review: nailmuse watercolor false nails

hi guys! so it's been a bit huh? i've actually been putting off this post because i almost didn't want to make it to be honest. but since i said that i would review them in my haul post, here we are. ~Lindsay

this is the watercolor set, and i ordered these in short square length and shape in my custom sizes. this set was about $17 after shipping and included a small buffing block, orange stick, and coupon code for next time. the nails came in a jewelry-type box, and attached to the cotton on double sided tape. these did not come with adhesive, but adhesive stickers were available in her shop.

sizing: i think that the next time i order from her shop, i will actually measure my nails.
when i ordered these, it was my first week trying out the other false nails that i recently bought, and for whatever reason i thought that all brands who have the same sizing scale (0-9 in these case) should in theory be the same sizes. LOL, NO. on at least two or three nails in this set, i had a little difficulty applying them because they were one size too small. by small, i mean across the width of the nail. and because of this, they did not want to sit and adhere properly. it took a few tries to get these to stay in place. but at any rate, i blame this one on me.

nails: these nails are actually quite thick, something similar to the impress nails that i'd typically buy. they also had numbers on the undersides near the tip edge to indicate their size.

shape:  these were exactly what i expected. i tend to keep my natural nails as square or squoval depending on how they grow or end up being broken, lol.

length/experience: i think this is where i had the biggest problem with this set. again, this is a me issue, and not anything actually against these nails themselves. these were too long for me. if you compare these first two photos with the last, you can see what i mean. as i mentioned in a previous false nails post, i was clipping them pretty close to where i tend to keep my natural nails (if not, accidentally cutting my nail and the fake! oops!). but i tried my best to work with this set of nails despite their length. unfortunately, by day 3 (yes super sad), i noticed one of the nails beginning to peel. 😱 and again, i'm mostly attributing this to the fact that these nails were too long for me. that night, try as i may to use clear polishes or...something...to re-adhere it down... failure. so i ended up making the executive decision to prematurely peel the entire set off to prevent further damage to the design, ended up causing major breakage to two of my natural nails (again, i'm at fault, lol), and replaced them with the ones photographed below.

butter london disco biscuit (wow, look how dark this polish got! see 2012 post)

final thoughts
pros: great price, arrived exactly when promised, beautiful design and selection.
cons: (again, for me) the length
what i'd do next time: and yes, there definitely will be a next time because her selection is beautiful.
measure my nails and order the correct sizes. ask if she can shorten them even more. while i'm measuring the correct widths, i can measure the length! ask her to create replacements for the ones that i ordered in the wrong size and the peeling nail -- of course, i intend to pay for them! try another shape (maybe coffin) and design (holo and unicorn look amaaaazing!).

early march hauls

hi guys! because i can and because a few things in here are supah new, i'm just going to put this post out there! ~Lindsay

sky organics march bubble box -- this one out of the 4 has been one of my favorites to open! just smelling the unopened package, i was like yessss. i love herbal and aromatherapy type scents and this one was perfect. so far i've used the bubble scoop and was indifferent about the gummy bear scent, but it did make some nice bubbles! i can't wait to use the other three!

ulta haul! so, ulta only lets you redeem your birthday gift in stores, and this year's present was a lip mask and lip oil. i'll probably pass the lip oil along because idk about those things... and for being a platinum member, i also got a $10 off coupon. so after scoping out the website, i saw that they had these i dew care mini meow trios from memebox, which i'd been eyeing disco kitten ever since T told me about it. i do have a huge complaint about this set though: the value of this set is terrible. it's $19 for about 1 oz total, whereas if you buy one of these three in full size, it's $23 for nearly 3 oz. let that sink in. i almost think that my birthday coupon was kind of wasted in this regard, but at the very least, i got it at "a discount" sort of...? and i also got some more tako masks because it was fun and i liked it last time.

makeup geek: eyeshadows in lucky penny, insomnia, and barcelona beach. i didn't swatch barcelona beach because this is like my 3rd pan now, and i've got swatches a few places on here and her website has good photos anyway. also, as mentioned before, don't forget to check her sale page. damaged products are at an awesome discount and they don't look bad to me. lucky penny was "damaged" but to me, it looks like it was pressed into the pan slightly funny. but i'll take the discount!

