Nail trend colors for Fall 2010 are here, why don’t you try Navy?

Although many, many things in my life seem to fall through the cracks, I really try to keep my feet and toes looking somewhat decent with a pedicure every two weeks.  One of my girlfriends has been wearing a very dark, somewhat purplish, navy blue shade called “Russian Navy” from Opi all summer. When I came upon it at the salon last week, I decided that it was my turn to go navy! (more…)

Wow, is anyone else seeing the 80’s coming back in force? Mr. Mo and I were at the store a few days ago when we saw a hoodie with a paint splatter design all over it. We just sort of looked at each other and shook our heads. For one thing, I am nowhere near old enough to be retro folks, and for another thing, a lot of these looks were bad enough the first time around, no need to repeat. Ya dig what I’m saying here?
For some reason though, just about every nail company out there has a neon collection for summer. China Glaze has Poolside, Zoya has Flash, OPI has their Brights, and everyone else is in a rush to crank out their own bright colors and keep up with the bigs. And since it’s my commitment to you to try and keep up with the trends (and because I’ll use any excuse to buy nail polish), I went out and picked up a couple new neon nail colors so I could give them a trial run for you.

I’ll be honest with you and fess up that I bought some knock offs, since I’m not nuts enough about this trend to spend the big bucks. The colors were very similar to others available and I just wanted to see how it feels to stare at these colors all day long. I ultimately couldn’t bring myself to buy a neon green polish and instead settled on hot pink and a bright orangey color. I opted out of blue since I have more than my share of blue polish already and don’t get nearly enough use out of the ones I already have to justify buying more. I used separate colors on each hand and once I saw the two side by side I was thankful I wear gloves most of the day at work.

When Mr.Mo saw the orange color he asked if was “like, a mango color”. I think that was much nicer than my personal description of “baby throw up orange”. Maybe it’s my fair skin, and maybe it’s the florescent lights at work, but this color made me feel ill every time I looked at it. I don’t know that I would’ve liked a true hunter safety vest orange any better, but since most neon orange this summer has a yellow tint to it  I would suggest skipping it unless you feel it’s flattering. I can’t imagine it working too well with very tanned skin, though I think that with dark skin or something slightly less pasty than my skin it might be nice. The pink was much more manageable, though it was a bit brighter than I managed to capture in pictures. It was easier to get opaque coverage with the pink and  it didn’t seem quite so out of place as the orange or a bright green might have been. It’s not my favorite ever, but I far prefer it to the orange. I think this color is pretty well suited for all skin tones and definitely more appropriate for the workplace than some of the other neon offerings. These colors are much better on a shorter nail and with a nice shiny top coat to keep them bright and fresh.

I don’t know that I’m quite ready for the neon trend to reappear, but it certainly seems like I’m in the minority on this one. What say you, have I seen the light, or am I not too bright?

A few weeks ago I posted about my new Chanel polish and Kellie commented that she’d seen a Sally Hansen polish in what she believed was almost an exact dupe. Of course I immediately headed out to hunt down this fabulous find. After a bit of searching I managed to locate where it USED to be on an end cap at WalMart. The display was for the new Complete Salon Manicure line from Sally Hansen, and most of the colors had already sold out, including Commander in Chic, which was the color Kellie recommended. Instead I picked up a pale buttercream yellow called “Yellow Kitty”.

Normally this pale yellow wouldn’t be my type of color, but I have enough reds, pinks, and purples to last me a lifetime, so I thought I’d change it up a bit. The polish claims to be a Base Coat, Strengthener, Growth Treatment, Color, and Top Coat all in one bottle. The brush is flat and has a curved tip that I initially thought was kind of gimmicky. Turns out that the shape of the brush is actually pretty handy in covering the curve of your nail without globbing over onto your cuticles, and I really like it. The light color is more apt to streak than a darker one, but after 2 carefully applied coats I had great, even coverage. I didn’t apply a top coat before letting it dry thoroughly, and the next morning it was ready for a real challenge: My Job. (more…)

I was in the mood for a real treat when I headed out the other day. I recently scored some Revlon and Almay goodies on sale for less than 2 bucks apiece and I was bound and determined to use the savings to buy something outrageous and wonderful. In addition, I just aced some really important testing at work and I totally deserve something special for all my hard work, right?

