Gradient Manicure

I recently became aware of the gradient manicure, in which color is dark at the tip and fades towards the cuticle. It's sort of an interesting take on the (too?) perfect French mani. I gave it a try using New York Color's new quick dry formula (In a New York Color Minute) in Fifth Avenue, a shimmery copper color. Check it out!


I first painted the tip with Fifth Avenue, and then used Orly Polish Thinner and a trusty cheap-o paint brush to smudge the polish before it dried. Then I painted the tip with Fifth Avenue again to make it darker. This took a few tries on several of the nails...it's kind of tough to smudge it perfectly. I topped it with Maybelline Salon Expert in Rock Out, sheer shimmery/glittery topcoat.


I think it came out pretty cool. I would not use this color for a gradient manicure again though - it came out browner than I expected, and I was worried that people would think I had dirt under my fingernails!

Ode to Dollar Tree

I am really excited about a buy I made last week. I went to the Dollar Tree, one of my favorite money saving stores on the planet, and found the beauty aisle chock full of Maybelline nail polish two-packs. I bought three:


Cool, huh? A nice selection of discontinued (but still fabulous)red, pink, and neutral Maybelline nail polish. As soon as I got home, I put on Maybelline Forever Strong + Iron in Wonder Melon. This looks like opaque hot pink crème in the bottle, but applies like a reddish-pink jelly. I usually don’t like the nail line to be visible, but the shine on this is outrageous, so I will forgive that.

Indoor with flash

It actually applied really smoothly with little to no unevenness - I could have left it at one coat for a sheer red-pink. This is one coat of Seche Ridge Filler, three coats of Wonder Melon, and one coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat. Love it! I had no obvious tipwear when I took it off two days later.

Natural light

I want to talk about the Dollar Tree for a minute. Ok, a lot of what they sell is junk. BUT...sometimes you can find a gem, especially in the beauty department! It's totally YMMV (your mileage may vary), but I find that if I check "my" Dollar Tree around twice a month, I will almost always walk away with a fabulous deal on name brand items, perhaps that have been discontinued, reformulated, or had a packaging change.

Interesting things that have been found at local Dollar Tree Stores:

1. My mom bought four glass coffee cups which were exactly the same ones she had bought previously at Bed, Bath, and Beyond the year before. Same brand and everything. Back then they were around $4.00 a piece. 75% off, score!

2. My boyfriend bought a fabulous leather Griffin brand iPhone case, exactly the type he was looking for. I really don't know prices of things like that (my cell phone is from 2004!) but I think it would easily have retailed for $10.00.

3. Cousins found Hanes undershirts for little boys, still in the sealed plastic package.

4. I bought a 3 pack of Gilligan and O'Malley socks made out of bamboo. I was a little confused by the bamboo, but I know Gilligan and O'Malley as a decent brand sold at Target, so I bought them. Very comfy, it turns out, and totally worth 33 cents a pair!

5. One of my favorite Dollar Tree finds: Fresh Step Litter Box Wipes! These are around $4.00 at Target, and I use them every time I clean out my little stinker's box. Needless to say, I stocked up. Speaking of pets, I've seen plenty of pet clothes that are normally sold at Wal Mart. Check around the change of seasons!

6. I've bought so much makeup at the Dollar Tree. Two-for-a-dollar Maybelline nail polishes are just the tip of the iceberg! In the past I've found Physicians Formula concealer, eyeshadow, and bronzer. There is usually a small selection of lipstick and lipgloss made by Almay and Revlon. I've also seen Cover Girl and Maybelline items. I hit the jackpot one day - I found Nivea and Vaseline body lotions that had an older bottle design. I also bought one of my favorite L'Oreal nail polishes at the Dollar Tree: Martini Olive (pictured below).

Matte Nails

Good evening! I’ve decided to make my first beauty post about something that I am totally excited about right now: matte nails. I wasn’t initially going to jump on the bandwagon, but since the matte nail trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, I caved (and I’m so glad I did!).


I made the decision a while ago to hold out for the China Glaze Matte Magic topcoat. I love China Glaze, and I knew it would be a few dollars cheaper than the Essie version (the next cheapest one that is widely available). I bought this at Sally Beauty Supply for 5 dollars with Sally card. The Essie version is 10 dollars at Ulta and I hear that it too is fabulous. While I’m comparing them I should mention that although the China Glaze matte topcoat is cheaper, it’s also a smaller bottle at .325 oz compared to Essie’s .5 oz bottle.


This was the manicure I was sporting before applying Matte Magic - Seche Ridge Filling Base Coat, three coats of Essie Body Language, and topcoat of Poshe:

Indoors with flash

Fabulously, the Matte Magic topcoat applied perfectly right over my existing manicure! Check it out:

Indoors with flash

Natural light

And just for fun, I did swatches of a few other crème polishes with the Matte Magic topcoat:

Natural light

I am loving this look! I can’t wait to try it with other colors. I kept my Matte Magic + Essie Body Language manicure on for three days with some tip wear and minimal chipping (maybe two or three small chips total). The matte-ness does sort of fade to a satin finish after the first day. This also looks pretty cool, but I opted to add another coat of Matte Magic, which worked like a charm.


I really like Essie Body Language, it’s a very neutral, clean looking white-beige, very work appropriate. Adding the matte topcoat just makes it a little more edgy in my opinion. It looks more mod. Very cute, and a very easy way to try this trend out!


Although several companies make matte polishes (OPI, Zoya, Orly), I probably won’t be buying any of them after trying this. For the price of one matte nail polish I can recreate my entire nail polish collection as mattes...that is a product I can get behind!