Sweet Simple Updo

This up-do can be done in 10 minutes or less.  Its perfect if you do not have a curling iron and only requires a hair tie and 12 Bobbie pins or less (completely dependent on your personal hair texture) Did your hair appointment get lost in the system?  Are you running late to a special event, wedding or will you miss prince charming if you take too long getting ready for the ball?  Fear Not!  Follow this simple updo tutorial and you will be good to go in no time... And on the upside you will NOT miss Prince Charming because you took hours getting your hair done.

Please visit my YouTube channel for more great videos:
www.youtube.com/theblushedbeauty

2 Year YouTube Anniversary Giveaway- MAC GiftCard

I am so thrilled to announce my 2 Year YouTube Anniversary Giveaway.  I decided to have a little fun with my channel and create a scavenger hunt of sorts.  If you have made it to my blog then you wanted to enter for the $15 MAC Giftcard.  Please follow this link to enter on the RaffleCopter Site and feel free to roam around my blog.  Thank you for celebrating my two WONDERFUL years on YouTube.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
XOXOXO,
Melissa
TheBlushedBeauty

ImPress Press On Nail Review with Photos

I recently received the ImPress Press on nails in my Influenster Spring Vox Box.  I was very excited to see these nails, I have been swooning over them in the drugstore for a while and have been very interested in testing them out.  I am not typically a faux nail or even acrylic nail kind of gal... I prefer just polishing my real nails.  For some reason these have been calling out to me just begging to be tested.

The instructions were quite simple.  Lay out the nails in order of how they fit each of your real nails.  Peel off the plastic backing and then adhere to each nail.  Hold for about 30 seconds to secure, and then Voila- Insta-Manicure.  

Here are photos of the 3 of the 4 days that I wore this Manicure

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

I forgot to take a photo on day four, but trust me when i say they looked exactly the same.  Lets hop straight to the Pros and Cons

Pros: Quick, easy to use, instant manicure, professional look, awesome designs, shiny finish, doesnt harm your nails, easy to remove but do not pop off unexpectedly, washing hands was no problem :-)

Cons: They are slightly lifted at the back near the cuticle and your hair can tend to get caught at the back!  

I would love to try these in the traditional French Manicure version.

I would also love to hear your thoughts on these press on nails!

XOXOXO,
Melissa
"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."

Wet n Wild Blog Giveaway Winner!!

Although Much Delayed... (sorry) I am proud to announce the winner of the two Wet n Wild lipsticks.

The winner is.... clarebear3332 or Clare Moore

Please get in contact with me Clare so i can send out your lipsticks some time this week.

Congratulations!

XOXOXO,

Melissa

Tasty Kake: Candy Bar or Cake? S'Mores!

I was lucky enough to receive the Tasty Kake Kandy Bar Kake in S'Mores in my Spring Vox Box from Influenster! As soon as I opened up my influenster box I was too excited to eat this to wait.  I filmed my review on this product and WOW  It is so delicious.  The cake is graham cracker flavored, with a creamy marshmallow layer in the center, completely enrobed in Hersheys cocoa flavored chocolate, and then sprinkled with graham crackers on top.  If you are a S'Mores lover (which I am!) this is the treat for you!!!  I am completely in LOVE.  I will have to find where these are sold in my area!  I only wish I could try the Peanut Butter Reeses Cake and the York Peppermint Patty Cake as well!! Drool!

**Please note that this product was given to me in my Influenster Spring Fever Vox Box!  This was a wonderful treat and If you are interested in learning more about Influenster please visit : www.influenster.com and you may qualify for the next free voxbox!

XOXOXO ,

Melissa

Kool Aid Lip Balm Tutorial

I recently found a Pin on Pintrest for Kool Aid Lip Balm and thought WOW that would be amazing if it actually works. The instructions are simple enough- warm up some petroleum jelly aka Vaseline, mix in the unsweetened powdered drink mixes from Kool Aid, stir, and store in small cosmetic containers for use.  I was skeptical to use Vaseline for this project, but learned from a serious fail with Coconut oil, that this recipe is really only designed to work with the Vaseline for some silly reason :-)

INSTRUCTIONS:

If you would like to make this awesome Kool Aid lip balm yourself, visit the post that I used for my recipe at:  http://www.allparenting.com/my-family/articles/966711/homemade-lipgloss-valentines-day-gift-idea

This was super easy to make and would be a great summer fun idea to have your kids make.

