Color!

Hi ho, Beauties!  Today I'd like to tell you about a Nars Multiple that I have been using.  It's a pretty decent product, and I particularly like the wide range of colors to choose from.  Mine is in the shade 'Portofino', a warm coral/peach.  Sephora describes it as 'shimmering coral', so I guess you could say that it has a bit of shimmer.  I don't find it to be In Your Face Shimmer, though, because I barely noticed any at all. :)

The Multiple has been a part of the Nars line for quite some time.  It's a multi-use product that looks equally great on cheeks and lips.  It's billed as a cream-to-powder finish, which I only just now realized.  I've read that some even use it as a quick eyeshadow, but I think that might not be for everyone, depending on age and coloring.  My favorite use is as a lovely cheek color, but I've recently begun using it for a lipcolor as well.  It does not have the best staying power on the lips, but it is no worse than the majority of other lipsticks.  Here is the swatch:

You can find Nars products at your local Sephora.  I think I read somewhere that there is a new shade for spring.  You can bet that I will be checking it out very soon.  :)  Oh, they are not cheap, but then what products that I recommend are?  $39.00  And if you look at it as a product that it can take the place of blush AND lipstick, is the price really all that bad?  ;)

I would also like to talk a bit about IT Cosmetics lip products today.  If you've read anything from me previously, you know that I have a Special Weakness for lip products, so it should not surprise you that I drank the IT Cosmetics Kool Aid and own a few of their lip products.  First, let me say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the IT Cosmetics lipliners.  The founder of the line calls them 'lipstain lipliners', and I guess that technically they DO stain your lips.  But the staining ability is probably not why I have moved the IT Cosmetics lipliner to the top of my lipliner heap these days.  These lipliners glide on very smoothly, a major selling point for me and my crepey, dry, OLD lips, and the Nude Blush shade is just perfect for my purposes - a brownish pinky neutral, shown below:

I can also tell you that these lipliners STAY.  After taking the above picture, I discovered that that little heart is gonna be on the inside of my wrist for quite some time, because rubbing it with my finger, and rubbing it with water on my finger, had absolutely no effect!  Still there!  I am sure that taking some of my eyemakeup remover to it will do the trick, but, for now, I'm going to enjoy my little heart tattoo.

HOWEVER, I can NOT rave equally about the IT Cosmetics lipsticks and glosses.  (Well, I could RAVE, but it wouldn't be in a good way.....)  I have tried and tried and tried, but no matter WHAT shade of these I purchase, they all turn the same Somewhat Garish Pink on my lips.  (And they stained the inside of my wrist the same color after swatching them!)  I will say that the shade of pink they turn on me might actually be a GOOD shade for someone with different coloring than mine, but if you are fair, with warm skintone, you do not want to waste your money on these products.  Here are the glosses and the lipstick I tried:

The packaging is very pretty.  It's just too bad that the colors all turn the same shade once you apply them!

The shades are Damsel (lipstick), Naturally Flushed (gloss on L), and Je Ne Sais Quoi (gloss on R), but, honestly, it doesn't matter WHAT shade you pick.  After wearing it for less than five minutes, you will see that your lips are stained PINK PINK PINK.  And that's fine if you look good in that shade.  I, personally, look like I'm auditioning for Clown Grandma, which is not generally the look I'm going for....Hot Grandma, or even just plain Not So Bad Grandma is more what I'd like people to think when they look at me. ;)

I tried to snap a picture of my lips wearing these products, but, shockingly, when I compared the color in the photo to the color that I actually see in the mirror, it was not the same!  In the photo it actually looked like a decent color, whereas, I can assure you, in person, Clown Grandma!  Yikes!  I SO wanted to love these products.  But I just cannot.  

Sally Hansen Gel Polish! Yes!

Oh, my, more about nails!!!  But this one is really good!  :)  My wonderful eighteen year old son gifted me with the Sally Hansen Gel Polish kit for Christmas.  Now, I ask you, how many eighteen year old boys actually pay attention to their moms?  I am blessed to have one that does.  He heard me remarking on how much I liked his girlfriend's nails (okay, maybe that was why - it had something to do with His Love! ;)), remembered it, and purchased the kit for me when it came time to scrounge up a gift at Christmas.  (And my youngest daughter bought me an 'accessory' color to use with the kit in Pink Pong that is shown below on my nails - the two of them are often co-conspirators in such things.  LOL)  In any event, pictured below is the kit that Sally Hansen has put together for those who would love to do a no-chip manicure at home.  I believe the cost of the kit is in the vicinity of $49.00; I also believe that one no-chip manicure at a salon runs not much less than that for one time.  You do the math! :)  Ca-ching!  Quite a savings.  Which, for those of us in our Golden Years, is a very nice thing.

