Group Encounter

One of my biggest beauty pet peeves is nail polish bubbling, as the only places I like bubbles are in champagne and the bathtub. Nail bubbles are not cute, and after dealing with them recently no matter what techniques I tried (not allowing a lot of air in the nail polish bottles, using a base and top coat, using a thin layer of each application, and the list goes on...) I decided to try a new base and top coat because I suspected that my old base and top coats were the culprits. Sure enough, I was right.

Behold my new favorite base and top coats:

Orly Bonder-$9

The best base coat ever, I love the "rubberized" texture that allows nail polish to grip onto your nails sans bubbles.

Out the Door Top Coat

I had heard great things about this top coat, as well as Seche Vite, but Seche Vite's reproductive harm warning was alarming and turned me off. I am very happy with my Out the Door purchase, this top coat is very fast drying and super shiny.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Review

These are my newest obsession. 

I'm not usually a fan of intricate nail art, but I found many of Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips to be wearable. The first ones I tried out were the multi-color glitter stickers in "Frock Star", which I wore during my Bachelorette weekend-they were perfectly appropriate for such an occasion.

Next I tried "Laced Up", the pattern I was most drawn to:

Today I applied "Bling It On":

Each box contains 16 nail strips with varying sizes to fit each nail, a mini file, buffer, and a cuticle stick. I ended up not needing the cuticle stick. The strips are very easy to apply and what's great about them is that you can shape them onto rounded or squared nails at almost any length.

Once applied to the nail, the remaining strip is easily filed off the nail with the mini file/buffer.

Ta Da!

The Salon Effects package claims that the nail strips last up to 10 days, which I've found to be true. I removed the "Frock Star" strips after 6 days since my wedding was one week after I had applied them but they would've held up at least another few days, and I kept the "Laced Up" strips on for almost two weeks!

I love that there is no dry time (also stated on the box), the strips are easy to remove with nail polish remover, and they do not contain any DPB, Toluene or Formaldehyde.

The one con for me is the price ($8.99 at Target), however they are significantly cheaper than Minx and last about as long.

Up next I'll be trying "Misbehaved"

What are your thoughts on Sally Hansen's Salon Effects? Which is your favorite Pattern?

Minx Nails

I'd been wanting to try Minx for months and last week I found a salon close to me that does them. I had no idea how they were applied or anything about them beforehand (except they look really cool!) so I'm going to give you all the low-down on how they work.
When I got there, I picked out the gold minx (from lots of different colors and patterns). They come as nail-size strips adhered to a piece of special paper and are activated by heat. The nail technician put them under a heat lamp and asked me to put my nails under it, too (verrrry hot and when it got painful I took my hand out from under the heat). Once she peeled the minx from the paper, she smoothed it on over my nails and cut it down to my nail length and held it, again, under heat to seal them on.
I love the way they look but I'm starting to get annoyed because the minx will start peeling back from the top of the nails. It's been 5 days now since I've had the minx on and they still look great (probably because I'm paranoid about messing them up) but I can feel them snag on things. For $40-$50 I don't think they're worth it unless it's for a special occasion. I'm missing my regular, painted nails that are smooth right about now, but I'm going to keep the minx on as long as they stay on. Have any of you tried Minx? What was your experience like?
Those of you that read my blog regularly may have noticed that I have a different ring on my finger--I exchanged my radiant cut engagement ring for a round Tiffany with a Platinum band a couple months ago.

