Makeup Withdrawal

NOTD: Zoya Veruschka (And Details on Zoya Free 3 Polish Code)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hello Readers!
I don't know if you know about this yet but Zoya currently has an amazing code. Thanks to all the people who 'liked' their facebook page, they've gone ahead and given us a code for three free polishes (you pay $6.95 for shipping and handling). This is a great deal since Zoya polishes are $7 each, and they have some amazing colors. Just put three polishes in your cart, enter 'FB2011' as the code and you'll be on your merry way! Er, actually not quite- with about half a million people currently trying to get in on this deal, their site is a bit jammed up. I had to re-enter my credit card info about 5 times trying to get a confirmation, but hey! Don't look a gift polish in the bottle. This offer is good until tomorrow, I believe.
Anyhoo, I thought I'd share with you a polish that blows my mind. Zoya Veruschka came out a while back (2009?) in a collection with other mattes. Even if you don't like matte finishes, keep reading!
Veruschka is my bad-mood-buster polish. It's kinda weird, but I wear this polish sparingly. I'll bring it out every once in a while when I'm really blue and it really works- seeing this polish dazzle really perks me up, even if it's only temporary.

1x Essie First Base, 3x Veruschka

The application is somewhat tricky- the matte formula wants to dry really quickly so it doesn't level very well on your nails. In fact, look at the matte picture. See how some of my nails look lumpy and streaky?
I like it matte, it looks like brushed rich green velvet. But when I put a coat of clear top coat on it, Veruschka looks like a magical vial of pine needles and emeralds crushed together.

1x Essie First Base, 3x Veruschka, 1x SpaRitual Multi Tasker

Doesn't that green sparking beauty make you want to order one from Zoya?

Have a great Friday tomorrow, folks!
Love,

Products were purchased by me, for my own use.

EOTD: We Didn't Start The Fire

Hello Readers!
I don't know if you can tell but I have Billy Joel stuck in my head right now. It kinda made me want to do a flame filled EOTD, so I did!
I used:
Brows: Maybelline Define A Brow, NYX Eyebrow Shaper
Eyes: UDPP, NYX Doll Eye Mascara, Shiro Cosmetics Hearts shadow, Rock & Republic Fuel shadow, Etude gold shadow, Estee Lauder Artist Pencil in black, MAC Oh My Darling shadow (from Devil May Dare Palette).

Pictures never turn out the way they should. *sigh*

I'm looking forward to Friday, how about you?

With love,

China Glaze Anchors Away Mini Set Giveaway! CLOSED

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

What's a better way to start off the new year than with a giveaway? I wanted to thank all my followers for reading and could think of no better way than to give out some stuff.
What is up for grabs:
One lucky winner will receive one mini set of polishes from China Glaze's Anchors Away Collection. This set is brand spankin' new (heck, this collection hasn't even been released in most places yet!). The four shades are Hey Sailor, Ahoy! First Mate and White Cap.

Just please read the rules below and fill out the required info below, that's all there is to it!
Any questions? Feel free to email me at mimi@makeupwithdrawal.com

Good luck!

Rules:
******Must be a Google Friend Connect Follower to enter******
This is open INTERNATIONALLY!
Must be 18 or older to enter, unless you can provide written permission from your parents or guardians.
Contest ends January 21st at 10pm EST. Winner will have 72 hours to reply to my email, or else a new winner will be drawn.
One winner will be drawn using Random.org
Products were purchased by me, with the intention of giving them away as a prize.

Please fill in your email address in the commenting form below (there's a slot for it, no one else will be able to see it) and answer:

What is your Google Friend Connect name?** required**

For an extra chance to win, follow me on Twitter (@MUWithdrawal) and retweet the following: "@MUWIthdrawal is giving away China Glaze Anchors Away minis! http://bit.ly/h9VOc8". Please leave your Twitter name if you have done so.
For another chance to win, blog about this contest or post it on your side bar. Please leave your url if you have done so.

Dry Skin Crisis- Vichy Laboratoires Nutrilogie 2 Cream Review

Monday, January 3, 2011

photo credit: Animal Planet

Dear Readers,

A few weeks ago, I did a foolish thing. Let me tell you the whole story.

We were studying skincare and facials at school, and the practical grade was based on giving facials. I let another student use the school's spa line, Repêchage. Now, for some dumb reason it didn't cross my mind that oh hey, my skin is super sensitive- maybe I shouldn't be using new products all of a sudden! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!
I went ahead and let my classmate use the Repêchage Hydra 4 (for sensitive skin, hah!) set on me. He scarcely had time to apply the cleanser to my face before I felt a deep burning sensation begin to race across my face.

Long story short- redness, puffyness, itchiness (thank goodness for Benadryl!) and just general pain ensued for the next few days. When that was over, I was left with the top few layers of my skin completely demolished.

