Beauty of a Site Blog

Featuring our favorite new Crackle Glaze shades, along with some classic China Glaze shades, try out these fun manicures for Valentine's Day!  Check out the descriptions before for instructions on achieving the look! 1. For a simple, classic and empowering magenta tinted red, choose China Glaze Red Pearl. 2. For a sheer pink glitter, apply three coats of China Glaze Mrs. Clause. 3.  Capture the romance of the holiday by layering 1 coat China Glaze Red Pearl + 1 coat China Glaze Mrs. Clause top coat. 4. Now for some crackle!  Apply 2 coats of Mrs. Clause.  Allow base color to dry COMPLETELY before applying China Glaze Crackle Glaze Broken Hearted pink shatter nail lacquer. Here, we used a single coat of the crackle. 5. Switch it up! Apply a coat of Red Pearl and allow it to dry completely. Apply one coat of China Glaze Crackle Glaze Lightening Bolt white crackle polish. 6. For a thoroughly romantic look, stick to rosey hues.  Apply two coats of Red Pearl (for a nice deep color) and, after it dries completely, apply a single coat of Crackle Glaze Broken Hearted. Have fun girls! Don't forget to order your Crackle Glaze polish here!

You've heard of OPI's Black Shatter polish, which is totally flying off the shelves.  In response, China Glaze has released six new shatter-like crackle polishes with all of the creativity and quality of China Glaze behind them.  Like the OPI Black Shatter polish, each Crackle Glaze color should be layered on a completely dry contrasting color for optimum effect.  Swatches are below! We tested out the Crackle Glaze top coats using a variety of base colors.  The Crackle Glaze coats on the right are layered over China Glaze Recycle, pictured on the third chip from the top.  The colors on the left are layered over China Glaze Empowerment (pink), Red Pearl (red) and Up All Night (navy).  Note the dramatic effect achieved when the colors are contrasting. We had so much fun trying different combinations - you will too! Click here to order Crackle Glaze lacquers today. Check back tomorrow for custom Valentine's Day swatches, to help you get a killer manicure ready for your big date!  

Hey friends!  I finally had time to play with the Katy Perry polish, so I wanted to post some swatches of what the colors look like on the nail, as well as under normal, at-home, low lighting.  Here are the four colors on the nail: The two glitter-y polishes, OPI Last Friday Night (blue) and OPI Teenage Dream (light blue) take several coats to get the results posted on our swatches from yesterday.  The results in the pictures above were two coats; full coverage would take at least three and perhaps four.  Perhaps the most interesting about these colors in the variety of glitter included in the polish.  Large flecks alongside more subtle shimmer makes a beautiful effect. My favorite: The One That Got Away.  This probably does not surprise you, based on my love for vampy colors, burgandies and shimmer.  Really, how could I not love this color? That being said, I was surprised how much I liked it.  More than a burgundy, OPI The One That Got Away is really a fuschia, way more pink than burgundy, featuring a rosy shimmer and nice, even undertones.  Really beautiful. Let us know what you're loving from the collection.  We'd love to hear about it  : )

GREAT NEWS!  We now have both the OPI Katy Perry collection AND the Black Shatter polish available for purchase at Beauty of a Site! You can order these colors right now!  We're stoked to be one of the first to offer Black Shatter, and we're excited that our customers will be among the first to own it! ORDER KATY PERRY and BLACK SHATTER HERE. Here are our swatches of the Katy Perry Collection: And, our absolute favorite thing we've seen from OPI this year: OPI BLACK SHATTER!!  Here's Black Shatter applied to all of the Katy Perry colors.  Read tips below for making Black Shatter work for you!  You can order all of these colors here. Note the difference an extra coat of OPI Black Shatter makes - cool huh! Here are some tips for really making Black Shatter work for you: 1.  OPI Black Shatter is perfect for coating on any OPI color - not just Katy Perry.  The crazy bold brights have a powerful effect, and so do the really vampy violets and greens.  Experiment away. 2.  For OPI Black Shatter to work just right, your base coat nail polish color must be 100% dry.  In fact, we're suggesting you paint your nails, go do something else, and come back sometime in the next hour to do your second coat, to make sure that the effect is perfect. 3.  Adding extra coats of OPI Black Shatter gives a totally different effect.  Check out the Black Shatter swatch all the way on the left (only one coat) compared to the swatch all the way on the right (two coats)- the cracks are much more prominent and separated.  The variety is awesome! 4. When you first apply the polish, it will look thin and uneven, but don't worry - it's supposed to! Shortly after it starts to dry, it will crack and separate for the effect above. Enjoy!!

