Katy Perry's "Not Like the Movies": Bad song, good polish

OPI Not like the movies looks like bottled Tahitian Pearls! Really beautiful. It seems a little unfitting that it's a part of the Katy Perry collection; if you ask me, this should belong in a Pirates of the Caribbean collection  (black pearl, anyone?)! Depending on the light, the polish is grey with varying amounts of pink and green flashes. I think you can see some of that in the picture below. This is a sunlight photo, so my nails are washed out, but the bottle shows nice duochrome. At night it seems more grey, in daytime it seems more iridescent pink. I don't really see much of the green on the nails.

 All in all, really pretty, these pictures don't really do it justice. For some reason, it's looking sheer (at two coats) in these pictures, however in real life it looks more opaque to me. Perhaps the shimmer, which is less evident in photos covers up the actual sheerness.

When I first put on Not Like the Movies, I was struck by the familiarity of the strong iridescent pink with fine silver shimmer. It was just like OPI Pearl of Wisdom from last year's Hong Kong collection. Both look a lot less pink in the bottle, however on the nails there's the exact same strong pink iridescence.

Here's a picture of Pearl of Wisdom and Not like the movies side by side. My photos don't capture the pink iridescence well, but believe me it's there! And it's the same! NLTM is POW with a greyed base. I'm now totally convinced that NLTM should have been called Black Pearl... =P

And of course I had to try out Katy Perry's OPI Black Shatter on top.

Finally, some mussels I had for lunch the other day--- the natural iridescence of shells are just so pretty. They were delicious too. I didn't have any white wine on hand, only thyme and olive oil. However, they came out fine--- it's really hard to mess up mussels. Yum.

Finally, thanks again to OH MY POLISH! for gifting me the polish. More to come!

Love, Dovey

P.S. I was curious what the actual Katy Perry Not Like the Movies song sounded like. With all due respect... gahhhhhh. (Sorry if any KP fans out there). =P

Package full o' polish from OH MY POLISH!

Today I checked my mailbox, and found ....my package from the OH MY POLISH! giveaway!  I feel so lucky to have won, and it's doubly exciting because  OH MY POLISH!  is one of my favorite nail blog haunts. She was super sweet and even threw in a Burt's Bees kit just for me, the Burt's fanatic =). Needless to say, I was over-the-top excited, like a kid on Christmas! 

I'm gaga over everything, (and there's really so much, she was so generous), so I'll probably share more detailed pictures over the next several entries. The selection of polish is chock full of awesomeness --- with glitters, greens, and a shatter! Lately I've been buying "wearable" colors, and all these fun things fell by the wayside (especially glitter)--- so it was a much needed nail energizer. Among the colors are Essie Lilacism and Incognito (love) and colors from the OPI Katy Perry collection. Now, I've never been a huge fan of Katy Perry's music, but her taste in polish is ... just awesome. And this collection looks even better in person. I haven't even tried the other polishes on, but I already know I need to find the blue glitter Last Friday Night. 

After much deliberation, I decided to wear China Glaze Zombie Zest! The name is pretty gross (Halloween), however it's such a fun color--- a golden moss green sparkle. It's actually a really wearable color that in a sense is almost neutral. The warm gold tones make it really flattering on my skin. Only two coats required, which makes me happy. I'm not sure why I don't own more China glaze, because this one's great!

So that's all for today, but the other colors will definitely be debuting soon!  OH MY POLISH! is already so popular that most have probably already visited before, however I do recommend it if you haven't. I really love her perfect (short-ish, yay!) nails, and her selections are always up my alley. 

Hope your Saturdays are relaxing and going well--- I think I'm going to spend mine catching up on some much needed cooking and cleaning projects!

Love, a glitter-crazed-Dovey

Feeling Zen with Ocean Love Potion (SOPI)

This morning I decided to go to work a bit late and instead do some computer work (and dilly-dallying) at home instead. Sooooo I had the time to paint my nails. I was drawn to Sephora by OPI's Ocean Love Potion, which is one of the oldest SOPIs in my stash. The blue-green creme is such a calming color- it's the perfect color-therapy for stressful times at work. I also notice, the more stressed I am, the more likely I am to paint my nails!

In terms of application, it was flawless. SOPI's have great formula in general, but Ocean Love Potion is on the better end of great! I fell in love with SOPI all over again. I'm a little conflicted since OPI was bought out by Coty, a known animal cruelty company. Supposedly PETA still supports OPI since it has pledged to remain cruelty free, however you can't help but think that some of your money is ending up in the wrong hands. I'm not sure what sort of cut OPI gets from Sephora by OPIs, making this even more murky. I  think I may tentatively continue to purchase select SOPI colors I really love, but not as often as I did before.

