Liking It Rough

Ms. New Beauty is really not one for the roughness of modern life. She prefers things soft and gentle. She simple adores her uber-soft high thread count sheets. She consistently wears an almost neon pink sweatshirt because the inside is as soft as egyptian cotton. And, MNB does not go for those harsh physical assaults that some spas call a massage. She'd much rather have a gentle rub down with hot stones placed strategically on her back and limbs. But, there is one place where Ms. New Beauty likes it rough. (No, not the bedroom, all you Filthy McNasties). MNB likes a little roughness from her scrubs. She fell in love with a rough body scrub when she had an authentic Tunisian gommage that made her skin feel as if it was being sandpapered off during the procedure and then instantly clean and softened after it was over. Since then, she's always taken pleasure in a rough body scrub in the shower. With the temperatures changing and wintertime dry skin just around the corner, Ms. New Beauty is in the market for an expanded repertoire of rough but just gentle enough body scrubs. Sadly, the last one she tried just isn't going to cut it.

Boots Mediterranean Olive, Bergamot & Walnut Body Scrub

I picked this up at Target about a month ago when I was there scoping out the Alice Temperly Collection. The price was so low and the jar was so big that I just knew it was going to become my new favorite shower staple. Whenever the weather turns cold, I always like to have a good body scrub in the shower to help exfoliate that dead, dry skin that often turns itchy. I typically go for a sugar or salt scrub with an oil based, like my lovely Brown Sugar Body Polish, but this one had me intrigued. With a base of creamy moisturizing olive, bergamot and walnut oils, I thought it could get the same job done for a lot less money. I was wrong.

The first thing that turned me off once I got this home was the texture. Initially the creamy texture made me think this would be like an in-shower lotion and body scrub all in one. Wrong. This scrub is really, really runny. It's way too runny to be in a big tub like this and would be better suited for a squeeze bottle. When I first used it, it ends up splattered all over my tub. Given it's pale yellowish-green color and brown scrubbing particles, it really looks like I've come down with a mid-shower case of the flu and vomited all over my tub. But, the worst part is that the scrubby particles meant to exfoliate are far too fine and far too few. I generally like big exfoliators that I can see, but I'll use a finer formula if it gets the job done. This does not because there really aren't enough particles here to exfoliate your body well. This really wouldn't even do much for your face either. This scrub isn't even as good as trusty old St. Ives Apricot Scrub. Boots needs to at least double or triple the amount of scrubbers in the formula for it to really have any impact. You can get a better exfoliation by rubbing yourself down with a loofah than you can get from this.

I'm not heartbroken that this was disappointing, but next time I'll surely spend my ten bucks on something that will make me happy, like the new L'Oreal H.I.P. Color Truth Cream Eyeliner in Purple or Navy.

$9.99, available at Target and CVS.


Save your money for something's that rough just the way you like it, and get your mind out of the gutter, but just don't forget that Ms. New Beauty told you!

P.S. There's still time to sign up to win a ridiculous amount of M.A.C. goodies from the Holiday Collections, so don't forget to enter for your chance to win.

Hand It Over

One of Ms. New Beauty's favorite people on earth, her Partner in Crime, is about to turn 25. It's going to be a glorious celebration in Las Vegas replete with late nights, ignorant amounts of champagne, lots of short skirts and long legs, and one pair of fabulous Chanel shoes. MNB is quite excited to take part in the festivities especially since her Partner in Crime's birthday is the day before New Year's Eve. But in thinking about her friend turning 25, MNB came to the realization that this event means she'll soon be turning 25 too, since their birthdays are only about a month apart. For a beauty junkie like MNB, turning 25 means only that now she will officially fall within the target market for anti-aging skin care products and treatments. Now, Ms. New Beauty knows that she doesn't quite need wrinkle cream yet. Mama New Beauty still looks 10-15 years younger than she is, so MNB knows that her face won't be cracking any time soon. What she was surprised to learn is that her hands may not be so lucky. Since her hands have been wrinkled since birth, Ms. New Beauty can only imagine what they will look like once the signs of aging add to what genetics has already done. Not one to lay down and give up without a fight, MNB is taking matters into her own, for lack of a better word, hands.

