Minx Nails - The Newest Celebrity Obsession- and Now Mine Too!

I went to go visit my friend Kate, who just had a baby boy, and noticed this amazing nail polish on her toes.  They were cheetah print!  I wondered how did her manicurist do that?  Turns out it is Minx Nails.  What is Minx Nails, you may be asking?  Well here it is straight from the company itself:

 

About our sassy company
Where on earth would you find a completely new and unique product in nail fashion? In sunny California, of course, where the sun, sea and surf surrounds some of the most beautiful women in the world who need to look sensational whether they are waxing a surfboard, attending a movie premiere, or glamming out for Hef’s next bash at the manor.

While it is hard work gliding through each day and night (and after-hours) looking gorgeous with a touch of naughty, Minx is here to lead the way. The golden flash of fingernail as you beckon for the brunch waiter… the sparkling arc as you firmly grasp the last pair of Jimmy Choo’s on sale… the perky glint of silver wrapped around a fresh Pinkberry smoothie… once you’ve been Minxed, your life will never be the same.  

What's a Minx?
In our definition, a Minx is a sexy, confident, naughty but fun individual who lives every day like it is a big, ripe juicy apple ready to be bitten. We’ve channeled this cool factor into Minx, a new and glamorous way that lets women (and men!) extend fashion to their very fingertips.

What exactly is Minx?

Minx is a solid film with an adhesive back that is heat activated. The heat gives Minx the conformability to fit over the compound curves of nails and seals it onto the nail bed. Minx is brewed in North County, San Diego, California. The patent pending proprietary material Minx is made of can be easily removed with heat by either the manicurist or the client.

So I decided to give it a try.  After all it looked soooo fabulous!  On the Minx website http://www.minxnails.com/ you can get a list of salons in your area that do this.  I have to tell you, not many.  There were only 170 in the sunny state of California where the product was originated.  I was so excited to find one in Folsom at Maribou Salon and Spa. 

I met with Lori a nail specialist and certified Minx artist.  I choose the Day of the Dead Skulls since Halloween was only a week away.  She warned me that the Minx on my hands may only last about 4 days which was still much longer then nail polish.  With nail polish I start chipping the next day.  I also had her do my toes which she mentioned could last about 3 weeks.  The process was fairly quick - about a hour for my fingers and toes.  No polish or chemicals were used.  I LOVE the look of my new nails!!

Fast forward a week and my fingers are peeling a bit but with a little heat I can rub it back down to adhere to my nail.  My toes are doing wonderful.  Finally the day after Halloween I had enough of my hair getting caught between the Minx and my nail so I removed the Minx off of my fingers.  It was so easy!  Just like peeling a sticker off.  It's amazing they stayed on this long.  I decided to keep my toes since they were doing awesome.  I still have them on at the time I am writing this blog.  AMAZING!  And they look like the day I got them. 

My overall review is 4 out of 5 lip smacks!  I didn't do five because of the cost.  I paid $60 including tip.  And there was no pedicure or manicure involved.  Just application of the Minx Nails.  I was impressed with the designs and how long the product stayed on.  It is definitely a naughty little splurge that every fabulous girl should try!

Halloween Photoshoot - Fairy

Here's the Fairy look from the Halloween Photoshoot I did with Ariana from Silver Daisies Photography.  Check out Ariana's work at http://www.silverdaisiesstudios.com/.  Hopefully we will have more colaborations to showcase in the near future!

This is Courtney Marriott, a model from Sacramento CA.  She was professional, on time and ready to work!  It was really great to work with her.  She was up for anything and was really sweet. 

See the rest of the photos on my Facebook page!  Scroll all the way to the bottom to become a fan!

Halloween Photoshoot - Sexy Devil

Finally I am getting around to posting the photos from the Halloween shoot I did.  I had to take a break from blogging.  Somehow I managed to get sick, not my kids, that is still trailing over from last week.  I was in NO shape to do anything but take care of kids and sleep! 

Arielle Jones, a model from Sacramento CA, posed for this Sexy Devil look.  She was a lot of fun to work with and has a ton of ambitions and amazing skin. 

Ariana Grimm from Silver Dasies Photography was our talented photograper!  She was so easy to work with and hopefully we will have some more projects together soon!  Check out her work at http://www.silverdaisiesstudios.com/!

See the rest of the photos on my Facebook page!  Scrool all the way to the bottom of this page to become a fan!

Kate's Maternity Shoot

I did the makeup for Kate's maternity photoshoot and she looked amazing so I wanted to share.  Christine at http://www.kickapix.com/ did such an amazing job capturing the rock star Kate is!  Kate has since had her beautiful baby Kaden in September.  And let me say she is already looking awesome!  Thanks Christine and Kate for letting me post these pics!

Organize Like a Kardashian!

Have you wondered like I did that in many of the Keeping up with the Kardashian episodes all of the girls have this amazing acrylic organizer?  It is simply amazing and I want one!!!  Here is a link to the Kardashian Makeup Organizer to see what I am talking about.

Questions Answered!

Hi everyone!  I got a few questions on Facebook about where to buy the makeup I use.  I use all sorts of brands, expensive to cheap and go everywhere to get it.  But the main staples that I have are these:

1. Palettes.  I get the big ones from http://www.coastalscents.com/ They are very inexpensive for what you get and the makeup works awesome.  My top picks to buy are the 88 color palettes.  There are 4 of them.  Colorful shimmer, colorful matte/satin, metal mania, and warm palette.  They are well worth the investment.

2. NYX cosmetics.  Another inexpensive brand.  They sell a limited supply at Ulta.  But I buy it mostily from http://www.cherryculture.com/ because they have the entire line and great prices.  My favs from them are the 10 eyeshadow Runway palettes, Mega Shine lipgloss, fake eyelashes, glitter eyeliners (w/ the tassles), and the pigments.

