Back to Nature (Sort Of) - Part Two

Welcome, all, to the second installation of my restoration process. Today, I'm focusing on the feet.

Now, I will first say that my feet aren't nasty. I can go barefoot with minimal shame, and I can't find a nail tech who gives a better pedicure than me. That said...I spent winter wearing socks, and not really worrying about my feet. Toenails got a little stained, acquired a few callouses, skin a little dry. No biggie.

Sandal season, however, is upon us, so I am prepping my toes for display.

Considering the last time I got a pedicure, the woman pampering my feet was asking my advice, I felt like this is something I should share to the masses. I see way too many nasty cracked feet in the summer, and I feel like this post counts toward serving the community at large. So please, please share this link if you know one of those women (or men) who wear flip flops with gnarly feet.

I'm not showing my toes on the interwebs until my project is complete, but here is my process:

1. Soak your feet. This is the most crucial step. If you skip it, the rest will be useless. You can soak in the bath, or just soak your feet in the bath. I personally use my kitchen sink, since I can sit on the counter and reach my feet without actually being in the water. You can use a foot soak if you want. I personally use a mild soap like Johnson's Baby Wash or even my Black African Soap. I've also been putting about 1/3 cup of peroxide in the water, too, to help whiten and disinfect my toes. Soak about five to ten minutes, depending on how rough your skin is.

2. Scrub your feet. I've been using Qtica's Lemon Dream Sugar Scrub, since I've been spending WAY too much money on polish lately and they send it free with larger orders. I also posted a recipe for a great, but cheap and easy sugar scrub last summer. Here's the trick: Don't rinse it off yet.

3. Scrub your feet even more. I use a pumice sponge (softer and more foamy feeling than a pumice stone), but if you have a foot file or stiff brush, that will work, too. Scrubbing your already-scrubbed feet will make your skin that much smoother.

4. Rinse and brush. I use a nail brush to get the sugar scrub from between my toes, but a toothbrush or washcloth will work, too.

5. Dig up the dirt. Sounds gross, but stuff gets under your toenails when you're rocking sandals outside. Even lint from inside your socks get stuck in places, and if it doesn't get cleaned out, you can run the risk of infections, or just gross-looking feet. Orange sticks will work quite well. If needed, this a good time for cuticle remover.

6. Trim. Now that the nails are soft, trim them to desired length. Straight lines help prevent ingrown toenails, which I can assure you, are not fun.

7. File and buff. I use a regular nail file first to shape and smooth the edges of my toenails to prevent them from snagging on sheets and socks. Then, I use a buffing block to smooth the surface of my toenails. The smooth surface makes your polish look glassy, or if you go au natural, your toes just look nice and shiny and healthy.

8. Brush again. This time, just to get any filings off of your toenails.

9. Kill the germs. If you go to the gym, the pool or outside the sterile safety of your bathroom, you are in danger of getting athlete's foot or some other germy things. I de-germify my toes with Barielle Maximum Strength Fungus RX. Tea tree oil is also a natural anti-fungal agent. This step is optional, but not a bad idea.

10. Strengthen. I use Hard as Hoof to strengthen my nails, but if you prefer, a strengthening base coat like Julep Nail Therapy will work. Something to nourish your nails is the end goal.

11. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. I got some great mineral foot cream from Ahava in a Birchbox a few months ago. I like that it's not quite as oily as some others. Any Body Butter from The Body Shop is a good choice, too. Again, the goal is to keep your newly soft feet feeling smooth.

12. Socks. If possible, cover your silky smooth feet to keep that moisture trapped on the feet. I do this overnight so can keep them all clean and shiny and the lotion will be fully absorbed before I have to wear shoes again.

13. Lucky number 13 is my favorite: POLISH! Pick something pretty and bright and flaunt your newly fabulous feet!

There you have it, folks. My secrets have been revealed.

