Fresh Paint Job: Essie Lilacism

Since Easter is only a few days away, I felt like wearing a pretty pastel color for the remainder of the week. My first thought was Essie French Affair, but decided to go with a throwback color, Essie Lilacism. This color is from the Art of Spring collection 2010. It's a soft pastel purple that goes well with all skintones. The polish applies really thick and streaky, so you will have to thin it down and apply several coats.

Fresh Paint Job: O.P.I. Touring America Fall 2011 Preview

Freak waiting till Fall to rock these colors! OPI hits the open road with a new take on classic style in the Touring America Collection for Fall/Winter 2011. Inspired by Americana and cities with rich cultural heritage, the collection’s twelve shades offer comfortable glamour and wearable elegance for nails and toes. Each shade has a creative name reflective of its inspiring city’s claim to fame. Wonder what city is "Uh-oh Roll Down the Window".... I have my thoughts LOL.  Collection hits stores August 3rd.

Are We There Yet?

Don’t make me reach back there and take that perfect melon shade!

I Eat Mainely Lobster

We “clawed” through crowds to catch this coral for you.

My Address is "Hollywood"

We put this pretty rose-pink on the map.

Color to Diner For

I’ll take the rosy-red with a side of “awesome.”

Honk if You Love OPI

Don’t let this gorgeous dark grape pass you by.

Road House Blues

In this case…R&B stands for “Really Blue.”

Suzi Takes the Wheel

Buckle up—she’s not stopping until she gets to gray!

French Quarter for Your Thoughts

Want beads? Then show us your sexy gray nails!

Uh-oh Roll Down the Window

You’re gonna wanna pull over for this “unexpected” olive green.

A-taupe the Space Needle

You’ll climb to new heights with this creamy-rich taupe.

Get in the Expresso Lane

An amped-up dark brown that’ll never letcha down!

I Brake for Manicures

This gorgeous eggplant-plum has our full attention.

Fresh Paint Job: Update on Sally Hansen Salon Effect Nail Strips

It's official, I'm obsessed with the Sally Hansen Salon Effect Nail Strips. As I stated in a previous post, they were super easy to use, no dry time, great colors-basically easy glam! I kept them on for the promised 10 days no chipping. Surprisingly the chipping wasn't horrible, but the growth was really starting to bug me so they had to go. Removal of the strips was very easy with nail polish remover. All in all these were definitely worth the $8.50 I paid!

Fresh Paint Job: Sally Hansen Salon Effect Nail Strips

I finally got the urge to try Sally Hansen Salon Effect Nail Strips. I wanted to buy 5 colors, but since I never do nail art, I went with "Misbehaved, "a black fishnet design overlaid on a nude metallic.

They are made with real nail polish, and each set includes 16 strips just in case you mess up, various size strips to fit your nail bed, a cuticle pusher, detailed instructions, and a nail file. Here's my review:

• NO dry time-enough said!
• Easy to apply-took less than 15 min to apply both hands and can be removed with nail remover.
• Lots of fun color-neon, metallics, and patterns (see below).
• Long lasting-they claims 10 days, but I'll be the judge of that.
• $8.50 is an affordable at-home alternative to the Minx manicure.

I can't wait to rock the bright neon colors for Spring. Check out the other patterns and shades:

Fresh Paint Job: Essie "French Affair"

Finally got around to trying Essie "French Affair" nail polish, part of Essie's latest collection also named French Affair.  The collection was inspired by classic French style and 1960's French glamour. I rarely wear pastel colors, so I was curious to see how this color would turn out. "French Affair" is a sophisticated soft lavender pink. The color didn't remind me of any time I'd spent in France, but it did remind me of the Easter bunny. It's a good safe, conservative color to wear during the Spring.

P.S. Essie has expanded to mass-market retailers like Wal-mart. Hopefully now I can get my hands on another bottle of "Merino Cool."

China Glaze Crackle Nail Collection

snap, CRACKLE, pop!!! If you missed out on OPI Shatter, no worries. China Glaze has 6 colors in their Crackle collection that will surely add a burst of color to your nails. The shades in the collection include:

• Lightning Bolt – white crackle
• Black Mesh – black crackle
• Broken Hearted – pink crackle
• Cracked Concrete – grey crackle
• Fault Line – purple crackle
• Crushed Candy – teal crackle

The collection is scheduled to arrive in stores next month, and if the frenzy is anything like OPI Shatter, you better get to the store within the first few days. I have my eye on "Lightning Bolt" and "Fault Line." How about you?

