Manicure Mondays-Love & Beauty Nude

With all of the working I've been doing lately, I wanted a no fuss, low maintenance color.  And what's more low maintenance than a nude color.  Love & Beauty's Nude is a peachy nude.  In some lights, it looks more pastel on me than nude.  It has very subtle silver shimmer running through it.  The formula was a little hard to work with.  I used two coats for opacity, though I could have used three to even it out.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Out the Door top coat.  It's still on my nails after 3 days with only minor tip wear.

On a completely different note, I just finished the Hunger Games series and OMG!  Incredible!  I highly recommend these books!

Sleek Pomegranate Blush

I recently had the opportunity to do a swap with BeautybyJJ in the U.K.  The last swap that we did, I had received some Sleek products and was really impressed.  So I requested some more.  Among the items she sent me was Sleek's Pomegranate blush.  It is a lovely raspberry color with a shimmer finish.  And by shimmer, I don't mean glittery.  It just gives off a nice sheen to where a separate highlighter is not needed.  The staying power is normal, lasting about 6 hours on my oily skin before starting to fade.  And it is highly pigmented so a lite hand is recommended.  As you know Sleek is very inexpensive with this blush costing $6.99.  I highly recommend their products!

Manicure Mondays-Color Club Pretty In Platinum

Color Club's Pretty In Platinum is a greyed silver and has very fine shimmer particles.  After wearing the bright red last week, I wanted something a little less "in your face".  The formula was slightly thick, needing two coats to achieve opacity.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Out The Door top coat.  The color is still on my nails and it is day 4.  So far, no chips and minor tip wear.  These days, I barely have time to change my polish, so I appreciate a manicure that will last.

I'm Still Here...

I've been working like a crazy person lately as it is my busy season and I work 60+ hours a week.  Usually Sunday is my only day off.  I'm really trying to stay on top of blogging but when I get home, I'm simply tired.  Please bare with me with the sporadic posts. Only 4 more weeks until my busy season is over!

Manicure Mondays-Essie Lacquered Up

After wearing Essie's Shine Of The Times last week, I opted for a more classic manicure.  And nothing is more classic than red.  Essie's Lacquered Up is a tomato red cream polish.  It only needed two coats for opacity.  It wore well, lasting 5 days without chipping.  I used CND Stickey base coat and Out The Door top coat.  It was my first time using this top coat, and so far so good.

Swap Haul #2 With BeautyByJJ

NARS Makeup Removing Water

I've been unhappy with my makeup removing wipes lately.  I felt they weren't "wet" enough and they took too much elbow grease to remove my makeup.  I'd always been curious about cleansing waters but hadn't had a chance to try one.  So when I heard that NARS had released a cleansing water, I jumped.

According to NARS, it's a soap-free, alcohol-free water that removes face makeup and tones the skin.

Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Peg/Ppg-35/40 Dimethyl Ether, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Trisodium Edta, Cucumis Sativus [Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract], Chamomilla Recutita [Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract], Sodium Hyaluronate.

I soak two cotton balls with it and place them over my eyes for about 20 seconds, then I gently wiggle them before wiping.  And my eye makeup is gone, no joke.  No mascara, no eyeliner, no eyeshadow, GONE!  I then turn over both cotton balls and wipe the remainder of my face makeup off.  Now I don't wear water-proof mascara, so I don't know how it fairs against it, but with regular mascara, it cuts right through it.

Afterward, my face is left feeling clean, yet hydrated.  It's wonderful I tell you.  The only caveat is the price, $28 for 6.7 oz.  OUCH!  Much more than my $6 makeup removing wipes.  But it's NARS, you expect a price point like that from NARS.

If you can splurge, I recommend it!  It's available at nars. com, NARS counters, and, Sephora.