It's Raining Red Hot Nails Up In Here

We all need a red nail polish. Some of need more red nail polishes than others. Because, as you likely know if you are reading this, every red is different. Some lean towards the orange end of the spectrum. Some are more blue. Some are dark, dramatic & vampy, and some are sheer and yummy jellies. Somehow, Deborah Lippmann It's Raining Men manages to straddle all of these categories and make itself The Perfect Red. Don't get me wrong. It's not The Only Red, as I don't believe that exists. There are many Perfect Reds, and quite often how a particular shade of red works on one depends on skin tone and personal style.

Check out the geranium in the background...glowing red!

These days, I am enjoying a cheery red. A nice yummy bright red, with a little orange to brighten it up for warmer weather, but with enough blue in it that it doesn't wash me out. Pure orange is not a good colour for me, but a rich Chinese red or vermillion has just enough orange to make the red pop and give it a glow. The closest dupe for this colour would be OPI Red My Fortune Cookie but Lippmann It's Raining Men is just a wee bit bluer. A base of Lippmann Rehydrating Base coat, two coats of It's Raining Men and finish off the mani with a coat of Lippmann Addicted To Speed and voila! A shiny juicy red! 

What is sexier than a red mani or red pedi? A deep vampy shade comes close I suppose, but for now, I am vamping around in my deliciously bright red It's Raining Men...

Murale Wants To Spoil You!

Gratuitous Estee Lauder Paulina ad image, around 1980

Yes, you! That's right, the amazing & generous folks over at Murale want to spoil you with a stunning gift basket of goodies! What's inside, you may ask? You may want to have a seat, dear readers, before continuing...

The Murale Contest Gift Basket contains:

Michael Kors EdT Spray

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair - all skintypes

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye - all skintypes

Estee Lauder Pure Color Shimmer Gloss 

Deborah Lippmann Nail Lacquer - Forget You

Smashbox Be Discovered Cream Cheek Trio

Smashbox Be Discovered Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner & Brush

Smashbox Shades of Fame Eye Palette & Brush

Total Value: $378

Note that these are full sized products! So click this LINK RIGHT HERE and enter- STAT!



This contest is open to Canadian residents only.

I'm Tripping Over This Nail Polish

Deborah Lippmann knows the way into my wallet heart. Her perfect formulas, amazing brushes and fantastic colours always speak to me. They basically say "buy me". So I do! One of her brights is quickly becoming a favourite of mine for a perfect retro red-coral shade that is worthy of a Mad Men manicure. Megan Draper has been sporting some gorgeous corals lately and I am happy to emulate that gorgeous woman. We can dream, right?

Indirect light...

In direct sunlight- super bright!

Coral is fun and punchy, and a nice light version of the classic red nail. Red works year round but after a long winter, I feel the need to really lighten things up. This is one of those hard to photograph colours. On her website, the bottle pictured makes the colour look pink. Some online photos make it look hot pink or red. So I will stick with my photos and let you be the judge when you see it in real life.  The formula is a cream/jelly hybrid, as you can see in the photo, two coats allow a bit of VNL (visible nail line) to peek through. Verdict? Love. Daytripper is going to get a lot of love from me this summer. Zou Bisou Bisou!

Officially Hooked On Glitter: I Blame Deborah Lippmann

Glitter nail polish is something I love in the bottle, like a gorgeous piece of sparkly jewellery. But I always tend to balk at wearing them. Not sure why. I've had a bottle of the beautiful Deborah Lippmann Candy Shop for awhile, sitting unworn in my collection. I decide I'm going to wear it, then chicken out and put on a sheer pink.

Candy Shop in sunlight plus some fun with my iPhone...

Well yesterday I finally cracked open the bottle to wear it. And I love it. I should have known this would happen, as the exact same thing happened with Lippmann Boom Boom Pow. At first I think "holy crap I am way too old for so much sparkle what was I thinking I need to take this off" but then it becomes "omg this is the neatest stuff ever and I love it so much I want to wear it every day". Lippmann's glitters are like that- they somehow manage to look elegant- which is the word I would use to describe her whole line, if I had to choose only one. Fun, playful, gorgeous and luxe and elegant. Candy Shop is the sweetest milky pink jelly base chock full of different shaped mulicoloured glitter. This is two coats of Candy Shop with Lippmann Rehydrating Base Coat under neath and Addicted To Speed quick dry top coat. 

Verdict? Love. I never want to take it off.

InStyle Magazine or Daly Beauty. We've Got The Scoop

Oh my gosh Daly Beauty told me I needed it!

