e.l.f Beauty Books

Hello! Welcome new followers and thanks to everyone who has entered the giveaway!!! I already have over 65 entries! I'm so excited!!! Whoo! :)

Today, I'm going nail polish free and bringing you a review on some e.l.f products! The Beauty Books are palettes that e.l.f has released for a limited time. They're kind of a back-to-school accessory. In fact, the packaging looks like little notebooks! And since tomorrow is back to school for me, I thought I'd share my favorite new school supply with all of you (all 115 of you! 115! Freakin' amazing! I hope you all enjoy my blog, because I already love you all! :P)!

There are three different palettes: Natural Eye, Smokey Eye, and Eye Brights. Each palette comes with 12 eyeshadows, a sponge applicator, and a black eyeliner pencil. Each palette has a guide on the inside cover, explaining how to get the "perfect" eye makeup. Not bad tips, but I like to get creative on my own. I guess I'm just a rebel.

When my friends and I spotted these at Target, we were skeptical. We had tried e.l.f eye shadow before and been unimpressed. We decided to sneak a quick swatch of some colors from each palette. Whoa. Pigmentation was extremely better than the single shadows purchased in the past. I grabbed one of each palette and hit the checkout lanes. (Note: I purchased these at a Super Target that already carried e.l.f products, the Target in my home town is not a super and does not carry e.l.f on a regular basis and did not have the back to school end cap filled with goodies. I'm guessing that only some Targets will end up having these palettes).

The Natural Eye palette has the exact colors you would think it would. Browns, taupes, creams, and some mauves and pinks.  It's the perfect palette for creating a beautiful natural look. Excellent pigmentation, silky smooth texture (except on colors with glitter in them), and great ability to blend.  This palette is wonderful for every day looks.

Close up of Natural Eye. 

Swatches in sunlight

No sun. No Flash.

The Smokey Eye palette is equipped with the best shades to make a black smokey eye or a brown smokey eye.  The have the same amount of pigmentation as the Natural eye and the same texture. I was hoping for more gun metals and greys in this palette but overall I like the fact that it's got a broader range of color. Here's the closeup:

Direct Sunlight

Sunlight. The one color matches my skin tone almost perfectly! 

Flash. Look at the glitter in these shadows! Holy cow! haha

Eye Brights has to be my favorite. The colors are gorgeous! It has the same color payoff as the other two palettes but it has more variety of colors. The greens are amazing. I love them! Here, look at them. I can't say anymore, just look!

Sun. The blue is actually a duochrome type color. It has a green flash to it. Stunning. 

Sun. None of my pictures do this palette justice. It's slightly depressing. Everything is gorgeous. And I think that may be the same skin tone-matching shadow as in the Smokey Eye palette. 

Flash. Beauty. Yummy. *drool*

There are some shades in each palette that do not give as mush color payoff as the rest but it's generally the lighter colors. However, you can build them up. There is a down side to these palettes. I cannot get the colors to last all day. I use an eye primer, which has never let me down before, and when I get home my eye makeup has faded. I've also used a finishing spray. That didn't help either. I need to experiment with these some more. There has to be a solution. I only noticed it a couple of times so maybe those were flukes? Hmm. 

Well, I'm going to go paint my nails for school tomorrow. Haha. I hope everyone has an amazing rest of the week. I will see you later!

PS: If you haven't entered my giveaway, do it now! Okay, you have until September 5th, but I still think you should enter right now! :)

Wanna win some nail polish? Giveaway Closed!

Giveaway is now closed! Thanks for entering!

Hey, I'm back for real this time! And I'm starting off with a giveaway! I thought it would be the best way to apologize for being away for so long and I'm feeling generous.

There is only one prize this time around and it includes polishes from the China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection and the OPI Swiss collection! Here's some pictures to drool over:

OPI L-R: William Tell Me About OPI, Ski Teal We Drop, Diva of Geneva, and Yodel Me on My Cell

China Glaze L-R: Swing Baby, Jitterbug, Emerald Fitzgerald, Goin' My Way?, First Class Ticket, and Riveter Rouge

Here's how you enter the giveaway:

1. Be a follower and leave a comment on this post. Your email should be included for contact if you win!

2. Extra entries can be earned. 

• One extra entry can be earned by blogging, tweeting, or by some other way of spreading the word. You may earn an extra entry for each of those if you chose to do more than one. You must give me a link or retweet me (@glamgeekchic).  
• You can earn 5 extra entries by emailing me a picture of a manicure inspired by the Vintage Vixen or Swiss collection. You can even combine them and do a Vintage Swiss Vixen or something! :) Must be a new mani and only one entry can be submitted. I will post all the entries for fun! Email: glamgeekchic@gmail.com.

3. Giveaway ends September 5th, 2010. That's about three weeks to get in your entries! On that date I will draw a name using some random generator site and announce the winner on the 6th!

Good luck! I'm so excited to give these gorgeous polishes away! So pretty! *drool*

I'm Back!!

Hello, how's everyone doing? I know it's been quite a while since I posted something! I've had a lot going on! I've finally adjusted to my new work schedule and I'm loving it. Not really loving getting up at 5:30am but oh well! I'm not staying with my Grandma anymore. She's recovering quickly from her surgery and so I moved back home. She's an amazing woman. Very inspiring!

I've got a few posts lined up, including my Zoya Exchange haul, swatches from my swap with Fleur's Nails & Stuff, another nail art tutorial, and a new nail art contest. So please keep coming back for those fun posts!

Love and Nail Polish,
Kayla

Finding the Time...

