Maybelline's Poolside #975

Seen here 2 coats of Maybelline's Poolside 975

 

Sorry Maybelline, this shade did not impress me in the least.  Although it looked inviting at first, the shade looks awful with my skin tone.

 

 I won't write too much about this shade as my heart just isn't in it.  Last week I tried Azure Seas by Maybelline as well and wow, it left me super impressed.  My fault entirely for purchasing such a pale colour to begin with.

 

Here's how it shows up on two slightly different backgrounds.  I plan on trying to incorporate this into one of my upcoming marble/nailart manicures in August.  It might find its purpose in my stash then.

 

That's all for today.  Hope you are having a good one.

 

If you've tried this shade, let me know how you liked it?

 

Thanks for stopping by,  Lisa M.

 

Be sure to connect with me via FB, Twitter @nailcareasklisa and Pinterest @ASK Cosmetics Inc.

 

 

Azure Seas by Maybelline

An unbelievably beautiful blue!  It reminds me of wonderful vacations by the seaside and awakes a strong yearning to head to the beach.  I present "Azure Seas #990" by Maybelline to you today!

 

Seen here are 2 coats of this wonderful summery shade.  The photos I display on my blog are usually taken outside in natural light as I find it shows the polish shades closest to their appearance.  I also enjoy finding enhancing, natural backgrounds for my shots - like this one in front of one of my beautiful hosta plants.  The contrast of blue on green here really makes this polish shade come alive, don't you think?

 

 

Whether in the direct sunshine or in the shade this colour is so attractive.  The name is quite suitable and I couldn't stop comparing my nails to the colour of the water in a movie I recently watched.  Have you ever seen "Out of the Blue" starring Paul Walker, Jessica Alba and Josh Brolin?  Well, this was the very first time I saw a movie with Ms. Alba.  The jury is still out on her acting ability, but what I enjoyed most about this movie was the fantastic underwater footage and the breathtaking scenery on the waters surrounding the Bahamas.

 

This is definitely one blue that will be in my collection for a while.  The application was good as always with the Maybelline Color Show polishes.  The brush quality is normal and allows for easy application (please don't look too closely at the job I did here - two strong cups of coffee are not a good pre-requisite for an excellent mani!!)  The wear was standard as well - 5 - 6 days without any significant wear showing up.  I've tried others from the Maybelline collections before and I think they are great!  In this particular case, you get the quality you pay for.

 

Best Practice Advice:  For those of you who use TIPS Nail Conditioner or TIPS for Toes - don't forget to apply TIPS every day around your cuticles and under your natural nail.  Your newly developing nail begins to form between your first knuckle and your moons, so apply TIPS back that far as it penetrates and replenishes the nails and cuticles with essential lipids that we strip our fingers of each day.

 

For more information on these nail care/nail treatment products,

go to ASK Cosmetics website/online shop.

 

Is this a shade you would wear?  Does it make you want to pack your bags and head for the Caribbean?

 

Thanks for stopping by and take care,  Lisa M.

 

 

 

 

 

Pinkalicious meets Fake Tattoos

There's nothing better than talking with your hands, no literally, I mean having a little message on your nails.

 

It seemed to be a perfect match-up:  Pinkalicious and Fake Tattoo's Heart & Text Design sheet.

 

Seen here are 2 coats of Maybelline's Pinkalicious, a true pink in every sense of the colour!

 

This was the sheet of nail tattoos before I cut them out for the manicure. 

 

For ordering info contact:  info@faketattoos.se or

visit their website right here.

 

To view other posts of mine involving nail tattoos click on:

 

Blue Balloon and Ocean Designs by FAKE TATTOOS

 

Much Better than the Real Thing

 

Girls just wanna have fun

 

Now let's get back to business, shall we?!

 

As Enigmatic Rambles - Review Nail Tattoos correctly stated in her blog post on these nail tattoos - they are more of a water transfer.  They are so very easy to apply and come off without any trouble whatsoever with regular nail polish remover.

 

As you can see in this photo better the heart tattoo on my little finger cracked slightly right after application before putting on top coat.

 

Seen here are 2 coats of Sheer French Pink by ASK Cosmetics Inc. complimented with FAKE TATTOOS.

