Yellow + White Polka Dot Manicure

While buying some allergy medicine at Walgreens recently, my husband bought me some nail polish because I was sitting on the floor looking at all the colors and I think he wanted me to get up and stop acting like a 5 year old in the toy aisle.  So, happily I trotted home with a light, buttery yellow called Unicorn and a creamy white called Snow Me White, both from the *Sinful Colors Professional line.  So I queued up A Little Princess on Netflix and set to work with my new polishes and a dotting tool.

I don’t think it turned out awesome, but I’m just getting the hang of doing all this by myself, you know.  I’ll take two nail polishes for $3 over shelling out $14 + tip nowadays.  Plus, at my nail salon at home they always play movies I like instead of just Jeopardy and The Wheel.

*I just read that Sinful Colors has been accused of using photos from beauty bloggers without permission.  I want to take a second to express that I find that distasteful because beauty bloggers for the most part blog about products for free, which is beneficial to the companies they write about and shouldn’t be taken advantage of.  With that being said, please ask my permission to use my terrible iPhone photos.  I will probably say yes, but it’s basic internet courtesy. 

Summer Calendar Inspired Nails

I have not been shy about my love for calendars and this post is no exception.  When I flipped my desk calendar at work to August a few days ago, I was greeted with this picture, which made me happy.  Not just because my sister is in it and it may have been one of her first ever Instagrams but because the colors in the photo and the colors on the page design remind me so much of how fun summer is supposed to be.

I think I get so lost sometimes in work and responsibility that I forget the simple joys of warmer weather and increased hours of sunshine in these long days.  Summer is so free and lovely.

So I decided to paint my nails with this calendar page as inspiration.  I used Wet n Wild Megalast in Tropicalia for 8 of my nails and Club Havana for the 2 ring fingernails.

White Light Grey

It’s been sort of cloudy and rainy here in Dayton so last night I thought I would paint my nails a very light grey, nearly white.  It reminds of me of middle school because back then, and probably a little while in high school, one way to beat the boredom in class was to pass around a bottle of white out and paint your nails bright, copy paper matte white.  Even guys got in on the trend since it’s not really nail polish after all.  At the time, the look was very shocking since we were a long way away from the trend being accepted by mainstream beauty.  Now you see (shiny) white nails everywhere and it makes me smile.

Also pictured:  My rings from ARIN.

LAQA & Co. Nail Polish Pens

I never have a lot of faith in things delivered in pen form (other than ink, I suppose).  They tried putting white-out in pens and it always got clogged.  Lip gloss pens can leave giant drops of pink on your white dress.  However, LAQA & Co. might be on to something with these Nail Polish Pens.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical.  I ordered a gift set from Gloss48 when the sale came up and when they arrived I queued up  a (terrible) movie on Netflix called Daydream Nation (I thought with a title taken from Sonic Youth, what could go wrong?).  Even while rolling my eyes at this movie, I didn’t mess up my nails at all, which means that the control you get with a pen brush applicator really does help tremendously.

The color in the photo that I’m wearing is Incestuous (icky name, beautiful color).  I have 3 coats on because that’s what was recommended on the packaging.  I think 3 is necessary to make the polish look even.  The drying time was very fast so it was easy to finish the whole task in a short time and even though I went to bed only 30 minutes (give or take) after the top coat, I didn’t get any midnight smudging to fix in the morning, which I appreciate.

The gift box came with a clear Topcoat and a teal Squid Ink as well as Polish Remover Pads, which smell like vanilla somehow and work very well even though they feel oily, not drying.  I guess you could say they completely break all the rules regarding nail polish removal.

And I can’t end this review without mentioning the gorgeous packaging designed by various young artists who receive a portion of the profits from every unit sold.  What a neat company!

At $15.45, this isn’t the cheapest nail polish you’ll ever buy, but it is a pretty convenient, mess-free way to paint your nails and if you’re prone to staining your desk, couch, blankets, and anything else that gets in your way while giving yourself a manicure, this would be a cheap alternative to buying new furniture.

My 7 Deadly Beauty Sins

I saw this over on anonymous hedonist’s blog and had to list my own.  Just like she did, I changed the questions to be a little different.

Greed

1.  What is your most expensive product?  What is your least expensive product?

Somme Institute – Serum / Various free perfume samples.  I love Serum because it’s made out of magic and Vitamin C.  Perfume samples last a remarkably long time and you get a chance to wear something that normally is very expensive but was in fact free.

Wrath

2.  What beauty ritual do you hate having to do?

Fake Bake – Flawless Tanning Liquid.  I don’t hate fake tanning (it’s a hell of a lot better than actually allowing the sun to damage your skin) but the rules with it are so annoying.  First you have to exfoliate, then wear something all day that you don’t care about because it could stain your clothing, your car upholstery, your couch, etc.  Or you could self tan before bed but then your sheets might be stained with tanning liquid overnight.  In the end, I usually just give up and stay pasty.