Love you all,
XOXOXO
Melissa

Kool Aid Lip Balm- Pintester Movement AKA Pintrest FAIL with Video

www.pintester.com recently posted an invite to all of her readers asking that they partake in the Pintester Movement with the goal that we all simultaneously showcase a pin-test inspired by Pintrest on our blogs and social media outlets.  I have accepted that challenge and thusly decided to take on the Kool Aid Lip Balm Pin from Pintrest.  I have been eyeing this nifty pin for quite some time and thought... What the heck... Its time!  It seems simple enough... Well I guess its simple of you actually follow the directions.  I hope you all enjoy the video sampling of my Pintest.  For Shits and Giggles I will be posting my second attempt at this pin tomorrow :-) along with the proper directions.

If you would like to check out all of the other wonderful pin-testers who have joined the Pintester Movement please visit:

http://pintester.com/2013/05/the-pintester-movement-craft-all-the-things

ROCK ON PINTESTERS

P.S. Sonja, keep your eyes peeled for some Kool Aid Lip Balm in your mailbox soon :-)

XOXOXO
Melissa

Wet N Wild Megalast Lipstick Collection with Swatches on the Lips and GIVEAWAY

The Wet n Wild Megalast Lipsticks are an amazing drugstore find.  Most of them have a smooth application when applied over a basic lip balm, rich color, and pretty decent staying power.  Check out these swatches including photos of them on my lips and in action!  Oh and for fun the details about the giveaway are located at the end of the post.

From Left to Right: 901B Think Pink, 903C Just Peachy, 968 Pinkerbell, 905D Smokin' Hot Pink, 906D Wine Room, 907C Mauve Outta Here, 910D Red Velvet, 965 Cherry Picking

Think Pink

Just Peachy

Mauve outta Here

 Smokin' Hot Pink

 Wine Room 

 Red Velvet

Cherry Picking 

Pinkerbell

Giveaway Details

1 Winner will receive two NEW Wet N Wild Megalast Lipsticks, one in Think Pink and the other in Wine Room.

Rules:
Comment on this blog post ( leave me your youtube name with your comment
Like the YouTube Video
Be a Subscriber to my YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/theblushedbeauty)
Comment on the YouTube Video Linked Below

Thats it!  One winner will be chosen at random and contacted.  This giveaway closes on May 30, 2013 at 11:59PM PST.

XOXOXO
Melissa

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue vs. Maybelline Color Show Pacific Blues Showdown

I was shocked to recently find the Maybelline Color Show Limited Edition Polish in a color called Pacific Blues.  This seemed like a serious stab at the ever popular Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Polish in Pacific Blue.  The names are nearly identical with exception to the addition of a simple "s", and the colors look eerily similar as well.  I thought was this an accident?  NO WAY!  This had to have been purposeful with how identical these colors are. 

Here are my nails after one coat.  The pointer and ring fingers are Sally Hansen, and the middle and pinky fingers are Maybelline.  You can see they are pretty darn comparable in color, but overall the Sally Hansen was a bit more opaque and certainly more shiny in person.  

Here were the polishes after two coats, each next to their corresponding bottle.  Sally Hansen has a better shiny finish and is still more opaque than the Maybelline polish. 

 Here were all of the polish items that were used .  Julep basecoat, each of the respective pacific blue polishes and a topcoat of Seche Vite fast dry.

 Here was a photo of the polishes 24 hours after they were firs applied.  This is my left hand, so the index and ring fingers are Maybelline Color Show and the middle and pinky fingers are the Sally Hansen polish.  So far 24 hours in there was no chipping.

This was day two!  The top row of nails is my right hand and the index or first finger is the Maybelline Color Show Polish and man the chips were really starting to set in just 48 hours after application.  The Sally Hansen extremewear polish looked great and showed no chipping. 

This was day three, and wowza welcome to Chip-City.  The top row is my right hand, and the most chipped nail is the Maybelline color show, the middle finger in the top row is Sally Hansen, and then the  ring finger is the Maybelline color show again.  The bottom row is my opposite hand and the thumb nail that is horribly chipped is maybelline color show.  The index or pointer finger on this hand looks perfect!  Like it has just been polished LOL  After three days I took off this polish and could no longer wear it.  

