butter London "Union Jack Black"

Ok, I've traveled outside my comfort zone a little more today. I've decided to give butter London polish a try. It's a truly healthy polish. They are known for their products which contain NO Formaldehyde, NO Toulene, NO DBP, and NEVER have. It is truly a polish that's good for your nails.

The packaging is cute and it goes in super smooth. I'm really impressed with its quality.

I opted to try their true black glossy lacquer called "Union Jack Black". I was a little nervous. This is a really dark color for me. I REALLY LOVE IT!

Ulta really has a beautiful selection of colors. They also have some matching lip gloss which I will definitely be trying next. (butter LONDON official site)

Try it, you won't be disappointed.

Union Jack Black

 

WOW, classy not goth!

Quick link to Amazon for you...

The New Improved Buff Puf Gentle

Over the summer I've been noticing how huge my pores have looked and how I started to get black heads on my nose. I decided to try some things to make them go away.

I tried some pore minimizing lotion. That made my skin feel greasy. I tried Biore strips for my blackheads. It worked a little, but not enough for me to keep using.

I was talking to my favorite sales gal, Fran at my Walgreens and she suggested using a rotating face scrubber since the cause of my large pores and blackheads could be coming from dirt in my face that my face cleanser is just not getting clean. I looked at the prices and honestly $30.00 isn't what I wanted to spend since I've already spent a lot on my cleansing system.

As I stood there in the aisle with the $30.00 scrubber with an indecisive look, Fran made a great suggestion. She said to try the Buff Puf. I told her I used it years ago and that it hurt my face. She told me they made a new and improved "Gentle" version. I thought hmm at $3.99 for 2 puffs in the box it couldn't hurt to try it out.

WOW! To my surprise it was not only very gentle but got shrunk my pores to almost nothing and totally got rid of my blackheads on my nose. HURRAY something inexpensive that REALLY works! My complexion looks awesome and when I put my makeup on, my face looks airbrushed.

In the end I walked away a happy chick! I think everyone should try it!

White with Gray....OK!

After a month of dark colors with a bit of beige, I felt the need for a change of pace. I started out just wanting to do a plain pearlescent white using "It's All About the Glam" from the Kardashian collection of Nicole by OPI. I took a look at it and I thought it looked a little boring. I decided to jazz it up just a little.

I took my nail art tool and decided to use my CND "Asphalt" and just put dots on the left side of my nail and BOOM instant Jazzy!

BEACHY WAVES

I've been trying several different ways to create beachy waves in my hair.  It's been kind of frustrating trying to find the right hair tool to create the trendy look.

My first try why was using a waving iron.  The sales girl at Ulta said this would work for what I wanted.  Sorry Ulta salesgirl......YOU ARE SO WRONG.  I used this iron and damn if I didn't ended up with 80's crimped looking hair.  It was horrible.  I looked straight out of an 80's music video.  Needless to say it was definitely not the look I was going for.

The next item on my list was the TopStyler by the people that make my beloved InStyler.  I just knew that this would work.  I love my InStyler and I thought for sure after watching the infomercials that their latest tool the TopStyler would do the trick......Ummmm.......NO!  Very disappointed in this.  It looks visually wonderful, the idea seems to be great, but the curls........not it.  I was heartbroken.  I really wanted to love this and wanted it to work.  The curls made me look like a poodle.  I tried to make them as loose as I possibly could but still TOO CURLY! I spent several hours trying to make it work.  I returned it.

I was about to give up all together on the thought of the beachy wave look.  I decided to try a different route.  Beach Spray.  There are so many out there, but I wanted to find the right one, and I found it!  The product I bought was Marc Anthony's (not JLO's ex).  It's Dream Waves Beach Spray by Marc Anthony.  This stuff is really inexpensive ($8.95 Walgreens or Ulta for $8.99) and smells wonderful!  All you do is spray it starting at the roots all the way down to the ends on damp freshly washed hair.  Once you've sprayed it, then use a diffuser and scrunch your hair all or over.  I flipped my hair over and scrunched it until it was 3/4 dry. Then I took my round brush to give my bangs a little flair and voila.....beachy waves!

I'm happy with how it turned out.  It wasn't curly or crimped, just soft waves.  YAY!

Dream Waves Beach Spray by Marc Anthony!

Back left side of the my beach waves!

Right back side of my beach waves!

Front of my beach waves!