Stay tuned for the next episode: Trying to lighten your hair back to your natural (ish) color without spending hundreds for someone else to fry your hair.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Zoya Holly & Julep Oscar)

 Happy St. Patty's Day! As mentioned previously, I'm on a pastels-only kick until my nails regain a healthy pink glow, but what kind of polish junkie passes up a holiday? Especially a holiday where bright, awesome green is encouraged and even required? Not this girl. No way. Throw in some glitz, and I'm good to go.

 For my St. Patty's Day fun, I started with a coat of Essie Grow Faster base coat, then two coats of Zoya Holly. Holly was released as part of the Gems & Jewels Holiday 2011 Collection, and as the name indicates, is a lovely green the color of holly. Holly is well-pigmented and goes on like buttah. The shimmer is gorgeous, and I barely noticed when I put the top coat on. It took me an hour before I decided my nails really were dry. It's that glossy.

 If the photos look a little awkward, it's because my Holly is a mini bottle, courtesy of my December Birchbox. If you don't know about Birchbox, you should. I blogged about my January Birchbox here.

 The accent nail is one of my favorite trends in nail polish, so having received a new glitter last month, I figured this would be the time to bust it out. For the accent nail, I used Julep Oscar. Julep's Maven subscription is another great service. I've blogged about their polish quite a bit. More info here.

 There are two things you need to know about me: 1. I do not wear yellow gold. Like, ever. 2. Glitter polish usually requires 8,000 coats of topcoat to feel smooth.

I was actually a little bummed when I got my February Maven box. Red carpet glam: a red shimmer and a yellow gold glitter. Meh. Put 'em in the drawer and didn't even swatch. I thought Oscar might be an okay accent nail, so I put it on. SO sparkly. I wish it was a little softer, as I can't say the color is incredibly flattering, but it's really glittery. Oscar also goes on really smooth, and could probably be opaque in 2-3 coats. One coat of top coat, and I the nail was pretty smooth. I took some closeups of Oscar to give you a better idea of the color and shine. I would love, LOVE a pewter or gunmetal glitter like this.

 And there you have it: My St. Patrick's Day manicure! Not too fancy, but nice and festive.

What shade of green did YOU choose for St. Patty's Day?

China Glaze Dress Me Up

 Today's nails are courtesy of the China Glaze Hunger Games collection. Dress me up is a dusty mauve/pink creme. I just finished reading the books, though I've been eying some of the polish colors for weeks. Before reading the book, I though this color was a little out of place, almost too mature for the rest of the collection. I mean, really? When was the last time you wore something mauve? Then I realized I recently purchased a top this color, and it actually works quite well with a lot of the muted and smoky colors we've been seeing through fall and winter. In fact, I put it next to some of the colors in Zoya's Smoke collection, and it fit right in. I stand corrected.

I digress.

I think the reason the color choice makes more sense after reading the books comes from the whole premise. The Capital chooses children from each district and essentially pits them against each other in a death match. It's a horrifying thought to do that to a child, so dressing the characters up to look older would make it more palatable for the citizens forced to watch. This probably makes little sense unless you know a little about the books. I recommend them. Not necessarily the greatest literary works to grace the shelves of Barnes & Noble, but they're well-written and send a better message than Twilight.

 Without the back story, I did feel Dress Me Up was a little dull compared to my usual polish. The formula was smooth, and it only took two coats for opacity. Brushes allowed for easy application. Nice glossy finish. It just felt like something was missing...and, yes, I had more colors to play with. So I decided to give it a little edge.

 I used Stone Cold, also from the Hunger Games set, for my very first half moon mani. Obviously, the manicure was not without flaw, but it was a fun look, and I was DYING to try out Stone Cold (separate post coming soon!).

To finish the whole thing off, I added a coat of Essie Matte About You to kill the gloss on Dress Me Up. I really liked the final result.

Zoya Sparkle Gloss Top Coat vs. Essie Pure Pearlfection

 Good day! I have a very sparkly comparison post for you today. Along with my Bibhu Mohapatra Color Box from Zoya was included the lovely Sparkle Gloss Top Coat you see below.

