M is for Makeup and Monday

It's supposed to rain for the entire week here in DC.  I guess I can't complain since we had a beautiful weekend and it's supposed to be beautiful next weekend.  Rain really makes me feel blah so I'm going to try to boost my mood this week with some fun and color.  Today I thought I'd share with you some of my new favorite products.

I've made my love of the (fairly) new Revlon ColorStay Longwear nail enamel well known. It's truly the longest wearing nail polish I have ever found. I love the colors they have. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a nail polish slut and I need more options than just those provided in this line.  I have however, been using the base and the top coat with all of my nail polish and it helps them all last almost as long as the Revlon Colorstay nail colors.  It's amazing!  Right now CVS is selling this polish for $4.99 and you will get $3 in CVS Extra Care Bucks with your first bottle.  It's like getting the polish for $1.99!  If you can find an in store tear pad coupon then it will cost just 99 cents! If you don't live in the DC area, check your local ad for details.

Since I've been wearing Revlon Photoready Airbrush Mousse Makeup, I've had lots of people ask me about my makeup.  I need a little extra coverage to even my skin tone as I've gotten a little older.  But I hate foundation that feels thick and heavy, especially as the weather gets warmer.  It's so light and still covers amazingly well. It gives my skin a pretty finish and I only use a grape size amount. I apply it with a brush.  I got this amazing foundation through a huge deal, using two coupons and also got ECBs back. 

I've been using the Revlon Photoready foundation with L'Oreal Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer. I don't use it as an all over primer because I like it more as a highlighter.  I put a tiny drop on my finger and blend it on my upper cheek bone and above my brow.  It gives my skin a pretty glow without looking sparkly.
 

From top:  Show Me Some Skin and Jewelry Heist

Jewelry Heist over Show Me Some Skin - LOVE this combo

Back in the winter, Wet 'n Wild came out with a new line of polishes called Spoiled.  They are sold exclusively at CVS for $1.99.  For inexpensive polishes they are good quality and come in an amazing color selection (link to the selection on vampyvarnish.com).  CVS has had quite a few sales recently (Buy Two get One Free and 99 cents each, on different weeks).  I've tried out several colors and I'm loving them for the quality and price. When I apply them along with the Revlon ColorStay base and top coats, they have great staying power. Without Revlon, they tend to last about the same time as the average polish.

Those are just a few of my new favorites.  Which products are you loving right now?

Have you ever thrown a fistfull of glitter in the air?

You know I'm loving pastels this season. Revlon ColorStay nail polish in Provence is the perfect lavender color.  Of course I had to add a little glitter.  Two coats of Provence, one coat of Essie luxe effects in Pure Perfection on every nail, except my ring finger and one thick coat of Ulta polish in Starstruck. Of course I followed with Revlon ColorStay top coat.

 

The title of this post is a line from the song "Glitter In the Air" by Pink.

Mani That Lasts - Revlon ColorStay Longwear Nail Enamel

It's fun to go to the salon and be pampered.  Getting a mani is great.  Sadly for me, no matter what I do, they never seem to last more than a few days. Also, I'm one of those nutty girls who really loves to paint her nails. I have since one of my babysitters first painted my nails when I was a little girl. It's fun for me.  Sitting there watching a trashy TV show or reading a fashion magazine and painting my nails is wonderfully zen for me.

I've tried so many ways to make my manis last.  So far, the only thing that has come close to extending the life of my polish is Seche Vite top coat. It does a good job but even that great product doesn't extend it past four or five days. When I heard about Revlon ColorStay Longwear Nail Enamel I admit, I was skeptical.  Revlon claims that the manicure will last 11 days if you wear it with the base and top coats. I decided to test it out.

 
I purchased four bottles during a buy one get one 50% sale at Walgreens and I used a $1 coupon on each bottle.  My grand total was $19.94 for base coat, top coat, Stiletto (black) and Stormy Night (dark gray). If I was truly going to test this product, I wanted a color that would show every chip and all of the wear.  I chose Stiletto.  I love black polish but it never lasts for me. It starts to look crummy after a couple days.

Day 2

Day 5

Day 8

 

 

 

Day 10 left hand

Day 10 right hand

I decided not to reapply the top coat at all during the test.  After five days you can see some wear at the tips. At day eight I got a tiny chip on my left hand pinky.  It's on the outside and you can barely see it. Today is day ten.  You can see the growth at my cuticles and I got one major chip on my right index finger, earlier today. 

I'm beyond thrilled with the result of this polish. The application was easy, just like any regular polish.  It covers well, in only two coats. As you can see the shine lasted the full ten days. I don't know how the polish would wear without the base and top coat but even if you have to pay full price, it's worth every penny. At around $24 (full price) for base coat, a color polish and top coat it's a bargain! But I've been able to find sales and coupons for all of my purchases so far.

