Nails

Putting Jewels in Reach: The $4.79 Sonia Kashuk Fall 2012 Nail Colours Might Look Expensive, But They’re Priced Just Right

August 7th, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

Sonia Kashuk Fall 2012 Nail Colours from the left: Hocus Pocus, Emerald City, Two Cents, Dime a Dozen and All Vamped Up

Beep-beep-beep!

Did you hear that…? That beeping sound? Is a truck backing up outside my window? Did I suddenly get a page from 1997 (007734-411-007-911)?

Oh, I see what it is. It’s just the sweet, sweet sound of my Bargain Beauty Thrill-o-Meter sounding off. 🙂

Even before I swatched ’em, I had a feeling Sonia Kahuk’s five new $4.79 fall Nail Colours would rock my budget-loving boat.

With finishes from creamy to metallic and colors perfect for fall, these highly pigmented jewel-toned polishes look like the kinds of nail accoutrements I’m more accustomed to seeing on Dior and Chanel counters, and with price tags closer to $30 than $5.

Looking at metallic copper Two Cents and creamy eggplant All Vamped Up, fall seems just days away, and I can almost hear the leaves crunching beneath my feet as I stroll around my neighborhood looking at Halloween decorations…

Creamy purple Hocus Pocus and rich green Emerald City should look right at home on my paws as I hoist a cup of hot cocoa up to my lips (can’t forget the marshmallows!), while gunmental Dime a Dozen looks like a lovely shade to bring to Thanksgiving dinner with the fam.

In the swatches below, I’m wearing two coats of Emerald City, Two Cents and Dime a Dozen. I think I also could’ve gotten away with two coats of Hocus Pocus and All Vamped Up, but I decided to apply a third because I noticed the faintest bit of streaking from those two in direct sunlight.

Sonia Kashuk Fall 2012 Nail Colours from the left: Two Cents, Dime a Dozen, Hocus Pocus, Emerald City and All Vamped Up
From the left: Two Cents, Dime a Dozen, Hocus Pocus, Emerald City and All Vamped Up

Sonia Kashuk Emerald City swatch
Emerald City

Sonia Kashuk Two Cents swatch
Two Cents
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Sonia Kashuk Serves Sheer Lips and Opaque Tips for Fall With the New Lips and Tips Mini Nail and Lip Set

August 3rd, 2012 by Karen 14 Comments

sonia kashuk lips and tips

Whoever said that celebrity pet assisting is easy was smoking some hella strong catnip.

The grueling hours and working on weekends, late-night airport trips, difficult dietary restrictions (Gravy with every meal?! Come on!) — but it can also be very rewarding, like this afternoon. Tabs didn’t give me the stink eye once today, and he even said an appreciative “Mrrow” when he climbed onto my lap for a handful of Greenies.

In fact, he was so agreeable today that he let me quit work early — right after I finished organizing his accessories closet (mostly ties, ascots, top hats and a small, but growing, collection of monocles) and buffing his claws.

First thing I did after quitting for the day was watch this old interview of Jeremy Renner…

Skip to 3:17 for a gem of J-Ren beauty wisdom!

Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any better, I opened the $12.99 limited edition Sonia Kashuk Lips and Tips Mini Nail and Lip Set.

And my Friday went from good to great. 🙂

sonia kashuk lips and tips
From the left: Nail Polish in Lacquered Lilac, Lipgloss in Shrinking Violet, Nail Polish in Undercover Lover and Lipgloss in Sealed with a Kiss

The four-piece set of color-coordinated miniature sheer glosses and opaque nail polishes comes with two pairs of matching red and purple shades for lips and nails.

The two unscented, unflavored glosses are smoooove! — and non-sticky — while the high-shine nail polishes have pigment to spare.

sonia kashuk lips and tips
Wearing Nail Polish in Undercover Lover and Lipgloss in Sealed with a Kiss

I love how Sonia chose coordinating colors with varying levels of coverage, and I think it’s cool how the products in the set work with each other when they’re worn together.
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Clawing Your Way to the Top: Nail Art Inspired by the London Olympics

July 31st, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

Source: The Polished Mommy

Trying to get good looks at the stylin’ manis and pedis on the female athletes at the 2012 Olympics in London is like a sport in and of itself! One minute I’m rooting for Dana Vollmer to break the world record in the 100-meter butterfly, next minute I’m screaming “Pan down! Pan down! Pan down!” at the TV to see her fierce fingers and toes.

