Category Archives: Beauty

Sweater Weather Mani

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This week the weather has cooled down a bit and it’s finally what you would call Sweater Weather. Let’s hope these nice cool temperatures stay around, because I’m so ready to bring on the leggings, sweaters and boots!

I couldn’t help but pop on some Fall inspired colors onto my digits this week to celebrate the Fall weather. Dark gray, green, burgundy and pretty much any jewel tone nail polish make a great Fall mani combination.

Here are the colors I used:

Color Club “Status Update”
Essie “Chinchilly”
Essie “Wicked”
Essie “Stylenomics”
Essie “Over the Top”

How To Make Neon Nail Polish Pop

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Happy Mani Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I’m so glad I’m finally feeling 100% again and was able to make it out and have some fun on Saturday with CK at the Santa Ana Art Walk. I totally recommend this art walk if you’re in the Orange County area. There are so many cute restaurants and galleries to peruse in Downtown Santa Ana, and the large crowds and pretty lights make for an amazing Saturday evening. It’s held the first Saturday of every month, so make sure you head over next month!

Okay, so now back to the Mani Monday post. So, I love me a good neon polish and I started to notice that some of my polishes didn’t look as bright on my nails as they do in the bottle…major bummer. I took to the internets to figure out why this was and realized what I was missing from my application…two coats of white polish! I couldn’t believe it, I mean how have I not already been applying this simple tip to my polish application. So, I knew that this was a tip I must share with all of you lovelies.

How to Make Your Neon Nail Polish Pop 

Step 1: Apply a basecoat (I use Essie’s Protein Base Coat)
Step 2: Apply two coats of white nail polish
Step 3: Apply two coats of your favorite neon polish (I used Essie’s Pink Parka, but Miami Nice is great as well)
Step 4: Apply a coat of a high gloss top coat, let dry and you’re set! (I use Essie To Dry For)

Hope this helps you all get some even brighter Neon Digits! If you’re looking for some more  digit inspiration, check out my board on Pinterest!

My Favorite Big Sexy Hair Products

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Big Sexy Hair. CK is lucky, she’s got some natural volume and texture in her hair, but mine on the other hand is pretty flat, so I’ve got to work for some big hair. It’s fair to say that for pretty much all my life I’ve been searching for beauty products that will take my hair to the next level. I’m happy to report that after 27 years of searching, I’ve finally found a good mix of products that not only add the volume I’m looking for, but they also keep my hair from getting too oily. Oily hair is a whole another store, but I can say the combination of all of these together allows me to keep a styled look in for about 72 hours, which if you knew me and my hair 3 years ago was not possible. So without further ado, here are my (BK’s) favorite hair products!

Prep & Dry

After I’m done showering I will spray the Bumble and Bumble Styling Lotion all over my hair  and head. Once I’ve sprayed on a good coat, I’ll go back in with a wide tooth comb and make sure it’s evenly dispersed.

Next I’ll take squeeze a dime sized amount of the Bumble and Bumble Texture Cream onto the palm of my hand. To make sure it is applied evenly, I rub my hands together for a few seconds and then I begin running my fingers throughout my hair. You really really want to make sure disperse this product evenly, otherwise when you blow dry your hair it will get clumpy and yucky. Once you’ve worked the product into your hair you can either air dry your hair or flip your head upside down and work the blow dryer.

Add Some Waves

To add some volume I use 3/4 inch Hot Tools Curling Iron to add some waves. Instead of running the hair through the clamp, I use my fingers to wrap sections of my hair around the entire iron in a vertical fashion. After I’m done waving out my whole head, I spray the Fredrik Fekkai Summer Hair spray all over the waves and use my fingers to separate and lossen up the curls.

Texturize and Set

Once the waves have been created, I go back in and add some more texture and volume with the Garnier Fructis Surf Hair Texture Paste. This paste isn’t as thick as the Bumble and Bumble Texture Cream, so go ahead and be more liberal in this application. I usually rub the paste together in my palms and scrunch my hair up as I apply it to give the hair texture and volume.

To finish of the look, I’ll flip my head over and spray some Kenra hair spray all over my hair and give it a good scrunch. Then I’ll go back in with a texturizing brush/comb and backcomb at the crown of my head and also tease the entire head of hair to give volume not only at the top, but at the sides and bottom as well. Follow these steps loosely and I guarantee you’ll end up with some Big Sexy Hair!

