OPI Sheer Tint in Be Magentale with Me

I'm always keeping my eyes open for pretty, light nail polish shades for every day wear for work. I spotted the new OPI Sheer Tints Top Coats and had to buy the pinkish-red Be Magentale with Me shade. In the bottle, it reminded me so much of a fun nail polish I had when I was younger.

I LOVE this polish as a quick go-to polish that will go with every outfit. I've seen other bloggers put 3-4 coats on it to make it more opaque, but I like the sheer look with my white tips coming through (this is right after I had my son, and the prenatal vitamins were still working overtime...such long nails!). Pictured is just two coats over my natural nail. It's such a elegant, clean look. I use this polish all the time! 

What do you think? Do you like the look of this sheer polish? Or would you be more likely to wear it over a color coat?

Updated post: I can't find this color online any longer! Here's a close duplicate I found.

Beauty School Pedicures

Even though the weather is turning colder, I'm still holding on to summer clothes and colors. Here's a nice summery color for nails, Spa Ritual in Last Tango. 

I picked this polish up when my friend and I got pedicures at the Douglas J Aveda Institute in Ann Arbor. I love going to the beauty school for pedicures. The way I look at it, I'm just helping a student get their hours to graduate!

In the express pedicure, they do the normal pedicure foot soak, nail polish removal, shaping, cuticle care, buffing, exfoliation and lotion massage.When I got in the chair the student gave me a neck pillow that smelled so good I've been on the hunt for the scent ever since. After polishing the student then has to have his/her instructor come over and check out their work.

In my experience, the students are usually a little nervous, but always very friendly and careful. And I feel like they pay special attention to detail because their instructor has to look over everything. The take a little bit longer than normal pedicures (I would block off at least 1.5 hours of time), but honestly, I don't care at all. To me, it's just extra time to relax! 

At the Aveda Institute it's $32 for an express pedicure, and you get to keep your polish. They use to have OPI but have since switched to SpaRitual, which I really like. They have a strict policy against no tipping, but this may not apply to all schools, so I would highly suggest asking when you book your appointment.

Have you ever went to a beauty school for a manicure, pedicure or hair service? If so, what did you think?

Zoya Nail Polish Stunning Collection

Loving Zoya nail polish Sunning Summer 2013 collection. Fun, bright colors for fingers and toes. From top left, going clockwise, the colors are:

Darcy - Bright, yellow (good for future Michigan games!)
Thandie - A creamy orange
Josie - A tealish-green
Rocky - Love the name as much as the color. Will look pretty on toes and paired with denim
Yana - A bright reddish-pink. Another good one for toes
Micky - My favorite from the collection. A Pretty coral-pink that will go with most everything.

For each swatch I did a base coat with two color coats and a quick dry top coat. I always have great wear with Zoya nail polish, lasting in good condition for 3-4 days, and minor touch ups needed after that.

You can purchase these (and many other colors!) from Zoya.com. You can purchase the entire set in a sampler kit for $48 or buy them individually for $8 a pop.

Note: This review includes products that I received as samples, provided by the brand company or a PR rep. Please click here for more information regarding my disclaimer.

Gelish Nail Polish - 7 days later

It's been a full week since I got a Gelish manicure - so far so good! Check out my previous picture and post. No chips, as you can tell from this picture, just new nail growth. It's starting to lift a bit off the sides, but if I don't pick at it, you can't tell.

Props to Gelish - and here's to a new option for a long lasting gel manicures!

Gelish Gel Nail Polish

One of the MANY things I love about NYC is that the manicures and pedicures are so super cheap. Today I decided to let someone else 'Shellac' my nails. Usually I do themselves or my bestie Tina does them, but since she's a few states over, I thought I would let the nail salon do it. I'm traveling this week so I wanted to not have to worry about my nails. The salon did have Shellac, but I opted for this Gelish nail polish in Pink Smoothie.

Looks a lot like Shellac Romantique. Gelish had a ton of colors to choose from which was appealing to me. The nail tech said she never had any complains with Gelish. I'll be the judge of that!

I'll keep everyone updated on how it holds up!

Super Bowl Sunday Manicure

Not into the Super Bowl? You're not alone. I'll be 'half' watching the game with friends, mainly tuning into commercials and the half time show. If you'll be partially tuning in, why don't you multitask and take care of your tips. Give yourself a fun DIY mani! Maybe paint them your team's colors? Mine would be black and yellow for tomorrow's game (Go Steelers!).




Manicure tips:
1) Remove old nail polish completely
2) File those nails! I like to keep them square, personally. A trick my friend Tina told me is to make sure you don't 'saw' them, going back and forth with the file, instead, file just one way, for example, right to left, it's better for the nail.
3) Buff'em! I like the 3 way buffer from Sally Beauty by Tropical Shine and the Lil' Whistler, which is easy to use because of it's shape.
4) Apply cuticle oil (I love Handbag Holiday and CND Solar Oil) and then soak the nails in warm, soapy water. Make sure to use a fun scented soap, dime size amount of your favorite body wash :)
5) Dry of your hands and push back cuticles gently with an orange wood stick or cuticle stick
6) Wash off cuticle oil (nail polish does not go over cuticle oil well) and make sure to lightly scrub over nails. You can use an exfoliater as well, to remove dead skin cells. Try Reversital as an exfoliater, helps hands look younger. Also works on elbows and removing self tanning mistakes :)
7) Base coat time, try Poshe 4-in-1 Treatment Base Coat
8) 1-2 coats of color (usually 2, unless you're using Avon, which goes on really well with just one). Make sure to wait at least 4-5 minutes in between coats, or else your nails will remain really sticky. Pictured to the right is Spa Ritual in Enlightened.
9) Top coat - I like Barielle's No-Chip Speed Dry
10) Now don't touch anything for 30 minutes! Well, maybe a small little Super Bowl snack, but be careful not to smudge'em!

