Happy Independence Day!

If you are one of my American readers, happy Independence Day! If not, happy Friday! I thought I would share my patriotic manicure with you today!

The red nails are Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar with Julep's America the Beautiful on top. The Blue Nails are Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Blue It with New York Color Disco Inferno Top Coat. The white nail is Julep Brigitte with accents of Sugar Sugar, Blue It, Sally Hansen Celeb City and a bit of Disco Inferno right in the middle. I love the way these turned out!

Radiant Orchid Trend: NYC Lincoln Square Lavender and Spring Bling

If you are looking for an inexpensive nail polish that fits right in with the pantone color of the year, Radiant Orchid, I may have just the nail polish for you! This little gem has been in my nail polish collection for years. In fact, it was one of the first polishes I purchased when I first started getting into nail polish, and it was so well used and loved that it was all dried up and I had to purchase a replacement. I am so glad I did because I am re-discovering just how much I love this color, and in my opinion, it fits right in with the radiant orchid trend. It's New York Color's In a New York color minute quick dry formula in Lincoln square lavender. It's a beautiful purple-y pink orchid shade in a cream finish. It dries relatively quickly. Under 3 minutes and you're out the door. It's not too thick or too thin, I find it to be a dream to apply. And the best part is, the wuick dry formula polishes from New York Color are just two dollars!

For a bit of fun I added another New York color polish as an accent nail! This polish comes from their normal, long wearing nail polish line that retails for just a dollar. It's a pretty pink and silver micro-shimmer polish called spring bling. I thought it was the perfect compliment to lincoln square lavender. I had this manicure on for 3 days before I saw some minor chipping. So while it might not be the longest wearing brand of polish ever, for the price, I don't think you can beat this nail color if you're looking to follow the radiant orchid trend without breaking the bank! Love it!

The color in the photo is a bit off, it leans a but more pink in real life.

What is your favorite nail polish that follows the radiant orchid trend? I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and let me know!

Face of the Day: Innocent Eyes and Orchid Lips

It's been a while since I shared a face of the day. I am just loving this look lately. I think I might film a video on it if anyone is interested. I love the combination of the light wash of shadow on the lid and the bright pop of the orchid lipstick! Let me know what you think!

Products Used:
Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in 120
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Treatment Concealer in Fair
NYC Coverstick in Light
Elf HD Powder in Translucent
Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 hour blush in Dollface
Revlon Photo Ready Bronzer in Bronzed and Chic
Maybelline Color Tattoo in Too Cool
Coastal Scents Hot pot in M01
Urban Decay Naked 2
Urban Decay Foxy
Rimmel London scandaleyes thick and thin waterproof eyeliner in Black
Rimmel London Lash Accelerator Endless Fibres Mascara in Black
Rimmel London Scandaleyes waterproof kohl kajal eyeliner in nude
Elf Eyebrow Kit in Medium
Revlon Lipstick in Wild Orchid

Makeup MVPs 2013: Cheeks

I am so excited to be sharing with you all of my top favorite cheek products from 2013. These are all the blushes, bronzers and highlighters that I loved the most throughout the year. These are tried and true favorites. The ones I always go back to. My MVPs. And I gotta tell you, I had a really hard time reining myself in and keeping a limit to how many products I shared with you all. I LOVE blush, and there are so many amazing blushes out there, especially from the drugstore. But I kept myself calm and shared just 4 blushes, 3 highlighters and 2 bronzers, as well as the tools that I use most often to apply them, so here we go!

Blush: Like I said, it was all I could do to narrow down my favorite blushes from 2013. I love these brands in general for blush but I also included my favorite colors from the line. I highly recommend all of these.

I love the Hard Candy Fox in a Box blushes so much! I heard that these were going to be discontinued but I continue to see them at my local walmart, so apparently they have not been. I love the packaging on these. They remind me a lot of the Benefit Box powders but for a fraction of the price. My favorite one is the one in hot flash. It's four colors, a pale baby pink, a neutral light brown, a brighter pink and a bright fuchsia. Each of these colors can be used on their own but I love to swirl them together to get a nice fuchsia color. It's highly pigmented and a little goes a long way, but it's a gorgeous flush of color especially in the winter. It gives you that just came in from the cold look. Love it!

