Girliest Girly nails ever!

Hello friends!

Have you missed me?  I've sure missed you, I hope you all are doing great!

I have just done a photo dump so expect a couple of quick drive-by posts within the next week or two.

So I've decided to share on of my favorite layered manicures of this past year!  I think I need to bust this one out again because it's so good!

I'll save the long post about how much I love Adventure Time for another day but suffice to say OH MY GLOB I LOVE IT.  Princess Bubblegum is a tough, smart, kind ruler of the Candy Kingdom.  Did I mention she's got fab style too?

So I was really pleased to have stumbled on the magical polish combo that perfectly evokes our saccharine sovereign.

The base is a slightly shimmery super hot pink from Nicole by OPI, "Still Into Pink" and it's BEAUTIFUL on its own.

But then I saw it.  Revlon Girly.  And it was love, at first sight.  Girl is a milky, cotton candy base with a fabulous mix of glitter: medium purple, magenta, and light pink hexes, small light pink holo hexes, and maybe some lilac small hexes?  I"m not even sure, all I know is I love it.  

I think this was one (dabbed) coat!

And it really does evoke P.B. doesn't it?

I believe Girly & Still into Pink are still readily available to purchase.  If I had to choose, of the two I would hands down recommend getting Girly because it's quite unique and so, so pretty.

Do you love Adventure Time?  Or really fabulous girly manicures?  Let's chat in the comments!

love and cupcakes,

Ms Meghan

A Triumphant and (somewhat) Fierce Return!

Hello friends!

I'm sure you all are wondering where on earth I went.  Let's make a list:

• I worked 2 jobs over the summer which took up more of my time than expected.
• Had to deal with a large grain weevil infestation; I shake my tiny fist at organic soba noodles which were definitely the cause!  As a result I had to throw out A LOT of food.  Ugh.  No food = no recipes.
• Went on my first week long vacation of the year and threw my back out, for reals!  I spent the week on muscle relaxants and asleep.
• Spilled some boiling water on myself resulting in 1st & 2nd degree burns on one arm and 1st degree burns on my chest.  I couldn't dress myself properly for at least 2-3 weeks, let alone cook or do beauty posts.  I mean I still painted my nails, because I'm pretty sure almost nothing could stop me from doing that.  ;)
• Dealing with mental health and developmental issues that I've pretty much always dealt with but they have been exacerbated significantly in the past 6 months or so.

 It's been a heck of a year, let me tell you!  I'm pretty pleased to see 2012 go, mostly because it kind of sucked. 

So even though I am spending New Year's at home with Mr. Core, I thought I would post my hypothetical New Year's Eve look.  I recommend this look for anyone who is fierce and single on New Year's Eve.  It's not for the timid, as black lipstick rarely is.  But it makes a statement about how badass you are, and you don't need no one to kiss, you are amazing all by yourself!

This look was initially inspired by MAC's Strength collection.  I was SO EXCITED that Pink Pigeon (bright pink) and Party Parrot (warm, bright pink) lipsticks were coming back plus Firm Form, a black and gold lipstick?!?!  And then MAC decided not to distribute it to counters, which meant it quickly sold out online. :(  So no new lipstick for me.  But I decided to give golden black lipstick a try.  Because anyone can do a shimmery black smoky eye and neutral lips but why not try something different?



YEAH BLACK LIPS!
Let's do a look breakdown:

Face:
-Smashbox Hydrating primer mixed with Benefit Girl Meets Pearl
-L'Oreal True Match Lumi Foundation
-Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer
-Sonia Kashuk face powder
-Too Faced Milk Chocolate Bronzer to contour cheeks
-MAC Peachykeen blush & Lightscapade MSF to highlight

Eyes:
-Tarte Clean Slate Eye Primer
-MAC Coquette eyeshadow for my brows (I've also used Mystery)
-a mix of MAC Bare Study Paint Pot and Buxom Stay There eyeshadow in Poodle on the lid & lower lash line
-Sephora Prisma Chrome eyeshadow in Moon Beam generously on crease (it looks like it's been DC, it's a lovely pale champagne with a pink flash)
-Wet n Wild Creme Brulee on browbone
-L'Oreal Telescopic Clean Definition Mascara in Very Black

Lips:
-Urban Decay Lip Primer
-Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Zero
-NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean
-NARS Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Aigle Noire (ultimately unnecessary but what else am I going to do with it?)
-L'Oreal Colour Riche Le Gloss in The Muse's Shine which was LE but any gloss with a strong gold shimmer will do.

