My Easter Nails: Sweet Purple Candy

I Bought This

Easter is just days away! I don't celebrate Easter religiously, but I like to celebrate holidays with my family and good friends. It's another excuse to get together, spend quality time and eat good food. In the past few (4) years basically since I moved to the states there have been numerous dramas surrounding the holidays, due to an inability to see eye to eye with certain people. I'm determined to pass this Easter peacefully.... This means I need pretty things to look at. That always keeps me calm.

Soooo I pulled out this gorgeous purple combo to put on my nails, Revlon Girly & Zoya Marley.

I did one coat of Marley and two thin coats of Revlon Girly. Girly is opaque on it's own, but it tends to have a LOT of glitter and I wanted the glitter to be a little more sparse. The result was this purple candy confection:

My camera freaked out a little on the purple and wanted to show it as more pink than it is. I tried to colour correct a bit, but it is slightly more purple toned than it looks. It's pretty true to what it looks like in the bottle in the top picture. I love both of these polishes so much! Marley is slightly streaky and can be a bit thick, but I think a drop or two of nail polish thinner might fix that. Girly tends to get a bit muddy looking if it's applied too thickly, that's why I prefer to layer it :)

Ok, so now I'm set! Now I can stare at my pretty nails all day and not worry about anything else. Easter is for chocolate!

Feelin' Springy FOTD.

I am SO ready for Spring and Summer! Snow is nice and all, but warmer weather is...... wait a minute. I live in Southern Cali, wtf am I talking about? Ok, so it's always pretty warm here, but we did have a few weeks of really cold .. uh.. somewhat cold weather.

Whatever. I'm in the mood for bright colours and light makeup anyway, so here you go.

FOTD:

Face:

• Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream No. 31
• Benefit Hervana Blush

Eyes:

• elf Studio Eyebrow Kit in Medium
• Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion
• Silk Lashes from Born Pretty Store
• stila eyeshadow in Karat
• Dolly Wink Volume Mascara
• Geo Angel Blue circle lenses

Lips:

• Maybelline Vivids Lipstick in Electric Orange
• Maybelline Baby Lips in Coral Crush

Shades of orange are in the air... Bright, vivid colours are so much fun and always make me feel good. If you're ever feeling down, a bright pop of colour will cheer you up! I think the Maybelline Vivids lipsticks are perfect for that.

Spring has officially sprung! It's almost Easter you guise! Somebody send me lots of Cadbury Creme Eggs, I can't find them anywhere here.. those little things are addictive, they're like crack but harder to find O_O

Mani Madness Contest! Win a Red Carpet Manicure Gel Nails Pro Kit!

Press Sample

I am so excited to share this with you guys!

I am hosting a March Madness inspired 'Mani Madness' Contest sponsored by Red Carpet Manicure! Now is the season for sports nuts and people who are normally indifferent to sports to unite! Whether you love Basketball or love nails, I am positive you will LOVE the prize for this contest. The 3, yes THREE, best manicure looks will win a Red Carpet Manicure Gel Nails Pro Kit!

The Pro Kit is a $79.99 value and includes ALL of this:

• Professional LED Light - LED Gel-Curing Light (AC Power Cord Adapter Included).
• Prep - MAX ADHESION PREP
• Structure - BASE COAT GEL
• Brilliance - SEAL & SHINE TOP COAT GEL
• Revitalize - NOURISHING CUTICLE OIL
• Red Carpet Reddy - LED Gel Polish
• Purify - PRE & POST APPLICATION CLEANSER
• Erase - GEL NAIL POLISH REMOVER
• RCM Instructions Card

If you've ever wanted to do your own Gel manicure at home, this is a great option. You can see my review of the RCM Starter Kit here.

