Haul: Hits
Just a quick post today with lots of photos and not many words. I recently received my goodies from a Hits group buy coordinated by my lovely friend Rachel! Rachel went through a fair amount of stress with this order due to several situations that were out of her hands, and I want to give her a shout out for toughing it out and delivering all of us our pretty polishes in the end. Thanks!
Haul: Pahlish
At the beginning of February, Shannon from Pahlish announced a very special promotion: free shipping! With a coupon code, everything in her Esty store shipped free for a few days, including international orders. Of course, I took the opportunity to grab quite a few polishes. Here are some bottle shots of my haul!
Clanking of Crystal has a sky blue base with different shades of blue circle glitter and square glitter, with blue microshimmer. A must have for a blue fiend like me!
Like Calendars Dying has different shades of green glitter in a mint green base. Like Clanking of Crystal, it has circle and square glitter. But something different is its gold microshimmer!
Ace of Fours is a very complex polish. It has a blue base with teensy glitter in grey and blue. There is also pink, purple, and blue shimmer apparent in some lights.
Still Alive has gold and green glitter and shimmer suspended in a dark green base. Photographs don’t capture the true beauty of this one!
Pink Roses and Red Valentine Lace has a dark purple base and a multitude of pink, blue, burgundy, and purple glitter.
Heart of Manis a vampy red-based polish. The glitter in this one is mainly burgundy but there are some sparks of blue and purple too.
Prayers for Rainhas a dark blue base, with different shades of green, blue, and teal glitter. Sizes and shapes vary.
This New Sun has a burnt orange base (my photos are showing it to be more vivid than it really is). The glitter in this one is iridescent, with different colours apparent depending on the lighting.
I’m so spoiled for choice with my new Pahlishes that I haven’t been able to decide which one to wear first! Any suggestions? Which one is your favourite?
Haul: Nostalgic Nail Lacquer
Recently I placed an order with Nostalgic Nail Lacquer for some New Zealand polish loving buddies and myself. And what a haul it was! We ordered 24 bottles between 9 of us. It was super exciting having the giant bubble mailer arrive on my doorstep. Even if most of the goodies inside weren’t mine, nail mail is still nail mail!
I was very, very disciplined and picked up only three polishes, all of which were on sale for US$5.
Way Existential is a mix of matte black, white, and teal glitters in a clear base. Similar to I Love Nail Polish Full Turqued in thought, but completely different execution. If you love one, you’ll love the other, and you can definitely justify both!
The Athlete has several different shades and sizes of orange glitter, as well as white squares.
The Princess has white, red, and pink glitters suspended in a pink base. I’m not sure whether this shade of pink will work with my skintone, but for $5, I’m willing to give it a chance!
Haul: Pahlish
In January, Shannon from Pahlish announced that her 12 Days of Christmas collection would be discontinued at the end of the month, or when the stock ran out. I decided that I should probably grab the ones I liked before it was too late!
I bought Ten Lords-a-Leaping, Three French Hens, and Eight Maids-a-Milking. I have only worn one of these so far (slack!) but I’d like to share with you some pretty bottle shots.
Ten Lords-a-Leaping is a bright chartreuse base with lime and dark green glitters, and gold shimmer. It’s very unique and super, super gorgeous!
Three French Hens has brown, bronze, and red glitter suspended in a burnt orange base. I plan to layer this over OPI Chop-sticking To My Story - they are a great match.
Eight Maids-a-Milking has a light pinky-white base, with several colours of pink glitter and brown hexes. My photos do not show it, but there is also a gorgeous bright pink microshimmer that shines through when the bottle hits the light just right. I’m really interested and excited to see how it translates to the nail. I love the inclusion of the square glitters in this one!
Haul: Make Up Academy (MUA)
Last month, Make Up Academy (better known as MUA) had a big sale to celebrate 50 000 ‘likes’ on Facebook. Everything on their website was 50% off with a coupon code, and on top of that, shipping was free! I had never heard of the company before the sale. A friend linked me to their Facebook post announcing the deal and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to try out a new brand. Considering MUA items at full price are £1 - £3, 50% off made them a total steal!
I ended up placing two orders myself, and joining in on a further two orders placed by friends (thanks Grace and Lani!). I grabbed a few things for my mum too, but these aren’t included in this post.