Hey everyone! Sorry that it's been over a week since my last post! I meant to post earlier but my life has been hectic! I haven't had the time to even polish my nails in the last four days!!

I recently got a sort of promotion at work, so I'm working full time and only have Wednesdays off and every other weekend off. Before this I worked mostly nights, but now I'm working mornings. I'm still adjusting to this so I've been extremely tired lately and it's hard to work up the energy to post or paint my nails! As I'm adjusting, the posts will happen more and more!

My Grandma had surgery on Thursday and is still in the hospital through tomorrow morning. I've been spending my weekend off up in her room keeping her company.  I would have loved to paint my nails but I figured it would be frowned upon in a hospital! When she gets released I'm going to stay at her house with her until she gets a little more mobile. It may be difficult for me to post for the next couple of weeks but I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out. She has internet but her computer is so outdated that I can't stand to use it. I may have to bring over mine...

Anyways, last post you told me you wanted some nail art and who am I to deny you some nail art?

Since jaljen asked for simple nail art, I did as simple as I could.   And I'm going to tell you how to achieve it!

Here's the finished look:

And here's what you need:

A basecoat, one light color, one dark color, a bold accent color, top coat and blue painter's tape.

First, paint your nails with the light color. I used Damone Roberts 1968. My favorite mint green! I used two coats.

Clean up if you want, I did, and apply your topcoat. Let it dry. I added the top coat to make sure the tape didn't take off the polish.

Next, take a piece of tape and tape off the bottom half of your nails at a diagonal.  Paint the exposed top half of your nail with your dark color. I used Rimmel Black Satin. A dark brown would also look nice with mint green.

Remove the tape after the polish dries. I only used one coat of the dark polish, but depending on what color you chose you may need more.

Again, cleanup and apply top coat.  

Here's where it may get tricky for you.  You want to take two pieces of tape and tape off your nail so that only a small triangular piece of nail is showing. Make sure it's on the dark color, coming from the lower side. It should be wider towards the bottom and thinner at the top. Also, the section should only go about half way across. 

Paint that part with your bold accent color, I used Essence Nail Art Twins in Romeo, a great silver shimmer.  Once it dries, peel the tape off, clean it up, do any touchups (I had to straighten my lines with a dotting tool), and apply top coat for the last time. 

Voila! You've completed your nail art! 

I hope you enjoyed this look! If you do any variations, I'd love to see them! Email me pics! :)

Have a great night!
Kayla

P.S. I received Romeo in a swap with Tina from Fleur's Nails & Stuff! She was super sweet and got me amazing polishes! Go check out her blog! 

I'm so indecisive!

Bonjour! How is everyone doing?

Here's the deal. I need your help.  I'm trying to decide what my next couple posts should be. So I'm gonna ask what you would want to see. I have some polishes to swatch, I think they're all ones you've probably seen before, or I could try out some nail art designs. What do you think? I have some packages on the way so I will have some haul posts soon. Leave me a comment about what you want to see within the next couple of posts and I will make it happen.

By the way, I think I'm going to start up another nail art contest for June. I've got to work out the details still but keep an eye out for it!!

That's all for now!! Except: YAY! I've passed 70 followers! Thank you so much! You all make me smile!

New e.l.f Nail Polishes Part 5--Last One!

This last e.l.f polish is the main indicator that the brand is trying to go for the current trends. Mint Cream is exactly what you would think it to be! A gorgeous mint green that leans a little towards sea foam green.  Not sure how it stacks up against other mint greens but if you all want a comparison, tell me in the comments and I'll dig up all my mints and swatch it up!

Inside, no flash

Outside, direct sunlight

I really wish you could all smell these!

Mint cream was a thin polish as well. It was opaque in 3 coats.

E.l.f was really consistent in the formula for these polishes. Which is great, you know what your getting! Compared to e.l.f polishes I've purchased previously, these five seem kinda thin. However, they were easy to work with and had great shine without top coats! They dried pretty quickly, but tip wear was apparent after less than a day. Overall, for $1, they're fantastic! I really loved these colors, except Innocent, and recommend trying them out!

*Disclaimer* 

Though I did receive these polishes for free, they were a gift combined with a purchase and therefore considered paid for by myself. I have given my honest opinion and will not receive any compensation for that opinion.

New e.l.f Nail Polishes Part 4

Alright, this color will definitely be used in a comparison post!

Smoky Brown is seems to be a lot like OPI's You Don't Know Jacques. I'll definitely do some comparison swatches and get back to you.  It's a gorgeous brown that looks like milk chocolate on the nails. I seriously think I have dipped my hands in chocolate when wearing colors like this! ;)  Smoky Brown is the perfect professional color but also can be fun to wear! Being so similar to YDKJ is great because if it's a dead on dupe, well it costs a fraction of the price of YDKJ! 

Inside, with flash

Inside, no flash

Outside, sunlight

*Covered my thumb because it had lots of bubbles! First times it's happened. I'm pretty sure it was because of two things: my room was extremely humid and the sun was setting and I needed outdoor pics! Super fast nail painting happened that day! 

Another pic with lilacs..they smell so good!!

Smoky Brown was the only one of the set that gave me application problems, namely bubbles. I applied it quickly and in my room where it was super hot. Even so, none of the other ones bubbled. The formula was the same, kinda thin but not so watery you can't use it. The only difference was that it was opaque in two coats versus three or four. Pictures above are three coats.  I really love the color! Definitely recommend it, simply gorgeous! I will check back in with a comparison soon!

I've saved the color I think most of you will like for last! I'll post Mint Cream tomorrow night! 

Kayla