Monday, February 25, 2013

OPI Drip Dry Review


I've found yet another product to add to my "Holy Grail" products list. As most of you know, I do online surveys. I get a lot of gift cards including Amazon gift cards. While I was surfing Amazon one day I was looking through the OPI nail polishes and came across OPI Drip Dry. Of course, I went right to all of the makeup review sites and had to see what other people thought of this product. After reading a ton of rave reviews I decided to order it. (It was only $5.78 with shipping included, what did I have to lose?!)

Like my other reviews, I wanted to wait a little while and use it a few times before reviewing it. I did, and here are my thoughts:

Price: I'm very impressed with this product and think the price is on point.
Packaging: I love the packaging. The dropper is such a great idea and makes this very simple to apply.
How It Works: It's very easy and doesn't take much effort at all. You just use the dropper to drop 1-2 drops on each nail after painting it. Wait a minute or two, and it's dry to the touch and you can go about your day.
Product: This product does exactly what it says it will do. I usually do two coats and a top coat. I use the dropper and apply one drop (two drops to my thumbs) to each nail after each coat. I wait a little over a minute and it's dry to the touch. No fanning, no nail dryers, nothing. Just this product. I tend to paint my nails after I take a shower, right before bed, and I used to have the problem of messing up my nails because I'd go to sleep thinking my polish was dry enough, and wake up with smears and marks all over my nails. So annoying. After using this however, I woke up with perfect nails, looking exactly how they had the night before. It has no scent and I've noticed that it actually moisturizes my cuticles. Another cool thing about OPI Drip Dry is that if you accidentally have a bump or little lump on your nail from uneven brush strokes, it will smooth it out. It gives a perfect salon finish every time. I give this 5/5 stars and will definitely be repurchasing this. I would recommend this to everyone that paints their nails and doesn't want to wait 30 minutes for them to dry completely. :)

Have you tried this product? Do you want to? Are there similar products on the market that you have tried? Let me know in the comments. :)

xo, Sarah

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Onyx Professional 100% Acetone Nail Polish Remover Review



In my last haul post, I mentioned purchasing the Onyx Professional 100% Acetone Nail Polish Remover. I wanted to do a review on this because I am so in love with it!!

I use a lot of glitter polish (what girl doesn't?!), especially as an "accent". As anyone who uses glitter polish knows, it's almost impossible to get off. Before using this nail polish remover, it would literally take me longer to get my old (glitter) polish off than to put new polish on. By the time I was done, my hands would be so tired I would sometimes just give up and paint my nails later. Hah. (I think I just admitted how lazy I can be. Oh well...)

I'm very into watching YouTube beauty gurus and have learned about so many different products that I have ended up purchasing and falling in love with. This is one of them. While I was at Walmart a few weeks ago doing my beauty "stock up", I saw this and had to get it. It was only $0.99!! I've bought nail polish removers for 7x that price that don't work half as well. I wanted to use it a few times before I reviewed it and I have so here are my thoughts on it:

Price: I think this is obvious, the price is almost too good to be true. ;)
How it works: This stuff works like a charm. I have never come across a product that works so quickly and easily. I literally put some on a cotton ball, press it to my nail for a couple seconds, rub my nail 3 to 4 times, and everything is off. I don't have to put a ton of pressure or rub my nail endlessly, even with glitter polish. In case you couldn't tell, I'm very impressed with the quality, especially for such a low price.
Packaging: The packaging is pretty basic, it's just a bottle with a twist off top. No graphics or anything, nothing fancy. It does have information on the back and directions.
Comments: I definitely will repurchase this product. The only advice I have is to either not use this every single time you do your nails because pure acetone can be extremely drying (although I haven't noticed my nails being any dryer after using this product) and/or use a nail moisturizer after using this product. Overall it's great and I recommend it to everyone, especially people that use a lot of dark and/or glitter polish.

xo, Sarah


h a u l a g e :))

I love reading/watching people's clothing, beauty, whatever (lol) hauls. I thought you guys might like seeing mine. This is a collective haul of things I've purchased in the last couple weeks. A lot of it was bought on sale, some was purchased in stores and some online. This was all bought with my own money and/or gift cards. Let's do this...