I am happy to say that Sally Hansen Extreme Wear held in there much better than the Maybelline!  I have tried the color show polishes in several colors and they all chip on my within a very very short time frame.  I would suggest if you love this bright color that you stick with the tried and true classic Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Pacific Blue.  There's a reason everyone loves this color and formula!

XOXOXO

Melissa

New China Glaze Avant Garden Collection

I recently spotted the new China Glaze Avant Garden Collection at my Beauty Supply Store.  Typically the professional stores get the new collections in before any typical retail outlets, so I thought I might share these beautiful new polishes, these are part of the Spring 2013 Collection and I am not sure when they were released in stores, but my guess is they have already made it to the major retailers like Ulta.

The display has a very ethereal woman with very floral inspired flowing cloth encircling her.  There are only 7 colors on this display and they are as follows:

White- Dandy Lyin' Around which was an opaque white with small shimmers in it.

Seafoam Green (located behind the white on this display)- Keep Calm, Paint On is a muted seafoam green with a bit of shimmer.

Cobalty-Bluish- Periwinkle- Purple color- Tart-y For The Party is a cream colored shade with no shimmer.  Reminds me a lot of Pacific Blue with a bit more purple. 

Blue in the front row- Fade into Hue.  Soft blue shade with a purple undertone.  Cream color with no shimmer.  

Pink- Pink-ie Promise- Lovely perfect pink shade that has small pink shimmers in it.  This color is really beautiful.

Dusty Rose- Life is Rosy.  This is a really lovely mid toned pink polish without any shimmer.  

Green- Budding Romance.  This shade really perfectly captures the color of a rose stem.  Not something I would go for, but if that's what you have been looking for then this would be the color for you.

I believe that there are more shades in this collection, however they were not present on this display.  I really love the China Glaze Formulation, but my nail polish rack is on overload so I refrained from adding any of these to my collection.  

XOXOXO,

Melissa

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss Clearance Sighting

NOOOOOOO!!! I found all of the Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses on clearance at my local Target.  They are normally $5.94 and they are clearanced out at 30% off for $4.15.  Panic set in... Can this really be true??? Why would they get rid of this wonderful formulation???

I grabbed up the 130 Pink Whisper shade and walked to the register with a huge sad face :-(
When I came home with perhaps what I thought may be my final Super Lustrous purchase ever, I hopped on the net like the makeup stalker that I am and did a bit of research.  Much to my relief they are simply vamping up the outdated packaging.  The true icing on the cake is that they are even releasing NEW SHADES!!!  I am now on the HUNT for the new Super Lustrous Lipgloss Colors.

I will be so excited once I get my hands on some of the new colors.  I will be sure to post photos and share the great news with you all once I find them.  I have always wondered why this collection had such a limited shade selection, and why it seemed like they never put out any new or limited edition colors.  Now I know! They have been working diligently in the super secret Revlon Labs to bring us some great new colors.

Do you also have a special place in your heart for the Super Lustrous Lipgloss formula?  Am I the only one whose excited?!?!  Come on, don't be shy, share your excitement with me too :-)

XOXOXO,
Melissa

New Jessies Girl Liquid Eyeliner Pen

This new Jessie's Girl Liquid Eyeliner Pen was just put out at my local Rite Aid recently.  The packaging and display really caught my eye.  The pens look like classy high quality eyeliner at their typical truly affordable beauty product pricing at $6.99 each.

The display boasts that this eyeliner pen is all about "Combining the art of Japanese calligraphy brush-making and the technology of our "All-Day" waterproof formula". To me this sounds like this eyeliner pen must have a killer brush tip!  I bet this makes for an amazingly smooth application.  I know some times eyeliner pens with brushes don't always have the highest amount of precision or control, but the display seems to indicate otherwise.  As far as I can tell this only comes in the color black.

I would love to try this eyeliner pen, I am all about using felt tip eyeliners, and I love to apply my gel or cream eyeliner with a fine tiped pointed brush so maybe this is a combination of the two of those.  The best of both worlds :-)


What do you all think about Jessie's Girl Beauty Products?  What are your favorites?

