Quickie Review - Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Mattes

Hey there!

I'm going to blame my tardiness on the fact that Georgia gets everything (makeup related) slower than every place else. When someone else posts about a new blush or a great discount, I have to wait a few weeks before I see it. So I now (late as can be) present to you my new Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Mattes lipsticks. 

I picked up Touch of Spice and Lust for Blush and instantly fell in love. They are matte but not "matte" matte. They are creamy and glide on smooth as silk. They are nicely pigmented. There isn't a weird smell or taste. And of course, they wear a long time.  

Because I love them so much and because I have a few open slots in my lipstick container, I have been eyeballing Daringly Nude, Ravishing Rose and Mesmerizing Magenta.

Keep a lookout on my Instagram for pictures!!

Empties!

Hey there!

So you've come back yet again to ramble through my bathroom trash can. Well come on in. You'll see some of the same items and a few new ones.

Major shocker -- I used up two AVON Bubble Baths (Vanilla Cream & Warm Vanilla & Fig - 2 for $10). I love them both and will always have both of these in my bathroom.  A while back I purchased 3 ULTA brand bubble bath minis (Marshmallow Chick and Yum Yum Yumberry - 3 for $10). None of them were super remarkable and I have no plans of repurchasing them. They didn't lather that well and honestly I was glad to get rid of them.

Another tube of Clobetasol Propionate. As I say each month, I don't have dandriff, I have seborrheic dermatitis. I know, I know. You can learn so much medical stuff from my blog! This is real life people! Anyway, I get a prescription from my doctor's office for this.

I finally finished my last Jergens Extra Moisturizing Hand Wash ($1 from Dollar Tree). I say finally because while this USE to be my favorite hand soap of life, I traded it in for the Bath & Body Works hand soaps. But, before I pulled out a B&BW hand soap, I wanted to use all of my Jergens up. Well, a few days ago that dream happened. Of course I'll purchase this again, when B&BW stops making hand soaps -- or I get tired of them and come back.

I finished a Colgate Total Toothpaste. I always stick with Colgate because my dentist said so. I don't think I always tell you good people about it. Sorry about that because I know that you want to know!

I've mentioned my uses of the eyebrow razor that I use to the unruly beasts above my eyeballs. These Annie Eyebrow razors. I get a pack of 3 or 5 from the beauty supply store. I can't remember the price but I normally go through one per month.

I included a toothbrush to remind you to change your toothbrushes every few months. If you get a cold or sick, change it after the illness. I keep mine and use them to clean things.

I picked up new large hair pins. As you can see, these were getting pretty darn ratty. I use this to pin my hair up each night or just get my hair out my face in general.

Pacifica Color Quench lip balm. I did a blog post on it. Nuff said.

I am tossing a CVS Nail Polish Corrector Pen. It was a nice idea but this didn't work.

The next items were used by the kiddo. I purchased the Murad Acne Starter Kit ($30) for her. We did a 15 day review. Consider this our 30 day review. I don't feel that it did anything better than anything else. She didn't think so either.

She did try the Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser ($8.47) and felt that she got better results from that than anything else she had used. We tried the sample and then I purchased the full size for her.

And, last but not least, my random item. It gets cold at night and sometimes I need a bit of tea to get warm. I finished a box of Yogi Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut tea. It's caffeine free so I drink it at night before bed. Love this. If you haven't tried it, pick up some from Wal-Mart or Target and try it.

And that's my trash. I can now throw all these items out!

Wine About It Wednesday - October

Hey There!

I decided that I wanted to dub the last Wednesday of each month as Wine About It Wednesday! No, I didn't misspell whine. No, we aren't going to complain about makeup or anything. We are going to talk about the wine that I drank the past month and what I thought about it. I'll also throw in a few wines that some of my friends drank the past month because if we only go with what I drink, it will be all white wines, all the time!

