Sales and organization.

No swatches or pics, sorry :-( I think I'm getting sick with whatever my roommmate had and I have zero energy. My mani is all chippy and stuff :-(

I did however want to touch base and tell you that you should check out your local Trade Secrets. Its old news, but they are selling off all their Essie polishes, and the price as dropped to $2. Most of the places I have seen are pretty picked over, but its worth checking out. Also, since we know I have a LOT of polish, I asked if i could buy some of the Essie racks they were getting rid of, and she gave them to me for $5. Yay. Now I can display my polishes all prettily in my melmers and racks. Ill be sure to take pictures of it when I finish.

Now. I think its time for a nap. Can you guys reccomend any good tv shows I havn't seen? Cause i feel like ive seen them all and I want something to watch while I feel awful...

-GlamerGirl

Sorry ive been gone!!! And Just Tinted SPAMalama!

Hey guys,

Thanks for being so understanding about me being gone for so long! School took over and pretty much consumed my life, that and I work two jobs and have other extracurriculars, so GlamNGeek just got pushed to the backburner a bit.

My collection just keeps growing! So fast! I am working to get swatches done quickly for you guys, but for now I thought I would just share some just tinted spam from this weeks hauls. I actually nabbed these for a grand total of $2.22 at H-E-B in Austin, Tx. If you have HEB where you live, RUN dont walk to your nearest one! There are $3 revlon coupons that make nail polish a measley .74 cents! :-D. I also grabbed some scented ones I had been wanting to try, and then ran to CVS where i got 3 free revlon top speeds with some hot coupon action. ($4 extra care bucks from a revlon np purchase, and a $1 revlon coupon.) They ended up owing me a penny for each one! But I decided to go easy on the cashier ;)

For those of you who don't know, Revlon has just released a new collection called Just bitten/Just tinted. It has lip stains and sheer matte polishes, intended to give the nails a blushed look. They dry matte, but can be shinied up with a glossy top coat.

And, without further adeiu:

they are, left to right, Desire, Victorian, and Dawn (not 100% about the last one, as the label was mussed up). This is two reasonably thick coats, and the best lighting I can muster in the middle of the night with a camera phone. :-)

All in all, I really feel like these are exactly as described. Sheer mattes, very squishy, almost like super sheer jellies. There is absolutely no way to make the opaque on their own, no matter how many coats you wear, so if thats your thing maybe these arent for you, or perhaps layer them over another polish.

Speaking of layering, I'm really curious to try layering these over things. Giving a pink tint to a gold glitter, and such, doesn't that sound exciting!?

-GlamerGirl

PS. I am trying to get the comments fixed, because they don't seem to be working right now, but as soon as i get them fixed i hope to hear from you guys!!!

Black is Back, babe!

Sorry its been so long since my last post, life has been nuts, with final projects being due, class registration, and about a thousand other things I am not sure if you even care about. But here's some fun stuff for the day, I decided to compare some black polishes since it seems like everyone has a black polish. I didn't have Illamasqua Boosh to compare with, but i had some other staples, so lets see:

compared the following:

1. WnW Wild Shine Black Creme
2. ORLY Liquid Vinyl
3. Milani Black Magic
4. Borghese Notte Black
5. ORLY Matte Vinyl
6. Kiss Nail Art Paint SPA12 Black
7. OPI Black Shatter
8. Destined Nail Color, no name
9. OPI Baby its "coal" outside

Here are the pics, Ill give a breakdown after:

(all of these are 1 or 2 coats, no tc or bc)

I have no idea why the milani looks brown here. Its black IRL.

Sorry for picture quality, I need a new camera :-(

Here are my thoughts, as pictures can decieve,

My favorite out of all of them (sorry I dont own Boosh so i cant say for sure in comparison to that one) is that my favorite, hands down, is WnW Black Creme (no. 1). All of the others requred a second coat for evening out, but the WnW was a true one coater. It dried quickly and easily, and down to a high shine. The milani and the orly are nice, but not AS nice, suprising seeing as how the WnW was the cheapest. I got it today for 69 cents at walgreens!

My least favorite was the ORLY Matte Vinyl, mostly because of the texture. Its a personal thing but i really hate the "chalkboard: feeling of this one (though hey, thats a cool nail art idea :) ). I had trouble getting the black to shatter, but its unique, and the borghese, while not 100% opaque after one coat, has a jellier finish, with some shimmer and its truly unique, if i was just going to wear straight black, id wear that one probably.