The first (and BEST) thing I've gotten in the past couple weeks is my Samsung Galaxy S3!! It was between that or the iPhone 5 but after being convinced by Tom who scours the internet for info on phones ALL THE TIME and knows a lot more about them than I do, I bought this one. I also read a ton of reviews which said that the Samsung Galaxy S3 is the top phone on the market at the moment, so I went with it.



Wet Seal:
"Orange" Lace Heart Dolman (it's actually more peach)- Wet Seal $22.50

"Uptown" Gray Skinny Jeans- Wet Seal $15 (on sale)
back pockets of the skinny jeans (above)

Reese Black V-Neck- Wet Seal $6.50 (I got 2 of these, both in black.)
6 Cute Flower Earring Set- Wet Seal  $3.38 (1/2 off + 10% off entire purchase for texting Wet Seal)

Rhinestone Love Cuff- Wet Seal $4.72 (1/2 off + 10% off entire purchase for texting Wet Seal)

view of the heart on the cuff. :)



Victoria's Secret:
5 for $25 panties (regularly between $8.50-$10.50 each)  - Victoria's Secret
Pink Knit Top- Victoria's Secret $26.99 (on sale from  $49.50)

the back

yayyy for sales :)) haha

Forever XXI:


Pink Bow Ring- Forever 21 $3.80

picture from the Forever XXI website (it's clearer than mine)

Pink and Gold Ring Set- Forever 21 $3.80

Pink Ring Set- Forever 21 $3.80

Pink Knit Top- Forever 21 $5.80
Hello Kitty Sleeveless Tee- Forever 21 $22.80
 (This top looked huge when I pulled it out of the box but once I tried it on it fit really nicely. It's supposed to be a little big on top and it's banded at the bottom. I got it in a size medium.)



close up of the sequined Hello Kitty
Chococat Pillow Bedding Set- Forever 21 (FREE because I had a coupon code for Buy 1 Get 1 Free any Hello Kitty item.)

Sheet Set
Gauzy White Top- Forever 21 $19.80

It's longer in the back.

Hi-Lo Studded Pocket Top- Forever 21 $19.80

I love the back because it's a lot longer, I can wear it with leggings (or jeans, or shorts, etc.).


Walmart:

GIGANTIC lighter (the size of my entire hand, LOL) - Walmart $5

PJ Pants- Walmart (around $10)

Misc. beauty items that I needed to re-stock my arsenal with. LOL - Walmart
Fold Over Shorts- Walmart $5.00

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color (Coral Reef)- Walmart under $3


Maybelline Color Whisper Lip Color- Walmart $5.94
Onyx Professional 100% Pure Acetone Nail Polish Remover- Walmart $0.99
(This stuff is THE BEST nail polish remover I've ever used, hands down. It removes glitter polish so easily. I'll have a review up about this product soon!!)


Misc.:


Phone Case- Mall Kiosk (Woodfield) $28.00
Drip Dry by O.P.I.- Amazon $5.78 (shipping included)
Steve Madden BParker Satchel- Macys.com $108

Front/back/inside views of my new love. 





So that concludes my collective haul. I did not buy all of this at once. I had gift cards to some of these stores, some of which I got from doing surveys online. The purse was a gift from Tom for Valentine's Day since he didn't get me much for my birthday/Christmas. I used a little of my own money but for the most part this stuff was paid for by surveys! I'm telling you, if you put the time and effort into it and you sign up with the right companies, these surveys are worth your time. You can get gift cards to almost any store or website, Visa/Mastercard gift cards, cash, checks, money sent to your PayPal account, tons of free products to try, etc. If anyone is interested in the companies that I am signed up with or wants me to make a FAQ post about online surveys, let me know, I'd be more than happy to point you guys in the right direction. :)) Hope everyone is having a great weekend, I know I am! As usual, I have a few blog posts that are almost finished so keep an eye out for those soon!!

xo, Sarah