What to wear to a country concert ...

Lace?

Cowboy boots?

Jean shorts with a brown belt?

How about red, white and blue anything?

Maybe a little plaid?

Or camo?

How about an all white sun-dress with a cowboy hat?

Possibly even some type of crop top?!

If you guessed any of these things, you're heading in the right direction. 

Fall 2014 Nail Color Trends | 5 Brands, 5 Colors, 1 Season

Happy Sunday Ladies and Gents!

Can you believe that's its already September 15th ?! 

I'm still in denial. 

With September comes first days of school, which means I've been super busy back in my classroom. It also means I've started my last undergraduate semester of classes. (YAY!) Not to mention now that summer had gone, beach days and BBQs are pretty much over. 

With Autumn just around the corner I figured I needed to stop being in denial and slowly transition into the season. 

Why not start by talking about nail color trends for this fall 2014.

So…
here are the top 5 nail colors i'll be rocking all fall.

Usually, I wear pastels, brights and neons on my hands and feet.

For fall, I love wearing dark colors. 

Don't get me wrong, occasionally I'll throw in some brights and neons, but the change in season also brings on some change in the colors I typically wear. 

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1
Cranberry

Crimson looks great on all nail types and lengths! It's also completely wearable with almost any fall clothing and accessories! I find myself wearing lots of grey, brown and evergreen tones in the autumn seasons so Crimson polish will never clash or look like a sight for sore eyes. 

FAVORITE!

Brand: LANCOME 
Style Number: 179M
Color Name: Madame Tulip
Price: $15
Click HERE to purchase!

2
Orange

Whether it's a burn orange or a vibrant orange, something about the color screams fall. Maybe it's because it reminds me of pumpkins or possibly because I'll match the foliage on the trees, but whatever it may be, I gravitate towards the orange nail color. This is my chance to get away with a more neon looking orange, since every shade can be found around us during this time of year.

FAVORITE!

Brand: ESSIE
Color Name: Meet Me at Sunset
Price: $8.50
Click HERE to purchase!

3

Dark gray

You can't go wrong with this color. It can dress up or down your outfit, but it always looks classy. It reminds me or wrapping myself up in a soft and warm wool sweater on a crisp autumn afternoon. My favorite color just so happens to be from my favorite monthly subscription box. For $20 each month, you get 2-3 polishes and a full size product. You can also switch from any of the 5 style profiles each month depending on which products and colors you like best. Considering each polish is $14, this is a great deal!

Get your first month free by clicking on the link below!

FAVORITE!

Brand: JULEP MAVEN
Color Name: Mona
Price: $14
Sale: $11.50 as of 11/4/14

Click HERE to get your first box FREE! 

4
Blue

Just because we transition into fall, and the color schemes becomes a little bit more dull and lackluster doesn't mean our polish choices have to do the same. I keep is exciting with a beautiful shade of metallic-y blue. The color really pops against the dark tones of clothes in a fall outfit and screams that I'm not afraid of a little color. 

FAVORITE!

Brand: SINFUL COLORS
Style Number: 105
Color Name: Midnight Blue
Price: $1.99
Click HERE to purchase!

5
Evergreen

Towards the end of autumn, I get in the mood for evergreen polish on my nails. Something about a jeweled tone emerald with a little bit of sparkle on my nails screams, bye bye fall, hello winter. With winter comes Christmas. It's the perfect transition color between seasons and even more appropriate to wear on the nails. I also love how this polish has glitter and sparkle! It makes for not only a great accent nail but also an all-nail color.

FAVORITE!

Brand: ZOYA
Style Number: ZP507
Color Name: Ivanka
Price: $9 
Click HERE to purchase!

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The best part of this selection is not only the diverse spectrum of color but also the fact that all 5 colors are totally different brands. This gives you the opportunity to test and experiment with price, opacity, formula, finish and wear. 

It's polish perfection!

What will your favorite go-to polish color be this fall? 
Share it with me in the comments below!

Happy Autumn!

Until next time, 

Ines xoxo

Me, Myself and Ines

a lifestyle blog

www.memyselfandines.blogspot.com

 *Article submitted at http://bloggercarnivals.com/main.php?Cid=11

Who are you in 20 seconds?

