Run To Home Base Fundraiser Raffle

This post is more of a personal nature, but I think it'll be of particular interest to my fellow polish lovers...

My friend Christine is running in the Run To Home Base 9K race. It's not just a race, it's a fundraiser for the Massachusetts General Hospital in order to provide clinical treatment to veterans with combat stress and traumatic brain injuries and also to provide assistance and support to their families.

So far, she's raised just under half of her $1,000 donation goal, and now I'm asking for a little of your help.

What's in it for you, you ask? Besides the warmth and satisfaction of knowing you've done something to help your fellow man? How about a chance to win a bottle of the discontinued and coveted holographic beauty, China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out?

China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out was part of the epic Kaleidoscope collection of hologram polishes that China Glaze released a few years back. All the shades are now discontinued and getting rather hard to find. This particular shade is a soft silvered blue with a strong chunky hologram effect. Pardon the ancient picture, but I haven't had enough natural light to take a new one.

And how about something to keep that Kaleidoscope Him Out company? Something like...

A bottle of Scrangie by Rescue Beauty Lounge, signed by me? You will be the only person on the planet with a signed bottle! Like the China Glaze polish, this shade is also sold out and becoming hard to find.



HOW TO ENTER:

1. For $2, you get one raffle entry. $4 for two entries, $6 for 3 entries, and so on.

2. To donate your $2 (or whichever amount you choose to donate) and enter the raffle, visit http://www.runtohomebase.org/runtohomebase/ChristineBatchelder and click "Make A Donation."

3. After you've made a donation to Run To Home Base, send an email to redsoxrun@gmail.com
that includes "kaleidoscope" in the subject line along with the name you donated under. Christine will keep a tally and assign you a number for each ticket/raffle entry based on the amount donated.

4. All donations must be in by 11:59pm, May 12th 2011 and a winner will be drawn at random on May 13th. The winner will receive one bottle of China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out and one signed bottle of Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie.

This raffle is open to everyone!

For more information on the Home Base program, please visit http://www.runtohomebase.org/

Thanks, everyone :)

World Most Expansive Book

A rare copy of “the most expensive book in the world” Fah Franco-American ornithologist John James Audubon and goes back to the nineteenth century recorded on Tuesday evening in London, a new record price, Which sold more than eight million euros, on the auction house said, “Sotheby’s”. More images after the break…

The sale of the book “Birds of America” (Birds of America) in exchange for 7.3 million pounds (8,6 million euros), a new world record price for the printed work is sold at auction, it said, “Sotheby’s”.
The estimated book value of between four and six million pounds.
The new owner is a dealer old books.

And return to the previous record price another version of “Birds of America” were sold in New York in 2000 to meet with seven million euros. There is no longer only about a hundred copies of the book “Birds of America.” Large book size (length of 90 cm and of 60 cm) collected fees birds such as flamingos and Swan.

Jean-Jacques Audubon, known by his English John James Audubon, is the world of birds and the world of physics was born in Haiti the year 1785, the French colonial days of French and religion. And then received U.S. citizenship.

Color Club Starry Temptress Collection Summer 2011 Swatches and Review

Wicked Sweet was part one of Color Club's summer 2011 release, so on to part two: Starry Temptress. Both sets are collections of neon shades and while Wicked Sweet was mostly creme, Starry Temptress is glitter. But really different glitter... You'll see what I mean in a second.


Glitter Envy. The glitter in these... isn't sparkly? Crazy, right? I'll post my thoughts on that at the end. Anyway. Glitter Envy. It's a neon green with un-sparkly holo glitter throughout.


Otherworldly. Ooooh... A bright, rich blue with holographic glitter. Not much sparkle, but the glitter adds depth and an interesting starry sky effect.


Space Case. This one is a bit different from the rest because it has a shimmer base instead of creme. If you enlarge the pictures and look closely (in the bottle especially) you can see that it has a smooth green shimmer to it. Very nice.


Ultra-Astral. Wow, bright. The holographic glitter in this seems to take on a blue tint when it's covered by the thick creme base. Fascinating to look at.




Wink, Wink, Twinkle. This one seems to sparkle more than the others. I don't know if it's because of where the glitter ended up when I applied it, or if the base is less dense than the others, but some of the glitter does shine through on the top layer. Gorgeous color. I love the neon purple base with the speckles of silver in it.