Poor El Hub… Thank goodness I married a man with the patience to sit through my long, drawn out soliloquies on nail art and other beauty trends in international athletics, LOL!

And the athletes aren’t the only ones getting in on the action. People around the world are celebrating the London Olympics with their own gold medal-worthy manis.

Here’s a look at some of them. If you’ve seen others that you really like, please share them in the comments. 🙂

Source: The Daily Nail Blog

Source: 10 Blank Canvases

Source: The Daily Nail Blog

Source: London Evening Standard
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Diva, Designer and Gloss: The New Zoya Fall 2012 Collection

July 30th, 2012 by Karen 21 Comments

zoya designer, diva and gloss collections for fall 2012

Darn this weird skin allergy! I’d planned to take pics for another easy eye makeup tutorial this afternoon (cat eyes!), but then I broke out in hives all over my left eyelid.

Weird.

They’ve since gone away, but I wasn’t taking any chances on eye makeup today. I decided to get my daily beauty fix the mani/pedi way.

The jewel-toned polishes in Zoya’s new 15-piece fall 2012 collection, available now online at artofbeauty.com, are spread out among three sub-collections — shimmery Diva, creamy Designer and sheer Gloss.

Separately, the bottles, which are all full size, sell for $8 each, or $48 as part of the two six-piece Diva and Designer sets. The three-piece Gloss set sells for $24.

Bummer that you don’t get a little discount for buying the sets…

In each of these pics, I’m wearing two coats.

The Designer collection

Zoya Designer Collection in Evvie, Noot and Natty
From the left: Zoya Designer collection shades in Evvie, Noot and Natty

Zoya Designer Collection in Raven, Toni and Monica
From the left: Zoya Designer collection shades in Raven, Toni and Monica

The Diva collection

Zoya Diva Collection in Suri, Daul and Feifei
Zoya Diva collection shades in Suri, Daul and Feifei
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Lacquers Better Look Out for Sephora by OPI Nail Colour Remover

July 27th, 2012 by Karen 9 Comments

sephora by opi nail colour remover

Alright, that’s it! I give up. I’m done waiting for Target to restock my favorite E.L.F. Nail Polish Remover Pads. Done!

Sure, they’re awesome and only $1 for a pack of 18, but what good is that when they’re hardly ever in stock? Seriously, I must check my local Target at least once or twice a week.

I wonder if a fellow nail enthusiast is stockpiling them… Heck, that’s what I’d do. 🙂

Oh, well. On the bright side, I think I found an alternative that 1) I like even more and 2) can usually find at Sephora.

A 2-ounce bottle of Sephora by OPI Nail Colour Remover costs five times as much as E.L.F.’s secretive pads, but that’s still only $5 (or $9 for a bigger 4-ounce bottle), which isn’t bad, especially considering how well I think it works.

It cuts through layers of lacquer like a hot knife through butter! — and it works without drying out my cuticles or nails, thanks to moisturizing grape seed oil, vitamin E, sea kelp and aloe.

With a cotton ball/pad soaked with five drops, I can usually get through four nails with up to three layers of polish each and a base and top coat. Glitters take a few more drops, of course, but even so, that’s still more efficient than E.L.F.’s awesome pads.

PRICE: $5 for a 2-ounce bottle (a larger 4-ounce bottle is also available for $9)
AVAILABILITY: Available now at Sephora stores and sephora.com
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A+

An Olympic mani with Rococo Nail Apparel’s Rock & Royal Kit

rococo nail apparel rock & royal

I’m so glad I found this remover! It’s perfect timing, too, because I’ve been going through a paw-painting phase where I change my polish every few days.

Oh, so many colors, so little time…

In fact, I just removed Bobbi Brown’s Bobbi Turquoise from the Desert Twilight collection, and now I’m trying to decide among the red, white and blue (or maybe all three?) shades from the Rococo Nail Apparel’s Rock & Royal kit ($36 for the kit, or $16.50 each), a limited edition kit for summer 2012.

