Nailed

my nails, and their constant rotation of colors and designs is something that I'm sort of known for. I have a nail polish collection that most people would consider ridiculous and the patience to create patterns and designs without a problem. lately the manicure that I've been LOVING is leopard print. I've managed to make some interesting color combinations (purples, teals and bright pinks), but this weekend I opted for something a little more natural.


easy-peasy to get this look! start with a neutral base color (I used Essie "Playa del Platinum" a nice taupe, mushroom gray) and apply two coats for a nice opaque finish. Then take a beigy nude (I tried Spoiled "Show Me Some Skin") and make oval shaped dots on your nails. I liked the look of 3-4 larger sized dots spread over the nail. Don't make them too big though, you'll need room to outline then with the black. Then take a regular black polish (I used the black Art Deco nail art polish that I always use for designs. It has a super skinny brush that makes designs and lines SUPER simple) and make wavy C-shaped lines surrounding the beige spots, but not fully connecting around them. Then finish off your manicure with a super skinny topcoat (My all time favorite? Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat of course!)

now normally a manicure is lucky if it makes it past the 3 day mark for me before I'm bored and need something new, but this one lasted almost 5 days! I can't even tell you the amount of people that would stop me, or grab my hands to compliment my nails and almost EVERY SINGLE ONE asked me if they were the Sally Hansen nail polish strips, or something similar.


another manicure I'm loving- all black nails with a super sparkly French tip. the dark version of my grown-up glitter post!

my nails are most definitely my favorite accessory for adding some pizazz to my outfits. Sometimes with the job you have, type of work you do, or place of employment you have, accessorizing and setting yourself apart from everyone else can be a bit tough. I LOVE using my nails as a fun little pick me up :)

what are some of your favorite pick me ups during the day?



xx,
Marissa

scorched summer skin

now I don't know about you, but I remember being a little kid and never worrying about sunscreen. I didn't even have my first real burn until I was in college and boy, was that a slap in the face with reality. The older you get, the more susceptible your skins is to damage- especially the sun. there seems to be a new tradition with my skin that I always get one good burn the first weeks of summer. you'd think I'd learn from this over the past few years, but of course, this year didn't prove to be ANY different.

sitting by the pool with a bunch of my girlfriends last sunday left me looking quite an adorable shade of pink. lucky for me, my skin decided to forgo the bubbles that I got a few years ago and instead chose to stay pink, turn into tough leather and then develop cute crater like patches of dry skin- lovely I know. While some might be saying that this is a bit TMI, it's important for you to understand just how terrible my skin was, to understand how AMAZING this product I found at Sephora truly is!

I just popped into Sephora really quick while out to lunch to see if they by some miracle had the Buxom Gloss in "White Russian" (which they did- it's just as amazing as I hoped for it to be!) (possible review? hmph we shall see) and decided to see if anyone there could point me in the direction of something to help my poor skin. Of course I happened to be standing in from of the Murad section right under a section that said something along the lines of "Too much sun?" and offered an entire assortment of creams, serums and treatments for those who are a bit scorched. The link above takes you to the Sephora website and has a Starter Kit with minis of the entire line. I just asked the associate for a sample of the Serum and the Night Lotion to try out and see if they were worth the $60 (yikes!) and $89 (double yikes!) price tag.

side note- most people don't know this, but you can ask Sephora associates for samples of the majority of everything within the store FOR FREE! so next time you're thinking about taking the leap and dropping some serious dough on a new foundation or face cream, give it a test drive first!

but back the creature that was my face- this stuff is AMAZING! I woke up the next morning after using both the serum and the night lotion and honestly saw a difference in my face. It wasn't so leathery and had started to crack, which at first scared the heck out of me, but then I realized that it was a good thing! I shedded like a snake for a day or two, and now all that remains of my horrible face is a few new freckles where the worst of the burn was. now while these products were expensive to say the least, how amazing they worked just shows that you get what you pay for when it comes to skin care.




exactly a week after I started using the miracle serum and cream- here's my face completely sans makeup! I was just about ready to swear off staying a member of the general population, thank goodness for Sephora :)



xx,
Marissa

lashing out, again!

long time no blog, I know... I know! But this blog hiatus has made way for HUGE changes in the life of little ole' me. A big girl job, first and foremost- only a year after graduation but hey, whatevs! and relocating back to my parents- wompp, wompp.

it has however been great to be back in the element of what I studied in school, know a lot about and honestly are truly interested in. Not many people can say those things about their career, and the fact that it's my first full-time job out of college, I'd say makes me a pretty lucky girl! :)

but onto more important things, namely mascara and all things lashes! A while back I did a post on my favorite drugstore dupes for amazing high-end mascaras, and have a new amazing one to add to the list. now I can't remember if it was the girl I work with who has the most amazing lashes that recommended this to me, or i just lucked out- but either way, we may have a new Holy Grail mascara to add to the list!

if you loved the look that Lacomé Hypnôse Doll Lashes gave but hated the $26 price tag, then look no further than L'Oreal Telescopic Carbon Black for an almost exact dupe! This mascara gives you the long and gorgeous look of falsies without all the bother.










keep in mind these pictures are taken wearing the mascara over my other mascara (Benefit's BADgal lash) from this morning and still gave mile long lashes with minor clumping. ah-mazing!

if you're used to a big fat brush applicator, don't be turned off by the small bendy plastic brush. you'll get used to it and love the long results you get!

xx,
Marissa