Attack On The Beauty Department

Going to the beauty department at Walmart is awesome.   People from all walks of life are there.  One second you're staring at a little girl who just wants to be on Toddlers and Tiaras, along with her own Momma June who's got a full cart of pinks and blues, then you see the plain, but pretty business woman grabbing a new tube of mascara and trying to stop her teen daughter from buying that "freaky, neon hair dye stuff".  In short, it's a gong show.

It's also magical.  You can pick up products to primp and plump and change your whole outer self.  If that isn't magic, I don't know what is.

This particular attack on the beauty department was inspired by the lovely woman who threaded my eyebrows.  I like her, because she was very straight forward  in saying "Your face, it's dry, fix it."

So off to find something to clean and moisturize.  The search for one facial product led to this:

One item is never enough. 

I have a shopping problem.  It's apparent, and I don't care.  So I'll blog about it (the only time you'll ever see me take selfies, ugh) ! YAY!  Let's go through the process and the products.

Step 1:

Washing my face with my normal Clean and Clear Daily Pore Cleanser (not pictured) to have a clean slate. 

I'm also terrible at taking selfies, who needs the rest of my forehead anyway?

Step 2:

Clay Mask

It goes on moist.

It's a really weird sensation, these mask thingys.  I'm not really much of a girly girl most of the time, so I'd never tried this before.  But first it's really sticky, then it hardens and you can't move your face.  It goes completely dry and you feel like Bride of Frankenstein. 

This must be what Botox feels like.

Step 3:

Rinse.  It takes a few minutes to get the guck off your face, but my skin was much softer afterwards.  SUCCESS!!!

THERE'S FEELING IN MY FACE!!!

Step 4:

BB Cream.  This is totally a new thing for me.  I don't normally wear foundation, or use any creams on my face.  I really kind of hate the heavy feeling of foundation and don't feel like I should have to hide my skin anyway.  So I gave this a try.

I've been wearing it for a few days now and it is growing on me.  It is much lighter than foundation, doesn't feel greasy and evens out my skin tone nicely (which is really to say, it lightens some of my redness).

That wraps up the skin portion!  (Okay, that sentence sounds terrible, whatever, I'm leaving it there)


Mascara!!

Lash Blast Fusion - Very Black

Before

After

I wanted to try a new mascara than I have previously used before.  I seem to get something different every time.  This one had a big poster around it saying it added volume and length, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Not too shabby overall. 

AND FINALLY!!!  (drum roll)

My guilty pleasure - a new nail colour!!

 

It's super shiny and vibrant.  The Sally Hansen Salon Effects line goes on nice and thick and it's shiny so you don't always need a topcoat.   I quite like it, and it's usually only $3-$4 a bottle. 

There we have it.  The nails could even be called "Shiny Walmart Blue", though I doubt it would sell very fast...

My name is Alysha and I'm a shopaholic.  I'll have to try and avoid the super centres for a while. Temptation is everywhere!

Playing Cinderella (with my nail polish)

I wish I had a full size costume so I could just BE Cinderella (or any other Disney Princess for that matter), but since the Princess Workshop is for children only (the NERVE),  this will have to do.

My latest nail polish purchase:

"A Brush With Fate"

I'm not going to lie to you,  I went to Sephora and begged one of the sales reps to find this for me, even though it was special edition and discontinued.  I was a little late... (ps. They have "Jasmine" ones now!)

I went through and tried each of the colours and thought I'd do a little review for you.

First off, I visited space... or at least I felt like I should have with this silver, labelled "So Totally Enchanted".

Astronauts can talk like valley girls who want to be princesses, right?

I had that on for a few days with a Nicole by OPI top coat and it kept well, just the odd chip, similar to other OPI colours.  I find that the Sephora by OPI sets are just as good.

Now, instead of doing a full set of each colour, I decided to try out all the rest at once!

Sparkles really DO NOT photograph well.

Pointer Finger - "I Blue My Curfew" - A very pretty dark blue with sneaky sparkles.  Reminds me of the night sky when there's Ice Crystals (you know you're Canadian when you use this description)
Middle Finger -  "Bibbidi Bobbidi Pink" - Straight up pink confetti.  It's gorgeous and fun!  Perfect for a girls night. 
Ring Finger - "Self-Maid Millionaire" - Talk about your money polish.  This gold is contained enough to be classy, yet still shiny with a laid back sparkle.  Would look fabulous with a black and white ensemble.
Pinky Finger -  "Rags to Rhinestones" - All that glitters is gold eh?  These gold flecks are shiny, brilliant and statement-making. 
Thumb - "Step Off, Sister!" - What is it about silver and blue sparkles that's so whimsical?  This polish IS the magic from the fairy godmother's wand.  It's also wicked distracting as I type this ...OOHHH SHINY!

All hilariously punny names.  Thank you OPI, for the giggles and nail colour.

I truly feel like a princess, on my left hand, so now it's time to feel like a scientist!

EXPERIMENTS!

Seriously, sparkles ruin photos, or maybe I'm just a terrible photographer (probably the latter)

Pinky finger - The two gold shades (the solid with the sparkles on top) aka "Self-Maid Millionaire" with "Rags to Rhinestones" on top.  I feel like Beyonce in Goldmember.  I wonder if I could pull off the 'fro... No, No I couldn't.

Ring finger - Gold & Pink flecks aka "Self-Maid Millionaire" with "Bibbidi Bobbidi Pink" on top.  For some reason this reminds me rose petals and champagne.   It's quite pretty.

Middle finger - Silver with Pink flecks aka "So Totally Enchanted" with "Bibbidi Bobbidi Pink" on top.  If you're a fan of metallics - do this combination.  It's like shiny, metal confetti.

Pointer finger - Silver with Silver & Blue flecks - aka "So Totally Enchanted" with "Step Off Sister" on top.  This would be a great nail for a New Years Eve or Winter look.  The colours are perfect for that "I'm not allowed to celebrate denominational holidays so I decorated in Silver and Blue" look.  So PC.

Thumb - Blue with Silver & Blue flecks - aka "I Blue My Curfew" with "Step Off Sister" on top.  The blue undertone sets off the silver and blue sparkles really strikingly.  I'm not American, but if I celebrated 4th of July, I'd do this nail and find a Red Sparkle to add to it.

My Cinderella/Frankenstein nails are complete.  I will leave them mismatched for a few days until I get bored and try something new.  Until then... SPARKLE SPARKLE!


There we have a princess' tail of pretty nails.  No prince needed.

I.AM.A.PRINCESS. (and that's what I'll keep telling myself)

And my nails lived happily ever after. The End.  (yeah, I went there)