Devine Intervention

    

       When I first started painting my nails, I wanted nothing to do with any color that wasn't a shade of red or pink; but as all we nail girls know, beautiful crimsons and baby pinks are just a small percentage of the gorgeous colors you come across in the wonderful world of polish. Once I broke out of my rose-colored shell, I discovered I'm a bit of a purple girl! And this deep royal purple Essie shade is the kind of polish that has my eye straying from my normal neutral pink.

  ( Essie 'Sexy Divine' topped with one coat of Revlon 'Heavenly' and two coats of Seche Vite topcoat )
    
    I really believe that Essie is notorious for it's baby pink shades and is always my go-to brand for pretty neutrals. But don't be fooled, Essie also has a naughty side that she doesn't always show. This deep purple that I topped with Revlon's 'Heavenly' (I'll get to that beauty in a moment,) called 'Sexy Divine', a super fitting name for this shimmery eggplant shade with a glint of magenta in the right light. The color on it's own went on like a dream and after adding a topcoat, I'll have to admit I had a hard time covering it up. I'm definitely keeping this one in my arsenal for a chic and eye-catching alternative to black.

    ( Essie 'Sexy Divine' topped with one coat of Revlon 'Heavenly' and two coats of Seche Vite topcoat. You can really see the iridescent flakies in the photo. )
    
    I have been dying to layer Revlon's 'Heavenly' over a dark color and as much as it pained me to cover up my purple beauty, 'Sexy Divine' was thee perfect base for it. I've also seen other nailstagrammers layer 'Heavenly' over Revlon's 'Royal', which is equally awesome. I think it would look cool over black as well. 'Heavenly' for me tops the list right up there with Essie's discontinued shade: 'Shine Of The Times'. When I first bought 'Heavenly', I didn't really envision it as a run-of-the-mill flakie top-coat. I planned on being boring and layering it over white or a pastel, but my girls on the nailstagram scene never disappoint and gave way to a whole new trend for this polish.

   
    The finish that 'Heavenly' gives over a darker shade is almost radio-active like. I sort of feel like I have a rave going on on my fingers!

With a mani like this, who wouldn't convert to being a purple girl? <3!

Midnight Blues

       I'm going to happily dedicate my next two manis to swatching my Tryst Lacquers Date Night Collection I bought as a birthday present for myself a couple weeks back and haven't gotten around to photographing. Kimberly Maranan, the brand's lovely owner, is a jelly polish genius who deserves an indie Emmy!!! I'm just now building up enough indie polishes to qualify as an extremely modest collection. I'll admit that I'm not exactly a franken-polish connoisseur; clear bases and glitter bombs (though beautiful) just aren't my style, but since I received a hefty amount of money for my past 18th birthday, I decided I would delve into the indie polish world while my wallet was open and willing for a risk here or there. 
        Kimberly's polish style is everything I think an indie polish should be. Its unique, interestingly eye-catching, gorgeous, practical, and made up of all the glittery goodness that you just can't get with mainstream polishes. But what really sold me, was her pigment-based cremes and jellies. 

 
 "Meet Me At Midnight" swatched above pretty much speaks for the collection, and Kimberly's brand as a whole, for itself. It's jam-packed with large copper hex glitters, small blue hexes, and the cherry on top; the abundance of micro white hexes that totally makes the polish and fit's its name sake perfectly. And seriously, that gorgeous navy blue jelly?! I'm in love. 

    This only took three coats on it's own for opaque squishy jelly amazing-ness. One easy coat of Seche Vite smooths all the glitters out to a glassy to-die-for finish!
   You can buy this beauty and others in both full sized and cute little mini try-out sizes at Kimberly's etsy shop here.

Lip smacking good Laquerlicious Lacquers!

