An April Wedding: The Beauty Edition

Today we have got a quick glimpse into my makeup world. I love makeup, almost as much as I love nail polish. I don't have any particular loyalties to any brand, big or small. I have used both expensive designer brands and cheap drug store brands and now my daily makeup routine has ended up a hodgepodge of the things that have become my favorites. There are some things I like to spend a little more money on, like MAC eyeshadow for example (the pigmentation can't be beat!), but for others I think that the drugstore brands are perfect - like Maybelline Falsies mascara, my fav mascara of all time, and a $3 NYC bronzer that is my go-to! What follows is the spread of products that I utilized when getting ready for the wedding this last weekend.

The look I went for for the wedding was even glowing skin and a fairly neutral eye with black winged eyeliner - which is pretty much my everyday look - but to vamp it up a little for the occasion I added some false lashes and a bright fuchsia lip. I also used the Sally Hansen Airbrush legs for the first time. I have always seen this at the store and wanted to try it and decided to go for it. My dress was knee length and due to some workout slip-ups last week, I had some little bruises on my shins, so I thought this could be the perfect alternative since I couldn't wear nylons (helllooo strappy sandals) and whenever I try to use fake tanner it goes horribly horribly wrong. It is definitely an interesting product and it did do a lot to cover up some of the imperfections and gave me a little added color too. I won't be surprised if I use up the can pretty quickly. Anyway, here is the rundown of everything shown here and where you can find it!

Skin:
Sonia Kashuk Radiant Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 15 in Linen - $13.69 at Target
TheBalm Time Balm concealer in light/medium - $18 at Sephora
NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder in Sunny - $3-$4 at Target
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Porcelain Pink - got mine forever ago, but current colors $29 at MAC
Benefit Bella Bamba 3D brightening pink face powder (aka blush lol) - $28 at Sephora
Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs in Medium Glow - On Sale $11.99 at CVS

Eyes:
Coastal Scents Shadow Worx Shimmer Eyeshadow Primer - $9.95 at Coastal Scents
MAC eyeshadows in Et Tu Bouquet? and Prepped For Glamour - both out of production but $15 at MAC
Loreal Telescopic Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Black - $8.29 at Target
Maybelline the Falsies Flared waterproof mascara in Very Black - $5.94 at Target
Ardell Fashion False Lashes style 120 Demi in Black - $3.49 at Nordstrom Rack
Duo Eyelash Adhesive in Clear-White - $5.49 at Target

Lips:
Milani Crystal Gloss for Lips in Fruit Punch - $5.49
Milani 3D Glitzy Glamour Gloss in Fashion Diva - $6.99 at CVS.com

Nails:
Sinful Colors - Dream On - $1.99 at Target
Sally Hansen - Clearly Quick (with personally added gold glitter) - $4.04 at Target
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat - On sale at Sally's now for $5.99

Perfume:
Issey Miyake L'eau D'issey rollerball - $24 at Sephora

An April Wedding: What I Wore - The Outfit

For the second installment about what I wore to the wedding this weekend, I would like to share with you my wedding day digs. I was really happy with how the whole outfit came together and felt very confident the whole evening, so I am very excited to share!

Dress: Suzi Chin for Maggy Boutique in Hyacinth via Nordstrom Rack

Shoes: Fiona by Payless (from years ago)

Gold Scarf: Forever 21

Necklaces and Earrings: Forever 21

Yellow Cocktail Ring: Nordstrom Rack

Black Envelope Clutch: Forever 21

The color of this dress was the perfect purple for my skintone and the ruched waste-band and low neckline were super flattering. The dress is also a comfy stretch jersey so it was comfortable and wrinkle-free the whole night and was perfect for dancing. One of the reasons I chose to buy this dress is that it can easily be dressed up or dressed down for different occasions simply by pairing it with different accessories. As a girl on a pretty strict budget, I never like to buy anything that I can only wear to one event. I will be able to wear this dress with flip-flops on a summer weekend or with flats to the office, and by adding sparkly jewelry and gold strappy heels (with a low heel height for dancing of course!) this dress was perfect for the cocktail attire required at this event. I brought along this scarf, which has shiny, metallic threading, to use as a wrap in case it got chilly, however the weather was really warm Saturday so I ended up not needing it. 

