Nails

Q&A: Would You Wear Nail Polish That Smells Like Your Favorite Food?

July 24th, 2020 by Karen 7 Comments

urban decay double team mascara vice — Pizza!

Earlier this summer the drugstore nail polish brand SinfulColors unveiled a line of polishes that look and smell like snacks — doughnuts, cheese puffs, pizza, chocolate cake and tacos.

OK, sure, scented nail polish isn’t revolutionary, but dang! — props for creativity!

That said, as much as I like Taco Tuesdays and Cheetos, I *cannot* handle my nails smelling like a crispy beef taco with sour cream (because I’m assuming guac is extra). Or pepperoni nails? BARF! I give the savory scents a hard pass.

And the sweet scents, too, despite my sweet tooth. I just can’t take my fingertips smelling like a glazed doughnut. 😐

How about you? How do you feel about snack scented nail polishes? To what degree would it depend on the snack?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF! 🍨

5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

June 10th, 2020 by Karen 5 Comments

1. Creamy pastel pink manis

I’ve been into opaque pastel bridal-style manis lately, specifically pale, creamy pinks. There’s something so refreshing about them… Maybe it’s because they remind me of ice cream? An added bonus is when the edges chip — which is inevitable these days, since I wash my hands about 6,924 times a day — because you can’t really see the nicks unless you look really closely.

duri forever beautiful — I’m wearing Duri Forever Beautiful, and Connor’s wearing shades from the Sally Hansen Jelly Belly collection.

This particular shade is by Duri, and it’s called Forever Beautiful. I’m wearing two coats along with my go-to Essie Gel Couture topcoat.

2. Archer Farms Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee Light Roast Ground Coffee

I don’t like it when coffee is bitter and tastes like punishment. Blech! Gimme a smooth and easy to drink cup of coffee any day of the week. I guess I’m a wimp like that.

archer farms vanilla bean creme brulee — I’m drinking a cup right now, as a matter of fact!

Anyway, this vanilla flavored coffee from Target has very little bite, and the vanilla bean and crème brulee flavors are present but not overpowering.

I love when I can find it… Seems like it’s always out of stock these days, but I’ve also seen it available online.

3. Ooly Pastel Liners

These rainbow pastel markers are double ended. They have an angled tip on one side and a fine tip on the other, and ooh! — the surge of satisfaction I feel when I cross items off my to-do list with these markers. It’s off the charts!

Multi-colored rainbow lists are the best.

4. Deep belly breathing

A few weeks ago I set a reminder on my phone to chime every few hours to remind me take some deep belly breaths throughout the day, and those breath breaks make a HUGE difference in my overall mental health.

Yes, having to remind myself to breathe felt silly at first, but with current events as they are…I don’t care anymore! 🙂 When you reach the point where your shoulders scrunch up to your ears and stay there all day long, you’ll try anything.

Five or six deep breaths take all but a minute or two, and I do it every few hours to help my nerves.

5. Free People Movement Om Crew Neck Tank Tops

I bought a few of these $15 tanks on a whim a few weeks ago to wear with my stretchy workout pants, and I like ’em. A lot. They’re lightweight, and the fabric is pretty thin, which I like, because we’ve already started with the 90-degree days here, and it’s been a struggle to, ya know, actually wear real clothes.

These tanks feel light as air, and they’re a bit “see through” depending on the color, so wear a cute sports bra underneath and call it a day.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

What Nail Polish Do You Wear the Most?

May 26th, 2020 by Karen 10 Comments

I lined up all of my colorful nail polishes to find out which one had the least amount of product, but they all looked the same, go figure! Apparently, you need to go through a lot to put a dent in one nail polish bottle.

I’m betting this particular honor goes to my fave clear top coat from the Essie Gel Couture line. I wear it not just with the Gel Coutures, but with every nail polish (yup, even the non-gel ones). It’s the ultimate armor against nicks and chips, and it’s so, so shiny. Been wearing it for years for both manicures and pedicures, and I haven’t found anything better.

How about you? What’s your most-used nail polish?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

More #MismatchedManis: Essie Gels Coutures and Sally Hansen Miracle Gels in Blues and Brights

May 18th, 2020 by Karen 4 Comments

sally hansen miracle gel fish teal braid mintage — Sally Hansen Miracle Gels in Fish-Teal Braid and Mintage

Mismatched manis should come with a warning: once you start, ya can’t stop.

At least that’s been the case on my end of the keyboard!

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to wearing a single color on both hands ever again. 🙂

sally hansen miracle gel apollo you anywhere lemon heaven — Sally Hasen Miracle Gel in Apollo You Anywhere and Lemon Heaven

essie beau tie surrounded by studs — Essie Gel Couture in Beau-tie and Surrounded by Studs

I’ve just about #mismatchedmani’d all the colors in my collection of Essie Gel Coutures and Sally Hansen Miracle Gels, which means the next thing to do would be to collect more colors… Right? That’s solid logic in my book.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

#MismatchedMani Should Totally Be a Thing

April 29th, 2020 by Karen 15 Comments

Since we went on lockdown, I’ve been wearing mismatched nails, with one shade of nail polish on the fingers on one hand, and another shade on the other, and ya know what? I’m completely convinced now that the #MismachedMani trend (It’s totally a thing now.) will forever change nail hoarding habits as we know them.

Now maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally get around to wearing some of the nail polishes in my collection that I still haven’t worn?!