Freeze 24-7 IceCrystals Anti-Aging Prep and Polish

Most anti-aging skin care products are far too rich and emollient for my face. My skin tends to be dry on my body and annoyingly oily on my face. So wrinkle creams and cleansers often make me break out. But, I recently learned that those creams that my face can't handle my body will readily drink up. So, I've been using traditional face creams on my hands and I'm quite happy with the results.

IceCrystals Prep and Polish is one of the scrubbiest exfoliants I have ever tried. The particles are small and fine but ridiculously powerful at their task. They scrub, scrub, scrub to get rid of layers or dead, dry skin without being too harsh or abrasive. What I really love about this scrub and what sets it apart from others I've tried is that it's creamy and moisturizing without being greasy. Many body scrubs are just way too oily to be effective for the hands. Unlike the skin on our bodies that really doesn't have much to do once we get dressed, your hands are constantly at work. And, anyone who's ever tried to open a door after applying a greasy lotion learned this lesson the hard way. IceCrystals is special in that it gives you the level of moisture you want and need in the most ingenious way. Within the scrub are encapsulated beads of jojoba oil. The beads help to exfoliate and during the course of the wash, they burst and leave behind soothing moisture. If you use it on your face, the jojoba beads actually let you skip your moisturizer afterwards. And, because this is an anti-aging product, it actually helps to reduce age and liver spots so your hands look younger.

$65, available at Freeze247.com

Freeze 24-7 IceCream Double Scoop Smoothing Anti-Aging Moisturizer

After I'm done giving my hands their nightly scrub down before bed, I like to follow with this thick, rich moisturizer. This also is traditionally meant to be used on your face but I love the way it makes my hands feel. It's thick but sinks right in. It's rich but not the slightest bit greasy. I had been using Creme de La Mer on my hands right before bed, but I found that a little too greasy for me. (So, I'm using it on my feet instead. How ridiculously indulgent of me!) When I wake up in the morning, my persistently dry hands are softer and smoother and feel glorious.

Since the weather is changing, I've noticed that certain parts of my face are drier than normal, particularly right around my nose and mouth. So, I've also been putting on just a touch after my normal moisturizer has had a chance to sink in and absorb. All that dry tightness is gone but this doesn't make me any oilier. I really love that because any girl with oily skin will tell you that eradicating any bit of excess oil or shine in products or on your face quickly becomes your life's mission. I also have to admit that I get a bit of an Erica Kane rush of glamour by displaying a luxury face cream on my night stand and say "oh that, it's just for my hands" when friends ask what it is.

$105, available at Freeze247.com

Neutrogena Illuminating Whip Moisturizer with SPF 20

The last part of my Young Fingers Forever trifecta was going to be a face cream with SPF that I can carry with me and use on my hands throughout the day. I am constantly washing my hands (germaphobe + small bladder = hands washed at least 15 times a day) and all that soap and water is really drying. Plus, I know that sun ages skin more than anything else and my hands are the one part of my body that is always unprotected and exposed to sun damage. The commercials for this product really got me excited, enough so that I scoured three drugstores looking for it. When I finally found it, I was in love with the texture. It's so light and whipped that it feels like applying some kind of moisturizing frosting to your hands. The jar is a little big for toting around, but I figured that I carry enough other crap in my purse all day that one more thing won't hurt. Well, I really have no need to carry it with me anymore because it only took one day to leave me unimpressed.

Now, the first word of the product's name is Illuminating, so that should have been a tip off for me. But, after reading it, I didn't think that illuminating meant tons of shimmery gold sparkles more fit for a disco than daytime wear. After I put this on, I looked down to find the palms of my hands almost completely shining with gold. I know that it's supposed to add radiance, but this much shimmer is a little too much. I thought maybe the effect was harsh just because it was on my hands, but I was similarly unimpressed after trying it on my face. The shimmer is more obvious than it ought to be and just not right to be used all over as a sunscreen. This would be better suited as highlighting cream for certain spots only. I also hate the smell. When you open the jar, it's overly perfumey and enough to send anyone with allergies into a fit of sneezing and headaches. Plus, I found that something in the formula reacted with the silver of my ring to produce a really horrible aroma. It's a nice idea in theory, but definitely needs more work to be a product worth investing in.

About $14.99, availabe at drugstores


Keep time off your hands, and be a little indulgent in the process, but remember that Ms. New Beauty told you!