Gluttony

3.  What is your most hoarded product?

Skin, an Apothecary – Soy Body Whip.  I hoard Soy Body Whip but I also hoard all sorts of lotions.  Dry skin must be one of my greatest fears…

Sloth

4.  What part of your beauty regimen do you neglect due to laziness?

Crest Whitestrips / Nars Eyeshadow.  I don’t always feel like having a mouthful of peroxide but I know that it makes me look better in pictures.  And eyeshadow is just such a long process for someone with oily skin – you have to apply eyeshadow base and wait for it to dry or it will make mega creases, then apply it to the other lid and wait again.  Then finally apply eyeshadow – then come up with a good excuse as to why you’re late to work.  Not worth all the effort. (Plus I’m way too lazy to properly remove the eyeshadow and primer before bed so it’s a mess in the morning.)

Pride

5.  Which product gives you the most self confidence?

Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polish – Candy-licious.  If you couldn’t tell, I really enjoy getting DIY on my nails lately so when I do an especially good job, it makes me feel awesome.  Plus, nothing makes you appear more put together than a manicure.

Lust

6.  What products do you want to own so badly it hurts?

Lipgloss.  I can hardly walk into a drugstore without walking out with a few lipglosses or lipsticks.  I see one I like and I can’t put it down.

Envy

7.  What products do you wish you could use?

Liquid Foundation.  I love the way liquid foundation hugs your skin and holds on no matter what but I’ve never been able to wear it because of my skin issues.  The one in the picture does help clear blemishes but it also causes my sensitive skin a lot of irritation.  So I’ll just dream of a day (after menopause) when I can wear foundation and enjoy it.

Also, I’ve never been able to wear gold eyeshadow without looking like a crazy pale person who harbors the insane delusion that she’s a tan beach goddess.

Galaxy Nails

Ever since I saw this on a friend’s facebook, I have wanted to try it.  Basically, take a dark color (I used Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Purple Rain) as the base, and use a makeup sponge to dab on first a layer of light teal polish (Wet n Wild Megalast in I Need a Refresh-Mint) then a layer of reddish-orange-pink (Wet n Wild Megalast in Heatwave) and top it all of with a cosmic glitter (Wet n Wild  Wild Shine in Kaleidoscope turned out to be perfect).

I didn’t do this on every nail because I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out (plus I was really getting into Downton Abbey and was paying it more attention than my nails).  I think next time I’ll go for it and do every nail in the galaxy effect.

Coral, Orange, and Pink – Oh My!

The other day I was at the drugstore and found these coral, orange, and pink things and it made me very happy.  What made me happier was the 75% off deal on the lipgloss and the BOGO on the rest!  Somewhere there’s security footage of me doing a dance in the aisle with lots of nail polish bottles in my hands.

Jewel Overcoat Manicure

I posted recently about how much I love the Wet n Wild Megalast nail polishes, but I always had a problem with the Sugar Coat shade never looking complete.  It was definitely missing something, but what?  Then one day while running errands, I spotted Sally Hansen’s Diamond Strength Jewel Overcoat in Ring-a-Ding! – a sort of rose gold confetti glitter – and it totally clicked!  The other day, I tried to create the manicure I had so hoped would work in my head and I think it turned out really neat.  The subdued ballet pink balances the fun of the confetti glitter pretty well, if I do say so myself. (Please forgive the messiness, I was about to run to the gym but wanted to snap a few pictures beforehand in case any nail got ruined while working out.  Also, these pictures do not do the polish justice because in motion, the glitter is very shiny and sparkly.)

Nail Polish Stand Off – Rimmel vs. Wet n Wild

Lately, my two favorite drugstore nail polish brands for at-home manicures would have to be Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro and Wet n Wild Megalast.  Here are the pros of both of them:

• Curved, flat brush for even application – it basically turns anyone into a pro nail tech (seriously, why didn’t they think of this sooner?)
• Beautiful, on trend colors that are true – what you see is what you get
• Good color saturation, not sheer
• Inexpensive because you can pick these up with your prescriptions and a bag (or seven bags) of discount Easter candy at your local drugstore

I really do like both brands, but the clear winner for me is Wet n Wild Megalast.  Here’s why:

• Wet n Wild Megalast really does last longer without chipping.  I typically get 10 days out of a manicure compared to 7 or 8 with Rimmel.
• Wet n Wild Megalast seems to dry faster
• Here’s the biggest reason:  You only really need one coat of Wet n Wild Megalast if you’re careful to apply the nail polish evenly.

Pictured:  Rimmel (left to right) – 410 Purple Rain, 350 Violet Metal, 110 French White Nail Tip Liner, 270 Steel Grey

Wet n Wild (left to right) – 218A I Need a Refresh-Mint, 250B Sugar Coat, 214C I Red a Good Book (to see this color on my nails, click here)

The Matrix

Recently I watched The Matrix and gave myself a manicure.  Somewhere between visiting the Oracle and Morpheus being captured it hit me – This is the first time I’ve seen this movie since seeing it at the theatre without my dad.  It made me so sad!  I wanted to discuss it with him again and cheer on Neo with him like we did so many times when I would come home (around curfew) and plop down on the couch to watch it with him.  The Matrix is just going into the ever increasing list of things I miss about my dad.  Sigh.

At least I could do my nails while I watched it though.  If my dad were there, he’d make me do that outside or if it was snowing he might let me paint my nails in the garage.  He was ridiculously sensitive to smells.  I used to do my nails 3 hours before he would get home – in my room – with the windows open and the door closed – and he would know it before he even made it inside.  How the CIA didn’t want his body for testing, I’ll never know.