Orly Coffee Break.

This polish is so atypical of my usual polish choices, but I do love it quite a bit. It's the exact color of café au lait, and it makes my nails look so clean! I remember when I got this polish in 11th grade. I wore it so much! It really is a pretty color, but the wear wasn't the best. For the first few days it was okay, but then it really started chipping. Application was pretty good, though, and I think it only took two or three coats to be opaque.

Finger Paints Sketch N Etch.

This is one of Finger Paints' latest releases, and I believe it's a new addition to their core line. This is great news, because it means that most of you will be able to get a bottle! And, really, you should get a bottle. It has swiftly become one of my favorite greens.

It's a gorgeous, lit-from-within emerald green shimmer. The second picture is a more accurate depiction of the lit-from-within-ness. Application was awesome. It was smooth, and I only had to use two coats to get a decent amount of opaqueness. I suppose I could have used one more coat, though, to really ensure that I wasn't going to have any VNL. Wear was decent, and, honestly, the only reason it chipped so quickly (on the second or third day of wear) was because I was house-sitting and I had to do a ton of cleaning. Also, my nails have been peeling pretty badly lately.

Speaking of which, does anyone have any suggestions on how to combat this? My nails are usually pretty strong, but lately I've been having serious problems with peeling/breakage. I've heard Nail Tek suggested before. Is this a good option? What do you suggest?

Avon Viva Pink.

I actually only own a few Avon polishes, and I haven't worn the rest of them in years. This was actually a fairly recent acquisition. I might consider buying more, if the rest of them are as nice as this. Application was decent, wear was decent, and it was nice and shiny. When I bought this polish, I had been lemming a great, candy pink, and that's exactly what this is.
But seriously, though, this polish is impossible to capture. The color is so bright! My camera reacted to it like it would react to a neon. Meaning, not well! The second picture, which was taken in direct sunlight, is a much more accurate depiction of the color.

Rimmel Violet Metal.

Ha, whenever I go to write about this polish, I accidentally type Violent Metal. I guess that's an accurate description of how I felt when I wore this polish, though: violent. Because, even though the color is beautiful and the application was pretty decent, the wear was HORRIBLE. 10 days my foot! It barely lasted a day before it was chipping off in huge chunks! I was so, so mad. I normally don't have issues with Rimmel polishes! But this one was seriously a disaster.

China Glaze Something Sweet.

Oh, this polish.. I wanted to love it. I really did. I mean, sure, I love the color, which manages to be delicate and mod at the same time. But application and wear were both horrendous. It took so many coats to even it out and get it smooth, and then, due to the massive amounts of coats, it chipped so fast. I only have one other polish from the Up & Away collection, Grape Pop, which I haven't tried yet. I'm kind of a bit nervous to try it, to be quite honest. I don't want another application disaster like I had with this one.

China Glaze, cremes are not your strong suit. Just saying.

OPI Meet Me On the Star Ferry.

This polish is so, so beautiful. It's a wonderful plummy purple with slightly holographic (!!) shimmer. This is from OPI's spring 2010 Hong Kong collection. Honestly, when I first saw this one, I wasn't all that interested. But then I started seeing it more and more, and I fell in love! I'm so happy I was able to win this one from PolishSWATCHES.

So, so pretty. I realize that in these two pictures, the polish looks to be a different color. But that's the thing about MMOTSF! It shifted in different lighting! Goodness, I love this polish. Application was a dream, and wear was pretty good, too.

China Glaze Entourage.

This color was impossible to capture. It's a beautiful crisp Granny Smith apple green with a slight green shimmer. I love it! I did two coats here, but I'm realizing now that I should have done three. Oh well. Application was lovely, though! Pretty much one of the best China Glazes I've worn.

One Bath and Body: Squeaky Clean Solid Shampoo

(I reviewed the Hair Biscuit solid shampoo and Hair Boost solid conditioner here.)

Squeaky Clean solid shampoo is supposed to be used for oily hair, so that is probably why I didn't like it very much. My hair doesn't really get oily unless I haven't washed it for a few days, but this is pretty much the norm for most people. I think if you have naturally oily hair, this would work much better.

I do love the scent of this solid shampoo, though. It has a light sweet, almost floral scent with a hint of what smells to me like strawberry. So, yes, quite nice!

