Party Nails

The past holiday weekend, I ventured up to Tahoe for a stay in a massive 6,000 square-foot PARTY MANSION.  I arrived plain-faced and bare-nailed ready for a relaxing weekend in the hot tub, and the boyfriend's crazy cousins were not havin it!  Within 20 minutes of being there, I'd taken 2 shots of vodka, coated my nails with 4 layers of American Apparel's Supernova glitter polish and had cropped a plain white T to make my outfit bottle-service-and-club-ready. 

If you're in the market for a glitter polish, do yourself a favor and check this one out.  I still have it on my nails and it's 5 days old with barely any chips.  Those in the  "glitter polish know" can appreciate that kind of longevity. 

Here's a blurry shot of my nails at their freshest state:

Catch-Up

Given my addiction to both gloss AND procrastination, we've got to play a little game of catch-up :)  The fastest way to do that is to share a snapshot of my Winter (because it sure feels like Winter) faves:

Clockwise from the top: Buxom lipgloss in Jackie, Bare Minerals Prime Time shadow in Sandalwood, Pete's Coffee & Tea Xiao's Blend Tea, Bare Minerals Prime Time shadow in Bronzed Twig, Fusion Beauty cream blush in Bella.

The two cream shadows are part of the "Strike it Rich" 5-piece holiday set from Bare Escentuals.  It's available exclusively at Macy's.  Even though they're both shades of brown, I can't decide which one I like better. But if I had to make a distinction between the two, Sandalwood has more of a romantic light sparkle to it, while Bronzed Twig is a darker, more polished matte.

Here's Sandalwood up close and far:

Here's Bronzed Twig up close and far:

I'm still SUPER addicted to Buxom glosses.  They're formulated so perfectly that they double as  gloss and chap stick for me.  My go-to Winter gloss for sure.  "Jackie" is a cool pink shade with very subtle shimmer.  My cheeks are dressed in "Bella," a pink-mauve shade, from Fuscion Beauty.  This blush goes on smoothly and layers on top of foundation with no issues at all.  It was also on sale at Nordstrom for the (almost painful!) price of $7.50.  The line is going out of business and clearing out its inventory everywhere, so hop on this if you haven't already! 

Here's a better look at my gloss, my blush and my puppy!

Give it to me Straight

On the eve of yet another job transition, I thought I should freshen up my look to get into the spirit of "new beginnings."  (And to make it so that peeps stop short and say, 'Wow, check out the hair on the new girl!')  Thanks to a killer deal from Living Social, I got a Brazillian Blowout at Brandon Hair Studio in SF.  I'm happy with the results, but the 48-hour wait before washing my hair is KILLING ME. 

Anywho, here are my before & after shots.  The before shots are pretty gnarly:

After!  My ends still look a little frizzy in this shot, but I can assure you they've smoothed out.  I don't even recongnize my own head.  And the BF says it looks like I'm wearing a wig!

After my appointment, I went straight to Happy Hour to celebrate a good friend's birthday and my new 'do.





Blue Jean Lashes

If there's anything I love as much as gloss, it's lashes (and highlighters and bronzers and serums and ...)  On a recent trip to The Company Store in San Francisco, I discovered a set of lashes by MAC I've never tried before, #33's.  I took one look at those badboys and knew they were the lash equivalent of a perfectly-fitting pair of jeans.  There's nothing crazy about them, but they hang on you just right and pull your outfit together effortlessly and quickly.

To show you what these look like on, I had to take a series of those embarrassing self portraits a la the teeny boppers and wannabe strippers on MySpace ... don't you judge me! 

Summer in the Hamptons

If you're anything like me, sunshine is your antidote to gloomy moods, too much work and general cranky pantsy-ness.  But it's also an annoying source of heat rashes when coupled with gobs of thick, smelly sunblock.

Which is why I'm developing a mild obsession with Hampton Sun's line of products.  They help you maintain standard levels of sun worship while protecting you under a silky-light, yummy-smelling SPF.  Their spray on gel is the biz-nazz, and my second order of it just came in yesterday:

SPF gel on your right, their Privet Bloom fragrance on your left.  All of their products have the same great fragrance (except for their face stuff, which is unscented), and I love it so much that I HAD to order the eau de toilette.

I will be sporting both products all summer long!

Still Addicted

Feels like a lifetime since I've hit "new post!!"  But between a little breathing room at work and inspiration from newbie blogging buddies, I've found some motivation.  Whatever I lagged in blogging, I made up for in purchasing (shocking, I know).  Below are a few of the goodies I acquired in my hiatus.

You'll be happy to know I'm still addicted to gloss, and lately, I'm addicted to a specific brand.  Buxom has been rocking my world with their line of sheer, shimmery, minty lip polishes.  Feels like they infuse my lips with actual superhero powers.  The latest addition to my Buxom collection is the Fashion Show ... & Tell set.  For $29, you get 7 mini tubes of the good stuff.  All in wearable shades (and I know this word is relative, but trust me).

Just to prove how wearable they are, here's Sugar (it's the color on your far left, above).

Buxom also has a line of fun cream eyeshadows that are all named after dogs.  I love cream shadows and I'm a crazy dog lady, so this one was a no-brainer.  The shade below is "mutt."  It's a super glittery taupe that clings to your lid all day long.  Mutt is accompanied by Sonia Kashuk's eye liner palette, NARS blush in Angelica and Ecotool's blush brush.

To take it all off, I'm loving Yes to Cucumbers facial towelettes.  They smell awesome and are excellent at removing stubborn mascara, cream shadows with staying power and layers of concealer, bronzer, highlighter and blush.  AND they don't leave a weird residue on my skin like other towelettes do.  I've also fallen back in love with Neutrogena's Deep Clean Invigorating foaming scrub.   This is a blast from my 8th grade past, but since I'm older and wiser now, I don't use it on my face - I use it on my body.  I go through like one a week.  It feels that amazing! 

I've sincerely missed this!  Talk to you soon (:

NARS Pampa/Stolen Kisses Duo

Knowing full-well that I shouldn't, I paid Sephora a visit over that crucial week before Christmas.  I had all my presents pretty much bought, my beauty presents DEFINITELY bought, so me and my debit card were just askin' for trouble.  Luckily, the store was in such a state of disarray that I manged to leave with just a few items, including this $10 steal from NARS - a Pampa/Stolen Kisses stain/gloss duo.

Isn't she gorgeous?! 

Stolen Kisses is a beautiful nude gloss that matches perfectly with the color of my lips - so it's me to the max. Could be my imagination, but the gloss consistency in this duo feels thinner than your average NARS gloss, though it provides just as much color.  

Pampa is a deep red-bronze stain that I'll save for outings that call for an edgier me.  It's one step down from the brownish red that was crazy popular when I was in high school, so bonus points for nostalgia.  It almost makes up for how drying this formula is. 

Stolen Kisses.

Pampa.