OPI Just Lanai-ing Around for Perfect Soft Summer Nails

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Hello beautiful readers! First off, I must apologize for my extremely long absence on this blog. I have no excuse, I just lost motivation but I am back and hope to be posting regularly.

This post is aimed primarily at Soft Summers, or anyone who looks and feels their best in cool-to-neutral muted shades.

OPI is a popular, well-known nail polish brand. It boasts a wide range of colors and is pretty consistent in its quality. Two coats sandwiched between your base coat and top coat will generally do the trick.

Once in a while, I run across a nail polish shade that is so perfectly Soft Summer, I can actually use my nails as a "fan" when I shop. OPI's Just Lanai-ing Around is one of those shades. It's that perfect muted pinky-purply mauve shade I'm always looking for in my blush, lipstick, clothing, and accessories. I have quite a few tops nearing this shade and I'd love to find a purse this color! Just Lanai-ing Around is pretty close to 6.4 on the classic Soft Summer 12tone fan.

Just Lanai-ing Around has a nice formula; not too thick nor too thin. My brush was a little wonky, with one hair sticking straight up. Otherwise, it's a typical OPI brush which is nicely shaped for a quick and easy manicure. It dried quickly with my quick-dry topcoat and drops. Unfortunately, I'm already seeing some tip wear on day 3, though no chips yet. I am using a nail hardening base coat and a quick drying top coat; I'm not sure those are the best for nail color longevity. On day 4, I was able to patch up the tips a bit and I slapped on another top coat to eek a couple more days out of my mani. At any rate, the color is so gorgeous and goes with my coloring and my whole wardrobe perfectly. The color is just ... yummy.

It's not a new color, so you may be able to find it at a discount store near you. I found mine at a Tuesday Morning. You can find OPI Just Lanai-ing Around on Amazon here:

Nail Polish Review: Sinful Colors - Blue La La and Out of this World

Sinful Colors - Blue La La

Ladies, this one's a two-fer. I like to do an "accent nail" sometimes, just for fun. Since my Sinful Colors haul last month, I've been playing around with all of the colors. My favorite of the bunch is this gorgeous blue shade, Blue La La. The silver one, Out of this World, is nice too.

I applied a base coat and two coats of Blue La La, followed by a top coat. Application was smooth, and two coats gave me complete opaque coverage. I didn't get any chips or tip wear at all until about the fifth day, which is pretty good for me. I have no complaints about this polish!

Sinful Colors - Out of this World

Well, this is still the same manicure, but here I'm holding Out of this World, the silver shade. I actually had to do three coats of this one to get enough opacity to stand up to the gorgeous blue. You could really get away with just two coats if you don't mind a bit of sheerness. Other than the fact that I get cranky when I have to do three coats, I can't complain about this lovely metallic shade, either.

I bought these with the thought that they might be in my season, Soft Summer. What do you think?

Blue La La and Soft Summer fan

Blue La La is fairly close to ss7.9 but it's not as purpled, and it's probably a bit bright.

Out of this World and Soft Summer Fan

Out of this World compares to ss3.1, though it's cooler for sure.

Of course, when you're shopping for your season, you're not supposed to match things to the tiny squares. You're supposed to look for harmony with the entire fan.

Looking for harmony

I'd say both colors are not quite Soft Summer shades. They are close enough not to look garish, and I will wear them both, but I can't recommend them as Soft Summer nail polishes. I just don't see the harmony I look for.

Still, both polishes are great quality, on par with much more expensive polishes I've tried. And, the colors are lovely, if you're in the market for a fun blue creme shade and a metallic silver.

Nail Polish Review: Sinful Colors - Mint Apple

Mint Apple I've been wearing this polish for five days now, and I still feel a little strange in green nail polish. However, if you have been looking for a great minty green polish, this is a good one to check out, especially for the price. It's really pretty. For you Soft Summers out there, I believe it's just grayed enough to suit.

I recently scored a whole bunch of Sinful Colors polishes when Walgreens had them on sale for $.99. They are normally only $1.99, but often go on sale for less. This brand is always a bargain, but not always consistently good. It really depends on the color. Here are the five polishes I just picked up. Hopefully all of them will be Soft Summer matches and more importantly, good formulas.

Really feeling those ocean tones

I always start with a base coat and top with a top coat. I always plan to do two coats of color. If I can get away with one, it's a bonus. If I have to do three, I get cranky. Mint Apple was streaky after one coat but perfectly solid with two. Application was easy; the brush and formula are both to my liking.

Sinful Colors - Mint Apple - #947

This is two coats. On the left, indoor light near a window; on the right: direct sun

As you can see, this is a gorgeous color. It's more mint than apple, so I'm not sure why "apple" is part of the name. But it looks pretty much like it does in the bottle. So, how does it look next to the Soft Summer fan?

Sinful Colors Mint Apple and Soft Summer fan

I think it's a pretty good match. It looks good with the fan in general, and looks close to the ss 2.9 shade specifically.

After five days with it on, I still don't have any chips. There is some slight tip wear, but that is to be expected. This is a great polish, at any price, but what a bargain it is. I'll definitely keep this one in my regular rotation, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a cool mint green nail polish.