I'm a sweet Riesling (preferably Washington State) kinda girl. It took me 2 years to figure that out but once I did, ba--by! Once I discovered the secret to finding which wine works for me, I'm almost always able to find a great wine without going through too many duds. Almost. 

I try to attend wine tastings at my local wine shop. I say local, but I do have to travel a bit to get there. But, if you check out your wine store, you'll see that a few Saturdays or week nights each month, they pop open a few bottles and let customer sample for free. They also have classes (for $20 - $40) that you can take on regional or seasonal wines. Anytime you attend a tasting or a class you normally get a discount on the wines mentioned. More than that, after a few tastings/classes, you'll start to learn what types of wine you prefer and you can begin to go out on your own and try new wines.

For the first few months, I only purchased wine that I had tasted during my wine classes.  Then I got bold and went to my local grocery store and sought out like wines and tried them. Sometimes I would miss but more often than not, I'd hit. And no worries, when you miss you can always pass along the bottle or make a sangria.

And yes, I mentioned local grocery store. Many grocery stores and even some drugstores are really going the extra mile in their wine department. I was in my Kroger this past weekend and had a 10 minute conversation with their wine buyer! Grocery stores recognize that they might lose business if they don't cater to their customers. So, they add better lighting, bone up on their wine lists and let you know that you can come to them for great tasting wines.

So this month I have an old fave, a new fave and yes, two duds.

My old fave is my 2011 Late Harvest Riesling by B. Lovely. (Currently, I'm only able to find the 2012 Late Harvest but I'm sure it's just as good). Wow folks! This is one of my go to wines. It's just this side of sweet and so  refreshing that you can drink it chilled or cooled. It's a Washington State Riesling, so I wouldn't expect it to be anything other than fantastic!

(Side note. According to the world wide web, the approximate temperature to serve Rieslings is 47˚. Your fridge is already 35˚ and your freezer is 0˚).

The other lovely that I tried this month was Sweet Baby Bubbly. I picked this up a my Dekalb Farmer's Market. They have several wine buyers that can help with your selections. This is a sweet white moscato. It was so good I thought I was going to just get drunk off of it. I could just chug it down -- but I didn't.

I purchased my final two wines because they were recommended. I'm not speaking to either of those people anymore.

Apothic White Winemaker's Blend is a described as a "an approachable blend that combines Chardonnay, Riesling and Moscato to create a luscious, vibrant wine in the bold style of Apothic. Intense flavors of peach, pineapple, honey and vanilla spice make this smooth white blend unforgettable." Why yes, it was very unforgettable. I'm going to go with unforgettably nasty. I don't like dry wines and I think if the Apothic people took out the Chardonnay, we might have had a party. I'm not a fan.

Cheval Quancard Premières Côtes De Bordeaux comes in a really pretty bottle (you know how the review will go from here). I never thought I'd see the day that I got to say, this wine is toooo sweet! The TW&M website says this is "full-bodied, heady and rich in sugar". No joke sirs.

So, what did my genius behind do (because I am NOT pouring out wine)? I mixed the last two together! It wasn't great but I was able to drink them. I won't be purchasing them again.

And that was my wine drinking for the month. Stay tuned for next month when I'll be sipping on my FAVORITE of all time as well as another pick from the nice TW&M people. Also, I think there will be a red or two in the mix! I have a guest reviewer!

Come back next month, pour a glass of your favorite wine and see what I'm drinking on Wine About It Wednesday.

*Most wine notes were gathered from the Total Wine & More website -- the website where this wino lady gets her drink on. I also attend classes and tastings there (shout out to my peeps!).

Making a House a Home - Fall Decor

Table runner and kitchen towels in shades
of orange, brown and yellow.

Hey There!

This weekend I went all crazy lady and pulled out all my orange napkins, my leaf table runner, my multicolored foliage trees, my pumpkin scented candles… you get the point. I went all Seasonal on my house.

Candles, candles and more candles. Pumkin, apple
and kitchen spice scents. My house always smells yummy!

