First Impressions - The Body Shop Sweet Almond Oil Nail Varnish Remover

Hey, guys!  Sorry about my little hiatus there.  The nausea and fatigue does seem to be improving little by little, so I am hoping to get back into the swing of things very soon!  Today I picked up The Body Shop's Sweet Almond Oil Nail Varnish Remover, which I've heard some pretty good stuff about!  I emptied it into my flip-top pump before taking a photo, but at least you can see how it's packaged.

I will say right off the bat that it's pretty pricey for the size ($10 for 3.3 ounces).  It does not have a strong or unpleasant odor, which is a fantastic change of pace after finishing off the Nailtiques remover I wrote about in my remover comparison post last month.  It actually has a sweet fragrance that strikes me as vanilla-ish.  You can definitely still smell the alcohol in it, but overall it's a nice scent.  I'm using it on my nails as I type, so you're pretty much getting a play-by-play here.  Isn't that exciting?  I'm noticing now that the smell is actually pretty nice once you've got it on a cotton ball and the alcohol vapors dissipate.  The three nails I've done so far have come off nice and easy.  There is a bit of oily residue left behind, but it really feels like it's hydrating my nails and cuticles.  Working on my accent nail is proving a bit difficult, but that's to be expected since I used a glitter topper.  I'm not totally sold on the ten dollar price tag for such a small amount of product, but my first impression is that the product itself is really nice.  I might really love it after a few uses!

Here's a Little Update

Hey, guys.  I'm really sorry for not getting my posts up on time very often the past few weeks.  It does make me feel awful when I miss my updates, but there is a good reason for that (in my opinion, anyway)...  It's because I'm pregnant!

I haven't had much energy lately, and the smell of the remover and polish has not been fun to deal with.  A lot of effort goes into my swatches, and it's just been really difficult for me to get them done lately between the fatigue and the nausea.  I'm hoping over the next few weeks that my early symptoms will level off and it'll be easier for me to do my nails more frequently and get back to doing swatches more regularly.  In the meantime, I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Zoya Aurora Swatches

Hey, guys!  I am so sorry I have been late posting recently!  Unfortunately, I suffered two breaks on my swatching hand over the last last week, and today was the first day I've seen the sun in a while.  I struggled trying to decide whether or not to trim my other nails, but the weather wouldn't have been cooperative for swatches, anyway.  Now that I finally got some swatching weather, I went ahead and trimmed my nails and put on a new color, which you'll see below.  Click through to see the rest of the swatches.

Pacifica Super Hydrating Hand Cream Review

The winters here in Iowa are cold, dry, and windy, and that is a terrible combo for your skin.  So when regular lotion wasn't cutting it, and I started developing severely dry patches of skin on my wrists, I went to Ulta in search of something with more intense moisturizing capabilities.  I had been considering The Body Shop, because the reviews for their hand cream are great.  I opened the Ulta app to see if there was another highly-rated had cream, and I noticed Pacifica.

I had never tried anything from this brand before, but I did see it on the shelves in store, so I picked up a tube.  It's a bit pricey, but Ulta puts out coupons frequently, and you can get an even better deal if you use the coupons in conjunction with rewards redemption.  The lid screws off and the product comes out of a small hole, which is good because you don't need to use a lot to get the job done.  Since I am a lover of fruity scents - particularly citrus - I opted for the Tuscan Blood Orange scent.  It smells so good, you guys.  It's sweet and citrusy, but not a way that's cloying, and it doesn't fade quickly (which is great with a fragrance this nice).  I've actually had guests at work comment on how nice it smells!  this hand cream does leave some residual oils on the skin after you've got it rubbed in, but that can be a good thing when the air around you is dry and/or you're doing a lot of hand washing.  I may not use this during the Summer, but it was a great find for the colder, drier months!  Pacifica has a lot of great things going on within their company, such as ethically-sourced ingredients, vegan and cruelty-free formulations, and charitable work within their community.  And I just saw that they also make a 7-free nail polish line!  I'll definitely have to check that out when my no-buy is over.

Deborah Lippmann Xanadu Swatches

Hello, everybody!  Today I have a great polish to show you from Deborah Lippman, and the post is going to be a bit on the picture-heavy side.  So, you know, fair warning.  This is my first Deborah Lippmann, and I think I did a good job narrowing it down.  I actually won a DL twitter contest and got a $30 credit for the website.  The kicker, though, was that it was right in the middle of my no-buy and the credit was only good for a week.  I found myself considering breaking my no-buy and getting a second bottle, but I ended up reaching out to my fellow nail bloggers to see if anybody would be willing to help me out.  As luck would have it, Jessica from Trial & Acetone was willing to use the rest of the credit and send me my polish.  I felt so much better knowing that half of that credit wouldn't be wasted!  Click through to see the rest of the swatches!

Mint Slumber Party and Moonlit Stroll Swatches

*Press sample*

Hey, guys!  Today I'm going to give you guys a two-fer since I missed Monday's post.  I've got two more Mint shades to show you,  Moonlit Stroll and Slumber Party.  The first shade I'm going to show you is Slumber Party, which is a bright pink creme.  Click through to see the rest of the swatches!