The lather was great, but for me, the shampoo just dried out my hair way too much and made it quite limp. Again, this is probably just because I don't naturally have oily hair!

Have you used this shampoo? If so, how did you like it?

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And that's the end of my first Bath and Body Week! I hope you enjoyed it. I really do love most of these products, and I really do suggest that you try them out. They're all almost 100% natural, and the packaging is totally cute and totally recyclable. One Bath and Body products are sold in Target stores and online at target.com.

(Disclaimer: I received this product for free from One Bath and Body. The opinions stated above are completely my own and have not been influenced by anyone in any way.)

One Bath and Body x2: Soaps and Sponges

One has six soaps all together, and I received one of each to try out. Let's talk about scent first.

Citrus Peel: Orange with a bit of a spicy, clove-y undertone.

Peace: It has a very clean, soapy scent. It's actually quite nice.

Sweet Honey: Also very clean-smelling. It only has a faint, faint hint of honey.

Blast From the Past: This one reminds me of sugar cookies, no lie. It's so sugary sweet.

Just 4 Me!: This one is exactly like its description. Brown sugar oatmeal. It's really nice, actually.

Extra Virgin: My favorite of the bunch. It has a very aquatic, green scent to it. So, so nice.

Sweet Honey, Blast From the Past, and Just 4 Me! are very creamy soaps. Out of these three, Just 4 Me! is probably my favorite. It has a great scent, and the oatmeal makes for a nice, gentle exfoliant.

Citrus Peel, Peace, and Extra Virgin have the look of your typical soap. Somewhat translucent, but not completely. Out of these, I love Extra Virgin, not only because it's nice and moisturizing due to being made from olive oil, but the scent is amazing, as well.

These soaps all have a nice lather, and I believe them to be great alternatives to just your basic bar soap.

One actually has five different sponges: a round sponge, a large sponge, a chenille bath mitt, a chenille sponge, and an all-natural exfoliating sponge. I received the chenille sponge and the all-natural exfoliating sponge for review.

Let's start with the exfoliating sponge. Now, I was not all that fond of this one. It was quite scratchy, and all the loose fibers really bothered me. It also didn't hold product all that well. I really wanted to like this one, but I just couldn't. You might have better luck with it, though! Because remember: Just because something doesn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you.

The chenille sponge was a bit better. Now, this is actually a normal sponge covered in woven chenille. It was quite soft, and it would be nice to use during a bath. I wouldn't consider it for an every day sponge, though, since, again, it didn't hold product very well.

On both of these, it was very hard to get the product to lather, and I tried them with both bar soap and liquid shower gel.

(Disclaimer: I received this product for free from One Bath and Body. The opinions stated above are completely my own and have not been influenced by anyone in any way.)

One Bath and Body x2: Hand and Body Lotions and Shea Body Butters

Onto some of my favorite products from One!

First, their Hand and Body Lotions.

I was sent Cloud 9 and Citrus Spice and Everything Nice to try, and let me just say: I love them both. Seriously, everything about them is wonderful.

Cloud 9 has a nice, clean floral scent that, in a way, reminds me of toned-down lilacs. I like to use this one at night, since it's so relaxing.

Citrus Spice and Everything Nice has an awesome, amazing lemongrass scent. It's so nice and energizing!

The texture on both of these is wonderful. It's a nice, luxurious-feeling lotion that isn't too greasy. It sinks in, leaving my skin nice and moisturized for quite some time. This is a great every day lotion. Not too heavy duty. Really, it's perfect for when you just need a little moisturizing pick-me-up.

I also really love the packaging on this. The flexible, toothpaste-like tube makes it possible to get every last drop of lotion out.

This comes in two other scents, Vanilla Almond Custard and Movie Star Skin, which both sound lovely!

Oh. My. Word. This stuff is amazing! If I was going to tell you to buy one thing from One, it would be these! Seriously, the best body butter I've tried in a long time. Granted, I've only ever really tried body butter by Bath and Body Works and The Body Shop, but still. This stuff is amazing.

First of all, the scents. Oh, the scents! You Wild Coconut, You! is a great, beachy coconut, very reminiscent of the Coco-coconut lip balm I talked about on Tuesday. It smells a little bit like sunscreen, but I still love it! It's very summery.