Most people that know me wouldn’t expect me to redecorate the house several times a year but I do. I like the idea of changing up my living space. Three or four times a year I air out my decorations and hang something new on the walls. I keep those Scotch Removable Wall Mounting tabs up all year. I’m hanging garland or pumpkins or something on them most of the time. My sofa and table cloths are neutral colors so I can use seasonal pops of color to make them festive. All it takes is a pillow or two or an inexpensive glass vase in different colors (yellow for summer, orange for fall, blue for winter – to match my Christmas tree and you can throw in a red one for Valentine’s day, green for Easter – you get the picture!). You can also use a seasonal throw on the back of the sofa (Wal-Mart has them for $5.88 most of the time), table cloth change, really anything that changes the color or a room will prepare it for the holiday ahead.

Pumpkins in deep orange and chocolate.
Sparkly ones too!

And stores like Target, Walmart, HomeGoods, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx…you get the picture, make it sooo easy to do this! You can walk in, spend $50 and come out with bags and bags of home décor. I personally catch most of my things at the end of each season and save them for the next yeat. It doesn’t take much, just a bit of planning.

Nail Polish Change - Nicole by OPI's Feeling Very Cherry & Orly Crawford's Wine

Hey There!

This month's Ipsy bag contained a Nicole by OPI nail polish. It was a BEAUTIFUL color, Very Cherry. It is such a rich formula that looked sooo pretty on my fingers. It's nicely opaque and after 2 coats it looked soooo good. It was deep, dark cherry color that made me want to bite my fingers off!

My only complaint is that I wasn't able to clean up my nails. Yep, that's why my nails look like that. I tried to use my tiny concealer brush to clean up mistakes and it didn't work at all! That's ok. It just means that I will have to take more time when using it.

I used the Orly Crawford's Wine on my tosies. Maybe my bottle was an older bottle because it was a rough go. It took several passes to make it smooth. I'm glad that it's on my feet during the Fall months. I wear shoes that cover those bad boys most of the time so it doesn't matter that the formula isn't that great. But, the color is nice.

My nail color lasted 4 days and by the 5th day the chipping was really noticeable. I've had the toe polish on for a week and will wear it for another week, at least.

Sunday Funday - Fall Nail Colors (Deep Red Fall-like)

Hey There!

I started out searching my stash for cranberry colored polish. It was hard to find a "true" cranberry in my collection. Then I let it slide to berry colors in general. That was easier but a little bit all over the place. Then I just went for deep reds that I felt were Fall-like. Much easier and hey, who can question what I consider to be Fall-like?! 

So these are my deep red Fall-like polishes. 

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in Red Carpet, Finger Paints in Millefio-Red and Sephora It Girl are so similar that they are almost interchangeable. Red Carpet is has a tiny bit of sparkle and it's almost textured because of it. Millefio-Red is slightly brighter than the other two and It Girl is slightly richer. All three are very pretty fall colors. They aren't deep vampy colors so I'm good with wearing them on my fingers or my toes.

Orly Crawford's Wine and  Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Wine Not are deeper reds. They don't seem to be overly remarkable colors but they both create a pretty contrast on most complexions -- pale skin or very dark skin can pull off these two.

I also pulled out 2 very vampy, deep red colors - Essie's Bahama Mama and Nicole by OPI's Feeling Very Cherry. I love the fact that both of these are really sexy nail colors. They are both very bold colors that it took me a while to feel I could carry off.

I'll be honest with you. Now that I've shown you the colors (and I've worn 3 of them) I'll put them right back into their homes. While these are such pretty colors for Fall, they aren't where my heart is. I thought they would be in early October when I pulled these all out. But now that I've picked up some other Fall colors and done Sunday Fundays on pumpkin and chocolate colors AND now that I've rambled through my existing polish colors, I think my nails will be wrapped in other colors. I've been leaning toward gunmetal grays, dark teals and dark creme blues for the season. I'm not sure how much play these traditional reds are going to get before the Christmas season.

