Pamper Mom Pretty with CND

Mother's Day is Sunday (ahem) and if you're anything like me, you'd love a gift certificate for a manicure & pedicure. Give her the honor of a great manicure and pedicure from a quality salon with quality products like the following from CND!

Now, the best way to find a CND certified salon is through the CND website. It's important that the salon location that says they have Shellac is actually using all the proper products, tools and procedures to make sure you get all the benefits of the CND services.  You may remember that I reviewed a local salon that uses Shellac, and I know that they are using all the proper tools but they haven't been CND cetified yet (working on it).

Start out with the CND Citrus SpaManicure to exfoliate, refine and moisturize the hands leaving them silky smooth for days and follow with the CND Marine SpaPedicure, a conditioning ocean-inspired bled.

Then follow it up with Shellac! New to summer are four bright colors.
Grape Gum
Lobster Roll
Pink Bikini
Water Park

Not a fan of the brights? There are 51 other CND Shellac colors and remember, you can always layer shades for a custom look.  

So far I've tried:

  • One coat of Purple Purple and one coat of Moonlight & Roses which resulted in a nice lilac shade.
  • Two coats of Hollywood, a pretty red, with a top coat of Mother of Pearl, a light holographic scattered glitter, much like China Glaze Fairy Dust for a scattered holo red.
  • My own "Bridezillionaire": pre-designed "rock-n-roll darks" of Rock Royalty with Iced Coral.  This results in a purple base with a blue to green shift shimmer.  Then I had a layer of the Zillionaire added for some glitz.
The combinations are endless. Not to mention 14 days wear, mirror-shine and zero dry time. Go one step further and give her a follow up appointment so she can have her Shellac safely removed by a professional and try out another combination!  Happy Mother's Day!

Beauty Blog Coalition Spring Giveaway!



The Beauty Blog Coalition is a group of Beauty Bloggers who work to bring you the latest on all things beauty. This spring we have collaborated to put together a giveaway of $500. Follow the Rafflecopter instructions below to enter. Giveaway is open to international participants.

Here is the list of the member's participating in the current giveaway - be sure to check them out for some enjoyable reading:
Blushing Basics
PolishGalore
Clumps of Mascara
Justina's Gems
Beyond Beauty Lounge
Beauty 101
Cosmetics Aficionado
Just For Trendy Girls
Peek & Ponder
Pretty In Pink
Aquaheart's Obsessions
InTruBeauty
Beauty Info Zone
Moxie Reviews
Prime Beauty
Midnight Manicures
Geniabeme
Blushing Noir
Beauty by Miss L
Peace Love Lipgloss
TheFabZilla
polarbelle
My Highest Self
MinaSlater.com - Fabulous Awesomeness
george&bear
Lipgloss Break
Painted Ladies



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cult Nails Dance All Night Collection

If you've been following me on Instagram then you'll know that I completed my Cult Nails collection last week. I now own every single Cult Nails color produced, including the limited editions and it makes me way too giddy. I'm happy to support Maria because I love the polish she makes and I like her whole family and their work ethic.  Anywho, I got this email last week and was SUPER excited because Maria had been teasing some of these polishes on her Instagram!  You better believe I'll be awake and waiting for the preview sale because I want that Wax Finish Top Coat (only available free for the first 250 orders).  (All images courtesy of Cult Nails.)

Cult Nails releases the Dance All Night Collection on May 9th, 2013 during a Preview sale. The collection includes 3 High Shine Creme's and 3 Glitter lacquers. The collection will be available during our Preview Event where the entire collection can be purchased at the discounted pricing of $60 for the set. (Retail $72). The first 250 orders will also automatically receive a bottle of Wax That (Not pictured), our new Wax Finish Top Coat that will allow you to turn any polish into a wax finish polish. Our Preview Event will run from May 9th - 18th 11:59PM EST. All polishes will be available for purchase individually starting on Sunday May 19th for $12 per bottle. 

The collection includes the following polishes: 

Nakizzle's Shizzle - We made several custom blue polishes for NY Fashion Week's Le Smurfette Show. I brought all the blue's home and when my daughter saw one of the blue lacquers, she grabbed it and explained, "Now that's my Shizzle!" After we had a good laugh and explained what Shizzle stands for, we knew we had to include it as part of the Cult Nails Lacquer line. It is a bright take on a traditional pastel blue. It dries to a high shine creme finish. 