I started out looking at eye shadows, but once I thought about the 200+ colors I had at home, I realized I probably didn’t need yet another one. In the end I settled on buying a new nail polish and after perusing the counters for a while I decided that I was going to pony up the coin for Chanel’s nail colour in “Particuliere”.   Now, this bottle of polish set me back more than my lunch did that day($23), but, oh, *swoon* it was worth every penny!

Normally I wouldn’t spend $23 on a nail polish, much less a taupe polish, but the sales associate really hooked me when she said that the gray tone of this taupe would be especially flattering on my fair skin. Hey, you make it sound like being pale is to my advantage and I’ll bite almost every time. I’ve always been pleased with the performance of Chanel’s polish in the past and I didn’t see anything I wanted more, so I snatched up my expensive little bag and headed home.

Oh my wow. Seriously, there is a reason this is THE color to love this season. Just look:

First off, this is one coat, ONE. The color is so rich and creamy that you can hardly tell it’s not fully opaque without a second coat. Totally passable with a single coat in a pinch, and it dries quickly. It’s so smooth and shiny and it wears really, really well. Those nails took a beating when I cleaned my kitchen floor and came out of it looking like a dream, a little worn on the tips, but no chips at all.
The color is simple and classic with enough of a twist that there’s just nothing else out there to match it. Over at All Lacquered Up there’s another great review with swatches and comparisons and Michelle seemed to like it too, so that makes it two thumbs up.
Ultimately, $23 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a nail polish if you plan on purchasing it on a regular basis, BUT, I think this color and it’s longevity make it more than worth a special occasion splurge. I never thought I’d be so happy to have anything taupe, much less taupe that I’d pay that kind of coin for. Go to the nearest Chanel counter and slide some of that delicious gorgeousness across your fingernail and then see if YOU can say no!

Everyone is doing a top 10 list this time of year, so I’m bucking the trend and sharing my 5 favorite, can’t live without, must have items from the last year. These are the things I decided I will continue to buy as long as they’re available because I love them so much that they’ve become an instinctive part of my routine. Here they are, in no particular order of preference:

1)Aquolina Pink Sugar fragrance. This stuff makes me feel so happy and cozy that I rarely start a day without it, whether I’m going to work, headed out running errands, or just staying in and cleaning house. My kids are always telling me I smell delicious and my significant other tends to agree. Another perk about this fragrance is that it is available just about anywhere I go, from Sephora to Ulta to Nordstrom. I think the simple fragrances of caramel and cotton candy capture our inner child, while the more complex bergamot, musk, and fig leaves entice our mature palates. Ive always enjoyed oriental fragrances, and I think this is oriental with a dash of fun. (more…)

My job is hard on nail polish. Nitrile or latex gloves are a must and we are constantly changing into fresh pairs. The constant off and on of the moisture sapping protective layer, as well as liberal use of hand sanitizer, leaves nail polish chipped and worn. Sometimes you can get lucky and have your polish last 2-3 days looking lovely, but usually it’s only a matter of hours until your polish that you painstakingly applied the night before is looking like a mani you received a week ago! The search for a nail polish solution is never ending at my workplace, and I’m out to find it!

I follow Zoya polish on Twitter and keep an eye on their specials. When they anounced a BOGO sale I decided it was finally time for me to step up and try some out for myself. I admire Zoya’s commitment to a good quality product as free from extra chemicals as possible. They also have a selection of colors that is mindblowing, with 300+ regular colors and numerous other colors from collections. You’re sure to find whatever color you’re looking for, plus several that you just HAVE to have. Along with some fun new colors, one of the items I added to my cart was the Anchor Basecoat, since a good base is the logical first step in  getting decent staying power. (more…)

A few months ago I started looking for a particular shade of gray nail polish. While I surfed and searched and asked around a couple people pointed me in the direction of ManGlaze. I checked it out and found dark gray and black matte polishes. Nifty, but not what I was looking for. So I filed the info about matte polish away in my brain and promptly forgot about it. Isn’t that always what happens right before something shows up everywhere and you think “Huh, didn’t I just hear something about this a few months ago”?

Suddenly it seems matte is all over the place. I saw on twitter that Zoya had a BOGO deal on their polishes and since I was dying to try them out anyway I hopped over there and made sure to add Loredana($7) to my basket o’ goodies. Loredana is from the Fall 2009 Matte Velvet collection. There’s also a Winter 2009 Matte Velvet collection, which makes 6 matte colors from Zoya. Loredana is described as a gunmetal gray with shimmer and I’d have to say that’s a pretty dead on description. How you can get such great shimmer and still have a matte polish I don’t know, but Zoya nailed it(little pun there, pardon me).

