Nail Products : Beauty and Fashion Tech

The Blue Nail Trend: Getting it Cheap with Wet-n-Wild!

When it comes to the trendy blue nail polish look, I’m a fence sitter. I have seen some women, particularly younger women, wear it well. In the darker shades, I tend to rather like the look. On myself, however, I think it looks rather silly–Something my husband very much agrees with.

Regardless, there is no need to break the bank buying sold out Chanel on Ebay or spending $20 on the Dior version in order to have the current hip look in nails. The cheaper brands are already stepping up and putting out blue shades. When chasing a trend, buying cheap makes sense. You are unlikely to use up the product before it goes out of style anyway

At the cheapest end of the scale, you can get a perfectly acceptable polish in Wet ‘n’ Wild for a couple dollars at your local drugstore. As one of those impulse grocery store purchases, I picked up Wet ‘n’ Wild Sapphire Blue for under $2 and gave it a try. The quality of the polish was surprisingly good. It covered well with only a single coat, dried quickly, and has been almost as chip proof as my more expensive polishes. Plus I kill nail polish so fast, that chip proof means little to me–I chip even the best within a day. Here is another view of it:

I think the blue looks odd on me, but that is not the fault of the brand. I plan to give Wet ‘n’ Wild another look for some shades that are better suited for me. Why spend $8 for Essie or O.P.I. when a $2 brand at the grocery store works just as well? The shade choices are more limited though and I have to admit that my favorite shades happen to be from Essie and MAC. So I doubt I will be entirely switiching brand loyalties.Here are a few other affordable options for blue nails (both currently on sale for under $6 through the links): OPI Nail Polish Yoga-ta Get this Blue! from the India Collection, and Essie Nail Polish - Aruba Blue. Other bargains can be found online, as can the more expensive Dior version. Also watch for all of the drugstore brands to play catch up and start releasing their own blue shades.

Comparison shop for blue nail polish

Popularity: 17% [?]

Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer

I’m no nail polish expert, I’ll leave that for the women at All Lacquered Up and Nail Tech Secrets. But I do know when I find something that I particularly like. Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer is one of those.

I have always leaned toward purchases of Sally Hansen nail polish. I suppose that is largely because they are so easily found, have a large selection, and are affordable. But I also have always like their quality over OPI, which is another more expensive brand with a huge number of colors. Lately, I go right to the Sally Hansen section because I adore their Salon line.

The Sally Hansen Salon nail polish line comes in attractive bottles with a no slip cap and the colors are amazing. In no other line have I found so many shades that I just love. There really are not all that many, it is just that I love almost all of them.

The polish itself goes on smooth, dries relatively quickly, and lasts without chipping pretty well, which for me is just a few days because I beat the heck out of my nails! I definitely get as long as or longer time with the Sally Hansen Salon polishes than I get with other brands.

Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer can be found in most drugstores.

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Popularity: 12% [?]

Total Nail RX Nail Treatment Products

The Total Nail RX line of nail treatment and specialty products is fairly new to the market. I have seen it only at Walgreens, so it may be exclusive to them.

Total Nail RX Fill Me In Surface Smoothing Base Coat

The line features a number of items aimed at various nail issues, such as chipping, strength, ridges etc. It also features a French manicure set and base and top coats. I purchased the Fill Me In surface smoothing base coat and the Slick Fast Dry top coat.The Nail RX base coat did a nice job of filling in ridges and providing a good surface for polish to adhere to that is not too slick, but not overly tacky. The base coat appears to be a peach color in the bottle, but it dries clear.

The Slick Fast Dry top coat also worked quite well. It provided a quick hard surface and gave off a nice amount of shine.

My one complaint about the line is that the bottles come with a thick rubber band around the lids that I suppose is meant to make it anti-slip when using the brush. But the band falls off of the bottom and I found it uncomfortable if pushed up. Fortunately, it is easy to remove, so it would not stop me from purchasing the items, nor does it prevent me from recommending them.

Look for Total Nail RX products at Walgreens stores by the other nail products. Price regularly runs from around $7-$10, but I have seen the items on sale fairly frequently.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Holiday Stocking Stuffers

The shopping list posts are winding down and next week will return more to standard product reviews as usual. I wanted to get the lists out in time for online shopping! For those like me who wait until the last minute (yeah I am a procrastinator), I might yet run a gift list for last minute drugstore shopping.

Looking for cosmetic and beauty items to use as stocking stuffers or small holiday gifts? Take a look at some of these options:

These Holiday Emory Boards are cute, practical, and affordable.

Consider this festive Peppermint Candy Soap Set. Or take a look at some cute Snowglobe Soaps.

For the spa and bath lover, the Ahava Delights Set provides a nice sampling of some good products. I really like Ahava products and sets like this are a great way to try several items out at once.

I love bath fizzys! This Holiday Bath Fizzy is particularly cute.

This Mitten Manicure Set is another cute holiday themed item with lots of practicality. Pair it up with an Opi Holiday Collection Nail Polish for a complementary stuffer.

Shop for Cosmetic Gifts!

Popularity: 8% [?]