On a more positive note, surprise! Baby Bird is making an appearance in this entry =). For those of you who don't know Baby Bird, she's my mischievous secondhand poodle. I found her in a shelter almost three years ago. She doesn't really like the smell of polish (who does?) and ran away shortly after this pic.

Finally, here's a picture of my jade plant, or rather what's left of my jade plant. I've had it for about  a year now--- I think it was from Trader Joes. If you've seen Jade plants usually they're big and branchy and tree-like. My plant used to be this way, until I took bad care of it and it all but died. Maybe I watered it too much? However a few branchlings took root (as succulents often do) and there are a few little plants growing. You can see one BIG leaf, which was the leaf size of my original plant. The little guys are growing reaaaally slowly. This plant is a lot more finicky than my other succulents for sure. I'd like for it to grow faster--- so if anyone with a green thumb has ideas, I'd love to hear!

Last time I wrote about feeling like spring... however it's supposed to snow again soon according to the forecast. Sigh. My new sunhat and a yellow bikini lemmings went down the drain. Well, a girl can dream....

Love, Dovey.

Lavande NOTD + CHANEL goodies

Happy President's Day! Today I'm sharing my NOTD, plus the Chanel goodies I picked up over the weekend as my project ten pan reward. The warm weather has inspired a "spring is in the air" feeling, and so my everyday color palette has been geared toward pale purples and yellows. I took out a pair of lovely large amethyst stud earrings that were a gift from my fiance a while back and have been wearing them almost daily. To match, I decided to give myself a manicure and pedicure with a nice 'lavande' color.

I chose OPI Rumple's Wiggin from my stash (more photos / swatches). It's a lovely pale lavender creme, which leans a little bluer on me, but not so much that it clashes with my warm toned skin. Really lovely. The formula, was great too. I love doing NOTDs, however I'm aware that my extreme shorty nails aren't that aesthetically pleasing in photos! It's impossible for me to grow them. I don't bite my nails, I'm just really OCD about trimming them. I had to keep them short for piano when I was younger, and now for my profession as well.

Next, I finished my fourth round of Project Ten Pan! My PTPs include bath, body, and skin-care products because I think that's where my major sickness (=P) lies. And samples, since I'm so overloaded with clutter! My list of completed items include:

Project Ten Pan #4 Completion List

1. BUXOM mascara 

2. Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm 

3. Clinique rinse-off foaming cleanser sample

4. LUSH snowglobe soap 

5. Bath and Body Works Black Raspberry Vanilla 10oz. Shower Gel

6. Urban Decay mini primer potion

7. Portico white Ginger body Lotion (hotel size)

8. Burt's Bees Honey and Orange Wax Body Lotion

9. Clinique Moisture Surge 1 oz. 

10. Portico white ginger shampoo (hotel size)

To celebrate round four, I splurged on more Chanel again (see Nakkar and Peregrina from last time). I bought Chanel Rouge Allure in Coquette which is another lippie from that perfect Spring 2011 collection (cafe makeup swatch). I also bought the newest Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation.

I've been on the search for a new foundation ever since I realized that my Bobbi Brown Oil-free compact foundation makes me break out. A few years ago, I went through a period of high stress and had really bad skin. I bought foundation, however I while wearing it, my skin got worse over the course of the day and better at night. I assumed that foundation just does that to your skin. Things have been better,  so I went without foundation for a while and my skin improved. For valentine's day, I tried my foundation again. And then for the next week I had a angry red marks and a couple cystic acne spots. I read Beauty Look Book's foundation series --- which made me realize that it's possible that I might not be allergic to foundation in general. In fact, it seems that it's not uncommon to react to Bobbi Brown's foundations if you're sensitive. That gave me new hope, so I'm trying out Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua. It's really light (water based) and really comfortable. I was matched to Beige Pastel, which is their lightest yellow (not pink) color. I'm not that pale, so I'm not sure what paler people will use! I'll test it out for a while and report results. I was also interested in Diorskin Nude which I read about on Miss Diorista. It seems like another light water-based foundation.

There's a lot on my plate at work lately, so entries will be slow in coming. I recently discovered the wonders of Makeup alley. I'm still figuring out how to navigate it though! Do you girls like Rumple's Wiggin? Any other good spring colors? Or good foundations I ought to try?