P.S. If you haven't already, sign up for the M.A.C. Holiday Collection giveaway. Don't let all that goodness go to somebody else.

Blending In

Ms. New Beauty had a weird day yesterday. She was tired but she wasn't sleepy. She felt like a cold was coming on, but she wasn't congested. She was hungry but didn't know what she wanted to eat. She was thirsty but barely drank her favorite bottle water. MNB actually sat at her desk having to use the bathroom for an hour before she finally got up to do it. It was just a weird icky day. So, when the clock finally struck quitting time, she headed to the only place that could make her feel better - the Beauty Basement at Bergdorf Goodman. The fact that she works on the same block as BG is both a gift and a curse for Ms. New Beauty. She can head there for quick purchases whenever she needs to or she can be drawn in by the powerful magnetic shoppers field that emanates from the building and run up her credit cards. MNB had been good about avoiding the store for the past few weeks, but yesterday she knew that's where she need to go and she knew exactly what she needed to get.

Prescriptives Custom Blend Foundation

I've been a fan of Prescriptives just about all my life. As a child, the only one of her perfumes that my mother would let me wear was Calyx, the sweetest fruitiest scent that's just perfect for a 10 year old heading to church on Sunday. It's always been a brand that I've respected and since the changeover from summer to fall always mandates a new foundation for me, I knew I'd give this a try. Recently, Beauty Bloggerville (which, of course, is the mystical land where all beauty bloggers reside) has been all aflutter and atwitter about Prescriptives Custom Blended Foundation. I've read reviews by some of my faves, like Tia Williams and the Beauty Snobs, that just gushed about the wonders of this foundation. Normally, I try to offer up reviews on products that haven't been reviewed a bunch of times before. I figure there's only so many times a person needs to read that Rosebud Salve works on dry lips. So, I was going to just get my foundation and post about something else. But, I just had to write my own review because it was just so beautiful on me!

At Bergdorf's, Jason was my mix master. After talking with him, I realized that he's also the mix master that Julia and Nichelle went to. All it took was a quick swipe to determine my undertones, though I suspect he knew my base color as soon as he saw me, and then he started mixing up my foundation. I expected some kind of scanning device to spit out an exact formula for him (didn't Prescriptives used to do that back in the day?). But he after he determined my correct base, he mixed my foundation by hand. He asked me what coverage level I'd like (sheer for me) and what additives would be best. I went with the mattifying shine absorber to complement the already oil-free formula since my skin gets oilier as the day goes on. He then added a bunch of different things and some colors that I never would have expected, like mustard yellow and ketchup red. I was certain that he would have to go back and tweak it to get things just right. My mind was thinking "come on, there's no way this'll match on the first try." But it did!

Once he shook the bottle and blended all the colors together, it went on seamlessly. It matched my skin perfectly! And when I say perfect, I mean PER-FECT. Not that "well this blends well enough because no one foundation is invisible" kind of perfect that we've started expecting from products that underperform. This was the "I'm sitting under the lighting on Oprah" perfect. You know that Oprah has the right lights and filters so everyone on her show looks amazing and ten years younger. That's what I looked like, but it real life. It's like I have my own personal airbrusher and photoshop whiz following me around and editing out the discoloration, the post-acne scars, the dark circles, the everything that's standing in between me and skin perfection.

The Custom Blend foundation automatically comes with a travel size bottle of your formula so that you can take it with you where ever you go. And, once the service is done, they keep your recipe on file so that you can get refills with ease. They can also use your foundation recipe to mix up all-over face concealers and powders to give you a complete regimen. The price is higher than most foundations, but it is well worth it.

$62, available at Prescriptives counters.


Look like you're under those Oprah lights all day, every day, and remember to sign up for the M.A.C. Holiday Collections Giveaway, but just don't forget that Ms. New Beauty told you!