But stay tuned. Everything is subject to change -- you know that!

Tag! What's In My Makeup Bag?

Hey There!

I went to a women's conference a few weeks ago and as I was packing I kept thinking about the other bloggers and vloggers that have done the "What's In My Makeup Bag" tag and I decided to do my own. I've been home for 2 weeks and I finally have time to go over everything.

No matter where you go, you have to pack a skin cleanser and moisturizer. Because I'd be wearing light makeup I didn't want to lug around heavy cleanser. I decided to take my new found love (which are currently in my drawer at work)-- my Wet n Wild Under The Sheets makeup wipes. A lot of folks don't like them because they are foamy and wet but I like them for travel because of that. I don't like to put hotel towels on my face so this gets my face clean enough that I don't have to. I also make sure to bring my Clinique All About Eyes Rich eye cream and my Neutrogena Oil-free Sensitive Skin moisturizer. I make sure that both of these are ALWAYS used twice a day.

I knew that I'd be sitting in a room full of women most of the two days so I didn't need to pack the big guns. We were going to have a formal dinner but again, all women and more "shop talk" than anything else. I was tempted not to pack any makeup but a good friend of mine that went to the conference with me always says you should try to add a little color to your face for you, not others, so I certainly wanted to pack a little bit of color.

I love my MAC  Studio Fix (NC 42). It adds the tiniest bit of color and does a great job of evening out my skin tone. To add a little contour and the slightest bit of color, I packed my Tarte Park Avenue Princess bronzer. It's not a deep bronzer -- it's a splash of life bronzer. It makes me look as though I have a healthy glow. To top it off, I didn't want to lug a highlighter and a blush so I packed my Maybelline Master Highlighting Blush in Mauve. I tipped my brush in the lightest shade and used it as a touch of highlight and then swirled over the rest of the cheek area for a glowing blush. Again, not a "night out on the town" blush but a "I might have had 8 hours of sleep and a good breakfast" blush.

I only took 2 makeup brushes with me. There wasn't any room for my whole makeup jar full of daily brushes. I brought my Claire's Kabuki brush and my e.l.f. Angled Blush Brush. I always say that when I bought my Claire's Kabuki brush I didn't expect it to be my number one, everyday brush. It is. I use it every day to apply my face powder. I can apply it heavily if I need to or lightly. It's the best $7.50 (I think) that I've ever spent. And, my second love is my e.l.f. Angled Blush Brush. I have two of these bad boys. I can use it to disperse my bronzer and blush. The size is great and the amount of product that it picks up is the correct amount. I have tried other bronzing brushes and blush brushes but none of them have matched this one.

I pulled out my Ipsy bag to carry my brushes in. This particular month's bag was perfect. The brushes fit very nicely into it and because it's plastic, I can wipe it off and disinfect it (inside and out) when needed.

One of my favorite lippies right now is my Kat Von D Studded Lipstick in Lovecraft. It's such a pretty mauvey pink. I love it. I also added 2 Rimmel London Full Color lip liners; one was to lighten the lipstick (Eastend Snob) and one was to darken it for my evening dinner event (Ravish). Both of them pair so well with the KVD lippie.

And that's it! No setting powder, no face primer, no finishing spray, nothing. I only brought the barest of essentials. Now, had it been a larger evening event, I'd have brought an eye pallet but that would have meant eye primer and different eye makeup remover and bringing my own face towels and... I decided that I didn't need to do that. That would have meant a second makeup bag to carry.

What do you take with you on overnight trips? Are you a minimalist or do to swipe the whole makeup counter into your bag? What can't you live without and what do you do without when you travel?

It's A Haul Y'all! - Revlon Top Speed Fast Dry Nail Enamel

Hey there!!

