A Mini-Mercier

Hey, guys!  Are you happy it's the weekend?  You know I am.  Don't have a lot of plans, but I may hook up with some friends.  Or spend the weekend playing in makeup.  Speaking of makeup, has anyone tried this one yet?  It's the newest foundation from Laura Mercier called Smooth Finish.  I hadn't heard a lot about it, but recently received a mini version of it and I must say that my interest has been piqued.

Smooth Finish Foundation Powder is an oil-free foundation that's infused with skin conditioning goodies like Vitamin E and shea butter.  It's finely milled and can be used wet or dry, with the former allowing for buildable coverage and the latter allowing for sheer to medium coverage.

My maxi mini-sample came with a sponge, which sat separate in the box, but will come tucked in the bottom of the compact when buying the full-sized version.   The compact comes equipped with a mirror as well.

In receiving my sample, I chose the darkest out of the three shades offered, but obviously it's not going to be dark enough to use as a foundation on me.  So, I plan on using it as a highlighting powder for contouring my face.  But the good thing about Smooth Finish is that it comes in twenty shades.  Twenty!  Therefore, finding a fitting match to your skin tone will be more successful than not if you're so inclined to give it a go.

I'm kinda excited to see how this will work on me, especially when worn wet.  Sounds promising.  I'll keep you guys posted!

Laura Mercier Smooth Finish Foundation can be found at Sephora and retails for $45/0.3oz.

Adventures in Toe Painting

I'm a DIY girl at heart.  So when it comes to manis and pedis, I really don't have a problem with pulling out the polishes and doing the work myself.  I've been slipping on my toe game as of recent; been rocking sneakers more often than not and when I have donned sandals, it's just been a plain, uni-colored set of ten toes.  But this weekend I wanted to step it up a little... so I did.  Now, needless to say, I'm no professional.  My artwork is no Bearden or Matisse and it's FAR from perfect, but I'd like to think it's still wearable.  Presentable.  So here we go:

I grabbed a bunch of colors that might work well together, including China Glaze's Black Diamond (reviewed here) as the main color and Essie's flesh colored Fed Up as the base for the big toe.

I don't have the professional manicurist brushes, but I have bogarted the thin brushes that came in the set of cheapo nail art polishes I found on sale a while ago at Sally's Beauty Supply.  These will help me do the line work in the design.

After painting my toes in Black Diamond and Essie (big toe), I took a gold polish (Revlon's Gold Rush) and made three fat lines (almost like a "W") starting from the bottom corner.

Next, I put three red dashes (Revlon Red) in the middle of the gold swipes.

I then outlined the red and gold in black shaped "petals" using the thin nail brush.

Then I went a tad bit crazy and added some sprouting black lines from in between the gold petals and a few black dots.  For the inner-middle of the flower, I put a dab of white in the very corner.

And finally, for a dash of sparkle and extra "oomph", I enlisted the help of Boom Boom Pow by Deborah Lippmann and carefully added it to the gold petals.  A clear top coat concluded the designing session.

Pretty simple, huh?  Again, mistakes and errors abound in my improvised design, but hey... I like it!  It's far from boring and you can only see my hiccups if your eyeballs are literally on top of feet.  And it's seriously not that serious to be doing all that.  Besides, I will get better with more practice.  But for now, I'm quite happy with my gold flowers.

So am I the only novice who likes to experiment from time to time and be creative with her pedicure?  Can't be!  Where are all my DIYers?  If you're in the house, be proud!  Raise your hands - and toes - and get to paintin'! 

Taking A Shine to 17

Get your brushes ready, guys.  Here's another good one to add to your ever growing eyeshadow collection.  I've got a light green beauty that I'd love to share with you if you're not already familiar.  It's from Inglot, it's an AMC Shine... and it's #17.

17 is an awesome seafoam green with subtle flecks of yellow-gold pearl.  It is robust with color, soft to the touch and performs well on the eye, lasting all day on me with no fading while wearing a primer underneath.  The finish is considered a "Shine", which in Inglot-speak is a frost.

Packed with pigmented goodness, opaque coverage is easily achieved in just one swipe.  I'm loving this as an "accent" shadow in the middle of the lid, surrounded by a darker green.  Or perhaps in an ombré look across the eye...  

So, if you're looking to expand the lineup of greens in your makeup stash and don't already have a shade akin to this lovely one, it may be worth your while to give this one a peek.  It's a fabulous frost that would complement any beauty's collection. 

Inglot 17 is available at their boutique stores as well as select Macy's, and retails for $6.

Going Hollywood

You know, sometimes you just need a good nip and tuck to make everything look better.  But I'm not talking about plastic surgery.  Rather, I'm referring to some items that help to keep your clothes in place,  your "nips" tucked away and - ultimately - edit the look and fit of an outfit to your utmost benefit.  So, keeping that in mind, I picked up a couple of items from Hollywood Fashion Secrets, namely their ever-popular Hollywood Fashion Tape.