Who am I?

20 seconds on the clock...

strong

short

portuguese

dancer

teacher

student

daughter

sister

friend

girlfriend

dreamer

compassionate

loving

amazing

sweet

honest


Believe it or not, those 20 seconds FLEW by!


I thought I'd be more capable of writing more about myself, but I'm surprised as to how simple and minimal I because with my words once the clock started.

Although simple, these words sum up who I am, flawlessly.

Now it's time for YOU to return the favor, mark your stop watch and answer me this: who are you (in 20 seconds or less)

Blog Inspiration

Click here to see "Man Repeller's" Original Blog Post

xoxo Ines

Little things make me happy!

It doesn't take much to make me happy….

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I love having a cup of coffee while looking out my back door.

I love my job.

I love spending Friday nights in my pajamas.

I love listening to podcasts.

I love staying in bed a half hour longer as the rain fall on the roof.

I love my family.

I love doing a full face of makeup just to grab some casual dinner with hometown friends.

I love watching the birds in my yard.

I love long baths.

I love taking luxurious long hot baths in the wintertime.

I love holding hands.

I love finding 'lost' money in my pockets.

I love driving alone in my car.

I love online shopping.

I love running to Walgreens for one thing, and coming out with $30 worth of 'stuff'.

I love the month of May.

I love taking 20 minute showers before going to bed.

I love long train rides.

I love watching endless hours of my favorite YouTubers.

I love salty food.

I love cuddling up in front of a roaring fire.

I love ear muffs.

I love having endless conversations with the love of my life.

..

……….

………………….

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..

Until next time,

Ines xoxo

Loreal true match review

photo courtesy of beautygala.com

I've been using L'Oreal True Match (W6) for a little over a year now so I've really gotten the chance to test out this product.

I originally went for it because Nicole Guerriero raved about in on her youtube channel, along with some of my other favorites. 

Prior to purchasing this product I had used the Madeline mineralized loose powder foundation and repurchased several times.

But, I wanted to try a new brand and formula. So I went with this one.

Since the very first day it has not disappointed. 

It has the smoothest application whether you use a brush, beauty blender or your fingers.

Check out my video here, 

where I teach you how to apply this liquid foundation with a beauty blender. 

I notice that the foundation doe oxidize over the first hour. 

But, the oxidization works to my advantage as I feel like the pigments change to match my skin tone more consistently. 

Regardless if I put on a very thin layer, or build up the coverage with several layers, it's never caked on my face. 

I'm naturally oily in the T-zone so I have to set it with a setting spray. 

It doesn't rub off onto other peoples clothes, which is important to me because I always greet and say good bye to friends and family with a hug. 

The foundation is liquify, where is you apply a drop to the top of your hand, it will slide around, but this formula makes it so that you don't have to work it into the skin too fast. 

It does take a few minutes to dry, but once it dries, it's flawless. 

It does a great job on covering up my redness and veins, and even my acne scares and other imperfections. 

After doing a little research on the website, I've found out that there are 33 shade.

Color options run from extremely fair skinned all the way to the totally opposite end of the spectrum.

L'Oreal has made selecting your correct shade of foundation a little easier by offering 

the foundations in Cool, Neural and Warm Tones, too

Learn more about L'Oreal True Match here.

All in all, I love this foundation. 

Now, it's my holy grail product and I don't leave home without it!

It's everything you hope a foundation to be. 

I would 100% recommend this product to everyone.

It's a must have in any makeup-lover's collection

Enjoy!

Until next time, 

xoxo Ines

What to pack for a caribbean cruise:

Last May 2013, I had the pleasure of going on my first cruise. 

We went to the Caribbean and it was amazing. 

I ended up over packing, but I'd rather be safe than sorry!

My advice however, is pack what you can in a carry on, like shoes and bulky/heavy items and then pack the toiletries and remaining clothes in your checked luggage. This allows you to avoid the 50 lb mark on the way there if you take a plane, and it also allows you more space/weight for souvenirs when you return home. 