Faded - We receive numerous requests for a pale almost white grey on a regular basis. I don't know what took us so long, but we think Faded is worth the wait! Faded is a light grey with subtle blue undertones to look great on all skintones. It dries to a high shine creme finish. 

Love at 1st Sight - It's no secret, I love purple polishes. When someone requested a bright pastel purple, we had to make it happen right away! We made several variations, but this one instantly stood out. It instantly reminded me of the light purple crayon that was my favorite as a child. Love at 1st Sight is a bright pastel influenced purple that dries to a high shine creme finish.

Dance All Night - Another polish created by request. we added a different spin by adding micro sized glitter in opposing colors and loved the end result! Multi sized blue and green glitter intermixed with a color shifting micro glitter that goes from gold to orange. This polish is set in a clear base, so you can use it layered or over any polish in this collection. 

Walk of Shame - We wanted a blingtastic glitter to make you shine all night long! Walk of Shame features multi sized gold glitter intermixed with micro sized holographic glitter. This polish is set in a clear base, so you can use it layered or over any polish in this collection.

Center of Attention - Since we were making a blue and green glitter, we thought why not try it in pink too! The end result is the blingiest pink you've ever seen! Center of Attention features multi sized pink glitter intermixed with a color shifting micro glitter that goes from gold to orange. This polish set in a clear base, so you can use it layered or over any polish in this collection.

Tweezerman Print for Spring


I became a Tweezerman Ambassador in April 2012 but I've been a fan of Tweezerman for over 15 years!  When I a teenager, I was allowed to wax my eyebrows, but I had to keep up between waxings and tried using some regular old tweezers from our medicine cabinet. Bad idea.  I went to Sally Beauty Supply one day and picked up a pair of Tweezerman and never looked back.  Well, I did GO back because my first pair got dropped and chipped the tip.  Since then, I've purchased several Tweezerman products but I had no idea that their line included mirrors and more!

This spring, Tweezerman came out with the Mix 'N Match Runway Prints Collection which includes the Mix 'N Match Runway Prints Unbreakable Mirrors in pink/purple and blue/green, the Mix 'N Match Runway Prints Filemates (100/180 grit) in pink or blue and the Mix 'N Match Runway Prints SoleMates in pink. The SoleMates is two expert tools that fit together for clean compact storage - the stainless steel Micro-File effortlessly removes dead skin and reduces calluses and the Finishing File buffs skin to touchably, soft smoothness.



I really like the mirror's size - it's about the size of a deck of cards.


Mix 'N Match Runway Prints Unbreakable Mirror: $12.50
Mix 'N Match Runway Prints Filemates: $5.00
Mix 'N Match Runway Prints SoleMates: $22.00

Exclusively sold at Sephora.

Additionally, Tweezerman came out with their new Striped Mini Slant Tweezers.
These tweezers are miniature versions of the Tweezerman's award winning Slant Tweezer - perfectly aligned, hand filed precision tips that grab every hair. I do with they came with a carrying case because I'm scared of chipping the tips.  It's about the length of my pointer finger. They are also exclusively sold at Sephora for $15.00.

Tweezerman [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Pinterest | Instagram] products are sold through professional beauty suppliers as well as top cosmetic and department stores, chain drug stores, and specialty shops. 

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

LVX Aubergine


Today I have LVX Aubergine from the Winter/Resort 2013 collection. This is a purple creme that is not so Barney purple but not dusty either. I decided to change it up and use the LVX 3-1 treatment which can be used as both a base and a top coat. Please note that the 3-1 treatment is not fast drying, so take care to let all coats dry before applying your next coat.

I used the 3-1 treatment for my base coat, 2 coats of Aubergine and then the 3-1 treatment for my top coat. The first coat of Aubergine was a little rough but the second coat evened things out. Once in the sun though, I wished I had added a third coat to completely have full coverage.

See what I mean in the sun? It's totally not opaque. I don't know if it has something to with the 3-1 treatment, because I've never had this kind of reaction from LVX before.

At least in the shade, it's better! I do need to pay more attention to my cuticles. Proper cleanup makes a manicure complete!

So I really do love this color for winter (can you just imagine it with some silver glitter at the base!) but today it was just a hot mess of unevenness. I'm blaming the 3-1 treatment and plan to use that when I wear naked nails (which happens more than I want to admit).

LVX [Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram] is available on their website. It is 10-free to include Toluene and Camphor, vegan and cruelty free. Use promo code POLISHGALORE for 20% off your purchase!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.