Green Eyed Girl

It's March! Spring is coming...St. Patrick's Day is around the corner....and I'm running extra miles while training for the half marathon so that means more Shamrock Shakes from McDonald's for me!

 

It's also time to shake up the wardrobe a bit. I've been anxious to get a few new pieces, yet it's still cold enough that I feel like I should be wearing my winter clothes one last time before I have to put them away for the season. I've been working on a different project to freshen up the pieces I already own...they'll be another post about that coming soon.

 

On to this weeks new addiction! One of the many things I love about Sephora is that each year they team up with Pantone to create a line of products based on the Pantone color of the year. I first discovered this last summer after ripping a whole bunch of pictures of tangerine make up out of magazines. I headed to Sephora, armed with my pictures, only to walk in and find a beautiful display filled with every tangerine product you could imagine. Basically making my picture ripping a whole waste of time. So, this week I headed over there excited to see what they had this year in the Pantone color for 2013...Emerald Green.

 

As usual, they were just a little too helpful at Sephora and I ended up leaving with more than I intended on purchasing. The woman who helped me and I came up with the following products to give me lots of options depending on how intensely I want to add green to my make up routine.

 

Here's what I got!

 





 

 

Left: Emerald Green Mascara. I like to think of this as my throw back product to the days when I used to wear 99 cent Wet and Wild Colored Mascara when I was about 16 years old. Oh the memories. Top: Urban Decay eyeshadow primer. You've heard my rant on primers before. I think they are a joke, and I just continue to be proven wrong. Remember the Dior Eyelash Primer? Yep, amazing. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this primer not only makes your shadow stay on longer, but it intensifies the color. Best part? You only use a teeny tiny amount. Middle: Sephora eyeshadow. There were three choices at the store, which would flatter the fairest to the darkest skin tones. Bottom: Sephora Eyeliner. I purchased one of these sticks last year in turquoise and loved it. So easy to apply.

 

The combinations are endless! From just a touch of green in the crease of your eyelid, to a full on green, smokey, ring around the eye, I'm excited to add this spring trend to my collection.

 

 

Here's some other green things I'm loving...

 

Essie Absolutely Shore Polish. I love this pale mint green. I'm picky about my green nail polish just because I think the wrong green can look so gross, for lack of a better descriptive word. I love the brightness of this color and the soft hue of the green.

 



 

I dug these fun pieces out of my closet!

 

Emerald green top from Ann Taylor, Clutch from Coach and Shoes from Seychelles (www.seychellesfootwear.com)



I'll be adding green to my wardrobe in many different ways. Some days in a subtle way and sometimes with more of a bang! With all the options there are so many easy ways to add just a hint of green to your daily style!



Nail Polish Is The New Lipstick

There’s just something about having polish on my nails. It makes me feel more put together and feminine. I think it has a way of completing your overall look and adds a finishing touch. To me, it’s kind of like putting on your makeup and then finishing with the perfect lip color.

What else is great about nail polish? It’s an easy way to try out a new trend with minimal commitment. The investment is small and nail polish is flattering to every body size and shape. As a Mom it can also be a great excuse to have “me” time or a way to bond with your daughter. You could also use it as an excuse to skip folding laundry because you can’t touch anything while your nails are wet.

In the heat of it all I truly embraced neon nails this summer. My favorites were neon pink and orange. The colors were so bright that every now and again I’d sneak a peek at my nails, forget they were painted neon and practically blind myself. It was ridiculous. But I’m over it. It’s still 100 degrees outside and I’ve moved on.

How can I tell? I’ve purchased 5 bottles of nail polish just this week! And they were all in shades perfect for fall.
While trying to decide which ones to invest in I came across a great review of the nail polish trends for fall on the Refinery 29 website. You can check it out at http://www.refinery29.com/fall-nail-trends It summarizes the great trends for falls and provides tons of options and brands.

If you can’t spend all your money on nail polish, or buy five bottles of nail polish in one week (hello, ridiculous) then let’s talk about three colors you need in your collection for fall.
1. A neutral, think gray or beige
2. A red or wine color
3. A deep color such as a navy or burgundy

Here were my picks this week!

I’ve used OPI polish for years. I’ve always liked it and I think they have great colors. But I’ve recently developed and deep and meaningful relationship with Essie nail polish. I think makes your at home application appear more like a professional polish job and Essie is really affordable at about $8 a bottle.

Two are missing from the picture, which leads to another addiction….gel nail polish.

It’s fantastic, the finish is beautiful, it’s more natural looking than having artificial nails BUT if you get it done at a salon every two weeks it can be an expensive habit. I do my own gel nails at home using a Nailene gel kit with an LED light that I purchased from Walmart for $50. The kit came with a LED light, gel cleanser, gel primer, gel base & top coat, lint-free wipes, double sided nail buffer, manicure stick, and instruction sheet. Everything you need to get started!

As far as gel nail polish brands I’ve tried Shellac, OPIAxxium, OPI Gel Color and Gelish. Gelish is by far my favorite. I purchase Gelish at Sally Beauty Supply. If you’ve never been before it’s a chain store that sells professional products that anyone can purchase. You do not have to be a licensed professional to shop there. Each mini Gelish bottle is about $15. If you really want to get the most bang for your buck you can purchase a bottle of Gelish that is twice the size of the mini ones you can purchase at Sally’s on amazon.com for the same price they charge at Sally’s. So a full size bottle of nail polish for $15. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an immediate results kinda gal, so I just pay more to purchase it at Sally’s.

You can use all the supplies in your Nailene kit with your Gelish polish. I chose to buy the Gelish mini basics starter kit at Sally’s which includes gel cleanser, gel primer, gel base & top coat, cuticle oil and nail polish soak off. (mine did not come with light as shown in the picture below)

It cost me about $100 to get everything I needed to do my gel nails at home. It costs about $30-$35 to get a gel manicure in a salon. Although it might be a little more of an investment to get started doing your own gel nails at home you’ll have yourself paid back in about 3 manicures! I bought my supplies 7 months ago and am still using all of my original products! I re-do my gel polish every two weeks.

Here are the gel polishes I picked for my finger nails!

I’m looking forward to creating a lot of great combinations this fall with these five colors! I plan on matching the colors on my fingers and toes or mix things up and paint a different color on my fingers than toes. And one trend from the summer I’m going to keep up is painting my ring finger a different color! You can also consider adding a pattern or sparkle to your ring finger polish for a new look. It can be a fun way to change things up!

The next time you paint your pucker you just might want to paint your nails to add a little more polish to your life!