Happy President's Day!

Love, Dovey

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Edit: I've added pictures of the ingredient labels as requested by "Anonymous". They're small, but you can click to enlarge. The ingredients are listed on the packaging and not the bottle, so if you go to the counter you could easily check. My ingredient list has a big fat Nordies label on it. I wish I could peel it off for you, but I'm saving it just in case I have some bad reaction and have to return the bottle!

CHANEL Nakkar Glossimer + the band perry

You know those days when everything seems to go your way? Today was one of those! At work, I got to meet an inspiring speaker, I found out I won a giveaway from Oh My Polish! (a blog I frequent and love--- still can't believe it, I'm so excited), and when I got home a magazine and The Band Perry CD I ordered were sitting in my mailbox! Phew. The only thing I'm worried about is a karma shift for tomorrow--- you know, things always seem to balance out!

It's a happy day, so I thought I'd share some things that make me happy. Like my Forever 21 aviators that I've been wearing to block the glare from the snow. And my new The Band Perry CD. And my Chanel Nakkar Glossimer.

More on the glossimer....CHANEL Nakkar is from the Spring 2011 Collection. There were so many gems in that collection, I just wish I could have bought everything! However, I only have Nakkar Glossimer and the Rouge Coco in Peregrina that I posted on earlier as my reward for Project Ten Pan

Nakkar is described as a raspberry pink, but I'd say it's more of a strawberry. My photos of the tube itself  are a little light but the swatch is pretty accurate. It's definitely a warm pink with some gold flecks. Very pretty on my warm skin. It's just a really wearable, bright pink. And as is typical of glossimers, great texture too. I guess you'd hope as much for something that pricey!

I don't have so many lip products, but I thought I'd compare to Peregrina lipstick since it's from the same collection, and another bright pink lip gloss I own.

You can see that it's definitely a warmer toned pink than Bobbi Brown Lip Gloss in Rosy. The subtle gold flecks also add a pretty shine! Overall I like it a lot and have worn it a lot lately. I think I'm picky about lip gloss formulas, since they can dry down to an uncomfortable sticky state on my dry lips, so maybe the splurge is worth it.

And finally, I have the YouTube video of If I Die Young by The Band Perry. I'm going through a country music phase now, and I got hooked on this song. It's a little strange, but sounds pretty =). So far, I'm loving the CD, and it'll be my go to for a while.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any favorite music (or lip gloss?) of the moment, I'd love to check them out!

Love, Dovey

CHANEL Rouge Coco in Peregrina + everyday lip favorites

Recently, I completed my third round of Project Ten Pan, and ‘rewarded’ myself with a couple CHANEL lip colors. This was actually the first time I completed PTP without any slip-ups, so I was pretty proud of myself. The first time, I slipped up and bought a Pacifica Blood orange hand lotion, and the second time I bought Burt’s Bees honey and orange wax body lotion. Doing PTP has helped me realize I’m more addicted to buying things than I’d previously thought, especially bath and body products. The annoyance of trying to use up all that stuff has really made its point, so for my Ten Pan haul, I decided to get something special I’d really love and use.

I’d really been in love with the CHANEL Rouge Coco in Peregrina since I saw it in the spring 2011 collection online. The only concern I had is that reviews seem to say that Rouge coco’s are really drying, and I have really dry lips. However, I’m pleased to report there’s no significant drying when use balm and/or lip scrub beforehand. It’s definitely not moisturizing or hydrating, but comfortable. Lately I find that lip glosses, while they look and feel moisturizing, leave this tacky residue behind which becomes more drying in the long run.   

Peregrina is the third lipstick I’ve ever bought. Therefore, I don’t have a lot of comparisons. However in the photos you can see that it’s a light and bright peach. Not much pink when compared to Voile de Rose which is a warm pink lip color.  I have warm skin which drowns out some of the yellow and makes it look pinker, however it still has a lot of orange tones. Hence, great for me, but probably not for cool-toned skin.  All in all, two thumbs up (if you have warm toned skin)!


Edit (3/13/11): I realized how peach and not pink my swatch is pulling in this picture! I've been wearing this for month now, and it looks much better when on the lips. It becomes a bright pinky-peach on my light/medium colored lips. It's become an everyday staple for me, probably because the hint of peach on the lips looks more natural than a neutral or blue toned pink. 