You Got Soul-ar. Creamy bright neon orange with hints of holo sparkle. I love these bright traffic cone oranges.


This set includes a bottle of Starry Temptress topcoat, which is a clear base with some iridescent opal glitter. It adds a lot more sparkle to these shades, observe:


One coat of Starry Temptress topcoat over Wink Wink Twinkle, Otherworldly, Glitter Envy and Ultra-Astral, and a coat of topcoat over all of that. See all the different colors reflecting from the glitter? Mesmerizing.

The formula on these was pretty good. They're a bit thick, but because of that they're really opaque. You could probably get away with one thick coat of these, but I did two thin coats in all these pictures and it was perfect. Drying time is very quick and the glitter is shockingly smooth.

So... glitter that isn't sparkly. I have to admit, I'm liking it. At first I was disappointed because that hologram glitter looks so awesome in the bottle, but after wearing the colors for a while, it grew on me. It makes the colors look speckled, spattered, mottled... And I love that you can see glitter through the base color. Gives it a little depth. It reminds me of some of my favorite things from when I was a kid: Jelly shoes and plastic jewelry. Oh man, I loved jelly shoes. Sure, they made your feet all sweaty and nasty and they kinda hurt to wear, but I didn't care! I wish I had a pair to wear now. And they went well with my neon glittery beads and Lisa Frank accessories.

Another interesting feature of these anti-glitters is that they're smooth. You heard me right. Big chunky glitter that's smooth. It lies totally flat, dries totally smooth and doesn't look gritty or bumpy. It doesn't get that lumpy, oatmealy bubbly look. Must be magic. That doesn't apply to the Starry Temptress topcoat, though. That's gritty as hell and eats topcoat like you wouldn't believe. If you've tried the Color Club Japanese glitters or the Pardon My French ones, you'll know what I'm talking about.

That being said, I can easily say I have nothing like this collection. Speckled neons with a hint of holo. Weird, yes, but new to me, and so far I haven't seen anyone else do something like it this year. I approve. Though, if you're looking forward to the holographic sparkle that you see in the bottle, you'll be disappointed in these.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Color Club Wicked Sweet Collection Summer 2011 Swatches and Review

I know... I haven't even posted the Alter Ego spring collection yet and I'm already onto the summer collection. But, since I'm so late in posting spring, I figured why not wait on it a little longer and post the summer sets while they're still relevant?

Color Club is doing two sets of neons this summer, and not just plain neons. This set, called Wicked Sweet, just so happens to to live up to that title. They're not just candy-colored, they're candy scented as well!



Get Your Lem-On. This is a pale, green-tinged neon yellow with a green duochrome shimmer. The sunlight picture shows the green shimmer best and the indoor picture shows the base color truest. It's scented in a sweet, light lemon scent. This has my favorite scent of the bunch. I'd wear it just to smell it! The color reminds me a bit of Color Club Volt of Light.


Gimme A Grape Big Kiss. This is the standard neon fuchsia-purple creme. It looks a bit washed out due to the brightness of the color, but it pretty much looks like most other neon purples. The color is great... but the scent isn't my favorite. It's a candy grape scent, and I've never liked candy "grape"... Somehow the candy interpretation of grape doesn't taste or smell anything at all remotely like a real grape. But, that's just my personal taste here, if you love that candy grape scent, you'll probably really enjoy the scent of this.


I Always Get My Man-darin. A light, desaturated neon orange with contrasting green shimmer. I tried to capture that green shimmer, I really did. It is sneaky, but it's there. Very pretty once you see it in its full glory. The base color reminds me of fake orange juice... Like... what's it called... Tang? Or Sunny Delight. *shudder* The scent is a sweet crisp orange. Very light, but pleasant.

Raspberry Rush. This one is fighting with Gimme A Grape Big Kiss for my favorite color in the collection. It's pink, yes, but it's an awesome obnoxious gorgeous bright pink! It's too washed out looking in this picture (these crazy neon colors freak out my camera!), but you can get an idea of how bright and pretty it is. It's a much deeper pink, more of a magenta. The scent is a sweet candy smell, like the rest, but I can't quite put my finger on what it smells like. It doesn't particularly smell like raspberries to me. It sorta smells like when you open a bag of gummy bears, all the smells mixed together. It's nice, and it reminds me of something from when I was a kid, but I just can't remember what!


