NOTD: Revlon's Mysterious

I knew I'd like him when I first laid eyes on him in Walgreens.
He kept looking at me.
I kept looking at him.
Cute, I thought to myself.
But I didn't take him home with me.
I was cheap. Didn't have a coupon.
A few weeks later, though, I scooped up Revlon's Mysterious.
I had a $1 off coupon and couldn't leave CVS without him.
There is something about Mysterious that's, well...mysterious.
Mysterious is a royal shimmery blue that I can't get off my tips and toes.
Application was easy breezy and it took three coats for full opacity.
I was surprised that he didn't stain after I took him off a few days later.
I usually have staining issues with royal blue polishes. Not complaining here, though.
I ended up paying about $4 for the polish and I like feeling blue with Mysterious on my digits!

Have you tried Mysterious? What's on your tips and toes these days?

FTC Disclosure: I paid for this polish with my own funds.

Check out my nail polish story! Yay!

Hey lovelies!

Wanted to share some great news with you all.
Most of you know that I'm a journalist by day and polish blogger by night.
Well, yesterday my two worlds came together because I had the cool opportunity to write about my nail polish obsession!
Read the story and check out the awesome art work here!
I'd been working on this story for months and it was nice to see the finished product.
This was a fun story to do! It could've in gone so many directions but the editors liked the first-person approach, especially after seeing how passionate (read: crazy) I was about lacquer:)

Also, check out the awesome video:

Don't you love the music in this video? LOL!

I swear, I have an awesome job. I work with some brilliant people who execute my ideas perfectly.
I also received a lot of really good, positive feedback for this story.

Let me know what you think! O, and what's on your nails these days??

Food: What I've been eating lately (pic heavy)

Hi there!

Hope your week is going well. Wanted to share some pictures of what I've been grubbing lately:

Trader Joe's mixed bean soup with corn muffin top:


Papad (also known as Indian crackers):


Spinach, chic peas and carrots:


Self-made fruit plate:


Corn pops:


Spring rolls, fruit and nuts:


Tomato soup:


Homemade broccoli fried rice:

Lentils and rice:


Masala veggie burger from Trader Joe's:


So um, yeah...my diet is that of a parrot or a chipmunk but my food tastes good:)

What are you eating these days?

Covergirl Shineblast swatch and review

I bought so many Covergirl Natureluxe gloss balms last year, that Covergirl should pay me a promotion fee.
I mean those lippies were so awesome. They were natural, inexpensive and durable.
So how does Covergirl’s Shineblast gloss compare to the Natureluxe glosses?
Well, there’s no comparison. And I don’t mean that in a good way.
The Shineblasts were on clearance at my local Walgreen’s for about $2.
I had so many Covergirl coupons that I hadn't used so I pretty much cleared the shelf, called myself stocking up on glosses.
23 dollars later, I called myself crazy. A few moments later, my wallet called me crying. LOL.
It was all good though because I gave most of them away as gifts.
Kept Ignite (865) for myself.

Here's a swatch of Ignite:


And here she is on my kisser:

This is a basic lip gloss.
The gloss is tasteless, it’s duration sucks and there didn’t seem to be enough in the tube.
It’s holographic in the bottle, which is kind of cool, but the glitter doesn’t show on the lips. Looks like it would be a really cool nail polish color.

Here’s Ignite after like 2-3 uses:

That's a low-down dirty, glossy shame, Covergirl!

Shineblast has a doe-tip applicator, which I’ve never been a fan of because I think it doesn’t pick up enough of the product.
Makes me feel like I’m wasting product, too.
I feel like I’ve tarnished this gloss’ reputation by not saying anything good about it. At least it sparkles and shines.

What's do you think? And what's on your lips these days?

FTC Disclosure: I paid for the gloss with my own funds.

To toss or not to toss? That is the question.

How long do you keep your cosmetic items?

That's a simple question but must be examined because keeping products past their expiration dates can lead to nasty, yucky stuff like infections.
This article from Good Housekeeping breaks down the expirations.

Here's how long I keep my products:

-Mascara: 3 months. I'm scared of pink eye so I get rid of these babies after three months. I'll toss the small sample mascaras after a month of use.

-Lip gloss: I use lip gloss a lot and will finish a tube in about two to three months.

-Shadow: About one year. I usually make nail polish out of my shadows if I lose interest in them.

-Polish: 1-2 years. When I'm coming up on this time frame, I'll use my old polishes for craft projects.

-Eyeliner: I sharpen after every use. Every single use!

-Make-up brushes: I clean after every use. Again, every single use!

What about you? When do you get rid of your products?

The Warm, Fuzzy and Polished Giveaway Winners are...

Happy Sunday!

The winners of my Warm, Fuzzy and Polished Giveaway are...

DEE and ALIA!

