Slash Nails

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This post is all about rock ‘n roll nails.  If you want a little soundtrack for your reading, click here.

Lately I’ve been all fired up over rock and roll.  It has been helping me through the stress of school and work.  When the going gets tough, turn up the volume.  This too shall pass.

Here are some pics of my Slash inspired nails.  I saw the idea on his facebook fan page posted by Nail Candy and tweaked it a bit to fit my style.  You can visit her facebook page here.  The middle finger is supposed to be a silhouette of Slash!  Top hat, hair, cigarette = Slash.

As you can see, I had troubles getting the camera to focus closely on the middle finger.  It shows it enough for you to get the idea!  It would be pretty fun to do a series of these with different rock icons.

Here’s the picture where I copied the Slash outline.

Serendipitous

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When it comes to vanilla fragrances there are usually two approaches.

Either:

or:

However you like your vanilla it is a wonderful comfort scent.  It conjures up images of childhood with visits to ice cream parlors and grandma baking in the kitchen.  Remember ever wishing you could drink vanilla extract?  I know I did.  I was lucky enough that my grandmother let me have a small taste so I could squash that desire really quick.  The problem with a lot of vanilla scents is that they are so overly sweet that they end up smelling like vanilla extract tastes.

Serendipitous is a vanilla perfume made by Serendipity 3 the ultimate sundae shop in New York City.  Yes, this is the same place that makes the golden opulence sundae which is a $1,000 sundae covered in edible gold leaf and chunks of rare Chuao chocolate from Venezuela.  And yes I will admit that I would love to try this!

Knowing it is made by a sundae shop had me thinking it was going to be over the top sweet.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  It smells like a mix between the creamy sweetness of vanilla ice cream and the woody roundness of a vanilla bean.  There is a slight touch of orange oil and a dusting of cocoa.  Underneath this balance is a slight note of orchid.  I love it when vanilla has a slight orchid undertone.  After all, vanilla is the most famous orchid flower.  It’s true, I even made sure it confirm it here.

This perfume sits on my desk next to my computer.  It is a comfort scent that I reach for when I’ve been sitting studying too long.  It is impossible not to smile after a whiff of this juice.  The most exciting part of this fragrance is that is quite affordable.  1.7 ounces is $38 at lucky scent here.  I have a friend who is obsessed with layering vanilla under all her other fragrances.  This one would work perfectly for that as it doesn’t break the bank and is a lovely vanilla in it’s own right.

Essie Pink Parka

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This is my all time favorite summer pink color.  It isn’t fully doing it justice in these pics, because this color is full on neon pink.  Every time I wear it I get comments.  These are some serious notice me pink nails!

The only draw back is the formula is not that great.  It goes on streaky and dries to almost a chalky matte finish.  This is fixed of course by painting on three coats and topping it with a coat of Seche Vite top coat.  These pics are all without a top coat because I went on to create some nail art by painting the centers a pale greyish color.  It was a pretty cool contrast, but I don’t have any good pics to post.  You can get a peak at my thumb on the Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer post here.

As you can see, in spite of the crappy formula of this one, the color makes it worth the extra work!  Again, this is my all time favorite pink.  It looks even better on my toes in the summer when I have tan feet!

Foundation – The Perfect Match

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Hey guys, yes I know it’s been a bit quiet over here, but you all know what it’s like when silly responsibilities have the nerve to get in the way of your fun!

I have been trying out different foundations trying to find something that fits me perfectly.  At the request of a friend I experimented with Estee Lauder’s Double Wear foundation in Ecru.  The color was absolute perfection.  I have a hard time finding a color that I feel like doesn’t look paler than my actual skin tone, but doesn’t look darker with a weird orange tint.  This was perfect.  The only problem was that it was heavier than what I was looking for.  I started mixing it in with my morning moisturizer and it was perfect.

But…

I realized I was basically creating something like a tinted moisturizer.  I wanted to see if I could cut down that step and find a tinted moisturizer that functioned just as well.  Here comes in Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20 Oil Free.

