ILNP Central Station

I love ILNP polishes and I think them and KBShimmer are probably my favorite indie brands. They're just so good at what they do in all aspects of their business. I also think I like them because they keep it fairly simple. They mainly just have seasonal collections, which is so much easier for me to keep up with! That being said, I do have a ILNP shade to show you I picked up this past fall.

Central Station

Central Station is an impressively delicate soft brown neutral shade with a subtle grey undertone that manages to radiate the perfect amount of warmth with holographic pigment and sparkle.

Collection: ILNP Fall Neutrals 2016

Color: I love this smoky brown shade. It's not too brown or too grey it's just right. It's hard to go wrong with neutral shades like this one. They're really flattering and chic. I love the addition of the holo in this as it elevates the shade, but it's still soft and doesn't go into Blingtown territory.

Formula: This had a smooth and easy to use formula. I used 3 coats above.

Price: This is $10.00 on the ILNP website.

Overall: This a nice and solid neutral polish. I love the color and the added sparkle. The formula was great and like everything ILNP I'm impressed and I think most people would appreciate this color.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

Weekly Wax Wrap Up: 2/19/17-2/26/17

This was another pretty good week in wax. I will say that I've noticed the new selection of scents at Walmart I am not really impressed with. There are a few good new ones, but most of the new scents I've come across smell very generic and uninspired. I'm not sure if it's because I've been in the wax game for a few years now or if companies are repackaging scents. Who knows, but I'm not all that enthused! Anyways, on to this weeks melts.

ScentSationals Serenity Spa
Scent Description: Serenity Spa is a blend of island palm, fresh island coconut, and freshly cut lemongrass.
My Thoughts: I knew when I picked this up I'd regret it. This is not a spa scent to me in the least. This smells like a beachy palm and coconut scent, but a very artificial coconut/palm scent. It has the zing of lemongrass, but it can't salvage it. This smells like a cheap dollar store fragrance. The name and the image on the package are so wrong. Clearly, I'm not a fan and disappointed. I wish there were more quality spa scents in retail.
Throw: 3.5/5
Where To Buy: Walmart

Ten Digit Creations Bee Mine
Scent Description: wild honey, orange blossom, red currant
My Thoughts: Whew! This is a scent monster. The honey and orange blossom in this are so strong, I'm not detecting the red currant. This is a great honey scent. I like honey scents, but this is just too overpowering for me! This could be 50% lighter and it would satisfy my tastes better.
Throw: 5/5
Where To Buy: Ten Digit Creations 

Ten Digit Creations Mr. Green
Scent Description: spearmint, sweet grass, driftwood
My Thoughts: This is a great scent blend. The spearmint is the prominent note followed by sweet grass and driftwood. It's a very crisp, green, and slightly masculine scent. This is a fresh and spa-like to scent to me. I like the addition of driftwood because it gives it depth and elevates the scent giving it an elegant feel.
Throw: 3.5/5
Where To Buy: Ten Digit Creations 

Ten Digit Creations Volcano
Scent Description: tropical fruits and sugared citrus
My Thoughts: This is a punchy tropical fruit scent and it's fabulous!  I'm not much for sugary scents, so I was afraid of the sugared citrus in this, but it's not sugary or candy-like. It's a very fresh, juicy, and natural fruity scent. This reminds me of TDC's Rainbow Sherbet, but even better and with a stronger throw. I'll be needing this scent in bath and body products!
Throw: 4/5
Where To Buy: Ten Digit Creations 

Zoya Normani

You know I've been on a nude-neutral kick for the past several months. I think I'm going to say it's officially dissipating. I still love these colors, but I'm starting to branch out and want a more variety of colors now. I was wearing nudes probably 90% of the same since late summer. I was in it hardcore. Whilst in my hardcore nude-neutral kick I did manage to pick up some more colors from Zoya and I have one of those to share with you today. 

Normani

Normani is a sable mauve cream.

Collection: Zoya Naturel Collection 2014

Color: I used to want nothing to do with taupe-y colors like this one. I thought they all looked terrible me, but like any color, it's about finding the right tone. This one is flattering on me I think. It has more purple to it than brown which is why I think it works better. I also like that it's a medium shade so it's not too nude-y.

Formula: This had a nice and easy to use formula. I used 2 coats above.

Price: This is $10 on the Zoya website. 

Overall: This a solid great neutral color. It's pretty and flattering color. The formula was nice, and it's just all around nice. There isn't much more to say about it. 

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday! 