I was watching a YouTube video by my girl MoDiva38 (if you haven't watched her videos you are missing out folks! She is great.) and last week she mentioned finding Revlon Top Speed Fast Dry Nail Enamel at her local Dollar Tree. Revlon nail polish for a dollar? I don't really have to tell you what happened do I? Yep, I went to 2 local Dollar Trees and racked up!

Like Miss Mo Diva38, I like Revlon polishes. They are easy to apply and last pretty well. There are, of course, some hit or miss collections but as a whole they are good. I already had quite a few Revlon nail colors so adding to my collection was a no brainer. I did pick up 8 polishes from 2 of my local Dollar Tree stores and a double pack from Big Lots (2/$2.00). All of the polishes are Revlon Top Speed Fast Dry Nail Enamel except 1. Top Speed polishes are known to be a faster drying polish but since I use my Sally Hansen Insta-dry, all my polishes dry quickly.

I picked up Cupid, Candy and Lava & Charmed and Poppy. All of these are nice pinks, corals and fuchsias that work well as Spring and Summer colors. While I can see Lava being acceptable as a holiday red, I think the others will stay put until the first thaw of Spring.

I also picked up Sugar Plum, Espresso and Grape & Iconic (not a top speed polish) and Royal. These are purples, browns and blues that will work well in the Fall and Winter. I am very excited about Sugar Plum, Grape and Iconic. I think you good people will see these colors a lot this season.

I know that I have quite a few polish colors already but I still thank Miss Mo Diva38 for letting me know about this great find. You can never have too many nail polish colors. It's like changing up your shoes.

And we ALL know you can never have too many shoes!

Redefining What "Make It Up As You Go" Means

Hey there.

It has taken me over a month to write this post. It took me almost that long to begin forming the plan in my head. I thought about waiting until November 1 to begin but I can’t. Just like birthing a flesh and blood baby, ideas are born when they are ready to come.

I love all things girly. I may not wear dresses everyday but frills, perfume, polish and glitter are a constant part of my life.  Candles and bubble baths; seafoam green bedding with a mountain of pillows; glasses of wine and cups of pretentious coffee…all of these things make up my world along with makeup. I always share what’s going on in the world of makeup but if you peek at my Instagram account, you’ll also see the other pieces of my other world – Sunday morning coffee, drugstore wandering, wine with dinner having, Monday quote making, crazy and fun world.

I’d like to invite you into that world via this blog. Instead of just makeup, I’d like to add things like a Wine About It Wednesday (once a month) to talk about the wines that I’m currently loving. Maybe I can share a random Bath & Body Works Saturday to showcase new candles and smell goods that I shouldn’t have bought, but I did anyway.  Perhaps I can devote a Sunday afternoon to the lovely world of bejeweled pillows and the diy fairy light arches (true story folks).

In short, I’d like to become like the beloved Sigma F80 Kabuki brush – 3D (side note, OMG, have you ordered one of those yet? I’m on the fence!). I’d like to showcase pretty things besides makeup, maybe offer a quick diy on Fall décor, talk about the lasagna soup that I made or just sprinkle magical, happy fairy dust on your day with a few words of wisdom. I don’t know – it’s all running through my head at top speed and I have to get it out!

How does that work in the scheme of redefining what Make It Up As You Go means? Well, you can make anything up as you go. Sometimes you have to makeup your Monday as it goes (cause you already miss Friday). Sometimes you have to makeup your job as you go (cause you don't know how to do that spreadsheet!). And because none of us knows everything, sometimes we simply have to make up life as we go. You have to create your living space, breathing room, boundaries -- whatever it is, sometimes you are fumbling in the dark. Well, let's fumble together (wait...that didn't come out right. You know what I meant!).

So you are the lovelies that get to come on this Six Flags ride. What do you want to know or talk about? What do you want to hear/see? I don’t have everything super planned out but I have some ideas floating about.

But, don’t worry – they will still be TONS of makeup happening.

There will just be a bit more wine and candles with it!