January is the perfect time to get our acts together; a fresh start when we can all get into the habits that will make the upcoming year an even better one than the year before. Here are five beauty habits that will keep you looking and feeling beautiful in 2011: Fresher Feet (1): We challenge you to a weekly pedicure.  With OPI's tropical scented scrubs and masks, five minutes in the shower keeps feet looking professionally pedicured all winter long.  Nothing makes you feel more beautiful than perfect soft and smooth feet in strappy shoes! Stronger Nails (2): Thirty seconds every morning with a clear coat of Dabu Nail Hardener not only keeps your manicure looking shiny and fresh, but protects nails from breaking, cracking or splitting.  Stronger, more beautiful nails only takes a coat a day! Younger Skin (3): Wash your face every night with a soap that does the hard work for you.  Cor soap's proven formula keeps skin glowing with a simple wash before bed.  Three minutes before bed and twenty years off your skin.  Definitely worth your time! Healthier Hair (4): Pamper your hair in 2011 with a decadent hair oil like Leonor Greyl's Palm Oil (Huile de Palme).  A pre-shampoo treatment intended to infuse your hair with moisture and protect it from damage.  A perfect treatment for anyone who's hair suffers from heat damage, over styling or winter dryness. Sexier Smile (5): The very best of any at home whitening treatments, Supersmile will help you achieve the perfect super-white sexy smile in 2011.  An easy and quick routine just like brushing your teeth at night will keep your smile more beautiful than ever!

As we're running around finishing up our perfect New Year's Eve look for tonight (nothing like shopping at the office!), we thought you might enjoy hearing about what we used to get the look!  We loved sparkly pinks, silvers and dark matte greys to build the perfect New Year's Eve glam! For Nails: From the OPI Burlesque Holiday Collection, we chose Sparkle-icious.  One of the six glitters (not shimmers, but glitters), this shade is multi colored (that's right... it matches everything) and adds just the right glitz to our get up. For Skin: To get the perfect pink glow, we skipped bronzer and used classic pink blush (Bed Head has a perfect selection), coupled with all over shimmer powder.  We concentrated the shimmer along cheek bones and even under the brow line for maximum impact.  We got the best results using Bed Head's Shake It Loose Powder in Shimmer. For Eyes: Natural mineral shadow, like the Orglamix Pure Mineral Eye Color adds the perfect natural sheen, while being easily blended and applied for intricate looks.  We thought the Twilight eye color kit was absolutely perfect, because it used the playful pink we love with darker grey tones and white highlights. * Pro Tip: Use the eye color kit picture on the website as a guide to blending and applying the three shades. For Lips:  Shimmering natural lips seemed perfect for the occasion, so we chose DuWop's Lip Venom to gloss and accentuate our natural lip color to the perfect kissable pink.  DuWop's Pink Shimmer Lip Venom gave us both the perfect pink tint and subtle sparkle that was essential for our NYE theme. * Pro Tip: Never accentuate both eyes and lips on one night.  If your eyes are dark and dramatic, let naturally toned lips do the kissing.  Or, if you're sporting bright red lip stick, keep the eyes simple.  Choose where you want the focus to stay!