insomnia (pressed), lucky penny

amazon haul!
so as very few people may have seen (because i archived it...) i had a poor packaging experience with an amazon order recently. for those that don't know, amazon has a prime samples page where you can try items for some cost, and receive and item and credit toward that or similar items. i ordered two macadamia natural oil items, the nourishing moisture oil treatment and the nourishing moisture mask. the oil treatment broke in transit and spilled everywhere and it was awful. they ended up refunding me, and i still had the $8 in credit ($4 each), so i went ahead and ordered this lil guy which is regularly $12 for 2 oz! highway robbery right there... granted products from this brand are generally more expensive, but still. anyway, after trying this mask out, it is not the same as their original deep repair mask. i'm disappointed because the original smelled amazing and worked wonders, and this is a whatever deep conditioner to me.
and for the big thing, lol, is a sky organics bath bomb set. i'm not sure if it's still active, but there's a $5 coupon that you can "clip" on amazon's product detail pages of at least their bath sets (not sure about their individual items), so this set became $20. i'm excited because the mad in love bath bomb (1st column, 2nd row) was in the february bubble box and i really liked it! (sidenote: on their actual website, you can build 6 bomb sets with whichever ones you want, w00t!)

two nine sticker co goodies! i haven't had a monthly kit from her in a while and i love the new format!

as much as i've been posting about sky organics bath products recently, i am in no way affiliated or sponsored by them. i legit have been buying all of these items recently, now that i have an actual tub to use them in!

february 2018: sephora play!

hi guys! it's march. not that you didn't already know that.... anyway. here's what i got in my february sephora play! box! (theme: feel the love) ~Lindsay ^.~

always red, rebel chic

rebel chic

(here's a circa 2016 photo for ya!) always red

1. sephora collection cream lip stain in always red -- yay for a repeat product. as mentioned just above, this actually came in the december 2016 sephora play! box. the idea for this box was that you'd get two lip colors to share one with a friend. well if most people have gotten one or more samples of this lipstick 🙋, they've been and done passing this along to a friend. that's beside the point. this lipstick stains and stays there, my arm swatch took quite a while to wear away! i haven't worn them regularly enough to remember how well these last throughout the day (i have a few colors now), but i do remember liking them. and this red's really pretty.
   repurchase? other colors
2. sephora collection rouge matte lipstick in rebel chic -- i really did not like how this applied. it was so dry feeling from the tube, and after a few minutes of wearing (i had to take it off..). it does have some staining power, but i'm not about this formula to find out how long it'd last.
   repurchase? no
3. lancome monsieur big mascara -- i just talked about this in a recent empties! yay for another sample!
   repurchase? yes
4. belif moisturizing eye bomb -- this smells exactly the same as the aqua bomb. feels like it too. whether or not it's working, i'm not sure, but i think so? either way i'm probably not going to repurchase, but i appreciate the opportunity to try it out.
   repurchase? nah
5. first aid beauty ginger & turmeric vitamin c jelly mask -- the one thing in this box that i haven't tried yet. i hear turmeric is often used in DIY face masks, so i'm definitely interested in trying this!
   repurchase? undecided
6. viktor & rolf flowerbomb -- i cannot count on two hands how many times i've received a sample of this. everyone raves about this perfume, but i don't like florals.
   repurchase? no
7. 'coupon' for an extra 50 points on the next in-store purchase

erin condren vertical life planner - my february

hi guys! where did the day go?! yesterday i said i'd play catch up today, and then all the adulting and slight computer issues (bios updates...) happened and it's already this late! anyway, here's at least one more post for now! ~Lindsay ^.~

monthly calendar spread: main theme is from Hurricane Randi. deco from OMWL, TCMC, PinkPaperPlane, TamashiPrints, PlannerStudio, AHappyBlueTree, WontonInAMillion, RiverStreetStickers, OhHelloStationeryCo, and PlannerFrenzy.

week 1: ugh, TCMC kits are so pretty!

week 2: MNA kits are also super pretteh! i'm not sure what this one was called, but i got it in a misfit bag. this is the second time i'm using this kit, since i somehow got two mistfit kits! since i didn't have a complete kit, i used various stores' headers and hydrate/check boxes.
for actual life things... i originally had an eye appointment for the previous week and ended up rescheduling it to go to my great uncle's birthday party... we didn't end up getting to go because teh paul had the flu and the flu and old people don't go well together..... then i ended up getting to my appointment and they said my prescription's good for a few more months. so i cancelled it, since i just wanted to get some prescription sunglasses --- i still need to go back and pick some out.. hahaha. as annoying as it is, it kind of makes sense how insurance works. if i carry paul for anything, i also have to have it. i ordinarily wouldn't carry vision since my eyes haven't changed much, and i'm on like my 4th pair of glasses since 2003? my last pair being 10 years old when i got my current ones last year! but anyway, i don't recall what his vision plan is, but mine is somehow better. so if he needs it, i have to have it too. 

