Manicure Mondays-Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy

I took advantage of the Rescue Beauty Lounge 5 hour VIP sale at the beginning of the month.  Here is one of my purchases, Stormy.  It is a grey (surprise, surprise).  It looks like the clouds right before a huge downpour.  It has a hint of blue in it, making it a cooler toned grey.  The formula was absolutely perfect, opaque in just 1 coat!  However, I applied 2 coats just to even it out.  Rescue Beauty Lounge is a salon in New York that also has their own line of polishes.  They retail for $18, but during their VIP sale, they were 50% off.  I will purchase more from this brand as their formula is superb.

Winter Miracle-Vaseline Deep Conditioning Cocoa Butter

While it is not quite Winter, the temperatures are steadily dropping, which means the moisture is sucked out of our skin.  I in particular get super dry legs and hands.  I will put lotion on and 5 minutes later, my skin is back to being dry.  I had to find something more lasting.  I actually picked this up for my husband who suffers from extremely dry hands.  I ended up using a bit of it and I was blown away. 

This is the cream formula, so it is very thick.  It contains cocoa butter, vitamin E, and petroleum jelly.  It smells so good, like hot cocoa!  It leaves my skin feeling so silky and hydrated.  This really is my miracle cream. 

There is a drawback though, it leaves my hands with a slight greasy feel to them.  You have to wait about 5 minutes before touching something.  This can be found at your local drugstore for about $3.  Do you have a miracle lotion or cream?

Manicure Mondays-Sonia Kashuk Smoke & Mirrors

This week I have Sonia Kashuk Smoke & Mirrors polish for you.  It is a silver with a foil finish.  Very shiny and festive.  This was my first polish from her line and I was really impressed (so impressed that I purchased 4 more colors).  It is very pigmented and opaque in 2 coats.  The formula was perfect.  The wear time was great, lasted 5 days before it started to chip.  This was with Seche Vite top coat.  It was raining again this day, so the photo was taken indoors.  Sonia Kashuk is sold exclusively at Target and her polish is $4.99.  Have you tried any of her polish?  What's on your nails this week?

Quick Drug Store Haul-Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick

I was looking for some lotion when I came across the Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick display.  I have had terrible luck with drugstore lipstick simply because you can't test it on your hand like you would at Sephora or MAC.  I always try my best not to open them and go by the color indicator, but let's be honest, those things are never true to color.  I saw two that looked like they could be nice on me, so I picked them up.  They were only $4.59 on sale so I figured if I get them home and they look hideous, I was only out of about $10.  I purchased On The Mauve and Pink Quartz.



On The Mauve

 On The Mauve should be re-named to Bruised Purple Lips because that is what I look like with this on.  There is no mauve in it, it is a straight up purple lipstick.  It makes my lips look like I've gone a few rounds with Floyd Mayweather.  Pretty in the tube, not on me.  One positive thing about it though, it applied very smooth and felt very moisturizing.

Pink Quartz

Pink Quartz is a very pretty mauve with gold shimmer.  It is very sheer and needs to be built up to achieve the color that I want.  It is one of those effortless, throw-on-as-you-walk-out-of-the-door colors.  Kind of like MAC's Viva Glam V, it is probably universally flattering.  One negative, it is dry as hell.  I mean it tugs on your lips as you put it on.  You have to apply a balm first. 

Both colors have a sweet synthetic scent that bugs me but fades away once they're on the lips.  So for $10, 1 hit, 1 miss ain't bad.  I'll probably try On The Mauve with different lip liners and glosses to see if I can get it to work for me.  Have you tried any lipsticks from the Maybelline Color Sensational line?

Manicure Mondays-MAC Dry Martini

So I decided to give MAC polish another try.  This time it was Dry Martini, a olive/army green/brown color.  In certain lights it looks greener, in others it looks browner.  It was raining outside so I had to take this photo in my bathroom which shows the browner side.  I hated the formula.  It was streaky and a pain to work with.  This was 3 coats with Seche Vite top coat.   The wear time sucked also, chipped by day 2.  I had to keep touching it up.  I finally gave up on Day 4 and removed it.  I own one more MAC polish and I hope that it does better than the last two.  What's on your nails this week?

NARS Taos Blush-The Perfect Rose Color

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Manicure Mondays-Essie Chinchilly

Continuing on with my love for greys, I have been wearing Essie's Chinchilly.  Essie Chinchilly is a granite grey with a brown undertone and hints of lilac.  I love it.  I wore this color for 7 days before it began to chip.  Essie is some of the longest wearing polish that I own.  The formula was a bit then.  I needed 3 coats for opacity.  This is with Seche Vite top coat.  This was a hard to find color.  My two local Ulta's had been sold out for weeks.  I ended up purchasing it from Beauty Brands.  Apparently this is a hot item for the Fall.  This was released in Essie's 2009 Fall collection.  What are you wearing this week?

Rainy Day Chic

It has been rainy and cold (at least Houston version of cold) the last few days and I have had to break out the rainy day gear.  To protect my shoes from the water (shoes are an investment!), I wear rain boots.  But not just plain rain boots, black and white Zebra rain boots.  I absolutely love them!  They go with most of my attire and I get a ton of compliments when I wear them.  I'll put those on instead of my pumps and have my pumps in my work bag to change into once I get into my office.  I wanted a versatile rain coat (not a plastic one) so I chose a chic rain trench coat that is red.  It is perfect for protecting my clothes and can be worn when it's not raining.  Let's face it, who wants to make an arrival in wet, rain spotted clothes!  When I chose my rain gear, I looked for a classic color for my coat and a funky pair of boots.  I knew I would get more wear out of my trench, so I picked fun rain boots. I found a few pieces on the web to show you.

DKNY Belted Rain Trench, $61.99, overstock.com



Chinese Landry Rain Boots, $59.95, zappos.com


What's your rainy day gear?

Manicure Mondays-MAC Bad Fairy

I almost didn't do a post on this polish because it disappointed me so much.  I've been wearing MAC's Bad Fairy, recently released with their Venomous Villains collection.  It is a duo chrome that is magenta, red, and copper, depending on the light.  I liked the color, hated the fact that it chipped so quickly.  I know that MAC polish can be hit or miss when it comes to wear time, but dang.  It chipped on me by the second day!  That is not normal for me.  I normally get about 5 days wear out of my other brands.  For $13 a bottle, I expected better.  I went ahead and touched up the chips and kept wearing it because I liked the color so much.  The formula was thin, needed three coats to be opaque.  This is with Seche Vite top coat.  What are you wearing this week?  Have you had issues with MAC's wear time?