Cherry Blossom Trails is quite lovely, as well. It's not really your typical cherry blossom scent. You know the scent I'm talking about: floral, but a little musky, with a little bite to it. I love cherry blossom scents (my favorite LUSH scent is actually Sakura/Rub Rub Rub/17 Cherry Tree Lane. Now THAT'S an awesome cherry blossom scent.), and I love this body butter. It has a nice, soft flowery scent that seems to maybe have a hint of raspberry in it. It's so nice.

The texture of these body butters is probably my favorite thing about them, though. It's perfect. I know most of you have seen The Body Shop body butters: They're kind of liquidy, and really greasy. I mean, I like them, don't get me wrong. But they're just a little too slippery for my tastes. One's body butters are basically the exact opposite of this. They're creamy, and solid, and they feel so luxurious on. How about a horrible webcam picture (in which my skin looks pasty white, speckled, and horrendous) to show you the texture?

See what I mean? It really kind of reminds me of butter! I love it. Absolutely love it. And it's so moisturizing! And not greasy at all. I really, really recommend these body butters.

One also has two other body butter scents, Citrus Peel and Shea My Body.

(Disclaimer: I received this product for free from One Bath and Body. The opinions stated above are completely my own and have not been influenced by anyone in any way.)

One Bath and Body: Bath Fizzers

Now, these were pretty much the only One products that I wasn't all that fond of. They do have a few pros, though, so let's start with those.

I really loved how long they fizz once you drop them in the bath. If you've ever tried a bath bomb of any kind, you know it's hit-and-miss with how long they'll fizz. Some fizz for forever, and some just sort of fizzle (ha!) out. These bath fizzers lasted quite a while for me, which was great. I want to enjoy my baths, so it's nice to not have these just disintegrate once they're dropped into the bath.

I also loved that they were already separated into halves. Trust me, this is a great asset for these products. It's pretty much impossible to split a LUSH bath bomb in half, so the fact that these are already split is awesome.

Now, what I didn't really like about these bath fizzers: the scents. They're SO. STRONG. And not really a good strong. There's some scent in all of them that just does not sit well with me or my nose. I'm not exactly sure what it is, since One doesn't list the specific fragrances of any of their bath fizzers. Honestly, I must be allergic to it or something, because that's the only thing I can smell when I smell any of these bath fizzers. This is probably just me, though, so I strongly suggest you go do a sniff test for yourself.

Note: One does have one more bath fizzer, I Need This!, which is a lemongrass pick-me-up. I'd love to smell this one, since I adore lemongrass.

(Disclaimer: I received this product for free from One Bath and Body. The opinions stated above are completely my own and have not been influenced by anyone in any way.)

One Bath and Body: Lip Butter Balms

(Top, L to R: Coco-coconut, Lip Tune-up, Honey Cream; Bottom: Cherry Pie)

Oh, my goodness. I cannot praise these lip balms enough. Seriously, they're perfection. The scents are glorious, they've got a good slip to them, they're moisturizing, and they're adorable.

Let's first talk about the scents, shall we? Out of the four I was sent to try, I liked Coco-coconut the best. Now, I'm not one who normally likes coconut, but this isn't that sweet, sugary coconut that's in so many products. It's a beachy, almost sunscreen-y coconut that's not too overpowering. It's a little bitter when it first goes on the lips, but after about two seconds, that bitterness changes to a nice sweetness.

Lip Tune-up is also quite nice. It has sort of a brown sugar scent that's quite common in a number of One Bath and Body products that I've tried.

Honey Cream has a lovely, sweet honey scent with a hint of lemon.

Cherry Pie, honestly, doesn't really smell like cherry pie to me, but it's still wonderful! It has a nice, sweet, girly scent that's not too overpowering.

These lip balms are really quite wonderful. I think I can probably get about an hour or so out of one application of lip balm. (Actually, this was tested when I was still in class. I applied the lip balm right before I got into class, and it was still there when I got out, 1 hour and 15 minutes later.) It's nice to not have to reapply my lip balm right after I put it on. And the packaging is so cute, and the scents are nice and not too overpowering! These are definitely winners in my book.

Note: One Bath and Body does have two more lip balms, Berry Delicious and Shea My Lips, that I have not tried/was not sent for review. If you've tried these, let me know how they are!

(Disclaimer: I received this product for free from One Bath and Body. The opinions stated above are completely my own and have not been influenced by anyone in any way.)

One Bath and Body: Lotion Massage Bar

(I reviewed the Nighty-Nite After Shower Skin Conditioner Bar here.)

