Milani Bare It All Polishes clockwise from bottom: Teddy-Bare, Bare With Me, Bare In Mind, Bare To Wear, Bare Necessity, Truth or Bare

Aloha nui loa (new ee low ah), ladies.

Translation: Very much love.

My in-laws left to return to Hawaii early this morning, and Tabs, El Hub and I were so sad to see them go.

I can’t lie, though… I’m exhausted. After two exciting weeks filled with good conversation, I’m looking forward to just quietly going to bed early (after watching the latest Project Runway while I paint my nails, of course).

What were your Friday plans? Did you live la vida loca tonight?

After the past two weeks, I need a little break from excitement, so I think I’ll paint my nails with something subtle, like one of these colors from Milani’s limited edition Bare It All collection ($4.50 each).

I think the six polishes, which come in shades of pink, peach, taupe and gray, really suit my current mood. Since I have some nail swatching to do tomorrow, I’m only going to paint my toes tonight, and I could use your help choosing a color.

Which one’s your favorite?

Swatches from left: Bare to Wear, Bare in Mind, Bare With Me

Teddy-Bare, Truth Or Bare, Bare Necessity

Which Milani Bare It All polish do you like best?

• Bare to Wear
• Bare in Mind
• Bare With Me
• Teddy Bare
• Truth Or Bare
• Bare Necessity

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Nail Trend F/W ’10 Nail Lacquers in Ming Blue (left) and Concubine (right), each $13

Today I’m wearing colors — yes, more than one — from the counter-bound MAC Nail Trend F/W ’10 collection (arrives tomorrow!). I went with Concubine on my fingers and Ming Blue on my toes.

Speaking of that, the collection includes…

• Nail Lacquer: a clear frost
• Concubine: a shimmery blackened red
• Earthly Harmony: a muted taupe with copper shimmer
• Ming Blue: a cobalt blue with teal and red shimmer
• Rain of Flowers: a frosty blackened violet
• Imperial Flower: a reddish orange with gold and red shimmer
• Jade Dragon: an emerald green with teal shimmer

Top row: Jade Dragon, Concubine, Rain of Flowers; Bottom row: Nail Lacquer, Earthly Harmony, Imperial Flower, Ming Blue

How about you? What’s gracing your nails on this fine, fabulous hump day?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I’m all for nail polishes that push the boundaries of beauty (I’m looking at you, Butter London!), but I also like traditional products in colors that feel familiar, like the six shades that make up Essie fall 2010.

Colors like these, all of them medium to dark and $8 apiece, remind me of autumns in the city. The red, pink, purple, green, amethyst and blackish brown feel urban and sophisticated, and I see these colors being worn by a stylish girl (for the purposes of this paragraph, let’s call her Karen). I can see her walking the sidewalks of downtown San Francisco in a chic tweed jacket, wearing dark skinny jeans and kickin’ knee-high boots, LOL! And I can almost hear the autumn leaves crunching beneath my feet as my painted nails catch the late afternoon light.

“This fall, designers are mixing it up, combining sheer fabric with leather along with lingerie as outer wear in deep muted tones and bold color palettes which is very alluring. I drew inspiration from the range of elegant, sanguine hues and camouflage tones.”

– Essie Weingarten, founder and president of Essie

Every color in the collection walks in step with the season, unlike last year’s fall release (remember the neon hot pink and highway worker vest orange?), which l still liked, but those colors seemed a little disjointed and random to me.

I like everything this time around, and it all just makes sense. I’m totally thrilled by shimmery sage Sew Psyched and creamy taupe Merino Cool.

Have a look at these swatches, and let me know what you think.

Sew Psyched

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Written by Anšá Reams-Johnson

Today Anšá Reams-Johnson reviews one of her new favorite nail polishes, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, in a new favorite shade.

My hubby thinks I look great in red, and after many years of pinks and corals I’ve gotten aboard the bandwagon too. It helps that as I’ve gotten older my skin tone has changed, along with my propensity toward bolder colors.

So, after our recent move to Florida I set off to find the perfect shade of red nail polish — and not just any red, but a dark, wine red.

As I entered CVS, I was stopped in my tracks by a range of new nail polishes from Sally Hansen. Her Complete Salon Manicure collection promises what the name implies, a manicure in every bottle.

At this stage in my life, I don’t like to spend the time on a base coat, two coats of polish, and a top coat, and these polishes from Sally supposedly combine all of those products into one. I was sold at a glance!

I purchased two colors right then and there, which were actually almost the same. The big difference between them being that one shimmers while the other’s matte. I decided to use the matte color first, 610 Red Zin, which I think is a beautiful color, quite classic in fact. The name Red Zin truly fits it too as it looks like a small, albeit thick, bottle of red wine.

Wearing two coats of Red Zin

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I’ve been on a Butter London kick lately and have Old Blighty ($14), a creamy brick red with a hint of brown, on my fingertips and toes.

What about you? What are you wearing on your nails today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen