Liquid Palisade

If you’re like me (or anyone who's not a superhuman), you have a pretty tricky time of it when you try to paint the nails on your non-dominant hand. For me, (I’m a southpaw) my left hand is always messy from coloring outside the lines so to speak because I just can’t keep that little brush on my little nails. As a girl who loves nail polish and paints her nails a few times a week, this issue has plagued me for years.

Now Kiesque has invented the painter’s tape of nail polish. It’s a light purple gel called Liquid Palisade that when you paint it along the edges of your skin before polishing, protects skin from absorbing lacquer. Simply peel off the gel when you’re finished for your salon perfect mani or pedi. 

AND if you’ve been dying for those adorable half moon nails that every runway sported, paint the gel onto a solid color of polish to create a removable line to paint up to. When you take off the gel, it won’t damage the color underneath. You’ve officially discovered your perfect French manicure.

OPI Fall Preview

I just got my hands on the sampler of OPI's new 2010 Autumn colors, the Swiss collection. My mom, knowing my obsession with new nail polish colors, saw it at the salon and picked it up for me. Obviously, I was thrilled and painted my nails right away. True to OPI, it went on smooth without clumping, and dried extremely quickly. One minute I was painting my nails. 5 minutes later, I was helping grill some steaks without a smudge. I did "Color So Hot it Berns" on my tootsies, and it's a pleasing shiny cherry red. I chose "Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous," a sparkly silver for my fingers. It's really the best glitter metallic I've come across in a while. It only took one coat for full coverage, and isn't chunky like many glitter polishes tend to be. It has a slightly purplish tint to it which will go great with fall wardrobes, but still works for the last bits of summer. It would make a perfect pairing with "Color So Hot it Berns" as the tips of the twist on a French manicure I detailed in this post. The quick dry top coat is to die for, and the little sampler bottles are too cute. I agree, OPI, it is irresistible. Though you could have used some proof reading on the box, since irresistible is spelled with an "i" not the pun on irre-"swiss"-ables on the box. I almost can't wait to chip a nail so I can try out the last remaining bottle, a bluish teal, "Yodel me on my cell." 

Pink Forever

Yes, I am blogging about nail polish again. I came across this gem when I popped in to the duane reade downstairs from my office for my daily snack/cheap beauty thrill. I was perusing the nail polish selection, looking for a neon magenta to replace a bottle that lost when I came across this brand, Sinful Colors. I had never noticed it before, and at $2.99 a pop, you can't go wrong. I've gotten rather sick of spending $9 and up on essie or orly polish only to spill the bottle, leave the top off, or otherwise ruin the polish. AND it's a color pink that I just don't have in my collection yet. It's called Pink Forever. It looks rather like raspberry sherbert, no? The perfect summer hue if you ask me. I brought it home, tried it out, and it goes on smoothly and stays shiny for much longer than you would expect a three dollar polish to last. I've had a couple coats on my toes for about 5 days now, even surviving a trip to the beach, and it's still going strong. After this weekend, I must say, the color looks lovely when half buried in the sand.

The latest twist on a French Manicure

I was flipping through the June issue of Marie Claire, and I noticed a fantastic new nail trend in several of their photos. It's a twist/toughening up of the traditional white tipped nude nail combo that makes up the classic French manicure.

Marie Claire used dark shades for the tips, think hunter green and navy, and extended the curve of color down the side of the nail making a half moon on the end of square nails. I LOVE it.

Though I think it looks more fall-like than the full neon nails that I plan to rick all summer long. As soon as autumn rolls around though, I'll be running to my favorite salon with this picture in hand.

Who wears Short Shorts?

Essie has long been my favorite kind of nail polish . Not only does their nail polish go on more smoothly and bubble free than other brands, but they have a range of colors to fulfill any girls dreams (and match her wardrobe). They have about 20 different shades of red alone, and cute names for the colors to boot. And they always have the latest shade that you see in magazines before anyone else, like last summer's lemon yellow (Shorty Pants) and Rhianna green.

I came across my latest favorite in Ricky's. It's from neon collection, and its called Short Shorts.