Pink Wednesday: October 12, 2011

Hello, my Pretties!

I cannot believe it is Wednesday again! My, how time flies!!

Speaking of time, I don't have much of it right now but before I had to turn in for the night, I wanted to share my Pink Wednesday nails with you.

Del Sol Nail Polish
Girls Night Out

I bought this nail polish at a store in San Antonio, TX by the name of Del Sol. They sell t-shirts, bags, jewelry, nail polish, and lots of other things that change color when out in the sun. Such a fun concept!

Del Sol in San Antonio is the closest one that I have available to me. But you can also order on line at www.delsol.com.

Swatch with flash.

Of course I had to get the pink one! They do have many colors and finishes to chose from. Mine is a hot pink with very tiny and delicate shimmer which did not transfer over at all in the photos. Such a shame. But take my word, it's very nice without being to overwhelming with "glitter".

Swatch without flash.

When I compare the two swatches, the swatch with the flash is more true to life in my opinion. The photo with the flash is darker and more vivid. When I look at my nails while typing, that's the color I see on my fingertips. The swatch without the flash is also a very pretty shade of pink but not close enough to the color in real life.

Girls Night Out

This specific nail polish that I purchased is still available online. The price per nail polish is $10.00 for 0.5 oz. They also have a 100% money back guarantee.

There are 24 colors to chose from. I wish I had purchased more! I definitely want some more! And, they are all toluene-free.

Nail Polish Changes Color
When Exposed to Sunlight

The color of the nail polish in the bottle is the color that it looks like when you apply it and are indoors.

Outdoor Color

The color on the sticker on the cap is the color it will evolve into when you step out into sunlight. Girls Night Out goes from hot pink to a deep purple.

I should have taken photos of the color change itself but I couldn't get a good shot. It was cloudy out today so not much color change going on. But it does change! That I know from past usage of this particular nail polish. Besides, this is a PINK Wednesday post...ONLY PINK NAIL POLISH!

You can see the approximate color change on the website HERE.

Have any of you ever heard of Del Sol? I love it there. Cute stuff. We've purchased t-shirts and bags and everyone thinks they are the coolest things when we wear them. Definitely a conversation piece.

Quick tip: Right now they have a Halloween-y color changing nail polish! In the sunlight, it is a black glitter polish and indoors, it will transform into an orange glitter polish. How fun! You can see that one HERE.

Well, thank you all for joining me for another edition of Pink Wednesday. I'm so excited because I am on a roll here! Let's see what pink polish I paint on next week.

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ Items mentioned in this post were purchased by me with my own money. ♥♥

Konad Stamping Nail Art: Hello Kitty

Hello, my Pretties!

If you've followed me for a while now, you know that I've mentioned on occasion having purchased a Konad Stamping Nail Art kit from my local mall a while back. It was showcased in one of the kiosks in the middle of the mall and it just grabbed my attention.

I have always loved nail art but never attempted it since I have a difficult enough time staying between the lines when I paint my nails a solid color. But the saleswoman at the Konad kiosk was very good. She had a whole bunch of design plates out and the special Konad polishes so that the consumers could play around with it and get the feel for how easy it was to do nail art on yourself.

She even did a design on my daughter's nails so my daughter was begging me to buy it for her! I was sold. She had lots of starter kits to chose from. Some just had a stamper, plate, scraper, and one special nail polish for about $7.00 but my sweet-tart being the sweet that he is, had to get me the Konad Stamping Special Set. I believe this set was $60-$70. He is the best, I swear.

Konad Stamping Nail Art
Special Set

Because he did spend a pretty penny on it, he was pretty disappointed when it turned out that I didn't use it as much as I thought I would.

The set just kind of sat there in my nail polish drawer looking pretty. I think prior to this look, I used it about 5 times. For his sake, and now for my blog's as well, I decided to bust out the Konad and play!

First thing you see when you open the box.

You get 1 stamper and the little black book is a catalog that lists all the nail polish they carry and design plates. Anything and everything Konad! It also has how to instructions and ideas.