Finally, here are my pre-treatment necessities for lipstick. LUSH Bon Bon lip scrub to make my lips smooth (it tastes good too- like sweet lemon) and my trusty minty Burt’s bees beeswax lip balm which I put on before lipstick. I like the beeswax balm as opposed to other more emollient / creamier balms because it 

doesn’t mix in as much when you put on the lipstick.

Hope you enjoyed my photos of Chanel rouge coco in peregrina. If you have any lip treatment ideas, please do share, as I’m a relative newbie at this!

Love, Dovey

January 2011 Favorites – What’s old is new

I'm back online! After a month of no internet/phone because of horrible AT&T customer service, a competent tech finally came out and fixed everything. However, I'm still extremely disgruntled at AT&T for the 40 or so hours of my time wasted, lies, and just general incompetency. Just say no to AT&T!

The month of January was largely spent 10-panning, so I don't have a lot of “new” favorites to start out the New Year. Instead, I went back to basics and fell in love with some of my “old” favorites that had somehow fallen by the wayside. 

1. Burt’s Bees Almond Milk Hand Crème – this is Holy Grail for hands. I’ve gone through a couple tubs of this hand crème in the past. In January my hands got really dry to the point where they were painful and lotion is futile. Fortunately I found a mini-tub of Almond Milk Hand Crème in my fridge, and it is the only thing that healed the skin on my hands. I will never go a winter without this again! I think the wax in really seals in the moisture so you don’t feel dry after just a few minutes like with conventional hand lotions. And I find the almond smell divine.

2. Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner in Black- this has been my favorite liner forever. It’s way more intense and long lasting than pencil. I think there are other good gel liners out there (MAC, Smashbox), but I haven’t used them so I can’t compare. I still have to use primer underneath because my eyelid rubs against the lashline frequently, but I doubt most people have that problem.

3. Avalon Organics Vitamin C facial serum- This is a serum that brightens and evens out skin tone over time. I cannot offer proof, but I think this really works for me and feels good going on. I don’t think I’m alone--- you can see another positive review by Strawberry Mochi. You can find it in Targets, drugstores, and the like.

4. Orly Sheer Peche Nail Polish- lovely clean and sheer peachy pink tinted nail color with nearly invisible shimmer. Reviewed here. I really love natural looking nails lately.

5. LUSH Bon Bon Lip Scrub- My new must-have. It scrubs away the dry skin with sugar and lemony oils. This was limited edition for winter, but there are other flavors available year-round. Scrubbing away the dry skin not only looks better, it keeps my lips more hydrated since the dry flakes aren’t wicking away moisture. It’s a tad expensive considering it’s mostly castor sugar, and I bet you could make your own on the cheap with the sugar and a few drops of oil.

6. Bobbi Brown Warm Eyeshadow Palette- still a favorite like it was last month. I love the natural colors.

7. LUSH Snowcake soap- a creamy almond marzipan smelling soap. Reviewed here. As you can tell, I love almond smelling bath and body products.

8. NARS Deep Throat Blush- January was really a peachy blush month, hence NARS Deep throat. So far in February I’ve been favoring NARS Orgasm instead. I should really find a new favorite blush, but I’m still obsessed my NARS blushes, ever since I first tried them a few months ago.

9. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer in Nude- Still like this stuff, just like last month.

10. BUXOM Lip Gloss in Lacey- this was my first BUXOM. It’s a bright coral poppy colored gloss that is very pretty. I rediscovered this during PTP.

11. Burt’s Bees Coconut Foot Crème- Another excellent re-discovery. This is a really thick foot crème full of deeply moisturizing coconut oils. I also use it on knees and elbows to keep them looking moisturized. The only downside is you might have to wait a minute for all the oils to soak in. Just like the Almond Milk Hand Crème, this is one of the best of Burt’s Bees. 

It was really fun rediscovering my old-favorites. They were obviously favorites for a reason! Yesterday the man and I stopped at Target to pick up some windshield fluid, and I had a field day ogling the beauty section. They had one aisle with Burt’s Bees, Eco-Tools, Yes! to, and Avalon Organics products. Oh, happy day. Now I know what I’ll be getting for my next post-ten pan ‘reward’. Last time I splurged on Chanel lippies, so this time I’ll go for something more budget friendly (but equally awesome). 

Hope you enjoyed my January favorites. I’ve read a few other favorites / collection posts recently (Strawberry Mochi,  Miss Diorista , Matryoshka Doll Beauty ); they’re always fun! Let me know if you’ve seen any other good posts, or have some personal faves to share too! 

Love, Dovey.