Birthday Manicure

Tags

birthday, glitter, manicure, Milani, nail polish, Revlon, Sinful Colors

I came up with this fun little manicure for my birthday and it’s absolutely one of my favorites of the last few months. It came together so nicely!

Supplies Used:

• Sinful Colors’ Cinderella – this color has been hyped on a lot of nail polish blogs and I do have to say it’s lovely. It took a few coats, but it’s so pretty in the sun.
• Revlon’s Gold Coin – this is my favorite metallic currently. In fact, I have it on my nails now as an accent to Essie’s Fear or Desire (which I got for free as a Klout perk!) and it’s a pretty fab combo.
• Milani Jewel FX in Gems – this is another new-to-me cruelty free drug store brand that I bought on impulse and I was very happy with the results! A fun multi-color glitter.

Sunday Funday: Mermaid Manicure

Tags

Color Club, cruelty free, cruelty free products, manicure, mermaid, nail polish, Sinful Colors, Sunday Funday

So I realize I’ve been writing quite a bit about nail polish lately, but it’s just so fun! Case in point: this gorgeous color from Color Club. I spotted it at Rite Aid and figured I’d give it a try. Imagine my surprise when it was better than I ever could’ve imagined and may just be the nail polish I’ve been looking for my entire life without realizing it.

To give this manicure even more oomph, I decided to accent my ring fingers with the practically corresponding glitter color that I also picked up, Sinful Colors’ Nail Junkie:

So fun, right? These two look like they were made for each other and when I got a good look at that shimmer, I couldn’t help but think of mermaids.

I tried to get a couple good shots of the finished product, but it’s honestly tough to capture in a photo just how shimmery and fantastic this is! Plus for $7 total for the two polishes, it’s loads cheaper than going out and getting a professional manicure. Winner! Also great? Color Club is not only cruelty free, but vegan as well and Sinful Colors is also a cruelty free brand. Guilt free & gorgeous. <3

Things I Heart

Tags

Etsy, fashion, Game of Thrones, handmade, jewelry, links, nail polish, Of A Kind, pop culture, Sinful Colors

Khaleesi Shirt & Targaryen Stein: The start of Season 2 of Game of Thrones has definitely reignited my love for House Targaryen. HBO has a bunch of awesome Targaryen items and these are two of my favorites.

Carmine Bracelet via Of A Kind: This recent edition from Of A Kind is just too fab. I would love to have one of each so I could stack them together!

Nail Polish (duh!): It’s pretty obvious that nail polish and I are having a bit of a moment and that Sinful Colors is kind of a new obsession. Even better? At Rite Aid right now (if you have their membership card), Sinful Colors polishes are buy one, get one half off, which means those four colors were a grand total of $6! They had a huge selection too. PLUS I got two coupons on my receipt, each for $2 off a purchase. It’s pretty great that Rite Aid is completely feeding my addiction.

Psychic City Earrings via ISWAS+WILLBE: My favorite jewelry designers on Etsy have another fantastic new creation in these Psychic City Earrings! Hand-cut brass, chunky black tourmaline, and vintage chain add up to some seriously fab earrings. I would be so happy to rock these for a night out (or several)!

Links I Heart:

• Young People in the Recession – The War Against Youth via Esquire: This rings truer than anything I’ve read in a long time.
• Fug Madness 2012: One Fugging Winner, One Fugging Moment via The Fug Girls: Every year, the Fug Girls host Fug Madness, a bracket-based showdown of terrible fashion over the last year and it is the MOST fun. This year’s winner really fugged it up.
• Down the Who Hole by Lucy Knisley: An illustrator devours the first four seasons of Doctor Who and documents the experience, complete with fantastic doodles.
• I Am Not Sorry! by Gala Darling: AKA stop apologizing for yourself.
• 25 Great Superheroine Covers of the Past Year via She Has No Head! There’s some seriously great stuff in here.
• Katniss, Hermione, ‘Brave’: Defiant Girls with Old Souls Rule via Hero Complex: well duh!
• Whimsical Bohemian Wedding Inspiration via Green Wedding Shoes: I started following a couple wedding blogs when I recently became a maid of honor and this wedding shoot it just too pretty not to share. The wisteria branches! The hair! The bouquets! That cake!

