All About Cie Marquise

This week was filled with stress-- 2 quizzes, 2 lab reports, and 2 finals. YIKES! To calm my 'what if' nerves I decided to treat myself to a nice session of retail therapy. I went back to the Sear's Essentials store that's closing to recheck the sales. Now all make up was 50% off retail and hair accessaries were 30% off. Needless to say, the shelves were getting low but I still found some great finds. 

Here's what I picked up from Sear's Essential:

A Revlon hair crimper/ waver. It has 3 settings and I tested it out on a back section of hair and realized it worked quite nicely. It was priced at $18.99 with 30% off so I spent around $14.

Curl Hydration Leave In

Extra Hold Mousse

I must admit that I did this manicure earlier than I expected. The french gel manicure went to hell in a hand basket so fast, it was scary. The entire white tip on my left index finger peeled off and other tips began to turn yellow. ABSOLUTELY NOT HAVING IT! So decided to remove the gel and restore my "well" manicured look. I know it seems odd, but when my nails are out of wack I feel a bit uneasy. Its one of the few things in my life that I can control, so why not look put together at all times.

Sinful Colors has a new collection out called the Heartbreaker Collection. I saw TuTu, their pale pink, and immediately knew I had to have it. I thought it was a cream pink but after using it I realized its more of a jelly and has light (very light) white shimmer. The shimmer is definitely not to be confused as silver and is sooo subtle that I only see it in very bright light. Its like a little twinkle during the say to give you a little smile. My one gripe about this color is the formula. It is very thin and took 3 coats to achieve this opaque look. Also because it is a jelly, I realized that I had to apply one thin coat and let it dry before applying another. The first time I used this color I used thicker coats and the polish puddled (yes literally puddled with ripples) along my cuticles. It is an amazing color but requires a lot of work to get things right. As an accent color, I used Sinful Color Pink Forever. It is a bright, Barbie pink that is a stark contrast to the softness of Tutu. I believe Pink Forever is apart of their permanent collection. And just because I love glitter, I added a pink glitter by Wet n Wild Wild Shine called Sparkled. It has super tiny fucshia glitters and small (larger than the fuschia but small in comparison to other glitters) silver glitters.

Hi My Loves,

I am sorry I've been missing but I am ending my quarter so final projects, lab reports, quizzes and test have taken over my life. I took graduation pictures last week =), I'm one step closer to the finish line. I haven't even purchased anything in the past few weeks =0 I know shocker right.

Well I received my WEN package in the mail a few days ago and I'm excited to use the texture and styling cream that came with the package. Also I love the comb! To be honest, I it was one of the main reasons I bought the set. I like that its heavy and not flimsy and I'm dying to use it on my curly hair. I am eyeing the Tresemme Flawless Curls collection, so I might pick it up while there's a sale at CVS (2/$7) or at Walgreens (4/$15 with $5 rewards back).

My nails are back to french tipped gel manicure due to the graduation pictures. However less than a week, I already had chipping on two nails. I'm going to try to leave them alone but I have this urge to grab the foil and the acetone.

I'm composing a list of products that I wish I'd never bought, so look for that post soon. Have a great week loves and wish me luck in my crazy life. I'm on instagram now too @ciemarquise

This weeks nail color was inspired by Beyonce. Since the birth of her daughter, Blue Ivy, she's been spotted wearing this beautiful blue color on her nails. I've always thought blue nails were trashy and ghetto looking, especially on my skin tone. Ha! Leave it to Beyonce to turn my fashion thoughts upside down. I've been on the hunt for a perfect blue so here's my first attempt at finding one that works for me.

Neon Aqua is by Klean Colors (that beauty supply brand I told you about) and is a bright blue cream polish. It applies a little thick but I didn't need to reach for a polish thinner. It is a very opaque non-streaking color. And just because I am who I am, I added a little sparkle to this manicure. Also by Klean Colors, Sparkle Emerald has very small gold and green glitters/sparkles in an ocean blue jelly. After playing around, I realized I like the glitter without a base. I used three coats of Sparkle Emerald and two coats of Sally Hansen Mega Shine topcoat to finish off with smooth nails.

I took these picture from my iPhone, I think they are a little clearer, yes?

I'm really excited to show this manicure off to see people's reactions. It is totally different from my usual pink/red/nudes but its definitely growing on me. I'm tempted to put a white crackle over it. What do you think, is this color too much?

Let me be the first to admit that I was soooooo intimidated by this color. I had first seen it in a youtube video and immediately thought "purple lipstick? no way". And I kept that opinion for months until one Monday when I saw Chrissy Lampkin's (from Love and HipHop) makeup from her engagement episode.

photo courtesy of socialiteworld.com

With a changed heart, I set out to find the perfect purple lip. After some investigation, I realized that the lip liner is what actually "made" this look. By a fluke, I was driving by my local Sears Essential (like K-Mart) and noticed they were going out of business and rushed in to see the sale. I picked up Cover Girl Lip Perfection in Divine (#330) and a darker purple/raisin liner by Jordana called Easyliner for Lips in the color Cabernet.

Both the liner and the lipstick apply in a smooth non-tugging manner. Divine does come off more pink on the lips but the liner gives the purple tint. Also this lipstick has MAJOR staining powers, so much so that when the lipstick wears off a simple lip balm can be added to provide a pink lip stain look. This can be a pro or a con depending on your personal style. I actually couldn't even remove the left over color with a vaseline and towel rub. However with all that, I think this lipstick is going into my favorites  category.

Dried Kinky Curly on my Hair

 Jordana's EasyLiners for Lips can be found at Kmart and Sears Essentials for $1.99 and CoverGirl Lip Perfection retails for $6.99 at most major drugstores.

Here's a small bundle of things I bought this last week. Most of the stuff was found on-sale (like always).

The Repairing Awapuhi Ginger Conditioner and Instant Recovery Mask were bought from RiteAid at a buy 1 get 1 half off sale.


I actually bought this Organix nourishing Coconut Conditioner before I realized there was a sale and actually bought this at WalMart. (Still cheaper than my nearby Target and CVS)

These were found at a Sears Essentials store closing sale. The following were purchased at 30% off retail price:

My new obsession. Sally Hansen Mirror Shine Quick Dry Top Coat. 60 seconds to perfectly shiny and dry nails. No more waiting for my polishes to air dry. WORTH IT!



*** All of these products can be found at your local drugstore 

I went to a salon and got a much needed professional manicure. You know with the added massage and super smell goods. Well I actually think my mind needed the relaxation of a manicure/pedicure than my nails needed the treatment. Sometimes all you need is a mani/pedi and those 30 minutes to put your phone on silent and just focus on yourself not your stress. 

This is a bit more orange than the actual bottle color . My nails have slightly more pink

Notice the gold shimmer