Essie Winter Collection

"a LEADING LADY is always dressed to thrill." Essie

Soo yesterday I picked up two more Essie winter collection colors. I already had WHERE'S MY CHAUFFEUR? at home. I added LEADING LADY & BUTLER PLEASE. I am truly impressed with the colors from this collection! They are bight, bold, classy, and fun!

First up is WHERE'S MY CHAUFFEUR?

This color is sooo beautiful. Its stunning in the bottle and on nails. Its not like any other teal they make. The formula isn't very thick. Even when going on my nails it didn't give full coverage with one coat (sometimes I can get away with one coat with colors). Two coats was perfect! I honestly love this color. I have a feeling I will be wearing this a lot this spring & summer.

 (Above: That is only one coat. You see its pretty translucent in some areas)

Next up is LEADING LADY.

I found this formula to also be translucent. This one needed three coats to get the full coverage that I wanted. I really loved this color wayyy before I purchased it. I have seen it on other people and always thought it was a stunning red! I do also enjoy the sparkle in it! Its perfect for a holiday party, a red themed wedding, Valentines day, and for feeling sexy!!

Last color is BUTLER PLEASE

Stunning bright electric blue!!! This is a very popular color with MANY people. I keep seeing this polish on tons of people. This color also needs two coats to achieve a lovely vibrant manicure. LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS COLOR! Essie, you did me well with this collection!!

( Ps. I'm wearing this on my nails right now)

Three more colors are available with this collection:

BEYOND COZY -a shimmer

SNAP HAPPY-red/orange color

 SHES PAMPERED-bright red.

Do you have any of the Essie winter collection? What is your favorite color? If any, what color wouldn't you wear?

xoxo,

LMA

Mani Monday

Happy Mani Monday everyone! I hope your weekend was just fabulous!! Today's Mani color is OPI: Skulls & Glossbones. This color is a light gray shade from the Pirates of The Caribbean Collection. I could not find it on the OPI website but I did find it on amazon. Click here for the direct link to purchase this polish off amazon. This color is another one of my favorite colors. I'm totally in love with anything gray! I'd say this color is more of a white gray, very true to color, and the coverage is very good. I applied two coats. The only complaint I have is that sometimes in a darker room the shade looks like a green gray...NOT A FAN OF GREEN GRAY! Anyways.. I tend to use this color a lot. Would you ever use this color?

(see what I mean about looking green in darker areas)

Something else I want to talk about is the

  Jergens natural glow express body moisturizer in medium to tan skin tones.

                                                        

Last night I was looking in my bin of "things I have but done use" products and came across this. I think I had heard about it from a friend a long time ago. I thought I would give it a try and see how I liked the result compared to the self tanner I have been using for years. They only good thing I can say about this product is that it really moisturized my skin. Remember,  This is just my personal opinion. This product may work for your skin type and not mine. Anyways.. when I woke up this morning I was orange, I was blotchy, and the lotion smelled icky while putting it on (most self tanners smell bad). Its hard to use this product because the lotion comes out white and doesn't stain your skin right away. It develops gradually and you should wake up with a "natural looking, sun kissed glow". YEAAA RIGHT!! Here are some pictures to show you my results on the product. And yes...I did rub this product into my skin....for a long time.

(this is my wrist and arm looking splotchy and orange. darker in some places..yuck)

(ummm..what is that on my arm!! seriously dark spots??)

(my leg looking very blotchy and white and even spotted)

This is the product I normally use, FakeBake. I think it is the best! It comes in many different ways to apply to the body and face. Some examples are: gel, spray, mist, mousse, lotion, and a body butter. I used the lotion for a long time, then the store didn't have the lotion so I used the mousse, and next I will be trying the liquid spray with the application mitt.This product is a smelly one but all the products come out in a dark brown color so you can see where you are applying. This also give you a instant tan! I promise to do a blog post on how to apply this product along with pictures of the final results! 

Have you tried any of these products with success ? Id love to hear from you! Please leave me a comment with your experience!

xoxo

LMA

Updated Mani

So I have kept my ESSIE: No More Film mani on for some time now. I started to get bored with the color. Don't get me wrong, I love this color, but...I normally change my nails every other day! Sooo, This got me thinking... What can I do to spice things up a little?

My nails before

Well I grabbed my nail art bottle of silver glitter and painted the glitter on my nail around my cuticles also known as the lunula (Click the word "lunula". It will link you to the definition).  This is also known as a half-moon manicure. By doing this I gave my couple day old manicure a face lift! Also, my nails grow fast so the glitter covered the outgrowth that I had.

AFTER

Have you ever done a moon manicure? Did you like it? Comment below and let me know!!!

xoxo,

LMA

Silver Nail Art by Diamond Cosmetics purchased at Dollar Tree

Essie: No More Film

What I'm loving...