Treat Yo’ Self: Nail Polish Haul

Tags

cruelty free, cruelty free products, Essie, manicure, nail polish, Sinful Colors, treat yo self

It’s no secret that I’m a nail polish fan. After all, the above is currently sitting on my bathroom counter and there are plenty more bottles tucked away in a drawer. I’ve been an avid Essie fan for quite some time, but a couple things have given me pause lately: 1. the price tag. $8 a pop adds up quickly. 2. I recently read that Essie’s been bought by L’Oreal (which I suppose explains why they’re suddenly everywhere), which breaks my heart because L’Oreal is a company that still does animal testing.

While the products in the Essie line aren’t tested on animals, it comes down to the ethical dilemma of supporting a parent company that does. It’s eternally difficult for me to decide whether supporting a company’s animal and eco-friendly brand sends a message that the consumer wants more of those standards or if it’s just further supporting bad practices. It’s a tough decision.

Enter Sinful Colors! At $2 a pop, 3-Free (aka Toluene, formaldehyde & DBP free), and cruelty-free, I may have a new favorite on my hands. I picked up (from left to right) Rise & Shine, 24/7, Dream On, Thimbleberry, and Let’s Talk. Yes, I also picked up Essie’s Shine of the Times – I’ve been lusting over it for months and haven’t been able to find a good dupe.

So far, I’ve tried two of the colors and I’m pretty darn happy with them! They’re true to the color in the bottle and while they dry a bit matte, I always use a top coat anyway, which shines it right up. Overall, I’d say you are absolutely getting more than your $2 worth for that little bottle.

I currently have Rise & Shine on my fingers with some little freestyle flowers. Such a fun spring combination and I love this green! Plus I got great coverage with only two coats, something I can’t say for a lot of Essie’s polishes.

This is the combination I currently have on my toes. Dream On is hard to capture in a photo – it’s much richer than this would indicate, almost a neon fuchsia. These two together are pretty ridiculous and I absolutely love it.

I’m glad to have found another brand that fits my ethical standards as well as my aesthetic ones! I may be switching my loyalties to Sinful Colors and China Glaze (another cruelty free brand). It just gives me more fun colors to discover!

Product Obsessions of the Moment

Tags

benefit, Essie, Fresh, L'Occitane, makeup, nail polish, perfume, product review, skin care

It’s no secret that I’m something of a beauty product junkie. My bathroom counter and cupboards are a madhouse (that probably seriously needs a good cleaning out). So with that in mind, I thought today I’d share some of my current obsessions with you! There’s some seriously great stuff in here, y’all (there are certainly perks to having a BFF who works at high-end beauty stores).

L’Occitane Ultra Rich Face Cream: I will always be grateful that I learned at a young age how important skin care is. From the time I worked at Lush a few years ago to now, I’ve tried some fantastic moisturizers that I use religiously. My lovely friend Angela recently started working at L’Occitane, so when I stayed with her in New York, I picked this beauty up. I still adore my Creme Ancienne from Fresh, but I try to use it sparingly (definitely a splurge!) and it’s too heavy for daytime. The Ultra Rich Face Cream is a fraction of the price and my skin absolutely adores it. My face soaks it right in and it leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated.

Benefit’s One Hot Minute Highlighter and They’re Real Mascara: As a fair-skinned redhead, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to find a natural-looking bronzer. Enter One Hot Minute! I wouldn’t call it a traditional bronzer, but the light rose gold color is perfect for my complexion and acts as a fantastic highlighter. It’s quickly become a staple of my makeup routine. As for They’re Real – I’m in love! I’ve been using sample-size mascaras for the past couple years because I hadn’t found one I liked enough to splurge for the full-size product. I got a mini version of They’re Real as a freebie with a Sephora order and soon purchased my first full-size mascara in years. New favorite!