Inside the little pink pack is the scraper and the 5 design plates. This kit comes with 5 plates, each with 7 designs on them. I have 6 plates because the saleswoman at the kiosk was sweet and gave me a free one as my bonus for buying it that day. Yay!

Underneath the Konad catalog.

And here are the 5 special nail polishes and the 1 top coat. She also gave me an option to change out the nail polishes to others that she had available. I kept the original ones that came with the kit. Seemed like good colors. White, Green, Red, Pink, and Black. Basics are good.

These polishes are what you use to make the design. You paint your nail with any other nail polish. NOT THESE! These are thick and will not set!! That is why you only use these to make the stamp design. I'm not sure if you can use your regular polishes to make the designs. I've heard yes and no. The only problem with regular nail polishes is that they are thin and usually require 2-3 coats. You can't do that many coats on a stamp! Can you imagine trying to place the stamp perfectly over the first image on your nail to give it a second coat? Not going to happen. But I don't know what would happen, I haven't tried making the designs using regular nail polish. I'm just saying...

Rhinestones and Image Plates.

Included in the kit is 30 rhinestones. They are so tiny! And of course, the pack with the 5 image plates and scraper.

Here are the 5 image plates
plus my free one.

The image plates are cute. I have all kinds of designs. There is a fruit plate, a flower and butterfly plate, a stars and hearts plate, an accessories plate, a nail tips plate, and an entire nail plate. Lots of possible designs to be created here!

Konad catalog and how to DVD.

Image Plate from
Born Pretty Store.

This is their popular Hello Kitty image plate.

I got this image plate for FREE from Born Pretty Store. They had a giveaway on their Facebook page where the first so many people got a code for this image plate free of charge! Excellent!

Ingredients used.

Here is what I used to create this super simple Hello Kitty pink nail:

Nail Polish Remover
Konad White Nail Polish
Wet n Wild Wild Shine Top Coat
Konad Stamper
Konad Scraper
Born Pretty Store Hello Kitty Image Plate
A rag to clean up the image plate and scraper after each image transfer.

♥ I forgot to mention what nail polish I used as my base. I was already wearing pink from my Pink Wednesday post so I just kept that one on. It's Fuschia-istic by mark. You can see that post HERE. ♥

Aw, how cute.

I did two Hello Kitty faces on my nails with the bigger nail beds. I alternated a HK face with a solid colored nail. I added a small Hello Kitty bow I got from my daughter's HK nail polish kit from Target which you can see HERE. The sticker added a sweet touch.

After the nail designs were dry and the sticker in place, I went over it with the WnW top coat to make sure the nails stayed this way!

Super simple.

And that was the final look! Such a long post for such a simple design. I know, I'm sorry!

I just really wanted to showcase the Konad more than anything. Now you all have gotten a feel for the Konad and what it is and what it can do.

Maybe next time I use it, I will do a step by step photo tutorial on how to transfer the image from the plate onto your nail. It's simple. I didn't do that in this post because I knew it would be long enough already!

Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to read this post. I appreciate it so very much!!

Until next time, XXOO.

Luv & Luk,
--L.

Empties: September 2011

Hello, my Pretties!

I forgot I had these pictures saved on my computer. I took them a while back to prepare for this empties post but then I kept forgetting to write the blog post! I'm horrible, I know.

Well, for the month of September, I didn't have that many empties. And NO makeup empties! Ugh! I'm really trying to finish some makeup up! I just can't. So weird.

Anyway, here is what I did finish up in September:

September 2011 Empties

Nice little array of products used up in September. But the closest thing to makeup was the Blistex lip balm! Not good enough.

Bath & Body Works Anti-Bacterian Deep Cleansing Hand Soap in Betty Parfait
Dove Go Fresh Revive Body Wash in Pomegranate & Lemon Verbena Scent
Aussie Instant Freeze Hair Spray Maximum Hold
Pantene Pro-V Style Curl Defining Scrunching Mousse Extra Strong Hold
Blistex Five Star Lip Protection

Aussie Instant Freeze Hair Spray Maximum Hold
8.5 fl oz (251 mL)

Such good stuff! Talk about instant freeze! This does hold very well. But it will leave your hair stiff and crunchy. If you don't like that, this is not for you. I rarely wear my naturally curly hair down so I don't use this to spray all over my entire head. I mainly use this to tame flyaways and that it is good for. The scent of this is really nice too.

