Goodies From Mont Bleu

I was going to have two posts yesterday... and then I fell asleep. Story of my life. Here's the promised post! I recently received some more products to review from Mont Bleu, a company that specializes in glass ware such as fabulously decorated nail files.

The two files included are just wonderful. One is a standard sized nail file from the CRYSTAL line, which all feature beautiful Swarovski elements on the handles. The small size makes it easy to store in its velvet case in a desk at work or at home for when ever you need a bit of filing. The other one, with the little etched foot is foot file (you may have deduced that) which is almost the exact size and dimensions of the NailTek XL crystal file, one of my favorites. It is fantastic for shaping nails during a pedicure, the size makes it easy to handle while reaching for your toes.

This hair tweezer was beautiful, but only so-so for plucking hair. The gripping circle is a nice touch, and the red crystal elements are beautiful but the tips are more thicker and a tad more blunt than I'm used to using. It also comes with a clear protective packaging with velvet backing.

I absolutely love the foot file. I could rave about it all day long. I previously used pumice stones but  glass files such as this one are much superior. This file has a smooth red area that serves as a handle. I also like that this file has both a smooth and a coarse side. The coarse side gently sloughs away dead skin at a nice rate but without taking too much off while the smooth side sort of polishes and smooths out areas like your soles. I find that sometimes pumice stones can wear away a bit too much or cut/grind up the skin's surface. Pumice stones being porous and all, also cannot be sterilized; another thing I love about glass files. They can be sterilized in salon autoclaves and UV boxes (at home I use a disinfectant and then rinse with boiling water to sanitize the files).

And here are a few extras included in the package. An well very well crafted Shamballa bracelet that fits both men and women with the adjustable sizing strings.

These however crystal studs however, were my favorite. I love the unusual triangular shape and red is my favorite color, look how they glow! I did notice that the backing was a tad too big for the posts, I would recommend replacing them with your own as they do not "click" to ensure that they stay on and can become easily lost.

Mont Bleu products are of excellent quality, I still have the crystal files that I was sent from last year and they are in tip top shape. I still keep the hard cased file in my purse and use it all the time. In fact, they have a lifetime warranty on their Czech tempered glass. I also like the impressive number of products they offer, so many different crystal files! There are also all sorts of prices, starting at just €4 in the classic line (about $5.20).

What are your favorite crystal files?

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Sephora Favorites Deluxe Sampler For Her

Hello, all!

I've got a lot of unpublished posts piling up so today you get two! I want to briefly talk about the Sephora Favorites Deluxe Sampler that Morgan gifted me last month. 

This sampler set contains 11 mini vials of pretty popular perfumes carried at Sephora. I uh, would caution that you use a butter knife to pry out the vials instead of grabbing at them like I did. I ended up spraying myself in the mouth the first time I accidentally pushed down on an outwardly spray facing sample. Derp. Included in the box are a little Sephora bag and the card that you can redeem in store (US Sephoras only, not redeemable online or in JC Penny Sephoras) for a full bottle of your favorites scent out of the bunch. 

As per the Sephora website, the card redeems into the following sizes:

- BVLGARI Omnia Crystalline redeems to a 1.37 oz Eau de Toilette Spray
- Chloé Chloé redeems to a 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
- CLEAN Skin redeems to a 2.14 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
- ESCADA Especially Escada reedeems to a 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
- Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia redeems to a 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
- Gucci Flora by Gucci redeems to a 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
- Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh redeems to a 2.5 oz Eau de Toilette Spray
- Paco Rabanne Lady Million redeems to a 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
- Philosophy Love Sweet Love redeems to a 2 oz Fragrance Spray
- Stella McCartney L.I.L.Y redeems to a 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
- Tocca Cleopatra redeems to a 1.7 oz Eau de Parfum Spray

The little pouch is well made but honestly, I have loads of them laying around the place!

I already know what I'll be redeeming this card for- my signature daily scent CLEAN Skin. I'm down to less than a fourth left on my first bottle and since Morgan is crazy for that fragrance, he wanted me to get another bottle. Normally the 2.14 oz EDP is $69 but the sampler set is $50 so it's a bit of a bargain. I actually ordered this during Chic Week so the Favorites Deluxe Sampler For Her was 15% off, making the total savings on a bottle of CLEAN Skin to be near 40%. Not too shabby right?

