Zoya Watermelon Nails

I was inspired by my Meg post the other day to try my hand at watermelon nails before summer is over.  I wore Meg on my fingers and toes back in July, and the manager at my local Sally Beauty Supply said she loved it and the color reminded her of watermelon.  When I finally updated the post the other day, an idea was born.  Since this was my first attempt and I wasn't sure I could pull this off, I decided to do the watermelon as an accent. 

For the base color I used Zoya Tracie since she's been sitting on my shelf for a while waiting to be used.  Tracie is from the Beach collection and Zoya describes her as: A faded, yellow-toned pistachio green with delicate silvery shimmer for a frosted pearl finish. Great for a fresh-looking twist on vintage avocado green.  I think it looks like a green tomato, with a slight pearly finish.  I have tomatoes on the brain since I have them everywhere in my garden.  The formula on Tracie was awesome, which is something I've come to expect with Zoya.  I needed 2 coats for full coverage.  I really love this color.  It is really different and I have nothing else like it.  It is the only pearly, shimmery shade in the creamy Beach collection.

Zoya Tracie

For the watermelon flesh I used 2 coats of Zoya Kimber, which Zoya describes as: Rich, bright and saturated medium magenta pink with strong gold metallic shimmer and a foil-like finish. A huge hit of color and a shot of shiny gold metal make this polish look electric.  Kimber is the perfect watermelon color, with a ton of gold flecks.  I'm not a pink girl, and I really like Kimber, she's pink, she's red, and she's a little bit orange

For the watermelon rind I used Zoya Meg and Tracie.  I used painters tape to do a french manicure once Kimber was completely dry.  Then I used my dotting tools to dot on Tracie to give it the striped effect.  You can't really see them though.  If you don't have dotting tools you can use a tooth pick, the ball end of a straight pin for sewing, or a bobby pin.

For the seeds I used my dotting tools and Spoiled's Visually Slimming, which is a great black for dotting or stamping.  And to add a whimsical touch, I felt the need to add a white seed with Spoiled's Correction Tape, also great for stamping and dotting.  You always get white seeds in your watermelon, even the seedless ones so a watermelon mani just wouldn't be complete without them.  What do you think?  My boys said they looked yummy and wanted to eat them.  My 2 year old actually tried to bite my finger.

Zoya is available via their website at www.zoya.com and at Ulta and other select retailers.  Spoiled is made by Wet n Wild and is available exclusively at CVS, but not all stores carry it.  I got my dotting tools from Ebay for less than $2 but they can also be found on Amazon.

I purchased each of these colors myself and the opinions are my own.

My favorite Cuticle Treatments

I used to bite my nails as a kid, so my nails were a mess for a long time. Then when I was nervous or bored I would pick my cuticles. Both are terrible habits. I can't stand it when I break and nail or hang nails. I have to something with them right away or I'll pick at them and make it worse. These days I keep a nail kit close by for nail emergencies, it has a file, buffer, clippers, and cuticle cutter in it and I've always got hand lotion and some type of cuticle treatment in my bag.

I have learned so much in the last few months about nail care and all the products available.  For the first time in my life I've actually got full, healthy cuticles on all of my nails.  These are a few of my favorite cuticle treatments that have gotten me there. 

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream - I have been using this and the peppermint lip balm for years, and it is my favorite.  I keep a tin of it in my purse, in my work desk, and by my bed.  It is a little greasy, but I've been using it for so long it doesn't bother me.  It is mostly made of oils (almond, sunflower, and vegetable) and waxes (beeswax and candelilla).  I get painful, swollen hang nails on a regular basis.  I put this on at night and wake up and it feels better and the swelling is usually gone.  You can buy it directly from their website or you can find it at most drugstores, grocery stores, Target, Wal-mart, etc for around $6 for the .6oz tin.  It lasts forever and in a pinch you can use it as a lip balm.  If you don't like greasy products during the day, I would recommend this at night.  I use it all the time. 

European Secrets Hoofer's Choice Nail and Cuticle Cream - I got this at Sally Beauty Supply for $2.99 with my card for a 1 oz tub.  It is 3.49 if you don't have the club card.  Unlike the Burt's this is creamy and more like a lotion.  It isn't greasy.  I use this when I don't have hang nails or I got to bed without polish.  I smells a little medicinal, it has Menthol in it so it smells a little like Vick's Vapo-Rub.  I don't feel like I get as much moisture from this as I do the Burt's, but it's good when I want something that isn't greasy.  It does have beeswax, lanolin, soybean oil as the top ingredients.  A little goes a long way, but I apply it more frequently than the Burt's.  I'm not thrilled about the smell, but it goes away quickly.

