Jenna Hipp What's Hot Now Nail Collection

Celebrity manicurist Jenna Hipp is back with the launch of a nail color collection featuring 12 of the hottest colors of the spectrum. The collection is available exclusively at Costco, and at Jenna Hipp's website for $14.99. Love the colors!

Kate Spade Saturday Inspired Nails

If you couldn't tell from this post, I'm pretty obsessed with Saturday, the newest line from Kate Spade. The pieces are bright, affordable and just downright happy - and the prints are so fun! My current favorites are the splatter and sampler prints, and I thought they would make for a cute Spring mani. I wanted to imitate the splatter print, but I used the colors of the sampler print for inspiration. I used a Sally Hansen white base coat, and all of my favorite bright colors from Wet n Wild, Julep and Revlon for the dots, making sure to overlap them for that paint splattered look.

Happy Friday!

Weekend Mani: Neon Striped

As I type this, I'm looking out of my window at the large snow flurries hitting the ground. Yes, snow flurries! Spring, where are you? It seems so long ago, but the taste of warm weather last week motivated me to surround myself with bright, pretty, things. I knew I wanted to use my new favorite neon polish from Orly, called Hot Shot, but I also wanted to try my Nail Rock strips (from last month's Glossybox here). A few coats later, I now have the brightest nails!

 On another note, I've been staring at these gorgeous photos all day long. What's better than staring at flowers during a snowstorm? >.<

photos via

Runway Nails with Sally Hansen

The Runway is a constant source of inspiration for nail trends, and the Spring 2013 shows from NYFW were no exception. The Spring season is my favorite beauty-wise, and I always swoon over the bright colors and patterns that are seen on the models backstage. This season I fell absolutely in love with the nail art seen on the models at Creatures of the Wind. When Sally Hansen asked me to create a nail look using inspiration from the runway, I already had this look in mind! I liked how intricate the pattern looked, but I knew it would be easy to customize and make as subtle or as funky as I wanted.

photo via

Off I went to Walgreens to pick up a few Sally Hansen goodies to re-create the look. The Walgreens I visited in the Empire State Building had an wide selection of Sally Hansen products, but I chose the most vibrant colors that reminded me of Spring (for more on what I found in-store, check out my Google+ album here). I also made sure to use my Balance Rewards card to rack up points for my future purchases - I saw a few other nail colors I need to add to my collection soon. Walgreens is having a BOGO 50% on Insta-Dri polish and Salon Effects through 3/30, and you will receive 2000 Balance Reward points if you buy two between 3/10-3/16. Needless to say, I'm stocking up soon.

I chose 4 of the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear colors (2 shown below, excluding white and pink), and a Neon Pink nail art pen. I knew I wanted to use colors similar to the inspiration photo in my design, but I wanted a more subtle look. Nail art can be both fun and wearable, and I definitely wanted my design to reflect that. 

Weekend Mani: Spring Dots

I haven't played with my dotting tools in a while, so I thought I'd do a quick mani using a few Spring polishes. I used a sheer shade as a base, and I really like the combination of the mint green and cantaloupe colors. 

What I Used:

Revlon Base Coat (not shown)

Wet n Wild - 2% Milk (as a base)

NCLA - Poolside Party, All Eyes on Me

Wet n Wild - I Need a Refresh-Mint

Revlon Top Coat (not shown)

Dotting Tool 

Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss - Will it Last 7 Days?

I'm insanely hard on my nails - they're already fragile and prone to peeling and chipping, so my manicures tend to last only about a good 3-4 days before they begin to look haggard. By the end of the week, my nails often look as though I've been in a fight. I've been using the OPI Matte Nail Envy for a while, and my nails are a bit better, but my nail color continues to suffer. So when I spotted the Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss (what a name!), I had to give it the 7-day test. Cover Girl promises up to 7 days of glossy color, and each color includes a top coat. Out of the 45(!) shades, I picked Vio-Last, a pretty purple creme. The formula is smooth and easy to apply, and I didn't use a base or top coat.

But will it last for 7 days on my nails? We shall see. I'll be updating next week with my review!

Update: Below are my nails 8 days later, and I'm definitely impressed! Aside from obvious nail growth and tip wear, the color really held up. I'm off to change my color now, but I will be buying more of these Outlast colors. Highly recommend them!

Julep Ultimate Bombshell Nail Colors

When Julep asked me to pick the Ultimate Style Profile that most matched my style, Bombshell was my first choice.  The Ultimate Bombshell includes three colors I'm currently obsessed with, so I it was a definite no-brainer.

Donna is described as a smokey peacock blue-green, Boris & Nicole an autumn red-brown frost, and Viola is a deep, dark purple green. These colors are so perfect for Winter, and so pretty on the nails! If you'd like to purchase these colors (or any others), Julep is offering my readers 20% off any purchase of $20 or more with the code VIP20.

Weekend Mani: Sequin Sparkle

I fell in love with Olivia Wilde's Marchesa sequined gown the first time I saw it at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards. The moment I saw the new Revlon Sequins* nail color, I knew it would be perfect to use for this inspired mani!

Weekend Mani: GoldenEye

I cannot stop staring at my nails. This beautiful shade, GoldenEye, from the OPI Skyfall collection is the best of the bunch. I initially bought the mini Bondettes set, but had to go back for the full-sized bottle of GoldenEye. All of the shades are pretty, but GoldenEye is the must-have. It goes on like liquid gold, dries smoothly, and is the stunning in natural light. Be prepared though, women will grab your hands and ask you what you're wearing.