The wet n Wild Color Icon Blushes are amazing. They are super affordable and highly pigmented. They are soft without being incredibly powdery and they blend beautifully. I love the one in Heather Silk. It's a deeper berry color that is beautiful on my pale skin.  It's got no shimmer, so it's very natural. I can't say enough good things about this blush.

The Elf studio blushes are probably my all time favorite blushes from the drugstore, because there's a wide variety of shades and at just 3 bucks a pop, you can buy them all without feeling incredibly guilty. I have 5 or 6 shades now, and they are all pigmented and pretty. They can be a little powdery but nothing you can't work with. One of my favorites is the blush in Candid Coral. It's a really natural summer-y shade that I think is wearable on just about every skintone! Love it!

Lastly, I really fell in love with the tarte 12 hour amazonian clay blushes this year. These babies are pricey, I'm not gonna lie. At around 25 bucks a pop they can really break the bank, but I've managed to always buy mine on sale, so that I pay half that price. These blushes are so beautiful, apply silky smooth, are incredibly pigmented and really last all day! If you can afford to pick one up I highly recommend that you do because they really are amazing. I love the one in exposed the most. It's a beautiful nude blush that I never would have purchased if it wasn't for recommendations on youtube but I just adore the flush it gives my skin. It's completely matte, but not flat. You just have to try it!

Highlighters- I tend to really like more natural looking highlighters on me. I use a lot of highlighting concealers and things, but when I really want an added bit of highlight to my skin, I pull out my powder highlights and I have found a few that I absolutely love and always find myself coming back to. These are my MVPs.

I love the physicians formula happy booster blush in natural. This is technically a blush, but it's got a gorgeous sheen and not a ton of color so I tend to apply it over top of my blushes for a natural glow that I just love. It's so beautiful. It's not powdery or cakey. It just adds a nice sheen to my skin that is really beautiful.

The Elf Baked Blush in pinktastic is another one that is marketed as a blush but it's really just a beautiful highlight shade for me. It's a light shimmery pink that is gorgeous swept on top of the cheek bones and down the nose. It catches the light beautifully without being a total shimmer bomb. I can't recommend this one enough.

Another one from Elf that I love is actually marketed as a bronzer, and it's the Elf Studio Golden Bronzer. This is just a quad of light, sheer colors that when swept together makes a beautiful natural highlight that I have seen compared to the Dior Amber Diamond Highlight that is so popular with youtube beauty gurus. It's just a beautiful more golden toned highlight that looks amazing.

And now moving on to bronzers. I am a pale girl. I like to describe my skin tone as one shade up from marshmallow pale. So bronzers are necessary but ones that are too dark look positively muddy and gross on me, so I need a really natural matte bronzer, and these two fit the bull perfectly.

The first one is the NYC smoothskin bronzing face powder in sunny. I have used this for years and I absolutely love it. It's a very natural light brown shade that is completely matte. It's light enough to use as an all over bronzing color but I can also use it just for contouring by adding just a bit more. It's a super affordable option and it's perfect for super pale girls like me, but can be used for medium skin tones too, in my opinion.

The other one that is a great shade for my pale skin is the Elf Baked Bronzer in St. Lucia. It's a light bronze color with the tiniest bit of sheen that makes it look super natural on me. I really like this bronzer beause it's easy to apply and super easy to blend so it doesn't look like I have bronzer on at all. It's very natural and another super affordable option that I wouldn't ever want to be be without.

So those are all of my favorite cheek products. Now let's talk a little bit about my favorite tools to apply said products. My favorite blush brush is the Sigma f50 duo fiber brush. I find that this picks up just enough product. Not too much and not too little. It's also really good for applying cream blush. It's soft without being so soft that product applies everywhere. It's just a really nice brush. I haven't found my perfect brush for applying bronzer yet. I tend to just go for a fluffier brush when I am applying it all over my face, and a more concentrated brush when I am contouring. But since I don't have an absolute favorite, I decided not to list one here. I do have a favorite brush for highlighting though. It's the Elf small stipple brush. This thing is amazing. It's small brush head makes it the perfect brush for applying highlighter to the tops of the cheek bones and down my nose. It's soft without being too soft and this little brush also does double duty in that it's great for applying both powder and cream products. I highly recommend it.

