The Great Debate

I love having color on my nails, but I have a love-hate relationship with polish. I do enjoy how easy (for the most part) it is to quickly change my color, but I can't stand how easily it chips and fades.
Working in the beauty industry I quickly came to love higher end polishes like OPI, Zoya and SpaRitual. The colors are a very wide ranged spectrum, and I get them at a great discount. Don't get me wrong--I have a lot of drug store brands as well. Are they all the same? Well, that depends. My higher end products--OPI, etc do tend to last a little longer, yes. But they sometimes need to be thinned out with nail polish remover as they get really thick. No big deal but kind of annoying. I love the color range on OPI--they've been doing this gig for years and really know how it's done. Plus the names they come up with are awesome! I also personally think they have the best Base and Top coat.
SpaRitual is a great brand as well. They are environmentally conscience company that makes fantastic products. All of their products are Vegan and organic. The colors are also in a wide range, and are quite beautiful. Both OPI and SpaRitual are free of DBP (dibutyl phthalate), formaldehyde and toluene--but drugstore brands still have them in some of theirs.
The one brand I'm always on the fence about is China Glaze. It's supposed to be a higher end polish (sold in beauty depot's , Chatters, etc) but it's soooo not. The colors are INCREDIBLE. When it comes to neons, China Glaze is the front runner for sure. But as soon as it goes on it comes off. The glitters are also fantastic, but have also come off easily. Usually the whole nail in one go...so at least that's easy.
My drug store nail polishes were bought before I knew about the good stuff, in a passing glance, or a quick needed color change. I do love some of them, but for the most part they fall short.
The colors are great, but within hours they chip. A great brand that has been around for years in South Africa and the UK is Essie. It's finally here, and it's a great polish! It actually lasts quite a long time and has a great array of colors but is still under $10. Another of my friends swears by Sally Hansen polish, and I have a couple colors in it as well and have to say they are pretty good, too. So here's my nail polish collection:

One of the best days ever in the beauty world (in my opinion) is when OPI finally wised up and made their gel polish, Axxium. I don't know why it took them so long to come up with, but it was a miracle.
Axxium gel is a perfect OPI color--and I mean PERFECT. You love I'm Not Really A Waitress? They matched it perfectly. When it first came out they didn't have a lot of colors but they are slowly working them all in--including lots of the new and glitter collections. I think they have about 35 colors out. The gel lasts a couple weeks depending on how long it takes for your nails to grow. And the shine lasts the entire time, which is a big deal for me. Essentially they are gel nails, so the downfall to this is ruining your nails. And while OPI says they are "soak off" they really aren't. Again, they are gel nails so they need to be filed down. Not really a big deal in my books for the cost of having gorgeous color that doesn't come off, but some may be turned off. You can get this service done in most nail salons.

OPI's wide range of Axxium Gel colors

Gel has honey-like consistency

Another great product that has recently come about is Shellac. It's a step up from Axxium. It's fundamentally a nail polish with all the bad things gone. It stays on as long as Axxium, it has great colors, it doesn't wreck your nails, and best of all--removal is actually simple! So the service takes less time to do as well.

Shellac

Color on nails is Shellac

If you're getting married or going on vacation somewhere where there will be lots of sand and water and you'll want your nails to look good the entire time, I definitely recommend going for a longer color!
What's your favorite brand(s)?

Holiday Nails!

This holiday instead of going traditional colors I choose a coral...sparkle of course ;)
Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Years! Do any of you have any beauty resolutions you made? Mine is to drink more water and to always, always, always take off my make-up NO MATTER WHAT!

All That Glitters...

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend, but I beg to differ. Sparkles are my diamonds. They are beautiful, colorful, and all around wonderful.
I was perusing through Micheal's one day and came across the Martha Stewart section. I stopped immediately and like a raccoon, was drawn to the shiny things I saw. 24 glorious glitters in all the colors of the rainbow.

This set retails at Micheal's for about $44.99 (CAN). They also sell it at Walmart, for a cheaper price. The great thing about Micheal's is their constant coupons, and luckily I had a 40% off one, and gladly used it on this.
Now you may ask what I want to do with all this glitter. Well, I spent a good 5 days just staring at it. Seriously. It's that beautiful. Next, I sent a picture to my good friend who is also my esthetician. She also love sparkles. We knew what we had to do!
A couple years ago we discovered the simple amazing trick to combine loose glitter and gel to make fabulous, sparkly nail polish. It was close to Halloween and I was going as Katy Perry, so I wanted to do something really fun and funky (Katy always has crazy nails!). I wanted RAINBOW nails! Unfortunately we didn't have the time (or enough different brushes) to do the job, so I chose a blue.

(I took the nail pictures about a week after they were done, so they are grown out a bit)
So that's one idea you can use this glitter for. Another is for eye make-up. It's super fine so it's not going to clump up. I got this idea from LIT, when years ago I had bought a bunch of glitter at a hefty price. Well, NO MORE! Their "glue" is good to have though if you are going to be using this on your eyes. If you don't have it you can purchase it at Merle Norman for $5 (Calgary), or on their website.
http://litcosmetics.com/
OR you make your own glue from water and sugar, or just straight 7UP. Dip a liner brush in solution, then glitter and sweep across lids for glitter eyeliner. If you'd like to use it as an eyeshadow (the more the merrier!), use a wider brush and dab glitter onto eyelid. This look is brilliant for the holidays!
And for even more wonderful glittery fun, use in your hair. Do your hair up in the chosen style you'd like, spray hair with hairspray, then sprinkle glitter where needed. Spray again with hairspray. Voila!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Are you trying to grow your hair out? Maybe your nails are too short and brittle?
It's not too hopeless, there are a couple steps you can take to speed the process up a bit.
In order to grow your hair out properly a lot of people think it's ok to skip the trim/cutting. This is so not the case, ladies! When you leave your untrimmed hair to go wild the split ends break and travel up that piece of hair doing more damage. To go longer in between trims, deep condition and use moroccan oil. Wash your hair less--when you wash you hair everyday it strips the natural oils from your hair. If you're like me and have oily roots, use a dry shampoo. It's an amazing product! The one I have doesn't leave the white powder behind, either.

If you just can't seem to grow your nails out without them breaking I recommend O.P.I's Nail Envy line. You have to put it on everyday, but it does work.
And to help with both healthy nail and hair growth, take your vitamins! You have to be healthy from the inside out! Most multi-vitamins would do, but the best ones are Materna.

You might not be pregnant or trying to get pregnant, but this vitamin has extra good stuff like folic acid and B12. I started to take it 2 years ago, and have noticed a huge difference in my hair growth, my nails got harder, and even my eyelashes have grown!
Always forget to take them? Put them beside your bed and take them at night. Not only will you not forget, but when you take your vitamins at night you don't pee them all out like you would throughout the day. Grow on!!!