Basic steps:
1. Prep your face as needed.  You don't want to go overboard with blush or shimmer, the goal is clean, slightly glowing skin.  As I get oily skin pretty quickly, I opt for luminizer in my primer and a matte powder to set, but you may need to switch it up.  A light cheek contour with blush/highlighter completes the look.

2. Luminous, glowing eyes: I wanted a clean, shimmery eye look, to brighten my eyes without making them the center of attention.  Mixing pale shimmers adds depth without too much extra work and a matte shadow on the brow bone nicely balances the shimmery lids.  The look is complete with precise but not overdone brows, curled lashes and mascara.


3.  THOSE LIPS THOUGH.  Okay prep the heck outta your lips.  Exfoliate and moisturize, but wipe off the excess moisturizer before applying the lip primer.  Give the primer a little time to set, and then outline and partially fill in your lips with black long-wear eyeliner.  Smudge it towards the center of  your lips, and then fill your lips in with the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil.  You can top it with the NARS pencil but I ultimately felt this step was unnecessary, as it didn't make much of a difference.  I found the easiest way to apply the gloss was to put some on the back of my hand and apply it with a lip brush, making sure to add a little extra along the cupids bow and in the center of the bottom lip.


SRS BIZNESS FACE!

I assure you, I tried to style my hair, it's not just bedhead.  And yes, there is a slight pink tint because I like a little bit of pink hair on the weekends.

If I had to pick a New Year's Mani, instead of the shimmery purple I'm wearing right now, it would have to be a version of my opal manicure:


This is seven coats of nail polish, but I think the end result is SO FREAKING GORGEOUS so I don't care.  I'll do an upcoming post on this (promise!) but it is basically a white jelly sandwich with opalescent glitter & gold shimmer in between the white layers.  I think it's prettier and slightly unexpected compared to the the usual metallics.

And that's my New Year's post!  I'm definitely planning on blogging more in 2013, I've got recipes I've been working on and beauty to chat about!  Happy New Year everyone! 

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

Apologies and polish reviews!

Hello friends!

So a week went by without a peep on here, I'm so sorry!  I fell behind on blog posts and as soon as I would turn my thoughts to posting something, I caught an extreme case of writer's block!  But I'm back and I have a few new polishes to review plus one layered manicure that was so froofy I couldn't NOT post it!

The good:
Essie Mojito Madness!


How gorgeous is this?!!?




This is a part of the "Bikini So Teeny" collection, and I had been wanting a color like this for a while and I'm so glad this is the polish I picked up!  It applied like a dream and I barely needed 2 coats for it!  I did apply over a ridge filler, but I use that more to protect from staining.  Either way I bet it would still apply really well, this polish didn't get goopy or drag and it looks BEAUTIFUL.  Definitely recommend it.

The Bad:
Revlon Runway Pearl


4 coats!
I wanted to love this polish, it's a beautiful LE white/ivory with a red/orange/gold shimmer.  It's really stunning in the bottle.  BUT it goes on so thick, a little streaky, it took 4 coats to build opacity AND IT BUBBLED LIKE CRAZY.


THE BUBBLES! (editing note: I cropped and sharpened this using flickrs editing tools)

And you can see a little bit of the bottle in the above shot, the shimmer is really beautiful but the formula isn't worth the headache.

The Awesome:
Here are my "prom dress" nails!  Every time I looked at my nails I kept picture a puffy skirted sky blue dress with baby pink tulle that was covered in bits of silver glitter.  I have a major soft spot for froofy dresses, let me tell you.




This is OPI What's with the Cattitude topped with 2 coats of Pirouette My Whistle from the NYC Ballet Soft Shades collection that just came out and CND Raspberry Sparkle on top of all that.  I really like PMW, it's a mix of silver microglitter and white pearl hex glitter.  It's really beautiful and looks lovely over pastels.  It's the best picture I could get of my nails before I took this off but isn't it lovely?

And that's all I've got for today!  I've got another beauty post in the works for Wednesday and of course there's Friday Jams!  Thanks for stopping by!

