Reader's Request: Matryoshka "Russian Nesting Dolls" Inspired Nail Art

A couple days ago I asked my followers on Hello Cotton what my next nail art design should be. Rachel Ravenclaw from Crafts From a Ravenclaw suggested a few inspirations, but I decided to go with Russian Dolls because she said "they're insanely difficult". Challenge accepted, my friend. This is my nail art interpretation of Russian Nesting dolls. If you have any requests, please submit it in the comments below and you may see it in my next Reader's Request post! 

Also, if you are an Android or iPhone user and you like my nail art, follow me on Instagram (@IamSamCheng) and you'll get an early sneak peek of my nail art before I create a post about it! 

April Topbox Review

** Enter to win a BENEFIT Cosmetic Gift Set (value $250) from Topbox - Click HERE to enter! Contest ends May 1st at 12 PM ET. **

I received my Topbox last week after a massive delay no thank you to Canada Post. This month's theme is Being Green. Topbox stands out from their competitors by being a little more environmentally friendly by not shipping in a second box. Since Earth Day and Earth Hour fall on the month of April, Topbox embraced this awareness by displacing the outer design paper to reduce their carbon footprint. In addition you can request to have this silhouette design for next month's tube. I think this is a very commendable effort for sure. We'll see what the other subscription boxes will do to celebrate being green. 

I would also like to mention that this will be my last Topbox. I've decided to unsubscribe to Topbox just because I've realized the number products that I have accumulated and have yet to make a dent in. I know I am always getting more than my money's worth but to me the collection of barely used products is getting excessive. I think I'm slowly becoming over the beauty box hype and the concept isn't as new and shiny as it use to be. Topbox is still one of my favorite beauty subscription company and if you're looking to subscribe to these services, I would totally recommend Topbox in a heartbeat. As for me, I need to cut back on my spending and start using up all the products that I have received already. I'm locked into Loose Button for a year and I have another free Glossybox coming up before I unsubscribe to them as well. After that, I'm going to reevaluate if I want to stay subscribed to one of the companies or just unsubscribe to all of them. I'm still looking forward to watching videos and reading posts about the unboxing videos! 

I've been wanting Topbox to change up their packaging design for a while now, so it is quite refreshing to see this new tube. I think with scrapbook paper, this tube could be easily turned to a nice gift packaging. I like that Topbox didn't tag their tube with their brand name, it make repurposing a lot less obvious. 

May Julep Maven Styles & Loose Button's First In Line

** Enter to win a BENEFIT Cosmetic Gift Set (value $250) from Topbox - Click HERE to enter! Contest ends May 1st at 12 PM ET. **

Aside from getting these lovely packages from these subscription services, the 20th of every month at 9 am almost feels like Christmas morning thanks to the Julep program! Lo and behold the featured styles for the month of Month. This month's theme is Fun in the Sun! 

Fina, Sarah, Pedi Prep, and Foot File (Value $54) 

Sheryl, Kylie + Polish Magnet, Pedi Prep, and Foot File (Value $58)

Ashley, Kylie + Polish Magnet, Nessa (Value $46)

Ellie, Kylie + Polish Magnet, Best Pedi Prep, and Foot File (Value $58)

Sicilian Orange Foot Soak, Best Pedi Prep, and Foot File (Value $52)

What do you think of this month's boxes? Which one are you going to choose? Personally, I'm excited for Kylie (value $18.00), Julep's first magnetic nail polish! I've been really looking forward to owning one, but the ones that I've encountered are just so darn expensive!  I am definitely going with It Girl again! As for mom, I'm debating between Classic with a Twist or Bombshell Glam, just because she enjoys her pedi stuff! I'm leaning towards Bombshell Glam just because then I have more colors to use when I visit her at home. 

April Julep Maven

I got my April Julep Maven Box at the beginning of the month but I figured I would postpone this review until I tried all the colors before I write about it. I think out of all the subscription services, Julep is definitely the most timely. They ship out of the Seattle and they usually reach their Canadian subscribers within the 7 to 10 day time frame. I haven't encountered any shipping problem like I have with other Canadian subscription services, but I think you can blame Canada Post for that.

This month's box was easter themed so the polishes were packaged with a vibrant pink paper with a green ribbon. It was also stuffed with green crinkle paper and chocolate eggs! I ordered my mom's second box and she received an email saying that they forgot to ship her a make-up bag. I also knew there were a number of people who were receiving a make-up bag as well. When I received my box, I didn't see a make-up bag so I assumed that they forgot and emailed them. I was promptly responded the next day saying the make-up bag was a promotion for people who are receiving their first "regular subscription" box (the box after your intro box). My mom definitely fit that category, since this will be her second box AKA. her first "regular subscription" box, while it is my 4th month with Julep Maven. The Julep Make-Up bag has a value of $15.00!

