Tropical Nails

I am far from good at painting my nails, but it is fun to try and get creative sometimes.  When I was in middle school, my best friend's new year's resolution was to paint her nails a different color every day, and she actually did it!  I paint them about once a week and then I spend half the week with chipped nails.  It is a bad habit and not cute.

I decided I wanted to paint my nails in my favorite shade of blue - 404 Titanium by Rimmel Lasting Finish.  I have had this nail polish for at least 7 years, so I couldn't even find the shade online.  I am surprised it still works.  I have Revlon nail polishes that seem to get a weird texture almost immediately after purchase.  The Rimmel polish is still as good as new and one of my favorite colors.  However, I decided that because I have had this nail polish for sooooo long, it was also time to splurge on a new shade.

I went down to Walmart to check out the Maybelline Color Show collection.  I LOVE IT!  All the polishes are great colors with four main categories - denim (2 shades), shredded (4 shades), metallics (I think 3 shades) and normal color (about 30 shades).  All the colors are awesome and the best part is the polish only costs $3 a bottle.  It is very hard to find qualiy nail polish at that price.

This is a new line so I had to find it on the end cap of a makeup aisle.  I almost thought it wasn't available, until I turned the last corner.

I decided to buy Denim Dash because A) I had no idea what "denim" nail polish would look like and B) I already love the blue I have so might as well try another shade.

Denim Dash goes on as a really pretty, beautiful sparkly dark blue.  I really liked the shade.  However, I looked down at my toes about five minutes later, and they looked completely different!  As the color dries, it turns into a matte blue that somehow does look strangely like denim.  I have never had a matte nailpolish before, but it is a very cool effect.  I couldn't believe Maybelline actually held up their end of the bargain and created a nail polish that produces an actual denim effect.  I was expecting a blue denim shade, but the nail polish even looks like the texture of denim.

This is a great nailpolish and I can't wait to try out the other shades.  I still haven't bought a shattered/shredded/crackled style nail polish, so I am curious to see how I end up liking those.

Also note that when I paint my nails, I like to experiment with some really fun nail stickers my Mom got me for Christmas (Thanks Mom!).  They are super easy to use and come in fun designs like small flowers, large flowers, decorative lace tips, and rhinestones.  I use tweezers to peel off the stickers and place on my nails.  They stick just fine, but a top coat would help keep them on longer.  They look great and a few people have even asked me if I painted the flowers myself.  I think they run about $3/pack, and a pack holds at least 200 stickers.  If you compare that to the price of a professional nail salon flower (five dollars, just five dollars!) it is a great bargain.

Baby Lips

GO GET SOME MAYBELLINE BABY LIPS!!!!

I am not a big chapstick person - I never carry chapstick around.  I usually put a bit of gloss on in the morning, and it wears off a few minutes later, and that is that.  However, I was at Walmart yesterday, strolling through the makeup and came upon this stuff.  There were only two flavors left and it was clear this was a popular item.  Even better, it only costs $2.97.

I picked peppermint, which is a totally clear chapstick.  Baby lips is perfect - it is like a mix between chapstick and lip gloss.  It goes on as chapstick, but doesn't feel waxy and instead feels smooth.  It gives a bit of shine like a gloss.  The peppermint flavor is awesome because it is slightly tingly.  Also, this might seem weird, but the chapstick doesn't taste TOO good, which I think is great because it doesn't have me licking it all off.

I would absolutely recommend Baby Lips.  In fact, I am probably going to buy more so I can keep them in various places.  This is the one chapstick that might have  finally made me a chapstick convert, and I love how affordable it is.

Also need to point out - the packaging is super cute too.  Plus, it has SPF 20!