As you can see, everything you need is supplied - step-by-step instructions; a file and orange stick; the base, color, and topcoat (conveniently labelled 1, 2, and 3); the LED lamp used for curing the manicure; the wipes that you use as the final step in the manicure; and some gel polish remover.  

I had not realized that the nails needed to be cured after each step (base, color, and topcoats), so it did take me a bit longer than I'd thought, but all in all, it was pretty simple.  You make sure that your nails are clean and dry; apply the basecoat; cure the nails under the LED light for 30 seconds (although it actually takes two minutes all told for each coat, because you insert four fingers for thirty seconds and then your thumb for thirty seconds and repeat with the other hand); apply the color; cure the nails under the LED light; apply a second coat of the color; cure the nails under the LED light; apply the topcoat; cure the nails under the LED light; wipe each nail with the special little Nail Cleanser Pad; viola!  Finished!  All told, it might take around twenty minutes when you get the steps down pat.  If you apply two coats of the main color, your total curing time will be eight minutes, I believe.  But don't trust me.  I was never all that hot with math.

The really cool thing is that when you are finished, there is no additional sitting around for twenty minutes while your nails dry! They are finished the second that you have wiped them with the Nail Cleanser Pad!  You can comb your hair, eat dinner, walk the dog.  Whatever.  It's amazing!  Of course, many of you are probably much more sophisticated than I, and have already experienced the magic of a No Chip Manicure in a salon, but, for me, it was quite a novel experience.  At this point, it's been about a week since I gave myself the manicure, and my nails are still glossy and pretty, as you can see below!  

I love this stuff, and heartily give it two thumbs up!  And the shade Pink Pong is a lovely neutral that can be worn with nearly every color in your wardrobe to good effect.  

Nailed Again.....

It seems that lately all I am inspired to rhapsodize about is nails.....so here's another look at my less-than-lovely nails, but a VERY lovely nail color and brand. :)  I was going to write about Sinful Colors more than a month ago, and I am ashamed to say that my nails still bear the tattered remnants of  that manicure!  I had the thought to actually post a picture of what my nails look like today right beside the picture of my nails taken on October 13th, the day I was inspired to try the new color, but I love you, Dear Readers, and I shall spare you the sight.  

So many of us love nail colors and love to change those colors often, and, with the still-not-so-wonderful state of the economy, why not get the most bang for your buck?  Therefore, I present for your consideration Sinful Colors.  Many of you have probably already seen this brand at your local Walgreen's.  While I admit to owning more than my fair share of OPI and other 'prestige' brands of nail polish, I have to admit that Sinful Colors is pretty good stuff.  And at $1.99 vs. the $7.99 or more a bottle for OPI, or the astounding $15 a bottle for Butter London nail polish, what's not to like?

I guess that my most recent Sinful Colors purchase is properly called 'SinfulShine', and the bottle says it  it features 'Gel Tech'.  I am thinking that makes it a bit more long lasting than the regular Sinful Colors polish, and may explain why I still have a good bit of color left on my nails from a manicure on October 13th!  

Oh, dear, should someone writing a beauty blog admit to leaving nail color on for that long?  Well, I just have.  Sometimes there are just more important things to do than change your nail color.  BUT, changing your nail color can often be a lovely little pick-me-up when everything else seems too difficult. :)  

So, here's my latest lovely find:  Sinful Shine nail color in 'Spitfire'.  Actually, I find the name choice quite puzzling, as, being somewhat literal-minded, I would think that anything with the word 'fire' in it would skew at least a little bit to the red zone, but what do I know?  It's a lovely shade, and extremely long-wearing.

And with the holidays right around the corner, think of stocking stuffers.  I know that I am! :)

Nail Day

Hi Ho, Beauties!

Today I was inspired to change my nail color - that Urban Decay mani lasted quite a while, but it was starting to look a mite tired today (okay, it was pretty sad yesterday, too), and since the weather here in Chicagoland is absolutely wonderful today, I sat on my patio and removed the UD and freshened things up today with a lovely copper-y shade from OPI.  I believe it's from the Designer Series (you know that all that means is that it costs more than the regular shades), and it is called DS Glow.  It is similar to the UD shade in that it has little sparklies.  I must be feeling the need for sparklies these days.....in any event, here are two shots - one outdoors and one indoors.  Please ignore my less-than-lovely cuticles.  It's absolutely horrifying how well the camera captures every single flaw!  Guess that's why I rarely show my face on camera!  LOL

Here is OPI DS Glow, outdoors:

And indoors:

The indoor shot captures the sparklies much better!

I hope that you are inspired to try a new nail color today. :)

Nearly Autumn

Hi Ho, Beauties!

