5 September Favorites

I cannot believe September is over. This month positively flew by. I am ready for fall and winter (ok, California does have seasons. Sorta. They’re just not as dramatic as other places. Really.) but California has other ideas. It’s been hot as hell here lately. A couple days ago it was 105. That’s absurdly hot for where I live. The sudden increase in temperature has my allergies going nutsy cuckoo. Lovely. :)

Anyway, favorites! My favorites this month are not very makeup-related because I haven’t been wearing much makeup this month, but they’re still on the topic of beauty.

Sally Hansen Extra Strength Nail Polish Remover
Finally. This nail polish gets the job done. It really is “extra strength”. Even with glitter polishes it takes everything off very quickly. I love it. The best part is it’s extremely cheap! It’s under $2 for a 10 oz bottle. Hooray.

Mango Extreme Hand & Body Creme by California Mango
This stuff is awesome. A friend of mine sent me this nifty little kit of California Mango products that included a small tube of this. It’s very thick, about the consistency of toothpaste, and so moisturizing. I use this on my hands occasionally (especially after a manicure because using nail polish remover can make them dry) but where this product really shines is for use on my feet. If you have a problem with dry feet and heels, try this. I don’t generally have dry skin but from the ankles down I am the Sahara. If that sounds familiar, get yourself to Sally Beauty! It’s the only place I know of that carries it.

Clarisonic Pro Skin Care Brush
I mentioned this in my “what’s in my shower” post, but it deserves another mention here. For the entire month of September I’ve been really vigilant about using my clarisonic at least every other day if not every day. I’ve been absolutely loving the results I get with it. I have had much fewer clogged pores and virtually no breakouts except for in the last day or so, but I chalk that up to allergies because I always break out from all the wiping/rubbing my nose.

Bath & Body Works Dark Kiss Shower Gel
I’ll do a more in-depth review of this shower gel soon on Beauty Debutante, but this shower gel is flippin’ fabulous. The scent is just plain sexy without being overpowering. The shower gel gives a great, luxuriously smooth lather, with or without a lather puff.

NYX Makeup Remover Gel Type
I like that this is a gel because you don’t have to worry about it getting in your eye when you’re removing your eye makeup. It works pretty well, and it smells incredible. It smells like coconuts! I wish this product was more accessible in brick & mortar stores. Actually, that’s my complaint about the NYX line altogether. It’s so hard to find in-store. Ulta’s selection is pretty lousy and they’re the only chain I can find the stuff in. Do try this out though, it’s so yummy!

That’s pretty much it for favorites this month. I haven’t tried that many new things that I’m ready to call ‘favorites’ yet.

I’d also like to mention that today I finally had to ‘retire’ (throw away) my tube of Revlon Grow Luscious mascara because I’ve had it open for about 4 months and I try to be good about replacing my mascara on a regular basis. It was starting to dry out a little bit. RIP Grow Luscious. But I should also mention that despite the fact that I have tons of mascaras I have been meaning to try, I grabbed another tube when Revlon was 40% off at Walgreens because it’s a really nice mascara and I wanted to have it on hand for the next time I try one that sucks and I need to be reminded that mascara is not my enemy. ;)

Samples of NYX All Purpose Makeup Remover (Gel Type) and BBW Dark Kiss Shower Gel provided for review.

Down memory lane with Hard Candy

I was really into painting my nails in junior high. I always had some wild combination of colors on my fingers. Anything from striping to a different color on each finger. You name it. One of my favorite birthday gifts of that era was a trio of Hard Candy polishes. I have since lost or discarded them (weep!) but they were beautiful colors! So when Hard Candy went 75% off, I was completely tempted. I am so thrilled with my order, too.

I ordered a Mini Nail Kit in “Delinquint”. It comes with 7 mini size nail polishes. They are mini (.17 oz) but plenty for a bunch of manicures. They come in a super cute metallic hot pink case, too! The colors are:

Angel – Champagne w/ gold & silver shimmer
Trailer Trash – Silver with silver shimmer
Earth – Beigey taupe with multicolored shimmer
Scam – Hot pink with silver shimmer
Stop – Bright red w/ red shimmer
Vinyl – Very dark purple-black
Vibe – Black w/ shimmer

I’m wearing Angel right now. It’s such a classic, go-with-everything mani but looks really elegant. It took 2 coats to get fully opaque coverage.

I also grabbed a full sized polish in Jailbait, which is pale lavender with pink and purple shimmer.

These polishes wear extremely well. Normally a manicure is chipped to hell on me by a week. It’s been a week since I did this mani with HC Angel and it looks pretty good still! There’s a couple teensy chips and the color is wearing off the tip of one nail but you have to really inspect my nails to notice.

As far as makeup goes, I didn’t have that much interest in Hard Candy’s offerings. However, Sweet Spot lipgloss caught my eye. They list the scent as “orange blossom”. Sounds yummy! So I picked up Sweet Spot gloss in Love Child, which received great reviews. It’s a my-lips-but-better nude shade, and the scent is everything I thought it would be and more. Orange blossom = sugary orangey goodness. I almost want to eat this lipgloss. I find myself opening it up just to smell it! It feels light but moisturizing on the lips. It’s thin/not too sticky for those of you who aren’t into sticky lips (I don’t mind them myself).

So all and all not bad, especially since I spent only $17!! Hard Candy is not 75% off anymore, but it is still 50% off, so check them out. :) www.hardcandy.com