So there ya have it! Those are my MVPs for my cheeks! I hope that you found this helpful! And I hope you will check back soon for the next installment of my MVP products for 2013, when I share with you my favorite products for eyes! Can't wait!!

Makeup MVPs for 2013: Face Edition

At the end of every month, on my youtube channel, I share my favorite makeup products of the month. It's a great way for me to let my viewers know the products I am using and loving and gives me a chance to give mini reviews of products! This is going to be a little bit different. Today, I am going to share with you my MVPs! Basically my holy grail products that I have tried and used and loved over the last year. Kind of the best of the best. I'll be breaking this up into 4 or 5 different sections. Including face, cheeks, lips, eyes and maybe even skincare products and/or hair products. We'll see. We're going to start, though, with my favorite Face Products from 2013. 

Foundation: In the past, I have always said that the Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 hour foundation is my all time favorite. I still absolutely love that one, but this year I discovered something that I like even better. The covergirl outlast stay fabulous 3-in-1 foundation. I wear the shade number 820 Creamy Natural. I really love this foundation. I think it would be a great one for oily skinned gals, because it dries down to a really nice matte finish. As for me, I am dry skinned, but I still find this foundation works well for me with a good moisturizer. This foundation is medium to full coverage, lasts all day and I don't find it to be cakey at all. It's a very affordable foundation, available at the drug store, and I really love it!

Foundation application: I go back and forth between a couple of different methods of foundation application. When I want a lighter coverage from my foundation I absolutely love my beauty blender. It's a fantastic makeup sponge, and even though it's a bit on the pricey side, I feel like it's absolutely worth it. It expands when you get it wet and allows me to stipple on my foundation effortlessly. It gives a great airbrushed look to my foundation and I love the look! When I want to use a brush, my favorite is the Sigma f82 Round top Kabuki Brush. This brush is amazing. It's incredibly dense, while still being soft, and the shape of the brush allows me to apply my foundation with ease. Again, this brush is a bit on the pricier side, when compared to say, drugstore brushes, but I think it's well worth it!

Concealer: For the under-eye area, I absolutely love the Maybelline instant age rewind eraser dark circles in the color fair. I have tried the brightener one, and I don't like it that much, but the fair is just a shade lighter than my skin tone and I find it conceals my under eye circles amazingly well, while also brightening that area. This concealer is on the thin side so it's incredibly easy to blend without tugging on the gentle area around the eyes and yet it still gives tons of coverage. I highly recommend this concealer and will not be without it!
As for a blemish concealer, I absolutely love the L'oreal True Match super blendable crayon concealer. I use the color fair and it's a pretty good match for my skin. It's a very creamy concealer so it's super easy to blend, and it covers blemishes like a dream! And once again, a drugstore price that just can't be beat!

Concealer Application: I apply concealer most often with my fingers, but when I want a brush to blend out my concealer I really love the Sigma Dome shaped Kabuki brush. It's domed tip makes it really easy to blend in concealer and the shape fits well. It's very dense so it blends amazingly well, and it's super soft! I love it!

Powder: Nothing I have tried beats the NYC Smooth skin pressed powder in translucent. I have been using this powder for years and I absolutely love it. For the price I don't think you can beat it! It's incredibly affordable and does a fantastic job of setting foundation and concealer. It's very finely milled powder considering the price and it does not cake up. I generally apply this with a big fluffy powder brush. No one brush seems to work better than any other.

Primer: I don't wear primer everyday under my makeup. Generally just a moisturizer and I am good to go. But when I want my foundation to really last and be flawless, I do, and the primer that I like the best is the Rimmel London Fix and Perfect Pro. It's a great silicone style primer that glides on effortlessly and fills in my pores to make my foundation glide on effortlessly. I love it!

Setting Spray: The final step in my face makeup application is a setting spray, and the one that I discovered this year and absolutely fell in love with is the Nyx dewy Finish Makeup setting spray. Because I have dry skin I love anything with a dewy finish and this gives me a really subtle beautiful dewy glow, and makes my makeup last all day. I really love what a fine mist of product I can get with this, and it's incredibly affordable. Just a fraction of the cost of the higher end ones, and now Nyx is being sold in my local target so I can get my hands on this product super easily! huzzah!

