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Swimming, beaching, hiking, biking-- great fun summer activities that wreak havoc on your manicures and pedicures! If you can't get to the nail salon weekly don't fret, there are many ways to keep your fingers and toes fresh and pretty. You don't have to invest in expensive scrubs or lotions either. I rely on a mixture of olive oil/sugar/lemon juice and a tube of Aquaphor-- it is a miracle balm for both hands and feet and will keep your cuticles hydrated until you can get to the nail salon.

Directions: Mix 1 tablespoons of olive oil with 1 tablespoon of sugar (enough for hands and feet) and a few drops of lemon juice in a bowl (if you squeeze fresh lemon, use the remaining lemon rind on your elbows, knees and heel to exfoliate the rough skin patches there).  Step into tub and scrub feet and legs first.  Apply the balance of scrub to hands, scrubbing gently around cuticles.  Rinse well with water.  Your hands and feet should be silky smooth and oh so soft!

Optional: Rinse nails off with a little soap and water to remove oily residue.  Apply clear coat of polish and voila, insta mani/pedi! 

* Beauty Tip:  Apply Aquaphor daily to hands and feet-- even while traveling and especially before diving into pool to protect the cuticles from drying out and the polish from yellowing.

Aquaphor $5.99 here

All images from people.com or instyle.com


Sephora Brand Midnight Blue $5 -- Sephora brand products are grossly under-rated. They have about a million eye liners to choose from and while they may not be quite as soft as ones from YSL or Estee Lauder, for $5 there is no better eye liner deal to be had. If you're not into a frugal find however, Yves Saint Laurent Easy Liner for Eyes Automatic Eyeliner 3 Easy Blue($32) won't disappoint.

Want more blue? Jump for some fabulous finds!

It's always exciting when Chanel launches a new collection. I know my friend Kari Schlegel will be at the Chanel counter the minute she reads this, a true beauty snob, she has snatched up every Chanel Beaute collection since high school! This Fall, Chanel is inspired by romantic city of Venice. As a city built on water, Venice was a source of great intrigue for Gabrielle Chanel. She saw it as simultaneously dramatic and fragile - qualities she herself possessed. With the imagination of the CHANEL Makeup Studio, Venice comes to life in a palette reflective of the city's shimmering facades and mosaics, and the sparkling aquatic colors of its lagoons.  I love the new Gondola nail polish above right in a rich shade of red, very vampy and sexy! 

The Gel Cream eye shadow quad is CHANEL's latest makeup innovation. It puts glowing new emphasis on the eyes with a gel-cream texture that blends from sheer to intense. The subtle luminous sheen has a surprisingly and decidedly sophisticated effect. $65 at Chanel.com (Jump for complete details)

All Lacquered Up has the latest darling of Lancôme's fall polish collection, Declaring Indigo.

Kelly and I used to make our own indigo blue nail polish in college with different shades of blue, black and metallic silver. It made for a huge mess but we had the baddest digits at USC! I know she'll be as excited as I am over this fabulous electric blue.

Check out All Lacquered Up for more photos and details of the launch!

A few days ago Honey Magazine hosted a small party to celebrate their magazine -- after years of being published in print, it's now completely online. The invite said that Minx was going to be on hand to give manicures so I excitedly headed over. I've been to a few parties recently where Minx manis/pedis have been offered, but I've never actually had the time to wait for my turn to do it -- finally I was going to be able to have fun metallic nails like the ones Lady Gaga has been sporting! Unfortunately things didn't turn out as great as I hoped. Minx is nail art. You can have pretty much any design imaginable put on your nails. Among the stars who have done this are Victoria Beckham, Leighton Meester, Heidi Klum, Beyonce, Megan Fox, Liv Tyler, and so many more. They take what basically looks like a sticker, heat it under a heat lamp for a second, and then put it on your nail. The sticker melts a little under the heat lamp and adheres well to the nail. Then using a nail file and scissors they get off the excess sticker (this takes awhile too and files down your nails in the process which bothered me!). You can only get Minx nails done at salons (Bliss offers this. Manicures are $55 and pedicures are $85). I'm not sure if my Minx manicurists was a newbie to the process but it took FOREVER! I almost fell asleep during the 45 min process as she tried on different stickers unable to find out which would fit my nails. More after the jump!

