June Favorites!

June has come and gone (hello [and holy crap!] July!!) so of course it's time for my monthly roundup of best and worsts! If you haven't seen it already, I've got it embedded and linked above for your (hopefully) viewing pleasure.

As always, I hope you enjoy ^__^

xoxo - Cassie

NOTD: essie "sunday funday"

This is big news people.

REALLY big news. 

Do you think you can handle it? 

Are you sure?

You're really sure?

Pinky promise (you hate me, don't you)?

Well, here it is: I like an essie polish.

Heck, I LOVE this essie nail polish. "Sunday Funday" is coral perfection in a bottle; everyone needs this in their lives.

My usual hangup with essie has nothing to do with the colors; I think many can agree with me that essie has one of the best color selections around in terms of nail polish. "Sunday Funday" absolutely stuns in the color department, that was no surprise. It's a straight up coral, plain and simple; doesn't lean on the orange side nor the pink side and shifts from warm to cool toned depending on the light.

The short and sweet version: this color will look gorgeous on anyone's nails.

Color drooling aside (let me wipe that up real quick for you), my real hangup with essie polishes is the formula. From my experience they tend to be sheer (needing 3+ coats [which is ridiculous]), bubble easily because of the required layering, and are extremely watery (making your cuticles look a flooded mess). 

"Sunday Funday" is a beautiful exception in essie's line of polishes; it is opaque in one coat (I did two coats because I'm anal and absurd), thick (almost a gel-like consistency), and supremely smooth. I have absolutely no complaints here and hope that essie takes note!! THIS is how an eight dollar nail polish should look and feel.

Isn't that a gorgeous polish? 

The shimmer laced throughout is extremely fine and catches the light beautifully. Plus, like said, the color itself is just gorgeous. You can see in the photos that in direct sunlight it takes on a bit of a peachy-tangerine color while in the shade it looks nearly identical to the Revlon lipstick "Strawberry Suede" (sadly discontinued; may it rest in peace). I can't recommend this polish enough and think I need to go out and buy about 1,000 bottles so I'll never run out (so get your hands on it before I do!! You've been warned...).

Oh, and by the way, the polish and top coat on my index finger is Revlon's Moon Candy in the shade "Satellite". Umm... let me just say it's nothing special and I can't really recommend those things.

Stick to "Sunday Funday".

Have you tried any polishes from essie's Summer 2013 Naughty Nautical collection?

Love 'em? Hate 'em?

What's your favorite nail polish at the moment?

Do share!!

xoxo - Cassie

P.S.: We'll see for certain but rumor has it that Google Reader (and thus GFC) will be closing in just a few days! If you want to keep up to date with my posts you can follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking HERE OR by importing all of the blogs you currently follow HERE! :)

Large (Would You Like To Super-Size That?; Indeed) Haul!!!

Quick little hi-dee-ho to you all; just popping in to say I just uploaded a suuuuuuper big haul to my YouTube channel!!

Check it out if you'd like ^__^

xoxo - Cassie

theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer: Swatches + Review!

I know why bears hibernate during the winter (#biology). 

I understand why bears hibernate during the winter (#biology).

What I don't get is how life doesn't go into a world-wide communal hibernation during the Summer (#Cassie-ology); I am melting in this hot, steamy, unbearable (see what I did there?) heat that has recently consumed much of the United States.

So why am I reviewing a highlighter, you may ask? 

Shouldn't my sweat be providing enough of a 'glow' in the sauna that is the great outdoors?

Well... technically yes, but theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer does so much more than make you glow. Take the jump below if you want to see why this little highlighter has been branded as infamous for being too darn beautiful!

"Best In Beauty" Competition; I'd Love Your Support!!

Remember that post I did not too long ago mentioning that I was going to be in a YouTube competition? Well, the time has come... this week is my week (well, my week of being entered into the competition)!!

Above I've got my video (which is a normal video of mine, don't you worry; sit back and enjoy if you'd like!) for the "Best In Beauty" competition. All I need from you is your support!! If you liked my video (not by physically pushing the 'like' button [though I'd be flattered if you did] but by having emotionally enjoyed what you saw) then I would be ever so grateful and humbled if you headed on over to Jen's (the headmistress of the competition: jenluvsreviews) channel and voted for me on her video below:

You can also vote for two of the other girls so you don't need to feel pressured solely by me :) 

Just comment on Jen's video above with any three of the contestant's names (I'd be honored if mine was one of them) and that's it! No commitments, no ball and chain, just a little bit of fun that some of 'underdog' beauty channels are doing on YouTube right now and something you can have fun with by joining in and getting involved with everyone's channels!

As always I hope you enjoy my video and you can expect a blog post (hint hint: theBalm is involved so you know I'm kind of sort of smitten) within the next day or two!

xoxo - Cassie

Making Revlon Colorstay Work: Neutrogena Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer

If you've been following my blog or YouTube channel for even the smallest amount of time, you're probably well aware that I've been trudging through my Revlon Colorstay foundation since January and hating every minute of it. It's comparable to sitting in a waiting room with no one but the creep farting in the corner; you know they're there, you can smell the farts, and you know it's not going to get better until they leave (but even then the painful smells/memories will linger).

So I've gotten creative the last few weeks — my friend Torey suggested (besides throwing the d*** thing away, but I'm too stubborn) cutting my Colorstay with a tinted moisturizer to make it a bit more tolerable. 

HALLELUJAH, this is like spraying the metaphorical air freshener in the waiting room; the spray may only cover the problem but at least it makes it tolerable.

BIG NEWS!!! + New Video!!!

First off, here's my latest video for everyone to check out if they haven't seen it yet!! Just like with blogger I had gone on a bit of a video hiatus so hopefully watching me blab for 20 minutes will make up for that :)

SECONDLY I have a big and exciting announcement (at least I think it is)! I was selected by the lovely Jen (of JenLuvsReviews) to participate in a competition she created over on YouTube called "Best In Beauty"... eek! Essentially it's like a beauty-themed American Idol (sans singing [be grateful]) for some lesser-known (fewer than 2,000 subscribers) girls with beauty channels. 

Here's the trailer video she put together:

And here's the first video explaining the competition more in-depth by Jen herself as well as the videos from the first round of six contestants (Jess from TheModMermaid is in that group of girls so GO VOTE FOR HER; she's all sorts of fantastic and a blogger friend of mine ^__^):

I'm going to be in the second group of girls that will go live this Sunday (June 23rd) so I would be delighted if you took part in this competition by watching and voting for the first group of girls as well as voting for me (pretty please?) when the second group premiers. I've already got my video filmed and put together so I can't wait to show it to you all :)

Thank you for your continuous support in general and I hope you're as excited over this competition as I am; it's going to be a lot of fun for all involved!

xoxo - Cassie