Oct. 18, By Leave a Comment

Halloween-Happy Beauty: Products to Celebrate the Spooky Season

image002

Channel your inner Bella Cullen from “Twilight” (aren’t those vampires stunningly beautiful?), or go for a more goth look this month with Halloween-hued nail polishes, lipsticks, eye shadows, and more.

We’re seeing enough Halloween-themed beauty products to fill an entire candy bag, but here are six spooky favorites for the nails and face. With them, you can celebrate Halloween, even if you aren’t in full costume.

ORLY’s Spellbound Trio of glittery polishes come in Monster Mash (green) and R.I.P. and Right Amount of Evil, with orange hues ($10 each). Or go for dramatic black nails using ORLY’s Goth, Naughty, or Liquid Vinyl polishes ($8.50 each).

WBe sweet and devilish with NYC’s limited edition lipsticks, eye shadows, nail polishes, eyeliners, false lashes, and more. Among our favorites for a vampire-ish look: Tempted, a red/black lipstick duo; Devilish, a red/black eyeshadow duo; and Nightmare, a black/reddish plum eyeliner.

China Glaze’s Wicked Collection for Halloween 2012 is all about the glitter and shimmer, with six polishes, named Cast a Spell, Bizarre Blurple, Glitter Goblin, Make A Spectacle, Roguish Red, and Immortal, a gorgeous gray.

Wet n Wild’s Fantasy Makers Halloween collection includes affordable black and red lipsticks, false lashes, tattoos, glitter eyeliners, hair color, and face and body glitter. Even the nail polish containers have a creepy look, with the handles in the shape of tombstones.

OPI’s So So Skullicious mini pack ($12.50) has four nail colors – black (Mourning Glory), orange (Hi, Pumpkin!), yellow (Candlelight) and pink (A-Rose from the Dead), plus nail decals, all based on the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, skull.

Avon’s Halloween collection includes cute Halloween mini emery boards (89 cents), Spooky and Sparkly Nail Art – with orange, silver, and black nail gems ($6).

Have fun this Halloween with these and other wicked products!

–Carolyn Crist contributed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Beauty, Cosmetics Tagged With: , , , ,
Apr. 30, By Leave a Comment

Nail Trend: Nail Marbling

marbling your manicure

It is amazing how trends come back around! I remember as a little girl, my older cousin would go to the nail salon and come back with these colorful, intricate swirls on her acrylic nails. Almost 20 years later, an evolved version of the “marbling” trend has re-emerged!

From what I recall, past marbling techniques involved putting globs of paint directly onto the nail and creating the design or swirl directly on the nail. Now, it is much more simple with less mess and minimal dry time. What you will need for marbling are at least two nail polishes, a toothpick, and a bowl of water. When choosing colors for the marbling effect, remember that glitter or metallic shades won’t work for this technique. Also, some brands are more watery than others and won’t work well either. Use trial and error to see which polishes work best for this. I used Rimmel London.

As for nail prep, start off with white polish on your nails as a base. You can tape around the nails to ensure there won’t be too much clean up. (I was too excited and skipped this step.)

Start out with a bowl full of room temperature water. If it is to0 cold or warm, the nail polish won’t spread.

Once the base on your nails in completely dry, start with the marbling. In the bowl, add drops of the nail polish into the water. (If it quickly spreads, you have chosen the right one.)Tip: You have to be fast when marbling, so keep the nail polish bottles loosely capped. Begin adding colors quickly into your bowl of water, then create the swirl pattern you would like.

Dip the nail bed into the swirl and carefully remove finger. Tip: Sometimes you can put two nails at once with some practice. The nail polish dries quickly on the surface of the water, so make sure to remove the film on top of the water when you start over.

VOILA, now you have marble nails!

Have you tried the Marble Nail Technique? Any tips or tricks? Let us know below!

-Vernize Rios

 

Filed Under: Beauty, Trends Tagged With: ,
Oct. 7, By Leave a Comment

Nail Trends with Aija Vilemsonne

FW2011 Nail Trends

This past September, major cities worldwide debuted the cream of the fashion crop during Fashion Week 2011. And as you know, every element and accessory is important, down to your fingertips. Now in October, it’s time to put to work what we learned during FW2011.

Aija Vilemsonne, creative director of Pretty Women USA has some great insight on how to really polish your look. First of all, experiment. “The most important thing to remember about nails is to have fun with it. Make mistakes, test out new colors, and see what you think works best for you,” says Aija. Here are three trends to try out…

Be blue. This Winter, break out the icy blues and show off your blue crush. Aija says the blue trend is perfect for fairer skinned females so opt for pale, pastel blues.

Sparkle and shine. Metallic is the “colorless” trend of the season. “You can customize the trend to work for you,” says Aija.

Go in the buff. Nude nails rounds out the top three nail trends. Once applied, a dried, nude color can clash with your skin tone so choose a shade that matches the undertones. Camel and peachy colors for those with creamy ivory and golden brown skin tones, peach skin tones should go with a beige shade, and rosy nudes for “Summer” skin tones that will match rosy cheeks.

Next time you’re at the nail salon, try one of these hot nail fashion trends.

-Vernize Rios

 

 

Filed Under: Beauty, Celebrity Style, Trends Tagged With: ,
Sep. 24, By 1 Comment

Fashion Weeks Reveal Top Nail Trends

polish

With the wrap of New York and London Fashion Weeks, and Milan and Paris showcases still to come, the nailistas, especially those behind the scenes at Creative Nail Design (CND), are providing a glimpse into what’s hot in nails this fall, winter, and spring. A breakdown for nail techs:

Color
The best nail techs are no longer settling for the basic color palette of reds, corals, and pinks. They’re customizing colors, sometimes to match fabrics, accessories, or even lipstick.

Nail colors are more extreme this season, with fashionistas wearing anything from gray to beige to black. After all, gray is the new neutral. Lighter or cooler skin tones look best in pale, cool shades of gray, while darker or warmer skin tones can handle extra richness with warmer shades of gray.

Nails are deliciously dark and metallic, appearing in hues of gold, silver, burgundy, and sapphire blue. Brown has been declared the polish for fall — think warm, yummy chocolate. Ultimately, rich, dark color is the way to go. For clients who are a bit more traditional but still want to keep a finger on the pulse of fashion, steer them toward the richest reds and burgundies.

Texture
Texture is another defining element of this season’s nails. Creamy lattes, dove-soft grays, cloudy pastels, and gritty, sooty, grainy blacks are all the rage.

Since huge, faux jewels are replacing the “it” bag as the accessory to covet, gem-crusted nails are taking the runways by storm. Sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, and rubies are bejeweling the hottest nails of the season.

Shape
Fall and winter are bringing the longest, darkest nails of the year. Shapes are dramatic and extreme, extending the short square nail to a longer soft almond (this is where tips come in!).

For clients who are reluctant to show a little more length, be sure to mention the almond shape’s lengthening effect on hands, making short, chubby fingers look longer, leaner, and more natural. Plus, this shape is stronger and can actually absorb more impact when filed correctly.

Want to be on the frontlines of global fashion? Start by becoming a licensed nail technician, then take the nail trends from the catwalk to your chair.

-Robyn Tellefsen

Filed Under: Beauty Tagged With: , , ,