Dove Go Fresh Revive Body Wash
Pomegranate & Lemon Verbena Scent
24 fl oz (710 mL)

This is probably THE BEST body wash I have ever used! No joke! I have really dry skin on my arms and legs and this is like bathing in lotion. The formula is so thick and lotion like. Of course the scent is fabulous but I love how this feels on my skin while I'm taking a shower. Even after the shower, my skin did feel smoother. A little bit of this body wash went such a long way. I love this. I really enjoy the "nutrium moisture" it contains and I plan on repurchasing this--but I might try another scent just for fun.

Pantene Pro-V Style
Curl Defining Scrunching Mousse Extra Strong Hold
6.6 oz (187 g)

Yet again another product that I just loved! Like I mentioned before, I have naturally curly hair and I never wear it lose because it is so out of control! This mousse helped to tame the frizz and define the curl. I would shower at night, air dry my hair, than add some of this before my hair was completely dry. I would then sleep with my hair lose and in the morning, my hair was full and bouncy and soft. I hate my curly hair because using a ton of product in it makes it crunchy. Doing it this way, I got defined curls and minimum frizz all the while it remained touchable. Loved it!

Bath & Body Works Anti-Bacterial
 Deep Cleansing Hand Soap in Betty Parfait
8 fl oz (236 mL)

You guys know me by now and know how much I love B&BW! This seasonal item is no different. I got this on clearance for $2! Great deal! I believe this is a scent they offered around Mother's Day. It smells so so good. Very berry like! I loved washing my hands with this--the sweet-tart and the girls did too! That's a plus! It contains "an exclusive blend of moisturizing honey, coconut milk and olive fruit extracts to help nourish and soften skin." Perfection! And it also contains exfoliating microspheres. Even better.

Blistex Five Star Lip Protection
.15 oz (4.25 g)

I think I bought this at Wal-Mart at the check out as a last minute purchase. I cannot find the original packaging to find out what the five star protection was all about.

But here are some notes on it:
(The following information was taken from HERE.)

• Glycerin holds in moisture in dry air
• Candelilla helps form a wind barrier
• Wheat Germ Oil provides moisure relief for heat-stressed lips
• Calendula Oil soothes cold-chapped lips
• SPF30 provides UVA/UVB sun-protection

This one was just OK for me. I mean, it did work on keeping my lips soft and flake free but the scent and flavor were too strong for me. I like scented items but not so much for my lips. I don't like when the flavors of lip products mix with the flavors of what I'm eating or drinking. Picky? Maybe. But that's always been me. So, no, I don't think I will repurchase this one.

OK, my dears, that is all for now. I seriously do hope that I will have more makeup empties to share with you all for the month of October and I swear I will do my best to post my October favorites and empties at the end of the month--not two weeks into November!

Luv & Luk,

--L.

♥♥ All items mentioned in this post were bought by me with my own money. These are my own thoughts and honest opinions. ♥♥

Favorites: September 2011

Hello, my Pretties!

OMG, could I be any later in sharing my SEPTEMBER favorites with you? If you know me, yeah, I guess I can be later...

Anyway, sorry so late but here are my most used products for last month.

September 2011 Favorites

Left to right:
Avon True Color Blush in Classic Aura
E.L.F. Liquid Eyeliner in Black
Victoria's Secret Refreshing Body Mist in Pure Seduction
Jordana Color Effects Eyeshadow Powder in Splitting Image
E.L.F. All Over Cover Stick in Honey
Avon Healthy Makeup Lip Cream in Merlot

Swatches

Victoria's Secret
Refreshing Body Mist
Pure Seduction
125 mL/4.2 fl oz

"Refreshing with fragrance from a Secret Garden, infused with moisturizing Aloe Vera and calming Chamomile."


I love this scent! I know this one is of their old scents but I still love it. I feel so feminine when I wear this. At the rate I'm going, this might be in my October empties post!

