Best Beauty Products of 2017

Since I wrote about my top 10 beauty products of 2016 last year, I decided to keep the party going with my favorite products of 2017.

I was like, "hmmm, I've barely tried enough stuff this year to even make a list of favorites" but then I started writing and realized, oh right - I'm kind of a product junkie. Even during a year where I felt like I'd tried nothing new, I still had 10 favorites. Oops.

Easy Halloween Nail Art Tutorial

As part of Blogtober, I'll be re-running some past posts that fit this month's theme. This post was originally published in October 2013.

It's no secret that I'm pretty into Halloween, and as with most holidays, I like to show that appreciation on my nails. The colors and themes of Halloween are just so much more fun than other holidays (sorry trees and eggs) and they really lend themselves to nail art. I was planning an eyeball manicure this year, but today I had second thoughts and was struck by indecision, resulting in a different design on every digit.

There are SO many other options that would be fun to add here, like candy corn, Dracula, witch, candy apple, werewolf...I ran out of fingernails way before I ran out of ideas. Here's my take on Halloween nail art and a step-by-step guide on how you can recreate the look:

What You Need

• White Nail Polish {White by Wet n Wild}
• Blue Nail Polish {Blue Me Away! by Sally Hansen}
• Red Nail Polish {223 by NYC}
• Lime Green Nail Polish {Innocent by Sinful Colors} 
• Gray Nail Polish {Light Grey by Forever 21}
• Orange Nail Polish {Orange Overload by Savvy}

• Seche Vite Top Coat

• Sharpie(s)

• Dotting Tools

• Nail Art Brush (optional)

Instructions

Paint a colored base for each nail. I applied white polish on my pinky and index finger, orange on my ring finger, green on my middle finger and gray on my thumb.

For the blood spatter design, first paint a red stripe at the tip of the nail. Using a nail art brush or small dotting tool, draw drips of red polish from the stripe toward the middle of the nail. Messy is fine here!

For the jack o'lantern design, use a Sharpie to draw the eyes and mouth. My orange polish reacted weirdly with the Sharpie for some reason, so I topped mine with black nail polish. Usually drawing with a Sharpie works wonders and is SO much easier than nail polish, but it can be unpredictable.

For Frankenstein, draw a zig zag line near the base of your nail [a] and fill in the empty space [b]. Next, use a dotting tool to make two white dots slightly above the zig zag [c]. Draw a black line above the dots with polish or a Sharpie [d] and add short perpendicular lines over it to look like stitches [e]. Add small black dots over the white dots to complete the eyes [f].

For the bloodshot eyeball, use a nail art brush or small dotting tool to draw squiggly red lines around the borders of your nail [a]. Next, draw a blue circle in the center of your nail with a dotting tool [b] and top it with a smaller black circle for a pupil [c]. Optionally, you can add a tiny white dot over the black and blue area as a highlight [d].

For the mummy, draw a thick-ish black stripe about a quarter of the way down your nail with polish or a Sharpie [a]. Use a thin brush or Sharpie to add random diagonal lines for the wrapping [b]. Use a dotting tool to make two white dots in the center of the black stripe [c] and top them with smaller black dots to finish [d].

Finish everything with top coat and ta-da! 
Your motley crew of Halloween nail art characters is complete. 

Here are some closeups of the designs:

Friday Faves Vol. 8

 

This adorable yet sassy "Smash the Patriarchy" t-shirt!

These brand new Wet n Wild highlighters!

This beautifully written essay from David Sedaris, "Why Aren't You Laughing?"

These fancy little DIY paper flower cake toppers!

This seashell-inspired velvet chair!

This perfect pastel stripe manicure from @thenailtrail!

These amazing cat ear bluetooth headphones!

This real estate listing for the Grey Gardens property - it's up for sale for just $18 million!

This pineapple-shaped cross body bag!

This chic as hell pink eyelash wallpaper!

What cool stuff have you seen lately?

The Amazing $5 Liquid Lipstick You're Not Wearing - And Why You Should Be

Wet n Wild Liquid Catsuit Matte Lipstick

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who see the words 'liquid lipstick' and think of the chic matte finish and long-wearing ease, and those who see the words 'liquid lipstick' and run for the hills, all screams and finger crosses, swearing off the product like they've seen a demonic possession.

I get the hesitation - liquid lipsticks can be dry as hell, hard to apply and uncomfortable to wear. I've tried a few that left my lips in a virtual vice that no makeup remover short of straight oil could remove, so I feel your pain. 

That said, some liquid lipsticks are just as comfortable as traditional bullet lipsticks (and let's be real, nothing is as comfortable as a great lip balm) and give you hours of steadfast wear without the need to check for touchups in your butter knife, like some cliche lady in a rom-com. If you're gonna act like a cliche lady in a rom-com, at least do something cool like a shopping montage - preferably on someone else's dime. 

If you're willing to try a liquid lip and love a true matte finish, you simply have to grab a Wet n Wild Liquid Catsuit. Maybe two. Maybe six. I can't say; I don't know your journey.

