What's in My Travel Bag

For a beauty blogger, narrowing down what I bring on vacation to just the essentials is a chore. After all, I have over ten deep drawers full of polish, blushes, foundations, and other bath and body products.

When I went to London, the struggle was real. I was going to be spending many days in another country and while I was certain that if I was missing anything, one of their drug stores would have me covered, I didn't want to have to go hunting down any stores or figuring out which brands were comparable. Plus, the exchange rate from USD to GBP is not favorable, so I wanted to avoid spending money unnecessarily. (AKA: have more money to bring back British cosmetics!)

So here is everything I packed below:

The Hawaii lotion, Pantene root boster bottle, dry shampoo, and face wipes were packed in a gallon bag in my suitcase on their own. However, everything else fit into my Victoria's Secret double-sided cosmetics case.

So what exactly did I bring?

Let's break it down!

Swatch and Review: L'Oreal Masked Affair

TGIF! And in honor of the weekend, I have a VERY exciting swatch to share with you today. It appears that there is now officially a linear holographic polish that is available at drug stores and other national retailers!

And it comes from a very surprising source: L'Oreal!

Masked Affair was released as part of the Dark Sides of Grey Colour Riche collection, which I assume is in honor of the novel "50 Shades of Gray." But whatever the reason, I am incredibly excited that they did!

L'Oreal 701 Masked Affair is a silver linear holo with pinkish undertones.  I used three coats to achieve full opacity, but this dried INCREDIBLY quickly. I honestly could have gone about my day after fifteen minutes and not even remotely dinged it up.

The above photo was taken indoors without a top coat. Please continue to scroll for more indoor photos, a photo with top coat, and an outdoor shot.

Announcing: Valentine's Day Giveaway

Hello, everyone! I hope you all did well in your Superbowl pools last night! (Mine was completely messed up by the safety.)

I know we all despite Mondays, so I thought I'd help brighten your day with a giveaway! I've teamed up with the lovely ladies behind nine other blogs for a really fun giveaway filled with great prizes!

The Rafflecopter entry widget is at the end of the post!

Check out what's up for grabs:

Prize 1 - Princess Polish

L'Oreal Sweet Nothings + a Lynnderella Fix!

If you read yesterday's post, you'll remember how unhappy I was with the application of L'Oreal Sweet Nothings and that I was in need of a way to salvage my manicure.

So I reached for one of the newest additions to my polish drawer...

Lynnderella Boy Girl Party!

Just LOOK at that macro shot!

I think that the softer look of Sweet Nothings really compliments the brightness of the BGP's glitter. It's not SO in your face that I feel like it won't match my outfits for class. But it definitely has a warm-weather pop to it!

Tomorrow, you'll see how I toned it down even more, but discovered something really cool in the process!

Lynnderella is available exclusively through Llarowe at shop.llarowe.com and retails for $15.

And remember, only four days left until the Cosmetics for a Cure raffle ends! We're only $45 away from the Orly Dark Shadows collection being thrown in!

Until later!
Princess P

Swatch and Review: L'Oreal Sweet Nothings

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend!

When I first saw this polish in the store, I was on the search for a base color similar to Essie Marshmallow for a french. Granted, it was two years ago and long before this blog began, also meaning my knowledge of other brands extended only as far as my local Harmons.

So I chose a L'Oreal I thought was pretty similar for about $3, rather than the price tag of Essie Marshmallow.

While the name is adorable, I only wish the polish was as nice. It's not so much the shade itself, as the application. It was streaky with three coats and no matter what I did, just would not even itself out. Not even Seche Vite could accomplish that task. I got it to look decent enough for a photo, but not to the point that I'd wear it outside.

L'Oreal is available at most drug stores, including Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS, as well as at select Target and Ulta locations. For more information, check out LorealParisUSA.com.

So it was a polish fail. But just wait until tomorrow... when I show you how I made lemons out of lemonade with this polish. HINT: It involves a lot of glitter!

And remember to please keep sharing on the Cosmetics for a Cure Raffle! I'm a little over halfway to my goal of $500 raised, and we're only $45 away from activating the soon-to-be released Orly Dark Shadows Collection as a prize! All money goes to the American Cancer Society!

Until later!
Princess Polish