essie

Best of 2016 Discoveries

~ stashy ~ 124 Comments

And here it is – as you can imagine, trying to narrow down the best items was difficult! These items are new to me but may not be new launches in 2016.  Also, these items may not necessarily be my absolute “Holy Grail” of all time – they’re simply the best from the past year (I probably should do a “Holy Grail of All Time” post one of these days…)  Here’s what made it into my Best of 2016 Discoveries list:
best_2016_1
A departure from previous years, instead of doing Top 10 or “Top xx of 20xx” (ie. Top 16 of 2016), I’ll list top items within categories: makeup, skincare, nails, body care etc.  This post is long but rather than breaking into several posts, I decided to do it all in one – I just hate it when they break movies into 2 parts – I don’t want to do that to you! 😛

Continue reading →

Favourites Lately: Late 2016

~ stashy ~ 56 Comments

This year I decided to do quarterly favourites so I’ve had lists for early 2016 (covering January to March) and mid-year (covering April to June), and now I’m showing my third quarterly favourites to cover July to September:
favourites201610_2
It’s mostly Summery products but a little bit of Autumn is creeping in… yes, I’m a bit late in posting this – it should have been up early October. 😳

Continue reading →

Essie Delhi Dance

~ stashy ~ 43 Comments

I was in the mood for a bright fun colour since the weather forecast for last week called for thunderstorms and rain.
essie_delhi_dance_2
Delhi Dance was part of Essie’s Resort collection for 2016, here are the rest of the colours from the small collection:
essie_delhi_dance_3
This was a recent addition to my collection, as part of my birthday haul, I got this for $2.99 at my favourite salon supply store in downtown Toronto, called Toronto Barber & Beauty Supply, or TBBS for short.  It’s a favourite haunt of fivezero‘s as well!

Continue reading →

Review: Essie Gel Couture Pinned Up & Top Coat

~ stashy ~ 75 Comments

Finally, Essie comes out with their version of the “gel” nail polish. I normally dismiss gel polishes that do not require UV lamps. I’ve paid close attention to reviews on the recent slew of “gel” polish releases that tout: Amazing shine! Smooth finish! Long wearing!  Ultimately, they turn out to not to be any different than regular nail polishes. Except they’re more expensive – I call that a money grab! :/ I started to pay attention when Essie’s new Gel Couture collection was making the rounds online and, one after one, the reviews were coming in with raves about how long wearing it was. Essie is one of my favourite polish brands, so I just had to try it for myself!
essie_gel_couture_pinned_up_2
After much deliberation, I landed on #60 “Pinned Up” as my test subject.  I set out to wear this for 2 weeks.

Continue reading →

Birthday Haul ft Charlotte Tilbury and Shu Uemura

~ stashy ~ 90 Comments

You didn’t think I wouldn’t take advantage of my birthday as an excuse to buy makeup, right? 😛 I’ve been busy the past couple of weeks:
birthday2016_2
I haven’t gone back to the Charlotte Tilbury counter since my last birthday, so I suppose it’s an annual tradition?

Continue reading →

Essie Maximillian Strasse-Her

~ stashy ~ 49 Comments

I have to give full credit to Anne of Doves and Roses for putting this nail polish on my radar.  I had never heard of this colour until I saw it on her blog, just look at this pretty thing:
essie_maximillian_strasse-her_6
Essie describes this shade as a “cool Grey-Green”, which is fairly accurate. This shade was part of the Spring 2013 collection called “Madison Ave-Hue” with shades named after shopping areas around the world. Names in the collection include “Go Ginza” (Tokyo), and “Avenue Maintain” (Paris). The name of this polish refers to the shopping area in Maximilianstraße, Munich. It appears that this particular shade made it over to the permanent line as it is still readily available.

Continue reading →

Favourites Lately: Mid-2016

~ stashy ~ 68 Comments

I started doing quarterly favourites this year since monthly favourites don’t work for me, as my favourites tend to remain fairly static month over month. But with the changing seasons, I do find a shift in my skincare and makeup, so I’m able to pick some some seasonal favourites to share. My mid-year favourites focus on items I used in the Spring and when I went on my trip to Japan.
favourites201607_2
Here are my thoughts on each:

Continue reading →

An Unexpected Gift from fivezero (we met up!)

~ stashy ~ 44 Comments

I’m sure you’re all familiar with Chris of fivezero – she of the nail swatches that launched a thousand lemmings – she was also one of the winners from my giveaway.  When I sent her the notice to claim her prize – I tossed out a suggestion: perhaps we could meet up, since we live in the same city. And to my delight, she accepted – it was a date! 😀
unexpected_gifts_fivezero7
This was the very first meet-up that either of us have ever done with a fellow blogger…

Continue reading →

Collective Nail Polish Acquisitions

~ stashy ~ 84 Comments

As you’ve seen in yesterday’s post, I’ve been hitting up all the Winners and Marshalls within a 10km radius of my home last month. I also visited my favourite salon supply shop that sells polishes for cheap – they still had the Essie buy 4 get 2 free offer, and it was extended to the China Glaze polishes too!  And I also found someone who sells Avon so I had to get some polishes – it’s been years since I’ve bought Avon polishes (they’re great quality). So I somehow ended up with more polishes…
nail_polish_haul2016_23
There’s no feeling in the world like hauling a whole whack of nail polishes!  If that’s wrong, then I don’t want to be right! 😛  (These do not include the nail polish hauls already posted here and here and here and here.)  Brace yourselves…

Continue reading →

Blogmas Day 4: Snow Themed Makeup

~ stashy ~ 45 Comments

Today is another coordinated Blogmas post where we’re pulling items from our makeup collections to create a snowy makeup look.
Blogmas_day4_snow2
To me, a snow themed makeup means 2 things: white and sparkly!

Continue reading →