Fresh Paint Job: "Don’t Mess With OPI"

Finally got around to trying "Don't Mess With OPI" which is part of the Texas Collection. The color is a lean, mean kick-grass green! Green nail polish has been popular since Chanel debuted "Jade" in Fall 2009. So it's a no brainer that brands continue to create variations of green each season.

The color is similar to OPI "Jade is the New Black," while not quite as emerald in color.  I'm not sure if this is a color I would wear often, but it's definitely something different from the classic red, taupe, and black polishes.

Fresh Paint Job: OPI "My Private Jet"

While rummaging through nail polish at Ulta, I found a random bottle of OPI "My Private Jet." It's been discountined for a while. It was released in 2007 as part of the “brights” collection, but gained popularity when Kim Kardashian asked a nail technician if they had the color on an episode of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians." Then it was like OPI Shatter, here today, gone tomorrow.  It's a very dark color, gunmetal gray, with glitter particles. Great color if you love black, but want something extra.

Now to Spring nail colors..........This Spring, pastels, metallic grays, and nudes are the most popular polish hues. OPI wasted no time to hop on the trend boat. To celebrate the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, OPI has collaborated with Disney to release six limited edition nail polish collections, (from left to right):

• Mermaid’s Tears, a seafoam green 
• Stranger Tides, a sage green
• Skull & Glossbones, a khaki gray
• Steady As She Rose, a pearly oyster pink
• Sparrow Me The Drama, a strawberry pink
• Planks A Lott, a pretty lavender

In addition, the collection includes Silver Shatter. I purchased black shatter a couple weeks ago, but can't get it to look right!?!? 'The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides' collection retail for $8.50, and will be available beginning in May at Dillards , Utla, and JCPenny.

Backstage Beauty: Fall 2011 Nail Trends from Fashion Week

The recent coverage of NYFW Fall 2011 made me skip completely over Spring, and focus on Fall nail trends! Nail trends are something you can easily incorporate into your look now; no need to wait!

Jason Wu

Jason Wu is teaming up with CND for a limited Jason Wu Collection.

Check Fall looks below and check back tomorrow for some great nail trends inspired by Spring Fashion Week.

Behnaz Sarafpour

 Wanda Ruiz created Manolo Manicures inspired by two styles of namesake custom-designed shoes by Manolo Blahnik.

Ruffian 

 Ruffin had a really cool metallic tuxedo nail art.

Carolina Herrera

 Fresh faced makeup and with Dark Ruby nail polish by CND. Must have this color!!

 Costello Tagliapletra

Minty green nails complimented firey red lips and eyes shadowed in a gorgeous turquoise .

 Monique Lhuillier

Wanda Ruiz presented the Shady Lady Manicure composed of Silver Chrome, Desert Suede, and and 2011 limited edition Dark Amethyst Color.

Kevork Kiledijian

 Angi Wingle used also used Desert Suede to accentuate the reddish-magenta eye shadow and matte lips.

 Catherin Malandrino

Smokey eyes paired with a purple haze mani!

Jenni Kayne

CND did the nails and they created a “New age bohemian,” with a pinked-up peanut butter manicure created with Desert Suede (the must HAVE color)!

Wayne

 Designer to watch Wayne kept the manicures chocolate with Raisin in the Sun, then matted it down.

photos: CND

Product Review: OPI San Tan-tonio Nail Polish

OPI Spring/Summer Texas collection finally rode into town. I purchased "Don't Mess with OPI", "Suzi Loves Cowboys", and "San Tan-tonio." I'm regretting not purchasing "Houston We Have a Purple" (see below for the color swatches). San Tan-tonio is the perfect nude color for my skintone. I've been on the quest for a nude polish, but most have been too beige for my liking. While it probably won't be a true nude on paler skintones, the caramel honey color is right on trend and still a gorgeous color. It's extremely wearable from the office to a night out.