The kiss art pen looks lumpy because at first i was just going to do stripes on the swatch nail, but as it turns out i suck at that, so i just colored it all in without removing the stripes. The result was what you see above. I would use this for nail art, but the quality of the np is that it doesnt really dry down quckly and is sort of rubbery imho, its very thick, good for konading or nail art, but if you tried to do a full mani with it it would never dry.

The last two fall into the "black" catagory but arent true black cremes, just lovely colors on their own. TBH I like the OPI BiCO better than the Destined one, but for the price it couldnt be beat (super cheap at a surf shop in CA).

Thanks for reading this guys! Tell me what colors you want to see next!

-GlamerGirl

NOTD: ChG Frostbite and asking opinions

My NOTD is ChG Frostbite, a truly amazing China Glaze core collection color that YOU NEED if you don't have. The pictures don't show how truly vibrant and multidimensional this color is. Its a deep bright blue (I don't know how something can be both deep and bright but this nails it) with a gorgeous bright blue microshimmer running through it. Its truly beautiful. Since taking the pictures I put a couple coats of Last Friday Night over the ring finger and thumb, Ill show you some pics of that later today.

Ok, one question, what do you want to see swatches of first? ChG OMG Collection, ChG Anchors Away, OPI Katy Perry or Zoya Sunshines.

-GlamerGirl

Kleancolor, Goldie, and Ulta 20% F&F

Hullo there!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine was full of excitement! I decided to try out some of my dollar store nail polish that I picked up a while ago at some itty bitty 99c store. I have heard really mixed things about the brand Kleancolor as well as Santee, and I have probably about five of these total. The big concern over them is that they smell TOXIC, like...bad. Most polish nowadays is formulated B3F, which basically means that they're less toxic, without formaldehyde and toulene and some other nasties. However, the kleancolor brand, which when applied smells like some toxic chinese sweatshop, was too tempting not to pass up. I bought a cute heart glitter from them and was rather excited. But I am pretty sure I lost whatever was left of my brain cells when I was putting this on. The green base color is a color (don't remember the name, I'll update this later with it when I get home) from NYC that I've had for YEARS...Its not very pretty IMO and I seriously doubt that they still make this color. I chose it cause the DBF suggested this color combo. It didn't clash with my skin or anything but I just didn't like it. That and the smell from the kleancolor didn't dissapate, while trying to fall asleep that night the fumes were giving me a headache. So naturally, this mani didnt last.

I changed it to this:

Yep, I'm holding a mouse. It was the first thing I saw to grab when I did the pic, heh. This color is actually unnamed, its by Goldie and this is the most color accurate picture I have, its a lovely burgundy with a gorgeous shimmer running through it. I have plans for this mani and I can't wait to show you what I plan to do!

And lastly this week (until April 9th) is this years Ulta %20 off for friends and family :). If you were lucky enough to get an in store coupon in the mail, it DOES NOT exclude prestige, as so often the coupons do. The online coupon excludes prestige cosmetics (basically anything mid to high-end) but its still a good chance to get something youve been lemming.

Since I was lucky enough to have an in-store coupon (from my Grandma! I didn't get one in the mail :( ) I went and grabbed some of the China Glaze Anchors Away collection I had been lemming, as well as the remainder of the ORLY CosmicFX collection, because that collection, while it has dupes elsewhere, is just too gorgeous in my humble opinion.

I also snagged the Amazing Cosmetics concealer since it was half off for their last event of the "21 days of beauty" event. I wouldn't have spent 42 dollars on the tube, but for 21, which as a college student I still consider a good chunk of change, it is really amazing. Its creamier than my Kevin Aucoin Sensual Skin enhancer concealer, but still excellent on the coverage, it blends right into my skin. If anyone is wondering I got the shade "fair", I typically wear the lightest color but suprise! the lightest one in this is too light for me, which leaves hope for us palies yet!

I also ended up grabbing Urban Decay 24/7 shadow pencil in midnight cowboy and korres lip butter in pomegranate, and a couple clearanced Vintage Vixen nail polishes. I pretty much blew my budget for the coming month, but since I don't plan on spending any more for awhile, I am just going to take it in stride. Ill do reviews on these products individually in the coming week or so, as this post is getting to be rather long and I don't want to drive you all nuts reading this book!

-GlamerGirl

April Fools! & NOTD+ B2G1 @ Sallys

Ok, I thought about splitting this up into multiple posts for the sake of organization, but I already made another post today and didn't want to spam your RSS feed ^_^. See, that's me being considerate!

