Seductively Sweet...Definitely!

Hello all!

Exams and springs semesters are finally over so I can start blogging again. I hauled a bit this week and here is my loot:

(L to R: Apple-tini Fizz, Orange Fizz, Mint Fizz, Pineapple Fizz)

 These four are a part of the new Revlon Seductively Sweet collection. They are scented and actually smell good even wet inside the bottle! All of the polishes are glass-flecked with small flakies. I wore Mint Fizz for the last week and it wore incredibly well with three coats. Each of the polishes has a matching scented lipgloss. They aren't pictured here, but I bought the watermelon and pina colada glosses from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I was able to find this collection there and at a number of Walgreens. Polishes were about $4 to $5, but I used coupons with them.

(L to R: Party of Five Glitters, Fast-Dry Topcoat, Teal of Fortune, Fast-Dry Topcoat)

Onto Walgreens, where I found these little beauties. They are the new collection of Fast-Dry polishes. All of their names have something to do with television- cute but a little corny. These were a bargain- you got the regularly priced $1.99 polish with a free topcoat! I haven't tried them yet, but they swatched well so my hopes are high. Party of Five Glitters is a multi-colored topcoat with silver, blue, green, pink, etc. Teal of Fortune is a near exact dupe of Zoya Charla, Orly Halley's Comet, and OPI Catch Me in Your Net (which I own and love). These were $1.99 at select Walgreens.

(Pictured: Rimmel Violet Metal)

 This was my finest deal. It was on clearance at Walgreens and I had a dollar off coupon so, with tax, it was $0.16! Violet Metal is a medium purple-royal blue duochrome. The flash is really strong in the bottle, but fades a bit when swatched on paper. I'm really excited about this one! Normally $3 to $5 at various drugstores.

(See that lovely blue duochrome?)

My last treasure was one of Sally Hansen's new Hard as Nails line: Rock Candy. It's a peachy-pink jelly, with blue, gold, and green glitter particles. I plan on putting it over black and seeing how it does. It was $1.99 at Walgreens.



Birthday Haul!

Hello!

I apologize for my recent absence- I was celebrating my birthday! I did get quite a few bottles of nail polish, some from my parents and a few I bought myself.  Today is Part One of the swatches, starting with China Glaze's Carnival Lights and Bad Kitty, which were part of the 2009 collection but I managed to find these babies in a local grocery market.

First up: Carnival Lights, which is a lovely pale rosy pink with multicolored and holographic glitter. It's got a very thin consistency and I used two coats here but you can still see the nail line. Carnival Lights has a jellyish finish and it literally packed full of glitter. I blurred the picture here so you can see it better.

Carnival Lights, no flash.

Carnival Lights, bottle pic with flash. See how sparkly the bottle is?!

Next is the lovely Bad Kitty, with flash. Bad Kitty is another thin, jelly pink, but this one has more attitude! It's a hotter, brighter pink than Carnival Lights and has loads of multicolored glitter. I thought I spied some holo glitter in there too but it's honestly too dense to see. Two coats.

Bad Kitty, without flash.

 Bad Kitty, without flash. You can still kind of see the nail line in this one as well.

Bad Kitty, without flash, blurred to show glitter.

China Glaze did a lovely job with these two polishes. The application was smooth if not a bit thick, but you should probably wear this with something underneath it or apply it well using thin layers. I found mine at Publix, but I believe you can also get them online.

What do you think of the China Glaze glitters? Have a nice Tuesday!

Dove Deodorant Reviews and the New Dove Rebalance Plum and Sakura Blossom

Hey all!

As we all know very well, spring has arrived which means summer will be here soon and when you live in the South, it gets very hot, very quickly. I sweat- er, glisten- quite a bit, so I'm always looking for the next best antiperspirant deodorant. For a long time I was a fan of Degree products, having found they work better for my sensitive skin than those harsh roll-ons that you can buy or get from your doctor.

Until today.

In my quest to find the perfect combo of scent and effectiveness, I decided to cave and try Dove. I love Dove soaps, body washes, hair products, you name it, but I've always been hesitant to try their deodorant. Why, you ask? Well, it sounds like a product for those with normal sweat-glands, not for those of us who are ever-paranoid of our underarms smelling not-so-fresh and then drenching ourselves with body mist. You know who you are.

So I started out with Dove's Go Fresh line in Cool Essentials Cucumber and Green Tea, which smells heavenly and exactly like sweet cucumbers, with just a little mellowness from the green tea. It's light so it will blend in fine with your other body products and perfume. I could definitely smell it when I raised my arms and changed out of my clothes at night, so the scent lasted very well. It kept me pretty dry for most of the day, left fewer white marks than the other two, and didn't irritate my skin. So I rate it a 4.5 out of 5.

I then tried out the Refreshing Waterlily and Freshmint scent, which has a little bit of a cooling sensation and a faint soapy or detergent smell. If you want your deodorant scent to be really subtle, this is probably the one for you. While it works well enough for wetness protection, I just didn't like the fact that I couldn't really smell it after I put it on. The smell seemed to fade during the day and I had some whitish marks. However it didn't irritate my skin either. I rate it a 3 out of 5.

My latest try with the Dove Go Fresh line is the newly released Dove Rebalance Plum and Sakura Blossom, which is quite possibly the best smelling deodorant ever in my experience, rivaling the Degree Fine Fragrance line. It's sweet and fruity, almost like pomegranate but not as sharp. Like its companions, it does a good job at keeping me dry and the scent lasted all day, smelling just as strong as it did when I put it on. Given this quality, it may mingle and interfere with your other perfumes, so be sure to wear scents in the same family as this. I did find that it blended well with my beloved BBW Secret Wonderland. So few whitish marks, no wetness, long-lasting smell, no irritation, but maybe a little strong for some. I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

In sum, I think that Dove has done a very good job with these products, especially in the unique scent department (Plum? Green tea? Interesting choices!) I did notice that while the cucumber and plum scents came in body wash and mist, the waterlily does not anymore, so perhaps it won't be around much longer?

Have you tried the Dove anitperspirants? Tell me what you think in the comments!

Welcome to Curiouser Beauty!

How shall I begin? Well, I am an Alice-in-Wonderland-obsessed lover of writing and makeup. That should do it.

Seriously though, I have written blogs before and never really kept up with them until exploring beauty blogs and getting into makeup and nail polish. So I decided to give it a try.

I understand that beauty is a subjective term, and that each one of us may have different preferences for our own appearance, so I have created Curiouser Beauty to explore the realm of those options. I love trying all sorts of products, wild or tame, shiny or matte, drugstore or high-end, so I hope that I can keep things interesting and you, well, curious!

At the moment, I am currently trying out the new Dove Go Fresh Rebalance deodorant in Plum and Sakura Blossom scent. It smells amazing and does a good job of keeping me fresh-smelling even in the heat we are currently having! It also blends quite well with my new favorite Bath & Body Works Secret Wonderland lotion. I will give you the full report soon!

I hope to hear from you and please let me know in the comments about any products (skincare, bodycare, makeup, etc) that you'd like to see featured.

Later!
Alyce