The Daily Makeup Routine

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Makeup posts are one of my favorite posts to read, so I thought why not continue to spread the love and share daily my makeup routine. Today’s post focuses on daytime makeup, but we have reserved another post for CK’s makeup routine and nighttime makeup faves.

Every day I start off by using Philosophy’s Purity face wash to give combination oily/dry skin a fresh start. All of the products in this post have worked well with my skin, and have been in the mix for a few months now.

Prep

Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base: I love using this face base after I’ve washed my face. The cream has a pretty thick consistency, but it absorbs beautifully into the skin. The smell is lovely, and my face never feels greasy from it.

Face

Bobbi Brown Extra Repair Foundation: Love the coverage of this foundation. It is a tad bid thick at the beginning of application, but I use a kabuki brush to buff the product into my skin. The foundation lasts all day and I don’t find myself getting very oily in my t-zone.

Mac Strobe Liquid: I absolutely love mixing this in with my foundation. The strobe liquid gives your skin a bit of sheen and creates a dewy look. You could use this to highlight certain areas of your face, but I love using this all over my face.

Mac Mineralize Skin Finish: I use the Soft and Gentle shade to highlight and find the powder provides the perfect luminous look. If I’m going out on the town, I make sure to pack on a bit more and my face always ends up glowing in photos.

Nars Bronzer: The Laguna Nars bronzer is my absolute fave for everyday use. I love that it has a tiny bit of shimmer, but is matte enough for me to use for some contouring. Unfortunately, my face was not blessed with a chiseled structure, so I pop some this bronzer into the hallows of my face to create cheekbones.

Nars Blush: After CK introduced me to the Orgasm Nars blush, it became my daily go to blush. It’s the perfect amount of pink for your cheeks on a daily basis. Everyone always raves about this blush, and I’ve found that the hype around this color is well deserved.

Eyes

Mac Painterly Paint Pot: The Painterly paint pot does a great job of prepping your lids for eyeshadow application. I find that using the paint pot prior to application gives the eyeshadow something to stick to and evens out the skin tone of my eyelids. You can use it alone and pop some eyeliner over it to create a very natural look.

Urban Decay Naked Eye Palette: Love, love, love this eye shadow palette. There are so many colors you can mix and match to create the perfect a minimal or smoky day eye look. I’ve been using this palette for well over a year now, and the only time I stray from it is when I’m looking for a brighter purple or green night-time look.

Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume Mascara: You really get your bang for your buck with this mascara. When applying, I like to put at least 3 coats of this mascara on to create the look of fuller lashes.

Lips

Maybelline Baby Lips: Baby Lips moisturizing balm is great in any and every color. The tint is subtle and the product goes on smoothly and keeps your lips moisturized for hours and hours. I always apply a layer of this after my make-up is said and done, and depending on where I’m going I will sometimes pop some gloss over to create a more polished look.

Hope you enjoyed my faves! Stay tuned for a later post on CK’s favorites. Xoxo-Bettina

Shades of Blue

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A short and sweet post featuring my shades of blue mani that I’m currently rocking on my digits. I am loving that my The Digits Pinterest board constantly keeps me nailspired! Keep scrolling for the colors I used in this mani.

(seeing it up close, I see it’s a tad messy around the edges – I’ll clean up better next time)

Colors Used (From Pinkie to Thumb) Color Club “Age of Aquarius”, Forever 21 “Silver”, butter London “Slapper”, Essie “Go Overboard, Essie “Mesmerize”

My First Birchbox

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My very first Birchbox arrived last week and I felt just like I expected it to, it was like a mini-Christmas. I think it’s totally worth it to pay $10 a month to receive a little box of surprises every month, and I seriously can’t wait for next months box to come! A funny side-note about my Birchbox is I somehow managed to check off that I had curly hair instead of the slick straight hair check box, so I got some curl related products in my box, but I’ve since updated my profile so next month my hair samples will ship accordingly. Even thought the curl cream is meant for curly hair, I used it and it actually worked well when I took the diffuser to my hair.

I’ve listed out all of the samples I received in my box below and have included a brief description of each product from the Birchbox site. It’s been almost a week since I started using these lovely samples, so I included a mini review for each product as well.