Alexa Chung's Leather-Effect Nails

At first glance, Alexa Chung seemed to be rocking a plain, matte-black manicure at the British Fashion Awards. But according to her Twitter, she was actually wearing the now sold out leather-effect nail color from Nails Inc. I wasn't too crazy about the suede-effect trend, but I'm curious to see how this would look and feel on the nails. If you're interested, sign up for the waitlist here, and be notified when the leather-effect polish is in stock.

Would you try Alexa's leather nails?

Holiday Gift Guide | For Beauty Lovers

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, but there's still plenty of shopping to do! Next up in my Holiday Gift Guide is everything the beauty lover on your list (including me!) would want. My favorite things on the list are the new Deborah Lippmann nail color in "Cleopatra in New York", and a subscription to the one of the best beauty boxes (GlossyBox),  but these are all gifts that will score you major points with the women in your life.

Start Shopping!

Urban Decay Vice Palette

MAC 'Guilty Passions' Nicely Nude Gift Set

Deborah Lippmann 'Cleopatra in New York" Nail Lacquer

GlossyBox Beauty Subscription

NARS 'Andy Warhol' Beautiful Darling Gift Set

Weekend Mani: Dotted

While shopping my nail color stash, I came across my favorite red from Butter London, and I knew I wanted to do a fun mani after Black Friday Shopping. I also picked up a gorgeous gold color from NY&CO while shopping, and it was the perfect match for the little polka dots I had in mind. I think I'll be wearing this combination for a while. So holiday ready, don't you think?

What I Used:

Butter London Nail Color in Pillar Box Red

NY&CO Nail Color in Millionaire

Butter London Matte Finish Topcoat

Dotting Tool

Maybelline Color Show Sequins in Sapphire Masquerade

I finally got my hands on two of the Limited Edition Maybelline Color Show Sequins colors I posted about here. I love the Color Show polishes (in fact, they're some of the best drugstore polishes), and the Sequins variety are no different. I'm in love with this richly saturated blue shade with purple glitter, and I think it's perfect if you like to layer your nail colors. With one coat, you can achieve a sheer topcoat effect, while with 3 coats (seen below) you get an opaque effect.

Have you tried any of the Limited Edition Color Show Sequins? Which is your favorite shade?

DIY Gold Leaf Topcoat (Rococo and Zoya Inspired)

As much as I love this Rococo 24kt Gold Leaf topcoat, I don't love the $48 price tag.  Zoya also has a similar topcoat coming out soon, but I couldn't justify spending that much on a small bottle of nail polish. So I thought I'd try to create my own with just a couple of ingredients.

Rococo Topcoat

I bought a couple of baggies of gold leaf flakes from eBay (this seller was only 99 cents each!), and added them to my Julep Quick-Dry Topcoat. Here are my results:

I used my new topcoat over a current favorite nail color of mine from Revlon called Rain Forest. Rain Forest is a gorgeous, deep emerald green color with gold glitter. I thought the gold leaf would be amazing paired with this green, and I love the result. I applied quite a lot for a chunkier gold effect, but you can add as little as you like.

A few tips:

- If you have trouble picking up the glitter on your brush straight from the bottle, you can also sprinkle some of the gold flakes onto paper and pick them up with a wet brush.

- To get a smooth finish, you want to make sure the gold flakes lay flat on to the nail.

- I used about half a bag of the gold flakes, and depending on how big your clear polish is, you can use more or less.

If you try this DIY, I'd love to see it! Comment below with a link to your blog post, tweet me a pic, or leave a pic on my Facebook page!

P.S. Have you entered my C. Wonder giveaway?

Red Lace Mani: butterLondon x Sally Hansen Salon Effects

 I was a little bored with my current butterLondon mani Pillar Box Red mani (nail art withdrawal, maybe?) so I decided to add a little something to the my tips with the Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips in Laced Up.

The strips were a little tricky to cut into my nail shape since my nails are rather small, but I love the final result!

OPI Launching Outrageous Neons

Can you believe this is OPI's first collection of neon nail polish? Keeping in-step with the huge trend, the nail brand is launching a mini pack of neon polish that will include a neon white base coat, an OPI Top Coat and four limited edition neon shades: Ridiculously Yellow, Formidably Orange, Riotously Pink and Seriously Purple. 

For the best effect, OPI suggests using one coat of neon white base coat, two coats of neon lacquer and one coat of OPI Top coat for a serious glow. 

You can find the Outrageous Neons mini-pack beginning early July 2012 at professional salons, and ULTA stores for $19.95.

I love that neons don't seem to be going anywhere, and I'll definitely be picking up this set!

Style: Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish

It's been awhile since we've seen a completely innovative idea in the world of nail polish. Minx and Sally Hansen aside, there hasn't been a nail trend I've been so curious about. When I saw Nails Inc.'s new magnetic polish I was excited albeit a little confused about how it worked.

Luckily the lovely folks at Sephora demonstrate how to achieve the metallic 3d nail art designs in the video below:

 

Have you tried magnetic polish yet?

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Style: Zoya Nail Color in Cynthia

I admit that I wasn't sure about this color when I first saw it in the Zoya Smoke Collection. From first look, it appears to be an off-black, or a dark grey color. It actuality, it's a deep teal! Like the other colors, it's a high-shine opaque finish, and I love that it's a different shade in every light. I know it will be one of my Fall staples.

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