Nail Care – Page 14 – Forty, Flirty & Fabulous

Beauty Stocking Stuffers $10.00 and Under

Looking for affordable stocking stuffers for ladies who like beauty, but you don’t want to shop all over town for them? I have some ideas from three of my favorite brands that I have tried this year. You can get a variety of fun gifts in one stop! She will be thrilled when she opens her stocking.

The Body Shop — has a large variety of bath, body, perfume and home fragrance products to choose from. You can find these items at www.thebodyshop-usa.com. Some of my favorites for the holidays are:

Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream ($10.00 USD 2.5 oz): This is a richly moisturizing lotion with a refreshing fragrance. By purchasing this product, you can reach out and show your support for children and young people suffering across the globe, by taking direct and positive action to protect them against sex trafficking. Ingredients include Angelica for its protective and soothing benefits and Community Trade organic olive oil to condition and soften the hands. With a fragrance of fresh citrus aspects in the top, leading to a floral heart on a warm amber background.

Merry Cranberry Lip Balm ($8.00 USD or 2 for $12.00): This festive balm leaves lips soft and shimmering with a fruity cranberry scent. Cranberry seed oil moisturizes skin. Community Trade organic beeswax conditions skin and helps to lock in moisture. Antioxidant vitamin E nourishes and protects the delicate skin on the lips.

Home Fragrance Oil ($7.50 USD on sale for $5.25 USD): You can used this with an oil burner. I just use it the old-fashioned way — a few drops in a pot of water on the stove! I like the Black Velvet Apricot which has notes of: orange, apricot, redcurrant and orange flower. Other holiday scents are Merry Cranberry, Mandarin Ginger, Nutmeg and Vanilla, Silver Fir, Mulled Berries, Vanilla Spice, Pecan Chestnut, Mexican Cocoa and American Pumpkin.

Sula Beauty — A fragrance and beauty company that make products for women of all ages, Sula’s beauty items that are perfect for giving. Find them at www.sulabeauty.com or Ulta stores.

Shea Butter Balm ($9.00 USD) — Pocket-sized and portable, these Organic Shea Butter tins will soothe and soften cheeks, lips, neck, hands, arms, legs and feet. Works wonders on unruly eyebrows and hair, too! Each balm contains essential oils of fruits or flowers. Scents include Bergamot, Neroli Blossom and Rose Damascena.

Paint and Peel Polish ($9.00 USD for one $14.00 for gift set trios) — This water-based nail color has amazing appeal. The colors apply easily and simply peel off the nail. Touch ups are a snap with the fast drying formula. They come in many different classic and edgy colors.

Hard Candy — The original luxury beauty line is now at Walmart and the prices are fantastic. Great stocking stuffers are:

Kal-eye-descope Baked Shadow Duos ($6.00 USD) are perfect palettes of highly pigmented, wet-dry shadows that instantly bring color and eyes to life. Apply wet for more dramatic color or dry for a softer, more shimmery effect.

Just Nails Nail Polish ($5.00 USD) gives you color with a ring to it! Each fun polish comes with the classic ring, so you get quality polish with a little fun, too!

Mouthing Off Lip Gloss ($6.00 USD) Sheer, glistening color that comes with a great application wand. Many fun colors to choose from.

So, enjoy Christmas shopping for others, and maybe pick up one of these affordable gems for yourself!

Holiday Gift Sets From It Cosmetics

It Cosmetics — the masters of makeup magic — have created 2 fabulous gift sets in time for the holiday. They are:

My Youthful Smile Gift Set ($39.00 USD, a $98.00 value) — Three full size My Youthful Smiles Dual Smile Brightening Gloss & Smile-Line Wrinkle Fill, come in a beautiful gift box with a tag. You get one gloss in each color:

Signature Blue — Goes on clear

Pretty Woman — Pretty Pink

Kiss Me Now — Rich Red Berry

This innovative gloss is the winner of the 2009 Cosmetic Innovator of the Year Award! My Youthful Smile has Smile Line Wrinkle Fill creme with collagen and antioxidants on one end to smooth out fine lines and wrinkles around your mouth – and Smile Brightening Lip Plumping Collagen Gloss on the other end with blue based pigments specially designed to counteract the yellow in your teeth and make your smile whiter instantly! This is a really great gloss that does double duty and is perfect for women whose lips are showing their age. I love the plumpness and the shine I get from it.

Nail Love Gift Set ($29.00 USD, $43.50 value)) — Three Full Size Nail Love™ Nail and Cuticle Treatment Pens. Nail and Cuticle Treatment Pen: Treat and condition cuticles and strengthen nails with hydrolyzed collagen – plus this exclusive formula has an anti-yellowing complex! Combine that with the healing eucalyptus leaf oil, nourishing jojoba and sweet almond oil, and power anti-oxidant and Vitamin B5 complex. I love the luxurious feel that you get from this product. Also the other end of the applicator has a soft tapered end that can be used to push cuticles back. This product and a good buffer can lead to natural and beautiful nails without polish!