3.  I LOVE MAC cosmetics.  Go to Nordstrom instead of the pro store.  Although the pro store has the biggest selection, Nordstrom has a good enough one and the return policy and customer care is best.  I love their eyeshadows and lipglosses.  But I can get them thru NYX and Coastal Scents for so much cheaper.  I LOVE the Paint Pots, gel eyeliner, Opulash mascara, lipsticks, pro longwear foundation, and the Mineralize skin finish.  My advice is to spend money on a the face stuff, save on the color.

4.  I also buy a lot from retail stores such as Walmart and Target.  The brushes by Sonia Kusack are great and reasonalbly priced.  Walmart had these great HD brushes for so inexpensive.  I like mascaras from Loreal.  Lip Stains from Cover Girl. 

So there is a start.  When I post a tutorial using items other then what is above I will make a special note.  My hope is to soon do video tutorials, I am working on it.   Hope this helps!

Sexy Devil Run Thru

Hi Everyone!  As you know I have a big photoshoot coming up this next weekend that features Halloween costumes.  So I thought I would share with you my ideas to inspire your own looks for this Halloween!  Tonight I did the Sexy Devil run thru.  Tomorrow I will post something else.  Enjoy!

1.  Use MAC's Painterly Paint pot all over the lid and brow bone with a medium dense brush. 
2.  Draw you "v:" with a matte black color and go into the crease about half way. 
3.  Use an irredencent white in the inner eye and blend upwards and onto the brow bone.
4.  Use a matte red color on the center of the eye with a dense medium shadow brush.  Do not sweep.  Pat it in and press.  This way the color won't flick everywhere.
5.  Now on top of the red add an irredecent red over.
6.  I used all the eyeshadow colors from several Costal Scents pallettes.
7.  Now add MAC's Black Gel eyeliner along the top lash line and fan out for a cat like shape.  Bring is to the bottom of the lash line and go almost all the way.
8.  Get a regular pencil eyeliner in black and line the water line on the top and bottom to really black it out.  Add some black eyeshadow to that lash line and connect the "v'.  Softly blend your eyeshadows together.
9.  Clean up you loose powder on your face and move on to applying your concealer and foundation.
10.  Add your blush.  I used a color from Costal Scents again that was in the pallette that had the black and matte red.  I kept the color on the Pinky side to stay within the color tones of the red in the eye.
11. Set foundation with powder and touch up blush as needed. 
12.  I also did a bit of contouring in the cheek and nose area to look more hard.
13.  Buff that out to blend with your blush.
14.  Add a bit of MAC mineralize skin finish in Soft and Gentle.
15.  Add a very volumizing mascara and add full fake lashes.
16.  Lips needed to stay in the same color family as the red you used.  I used MAC's Brick liner, NYX diamond lipgloss in Red and LA colors glitter gloss. 
17.  Oops!  I amost forgot!  The Glitter!  Mix some of the irredecent red eyeshadow using a dense med eyeshadow brush and mix it with NYX cream glitter pallette in the white.  Pat it on each eye and keep applying untill you get the desired effect!

And there you have it!

Date Night Bling

So I am hopefully sort of going to get a date night with my hubby so I needed to come up with something hot for tonight!  I am wearing a black and navy blue sparkely tank top so that is what inspired this.  Who says you can't wear blue eyeshadow!?  To do the look for yourself- read on!

1. Start by preping the eye with an eye primer.  I used NYX eye primer.  I like it especially if you have dry eyelids.  But for the best hold up use Two Faced or Urban Decay.
2. On the eyelid only apply Benefit's Skinny Jeans paint pot with a soft fluffy brush. 
3. For all of the eyeshadow colors I used NYX Runway Collection in Jazz Night. 
4. Draw a "v" with the darkest blue color (third from left on bottom) and come in about 1/3 of the way.  Use a dense natural hair pencil brush to get the most precision.
5. In the inner eye use the light silver color with a medium eyeshadow brush.  Continue to lightly brush this silver color along up to the brow bone.
6. Now apply the bright blue color (second from left on top) with a clean medium eyeshadow brush.   Be careful to only stay on the middle of the lid. 
7.  Use a navy blue eyeliner on the top and bottom of the lashes.  I used MAC's Bloozy.
8.  With the same color you used to make the "v", use with a pencil brush to go along the lower lash line about half in.  Blend in the liner with the shadow and connect the lines on the outer lid.
9. Touch up as need be.  Add more silver for a little extra sparkle or add more bright blue. 
10. Use a soft blending brush and blend the look together.
11.  Now apply your concealer and clean up and shape your eye.  Apply foundation in only the areas you need it.  I used MAC's new Pro Longwear in NC35 and I really like it. 
12.  Apply your blush.  I used the Costal Scents blush pallette in the 10th color.
13.  Polish the look with MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish around the eye and nose area with a slightly lighter shade than your normal color.  I used Medium Plus.
14.  Dust over your entire face with the same Skinfinish but in your regular color.  I used Medium Dark. 
15.  Touch up your blush and add MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle lightly on top of the cheek bones. 
16.  Line lips with NYX natural lip liner. 
17. Apply MAC's Cherish lipstick.
18. Use a little lip gloss for some shine.
19.  Finish up with some amazing fake eyelashes or a volumizing mascara.

And there you have it.  Sounds like a lot of steps but I really broke it down and it goes really fast.  It took me about 15 minutes and while entertaining a handsome 5 month old. 

Why don't you give it a try?  Send me a photo of your version in the comments box or email me:   michellekinkaid@gmail.com.  I would love to see what you come up with!