Cosmoprof North America 2013 RECAP

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This past week I attended the biggest (easily) beauty trade show in my usual lineup: Cosmoprof North America. Literally hundreds of vendors from all over the world gathered together to meet with buyers, educators, salon distributors, and of course – ME. [Read more…]

China Glaze Hologlam Collection

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I posted a sneak peek of the China Glaze Hologlam collection ages ago, and it’s one of the most popular posts on the blog of all time. Sooo I guess y’all like some HOLO POLISH! Well now that I have the collection in my hot little hands, here are some more pictures. Because who doesn’t love some good nail polish porn yeah?

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March 2013 Favorites

mofo[5]You know you love my pictures of random crap on my favorites posts. In fact, I think you secretly wait on bated breath every month to see what weird quirky image I will post.

Or not. [Read more…]

Sneak Peek: China Glaze Hologlam Collection

Who loves some holographic glitter? Uh, just about everyone. Using the same sparkly wonder-technology of the beloved China Glaze OMG collection, they’ve developed Hologlam for 2013. They were nice enough to let me take some pictures. Sooo…how excited are you?! Sorry the pictures are so huge, but they’re so sparkly I wanted to make sure you could see the beauty!

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Cosmoprof North America 2012

This year was my first COSMOPROF! I’ve attended lots of beauty-related tradeshows, but this was the first year I was able to attend Cosmoprof North America, which is held in Las Vegas.

What is Cosmoprof?

Cosmoprof is a business-to-business beauty trade show that covers hair, nails, skin care, private labeling, spa/wellness, packaging…you name it! It’s all at Cosmoprof. It’s not like IMATS or The Makeup Show as it’s more geared toward retail buyers, packaging decision-makers, etc. In fact, they aren’t allowed to do cash & carry sales! Talk about a difference! But it’s a great place to see what innovative fabulousness has just been released or will be released in the future!

Another thing that is great from Cosmoprof, but also a little frustrating as a beauty junkie, is seeing loads of awesome brands from other countries. These brands come to Cosmoprof hoping to find buyers to have their products sold in the US – but many of them aren’t yet available for “normals” for me to go out and buy! *pouts* But at least I was able to exchange information with them so when they DO come to America, I’ll be able to tell you all about it.

Highlights

Cosmoprof is huge. It’s pretty much the entire Mandalay Bay Convention Center, which is enormous. There are literally hundreds of booths. It makes IMATS look tiny. I was not able to see every single booth. Because it’s so huge, most of us press people made appointments to meet with the brands and see what they have going on. Since I was (and still consider myself to be) a Cosmoprof noob, I made very few appointments and just kind of wandered. Yikes! Going to plan it way better next time. But these things are a learning experience. :) There were a lot of awesome things that happened.

I went over to Jesse’s Girl and met with the fabulous Julie G. I don’t get starstruck over meeting gals from Youtube, but I gotta say meeting Julie was awesome. She’s a really nice person and took time to hang out and chit chat with me & Mr. Boyfriend as well as show us her line, talk about new things to come, and just generally what it’s like going from a girl with a hobby to having her own nail polish line sold in mass. I really enjoyed meeting her, and if you ever get the chance I suggest you do! She’s so sweet.

I also had a really fun time with the gals of AII Beauty. AII is the parent company for China Glaze, Seche, Ardell, and a ton of other brands. I saw all the current and upcoming collections – unfortunately some of which I’m not allowed to tell you about just yet. I saw Halloween ’12, Holiday ’12, and some spring & summer ’13 goodies. I wish I could tell you more! But they promised as soon as I can, they will give me all the details to pass on to you! The lovelies of Ardell also put some big ole’ false lashes on me! I don’t wear lashes usually so it was definitely an experience I had to get used to!

When experimenting with lashes in the future I probably won’t go with such big ones, but I figured hey – it’s Vegas! Go dramatic! After a while I got used to them and almost forgot they were there. I even fell asleep in them (not on purpose – I don’t recommend sleeping in lashes!!) but my eyes weren’t at all bothered. Taking them off was a simple and pain-free process too. Don’t be scared of lashes! I’m not anymore. And in fact, Ardell has some new lashes that are self-adhesive, which I’m very excited to try.

Another highlight was meeting a brand new to me, Hola Lola! Hola Lola hails from Colombia. They have bath products, and underwear! But everything is beautifully packaged, stunningly presented, and smells amazing. Okay, so I don’t know how the undies smell. But that’d be weird. I’m going to assume it’s just fine. The bath products and perfumes smelled fantabulous. The first thing they did was tie a ribbon around my wrist that was fragranced. I’m. Obsessed. With. It. It lives in my purse now, scenting it. The fragrance is Lychee Rose, but to me it smells strikingly similar to Bath & Body Works Winter Candy Apple, which is my favorite (but discontinued) B&BW scent. The products don’t seem to be sold stateside just yet but mark my words I will get my paws on the Lychee Rose body splash so that I can bathe in it every day. I need that fragrance in my life. Seriously. And they were SO nice – they even gave me a gift! It’s a zebra print shower cap. I’m excited, because honestly does anyone look good in a shower cap? No. But now that the shower cap is zebra print? YES!