Visit www.itcosmetics.com to learn more and purchase these and other great gift ideas for the woman who wants a polished look. Enjoy!

Borghese Holiday Nail Kits

Great Gift Idea: Just in time for the holidays, Borghese introduces two mini kits featuring fun, glittery lacquers. These kits would make perfect stocking stuffers, teacher and co-worker gifts, perfect for all of the stylish ladies on your list!

Each kit contains four long-wearing, nail-strengthening polishes that contain Borghese’s exclusive Acqua di Vita complex to help restore healthy moisture to the nails. Micronized Gemstones add brilliance. Each shade comes with a special Duale Curve Tip Brush custom designed to hug the shape of your nail for a smooth, flawless application. The rich, saturated hues are free of DBP’s, Toluene and added Formaldehyde.

The collections are:

Allegra — Gold Glitter, Red Glitter, White Glitter and Black Glitter

Serena — Brown Glitter, Green Duochrome, Multi-Colored Glitter, Purple Shimmer

Each kit costs $9.99 and can be found at drugstores nationwide. Pick one up for a friend — and yourself!

Great Beauty Tips Using Ms. Manicure’s Fabulous Products

Ms. Manicure creates cool manicure and pedicure products that help nails look their best, but did you know that they also fix beauty blunders? Below please find tips on different ways to use these products.

Don’t worry about hand washing your favorite sweaters anymore. Solve your pilling problems with Ms. Pedicure’s Rock ‘n Sole ($1.99). By rubbing this dry pumice stone over sweaters, the little fuzzies that cause so much distress will be gone. Make sure to lay the clothing on a flat surface before gently stroking the fabric with the stone. Keep the stone clean and dry for future use!

Scared your false eyelashes might fall off into your dinner plate a la the last date you went on? Give them extra security by applying them with the tweezers from Ms. Manicure‘s Handy Dandy Mani kit ($9.99). First, let lash glue sit for 30 to 60 seconds prior to using. Then, pick up individual lashes with tweezers, dip the ends in glue and securely apply them to the base of the eyelid. Make sure to coat them with mascara afterwards for extra protection!

Spill something on your new suede boots? You might not have to head for the shoe store for another pair just yet. Grab an emery board, like Ms. Manicure ‘s Call Your Buff ($2.99), and lightly rub the stain. Use the soft, buffer side of this four-sided board to ensure that your boots don’t get damaged in the process. Then, hold the shoe over steam from a boiling pot (or teakettle) on the stove to completely remove it. This works for suede clothing as well!

For a list of retailers and to check out other recession-friendly products, visit www.msmanicure.com and www.mspedicure.com.

Orly Once Upon a Time Collection

Orly Once Upon a Time Want to try some new polishes that will take you through the fall and into the Winter months? Try Orly’s Once Upon A Time collection. Just like a fairytale these colors are a mixture of darkness and light — and of course a red as bright as Snow White’s lips.

The colors in the collection are:

Happily Ever After — magenta shimmer

Pixie Dust — icy blue shimmer

Enchanted Forest — dark green creme

Mirror Mirror — grey creme

Poison Apple — burnt red creme

Prince Charming — brownish grey creme

A big fall trend is dark green polish, and I think Enchanted Forest is a perfect shade for the trend. It is dark but not so dark you can’t tell that its green. Pixie Dust is an unexpected fall color, as it is blue and sparkly. It think that it is lots of fun and will also be great for the winter. Mirror Mirror and Prince Charming are perfect fall shades — I love grey polishes. Of course if you would rather have a dramatic look try the shimmery Happily Ever After or the punch of color from Poison Apple.

The polishes retail for $7.50 each. Visit www.orlybeauty.com to learn more about these polishes and to find a retailer near you.

China Glaze Khrome Collection

China Glaze Khrome polishes for fall is a beautiful collection of opaque metallic nail polishes. There are 6 polishes in the collection. They are:

Millennium — pure metallic silver

Metallic Muse — soft blue-green

Sci-Fi — lavender-silver metallic

Robotika — plummy brown

2030 — warm gold

Hi-Tek — bronze-copper

All of these colors are beautiful and long lasting. I applied Millennium and 2030 to my 5-year-old daughter’s nails and it stayed on for 4 or 5 days without chipping! I do recommend that nails are buffed first for maximum staying power, plus the chrome finish will be smoother. My favorites are Metallic Muse and Robotika. So different and pretty.

Visit www.chinaglaze.com to find a retailer near you!

It Cosmetics Nail Love

It Cosmetics Nail Love Cuticle and Nail Oil Pen ($12.50) is a cool and affordable way to make your nails and cuticals look and feel fantastic.