A really good manicure kit that contains everything you need for a salon equivalent DIY is Ms. Manicure's Handy Dandy Mani contains everything you'll need to make your tips pretty.

Shellac Manicure - Day 13

Amazing! Day 13 with my Shaellac manicure. Still no chips. You can tell int he picture that its grown out a bit, but not to the point where it looks bad.

I heard that in NY these manicures can run up to $80...that's too much. Great thing about living in the midwest...$25 for a Shellac manicure, and worth every cent!

CND Shellac Update

Shellac day 8...no chips, smudging or peeling. A little grown out, but other than that, it still looks like a fresh manicure. I have a bad habit of not wearing gloves when I wash dishes and I went swimming twice, and it's still super shiny. I love it!

Welcome to Atlanta...

If Atlanta had a facebook page, I'd want to be friends with it. I had an amazing weekend in the ATL with my husband and friends. Congratulations to Brian & Melissa who got married!

I couldn't go to fashionable Atlanta without a few cosmetic necessities...

It's currently 60ish degrees in Michigan, and 80 in Atlanta, I couldn't show up with my white legs! I got a spray tan at Sncroniz Salon in Brighton, MI before I left. This was my second one. I'm not sure what brand they use but it turned out fairly natural looking, especially after I showered twice.

My feet were looking a little orange from the spray tan, but that was taken care of when we went for pedi's at Sugarcoat, a nail and beauty bar in Buckhead. As my Atlanta travel guide said, if Barbie had a salon, it would look like this. The girls working were ultra friendly and fun, and loved to chat and gossip. The pedicure was relaxing, and not only did they take care of my spray tan orange toes, but they mixed up a Barbie-colored paint for me, using two different Essie shades.

Instead of splurging on a manicure that would probably chip in two days, I went for the KISS Everlasting French Manicure glue on nails in petite length. Perfect length, and lasted 4 full days (I decided to remove them today). I got a ton of compliments on them, even at the nail salon, they couldn't believe I did them myself! When I purchased them at CVS it came with an instant save coupon!The day of the wedding I touched up my tan with Nature's Gate Sunless Tanning lotion. I was interested in trying this one out specifically because it contained Olive Oil. It worked well, and didn't turn me orange. It's a good buy at $8.99 (available in stores May/June).
I came prepared for humidity with Profound Beauty's Desert Texture Spray. I LOVE this stuff. I had the best hair weekend thanks to this product. After blowing dry my hair, I sprayed this on and then used my flat iron.

It really doesn't have a smell to it, and it's super light and doesn't weigh down my hair. Even though it's an aerosol, the powders it contains absorbs oil and left my hair with a matte finish. I love this product. It's a great investment for anyone who lives in a humid area (calling all you Floridians out there!). I'd say a little goes a long way. $31 is expensive, but if you live in an ultra humid area, totally worth the investment. P.S. My mom is in love with Profound Beauty's Desert Sand as well. Same concept, protects your hair from humidity.

Miss you at Atlanta!

Note: This review includes products that I received as samples, provided by the brand company or a PR rep. Please click here for more information regarding my disclaimer.

Pampered at AvaShay

I was feeling in need of some pampering last weekend and scheduled an appointment at AvaShay in Brighton, MI. Diane, the owner, creates a pampering environment with a mix of modern and shabby chic decor. I've always been greeted with an offer for a glass of wine...my kind of pampering.
For color, Diane used OPI She's Golden and then OPI Hong Kong Collection Pearl of Wisdom as a second coat of color. The pairing of these two colors turned out super pearly white...it was really pretty! She used Hot Dry as a top coat and then put my nails under a UV light. The manicure lasted about 5 days.

OPI Hong Kong Collection - Super brigh colors, perfect for toes in the Summer.

Salon Break - Blow Dry Salon in NYC

You may have read on a previous post that I recently visited New York City for work. While I was there I had it in my mind that I wanted to get a manicure in a trendy NYC salon. I did my research and found out that Blow Dry Salon was one block over from my office, and they opened at 8am...perfect! I made an appointment that same day for 8:30am. I was in desperate need of a good manicure.

Blow is known as New York City's premiere 'blow dry bar.' The first salon opened in February 2006, in NYC's meatpacking district, and since then there has been one additional salon opened. In October 2006, they launched their own line of hair care products. The Blow Dry Bar offers, cuts, colors, shampoos, 'blow drys,' eye brow waxing, manis, pedis and makeup application. The decor was airy white and pink, which was super cute and so NYC. I loved that the hair stylists' stands weren't cluttered with junk, and the floor was clean as far back as I could see.

The manicure I received was great, although it was a little uncomfortable since I had to sit in a hair styling chair, and not a manicure table. I picked out Essie's 'My Private Cabana' for my nails and had to buy the color afterwords because I loved it so much. She topped it off with Essie's speed dry drops and I was out the door and on time for work!

TO DO IN NYC:
Get manicure from unique, ultra trendy NYC salon....CHECK!