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

True Confession: I love accent manicures!

Hi everyone!

I was so busy cooking tonight that I almost forget to put up a post.  Good thing I have a backlog of nail polish swatches to show you!!

So let's talk about accent manicures.  Generally speaking, I consider an accent manicure one where the whole hand is the same except for one nail which is usually, but not always, fancier than the rest.  Or it's just painted in a different color.  There's a variation on this where the thumb is the accent nail and it's called "Blackberry Bling".

I've been doing accent manicures since 2007, I started with a black creme and Sally Hansen Glow on my ring finger.  I wish I could find photographic evidence, or maybe I'll just do it and take pictures, either way it looks awesome!  I also liked to do black + a shimmery fuchsia accent.  Nowadays everyone is doing accent manicures.  But I still think they're pretty sweet, so without further adieu, here are 2 recent versions that I was particularly fond of:


Essie "Armed and Ready" + SOPI "Don't Be Eggnog-ious" accent

Okay so I loved Armed and Ready in the bottle, it's a really interesting cool olive green with copper shimmer.  On the nails?  Less interesting, but it coordinates really well with the SOPI glitter, which is really nice and shiny.  I just wish it wasn't quite so dense. 


China Glaze Happy Go Lucky with a Pool Party accent.

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS MANICURE.  It is one of my favorite manicures I've done this year.  Happy Go Lucky is a favorite polish of mine, I've worn it multiple times with no complaints from me, it's a nearly perfect yellow and it's so much fun!  And then there's Pool Party which is this eye searing neon reddish pink and these two colors just work so well together!  I did this manicure in January when I was bummed about winter and some personal drama and it cheered me up a little, which is pretty amazing because I'm kind of a grumpy person.

(Speaking of bright colors from CG, have you seen the summer collection?  TOTALLY SWOONING!)

And those are some of my favorite accent manicures, feel free to share yours in the comments!

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

Funky French manicures, are you my arch-nemesis?

Hello friends!

I'm here today with a confession: I have a love/hate relationship with french manicures.  While I do love the soft, clean look of a classic french manicure, I can't stand 75% of the french manis out there.  It has gone from "my nails but better" to "BIGGER BLINGIER TACKIER PINK AND WHITES OMG."  GROSS.

I really think a funky french can be quite chic if done well, black is the go-to choice for many women but really there's a whole rainbow of colors out there, experiment!!  I wish I could just get the hang of doing a french; I've used guides and even when I freehanded it, I just didn't feel like it looked as neat as I wanted.  So here is a brief history of my french manicures, in all their glory:

FF #1: Going green!

Zoya Rose with China Glaze Entourage tips.

Rose is a sheer pale pink-y beige shimmer with a green flash.  It's really nice by itself, but I thought that green tips would coordinate really well, and Entourage is a pretty spring green with green shimmer.  I like it a lot and it did look nice with Rose, but can you tell I had never done this before and I free-handed the tips?  Because I totally did.

FF #2: SPARKLE ALL THE TIME edition

Essie Vanity Fairest + OPI Your Royal Shine-ness + OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

I actually really love this look.  This was my first time using guides and I thought it came out really well, not perfect but still lovely.  Also it is SO FREAKING SPARKLY.   Vanity Fairest is a good go-to french base, it's not streaky, has a little bit of shimmer and it brightens up your nails overall.  And how can you go wrong with a silver foil and silver holo glitter?  I used 2 coats of Servin' Up Sparkle, and it applied really nicely.

FF #3: Black like my soulless heart

Vanity Fairest again + OPI Baby It's Coal Outside + China Glaze Fairy Dust
Again with the Vanity Fairest and the silver holo glitter!  I lovelovelove Fairy Dust, it's so pretty and goes with so many colors.  I really like Baby It's Coal Outside, it's a rich black that has a lot of shimmer and still manages to look black and not dark grey.  Oh man the edges here are super messy looking, even with guides being used.  I like the look and I may try this again but I took it off after a day, it was too messy for my tastes.

So there are my 3 attempts at french manicures.  What do you think of french manis?  Do they make your skin crawl, or are they still chic?  Do you have any tips for a french mani n00b such as myself?  Let me know in the comments!

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

My first glitter gradient mani!