The product description from IT Cosmetics is that Nail Love, “treats and conditions cuticles and strengthens nails with hydrolyzed collagen, plus this exclusive formula has an anti-yellowing complex! Combine that with the healing eucalyptus leaf oil and you’ll see this pen packs a whole lot of Nail Love!The beneficial ingredients including a Pro-Collagen blend plus Vitamins A, C, E and Pro-Vitamin B5 work to strengthen and protect your nails over time!? The Healing Eucalyptus Oil, Sweet Almond Oil and Jojoba seed Oil work to heal hangnails and torn cuticles giving a soothing effect you can feel immediately. Now that’s something your nails and cuticles will love!”

To use this product I first apply the oil by twisting the base of the pen to release it, and then brush the product on the nails and cuticles. Then I used the rubber cuticle pusher and push back my cuticles. The last step is to rub the excess oil on my nails and cuticles.

I think this is a great product to help keep cuticles healthy and it gives the nails a nice shine, too! The cuticle tool cap is also really convenient.

Visit www.itcosmetics.com to learn more and to purchase the Nail Love pen. Enjoy!

JESSICA Cosmetics Burlesque Beauty Collection

JESSICA has come out with a sultry collection of nail polishes for the fall called Burlesque Beauty. The collection is described in the website as:

Take yourself back to the decadent days of the Moulin Rouge and add a bit of drama and glamour to your look this fall. JESSICA, manicurist to the stars introduces the fall 2009 collection, Burlesque Beauty. While not everyone aspires to be a full-on Burlesque Girl, adding a sexy shade to your nails is a subtle way to make a bold statement and bring out your inner vixen. The Burlesque Beauty collection presents six new rich colors that add femininity and allure to your style. With shades of purples, berries and greens the new collection helps any woman embrace her dark, playful or sexy side on a whim.

The shades of Burlesque Beauty are:

636: Gorgeous Garter Belt – Magenta

637: Ruffled Bottoms –Violet

638: Fishnets and Fringe – Hunter Green

639: For Your Eyes Only – Grape

640: Feather Boa – Mauve

641: Sexy Siren – Plum

I have Gorgeous Garter Belt and For Your Eyes Only — the latter is my favorite. It is a super dark purple that is really cool for the fall. I have been wearing it all week and it hasn’t chipped much which is surprising since I work (and play) on the computer all day.

All JESSICA Custom Colors are formulated with Vitamin A for maximum conditioning, contain UVA/UVB protection from sun’s damaging rays, eco-friendly: Toluene-, Formaldehyde-and Phalate-Free and are quick-drying.

Visit www.jessicacosmetics.com to learn more about these products and where to purchase them.

Be Good to Your Nails, Try Organic Priti Nail Polish

Wow, I just realized that my blog has been around for a year now! Amazing. And I am still finding great new products to review!

In the year I have been beauty blogging, I have become more aware of the natural and organic products for review. I think that the number of natural and orgainc brands and product lines will only grow in the future, which is both great for our bodies and the planet.

I have recently discovered Priti, an organic nail and skin care company. The complete product line is non-toxic and derived of organically grown products.

I have been wearing their nail polish ($12.50, 0.43 fl. oz.), which is contained in a bottle that is completely recyclable. The website states, “they are fast drying, chip resistant, non-yellowing, contains a UV inhibitor, and are super durable and glossy”.

I have been wearing a peacock blue color called Tulip Tree for the past week, and it is just beginning to chip, which is amazing for a nail polish. I usually touch up my polish during the week, but this week I haven’t had to. And I have had compliments on the gorgeous color, which has stayed glossy all week. This is a pretty pricy polish, but it is well worth it for the wear and for the fact that it is non-toxic and organic!

Visit www.pritinyc.3dcartstores.com to learn more and to purchase these great polishes, which come in a large variety of colors.

Try Ms. Manicure for Better Looking Nails!

Ms. Manicure creates products to help with all your nail needs. Their all-inclusive Handy Dandy Mani ($9.99) includes Cuticle Nippers, Nail Clippers, Nail Scissors, Wood Cuticle Sticks, a Nail Brush, a Washable Salon Board, 4-Way Nail Buffer, and Slant Tip Tweezers. Housed in a two-sided carrying case, this kit is great for on the go or to keep in a locker or desk drawer at work. The clippers are my favorite item in the kit because are precise and work very well. The buffer is nice to keep with the kit or throw in your purse for emergencies. All in all, I think this is a great buy!

Ms. Manicure’s Block Party ($2.99), a 6-way buffer that is light, portable, and destined for the gal on-the-go. With four different textures designed to shape, smooth, buff and polish, this tool will give you a professional look quickly. I have found that I get a pretty high gloss from this buffer which is great when I don’t have time for polish. I also like to smooth my nails when I change my dark fall nail polishes. It gives me a clean slate before I put a new shade on.

For a list of retailers and to learn more about these products, visit www.parispresents.com.