Sally Hansen Nail Nutrition Green Tea + Soy Cuticle Oil - I picked this up for vacation because I like to use cuticle oil on my nails after I finish painting them to help speed up the drying process and prevent smudging.  This is a tip I picked up from Tip Tip Nails South Africa's facebook page.  The tube is .21 fl oz/6.3ml and comes with a brush, and it retails between $5-8 and is available at most Sally Hansen retailers.  I needed something that would fit in my makeup bag and this fit the bill.  I'm hoping I can refill it when it's empty.  It absorbs pretty quickly so your hands and fingers aren't oily forever.

SuperNail Cuticle Oil - I pretty much only use this after I complete a manicure to help speed up the drying process.  I put some on a cotton ball and swipe it on each nail after the top coat has dried for a few minutes. You can certainly use it as a cuticle oil as well, and sometimes I do.  Another tip I got from Tip Top Nails was to rub cuticle oil onto polished nails before bed to keep the polish pliable and flexible so it doesn't chip.  It is $2.79 with card and $2.99 without at Sally's for an 8 oz bottle.  I use it every few days and it is lasting forever.  It absorbs pretty quickly, so you don't have oily fingers for long.  I noticed that if my nails are still wet this oil will bead on the nail.  The Sally Hansen oil doesn't bead.

What are your favorites?  I hear Lush Lemony Flutter is great, but I haven't tried it yet.

Zoya Meg

Today I've got Zoya's Meg.  I wore this color back in July when I wrote this post, but I finally got around to getting the pictures off of my camera and using the photo software I got and haven't used much.  I'm using Pearl Mountain Image Converter which I won in a giveaway from the wonderful Beyond Beauty Lounge.

Meg is my latest and last addition to the Surf Collection.  I have to admit that Meg doesn't scream Summer to me, she reminds me of shiny Christmas wrapping paper.  I should put some red dots or something and do a Christmas in July mani.  I went to Sally's to pick up some polish of course and the Manager told me she loved it and Meg reminded her of watermelon.  

Zoya describes Meg as a light yellow-toned mermaid green with heavy gold and silver metallic shimmer and a sparkling foil finish. A light and fresh looking green with added sparkle and shine.  I think of mermaid's as a little more blue, so I would describe it as the color of fresh green grass.  It does have a ton of silver to give it the foil look, more so than the other's from this collection.

I loved the Surf Collection and so far I've loved all of the colors.  Meg is my least favorite in color and formula.  I like the color, I just don't love it.  I think I'll put her back on the shelf until December and giver her another try.  I didn't get as many brush marks with the other foils from this collection.  I did my toes with Meg and they look alot better than my fingers, I did paint them first and with alot more care. My left hand looks better than my right, so I think there was some operator error involved.  That's what I get for doing my nails at night after a long day.

I'm not going to give up on Meg just yet.  I think she'd be perfect for Christmas, I'll have to experiment with my reds to find the perfect match.  I ordered some striping tape from ebay and I'm planning a plaid Christmas mani with the red tape, but I'm thinking maybe a watermelon mani before summer is out.  I'm nail art challenged, but I just got my dotting tools and I've got some painter's tape in the garage.

China Glaze Rare and Radiant

Today I have China Glaze's Rare and Radiant from the Bohemian Collection.  I was super exited for this collection and was patiently awaiting it to show up at my local Sally Beauty Supply.  I did some retail therapy this past weekend and picked up all 6 colors.  I read many reviews and looked at alot of swatches before decided to purchase this collection.  I know alot of people weren't blown away by this collection, but I don't have many duochrome or chromes in my collections.  China Glaze dubs this collection Luster Chromes, which I think is appropriate because some colors look more duochrome in the bottle than they do on the nail.  I really like the colors.

Rare and Radiant is apparently a dupe of OPI's Just Spotted the Lizard and Chanel's Peridot.  I don't have the OPI or the Chanel so I can't compare them.  I keep trying to get my hands on the OPI version, as it is a lemming of mine, but it is very popular and always sold out.  It is a gold base that shifts to green and bronze.  I did 2 coats for full coverage, and used China Glaze base and top coats.  The formula was great, went on easily with no issues.  I did have a few brush strokes with only 2 coats, I did 3 coats with the other colors I used so far and the brush strokes weren't as evident.  I would recommend 3 coats with this collection if the brush strokes bother you, dry time is relatively fast with these so 3 coats shouldn't be a problem.  I need to get some better pictures.