M.A.C. Cosmetics Antiquitease Holiday Collection Part One: Nail Lacquers

My mention last week about my sneak peak at the M.A.C. Antiquitease collection generated quite a few questions, especially about the nail polish! I had a number of email requests for pictures, and since I was curious about them myself and had the products available, I gave them a try. Part One will feature the nail polishes and Part Two will look at the rest of the collection.

The Antiquitease Collection is available beginning tomorrow, October 18, 2007. The entire collection is incredible, but the gold veneer nail polish particularly stands out for me. By itself, it is great a a stand alone gold polish. I don’t remember seeing a gold before that had quite the color quality and shine that this one has.

I plan to try the Gold Veneer simply as a stand alone gold polish at some point. It is featured though to be used with a white polish to create some interesting effects. The white polish is rather flat, which makes sense when it is intended for use for effects. Too much shine and a top polish won’t adhere well or won’t look right!

I decided to try creating a crackle effect, which was quite easy to accomplish. So create this look, apply one or two coats of the white polish and let it dry. Next, apply a coat of the gold veneer and blot lightly and quickly with a textured paper towel. That removes a bit of the gold to reveal the white underneath. How much gold is left can be adjusted based on how much you apply to begin with and how much is blotted off. Top it off with a clear top coat if desired.

Below is a look at the finished effect from a couple of different angles:

M.A.C. Cosmetics Antiquitease Nail Polish Gold and White Look

M.A.C. Nial Polish Antiquitease Look White and Gold

The fun part about this is that you get to mess up your nails on purpose! It also looks pretty darn cool from a distance and it is definitely very festive!The whole collection is quite nice. I did some swatches of the rest of the collection and took pictures of those as well, so look for that soon. I am also told that it is just the beginning of many great holiday products from M.A.C. this year!

Update: You can view my post on the rest of the collection here.

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Popularity: 10% [?]

M.A.C Cosmetics Blue Storm Collection

The M.A.C Blue Storm Collection is a collection based on blues hues released just in time for fall. The shades are also utilized at fashion week for the spring looks.

The shadows range from a beautiful light blue/gray to a rich teal, to a deeper and brighter blue.

Also available are cool tone lipglass shades in silvery violets and plum, and eye pencils in a teal and black.

My favorites of the collection though are the nail lacquers, which come in a teal blue frost and and gray frost with lilac undertones. Both are unique and interesting shades that should work well with the blues, blacks and other darker nail polish colors that are in style this fall. They also should provide interesting looks well into next spring.

The Blue Storm collection consists of mostly limited edition products. So take a look at it while you can!

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Popularity: 4% [?]

M.A.C. Cosmetics Smoke Signals Collection

The M.A.C Smoke Signal Collection is truly gorgeous. With beautiful smokey browns and grays, along with neutral lip colors and muted blush shades, It reminds me of classic and classy fall style. I am a neutral makeup type of girl, so this collection fit me perfectly.

The eyeshadow comes in two quads, one leans more to gray/brown and the other more to blue/gray. Both are beautiful. I have taken to wearing the light pink/taupe from the smoking eyes quad (pictured) with just a brown eyeliner (also from the smoke signals collection) and hint of the taupe in the crease. The look works wonderfully for day, and it is easy to move it to evening by adding a bit more color to the lid and adding a bit of the darker brown along the lashes and blending. The collection also adds some more very nice pigments to M.A.C’s list.

The lip products are also outstanding. The lipsticks are all beautiful neutral shades, ranging from quite light to a deep, rich wine. They are complimented by some equally nice lip glass shades. Add one of the muted and unique shades of blush that seem perfect for fall, and you are ready to go!

The line also includes nail polish. If you wanted to try black last year, you will have your chance again in fall 2007. It appears to be back and in style as much as ever. M.A.C’s black shade is quite nice. There is also a deep purple shade with red pearl that looks quite interesting. It isn’t the type of color I tend to go for, but I tried some on my toes and kind of liked it!

As with many of M.A.C’s collections, this is limited edition, so I suggest grabbing some of these really nice shades while you can, especially the eyeshadow quads.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

Nubar Support the Cure 4 Pack of Polishes

The Nubar Nail Lacquer Support the Cure Package is nice set of nail polishes with a percentage of sales going to cancer research. From the Nubar company product information:

“nubar announces the Collection for the Cure for 2008. A collection of four nubar nail products which are great for everyday wear. Two beautiful pink shades, Pink Cami and Je’Taime, a foundation base coat and Diamont Seal & Shine. 10% of the retail price of the Collection for the Cure will go towards St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Cancer Treatment Research Foundation and the City of Hope. nubar offers products that are free of harmful ingredients such as; Toluene, Formaldehyde or DBP (Phthalate). Your purchase is a commitment to help support education, outreach, research and all of our critical programs throughout the country.”

I tried the polishes and the shimmery colors are quite nice. I used the darker pink on my toe nails and the lighter on my finger nails. I particularly liked the very light, yet quite luminescent quality of the lighter pink shade. The base coat and top coat were fine, and everything went on nicely. The shades would also work well for French tip manicures.

If you are looking for some nice pink shades to try and want to send a bit of money to a good cause, check out this set!

Popularity: 3% [?]