Cirque Garnet

I've had Cirque polish on my "to try" list for years. It's probably the one brand that's been on there the longest that I never had ended up getting around to. I still haven't gotten around to it as I haven't purchased any myself.  I was gifted some recently during a Secret Santa gift exchange and I'm happy to finally have some! This was one of the colors I received.

Garnet

Garnet is an opulent burgundy with holographic flakes.

Collection: Cirque Facets Collection 2016 (Limited Edition)

Color: I love a rich red like Garnet. Red is one of my favorite colors in nail polish despite it being rather traditional. I love the depth and richness of this color and the bejeweled look it has with the holographic flakes.

Formula: This was a standout formula. I think most nail polish formulas I come across these days are good but just good. They do the job, not complaints. This formula stood out as exceptional. It had this almost gel-like formula. It was really opaque and applied so smoothly. I used 2 coats above.

Price: This can be purchased at Live Love Polish for $13.00.

Overall: This is a beautifully polish and beautifully made too. I love the jewel-toned of this color and the holo flakies. The formula was amazing and I'm really impressed with this brand so far.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

Weekly Wax Wrap Up: 2/12/17-2/19/17

I think February and September are my favorite months for wax because that's when they either start rolling out spring scents or fall scents. I was happy when I went to Walmart this past week to see ScentSationals and Better Homes & Gardens both had new wax! I have a few of those to share with you this week. Overall, it was a pretty good wax week.

ScentSationals Violet Cocktail
Scent Description: A delicious blend is made of black currant, wild acai, and warm black orchid.
My Thoughts: What kind of sorcery is this? This is flipping amazing. This main notes I get in this are black currant and a strong alcohol-cocktail note with a soft floral background. It's a sexy and mysterious scent, but definitely feminine. It's really deep, rich, and so unique and amazing all in one. This is a MUST have.
Scent Throw: 4/5
Where To Buy: Walmart

Bath & Body Works Black Chamomile 
Scent Description: Time to unwind with Bamboo Charcoal Extract & Chamomile Essential Oil.
My Thoughts: I've been a fan of the Black Chamomile aromatherapy body products for awhile, so I was excited to see it in candle form. This is a soft true to life chamomile scent. It's soothing and pleasant. It's just what you want out of a scent like this. No complaints.
Scent Throw: 3.5/5
Where To Buy: Bath & Body Works

Ten Digit Creations Fluffy Towels
Scent Description: warm towels fresh from the dryer
My Thoughts: This is a dupe to Yankee Candle's Fluffy Towels. I have Yankee Candle's version as well, and they are dupes. I used to love Fluffy Towels, but not so much in recent years. I decided to give the TDC version a try anyways. I get a blend of fresh laundry and lemon in this scent, but it's a sweeter sugary lemon to my nose which just doesn't agree with me. The scent just smells artificial to me and I don't care for it. Not TDC's fault, it's just the scent in general.
Scent Throw: 3.5/5
Where To Buy: Ten Digit Creations

ScentSationals Woodland Magic
Scent Description: A mystical blend of rosemary, Texas pine, and sparkling aldehydes.
My Thoughts: This is another winning scent from ScentSationals. This doesn't smell woodsy in the least which is what I'd expect. Instead, this is a very herbal and lemony scent. This smells like an energizing spa scent to me. The lemon here is the type of lemon I like it's zesty, tangy, and fresh no sugariness at all. The name and the scent description do not match this scent, but it totally works for me!
Scent Throw: 3.5/5
Where to Buy: Walmart

Happy Sunday!

Zoya Serenity

I have a Zoya polish to share with you today I picked up during the Black Friday sale. I was going to say recent sale, but Black Friday was nearly 3 months ago, but it certainly doesn't feel that long! Where does time go? I picked up this color because it caught my eye, but I'm not as enthused about it as I thought I would be.

Serenity

Serenity is described as a summer purple reminiscent of beautiful blooming irises, a harbinger of summer.

Collection: Zoya Island Fun Summer 2015

Color: This is a beautiful color. I will not discredit this color in that sense. It's one of those bright blurple cremes you really can't go wrong with it. On that note, this is a color I've seen before. It feels very "samey" if that makes sense. I will say the more I look at the more I love it. Let's just say I'm conflicted. It's beautiful, but it's not really innovative?

Formula: This had a great formula was really nice on this polish. It was creamy and easy to apply. I used 2 coats above.

Price: This is $10 on Zoya's website.

Overall: I feel like my opinion on this color is changing the more I write this review. I'm liking it more and more I look at it. I think it is a solid staple color and I don't see this being a color many will dislike. I just think if you're nail polish collector like myself you may have something like this in your collection already. I can't really fault it, but I wish I was more excited about it than I am? This review is very unhelpful. I am sorry!