Titanic Inspired Nails

Since a lot of people took such a huge liking to my Avengers inspired nail art, I decided to do another movie costume inspired nail art. To commemorate the re-release of Titanic 3D and it's 15th anniversary, I decided to do a nail art inspired by the iconic fashion adorned by Rose DeWitt Bukater. I still can't believe this movie came out 15 years ago!

Boarding Suit, "Sinking" Coat, "Flying" Gown, "Swim" Gown, "Jump" Gown

Del Sol Color Changing Polish

I am so sad to be back from my Caribbean Cruise! I miss the wonderful hot weather and the decadent three-course gourmet meals. I can't believe how fast 7 days go by. Anyways, I took the Ruby Princess cruise and they took us to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Grand Turks, and Princess Cays! The experience was absolutely wonderful.

Diamond International Brand Blunder

The only downside of the trip was an upsetting comment made by a male manager at Diamond International when my family and I were browsing at diamond rings at the St. Thomas Port. If you have  read my past posts, I have very little tolerance for poor customer service and I'm not afraid to speak out upon it if I don't think it's right. Essentially, when we asked for a price of a $30,000 diamond ring, we decided to leave the store to think about it and check out the plethora of jewelry stores on the island before we decide to go back. As we left, the manager said "Yeah, it's too big for you. It's probably too much money for you". When we left Diamond International, my godparents, aunt, uncle, and my parents were absolutely speechless and stunned that a manager would say something like that! What he probably should of said was asked us our budget, or something, but that didn't happen because he chose to say something a little bit more offensive. Maybe the attire that my family chose to wear didn't exude wealth and luxury (since we're on vacation). But each of my relative are hard working well-off business owners who can afford to splurge on a $30,000 diamond ring (I can't though). Less than a year ago, my dad purchased an even more expensive ring for my mom as an anniversary gift! So to say that my travel party couldn't afford a ring, really exasperated them because they know they can. 

I ended up notifying the Cruise Ship Shopping Consultant, Karen Taylor, who has a relationship with all the managers at these Jewelry stores on the islands. She was surprised that the comment was made and felt it was very unlike him since he's such a "sweetheart". She appreciated the feedback and said she will pass it along. Let's hope he doesn't say something like that to another customer. I'm just really surprised the comment came from a manager. 

Excuse my rant so now onto what this blog is really about... my Del Sol Nail Polishes! 

Island Fever, Foxy, Superhero, Ruby Slipper, Girl's Night Out

I wouldn't be surprised if you never heard of Del Sol since they only have three locations in Canada, Edmonton, Montreal, and Halifax. Most of their stores are located in areas that are nice and warm all year round, such as California, Mexico, Caribbean and so on. In order to get their wide array of products to work all you need is UV light or just the sun. By "work", I mean change colors! Yup all their products, from t-shirts to accessories to nail polishes change colors once they are exposed under the sun. The stronger the rays, the more vibrant the colors will look. 

March Beauty Box 5

Thank to all you awesome people for buying through my referral link I was able to earn this box for free. If you read my previous post, I spoke in detail about the new company. I mentioned in the end of the post that I purchased the subscription but I ended up canceling because I was still unsure. So now that I have this box, let's see if I like it or not.

So this box is actually quite small, it is about half the size of a Glossybox! Most of the items were packaged inside a white organza sac (about the size of MyScent sac from Luxe Box).

This was the only printed material that came with the box. I wish they included a information card so I know the details of the product and how much the full size cost. I guess I will have to do the additional work and google all the products. 

Reader's Request: The Avengers Nail Art

The other day, I wrote a message on my HelloCotton page asking my followers to give me some suggestions on my next nail art project. One follower, SouthEastStyle, said "I'd love to see something a little geek-chic like inspired by the upcoming avengers movie, maybe a nail for each character or something :D". Great suggestion! Now here you have my The Avenger inspired nails!

Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow

Chanel Spring/Summer 2012 RTW Inspired Nail Art

Happy April everyone! Time sure does fly right? Anyways, I was browsing through Vogue's archives of Spring/Summer 2012 collection and Chanel Ready to Wear really stood out to me. I really like the simplicity of the design and I knew I could replicate the glistening bands of the dress very easily. The key polish that I used was  Julep's "Melissa". It is described as "sheer opalescent shimmer adds a soft glow when used alone and a high-fashion holographic effect when used over another color". As always if you want to know what I used and how I did it just keep reading!

 

Chanel 2012 Spring/Summer RTW