Here are five reasons why you need Liquid Catsuit:

a. These things are cheap! Five bucks a pop (less with constant drugstore sales!) means you can impulse buy without regret.

b. These things are great! Because cheap means nothing if the product sucks. They go on smooth and opaque and dry down to a truly matte finish.

c. These things last! I could easily get a day's worth of wear on one application, aside from that pesky business of eating and drinking, which will impair the wear. Since it dries down after application, you're not going to get a ton of, say, transfer to your coffee mug, but if you go hard on a sandwich - and by all means, go hard on a sandwich - you're going to lose some of that lippie.

d. These things are comfortable! Remember those lip vices I mentioned earlier? Not these, baby! A super matte finish usually comes at a cost, but I wear these all day without really feeling them. They feel no worse than any traditional lipstick to me. I'd compare them most closely to NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream, but these are still a bit more comfortable. 

e. These things look cool! Okay, this is shallow, but the packaging is very sleek - a thicker, shorter acrylic tube with a very secure click to close. Plus, a feline lady character leaning on the logo. Not necessary, but it doesn't hurt.

Wet n Wild Liquid Catsuit Swatches in (L to R) Rebel Rose, Berry Recognize, Missy and Fierce

Wet n Wild Liquid Catsuit on Lips in (L to R) Rebel Rose, Berry Recognize, Missy and Fierce

Interested? I thought so. I mean, it's called Liquid Catsuit, a name so over-the-top-ridiculous, that it swings back around to being kind of awesome. Liquid - yes, catsuit - I guess? Well, no, what am I saying? NO. This is not a catsuit of any kind, if that wasn't made clear by the fact that it's a tube of lipstick. Allow for this one potential flaw in the product and I think you'll still be happy. 

Liquid Catsuit comes in 13 shades, from nude to vampy. Check out these swatches:

Have you ever tried these? What's your favorite lip color?

Top 10 Red Lipsticks for Valentine's Day

...or any day, really, because red lipstick is appropriate for any situation. You might be thinking 'who needs ten red lipsticks?' and I'll tell you right away that your instincts are correct - you actually need way more than ten. Kidding! Kind of. Judging from this selection, I obviously have some kind of lipstick-shaped hole in my soul that I'm trying to fill, but you might find yourself with just one classic, made-for-you red in your collection, and that's totally cool too. Also, what's self restraint like? 

From lightest to darkest, here are my top 10 red lipsticks for Valentine's Day!

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Morocco

Mmmm, I love a Soft Matte Lip Cream! Smells like a vanilla cupcake dream, goes on smooth and opaque, and wears light as a feather. This is a perfect warm toned red with a great orange tint that's super bold, but still easy to wear.

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip in Succulent

This shade is a perfect coral-red that manages to be both bright and muted at the same time. You get a true matte finish (and the dryness to match) and the wear is pretty good too. The color is the best part, though, and I've yet to find something else quite the same as this unique shade.

Wet n Wild Lipstick in Purty Persimmon

Wet n Wild Meglast lipsticks are the old faithfuls of the drugstore - they're less than two bucks, super comfortable to wear, come in a large range of great colors and stay put for hours. Purty Persimmon is a lovely orange-red shade that I always get excited to pop on. This is the lipstick that showed me I like warm toned reds too!

Revlon Lipstick in Fire & Ice

A serious classic! This shade is from the olden days of lipstick, basically, and there's a reason it has stood the test of time - it's gorgeous! Such a lovely color that tends to skew warm toned, but somehow seems to work on everyone I've ever seen wear it? You need this.

Rimmel Provocalips in Kiss Me You Fool

I don't know how many more ways I can say this: I'M IN LOVE WITH RIMMEL PROVOCALIPS. Sorry for shouting, but if you still haven't tried these, I don't know what I can do with you. They're the best, last forever, the end. This is the bright cherry red from the range, and I'm telling you - if you need an all day red lip that you can eat pizza and, like, brush your teeth in, this is that red.

MAC Lipstick in Russian Red

There's just something about a smooth tube of MAC lipstick! This is my favorite red from the brand, but I know that's a hot button issue. Are you a Ruby Woo gal? Okay, let's take this outside! JK, don't hit me plz. The cool toned Russian Red has my heart (bringing in this theme nicely!) but honestly all MAC reds are iconic for a reason!

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella

I didn't know this would change my red lipstick life, but it kinda did! Among literally every red I wear, this is the one that, when I slip it on, looks the smoothest, prettiest and just all around Photoshopped-on-my-lips-est. It's matte, but not too matte and I never even feel it on my lips. It's a great neutral to cool-leaning red that applies like a dream and treats your lips right.

Revlon Matte Balm in Standout

This one is a sleeper hit! It's very similar to MAC Russian Red, with a cool toned hue and matte finish, but it also has a moisturizing quality, complete with minty zing, that you're not going to find in most other lipsticks. I struggle getting a crisp line with it, but it applies so easily and feels so comfortable it's kinda worth it.

Rimmel Provocalips in Play With Fire

See above, and approximately 1,009,342 other blog posts to see how much I love Provocalips. This is a deeper, more cool toned red from the range and I love it just as much as the other red shade. I tend to pull this out for a more dramatic look, but you'd be good with whichever red you like more. Let Provocalips change your life!

Maybelline Lipstick in Smoking Red

Yass, a deep red that goes on opaque in one swipe! You've really done it, Maybelline. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've bought and tossed so called 'black cherry' lipsticks when they go on patchy and pathetic. This is a bit lighter than those shades, but it does the job of coloring my lips evenly. Luckily, it also feels comfortable and lasts, keeping me coming back swipe after swipe.

Red Lipstick Swatches

See? Duh, they're all v. different, thank you.

What's your favorite red lip color? Have you tried any of these? Wanna fight me over the top MAC red lipstick?