First off, happy April Fools Day! I am not much for pranking personally anymore, I got my fill of it with my amazing day filled with magic ink in middle school, but have fun with it! And try not to put any whoopie cushions on my seat! Did you see the Zoya April Fools prank? Heres a recap if you missed it:

It looks like someone at Zoya has been stalking the NB! Our love for a good linear holo will not be teased! :-( Though hopefully this is a hint that Zoya gets the message and we can expect some holo from them in the future.

Speaking of holo, todays NOTD was ChG TTYL, the camera cant capture this well, its so truly amazing. I wanted something fun but not crazy, and this fit the bill, especially for the sunny weekend we are looking forward to! Last time I tried to wear holos the sun just wouldn't shine, so here is some holospammage for today!

A closer shot so you can see the linear goodness! My cuticles have gotten a lot better thanks to all the suggestions I have received, soon they will be perfect! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ^_^

Indoors this looks like a boring, practically work-appropriate pink shimmer, but out of doors its holosplosion! I was so happy to get my grubby little mitts on this gem, most of my htfs I find in dusties, but this one came from a blog sale, I was worried about regretting the expenditure, as I paid well above retail for this beauty, but it was worth it! Yay! I am only missing L8R G8R from the ChG OMG set now, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to hunt down backups!

Of course...*cough cough* I might not feel the need for that if someone would actually come out with LINEAR HOLOS!

OK, that's enough of that. Lastly, I just wanted to make an announcement that is definitely NOT an April Fools joke, this month at all US Sally's Beauty Supply they are having B2G1 on all nail polish (mix and match!), as well as a bunch of other stuff. Here is a link to their flyer if you are interested.

Later Lovers!

GlamerGirl

Yesterdays NOTD (didnt last long)

K, I was going to post yesterdays NOTD and call it todays cause I figured I would still be wearing it, but through no fault of the polish itself, I couldnt keep myself from fidgeting to the point of picking it away. So it is no more, but it was cute while it lasted!

Playa de Platinum + Dots!

I wanted to do something simple and neutral, and as you can see I did neither, but I had Essie Playa de Platinum in my untrieds, and hadn't been really excited about testing it. So I used it, but hated the color on me, mega lobster hand maker, and I was waaay too lazy to take it off and start over with the polish picking process...

So I just grabbed a cheapie set of colors I got from ross (Simply Sweet if anyone's wondering) and started doing dots. I added some yellow from OPI Banana Bandana for the sake of rainbows everywhere.

It was springy, cute, and fun, but it didn't stay :p

Yesterdays mail excitement! And the best dusty SA EVAR! (pic heavy)

Hey guys,

Yesterday was an exciting mail day, my mailman must dread delivering my things, as I always have little packages coming! But if you remember, awhile ago, there was a free target beauty bag that was full of little samples and such. The offer ran out quickly, so if you missed it :-( but those of you who are still waiting on yours, lookie what greeted me in the mailbox!!!:

It was so cute all boxed up, I just had to take a picture!

And then I was forced to take another photo when I got it out of the box! Look at that adorable bag! I'm not sure I have a use for it though, may go into the "swap and shop" pile (if you are in the DFW area and want to be a part of the upcoming swap n shop please message me!)

The goodies: the cute little blue/white bag; its nylon and seems decently constructed for being free :). A coupon book with some wonderful target deals! (I intend on doubling up my fit me coupons and getting it!), a Revlon ColorBurst l/g sample in hot pink, full size Neutrogena lip balm (great stuff!), travel size of Nivea express hydration daily lotion, travel size of Pantene color preserve shine shampoo (also going into the swap n shop pile, as I don't use Pantene), and samples of Fekkai Shea butter shampoo and conditioner (I need to find an ingredient list on these to see if I can use them).

Also in the mail was a hello kitty fauxnad plate that was kindly RAOK'ed my way :). I havnt really played with konading yet, but now I am super motivated! I love HK!

And the star....*drum roll please...*
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OPI DS Original!!!! (read below for story)

These are all taken indoors, no flash....the holo just jumps out of the bottle!

Isn't that gorgeous???

K, so how I got my grubby little mitts on this gem:

A few weeks ago I went on my very first "dusty hunt" which is essentially where you go hunting random salons for htf polishes from older collections. One of the shops i went to the lady was really nice, and as I was checking out (I got Merry Midnight, OPI Paris Coture for Sure, Absolutely Alice, and Catch me in your Net that day, amongst other treasures) she asked me if i was looking for something specific, and humoring her, since i figured there was no way she could get it, i wrote down the name of a few harder to find polishes, such as the ChG OMG and Kaliedescopes Collection, OPI DS Original, and Royal. I left her a number, expecting to never hear from her again. Well, yesterday I got a text, she said she had found one of the ones I was looking for and that I should come by and get it. Lo and behold my brand spankin new bottle of DS Original. I have no idea what sort of magic powers she has, but shes officially the best dusty lady EVAR! :-). When I came in yesterday to grab it, I poked around, there were a few polishes I saw that I wanted, but nothing I couldn't live without, and I am on a bit of a spendthrift hiatus. So those will have to wait. I think she was disappointed that I bought only one, but I promised her I would be back, and I meant it.

