Jessica Fall 2012- Spicy Dream

Holy wow. Can I just say I'm in love with the Spicy Dream collection from Jessica? Seriously, I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love these polishes.

When I saw the flyer for this collection, I have to admit my first thought was, "Meh." Gee, more browns and bronzes. Yippee. That only lasted til I opened the box containing these sweet polishes, though, because even in the box I could see the texture that these polishes have! There are two creme polishes, a shimmer, and three gorgeous glitters.

Let's look at the cremes first. Crimson Tattoo is a red so deep it almost looks brown. This is my kind of red...rich and lush and dark. It makes me think of fall, and maybe of steamy activities better left to the imagination! ;)

Brown Sugar is a creme brown that's well named- it's the brown of brown sugar, like the gingerbread cookies that appear every winter. Both of these polishes are gorgeous on their own, but they make amazing bases for the glitters... but we'll get to those.

Next is the single shimmer of the collection- Cinnamon Kiss. This color? Omg. There are no words. This is the color that I bought and rebought for years, loving the deep red and the gorgeous shimmer. It's not terribly unique, but it sure is gorgeous. The first car I bought using my own money was this color!

I actually wore this color first, and loved the way it looks against my pale skin. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of it. I'm scatterbrained, apparently. It's gorgeous, but I made the mistake of applying it right before a bath, and soaked a bit too long. I don't know WHAT I was thinking!!

My favorite polishes of this collection are definitely the glitters, though. When I opened the box, I saw these and actually squealed in delight! The glitter in these is so incredibly fine that they're almost a foil finish. It was really difficult for me to figure out what to call these!

Champagne Bubbles is a very pale, almost white glitter, and I haven't tried it on the nail yet. Gingersnap is a golden/silver-leaning polish, and Pumpkin Delight is more bronzey/red.  Gingersnap and Pumpkin Delight both have a duochromey, color-changing feel to them that's really difficult for me to describe.

So, instead of wear these as they are, I knew I needed to layer these. I paired Crimson Tattoo with Pumpkin Delight, and let me just say that I am absolutely in awe of the finished look.

See what I mean about the color? It's so dimensional, and it looks simply magical on. I've gotten compliments wearing this too, people asking just what I'm wearing because they can't stop looking! It felt good to share the Jessica love!

If it will stop raining for a bit, I'll try to get outside and show you what this looks like in sunlight. It's definitely worth looking at. It's been so hard to photograph!

Since it's 3am, I'll go ahead and show you the rest of the photos and hopefully get to bed. But I had to share this with you... these colors are simply magical!

The Spicy Dream collection was provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Doctor's Remedy Enriched Polishes

When people find out I'm a beauty blogger, they tend to ask questions. How do you get started, how do you figure out what to write about, how do people know to find your blog... there are a lot of questions. But the one I seem to get most often is about my nails. People are convinced nail polish is bad for your nails, and maybe even bad for your health!

You can imagine how excited I got when I learned about Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Nail Polish: a nail polish line made by doctors! It's not only free of the typical nasties (DBT, toluene, and formaldehyde) but it's also enriched with natural ingredients to help make your nails stronger and healthier! I know, it's crazy!


OK, they're doctors, but what do they know about color? Are we going to be stuck with the same old traditional colors that everyone has? I have a serious color addiction! Enriched is nice, but if it's just nudes and pinks, I'd definitely have to pass...

Thankfully, as you can see, there are lots of absolutely gorgeous shades- pinks and mauves, of course, and reds to die for, but also some really fun edgy colors like heather grey, royal blue, and stunning violet! I feel comfortable saying there's something for everyone here!

So, my next question was about the quality of the polishes: how well do they wear, how pigmented are they, etc. Happily I wasn't disappointed at all. I tried three polishes, and they were all absolutely wonderful. If you were to apply a single thicker coat, they would all be one coaters! Instead, I put on two thin coats for each of these photos.

First off is Heather Grey. Honestly, this color doesn't work at all with my skin tone, but that's the only complaint I have. It's beautifully pigmented and applies like an absolute dream. This is that gorgeous cement color that's so popular at the moment.

Then I tried the Dark Brown. Omg, this color is utterly delicious! When I first saw this color, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. but WOW did that change once I put it on! This deep rich chocolate color can look almost violet in some lights, or almost black in others. So freaking gorgeous!!

And finally, I got to try Ruby Red, an absolutely stunning shimmery red that makes me want to dance! This red is, like the others, super-pigmented and easy to apply. I imagine wearing this under a layer of ruby-red glitter, as if I were wearing Dorothy's ruby slippers on my nails.

Also, when I say that? It's good. I have my own ruby slippers I wear every chance I get. I think everyone should have a pair of ruby slippers!!