It's getting to be the most wonderful time of the year, Autumn!  I don't know why I love this time of year so, as allergies descend upon my family, and things start to dry up and turn brown, but I just do! ;)  And as I was peering at stray hairs the other day in my wonderful 10x makeup mirror, it suddenly occurred to me that I had not regaled you all with any new products for quite some time, so here I am with a few tidbits to send you scurrying out to your local Ulta or Sephora.  Or not, as the case may be.

Speaking of the stray hairs mentioned above, I just wanted to pose this question to The Universe:  What's up with the gift of coarse, dark hairs?  It's only a gift if you are Bruno Mars and want to grow a soul patch, goatee, or moustache, and that ain't me!  So thank You for the other, more happily-received gift:  Tweezerman Tweezers!  (Okay, they're not actually a gift, you have to go out and buy them....)  They are my daily companion, and oft-reached-for-multiple-times-during-the-day beauty implement.  (If only our retirement funds grew as quickly as our chin hairs, right?)  If you don't own a pair, please treat yourself!  They are the best tweezers I've ever used, and do come with a lifetime warranty for sharpening.  (Which, BTW, I have never used.....I find it easier to just purchase a new pair, but that's just me.)  They grab the teeniest little hair for quick removal, unless you don't grab it quite correctly the first time, and manage to snap it off to the point that it can no longer be grabbed, no matter how hard you dig into your epidermis!  But that's another story, a bit on the gory side.

On to the color products!  First up is a wonderful new purchase:  BeneFit's Coralista Ultra Plush lipgloss.  This stuff is fabulous!  The color is wonderful, and the taste/scent is a yummy, fruity delight!  Can you believe it, I'm touting something that's not minty, and that is rare, so for all of you Beauties out there who are not fond of mintiness, here's fruitiness!  I found my new gloss at my local Ulta, but Sephora also carries the brand, and you can also go directly to the BeneFit website:  Benefit cosmetics to purchase anything.  Coralista is billed as sheer coral, and I love it, but if you are a cool skintone, you might prefer one of the other shades of this gloss, namely Sugarbomb (shimmering pinky nude); Dandelion (soft pearly pink); Bella Bamba (sheer bright watermelon); Dallas (dusty rose), or Hoola (shimmering golden nude).  These little puppies will set you back a mere $16.00, but, seriously, $16.00 is peanuts compared to the amount of fun and color you will get from these glosses. :)  And another fun aspect of these glosses is that there are blushes to match!!!!  I did refrain from purchasing the Coralista blush, because, frankly, I own at least fifty shades of blush, and Coralista is similar to at least ten shades that already reside in my ridiculously large makeup stash, but if you are in need of a coral blush, go ahead and pick up Coralista.  Okay, they're not cheap at $28.00, but if you have some extra change burning a hole in your pocket, knock yourself out! ;)  Here is what it looks like, swatched on my wrinkly wrist:

Something about wearing a gloss just makes you feel younger and friskier, I have to say!  Of course, I would NEVER wear my gloss without a bit of lipliner to give these old lips some shape, but that's just me.  If you still have fabulous lips that don't need lining to define them, I'm green with envy.  And you're a liar. ;)  Just kidding - I know some Divas out there who shall remain nameless who even might have a few years on me, and don't have the 'travelling' problem that I have with my lipsticks and glosses, and that is wonderful!  So enjoy your gloss!  It's a relatively inexpensive way to perk up your day.

And speaking of green.......I can't believe I'm telling you this, but I recently picked up a green nailpolish that I actually think looks GOOD on me!  It's a Limited Edition polish from Urban Decay (but if you run right out, I think you will still be able to find it on the shelves at Ulta and/or Sephora - I saw some as recently as the day before yesterday) called Addiction.  It's a wonderfully complex shade of medium green, with lots and lots of shimmery specks of gold and blue in it.  I don't think that the photo I took captures the entirety of the color, but it's an idea, at least.  My twentyfive year old daughter purchased this, and when I saw her wearing it, I had to have some for myself.  She wears it as only one coat, and applying it that way makes it look like more of a khaki shade, whereas I applied two coats, and it takes on a much greener intensity.  I also applied my Seche Vite top coat for extra durability, but I must say, this stuff wears like iron!  My OPI generally chips off within hours of applying it, but I put on Addiction last Saturday, which is nearly a week, and while the tips of my nails no longer look exactly as they did an hour after application, they look good enough FOR ME! LOL  So, no longer keeping you in suspense, here is Urban Decay's Addiction in all her glory:

Oh, I forgot to tell you the price.  You are probably sitting down, right?  It's (voice goes down to a whisper) sixteendollars........sorry!  It is a bit much for nail polish, but I have yet to go through an entire bottle of nail polish, EVER, so it will last you a very long time.

