Check out these giveaways!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been making note of beauty/nail polish-related giveaways to mention in a blog post. I thought I would point out just a few, in particular that any visitors of my blog might be interested in entering!

• Teen Polish Junkie - 1,000 Likes Giveaway (ends November 29)
• Let Me See Ur Peacock - 300 Follower Giveaway (ends November 30)
• Nailed Obsession - Christmas Giveaway (ends December 8) 
• Pixel's Polish - 300 Follower Giveaway (ends December 13) 
• Let Me See Ur Peacock - 400 Follower Giveaway (ends December 15) 
• Artigo Beauty - Giveaway (ends December 22)
• ORLY - 6 Weeks of Gifts Giveaway (ends December 28)

As always, be sure to check out the sidebar, as well as my Giveaways page, for more giveaway opportunities around the web! I won't always post about a giveaway I find right away in a blog post, but I do update the giveaways page somewhat frequently.

A new favorite lip product for fall: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

Inspired by autumn, I set out to add some darker shades to my lip product collection. Instead of opting for a typical lipstick or lip gloss, I decided to test out the Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain, or Just Bitten 2.0*.

I chose the two darkest shades, Adore, a warm burgundy, and Crush, a cooler plum/berry color.

Top: Adore
Bottom: Crush

Stains left after immediately wiping away product
with dry paper towel

The above swatches show the product swatched heavily on the back on my hand.

The product itself is like a twist-up crayon. The texture of it in the tube and going on is similar to a lip balm, but once on the lips, I found it to dry somewhat more quickly than would a good lip balm, like Burt's Bees, and definitely more so than the Revlon Lip Butters (which, on me, never seem to dry so much as disappear). To remedy this problem, I found myself layering the balm stains with a clear or complimentary lip gloss.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Adore

What I love about this product is that the lasting power really is something to write home--or blog--about. I've never found a lip product to last longer than a few hours or past a meal, but I applied each of these in the morning and saw that they had indeed stained my lips until well after I was back in my dorm until the late afternoon. They lasted me several hours and through more than one snack/meal without reapplication (excepting lip gloss/"top coat"!).

I find both of the shades I chose to be flattering for a variety of skin types and lip pigmentations because they do go on very sheer--at first! One minor annoyance I might note is that in application they do drag a bit at first and have to be built up for the color to show. However, I sometimes find myself spacing out a bit after the first three or so coats, and BAM--there's your color! So, consider yourself forewarned and don't overdo it.

Have you tried this product? What are your feelings on lip stains?

* There is another Revlon product on the market of the name Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm, which is a dual-ended stain and balm product. This product hasn't received as many positive reviews, though I haven't tried it myself and, therefore, do not recommend it.

Bring a mani back from the dead!

After three good, long days of wear, I finally did have to admit to some noticeable chipping on the tips and dulling of my top coat from my beloved Wet n Wild Haze of Love mani. (I won't blame this on Wet n Wild--polishes never last long on my claws. I may be a wild woman myself, or maybe I just need a better base coat!)

Wet n Wild Haze of Love on my nails, with noticeable chipping

However, being the stubborn girl I am, I wasn't yet ready to part with all of that basework I'd done--one layer of base coat, two layers of color, and all that drying time.

I decided this would be an excellent opportunity to play around with a recently acquired polish--my very first indie, in fact!

Say hello to Feenix Polish Embers.

Embers has a brown sheer, jelly-like base with red, orange, and silver micro-glitters. I suspect it takes its name from the embers of a fire--because that's exactly what it looks like on the nails! It can be layered and worn on its own, but I prefer it as a top coat over a dark base, and that's exactly what you'll see here!

Something I love about densely-packed glitter polishes is how well they work at covering bald spots on the nails. Glitter polishes alone are known for chipping even more than, say, cream or regular jelly polishes, but the great thing about them is how easy they are to touch up (or to be used as touch-ups!). Just paint back over the chipped spots, and it's pretty difficult to tell you were ever there a second (or third!) time.