The final verdict? I have no idea if these polishes are any healthier for your nails than the ones at your local big box store, but they're really gorgeous and I love them lots!! They're perfect for painting your nails, for doing nail art, for mixing and blending... they're just perfect!

Also, don't forget to tune in next week, because I've got a treat for you! Next week is animal print week, a full week of gorgeous nail art inspired by animal prints! Zebra, tiger, leopard, cheetah... if you like the animal prints, you'll love these!

Til next time!

Polishes provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Adding Some Fun To My Mani- Custom-Mixed Pink Dots!

I have such a short attention span. After wearing my grownup manicure for all of 6 hours, I realized I was bored to death with it. I also was dealing with a bit of anxiety from a morning meeting (LONG story), so I decided to do a bit of modification to my manicure. Those of you who follow me on Twitter got a sneak peek of this one. (Hint hint- you can follow me too!)

I thought for a while, and decided that baby pink goes well with cocoa brown. The problem? I have no pink that I felt was appropriate. That's ok, I can mix colors! I pulled out my polishes and started looking. I seem to have mainly one type of pink in my collection- HOT. That wouldn't do.

However, then I realized that if I mixed my pink Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint with my Milani Bare With Me, I'd end up with a pink very close to what I had in mind. Looking back, I'd probably want to warm it up a bit, but I'm pretty happy with it as it is.

I ended up using some recycled plastic cups to mix polish in. My step-grandmother is in a nursing home, and they bring her medications to her in a little plastic cup. Since she gets them 2-3 times a day, that's a lot of cups. She saves them because she thinks they're so cute, and doesn't want to see them thrown away. When she heard I use them for nail art, she wanted my step-mother to bring them to me. That made my day, you know? Just a little peek into my life.

Now, one problem I ran into is that while I mixed enough to do all my nails, it ended up starting to dry out and be unusable by nail 3 or 4. That's easy enough to fix, though. I put a single drop of Orly Nail Lacquer Thinner into the mix, stirred it well with my dotter, and the polish was back to new again. I ended up doing that three times total, and had no problems with getting the dots done.

A quick note about nail polish thinner: it's a must have if you paint your nails often at all. There are lots of brands to choose from, of varying costs. It will totally rescue your thickened, goopy polishes and return them to brand-new consistency without affecting their drying time. Some people will say you can use nail polish remover for this, but don't: it will ruin your polish instead of fixing it. Thinner is inexpensive and fairly easy to find, and it's worth the effort.

Back to the nails, already! So, once I had my pink mixed, I used a homemade dotting tool to put teeny little dots on my nails in a semi-regular pattern. It was simple enough- put a dot in the center of my nail, put one a bit higher up, then a bit higher up. Put a dot under it, then another... all about the same distance apart. It's so much easier to explain with an animated .gif!

Yes, some of the dots went over onto my skin. I did that so that the dot would look like it was continuing off the nail. Once they're dry, it's very easy to clean up the few dots over the edge using a brush and acetone. It makes the whole thing look more consistent, in my opinion.

Once the dots were dry, I applied my topcoat, then used the brush and acetone to clean up all my edges. I am loving using the brush for cleanup, now that I've figured out how to do it. It took a bit of practice to get the hang of it, but I think it's working well now.All I have left to figure out is exactly how much to clean off around the cuticles to get that amazing look I see on so many blogs. But that will come with practice.

And there we go- I went from a very plain, neutral manicure to a fun dotted girlie one! You could even add a pink rhinestone in here and there, or do a pink french tip- that would be adorable if my nails were long enough!

 Polishes were provided by PR for evaluation.

Maybelline Cocoa Motion- What I Wore When I Had To Pretend I Was A Grown Up

I had a meeting with my son's school today. He's a good student, but has been having horrible health issues for the last two years, and as a result, we're all ready to pull our hair out- parents, teachers, administrators, and kiddo himself. Today we met to see what we can do to help him get the education he needs. It was very stressful just planning for it, and I realized an hour and a half before we had to leave that the near-fluorescent red I was wearing might not actually be appropriate for the meeting.

I wanted to appear professional, responsible, and as someone to be taken seriously. Neon just would not do. I dug through my untried polishes box and found this lovely creme polish I won from the Dainty Darling Digits Go Green giveaway. Yes, this would absolutely do.

Since I didn't have much time, I skipped base coat. I did two very thin coats of Cocoa Motion and was struck by what a pretty, creamy cocoa brown this was. It went on like a dream, too, with very little need for cleanup. Maybe it's the brush, but this polish was a joy to apply. The two coats were also nicely opaque, and dried quickly. I was very pleased with this color, especially with how it looked against my skin tone.

Thankfully, today's meeting went well. It was stressful, but we all had the same goals in mind, and I think we made a good decision for my son. Is it because of this nail polish?

Probably not, but it sure made me feel more secure!