I really loved this outfit and I very much look forward to the opportunity to wear this dress again! I hope that you enjoyed my first real non-polish post and hopefully there will be more of these to come!

An April Wedding: What I Wore - Nails

My first wedding of the 2012 season got things off to a fantastic start! Both the ceremony and the reception were perfect and classic. The bridesmaids all looked amazing donned in full length ivory a-line gowns and carrying bouquets of red roses while the bride looked beautiful in a strapless, ruched, mermaid style dress with a unique scalloped neckline and long cathedral veil. The whole crew was gorgeous! The reception was at a local country club and the venue was perfect for the warm and sunny spring day. I think that everyone had a great time and that the event was truly a success! 

Now, after a wonderful evening of friends, dancing, photos, flowers and champagne, I am excited to share with you the details of what I wore on the joyous day! First up, the nails. I wanted something fun that would go with my outfit and live up to the excitement of the day so I went with a combination of glitter - gold, to go with my accessories - and a deep magenta that almost perfectly coordinated with my dress.

The glitter base is actually a polish of my own concoction. I have yet to find a "store-bought" gold glitter that I have fallen in love with. They always end up being too thin, or the gold is not bright enough, or the glitter doesn't sparkle enough. Whatever the reason, every gold glitter I have ever purchased has been benched, so I took a stab at making my own. I simply found a beautiful, small grain, gold craft glitter and added it to a clear polish - in this case, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Clearly Quick. You can add as much or as little glitter as you like, depending on how dense you want the glitter to be. The polish tends to separate, but with a quick shake before use it quickly recombines and becomes my perfect gold glitter polish!

The magenta polish I used on top is Sinful Colors - Dream On. The polish is a really gorgeous deep magenta, that looks much brighter in the sunshine and dries matte so make sure you have a top-coat on hand! I could not stop looking at my fingers when I was wearing this combination and they looked perfect wrapped around a tall glass of bubbly champagne. I also got a ton of compliments, my friends all seemed to love it!

To the blushing bride and handsome groom, thank you so much for sharing your celebration with us and I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness! As for the rest of you, stay tuned for more on what I wore to this April wedding!

A Busy Week and an Interview Mani

As I mentioned in my last post, this last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. In addition to having several interviews earlier this week, one of my girlfriends/roommate/sorority sister from college is getting married today! So of course this meant lots of shopping looking for the perfect dress and shoes to wear to the shindig, and a reunion/Bachelorette party thursday night! It was so great getting to see so many of my sisters, some of which I haven't seen in quite a long while. I am super excited about the wedding tomorrow and will definitely do an update about my nails and outfit!

On a less fun note, I have been looking for a new job and had a couple of interviews downtown earlier in the week. I overestimated the time I would need, so I stopped at a local Starbucks to pick up a delicious Tazo Refresh tea and decided to snap a few pictures of my interview manicure. *Sorry for the picture quality... my camera phone can only do so much!*

I realize that this would not be an appropriate choice for all interviews in all industries, but for the roles that I am interested in, it is ok to show a little personality. I try to do this with little punches of color, maybe a purple shoe or a bright printed top, and sometimes I add a little interest to my manicure. I talk alot with my hands, so it is imperative for the nails to be well-groomed and if they are a little bit unusual it can sometimes be a great conversation starter that gives me the opportunity to talk about one of my passions.

For this manicure, I chose two colors that I consider fairly demure and interview worthy. Similar shades of pink in different tonalities. The base here is China Glaze - Fuchsia Fanatic, another member of the Spring 2012 collection and as the name implies a beautiful fuschia pink. On top is China Glaze - Seduce Me, a more subdued raspberry pink. I think that either of these polishes worn on their own, while beautiful, create typical pink, some-what boring manicures. But when layered in a reverse french, offer a unique twist on "appropriate".

What would you don on your digits for an interview??