The formula is light and creamy.  The color match is perfect (my color is nude).  The coverage was exactly what I was looking for.  I have uneven skin tone with a fair amount of red in it.  My goal was something to neutralize the redness, but not necessarily cover my ever imperfection.  If I want that much coverage I will go back over it with my NARS concealer.  This is the most natural looking foundation I have ever worn.  My skin looks beautiful and you can hardly tell I’m wearing make up.  It really is pretty amazing.

Another bonus is that the color is such a great match and the consistency is sheer enough that it makes it pretty fool proof when I am trying to rush through my morning routine before class all bleary eyed because I haven’t even finished my first cup of coffee.

There will be more pictures soon of me wearing the foundation.  I’m pretty sure that is all I’m going to be wearing from now on.  I picked up a few other goodies today and will be posting more pictures soon.

While my heart may be captured at the moment, if you have any favorite foundations let me know in the comments below.  As you know, I love trying out new products!

Scented Body Lotions Part I

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it has been a while since I have posted about something I recently bought.  Okay so maybe only a few weeks, but it still feels like a while.  I like to slow myself down every so often by making myself stop buying for a month to really take the time to pay attention to the products I already have.  There is a perfume event coming up this month that I am attending and I will allow myself a purchase at that time (come on, who can turn down free gifts with purchase?) but other than that I am going to try and go until the end of the month.

I’m sure it is no surprise to anyone that when I choose a body moisturizing the scent of the lotion is the most important factor.  Second up is the moisturizing quality.  It is rare that I will buy an unscented body moisturizer except for my Paula’s Choice Beautiful Body Butter which I use as a night time treatment for my hands.

I have an insane amount of body lotion.  Waaay back before my perfume obsession started I was hooked on using body lotion daily after showering.  I would even mix together two different scented lotions in my hands to create a new scent (still do this sometimes) or would put one scent on my legs and another on my arms.  Don’t ask me why, I guess I just love variety!  Now the habit is firmly set in stone and I just don’t feel right if I had to skip putting on lotion.  According to the beauty brains article here, I do not need to worry about my skin becoming addicted to lotion (thank god!), but I still enjoy the process of rubbing sweet creams into my skin.

Here are just a few of my favorite lotions.

Pink Sugar Body Mousse – It smells just like the Pink Sugar perfume (for those who haven’t smelled this it is mostly cotton candy blended with soft fruity notes), but just a bit lighter.  The soft sweetness smells great on anyone and is always a crowd pleaser.  This is a lotion you could easily wear without blowing people out of the room.  Plus, it is a great scent to wear layered under your perfume it you want it sweetened up just a tad.  The cream looks thick in the tub, but when you put it on it actually rubs down to be quite thin.  This is the only thing I would change about it as I tend to really enjoy thicker textured creams.

Kiehl’s Soy Milk and Honey Whipped Body Lotion – This is my favorite body lotion.  I bought a tub of it last winter and flew through it like there was not tomorrow.  The soy milk and honey scent is amazing.  It makes my mouth water, yet it isn’t too strong or sickly sweet.  It is the perfect amount of honey and cream mixture.  The texture is thick, yet light because of the whipped quality.  It makes my skin amazingly soft.  This is definitely a pricier lotion, but it is worth every penny.  The one in the picture above is actually empty.  I need to replace it, but I am making myself work through some of my other lotions first!

Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter – This is the only scented lotion I have that falls into the category of a fruity floral with a more heavier tendency towards the floral.  It smells like roses, floral notes, and strawberries.  It is a nice smell that I have reached for more as the weather has started to look like spring.  The formula is thick and moisturizing just like I like it to be.  The only draw back for me is that the scent is quite strong.  I have tried wearing this with my perfumes, but the lotion’s scent pretty much drowns out everything around it.  I only wear this on days I’m sure that’s what I want to smell all day.  The fact that a lotion can have staying power that lasts through out the day is pretty amazing.  So those who like fruity floral scents should definitely check this one out.  That I am aware of you can only get this product line in the U.S. through Sephora.com.