I've got Unpredicatble, also from this collection, on my toes and it's a beautiful aqua/green with a gold shift.  I did need 3 coats for full color coverage with this one, but there were no visibile brush strokes.  I'll spare you pics of my feet.

As for longevity, I wore No Plain Jane over the weekend, which purple with a hint of orange shift.  We are finishing our basement some damage was done by one of the contractors, so we spent the weekend cleaning up the mess.  Which is why I didn't get pictures, but I'll be using it again.  I had 1 chip after 3 days of my nails being in and out of water and drywall dust, and that was on a nail that was badly damaged and weak before it was polished.  I blame the nail not the polish.  My other nails still looked beautiful, I could have just redone that nail and kept the mani on for a few more days, but I wanted to try my other colors.

I purchased this collection with my own money and the opinions are my own.  The Bohemian Collection can be found at Ulta and Sally Beauty Supply and various other beauty supply retailer/etailers.  It is a Limited Edition Collection that was released in August 2012.

Influenster Mom VoxBox Review

I was lucky enough to receive a Mom VoxBox from Influenster this month.  Influenster is a program where you sign up and if you meet the requirements for that month's box they will send you a selection of products to test.  To see a description of all of the products check out my post here: http://buttercupsobsession.blogspot.com/2012/06/influenster-mom-voxbox.html

I got a Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, which was delicious and didn't last very long.  It was a large sized cookie, and not overly sweet.  As a working mom of 2 toddlers in daycare I'm always looking for single serve items to throw in a lunch box or to give my boys as a snack on the go.  I personally love oatmeal raisin cookies and the Quaker Oatmeal Recipe is the only one I bake with, but I don't have the time to bake, and when I do the request is always for chocolate chip.  I bought more Oatmeal Raising and Apple Cinnamon at my local store to share with my family.  My husband didn't care for the texture, but he's very picky about his cookies.  My kids and I loved them.

A whole box of Stash Tea Super Fruits Sampler.  It contains 18 tea bags in 6 different flavors.  I've been a Stash Tea fan for years, so I was thrilled to to get a whole box to test.  In the box are 3 herbal caffeine free teas and 3 green teas.  Stash Fruit Teas can be enjoyed hot or cold, which I love becuase I often don't get to enjoy my tea hot with 2 toddlers running around.  Stash Fruit Teas are wonderful and they've outdone themselves with the Super Fruits.  The Yumberry was my favorite, but they were all delicious.  My only complaint is they were gone too fast.  I would buy a box of each flavor or the sampler again.  I hope my store starts to carry these flavors, if not I'll order these from www.stashtea.com.  They included a $1 off 2 boxes coupon for instore purchase and a 15% off online purchase coupon in the VoxBox.

To go with the teas I also got 2 packets of Nektar Honey Crystals.  I don't usually use honey in my tea unless I have a sore throat because it's not sweet enough for me.  The crystals taste like honey, and again aren't sweet enough for me, but if you like honey provide the sweetness of honey in the convenience of a packet.  They don't leave the sticky honey mess in the bottom of the cup like honey does, and flavor the tea much better because they actually dissolve like sweetener.  I would buy these if I saw them in the store.

I got a set of Impress Nails Press On Manicure.  These are super easy to apply and removed.  The color and shine was nice.  They fit well and weren't too long.  I didin't keep them on very long because they were really rough on the free edge.  It was like they didn't file them down after they broke them out of the molding when they were made.  They kept catching on my clothes and scratching me.  I didn't want to scratch my kids so I took them off after a few hours.  I tried to file them down but didn't have much luck.  If it hadn't been for the rough edges I would have left these on for a few days.

Ivory Bar Soap I'm strictly a body wash girl, but I before the days of body wash and body gels I only used bar soap.  I used the Ivory to clean my makeup brushes, which really needed a good cleaning.  I got a travel soap holder and have left the soap on my bathroom sink and have been using it to wash my face at night before bed as well as to clean my make-up brushes more regularly.  I'll be keeping a lookout for the Ivory body wash in stores.

For myself and my boys we got a pack each of Dentek Dental flossers.  I hate flossing my teeth.  It's a pain.  I have sensitive gums so it literally hurts me to do it, plus I hate sticking my hands in my mouth.  The invention of flossers is a great solution for me.  My teeth are really close together so any floss or flosser with thin floss tends to shred.  I've used the DenTek flossers before and will continue to use them.  Perfect for travel or to keep in your purse.  They come in a zip top bag or I like to put them in snack sized bags and take them with me when I go somewhere.

