Manolo for the Beauty

I think we can all pretty much agree that buying someone a gift on sale simply means that we are trying to buy more for them for the money.  In that spirit, here are some nifty beauty gifts that can be bought separately and put together in a makeup bag, or maybe one nice, big gift.  Either way, it’s a gift, and if they don’t like it they can give it back.

Sephora by OPI It’s Real 18K Top Coat.  Lots of great reviews for this top coat, a lot of luxe in a little bottle!

You can never go wrong with a pretty little compact.  This one is from Tarina Tarantino.

Adorable leather ponytail wraps.

Just give up the pretense of gift-buying and get them for yourself, already.

Go ahead and take the plunge for the friend you know will love these but hasn’t yet bought for herself.

You gotta love a palette that has almost everything.  The colors look pretty compatible for many skin tones, but that is a very personal factor that must be taken into account before purchasing.  Of course.

Let’s face it, it’s an extremely low-tech Clarisonic. At least you’ll never have to buy batteries for it? But the reviews are overall pretty great.

From here on the hot and dry West Coast, it was difficult to get a true understanding of the effects of Hurricane Sandy on millions of East Coast and Midwest residents. But in looking at pictures of the cleanup and hearing about those that lost their lives, I am sending all the positive vibes possible in an easterly direction.

Now, to keep your mind off of things…

Mariah Carey and OPI got together for a new collection of nail polishes, four of them being a new “sand” formulation that looks like, ah, sand on your nails. Sand with a little bit of glitter.

Inspired by the aurora borealis, this collection is full of color and shimmer.  I am especially liking that blue lip gloss, for some reason.  I have been dying to see what the blue/green lip glosses that are out actually look like on your lips.  Anybody?

I don’t know about you, but the picture of the nail polish almost makes me want to drink it.  It’s like I’m mesmerized and can’t take my eyes off of it.  Probably some sort of subliminal advertising.  But I’d still buy it.

I must be totally out of touch, because I had no idea True Blood was popular enough to inspire an entire collection.

Deborah Lippmann created polishes inspired by different characters and her first ever lipstick in, of course, red.

There are also body creams, a perfume, home fragrance candles, and diffusers as well.

The blood starts dripping on August 9th on hsn.com.

Is it just me or does it seem like this should come out closer to Halloween?

71% of you are willing to overlook commercialism in beauty products, and you’ll buy them if you like them, regardless of the product tie-in.  7% say hooray for capitalism and are all for it, while 21% of you disagree.

Today I’m all about nails. Gel nail polish, that is.  You know, the kind that lasts up to three weeks without needing a touch-up and requires an ultra violet light in order to set properly?

Have I mentioned before that I’m quite lazy?

I’m so lazy, I like to pick one toenail color for the entire summer and stick with just that one so that upkeep is easier.

Pathetic, I know.

This summer, I have anointed OPI’s DS Glow as the chosen color.  Or actually, my son did, as I gave him a couple of choices when I dragged him along to the beauty supply store on the way to Target.  Actually, I think he secretly likes going there because the ladies all fawn over him.

DS Glow is part of OPI’s Designer Series, and apparently it is one of the only ones that isn’t holographic.

Well, fine by me.

It’s a gold-ish/bronze-ish color that sort of, well, glows.  I guess you could call it glittery, but there are definitely no big glitter chunks. I’m much too old for big glitter chunks.  No, it is more like teensy tiny metallic flakes.  It’s a very subtle shimmer that I like very much.  So far it is wearing extremely well, and it makes me happy to look at my toes.

Thanks, son.  You’ve got excellent taste.

Now, just keep up that sense of discretion when you start dating, and all will be well.

I’m pretty sure that the picture I used in this post is showing metallic foils instead of a straight-up metallic nail polish.

But, here is a nice little tutorial from annaversary on how to make regular old metallic nail polish pop a bit more than normal.

Well, by that I mean the showing of the toes, anyway.

I’m really weird about toenail polish.  I tend to pick one color for the entire warm season and stick with it.  Probably because I’m too lazy to keep taking different ones off and applying new ones.  I know, pathetic.

Last year I chose a very bright, very vibrant grape-y, berry-y color.  I liked it, but I also noticed that a lot of the time, it clashed with the colors I was wearing.  Which bugged me because while I don’t necessarily want matchy-matchy, I also don’t want my toes to fight with my clothing and makeup.

So this year I’m looking for a more neutral pinkish mauve.  I need to start looking for it in earnest, as today it was 86 here, and tomorrow will be 84.

What is your go-to toenail polish?

A company called Ciate has come out with something they call a “Caviar Manicure” which contains micro-breads for a very 3-D effect.

Eh, I’m not sure.

As a commenter on the Sephora site said, “It looks like you rolled your hands in some nonpareils.”

So, 25 bucks a bottle for your nails to possibly look like the top of a cupcake.

Also, SO not digging the fact that the black polish (for lack of a better term) is called Ghetto Fabulous.