So that's my story and I'm stickin to it.

-GlamerGirl

PS. NOTD is Essie Playa de Platinum decorated with dots of color from a no name brand collection from Ross called "simply sweet" and OPI banana bandana. Post later :)

PSA Great free cd! Beats Antique.

Hey guys,

Just had to share this, my friend from my belly dance class just recommended me this band, I haven't heard of them before, but then again I'm not the most musically knowledgeable person in the world. But nontheless, as soon as I heard them, I wanted to move which was challenging because I was currently sitting in the small closet like space we call the tech office at my workplace. And that's neither here nor there, but these guys ROCK. And their cd "Collide" is for free download. Their style is sort of a tribal, instrumental, with a modern beat that makes you move without thinking. So do it. Do it nao!

Click the picture below to go to their site!

If you like this style of music, I would compare the style to E-Muzeki (now no longer around :-( ), but they have no split into Wine and Alchemy, and Circa Paleo both of which are distinctly different, but awesome all the same.

Hope you enjoy!

-GlamerGirl

NOTD: Pretty holos on a gloomy day

Hey Guys,

I was hoping today was going to be pretty, but the weatherman was telling the truth when he said it was going to be gloomy and rainy. I recently got some holos and wanted to try one, so I put on DS Shimmer over Borghese Notte Black (i love the brushes on borghese!!!). It certainly isnt my finest work. even over black, DS Shimmer required A LOT of coats to get the look I was searching for, and as we all know, the more coats, the more room for error. It would have been better if i could have found my black creme (Wet N Wild), but it seems to be hiding.

My boyfriend, who is away in the military, helped me to choose these colors, which is a large part of the reason I didn't change it when i realized the weather was going to be so ucky. I love any excuse to think of him, and looking at my sparkly fingers is an excellent one, I think. Also, he said he wanted to see something "prismatic" but he doesnt use the same terms we do :p

See, Gloomy Day :-(



In the pics below the top one is the holo INSIDE and the bottom is it OUTSIDE. It was so icky today that none of the holo showed up in the sun, inside you can see it some, but sun would still be better.

And once again, PLEASE excuse my cuticles, I know they're sad looking, but its a work in progress. :-(



Anyway, verdict is I really love a good holo effect, and borghese notte black is a gorgeous sheer black, and DS Shimmer is great for layering, though I don't think I'll do this exact combo again, the payoff just wasn't what I was hoping for.

-GlamerGirl

Ulta haul pre-planning

Hey guys,

In case you didn't know, I've been on a "no-buy" or at least a "very low buy" for the majority of March, I intend to still have my curb the spending habits active until my birthday, June 10th, at which point i will buy many things :) Many happy things :). However, my Grandma gifted me with a 20% off coupon for ulta, good next week only, and for %20 off an entire purchase, not including benefit services and Dermalogica (which is a shame, because while I'm not a benefit fan, my cousin has made me want to try Dermalogica products). So basically I'm going to let myself have a bit of a mini haul, just buy a few things with the coupon that I've wanted for awhile but wouldn't buy at full retail price. Okay, you got me, I hardly buy ANYTHING at full retail, I stalk sales like a mofo, and the internet is my best friend. But I really cant say no to a good deal, and this coupon definitely qualifies, so this is what I am thinking about getting:

Most of the China Glaze Anchors Away collection- this is a gorgeous collection but its one of the few China Glaze collections that aren't being carried at Sally's Beauty Supply for some reason or another, and that makes it more expensive, since beauty club prices and sale specials make everything worth it usually. So with this coupon I want to pick up a few, for sure lighthouse and below deck, but I'll decide when I see them in person. The swatches I have seen are so beautiful and unique, I can't wait for this one.

OPI Teenage Dream if they have it: I put off getting this one because I don't usually like pink polish, but this color is so amazing and I just NEED it on my little piggies for summer flip flop season. Unfortunately, its out of stock EVERYWHERE, transdesign still has it but I can't justify paying for shipping for a single polish. (Though they also still have "Whats With the Cattitude" which is another one I passed up at the collections start that I should have jumped on like white on rice!)