For the contest - here are a few rules:

1. You must be following Ishah x Beauty. It can be by GFC, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
2. You must create a manicure with the theme 'March Madness'. Nail art is encouraged, but it doesn't have to be complicated! It could be your team's colours, nail stickers, stamping, elaborate acrylic painting or a simple dotticure, anything you come up with.
3. You must take a picture of your manicure with a piece of paper that says '#IXBManiMadness Contest'. I need to know that they are your nails! You can email me the picture (ishah AT ishahxbeauty DOT com), post it on my Facebook page or upload it to Instagram and tag @ishahxbeauty with the hashtag #IXBManiMadness.
4. ONE ENTRY PER PERSON! Please only submit one picture of one manicure. You can make a collage of the manicure, but it has to be one image file.

Here is a quick, crappy example I did for you guys. I'm sure you can do a lot better than this! Lol.

The contest is open to US ONLY and will run from today 3/25/2013 through to 4/7/2013, the day of the Championship game. It will be judged by my friend Mai, of Rainy Nails, myself and my husband who is an avid basketball fan ;) We will each pick our favourite manicure to win a Red Carpet Manicure Pro Kit.

Winners will be announced on my blog and social media channels and also emailed. If they do not respond within 48 hours, new winners will be picked.

Now go forth and create some awesome March Madness manicures! I can't wait to see what you all come up with :)

Wet n Wild Megalast Liquid Lip Color: How to make them work.

I Bought This

So there has been a lot of negative buzz about the Wet n Wild Megalast Liquid Lip Color, mostly that they are drying and settle into lines. I also found that to be the case when I tried them out. Even if I applied lip balm first they still seemed to be drying and unflattering, but I really wanted to find a way to make them work since they are such pretty shades!

Don't Click On My HyperPink

Do I Make You Blush?

Cherry On Top

The applicator is a flat two sided paddle which picks up A LOT of product. I mean, this thing was almost dripping with lip colour and deposited a HUGE amount of product when I swatched them.

L - R: Click On My HyperPink, Do I Make You Blush?, Cherry On Top

You can see that they are matte and look super pigmented, but they also look very dry and almost cracking. On my lips they looked even worse! You can see how dry and flaky looking Do I Make You Blush? was here:

Super dry and disgusting looking!!! But is it possible to make it work?

So I thought, maybe it's just TOO much product and the thick layer is what is making it look so bad. I decided to apply lip balm and then when I applied the Liquid Lip Color, scraped off the excess product onto the side of the tube opening, so only a VERY little amount was left on the applicator. I rubbed it on lightly and was left with a MUCH better result.
 

Click On My HyperPink

Do I Make You Blush?

Cherry On Top

The beautiful colour still comes through, but it looks SO much nicer! My favourite is Cherry On Top, it's such a beautiful, rich satin red. Click My HyperPink was still a little chalky for me, but it'd probably work better on a lighter skintone. I couldn't believe the difference in how it looked on. Let me show you again how horrible it was in comparison:

 

The ONLY difference is how much product I applied. The top pic is straight out of the tube and the bottom pic is after scraping the excess off. I am pretty happy with how I managed to make them look good and they still had good pigmentation, lasting power and a satiny matte finish. It's not really that much work, since you just have to wear lip balm and scrape off the excess before you apply, but I know some people do prefer something they can easily slap on and go. Are you going to try the Wet n Wild Megalast Liquid Lip Colors, or do you prefer something you don't have to work with?

The Wet n Wild Megalast Liquid Lip Colors retail for $2.99 and can be found at Walgreens and CVS among other major drugstores.

Google Reader is sinking, so it's time to jump ship.

I'm sure you know that Google will be pulling the plug on Google Reader on July 1st and I just wanted to show you what I will be using to easily import my feeds into other readers and keep up with ALL my blogs without having to go around and resubscribe to everyone.

For Web:

Bloglovin - This one is pretty popular with a lot of the other bloggers too. They have an easy 'Import from Google Reader' button which instantly pulls all the feeds you're subscribed to on Reader into your Bloglovin list.