Far from your mother's nail polish company, OPI is making bold moves in touching the artistic heart of a new generation.  Their newest collection, the OPI Katy Perry Collection, releases in January, featuring four shameless new shades along with a brand new nail polish finish: OPI Shatter. The four new shades, from left to right, are Teenage Dream (lavender), The One That Got Away (burgandy), Not Like the Movies (gunmetal grey), Last Friday Night (light blue shimmer) and (not pictured), OPI Black Shatter. OPI Black Shatter just looks black in the bottle, but it's crinkle top sets it apart as special.  And that's exactly what it is!  Layer on top of any other color, as as it dries, watch it crackle, revealing whichever color is layered underneath.  Cool, huh? Check out this video from OPI featuring each of the new colors, the OPI Black Shatter effect and even a sneak peak from the OPI Serena collection, releasing next Spring! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1piNxgXJzI]

Cher and Christina Aguilera graced the red carpet this week at the premier of their new movie, Burlesque.  Two truly talented divas, these women have come together to create a musical masterpiece. And we're pretty dang excited to see it. To get in the mood, consider trying out some of OPI's Holiday polishes, inspired and named after the movie, Burlesque.  Featuring as much glamour and exuberance as the movie, each of these colors either shimmers or glitters, just in time for a season of parties, holidays and reasons to look gorgeous. Click here to check out these new colors!

With the recent release of OPI's Burlesque collection, I had the opportunity to paint my nails a gazillion times in a row.  As I'm sure you can imagine, this could certainly do some damage to your cuticles.  However, Cake- one of our new product lines!- had just the product to help me through it! Cake Beauty Milk Made Smoothing Hand and Cuticle Buffer includes purifying sugar granules, nourishing grapeseed, coconut and sweet almond oils, this spa-quality manicure treatment is designed to both exfoliate and nourish.  After thoroughly working the formula over your hands and cuticles, Cake's Smoothing Hand and Cuticle Buffer gets rid of dry skin or left over product while infusing your hands with nourishing essential oils to keep them smooth and supple.  Simply rinse off after use! The best part about this Cake product is that it smells YUMMY.  Like vanilla with a touch of raspberry, your one step mani is going to be soo much sweeter! I was shocked by how well this worked! I didn't even have to use cuticle oil, as the buffer was so backed full of great essential oils.  My hands were smooth all day, and the formula didn't do any damage to my dry skin.  I will officially use it whenever I can! Below are some of our other favorite Cake products for you to check out!  Or, click here if you want to browse them all! Cake Walk Triple Mint Foot Cream: Cake Beauty Cake Walk Triplemint Foot Creme is a a fresh, rich foot creme packed with nourishing butters and oils. This great creme is formulated to soothe, cool and nourish rough and tired feet while locking in moisture and instantly giving feet (and legs) a lasting nourished look and feel. Cake Beauty It's a Slice Supreme Body Mousse: Cake Beauty It's a Slice Supreme Body Mousse is a rich whipped tahitian vanilla and coconut body lotion to blanket your body in. This ultra light body lotion with extreme hydraters leaves your skin lightly scented and perfectly moisturized and smooth. Cake Beauty Citrus Squeeze Better Body Rub: Cake Beauty Citrus Squeeze Better Bod Rub is a skillfully blended moisturizer that does so much more! Infused with active ingredients that help tone, firm, reduce the appearance of dreadful dimply bits and ‘not so’ fine lines.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Beauty of a Site is inviting you to join the fight by making one simple decision: shop pink!  Some of our favorite brands have made their best selling products (that you already love!) available in pink versions to raise money for major breast cancer research and support organizations.  The more we buy, the more money is raised for the cause! Click here to browse all of the products that you can purchase to raise money for breast cancer!  Here are some of our favorites: 1. China Glaze Fight Like a Woman Nail Polish Collection: Featuring three dazzling pinks to both raise awareness and support the cause, this new collection features Empowerment (cotton-candy creme), Encouragement (pink shimmer) and Endurance (raspberry shimmer).  Available for a limited time only, order today! 2. Woody's Real Men Wear Pink Daily Grooming Kit: The perfect way for a guy to join the fight!  Featuring the pinkest boxers we could find, as well as a Woody's Daily Shampoo and Woody's Mega Firm Gel to help you rock your boxers in style!  It's like they say- it takes a real man to wear pink. 3. Tigi Bed Head Masterpiece "Pink" Shine Hairspray: One of our favorite "keep-it-right-there" hairsprays, Bed Head Masterpiece helps you capture your creativity and keep it where it needs to be, all day long.  Bright pink and in support of the City of Hope, Masterpiece is perfect for October and any time.