I want to be wearing cute nails for the Olympics opening ceremony. 🙂

rococo nail apparel v.i.p.
V.I.P.

rococo nail apparel lab nude 1.0
Lab Nude 1.0
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Neon or Nude? Let Your Nails Decide With the Nails Inc. Neon and Nude Collection

July 17th, 2012 by Karen 27 Comments

nails inc neons nudes

With fall fever in full effect wherever cosmetics are found, it’s easy to forget it’s still summer, LOL!

Well, Nails Inc. has six little reasons to remember. The trendy summer shades in their $25 Neon & Nude Collection set of six mini-nail polishes are ready for your nails now at Sephora stores and also online. 🙂

(And between you and me, they look just as adorable on nails as they do in the box.)

For these swatches, I’m wearing two layers of each of the nudes and three layers of the neons.

nails inc knotting hill gate
Knotting Hill Gate

nails inc portabello
Portobello

nails inc westbourne grove
Westbourne Grove
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Last Seen On Safari: The New China Glaze On Safari Collection for Fall 2012

July 9th, 2012 by Karen 23 Comments

china glaze on safari collection

Prey Tell, my fellow Jungle Queen…

china glaze prey tell
Prey Tell

china glaze jungle queen
Jungle Queen

…shall we answer the Call of the Wild today?

china glaze call of the wild
Call of the Wild

I’m ready if you are. The new 12-piece China Glaze collection for fall 2012 has to be out there somewhere, probably holed up in a salon, a Sally Beauty store or online at sallybeauty.com, and there’s only one way we’ll find it: On Safari.

We have our map, beauty supplies, and a description of the beasts, which according to our guide, come in a variety creamy, glittery plum and earth-tone shades ($7 each).

If we take the jeep, we’ll cover more ground than walking, but we also risk alerting the creatures we’re trying to catch. If we walk the trail instead, tracking will be easier, but we run the risk of chipping our meticulously manicured nails.

Either way, I’m Adventure Red-y for whatever Exotic Encounters await.

china glaze adventure red-y
Adventure Red-y
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Like Baskin-Robbins, The New Permanent Line of MAC Nail Lacquers Comes in 31 Flavors

June 20th, 2012 by Karen 33 Comments

MAC Nail Lacquers

Dude, there are moments — like when you’re pulling up your Spanx and have to pause to take a breath — and there are MOMENTS. And right now, with the rise of runway nail polish coverage and nail art going mainstream, it seems like nails are having the second one, the one IN ALL CAPS!!! With exclamation marks!!!

You kids today… 🙂 Believe it or not, but there was a time when the only places you could get nail polish were drugstores (and dinosaurs ruled the earth!). Now, you can’t swing your Kate Spade purse at a makeup counter without knocking over a new nail polish display (whoops, my bad!).

Even MAC is getting in on the action with a new permanent line of nail lacquers coming this summer (July 5 to North American MAC stores, Nordstrom MAC counters and maccosmetics.com; international locales can expect them this September; $16 each US, $19 CDN).

Now, nails are nothing new to MAC. They’ve actually been painting paws for years with limited edition releases and special nail-focused collections like 2009’s Jin Soon, but this represents their first permanent polish line.

mac nail lacquer swatches 1

I’m pretty stoked about the range of colors because, like Baskin-Robbins, there are 31 of them in all, spread out among three different finishes in pearl, frost and cream. Most are new additions, but a few we’ve seen before in limited edition collections (like Snob, which we saw in Fashion Sets and Fiestaware, which we saw in Casual Colour). You’ve got your dainty tea-and-crumpets nudes on one end and your deeper hues and tough girl shades on the other.

mac nail lacquer swatches 2

This week I’m playing/painting with five of them, all of which feel thick and remind me of Essie’s nail polishes more than Zoya’s.

I haven’t been wearing these particular shades for long, but if they’re like MAC’s other nail polishes, wear time should be alright. I’ve usually gotten about a week when I wear them with a base coat and a little longer with a top coat as well.

mac nail lacquer swatches 3
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