MUA Love Hearts Lip Balm:
MUA Intense Kisses Lip Gloss:
MUA Kiss Proof Lip Stain:
MUA Lipstick:
MUA Lip Boom:
MUA Lip Liner Pencil:
MUA Intense Colour Eyeliner Pencil:
MUA Liquid Eyeliner:
MUA Glitter Eyeliner:
MUA Gel Eyeliner:
MUA Single Pearl Eyeshadows:
MUA Eyeshadow Palettes:
MUA Every Lash Mascara:
MUA Brow Kit:
I haven’t added in shade names as I am hoping to have some swatches and reviews up within the next few weeks for everything I purchased. I have only used a few things so far but I don’t have anything bad to say at this stage! I have even placed another small order with a group of friends for some more stuff I passed up during the sale. MUA convert over here!
Haul: Candeo Colors
Yay, finally a new post! Just a short, quick one today to help ease me back into blogging. A few weeks ago (maybe even months now, how time flies!) I managed to catch a restock from Candeo Colors. My frantic refreshing paid off and I was mildly successful in purchasing what I was after. I was a little disappointed that I missed out on South St (a big lemming of mine!) but these other polishes are so pretty that I couldn’t stay that way for long.
I have only worn Joker so far, and you can see my mani in this post.
Jellybean looks a little underfilled here, but that’s because I wore it before I took the photos! You can see it here.
This is two coats of Orchid. It would probably have benefited from three coats, or a base colour as underwear. This was a rush mani, done while I was in the middle of writing a 10 000 word law essay, so it’s not my tidiest job! Orchid applies wonderfully despite my failings and is super pretty. I love the shimmer throughout, it really sets it apart from many other glitter/jelly indies out there.
Haul: Cult Nails
Last year (gosh, it still feels weird to say that) on Black Friday, Cult Nails had an awesome sale. All of their polishes were $7! As soon as I heard this I knew I was at least ordering Clairvoyant, aka Unicorn Puke. Of course I picked up some extras too, when have I ever been known to just buy one polish!?
Haul: My first swap!
Recently I decided that I was giving up on nail stamping and that I was going to get rid of my Bundle Monster image plates. I’m part of a nail polish group on Facebook and I asked on there if any of the girls wanted my set. One of my friends, Rachael, said she would like it, and she suggested that we do a swap. I had never done a swap before!
Click through to see what I got!
Haul: Darling Girl Cosmetics
Well, I’m back from holiday! Unfortunately it rained almost every single day we were there so we only enjoyed one day of laying in the sun and swimming. But that’s OK because I got to laze around inside reading and watching TV! I only arrived back today so until I get back into my routine, here’s a post I already had drafted…
A few months ago, Susan from Darling Girl Cosmetics posted on her blog a list of products that would soon be discontinued. I noticed that quite a few of the eyeshadows in particular were on my wishlist, so I thought this was good motivation to place an order!
Haul: Llarowe
Today a have just a teeny weeny haul to show you - it’s only one bottle of nail polish! I still wanted to post about it though to give Llarowe a bit of a review as an online store. I bought a england Tristam with a 50% off coupon that Leah Ann released as a consolation prize for us who didn’t win her epic scavenger hunt giveaway, which she hosted several weeks ago.
Here’s some photos of Tristam to start with.
Tristam is a deep dark blue with holo glitter throughout. It’s really stunning in real life - photos do not do this baby justice. It really comes alive in sunlight:
See? Isn’t that beautiful? I can’t wait to get this on my nails. It’s unlike any polish I have seen before.
Llarowe shipped fast, and their postage costs were very reasonable (only a couple of dollars to get it from the States to New Zealand!). My polish was sent in one of those mailers with the bubblewrap on the inside. I was very pleased with the way Tristam was wrapped. Not only was he in bubblewrap, but also in a ziplock bag.
Having the polish in a bubblewrapped bag is really great if you end up with a broken or leaking bottle. I’m not sure how Leah Ann sends multiple bottles - whether or not they are in their own little bags or not - but regardless it’s nice to know that when you open the mailer and shove your hand in, it wont come out covered in polish if there’s been a fatality.
Tristam was bubblewrapped and taped so well that it took me ten minutes to get it unwrapped! I ended up having to rip the bubblewrap like a kid getting into a Christmas present. I always appreciate companies and sellers who put in extra effort when wrapping things like nail polishes. It puts my mind at ease. Nothing is more disappointing than a polish breaking through lazy wrapping.
Llarowe sells a england, Hits (the holos!), Picture Polish, Ozotic, and soon, Lynnderella frankens! I am so excited for the Lynnderellas. I probably wont be able to afford many of them but I am so pleased that I can finally get my hands on them if I want! Previously, Lynnderella only sold to US customers.
Tristam is a great polish and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to try out Adina’s brand. Remember, you can also buy Tristam from the a england site.
