Long Weekend Nails

For my extra long weekend with the fiance and his family in Tennessee, I finally took the time to stamp something on these bad boys. My inspiration came from Little Nails, but I don't have the freehand skills, so I reversed the colors and stamped on my chevrons. Obviously, the dots are freehand (janky).

Sinful Colors Savage topped with China Glaze Passion

Bon soir!

The Most Beautiful Libraries

This article has definitely inspired me to add libraries to my travel destination wish list. Stunner! And what a great way to really see the culture and history of a place through an everyday destination.

The 25 Most Beautiful Public Libraries in the World

Scarf-Tying to Bring You into Spring

This is actually one of my favorite ways to tie a scarf, but the stylist in the video, Lauranne Plat, has the most adorable accent, no? Watch all the videos in the series for more of her tips on how to bring some colorful scarves into your outfits, shared in her distinct diction. Scarves are an easy way to add a pop of color and print to your look, especially if you are print-challenged like me.

Did you figure it out?

Threading in the Right Direction

As a short haired girl I try to take my eyebrows seriously, although I lost my regular eyebrow girl some time ago, and partially due to laziness and apprehension, I hadn't found anyone else. This past week I finally had it and marched into a storefront that advertised only eyebrow threading. Inside were two girls and two chairs- pretty straightforward business. When it was my turn, I was motioned to a chair and then my...eyebrow specialist?...motioned for me to hold my eye shut and skin taut and she got to work. I could hear the threads humming and feel them rolling over my skin, but I kept wondering to myself whether anything was happening. I mean, there was no hot wax singeing my skin, no bracing myself for The Rip, and with no pain to mention, where was my gain, right?

But lo and behold, as I leaned forward in my chair, what to my wondering eyes should appear? Why, two perfect eyebrows shaped with nary a tear*. Who knew I had those up there! I waggled them at the Ginger, but he claimed to not notice a difference, although I suppose if someone does notice a difference then you might be hitting the tweezers a little hard (Pam Anderson, front and center!).

There was no discomfort, no hot wax, no mineral oil that makes me break out, and no swollen-red-eyebrow-skin-aftermath. Will I be back? Resounding yes.

*I know there are two sides to the eyebrow threading debate, and one side claims to feel no pain at all while the other claims that it is worse than cheetahs eating your eyeballs. I fortunately lie in the former camp, but understand that no one has the same nerve endings, so please be advised that for you, this could hurt like a mother.

Beardy Love

If you're looking to decorate your iDevice for this upcoming Valentine's Day, or you don't celebrate but want to simply express your love for beards, look no further than this beautiful lockscreen by Deanna Halsall for Poolga. Mmmmmmoustache.

Please click here to go to the Poolga download page.

Maybelline Color Tattoo Gives a Few Hours of Fun

I truly cannot resist anything tattooed, and Maybelline's new Color Tattoo 24 Hour Gel Shadow is no exception. Did I need it? No. Did I really, really want it? Yes. And so I indulged in two, and then another after that, and another. Now I have six (they multiplied like bunnies!). Here are the shades:

Left to right: 10- Fierce and Tangy, 35- Tough as Taupe, 15- Audacious Asphalt, 25- Bad to the Bronze, 45- Bold Gold, 30-Pomegranate Punk

What I like: FINGERPAINT! Really though, I adore my Benefit creaseless creams and Buxom Stay-There shadows, and while these won't replace them any time soon, they come dangerously close. I really like tactile makeup and always enjoy applying, blending, and just generally smudging cream shadows all up on my lids. These are not as creamy or slippery as other cream shadows I've tried, and while they don't tug at my lids, they just have more stick, if that makes any sense. The tacky feel doesn't overwhelm though and they dry down quickly.

I also like that Maybelline took some risks with the colors. The four variations in the middle are pretty comfort-zone for me, but those two on either end are spicy! Which brings me to my next "like":

These are great color-boosters. I don't wear Fierce and Tangy on it's own; I wear it under NARS Mediteranee. It makes that sucker GLOW.

Fierce and Tangy on it's own. Not the look I'm going for...yet. But you know you were curious.

Fierce and Tangy with NARS Mediteranee duo on top. So pretty.

Gratuitous shot. Enjoy.

I foresee these in heavy rotation come springtime to make my sunshine and coral shades brighter. It's also nice having a pretty gold base when I really want a metallic sheen. 

What I don't like: These are definitely NOT 24 hour shadows, at least for me. I have oily lids, and the only way I can get things to stay most of the day is with a good primer and a dusting of powder on top. If I do the whole works with these, I can coax about 10-12 hours of wear out of them before they start noticeably creasing. Without primer I get about half that. 

Bottom line: I enjoy playing with these shadows and I'm glad I bought them. If I had to choose them for one reason alone it would be to use as a pigmented base, which is where they really stand out from other products for me. If you prefer more neutral shades and already have other long-wearing cream shadows, these may not be necessary for your collection.

New Beauty Coupons Up!

Red Plum has posted new coupons for this week, and among them are coupons for Maybelline, Garnier, and Sally Hansen. Print them out and combine them with this week's sales for extra savings: CVS and Walgreens are both having BOGO1/2 off Sally Hansen products this week, CVS is having several specials on Garnier skin care (I'm planning on snapping up the new BB cream for review), and Walgreens has BOGO1/2 off on all Maybelline cosmetics, which I recommend using toward their Color Tattoo Shadow (review coming very, very soon).

Enjoy, and let me know if you got anything crazy!