Jordana Color Effects Eyeshadow Powder
Splitting Image
.094 oz/2.66 g

A fellow beauty blogger, Nicole of NV Beauty, sent me this when I won a giveaway she hosted a couple of months back and I fell in love with it!

Both shadows are shimmery and beautiful. The gold fits so well with the chocolate brown and love this as an everyday look. I love shimmer shadows.

E.L.F. All Over Cover Stick in Honey

And this little gem was given to me by my beauty bestie, Cathy of My Pinktastic Life, many months ago and I use this a lot. I love to use this on my eyes just below the brow bone to hide my big blue veins. Ugh! This works wonders in that department. It also helps conceal the dark circles that have started appearing under my eyes.

E.L.F. Liquid Eyeliner in Black

Another great E.L.F. product is this liquid eyeliner. It has a felt tip applicator which works great for me. I love the pigmentation of this eyeliner. It is so black. It is saturated with color and applies evenly and dries quickly. As for the lasting power, on me, it can go all day without a smudge.

Avon Healthy Makeup Lip Cream in Merlot

I love these lip creams! I have 3 of them only and I love them all. This one is more on the red side of the color spectrum. I also have a pink and a peach. This is not the way the top is supposed to look, the cap broke off and this was all that was left. Sad thing is, now it won't close properly so this tube is brand new and I doubt that I will be able to finish it off before it begins to dry up. Boooo...

Avon True Color Blush in Classic Aura

I know I included this in August's Favorites post but, oh my gosh, you guys, I love this. I use it every time I wear makeup. It's a must for me. I feel like I cheated you guys this month reposting this but this is really one of my favorites!

I know I didn't have a lot on my favorites this month. I didn't wear a whole lot of makeup this time around. I actually didn't do a lot of new looks either. I kind of just stuck to wearing a neutral look most of the time. It's one of those ruts we experience sometimes.

Hopefully, October will be a better month!

Luv & Luk,

--L.

♥♥ All items in this post were bought by me with my own money otherwise noted. These are my own thoughts and honest opinions. ♥♥

LFI: Upside Down

Hello, my Pretties!

Feel like another Look For Inspiration?

I have another one for you today. This one is a very easy and simple look that you can do in five minutes!

Pretty simple.
Pretty period.

When I finished this look, I thought it might just well be one of my better simplistic looks. It's very basic and quick. Don't need much at all to create this look. It's minimal without being boring.

Navy blue eyeliner with a frosty blue
along the lower lash line.

I ran a cream navy blue liner along my upper lash line and water line. The navy blue just brightens up the eye more than plain black. And for an extra splash of color, I added a frosty silvery blue to the lower lash line. The shimmery pale blue is a nice contrast for the navy.

Medium brown in the crease only.

As for the eyeshadow, I wanted to concentrate the color to the lower lash line. I usually do my eye looks with heavy color on the lid and a tiny bit of color along the lower lash line, if I remember to decorate it at all. Most of the time, all I have on my lower lash line is a rim of black eyeliner. That's why I call this one Upside Down. I only added a light touch of medium brown to my crease and that was it. I wanted all the focus to be on the lower lash line for once.

Sheer pink lips.

And to help keep the focus on the lower lash line, I kept the lips simple with a sheer pink lip color. It's understated but it's pretty at the same time.

Well, my dears, this was something "new" I thought I'd do for a change. I liked  it. I might keep this up and do the same look and just keep changing out the colors  I use on the lower lash line. We'll see!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

Pink Wednesday: October 5, 2011

Hello, my Pretties!

Earlier today on Twitter, I tweeted a pic of my naked nails announcing I needed a mani and asked for suggestions on a color of nail polish. A fellow tweetheart, @PenelopeElisa_, tweeted me this:
"@MsPrettyfulGirl...It's Wednesday! We only wear Pink on Wednesday ;)"

I had to thank her for the reminder!

And so here it is, this week's edition of Pink Wednesday!

Size comparison!

I had to show you the little itty bitty size of this mark. nail polish. It's so petite! The Avon nail polish (Avon Speed Dry + Nail Enamel in S206 Electric Purple) is 12 mL/0.4 fl oz while the mark. is a mere 2.7 mL/0.09 fl oz.