WEI™ Pomegranate Buffing Beads - Filled with antioxidants, the finely milled pomegranate peels in this powdery scrub brighten skin tone and encourage cell renewal. Plus, its natural antiseptic qualities help clear blocked pores. There are also gentle buffing beads to slough off dead skin: you’ll see why it’s so important to schedule in a weekly exfoliation session.

What I thought… I felt an immediate difference in my skin after using these buffing beads, it left my skin feeling very smooth. I would definitely purchase the full size version of this, but since I just spent a bunch of dinero on a Clarisonic a few weeks ago, I’ll have to wait on dropping some bucks on a exfoliant.

I Coloniali Tibetan Shower Cream with Rhubarb - I Coloniali’s luxe shower cream is the next best thing to a Far Eastern getaway. The decadent formula will leave you feeling like you just returned from a private spa session every time you step out of the shower.

What I thought… This shower cream smells amazing! Not sure if I would purchase the full size as it’s a bit pricy at $29, but if I decide to splurge on an item it would be this!

Miss Jessie’s® Original Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo - The undisputed ruler of the curl universe, Miss Jessie’s developed this silky shampoo for girls with stubborn ringlets, natural kinks, or parched hair. While it’s especially coveted by the curly crew, our experience confirms that it’s great for hair of all types and textures. It instantly detangles even the most intricate knots, leaving your strands sleek and uber-manageable.

What I thought…Loved this Shampoo, it helped me remove all the knots I’d put in my hair from my teasing rampage, but didn’t harm it at all! I will totally buy this full size version as soon as I’m ready for another bottle to add to my 5 bottle Shampoo collection lol.

Miss Jessie’s® Original Crème de la Crème Conditioner - We surveyed all our curly haired friends and the results were unanimous: Miss Jessie’s detangling formula is the best of the best. Whether your hair is frizz-prone and curly, chemically processed, or just plain parched, it will soften your strands without weighing them down. Plus, it doubles as a leave-in treatment for those days you need an extra layer of hydration.

What I thought… I used this after a three day run of waved and teased hair and boy oh boy was my hair silky smooth after my shower. I would totally buy this again, I feel like it’s not just for curly hair, it works for those who may damage their hair during styling as well.

Miss Jessie’s® Original Curly Meringue - Crazy curls, meet your match. This wondrous styling cream is designed to tamp down stubbon kinks and tame frizzy ringlets. The custard-like formula is especially good for ethnic or chemically treated hair, and is the perfect prep for fingerstyling, coiling, twists, and braids. Plus, the fresh pineapple scent makes us want to use it everyday.

What I thought… I used this styling cream and then took a diffuser to my head and it really helped create some waves. It was a great base for my normal waved out day look. I would buy this after my B&B styling creme runs out.

Color Club Neon Nail Polish Age of Aquarius - Maybe we’ve watched too many re-runs of The Brady Bunch, but we’ve always had a soft spot for the 1960s. So it’s no surprise that these ‘60s-inspired polishes are right up our alley. They come in seven neon shades that channel the decade’s exuberant vibe: think mod girls, painted buses, and the advent of color TV.

What I thought… I used this polish with my Butter Slapper polish to create a under the sea mermaid look and it worked like a charm. The aqua green color of the polish is beautiful and the application was flawless, I’d love to pick up some additional colors from this collection.

Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien - French fragrance designer Annick Goutal took inspiration from Italy for this iconic citrus scent, which launched in 1981. Bright and effervescent, the universal and timeless blend conjures up the image of sun-ripened fruit in a Tuscan orchard.

What I thought… This is the only sample that didn’t wow me, and that’s probably because I’m the type that loves perfumes that practically smell like a men’s cologne. I’m not a big fan of fruity or citrusy scents, so this one just wasn’t for me.

My absolute FAVORITE sample was the Color Club Neon Polish in Age of Aquarius

My LEAST favorite sample was the Aanick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien

If you don’t have a Birchbox membership click here to sign-up, I highly recommend it!

The Digits – Black & Glitter

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One of my favorite boards on Pinterest is my “The Digits” board, because I’m constantly re-creating mani’s I’ve pinned. Anytime I try something out of the ordinary, I’ll make sure to post it up on the blog. I am currently rocking black nail polish with a gold and silver glitter explosion. I’m wearing a basic black, the gold glitter from OPI for Sephora and F21 silver glitter polish.

Hey! You Look Kind of Cute in That Rainbow Polka Dot Mani, Guuurl!

