Requests Please!

Send in those shadow requests! Color? Texture? Sheen? What do you most desire, cause I can make it happen! Inspire me! Seduce me! Time is of the essence!

Deadline Friday, October 16th!

Sally Hanson Insti-Dri

I decided to review the Insta-Dri 30 second polish from Sally Hanson. I'm usually a CND or OPI gal, and Lord knows, I love my Essie (always the most beautiful colors!), but I could not resist the lure of a 30 second color opportunity, who could?

I bought the Racin" Red (which I noticed isn't featured on the website) for $4.99 at Rite Aid. It is a slightly blue based red, with a very subtle hint of shimmer. I also bought the Insta Dri anti-chip top coat that claims to dry any polish to the touch in 30 seconds. That was $5.99, but I had to exchange it for another, because when I got home & took it out of the box, the bottle was empty. Whoops!

Anyway, I manicured & then polished my nails with the Racin' Red. The color was lovely, and yes ladies, it dried w/ no smears or rough edges in 30 seconds. Wow! Many people are ravin about the wider, flatter brush. Most claim it is easier to cover the whole nail in one stroke, more like a professional brush, etc. To be honest I much prefer the slightly longer, rounded bristles of the professional colors. I keep my nails shorted & have a rounded C- curved nail bed. A flat short brush means much more control must be taken to not overstep the boundary of the nail & sweep polish up onto the sidewall. So for me the brush is a no-go, but since I'm a trained, licensed nail pro, I could just be biased 3 swipes with a standard tip still works best for me.

Now, I'm tough, tough, tough on my nails- no doubt. Plus I have extremely thin, flexible nails, so the fact that i have chips today, is not a fair assessment to the polish itself- I did an updo, manicure, & full makeup, plus cleaned my house, so I expected chips, and even with all that they don't look too bad. I can tell you, when I treated my hands kindly-they stayed gorgeous. Plus w/ a 30 second drying time- I could redo my polish everyday & never bat an eye!

The insta-Dri topcoat I used on my mani yesterday & yes, it too, was dry in 30 seconds and gave a nice glossy finish. I did a basecoat, and one coat of Creative's Clearly pink, & then the topcoat. we wanted a very sheer, nail with just a hint of shine. This bottle has the more classic shaped wand and brush, which I found a breeze to use. I will definitely use this product again- I love that Any color can be a 30 second color! WooHoo!

BTW Walmart is advertising the Instra-Dri for $3.99, but Rite Aid was having a buy one get one 50% off!

I added a link to Sally Hanson, so double click the title & it'll take you to the site!

website, coming soon!

Meeting with my web designer this morning, yay! We're almost there guys. I'm so excited to get this going so I can introduce you to my line! This project has been in the works for a while now, already been through one designer, but that person had only one way of doing things...bland, which is so not me!

Anyway, hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks. I will keep my contest alive for about that period of time (thanks to all who have sent in color ideas) , just to give more people a chance to find me, and then I'll kick off another one (Bigger!) when we officially launch the retail site.

This is soooo much harder than my line's first launch into a salon! Probably because computers & I don't get along, though I did just buy a gently used Mac, & I have to say, waaaaaay easier to use, even for a computer illiterate like myself!

Color Contest!

OOOOH The choices are coming in- get yours in today!

Choices, Choices, Choices

Pictured: First Crush

a sexy hot pink that complements any skin tone!

O.k I can use some feedback here, what color do you think I should create next? I'm leaning toward a classic Navy, but would LOVE to hear your ideas! Become a follower & add your comment with as much detail as possible!

As a special bonus, if your color idea is chosen, you'll win, not only that color, but a slew of other yummy colors as well! Like, Satisfied, & First Crush blush colors, Bare Luster ( a gorgeous shimmer powder to use as a highlight, shadow, body shimmer, lips, heck, anywhere!) and 2 eye shadows & a gloss that coordinate with the winning entry!

Good luck! & Get those ideas coming!

I'll talk about this cause my other post is taking too long...

O.k , so I'm working on a post about what "natural" means when applied to makeup, but it's got a lot of info & I keep getting interrupted so I'll have to save that for later.

I just finished with a brand new client, and I have to say doing personal consults & really teaching women about makeup, how to apply it for their specific needs, proper tools & cleanliness, all these things are such an inspiring thing to do. It's really one of my most favorite things about makeup- it runs the gamut from any creative, colorful, crazy avant guarde idea I can dream up, to making a brides dream look come to fruition, all the way to teaching everyday women how to look their best. Throw in the fact that if I dream up a color and I can go to my workroom & MAKE IT! My work life doesn't get any better than this, I'm one lucky chick!

My new Airbrush!

I am soooo stinking excited about my new airbrush! I've already been practicing applying makeup with it, using my minerals as airbrush makeup, (yes, they can be made into airbrush makeup, I just need to tweak the medium that I created to mix them with, but it's almost there!) I'm also hopefully going to use this to do some blue body painting in Oct. How fun! There is always so much I want to mix & create & fix & tinker with, it's amazing I ever get anything done at all! If I didn't reign myself in I'd have about 400 colors about now, as it is I have over 50 shadow colors, 15 blush/bronzers, 22 foundations, 2 color correcting concealers, 4 mineral sheers, 4 luster powders...... And there is always more floating around in my brain.

Anyway- I can't wait to keep experimenting with this- I need to get more tech savvy & then I can get some videos going for you guys- that way I'm not the only one having fun!

In the meantime though you can checkout this great makeup artist, Kandee Johnson, her videos are a lot of fun (she is beautiful, & very sweet, which makes her fun to watch) she also has a blog here at blogspot , so I'll try to post a link http://kandeethemakeupartist.blogspot.com/2009/09/outfit-of-day-or-yesterday.html

Minerals ARE HD makeup

By now you've probably all heard of HD makeup. With the advent of HD cameras, which has 6x the pixelation of a regular camera, the makeup industry has had to adjust HOW makeup is created AND applied.

These high definition images, whether still or motion, show true skin texture and color. It is no longer enough to color adjust, but texture now must be refined as well. Very few of us have perfect skin, and that includes models and actresses as well. Makeup companies are now learning what mineral companies have known for years, mineral makeup IS HD makeup!

If you look at the ingredients of the most popular high end HD makeup lines you'll see that minerals are the main ingredients. Mica, specifically Serecite mica, and Silica Microspheres are the two most lightweight ingredients that blur lines, pores & skin imperfections, and reflect light away from any of these problems, all without creasing, settling & adding weight or texture to the skin, thereby allowing for the most natural appearance available in makeup.

Before investing a lot of money in the prestige brands of high def makeup, checkout & compare the ingredients of some of the smaller boutique mineral companies, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the money you can save for the very same product! One the the most famous HD Setting powders is 100% Silica!