The Lime Starts Here. Light neon green jelly-creme. This is close enough to jelly to call it a jelly, right? But it's still creamy looking. So... jelly-creme it is. Nice and bright. Yellow toned. Has a sour candy lime scent. I dig it.


Wicked Sweet. This one looks like Zoya Phoebe with topcoat, doesn't it? Bright near-neon blue with electric blue and gold shimmer. The greenish tint to the shimmer makes the whole polish look teal in some lights. Quite glowy and beautiful. The scent is... blueberry? Blue raspberry? It reminds me of Crater Lake Company's Lemon Blueberry Frosting scent. I'm gonna go with blueberry then. Love it.


Yum Gum. This is a light pink neon, similar to something like China Glaze Pink Voltage. It has a creamy white base to the pink color. I like the color, but that name... Yum Gum? Really? Anyway... the scent is... gum. Bubblegum. Not the overly sweet kind, but the sorta dry hard kind, like the one that comes in baseball cards. Do they still put bubblegum in packages of baseball cards?


The formula was perfect. I didn't really have any problems with application. The texture is on the thin side, but it's not runny. Some of the shades are on the sheer side, but all are good with three coats. I'm wearing three coats in these pictures. The lemon and lime shades would probably look even better with a fourth coat, but I haven't tried. The drying time on these is confusing. They set incredibly quickly, but I found that I was still denting them nearly 45 minutes after application.

One aspect of the formula is notably different than my usual polish reviews... There's a scent. The scent is strongest when first applied and slowly fades away the longer you wear it. When I wore these with a coat of Seche Vite, I could still smell the scent for three days. It was very weak on the last day, but still there. It's not so strong that it gives you a headache, but it's not so weak that you have to stick your fingers up your nose to smell it.

I love the scents in these. They're so much nicer than almost any scented polish I own. They're all soft and sweet, no sharp chemical fakeness. They really truly smell like candy. I remember some of the scented polishes I had in the 90s... I think the brand may have been Loud! Music, or something to that effect. I had a vanilla and an orange one. They have me the worst headache every time I wore them, they were so strong and invasive and sharply fake smelling. None of that here. It can be a little unsettling if you forgot you're wearing scented polish, though. The first time I tried them out, I kept thinking... What's that smell? Why do my hands smell like gummy worms?!

Overall, I'm a fan of this collection. Sure, the colors are fairly common neon colors. Heck, a lot of them even look like existing Color Club neons. The scents make them special. And you know me... I'm a sucker for anything scented. Vanilla scented garbage bags, remember? So yeah, I am definitely a fan!

(These were sent to me for review.)

Makeup Monday: Hourglass Aura Lip and Cheek Stains Spring 2011

I'm still super behind on all my reviews... Who knew that two weeks off would put me so far behind? I have tons of stuff still waiting to be posted (and emails to answer, eep)... I'm guessing that the only way to catch up is to just post as much as possible, and I'm thinking that I'll try to make Monday my makeup reviews day, hence the "Makeup Monday" in the title.

So! Here's the latest creation from Hourglass Cosmetics.

There are two new stain products: a cheek stain and a lip stain.

The Aura Sheer Lip Stain comes in such a pretty box. Reflective metallic packaging always catches my eye.


The product packaging itself is gorgeous, too. A heavy, luxurious feeling dark metal tube.


When the cap is removed, you can see the color of the stain through a clear plastic section in the neck. It's a click pen style dispenser with a fuzzy plastic applicator.

If you look closely, you can see the little holes that the product comes through. Though the tip looks soft, it's actually just a fuzzy coating over solid plastic.



It takes quite a few twists/clicks, but once you get the product flowing, it comes up through the tip of the pen.


The Aura cheek stain comes in similar packaging, just on a bigger scale:


A big, chubby tube with a soft cotton domed applicator.



Like the lip stain, it looks soft and spongy but it's really just a cloth coating over plastic. The cheek stain applicator is different from the lip stain one because the cotton covering absorbs the stain to help you blend and disperse it.