Funny....I was leafing through the March 2012 edition (the one with the gorgeous Jennifer Aniston on the cover) of my Beauty Bible, aka In Style magazine, the other day and noticed something. Several of their beauty tips were things I had written about on Daly Beauty over the past few months. So, either In Style is looking to Daly Beauty for beauty tips (wishful thinking) or great minds think alike. Here are some of the fun scoops that my readers got here first:

Candy Pink Nails: InStyle says on page 357 that bright fuchsia nails are the best antidote to the winter blues. Really? So did Daly Beauty in July of 2011 when I showed you how gorgeous Deborah Lippmann Between The Sheets is...

Eyebrow Wows: InStyle has a 4 page editorial on how thick healthy eyebrows are in & thin & bleached out brows are weird. Hm. I believe I scooped this in December of 2011 when I told you that you would thank me for these brow tips...

Big Wavy Hair: On page 380 InStyle tells you how to bust out the big hair and get lovely bouncy waves. I knew this was the hair-DO for me before Christmas & posted my bouncin' & behavin' waves on Instagram here & in February I told you my styling secret to soft touchable wavy hair...

Sweet Kissable Hot Pink Lips: Well this is almost embarrassing! On page 384 in InStyle's Beauty Editor's Picks, their senior beauty editor Angelique Serrano suggests the best sheer pink lip for the colour shy....really Angelique! Clearly great beauty minds think alike, as I suggested the exact same Clinique one...last month.

Rosy Pink Cheeks: Oh gosh...on page 394 InStyle suggests a gentle pink rosy blush for sweet pinched cheeks that don't look clownish. I must say I wholeheartedly agree, as in January I shared my most beloved soft rose blush by Benefit...

So there you have it. If you are like me, you look forward every month to diving into the delicious beauty & fashion-o-rama of InStyle magazine. And now you know, you can tune into Daly Beauty for a preview of the fabulous trends that are coming....

Holiday Mani Pedi Courtesy of Lippmann & Essie

"Now listen gals, holiday nails must have glitter!"

Just a quick little post to share my fun mani-pedi. The mani is the stunning navy blue Essie Bobbing For Baubles from the Holiday 2011 collection. It is a creamy almost dusty blue and I just love it. Not flashy or bizarre, just elegant. The toes...well. Inspired as always by my Lippmann Guru, Elena, I opted for Lippmann Naked on the base and Lippmann Some Enchanted Evening on top. The gorgeous perfect nude with delicate rose glitter on top is beautiful! Perfect for holidays at home, and also will work perfectly with open toe shoes and flip flops on the beach! Goodbye snow.....

Holiday Party Nails!

Well tis the season to be festive and, well, sparkly! My daughter is a constant manicure inspiration and my recent manis have been feeling downright dull in comparison to her works of art on tips. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and into the glitter! Deborah Lippmann has a delicious selection of glitters that attract my eye like a magpie every time I pass the counter. 

In bright daylight

In my living room stepping away from the window light....

I am a lover of all things golden so Boom Boom Pow was a natural! I've had this gorgeous silky YSL Gold (#139) polish kicking around since last year but never gave it a wear. Emilie busted it out for  this gorgeous manicure and suddenly it occurred to me that it would layer beautifully with Boom Boom Pow....and it did! Boom Boom Pow is a gorgeous gold glitter with flecks of actual real gold dust. Sign me up!

A quick Twitter poll helped me choose my pedi colour- even though it was a tie! Open toe shoes mean toes must also look pretty! I was torn between a vampy red and a true red and in the end, OPI Red My Fortune Cookie seemed like a natural choice. It is a gorgeous bright red with a coral undertone of sorts. Hard to explain but so beautiful in winter or summer. Love.

I don't usually like toe shots but don't the colours look purty together?

So now I just have to dust off the hot rollers & I'm ready to party! How about you? What is your party mani-pedi?

EDIT: This manicure went 6 days before showing even the slightest tip wear. And, after I got over my initial sparkle shock, I fell head over in heels for Lippmann glitter and decided I could wear a glittery mani anytime, anywhere. LOVE. So I promptly went out & purchased Some Enchanted Evening, which my Lippmann goddess, Elena assures me looks gorgeous over Naked. Boo-ya!

Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible, But I'm Beautiful

Ah Deborah Lippmann and your luscious polishes. Ever since I saw the Dolce & Gabbana Holiday 2011 Collection with that stunning purple, I've been obsessing over finding a purple polish I love. Totally forgot about Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible sitting in my collection, unloved. The reason I haven't worn it is it has the sheer jelly finish that can drive me crazy. Jelly forumulas have less pigment that traditional polishes which makes them rather sheer. It takes at least 4 coats to get coverage and I still see a few spots that are not opaque. That might explain why the colour on my nails is so different from the colour in the bottle. The difference is not quite as dramatic as the photos show but my iPhone pulls blue when you least expect it. But I think another coat or two would have made the colour more of a blue purple. At any rate, I still love it. It is a pretty purple with that squishy juicy quality you can only get from jelly formulas. I think they give an added dimension to nail colour that one doesn't get from a pigment rich cream formula. I included a shot of the bottle that weirdly captured the reddish purple tone that you see on my nails vs the bottle. There is not one bit of shimmer in this colour.