Drugstore Beauty Products I Love

Most of the beauty products I use are "high end" but I have found several drugstore products that work fabulously for me. Below are my favorite items that I re-purchase time and time again...
I use Aquaphor every single day during the winter or any time my skin is dry. No other facial moisturizer has worked as well to hydrate my skin in extremely dry areas. Now, I do not use this all over my face because it is VERY heavy and thick. I only use it on my forehead between my eyebrows and close to my hairline (these areas are EXTREMELY dry on my face). Also, I never put it on in the morning. It takes hours to absorb since it's so heavy, so after I wash my face at night I slather it on and my skin is hydrated and not dry in the morning.
I know I've blogged about Tresemme's Heat Protectant before but it's seriously a miracle worker. My hair loves me for using it because I use heat on my hair almost every day.
If you follow me on Twitter you might know that I tried facial wax for the first time a few weeks ago. I don't know why I didn't try this sooner. My mustache was out of control (IMO)--no, it wasn't a full-on 'stache but it definitely glistened in the sun when I caught myself in the rear view mirror while in my car. I love that the Sally Hansen stripless wax doesn't hurt horribly. I was terrified of using it but coming from a wuss--no pain! I just bought another jar for round 2 of mustache removal.
Love, love Revlon's lip glosses. I own three of them and I've never found another drugstore lipgloss I like more than Revlon's. I just recently bought the lilac color (pictured on the right end) and it is GORGEOUS. If any of you have tried MAC's cremesheen gloss in the lavendar color, it's similar but has more of a color payoff.
I usually do my own nails (can't say the same for my toes--I can't give myself a pedicure to save my life!) and Sally Hansen's Double Duty clear polish is amazing. It's SO shiny, and my nail polish stays on for 5+ days which never happened before I started using Double Duty. I've used OPI and various other topcoat polishes and none have compared.
Too often I am way too lazy to wash my face at the end of the day so I keep these in my night stand drawer. They have probably prevented numerous breakouts and do the job well at removing all traces of makeup.

What are your favorite drugstore beauty items? I'm always looking for new goodies to try!

Kiss Acrylic Nail Kit

Please excuse the nail polish on the sides of my nails!
Yesterday I bought the Kiss Acrylic Sculpture Kit from Target...I had been wanting to try it out for awhile. I hate having to paint my nails every other day, and I know that with acrylic nails, polish stays on as long as the acrylic stays. I don't like the look of long, long nails so I cut the tips down very short. I used to get acrylic nails at the salon and paid every couple weeks to get a "fill"; I'd never thought about doing it myself. I'm very impressed with this Kiss kit and recommend it to everyone!! It's only $7 and the acrylic powder/liquid will last you a very long time. The kit is user friendly and there are only a couple steps. I give it a 5/5

Favorite Nail Polishes At The Moment

Left: Essie's Mint Candy Apple Right: Shelter Island
Mint Candy Apple
Shelter Island

I've just come around and started wearing blue and green nail polishes...I wasn't very fond of them until recently. After seeing Essie's Shelter Island on Tiffany, I had to have it. I'm now obsessed with unusual colors--it's nice to take a break from the usual dark fall/winter nail polish colors. What are your favorite nail polishes right now?

Minx Nails

Minx nails are so popular right now; I have been seeing them everywhere in magazines and ads. They are simply nail coverings that require zero drying time and no chemicals. They can only be applied in nail salons and start at $45. I am definitely going to try these out! I love the way they look, especially the ultra shiny gold ones. Have any of you tried these yet?
Click Here to find a salon near you

What's A Tire Jack?

If you regularly read my blog, you know that I wasn't so sure about Matte nail polish awhile back, see this post.
Well, I've since changed my mind. I just bought my first matte polish today at Sephora, it's Sephora by OPI in What's A Tire Jack? They don't have it up for sale on their website yet, and the sales lady had to go to the back to get it for me so if you want it, just ask someone at your local Sephora. To add a teeny bit of shine, I put a clear polish on the tips after I used the matte black polish...think a spin on the french manicure. It's a little sloppy, so next time I will be taking my polish to the salon. I can't wait to get more matte colors! Have any of you tried matte polish yet? Do you like it?

Louboutin Manicure and first DIY attempt

I just went to JoAnn's and bought all the supplies I need to make my own Erin Kleinberg chain pocket tee. I bought an Old Navy top that compares to the one below (minus the chain). I spent $30 on the shirt + supplies; a lot better than $129 for the real version. I will keep you posted on how it turns out + pictures and a how-to assuming it turns out well!

Matte Polish

Ads for Matte nail polish topcoats have been popping up all over in magazines I read. It's one of those trends that doesn't have me sold...yet. Have any of you guys tried it? If so, do you hate it or love it?