Madison Street Beauty Nail Swatches

Hello all! Well, obviously I did not stick to my resolution of a once a week post, as I proposed before, but I am back to add some new polishes to my quite sporadic nail blog! A lot has been going on since my last post, the hubs and I moved to North Carolina, my laptop met an untimely death, and I've added scores of new polishes to my collection. The polishes that I am about to share with you were a gift from my lovely mother in law and are my very first indie polishes!

My MIL found out about Madison Street Beauty on the Today show and immediately thought of me. She told me to pick out a few that I was interested in and that she would get them for me as a birthday present. So, naturally, I immediately scoured the web in search of swatches. Turns out, there aren't really any out there. When I got my polishes in the mail and started testing them out, I decided "Hey, I should really put these on my neglected blog in case other people are curious about this brand too!" And here we are! If you are interested in purchasing any of the polishes shown below, take a look around Madison Street Beauty's ETSY page.

Ok, here we go!

First, I want to comment on how fantastic the shipping and customer service was. My MIL made a typo on the zip code and not even a few hours later, customer service contacted her to clear it up. She placed the order on a Friday and that Monday I had a surprise waiting in my mailbox! The polishes came wrapped up in this little box:

They are the same size as the mini OPI polishes.

On to the polish! I want to start with Coral Sherbert. This was the polish I was most looking forward to when I picked out my colors. I seem to hoard corals and this shimmery baby needed a home in my collection. This polish is described as an "opaque and shimmery coral-pink." This is the photo used on their site: 

In real life the polish is much lighter and more of a rose than a coral. I definitely wouldn't have called it opaque, either. 

This is 3 coats: (My janky middle nail is my fault not the polish)

Even after three coats I could see my nail lines. This isn't a terrible color, it just wasn't what I was expecting. It is a good neutral polish to wear at a more conservative work atmosphere. It had a classy sheen to it without coming across as a grandma color. I was very pleased with the application (other than the 3 coats and still sheer factor). It applied smoothly and dried quickly. While I was applying, I felt like I had seen this polish recently. Then it hit me: OPI Hands Off my Kielbasa! So I dug up my bottle for a quick comparison.

That is one coat of OPI on my thumb verses 3 of Coral Sherbert. SO not exactly dupes, but I'd say cousins. The OPI is about 2 shades darker and way more opaque.

Next up is Lush Lilac. I was the most worried about this one. I figured it would be super sheer and a little temperamental, but it ended up being my favorite!  They described it as an "opaque lilac with pink shimmer"
This is the site's photo:

I think this one looks way better in real life! 

This is 2 coats. It was less greyed out in real life. I didn't have anything like this in my collection. The first similar polish to come to mind was OPI Significant Other Color, but they are waaaaayyyy different.

Lush Lilac is much more Opaque and more of a blue-toned purple. Again the formula was pretty good but I did have some bubbling on my index finger.

Next up, Pacific Cobalt. I'm always on the never ending search of navy polishes that don't end up looking black. This one seems like a good. shimmery candidate and it did not disappoint. It is describes as an "opaque navy blue with deep purple shimmer."  Here is the site's image:

And real life:

This had such a lovely, dusty/teslish lean to it! I was really not expecting that when I applied the second coat.
Just for comparison purposes:

While I was waiting for this to dry I decided to go get a drink and tripped on my way to the kitchen. A moment of silence for my first go round.

 And for comparison I dug into my blue vault lol
(Left to right: OPI I saw, you saw, we saw, Warsaw, OPI Eurso Euro, Madison Street Beauty Pacific Cobalt, OPI Into the Night, and Orly La Playa)

I think it leaned closest to Into the Night (thumb).

Still totally different though.

Last we have Island Cove. This is the polish that I instantly clicked on when I went to their web store. I'm such a sucker for these aqua/teal colors. It is describes as a "shimmering teal." This one is fairly true to the site's image:

Real life:

How beautiful is this one! It has just enough metalic-ness to make it glow but not so much to make it frosty. I love polishes like these! Again, formula was good. This was 2 coats. 

Comparisons (left to right: OPI Fly, Zoya Zuza, ORLY Bailamos, MSB Island Cove, and Essie Beach Bum Blu)

Compared to ORLY:

Shade wise, these are fairly spot on, but the Orly polish (thumb) has more of a glittery shimmer unlike Island Cove which is more metallic. They are pretty close, though.

Compared to Essie:

These look like dupes in the picture, but in real life Essie was way froster and more blue than aqua.