Daylight, no flash

I am wearing Lippmann Fashion on my toes. I am loving the neutral toes with colourful fingers. The nude tone looks perfect with the purple. But my stylist Katarina would often wear a mani-pedi combo of a bright orange-toned red (OPI Red My Fortune Cookie) with a vivid purple (OPI Funky Dunkey) and I have to say, the combination is stunning. I will totally try.

With flash

Note the weird magenta...

Lippmann's Single Ladies is a Vampy Beauty

And...my love for Lippmann grows again! I've been loving her Fall 2011 Collection and got a chance to wear her fabulous vampy burgundy this week- Single Ladies. Wow! It's not a groundbreaking colour, but it is a classic that deserves a place in every nail polish collection. Deborah Lippmann has a gift for making her colours work on every skin tone- she keeps them neutral. Not too blue, not too yellow- just flattering, all around. This is a deep red wine tone that is quite sheer, it is almost a jelly texture. I think that adds a depth and dimension to the colour that a thick cream would not have. I needed 3 coats but could have got away with 2 in a pinch. Like Billionaire, Single Ladies is uber glossy and shiny. I added top coat two days after the mani just to freshen it up and prolong wear.  Do you do this? You should. I have Addicted to Speed, her quick dry top coat, and add it every other day or so until I change the colour.

2 coats, inside in natural light

If you are a lover of vampy dramatic reds you will LOVE Single Ladies. I'm guilty of collecting various shades of red, but really, they are all different! What are some of your fave vampy shades?

This was 2 coats, outside...3 coats made it a bit darker.

Next....Stormy Weather....

Lippmann Billionaire Is A Beauty!

I've been looking for the perfect dark green nail polish for awhile now. I've had a few that really screamed "This colour is NOT for the over 40 crowd" and were just too juvenile, sparkly or bright. I have and adore Chanel Khaki Vert, but that is more of a muted neutral green. I've been thinking a deep dark almost black green, and with no shimmer preferably. Well, I pretty much swooned when Deborah Lippmann's Fall 2011 colors were launched. There was Single Ladies, the perfect vampy crimson (check) Stormy Weather (deep dark grey- still have to get) and Billionaire- my perfect deep green! 

How elegant is this green?

On a sunny day you'd see more green. My phone camera doesn't capture it...

Lippmann's Billionaire is a dark neutral green- not too yellow, not too blue- that would work perfectly on any skin tone. Is it really based on the green tone of the US greenback? Maybe. But whatever it is, it's perfect. My HG green. Dark and vampy, and perfectly office appropriate. It looks dark and elegant, not elf-like or costume-y. It is a sheer almost jelly formula. I applied 2 coats because I couldn't wait, but 3 would work too. No topcoat- yet- and look at that shine! It applies smoothly and beautifully and has the magical Lippmann formula that makes my nails hard and healthy. Looking for something fun and different for fall? Try Billionaire. It's so money....

Lippmann Beauties Between The Sheets & Waking Up In Vegas

Well I am just loving my Lippmann Deluxe mani/pedi today. My toes are resplendent in Between The Sheets and my nails are uber cool and sophisticated in Waking Up In Vegas.

Waking Up In Vegas is a cool grey that looks warmer in the bottle that it does on nails but that’s ok. In darker light it looks like an edgy grey and in natural or sunlight it is a calm dove grey. I can get full coverage with ONE COAT and that is what I am wearing in the photos. It’s a compliment getter- people notice this one and always ask me where they can get it. Mind you, that usually happens as I am handing them money in a transaction and my daughter Emilie has told me to be wary of compliments at that time, by sales people. “What? You are mother and daughter? I would have SWORN you were sisters! Now, you will be taking all 3 outfits?” But I digress…I love Waking Up In Vegas and it’s cool but still age appropriate style.

Between The Sheets is an unapologetic fuschia/purple that seems lit from within. Rumour has it Ms. Lippmann based it on a pair of satin-marabou mules she fell in love with. Don’t they sound secksie? Sometimes it feels brighter than I like on my fingers, neutral lover that I am, but it is perfect for toes. Between The Sheets is very feminine and so great for summer peeking out of sandals. Love it! And the combo of grey and fuschia really works for me. Fun! Caveat- it is SO BRIGHT that it is really hard to photograph. Note the bottle pic above, it won't focus! I have had this happen with brightly coloured flowers too. 

So Fluffy announced that The Non Blonde kitties get to make blog appearances so it's only fair she does too ;)

Fluffy loves Lippmann!