Take Your Baggage

Ms. New Beauty has always felt a real connection with the elderly. She loves to spend a lazy afternoon with a person of a certain age soaking up that wisdom and insight that only comes from having lived quite a long time. As a child, MNB spent almost every weekend with her grandmother, just asking questions like "Mom mom, why they do that?" and listening to the thoughtfulness of the response. The one thing that Ms. New Beauty has always loved about the elderly is the seemingly bottomless pit of platitudes that they all seem to have. Those simple sayings always make her laugh. A response to stay out past 10 met with a "ain't nothing open that late but 7-11 and legs!" will make Ms. New Beauty crack up on the spot. And, she carries the sageness of "when you see crazy walking towards you, cross the street" with her everyday. One of her favorites though is "when you put the devil out, make him take his baggage." It's so simple on its face, but much more profound after some consideration. MNB never thought this saying would relate to her skin care issues, but she's found that as a brown girl who gets a pimple that lasts for two day followed by a scar that lasts for two years, it's come in quite handy. She'd found the ways to get rid of her acne and now she's searching for the products that will get rid of the baggage those horrible blemishes left behind.

DERMAdoctor Immaculate Correction

There's been a big debate lately about the use of hydroquinone in cosmetics. One study showed that the chemical is a carcinogen and led the EU to ban its use and the FDA may be following suit. This has led to a big backlash from dermatologists claiming that people who use it in beauty products will not be applying it in levels high enough to cause cancer. The derms seem quite adamant about protecting the use of hydroquinone in over the counter skin treatments. Now, I'm nobody's doctor or scientist, so I'm not about to analyze each side for the merits of their arguments. But, it's enough for me that hydroquinone was carcinogenic under any condition. Whether a study can support it or not, I do believe that what you put on your body will eventually end up in your body. So, I spent a lot of time wandering around Sephora looking for a hydroquinone-free treatment to combat the post-acne scars that I have.

What I ended up getting is this and I've been very impressed with the results so far. The package suggests that optimal results will take 6-12 months, but I swear a pimple scar I have above my lip is getting lighter already. The day before my sister's wedding, I felt a pimple coming up so I tried to pop it in a preemptive strike. It didn't come up and look horrible on my face for the wedding, but in the days after I had a huge scab and following that, a very dark scar. Since then, I've been applying Immaculate Correction every morning and evening to the spot and it's getting lighter by the day. But, that may just be me, you definitely have to give skin lighteners at least a month or two to judge the results.

$62, available at Sephora


Bliss Sleeping Peel Liver Spot Lifter

This peel is intended for age spots and sun spots and not necessarily post-acne scars. But, I figured melanin is melanin so it should work. Wrong. This has been sitting in my medicine cabinet for months. When I first bought it, I slavishly applied it to my dark spots every night before. And, every morning I woke up and did not see one bit of progress. I don't know if there truly is a difference between dark spots caused by different skin damage, but this just did nothing for me. And, for the price, I need it to do something besides take up space in my already crowded bathroom. I also found the texture a little too runny and watery. With one pump, it became a race against time to get the serum onto my face before it all ran through my fingers and into the sink. All in all, nothing about this impressed me. Luckily, I bought it at Sephora, so I can take it back and treat myself to something else. Save your money on this one girls.

$52, available at Sephora


Neutrogena Advanced Solutions Acne Mark Fading Peel

Unlike most post-acne treatments, this is an exfoliant and not a skin lightener. This is a salicylic acid based peel that gently exfoliates your skin to leave it smoother and clearer. Over time, all that exfoliationg brings the dark spots up to the surface and then off of your face. Although the smell is a little weird to me (not bad, just weird), I really do enjoy using this on my face. It leaves my skin so soft and smooth afterwards and makes the perfect little at home skin indulgence. Plus, it really does help clear those marks up. Using this in tandem with the DERMAdoctor has left me needing less and less on the spot concealer in the morning.

About $14.99, available at drugstores.


Rx For Brown Skin Naturally Flawless Advanced Botanical Brightener

I wish I could give you a full review of this product, but I can't. And, here's why. As a Philly girl, I was so excited when this line launched at Sephora. Dr. Susan Taylor is a Philadelphia dermatologist and basically the first doctor to pay any attention to the special needs of skin of color. Before her, cosmetic companies didn't differentiate or even recognize the skin issues that are specific to women of color. She changed all that.

So, I went into the Center City Philadelphia Sephora, which I must note is about three blocks from Dr. Taylor's offices, looking for this line to try it and support. And, it was nowhere to be found. Not sold out, not out of stock, they just don't carry it. Considering that Rx for Brown Skin is a Sephora-exclusive line, Philadelphia is a city full of women with brown skin, and like I said, the store is right near Dr. Taylor's office, there's only one word that I can use to describe this situation - Travesty!!!! So, I can't review this product yet and it's all the Chestnut Street Sephora's fault. Hopefully, I'll be able to grab one in New York with no problem.

