NAIL POLISH & NOVELTY PRODUCTS

Nail Polish

I don't understand ever paying more than $5 for a bottle of nail polish. There is such a beautiful and huge selection of colors at the drugstore, why ever buy nail polish at a department store? Of all the make-up products I think nail polish is the most similar across the board. And you usually have to replace it anyway before you use up the bottle, since it thickens.

You can have a whole wardrobe of nail polish colors at your fingertips with only one bottle of clear polish. Any powder make-up you have such as eyeshadow or blush can be used to color nail polish. Maybe you hate that blue, green or purple eyeshadow on your eyes, but will love it on your nails. This is a great use for eyeshadows that are too old to use on your eyes anymore. This is also a great method for those of you who only wear nail polish on special occasions.You can match your nails to your make-up without buying a new bottle! Scrape some of the powder onto a piece of tin foil with a toothpick or a bobby pin. Mash it into a fine powder so you don't get any bumps in the polish. Put a few drops of the clear nail polish on the powder and mix in with the brush. You don't need that much powder. If you use too much it can get too thick. I suggest you try it once before your big night out. It takes a little practice to figure out how much powder to use. You will probably only need one coat of color, it tends to go on opaque. However, you will need two coats of clear topcoat unless you like a matte finish. Wipe off the brush before you re-dip it into the polish. Some powder will still get into the bottle, but it just sinks to the bottom and stays there.

If you want real glitter polish, you can sprinkle cheap glitter from a craft store or discount store onto your wet nails over clear or colored polish. With large glitter, flatten it lightly with a finger tip. You will probably need to apply two clear top coats. Two-toned, light colored, iridescent glitter over clear polish looks particularly pretty. Glitter is a little difficult to remove. After you saturate the nail surface with remover, you still have to scrape the glitter off. Gumballs is a drugstore brand of nail polish that has really unique glitter colors for $2.49. Some of them have glitter in large slivers that looks like confetti. Meteorites is a similar product which sells for $2.29, and I saw another by Blue Cross Beauty Products at Long's Drugs for $1.99.

Nail Art. For those of you who really like to get creative, Bar-Lor sells nail art kits. You can paint your own customized designs. Bar-Lor does not sell to the general public, but if you call them they may be able to tell you of a distributor in your area. See my Links page for Bar-Lor's web site. Their wholesale prices are very low, but there is no telling how much a particular distributor will mark up the prices. At Long's Drugs I saw a 3D Deluxe Nail Art Kit by Pro 10. It looked like a very fun and unique product although it was $12.39 for the kit. Fetish sells very inexpensive and cute nail decals at the drugstores.

Novelty Products

There are some products and looks that I thought were gone with the 80's. Want to know why I don't care for bright colors and frosted eyes and cheeks? Because I got sick of them in the 80's! I wore every color of frosted eyeshadow and bright lipstick made!  So if you were too young to wear make-up in the 80's, don't think that this is a new look just discovered by your generation. It's just a recycled version that we can now spend a lot more money on in upscale lines such as Urban Decay and Hard Candy. If you like these looks but not the prices, try my suggestions. If you then still wish to purchase one of these types of products, stick to the drugstore lines like Fetish and all the glitter and powder products from the no-name companies on the counter. If you must, there is always Revlon Street Wear. It is more expensive, but still much cheaper than Urban Decay or Hard Candy.

Body Painting/Art. This is one avant garde look I really like. There is so much room for artistry and creativity. You can also use make-up creatively to make designs, such as eye & lip pencils, eyeshadows, blushes, and lipsticks. Cream eyeshadows can work well for this. Make-up designs will hold up better on the face than on the body where it is more likely to get rubbed off. Bar-Lor Cosmetics sells body paints, stencils, body graffiti, and regular make-up. They do not sell to the general public, but if you call them they may be able to tell you of a distributor in your area. Look under my links section. Their wholesale prices are very low, but there is no telling how much an individual distributor will mark up the prices. Fetish, a drugstore line, sells body stamps and little body gems you glue on for $2.69. I got a great tip from a sales associate with Urban Decay. She was wearing little, colored, sparkling gems underneath her lower eyelashes. I loved it on her. I asked her if Urban Decay sold them and she said no, you buy them at a bead shop and glue them on with eyelash glue.

Body/Face glitter. We used to use good old Vaseline on the skin and sprinkle cheap craft store or discount store glitter over it. You can mix up several different colors of glitter for a unique look. The craft stores have many iridescent and metallic colored glitters to choose from.You can also use this method on the face. If you apply it over make-up, you must use very little Vaseline and just lightly dot in on in a few places, not smear it over a large area or it can ruin the make-up underneath. If petroleum jelly is too greasy for your taste, you can use gel sunscreen instead. If you intend to use it on your face, test a small area first to make sure you are not sensitive to it. Another option is to try a little bit of glittery non-toxic fabric paint (I would not use this in the eye area). These tend to dry a little tight, so I wouldn't use it over a large area or put it anywhere the skin has a lot of movement or it can peel off. Fabric paint can be a little difficult to wash off your skin.You can also apply any light colored frosted make-up on your shoulders or cleavage with a brush for shine.

Hair make-up. You can take any powdered make-up like eyeshadow or frosted highlighting powder and dust it in your hair with a make-up brush. Use hairspray over it to fix in the color. You can also sprinkle glitter or powder over wet hair gel. If you already own colored mascara, you can also use this in your hair instead of buying a separate "hair mascara."

Brightly colored, frosted loose powders. Have you seen a brand named Emari in the beauty supply stores? These are little pots of frosted loose powder in a variety of non-traditional colors (around $5 each). This is another type of product that was very popular in the early 80's. This line has a new kick which I like. They intend for you to use any of the colors or only one color on your eyes, cheeks, lips and nails. You mix the powder with lip gloss for lips, and with an "activator" (I suspect it is just clear nail polish) for your nails. This could be a good deal if the colors suit your taste and you truly did use it for all these purposes. If there were some more traditional and matte colors, I might try it since mixing colors would be so easy. Unfortunately for me, the colors are all frosted and there are only a few colors that could be used for a realistic daytime make-up look. Hollywood Color Company, Ltd.(HCC) sells a similar drugstore product called Possibilities Unlimited for $3.50. The colors are a little softer and more realistic make-up colors than Emari's, but the selection is smaller. I like some of these colors very much. I'd buy one if they weren't all frosted.

You don't have to buy a special product to use for multiple purposes. This can be done with any eyeshadow, blush, or bronzer. To use on the lips, scrape a little off the pan and mix with a little lipgloss or Vaseline. You can also apply the lip gloss first, or lip balm and apply the powder color over it with your finger. See the section on nail polish for how to use any powdered make-up as nail polish color. Pinkish-beige or rosy-brown colors work the best for a natural look when using one color on the whole face. But you can use any color you wish. You can also do this with lipstick. It is just a little tricky getting it to work well on the eyes. It can crease and be too sticky for the eyelids. It is best just to put it on the crease or browbone only.

Colored Mascaras. This is a look I hope doesn't catch on. A blue, purple, green or metallic eyeshadow would look so much better. If you really want to add some color or sparkle to your lashes for the holidays or a special occasion: while your regular mascara is still wet dust some frosted eyeshadow on your lashes (hold up a Kleenex under your eye to catch any excess shadow and close your eye). The light frosted colors will stand out more on the black mascara than a blue or green or purple, but you can still get the general look and decide if you really want to spend the money on a funky colored mascara.