So there ya have it. While there are plenty of other face products in my makeup collection, these are the ones that I go back to again and again and again, and have reached :holy grail" status for me. These are the products I would NOT want to be without! Be sure to subscribe to my blog so you won't miss the next installment of this series, my MVP Cheek products, which will include blush, bronzer and highlighting products! I can't wait to share it with you all!

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge: Days 9 and 10

Today I am bringing you yet another comical attempt at nail art. I hope you're ready to laugh! Note: Ignore the abysmal state of my hands. They are dried out from the acetone I use to remove my nail polish, and I took these photos before I moisturized. Sorry!

Day 9's theme was pine. I decided to attempt little pine trees on each of my nails.

I started out with a base of Julep's Dendrie, a soft grey cream. Then I used a little nail art brush to add the tree details. The brown is Elf's Chocolate. The darker green is China Glaze Holly Day. And the khaki green shade that I used to add accents is Sinful Colors Beau Khaki. You can see some of the trees got a bit smudged, but overall, considering what a novice I am with the nail art brush, I think I did a decent job.

Day 10's theme is lights.

I used Wet n Wild Wild Shine in "French White Creme" as the base color for my nails. The Black that I used for the cord on the lights in NYC Black lace creme. I used a little nail brush to draw on the cord, and then used a small dotting tool to add the lights. The red is NYC "Big Apple Red" the purple is NYC "Purple Pizazz" and the green is NYC "High Line Green"

Hopefully as I continue on with this chalenge I get better at this whole nail art thing. At least my nail art attempts are good for a laugh!

November Mani Instagram Photos!

I have been neglecting my poor blog lately. I just haven't had much time to write up blog posts! My most popular blog posts are usually my nail of the day or mani monday posts, so I thought to get back into blogging I'd show you some of the manis I wore in the month of November! I took all these photos from my instagram page. If you aren't following me on instagram you should definitely do so! I always post my current mani photos there as well as mini hauls, cute photos of my kids and pets and hubby, selfies, food and so much more. It's like a mini peek into my life! So fun! You can find me on instagram under the name Jwhackers!

Anyway, on to the manicures! I rocked a lot of jewel tones and especially blues this month so far!

Jelly Sanwich using Zoya's Katherine and Julep's Clio

Wet n Wild Fast Dry in Buffy the Violet Slayer with
Wet n Wild Megalast in Sparkle and Grey accent nails

Wet n Wild Fast Dry in Saved by the Blue with the Sally Hansen
Fuzzy Coat polish in Tight knit on top

Butter London's Swinger

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Nightwatch with
New York Color Big City Dazzle on top

Zoya Neve

Julep Reiko

So there ya have it! A random collection of my mani photos! It's not all the manis I wore in November, though! If you want to catch them all be sure to head over to instagram and follow me! Leave me a comment and let me know your instagram username and I will follow you back! Have a great day everyone!

Nail of the day: More stamping

I have been itching to use one of my latest nail polish purchases for a while now, so I decided to use it as the base color for some more stamping fun! This time, I tried using a stamping plate with a smaller image and stamping that image repeatedly in different colors all over the nails. I LOVE the way this turned out. The stamping was super easy and I really like the combination of colors I chose. What do you think?

I started out by painting on my base color. It's a New York Color Polish in the color tudor city teal. IT is so pretty. It's a light, bright blue green shade that is just gorgeous! Application of this polish was really fantastic! The first coat applied incredibly sheer and I was worried that it was gonna be one of those 4 coater polishes. But the second coat got it opaque and even. This polish is so stunning, especially considering the 99 cent price tag!

After I applied the polish I added my top coat, and once everything was dry I set about the stamping process! I used the Bundle Monster image plate # BM02 (the image indicated)

I did the same stamp repeatedly on each nail in blue, white and black. I used Sinful Colors Black on Black, Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Sinful Colors Endless Blue to stamp with. They all transferred really well and stamped beautifully. Endless Blue didn't show up quite as dark as I had hoped, but it still was really beautiful!

After that I let it dry for a few minutes, applied my top coat and voila! I was left with a beautiful manicure that was super easy but looks much more complicated than it was! I love it! I am really loving stamping! I wish I had tried this so much sooner!