In honor of NARS' 15th anniversary, François Nars, Founder and Creative Director of NARS Cosmetics, has resurrected some of the brand's long-lost nail polishes ($16 each), from the NARS archives. The five shades will be available for a limited time beginning this month --

• Blue Lagoon (Originally launched in 2001) -  iridescent powder blue
• Cha Cha Cha (Originally launched in 2001) - semi-sheer tangerine with gold reflections
• Hunger (Originally launched in 2001) - hot orange red
  
• Tallulah (Originally launched in 1998) - rich grape
• Zizi (Originally launched in 1999) - clear with peach and gold glitter
  

The last thing I need is another bottle of polish, but I was too tempted to resist and ordered Hunger the other day. I love that there's a hint of orange in the deep red which makes it nice for summer. They've also come-out with a summer shade called Adelita (pearlescent pink), that I'm finding to be a nice alternative to my deep reds and bright neon pinks/purples. Jump for more on the NARS Summer collection!

Would you match your nail color to your denim? I kind of love the idea! I'm not into matchy-matchy by any means, but I was in Southampton over Memorial Weekend and picked-up two pairs of brightly colored Stitch Jeans at Intermix and I totally need a pop of nail color to play-off the bright denim. For me it's more about complementing the jeans than matching them. That said finding the right color to match jeans that are anything besides blue or black isn't that easy which is why I think it's such a fun idea that OPI has created six new shades, as part of their Bright Pair Collection, that "pair up" with Paige Premium Denim. They're meant to match the bright new hues of Paige's Canyon Shorts and Roxbury Ankle Skinny (pictured above). I'm not familiar with Paige Denim, but I can say one thing for sure - I'm absolutely loving these new OPI shades, especially the taupe. I'm actually a longtime devote of essie so the taupe was the first color of OPI's that I've tried and it looks fab with my bright yellow jeans. The six new shades in the collection are --

On the Same Paige -- orange/red

No Room for the Blues --vivid blue

Shorts Story - hot pink

In My Back Pocket - bright orange

A Grape Fit! - rich purple

Over the Taupe - mushroom

Though the shades are bright, they're less popping than essie's new shades so a top coat is key.

I can barely remember a time when I wasn't sporting color polish on my nails -- which is why I'm such a strong advocate of both top and base coats and good cuticle care (love Sephora Brand Cuticle Care Pen and L'Occitane's Cuticle Cream for relieving dry cuticles and maintaining nail health). For the most part I stick to color (currently completely obsessed with essie's Punchy Pink), but I'm intrigued by Gelife. The new technology in manicure and pedicure services is available exclusively at Dashing Diva salons. It's a new procedure where two coats of a soft, removable gel are applied just like nail polish (either clear, cool pink, or warm pink), then cured under a UV light after each application. The gel immediately sets in the UV light, leaving a manicure or pedicure that lasts for up to two weeks and requires no drying time. The coats help protect the nail underneath and the finished results have higher than usual shine. UV Gelife French for French manicures is also available -- after the Gelife has been applied to natural nails, the thin, white French Wrap is applied at the tip. The French Wraps are sealed with additional Gelife and then cured with the UV light (Gelife is removed by soaking nails in pure acetone). Jump for step-by-step photos and pricing!

A new collaboration between Hanky Panky and Essie for summer will allow you to match your digits to your panties. That's such a cute idea-- but really, the only people who care (which would be your girlfriends) aren't going to be the ones seeing this. I am certain your man won't care if your toes match your lingerie. The "Panties & Polish" set just became available at www.barenecessities.com today. $36 for two pairs of Hanky Panky panties and a bottle of Essie polish. Not a bad bargain if you ask me!