Twist the base of the tube and the cheek stain comes up through the top.


Here is what they look like swatched heavily on the skin, directly from the tubes, no base. The shade is Flush in both the cheek and the lip stain. Flush cheek stain is on the left, Flush lip stain is on the right.

The lip stain has a very light texture. It's thin, but thick enough not to be runny, which I suppose could be considered a gel texture. It's not thick or sticky at all. When you apply it, it feels cold and wet with a slight menthol tingle, and within seconds it's completely dry. It leaves almost no residue on the lips, it just sinks in and disappears.

It lasts a super long time. That's the beauty of a stain. You apply it once and it just stays there. No touchups. It doesn't transfer at all. The only thing it doesn't last through is eating.

The lip stain has a subtle minty scent and a very slightly bitter flavor. It's a taste typical of every lip stain I've ever tried.

It's not moisturizing and it's not glossy. It's just a matte natural tint on the lips. Because of this, you may need to apply balm afterward, or if you want a glossy look, apply some gloss on top.

As for the cheek stain, it's extremely similar in almost every aspect. Same light, cool water-based texture. Same super fast dry time. It only lacks the minty tingle of the lip stain.

The light texture feels really nice, but being so light also has a downside. It dries so fast that it can be hard to blend. You have to work very quickly. It stays wet longer if you apply and blend straight from the applicator, but you get better color and control if you blend it with your fingers.

The cheek stain is easiest to blend over bare moisturized skin. It blends well over tinted moisturizer or over a tinted primer. It gets harder to blend over traditional liquid foundation and almost impossible to blend over a powder mineral foundation. The slicker and smoother the base, the easier it is to blend and apply.

Once it's on, it lasts all day and looks extremely natural. Because of the water-based formula, it sinks into your skin and looks like a natural flush. The shade I have- which is actually called Flush- is a pink with coral tint, and in my case, looks a little too natural: it's the exact color my face is when I get sunburned.

It's nothing like a creme blush or a Tarte cheek stain, so it took me a few tries to get the hang of applying it. It's not slick or oily, not creamy, not sticky, not powdery. It's very light and thin and wet like water, unlike any cheek stain I've used before. It dries very very very fast. It doesn't look shiny and there's no sparkle or shimmer. It's sheer and lets your skin show through, but at the same time, the color is intense.

Though, I think my favorite part has to be that gorgeous packaging. The shiny metal tube that feels cool and heavy.... It feels expensive. Because, well, it is expensive. The Aura Cheek Stain is $45 for .27oz and the Aura Lip Stain is $26 for .1 oz. Just for reference, here's the ingredient lists for both products:

Aura Sheer Cheek Stain
All shades contain:
Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Diphenylsiloxy Phenyl Trimethicone, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Dimethicone, Neopentyl Glycol Dicaprate, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Sorbitan Sesquiisostearate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Tocopherol, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Diisostearyl Malate, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Citrate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499), Mica (Ci 77019), Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Ultramarines (Ci 77007), Red 30 (Ci 73360), Barium Sulfate (Ci 77120).

Aura Sheer Lip Stain
All shades contain:
Water (Aqua), Propylene Glycol, Polysorbate 20, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Alumina, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Alaria Esculenta Extract, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Extract, Capryl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Flavor, Tetrasodium Edta, Allantoin, Tocopheryl Acetate Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499), Fd&C Yellow 5 (Ci 19140), Fd&C Blue 1 (Ci 142090), D&C Red 33 (Ci 17200).


I have one more Hourglass product to review and I think you'll freak when you see it. I know I did.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Adriana Lima Models $2 Million Dollar Bra, Victoria Secret Denies BroBible at the Door

Yuvraj Spanks Ponting - Funny Picture

India ended Australia's 12-year World Cup domination Thursday, with Sachin Tendulkar leading a star-studded batting lineup to a five-wicket victory which set up a semifinal classic against archrival Pakistan.Yuvraj slammed eight fours, including the winning boundary, in his 65-ball whereas Raina hit a six and couple of fours in his 28-ball blitzkrieg. After losing Dhoni and Gambhir in quick succession, Yuvraj revived the run-chase with Raina as they added unbeaten 74-run for the sixth wicket.