                                      Now that's a title that has got me salivating!
      A week or two ago, I pleaded with the wonderful owner of Laquerlicious, an upcoming indie polish brand, to grace me with the honor of swatching some of her newest concoctions. Unbelievably, she obliged! Getting three little gorgeous polish mini's in the mail was a euphoric experience; finally I was like (or on my way to being) those uber popular swatchers on instagram who get to blog beautiful indie nail-potions and rub elbows with some of the best franken-ers in the industry!
      AND I haven't even gotten to the good part: the polishes!!!!!! Miss Laquerlicious sent me three cute little mini's that each raced to a special notch of my 'OH MY GOD' meter! 'Zebra Kisses', clear-based choc full of matte white and black shards, 'Pink Granite', my absolute favorite that packs heat with tiny pink and black hexes, large black and white square shards, the occasional pink translucent hex, and an army of micro pink dots, and last but certainly not least 'Rainbow Sugar', another shocking favorite of mine that teems with a beautiful pink-tinted jelly base complete with all the colors of the rainbow in the form of translucent and patterned hex glitters, each different but oh-so wonderful!

      I'm going to proudly start out with the polish that is certainly the best nam-ed (in my opinion) of the bunch; 'Zebra Kisses'!!! Not only does the name of this black and white topper give you THEEEE cutest image in your head but it is surprisingly chic on top of my neon-green base (which is 'Nikki' by Julep, a beautiful neon with a rubbery finish). I'm in love with the unconventional approach this sharded white and black matte glitter takes on a normal salt-n-pepper sort of topper. 

   

       The application for this one is genius. I've owned quite a few black and white toppers in my day, and by far this one is the best application wise. Absolutely no fishing! What you see is what you get! A nice smooth finish with just enough pieces in your first coat to obtain desired effect. This one is definitely worthy of a full-size purchase. It's fresh, new, and versatile, looking totally chic over bright colors (especially in the winter!) or interestingly classic over dark cremes, making it a no-brainer buy for any polish junkie.
  

    
          Can you believe I was on the fence about this beauty? I'm not normally one for colorful toppers, so besides loving the name, I wasn't sure about 'Rainbow Sugar'. It was my last to swatch, pictured here with three thin coats over Revlon's 'Pink Lingerie'. I kept telling myself that it was pretty, just not my style. These dark thoughts were said and done by morning. In the daytime, I fell into a whirlwind romance with my colorful tips. I just felt fun while wearing this polish. Its milky pink base, if im not mistaken, actually has a tiny tiny bit of teal shimmer which took me by surprise and got me to look at silly and fun rainbow glitter toppers in a whole new light.

      

 

       With three easy coats, the layered look of green, red, blue, pink and sometimes tiny purple hexes and squares gives the appearance of a really fun watercolor without all the back-breaking nail art work. After boycotting cheesy rainbow toppers for so long... 'Rainbow Sugar' has definitely made me a believer.


       Oh how I've saved the best for last; 'Pink Granite', another spot-on name that kind of makes you go "OOOOooohhh" when you look at it. My go-to undies for this one was a deep steel gray that's dark enough for granite, but light enough to remain gray and not black. Essie 'Smokin' Hot', an untried smokey gray creme I had sitting around made this mani an unquestionable instant fave. In an easy to work with clear base filled with tiny pink micro glitters, small black and pink hex and squares, large white squares, and the kicker: large translucent pink hex, this polish gives your nails an instant girly-granite make-over. 

   

        With one super smooth coat, a perfect helping of glitter is easily distributed. The translucent glitters that overlap each other and other glitters give the illusion of actual glittering layers of granite. This beaut is one for the polish gods. Bravo Miss Laquerlicious. Bravo!

         These polishes totally did all the work for me just by being beautiful to photograph, fun to wear, and a breeze to apply. I hope ( and how could I not have?!) I've convinced you to take a little trip on over to the Laquerlicious etsy shop to get the real delicious experience. 
  
        May your wallets be open and your helmers full! ;)
                                           Sincerly, 
                                                                             Lizzie

Oh baby baby! Baby Lips by Maybelline

                     I’m definitely not a follower when it comes to makeup trends. I’m particular about my ultra-simple ultra-natural look and most of the wacky makeup that trends on Instagram or television doesn’t quiet fit into my light-blushed, nude lidded world.