My New Favorite Gray Family Polish

I've been on a quest the past few weeks for the perfect gray. I've finally found IT! It's China Glaze "Concrete Catwalk". LOVE, LOVE this stuff. It went on smooth and shiny! This is by far my favorite out of the ones I've tried.

As always I had to do my accent nail. I used China Glaze "White on White". Just a few cute little dots is all I needed.

This is one trend I'm loving right now.

CAKE PUSH-UP

Besides being obsessed with my nails.....haha!  I love making little treats for my kids birthday parties.  Every year I make something special for the kids and the parents to leave with as a "Thank You" for coming.  I've done special cookies and cupcakes. Last year I was obsessed with making cake pops.  This year I decided to make cake push-ups.

Do you remember the Flintstone orange sherbet push-ups?  Well now you can make them with cake.  It's the latest thing.  You can buy the push-up container at any cake supply site or go straight to Amazon.  They are very affordable ($11.95 for a dozen). These are honestly super easy to make.  You can make just about any kind of combination of cake, frosting, whip cream, fruit, candy....I could go on.

Tonight I decided to do strawberry shortcake push-ups.  I baked a pound cake and then cut them into circles (I used part of the push-up container to make the circles).  I cut fresh strawberries and then sprinkled a half tablespoon of sugar on them and mixed it and set it overnight in the refrigerator.  I used whipped cream from the can for convenience.

The next thing I did was assemble the push-up container. Then I placed 1 cake round at the bottom, a layer of whipped cream, a layer of strawberries.  I then repeated the process one more time and topped it off with some whipped cream.

Check out my video to see just how easy it was. http://youtu.be/c7O-PFK3TwY

Strawberry Shortcake Push-Up

Strawberry Shortcake Push-Up

bareMinerals: Mineral Veil Compact

Let me just start by saying "This stuff ROCKS".  I've been using bareMinerals for over 6 years and it's awesome.  When they first came out I was just so impressed with the product, but I didn't care for the portability.  I've messed up many nice make up bags, because the powder kind of went everywhere.

In the last year they have come out with some really great changes and new items.  They added a click lock to sifter for its foundation and mineral veil.  Which is really great. They've since added a mineral veil compact. 

This is truly wonderful.  They come in translucent (which I use in the winter). They also have the tinted mineral veil which is what I'm using now for the summer.  The compact is very sleek and it comes with a little powder applicator that works ok.  I like to use a compact brush to apply when I'm on the go, but I use the puff that comes with it too.  It's everything the regular mineral veil does (decreases pores and reduces redness and shine) just in a wonderful compact.  

You can get this at Ulta for $22.00 or at any makeup counter at the department store that carries Bare Minerals.  Buying directly from their site bareMinerals .

Shades of Gray

Hello everyone! I've been on a quest for a great shade of gray. The other day I wrote about the first shade In my quest for the perfect gray which was "Stone Cold" by China Glaze. The last couple of days I tried 2 more.

The first shade was "Asphalt" by CND. It's a dark gray with a bluish tint. It's really nice. I didn't care for the brush. It's way too short and narrow. I had a hard time putting it on without hitting my cuticle. I did an accent nail "Sparklicious" by OPI.

Tonight I decided to try another shade of gray. "French Quarter for your Thoughts" by OPI. This has a bit of taupe to the shade. I actually dig this shade a lot.

I have another shade I'm going to try. I'm just waiting for it to come in from Amazon. For now you decide, which one is the coolest of the grays.

Feeling Stone Cold!

My dark side is emerging!!!! LOL, I'm talking about nails people! Here's the latest. It looks like dark nails are here just in time for fall. Gray and charcoal are the must have colors. I went into my nail polish stash and pulled out my China Glaze polish "Stone Cold". This color was originally part of their Hunger Games collection. It's a matte steel colored polish.  If you use a glossy top coat,  it changes the color from matte to glossy. I like it both ways, but I'm feeling shiny tonight.

I tried it two ways. I also added my must have signature nail accent to add a little more sparkle. I used OPI "Sparkleicious" as my accent nail.

China Glaze "Stone Cold" Hunger games collection

Seche Vita Top Coat to create a glossy look. Accent Nail OPI Sparklicious

The products used!

Spider-Man Meets the Grateful Dead!

My wonderful husband got me the coolest set of OPI Mini's, The Amazing Spider-Man Collection.  It's a cute little set. It comes with a cool purple/blue, a cement color, metallic green, and a pretty pink.

I used the pink color "Your Web or Mine?" and for my accent nail I used Sally Hansen Salon effects Tie Dye look polish strip!  It looks really cute.