For Mobile:
Pulse - I really like this app because you can choose which feeds you want and see all the articles/posts in that specific feed. It also has a nice looking interface. It also allows you to read feeds from Twitter, Facebook and lots of other sources.
Flipboard - Really nice looking app, it gives you a multitude of options for sources and also displays articles/blog posts in a magazine style. You flip the 'page' to get to the next article on your list. The only thing I wish you could do is choose specific feeds to view.

To see even more alternatives, click HERE and HERE :)

I hope you all find a good alternative to Reader. I know I'll miss it, but hopefully the other RSS readers are just as good. Go do it soon so you can keep my updates in your life! ;)

AAAAAAND go enter my circle lens giveaway.

Giveaway! Geo Nudy Grey Circle Lens.

Press Sample

The eyes are the windows to the soul (or so they say) and sometimes you want to switch it up a little! If you have ever dreamed of having, soft, dewy, doe-like eyes (kinda like Bambi) then you will LOVE this giveaway. Along with the Geo Magic Black and Geo Angel Blue lenses I was sent for review, Angel Contacts kindly sent me one of their most popular circle lens, the Geo Nudy Grey. This lens is extremely well-loved by gyaru and ulzzang alike and used by many popular Japanese and Korean models! They are a natural looking lens that give a soft, pretty shine to eyes. 

From AngelContacts.com:

The Look

Light, playful, angelic. The GEO Nudy Circle Lens series is our most natural look.
They will be head over heels for this new elegant gray in town
Lense Information
Diameter : 14.2mm
Base curve : 8.6mm
Center thickness : 0.04mm
Water content : 38%
Lasts up to 1 year after opening.

I wanted to share with one of you lucky readers, so I am doing a giveaway!The giveaway is open internationally and you can enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. If you are on mobile and the widget doesn't work for you, you can enter by following my blog and commenting below with "I love circle lenses!"

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone! For more information regarding circle lens use and care, and to see all my circle lens reviews click here.

Why I won't be needing botox.... (yet).

Press Sample

Botox. Why the heck am I talking about botox? I'm only 27, but I have a long history of baking away in the scorching Australian sun. Right under that hole in the ozone, you know the one, making the Aussie sun a bajillion times stronger than here in the US.

Oh hai...

This picture was taken on the Gold Coast, 8 years ago, the height of my sunbaking days... The beach was my second home - And yes, I had cheesily edited it so it looks like a still from a bad soap opera. That was back when I was still learning how to use photoshop, okay? Okay. - So while I was doing all that baking away, do you think I used sunscreen? Ohhh nooo, I was trying to get as tan as I could be. You know that girl out at the peak of the day, slathering coconut oil all over herself? Yeah, that was me. And like most sun happy idiots, the result is... dun dun dun! Sun damage!

And now, I obsess over these two annoying fine lines in my forehead... put there no doubt, by the misuse of coconut oil and not enough hydration over the years. So, this is when you turn to botox, right?

Wrong.

DAT SERUM.

From Reviva Labs website:

"Revolutionary" Swiss Apple Stem Cell Booster Serum. (Helps combat skin aging.) A.M. and P.M. apply stem cell serum before your day or night cream to boost effects of your regular cream or serum as you add dramatic anti-wrinkle and texturizing benefits. In our advanced formula, we have blended in select organic botanicals that provide additional anti-aging benefits.

Special Benefits:

1. Swiss apple stem cells help revive skins own dormant stem cells and can help bring new life and energy to the epidermis. Recharging epidermal cells with our stem cell serum makes skin more responsive to the day or night cream applied over our serum. Overall results are accelerated and remarkably improved.
2. Swiss research showed a major decrease in appearance of lines and wrinkles in 30 days. The study with volunteers aged 37 to 64 determined a significant decrease in crows feet wrinkle depth for 100% of the participants.

Our advanced formulation also features select organic botanicals that provide additional texturizing and anti-aging benefits. All skin types can improve from the properties of the Swiss apple stem cells. But mature skin, whose cells have been most affected by normal aging, sun and pollution damage, will benefit most.