I've used double-sided tape before to help close a gap on an ill-fitting blouse, but the one I used was thick and not very sticky.  Hollywood Fashion Tape is quite the opposite as it is a thin and narrow strip that can be used discreetly to cure a long list of fashion fit errors.

The self-adhesive strips come thirty-six to a box and have easy-to-peel backings that can be accessed from either side.

The tape itself is clear and very tacky, so it would be best to pull away one side of the backing, place the tape in the preferred area of the garment THEN peel off the remaining backing to avoid it sticking helplessly to your fingers... or other places.

I also picked up a sample of their Tag Tamers, which are self-adhesive covers that go over pesky tags found in your collar or other parts of your clothing that may be bothersome or cause discomfort.

For this sampler, there were two sets of two different sizes provided in the box.  I normally don't have a problem with the tags in my clothing, but will definitely try these out and put them to good use.

Along with these items, Hollywood Fashion Secrets offers a slew of additional products that aid in making you look and feel more put together.  From breast lifters to underarm sweat concealers, they've got you covered so, in turn, you won't find yourself UNcovered and exposed.  

Hollywood Fashion Tape can be found at hollywoodfashionsecrets.com and various drug stores, including CVS and Walgreens, and retails for 8.99.

Barbie Loves Frankie

It was a night she would hardly soon forget.  She had counted down the days on her wall calendar with red X's until the date finally arrived.  And now that it's here she could barely contain her excitement.  Ol' Blue Eyes himself had a concert date at the local theater and Barbie, determined to finally see her music idol in person, had a date with destiny.

And so with much fanfare, Frank Sinatra made his way on stage and quickly started serenading the frenzied crowd of teenaged girls with one of his most recent hits.  It was a song that was readily familiar to all the girls as they passionately mouthed along with the crooner, which was a good thing since with all the screaming you could barely make out a lick of the lyrics.

Success looked good on the skinny kid from Hoboken.  Decked out in his signature bow tie...

a houndstooth, single-breasted jacket with pocket square, wool V-neck sweater...

charcoal gray wool pants and wing-tipped Oxfords, Sinatra proved to be quite the Dapper Dan from the top of his head to the soles of his toes.

Then it happened.  About the third or so song in, that's when he noticed a young bobby-soxer swaying back and forth in perfect time with the melody.  When he smiled at her, she returned an even bigger smile back.  And with one swift motion, he stretched out his hand and gently pulled a bewildered Barbie on stage with him.

Well, she could hardly believe her fortune!  Here she was, Barbara Millicent Roberts, standing shoulder to shoulder with her music idol!  What should she do?  Gee willikers, what could she do but act as cool as she possibly could.

With her flipped pageboy held securely in place by a ribbon hairband and simple makeup, she was dressed in her bobby-soxer best, including simple pearl earrings and necklace...

pleated plaid skirt with matching jacket...

rolled down white bobby socks and brand new, scuff-free penny loafers, which she really wanted to jump out of due to the overwhelming excitement she was feeling.  But alas, she didn't want to appear to be a square, so she remained cool.

He continued to sing, looking intently in her eyes without breaking his stare.

And she continued to swoon.

He even offered her the mic so she could join along in part of the song, but being the shy teen she was, Barbie politely declined.

And so there she was, on stage with the one and only Frank Sinatra.  Instantly, she was the envy of every screaming, crying teenage girl that filled the venue that night...

and of every teenage girl that had the misfortune of missing the much anticipated concert and having to make do with reading about it and Barbie's exploits in the newspaper the next day instead.

"Gosh, what a night!" Barbie scrawled in her pink flowered diary. 

And underneath the textbook penmanship of that last entry, she took her ballpoint pen and drew a huge heart, which she then carefully wrote deep inside of it - "Barbie Loves Frankie".

Blue My Mind

I've done blue nails before, but this is a different shade of blue.  It's a bright, awesome lacquer that I added to my collection with no hesitation because, well... I just can't resist bold colors.   So, without further delay, let's chew the fat a little about OPI's Blue My Mind.

Blue My Mind is a deep, but bright royal blue.  It has a great glossy finish and applied without any bubbles or streaking.  In order to achieve opaque coverage, I did find that three coats were required.  After that, my vivid blue nails lasted pretty much the whole week on my busy hands.

This paired with a bright yellow or neon green accent nail (ring finger, perhaps) would look pretty cool, don't you think?  Or maybe an alabaster white with a few stones running down the middle... Or even a black and white zebra pattern would be dope...  Yesss...

So what do you think?  Yes?  No?  Would you rock an electric blue mani (or pedi) to round out the summer month?  Well, if you have an affinity for color like I do, I think this one may be right up your alley.

OPI Blue My Mind is available at Ulta and retails for $9.