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday!

Kokie Cosmic Dust

I have another Kokie Cosmetics polish to share with you today. This color immediately caught my eye, but I was hesitant to purchase it because it reminded me a lot of Zoya Yuna. I don't like buying dupes, but I couldn't help myself from really needing this polish either. It was just so striking in the bottle, so I took a gamble! Turns out, it was a good gamble because they're not dupes. I have a comparison below too.

Cosmic Dust

Cosmic Dust is a deep smoky grey with gold and silver glass fleck glitter.

Collection: Kokie Cosmetics Core

Color: They're not dupes and they're really not that similar either. Kokie's Cosmic Dust doesn't have the blue-tone of Zoya Yuna. Cosmic Dust also has silver and gold glass fleck glitter and it's much more intense than Yuna's. I love this color! I love how it's jam-packed with glass fleck glitter. It gives creates a lot of interest while still being a smooth polish.

Formula: This had an excellent formula. It was smooth, buttery, and easy to apply. I used 2 coats above.

Price: I paid $5.99 for this at the Christmas Tree Shop. This is also available at Bed Bath & Beyond locations that feature a Harmon cosmetics section or on the Kokie Cosmetics website.

Overall: I know on my last post on this brand, I enjoyed it but wasn't too keen on the price. I thought it was a bit too pricey for drugstore, but this polish changed my mind. This was a really well made and beautifully thought out polish. It's a definitely step up from the Sinful Colors range in innovation and formulation, so I think it does warrant the $5.99 price tag. I just wish this was available in more stores. I think this would be a brand that nail polish addicts and the general public would appreciate.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

Weekly Wax Wrap Up: 2/5/17-2/12/17

This is kind of weird time for scents for me. I don't even touch any fall or winter scents even though it is still winter. I'm so over them. I tend to transition into more general, spring, and summer scents January-September which takes up most of the year. The challenge is finding new scents to try because the same scents over and over get boring. That's one of the reasons why I took a wax break so I could restock! I have some new things to try and share with you now. My wax funk is over.

ScentSationals Melon Burst
Scent Description: Juicy honeydew and succulent cantaloupe
My Thoughts: I love melons scents especially honeydew and cantaloupe ones. This one is really nice and true life. I did find that it got really sweet and cloying when melted after awhile. I  don't usually feel this way about melon scents, but this one needed perhaps a water note or air note to mellow it out a bit.
Scent Throw: 4/5
Where To Buy: Amazon

Ten Digit Creations Baja Cactus Blossom
Scent Description: white flowers, green cactus, sun-kissed coconut
My Thoughts: This scent is an absolute winner. It's a great blend of a soft floral, green watery cactus note, and just the slightest touch of fresh coconut (not sunscreen-smelling or synthetic). This scent does have an upscale/spa-like quality to it as well which is probably why I like it so much. I'll be needing more this scent for sure.
Scent Throw: 3.5/5
Where To Buy: Ten Digit Creations

Scentsy Pacific Daydream
Scent Description: Beachy lime, pineapple, and sweet candy sugar are sprinkled with fresh Hawaiian sea salt for a scent straight from the shoreline.
My Thoughts: Based on the scent description I thought this was going to be overpoweringly fruit and sugary, but it's not. It's really a soft ocean sea salt scent with subtle hints of lime, sugar, and pineapple in the background. This is another winning scent for me. It's fresh and natural and really does remind me of the beach in a non-stereotypical way.
Scent Throw: 4/5
Where To Buy: Scentsy

Ten Digit Creations Honeysuckle Lemon
Scent Description: fragrant honeysuckle blossoms drenched in zesty lemon juice
My Thoughts: I love the smell of honeysuckle, but I was hesitant to try this one because of the lemon. Most lemon scents go into Lemonhead candy range for me which is just too sweet for my tastes. I was worried that honeysuckle already being a sweet flower and lemon would just end up being too sweet. Thankfully, I was proven wrong again. This is a great blend and the lemon in here is tangy and zesty like the description. The honeysuckle and lemon balance each other out here perfectly and it leaves you with a very clean and natural scent. We have yet another winning scent!
Scent Throw: 4/5
Where To Buy: Ten Digit Creations

Happy Sunday!

Sinful Colors Gotta Terra Cotta

As well all know the drugstore has been desperately lacking in good nail polish lately. I say lately, but it's more like that past 3 years 😖. Well, I found something interesting this past week from Sinful Colors. I found glass fleck polishes. I haven't seen true glass fleck polishes in so long. They came from the limited edition Stoned Crystal Shimmer polishes. They're not shimmers, they're glass flecks! Here is one of the few I picked up!