March Favorites

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This is just a couple days late getting up here, but I think the 6th is still early enough in April that I can write about March.

Favorites for March:

NARS Blush – Sex Appeal
The prettiest soft peachy blush.  I was looking for a blush entirely different but Melissa Korn at Barney’s pretty much talked me into it.  Since that purchase it has been my most reached for blush.  I think it probably works best on pale skin which I find is rare for blushes.  It reminds me of Benefit’s Dandilion only it is peach instead of pink.  I love it.  If I wear it and feel like I want a little something more, sometimes I will pop Mac’s Melba just on the apples of my cheeks after applying NARS Sex Appeal.

Rimmel Glam’Eyes Quad Eye Shadow in English Rose
The last time I was at the drugstore I looked at their selection of Rimmel cosmetics.  Rimmel is a line that I haven’t paid a ton of attention to, but I feel like I’ve heard people say good things about it as a whole.  This eye shadow quad is shaped like the British flag.  While that is cute, it isn’t necessarily the easiest for providing access to all the colors.  But nevermind that, because the quality of the shadow is great!  I chose English Rose which has varying shades of rose colors.  I use the lighter pink all over my eye and it works as a perfect light neutral color.  Sometimes if I want to add a bit more I use the darkest rose shadow in my outer corner and crease.  The only downside is this quad doesn’t contain a color light enough to use as a highlighter.  That’s fine for me, because I don’t always use a highlighter on the brow bone.  A lot of days I am in a hurry and if I’m wearing shadow that means I slapped something light on the lids and ran out the door.  Either way, I have noticed that in the last month I have reached for this shadow over and over again.  I think having a small compact of lighter colors is nice for someone who is always rushing out the door.  The colors are very pigmented and the powder is a great blendable consistency.

Mac – Crease Brush 217
I have had an old crease brush that I have used for years.  I got it free with a purchase from drugstore.com probably a good ten years ago.  It worked well enough that I never bothered looking into something else.  I picked this Mac brush up the last time I was at the Mac counter and have felt like my world has been completely changed.  The bristles are sturdy enough that you can really pack on shadow in the outer corners and crease, yet it is soft enough to work as a great blender throughout the crease and brow bone.

Clarisonic Mia
I am very hesitant when it comes to trying out new skin care products.  I always worry that something will set my skin off.  When I first picked up the Mia I only used it a couple days a week.  I was trying to get my skin “used” to it.  After a while that would turn into once a week and then I’d completely forget about it.  About a month ago I made the commitment to myself to use it every night and see if I noticed any changes in my skin.  I am now officially hooked.  An important thing to remember is to move it around on your face in circular motions and to not push too hard.  My skin is SO much softer since I’ve been using this consistently.  I’m pretty anal about keeping it clean and wash it with mild soap just about every time I use it and let it sit out to air dry.

Clinique – Turnaround Concentrate Radiance Renewer
This is an amazing exfoliate and moisturizer.  I use this a few days a week at night before I go to bed and every morning I wake up with fresh hydrated skin.  I try to be very careful about over exfoliating so I don’t use this every night and I switch off with a salicylic acid as well.  This exfoliant comes in a pump formula and is loaded with antioxidants as well as a light moisturizing base.  The texture feels smooth and absorbs into my skin right away.  I’m always amazing by how light it feels when you put it on and how hydrated my skin looks in the morning.

Paula’s Choice – Beautiful Body Butter
I was looking for a hand cream that is loaded with all the ingredients I would put on my face but with a heavier base.  My hands have gotten so dry from working in a hospital and school clinicals.  Paula’s Choice Beautiful Body Butter is perfect.  It is very thick.  So thick that you really have to squeeze hard to get it out of the tube.  I use this every night before I go to bed and wake up with my hands totally moisturized.  It is pretty amazing how a cream this thick can absorb right into the skin.  My hands never feel greasy yet the next morning I can still feel the lotion on my skin.  This product is nothing short of amazing.  My cuticles have started look look better too.  This would also work great for dry knees and elbows.