The ones for the kids are brightly colored.  It is easier to use these on my boys than regular floss since they don't stand still for more than 2 minutes and you can get their back teeth without sticking your whole hand in their mouth.  On the sample bag was a coupon for $1 off.  I bought a bag because my kids complained that they couldn't floss when the pack was empty.  They are perfect for travel and we took them on vacation.  My boys liked the fruit flavor.

The Many Uses of Ivory

I received a bar of Ivory in my Mom VoxBox from Influenster to try out.  

Aside from using it to wash my face, I used my bar to clean my makeup brushes which really needed a good cleaning.  My skin isn't sensitive, but my face is sensitive.  It breaks out easily and I have to be very selective in the products I use on my face.  Certain cleansers have been known to dry out my face but the Ivory didn't.  I feel very comfortable cleaning my makeup brushes with the soap I use on my face, and I know it won't make me break out.

In testing my bar of soap, I was surprised to learn all of the other uses of Ivory other than just using it as soap.  I knew you could use bar soap as soap, and to get ring around the collar out of white shirts and to get rid of those ugly under arm stains from deodorant. What I didn't know is that you could make laundry soap from Ivory or you can carve it and make an art project.

I'm a body wash girl, so I'm looking forward to trying out the Ivory body washes, and I'll keep the bars around for keeping my face and makeup brushes clean.

Ivory Bar Soap

Free of dyes and heavy perfumes, Ivory provides a simple, yet effective clean for the entire family (without breaking the bank!).

Ivory bar soap is 99.44% pure (it floats!).  Beyond using it as a body cleanser, many of Ivory's loyal users – not to mention a few celebrities – swear by Ivory as their beauty secret. In fact, many consumers use Ivory bar soap as a facial cleanser.  It provides healthier, smoother and more even-looking skin. Also, its versatility makes it an effective laundry soap (just chip soap flakes into the washer) as well as a spot stain remover on your clothes (including delicate items). Ivory bars can even be used for a fun soap carving project with the family!  

When it comes to motherhood,  Ivory (the clean & simple soap) knows that being a mom has become more complex than ever, and that moms are looking for ways to simplify their lives. According to a survey of 1,000+ moms conducted by Wakefield Research on Ivory’s behalf in October 2011, 80% of American moms think motherhood is more complicated today than it was 20 years ago, despite the thousands of items supposedly designed to “simplify” their lives. But, while they may be more stressed out and busier than ever, almost 90% of moms think they’re doing a better job balancing it all than their mothers did. Some other interesting stats:

· 30% of moms surveyed found the most complicated aspect of motherhood was finding more "me" time, 66% confessed to hiding in their bathroom for some alone time.
· 75% feel the pressure to make every outing, playdate, or experience a "teachable moment," which can create great pressure

· 70% of moms feel they don’t have everything together, despite others thinking that they do.

As a result of these findings, Ivory created a Facebook community where everyday moms can share tips with one another on ways to simplify life for themselves and their families.   

Find your Ivory now at your nearest retailer, including stores such as Walmart and Target as well as any major grocery, dollar and drug store.  A 10-pack of Ivory bar soap retails for around  $4.49 (bath bar size).

Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies

I got a Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin Cookie to test and review in my Influenster Mom VoxBox.  It was delicious, so didn't last very long.  It was a large sized cookie, and not overly sweet which I like in an oatmeal cookie.  As a working mom of 2 toddlers in daycare I'm always looking for single serve items to throw in a lunch box or to give my boys as a snack on the go.  I personally love oatmeal raisin cookies and the Quaker Oatmeal Recipe is the only one I bake with.  I don't have the time to bake very often, and when I do the request is always for chocolate chip.  My kids were mad that I didn't let them eat the cookie so I had to buy a box of these as well as the Apple Cinnamon.

These cookies are 170 calories per cookie and 6 grams of fat, which for a cookie isn't that bad.  I'll be buying these again!

Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies

Enjoy chewy, soft-baked cookies in a family-favorite flavor! With wholesome Quaker Oats and delicious raisins, you’ll never remember they came from our kitchen instead of yours.

-Made with Whole Grain Quaker Oats
-Individually packaged
-Provides a good source of fiber
-Contains 6 grams of total fat per serving

Where to Buy

You can find Quaker Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies at most major retailers.

Suggested retail price: $2.69 for a box of 6 cookies