More Shimmery Lotion!

I had to go to Walmart last night for groceries. In a rare coincidence, I was alone. K was at his grandparents for the night and my husband was out working still so I got a whole trip all to myself, which is really only a treat when you are a mom.

Since I wasn't being nagged to hit up the toy aisle, I decided to go through the makeup aisle. OBVIOUSLY. I did need some new mascara and had to just peek. I've been toying with the idea of trying Revlon ColorStay Whipped Foundation, but I've never used Revlon foundations and have no idea what color I am. I decided to do a little more research on that and in the meantime...I saw this.

I've mentioned before how much I love the Banana Boat After Sun Lotion. I really do. But it's not something that I'd describe as smelling super feminine. I typically use it around the house. I saw this Hawaiian Tropic After Sun Lotion and fell in love with the smell before I even noticed it was a shimmery lotion. The scent is Coconut Papaya. I don't think it's overly coconutty. It's just a very YUMMY, pretty and summery smell. Not sickly sweet, not too cloying. It smells heavenly.

As for the shimmer, it's gorgeous. The lotion goes on white as you can see below...

It turnes a beautiful golden peachy shade when you rub it in. It does have really pretty golden shimmer and it lasts a long time but it is much more subtle than the Hard Candy shimmery lotion I previously reviewed. I actually think this Hawaiian Tropic lotion is much more wearable and suitable for every day use. The Hard Candy is very shimmery and it's not something I'd wear every day or to work. This lotion definitely is. It's not over the top, but just a very flattering sheen.  It contains Aloe Vera and Cocoa, Shea and Mango butters and is super moisturizing on summer skin but doesn't feel greasy or sticky. With the added bonus of smelling like a summer goddess...I'm sold!

Nail Of The Day/Nail Polish Organization

Happy Monday Lovelies.

I posted on Twitter (twitter.com/lovelydalls) last week that I reorganized my nail polishes. I have always kept them in 2 plastic containers I got from Target but the collection was getting too big and I was forgetting what I had because I couldn't actually see it unless I went through it all.

I had these 3 shelves laying around and had an "AHA" moment. I put them up in the bathroom and organized the polishes by color. I see them organized brand a lot which I don't understand. I never go "ooh, I'm in the mood for OPI polish today". No, what I say is "I feel like pink". That makes sense to me.

I am loving it so far. It's so easy to just go in and grab a color. The polishes are in 2 rows on each shelf. As you can see, I generally purchase Essie, OPI, China Glaze, Orly and Nicole by OPI polishes. I just find that the quality and price point is right for what I like. I would be hard pressed to spend over $10 on a nail polish. I would never use it up before it got old and that's just a waste of money to me. I can't really believe that a $24 nail polish is any different than an $8 polish. Unless it paints itself on my fingers. Then we might be talking!

Now, this is not my entire collection. It's about 1/2 of it. But these are the colors I use the most and more of my summery colors. I will probably rotate in my more fall/winter colors as the seasons change.

So last night before True Blood came on, I ran in and grabbed the girliest mani supplies ever. China Glaze Base Coat, Revlon ColorStay Cafe Pink, Sally Girl In Love glittery top coat and Seche Vite to seal it all in. I only did glitter on the tips, which was kind of fun. Came out like this...

Mermaid Streak-Cobalt!

This streak has been SO much fun. It's gone from turquoise, to fuschia, magenta, purple and is now an ombre mix of teal to cobalt blue.

I think I might even keep it into the fall and do more fall type colors like rusts and reds. We'll see. For now, I am loving the cobalt blue. It's so vivid against my blonde hair.

I am still using the Ion Color Brilliance Brights line. Though my Sally's has been out of stock in these FOREVER so I've been mixing what I had to make different colors. This is just the Teal over super bleached out Magenta. Made it cobalt blue. The Magenta has probably been the most disappointing color I've tried. It's basically just a very faint bubblegum pink that fades and bleeds a ton with each wash. If you want PINK, use the Fuschia.

Have you tried these yet? Any favorites?

