My Cheap Favorites: Review and comparison of Covergirl Lashblast Volume Mascara in Black and Covergirl Lashblast Volume Waterproof Mascara in Very Black

Disclosure: Affiliate links.

Covergirl LashBlast Volume has been around for a long time, but I find that it can be hard to find reviews of products that were released before beauty blogging exploded, so I hope this is useful for someone. Plus, I said I would review it in my favorite cheap makeup post, so it's about fucking time. Even though mascara is the one product that I've used since I was about 14, and I don't really go out without it, I find it relatively difficult to review. Mascara is one of those things that seem to perform vastly differently on different people and that people have wildly different opinions about. I've said it before, but Maybelline Great Lash, which you always hear recommendations for, doesn't do shit for my eyelashes. And there are divided opinions about the stuff I'm reviewing here, Covergirl Lashblast Volume. These things make mascara reviews tricky. So, as always, I'm just going to tell you about my needs and preferences and experience with this stuff, and let you decide if it seems right for you. Rather than telling you IT'S THE BEST BUY IT NOW.

This particular mascara is especially difficult to review, because there's nothing exactly remarkable about it, despite its being one of my favorite mascaras out there. That's probably why I've put off writing a full review of it for years. The fact that there's not much to say is why I like it, I guess. It's a good, everyday mascara, that makes my lashes look thicker and longer, but doesn't do anything crazy. It also holds a curl well (both versions), by which I mean that when I brush my lashes upwards with the mascara, they stay that way, since I don't actually use an eyelash curler. From a normal viewing distance, it just looks like I have naturally decent lashes without any goop on them. This is an illusion, because in reality I have short, sparse, invisible eyelashes. It's easy to use and not messy, so it's the mascara I grab when I don't want to have to think about anything. Probably the strongest recommendation for this mascara that I can give you is the fact that, despite trying many dozens of other mascaras over the years, I have bought at least one tube of Covergirl Lashblast Volume annually for almost a decade now--and in several of those years I bought multiple tubes. I keep coming back to it. It's reliable.

I figured, to add some interest to this post, I'd compare the regular and waterproof versions, because they're not exactly the same. That's normal. It seems that most mascaras have very little in common between their regular and waterproof formulas, so if it's the formula you like, you might be disappointed if you switch from one to the other. If it's mainly the brush you're into, you'll be safer. Here's a comparison of the ingredients of these two mascaras.

Covergirl LashBlast Volume Mascara (non-waterproof):

Water, Glyceryl Stearate, Ammonium Acrylates Copolymer, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Propylene Glycol, Stearic Acid, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Triethanolamine, Acrylates Copolymer, Synthetic Wax, Polyvinyl Alcohol, Lecithin, Propylene Carbonate, Polyethylene, Oleic Acid, Alcohol Denat., Benzyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Xanthan Gum, Panthenol, Phenoxyethanol, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Trisodium Edta, Simethicone, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Iron Oxides. may Contain: Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarines.

Covergirl LashBlast Volume Mascara Waterproof:

Petroleum Distillates, Polyethylene, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Trihydroxystearin, Propylene Carbonate, Pentaerythrityl Hydrogenated Rosinate, Tall Oil Glycerides, Tocopheryl Acetate, Propylparaben, Panthenol, Tocopherol, Phenoxyethanol, Iron Oxides. May Contain: Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarines, Talc.

You can see these lists do, indeed, have very, very little in common. The lack of water in the waterproof version is interesting. I wonder if that means it will resist bacterial contamination better?

Considering the extremely different ingredients list, these two mascaras actually do perform similarly, though I slightly prefer the non-waterproof option. It seems to provide a bit more volume and length with less effort, though the difference is minor (and in fact, when I look at the photos below, I can't really see a difference). Both of them are great for not clumping, much like their younger sibling, Covergirl Clump Crusher by LashBlast (reviewed here). I prefer how both of them work about a week or so after I've opened them and they've started to thicken up a bit.

They both, of course, have the same fat, plastic brush. If you hate spiky plastic brushes, you might want to avoid this one, though I have found that since the spikes are short and not too sharp, I don't end up stabbing myself in the eye like I do with some others (Benefit They're Real, for instance). The downside of the blunt ended brush with short bristles is that it's hard to get all the tiny lashes in the corners of my eyes or to get right to the roots of my lashes, especially on the back/top side of them (which I always coat, because they are blond, and they will look two-toned otherwise).

Here are my eyelashes bare, then with the regular Covergirl Lashblast Mascara, and then with the waterproof version:

Covergirl Lashblast Volume Mascara in Black

Covergirl Lashblast Volume Waterproof Mascara in Very Black

It's worth noting that the Black shade is not very black, unlike the Very Black shade. Um, as you might expect. Black is almost a dark grey/charcoal color, which is going to be a little more subtle. I think that when you compare the two photos above, you can see that the Black looks a little softer, and it's even clearer in these swatches:

I always like to have a waterproof mascara on hand, because my eyes are very watery. If it's a cold or windy day and I have to stand at the bus stop for even 5 minutes wearing non-waterproof mascara, I am guaranteed to end up with black streaks on my temples. This Covergirl stuff lives up to its waterproof claims. It is not, however, oil-proof--as it shouldn't be, because how would you remove something that neither water nor oil would melt? But be warned, during a very long and very awkward work dinner a few weeks ago, I went to the bathroom and saw that my waterproof mascara had transferred slightly to my eyelids, because the sweatiness of having to make nice with my professional nemesis in front of a foreign colleague was apparently more than any mascara could handle. I haven't noticed it smearing during normal circumstances, however.

If you want a good, everyday, no-frills mascara, this may work for you too. I don't think it's just my stubby lashes it improves. I first bought it on the recommendation of a friend with gorgeous, fluttery, thick eyelashes, after I asked her what she used, back in 2007. It doesn't make my eyelashes look like hers, but it did enhance both of our natural assets, as unequal as they are. Another thing that probably contributes my buying this stuff so frequently is that are often excellent sales on it on Amazon, so I don't think I've spent more than $4 for it in years. Keep an eye out on Amazon, if you're interested.

It's a bit unusual that I've stuck with the same product for quite this long, even if I do alternate with trying new mascaras. It seems to me that people are more loyal to their mascara than to other types of makeup. Do you stay with what works, or are you fickle about mascara?

CoverGirl TruNaked Roses Eyeshadow Palette Review (with swatches)

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Day after day after day of overcast gloom is crushing my creativity, and I can't think of a jazzy title for this post. Don't mistake that for my being unenthusiastic about this eyeshadow palette. I've been having a lot of fun with it, and the quality is remarkable. I do recommend it.

There have been lots of drugstore nude palettes released in the last year or so in apparent competition with the mega-popularity of Urban Decay's Naked line and other higher end palettes. Most of them, from L'Oreal, Revlon, Maybelline, etc., have received pretty lackluster reviews, doing nothing to improve the reputation of drugstore eyeshadows, so I hadn't been at all interested in getting them. But then last month swatches of CoverGirl's new TruNaked palettes appeared on a few blogs, and they looked much more promising. They each have 8 pans and there are three varieties: Goldens, Nudes, and Roses, corresponding to Naked 1, 2, and 3, it seems. The comparison with Urban Decay is made pretty explicit by the marketing for these CG palettes, including the sticked on the front that reads: "shades like a leading $50 eye shadow palette." UD Naked palettes are usually $54, but close enough. It turns out that these eyeshadows really are quite comparable to the UD eyeshadows I've used--for better or for worse.

I was most tempted by the Roses palette, in part because I have been curious about Naked 3 since it came out, but not enough to spend that much money on it. Pinks and reds, and even reddish-purples, in eyeshadows tend to look dreadful on me, despite all the usual tricks like separating them from my eyes with thick black liner and so forth. $12 feels like a much more reasonable gamble than $54. The Goldens palette was also stunning under the drugstore lights, but I'm pretty sure I have dupes for all of its shades. Roses was the most appealing. Look:

Here it is in direct sunlight to show off the sparkle:

The back of the palette has names for all of the shades, which are, left to right: Almond, Champagne, Baby, Rose Gold, Copper Rose, Dusk, Mauvergine, and Mousse. The matte shades are Almond, Baby, and Copper Rose, though they are more of a satin matte than completely flat. In the pan, Champagne, Rose Gold, and Mousse have the most sparkle--in use, however, all four of the darkest shades look mostly matte. You can see what I mean in my swatches on bare skin (no primer):

I think that most of the swatches I've seen elsewhere must have been done with a finger rather than with a brush, like I used here. With a finger they would be smoother and more opaque, but they are still nicely pigmented no matter what. There is none of the patchiness that appears in these swatches when I use them on my eyelids. (Almond is invisible only because it's the same color as my skin.)