Now, I realize the packaging says that I received the Oh, My Gosh! massage bar, but, looking at the website, this was mislabeled and I actually received the Calming Bar. I know this, because my bar has the adzuki beans that the Calming Bar has and Oh My Gosh! does not.

Anyway! I quite liked this product. It smells strongly (VERY STRONGLY) of peppermint, which, really, is fine by me. I love peppermint! And this isn't some weird, sickly sweet peppermint. It's a true, "peppermint oil" peppermint scent. I've heard people compare it to the scent of LUSH's Wiccy Magic Muscles, but I've never smelled Wiccy, so I can't really say whether this is true or not. The two bars do look quite similar, though.

As far as texture, this is a nice, creamy, solid moisturizing bar. It does start to melt a bit in my hand, but that's to be expected. It felt nice as it went on, and it did seem to add some moisture. And the scent did help to relieve some stress.

Sidenote: I also really love that One includes tins for their massage bars (also for their solid shampoos and conditioner). It's really great to have somewhere to store these things, since they really do need to be protected from the elements of your bathroom.

(Disclaimer: I received this product for free from One Bath and Body. The opinions stated above are completely my own and have not been influenced by anyone in any way.)

One Bath and Body: Fizzy Bath Salts

Welcome to day one of the first Bath and Body Week! I think I'll probably try to do these themed weeks more often. I think they're fun!

I'm starting off the week with an old classic: bath salts. Now, I've used bath salts since I was a child. I always felt so fancy, pouring the salts into the bath water, and then sinking into the nice-smelling water.

One Bath and Body's Fizzy Bath Salts are like your classic bath salts, but better. They're infused with essential oils to help you relax and sleep (in the case of I'm Sleepy) or to help you destress (in the case of Stress No More!).

Now, personally, baths already help me relax and destress, so these are just sort of an added luxury. As far as scents go, I preferred I'm Sleepy over Stress No More!, mainly because the scent of Stress No More! was just a bit too generic for me. I couldn't quite make out the eucalyptus or spearmint. In I'm Sleepy, I could clearly smell the lavender and the vanilla.

Let's talk about packaging, yes? The packaging is, in a word, adorable. Seriously, I love it. I love the vintage vibes and the pretty colors. These would look lovely sitting on my bathroom counter or in a basket next to my bathtub!

Overall, I'm really happy with these. They're not just your average bath salts, in my opinion.

(Disclaimer: I received this product for free from One Bath and Body. The opinions stated above are completely my own and have not been influenced by anyone in any way.)

China Glaze Millenium.

Oh, the famous (or infamous) ChG Millenium. Loved and hated by nail fanatics worldwide. Seriously, this polish is..something. I love the look of it. Silver foil? Count me in! However, the application was horrendous. It accentuated every bump, dip, and ridge on my nails. It's streaky. And it chipped on the same day that I put it on. The only good thing about its application is the dry time, which was majorly fast.

I think I'm going to relegate this to the "stamping-only" section of my polish collection. Because, really, this entire manicure was a disaster.

Essie California Coral.

Oy. I apologize for the horrible webcam picture! But, seriously, it was the only camera that could even remotely capture the color of this polish. And it's still not bright enough! Seriously, this is one bright polish.

I actually got this for..Christmas, I believe? I really love it. It's part of Essie's core collection, and, honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about it before. That's understandable, since it looks like a pretty basic coral in the bottle. But on the nails, it just pops! It's so bright and vivid, and it made my nails look flawless. The formula was a bit fussy, though. I was able to achieve (almost) perfection by doing three thin, meticulous coats and allowing them to settle a bit before I did the next coat, but, yes, it's a bit of a hassle to apply. Totally worth it, though.

On another note, do you see how long my nails were at that point? Man, I miss them. They've been breaking like crazy lately. Does anyone have any tips on how to help them grow better? I normally have pretty strong nails. I've heard Nail Tek suggested before. Anyone have any experience with that?

BB Couture Fairy Blood.

