Shakeup Your Makeup

It's officially fall.  Not only was my birthday yesterday, which tends to lead to pumpkins and harvest decor in and out of my house, but the weather dropped down into the 60's today, with lows in the mid-40's.  So, yes, it's fall.  

What is your go-to fall shade?  

 

Oh Pinterest...you enable me on so many levels.  Be it food, décor rand beauty, I just love browsing through and pinning things.  I finally got around to trying my hand at a gradient manicure I saw on Pinterest (below).  I wasn't quite sure how to do a glitter gradient, so if you need some instructions and "how to's", head on over to Lucy's Stash, because she has an awesome video tutorial there, not to mention the most beautiful manicures for inspiration!

 

 

Today's NOTD: L'Oreal's Gorgeous Gold.  This is a very rich metallic gold polish with tons of silver, gold and tiny holographic glitter in it.  The gold actually leans a bit olive in color depending on the lighting. 

This color is beautiful - it is thick, and the glitter makes it look a bit bumpy, but that's fine by me.  Here is two coats, followed by one coat of topcoat.

My only complaint is the tiny irridescent glitter didn't translate to the nail when swatched.  Maybe it was washed out, who knows.  This is a pretty shade, though.  I believe this was from a limited edition collection this summer called "It's Gold or Nothing At All". 

Do you have this color?  What do you think?

As you can see by the sticker on the lid, I got this little gem 75% off at the CVS sale last month.  This is 10 Professional Nail Lacquer in Moonlight.  With the flash, it looks like a muddy, almost gray taupe, but in natural light (below) it has a more yellow undertones, and doesn't enhance the redness of my skin.  Obviously, these pale gray/taupes are on trend right now, but finding one that compliments your skin tone is the challenge. 

This 10 Professional line definitely has a broad spectrum of colors, mostly work safe and basic, but even this little guy allows you to wear a more trendy shade but still be neutral enough for every day.  Have you tried any of these yet? 

Avon Nailwear Pro in Vintage Boutique.  This is a deep khaki/gray creme, leaning more on the warmer side.  Depending on the light, it can look brown to an almost pale brownish lavender.  In my opinion, it's more of a brown with grey undertones, kind of like the color of melted milk chocolate.  Although it may look a little dull in the bottle, when applied this is a gorgeous color, especially for fall. 

I don't know if Avon has updated the formula or not, but this applied extremely well.  This is three coats, although I probably could have only used two.  The nail polish dries so shiny too, which is different than some of the older shades I've used in the Avon line. 

Side note, sorry for the blurry picture.  I used my camera phone instead of my actual camera since the battery has died on it and needs to be charged. 

A few weeks ago I picked up the mark. by Avon Nailed it Trend Mini Nail Lacquer set in Fuschia-istic and Stay Neutral. 

Stay Neutral is a warm nude shade with pink shimmer.  The picture below really shows the shimmer. 

(with flash)

Above is "Stay Neutral" - two coats.  I should have gone with one more, but I didn't really realize it because, a) the color is so nude and b) because I think the flash really accentuates the sheerness of the color.  The consistency is nice - it's a bit sheer, which like I said, doesn't really effect the outcome on such a neutral color.  I haven't swatched the fuchsia yet, so I don't know if that was the general consistency of the new mark polishes, or if it was just this particular shade.   

(without flash)

Not so much of the pink when just in natural light.  In my opinion, the picture with the flash is much more true to color.

Right now this collection is sold out of mark, but they do have a new set here.  It has two colors as well: Tango (a bright red/coral) and Mojito (a pale turquoise/mint green creme).



Mystic Lilac is a beautiful lavender-grey shade with beautiful iridescent glitter that is present *just enough* to give a slight shimmer in certain light.  From far away, it looks like cream lavender, but when you take a look up close you can really see the hints of shimmer.  I really like this color for something different - it really an up-to-date way to wear the "greige" shades that everyone is raving about this season.  

(sunlight)

(natural light)

You can barely see the shimmer in the picture above.  Unfortunately, my camera was not cooperating enough to get a good picture of it - I'll try and get one for a later post.

(flash)

The above picture is the best representation of the color, in my opinion.  You can tell it is actually a lavender color, and not gray, and you can barely see the shimmer/sparkle.  Even better...I wore it for 5 days without a chip or scratch!  Not bad for $2.99!

I have about 4 more of these new colors from the Xtreme Wear collection to post, so keep checking back!  Also, I'll have the Nox Twilight Nailpolish to post, too!

(outside in natural light)

(natural light - cloud cover)

I think this closeup gives you a great idea of the glitter and colors.  It is really quite beautiful.  From far away, the nailpolish looks like a metallic foil, but up close you can see the sparkles.

The last picture is my favorite.  This is definitely the most accurate, probably because the sparkles wash out the actual colors in the pictures above.  This is close up, with the flash.  B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

When I posted about some new Milani nail polishes spotted at CVS a few weeks back, I picked up one of the neutrals, called Bare to Wear.  Being that there is such a new craze in "greige" nail polish, I thought this was a light, neutral enough color for me to wear every day, but with enough depth of color that I could get away with using this as a staple into the fall.  

The color reminded me of another "greige" color I have in my collection, which I posted about last year: Sephora's OPI "Under my Trench Coat", but the Milani is less grey and doesn't have any shimmer to it.   the Milani wore like iron - no chipping or peeling - and application was a breeze due to the great consistency and opacity.  Two coats and I was done!

Have you tried any of the other shades from the "Bare it All" collection?  What is your favorite?