$34, available at Sephora (well, at least it's supposed to be)


Put your acne out, and get rid of its baggage too, just don't forget that Ms. New Beauty told you!

And, make sure you don't forget to sign up for the M.A.C. Holiday Collection giveaway! It's too much goodness to miss.

Tis The Season

The holiday season is finally upon and Ms. New Beauty couldn't be happier! She's looking forward to the big family gatherings with so much food that she'll either have to wear pants with an elastic waistband or a long tunic to conceal her undone top button. She cannot wait to hit the stores and start shopping for perfect presents. And, her favorite part is heading out to pick out a Christmas tree and then coming home to decorate it. Now, she knows you're thinking - "MNB it was just Halloween, it really tisn't the season!" Well, for Ms. New Beauty, as soon as Macy's hangs up those red and gold garlands, the holiday season is here. And, MNB knows she's been a little MIA lately, so she definitely wants to start celebrating early by giving back and showering New Beauties with gifts. That's right, just like any other absentee relative, Ms. New Beauty is planning to make up for neglecting you and buy back your love with a big old gift!!!! MNB is packing her present box with all kinds of goodies from the M.A.C. Holiday Collections and she's giving them away! Read below to see just what you could get and what you have to do to win.

The M.A.C. Holiday Collections

Finery

These lipcolors are just so perfect for day and even better for night. It took a lot of real selflessness to part with them but I had to. My cup, and the lip color sections of my makeup case, runneth over. But you can enjoy these four petite purses each filled with three lipcolors in Plum, Coral, Tan or Pink color schemes.

$32 each

Curiositease

Curiositease is a collection of five unique canisters filled with your M.A.C. favorites - Lipglass, Lustreglass, Plushglass, Pigments and SoftSparkle Eye Pencils. These would make perfect gifts for any fab lady in your life because they come in the prettiest packaging and all of the colors are so flattering.


$29.50 each

Viva Glamourous

Viva Glamourous is the special holiday edition of M.A.C.'s best selling and charity giving lip color - Viva Glam. As part of the giveaway, you'll get three cool toned shades of M.A.C.'s signature Viva Glam lip colors in a beautiful burgundy compact that benefits that M.A.C. Aids Fund.

$22.50

Heirlooms

The tools of the trade can really make a difference between a sultry and sexy smokey eye and looking like you got your ass kicked for trying to hold onto your lunch money at the jungle gym. Heirloom will make sure the former is in your future with this metallic clutch purse filled with five basic beauty brush essentials.

$48

Royal Assets

Now, we all know how much a sucker I am for pretty packaging. These metal compacts look like something passed down to you by your dear great-great-Aunt Margaret (because aren't great aunts always named Margaret?). The giftbox will include three eye palettes featuring six shades each in Cool, Warm, and Smokey shades and three lip palettes featuring three shades each in Coral, Red, and Pink shades.

$36 each for the eye palettes and $22.50 each for the lip palettes

So far, that's a retail value of over $500! And, that's not counting some other M.A.C. goodies I'm including from the Antiquitease collection and a few from this season's Smoke Signals collection. These holiday collections are beautiful to look at, beautiful to wear, and make beautiful gifts. You'll definitely want to win this one.

The rules couldn't be simpler - just sign up for an email subscription on the sidebar to the right. That's all you have to do. And, if you're already a Ms. New Beauty subscriber, you'll be automatically entered to win. The only stipulation is that if you've won a previous Ms. New Beauty giveaway within the past 12 months, you won't be eligible for this one. Gotta give everyone a fair shot to win. I'll be announcing the winner on November 30 so you have between now and 11:59 pm on November 29 to enter to win.


Enter to win, and remember that you always get more by giving away, and never forget that Ms. New Beauty told you!