I couldn't make facial expressions or touch my face without feeling that dead, stiff, scaly skin. I did in fact, resemble something close to the picture up top (though that horned lizard has much more impressive coloring). I was downright miserable- people kept telling me how bad my face looked, and I bet a few of them were itching to offer me some moisturizer.

image from VichyUSA.com

What to do? My normal oils and moisturizers did nothing to penetrate and heal my devastated skin. Not my trusty aloe nor exfoliation do a single thing to dent that scaly mask I was now wearing.

Enter Vichy Laboratoires (no, that's not a spelling error)'s miracle in a tub, Nutrilogie 2 Cream. ( I believe Nutrilogie 1 is lighter in texture and more absorbant than 2, for those wondering. ) I applied an ample amount on right before bed, desperately hoping that I would wake up miraculously cured of my flaking face. And I was!

When I got up the next morning, I couldn't believe the change. The cream had soothed and moisturized my skin beyond anything I had hoped for. After a light exfoliation (super light) and another application of Nutrilogie 2, my face actually felt better than it had before the whole fiasco. I can start out the day with a light application of this cream and still feel the effects 12 hours later.

This cream is white and quite heavy though it absorbs really well. What I mean to say is that it may in fact be too rich for normal skin. It's white in color and has a faint fragrance which I didn't mind. It is the most expensive moisturizer I've tried at $29 (Mr. MakeupWithdrawal couldn't believe that skin care could cost more than $10, the poor dear. He was in fact quite flabbergasted when I told him how much La Mer creams cost, and grumbled something about how soap worked just fine) but it was a miracle in a jar for me.

I would highly, HIGHLY recommend this if you have intensely dry skin or get those dreaded patches of dead skin during the winter. Honestly, I haven't had a single bout of scaly skin since I've been using this. I think this would also be a fantastical product if you are using an acne treatment that is severely drying your skin and need something to moisturize, stat.

I hope you're enjoying 2011 so far! And on a side note, I've started taking pictures in sunlight of China Glaze Tronica! The only time I have to take swatch pictures are during my lunch break- so they're coming along... slowly.

-Mimi

Product mentioned was purchased by me, for my own use.

China Glaze Tronica Collection Swatches

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Would you believe me that this is my first true nail polish haul? I'm serious! Despite my growing stash of polishes, I never buy more than two or three at a time. Heck, even when I order from 8ty8beauty or Head2Toe, I never get more than five polishes.
But when I heard about this Tronica Collection and my CosmoProf let me know that they'd have the collection for sale on January 2nd, I knew I had to have them all. I felt a twinge of guilt at spending $40 on a bunch of polishes in one go but... they were holos after all. So this morning, I was the first person in the store as soon as it opened. I ran in, grabbed my 12 polishes and got home to begin the daunting task of swatching them.

Now... there's a slight problem. There's no sun out today at ALL. These Tronica polishes don't really show any holo indoors at all either.

So, none of my pretty holos sparkle the way they ought to. I took some preliminary pictures indoors but I promise that as soon as the sun comes out, I'll redo my swatches.

All pictures taken indoors, under lightbox with flash. No top coat or base coat used. Click to enlarge.

3 coats

1 coat

Virtual Violet is a medium purple. Much lighter and less intense than how it looks in the bottle
Gamer Glam is a pastel purple. Quite thin.
Electra Magenta is a light magenta pink.
Hyper Haute is a vivid dark magenta.

2 coats

3 coats

3D Fantasy is a red pink. It looks like the bright red holo I've dreamed of in the bottle, but comes out much more pink and lighter than I expected.
Digital Dawn is a muted red-coral. Very similar in color to China Glaze TTYL.
Mega Bite is a mustard gold. Very similar in color to China Glaze GR8.
Laser Lime is a light lime. Very similar in color to China Glaze L8R G8R.

1 coat

3 coats

2 coats

Techno Teal is a beautiful blue green.
High Def is a soft royal blue. Very similar in color to China Glaze 2NITE.
Hologram is a grey-silver holo.
Cyberspace is a light mocha color. This shade came out really light compared to the bottle color.

As you can see by the varying number of coats I used, the formulas and densities are quite different. Some of the polishes are thinner like Milani holos while others are more opaque and closer to Color Club holos. All of them perform better without a basecoat (but do with Nfu Oh's Aqua Base). The particle size is in between the China Glaze OMG collection and Kaleidascope collection (almost like they got together and had a baby). Actually, a lot of the shades are very similar to that of the OMG collection, only the finish is different. All of the polishes dry almost matte and lighter than their bottle colors, and have very little holo indoors.
In fact, I'm quite surprised at how pastel the shades came out. When the Tronica collection pictures came out, I anticipated more vibrant and darker shades, but these are quite muted. Not that it's a terrible thing, just not what I was expecting.
Since my pictures show very little holo effect, I'll definitely take more pics outdoors, as well as comparison pictures in the next few days.

EDIT: I took some sunlight picutres- click here to check them out!

What do you think? Are you excited to see more outdoor, sunny pictures?

Products were purchased by me, for my own use.