You can see that the darker shades in particular are a bit crumbly and messy. That's what I meant about these being similar to UD for better for for worse. I've had a number of UD shadows, both a number of singles and the Dangerous Palette (reviewed here), and my main complaint is that they are excessively pigmented and messy. They have a lot of fallout. More pigmentation is usually considered a good thing in eyeshadow, but it does mean you have to be careful, especially if you have limited eyelid space for blending like I do. You have to use an extremely light touch and blow excess off your brush, etc. I actually didn't have nearly as much of a problem with fallout with these CG shadows as I've had with UD, but they are very soft and crumbly in the pan. For that reason, and because this type of clear plastic packaging is prone to cracking in my experience, this palette probably wouldn't be the best choice for travel.

I originally planned to include photos of all the looks I've created using this CG palette--and I've done a lot, because it's really fun to play with--but it soon became obvious that this long stretch of overcast days combined with my shitty camera doesn't make for attractive or useful photos of that sort. But I will show you an outtake to illustrate what I described above.

This photo was taken the first time I experimented with the palette, before I'd really got the hang of it. It shows the downside of impressive pigmentation, I think. See that stupid-looking line of dark brown shadow across my crease? My usual technique is to use a slightly pointed brush to draw a sort of line along the crease and then to use a bigger, rounded brush to blend. That doesn't work very well with this stuff, especially if you use primer. This photo shows the result after a ton of fucking blending. It was not going anywhere. I recommend using a very small amount, adding more only if you need it, and using a fluffy, not dense, brush to apply it. The Real Techniques Base Shadow brush (part of the Starter Kit), which has a sort of duo fiber thing going on, works well. If you don't need to use primer to prevent creasing and fading like I do, then you might just as well go without. These shadows don't need any assistance in the pigmentation department.

Here are the swatches in direct sunlight, again to show that when you actually apply these shadows, it's really only Champagne and Rose Gold that are particularly shimmery.

Most of these shadows, even those that look very pink in the pan or in swatches, come off as more mauve or brownish with a purple tinge on me, which makes them very wearable. I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I love the colors. You can use them to create some stunning, not-too-sickly, gothic romance heroine looks.

I had a $5 CVS coupon that I used on this palette, so I got it for $8 and some change, which I think is very reasonable. The only place I've seen it online so far is at ULTA, where it's priced at $12, which is cheaper than CVS at full price. They also have a BOGO 50% off sale of all CoverGirl right now, so if you need something else (a second palette??), you can get an even better deal.

ETA: You can now get this palette for just $10 at Target. Much better!

Because sometimes I can be fooled by an overall lower price, I was curious how this palette compared per ounce to the value of Urban Decay Naked 3. Naked 3 is $54 for 0.6 oz. of product, which makes it $90 per ounce. CoverGirl Roses is 0.23 oz. for (about) $12, which makes it $52 per oz. Significantly cheaper! Phew. (With UD you're paying more for sturdier packaging, blah blah.)

All in all, this is an unusually impressive eyeshadow palette from the drugstore and well worth the price. It is on par with Urban Decay and as good as just about any other more expensive eyeshadow I've tried. Highly recommended--just use a soft touch!

CoverGirl Clump Crusher Mascara: My Thoughts

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By now you've probably read a bunch of reviews of CoverGirl Clump Crusher, because it's not exactly new any more. But there are a few things about it that I've found interesting, and that I didn't see mentioned anywhere before I bought my own, so I thought I'd share them here.

I was interested in trying out this particular mascara since I am a huge fan of CoverGirl LastBlast mascaras. I've probably tried out more than a dozen other mascaras in the last year or two, but LashBlast is still my favorite, and I was using it before I ever started makeup hoarding blogging. I find the LashBlast brush really user friendly - easy to get down to the roots of my stubby lashes - and the formula lengthens and volumizes without getting all spidery. It's not overly dramatic, but it looks great. It also never splatters or smears or flakes, which I think is at least partly because it has a drier formula (and I actually prefer it after it's been open for a couple of weeks and dried out even more).