week 3: do you guys like my franken week?! lookit all those things! v-day kit from Hurricane Randi, mardi gras & year of the dog kits from Boulderbon, CNY sticker from PinkPaperPlane. then random deco stickers from WontonInAMillion (& CNY washis), TCMC, and OMWL.

week 4: threw this together since all of these were glossy from a Boulderbon grab bag, and they kind of went together..ish. still trying to figure out how to use stamps here, lol.
so, do you guys remember around this time last year (march-april), i think i mentioned that my stereo in my car died. like it just randomly keeled over in a matter of 36 hours of showing signs. (it's a 2012.) anyway, i bought a $30 bluetooth speaker to pair with my phone, after learning that the dealership wanted a whopping $1500 after the $100 diagnostic fee i already paid for parts and labor to replace it. what is that?! anyway, we bought some pry tools to get the bezel off, and we bought an OEM stereo from a parts person (likely from a junkyard or something..) and were able to [finally] replace my stereo for around $100 and about 2 hours of time. smh. but i'm glad that my car is "a car" again!
also, for those from not around these parts... we call vehicle inspection stickers brake tags for some reason..

notes page: well done is better than well said

february empties!

hi guys! it's empties time and i finished off quite a few larger items this month! ~Lindsay

1. simple cleansing wipes
2. sonia kashuk eye makeup remover
3. tree hut sugar scrub in passionfruit & guava
4. the body shop tea tree oil
5. volumedic shampoo
6. aussie 3 minute miracle moist
7. bioderma sensibio
8. garnier micellar water
9. tarte maracuja eye cream
10. it cosmetics bye bye under eye corrector in light
11. soap and glory flake away
12. mystic divine nourishing oil treatment
13. loreal pure clay cleanser in purify-mattify -- while i liked this as a cleanser, i'm not sure i'd get it again. it has the same scent as the matching mask, which i'm not totally sure how to describe... anyway, i thought this worked fine as a cleanser, but i can't really say i think it helped mattify my face. i do think that the purification did happen, because it took a bit for my face to get used to and i broke out a bit here and there at first.
    repurchase? nah
14. biobelle primer sheet mask -- i got these in a recent ipsy bag. i need to try another one because i tried it with a foundation sample (marc jacobs shameless, not my usual foundation), and it was great. i stayed matte all day and everything seemed to stay in place. when i used the same foundation sample with my usual primers, i didn't get the same experience.
    repurchase? undecided
15. nails inc nailkale -- did i have this in the favorites of past? i can't remember... anyway, this is a nice wear-alone or base coat type of polish.
    repurchase? yes
16. lancome monsieur big mascara -- i really liked this mascara, it gave the fullness and length that i like! i will say that it does irritate the eyes (flakes?) toward the end of the day, so be sure to take it off!
    repurchase? yes
17. vaseline essential healing lotion -- i got this because i really liked their advanced repair lotion (white bottle), but i didn't like this quite as much. there was a scent to this, but not anything much, the other is unscented. this didn't feel quite as nourishing, but my skin is like so dry and i never like putting lotion on. i really do believe the other actually would heal my skin and keep it softer longer.
    repurchase? nah

february hauls

hi guys! let's see... stuff i got in february.... it actually wasn't all that much, considering i blew my budget on stickers, i made an early february haul post, and my birthday was just the other day, so i kind of needed to not buy all the things! lol. i will try to get up a few more of my end of month, february sephora play, and nail muse review posts sometime later today or tomorrow, since i've got time to work on them later. ~Lindsay

note: i just realized i don't have arm swatches of anything in this post.... 😱 i don't have time to photograph them right now, but i'll edit this post and add them later today before working on the other posts! i wanted to get this post out the door because there aren't many lip swatches of people wearing the new kat von d studded kiss lipstick in divine!

sephora - turquoise beauty blender because everything blue(-green)! also picked up another tarte maracuja eye cream because i somehow forgot i already had a backup..... and got a sample of the marc jacobs shameless foundation in Y210. i also got my bite birthday gift, along with kat von d's studded kiss lipstick in divine. i've tried fresh's oval soaps a long long time ago and really liked them (aside from their massive size), so i wanted to try this one because i couldn't remember if i had this scent before - sugar lemon. i also grabbed a sample of benefit's new bad gal bang mascara.
skindinavia - 25% off! w00t. got another oil control setting spray, and two freebies of their primer spray and (regular) setting spray.
walmart/amazon - finally jumping on the green color corrector/concealer bandwagon because my face was not happy this month. got the maybelline master camo and la girl pro conceal.

glace, chai, divine, Y210, maybelline, la girl

kat von d studded kiss lipstick in divine

bite matte cream lip crayon in glace

bite amuse bouche lipstick in chai

...andddd two weeks of graze boxes. yum!