Spring 2013: China Glaze Avant Garden.

I am so sick of winter! I am trying to bring spring into my life any way I can, especially on my lips and nails. For my nails, I am reallly enjoying the beautiful new Avant Garden collection from China Glaze. The collection includes 12 new shades that vary between soft hues and vibrant pops of color. Any of them will have your fingers and toes blossoming with spring.

The new shades:

• Budding Romance - moss green
• Sunday Funday - bright blue
• Fancy Pants - indigo with pink and purple shimmer
• Snap My Dragon - bright red with pink shimmer
• Passion for Petals - bright salmon-pink
• Mimosas Before Manis - coral with a light wash of shimmer
• Life is Rosy - blushed mauve
• Pink-ie Promise - iridescent baby pink 
• Tart-y for the Party - light lavender creme
• Fade Into Hue - periwinkle creme
• Keep Calm, Paint On - sea foam green
• Dandy Lyin’ Around - shimmery vanilla icing

My favorite shade is Passion for Petals. The bright peachy pink is a perfect shade for my beach getaway tomorrow!

China Glaze Nail Lacquers retails for $7.00 each and are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. The Avant Garden shades will be for sale in March.

Friday Finds: February 15, 2013.

I hope you had a great week and enjoyed your Valentine's Day! Did you do anything special with your loved one?

I'm so glad it is Friday. After the major snow storm last week and more than two days of digging out - and we still have piles - I am thrilled to be jetting off to sunny skies in a few days. I am self-tanning my new softer skin already. I'll be bringing my new favorite Maybelline Color Whispers with me and a few of my finds too. And if I need to replenish anything, these beauties will be easy to find because they are all available at mass retailers.

1. Aveeno Protect + Hydrate Lotion with Broad Spectrum SPF 30 - $9.99
This super lightweight lotion melts into skin on contact and protects it with a broad spectrum SPF 30. While it is made to be a hydrating sunscreen, I am using it as a daily lotion. It give me my daily sunscreen protection and makes it feel soft and hydrated. It also comes in an SPF 50 and SPF 70 strength, which I will be using on the beach.

2. Hard Candy CC Correction Creme - $8.00
This multi-tasker moisturizes, primes, color corrects, brightens and evens skin tone plus protects it with a broad spectrum SPF 15. I use Medium and it makes my skin just look better; softly airbrushed. It's perfect for "no makeup" makeup days or for those who don't need to wear foundation.

3. Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Eye Cream & Lash Serum Duo - $24.99
This is one of the smartest duos I've ever seen. It's like a double sided mascara, except one side is an eye cream and the other a lash serum. The eye cream smoothes lids, softens lines and makes the whole eye area brighter overall. The lash serum nourishes lashes. I'll never forget to apply my lash serum at night again.

4. Maybelline Eye Studio 2-in-1 Glossy Liquid Liner - $7.99
This genius eye liner lets you control the thickness of the liner by simply rotating the wand a 1/4 turn. It can draw on a precise thin line or dramatic or cat eye with ease. It comes in a fun array of colors to suit every mood too.

5. Sally Hansen Salon Effects French Mani - $12.99
These real nail polish strips make it super easy to get a salon perfect french mani every time. They are not your average french manicures either. Salon Effects French Mani strips are colorful and even a bit blinged out. I love Silver Lining with it's silver glitter tip.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Anastasia Bold & Beautiful Kit.

If you makeup look focuses on your eyes, then this luxurious book set for perfectly groomed brows and beautiful brows is for you. That is just what Anastasia had in mind when creating this 2 piece kit that features two volumes (palettes) for bother eyes and brows. Meet the Anastasia Bold & Beautiful Kit.

How cute is the book set?

As I said, the kit contains 2 palettes, or volumes; in this case Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Vol. 1 Bold Brows

This palette contains a universal Brow Powder shade, a Pomade, Mini Duo Brush and Mini Tweezers. Start with the tweezers to sculpt brows. The original Anastasia Tweezers are my go to for shaping my brows and this mini version that fits in the palette will get the job done. The slanted tips easily grasp hairs, one at a time and remove them easily. Next take the spooley end of the brush and brush brows into place. After shaping brows, set them in place with the Pomade. This is a creamy wax, that looks much darker in the palette than it is. It helps keeps brows in place and is a base for the color. Finally, finish the brow look by using the slanted end of the brush and use the Brow Powder to define them. The color is a medium ash color that is pretty universal to most brow colors.

Vol. 2 Beautiful Eyes

This palette contains four matte and simmering shadows in a versatile range of neutral shades. They range from a light matte peachy beige to a very dark brown with a lot of multicolored sparkle. You can layer them and even use them wet or dry to create anything from a subtle sheer wash of color to an intense, nude smoky eye. If you want to use one of the shades as an eyeliner, dip the liner end of the brush into the Pomade (in the brow palette) then dip it into your eye shadow color of choice. It looks really pretty when using the darkest shade.

The Anastasia Bold & Beautiful Kit is for sale at Anastasia.net for $36.00. Her products are usually available at Sephora too, so keep an eye for it there this spring as well.