Dee wrote:

"What's making me happy these days is the weather! I live in Arizona and in a couple of months the summer heat will be upon us, but until then I've been enjoying the clear skies and breezy 70-80 degree weather."

And Alia wrote:

"As for things that are making me happy, nail polish and my cat."

Congrats ladies! I'll contact you both to get your addresses. If I don't hear from you within two days, I'll pick another winner.

As always, thank you so much for supporting my blog and I hope you all have a positive and productive rest of your week!

DIY: Making sushi

Sushi is one of my fave foods so every now and then, I’ll indulge my gut with a spicy tuna roll or two.
Never thought about making it myself until I read this story in my local newspaper.
I mean, how hard could making sushi be, right?

The supplies I used included a sushi roller and sushi paper:


Here's the article I used:

I really like that headline. Creative.

And here's a nice sushi dish set that my mentor gave me for Christmas:

Isn't it pretty?

So, I followed most of the directions. First, I placed some rice on the sushi paper:

(Um, don't tell anyone but this is actually Basmati rice. I probably should've used the sticky, sushi rice for this dish but I always look for shortcuts.)

The next step was to add fillings, which were salmon and salmon:


And...tada! Here's my roll:

Doesn't she look good?

But wait! Here's the fail:

Look at this mess! This is not the business! This is all kinds of wrong! LOL.

My sushi didn't turn out so well but that doesn't mean it wasn't edible.
I used the rice as a bed for some black eye peas. Bam! How you like that Emeril!

CVS haul: Two Revlon cheapies

Pantone seems like the kind of place that I'd like to work, since they're all about color.
But I guess I'm not ready to submit my resume just yet. Trying to figure out how to describe these two Revlon polishes.

I recently scooped them up for 37 cents each from CVS' beauty clearance sale.
The polishes, Demure and Raisin Rage, were priced at around $1.37 with 75 percent off and came to 37 cents after using two $1 dollar off coupons. Score!!

Raisin Rage is looking like a plum kind of shade to my eyes. I really like this color and think I'd love it even more as a lipstick shade. Here it is on my digits:


...and with a coat of Essie's Shine of the Times:


And Demure is a nude kind of color that is trying to walk into orange territory. Here she is on my tips:


...and with a coat of Wet n wild's Party of Five Glitters:


I really like both polishes, although there's nothing special about them.
Still, I think they'd make nice bases for nail art!

What do you think? What's currently on your tips and toes?

FTC Disclosure: I paid for the products with my own funds.

Sunday music...what are you listening to?

Sunday is a lazy day in my world.
It’s the one day where I just chill; the only day I usually have to myself.
Sometimes, I'll just lie down in bed and listen to music all day.
Helps me relax. Makes me happy.
During time, I like to put on what I call my Sunday playlist, which consists of music from people like:

Bobbi Humphrey:


Roy Ayres


Doug Carn:


Chaka Khan:


Sergio Mendes:


What about you? What do you listen to on Sundays? What do you do on Sundays?

Silver and gold? Sure, if Essie's involved!

Things that go together:

1. Me and nail polish.
2. Tom and Jerry.
3. Snooki and spray tans.
5. Kardashians and athletes.

I’ll add Essie’s Steel-ing the Scene and Loophole to that list.
These pretties were Christmas gifts from one of my co-workers. (Word is spreading around the newsroom that I love nail polish:).
I'd describe Steel-ing the Scene as a smokey gold and Loophole as a pretty silver.
Both look great on my hands! Check out the swatches:

Here's Steel-ing the Scene:

And Loophole:


And you know I had to funk things up a bit so here's Steel-ing the Scene with a coat of Wet n wild's Party of Five Glitters:



And here's Steel-ing the Scene with a coat of Essie's A Cut Above:


I have a soft spot in my heart for metallic polishes so I that's one of the reasons why these polishes are winning in my world.

What do you think? What’s on your tips and toes?

FTC Disclosure: These polishes were gifted to me.

Bye bye Google Friend Connect!

Sadly, Google is getting rid of their Friend Connect function this month so I wanted to give you alternative ways to follow my blog:

-Bloglovin

-Pinterest

-Etsy

Also, don't forget to enter in my Warm, fuzzy and polished giveaway! The giveaway ends on Sunday, March 12 so you still have some time to enter.

As always, thanks so much for supporting my blog.

Have a positive, productive and prosperous weekend!

One-Word Beauty Product Reviews

Here's another edition of my one-word beauty product reviews!!

1. Caramex lip balm: Softening.


2. J'Adore: Sexy!


3. Natural soap from the mall kiosk: Fruity!


4. CVS Natural polish remover: Slow-working.


5. BareMinerals eyeliner in Midnight: Durable.


FTC Disclosure: I paid for the products with my own funds.