I’ve been hearing good things about Zoya lately and so far they don’t disappoint. Zoya is free of toluene, formaldehyde, DBP and camphor, making it a safer polish. Plus it’s been formulated for long lasting wear on natural nails, no easy feat. It only took two fast drying coats for perfect coverage and I honestly could’ve done passably with only one coat had I felt lazier. I have artificial nails on right now which really helps color to stay unusually long, but matte polishes are billed as being less long wearing than typical polishes. It’s recommended you not use matte polish with a base coat, but I’m gonna say you should try it anyway, if only to avoid staining from the very rich colors. Of course you want to skip a top coat, shiny top coats pretty much defeat the point of a matte, yeah? The color takes some getting used to, everytime I caught a glimpse my brain told me something was wrong with that picture, but it started to really grow on me after a few days and I got compliments left and right over the color.

(I have pictures, honest, but I seem to have misfiled them somewhere, so stay tuned for an update with them in this spot. Sorry)

Ultimately I’m really diggin these new polishes and I would definitely recommend you give them a shot. If you aren’t totally sold on the matte polish you can pick up a matte top coat and get a more flat look that still has little bit of a shine. Have you tried a matte polish yet? What are your thoughts?

Memorial Day is upon us and I have fallen hard for the new summer neon shades from Essie Cosmetics!  There is something about their electric bright shades that wonderfully compliment summer-kissed skin tones!

Last week I borrowed some perky purple from my 15-year-old daughter for my toenails.  This deep violet shade adds a fun, almost gemstone-like quality to your nails.

This week, I ended up purchasing flirty fuchsia, a brilliant neon hot pink, which once dry looks very matte in its appearance.  My same 15-year-old made the statement that it has a similar finish to spray paint (and how in the heck would she know that?)!

To add some additional shine I decided to buy Essie’s shine-e “polish refresher.”  By applying this on top, not only did it enhance the bright color, it transformed the matte finish into a lacquered high-gloss.  Can even see my reflection in them!  My little girls and their friends immediately “oooohhh”ed after discovering my brightly polished fingernails last night.

You can purchase the Essie Neon Nail Polish in funky limelight, punchy pink, flirty fuchsia or perky purple ($8 each) and Essie’s shine-e ($15) at Apothica.com.

It hasn’t been too terribly long since I started hearing about Dashing Diva nail products and salons. Sure they opened their first salon in 2003, but that was in New York, and it can take a while for news to spread up here to the secluded Inland Northwest. “The selection of colors is amazing” I was told, “A trip to their salon is like nothing you’ve ever done” they raved, but with salons limited to New York with a few locations in California I was resigned that I would never get to experience any of the things people were raving about. Then I received my very own bottle of Dashing Diva polish in the mail. Yippee!

I received a bottle of “Ballet Flats“, a coraly pink that claims to be shimmery but has very little noticeable shimmer at all. The color isn’t  exactly the same as I remember my ballet flats being oh so many years ago, but in the sun it is almost exactly the same as the center of a strawberry Charleston Chew candy bar. This would be a nice complimentary color to lightly tanned skin, a little bit of unexpected color without being garish. While this isn’t a color I’d normally choose for myself it gave me the opportunity to try something new and I like that. This is also a good color for shorter nails, since it made my long nails(which I can’t bear to trim!) look a little like pre colored press on nails. (more…)

Wow…just wow. I rarely find something I do serious back flips over. I rarely find something I consider pricey that I will buy two of  so I can have a spare just in case I misplace one. But boy howdy did I hit the jackpot on this!

You may remember a post a while back about press on artificial nails. I expressed my love for them because of my impossible to grow nails and the ease of getting just the right length. My new favorite person, Josi, commented and asked if I had tried the Nailtiques treatment. I hadn’t but she sparked my interest so I went out the next day to hunt some down. Turns out it isn’t all that hard to find. I got mine at my friendly neighborhood drugstore, and if you’re dying to purchase it right this second you can find it at Drugstore.com. It has to ship via ground service though, so you’ll have to go for a drive if you want it straight away.

On first glance you are going to look at that tiny box holding that tiny 1/4 ounce bottle of polish and tell me there is no way you’re spending 10 bucks on that thing. I must be crazy, right? (more…)