I highly recommend getting some for yourself. In fact, I bought three new colors today.  That's how much I love this polish. It comes in thirty colors, so there's something for everyone.

This is my personal review.  I wasn't compensated by Revlon.  It's my honest opinion and the photos have not been altered.

Inspiration - Manicures for a Monday

Lately, I've really enjoyed playing with neutral bases and glitter in my manicures.  My cousin and I even had a fun girl's night recently with our glitter manis.  We drank wine, created our own glitter mani's and watched The Bachelor.  It was fantastic!  I'm still in love with Revlon ColorStay Longwear nail enamel and I've been adding glitter to their neutrals. A few weeks ago I tried Bones as my base with Nicole by OPI glitter tips.

This week I tried Stormy Night, covered about half of each nail with Essie Luxe Effects in Pure Perfection and then added Spoiled, I Have No Reception to the tips.

These nails, from my Pinterest boards were my inspiration. To get the details for each of these manis, go to my page and click on the picture.

My own glitter inspired mani turned out like this...

left to right - Revlon ColorStay  Stormy Night, essie luxe effects Pure Perfection, Wet n Wild Spoiled I Have No Reception

Finished Product - Fun but neutral enough to pass at work!

Silver Summer Accents

Summer always brings out the gold accessories.  I know gold looks great with a tan but personally, I love silver.  I've always preferred it to gold and that doesn't change for me in the summer months.  In about a week and half we are leaving for our annual summer beach trip.  I've started thinking about the things I'm going to pack and how I want to be more simple than in years past. A few great accessories can carry me through the whole week. These silver beauties fit that bill perfectly.

1) Stella & Dot Valen Pendant Necklace, $39 - This necklace is the perfect mix of class and beach.  The coral like branches are pretty but not over powering for a beachy outfit.
2) Wayfarer Style Sunglasses with Metallic Finish, $5.99 - A fun alternative to the traditional black wayfarers and so affordable you can buy them in more than one color.
3) Stella & Dot Devi bangles, $44 - These are the perfect compliment to the necklace or you can wear them alone with shorts and a tank.
4) Nars The Multiple in Copacabana, $39 - Make up that does double duty is a must for me at the beach. I never wear foundation and like to only carry a few products with me. This can be used for eyes, lips and cheeks and it has a pretty sheen to it that brightens your skin.
5) Silver Sequin Canvas Tote Bag, $20 - A roomy but pretty beach bag is a must. The house we rent is about a block from the beach. I always cart my book, towel, sunscreen and water with me.  This bag is perfect.
6) REVLON Colorstay Nail Enamel in Sequin, $4.40 - I love this metallic silver polish. It's neutral and it's long wearing, which means it will survive the week on my toes, fingers or both.
7) Candie's Thong Sandals, $36 - A great silver sandal is my perfect beach footwear. You can wear it to the beach during the day or out to dinner at night. 

As I get closer to leaving for our beach trip, I'll tell you more about what I'll be taking with me.  What are your favorite beach accessories?

Dripping Dots Mani

I've gotten so many great manicure ideas from Pinterest that I don't know if  I'll ever be able to try them all.  Recently I pinned a great tip from The Beauty Department. To make polka dots on your mani just push a flat head pin into a pencil eraser and dip it into the polish you want to dot. It makes a perfect dot tool.

My love of Revlon ColorStay Longwear nail enamel continues. For this mani I used Sequin as the base and Stiletto for the dripping dots. I painted two base coats of Sequin. I dripped a small amount of Stiletto onto a disposable plate. Then I dipped the pin head in and created a dotted line across the tip of each nail and added random dots dripping down each nail. I found that bending the pin gave me more control of the dotting tool.

They turned out better than I'd hoped. The sparkly sequin base is a perfect backdrop for the black dots. Using the pin dotting tool was surprisingly easy. The best tip I have is to dip lightly. You only need a small amount of polish on the pin head to create a dot. Too much makes a glob. It also helps to clean off the pin head occasionally with some polish remover. You can use any color combo to make fun polka dot nails. If you try it with different colors, I'd love to see your mani.  Please post it to the Real Girl Runway facebook page.

Needing Some Sparkle

With a few exceptions (down trees, limbs, debris, power outages and a little flooding), most of us in the DC area weathered Sandy pretty well.  My thoughts are with my friends and family in the New York and New Jersey areas hardest hit by the storm.  I know this is a difficult time for all of you. Our pre-storm prep of tying down our deck furniture and bringing things into the garage gave me some peace of mind. Due to my job, I didn't even get a day off to do fun crafts or projects. On Monday night I took some Me time and did a mani and read a fashion magazine. Sparkle was in order due to the dreary weather.