Sorry for the lousy photo quality. I didn't have the best lightning to work with, and I took the photos with my phone. I really need to get a decent camera for capturing my nail art, but for now, I have to work with what I've got! Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed this! Leave me a comment, or else use the contact card to get in touch! I would love to hear from you!

[Tag] If I lost all my makeup...

I've never heard of this tag before, but someone in one of the makeup groups I am a part of on facebook posed this question, and I decided to do it here on my blog. The question is...if I lost all of my makeup what are the 10 products that I would repurchase. I am not sure what phenomenon happened that I lost all my makeup, but I have a very clear idea as to what I would repurchase immediately.

Foundation:

My favorite foundation of the moment in the covergirl outlast Stay fabulous 3-in-1 foundation. I wear the shade creamy natural. It's a very nice foundation with medium coverage and I love the finish. I think it does a nice job of covering my imperfections without being too much, or cakey. I love it!

Concealer:

I can't go without a concealer. No way! Ideally, I would have two concealers, one for undereye and one for blemishes. But, since I only have ten products I can purchase for this tag, I need to prioritize and choose a concealer that works for both. I really love the Elf Tone correcting concealer from their essential line. I know it's only a dollar, but it's a great little concealer. It blends easily and covers well. It's a great multi-tasker, and has a pleasant smell. I use the shade fair, which is just a shade lighter than my skin and it really helps brighten my under eye area. Love it!

3. Powder

As someone with dry skin, I generally don't really need to set my foundations, but I definitely need a setting powder for setting my concealer and for touching up throughout the day. My favorite powder is the NYC smoothskin pressed powder in translucent. It's a really nice finely milled powder that doesn't add any color or coverage. It's really smooth and does a fantastic job of setting, without caking up. It's one of those products that I rarely ever hear people talk about and I don't know why, because it's fantastic!


4. Blush:

Blush is one of my all time favorite makeup products. I think it makes such a difference to the face. I would need to choose a nice, neutral blush that I could wear all year 'round. So I would go with one of my favorite blushes. I love love love the blush from the Elf contouring blush and bronzer duo is St. Lucia. It's a gorgeous peachy-pink blush with some gold shimmer running through it. The shimmer is lovely, but not over the top. It's a bit powdery, but I find that the color compliments my skin so well that I don't really mind that. Plus, this has a dark brown bronzer that also has some gold shimmer running through it. It's not my favorite bronzer ever, but having that extra option, if I only have 10 makeup products is an added bonus! haha

5. Eyeshadow

If I can only purchase one eyeshadow palette, than you can bet I am going to go with one of my all time faves. The Urban Decay Naked palette is so incredibly versatile. It wouldn't even cross my mind NOT to pick it up again. It's got a great range of 12 neutral eyeshadows that are so soft and easy to blend. There are so many looks you can create with this one palette. Love it! It also comes with a little mini UD primer potion, which saves me from having to buy an eyeshadow base! Score! haha

6. Eyeliner

This is another one of those products that I would love to own at least two. I love my pencil liners but I love gel liners and liquid liners too! Gah! It's so hard to choose. But, most likely, my first liner purchase would be a pencil liner, and my favorite pencil liner is, without question, the Urban Decay 24/7 liner pencil in the color perversion. It's a super dark black! I love the Urban decay liners because they glide on easily and last forever, even in the water line! Perversion is gorgeous deep dark black. Love it!

7. Mascara

Mascara is my most used product. Even on days when I don't wear makeup, I wear mascara. There are so many amazing mascaras out on the market these days, and choosing just one would be incredibly difficult. Up until recently, I would have easily chosen Covergirl's lash blast mascara. And while I still love that one, I recently found one I like even better! At least for now it's my favorite. It's the Maybelline great lash lots of lashes mascara. It gives me a ton of length and volume, it's not too wet or too dry of a formula. The tapered brush makes it super easy to get into the inner lashes of the eye as well as the bottom lashes. It's just a fantastic mascara, and one of the most inexpensive mascaras out there at just around 5 bucks a tube!

8. Eyebrows

It is SO important to fill in your eyebrows. I never used to do it, and I don't know why, because it makes such a huge difference in the look of your face. Filling in your brows really frames the face and makes the whole look come together. I love the elf eyebrow kit in medium. It's got a tinted brow gel as well as a brow powder and it's the perfect product and the perfect color for me!

