New makeup & CVS Beauty Club

On Tuesday I was seized with the desire to buy cosmetics and, because I had some CVS coupons burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to embrace the situation.

Earlier in the week I had stopped at CVS for some face wash and I bought a couple of Revlon eye shadows, Nude Slip and Violet Starlet.

Violet Starlet has a super neat greeny flash in it.

Nude Slip is one of those colors I just can't get enough of lately. It's like the Urban Decay Naked palette has inspired me to build an entire collection of wearable neutrals. (Wow...sounds exciting doesn't it?)

The other day I wore Nude Slip under (haha) Maybelline Lux Lilac and Urban Decay Mildew with UD Mildew eyeliner. It sounds garish but it was quite subtle and I would definitely wear it again.

Anyway, it was on this visit to CVS that I joined the beauty club, which is really just a rewards system within a rewards system. You can piggyback it onto your CVS ExtraCare account. Basically you get a 10% off coupon when you join, $5 ExtraBucks for every $50 you spend and $3 ExtraBucks on your birthday.

Now initially I thought the $50 reward level was a little much. That's a lot of makeup. However, qualifying Beauty Club purchases include hair care, sun care, skin care, hair accessories, hair color and even hosiery. So there are a number of items that would get you closer to your $50 reward, provided you like and use items that can be found at CVS, of course.

So I joined, because I am a sucker, and I got my 10% off coupon and a stray ExtraBuck. The coupon is only good for three days, so when I felt compelled to go peruse the cosmetics aisles on Tuesday during my lunch hour, I went back to CVS.

I actually did "need" a few things. I am out of my Sally Hansen nail polish clean-up pens and CVS had Sally Hansen products on sale. I also had in mind picking up some Physician's Formula bronzer, as every bronzer I own seems to be destined to fall to its death on tile bathroom floors.

I chose something called "Happy Booster" bronzer.

I must admit it is terribly cute.

Supposedly these are "mood boosting" bronzers and blushes. I mean, okay, sure. I can't speak to the veracity of that claim but it does what a bronzer should do otherwise.

The back of it reads like a bad translation to English: "The sweet scent of Violet provides a feeling of joy each time you apply." Hm well if you say so. It does have a scent so if that kind of thing bugs you, be warned.

See? Cuuuuute.

Plus these come with a $3 off coupon on the package and you get $7 ExtraBucks when you buy it. So it's almost like getting it for $4 instead of $14. Yay coupons! I will spend the $7 on something boring like contact solution. (Or maybe Easter candy. I will keep you posted.)

My Sally Hansen correcting pens are different now.

First I hyperventilated a little bit when I saw this, but honestly it's the same thing. Plus they're $5.49 now instead of $9.99. BOGO 1/2 off right now at CVS!

You can also get ExtraBucks rewards right now for buying Maybelline or CVS brand skincare products, and Revlon cosmetics (including the Top Speed polishes) are BOGO 1/2 off too.

I'm not one of those super savvy couponing people but I am a huge cheapskate so CVS' reward program gets a thumbs-up in my book.

Oh and because this site is called "Nail Polish Nonsense" and not "Makeup Nonsense" or "Plain Ol' Nonsense," here is some nail polish I wore recently, Like It Like That from one of the more recent Misa collections. It's more grass green and less teal in real life.

Time Out

Hello there!

I didn't intend to take such a long break after those two labor-intensive posts. It just kind of happened. For one thing, we got a dog three weeks ago, so my nail-polishing time has been significantly reduced. I haven't even been on MUA very much of late. And...though you may find this shocking...I haven't even bought any nail polish recently.

I'll let that sink in for a minute.

Again, we'll blame this on the dog. It seems that little doggies need all sorts of things (a crate, a bajillion toys, a bed, a harness, a collar, a lead, dental paraphernalia...) that cats don't need or at least that no cat of mine ever had. So I've been saving money for dog things.

I'll also admit to some degree of fatigue with the whole thing of late. Not with polishing my nails, I always love doing that, but I don't really find that any of the new collections are really doing it for me right now. Everything seems pretty but not exciting enough to spend money on. Also, I'm tired of hearing people complain about crackle polish. It's fine if you don't care for it, but I'm not sure I ever need to see another MUA post that begins, "Is it just me, or..." regarding crackle polish. AIEEEEEEEE.

Some recent-ish manicures.

Revlon Royal, from the Top Speed line. These polishes are really nice. I resisted buying this one for a long time, because Orly Royal Navy looked so disgusting on me. But this was nice! I wore it the day we adopted our dog.

This is Pay Days are Happy Days, from the Misa 9-5 collection. I bought almost all of them.

Pretty highly dupe-able I'd say. But Misas are great quality and very inexpensive, so I was happy to grab them up. L-R: Coffee Pick Me Up, Office Polish-tics, Pay Days Are Happy Days, Working Hard or Hardly Working, PaintMyNails@Work.

Sadly I've been neglectful about taking pics of the colors I wear lately. (Oops.) Frankly I've been wearing a lot of OPI Moon Over Mumbai because it's hard to mess up the application and it doesn't show wear very easily. My nails are having kind of a janky moment right now and I don't feel like fussing with a spectacular color, so low-key is where it's at.

Tell me what you're excited about getting or looking forward to seeing for spring and summer. Maybe that'll put me back in the mood to blab about polish again. :)