Looking for a Master Plan

Ms. New Beauty has a pretty standard routine when it comes to checking her email. First, she checks the personal and chats back and forth with the girls about whatever random goings on are taking place in their lives. Next, it's the spam mail. Ms. New Beauty has one email address dedicated to all of her online purchasing, banking and mailing lists. Life is so much easier when all the spam is grouped together and not getting mixed in with messages that are actually important. Finally, she checks the Ms. New Beauty address. Most times, she gets messages from publicists about the newest products coming out or emails from other member of the fabulous Beauty Blog Network about the latest innovations in beauty blogging. This week, she got a message from a New Beauty in need of a little help and the perfect issue to tackle in this installment of Ask Ms. New Beauty.

Ok Ms. New Beauty here is the dilemma.

I am a 26 year old woman who has never understood the complexities of makeup. I don't know how to use it, how to apply it, what brushes to use, etc. You must be asking "How could you have made is so far in life without learning these skills?" I honestly don't know. Anywhoo, I am in the process of giving myself an image makeover (think tomboy to girly girl as seen on any generic makeover show.) I am starting a new career, and this is one of the final touches. Right now I just need to understand the basics. Are there any tips you can give me or books you can recommend? Thanks in advance.

Makeup Master(Less)

First things first, no one is born knowing all the intricacies of cosmetics. Some of us just start a little earlier than others. Take me for example, by age 10, I was preening around the house in my mother's red lipstick and begging her to let me wear one of her wigs to school. The kitchen was about as far as I got, as this picture proves. But other New Beauties don't hit their makeup stride until much later, and there's not a damn thing wrong with that.


In an effort to keep this post from blowing up into a full grown treatise (which could easily happen since I have the day off), I'm going to consolidate the answer into just the basics that any woman needs to get started and the books that can help her on her way.

Reading Material

When I first heard that the editors of Allure, the first magazine truly dedicated to beauty, were publishing a book, I was elated. I rushed out to the store, purchased Confessions of a Beauty Editor and then came home and blogged about it. I thoroughly recommend this book, and a subscription to Allure, as a great primer on the basics of makeup. It'll take you through starting a skincare regimen (which is the most important step because glowing skin makes makeup so simple) and then how to apply and use a myriad of cosmetics.

For women of color, I really think you should complement your beauty library with The Beauty of Color by Iman. It gives you the same primer through skincare and cosmetics application, but does so with a focus on the special needs that brown skin can have like finding a foundation that doesn't look ashy or picking out the right red for your lips.

Both about $15, available at bookstores

The Great Triumvirate of Cosmetics

Now that you've learned about all the beauty options available to you by reading, let me boil it down and give you the bottom line. There are three beauty products that will take care of 99% of your cosmetic needs. And here they are - Foundation, Mascara and Blush. These three couldn't be easier to get and to get right.

Foundation

Here is the one area where I will always recommend paying for the better brands, especially for women of color. Drugstore brands don't let you test the color or coverage and for women of color, the pickings are normally pretty slim. Most brands only offer three shades for brown skin and some don't even offer that. So, head to the nicest department store in your area and go to a beauty counter to find the right foundation for you. The brands that offer the best options for women of all skin tone are MAC, BECCA, and Prescriptives. MAC and BECCA have enough shades to make your brain boggle so you'll definitely find the one that's a perfect match for you. Prescriptives offers the fabulous color matching service that allows you to perfectly customize any foundation to match your color and lets you add in any number of skin soothing benefits.

About $25-40, at better department stores.

Mascara

To start, all you need is Maybelline Great Lash. The formula is thin enough not to clump but still thick enough to give your lashes a boost. This is a basic mascara formula that will let you see exactly what kind of lashes you are working with. Use this and you might find it does every thing you need it to do. Or, you might find you want a little more and move on to another mascara that focuses on volumizing, lengthening, or reaching the teeniest tiniest lashes. And, the best part is you can always find a great mascara in the drugstore for no more than a few bucks.

About $5, available at drugstores

Blush

Blush adds just the right hint of color to your face to keep things from being boring. And, when it comes to blush for novices and vets, I just have three words - Tarte. Cheek. Stain. I just blogged about this last week and here I am again. But that's because it really is just perfect. This is the easiest blush to ever use. You literally just dab it on your cheeks for the sheerest most natural color. Flush truly works for every woman of every shade. It's a deep raspberry red that is ridiculously sheer. A few dabs and you look like you've been giggling with your girlfriends.