            The TV has recently totally been bombarding my program viewing with commercials for Maybelline’s new tinted lip balm called “Baby Lips”. Honestly upon first encounter with the add, I hadn’t been impressed. I’ve used a lot of tinted balms before and they’re normally cake-y with too much metallic shine or taste gross with hardly no ‘tint’ at all (or a horrid mixture of all the above). 

           After seeing the colorful tubes so often around cash registers and make-up kiosks, my inner natural-faced make-up girl dressed in her dare-devil gear and was bugging me to try them, but I was still on the fence about subjecting myself to another tinted balm experiment. 

            It was just yesterday morning when I was scrolling through Glamor's 18 Brand-New Beauty Products to Try in 2013 that I finally became convinced I needed the lippy that Glamor dubbed as a “Yummy” must-have; and oh my goodness, am I glad that I caved in!

            With an awesome sale at my favorite drug store, I bought one and grabbed another for 50% off and after trying them both…I think I may have to go back for the rest of the collection!

    But for now, I have ‘Pink Punch’, a dynamic Barbie pink that would be too overpowering in an opaque lipstick but is gorgeous in sheer, and ‘Peach Kiss’ which seems to have a little more shimmer than ‘Pink Punch’ and totally lives up to it’s name: a creamy peachy shine that for some reason makes me feel like an instant babe! 

                                    'Pink Punch' (left) and 'Peach Kiss' (right)

As if gorgeous sheer color and eye-catching shimmer wasn’t enough, the formula is pretty unbelievable. The thick sticks make me feel like I’m five again using those huge cherry bomb chapsticks except with a much more luxurious feel. I would compare their application to a drink of water for your lips; instantly smoothes and beautifies. They also live up to their 8 hour lasting claim. I put some on before bed, because I became instantly addicted to their light fruity smell, and when I woke up I was still able to smear my lips together with the moisture that was left over from my first application.

                                           'Pink Punch' (bottom) and 'Peach Kiss' (top

 I would totally recommend these fun and youthful lippies to any girl who is looking for a touch of color that remains on your lips like a stain but moisturizes like a medicated balm, and smells DELISH! For me, the elegance of these fun little balms are perfect to dress up a natural makeup-ed face or in place of a nude lip; totally kissable, totally cute but still totally sexy!

Maybelline, I am impressed. You deserve a standing ovation for this one. Really, Bravo!

Beauty Guru Identity Crisis

With renewed ambition after some serious online window shopping I rushed to my favorite makeup supplier (which means the nearest Walgreen’s) first thing in the morning with eyes only for shadow. I went a wee bit crazy and ended up spending about $32 in product I wasn’t even sure was going to work.

            Keeping my pale skin in mind rather than my eye color (I’d really rather not wear green and violet eye shadow everyday), I picked up some nude, brown, and pink pallets in various shades that were sold in either a trio or duo. One of the palettes even had a convenient little diagram on the back for shadow noobs like me. I also opted for a $5 primer which was a much better choice than the $12 dollar ones that were eyeing me.

            I carted my frivolously-bought pallets home and proudly spread them out around my bathroom sink like little color pigmented soldiers readying for battle. Armed with remover pads and blending brushes, I went to work following all the neat little tips I had acquired through my YouTube tutorial ventures a couple days ago…I even tried following one of said tutorials while I was applying: I paused, applied, played, watched, paused again, blended, but it was no use. My poor little shadow soldiers never had a chance…

            In short my experiment was a complete and utter disaster. The colors either made me look like I lost blood in my eyelids, or like I got into a fight at a pink-powder factory. Most of the browns/neutrals that were any darker than my skin tone made by lids look ruddy. Even after some serious blending and tests of different light, medium, and dark color combos, I still looked like I got punched in the face by a dirt devil.