Quickie Review - Pacifica Color Quench All Natural Moisture Lip Tint

Hey There!

I love a good lip moisturizer. I wear one every night and first thing every morning. After my lipstick wears off for the day I grab something and throw it on my lips. As a matter of fact, hold on a second while I moisturizer my kisser.

Ok, I'm back. My latest lip moisturizing purchase was a Pacifica Color Quench  All Natural Moisture Lip Tint. I was in line at T.J. Maxx and noticed it. I have a few other Pacifica items and I wanted to try this one. It was only $3.99 so what was the harm?

Well, there wasn't any harm. There wasn't a ton of benefit, but there wasn't any harm.

Let's start with the good. This lippie smells sooo good. It's like a mango, coconut smell that I love. It reminds me of the beach and Summer and you all know how I love Summer!

Ok. That's it. Done with the good.

Yep. That's all of the good. This moisturizer is not moisturizing. I rub it on (and it's not a smooth rub. It is very waxy -- hard wax) and I feel like I'm tugging at my lips. When I rub my lips together (you know, to get the moisture going) it's like there isn't anything on them. They are slick or slippery or anything.

The circumference of the tube is big so I feel like I'm glossing half my face and not just my lips. They could have kept it at half the size and that would have been big enough.

I wish I had liked this lip moisturizer more because it does smell really good. Because there isn't any color to it, it doesn't change the color of your lipstick either. But, because it's so waxy, it doesn't help your lips.

If you see this in the store, I'd stay away from it. It isn't terrible...

...but it really isn't any good.

Wal-Mart Beauty Box - Fall 2014

Hey There!

I said that I was going to try my hand at another subscription box and when I saw the quarterly Wal-mart subscription box for $5 a quarter, my alarm went off. That was the one for me! A subscription box that was quarterly and only $5 every 3 months? That was perfect!

I got my first box today and I was super excited to tear into it. I had no idea what was inside but it had to be worth $5, right? I was betting at least $10.

The first item that I saw was the Olay Regenerest Micro-Sculpting Cream (1.7 oz $23.94). If you recall, I got one of these samples when I went to my Oprah "The Life You Want" tour. I've been enjoying my sample and I'm glad that I got another one to test drive.

The next sample is a Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy duo (12.7 oz. 4.98 each). I've never tried this brand before so I'm very excited to try it. My sample is for Damage & Color Repair. My hair isn't really damaged (but it is relaxed) and I haven't had color in hair in about 12 years (but let one more silver/gray hair pop up!!).

I also got a L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Triple Power Deep-Acting Moisturizer (1.7oz $19.97). My sample is .5 oz so not bad at all. I will probably wait until I'm finished with my open container of Olay Regenerest Micro-Sculpting Cream before trying this one.

I'm gonna smell good (maybe) because I got a sample of Couture Couture by Juicy Couture (1 oz. $27.10). I've heard of the brand but not this scent. I will know quickly if this is for me or not.

There's a Secret Clinical Strength Clear Gel ($11.97). It's a full size so I am VERY happy about that. I have an event this weekend that I'll need a clear gel for.

And last but not least I got a CoverGirl Continuous Color lipstick in It's Your Mauve ($4.94). It appears to be a really pretty brown color (in time for Fall). I have a feeling I'll like this item too.

At first glance this box looks really good and again, I am more than sure that I got my $5 worth. Come back in a few weeks and we will see, shall we?

Nail Polish Change - SinfulColors in Vacation Time

Hey There!

Don't you LOVE this color? It's like warm melted chocolate dripping all over my fingers (which is the case a lot of the time - I'm such a foodie). 

Sinful Colors does it right when it comes to polish! They do a fan-dang-tastic job I tell ya! This particular polish is proof. I have only had 1 polish so far that wasn’t great. Besides this color (Vacation Time) being fantastic, this polish itself is great. It lasts all week, had very minimal chipping and brilliant shine. I always use my Sally Hansen Insta-Dry instead of/as a top coat but this would have been gorgeous without it.