Pure Pearlfection & Sparkle Gloss Top Coat

 My first thought was "This has been done, but a nice freebie." I also thought it looked a lot about Pure Pearlfection from Essie's Luxe Effects collection. And so the comparison began...

Zoya Sparkle Gloss Top Coat over Zoya Evvie, Pure Pearlfection over Evvie and Evvie by herself.

 While the shimmer particles in both polishes are nearly identical, the density of the particles is another story. Pure Pearlfection is a lot more opaque and adds a different effect to the color. I layered one coat of each polish over Zoya Evvie, which is a nice green cream. The Sparkle Gloss Top Coat doesn't alter the base color at all, just adds some additional sparkle, which is really cool. I like that the shimmer particles are very small, too. There's no real texture added, so a layer of clear top coat is all you need. Pure Pearlfection applies very evenly, as well.

Zoya Sparkle Gloss Top Coat over Zoya Evvie, Pure Pearlfection over Evvie and Evvie by herself.

Evvie, Pure Pearlfection over Evvie and Sparkle Gloss Top Coat over Evvie

 I think these last two shots show the difference in opacity really well, even if they're not very well-focused. The bottles in the last shot show the similarity in color better than the first shot, too.

I REALLY hope Zoya decides to keep this top coat around. It's really pretty, and I can see myself using it a lot. The good news is, though, if you missed the NY Fashion Week Limited Edition collections, you could probably mix Pure Pearlfection with some clear top coat and get a similar effect.

Multiplication of thePolishes: How the Stash Has Grown...

So, here's the funny thing about being a beauty blogger: You accumulate a lot of stuff. I've always had a fairly well-stocked vanity, and I'm not quite at the level of having closets dedicated to my goodies, but I'm getting there fast. Case in point. My first post, the polish stash looked like this:

This was everything I had for nail supplies. Everything. All in two neat little boxes. The collection of polish alone now fills two boxes completely, and the third doesn't even come close to holding the removers, creams, decals, cotton swabs, etc. I use.

This is just the polish and a few nail-specific odds and ends. I didn't even go up to the bathroom to get the removers and magic potions. And this is after my sister raided my stash and took little pieces of the collections I wouldn't wear on a regular basis, and I gave some of the unused bottles out for stocking stuffers at Christmas. My goal is to keep everything at a manageable level so my boyfriend doesn't start refusing to come to the girl den that is my apartment. Neatly organized in three little scrapbook boxes...for now...

Essie Cocktail Bling - Winter 2011 Collection

Cocktail Bling, Brooch the Subject, Bangle Jangle, School of Hard Rocks, Size Matters, Bobbing for Baubles

I've got my first holiday polish set!

Essie's Cocktail Bling collection is a set of glossy cremes that sort of defies the traditional holiday rules. There is a red and a green and even a blue, but not what you see every year. The traditional poinsettia red, holly green, silver and gold are nowhere to be found with Cocktail Bling. Instead, you get a slightly softer and more sophisticated pallette, which makes the collection more wearable the rest of the year, and which I happen to like. As fun as it is to play with glitz and glimmer, I've always been partial to pure shine, which Essie always delivers.

Cocktail Bling, Brooch the Subject, Bangle Jangle, School of Hard Rocks, Size Matters, Bobbing for Baubles

Cocktail Bling, Brooch the Subject, Bangle Jangle, School of Hard Rocks, Size Matters, Bobbing for Baubles

Cocktail Bling is a soft blue, Brooch the Subject is kind of a pale camel or nude, Bangle Jangle is a pale lavender, School of Hard Rocks is a murky teal green (maybe dark seafoam?), Size Matters is a fantastick cranberry red and Bobbing for Baubles is a beautiful navy blue.

I ordered the cube with all full size bottles, and I will say the packaging is really cute. I've always gotten individual bottles, so this is the first time I've seen the cube.