Soooo in the wake of not dealing well with the aforementioned juice cleanse, I completely spaced on writing my post for yesterday, so you get 2 posts today, and this one is about the sweet manicure spotted in Monday's post.  So without further adieu...my very first glitter gradient manicure!



First, let me wax about Illamasqua Nomad, which is the base for this polish.  It is MAGNIFICENT.   It is a glorious, gorgeous jade green that applies pretty much perfectly.  I had almost no clean up and it barely needed 2 coats.

I used 2 China Glaze polishes for the glitter, "White Cap" which is a sheer gold glass fleck and "Medallion" which is extra small and small gold and medium silver holo glitter in a clear base.  Both polishes are great, though I didn't really need "White Cap", "Medallion" is spectacular all on its own.

To make the gradient, I did a layer of polish on the top third of the nail and let that set for about a minute.  I then applied a thick second layer over that, and working quickly, took a clear polish and ran that over the top and middle third of the nail from the top down.  I used a clear Essie I had lying around, but any clear polish will do as long as it's not a quick drying polish.  I only had to do this all once through.



I think it came out fairly well for a first time, and if I had more patience it probably would have been even nicer!  I hope you liked this post, I'll be back later with the juice cleanse update!

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

Featured on Temptalia: Polka Dots on Pink!

Hey friends,

Temptalia put out a call for spring nails, and since I was stuck at home dealing with major drama (UGH) but nothing to do, I decided to put together a sweet manicure to submit!


Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear polish was used for almost all of this look. Bubblegum Pink is the base, and the dots were done in Mint Sorbet and Lacey Lilac. I added a top coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, because it's a nice subtle sparkle that doesn't hide the colors underneath it.

I've done just the polka dots as an accent nail, for my birthday manicure last year:

You can't really see them because I topped the whole look with the sinful glitter polish and it's kind of thick.

So if you want to check out the other shot of my look or all the other super cute spring manicures, just click here! Thanks to Christine for opening up for submissions, that's super cool of her!

love and cupcakes,
Ms Meghan

Week of Greens day 7: St Patrick's Day mani!

Even though I'm sort of indifferent to St Patrick's day, being festive = fun nail polish, and I'm always down with that! I was going to something over the top and fancy but then I realized simpler was easier and could still be just as pretty!

And how could I NOT wear a polish called "Four Leaf Clover"?


This is China Glaze Four Leaf Clove from the AMAZING Up & Away collection. It's a seriously beautiful teal/green creme, which of course just won't be photographed properly. It's brighter and more green in real life. On my ring finger (my accent nail of choice) I did a coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (the original) and over that a coat of Essie As Gold as it Gets. So it's kind of like a pot of gold, but mostly it's just really pretty.

A note on the manicure: This is 1 coat of Seche rebuild, 1 coat of China Glaze Ridge Filler and 2 coats of FLC. I think China Glaze Ridge Filler is the best in the entire universe but it's a little HTF for me, so I don't use it very often. I do like to use it with really intense/pigmented greens to help prevent staining.


Slightly blurry, but still so pretty!!!!

I think you can still get the Up & Away collection from most e-tailers, and if you can, you should, speaking only for the brights, it's an amazing collection. The pastels are beautiful too, I'm just not a pastel kind of girl for the most part. Hidden Treasure was of course LE, but there are enough dupes of it floating around, and As Gold as it Gets is still pretty widely available (I saw it at Target last night!)

So that's my week of greens! I'll probably give nail polish a break, but I'll definitely be back soon with something awesome! Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!!

Week of greens day 6!

Sorry for the delayed post everyone, I got really sleepy last night and completely forgot to put this up! I also have to post my St Patrick's Day manicure! So let's move on to yesterday's post!


Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in Glow!

This is a beautiful lime green with tons of gold shimmer! It's so sparkly it almost looks like a foil, but it's definitely a shimmer! I really love this color, my go to manicure (going back 5 years) was this polish on my ring finger and the rest of my nails painted with a black creme. It was pretty fly if I do say so myself.


One more shot!

I love the name of this color because it really does glow! Unfortunately the line was discontinued a while ago, but if you do see these polishes anywhere, pick them up! They are really beautiful. And I'm pretty sure that Zoya makes a couple of close dupes for this color.

Week of Greens day 5!

Hello again, I'm back with another green polish, one that is widely available and I'm madly in love with it! Aaaw yeah!


Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect in Sea! (forgive the extra shiny cuticles, I was almost done swatching and my skin was so dry!)

I am in LOVE LOVE with this whole collection. It is 7 pastels (beige, 2 pinks, coral, blue, green, purple) plus a white and they all have this amazing soft shimmer to them. It's very fine and not quite warm, so they sort of glow and it's beautiful.

I saw these polishes popping up on a few blogs and wanted to give them a try, I bought Dune (the beige shade) and fell head over heels. WITH A BEIGE NAIL POLISH. So I slowly bought the whole collection (and bought backups of Dune & Fog [white]).


Bottle shot, look at that shimmer!

The polish has ridge filler in it, so by the 3rd+ coat, your nails are gonna look soooo smooth, my thumbs have some horizontal ridges going on and with this polish they are non-existant. The only downfall is drying is a bit tricky and these are sheerish, requiring 3-5 coats. While I am not usually the kind of girl that tolerates anything that requires more than 2 coats, I completely tolerate it for these. YEAH. They are that pretty.


One more shot!!! (Ignore the smudge!)

These are pretty widely available now, I've seen them at drugstores, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond (the ones that sell bath/beauty products). They run ~$5-$8 but Sally Hansen is on sale all the time. I would recommend this in a heartbeat!!!!

Tune in tomorrow for a slightly old school (5 years or older?!) Sally Hansen! Yeah!

Week of Greens day 4!

Just like I promised, today I'm posting 3 Funky Fingers polishes for you! I'm so nice!

Funky Fingers is pretty much re-packaged Color Club, right? I mean, there are some colors that Color Club doesn't have, but it is nice if CC is harder to find and you happen to have a Five Below near you (where I find mine). Anyway, on to the polish!!

First up, Sold Out Arena!


I'm not a huge fan of foils but I really liked this polish. It looked much better in real life, I didn't feel like I needed more than one coat, and I didn't have too much trouble applying it, and while it looks brushstroke-y it really wasn't.

Next, is a "funky fingers" exclusive (not a cc dupe) Mrs. Mint!

I wish this color looked like the photograph but it is much more pale/yellow based, and the gold shimmer in the bottle was non-existent on the nail. Bummer! I would love a bright jade-y turquoise with tons of gold shimmer, but this was a standard mint creme with a whisper of gold shimmer.

Finally....TINSEL TOWN.

Tinsel Town vs. China Glaze Atlantis, a color which blew our minds when it was released. Well, it blew my mind, look at how gorgeous it is! Anyway, I thought maybe these two would be close, and while they are close-ish, they're not dupes at all.


That's Atlantis on my ring finger and Tinsel Town on the others. Atlantis is darker and more muted, while Tinsel Town is brighter and I think the glitter is a little different. They are both worth owning (of course I would say that) but owning one or the other is a matter of taste/availability.

So there you have it, 3 groovy new Funky Fingers polishes! I hope you liked them, and if you did try checking your local Five Below or consult that wondrous oracle The Google to find out if they are sold elsewhere. Coming up in the next couple of days a pretty new and a kind of old couple of polishes from Sally Hansen, plus what will my St. Patrick's day manicure be?!?! Come back tomorrow, same cupcake time, same cupcake channel!!

Week of Greens day 2!

I almost forgot to post this in time! I should be in bed, fast asleep but instead I am uploading and posting nail polish pictures for you all. Aren't I a nice person? :P

Today's polish reminds me of villains, velvet, and emeralds, it's Ulta Professional "Green With Envy"!



This is a nice, neutral black base with LOADS of green shimmer. It looks green most of the time, and when the light hits it, it's BEAUTIFUL. I especially love that the shimmer is GREEN and not olive, or teal like some greenish shimmers can be.


I know this is blurry in the foreground, but look at the shimmer!!!


Bottle shot!!

Just going by the ulta website, this color isn't there. However, the Ulta Salon Formula (which is cheaper + has more colors) has a color called envy which looks super similar and may actually be the same color. I really like the Salon Formula, it's inexpensive, with some nice colors and it applies really well. This applied okay, I think I did 2 coats here, but I don't think it was quite as nice as the salon formula. Either way it's such a beautiful polish, I would definitely say pick this up if you find it!!