And while we're on the subject of Urban Decay, I guess I should mention one other recently purchased product:  Urban Decay's Revolution Lipstick.  I'd read amazing things about it from several different beauty bloggers I follow.  They all RAVED about it.  RAVED!  So, of course, me being the Beauty Ho that I am, I ran out to find some for my little ole self.  I came home with the shade called 'Lovelight', which looked to be a nice, warm pink, a shade that would be flattering to my fair, warm skintone.  Well, Girls, I am NOT a fan.  It is NOT long-lasting, as billed, it is NOT flattering, and it is NOT worth the $22.00 I paid for it.  At all.  Now, maybe I just picked the wrong color for me, and perhaps you will find that it is wonderful stuff, but I need to go on record as saying that this was a huge disappointment for me.  Swatched below:

HOWEVER, upon looking around the Urban Decay website a bit, I DID come across this little tutorial in something that I think is pretty cool, when done in appropriately Old Broad colors for your skintone, and it can be found here:  Ombre Lips  I think this is a very cool look, and can be done appropriately for those of us who are beyond the first blush of youth.  Here is a look from the Urban Decay website: 

And that, my Beauties, is all she wrote for today!  <3

Summer Stuff

Hi Ho, Beauties!

Somehow we always want to change up our looks a little bit when the hot weather hits.  To that end, I've found a few new colors for you to consider on this hot July day.  :)  Yes, I want you to get out there and shop a little bit.  It's good for the soul, if not the pocketbook.  Nothing perks me up like a new lipstick, gloss, or nailpolish, and here are a few of my new favorites for the Summer of 2013:

Zoya Nail polish, below, in Thandie, the bright tangerine shade; and Hazel, the metallic blue:

Of course, I just bought these shades the other day, and I already can't remember how much they cost (is this a little bit of Creative Forgetfulness at work?), but I know that they were slightly less than the $9.00 each you would pay for OPI, so that's a bargain, right?  There is something just so fun about these colors, and there were quite a few other beauties on the shelf alongside these two, if your tastes run to more cool-toned shades.

Next up, LIP PRODUCTS!  What a shocker, I know!  ;)  One of my favorite cosmetic brands happens to be Bare Minerals, and the new Neutrals Collection caught my eye. (I already owned the eye palette in the collection, but the lipstick and gloss were new to me...oh, dear, they followed me home!)  The lipstick is in the new Moxie formulation, and it's extremely creamy and pretty decently long-lasting, particularly if you practice the 'apply, blot, re-apply' method.  The shade pictured below is a limited edition, so if you want it, hie thee over to Ulta or a Bare Minerals boutique 'quick like a bunny', as my grandma Josephine used to say.  The color is not one I would have chosen just looking at it, but on, it's quite nice!  I am a warm skintone, and I think it's decently flattering to me, but my youngest daughter (my fellow Makeup Junkie in the family) is a cool skintone, and she, too, really likes this shade, so perhaps this is actually a color that ALL SKINTONES can wear......

Isn't it lovely?????  (Cue Stevie and his harmonica....)  And it's in a very classic-looking goldtone case, with a tricky opening mechanism.  There's a little button on the side of the case that is easiest to operate if you turn the case upside-down and then flick upwards with your thumb.  At least you know that the lipstick isn't going to open up in your handbag and smear all over everything......has that ever happened to you?  Of course, it has NEVER happened to me......

And then there are the glosses, also from Bare Minerals, in the new Moxie line:  

The shade on the left, Super Power, is part of the new Neutrals limited edition collection, and won't be around too long, and the shade on the right, Wild One, has slightly different packaging, so I must have picked it up when Moxie was first debuting and was not in its 'final' state.  I'm not sure if it is still available, but if it isn't, there are plenty of other beautiful colors from which you may pick.  I do love the way the Moxie glosses feel on the lips - slightly minty, and not too tacky.  

Finally, I have recently been loving my Buxom Amplified Lash Mascara in Loud Black.  I love a really black mascara, and this one fits the bill quite nicely.  You can find it at your local Sephora.

Till next time, my Beauties, get out there and enjoy the summer!

Summer Makeup Video!

Hi Girls!

Here's another wonderful Lisa Eldridge video.  This time, she shares how to achieve a melt-proof summer makeup look.  I particularly like this finished look, as she is wearing one of my favorite lipcolors:  Keep Me Coral, from Maybelline's 14 Hour collection!  Here's the link:  http://www.lisaeldridge.com/video/25786/summer-in-the-city-heat-proof-makeup-tutorial/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=July+14th+Newsletter&utm_source=YMLP&utm_term=Heatproof+Make-up+Tips+-+Summe...