Diptyque – Philosykos eau de toilette
The magic in this perfume is the artful blend of all the components.  It has fig fruit, fig leaves, dry blonde wood, and lightly sweetened cream – think more blending than heavy sweet coconut milk.  These elements come together to make an absolutely perfect scent for spring.  As the perfume dries down and is worn through out the day I swear there is another note that pops up: suede.  It’s not very strong, but I notice it when I move and it just makes me love it all the more.

Atelier Cologne – Vanille Insensee
When I first saw the name of this scent I thought it meant vanilla incense.  It actually translates to Vanilla Insane.  Okay, insane vanilla sounds good to me!  This is my favorite vanilla scent.  It is very unique.  In fact, it’s so different I didn’t like it the very first time I smelled it.  It is not your usual whipped buttercream frosting vanilla scent.  I had a hard time recognizing what was going on with this fragrance.  Now I cannot get enough of it.  It smells like dry woods, vanilla pods, and spices.  For me though it is really all about the vanilla wood.  I wouldn’t call this scent dry, but it is not heavily sweetened.  This results in the most unique vanilla you will find.  I have actually been complimented a few times when wearing this perfume.  Men and women a like really seem to like it. 

Grey Shimmer Nails

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About a week ago I picked up some makeup at Bartell’s a local drug store.  I was surprised to see they had a small selection of OPI nail polish.  It was a very small display that had colors from their 2012 Holland collection.  I picked up the color I Don’t Give a Rotterdamn!

It is a sort of steal blue greyish color with very small champagne shimmer.  It has an almost muted periwinkle look to the color.  It’s pretty cool and looks more blue in different lighting. This is a nice color when you don’t want statement nails, but also don’t want to wear something too neutral.  As clinicals are starting up again, I’m back to my once a week neutral colors, but this one is a color that falls some where in between.

Here is another shot with different lighting.

 

Mac Antiqued Eyes

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This is a look I like to play with from time to time where I line my eyes top and bottom with Mac’s Antiqued Veluxe Pearl eye shadow.  Antiqued is a deep warm rust colored shadow with shimmer.  I typically only do it when I feel like I look fresh and awake.  Lining the bottom of my eyes is something I usually don’t do because it tends to just make me look tired.

Whenever I wear my eye makeup like this I always get compliments, even on days where I feel like I’m not really pulling it off.  I decided to wear this again using the eyeliner smudge brush I got from Nars and putting the shadow on a little thicker than normal.

I started with a base of Chanel Emerveille Illusion D’Ombre blended into my entire lid and the inner corners of my eyes.  I tell you, this cream shadow has turned into one of my go to essentials.  I absolutely love it.  Next I got the brush a little bit wet and patted it into my antiqued shadow.  I lined the top and bottom and smudged it out quite a bit getting thicker as I got toward the outer corners.  I only put mascara on the top lashes, but I think you could do the bottom as well if you preferred.

This brush is pretty unique to me.  I’ve used a Mac wedge brush in the past when putting on eyeliner, but this brush is pretty amazing for smudging liners out.  It is pretty densely loaded with bristles and is super soft.

On my lips I am wearing NARS Super Orgasm lip gloss.  I am actually not that impressed with it.  While it has a really nice consistency and feels good on the lips it is just so shimmery it almost falls into the realm of glitter.  You can’t really pick it up here, but after the gloss absorbs a bit your lips are covered with the shimmer.  Not really my thing.

Patchwork Nails

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I would like to introduce to you A Posh Mess’s newest hand model.  My friend Keitlyn Alcantara emailed me some pictures of her recent nail creation.  She used a bobby pin and dipped it into different colors of nail polish and dabbed it on her nails layering different colors on top of each other.  I am looking forward to trying out this method myself!

Her nails remind me of a boldly colored patchwork quilt.

Her props match her nails perfectly.

This is such a great idea because depending on the colors you use you can set the mood however you like.  Have any of you come up with any nail inspiration?  What color have you been painting your nails?

As for my nails I have received two suggestions for my next bout of color.  Orange slices and lady bugs.  If all goes well you will soon see how they turn out.