 

What I like so far:

• Essie maintains tradition, but without the obvious answer.
• The colors can be worn after Christmas.
• If you're not into solid colors, these could look great with some stamping or decals. Very pretty canvases.

I can't say there's anything I don't like right now. I haven't worn or swatched these yet, so you'll get a full review soon.

Gameday Nails - Week 2

Well, the good news is Nebraska won last week against Chattanooga. The bad news is they didn't look 100% ready to play against a somewhat lesser opponent. This week's game is against another unranked team, but Fresno State has a reputation for taking down superior teams, then falling off once conference play starts. It's a good thing my nails are covered in polish, or I might be biting them.

...which brings me to this week's gameday nails. Being a lover of fashion, the fact that a slight change was made to this year's uniforms hasn't gone unnoticed. While I am nowhere near talented enough to actually re-create the uniform on my nails (or with actual writing utensils and paper, for that matter), I decided to play with elements from the uniforms, particularly the stripes.

Here is a history of Nebraska's uniforms, dating back to 1890:

The uniforms from the 2011 season haven't changed very much. The biggest difference is that the sleeve has been shortened a bit, and there is no longer a number on the sleeve.

Also, the model used in this photo has a head and limbs to fill said uniform. Unless you follow Oregon football, you probably don't pay much attention to the minor changes in uniforms, but this is Nebraska and we scrutinize EVERYTHING if it pertains to our beloved Cornhuskers.

I've always liked NU's uniforms. They're clean. They're crisp. They're classic. While red isn't universally flattering, it is easy to reproduce and really never goes out of style. Heckuva a lot better than burnt orange (*cough*Texas*cough*).

Without further adieu...

These were taken with my HTC Thunderbolt, partially because my Nikon seriously dislikes reds and pinks in macro mode, but mostly because it has a kickstand and I don't have a tripod for this camera yet. Yeah, my phone has a kickstand. It's pretty awesome.

For this week's nails, I used Essie's Fishnet Stockings, Color Club's Art Club in White and China Glaze Liquid Leather. Throw in a green towel from the bathroom, and we have a turf-like backdrop.

Stamping Fun!

Hey, all! Sorry to be so sporadic with my posting, but I've been a busy girl. I was convinced to join a Fantasy Football league with some of my co-workers, so I've been learning all about NFL players and how this point system works. I'm taking a few chances. Hoping it pays off. Hopefully, this won't consume my entire life for the next 6 months...

The remaining bits of time I have left has been spent playing with my new toys. As some of you Twitterers saw, someone got some stamping plates and has been making a royal mess trying to learn to use them. Here are my best creations so far:

Painfully obvious I didn't use a base coat while I was doing this...

Argyle!!!

SO doing a whole mani of snowflakes as soon as winter comes.

Bought an entire set of plates for this flower. Worth every cent.

Love the color combo. The stamping needs some work.

Look how messy that Argyle is! Must clean this up. Argyle manis will prevail.

The snowflakes are the only things I didn't screw up royally on the first try. Apparently, sheer glitter polish is good. Mental note. These were the good designs. You have no idea how much Remove+ I went through. REALLY glad I got a fresh bottle with my last order...

Polish used:
Thumb: OPI - An Affair in Red Square over Orly - Visible Violet
Index: Essie - Carry On over Essie - Lady Like
Middle: Color Club - Alter Ego, Zoya - Jules and Art Club \/Color Club - Get the Blues over China Glaze - Chinchilla Vanilla
Ring: Art Club/Color Club - Black, Art Club/Color Club - White Satin and Essie - Power Clutch over Zoya - Dove
Pinky: Zoya - Cynthia over Essie - Chinchilly
(Yes, I have multiple polishes that reference Chinchillas. Not entirely a coincidence. Long Story.)

Color Comparison: China Glaze Concrete Catwalk vs. Essie Power Clutch

Concrete Catwalk vs. Power Clutch

If you've been deciding between grays from the recently released fall collections, I'm here to help. Today, we're looking at Concrete Catwalk from China Glaze's Metro Collection and Power Clutch from Essie's Brand New Bag Collection.