Say hello to the polish that rekindled my love for nail polish. In November of last year, I saw an image of BB Couture Fairy Blood somewhere. Now, this was way back when I only had about 60 polishes. I did happen to have China Glaze Ruby Pumps, though, but from what I saw of Fairy Blood, the two weren't identical. I had to have this polish. So I searched and searched, and finally I found where to buy BB Couture: Overall Beauty. So I ordered the polish and the rest, folks, is history. I have several red glitter polishes and, seriously, this trumps them all.
This is one of my absolute favorite polishes. It's a beautiful blood red jelly with red, almost glass fleck-like glitter. Application is flawless, and wear was pretty good. Sadly, I can't compare wear with any other BB Couture polishes, since this is my only one.

OPI Alpine Snow Matte

Just a quick post today, since I'm technically supposed to be cleaning, ha ha.

About a month ago, I had nice long nails. Then one night..they decided to break. Like, three of them. So, obviously, I had to file them all down. And all this happened right before I was about to go out. Enter Alpine Snow Matte.

Now, some of you know that I had been searching for a good white to use as a base for neons, sheers, etc. Well, I think I have found it.

ASM dries super fast, and, yeah, okay, it does look like you painted your nails with Wite-Out. But since most of the time it's going to be covered up, that's fine! I had a good coat of not-totally-streaky white on the first coat, and then the second and third really evened everything out. I decided to add a topcoat, so that it would be nice and shiny. And, boy, was it shiny!

I really do think I've found my perfect white.

Sorry that I don't have any pictures of ASM sans topcoat, but I really was in a hurry when I did this mani.

Zoya Kaufda.

Kaufda is one of what I like to call the "unsung heroes" of the Zoya polish family. Seriously, this color is gorgeous. It's a wonderful rustic orangey reddish copper. I just love colors like this. Really earthy, but still super pretty.

Application was flawless, as usual. It was a teensy bit sheer on the first coat, so I ended up doing two more, just to even things out. And it's seriously long-wearing! Mine lasted seven days before I finally took it off because I was starting to get sick of it, haha. The worst wear I had was from where my nails were growing out.

Also, note the nubbins. They were even worse. In fact, they were so bad, they hurt whenever I bumped my fingertips. They're doing so much better now. I've got some growth past my fingertips again, which is great.

Now. I know I had promised to swatch Akyra for you all. HOWEVER. When I went to put it on, that sucker would not dry! Seriously, I didn't do anything different than what I normally do, and I didn't pile on an excessive amount of polish. It just wouldn't dry! It actually ended up peeling off. Literally peeling. It was awful.

I'll get my Zoya nail wheel up soon, so that you guys can have an idea of a few more of Zoyas colors, just in case you're planning on participating in the Polish Exchange.

Zoya Gwin.

This is seriously one pretty polish. I picked it up during that NYFW sale that Zoya had a while back, along with Akyra, a new basecoat, and Anastasia (for my mom). My swatch definitely doesn't show half the beauty of this polish. It's an amazing melon/orange with green and gold flash.

I really wish I would have gotten better pictures of this polish. At least you can somewhat see the yellow-gold flash.

My ankle is doing much better today! I think maybe I didn't actually sprain it. It just definitely felt like I did. Really, I'm surprised it didn't break. I've sprained this ankle before, meaning it's weaker, meaning it's more prone to breakage.

I have so many packages on the way with stuff to review for you all! My Zoya Exchange picks (Well, actually, those won't be here for a while. I'm mailing out my trade-ins tomorrow.), four lip lustre samples from Fyrinnae (Type A, Bloodstains, Hair Dye, and Meloncholy. These probably won't be here for a while, either), OPI Damone Roberts 1968, Demeter Honeysuckle (from HauteLook), A few things from the LORAC HauteLook sale (Sheer Peach Gloss Stick, Sheer Berry Gloss Stick, and Groovy Fruit Lip Polish)..

And two other amazing packages! The first is a swap with Stephanie of Imperfectly Painted. She had a spare Hidden Treasure and offered to swap with me for Opulent Cloud! I'm insanely excited about this.

Also on the way is an RAOK from an amazing woman on MUA. She saw I was new to MUA, and offered to send me a decant of BPAL's The Unicorn. Huzzah! My first BPAL!

What's really exciting, though, is that I barely spent any money on all of these packages. The most expensive will be the Zoyas, but I'm also recycling a ton of polishes, so it pretty much evens out.

Whew. That's a lot of stuff. Tons of posts for those weeks in June, which is awesome. Oh, and I should have more Zoya for you tomorrow.

Oh! If you haven't yet, add me on twitter! I'm having so much fun talking to those of you who are following me on there. :D