Nail Polish Review: China Glaze - No Plain Jane

Fair warning: this first paragraph is going to be philosophical, or perhaps a bit navel-gazing, so feel free to skip it and go straight to the nail polish review if so inclined. I haven't written a post in a while because I couldn't think of what to write about. Not that there was nothing to write about, but nothing that seemed "important" enough for a "whole post." And I couldn't decide what direction I wanted to take this blog. I feel like I've covered the "going gray" topic (though I'm certainly happy to write more about it if anyone comments and tells me what angle you'd like to see me cover.) I like to share recipes on occasion but I don't want to do a cooking blog. They (expert beauty bloggers) say that you need a niche, and I just haven't found mine yet. I want to stay general enough that any woman (particularly but not exclusively women over 40) can benefit from reading it. And yet, I don't have the expertise or resources (or frankly the time or inclination) to cover every new important makeup release. So while I still haven't chosen a solid or exclusive direction, since I have been draped a Soft Summer, I am going to write about SSu-friendly colors. That doesn't mean that no one else can wear the colors I'll be reviewing! But the bottom line is that I've decided to stop dithering and just write. Because that is why I started blogging to begin with.

I'd like to get ahold of newly released polishes for future reviews, but I'm starting with what I already have in my collection.

No Plain Jane by China Glaze is an older polish, but it's still available, at least on Amazon. It's a beautiful, sparkly, metallic purple. It's a true purple, not a lavender or lilac, not a plum or aubergine.

No Plain Jane in direct sunlight

Bottom of the bottle

No Plain Jane indoors

The texture of this China Glaze polish is nice, and it applies quite easily. I started with a base coat. After one coat of No Plain Jane, the polish was sheer and streaky - no good. A second coat did the trick; I got full opacity. The color is just as beautiful on as it is in the bottle. In the photos, I'm also wearing Seche Vite top coat. Which, incidentally, is fantastic stuff. I can't recommend it highly enough. Seche Vite is a quick dry top coat that actually deeply dries your polish in minutes.

I wouldn't call this an exact match for Soft Summer, but it's pretty close to ss7.8 on the fan:

No Plain Jane by China Glaze with SSu Fan

It's probably just a smidgeon too pink; Soft Summer's purples tend to be bluer or grayer. For me, it's close enough - it's just my nails! Why bother matching nails to your seasonal fan, anyway, when your fingers (not to mention your toes) are usually pretty far from your face? Because, for me at least, the seasons are all about coordination. If everything I'm wearing is truly Soft Summer in color, everything just sort of hangs together and looks right. Dressing in my season from head to toe helps me look more pulled together.

Bottom line: I love it! This is definitely a polish I'll be using in my regular rotation.

Fun With Makeup (and Other Green Stuff) on St. Patrick's Day

I'm probably too old for the whole green beer thing on St. Patty's Day. Though truthfully, that was never my thing. But you never outgrow wanting to have fun! And fun with color has been my thing as of late.

Green eyeliner and nail polish - why not?

I don't normally pose for photos with my hand draped awkwardly about my neck, but I wanted to get all of my green in one photo. :) I'm going to work today, my in-person job (not the computer one), where I have to look like a grown-up and somewhat professional. So, the bright teal eyeshadow (yes, I do own that) isn't going to happen today, holiday or no. Instead, I pulled out the teal nail polish, and just a teensy bit of teal eyeliner, only on the bottom lash line. On top of my lid, I stuck with neutral black liner, silver shadows (lighter on the lid and darker in the crease), and a highlight of pale pink shadow below the brow. I think it works ok, and doesn't make me look cray-cray.

If you don't "covet" a colorful eyeliner, you should!

The liner I'm wearing is Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Covet, which seems to be discontinued now, but you could still probably buy it online somewhere. Deep End appears to be very similar, and that's a color they still carry. Incidentally, Covet was the very eyeliner that got me all excited about makeup again, in a way I haven't been since my early teens. I can't believe I wasted so many years wearing brown eye makeup when there is a whole world of color out there! I encourage everyone to try a colorful eyeliner sometime.

Kiwi Bikini

I'm also wearing Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear nail polish in Kiwi Bikini. It's good stuff, cheap drugstore polish that looks great and wears just fine. Just know that you'll need two coats to avoid streakiness. It also appears to be discontinued, but I only bought it last year so I'd imagine it's still kicking around somewhere. It's a nice line of polish, if you're looking to expand your nail polish collection inexpensively. I own a number of colors of Xtreme Wear and like them all.

Festive green breakfast

And how could I forget breakfast? Green pancakes for the kiddos (green food coloring) and a green smoothie for me. I followed my usual smoothie recipe, using pears (canned in 100% juice - no sugar or sweetener added) instead of berries. I really should have used green grapes, but red were what I had on hand (thus the weird red flecks). Still tasted totally delish, though.

But green isn't just for St. Patrick's Day, although I probably wouldn't do all the green at once if it weren't. And I don't dye my kids' pancakes every day, either. ;)

Do you do anything special, or green, on St. Patrick's Day?