Most of the information I read about Clump Crusher suggested to me that it would be similar to LashBlast but even less clumpy. I mean, there are a bunch of tests people have done in which they apply 48 layers of mascara or whatever and it never clumps. That's not particularly useful, but good to know, I guess.

I don't have a tube of LashBlast available right now to compare directly, since I am still using up the handfuls of other mascaras I decided somewhere along the way I needed to try. But here are my thoughts about Clump Crusher. I got it in brown, because all my other mascaras were black, and I like to have a brown option on hand. Since my coloring is so light, it's nice for creating a more natural look.

It definitely does not clump. Surprise, surprise. It also has a fairly dry formula, comparable to LashBlast. One thing that I love about the non-clumpiness is that it means that this stuff works better on my lower lashes than any other mascara I've tried, because non-clumpy also means non-globby. I basically have seven short eyelashes below each eye, and trying to apply mascara to them is usually a semi-disaster. I tend to end up with a blob on each lash, and then I have to wipe the blobs away and sometimes the blobs transfer to my lower lid. It's annoying and doesn't look too pretty, so half the time I skip my bottom lashes completely. But this stuff just coats each individual last evenly, and that's it! It's a fucking miracle. I'm going to keep one of these on hand just for doing bottom lashes even when I'm using something else on the top. Here are some photos of what it looks like on my eyelashes:

Invisible eyelashes with no mascara.

Three coats of Clump Crusher on upper lashes; one coat on lower lashes.

Three coats of Clump Crusher.

Four coats of Clump Crusher on upper lashes.

CoverGirl makeup for $2-4 on Amazon (and $3 Cetaphil coupon)

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
For example, Clump Crusher mascara for $3 when you "clip" the coupon that page (or $2.70 if you do subscribe and save, which you can cancel later). Most of the products with coupons are mascara or foundation - here's the full list. I kind of want to try the Outlast 3-in-1 foundation, since I've heard it's good. Thoughts? Only one coupon per account, I believe.

There's also a $3 Cetaphil coupon here.

A whole fucking dissertation on eyebrow products for blondes and redheads, plus a mini review of L'Oreal Voluminous Butterfly mascara (photo-heavy post)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
So this is the latest installation of a quasi-series in which I pull out all the products I have in from single category and try to decide what I should keep and what I should get rid of. Spoiler: I decided that I'm going to keep all of my eyebrow shit, because it's practical and really won't ever expire, so I'll use it up eventually. I did come to the radical conclusion that I should stop buying more, though. Duh.

All my eyebrow products (top to bottom): NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red; e.l.f. Studio Eyebrow Kit in Light; Milani Brow Tint Pen in Natural Taupe; CoverGirl Brow and Eye Makers in Soft Blond; Avon Ultra Luxury Eyebrow Pencil in Blonde; and Benefit Gimme Brow in Light/Medium. 

My hair color over the last few years has run the gamut from blonde-blonde to strawberry-blonde to dark-blonde to red to really-fucking-red. Some of the products below have served me well no matter my hair color, such as the e.l.f. kit and the Avon pencil. Others, like the NYX kit and the CoverGirl pencil really only well with certain hair colors - but then they work very well.

You can tell from the photo above that almost every brow product I have has been well used, so I know them intimately. Look at those stubby pencils! The one exception is Benefit's Gimme Brow, which I got as a graduation present in May. It actually came from the Benefit vending machine in the Minneapolis airport. That's a thing that exists.

In the past, when I thought about my minimum makeup - like what I'd wear if I was running out the door and only had time for a couple of things - it was always just mascara and blush. Maybe under-eye concealer. Lately, though, I feel like I can really take or leave those things so long as I've filled in my eyebrows a little. They're fairly invisible on their own, and as I've pointed out before, they really do make a difference.