Yeah. Stem Cells from apples. Swiss apples. If you ask me why Swiss apples, I couldn't tell you... maybe they're at a higher altitude, so the air is better? Don't ask me, I'm not a cosmetologist or a farmer or wtf-ever. All I know is that they do good things to my face.

The Stem Cell Booster Serum feels nice and hydrating when it goes on, and absorbs quickly into my skin. It has anti-aging properties on it's own, but what it's also supposed to do is boost the effects of your other face creams, so I have been using it under my L'Oreal Youth Code day lotion. From the first use, I definitely felt that my skin was much smoother and softer. Over time, I have also noticed a slight reduction in the appearance of those two pesky lines on my forehead and I've only been using the serum for about 3 weeks, so I'm looking forward to even more results. It's not an instant, dramatic difference, but it is certainly working much better than I expected (since I am always skeptical of the claims on anti-aging products).

I am very happy with how my skin looks and feels using the Stem Cell Booster Serum (find it here) and it is a product that I would purchase once it has run out. At the moment it is $30, which seems expensive for 1oz of product, but I think skincare is something we should invest in and if it works then it's worth it. I mean, botox is like 10x that amount. Plus the needles. Don't forget the needles o_o I think I'll be fine using this serum to make my lines disappear, and leave the frozen foreheads to all those Real Housewives of OC.

Reviva Labs products are available at their website, RevivaLabs.com.

Disclosure: Product received for review consideration. All opinions are my own and 100% honest. For more info see my Disclosure Policy.

Geo Angel Blue Circle Lens Review

Yay, another circle lens review! Yes, I'm excited :p

In addition to the Black Magic lenses I received from Angel Contacts, I also got my first blue circle lenses! This is the Geo Angel Blue lens.

From AngelContacts.com:

The Look
The GEO Angel Circle Lens series offers maximum definition for your eyes, for a bold, beautiful look.
Can you say royalty? Flaunt these luscious royal blues the next time you see your prince charming.

Lens Information
Price: $25.00
Diameter : 14.2mm
Strength: Plano 0.00
Base curve : 8.6mm
Center thickness : 0.04mm
Water content : 38%
Lasts up to 1 year after opening.

When they first arrived, one of the lenses was really uncomfortable so I let Brenda from Angel Contacts know and she promptly sent me a new pair. Lovely service! They are really helpful and very communicative. The new pair was perfect. Contact lenses should never feel painful or too uncomfortable. If your lens is really uncomfortable, you may have a defective lens, have it in backwards or need to wash it in lens solution.

Geo Angel Blue Lens, Natural Light

Geo Angel Blue Lens, Artificial Light

Geo Angel Blue Lens Close Up

The pattern is very pretty and quite similar to my Honey Wing lenses, but more vibrant. The colour and pattern are bright and vibrant enough for dark eyes, but natural looking enough for lighter coloured eyes. At 14.2 mm they give a subtle enlarging and still can be worn easily. I do slightly feel them from time to time, whereas some of my other lenses are like air, but they aren't uncomfortable. Those with sensitive or dry eyes will probably get 4-6 hours of wear without having to apply eyedrops, but normally you'd get 8 hours or more without having to apply eyedrops.

Here is my video review of the lenses, watch it to see them in action :)



I am in looooove with the colour. When I was young and foolish (aka in high school), I hated my brown eyes and deeply envied a girl I knew who had mocha coloured skin and beautiful blue eyes. The contrast was so unusual and pretty. I'm not so adverse to having brown eyes anymore, but I love that I'm able to switch it up and have that jewel toned blue I so admired.

Natural Light

Artificial Light

I have been wearing the Geo Angel Blue lenses quite a lot recently, they're my new favourites :) Keep a look out for a Circle Lens giveaway coming soon! I'll be posting it at the end of this week. The lenses I am giving away are also from Angel Contacts, the beautiful Geo Nudy Grey lens that are very popular with a lot of Gyaru. Make sure you keep an eye out!

