Zoya Cyber Monday Mystery Box

Hey everyone! Back on Cyber Monday Zoya offered a Mystery Box for $15 and free shipping. I am a huge lover of Zoya products from their polish to their base coat to their remover, so I knew this box would be good. Although it took a while to get (as these special promotions usually do with Zoya) I wasn't disappointed!

Let's start with what I was most excited to see in my box and that is the mini color lock system. This sells for $20 on their website, so that alone is worth more than what I paid for the box! Included in the system are a 1oz Zoya Remove Plus, Anchor Base Coat, Armor Top Coat, and Fast Drops polish drying drops. It all comes in a travel friendly zip lock bag.

Next up is the trio of mini polishes. From left to right the colors are Willa, Anja, and Rekha. I love all three of these and the value of a Zoya mini is $5 so that totals at $15.

They also sent the Qtica natural nail growth simulator, which I gave to my mom to test out because she has trouble growing her nails and keeping them strong. This sells for $12.

The last product in the box was a matte velvet lipstick. The boxes came with either the lipstick or a lip balm. I actually already have this lipstick that I got in a promo from Ulta, so I'm hoping to swap it with someone for the balm. I do love this lipstick, I've worn it before and it looks lovely! This lipstick sells for $12.

The box also came with two coupon codes (good until March 1st), one for 50% off your order from Zoya's website and one for a free nail polish remover in the flipper container. The remover sells for $9.99 and it's also my favorite. I think I may get the full sized color lock system with my 50% off code. Overall I'm very happy with this mystery box. I got around $64 worth of products for $15!

xoxo,

   Brooke

Essie Bobbing for Baubles

Happy Mani Monday! I hope everyone is having a good start to their week. I have a long week ahead of me and the kids at school are antsy with anticipation of the upcoming break. This fresh mani is bound to make my week a little brighter! (That and a ton of iced coffee from DD)

I picked up Essie Bobbing for Baubles at TJ Maxx last week and knew I wanted to try it right away. I would describe the color as a dusty grey-navy. It is gorgeous for fall and winter. Bonus: you can get away with one coat of this beauty. I paired it with Butter London Lillibet's Jubilee and I think they are a lovely combo. Unfortunately BFB looks pretty dark in the photos without flash I guess because of my bathroom lighting. I'll take one in natural light tomorrow.

I've gotten several packages in the mail so I'll have some fun unboxing posts coming up this week!

xoxo,

   Brooke

Essie Urban Jungle & Julep Julie

Happy Friday everyone! Who's ready for the weekend? The BF and I are gonna go out to his parents' house on Saturday for ice skating and dinner. We tried the whole ice skating in NYC thing (at Bryant Park, not Rockefeller) but it was expensive and waaaaaay too crowded. Like I spent the entire time worrying about skating into someone or someone skating into me. Skating at a rink in the suburbs cheaper and less crowded, which makes for a much more pleasant experience.

For today's mani I started with a base of Essie Urban Jungle. I may have found one of my favorite polishes of all time. This color is perfection! Urban Jungle is described by Essie as an alabaster orchid. It is a lovely nude polish that looks off white in some lights and light pink in others. Two coats will get you to full opacity with no visible nail line, plus the formula is a dream to work with.

This is before adding the glitter (couldn't decide which one so I snapped this photo to ask a friend and she liked the pink). You can see how smooth and glossy Urban Jungle is!

On top of Urban Jungle I used Julep Julie, which is from their Birthstone Collection. It is a pink tourmaline multi-dimensional glitter. I love how it kinda looks like I dipped my nails in sugar!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! See you on Monday :)

xoxo,

   Brooke

TJ Maxx Mini Haul

Happy hump day! I haven't posted on Wednesday in a while, but I stopped in TJ Maxx on my way home from work in search of cheap sunglasses for my upcoming vacation. I'm sure you can already guess that I didn't walk out with just sunglasses. They had a huge selection of nail polish and I found two Essie colors that have been on my ISO list for a while.

Essie Urban Jungle & Essie Bobbing for Baubles

I also saw these Nicka K nail polish remover pads on the check out line and thought they would be perfect for travel. The set includes lemon, peach, lavender, and spring fresh. I am really looking forward to trying the peach ones! Each container holds 32 pads. The description on the back claims that one pad will cleanly remove polish off ALL ten nails. I'll have to test that out and see if their claim is true. These are oil based and acetone free.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far. Only two days until the weekend!

xoxo,
   Brooke

Formula X Grandiose

Happy Mani Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend. The BF and I stayed in all of Saturday watching TV since the weather was pretty crappy. We finally finished Breaking Bad (I know, I'm behind on the times!) and started watching Boardwalk Empire. I'm super into it and I love the set and the costumes. The 1920s is one of my favorite decades.

I have a quick manicure to show you all today. A few weeks ago I was browsing the sales section at Sephora and found Formula X Grandiose for $3.99 (regular price $12.99)! This polish is from their Shifters collection and is a rose and bronze metallic duochrome. Grandiose was super easy to work with and the color shift is absolutely stunning.

You can really see on my index finger the shift from bronze to rose.

xoxo,

   Brooke

Julep Lacey & Serena

Happy Friday! I don't know about you all but I am so ready for the weekend. Well, let's be honest I'm so ready for the weekend to be a full week. Who wouldn't be on board with that?

Anyway, I am so excited to share this mani with you. I started with one coat of Julep Lacey, which is a deep midnight blue. I will warn you that it can be a little difficult to remove, as is the case with some blue polishes. On top of Lacey I used Julep Serena from the birthstone collection. Oh my gosh you guys. Serena is a sapphire multidimensional glitter and it is stunning. I also love that it's named after Serena Williams since I've played tennis my whole life.

How GORGEOUS do these pretties look in natural light?!

I seriously cannot stop staring at my nails. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I'll be back on Monday with a new mani!

xoxo,

   Brooke

Clinique Black Honey

Happy Mani Monday everyone! Did you all have a nice weekend? Did anyone go shopping on Black Friday? I've actually never gone Black Friday shopping, I usually just check out the online deals. I'm finally getting over my bronchitis and I feel well rested for the full week ahead. My turkey mani was such a huge hit for Thanksgiving that I almost didn't want to take it off!

For today's mani I chose Clinique Black Honey, which is a gorgeously deep cherry red jelly. It looks almost black, but if you were to compare side by side with a black polish you could see that Black Honey has a warm reddish tone. It is so glossy and sophisticated! For the accent glitter I used Nubar Blondie. I love the way it pairs with dark polishes.

A close up so you can see that sparkle!

You can really see the reddish tone here.

Oh and can you believe it's December 1st?! I just can't get over it!

xoxo,

   Brooke