            With a horrid conglomeration of tan, brown and pink shadows more on my face than my eyelids, I got to thinking. Am I a one shadow girl? I remember getting compliments on a day-to-day basis when I wore a peachy-shimmer with just mascara as my daily look. There was nothing wrong with how I looked when I used only one shadow shade, but settling on such a fate made me nervous. Didn’t you have to be a multi-shade girl to be officially inducted into the beauty maven world? Don’t I have to gush over the latest ‘Naked’ palette or Lime Crime trio to fit into my aspired title as a beauty guru? Was it okay to be happy with a single paint pot I got for six bucks at Rite Aid?

            I finished the night with clean lids and my normal before-bed skin care routine. I’m still unsure if I feel confident with my single-shade identity. I don’t know whether to rue it or embrace its simplicity….but hear this fellow beauty-lovers, a silly army of shadow will not be my downfall! Nothing can stop a girl with red-hot glitter in her veins <3!

            Till my next adventure,

                             Lizzie

The Eyeshadow Experience

 Dear make-up nerds and eye shadow noobs alike,

Today while putting on my normal-everyday makeup I had a sudden urge to be glamorous. Normally when I want a little extra flair, I brush on one of my many shimmery shadows, add liner, mascara, and call it a day. But this simple sparkle fix wasn’t quite satisfying my inner movie star today. I wasn’t going anywhere extravagant, but looking at my bare-lidded reflection I decided it was time I got a little more creative than just one tone shimmery eye color.

Recently I’ve been taking to telling women around me that it’s important to take those extra steps through-out the day that make you feel beautiful. This could be as simple as wearing a new pop-of-color lip gloss…making sure your cuticles are moisturized… or even just giving yourself five minutes of quiet time in the morning to sip tea and download (A calm woman is a beautiful one). As I prepared to embark on my eye-shadow adventure, I reminded myself that it’s okay to take an extra five minutes or so to make myself feel like my best me.

With my feel-good mantra chanting in my head, I did what every girl in beauty distress does…I YouTube’d it! There were plenty of videos that showed me how to do smoky eyes and shimmery night looks, but I wasn’t looking for a night-on-the-town look for my afternoon errands around town. I did eventually happen upon a couple of helpful videos that illustrated the proper places to put what shade, how to blend, and what brushes to use, (one of the videos I used to get a general idea below) but even after following step by step… I felt I still appeared to be a shimmery raccoon-looking mess. 

My conclusion after about a half hour of fooling around with my mediocre selection of shimmer packed gold-orange and white-pink shadows was this:

-                          I need to invest in some matte and velvet finish shadow palettes so I don’t look like a glitter fairy threw up on my entire face.

-                          I need to learn how to prevent fall-out while applying so I don’t end up with matching freckles of shadow color.

-                          Look especially for palettes with neutral colors that compliment my very fair skin and blue-green eyes. I’m not the kind of girl who wants to where violent or green shadow everyday.

-                          It might not be a bad idea to take a look at the slightly more expensive brush choices to replace my mini drug store set as I progress.

-                          Do some research and find a cheap brand of eyelid primer that I could find at my local drug store.

-                          Invest in palettes with three to four complementing shades that have a variety of matte and shimmer finish. (This conclusion was hard for me because I so desperately wanted to immediately be like the pro-makeup girlies who design their own trio’s from single pots. I consoled myself by remembering that even the pros had to start somewhere).

So with optimism and a new adventure ahead of me, I ended up settling on my normal-every day simple makeup with bare lids, liner, and mascara. I plan to go drug-store hopping in the very near future (and maybe a little trip to target as well) to buy a couple of simple and cheap options to experiment with. Because I’m just starting out, I will resist the temptation to travel to Sephora and buy ungodly priced brushes and paint pots. For a beginner who will probably hit pan just by practicing, I believe sticking with $5 trios and mini brush sets will work just fine. Once I return from this mission, I will record my findings and buys as well as fresh questions that I am sure I will have about the mysterious world of eye-shadow….

            Till Then!

                        Love, Lizzie

Oil fighting Clean & Clear products!