9. EOS lip balm in lemon drop

I love lip balm and can't go without it! I love the EOS lip balms, and lemon drop is my favorite because it's got SPF, which is a must have! :) It's great under my lipsticks, or on it's own. It's great protection and moisture for my lips!

10. lipstick

For lipstick, I want something neutral with a nice shine so that I don't need lip gloss (since I didn't leave room for one! haha) My favorite lipstick that meets all of those qualifications is the Rimmel London lipstick in Airy Fairy. It's a great neutral shade that goes with everything, glides on smooth and looks great on my skin tone. It's a must have for any lipstick lover, in my opinion!

So there ya have it! The ten products I would immediately repurchase if I lost all my makeup. Which products would you purchase? I would love to hear from you!!

Mani Mondays! Introduction

Good morning, friends! It's Monday! That usually means it's the start of a new work, or school, week. No one really likes Mondays, but i've got a new project that I think will have me liking Mondays a lot more! Introducing Mani Mondays! It's a new series here on my blog, where I will show you a new manicure every Monday. And I'm not alone. This is a group effort! This is an idea by an awesome fellow nail polish addict, Lindsay, over at Always a Girly Girl!She thought it would be fun if fellow nail polish lovers would get together and each post a new manicure each week (on Mondays, obviously!), and I couldn't agree more. Since this is the first Mani Monday, it was decided that the mani could be whatever we wanted, but later on we'll have themes! How fun, huh?

So, without furthur ado, let me share my Monday Mani with you.

I have had a yen for Fall and winter lately, so that I can paint my nails a dark, vampy color. And then it occurred to me, I don't have to wait until Fall to pull out my fave vampy polish! True, bright colors are much more widely acceptable in the summer months, but, I've never been one to follow trends or rules, so I went digging through my collection of dusty fall polishes and pulled out this beauty!

This is NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in the color Plaza Plumberry. I think that The New York Color nailpolishes are vastly underrated in the nail polish community. I rarely ever hear about them, but they are amazing! Most of the ones that I have tried have applied like a dream, they have an amazing color range, and the best part is, you can get these Long Wearing polishes for under a dollar at walmart! While they're called Long Wearing, I don't think they are particularly long lasting. Generally I get about 3 days of wear before it starts to chip, but for someone like me, who loves to constantly change my mani, that's perfect! Plaza Plumberry is a rich, vampy deep plum shade. It looks almost black on the nails from far away, but close up it's this super deep rich purple that reminds me of a rich wine. I love it!

I decided to do some accent nails in a brighter color to make this mani a tad bit more summer appropriate! I chose my favorite gold Metallic Shade.

Revlon's Nail Polish in Gold Coin is easily one of my top 10 nail polishes of all time. It's a gorgeous gold metallic shade that doesn't lean too yellow gold. It's just so classic and goes with everything.

And for an extra something, I decided to add a gold glitter on top of my gold accent nails for just a bit more fun!

This is an Elf mini polish I got in a set back lat winter. It's the color Gold Star. I love pairing this over top of Revlon's Gold coin. Something about chunky glitter in a coordinating shade on top of a metallic polish just does it for me. Love this combo. And with Plaza Plumberry, this is one of my favorite manicures I have done of late! Dark polishes are a bit harder to work with and hide your mistakes, so you can see some nail polish flubs in the photos (painted cuticles, etc) because I am in no way a manicure expert. But I love the finished look, don't you?

So, there ya have it! I hope you enjoyed this Mani Monday! Don't worry I will still be doing random nail of the day posts in between these mani monday posts, but be sure to check back every monday for a new mani with a new theme! Next Monday's theme is going to be "Accent Nail" and I can't wait to share with you what polish I choose to showcase next! As always, thanks for stopping by!!

NYC Quick Dry Nail Polish in Radio City Rose

At my most recent trip to the dollar tree I came across a two pack of new york color nail polishes for a dollar. 50 cents for a nail polish? I was sold! I have a lot of NYC nail polishes. Both from their long lasting line of polishes and their quick dry line, which they call their "in a new york color minute" quick dry polishes. I like them a lot, so there was no way I was passing up this deal! I wanted to get a few of the duos, but I kept my shopping impulse in check an just bought one duo. One of the polishes that came in the duo is "Radio City Rose" It's a dark pink, rose color. A cream finish. This nail polish applied very easily. Two coats was all it took to be completely opaque and I love the way it turned out! Don't mind my messy cuticles. I didn't have time to take a picture of the cleaned up mani, because I was headed out the door, so this will have to do.