XOXOXO,
Melissa

New Julie G Frosted Gumdrops Collection Nail Polishes

I recently spotted the new Julie G Frosted Gumdrops Nail Polish Collection at my local Rite Aid.  The display is just plain adorable, and the polishes look to be stunning colors.  I would be interested to see swatches of how the finish on these dry. Each polish sells for a really reasonable $3.99!

From left to right the colors are as follows: Crushed Candy (purple), Hot Cinnamon (red), Sugar Rush (reddish orange), Tangerine Dream (orange), Blueberry Fizz (blue), and lastly Rock Candy (teal)

Is the finish on these supposed to replicate the whole Liquid Sand texture that OPI has recently been putting out?  Do they dry sparkly like a real gumdrop with that sugary like texture?  Is it best to apply a top coat on these or do you wear them alone?

If I had to choose a color from the collection to purchase it would probably be Crushed Candy or the Blueberry Fizz.  All of the shades look amazing!  What do you think of the Julie G Polishes?

XOXOXO,
Melissa

New Revlon Wild Flowers Nail Stickers/ Nail Appliques with 3D Jewels

While out browsing all of the new wonderful beauty displays at Walgreens, I found these Limited Edition Revlon Wild Flowers Nail Applique with 3D Jewels.  These look Amazing!  They are more than just nail stickers, these are much more Artsy with really classy touches of texture and completely wearable 3D decorations.  

The display was a spinner type fixture that was free standing in the limited edition type beauty display section and was about 24 inches tall.  There were 8 different nail applique varieties to choose from.  

Hyper Floral, Python and Petals

Vintage Vibe and Floral Fatale

About a Pearl and Psychedelic

Brocade Garden and Bow-Quet

Here is a close up of Floral Fatale

Here is a closeup of Psychedelic.  See the neat lacey silver accents on top of the colorful base.  These look Awesome!!

The last close up is for About a Pearl.  These had the most 3D raised texture of the bunch.  They have all of those raised white pearly accent pieces on each applique, but are completely wearable and quite classy.  These would be the pair that just about any could wear!  Such a beautiful design.

Have you seen these popping up in your area?  Which would you most want to wear?  I would probably choose the Psychedelic or About a Pearl set.  These scream Spring!

I hope you all have a Beautiful Week,

XOXOXO,

Melissa

Wet n Wild by Fergie Eyelashes

Wet n Wild has been releasing some products in collaboration with Fergie for about a year now.  One of the new products they just released was these three very different sets of eyelashes. These are available at Walgreens for $4.99 each and they are being called Fergie Fringe.

The first set of lashes are called Fergie Glam, these look like lashes that are not for the faint of heart.  They are a bold, strong set meant for someone who is really looking to amp up their lashes.  The packaging even says that lash glue is included.  I have not tried these lashes so I cannot vouch for the strength or quality of the glue that is included.   

The second set is called Flirt, and these are more wearable but still "flirty" as they are so adeptly named.  There are smaller fringey lashes in between the sassier spikey lashes for that in-between but not over the top flirty eye look. 

The final set of lashes is the set called Tease.  These are a bit longer but more natural if that is possible.  The lashes are more feathered in appearance and give that "your lashes but wayyy better look". This would probably be the pair that I would purchase of the bunch.

I would love to hear if you have tried these, or which pair you would most like to try.  Are you Glam, Flirty, or a Tease kinda Gal? :-)

XOXOXO,

Melissa

Nail Rock Nail Caviar Sets

While at Walgreens recently I came across these Nail Rock Nail Caviar Sets.  If you were interested in rocking the 3D Manicure look at a reasonable price.  Each set is priced at $6.99, which is far less expensive than the original Caviar Manicure set which sold for over $20.00 in Sephora.

These sets are available in Pink, Gold/Multi Color, Turquoise, and Red. I believe that Nail Rock is the same company that designs the Eye Rock eyeliner temporary tattoos. 

The instructions seem super simple.  Apply the base coat, roll your finger in the caviar beads, press them into the basecoat, wait 15-20 Minutes and Voila!  Your nails are complete.

This is a trend I have not yet tried but would be interested to hear or see photos if you have.  

XOXOXO

Melissa