Polished Up Tuesday: Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac

I just have to jump right in here. I LOVE Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear nail polishes. On their own they last longer than the average polish. Adding a base and top coat just makes them that much better. The cherry on these polishes is the price (less than $3!). Get ready to see a few colors from this line because it is one of my favorites.

This beautiful color is called Lacey Lilac. I used two coats for this look, but I could have easily gotten away with one. It's habit for me to apply two coats. The brush is small, but the polish applies smoothly.

My Favorite Frugal Find

There's nothing I love more than finding a great dress for a great price. This super comfortable and figure flattering dress came from Walmart. It's been a few months since I purchased it, but I'm pretty sure the price tag was around $12. This is, hands down, my favorite frugal piece of clothing in my closet.

I topped it off with this gorgeous green and blue necklace given to me for birthday and a pair of lovely black sandals from Target (bought them last year on clearance). 

Gotta love those frugal finds!!

What I'm Wearing: 

Maxi Dress: Walmart

Necklace: Birthday Gift from a Sweet Friend (from Rue 21)

Shades: Liz Claiborne 

(What? Nothing from JCPenney! Gasp!)

The New mark. Eyeshadows with Swatches

Recently mark. sent me a set of samples I was very excited about. The samples were of the new wet/dry eyeshadows  that are launching tomorrow (8/10/12). mark. has reformulated the shades to make them more pigmented and has also added a larger selection of colors.These .08oz eyeshadows will retail for $7 for each.

The new collection includes 10 shimmer shades, 8 satin shades, 6 metallic shades and 4 matte shades. Below are swatches of the sample colors I have (I do not have them all). I'll give you my first impressions after the photos.

The first 4 photos are of the shadows swatched dry with no primer in natural sunlight. The last photo is some of the shadows swatched wet (one shadow from each category).

 Matte Shades in (L to R) Whisper, Storming and Nightly

Metallic Shades in (L to R) Sugar Sugar, Goldi Luxe, Jazzy and Lava

Satin Shades in (L to R) Minx, Luvstruck, Moss, Plum Velvet and Pewter

Shimmer Shades in (L to R) Puff, Fairy Dust, Luster and Empress

  Swatched Wet (L to R) Goldi Luxe, Empress, Luvstruck and Storming

I love the color variety of these new formulas. With 28 total colors available there will easily be something for everyone. I was pleased with the pigmentation of most of these shadows when swatched dry, except for the metallic shades. When swatched dry they do not have the same pop of color as the other shades. However, as you probably noticed above, when the metallic shades are swatched wet they look amazing. Swatching the shades wet brings out more of the color in the shadows. The exception would be the matte shades, which I feel look better dry. 

Also remember these shadows were swatched from samples. I anticipate the actual products will be even better than what you see above. 

Polished Up Tuesday: Essie Tart Deco

I have been obsessed with coral this season and when  I discovered this gorgeous color I was ecstatic. Essie's Tart Deco is the perfect summer color and adds a pop against a neutral outfit. It took two coats to achieve the look above. There is one downside to this polish. It's a pain to apply. I had fight with it to get a smooth coat since it wants to apply streaky. Once I put the second coat on it was slightly better, but it was the top coat that smoothed everything out. A top coat is a MUST with this polish if you want a smooth finish. I don't know if other Essie polishes apply this way since this is the only color from this brand I own. I think part of the problem comes from the small brush (I prefer a larger brush). The end product is gorgeous and worth the fight to have this beautiful color on my nails. 

Denim & Floral

What I'm Wearing:

Denim Top: London Jean

Skirt: Old Navy

Sunglasses: Liz Claiborne

Belt: NY&Co

Bracelets & Earrings: JCPenney

Shoes: Shoe Dazzle