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The Rainbow Polka Dot Mani. Let me just tell you, I was plain giddy while I painted these colorful polka dots all over my digits and in my daydreaming mind all I could hear was my mish mashed version of LMFAO’s lyrics, “Hey, You look kind of cute in that rainbow polka dot mani, guuurl!” Like LMFAO bright colors have the magical ability to brighten your spirits and put you in a good mood. I’ve been quite busy at the day job the past few weeks, so relaxing with a bright mani before date night was the perfect way to de-stress. Even the BF was quite impressed with my artwork!

This mani is super easy to do, and what I love about it the most is the endless number of color combinations. You could opt for a neutral black and gray combination, or a neon pink and yellow mani – the number of possibilities is truly infinite.

My Supplies…

Base Color: Sally Hansen – White Out

Essie Polka Dots: Really Red (Red), Mesmerize (Blue), Pretty Edgy (Green), Bright Tights (Orange), Castaway (Pink)

Here’s the run down of what I did…

Step 1 – Base Coat

Step 2 – Once coat of the white polish

Step 3 – Line up your polishes in order of polka dot application. I began dotting with my darkest colors first and ended with my lightest and brightest, the orange. Dollop a few drops of the nail polish on a slick surface (ie – magazine) and dip the bottom (not tip) of a toothpick into the polish puddle. Press the bottom of the tooth pick down on your nail to create a plump round polka dot, hold the tooth pick firmly for a few seconds and then move on to the next spot. One last tip – don’t forget to spread the polka dots out, I dotted each nail 3-4 times per color.

Step 4 – Wait a minute or two after your last set of polka dots and apply a top coat. Waiting a few minutes will ensure the colors do not run together.

TGIF Las Vegas Here I Come

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TGIF. Las Vegas here we come! It’s finally here! Holly and I are off to have a mini vaca filled with fun this weekend. As I’ve stated before, one of my favorite things about going to Vegas is getting ready, so of course I had to search for a hairspiration photo last night. This photo was the winner, and will inspire me in my quest to tease my way to some big, sexy hair!

photo via Le Petit Francais

DIY Valentine’s Day Nails

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Happy Valentine’s Day Lovelies! This is a super easy DIY Valentine’s day mani I made up over the weekend, that literally takes less than 15 minutes to create. I was so inspired by Glitter and Grace’s Kate Spade polka dot mani, I had to create a polka dot version of my own! Hope you all have a lovely day filled with love, laughter, pink and hearts!

Step 1 – Gather the Goods

Make sure you have everything you need in one place since you’ll be working with more than one open polish bottle. Here is what I used:

Essie Protein Base Coat
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in White On
OPI Nail Lacquer in Bubble Bath
Essie Polish in Pink Parka
Sephora by OPI Topcoat in Gold for Me
Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat
Pointed Q-Tips
Toothpicks

Step 2 – The Art of Application

First, apply your base coat.

Second, apply your polishes. I recommend starting with your left hand and coating each nail with one coat of polish, and then moving on to your right hand. Next, come back and apply a second coat of polish from left to right. Make sure you don’t apply too many coats because you’ve still got your polka dots and glitter to add on.

Step 3 – Polka Dotting & Glitter

Go ahead and apply the coat of glitter to your ring finger. After you’re done, you’ll want to grab a magazine, or any type of disposable surface that is slick and glossy like a magazine cover. Then you’ll need to dollop a few drops of each color being used for polka dots onto the glossy surface. Next, grab your toothpick and dip the tip into the polish pile. Make sure you cover the entire tip of the toothpick to ensure a nice full polka dot. Hold the toothpick over your nail and press down softly and voila, you have your first polka dot.

I went for a variation of polka dots on four of my fingers and I recommend you do the same thing. Go with whatever your heart fancies, it’s Valentine’s Day after all!

Step 4 – The Finale

Make sure you use a good fast drying top coat. You don’t want your topcoat to mix any of the colors, but you don’t want to wait too long to apply it either, as you want to make sure the colors are sealed in well.

This was my first stab at nail art, and I must say I am so excited for this polish to chip, so I can try my next made up design. I’d like to try mastering the art of stripes, hearts and flowers soon! Next time I’ll make sure to take some pictures as I’m painting so you all get a more detailed peek at the entire process.

Happy Valentines Day!

Love, Peace & Style

Bettina