My Favorites for Hair, Lips, & Nails

Hi friends, so a few days ago on our live video for Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler I asked you if you would like for me to share any of my beauty tips/tricks. Several of you let me know that you would like for me to let you in on a few of My Favorites for Hair, Lips, & Nails. So, I gathered up a few and thought I would share this first edition with you today. With each of us sheltering safe at home away from our favorite beauty guru these products are some of my favorite “get me to my next appointment” items.

Hair

We can start with hair. If you are young enough or genetically blessed enough to not have any grey then “Bless Your Heart My Sweet Friend.” The rest of us are in some form of counting the minutes until we can go see our stylist again! Until then my friends, let me share with you my favorite remedy. It is called L’Oreal Paris Magic Root Cover Up. Amazon has a great price with Prime free shipping of $7.89. I use the Medium Brown shade. It is a temporary grey concealer spray. It does not affect the color of your hair or what your stylist will do when you get to go back in the future. I use it sparingly, just on my natural part and around my face.

While we are on hair, I wanted to share with you another favorite product of mine. And this is not just a quarantine favorite. This is every week favorite, Batiste Dry Shampoo. I often buy the Tropical scent so I can pretend I am at the beach. However, I have used several different scents and never found one to be offensive. And just so you know this spray does not leave a white powderdy residue in my hair. You spray your scalp, rub it in, and brush your hair. I don’t know about you, but hair day is an ordeal for me. So, I use dry shampoo as a way to freshen up between shampoos. I have tried so many different brands, scents, price ranges and Batiste is still my fav! I found a three pack of Batiste Tropical on Amazon for $18.69 with Prime Shipping.

Lips

Now if you get me started on my favorite beauty products, we could possibly be here all day. HAHAHAHA! I did want to mention two of my favorite lip products just in case you ever wanted to try them. Both of them have been trusted favorites of mine for years! The first is Revlon Colorstay Lip Liner. I usually use either Mauve or Nude shades. (I prefer the Mauve with my favorite KVD lipstick below). Now I am to the point that I am looking to paint my face and move on. My experience with Revlon Colorstay is that it will last all day and does not bleed onto my face. It also keeps my lipstick in place. And at this point in life that is the goal!

Another one of My Favorites for Hair, Lips, & Nails is Kat Von D’s Everlasting Liquid Lipstick. (my very most favorite color is Double Dare). This is a long wear, liquid lipstick with a matte finish. I have tried DOZENS AND DOZENS of these types of products. And this is my favorite! I can apply this in the early morning and forget it. It is not sticky or too dry. I can even apply a lipgloss over it and it doesn’t slide all over my face.

Nails

Now I have done my own nails for years. It has honestly been a “girl math” kind of thing. My theory has been this. If I save money doing my own nails it is easier to justify having my hair done at the salon. (insert cute emoji here). I have had almost every type of process done to my nails at some point. I have had acrylic, dip, traditional manicures, and pedicures. And I have had to deal with the condition of my nails after some of these more permanent treatments.

Healing Damaged Nails

When my nails have been damaged, I have used several different products from Nailtiques to repair/heal/patch up the damage. I had the most success with Nailtiques formula 2 PLUS. It is recommended for severely damaged nails after removing acrylics or dip nail treatments. They have several different formulas depending on what your particular problem is. So, reading the description for each formula is helpful to decide which one is best for your issue. I have had great success with this line of products after removing both acrylics and dip nail treatments.

Beautiful Polish at Home

As for my favorite polish for natural nails. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the OPI Infinite Shine Series of products. It is a three-step system that involves a base coat, 2 coats of color, and 1 coat of top coat. The amazing part of all of that is it all dries to a beautiful shine in about 25-30 minutes and lasts up to 14 days. The metallic or sparkle ones seem to not dry as well. I will say that the solid colors dry better for me. (this is my personal experience) It can be removed with normal non-acetone polish remover.

And It LASTS!

I do all of my normal cooking, cleaning, gardening, home projects, etc. and still get this kind of wear out of it. (I typically don’t wear gloves for much of the listed projects) Amazon has an amazing deal for a set containing OPI Infinite Shine Base Coat & Top Coat. And here is the OPI Infinite Shine Color Polish. Once you click on the link there are several color choices. Please note: if you try Infinite Shine’s line of products always pick the bottles with the SHINY SILVER TOPS! The matte black tops are not Infinite Shine Polish.

Below you will see a photo of my nails after 5 days of cooking, cleaning, hanging a ceiling fan, and gardening. I think they have held up really well with no touch ups.

One last product I wanted to share with you was OPI’s Crystal Nail file. I honestly never thought one particular nail file could make such a difference, but it surely does. My nails are hard, dry, brittle and they peel/split. Some time ago it was recommended to me that I use a crystal nail file because of how fine they are and how they “seal” the edges of your nail when you file them. I don’t know about all of that. I will say that I have a lot less trouble with my nails if I make sure to use this file exclusively. If I have to resort to using any other file my nails get hung on my clothes, tear, peel, and are a general mess. They last forever and you can clean them. Don’t fall for the fakes on Amazon. I did that and threw them away. They are much more coarse and more the texture of an old emory board.