Polish Days: Vintage Nail Art

I love the vintage theme! Polka dots, stripes and roses are the usual thing in vintage nail art, but I love the look so I just went with it. I originally planned to do a Flapper style half moon mani, but I really wanted to try this scalloped lace technique that I saw on Eki's blog :) Mine isn't as perfect as hers, but it's my first time trying it so I'm sure practice will make me better!

I used Wet n Wild Private Viewing (the nude colour) and Wet n Wild French White Creme and then a few Kiss nail art polishes for the roses. The whole look was done using a dotting tool and the Kiss striping polishes, so it was fairly easy :) I finished with a coat of Out The Door top coat and done!

Vintage Nail Art

Vintage Nails

WnW Private Viewing is such a perfect nude colour for me! It's warm toned, so it suits my skintone perfectly :) Sadly, my nails have been subjected to some harsh treatment (that being me peeling gel polish off) and were peeling horribly, so I had to cut them down to within an inch of their life =_= The nails on my right hand are even shorter! I'm so sorry nails, I'll never peel again ;_; I only hope they'll grow back ok... A few people recommended I try Duri Rejuvacote, so I might give it a go. Does anyone have a place they recommend buying it from? I have seen it on Amazon so I might just buy it there.

I hope you like my Vintage nails as much as I enjoyed doing them :) I think the roses are so pretty and easy to do, I'll definitely be using them in more of my nail art looks! What do you think of when you hear 'vintage nail art'?

Decoden iPhone Case Giveaway Winner!

Aaaaaaaaand the winner is:

Jennie J.!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations Jennie, please check your email!

I'm having another giveaway next week, so be sure to stay tuned ;)

Maybelline Color Whisper Review and Comparision: Oh La Lilac & Go Nude

I love balm/gloss/lipstick hybrid products and I was so in love with the Revlon Lip Butters last year, when I saw the new Maybelline Color Whispers I knew I just had to have a few shades. Goodness knows I shouldn't be buying more lip products, since I have a whole drawerful of barely used lipsticks, glosses and everything in between, but when have I ever let that stop me??

I've been on a huge lilac and nude kick lately, I just love the two colours for spring! They work well for the tail end of winter too :) I have been trying not to buy pink and peach shades, since I have an overwhelming amount of them, so I decided to get these two: Oh La Lilac and Go Nude.

Maybelline Color Whisper in Oh La Lilac and Go Nude

Maybelline Color Whisper in Oh La Lilac and Go Nude

Maybelline Color Whisper in Oh La Lilac

Maybelline Color Whisper in Go Nude

They go on very smoothly, but the nude shade was slightly uneven and showed flaky skin a little more. This was only really noticable on camera and super close up, in reality it looked pretty smooth and even. They feel hydrating like a balm and are quite nice and glossy. They didn't last very long, probably only about 2 hours before I had to reapply and they tended to wear a little unevenly.

Now for the comparison! Of course, when I got these home I discovered I had very VERY similar shades of Revlon Lip Butters. I decided to compare them with Gumdrop and Creme Brulee.

L to R: Revlon Gumdrop, Maybelline Oh La Lilac, Maybelline Go Nude, Revlon Creme Brulee

L to R: Revlon Gumdrop, Maybelline Oh La Lilac, Maybelline Go Nude, Revlon Creme Brulee

The shades are very similar, but have different pigmentation, I felt the Color Whispers were easier to build up opacity, while the Lip Butters are more sheer. They also feel more like a balm, whereas the Lip Butters have tiny micro shimmer which makes them slightly gritty feeling when you first put it on, but it's not that noticable. Although I thought they looked smaller than the Revlon Lip Butters, the Lip Butters are .09oz/2.55g and the Color Whispers contain more at .11oz/3g. Overall, I feel like they are different enough to justify owning both (am I just trying to convince myself?).

I'm definitely a fan of the Color Whispers and think they're a lovely, hydrating lip product for those who prefer soft, subtle shades. They're not totally sheer though, they give a nice soft pop of colour which is perfect for Spring! You do have to reapply often, but you usually have to do that with lip balm and those types of products anyway.