Check out other colors from the OPI Texas Collection:

• Don’t Mess With OPI - A lean, mean, kick-grass forest green.
• Austin-Tatious Turquoise – Cowgirls love this bodacious blue-green.
• It’s Totally Fort-Worth It – A shimmery lavender grey that’s so worthy of you.
• Do You Think I’m Tex-y? A “berry” sexy bloom of Dallas Dahlia.
• I Vant To Be A-Lone Star – You won’t want to share this starry Texas-sky blue.
• Houston We Have A Purple – A galactic red-violet that’s ready to “rocket-roll”!
• Suzi Loves Cowboys – But she loves this campfire chocolate shade s’more!
• San Tan-tonio – A “honey” of a ten-gallon tan!
• Too Hot Pink To Hold ‘Em – A red-hot pink-red that deals a winning hand.
• Guy Meets Gal-veston – An “engaging” coastal coral.
• Y’all Come Back Ya Hear? – This Texas tangerine will be waitin’ for ya!
• Big Hair Big Nails - A rosy pageant peach.

You can't have lovely nails without accessories. One of my fave blogs, Urban Royalty, is giving away a Soixante Neuf ring. Click here for the dets.

Essie's "A French Affair" Spring 2011

Essie's Spring nail collection, A French Affair, looks amazing!!!!!! The collection includes (from left to right): Nice Is Nice, a modern lavender hue; Coat Azure, an ocean blue hue; French Affair, a cupcake pink hue; Topless & Barefoot, a peachy-nude hue; Sand Tropez, a light tan; and, Kisses & Bises, a pearly white hue. I'm' sure they will have a mini boxset featuring smaller sizes of some of the colors, but I want them all!! The collection hit stores in February.

via: Mama's a Rolling Stone

OPI Chip Skip Follow Up

OPI Chip Skip day 4. Not to bad considering I was rummaging through boxes at the J.Crew warehouse sale for hours!!! Verdict is still out.

I'll Take One of Each Please!

via Thrilled

Product Review: OPI Chip Skip and Thrill of Brazil

I recently purchased a box set of OPI Chip Skip and OPI 'Thrill of Brazil' nail polish. Chip Skip is a nail dehydrator, not a base coat. It's for priming the surface of the nail before any base coat or nail polish is applied, so that the nail polish adheres better to remain chip free. I was a little freaked out that it would dry out my nails and they would turn that gross yellow color. But I read some reviews of the product, and apparently it dries just the surface, not the entire structure.

I applied OPI Chip Skip, and then immediately applied 2 coats of 'Thrill of Brazil'. I didn't use a base coat since I am curious to see if this stuff works well alone. 'Thrill of Brazil' is a perfect bright and classic red color that goes with every skin tone. This is definitely a color that every woman needs in her collection!

I'll do a follow up post in a few day to show you if Chip Skip really works! Oh, I found this set at Ulta on sale for $4.99 from $15.99!

Orly Naughty or Nice Nail Polish

When I purchased Orly Glitz & Glamour nail polish last month, I spotted Naughty or Nice. Both were part of Orly's 'Tis the Season Holiday Collection. I passed on Naughty or Nice because I was on a mission, but when I saw it again at Ulta, I had to purchase it. I honestly thought it was dark brown, but it's actually a deep dark eggplant color. The color reminds me of Essie Velvet Voyeur or OPI Lincoln Park After Dark.

The photo above is of 2 coats. I think 2 covered up most of the streakiness, but 3 is needed for full coverage. I was in a hurry! If you like dark colors, I think Naughty or Nice is a good alternative to black or dark brown.

Product Review: NYC Park Avenue Nail Color

One of my favorite nail colors is essie Merino Cool. I was so disappointed when I discovered my bottle was empty. Not because I used it, but because I forgot to screw the top on tight. And of course Ulta was sold out!!!! I ended up buying NYC New York Color in Park Avenue, which is similar in color to Merino Wool. NYC polish is cheap, $1.79, so it probably will chip quickly. Will need to re-up on essie real quick!

Artificial Light

Sunlight

 I also plan on visiting the Container Store to purchase a couple cosmetic organizers:

Linus Deep Drawer Organizers $3.49-$5.99

Product Review: ORLY Glitz & Glamour

Decided I wanted my nails to look like they had been dipped in gold lame, but I didn't want Minx or OPI Gel. I can't commit to gold nail polish beyond 3 or so days, so I knew I needed a one night only polish. Yesterday I went on a quest for a this shade. They don't call me Inspector Gadget for nothing. I found the perfect shade by ORLY Glitz & Glamour (those 2 words should be the mantra of every women).

Artificial Light

Sunlight