Nail Of The Day

I had the busiest weekend ever. But, probably the most fun I've had in months. Our little town had a festival this weekend and it kept us busy until yesterday afternoon. I wanted something pretty and neutral that would match all of my outfits and chose a shimmery, pale gold shade.

I like this line from Sally's called Ultra Pro Nail. I have another seafoam green shade and they are both awesome. The brush is great, the formulation is always good and this line wears well on my nails. With a good base and top coat, I can get 5 days easy out of one manicure.

I really like this shade, "Big Spender". It's a metallic formula to start with but it has teeny flecks of gold in it that just give it that extra something special. I'd describe it as a cool gold, not bronzey. It can almost look silvery in some lights.

Have you tried this line of polish? Any colors you particularly love?

Nail Of The Day

I found some Essie polishes at TJ Maxx last week for $3.99. I grabbed this deep charcoal grey called "Power Clutch" as soon as I saw it. I was going through my polish collection and thought I could make this gloomy but beautiful color a little more summery by adding a bright neon accent nail. I chose China Glaze "Celtic Sun".

I love yellow and gray together and was really pleased with the way this came out. Fun twist on the neon and neutral trend.

Hard Candy Glow All The Way Face and Body Luminizer

This was the other product that I bought last week on my adventure to Walmart. Hard Candy Glow All The Way. This was $8.

It's shiny gold bottle practically jumped off the shelf and right into my cart. It's so pretty.

I am always looking for a nice shimmery lotion for summer nights, but it ends up being to glittery or the shimmer is silver which makes your legs look grey if you have a tan...eek.

This is a gorgeous bronzey lotion with golden shimmer, really fine shimmer. The bottle says it contains 24 karat gold, so that should tell you the overall tone of the product. It says you can use it on your face, but unless you are using a SUUUUUPER light hand I wouldn't. It's very "glowy". More glowy than what should be on your face. However, for your collarbone area, arms and legs on a hot summer night...this is the ticket.

This gives those areas a perfect glowy sheen. So flattering and sexy. I believe this also comes in a pinky shade which may be more suitable for use on your face, again sparingly, on areas like the tops of your cheekbones. Not all over, for sure.

Word to the wise...if you go shimmery on your body, don't go matte on your face. It is jarring. Use a little bit more glowy products on your face, maybe a bronzey eye, glowy bronzer or highlight with shimmery products to keep the look cohesive.

I may buy an extra bottle of this to have on hand...I like it that much. GLOW BABY GLOW!

Hard Candy Baked Eyeshadow

I was at Walmart last night buying some new shelves. We recently did some renovations in the living room (exciting!!).

Anyway, of course because I was there I had to peruse the makeup aisle. I always browse the Hard Candy section but have never seen anything that really jumped out at me.

I saw the baked eyeshadows last night and it was love. They are SO PRETTY. My 2 favorite shades in my BareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow quad are almost completely gone so I've been looking for similar shades. Sad face. I almost purchased 3 different ones but ended up buying 1 to see how the quality was. They are $8 each, which is a lot for drugstore when you've never used the line of products before.

I ended up deciding on "Peace" because it seemed the most neutral and versatile. These are baked so they are very domed in the pan. I feel like this will last a long time. I really love that it has 2 different shades in one pot, it's very functional and these colors go beautifully together. This makes for a very easy eye look and is super convenient..

I used Urban Decay primer potion underneath, used the darker bronzey/taupe shade all over my lid and smudged on my lower lash line and then used the lighter champagne shade for my browbone and inner corner. It does have some fall-out as you are sweeping your brush across it but none on my face. It's very pigmented, blended easily and the color in the pan is what you get on the eye. I believe these can be used wet or dry.

So far, I am very impressed with these little baked eyeshadows. Have you tried these? Any colors you loved?

Beachy Waves

I recently cut about 4-5 inches off of my hair. It had gotten really long but the ends weren't too healthy from going from brunette back to blonde, so they needed to go. It feels a lot healthier and more thick, but I miss those inches...a whole lot.