I used to use the sort of technique where you define the bottom edge of the brow completely and then fill the rest in, but recently I've much preferred Lisa Eldridge's method of focusing on the peak of the arch and working lightly out from there. (If you have never watched a Lisa Eldridge video, do it some day when you're in a bad mood or stressed - trust me, she's so soothing.) This method really does create a more natural-looking effect. I do fill in the part closest to my nose more than she does, however, because that's where the hair on my brows is the lightest and thinnest. If I don't add a little extra there, my eyebrows look too far apart - I think they still do sometimes, honestly, but I'm not (yet) totally comfortable filling in where there's no real hair at all. Anyway, as you can see in the photos below, this isn't the super-defined and polished look that you tend to see in closeups of dramatic eye makeup. It doesn't look flawless. Super-defined is pretty, but it's just not what I'm going for. My brows might look a little less than perfect in a super closeup, but no one is looking as closely as my camera is getting in these photos - and the lack of perfection is what makes them look natural, I think. Here's what they usually look like at a normal distance (scroll down).

I hope you have a couple of weeks to read the rest of this post, because as usual I am long-fucking-winded.

Whoa, these new Covergirl polishes look really cool

Check out swatches on beautygeeks. I've been really impressed with the CG formula in the past.

I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish I do not need more nail polish

Some good clearance nail polish deals at CVS

I picked up Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Crushed for 74 cents. Or 78 cents. I forget. Less than 80 cents! It's an almost-neon, almost-metallic orange. Really gorgeous. You can google swatches, but all the ones I found were really washed out. ETA: I found a great swatch on Pinterest (I should look there more often.) It's fucking bright. I'd take my own photos, but the lighting is not really sufficient  in my sad little apartment these days. At the CVS I went to, they didn't have any clearance stickers on the Sally Hansen polishes, but this was the only bottle I found that was cheap when I check it on the scanner.

There were 50% off stickers on some of the CoverGirl Outlast polishes (making them about $3), including the gorgeous Out of the Blue. I definitely recommend that one. You can see a swatch of it in this post.

Nouveau Cheap, as usual, has all the info about the drugstore clearance sales if you want to see what else you might find. I also picked up the Revlon Balm Stain in Darling, but didn't take a photo, because it didn't really show up on my lips. Seemed worth a shot for just over $2.

CoverGirl Brow and Eye Makers Brow Shaper and Eyeliner Swatches and Review (for blondes and redheads)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
First things first: These are not fucking eyeliners. Ignore the name. If you try to use these pencils as eyeliners, you will be sorely disappointed (literally, ouch). The blonde one was the first eyebrow pencil I ever owned, back when I was 15, but I bought it to use as eyeliner. It was so hard that I would hold the tip a millimeter away from the lightbulb of my desk lamp in order to soften it up. These pencils are still exactly the same as they were then, approximately 1 million years ago. So I repeat: DO NOT TRY TO USE THESE AS EYELINERS. There are so many much better, affordable eyeliners out there, that there is no reason you should be reduced to scratching your eyelid off with these things.

That said, they are pretty decent eyebrow pencils, and they are fucking cheap. For $3 (or less), you get two pencils and a sharpener. And they come in 5 color options. I recently picked up three different shades, because I couldn't find any good swatches online to help me decide which one would work best. So I also decided I should post some swatches for that reason.

Royal and navy blue nail polish swatches and comparisons (picture heavy post)

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Left to right (in natural light): Ma = Maybelline Color Show Denim Dash, CG = CoverGirl Outlast Out of the Blue, SH = Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue, ES = Essie Butler Please, SC = Sinful Colors Endless Blue, CG = China Glaze ManHunt, RR = Revlon Top Speed Royal, ZI = Zoya Ibiza, SH = Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Co-bolt Blue, ORN = Orly Royal Navy, ZS = Zoya Song, OSC = Orly Stone Cold, SH = Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Freeze! (and pretty brooch just because it's blue and sparkly)

Remember when I posted about a (near) dupe for Essie Butler Please, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, which is even better? Well, I recently picked up Sinful Colors Endless Blue, which I would also put in the near dupe category - and it's even better than the other two!