Hunger Games Harvest Moon Mani

I have been a little MIA lately, it has been a very busy week which I will hash out for you in my next post. In the meantime, I just wanted to share this shiny copper-gold mani for the China Glaze Hunger Games collection. First, let me just say that I am a HUGE fan of the Hunger Games series. I am a really avid reader, and truthfully just a big book worm, so I tore through all three books in the series in less than a week. Suzanne Collins story is exciting, intriguing and colorful, as well as being a surprisingly deep commentary on societal standards and human behavior. I would recommend the books to anyone and was very excited to hear about the release of the movie. However, I was disappointed in the movie. From what I have heard from my friends, those who have not read the books, LOVED the movie, and those who had, thought that the movie was just ok. It is always hard to translate a novel into a movie and I personally believe that it is very rarely done in a way that truly does justice to the written story. I had such high expectations for how spectacular this film could be and was just.. underwhelmed.

This is pretty much how I felt about China Glaze's homage to the Hunger Games with the Capital Colours collection as well. I only ended up picking up a single bottle - Harvest Moon (District 9 - Grain) a gold, copper foil.

It is really a gorgeous color with tons of sparkle. It is highly pigmented and goes on super smooth, you can almost get away with a single coat, although I still had a little nail line show through so I went with two coats followed by a high-shine top coat.

I really wanted to like this polish and had really high expectations (seeing any parallels here?) however, for some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to wear this outside of the house. In fact, this manicure only lasted about 2 hours before I gave up and repainted. It just looks kind of odd against my skin tone. It doesn't give me lobster hands per se, but I think it would look much better on someone who doesn't have as much red in their skin.

So while I am sure that others will love this polish, it is just not for me, le sigh. Back on the shelf it goes.

Happy Friday!

Another Reverse French Manicure

So... I am little bit obsessed with this lately. Pretty much every plain old manicure I do, I repaint the 2nd or 3rd day with a reverse french. It is an awesome way for me to deal with my OCD regarding chipped tips and draw a little extra attention to those digits. I especially love incorporating a bright neon color that might be a little too much for the average working lady. This combo is probably still a little out there since the blue is not exactly office friendly, but for a girl like me, with over the top taste in polish, it is AWESOME. :)

I started with a full manicure of China Glaze - Shocking Pink. This is a bright neon pink that I showcased in my last post. I wore the all-pink mani for a day or two, so it was completely dry and had a coat of topcoat on it before I started with the blue.

The top color in this combo mani is another China Glaze color (I knew you would start to see the pattern here lol), Frostbite. I layered this on top, leaving a small half moon of the pink visible near the cuticle.

Frostbite, is an awesome blue on its own. It seriously glows. When I first picked it up I wore it for a week straight then painted my toes with it and wore it for a solid month on my piggly wigglies. Even if you don't like wearing blues, chances are you will love this color. I can not stop looking at my nails when I wear it.

The two of these together is awesome, I have gotten 17,000 compliments on it and keep flashing my nails around like it is nobody's business. This is a bright, fun, eye-catching combo that I love and will definitely wear again. I definitely encourage you to play around with layering your polishes as it is a fun, fresh way to wear some of your old regular favorites.

Happy painting and a blessed Easter!

China Glaze - Shocking Pink

Amazing neon pink! Shocking Pink is lighter than similar Pink Voltage and Pool Party but still offers that great neon punch that is especially visible in direct sunlight. This is one of those summer polishes that you want to wear to the beach or to a BBQ that will get tons of attention and I think will look good on pretty much any skin tone. 

I had the same application problems with this polish as I do with most neons, they tend to be streaky and you have to be really careful not to get brush drag at the base of your nail. I needed three coats to get full coverage. It dries matte, so if you like shine, like myself, you'll need a high-gloss topcoat. I always have trouble with neons chipping much more quickly than other polishes, and Shocking Pink was no exception. I find that washing dishes and showering always lead to big chips, so I tend to keep wear time pretty short for most neon polishes. This certainly doesn't keep my from buying and using them though!

Shocking pink does look quite different in differing lighting situations, sometimes appearing very neon and sometimes appearing as a much softer pink. I took a bunch of different pictures and I think that these few give a pretty good idea of what this polish looks like.

This is definitely a great sunshine weather polish that I will bust out frequently this summer. I think it will make an especially great pedicure color too!

China Glaze - Sweet Hook

This polish is a lovely light lilac purple from this spring's Electropop collection. The formula on this is pretty good for a pastel creme, getting good coverage in 2 coats. This is similar to Light as Air from the Up and Away collection, but Sweet Hook is a bit more pink and seems a little brighter. Cute color for spring!