I really did like the finished manicure! For 50 cents, I thought, this couldn 't be beat! Unfortunately, this mani didn't last. I've only been wearing this color on my nails for about 24 hours and it's already starting to chip. Still, for 50 cents, I am definitely glad I grabbed this polish up, because the color is gorgeous! It reminds me a lot of another polish that I have from Sally Hansen. It's an xtreme wear polish in the color Fucshia Power. I need to compare the two and see if they are dupes.

So overall, do I recommend this polish? If you are someone who likes to change your nail polish often and don't need something that lasts a super long time on the nails, I definitely recommend you pick up this polish, especially if you can find it at the dollar tree in one of those awesome duos. But, even if you have to pay full price for this, these quick dry polishes from NYC retail for $1.99 and that price can't be beat! I highly reccomend you check out the NYC polishes at your local walmart, or drug store, because it's a great range of colors, and even though they don't last for ages, they are a great value!

Summertime Face of the day!

Today I thought I would share with you a look I put together a couple days ago. It's a great summer appropriate look. It's light weight coverage that you don't have to worry too much about sweating off throughout the day. The eyes are a nice dark neutral look. With just a bit of shine on the lips. 

 

Face Products: 

Olay Fresh effects BB cream in fair to light

NYC smoothskin translucent pressed powder

Elf baked bronzer in St. Lucia

Elf contouring blush and bronzer cream in St. Lucia

Elf contouring blush and bronzer in St. Lucia

Elf Studio Blush in Gotta Glow

Eye Products

Mac Paint Pot in Painterly

Elf essential jumbo eyeshadow stick in Turkish Coffee

Urban Decay eyeshadow in Buck

Urban Decay eyeshadow in Naked

Urban Decay eyeshadow in Virgin 

Mica Beauty Gel eyeliner in black

Elf Studio 3-in-1 mascara

Lip Products:

EOS lip balm in lemon drop

Maybelline Color Whisper in Lust For Blush

Juice Beauty Lip Gloss in Pink

I started out by applying the Olay BB Cream. I really love it! I received in complimentary from influenster in my sun kissed vox box and it's a great lightweight product with a decent amount of coverage. I topped it with a translucent powder. I used the Elf baked bronzer to really warm up my face, and the blush I chose is a nice peachy pink with golden shimmer. I layered the powder blush on top of the cream blush for the ultimate in staying power. 

For the eyes, I used Mac Painterly as a base to neutralize and veins of discoloration. I applied the jumbo eyeshadow stick from Elf all over my lid and then packed Buck on top of that. I used naked to blend buck out. and then applied virgin to my browbone as a highlight. Then I filled in my brows using the elf eyebrow kit in medium. Then I lined my eyes with the gel eyeliner as well as adding it to my water line. Then I curled my lashes and applied a couple coats of mascara. 

For my lips I just applied a bit of lip balm and then the maybelline color whisper in lust for blush for a nice neutral color. I added just a bit of the juice beauty gloss in pink for a nice glossy look. 

Beautiful Blues: A Guide to Blue nail polish!

I enjoyed bringing you all a guide to purple nail polishes from the drugstore so much that I decided to give you all an overview of some more of my polishes. This time it's blues! I have quite a few polishes to show you and compare for you, so I will just get right into it.

1. Zoya Blu- $8

The first polish I will share with you is the polish that has most recently entered my nail polish collection. I just received this in my May Ipsy Bag. This is a beautiful opaque baby blue. There is a lot of white in this polish. It's very, very opaque. You can get full coverage in just one coat, which is what you see in the swatch above. It's a great formula. This is the first Zoya nail polish that I have tried, and I really love the formula. It's a but more expensive than the other blues I have to share with you, but I think that the formula makes it worth it.