I decided on a sparkly french mani.  I used one coat of essie ballet slippers as my base and then added essie luxeffects in a cut above for the tips and accent nail. I finished with two coats of top coat.  I used Revlon Colorstay base coat and top coat.

I love the sheer pink, almost bare nails with the sparkly pink tips.  The accent nail is just an added bonus. This mani definitely brightened my day and it was so easy to do.  No taping required. The jagged edge of the glitter gives it a pretty randomness.

If you were affected by Sandy, what did you do to make yourself smile?

Lips and Nails - Fun Spring Colors

Bright lip and nail colors can get me through the dark days of winter.  Since we haven't had much winter to speak of here in DC and this week it's in the 80's, I am inspired to share my lip and nail picks for the spring.  With a mix of brights and pastels, there is something for everyone.

Lips

 A bold lip color can really change up your look.  It can make a basic outfit seem special.  The perfect color can even brighten your face. A pretty pink looks great on every skin tone.  Tinted lip balm, like the one below from Mary Kay, can be worn sheer or built up for a more opaque look. 

Mary Kay NouriShine Plus Lip Gloss - Rock 'n Red

Mary Kay Tinted Lip Balm (spf 15) - Poppy

Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Color - Coral Crush

Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Color - Fuchsia Fever

Nails

I love these colors for nails or toes.  They are fun and a great way to infuse a bit of color into your look. For spring I'm loving bright pinks, blues, and corals as well as a range of pastel colors.

Revlon ColorStay - Rich Raspberry

OPI - Fly

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mint Sorbet (you might recognize this shade from my sunnies DIY)

essie - A Crewed Interest

Wet 'n Wild Spoiled - Lox-y Lady (sold exclusively at CVS)

MonoChrome Polka Dot Mani

I can't resist doing Google searches for fun new manicure ideas and new manis are always popping up on my Pinterest feed. I've seen lots of polka dot manis lately and wanted to try out doing one with my silver Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.  I bought this pen a while ago and frankly, I haven't used it very much. What did I have to lose? If it looked terrible there is always polish remover nearby.  A subtle design was needed, since I have to work with clients this week (government clients).  I decided to go for a  monochromatic look with gray and silver.

 I started with Revlon Colorstay basecoat.  Then added three coats of Maybelline Color Show in Audacious Asphalt.  After that dried I drew in the polka dots with the Sally Hansen pen.  My left hand definitely looks better than my right.  But the right is pretty good.  I'm sure I could get the same look with nail stamping but I don't have a great polka dot stamp. Then I finished with two coats of top coat.

Natural Light

Office Light

It turned out great and I love the monochromatic look.  It's fun but subtle. More colors are definitely in order.

Mani for a Saturday Morning

I've been inspired by the glitter tipped manis I've been spying on blogs and Pinterest lately. I decided I needed my own version. I love nude nails and silver glitter so I thought combining the two would be amazing.

I used Revlon ColorStay Longwear nail enamel in Bones, Ulta in Starstruck and Nicole by OPI in Make You Smile.

Late Summer Beauty Wishes

As a self-professed product junky, I'm always trying out the latest products or products that I haven't tried yet. Maybe it's my ADD or just the fact that I get bored easily.  I'm always looking for the newest thing. Luckily, I'm not like that with {msL}. Seven years and still going strong. Because of this beauty fickleness (is that a word?), I have a constant running list of products I want to try. These are on my current list.

Click photos above for buying information.

From top left...

Urban Decay Naked Basics eyeshadow - My daily eye shadow is very neutral. I pale cream, tan or pink on my lid and brown in the crease.  I may be the only blogger who doesn't own this shadow but when my friend Alison of Wardrobe Oxygen said she was a new fan, I added it to my list. She favors a natural make up look (like I do) with a bold lip.  I'll be trying it out on my next trip to Sephora or Ulta.

Gelous Advance Nail Gel Coat - I've read quite a few reviews on this base/top coat that can give you a gel like manicure at home, without the lengthy removal process. You can use it with any polish.  I've heard tales of it wearing anywhere from one week to two weeks. At only about $6 per bottle (from Sally Beauty) it's worth a try. It will have to be stellar to surpass my love of Revlon ColorStay.

Yes to Grapefruit CC Cream - I'm a big fan of BB and CC creams. They give great moisture to my over 40 skin and nice coverage (in most cases).  Lara of The Glossarie (one of my fave beauty blogs) listed this CC cream on her new drugstore faves. She tests out tons of products and if she is giving it raves, I have to try it.

Murad Instant Radience Eye Cream - Another recommended product from Lara. She had me at "blurs dark circles" and "I don't leave home without it."

Avon Mega Effects Mascara - There has been tons of buzz about this mascara and it's quirky brush. It's gotten some great reviews and I'm dying to try it. Lucky for me my college roomie is an Avon representative! Stay tuned!