Flip Flop Fantasy – New is Not Always Improved

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This legacy post has been given a facelift because it still hurts my heart. I loved this damn color! Content has been edited for clarity but opinion and, as far as I can tell, the status of the product in question are the same.

Raise your hand if you’ve been hurt by a reformulation! Maybe it was New Coke. Or the use of HFCS in place of cane sugar in everything in general. Your recently-repurchased signature fragrance not being so signature anymore. Pantene doing Pantene things. Innovation in general is a good thing. But we’ve all experienced product changes and came to discover that new is not always improved.

Take nail polish, for instance. Certain shades are so well-known that they have their own cult of personality. If you’re here, reading, you can probably name at least half a dozen OPI shades off the top of your head without Google’s help – and that’s saying nothing of other brands.

Flip Flop Fantasy

It’s a bright, rich neon coral creme from their 2010 Poolside collection. Or, well, it was. A friend wore the Gelaze version of Flip Flop Fantasy for her wedding last summer; it seemed peach then, but I chalked that up to the occasional difference in the gel versions of shades. Alas, it wasn’t because it is gel, it was because China Glaze changed the shade entirely.

It’s a completely different color, now, in both RNP and gel. Chit Chat Nails shared images of both bottles, complete with the same item codes…

China Glaze Flip Flop FantasyFlip Flop Fantasy – Chit Chat Nails (now defunct)

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Bi-Weekly WTF :: Vol 14 – Azature Diamond Nail Polish

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Diamond Nail Polish from Azature

 

If you’re new here, my hobbies include talking smack on unnecessarily expensive nail polish. I get (perhaps irrationally) angry when I see ludicrously expensive I came across another one yesterday, and to my surprise it was not yet another offering from repeat offender Louboutin!

Instead, this diamond nail polish from Azature more than takes the metaphorical and, hell, for that price, literal cake.

So Damn Foolish

Clocking in at a whopping $230,000, Azature’s Black Diamond polish was made as a single batch limited edition – and the formula was made with 267 carats of black diamond.

Why?

Aside from the, “I have so much money that I may as well shred it,” demographic…I don’t get it! Why even make diamond nail polish? It doesn’t enhance the color or hardness/strength-enhancing properties of the formula. It is nothing but brag fodder – but it isn’t impressive to drop a house’s worth of money on a damn bottle of nail polish.

Shockingly, there are no reviews to speak of.

The Bottom Line

There’s nothing this can do to be worth it. Not even my usual uncouth jokes that I refrain from on here would make it worth it! I realize that products like this aren’t targeted at us plebeians but it just seems ridiculous and ostentatious to do in the first place.

Don’t wish to take out a mortgage on nail polish – hey, me too! If the novelty of diamond in the polish excites you, they have less-ambitious formulas at $25 (pictured).

What ridiculous stuff have you seen this week?

Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural

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Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural N9Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural / N9 Copper Pink, $11

Have you ever come across an item and reacted, “I need ten of these?”

That’s how I feel about Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural in N9, Copper Pink. A few years ago, Sephora offered a mini of it as their birthday perk and I initially dismissed it without trying it. Definitely a fan of MLBBs, I have no idea what I was thinking. Eventually, I got around to it and was nonplussed. For me, it’s the most accurate one yet! Naturally, though, it appears to be discontinued. FML.

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Sock Bun Maker / Sock Bun Ring

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This legacy post has been given a facelift! Content and opinions are the same; I still use this product!

Ah, the sock bun – the easy, lazy way of pretending you’re a put-together person on days where you roll out of bed twenty minutes late. (Read: Every day of my life.) Or, even when you get up on time and:

  • don’t want your hair in your face
  • don’t want to wear a ponytail
  • can’t do a french twist and…

For being a lazy fix and something that is trendy, I actually think sock buns are cute. Sky, falling, etc. This sock bun ring is similar to the As Seen on TV Product, “Hot Buns,” but I haven’t tried that specific one.

Sock Bun Maker / Sock Bun RingSock Bun Maker

My hair does not naturally come into a nice bun. Layers don’t tend to like that nonsense. Even when my hair is a uniform length, I just can’t create a neat bun on my own. I tried to do a sock bun with an actual sock and failed spectacularly. I sought help, but…not too hard. I can’t for the life of me recall what brand this one is, but I can tell you I picked it up at on a whim TJ Maxx for all of $2. Yeah, not a typo, two dollars. I figured it could either be an excellent $2 investment–or, if not, I paid what a vending machine at work charges for an energy drink!

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Products I Stopped Using (2018)

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Over the years, as I’ve learned about my skin and honed my beauty preferences, I’ve tried many products. Some worked, some didn’t; some did at one point and then my needs/wants changed.

Face Scrubs

Ages ago, I used a certain walnut-shell-containing, apricot-scented facial exfoliant from a popular drugstore brand. I loved it! Bottom line, though, is those shell fragments can be sharp – and there are more effective ways to exfoliate. These days, my physical exfoliation comes from my Clarisonic and Silkin ReVit. Chemically, I use this AHA gel from Alpha Skin and the occasional BHA Stridex pad.

After a troublesome period with my skin, it is looking the best it has in quite a while save for some stubborn pores on my chin that, frankly, aren’t too visible anyway.

Foundation

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Unpopular Opinion: Liquid Lipstick

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This legacy post has been given a facelift. Opinions remain the same but content has been edited for flow and clarity.

I can’t quite pinpoint where the madness took hold. Liquid lipstick isn’t really a new product or idea; nay, Stila has offered their Stay All Day Liquid Lipsticks for several dozen moons. At some point within the last two years, though, liquid lipstick exploded. Most companies offer them now, and those that already had them expanded their lines, and companies who weren’t really on the lip game (like Anastasia), got involved.

And ultimately, I don’t get the obsession.

Needy

Let’s face it – although the point is that they shouldn’t be high maintenance, they are.

  • They require meticulous lip prep; scrubbing to exfoliate is not ever optional when you’re rocking these.
  • You need to moisturize before application…but not too much, or the product won’t properly adhere to your lips!
  • To put the icing on the cake, they tend to be drying as all hell to the lips…and then settle awkwardly in your lip-lines.
  • It’ll last a looong time, but if you ever feel like you need to reapply? More often than not, you’re better off removing it entirely and starting from square one.

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