Overall I was very pleased with my polishes! I was very worried going in because I have no experience buying Indie polishes and there was little to no info about these polishes online. So if you are a curious consumer wondering if these polishes are worth buying, I vote yes! This experience really has me itching to try out more indies! Leave a comment for suggestions of a brand you would recommend!

Reverse Glitter Gradient

Well.... It seems that my resolution to post at least once a weak did not last! Oh well, let's pick up where we left off shall we? I got quite a few polishes for Christmas and have been toying around with  some nail art. I have seen photos of glitter gradients popping up all over the place and I just absolutely love this look. It is like a more adult way to wear glitter. I loved this mani in particular because I finally found a use for my OPI Play the Peonies.

I wish I could have captured the sparkle more, it really is beautiful. For the base color I used OPI Play the Peonies, from the Nice Stems Collection, which is a REALLY pale, pearly pink. It is a pretty color but I never really loved it enough to wear it on its own so I am SO happy to have found a function for this beauty. The glitter is OPI Servin' Up Sparkle, from the Serena Williams Glam Slam Collection. This is my absolute favorite silver glitter. It has holographic micro glitters in a clear base and some larger hexagonal glitters thrown in as well. This baby shines. I feel like these two worked really well together. It seemed so soft and feminine; even a bit elegant.This is so unlike most things I would wear but man was this pretty.

This look is pretty easy to get. I didn't really use any special tools to get the gradient. I just started with a really thin coat in the shape and area that I wanted the glitter and built up from there! Easy peasy!

Keep a look out for some other nail art pics soon. My hubby got me some dotting tools and nail tape for Christmas so I've been experimenting with some things. 

Non-polish Post: 2012 Cosmo Vox Box

So a week or so ago I made a post about this amazing site called Influenster.com and today I have some more stuff to tell you about it. Like I said in my previous post, Influenster rewards you for your participation on the sit (reviews, surveys, etc.) and I was picked to be rewarded for my efforts! I was chosen to receive the 2012 Cosmo Vox Box and it was mailed straight to my door on Wednesday. I was so, so excited when it arrived and so was my dog. If you don't feel like reading all this I made a video of my initial reaction to the products the day I received the box. It is at the end of this post.

Here's a look at the inside of the box!

Every Vox box comes with a card explaining the theme of the box and a description of the items.

Ghiradelli Gourmet Milk Sea Salt Escape:

These are the absolute perfect snack! When I first saw these I was a bit skeptical; salty chocolate? It didn't really scream tasty. I was so wrong! The salt is more of an accent flavor and it really compliments the almonds. The chocolate was so creamy and delicious and completely addicting. I  love that they satisfy  your salty and sweet cravings in just one snack. I will definitely be buying some more of these!

Venus Embrace

I actually use the disposable version of this razor and I love it. This permanent version was great too. I have really coarse leg hair so the 5 blades are perfect for a smooth shave. The blue stuff around the blade let's you shave without using shaving cream. I had not razor burn or anything after shaving either, which is always a plus!

Olay Refill Cartridge

Speaking of smooth legs... These blades are ahhhh-mazing! It isn't surprising that an Olay product works well. I can NOT stop touching my legs, they are so smooth and moisturized  It smelled good too (like shea butter). A good thing about this Venus razor is you can use any of the Venus blades with this one razor. They also threw in a coupon for some refill blade which is great since I am totaly hooked on these Olay blades!

Forever Red Eau de Parfum from Bath and Body Works

I love Bath and Body Works so when I saw this in my box I was so excited. This is a .25oz bottle (retail $10 and $44 for full size) so it is pretty small, but it is really strong so it only takes one spritz to smell good for hours. It is a blend of pomegranate  and vanilla rum so it is a more sexy/night appropriate scent but I find when  you only use on spritz it lightens up enough to be a wonderful day scent. I may just have to run to Bath and Body Works soon to pick up these as stocking suffers for my ladies.

FriXion erasable pen by Pilot

As you can see my first photos of erasing the black ink got deleted. Anyway, I'll admit I was a but bummed when I fist saw these pens in my VoxBox.... I am not a huge pen user because I always smudge the ink plus... they were pens lol! However Influenster knew what they were doing because these were, hands down, the best erasable pens that I have ever used. The red one does not erase as well as the black one, I guess it is just a lot more pigmented but the black one is great. It erases pretty much completely and just leaves behind a similar smudge as a pencil. I guess it took like 20 years of disaster to perfect the erasable pen. They also write very well. They have a thin point and flow smoothly. I will definitely be buying more of these.

Overall I am so pleased with my experience with Influenster and I hope that I am chosen for another Vox Box soon. If you would like to earn your own Vox Box head over to www.influenster.com and set up your account for free!