How flipping cute is this???

This blog entry is getting soooooooo long. SO! I’m ending it now, but there were over 800 booths…so there is much, much more to talk about. :) Stay tuned!

China Glaze Island Escape Collection Review

I recently got the Island Escape collection from China Glaze in the mail, and it really lends itself well to a bright, summery skittle manicure! So here’s what I did, and my thoughts on the collection…

Left Hand: L to R: China Glaze Papaya Punch, Cha Cha Cha, Electric Pineapple, Senorita Bonita
Pinky – Papaya Punch – This gorgeous orange creme gives the best coverage of the bunch. It was nearly opaque in one coat, but I used 2 coats just to be thorough. This color is similar to Wet ‘n Wild Sunny Side Up (click link to see pic) if you’re looking for a cheaper way to try a bright orange nail polish. 
Ring – Cha Cha Cha – A decently pigmented green with yellow undertones. After 2 coats there was still a little bit of VNL, which you can see in the photo. A third coat is enough to make it just perfect. 
Middle – Electric Pineapple – This color was the one I was the most looking forward to, and in person it’s kind of disappointing. The formula is kind of a pain, and it’s very sheer. The formula comes out kinda thick and gloppy, and doesn’t go on very evenly. And then there’s the sheerness issue. I see a lot of VNL after 2 coats, and even still saw a little bit after 3 coats. It’s a really fun color and I’ll still wear it, but just beware it’s no picnic to apply. 
Pointer – Senorita Bonita – I was pleasantly surprised by this polish. (So much so that I managed to smudge it. Derr.) I kinda thought it’d be “just another purple”, but it’s quite pretty and unique. There’s pink shimmer in it that doesn’t translate well in photos, but it’s there in person. This one also applies like a dream, and is opaque in 2 coats.
Right Hand Left to Right: China Glaze Senorita Bonita, Blue Iguana, and 108 Degrees
Here are the other two colors of the collection that weren’t featured on my left hand! :)
Ring – Blue Iguana – This color is gorgeous. It would be my favorite if it weren’t for the formula. It also goes on a little unevenly. It’s not nearly as hard to work with as Electric Pineapple though. Also, make sure you use a base coat because this bad boy will stain your nails otherwise. But the color is sooooooooo so pretty, and I enjoy it. It’s not very opaque; still some VNL after 2 coats. 3 coats solves the issue though.
Pointer – 108 Degrees – Goodness, photos do NOT do this hot polish justice. My camera had difficulty with it because it’s so bright. It’s a reddish pink shimmer that just gleams on the nails. It’s SO bright and just screams (literally) summer! I don’t have anything like it in my collection and I love it. It would make such a fun toe color! I am going to reach for it when I do my next pedi for sure. 1 coat is very opaque, but I used 2 for good measure to make sure every bit of VNL was covered.
Overall…
Overall I thought this collection was pretty good. The color palette is definitely very summery, and very much keeps with what I would think of as “island escape”. A couple of the shades have formulation issues, and some are a bit on the sheer side, but they’re such vibrant shades that I don’t mind. Also, some of you might like sheer polishes! I could see these being pretty fun for some icy popsicle-looking gradient manicures. Hmm, that gives me an idea. ;) I like that none of the colors really feel out of place with the theme, either. The colors are all gorgeous if you’re willing to work with them. In my photos I did not use any top coat; this is just how shiny and bright they are naturally!

Sample provided for editorial purposes.

China Glaze Island Escape Collection

Wow! Check out the summer collection from China Glaze! As much as I love the moody taupey grey lilacy chades we’ve been seeing in nail polish lately, I must admit these new bright colors for summer from China Glaze look really nice! The shades in this collection are:
  • Papaya Punch – vivid orange creme
  • 108 Degrees – berry punch w/ microglitter
  • Senorita Bonita – purple shimmer with pink microglitter
  • Blue Iguana – sparkly blue
  • Cha Cha Cha – shimmer green
  • Electric Pineapple – lime green creme
I have to say Electric Pineapple is calling to me the most, because the color looks unlike anything I have, and I love the name. I think it’d be really fun to wear on my toes. All of these colors are just begging to be combined with your favorite fruity smelling lotion, a pair of gigantic sunnies, and a big straw hat. They just scream summer to me!
What do you think? Which one tickles your fancy? :)

China Glaze Agent Lavender

Hi all! I just wanted to share with you what has been on my nails a lot this summer– China Glaze Agent Lavender. China Glaze is one of my very favorite nail polish brands. Agent Lavender is a creme finish, which is my favorite China Glaze finish.
Don’t forget to prep! I use Seche Rebuild as a base coat and Nailene top coat. Nailene’s top coat dries slower than the ever-popular Seche Vite, but I get much fewer chips with it.
What’s been on your nails this summer?