Gotta Terra Cotta

Gotta Terra Cotta is a dusty rosy brown with a translucent glass fleck glitter.

Collection: Sinful Colors Stoned Crystal Shimmer 2017

Color: You know why I like this color besides the glass fleck? Yep. It's a nude color. I love when nude shades like this have something special thrown into the mix. This is a great muted shade and I love all of that glass fleck glitter! 

Formula: This had a nice and easy to use formula. I used 2 coats above. 

Price: I purchased this at Walgreens for $1.99.

Overall: This really gives me hope for drugstore polish at least for Sinful Colors. This is a really unique finish to see in nail polish much less the drugstore. I love the softness of this color and appreciate the added glass flecks to liven it up a bit. You can't beat the $1.99 price either!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday! 

Zoya Rocky

How about a pretty blue to brighten things up midweek? I picked up this color during Zoya's Black Friday sale. I've been on a creme kick lately and this polish from a summer collection a few years back caught my eye.

Rocky

Rocky is a medium soft blue creme.

Collection: Zoya Stunning Collection Summer 2013

Color: This is a sky blue shade to me and who doesn't love those? It's rich and vibrant while still being a softer color. This is a great blue!

Formula: The formula on this was OK. I used 2 coats above. I didn't find it self-leveled as much as I'd like it to, but it wasn't a bad formula either.

Price: This is $10 on the Zoya website. 

Overall: This is a gorgeous sky blue shade. I love colors like this and they will never go out of trend. The formula wasn't my favorite but wasn't bad. It's overall pretty good, but not my favorite based on formula.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Wednesday! 

ILNP Pink Mimosa

I've been very much in creme territory lately. I can't enough cremes and they're all I've been wearing for over a month now. I decided to break it up though when I saw this untried beauty in my stash from ILNP. Sometimes picking out what to paint my nails can be daunting. I have so many colors and sometimes I just can't decide. When I saw this color I didn't even have to think twice. 

Pink Mimosa

Pink Mimosa is a super feminine rose toned nail polish packed with bright silver flakes, vivid pink shimmer, and an incredible holographic sparkle.

Collection: ILNP Summer 2015

Color: Wow! This is such a stunner. Sometimes it takes an ILNP polish to remind me just how great bling and holo are. There isn't another brand out there that really can do a finish like this. I love this icy rose shade. It pops against my skin tone while still having that touch of softness because of the pink. 

Formula: This had an excellent 2 coat formula. This was smooth and easy to apply. 

Price: This is $10 on the ILNP website. 

Overall: This is an amazing polish. This is a part of the Ulta Metallic line and that certainly fits. The shine in this is so reflective and that holo is icing on the cake. I am in absolutely in love with this polish. It's perfection. 

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Monday! 

Heather's Hues Valentine's Wax Melts (Partial)

*I received the following products in exchange for my honest review.

I'm back at it again with the wax melts! After the holidays, I didn't really have any new scents to melt and I caught a cold, so I was out of the game for a bit. Now, I have new wax to try! Heather's Hues is mainly known for nail polish, but she had started to create wax melts. Nail polish and wax melts are my favorite things so I love that makers are doing both these days! Heather has some new Valentine's themed wax melts scents and asked if I was interested in reviewing some of them. I excitingly agreed and I have a few of those to share with you today!

Heather's Hues wax melts are made from 100% soy wax. They're a softer wax and come in fun shapes with beautiful decoration. I'm not usually one who needs pizazz with my wax like I do in nail polish, but I do love how pretty and fun these are! Let's get started with the individual reviews.

Pucker Up
Scent Description: a beautiful, clean scent; a blend of strawberries, gardenia, mimosa, and sandalwood
My Thoughts: This is a prominently fruity and bright blend balanced out with some floral notes. I'd describe this scent as vibrant but it has a bit of softness with the sandalwood to mellow it out just a tad. The throw as moderate.
Scent Throw: 3.5/5

Moscato Pink
Scent Description: a blend of tropical passionfruit, blood orange zest, Lisbon lemons, sweet Moscato wine accord, bird of paradise blooms, and loquat petals with nuances of coconut wood, palm musk, and driftwood
My Thoughts: This scent has a lot going on! I get a definite tropical citrus note (it's not listed, but I'm getting pineapple), the wine note, and floral and coconut in the background. This is another bright and punchy scent. It's like a tropical fruity drink on steroids! This scent is a bit much for me. I like it on first sniff, but a little goes a long way. This one had a strong throw.
Scent Throw: 4.5/5