 Lets start with a Essie color. NO MORE FILM. I am madly in love with this blue/purple tone. This color is from the Essie Resort 2012 collection. I just came across it at ULTA  one day and HAD TO HAVE IT!!!! I think the color is pretty true to the bottle. It looks a little darker inside the house but when you get outside the color really shines. This color is no longer available at Essie.com but you can find it a number of ways. 1. check ULTA. 2. Amazon has a some available. 3.You can also purchase through ebay.

Another thing I am complete obsessed with is a gift my sissy (brothers girlfriend) gave me! ELASTIC HAIR TIES!! These things are amazing I swear. Not only are they cute, fashionable, GLITTERY, and fun but they don't damage your hair! They don't pull out as much hair as other hair bands do. They also (drum roll please) don't leave kinks in your hair. I mean how many times have you been getting ready and are trying to hurry so put up your hair really quick to finish getting dressed and then take your hair done and AHHHHH a crease in your hair!! Such a bummer! Well I have found that these hair ties DON'T DO THAT!   My sissy purchased these band at anthropologie. They come in fun colors, patterns, and glitter as well (p.s. the glitter doesn't fall off everywhere, it stays put). The only bad thing I have to say is that when they stretch out (I have very thick hair) they don't look as pretty.

 (sorry for the fat looking hand)

A website that I in love with is Etsy. You can basically find almost anything you need shopping here.  Etsy is a website that offers online buyers and sellers a community to connect. Etsy offers handmade items as well as vintage items. The best thing of all is anyone can join!  I have purchased TONS of stuff off their website at reasonable prices. A lot of people are selling similar handmade items with a wide variety of price ranges. I used Etsy a lot when I was engaged, getting married, and moving into my house. Some of the categories you can browse include: Art, Home & Living, Jewelry, Fine Jewelry, Women, Men, Kids, Vintage, and Wedding. If you have never been on this site I highly suggest you check it out....LIKE NOW! PS. I found LOTS of the elastic hair ties on Etsy! A little tip from me to you: Search what you are looking for on Etsy. Once you find it, look in the right hand corner it will say sort by: Relevancy. Click relevancy and change it to lowest price. Then you can see out of all the shops who has the best deal! I'm a sucker for a deal!

My Save the Date: Purchased from an Etsy shop

Below this picture is the link to their shop

the original pear

Michelle & Carl are the owners of The original pear. They are a wonderful husband and wife "pear" that helped me out sooooo much during my planning days as BRIDEZILLA :)! They are very prompt with emails and orders, so understanding, and  helpful. Gosh, I just cant say enough about them! If you are looking for invitations, save the dates, programs, menus, seating cards, table numbers, thank you cards, baby announcements, or anything custom, they are who you want to work with! You can contact them directly from their Etsy page.

Last thing that I'm loving is Seche Vite. Seche Vite is a long lasting, fast drying, chip resistant top coat. Since I like trying out new products I recently moved to a OPI top coat and thought I was in love but then I repurchased Seche Vite...BEST PURCHASE EVER! This stuff is top notch! Nothing compares to the shine and hold this top coat gives you. Almost every salon I have gotten a manicure/pedicure at uses this as their top coat. Mark my words, I will never use another top coat starting today!

What are you loving? Leave me a comment below and let me know! 

xoxo,

LMA

Mani Monday

Happy Mani Monday,

So I should start off by telling you that EVERY Monday my post will be titled "Mani Monday". On Mani Mondays I will be showing off a different manicure/polish color. I will also be giving my thoughts on the formula, how I like the color, if the color is true to the way it looks in the bottle, and whatever else seems to come out of my mouth! Now lets get started with today's Mani Monday.

Sooooo one of the latest hottest trends in fashion is ombre.  The term basically means a color gradually turning from light to dark or from dark to light (The definition will be located at the bottom of this post). I have never done an ombre look on my nails but I have definitely wanted to try this look for a long time!

Here is a step by step ombre tutorial. 

1. Pick out a color tone that you want on your nails. In my case I chose pink. (duh, its my favorite color)
2. Select 5 polishes that are in that color family of the tone you picked. in my case:  The first one was  light pink, the second one shade darker, the third another shade darker than the second, the fourth another shade darker than the third. I think you get the idea!
3. Now start of with the lightest color on your pinky (or thumb) and gradually paint each nail the next darker tone polish.  I started with my lightest color on my pinky and ended with the darkest on my thumb.
4. ALWAYS ADD A TOP COAT to any manicure! 

  How hot do my nails look! I cant stop looking at my fingers and moving them around! I'm sure I will be getting tons of compliments on these bad boys! Have you tried the ombre look on your nails? Was it a success? leave me a comment below and let me know!!

I used all Essie products today. Names of the colors from left to right.

RAISE AWARENESS, WE'RE IN IT TOGETHER, FORGET ME NOTS, PANSY, SECRET STASH

The cute leopard nail file is from The dollar Tree. They came in two packs. One pink leopard & one black, silver. and rose gold. 

 Ombre n. A French term meaning "shaded."