I’ve always been a drugstore nail polish type of gal…but somehow I’ve switched to the a more expensive brand..OPI. Why? Because of the high quality and the fab color selection to choose from!

I finally found the perfect year round color…OPI nail color in Silent Mauvie

Silent Mauvie – a shimmery mauve-toned color can easily be worn from Spring to Winter. A classic color that will not go out of style. Two coats of this polish left my nails chip-free for about a week. I am now a fan of OPI.

Retail Price: $8.50

Where to Buy: ULTA, beauty supply stores, JCPenney Salons

Tip: $8.50 might be a little steep for those on a budget. The best place to buy OPI is at ULTA, they always have promos and you can use coupons.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Product Review: Max Factor High Couture Mascara in Rich Black

• Clump free lashes! – It separated my lashes and did not clump (no tarantula eyes!)
• Lengthened and volumized my lashes
• Easy to reach the hard to reach places – inner and outer corners
• Long lasting
• Inexpensive! – Take that Chanel…

TIP: For extra discounts, check out your Sunday newspaper’s coupon section. I often find MaxFactor coupons.

Popularity: 4% [?]

With Winter looming around the corner, dry hands and feet are unfortunately inevitable. Luckily, we have Bag Balm to save our skin.

Bag Balm, originally used by farmers for the soothing of cow udders and pet owners to soothe “chapped conditions and superficial abrasions” also dubs as an excellent moisturizer for hands/feet for us humans. The active ingredients of Bag Balm are 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate 0.3% (antiseptic) in a petrolatum and lanolin base.

I came across Bag Balm from my sister who works at Costco Pharmacy, brought this home for her dry hands and cracked heels. And it actually works! I recommend applying this over your feet and night with socks and you will wake up with moisturized feet. I only recommend this product to your hands and feet, because it is slightly greasy. Not only does this work wonders, but it’s also dirt cheap too! Keep in mind that this is a no frill product – so don’t expect a fragrant scent. The 10 oz tin that it’s in is huge and will last for a long time. My only gripe about this product is the packaging…it’s not the most sanitary…just be sure to use clean hands before applying this product.

Bag Balm might be my HG hand/feet treatment product.

Retail Price: Approx. $7

Where to buy? drugstores, Costco, petstores and hardware shops

FAB TIP: This might be a difficult to find. The best bet would be to purchase this at Costco’s Pharmacy Counter – it’s the cheapest place – about $3.69. It’s an over the counter product, so you don’t need a prescription.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Can the ingredients in your beauty products be hazardous to your health?

Skin Deep, an online safety database resource for cosmetics and personal care products answers the question. Since the FDA does not require beauty companies to test their products, Skin Deep created a database for consumers like us to take a deeper look at the ingredients in our beauty products. They pair ingredients in our beauty products “against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind.”

To test this out, I pulled a couple companies and products and take a look at what I found…

Score Key: (0-2) Low Hazard, (3-6) Moderate Hazard, (7-10) High Hazard

MAC Studio Fix – 3 (Not too bad…)

MAC Eyeshadow – 6 (55% of their ingredients are not regulated by the FDA)

Everyday Minerals Foundation – 3 (Yay!)

Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo – 8 (Eek! 94% of its ingredients are not regulated by the FDA)

These are just a sample of products that I looked up. This may sound alarming to you, but I would take all this with a grain of salt. Even though FDA doesn’t really regulate beauty products – the more we know, the better consumers we become.

Popularity: 6% [?]