Essence and Bloom Nail Polish Haul Target

During my lunch break today i ended up doing a little shopping :)
I stopped by Target which i do frequently while at work and ending up leaving with a few new nail polishes.
I've come to realise my favourite colours to wear on the nails are nude pinky beige, light pastels.
Which is convenient since pastel is the latest trend i suppose?
There was a sale on the b collection by bloom nail polishes. I was going to pick up the 2 mini trio sets but kept getting tempted by the more expensive full sized colours.
I tried to resist picking up every nude in the full size and ended up with one colour i just couldn't put down. So on my way to the checkout i passed the Essence stand and noticed they had a new range of nude polishes! It was a mini collection from them called 'nude glam' and there was 5 nude shades available. At $2.55 per polish i dropped what i had and grabbed every single nude colour available. I didn't want to over do it with the nail polish in one go so i decided to get the Essence ones and put down the 2 mini Bloom trios, mainly because i wasn't as in love with the colours as the nude ones. I still couldn't put down the full sized Bloom one even though i could have bought 3 more Essence ones for the price, i just liked it too much :(

This photo probably shows the most accurate of the colours. My lighting in here is much too yellow and flash makes them look darker than they really are. They are super light and pastel :)

07 Cafe Ole, 05 Toffee To Go, 06 Hazelnut Cream Pie, 04 Iced Latte, 02 Iced Strawberry Cream, 44 Modern Romance (regular line)

Hmm after typing out the number codes to these polishes, there must be 7 colours at least and not 5. I don't seem to have number 01 and 03! I must go on the search for these at another Target!

I do already own some Essence polishes and they go on quite nice and opague. They dry in a reasonable amount of time also. I have not tested these out and i hope none are sheer! I'll probably add swatches to this post later.  

Today i wore O.P.I 'Fly' and O.P.I 'Metallic 4 Life' on top of the ring finger.

Swatches!

First is Geneva by B collection. Then the Essence polishes in 44,02,04,05,06,07.

O.P.I Nicki Minaj collection "Did It On 'Em"

I think my expectations of nail polish has gone through the roof. After switching to using higher quality nail polishes i've enjoyed how quickly they dry. However lately i've been expecting them to dry within a minute and i've been frustrated it wasn't dried almost the second i have just put it on.
I need to learn to have more patience again hehe
So after a nail polishing disaster, i decided to just go flat and choose one colour which was the O.P.I 'Did It On 'Em'. A lime green.
The results are lovely but this polish NEEDS 3 coats to even look decent. The first layer is a streaky sheer mess and almost looks yellow. The second layer is still streaky and i'm starting to doubt my colour choice. Then the 3rd and final layer where i don't hold back on the amount i slap on and ta-da! It's perfect! :)

Apologies for how messy it looks. I spent over an hour going a little nuts at attempting a simple design which ended up terribly and i had to take it all off before doing the lime green :)

I need to remind myself to just stick to flat colours. I'm no good with nails at all :(

Now to tidy up and do something else more productive than wasting 1.5hrs on painting my nails!

My new Prada wallet :) 1M1225 in Pomice ( Taupe grey beige dark cream)

Recently L spoilt me and bought me a Prada wallet after he switched to a better paying job.
He had chosen the limited edition version of the 1M0176 in the patent pastel yellow and it was a in your face chunk of yellow so we went back to the Prada store to exchange and feeling a little rushed by the sales assistant i switched the colour to the royal blue one which looked like a almost black blue. The only other colour choice was a pastel green.
The wallet was sitting in it's box a few days after and i didn't feel like using it at all. I knew it just wasn't my style. I tried to love it and asked many people for their opinions on it. After debating with myself many times i concluded that if i was going to enjoy such a expensive wallet, i might as well enjoy it to the fullest so i took it back and exchanged it for a completely different style. The sad part is that i now have $40 Prada store credit and everything in there is at least $300! Paying $250 for a keyring just to use up the store credit?mmm...no, i don't think so lol

Here is what i chose after browsing intensely online for a few nights trying to make a decision. I was thinking of choosing a bold red or hot pink but decided for my first luxury wallet i should go safe and choose a neutral colour.
Here she is :)

Prada 1M1225 Wallet in Pomice

I've only used this once as i don't want to bring it to work where my handbag is out of my sight for such long periods of time. Although the saffiano leather is quite tough i'm still worried about scuffing it up too much. I love how it is the perfect size and how nice the quality feels. I hope this doesn't start a trend of me getting into luxury items. I don't think i can ever bring myself to spend that much on a wallet. I dream about it and tell myself i think i'll get that wallet someday but parting with so much money for one small item is just something i am not willing to do just yet hehe Maybe someday. I have been thinking about the saffiano lux totes for a year now ever since i decided it's better to get a Prada bag than Louis Vuitton.... Hmmm hehe :)

Dr Lewinn's Skin Perfect Concealer Swatches (Honey Beige, Pink Beige and Illuminator)

Last week i spotted a exciting new make up range from Dr Lewinn's. I am a fan of their skincare lines which are known to be very good, so i couldn't help to browse through their make up.

The prices are around the same as more expensive drugstore brands here.
The only thing i'm still hunting for in make up is the perfect concealer. I only had time to test them out and here are the swatches. The concealers were around $25.00

Dr Lewinns Skin Perfect Concealer

Illuminator, Pink Beige, Honey Beige

The illuminator isn't anything different and looks a lot like the Napolean Perdis Set Liquid Veil in London Silver. This is very shimmery, almost like fine glitters so it is not a subtle sheen.

Pink Beige is very neutral and probably better for pale pink toned skin. Honey beige is too orange to use all over the face for me. It is definitely something to only neutralized purple dark circles and brighten up darker areas.

The coverage on these are lacking. They are probably low to medium coverage. so more for just evening out skin tone rather than covering up flaws. As you can see on the small dark spot on my hand, the swatch on top barely covers it at all. When i rubbed all 3 swatches on the hand of my hand together it gathered up together and formed gritty chunks which is something that happens with filmy products being layered on too thick. I don't recommend trying to build up the products for fuller coverage as it might result in this.
Overall this range is definitely targeted at older women who don't want that caked up, too much make up look. There was a good range of foundation shades to choose from as well and would definitely recommend this to someone who doesn't normally wear make up but needs to even out their skin tone or women over 40s who find it hard to get away with a full face of make up.

TheBalm Nude'tude Palette

I spotted this at David Jones the other day. They had moved their O.P.I section aside for TheBalm products. I was a little excited as the brand sounded familiar and i laid eyes on this beauty instantly.

TheBalm Nude'tude nude eyeshadow palette $49.95

swatches

I have a feeling i will own this palette very soon. The price is really good for a palette of 12 colours and the shades are extremely pigmented. Sophisticated, sexy and serious were a little dry and took a few swipes to get good pigment but besides that the others are amazing, The lighter shades are the most pigmented as most shimmer eyeshadows are. I think i'm in love with stand-offish and sultry. I'm pretty sure i already have these shades in MAC shadows already but this offers every colour you need for a neutral to brown smoky eye. This is my perfect palette and if i didn't already own a shipload of eyeshadows i would have bought this instantly. I am still lusting after this and just might pick this up next time.