Rainbow Honey - October 2014 Mystery Bag

Well hi!

I picked up Rainbow Honey's mystery bag this month because *mysteries* but also because I haven't gotten one in a while and I missed it. I went with the $10 mini version because *broke* and still made out like a dang bandit.

Included in this month's mini mystery bag:

Cafe Con Leche 5mL - Basically couldn't have been named anything more appropriate. Super creamy nude with gold and silver shimmer: the perfect polish for my skin tone for mannequin hands! Smooth, easy formula. 2 coats + topcoat under OttLite.

Zi 5mL - Purple jelly packed with blue, gold, magenta and silver micro glitter. It almost looks like a glass fleck, but like, a micro glass fleck, if that makes sense. A bit on the thin side color-wise, this guy built to opacity in 3 coats. The first picture is under OttLite, the second is under crappy kitchen light to show more accurate color/shimmer (both swatches are with topcoat).

All Your Base base coat 15mL - Full size! Yeah girl! I, uhhhh, very rarely wear base coat (scoff!) because of how often I change my polish, but this one apparently has pretty good reviews. I actually got the mini size of All Your Base a few months ago and HAVE used it, thank you.

L'orange Ganache nourishing lip balm .15oz - I can never have enough lip balm during the winter. This one smells like chocolate with maybe a hint of orange, but I mostly just get chocolate. And it tastes kind of sweet, which is nice, because nothing is more disappointing than a yummy smelling lip balm that tastes like nothing. :( I have it on right now, and it feels, you know, nice. My lips are happy.

Sweet November Eu de Parfum Rollerball 4mL & Shimmer Soap .5oz - I loooove sweet scents, so this couple is perfect for me. I'm glad RH includes an info card detailing the products or I would have described this scent as 'Um... sweet... there's like, vanilla and maybe, like, some caramel notes..?' Officially, Sweet November is "a warm sweet musk with notes of coconut and vanilla sugar". It makes me want to wrap up in a big, warm blanket and lay in front of a fire surrounded by Christmas lights.

Like, I HATE winter, mind, but I really love feeling cozy. This smell makes me feel very cozy.

So heck yeah, right? I'm never disappointed with these bags, especially for the price. I love how much of a variety of products are included, too. It's nice to see an October mystery thing that isn't specifically Halloween-related.

Rainbow Honey April 2014 Mini Mystery Bag Swatches & Reviews

Oh, dudes.

1. My computer forgot what its hard drive was. Seriously. I was using it just fine the night before and then in the morning I went to turn it on and the screen was frozen. No big, hard reboot, whatevs. Starts up to the Repair Utility. Uhhh... wat. Did I accidentally hold down like, shift+R?

Reboot. The same.
Repeat like 100 more times. Sigh.

Took computer to Apple store where I was told that the only solution was to completely wipe all information from computer and reinstall the operating system. AWESOME. I installed OS X Mavericks about 3 months ago and didn't have a problem. Apparently it was a software conflict, according to Apple guy. Partitions and shiz. Completely over my head. Upon researching the issue, I found out that I wasn't the only person that had insane problems after installing Mavericks.

Dear Apple,
If you're going to release an OS update, can you please make sure it's not going to completely screw up my life? I miss Steve Jobs.
Regards,
B

2. I broke a damn nail. Not all the way off... teabagged it with hopes it will maintain this time. Come on.

Totally worth $10, seriously!

Aaaanywho, today I'm going to tell you all about the Rainbow Honey Mystery Bag for April 2014, mini version. Rainbow Honey sells both a mini ($10) and full size ($25) version, and I'm glad I went with the mini this month. I'll tell ya why later. Let's start with some swatches.

Oh, another quick side note: Until I can figure out a way to get Photoshop (SO CRY, MUCH WEEP) again, my swatches are probably gonna suck. I'm getting acclimated with a couple different free photo editing programs... My apologies in advance.

First up is Cameo 18 which is a punchy neon pink creme (that doesn't require a white base coat *coughESSIEcough*). I love it. It's so bright and girly and summery (even though it freaking snowed here last night). The formula was good; neither too thick nor thin, and it evened out well.

Shown below is 2 coats with topcoat.

Note: Brighter in real life.

Next is Stellar Twist, a glitter topper packed with pink shimmer, micro and square glitter in light blue, silver and magenta (some of which is holo) and small magenta stars. I'm sure I'm missing some things -- there's so much in there. A little thick but not goopy, and the glitter payoff was pretty good.

Shown below is two coats over Cameo 18 with topcoat.

Also included was a mini All Your Base (ha) base coat that I used under Cameo 18, which is  formulated with vitamin E. Neat!

Then there's a little pot of pigment in a lovely mint green with pink and blue sparkles called Sparkling Agave. The color is gorgeous and I love what the sparkles add, but the staying power is kind of 'meh'. The swatch on my arm had rubbed off after 5 minutes. I didn't put it over a primer or anything, so maybe that would help keep it around.

There's also a lip balm and mini rollerball perfume in the scent Rose Nectar. The lip balm is nice and smooth and not goopy, but I just can't get behind the scent. The rose is so strong and it doesn't smell like actual rose, it's more like that scented-plastic smell they use on little girl toys, you know? Like, I think I had a My Little Pony that smelled like that. Plus rose for a lip balm is kind of putting-off anyway. The sweetness of the nectar is also too intense. My boyfriend said it smelled like some kind of alcoholic mixer. I looooved the mini rollerball scent (Lavandula) last month and I definitely plan on getting a full size of that one. I don't see Rose Nectar on the Rainbow Honey website yet, so that's  good. Maybe it won't make it to actual retail.

Finally, there were ten gold pyramid studs and 2 pigment applicators included as little extras.

TL;DR - I'm happy with the nail part of this month's mystery bag. I loved the color of the pigment but I wonder how long it will last during actual use. Rose Nectar is no.

Do you think you'll purchase the mystery bag in the future? Anything strike your fancy?

Rainbow Honey - Heisenberg Swatch & Review

Once upon a time our satellite cable provider (who is just awful) sent us a faulty replacement cable box the day before the Breaking Bad series finale and we didn't get to watch it and had to stream it from some broken-English website the next day. That is my Breaking Bad story for you.

Heisenberg, anyway, is an ice blue fleck-filled polish with tiny holographic glitter. I purchased my bottle second-hand and it was remarkably thick so I did thin it down a bit. From the reviews I'd read, there wasn't anything about the formula being thick so I think it might have just been a result of having been used several times before I got a hold of it. As it was a LE polish from August of 2013, I didn't much care about use. I just wanted it, you know?

Shown below is two layers of Heisenberg over two layers of Orly - Pretty-Ugly as to bring out the lovely crystal blue of the flecks. On top of that is two layers of Orly Sec 'n Dry because where did my Essie top coat go? :/

Sooooo sparkly! The polish can be worn without a base color is how dense it is, but it would probably take another layer or two for opacity. I think Pretty-Ugly was a good base for this polish; similar enough in color but not too dark or too bright so that it doesn't overpower the two thin coats of Heisenberg. I'm really glad I found somebody who wanted to part with this!