Deborah Lippmann’s Fashion is a Beauty

I love neutral nails. They are my go-to daily mani as they wear well, don’t show wear on the tips or chips. IF they chip. And if I am using Lippmann nail polish along with her Hard Rock Top/Base Coat I can go quite awhile before any wear appears. Why I stray is a mystery to me…

Digression: I recently fell hard for Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat. It IS amazing- use it on still wet nails and within a minute or two your nails are hard as glass. You do pay a bit of a price- there are many complaints of shrinkage (not George Castanza style shrinkage….) meaning the polish pulls in from the cuticles and edges of nails as it dries. Not a big deal I suppose, but don’t put Seche Vite on dry nails, it will shrink it so much the colour will pop off your nail in one piece like a press on nail. Found this out as I was getting my suitcases into the car to go on holiday. So much for my holiday mani, I left it in pieces as a trail in the airport parking lot. But there is a more serious issue with SV. Because it sinks right into the polish while it dries it, and that means every layer of polish, it gets to your nail as well. It took me a while to realize that my horrible peeling nails were a result of the SV usage. Consider yourself warned before you look at my photos. Poor nails, please forgive me.

Almost immediately after stopping and going back to my beloved Lippmann Hard Rock Base & Top coat my nails are healing and feel stronger. Lippmann’s polish is full of good stuff which I have already posted about HERE and I have learned my lesson. Lippmann gives me hard strong nails and I am NOT LOOKING BACK.

So back to my post about Fashion. I really want Naked but it has sold out everywhere so I am on a waiting list for it. A gorgeous nude-y neutral, Naked sounds just perfect. But, thanks to the wisdom of the gorgeous Lippmann expert at my Holt Renfrew, she told me one coat of Fashion is close to Naked. Two coats of Fashion is a beige tone, slightly deeper than a nude (only a true Nail Polish Lover sees this I imagine…) but one coat is somehow a different colour and I love it! I need to expand my Lippmann colours and slowly but surely I am but I am quite happy to have Fashion in my collection. I would say 2 or 3 coats would be a perfect Fall neutral but one coat is just perfect for Spring and Summer. I love the whole mannequin hands look and this is a perfect addition to my neutral collection. Love it. Add to that my Hard Rock as the base and top coat and my strong healthy nails are on their way back.

1 coat of DL Fashion in natural light

1 coat of Fashion in bright sunlight

Beautiful Glitter In The Air by Deborah Lippmann*

Deborah Lippmann does glitter best! The glitter flakes in “Glitter in the Air” are pretty and sweet without being teenage-y. The octagonal shape of the larger flakes ensures that they will lay flat on the nailbed and the tiny flakes are the perfect subtle accents, not to mention the fact that it is very easy to apply (as opposed to many sparkle polishes). 

This sparkly polish is special without being flashy or costume-like. Actually, I did this manicure with a job interview in mind! It’s fun and unique without being overbearing and can be pulled off as a neutral (depending on number of coats). I did 4 coats (plus base and top coat) because I love how it looks milky, juicy, and cloudy with a hint of blue while still being sheer. Overall – this polish guarantees a delicate look with a hint of something special.

*Guest Post by my amazing daughter, Emilie- thanks Em! Your nails look awesome!

It's Beautiful On The Dark Side of The Moon

Deborah Lippmann Dark Side Of The Moon is the perfect dark vampy purple burgundy. I adore it. This is a staple shade for any nail polish lover- everyone needs a dark vamp. DSOTM is so fabulously dark it becomes a neutral. It looks as fab with jeans as it does with a little black dress. I've been loving it as a pedi but wow, now I adore it as a manicure! Elegant and mysterious....

The real kicker with Lippmann is the wear and longevity. A friend told me that her manicurist told her (and so on...and so on...apparently everyone knows this!) that Lippmann formula's are designed to l a s t  and be gentle on your nails. She showed me an almost black mani that had survived longer than a week. The long-lasting formulas of Deborah Lippmann nail polishes contain green tea extracts and protein-building biotin so nails stay healthy and strong. They feature Aucoumea Klaineana extract, a natural resin from West African trees, which is known to strengthen nails and prevent ridges for smoother, healthier nails. Bonus- they are also free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, and Dibutyl Phthalates. 

That Deborah Lippmann is an interesting person- did you know she is also a jazz singer? Love it. Her personality comes through in the incredible selection of colours in her collection. She has several celebrity shades as well- fun! I already have several more shades picked out...

I am out of Lippmann base and top coats so I just grabbed the dual purpose Hard Rock base/top coat in one. Wow, this stuff is fabulous! Glassy and strong and one of the keys to making your Lippmann mani last is to use all the products. I have used the Hard Rock with Chanel and it extends the life of those manis too. What I need now is the Addicted To Speed Top Coat as my friend assures me it is THE BEST. The Rehydrating Base Coat sounds like another must-have...