Fuschia-istic with flash.

This tiny bottle packs a great big punch of color! Look at how pretty this is. It is a vibrant hot pink cream. I love the look and the finish of it.

Fuschia-istic without flash.

I love that you can see how glossy it is even without the flash. I really do think that this is a pink shade that pink lovers will absolutely love. It's just a fun and girly color.

So, thanks again, to my friend Penelope who reminded me to wear pink today. Or else I would have let yet another Wednesday slip by.

Until next time, stay wonderful!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ All items mentioned in this post were purchased by me with my own money. ♥♥

Haul: Dollar Tree & Target

Hello, my Pretties!

I have a small collective haul to share with you today. I had not bought anything in months until this purchase I made on September 27. It was a good run but I really REALLY felt like buying some makeup. Who knows, maybe this will be enough to hold me over another four months or so.

Dollar Tree Haul

I love Dollar Tree! Everything is just $1!! I usually buy all my L.A. Colors brand makeup here. This is actually where my love for L.A. Colors started in the first place. From my first purchase a long time ago, I fell in love with the colors and most of all the price.

L.A. Colors 3 Color Eyeshadow
BES502 Shooting Star
BES503 Southern Belle
$1.00 each

I really like the colors in these two trios. Even though the purples look similar and the green shades as well, I hope they swatch and wear differently. In the pan, these shadows look fab!

L.A. Colors 3 Color Eyeshadow
BES507 Grassy Knoll
BES508 Moon Rock
$1.00 each

These two trios are a little more understated than the first two. I'm not the biggest fan of green or blue eyeshadows (not on me, anyway) but I just had to have these. I think the colors are nice. I probably won't wear all three green eyeshadows at once but they might be good to mix and match with others colors already in my collection.

My beauty buddy, Kristen of Kristen for President, has a wonderful blog post on these L.A. Colors trios up on her blog. She has other colors that I don't have. Check out her swatches of Grassy Knoll, Lemon Grove, Tiki Punch, Shooting Star, and Sand Dune HERE!

Profusion Pearl Eyeshadows
(No names on individual palettes.)
$1.00 each

Months back, I bought some Profusion eyeshadows from Walgreen's only because they were on clearance and I fell in love with them. They are super pigmented and apply flawlessly. So when I saw these at the Dollar Tree, I needed them. They are in iPhone like compacts...cute. And the colors in these two palettes are very vibrant looking. I cannot wait to swatch them!

Target Haul

Now on to Target. I just went in for some solution for my contacts and nail polish remover but I got a couple other little things just for fun.

Hello Kitty Nail Polish, Decals, & Hello
Kitty Necklace
0.175 fl oz (5 mL)
$1.99

I got this for my daughter. She loves to paint her nails. And who doesn't love Hello Kitty! I like to reward her when she does well in school so this was her prize. It's large pink glitters in a clear pink base. Also included were some stickers to decorated the nails with and the Hello Kitty hold the bottle of nail polish which you can wear as a necklace.

NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel
105 Starry Silver Glitter
0.45 fl oz (13.3 mL)
$0.94

I got this nail polish for me. I thought it was so cool looking. It's micro silver glitters mixed in with large hexagonal multi colored glitters in a clear base. Quickly swatched, it's alright. I'm sure it would look better over a colored nail polish.

Up & Up Multipurpose Solution
No-Rub Formula
4 fl oz (118 mL)
$2.24

Here is what I came for. I needed contact solution but I didn't have too much money on hand so I skimped a little buying this Target brand solution. I have never had a problem with the Target brand items so I don't expect to have a problem with this one. I have yet to try this solution out.

Up & Up Nail Polish Remover
Strengthening
6 fl oz (177.4 mL)
$0.97

I have used the Target brand nail polish remover before but the regular formula only which is great. This is the strengthening formula. I opted for this version because my nails have been chipping and breaking like crazy lately. I hope this well help.

Well, that's all for now, my sweets. For sure I will have swatches of the L.A. Colors eyeshadows and the Profusion eyeshadows up as soon as possible. I pinky promise.

Until then, take care, my dears.

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ All items mentioned in this post were purchased by me with my own money. ♥♥