Some sort of matte blush or contour palette for the pale a$ girl: I have just been getting into the art of everyday contouring. Previously, it was something reserved for stage for me, as all the contour/highlighting id learned had been in theatre class. Since then, I've seen some very convincing YouTube videos and face of the day photos that make me see the magic of contouring, however, I don't have a matte bronzer or anything i can use for this, and most bronzers I try off the bat look dark, orange, or like I'm covering my face with dirt. So, with that in mind, i need to get a good bronzer to start doing this. I know Smashbox makes a contour palette, but i need to see what other brands have before I make a final decision. Any ideas?

Too Faced lip gloss in "barely legal": I have been seeing a lot of light milky pink lips lately, and I love it. I think its such a cute look, but I don't have any l/g like that in my collection already. My lips are rather pigmented, so I tend to stray away from buying light lip glosses/lipsticks because they can wash me out and settle into the lines on my lips, looking weird and kinda gross. Buying this isn't 100%, as I need to try it to see if it looks awful on me, I may end up buying it and then returning it if it doesn't work, since I am not sure if there will be a tester I can try on in a sanitary way. But I am very much looking for a color like this, if you have any suggestions let me know.

BareMinerals Travel compact for loose powder: I haven't seen this at my ULTA, but also, I don't wander into the BareMineral section often. BM breaks out my skin and generally just doesn't work very well on me. However, while traveling recently on spring break, I saw a loose powder compact, and it was perfect for my MUFE HD Powder that i have been looking for a way to keep in my purse. It had a little mini 'buki brush, and a place for powder and a sifter and lid, all contained in a nice little case. It really is perfect.


That's what I'm hoping to haul, but due to funds (the aforementioned products aren't cheap :-/) and availability some may have to be delayed until further notice. I am looking forward to it though. Anything i didn't mention that i NEED? Or do you have a suggestion for a product? Post below! Thanks!

-GlamerGirl

DS Glow and Black Shatter

Hey guys,

I am a little late to the crack train, I'll admit, but I'm definitely on it now! At the beginning, there was just a weird "textural" issue that squicked me about it when i saw it on people, but i fixed that by adding a few coats of tc, if it was more texturally defined id probably add some bonder under that to smooth it out. But I like these results. This was the second day of my DS Glow mani, which I found in a dusty well below retail and unexpectedly love.

My friend told me the middle one looked like a circuitboard last night at our weekly "blood sex and violence" TV meetup (we watched the super teen angsty Vampire Diaries). What do you think?


My cuticles are still a work in progress, as I am a recovering nail/cuticle biter of years and years. The damage is still healing. Heres the DS Glow by itself:I really love it by itself, its less out there than my usual blues and greens, but still unique :)

Thanks for Playing!,
GlamerGirl

Intro and a little about me.

Hey guys,

Welcome to my blog, this is a nerdy sort of beauty blog, and will probably have mixed posts about my nerdom as well as my NOTD, reviews, and general love and tips about makeup and girldom in a boys world, aka the world of geekdom.

A quick disclaimer, I am by no means a professional makeup artist, I am mostly self taught, save for a few theatrical makeup courses and workshops, and tons of help from the ladies of MakeupAlley, youtube tutorials, and just basically teaching myself about stuff.

Now for the fun "about me"; I am 23 years old, and a student studying International Studies focusing on Peace Studies, hoping to someday work in the world of humanitarian aid and relief. I work two jobs, and go to school first time, so this blog, while I will try to update it often, is not at the top of my priority list. I love all things glittery, sparkly, holographic, and generally shiny, I love things labeled "kawaii" in the cute Japanese fashion, lolita, gothic lolita,  and himegyaru fashion, as well as leather, spikes, and general motorcycle chic style. I am quick to try new things, and am honest and opinionated to boot! :p

I got into this idea because, through much convincing, I realized I was a nerd. Like, full on. One day, I woke up, and in a conversation with my boyfriend realized that knowing how to speak minimal klingon and having browncoat slang in my regular everyday vocabulary just wasn't "normal", and most of my friends are guys, who really dont give a shit (scuse the language, i cuss like a pirate) about what color my nails are that day, or that I just scored knockoff hello kitty earrings at the dollar beauty store (adorable! btw). My geekdom and my love of fashion and makeup go hand in hand oftentimes, and this is where I intend to express and share that love. I hope you all enjoy it, I am always open to suggestions, and if you send me questions I'll add them to the "coming soon" FAQ :)

Thanks guys, I hope you have as much fun with this stuff as I hope to!

-GlamerGirl