$28, available at Sephora


You might me thinking, but MNB "you left out my lips." I didn't. There are no rules for lipgloss. Buy whatever shades you love and make you feel pretty, whether they cost $2 or $20. And there you have everything get your Geek-to-Chic/Stacey & Clinton/Tim & Veronica full fab girly makeover on.

Go ahead, make yourself over into whatever you want to be, just don't forget that Ms. New Beauty told you!

Gimme, Gimme More

Ms. New Beauty has been getting a lot of feedback lately about nail color trends for fall. A few weeks ago, MNB definitively declared the black nail trend of last fall dead, dead, dead. It's been done, it's over, let it go, move on. In the meantime, New Beauties have been asking her "if not black, then what?" The beautiful blue shade from M.A.C. that Ms. New Beauty raved about was part of a limited edition collection and sold out faster that Spice Girls Reunion Tour tickets. Other New Beauties have complained that dark blue nails are no better off in their conservative workplaces than the black tips of seasons past. They need something traditional enough to avoid the ire of stuffy higher-ups but still trendy enough to let other women in the know see that the latest beauty styles have not escaped them. Basically, the New Beauties are singing like Britney and need MNB to offer up more nail options for this fall. Well, Ms. New Beauty aims to please, so she's giving you more shades to suit more tastes.

Sally Hansen Salon in Cerise Noir

This shade is perfect for New Beauties who can't sacrifice a 9-to-5 for their nails. Rest assured, you can still stay on trend and be perfectly corporate acceptable. Cerise Noir is a deep burgundy brown shade. It's deeper and darker than your average burgundy and more interesting than most chocolate browns. And, it's a hue that will flatter a variety of skin tones. Unlike a lot of dark nail polishes, this will work on the fairest and the darkest complexions. Some of the other shades of dark polish look good on fair fingers, but some ebony-hued New Beauties can't pull that look off.

The best part is that this shade is still all occasion appropriate. It's not so far out there that it would stand out in an office or conservative environment. It's close enough to the original shades to be comfortable, yet dark enough to still be on trend and fashionable. I wore this on my toes to my sister's wedding last weekend and it fit right in. Lucky me that her colors were shades of brown, so it blended beautifully. I actually got a few compliments from people who noticed it peeking out beneath the layers of chiffon on my dress.

Everything in this post is about $5, available at drugstores

OPI in Russian Navy

Like I told you before, this season blue is the new black. Beautiful navy nails are going to be everywhere this fall, which means beautiful navy nail polishes are disappearing off of store shelves quickly. M.A.C.'s Whirlwind is already sold out and going for more than twice the retail price on eBay. So, it's time to find replacement shades that will still achieve the interesting indigo look.

Enter OPI in Russian Navy. Part of the Russian Collection, Navy is a deep, midnight blue that will look beautiful when painted on. It is still as interesting as other dark polishes, but has a deep inky, almost purple feel to it. This will perfectly complement all of the charcoal clothes that you will no doubt be wearing this season. Just a touch of navy like this can keep gray from going dowdy, which is gray is oft prone to do.

This shade is getting a lot of hype around it, so scoop it up if you see it otherwise someone else will. Just in case you can't find it, also keep your eyes open for Sally Hansen Salon in After Midnight. The shades are quite similar and achieve the same look.

OPI in Lincoln Park at Midnight

OPI has done it again so they get two hits on this post. Lincoln Park at Midnight is this season's update on last fall's tremendous Lincoln Park After Dark. This keeps all the mysterious beauty of the original deep purple shade, but takes it up a notch. It's deliciously dark but softer and more feminine than deep blue shades.

What I love best about this shade is that it is a more red-based, as opposed to blue-based purple. That means that it will complement a lot more skin tones, especially my beautiful New Beauties with the darkest ebony and mahogany complexions. Sometimes, dark blues and grays don't read well on dark fingers. The contrast that makes this nail trend so beautiful isn't there and it just looks, for lack of a better words, bad. But this shade will actually complement darker skin tones. The purple will pick up on the undertones of your brown skin and look fabulous. If you have a little more leeway at your job, you can probably get away with this one at work too. Though, I would save this for relaxed offices or more creative industries.



Satisfy your cravings for dark nails with even more options, and know that MNB tries her best to address your concerns, but don't forget that Ms. New Beauty told you!