originally), and A Million Sparkles (a 2012 shade).

I was glad to see Shoppers starting to offer some great sales like this. The key point to success is to pick the location with good stock level.

From the Cult Nails birthday sale near beginning of the month for $7 a bottle (reg. $10), I got:

- Annalicious, Feelin' Froggy, Manipulative (all are to be discontinued soon), and

- I Got Distracted. I've been eyeing this one for a while now, glad to finally own it.

Shipping for 4 bottles was $8 to Canada. I am already looking into another order, cause Cult Nails is coming out with the colour changing top coats, hard to resist.

Killed 2 long time lemmings via Ninja Polish: Floam and Sticks 'n Stones, $9 each.

These weren't on sale or anything, but they were really really hard to catch whenever they were back in stock on the site. They sold like hot cakes, I was just lucky that day.

Floam was originally from Nail Venturous but now is bottled under Ninja Polish brand, I'm not sure what the story is, doesn't really matter though.

Canada shipping starts at $3.50 for the first bottle, then $1 for each additional bottle.

I heard about Candy Lacquer over at a few nail blogs and loved the shades they offered. The day their etsy store opened, great shades were sold out within 5 minutes. Craziness!

I missed out on the great LE shades, only got Honey Bee, City Girl and Argyle, $8 each. These are glitters with interesting shapes and combination, definitely stand out to me.

Canada shipping was $5 + $1 for each additional bottle. A little higher than I wanted, but it was worth it to splurge on these.

A CP from the US, thanks to a blogger friend, for some shades that I couldn't get here at the time.

- Revlon Moon Candy in Supernova and Cosmic. These have showed up at our Walmart now :)

- Sinful Colors in Why Not, Dressed to Kill, Let's Meet, Leap Flog and Cinderella.
This wish list was before the drama that Sinful had with nail bloggers. I'm glad to have these colours now, but probably won't buy anymore until I hear some good settlement.

I did really well at Sally this month. These are from 2 different trips - one when I first heard the China Glaze Summer Neons collection was on clearance for $3.29, and one when clearance items were extra 50% off (last weekend).

First row: Beach Cruise-R, Under the Boardwalk, Ride the Waves

Second row: Hang Ten-Toes, Love's a Beach, Surfin' for Boys, and Orange You Hot.

Still missing the green and yellow :(

Other random shades on clearance, also at Sally.

First row: Finger Paints Go Van Gogh; and Late Night Rendezvous (Summer in the City collection)

Second row: Orly Forever Crimson; Sterling Silver Rose; After Party and Dayglow (Feel the Vibe collection).

No sign of the great bright shades from Feel the Vibe nor the Orly Glam Fx :( If you can find them, you'd be one of the luckiest people in the world.

This last bunch was a surprise, as I thought they were long gone. Crackle fever might be over, but I couldn't resist the shimmers, especially when they were $1.50 each.

So here are China Glaze Glam-more, Luminous Lavender, Gleam Me Up and Jade-D.

It's always a good idea to call your store before heading over, as I found Sally's sale isn't necessarily the same across provinces. I had one fail trip where a sale hosted at my friend's store was not at mine.

Layla is on 30% off at Lawtons this week, the best sale I have seen on it so far. The price came out to be around $11 after discount.

Lawtons only has the shades from the first release, so I only got Flash Black and Ultra Violet (which, by taking picture, I realized that I grabbed a tester of, lol).

The OPI Spiderman collection was on clearance, $3.49 a piece. I got Number One Nemesis and My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

Phewww, that is all, for now :) Hope this is a fun read for you on a Monday.

The first weekend since the buses were back on the road, and I of course shopped my heart out. More clothes than makeup this time, however, so the haul is not too big lol.

You all heard me screaming about the Revlon lip butter $3.99 2-day deal at Shoppers, right?

Here are my 4 tubes, pretty in pink quited packaging, from L-R: Candy Apple, Raspberry Pie, Sweet Tart and Strawberry Shortcake. It was a hard decision to stop at 4, I tell you.

I was even more excited to find the Gosh $7 clearance bin was reduced to $3 a piece. Couldn't pass it up.

From top - bottom:
- Gosh Velvet Touch eyeliner in Blue Lagoon, Green Devil and Green Grass.
- Gosh Waterproof Eyeshadow pen in Love that Copper and Love that Purple.
- Gosh Effect powder in Azure, Rose Gold and Meringue.

I found a huge clearance section at the Lawtons location I couldn't get to in the last month and a half. A lot of things I had seen before for 50% off were reduced even further (like 75% off).

Grabbed some of the China Glaze Holiday sets, $3.99 each.  I know the markup on these was high, so I never buy them at full price.

On the top: Berry Sweet set with Velvet Bow, Ring in the Red and a Holiday Berry moisturizing lotion.

On the bottom: Deck the Halls set with Glittering Garland, Champagne Bubbles and a cuticle oil.

Single China Glaze bottles for $.99, I got Icicle and Tinsel Town. OPI were $2.49, mostly pinks/reds, I only got a bottle of base coat, and Warm & Fozzie.

And a new exciting product display at Lawtons I gotta tell you about.

This is Layla Hologram Effects. I was really excited to see Lawtons add this new line to the Layla MagEffects they already carry, $15.99 a bottle. Now all I need is a good sale.

The shades in the Hologram Effect line:
- 01 Mercury Twilight
- 02 Coral Glam
- 03 Retro Pink
- 04 Ultra Violet
- 05 Jade Groove
- 06 Mermaid Spell
- 07 Ocean Rush, and
- 08 Flash Back.

Oh Layla, I love you from the first sight!

This display isn't as new as Layla but I think it's worth mentioning - Milani Texture with Jewel Fx and One Coat Glitter Specialty nail lacquers.

From L-R: Gems, Gold, Silver, Red Sparkle, Gold Glitz and Silver Dazzle.

All shades have been released before, except Red Sparkle having new gold glitters mixed in with the red ones. Based on what I saw on blogs, the new shade is less saturated than the old one and I actually prefer the old Red Sparkle.

The price is increased a bit, $6.29 vs. $5.99 with the first release. This display is not of my interest (as I already own the shades I wanted before) but would be the second chance for those who missed out last time, especially for Gems. Watch out for sales.

With the weather warming up, everybody seems to be itching to shop for summer clothes. We had lots of surprising finds at H&M, Sirens and Winners.

Also grab a pair of tan wedges from Payless (with their F&F 30% off promo). These are the "Sarah" from Montego Bay Club. Reg. $39.99, on sale for $27.99, after discount I paid $19.50.

Squirt got 2 pairs of boots there for great prices too.

I am waiting for some online nail polish orders to come in, hopefully soon so I can show them to you. Until then, have a great day out there!