  As a younger teen I never really got bad face acne, the hallmark to puberty. I've been lucky for quiet a few years until just about two years ago I began to notice an extreme oil problem on my forehead, beneath my nostrils, or even on my chin. Us girls (or aesthetically in-tune boys ;p ) hate nothing more than having a shiny forehead! I found myself having to 'powder my nose' more than just once in a couple hours before I'd catch a glimpse of myself in a store window or something and notice that my forehead was reflecting beams of sunlight from its oily shine...
  I couldn't combat my oily face with just make-up powder. I did some research and decided I'd go out and get myself some of those oil absorbing sheets. I used those stupid little blue papers for the longest time before I got disgusted with them: I knew using them in public probably looked really weird and after they were used the oil that it picks up from your skin turns the sheet clear and greasy like I cooked bacon on my forehead or something. So out the door those gross things went!
  Using the oil removing tissues really helped me realize how bad the oil problem I had actually was, and like any girl who was in my shoes would do, I took to the internet. At first I searched around for oil-fighting products with good reviews but the results were just too overwhelming and diverse to narrow down what I thought would work for me. Every girl's skin is different, so what helps one girl may not help the next. I was desperate! I started to wash my face with soaps that were drying to my hands in hopes that they would dry my forehead too, but quickly ceased the practice once pimples started to pop up around my hair line. Fail after fail... I had no where to turn and no extra money to spend on a consultation with a dermatologist. Would I just have to except my oily fate?!

  I was browsing my local drug store's skin products in what I thought was a vain attempt to narrow down the unbelievably large playing field when the skin gods spoke to me and on beams of golden oil-free sunshine, presented me with the two Clean & Clear products I still use religiously today. "Go Forth!", the gods told me, "and spread the word of this glorious product!". And like any good beauty guru, I obeyed their heavenly request. 

 (Clean & Clear deep action cream cleanser (left) and Clean & Clear essentials deep cleaning astringent (right) )

  What first drew me toward the Clean & Clear cream cleanser was not it's pretty packaging. (although the designs pop off the shelf and scream "TRY ME!". Really though, Clean & Clear needs to give their design team a raise! ) I was convinced I needed it when I saw that it claims to fight oil and dirt clogging your pours that you can't even see and that it wasn't some annoying flower-y smelling gel with painful little beads that are meant to pulverize your skin into cleanliness but really just end up stuck in your hair and eyebrows. I was sold. 
  The astringent isn't hard to miss either and I'll admit, looks a little scary in the bottle. An orange like that screams to me "EXTREMELY PAINFUL CHEMICAL PEAL", but I was so desperate I was ready for anything (Beauty is Painful!).

  I use the cream cleanser in the shower or at the sink with my hair tightly pulled back in a headband. It comes out like a wonderful thick cream that lathers just slightly when you rub it in. Once rubbed in to all my serious problem areas, I enjoyed sitting back for a minute or two and indulging in the minor cooling and tingly sensation (like my pores were going skinny dipping!) before I rinsed thoroughly and very gently patted dry. It's important you pat dry (I found this one out the hard way). Your pores have just been opened up and are very vulnerable, so rubbing harshly with a towel will definitely cause some nasty irritation (please learn from my mistake girls! No joke!). 
  After the cleanser I already can feel a 90% improvement in the feeling of my skin which no longer feels soggy on my face. This next step can be slightly painful if you have open wounds (like scratches or pimples) on your oily problem areas, which you probably do. The astringent is meant to not only deeply clean anything that the cleanser didn't get but help treat and prevent pimples.

  Get this: Both products do what they claim to do!!!!!!

  Toner didn't work for me, even after keeping a daily regimen of applying it for a while. Since I've started using the Clean & Clear astringent and cleanser I have little to absolutely no problem with oil. Eliminating my daily oil problem didn't come as an instantaneous effect but I immediately felt that my skin was more fresh and clean the day I started using it. After repeating this regimen when I went to bed, and applying some extra astringent in the morning before I put on my makeup, it took about 3 weeks to a month to completely guard me of my oily nightmare! Not only is my skin healthier now, my confidence about my skin has multiplied as well! :)

Remember: Each girl has different skin and therefore different things that work for them, but if you are as desperate as I was, it doesn't hurt to give this pair a try!!!