As you can see way above, I only had major chipping on one nail, so I decided to do glitter accent nails, including the nail that had chipped, and touch up the remaining nails with new layers of top coat. This was the result:

Wet n Wild Haze of Love on all nails,
with Feenix Polish Embers as top coat on middle two

I just wish I had better photos to illustrate exactly how the glitters of Embers look on the nails!

The most important thing? No chips to be seen here! My mani was able to last me until the end of the week, and Embers gave it that little extra oomph that made it just a little more interesting.

If you're interested in Embers, you can check it out (as well as many other polishes) at Feenix Polish on Etsy. I was generously supplied with my bottle free of charge, thanks to a giveaway I won at Chestnut Mocha. (Thank you to Ben and Katie of CM and Suzette of Feenish Polish!)

Do you have any emergency mani tips or tricks?

Wet n Wild Megalast: Don't judge a polish by its price!

In my recent craze for fall polishes, I've acquired quite a decent amount of shades ranging from plum to burgandy by now. In a recent haul post, I mentioned Essie Sole Mate. Well, that one turned out a little darker than I expected, so on my next trip to Walmart, I opted for Wet n Wild Haze of Love.

Both colors are in the same color family, with Haze of Love being a shade or two lighter and creamier in formula.

I'd never tried Wet n Wild polishes, although I'd had much interaction with the Essie brand. I think my perception of Wet n Wild may have been clouded by the fact that the polishes retail from $.99-1.99. However, now that I've tried the product, I assure you, these polishes at that price are a blessing, not a curse! I actually found this polish much easier to work with. Where the Essie polish was somewhat runny and left my nails splotchy after the first coat, Haze of Love provided good coverage and was more apt to stay where I placed it without drying so quickly that I couldn't finish the entire nail.

That being said, Haze of Love is part of the Wet n Wild Megalast collection, specifically formulated not to chip. All polishes chip terribly on me, but I was able to get through 3 days until a noticeable chip appeared on the tip of one nail. ...This is good wear for me!

I am enough in love with this collection that I've seen been to Walgreens and have purchased two more Wet n Wild Megalast polishes in Deadly Dose and Lethal Injection. I'm not sure if these are limited edition or not, but they appeared to be part of a Halloween collection ("Pick Your Poison"). At the very least, they do appear to be new shades for fall 2012, so be sure to check them out if you haven't already!

Have you tried Wet n Wild? What are your favorite cheapskate nail polish brands?

Need to rack up on indie polish? -- Etsy giveaway!

You can now purchase gift cards on Etsy.com, but the real news is that to celebrate, they're giving away 10 gift cards for $100 to Facebook fans! (Unfortunately, gift cards, as well as this giveaway, are only good for U.S. residents. :/)

Click here to like Etsy on Facebook and enter the contest!

Have You Seen This Dupe? Wanted: Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Orchid Hush, Minus the Maybelline Dream

If you aren't familiar with the Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush line, you probably haven't been in the beauty section of your local drugstore or supermarket lately. At all. These blushes were released as part of the spring 2012 collection at the beginning of the year.

Source: Maybelline

Now, I've recently been on the lookout for a lilac-y/lavender-colored blush, ever since getting over my I-can't-wear-cool-colored-lip-products (thanks to Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter Gumdrop, Rimmel Moisture Renew Vintage Pink, Revlon Super Lustrous Lilac Pastelle, which should hold me off--for now!). Today, I stumbled across the Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blushes--again (I've only seen them a thousand times)--and noticed the shade "Orchid Hush."

L-R: Orchid Hush, Candy Coral, Coffee Cake, Pink Plum
Source: Makeup by Angel

I have swatched Orchid Hush on my hand--heavily--and I. Love. It. However, what I do not love is the consistency of these blushes. From the shades I've played around with, they're too sheer and require too much buildup for decent color payoff, even on my super light skin. (I can't imagine the nightmare of a routine those with much darker skin would have to go through to get use out of these.) I wouldn't pay around $7.00 (near what they retail in Walmart) for the amount of product you get, knowing how much of this I would use! (I'm not sure exactly how much product is in these; I can't find the information on any "official" sources. If you've seen them in stores, however, you know they're miniature compared to "usual" blush compacts.)

Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush: not sold. Orchid Hush, the color, TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY in love. I need this color to be on my face. So, I'm currently on dupe alert, searching high and low for anything that's near to Orchid Hush in color but with better color payoff. I'd even be willing to save up and pay more for a high-end blush if I knew using it would be less of a hassle.

Harder than you'd think. Gets tricky when you start getting really particular about your shades and undertones--particularly with these odd colors, like purples (or try finding just the right coral--you know what I am). If you have any suggestions, throw them my way.

PLEASE.

Nail polish collective mini-haul

When the seasons "officially" transition, it doesn't always feel right away like the season it's supposed to be—not to me, anyway (thanks, global warming!). However, with the sudden onslaught of fall (and I do mean that I've very suddenly felt assaulted by autumn winds on my morning walks to class), I've been lemming for some more fall-appropriate shades to add to my polish collection.

Here are the ones I've picked up recently:

L-R: butter LONDON Scoundrel, Revlon Top Speed Lily,
L'Oréal Colour Riche Red Tote, L'Oréal Colour Riche Charmed I'm Sure,
Essie Sole Mate

Unless you're completely color blind, you've probably noticed that one of these things is not like the other. I wouldn't exactly consider Revlon Lily a fall shade, but a polish I've seriously had my eye on for ages (ages) is Barry M. Berry Ice Cream. I'm trying to squash that lemming, I accumulated O.P.I. Lucky Lucky Lavender, which is GORGEOUS but also not exactly how I imagine the color. I am in no way insinuating that Lily and Berry Ice Cream are all too similar, either, but where Lucky Lucky Lavender pulls very pink, Lily is such a blue-toned lilac that it's nearly periwinkle. I suppose that Berry Ice Cream falls somewhere between those two shades, and until I'm magically transported to the U.K. and Barry M. cosmetics become available to me or I work up the guts to pay combined product and shipping costs of nearly $15 for a drugstore polish, these two will have to suit my lavender/lilac fancy!

L-R: O.P.I. Lucky Lucky Lavender, Revlon Top Speed Lily

Barry M. Berry Ice Cream, Source: Dr. Frankenpolish

Scoundrel is my first polish from butter LONDON. I've worn it once, and, so far, I'm impressed with the application, but I didn't find it to be superior to other brands, in general, in regards to chipping. If I had a do-over, I might have gone with butter LONDON Toff instead of Scoundrel. Toff is more of a dusty purple, while Scoundrel is just a deep purple. Toff seems like a good fall shade and, perhaps, a tad more neutral, although, all the same, Scoundrel may work for me across more seasons.

butter LONDON Scoundrel on my nails (2 coats, no top coat)

butter LONDON Toff (2 coats), Source: Amarixe

As for the L'Oréal polishes, I'm highly impressed with the formulation. The application and wear aren't bad at all for drugstore polishes. Red Tote is probably my favorite of the tested and recently purchased polishes in my collection. Charmed, I'm Sure, however, was a minor disappointment. It's not a unique shade--a metallic rose gold--but, unlike many others I've seen swatched, is very, very frosty in any lighting, which affects the color too much for my taste. On the nails, it's even lighter than it is in the bottle, so if you're considering this shade, ...you've been forewarned.

L-R: L'Oréal Colour Riche Red Tote, L'Oréal Colour Riche Charmed I'm Sure

I haven't yet tried Essie Sole Mate, but I'm generally quite a fan of Essie, and I've been lemming for a plum/burgandy polish for quite some time, so I'm definitely looking forward to trying this one out! Perhaps, I'll post some swatches once I've done that.

What are your recent polish purchases? What are your favorite shades for fall?