This is definitely a great way to try popular scents at Sephora and save a bit on full sized bottles, particularly if you already love one of the perfumes in the set.

Are any of these fragrances in the Sephora Favorites Deluxe Sampler For Her among your faves? I do wish that they'd bring back the For Him edition, that would have been helpful when I was trying to pick out some scents for Morgan earlier this year!

Product featured was given to me as a gift. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy. 

31 Day Nail Challenge v2: Orange Nails

My friend Deborah is amazing, you know what she tracked down for me? A bottle of the elusive OPI Black Spotted! If you hadn't heard about this polish before, it is an extremely hard to find lacquer. It came out in French Sephoras with the OPI Spiderman collection and hasn't been released elsewhere (edit: been notified that it was also found in the Netherlands!). I had previously been given a small decant of the rare liquid but hadn't really used it since I didn't want to waste it.

For today's orange nails I wore OPI Black Spotted over Catrice Copper Cabana (another polish given to me by Deborah! ♥ ) Funny thing about this polish, even though it looks really neat it is really hard to use! There's definitely a learning curve, for me it was much harder to master than crackle polish. You have to apply it on completely dry polish or else crack will form. Also, you need to do a single super thin coat with minimal over lap or else the spots won't form. This is my fourth attempt at using Black Spotted and my nails still look rather different. 

If you can't get your hands on OPI Black Spotted, give this tutorial for water spotted nails by Cute Polish a try. 

Products featured were given to me by a friend. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliner in Outrageous Emerald

I recently picked up one of the newer Prestige Total Intensity liners in Outrageous Emerald. In addition to being my hands down favorite pencil liners, emerald green is one of my favorite shades... as well as Pantone's shade of the year for 2013. I rarely buy any drug store makeup without a coupon or sale, so it should speak to how much I admire Prestige Cosmetics that I bought this liner without a second thought!

Look at that brilliant color! An intense shimmery emerald green. Just one swipe for great color payoff. I noticed that the pencil seems to have changed packaging, the pencil itself now has a black glossy/matte lettering thing going on with a cap that matches the shade of the pencil. Much better looking than the previous packaging. Actually, I find it to be probably the nicest packaging of all the drugstore liners available.

This liner was creamy. Super creamy. Even creamier than shades that I had previously picked up (Deepest Black and Intense Olive among them). The first time I drew a line, the tip completely broke off. At first I thought it was the heat making it so soft (it's been in the 90s this past week) so I left it in the freezer for a while. The cold did make the pencil a bit more manageable to use, but still I found this liner to be excessively soft. 

In the end, I had to use a brush to help apply Outrageous Emerald. I swiped it on my lash line, then used a small angled brush to wing it out. I'm willing to deal with this crazy soft formula because the color is just so fantastic and for me, the formula is smudge proof and the longest wearing I have ever encountered.

The price is also something that pleases me greatly, under $6 at Rite Aid. I found this in a seasonal display (my RA doesn't have a perm. Prestige section any more) but I'm hoping that this shade will make its way to the permanent display at Ulta.

Have you seen this new(ish) Prestige Total Intensity shade? There's also this bright turquoise shade, I think I may have to get that next!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy. 

Mundane Mondays, Vol. VIII: Meet Widget!

So we brought home a kitty over the weekend. His name is Widget! He belonged to Morgan's sister but she had been looking for a new home for him. 

He is so ridiculously loving and friendly. We brought him home and I figured he'd need a few days, perhaps a week to adjust to his new environment and warm up to these people who seemingly abducted him from his home. Nope. After ten minutes of exploring, he jumped on the bed with Morgan who was taking a nap after the long drive. He then proceeded to crawl under the covers and cuddle on Morgan's chest. 

He has some interesting quirks too. He likes napping in the bathtub. He also likes drinking running water from the shower and bathroom sink. He keeps following us when we go to the bathroom so that he can hop on the counter and drink faucet water when we're washing our hands. I'm going to have to get him a little running fountain so that I can pee in peace!

As much as Morg's sister and her family (especially her toddler who adores Widget) will miss Widget, we're pretty glad to have this cuddly little fellow live with us.