I hated removing this polish. HATED it. My plan was to change polish every 3 or 4 days to showcase my darker, richer colors. I didn't want to! I got soooo many compliments on this color that taking it off was really a shame. And, except for where I jammed my ringer on the side of the car door (no pain, just shame), there were no chips until day 5! Then it was just the tips (I type a lot).

I don't even put this color back in its polish container. I just leave it out and when I can't fingure out what to wear, this bad boy goes on.

I got this for either $.99 or $1.99 at Walgreens. If you haven't tried Sinful Colors nail polish, this is a GREAT one to start off with.

Sunday Funday - Fall Nail Colors (Chocolate)

Hey There!

A few weeks ago I showed you all my pumpkin/orange nail polishes. It really was a way to gently push me into Fall. Well, I've been watching videos and reading other folks blogs and they have thrown me into Fall (without a parachute). I won't belabor the point that I'm not a fan of cold weather (I've beat that imaginary horse to death) so I'll just show you my chocolate nail collection.

I love anything chocolate. Chocolate bars, ice cream, eyeliner, eye shadow, lipstick, nail polish...if it's chocolate, I like it! So, I was surprised when I had more pumpkin/orange nail polish that I did chocolate nail polish. Now, I do have plenty of brown polishes that don't exactly fit into the chocolate realm (too peachy or blackish or leaning toward other colors) but I did have 7 that came near chocolate bar standards.

L'Oreal isn't my favorite nail polish in the world. The brush is too narrow, the color selection isn't as vast as I'd like and the formula chips quicker than most. For the price tag ($4.27 - $5.99) I'd like the formula to be better. Let me get a good 5 days out of you before you chip. Now, these particular colors (doutzen's nude & julianne's nude) are so pretty but if they chip in 2 days, it's not worth it for me. I originally bought them because of International Envy and now I've learned my lesson.

Sinful Colors nail polish makes me all tingly inside. I can wear their polishes for 5 days before the tips begin to chip. The brush isn't tapered but it's wide enough that I'm able to paint my nail without dipping into the bottle twelve times. And this color (Vacation Time) is to die for. It's pretty much the same as the L'Oreal julianne's nude but because the formula is better, so I reach for Sinful Colors more often.

I have this Avon color (Golden Sand) as a hold out from when I had only a few colors (many years ago). I wore this one all the time and didn't care about chips or not. I'd go 2 weeks before I changed polish! I wouldn't dare do that now! But, this is a good polish. The color isn't as rich and chocolaty as some of my other colors but it's a good formula. I have tried some of the newer Avon polishes and didn't like their formula (even though it was from the same line). Companies have to remember that if you change one tiny thing, it could make your product not so great.

I resisted purchasing Essie polishes for a looooong time. I was gifted one many years ago and I didn't see the big deal. It lasted just as long as anything else and the color range, while good, wasn't anything amazing. Even now, I purchase certain colors at full price (normally about $8.50, $8.99) because I REALLY like them. Otherwise, I get them with some sort of discount at Ulta, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls or Target. I try my hardest not to pay full price for an Essie polish. I bought this one (Mink Muffs) because I thought it was a nice, deep chocolate polish but I have only worn it once.

China Glaze (Chocodisiac) and Sally Hansen (Branch Out) have each been worn once on my toes. They are nice colors against pale skin so they are going to be great on my fingers once my tan wears off. Until then, toes here they come. Both polish formulas are good and they last quite a while before chipping. China Glaze has a smaller brush so it's harder to do the toesies but Sally Hansen has that tapered brush that I love, so it's easier.

Again, these are just some of the Chocolatey goodness that goes on my nails during the Fall and Winter. I am now lighting pumpkin candles and drinking my winter teas and coffees so I'm reluctantly committed to Fall.

I'm still praying for a warm winter without any snow.