2. Sinful Colors Cinderella- $2

This is another very pale blue, but this differs from Zoya Blu because it has a lot of silver micro shimmer running through it. It is a beautiful color. I have said before that Sinful Colors is a great brand because it's super inexpensive and there is a huge variety of colors. Cinderella is a must have polish if you love blues as much as I do. It is opaque in just two coats!

3. Sinful Colors Endless Blue- $2

The picture for this polish does not do it justice at all. Endless Blue is a beautiful deep bright blue that is gorgeous. It is a cream formula, and it is opaque in just two coats. I wish I had a better picture to better represent how truly beautiful and unique this color is. It's a must have blue in my opinion, and can't be beat for 2 dollars!

4. Sinful Colors Nail Junkie- $2

Sinful Colors also does a ton of really awesome glitter polishes. Nail Junkie is chock full of small pieces of blue and green glitter. There is so much glitter in this that it is totally opaque on it's own. You can layer this on top of another polish, but it's not necessary. It can be worn on it's own. It's a beautiful shade, and a must have, in my opinion, if you like glitter as much as I do! Also, you can see a much better representation of Sinful Colors Endless Blue in this photo to the right of Nail Junkie. You can see how deep but bright the color is.

5. Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Blue Moon- $1

Blue Moon is a gorgeous, super inexpensive blue from Wet n Wild. At just one dollar, this is a fantastic value. It's a deep, navy blue with some super finely milled green shimmer running through it that makes this color truly unique, especially for the one dollar drugstore price tag. I have a couple of the Wild Shine line of polishes from Wet n Wild and they are all very nice quality for the price. If you're looking for a navy polish with some shimmer, this might just be the one for you.

6. NYC Long Wearing Nail polish in Empire State Blue- $1

This is another super budget friendly blue polish. This time, from the brand New York Color. You can get the long wearing version of NYC polishes for under a dollar at most drugstores. I personally get mine from walmart. Empire State Blue is a medium toned, brighter blue, and this one, too, has some green micro shimmer. I like these sort of blues a lot. The Long Wearing formula isn't the best ever. It gets opaque in 2-3 coats, and lasts about 3-4 days without chipping with a good top coat.



7. China Glaze Mosaic Madness- $6-$8 dollars

Now for something completely different. If you are looking for some dark blue chunky glitter to top one of your favorite polishes, look no furthur than Mosaic Madness from China Glaze. I LOVE this polish. China Glaze makes some amazing chunky glitter top coats. Mosaic Madness has small, medium and large pieces of glitter as well as bar glitter. It's very pretty and very unique! The price for China Glaze ranger from 6-8 dollars, from my experience, and they can be found at Sally Beauty Supply.

8. Revlon Princess- $5

This is a very unique color, and one of my favorite blues in my collections. It's a very frosty, almost metallic, blue. It's got a ton of shimmer in it which makes it a more of a silvery looking blue. It's unlike anything else that I have in my collection. I love Revlon's line of nail polishes. And this one is one of my favorite blues! I highly recommend it!

9. Revlon Whimsical- $5

Here's another awesome Revlon nail polish. Whimsical is a sheer baby blue base with medium sized hexagonal glitter in pink and blue. I think the name of this polish is perfect for this polish. The glitter is very sparse throughout the polish making it look very unique. This polish really needs to be used on top of another polish, in my opinion. It's not really opaque enough to be worn on it's own,. But over another baby blue polish, or even white, It's gorgeous! 

10. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear nail polish in Pacific Blue $2

This might just be my all time favorite blue nail polish. This is a cult avorite in the beauty community online. Pacific blue is a gorgeous cornflower bluedifferent from all the other blues in my collection. It's one of those polishes that doesn't look all that special but is beautiful on the nail. It's opaque in two coats and has amazing lasting power. But, the color is just so pretty and unique, this is a must have polish. If you have just one blue in your nail polish collection, in my opinion, this should be it! It's super inexpensive. I get mine at walmart for two dollars or less! Run, don't walk, and get this for your collection. you won't regret it! 

There ya go! There's just a quick guide to blues! I have a lot of other amazing blues in my collection as well. This isn't even close to all of them. Blue might just be my favorite nail polish color. But I think this covers a lot of different styles and shades of blue, and if you don't see something you like in this lot of blue, than perhaps blue just isn't for you. Hope you found this helpful, and I will talk to you guys again soon!