 

I definitely give nail tattoos the THUMBS UP!

 

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to stay in touch with me and my beauty-related info.

 

Take care,  Lisa M.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybelline's Amethyst Ablaze

Amethyst Ablaze 90 is part of the Maybelline New York Color Show Collection - Metallics. 

An absolutely gorgeous shade of purple, this lacquer applied beautifully and evenly.  2 coats shown here in the following pictures....

 

 

 

After each manicure I follow up with an application of TIPS Nail Conditioner around the cuticles to hydrate them.  Dry, cracked cuticles really spoil a lovely manicure, and the cold weather has taken its toll on my skin and hands already.  So, before my manicure I put on some Revival Skin Conditioning Milk to soften up my hands.

 

As if this shade isn't enough to add some serious glamour to your talons after, I decided to jazz it up just a bit after a few days of wear. 

 

Sally Hansen's Rockstar Pink 140 was the one best suited to Amethyst Ablaze.  This is the outcome of my glitter tips moment.....

The glitter tips are intentionally uneven.  I wanted to do a glitter gradient, but things simply didn't work out that way.  Oh well, maybe next time.  I was still quite pleased with the end result.

 

What is your go-to polish shade for the holidays? 

 

Thanks again for stopping by.  Have a great day,  Lisa M.

 

 

 

Future Polish Fanatics get some blue manis

What an experience and joy to put smiles of children's faces!  Yesterday was the fund-raiser for Juvenile Diabetes.  My contribution was giving all the young girls a manicure of their choice - offering all the blues I had in my stash.

 

Here are some of the happy faces that made my afternoon yesterday...

 

Among the top favourites were:  Essie's "Beach Bum Blu", Sally Hansen's "Gem-Stone" and Maybelline's "Styled Out".

This particular fund-raiser in support of Juvenile Diabetes was centered around a Zumba-thon.  All adults were asked to pay an admission fee with all the proceeds going directly to support this charity, but they could Zumba all afternoon.  Now I didn't have any time to try the Zumba moves, but I got a bit of insight into what Zumba is all about:  the right outfit, cool dance moves combined with a cardio aspect, funky music well-suited to the moves and a feeling of belonging to the group of Zumba fanatics.

Males, females, young and old all got involved and moved their bodies to the music showing their Zumba moves.

 

My personal favourite (and new acquisition) among the blue nail polish shades is Maybelline's "Styled Out".  Surprisingly, it was not the ultimate winner among the young girls.

 

Here is a peek at Styled out on my nails.

A lovely denim-tone blue shade with a subtle glitter effect to it. 

 

As with all my manis and the ones I did yesterday, I always finish off by treating my cuticles with some TIPS Nail Conditioner to keep them hydrated, fortified and nourished.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading this post.

 

Is there a cause and/or charity that you support?  If so, what is it and how do you get involved?

 

 

Have a great day!  Lisa M.

 

 

 

 

Nail art can be so easy, yet full of effect!

It's not too often that I get the chance to try out new and interesting nail art designs.  However, after seeing so many of the "cloud manis" I became fascinated at how such a design might work.  It certainly looked easy enough (as most of them normally do), but actually getting all the clouds to be perfectly round and even turned out to be more challenging than I expected.

 

For my first cloud mani I chose:  Maybelline's Colour Show "Pedal to the Metal" as my base colour.  Then I used two shades by ASK Cosmetics:  "Oh So Aubergine" and the lighter one called "Romantic Sunset".

 

My first impression of the finished product was "not too bad", but upon closer inspection one can see that the clouds are not as even as I wanted them to be.  After wearing this mani out and about for a few days I received lots of looks and compliments.  I also realized how intimidated most people are at "trying their hand" at nail art. 

 

 

I loved the colour combination.  The darker shade "Oh So Aubergine" seems to create depth and a kind of lining around the clouds.  Some might even say it looks like a storm is brewing. Nevertheless, this mani is super simple to do not requiring any special tools.  As the nail polishes (at least the ones I used) were very fast drying, there is little room for error.  You have to work quickly and place those cloud outlines perfectly.  Try it and have some fun!

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a memorable day!

 

Til next time, Lisa M.