I ended up packing more things to put over my bikini than I needed. Really all you need is either one pair of shorts and tank top/cover up just for the pool, and one for when you go to the beaches while docked in the port-of-calls. 

Because I was on a huge ship, and because we would go to the beach early and come back in the afternoon, I had a lot of time to explore the boat. this is when I would wear a cuter outfit. I didn't always want to be in a wet bathing suit and you don't want to spend time in your small state room. I brought interchangeable pieces that I would walk around deck with. 

I ended up bringing two sweaters and a wind breaker. I could have done without the sweaters. Even the one day it rained at sea, it was SO HOT!

So here's a rough list of what I would pack for my next Caribbean Cruise:

3 bikinis

1 Cover Up

3 Jean Shorts

1 Yoga Shorts

1 Yoga Pants

1 Windbreaker

2 Crop Tops

3 Knit Tank Tops

Flip Flips

Lots of hair elastics

Big tote bag for the beach

Toiletries

2 heels for dinner

3 formal dresses

5 semi formal (you want a backup of two)

underwear and those types of things

My own blow dryer! 

My own sunscreen. Two bottles. SPF 30+

2 Books for the beach

*extra batteries

*camera

*extra memory card

*phone charger - picture backup (CANT USE *PHONE! turn off at sea, so roaming is not activated.)

No Sneakers

No Towel - they have tons on the boat

No Jeans

No Sweater

No socks

No leggings

No hats

Enjoy your cruise and don't forget to comment if you have suggestions!

Until next time, 

Ines xoxo

My Favorite Top Coat

I've always enjoyed doing my nails. 

I think it's because up until highschool I wasn't allowed to wear nail polish. 

Now that I'm older and have the extra money, I can afford higher end products. 

Don't get me wrong, my favorite polish will forever be #920 "24/7" from Sinful Colors, but when you're limited by price, you're also limited by brand and quality. 

Thus began my search for a beautiful top coat! 

I wanted something ultra shiny, but also something that would help dry out the color polish, too.

My problem was that I would always paint my nails before bed. 

I'd wakeup with sheet marks and smudges all over them. It would take forever for the polish to dry!

I tried searching blogs, google articles and YouTube videos. 

I was more successful at watching my favorite beauty gurus on YouTube. 

While I was doing my research, I also learned a lot about nail care and other fantastic products to include in your manicures!

These videos were the most helpful! 

Click play to watch them.

And so, I narrowed down my search to Seche Vite and Essie's Good To Go.

I ordered both of them off amazon and they came within a week.

To test them out, I decided to choose one color that I found difficult to work with. 

The meant that it was a thick formula, took a long time to dry, and sometimes left air bubbles.

So I used Seche Vite on one hand and Essie's on the other hand. 

Over the course of one week I started to notice a difference.

Seche Vite was super shiny, and I liked that even though the polish was applied in a gloppy way, it totally even and smoothed it out.

I also noticed that within ten minutes my nails were COMPLETELY dried!

I did notice, however that this top coat was thick.

After using it a few times I had to buy the restore: Add 2-3 drops to liquify it again.

Seche Vite

$9.95 @ Ulta.com

Essie Good To Go also had a shiny finish and smoothed the nail polish.

However, it was not as good as Seche Vite.

It took a little longer for me to notice totally dried nails, too. About 15 minutes.

What was awesome with the Essie formula was how thin and easy to work with it was.

You don't have to work as fast as when you use Seche Vite and you don't have to apply as much!  

Essie 

$8.50 @ Essie.com

All in all, if I had to pick one as my favorite and the other as my backup, 

Seche Vite takes the blue Ribbon.

I love the shininess, how fast it dries, how it smooths out all imperfections and how my nail feel when they are all completely dried. 

Although it does get gluppy and thick and you to purchase the restore solution, it's totally worth it. 

Sometimes you can even find the combo on Amazon for the same price as the Essie Polish.

And don't get me wrong, to the untrained eye, Essie looks exactly the same as Seche Vite.

But to me, someone who loves nail polish to an unhealthy extent, the finish and formula fall just short of first place.

If you find this article helpful, please share and +1 so that others can find their perfect top coats too!

Until next time, 

Ines xoxo