I have realized though that this shorter (I realize it's still long hair) hair holds curls much easier than it did when it was longer. I have been playing around with it and have been into doing waves recently.

This usually works best on my second day hair. Just a little dry shampoo at the roots and then brush it through. I apply a little MoroccanOil to my ends and then I divide my hair into 3 different sections from the bottom layer to the top layer. I bring it to the front of my shoulders and begin curling. I use a 1" curling iron, but don't use the clamp. I hold it straight upside down vertically (so the handle is on top) and literally just wrap the hair away from my face around the curling iron. Make sure the iron is straight so that the waves are all symmetrical. Any wierd tilt will result in an odd wave. I leave the ends out so it looks a little messier. Hold for about 15 seconds and let go. Repeat around each layer and viola! Beachy waves.

I did them a little lower today because I'm wearing a pretty casual outfit, but you can do them higher on the head for a more all over wavy look. I use a little TRESemme level 4 hair spray to hold and this lasts all day.

I mess with the part too, most of the time I'll do this parted down the middle, but if it's second day hair I'll just go with the part I had the previous day. Today it's parted on the side, like it was yesterday.

Do you have any good beachy waves tricks?

Easy Summer Updo

I love hair almost as much as I love makeup...almost.

The Pacific Northwest has FINALLY realized that it's friggin summer and the heat is here to stay. That being said, when it's 87 degrees out, my blowdryer might as well be the plague. I stay as far away from it as possible.

I have kind of created my own twist on the topknot. I like my hair a little messier and this is so easy to do and feels fresh.

I shampoo and condition like usual, comb my hair out, apply 4 pumps of MoroccanOil and then take my fingers to rake it through my hair. I pin the front portion back with 2 bobby pins criss-crossed and then begin making a high pony on top of my head. I twist that pony around my finger making almost a figure 8. I use a grabby clip, clip it high on my head and then pull some peices until it's a messy bun.

This will stay all day long in my hair and because it's so high but seperated into 2 portions, it doesn't get heavy like a topknot does. This is the easiest way to do my hair in the summer and works for a day at the lake or a summer BBQ and everything in between.

Any easy summer hairstyles you are loving?

Sunburns

Remind me to wear EXTRA sunscreen on my nose the next time we go to the beach.

I now appear to be wearing invisible sunglasses all the time resulting in a super sexy Raccoon/Rudolph look. Don't be jealous...

I had on SPF 25 tinted moisturizer and figured I'd be good for a few hours. Not so much, apparently. I am tan everywhere else and had a good base tan on my face, but now my forehead is pink/tan and my nose is fried. FRIIIIIIICK.

Thank god for Banana Boat Aloe After Sun Lotion. I always have a bottle of this stuff at the house and it seriously works so well. It takes the burn right out and keeps your skin moisturized so you don't peel. We also keep a bottle of the regular Banana Boat green aloe lotion in the fridge. When you have been on the lake all day or at the beach and your skin is sunkissed and hot to the touch, that cold aloe feels like heaven.

Any sunburn tricks you always use?

Nail Of The Day-Patriotic Mani

I can't believe it is July already. CRAZINESS. This year is just zooming by and this month is shaping up to be busy as usual.

We are leaving for the beach tomorrow to celebrate the 4th with family so I did my 4th of July Mani on Saturday. Fingers crossed it lasts.

At first, I had the blue/red ombre with white tips on all of my nails, but it was too much for my tastes. So I took it off of all but my ring fingers and then did red, white and blue tips on the other fingers with Northern Lights glitter top coat over all of the nails. Kind of like fireworks ;)

I did go over it all with Seche Vite because the Northern Lights does chip fairly easy on me and I want this to last at least until Wednesday.

UPDATE: It didn't last. I baked cookies last night to take to the beach and all that handwashing did a doozy on my nails. I took what was left off last night and did this really quickly. I think I like this one better. But then I'm a sucker for stars. Same polishes (Loreal Target Red, Wet N Wild White, NYC Blue, Northern Lights and Seche Vite) different design.