Introducing Naughty Nauticals by Essie

Beach blanket? Bingo!

I am sitting here on the beach blogging, could it get any better?  I noted that I haven't smiled this much in Lord knows when. 
What's funny is I hate sand, like it it's so irritating to me that once you leave the beach you find sand for weeks after!  This time though I could care less.  I am sure the beachside sevice that brought me my pina coladas and shrimp cocktail helped with that.
I am also realizing that when I visited Miami last year for the first time I didn't do half the stuff I am doing this time.  I literally said to "the sig" ok what the hell did we do when we came here???  Ah well, I still had fun though.
Last night after my pedi, I selected a pink color by Essie but forgot to get the name of it, we headed to Wet Willies, of course.   Then we hit my fav pizza place outside of NY, Pizza Rustica, which is located on 8th and Washington.  It's open until maybe 3 or 4a and they cut it in squares and you end up with six slices.  Its so good.  I always opt for the mushroom.  I am sure I will go back before we leave so I will be sure to snap some pics.
After that we took a much needed nap while waiting for our friends to arrive.  We ended up at Fat Tuesdays and it was kinda blah so we went to Mango's.  OMG so much fun.  The live cuban band had the crowd rockin', the Voudoo Room aka hip hop room had me dancing the whole time and they even had a reggae room which I didn't get to check out but I am thinking we will go back before we fly out.
Well I am about to soak up some more sun, so again I leave you with some pics I snapped.  This weekend I'm all about clean looks with a lip so last night I opted for Russian Red by MAC.  During the day I wore Nars Sheer Matte foundation in Cacao applied with my hands but I noticed it oxidized quite a bit so at night I went for my trusty Make Up Forever Mat Velvet.  I am also wearing lashes that I cut in half and applied just to the outer ends of my own lashes.  They are the no name blue box brand in 747s, one of my faves!  Talk to you later :)

Essie Great Expectations and Laura Geller Sugar Free Baked Shadow-Biscotti/Toast

So one day I went on the hunt for OPI You Dont Know Jacques (which I tried and did not adore by the way) and decided to stop in Pure Beauty. Well as luck would have it they not only had You Dont Know Jacques but also OPI The It Color which I had been searching high and low for. SCORE! Well what usually happens with me and beauty products is I go for one thing and end up purchasing WAY more than that, so of course that day was no different. Within my polish haul I ended up getting Essie Great Expectations. I figured it fit in with my latest gray craze...


ADORE or ABHOR? Well to tell you the truth I am on the fence with it. The color is fine. I find it a nice neutral color that I can wear to work with no problem, my issue is with the lasting power. I have had to polish my nails every day for the past three days because it keeps chipping! Whatever, I can deal with it but its just a pain. It was a long weekend so I have the time to touch up my mani, but on a normal week, this would not do. Will I swear off Essie polish because of it? Uh no, I ADORE my Essie Pama! I will just have to find a better top coat.

My second try occurred because I just had to have an eyeshadow look that was not only neutral but something I could wear to work just about everyday, be free of overdone shimmer/glitter yet not have the consistency of a non-blend able matte shadow. So browsing Beauty 360 one day (why they put this store right across the street from my job I will never know, my poor wallet weeps...) I happened upon the Laura Geller baked shadows. I have seen these before. I even have another one but again its too much glitter/sparkle. I was just about to leave when I spotted Biscotti/Toast...



ADORE or ABHOR? ADORE!!!! Consistency? Like butta (if butta was made of powder HA!) pay me no mind, it was just smooth, easy to blend, the perfect color (like my skin but better) and just overall beautiful. I have never felt this way about a matte shadow, I usually HATE matte shadow. I dont know if its because its baked or what but its great. It is now my HG shadow. I use the lighter color (I think biscotti) all over and the darker (toast) in the crease & outer V. I put a little MAC Embark in there to darken it up and voila - success! Here is a pic of me wearing it to the absolutely awesome We Are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial (please excuse my facial expression, it was cold and I was trying to snap a pic and walk at the same time FAIL - in case you were wondering thats my mom with me)

At $23 the shadow is far from affordable however I really like it so I dont mind the splurge.