So I admit it; I shared my favorite colors with you last time, but here are some shots of the over major colors.  These are indoor shots as opposed to those in broad daylight, but I am intending to show how they show up under office / home lighting.  They are actually quite similar (in any light!) but the subtle differences are visible when in close proximity: OPI Show Must Go On.  The pinkest of the bunch, this very true dark pink is a beautiful color.  Not as purple as the fuscia OPI Let Me Entertain You, this pink is spunky but classy, featuring a dark pink shimmer for interest, but an overall bold color appropriate for the business woman and party girl alike. Compare the pink above with this deep red, OPI Ali's Big Break.  Even though there is a slight pink hue to this crimson shade, Ali's Big Break is a true red, beautiful with any skin tone and a truly sexy color! The truest orange we've seen from OPI in some time! OPI Take the Stage is a beautiful, bold orange shimmer, not bright orange or neon orange, nor burnt or smokey.  A gorgeous warm color, more red than yellow featuring perfect gold sparkles, Take the Stage is a great color for any one and any occasion! Here's a closer comparison of these colors to help you see the subtle distinctions: Oh- and by reader demand- here are two of the other glitter polishes.  These are terribly un-photogenic.  Like diamonds, these chunky polishes can't quite handle a camera's flash.  But this will give you an idea of the subtle color differences between them. OPI Simmer & Shimmer (blue on the left) and OPI Glow Up Already (green on the right).  Again, sorry for the odd lighting, but these things are out of control sparkly- I hope you can see it!

So you've probably heard the rumor and seen the promo pics- OPI's HOliday collection is themes after the new movie Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aquilara.  We have great news:  WE HAVE SWATCHES! This blog is part 1 of our Burlesque debut.  Check back for more updates!  Here's the full collection! Six shimmering solids are bright, sexy and incredibly fun.  There are no words for their glittery counterparts; they offer glam, glitz, the whole shebang! Reminiscent of OPI's Alice in Wonderland glitters from earlier this year, we are already anticipating these being the "it" colors for Holiday 2010! I need to admit it: I love dark colors, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this collection.  I immediately loved OPI Tease-y Does It, a burgundy / brown / mocha shimmer, with a base very much like OPI's Espresso Your Style with the addition of a more burgundy-tinted shimmer: One of the boldest colors from the collection is OPI Rising Star.  A super warm orange guaranteed to be a burst of sunshine on your chilly holiday, OPI Rising Star is actually quite beautiful, even on my light skin tone.  If you sport a beautiful bronze tan, this will look gorgeous! Now, the non-solid polishes from this collection are seriously glittery.  Like, I'm talking chunky rough pieces of glitter.  The effect truly is dazzling and cutting edge- perfect for a night out, perhaps even a glittering New Year's Eve party! Because of the nature of the polish, multiple layers are DEFINITELY necessary.  In fact, I achieved the best coverage when I applied the polish in chunks, and then spread it evenly before it dried.  Here is OPI Sparkle-icious in 1, 2 and 3 coats: As you can see, the sparkle-y polishes really could function well as top coats. To experiment a little bit, I applied OPI Rising Star as a gold base, and then topped the polish with OPI Extra-va-vaganza! in a single layer, to act as a glitter top coat. Here is the pretty beautiful result: Keep checking back for more swatches and updates about the availability of this limited time polish! At Beauty of a Site, we're accepting pre-orders RIGHT NOW- claim your polish today!  Click here!!