Rooibos Tea
Scent Description: a fresh, herbaceous blend of citrus, honey, and white blossoms with subtle hints of iris, jasmine, and vanilla
My Thoughts: I love tea scents and this one is really great. It's very strong too which is a nice because most tea scents I have are fairly light. This smells like good ole southern sweet to me. It's a very sweet tea scent with some background floral notes.
Scent Throw: 4.5/5

Champagne Sugar
Scent Description: a blend of lemon, bergamot, mandarin orange, apple, banana, dew fruit, pineapple, jasmine, rose, plum, muget, peony, heliotrope, amber sandalwood, and musk
My Thoughts: This was my favorite scent of the bunch. Despite all the notes I found it to be a very soft and clean scent. It's a nice fruity/floral blend which is softened and elevated with the sandalwood and musk notes. Unfortunately, when I melted this I hardly got any throw off of it.
Scent Throw: 1/5

Fall in Love
Scent Description: a lush combination of vanilla, soft florals, and ripe berries; light and clean scent
My Thoughts: This was my second favorite scent in this lot. I think the description is spot on. It's a cleaner and softer scent. I like the blend of berries, vanilla, and floral. It's a nice scent combination that isn't overpowering but still, makes an impression. This one had a moderate throw.
Scent Throw: 3/5

Cupid's Kiss
Scent Description: a fresh and fruity mix of candied berries, crisp apple, soft flower blossoms, and fresh air
My Thoughts: I love the fresh air note in this one it really is unexpected and adds a great dimension to this scent. I get a sugary berry scent as the main note in here with a hint of floral and the fresh air to really round it out. It's really a unique scent that is unlike anything I've tried before. This one had a moderate throw.
Scent Throw: 3.5/5

Where To Buy: You can purchase Heather's  Hue's wax melts on her etsy site. You have two options for purchase. You can purchase one large melt or pack of smaller melts. The smaller pack of melts is $5.00 and the large melt is $5.30. There are also a few Valentine's scents I did not review, so be sure to check out the list under "New Scents" to see what else is available!

Overall: I really enjoyed these melts and they definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. These were unique and complex blends I'm not used to trying. I'm more of straight forward scent person, but that gets boring after awhile. These were bright and very fitting for the Valentine's theme. My favorites of this bunch were Fall in Love, Cupid's Kiss, and Rooibos Tea.

Happy Sunday!

Zoya Debbie

I was really excited when I found out Zoya was releasing another Naturel collection. Before, I got into my nude/neutral kick I was never interested in previous collections, but lately, I've been making up for lost time picked quite a few up during the Black Friday sale. The Naturel 3 collection was released after the fact but during a recent sale I picked up one of the new colors.

Debbie

Debbie is a plum brown creme.

Collection: Zoya Naturel 3 2016

Color: I was really curious about this color because on some people it pulls more brown and others it pulls more purple. I was hoping for the latter with me and I'm happy that's the result I got. I think it will depend on your skin tone which way it will pull for you. It's really an interesting color that I love. It's rich and deep but still very neutral. I like how Zoya explores deeper neutral tones.

Formula: Excellent 2 coat formula. This was very smooth and buttery to apply.

Price: This is $10 on the Zoya website.

Overall: I love Debbie it's a beautiful rich shade that neutral and still can go with everything. The formula was excellent and I really appreciate Zoya's take on deep neutral shades. This is one I definitely recommend especially if you're someone who is just dabbling into neutral shades. This one gives you the richness that a lot of nude/neutral shades don't have.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 *Golden* Paint Splatters

Happy Friday!

Powder Perfect Ra

I have a Powder Perfect polish to share with you today. I was first introduced to this brand at Cosmprof last year and I really enjoyed the brand. During the holiday season, I added a few to my wishlist for one of gift exchange. This was gifted to me during that gift exchanged and I'm still impressed with the brand.

Ra

Ra is a silver based holo-twist lacquer with a golden hue.

Collection: Powder Perfect Egyptology Collection 2016

Color: This is a beautiful take on a silver holo. Silver holo polishes are a dime a dozen, so they really have to catch my eye these days. I love how these has that touch of gold to it. That hint of gold warms the color up just a bit so it reads like a nude on my nails. It's not too warm or too cool. You know how I'm into nude/neutrals these days!

Formula: This had an excellent formula that was easy to apply. I used 2 coats above with topcoat.

Price: This is $13 on Powder Perfect's site.

Overall: This is a great holo/glitter shade. It's soft and subtle type shade while still having a bit of pop to it with the bling. The formula is great and I don't have any complaints!

My Rating. 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Wednesday!