This inspired me to do a mega-comparison of blues. I have so many blue nail polishes, you guys. So fucking many. Almost as many as I have greens or teals or purples. I didn't swatch all my blues here - I decided to limit this to just the ones in the royal-to-navy range. I hope this will be useful for some people in deciding if a blue you have is actually almost the same as something you are lusting after. None of the ones I had were dupes, other than the three mentioned above, though some are sort of similar. I'm not going to review each polish in detail; I'll let the swatches speak for themselves. Feel free to ask questions about any of them in the comments.

Oh, the other reason I did this? Because swatching nail polish is so fucking soothing and fun. It's like making a craft with the lowest skill level possible and lots of pretty colors. You can get the wheels at bunch of different places for cheap, like these ones from Amazon (I've also found them at Sally Beauty and on ebay). I also really like arranging things by color - which means that on my wheel, I kind of find it annoying that the order isn't exactly right. The CG and RR toward the middle should be switched, and so should the ORN and ZS on the right side, right!?

On to the swatches!

Review and comparison: CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss

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Whoops, this post has been sitting in my saved folder for a while now, after I picked some of this nail polish up on the recommendation of srizzo. Better late than never? These aren't limited edition or anything.

These CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant nail polishes glosses are supposed to have basecoat and topcoat included. Look, I'll just be upfront about it: I think that's kind of bullshit. I mean, basecoat is supposed to be a layer between your nail and the polish, so how does that work? It's not going to prevent staining, for one thing. Also, I don't wear nail polish without putting a quick dry topcoat on top, because I usually do my nails less than an hour before I go to bed, and that's the only way to avoid fucking them up. There are a bunch of blogs out there where people tested these on their own, so if that's important to you, google. I'm just going to treat these like regular nail polishes.

Cheap dupe (but better!) for Zoya FeiFei and OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service: CoverGirl Midnight Magic (with review and comparison photos)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

I recently added a few CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant nail polishes, ahem, nail "glosses", sorry, to a drugstore.com order. I'll do a more thorough review of the formula and performance of them generally soon (spoiler: great), but I wanted to alert you to a dupe first. I ordered the shade "Midnight Magic" suspecting that it might be a dupe for Zoya "FeiFei", and it turns out I was right! The difference is really negligible, though I think the CoverGirl might be a exact match for OPI "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which is itself for all intents and purposes identical to FeiFei, but I don't own that one to compare here.

In natural light, left to right: one coat of Zoya "FeiFei", one coat of CoverGirl "Midnight Magic",
three coats of Zoya "FeiFei", three coats of CoverGirl "Midnight Magic"

Have you tried CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss? Get them for $1.64 each from drugstore.com right now

Full disclosure: I haven't tried them yet. However! Srizzo has written me to recommend them:

"I just noticed the Covergirl's outlast stay brilliant line of polishes and got a few on a whim. Wasn't sure if you've used them before, but I have fallen in love and thought they might be of interest to you! The packaging says they're supposed to last a week without chipping and have a built in top coat. They're pretty glossy on their own (though I still like to throw a top coat on since the color does dull a bit). Haven't gotten a week's wear out of any of them, but I am also a monster to my nails and I don't think anything other than a gel manicure could make it that long. All the same, they clung on for three days or so, which is pretty good for me! The best though, is the formula. Seriously, it is absolutely dreamy! Really smooth, settles evenly, and most are opaque in one coat without being goopy. I'm almost inclined to say it's a close second to my beloved girls polishes. Well, that turned out to be a bit longer than I expected, but they're affordable (regular price is about $4, but I've seen them on sale for less) and awesome and figured I had to share!"

Sounds great! She recommends the colors Vio-last and Wine to Five. Midnight Magic also looks super cool - maybe a Zoya FeiFei dupe?

From now until May 10, all makeup from drugstore.com is 30% off (details here). There's also a deal where you get $3 off 2 Cover Girl nail products, plus there is 10% off all CoverGirl products - making these $1.64 each. You have to click the little box to get the $3 discount. I don't know how long the CoverGirl coupon will last, but it looks like a great way to try these out for cheap right now.

If you've tried these Cover Girl polishes, what did you think?

Is BB Cream just trendy tinted moisturizer?

In some cases, apparently, yes. The new Covergirl “BB Cream” is exactly the same as their CGSmoothers Tinted Moisturizer. Exact same ingredients list, new name. So watch out.

Is BB Cream just trendy tinted moisturizer?