All you have to do is look at the bottles to know they're not duplicates, but they're similar enough that you could get by with just one if you HAD to.

Concrete Catwalk is a gray creme the color of wet cement, but with a slight blue undertone. The finish is nice and glossy and it's opaque in two coats. I've seen this polish online for $3-$7, but haven't been able to find it locally. I do live in an area with limited selections for beauty supplies, so you may be able to find it in a store.

Power Clutch is also a gray creme with a bit of an army green tint. The finish is also glossy and will cover in two coats. I picked Power Clutch up for around $8 at my local CVS, but they didn't have the full collection. It's also available online, and may be in other beauty supply shops.

Concrete Catwalk, Power Clutch, Concrete Catwalk, Power Clutch

Concrete Catwalk, Power Clutch, Concrete Catwalk, Power Clutch

As you can see, there is a noticeable difference between these colors. The other difference I noticed was the formula. Concrete Catwalk was a bit thicker, though not hard to work with. Power Clutch was thinner and if not applied well, could be streaky. I smudged around my cuticle on the second coat, and probably should have added a coat. The brushes were both fine.

Petra

I also noticed that several people had been linked to my blog while looking for a comparison between Concrete Catwalk and Zoya's Petra. I added Petra to this mix, since she is much closer when dry than that bottle would have you believe. Ask and you shall receive.

Petra's formula is slightly thicker than Power Clutch, but thinner than Concrete Catwalk. There's a bit more of a purple tint to this creme finish. The brush is great and it dries nice and shiny. It's $8 from www.zoya.com, and according to @Zoya_NailPolish's twitter feed, may be found in some Ohio spa locations with the rest of the Smoke & Mirrors Collections.

Petra, Power Clutch, Concrete Catwalk (low light, no flash)

Petra, Power Clutch, Concrete Catwalk (with flash)

Petra, Power Clutch, Concrete Catwalk (indoor lighting, no flash)

As you can see above, I intentionally used the flash to illustrate the difference in the colors' undertones, as the low light shot makes them look closer than they are. The last photo is probably the most accurate depiction of the color in decent lighting.

I can't say I necessarily have a favorite between these three. If I can't love all three equally, I'd say Concrete Catwalk might be the favorite because it's slightly edgier than the other two and I haven't worn it except while swatching yet.. The fact that it only cost me $3 might help with that, too. I do love a bargain.

Color Comparison: Essie Lady Like vs. Zoya Pandora & Zoya Jana

I know when you see color comparisons, the writer is usually comparing two or more shades that are nearly identical. I have a couple of those coming soon, but today I wanted to compare a couple of Fall colors. As a consumer, I don't like to spend money on something I already have...but if there are noticeable differences, I will always want both.

I noticed in the last couple of months we've been seeing more muted colors that walked that gray/pink/beige/purple color line. Looking through my collection, I found a few shades that were similar, but not exact duplicates.

Zoya Jana, Essie Lady Like, Zoya Pandora

The differences between these lovely ladies are noticeable while in the bottle, but they're similar enough that I may take a moment to decide if I need both Zoya polishes, or if I could get the Essie bottle as an in-between polish.

Pandora, Lady Like, Jana, Lady Like

It's amazing how a polish can dry so much darker than in the bottle. In the bottle shot, Jana is noticeably darker, but it's not dramatic. Once it dries, though, it is so much darker than the other two.

Pandora, Lady Like, Jana, Lady Like

Lady Like is obviously more pink than Pandora, and Pandora brings a hint of shimmer to the picture, but depending on your skin tone, you could possibly use Lady Like for a nude or Pandora as a light pink/beige color.

Verdict: Definitely no substitute for Jana. Lady Like and Pandora are both absolutely necessary for this addict, but if you only had $8 to spend, you could probably pick one or the other.