#ManiMonday | Revlon Meet Maybelline

Welcome back to another edition of #ManiMonday! It has been a loooooooooong while since I have done a MM so I figured I would start this off with a bright, beautiful pink (Casino Royale by Revlon) & a sweet, tealy blue (Tenacious Teal edit: Urban Utopia by Maybelline). I did 2 coats of each color - both had an amazing drying time. One coat of the Revlon woud have been okay, but I am so use to doing 2 that it is out of habit. The Maybelline nailpolish did require 2 coats but both were amazing!

Both polishes are naked with no undies (for those who have NO idea what that means: no top coat or base coat)... however I did apply a coat of Essies Apricot Nail Oil & let that soak into my nail beds for a while before applying the polishes (my nails have been so gross due to moving & generally not taking care of them)... I dont think that has anything to do with how the colors applied or their staying power, but its just a thought.

So, my gorgeous cupcakes, whats on your nails this week?

Revlon Lip Butters 2013 & Update.

I have some exciting news - well, hopefully it's exciting to you. I am going to try & blog at least twice a week & have a new YouTube video 3 times a week. Aren't you excited?! I know I am! I am hoping to get more dedicated & bring you the most awesome of awesome EVER. Yep. I just went there. & now I'm going here... ↓↓↓↓↓↓

It's that time of year where all the new goodies come out! I'm so excited! Living in Oklahoma, I tend to feel that our state is the last to get all the cool new stuff. Needless to say, I was pleased to find the new Revlon 2013 Spring? Summer? Spring? {heck, I can't remember!} Lip Butters! The new collection contains 4 lip butters; a watermelon red, a vibrant pink, a coral, & nudey-pink. Lets get onto the swatches & thoughts, shall we?

LEFT TO RIGHT: "Wild Watermelon", "Sorbet", "Juicy Papaya", & "Pink Lemonade"

 The new Lip Butters have the same formulation as the full line. The pigmentation is amazing & the feeling is great as well. Let's see some swatches, yes?

"Wild Watermelon"

"Wild Watermelon" on lips

 "Wild Watermelon" is a gorgeous, well, watermelon red. It's pigmentation is buildable but even the first swipe across the lips gives a generous pay off of color. I'm not sure if my sniffer is broken but the lip butter doesn't have any sort of scent to it.. I was hoping it smelled like watermelon - you know, because it's name is watermelon? Although, I don't think any of the Lip Butters have a "scent" to them. Hmm...

"Sorbet"

"Sorbet" on lips

  "Sorbet" - despite the picture - is a gorgeous, deep pink. Pigmentation, like any Lip Butter, is superb. I wore this one to work today & noticed that it did have a tad bit of a staining power... sort of. It seemed to have migrated into the lines on my lips despite exfoliating. "Sorbet" looked gorgeous paired up with a neutral eye & bright pink blush to tie it all in.

"Juicy Papaya"

"Juicy Papaya" on lips

  I was really excited when I saw this color. I was hoping it would be a gorgeous corally color with amazing payoff like the rest the Butters. Now, don't get me wrong, the color is very pretty - at least when I swatched it on my hand - but I did not get the coral finish I wanted on my lips... then again, I did this swatch after the "Sorbet" that stained a little even after I used an exfoliating wipe to get it off. Still a gorgeous Spring or Summer color, just not the color I was hoping for.

"Pink Lemonade"

"Pink Lemonade" on lips

 Nevermind the tube picture that makes it look orange; I couldn't find the memory chip to my DSLR so I had to use my iPhone & apparently my lighting was horrible. :/  "Pink Lemonade" is actually a super pale nude pink & it seemed to have only added a shine to my lips with no real color pay off. I can see this being the perfect every day color for someone who wants that gloss finish but no color payoff.

If you can forgive the poor photography, these Butters are actually really great! The pigmentation is amazing, the feel is amazing... these definitely do NOT disappoint. Make sure you grab these while you can because they are limited edition!

No Flash

With Flash.

Valentine's Day Nail Tutorial

FOREWARNING: This post is heavily picture ladened. You have been warned.

Happy iheartyou day, everyone! I hope your loved one has treated you well & if you're single, I hope you treated yourself well today! No need to be sad on this "day of love" when you can be your own Valentine & spoil yourself rotten & make yourself feel beautiful with something as simple as a fun mani using drug store nail polish! What's that mean for you? Cheap beauty! Here's our arsenal:

 NYC #111 in Fuschia Shock Creme
Sinful Colors #101 in Snow Me White
Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine #424A in Black Creme
NYC Matte Me Crazy top coat
Small nail design brush {side note: I actually went to Walmart & in the arts & crafts section I pick up a 5 pack on brushes designed for miniature doll house painting. Works wonderful although the brushes are a little stiff}

First things first, make sure your nails are prepped, clean & ready to go! If not, remove any excess polish, clip, flip, whatever! The apply 2 coats of Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" to you thumb, middle, & pinky fingers.

 While the white is drying, take Wet'n'Wild's Wild Shine in "Black Creme" & apply two coats to your index & ring finger. This step is not neccessary if you use a thick coat but I like to apply thinner coats to get a nice even coating. Even one coat was good but I wanted to do 2 just to be safe.

 Now here comes the fun part! Take you thin nail art brush & the "Black Creme" again. Now we're going to draw the tic-tac-toe board on the thumb making x's in all the boxes except the 3 going diagonally.

 After we're done carefully placing our x's we're going to take NYC #111 in "Fuschia Shock Creme" & our small brush again. This time, we're going to draw a little heart in each empty square on our thumb as well as a big heart on them middle & pinky.

 & voila! Now the final step is optional, but I don't really like the look of high gloss black so I took NYC's "Matte Me Crazy" & did a nice coat on my index & ring finger to kind of offset the textures a bit.

See? Isn't that just the cutest little mani!? It's great if you're not too girly but still want to have a valentines day mani. What do you think? Would you rock it? If you do, show me pictures! Tag me on instagram: @JustaGirlx826 or hashtag me on twitter @JustaGirlx826 #vdayblogmani
xox.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Happy Christmas, everyone! Now, normally I do an open box video on these things but with just receiving it on Christmas Eve I figured a blog post was quicker & easier to do during the holiday season.

As you all know, I participate in random makeup gift swaps & Christmas time is no different! These presents are from my good friend Rayvin of the group "Makeup For Everyone" {or MUFE}. I got so excited when I saw the cute Snoopy covered box being handed to me by my mail lady.

See? CUTE!!

 When I opened the box it smelled freaking DELICIOUS! & it was even cuter on the inside!

Looket the wrapped prezzies!

 I quickly opened each & every present to find delicious candles & an Elf shaped soap & a wax warmer gift box set!

Everything was delicious smelling & I am so appreciative of everything! *&* she messaged me that I have a SECOND box coming! Can you say spoiled?! Yayyy!  I will give a more in depth review in my "What I got for Christmas" video coming soon.

♥ & all things vintage!
Becca.