The Queen

Am I the last blogger on Earth to discover Polyvore? To be frank, I still don't really understand what the site is all about...but it enabled me to make the cool fashion inspiration board below. I have been listening to a lot of Lady Gaga lately (surprise, surprise), and am getting really tired of seeing floral print everywhere. As Fall approaches, I feel my fierce inner leather babe getting antsy to come out and play. This set reflects all of that. Leather, lace, fringe, ripped denim, gold crosses, neon lips...could I ask for anything more? Oh, and orange pumps? Yes, please!

The Queen by thepowerfemme featuring lace tights

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Click the picture above to be direct to the set's Polyvore page, which lists all of the products featured in the collage. I can't afford most of the items I included, but who doesn't love to drool over jewel-encrusted Alexander McQueen clutches that cost a few months' rent? Polyvore is really fun to play around with and seems like a great place to cultivate and explore your personal style.

Would you all be interested in seeing more fashion boards like this one?

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Posted in Lady Gaga , polyvore

Lady Gaga 'Judas' Inspired Nail Art (Fail?)

By now it is no secret that I am totally enamored with Lady Gaga, and as a beauty junkie I often look to her aesthetic for inspiration. Gaga rocks some really intense nails in her 'Judas' music video: pointed green and black talons encrusted with gold chain links and gem stones. Omitting the sharpened claws, here is my interpretation of the look. I really want to love it....but I feel like I'm wearing gaudy Christmas sweaters on my nails. The edginess of Gaga's look was lost in my rendition and replaced with tacky Holiday cheer. I almost didn't post this, but I think it is important to acknowledge our successes as well as our epic failures! I can't help but laugh every time I look down at my hands!

I used Sally Hansen Black Diamond and Jumpin' Jade as the base coats, then mattified them with Hard Candy's matte top coat (which I realize now was pointless since I used Seche Vite afterwards). The using Zoya Jules, I created the gold rings with a toothpick. The gems were created using Black Diamond, Jumpin' Jade, and Zoya Faith. The mimic the 3D effect I applied some red and green bindis to random nails, and sealed it all in with coat of Seche Vite. I worked too long on these to take them off, so I am going to try to rock these for a few days.

Tell me about your nail art fails! Have you ever had a great design idea that totally crashed and burned in execution?

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Posted in Hard Candy , Lady Gaga , Nail Art , Nail Polish , Sally Hansen , Seche Vite , Zoya

I love that lavender blonde...Lady Gaga Inspired Mani featuring Zoya Marley and Zoya Skye

I love that lavender blonde. The way she moves, the way she walks. I touch myself, can't get enough."- Lady Gaga in "So Happy I Could Die"

I am a serious Lady Gaga fan, but I have been particularly obsessed this past week since her new album Born This Way was released. It is truly phenomenal, and has a killer 80's vibe that I am loving. Gaga as a performance artist and fashion icon is constantly evolving. Her sound and her aesthetic undergo continuous transformation, but there is a special soft spot in my Little Monster heart for her lavender blonde days. This picture epitomizes this look, with her beige pleather bow, lavender blazer and lips, and black glasses and watch. There is something so yummy and sexy about this color palette of nude, powdery pale purple, and dashes of stark black. Here is the mani I created inspired by this look!

This is the first tape mani I have done, and I followed Jane from Nailslide's tutorial (direct link to the tutorial, called "Laser Tape Mani," is here).  Jane is a tape mani genius and offered wonderful step-by-step instructions. My mani is a little rough, but I think it is respectable for a first attempt! The tape is tricky to work with, but I am sure that with practice, and more of Jane's awesome advice, I will get the swing of it.

I fist applied two coats of Zoya Sky, a pinky nude, over my base coat.

Then I cut thin strips of scotch tape, stuck them on the back of my hand once to remove the excess stickiness, and then placed them on my nail in the desired pattern.

Then I applied one thick coat of Zoya Marley, a lavender with a subtle silver finish, to my nail and immediately and carefully pulled off the tape. Marley is a divine polish with the perfect consistency, and I was happy to find that it went opaque in one quick coat for this design. I also did one accent nail in Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Black Diamond to replicate Gaga's look.

It looked pretty rough, but Seche Vite smoothed it all out in the end. Here is the finished look!

Ignore the rouge hair that attached itself to my thumb! Bah.

Anyone else have Gaga's new album? Have you tried tape manis? Any tips for a tape mani newbie?

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Posted in Lady Gaga , Nail Art , Nail Polish , Power Femmes , Sally Hansen , Zoya

Fierce Femme Face of the Day: Rapture Lashes

So as I expected the Rapture didn't come, but I still got dolled up like yesterday was my last! Here is the glamorous (if I do say so myself) look I wore out last night, complete with false lashes.

 What I used:

Face
Sephora Perfecting Tinted Mousturizer in Medium Peach
Maybelline SuperStay 24 Hour Makeup in Natural Beige  
Revlon PhotoReady Concealer in Light Medium
Sephora Sculpting Disk (setting powder)
E.L.F. Studio Cool Bronzer (cheek contour and temples)
Maybelline Define-a-Brow in Light Blonde
CoverGirl Professional Natural Lash Mascara in Clear (for brows)

Cheeks
Urban Decay Powder Blush in Score
Physicians Formula Powder Palette Mineral Glow Pearls in Translucent Pearl (as cheekbone and brow bone highlight)

Lips (I am obsessed with these lippies!)
MAC Amplified Lipstick Viva Glam Gaga 2
MAC Lipglass in Viva Glam Gaga 2

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk (as base)
NYX 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette "The Runway Collection" in Strike a Pose (shimmery yellow gold on lid and lower lash line; matte white in inner corner and brow bone)
Urban Decay Naked Palette (Creep in crease and lower lash line)
E.L.F. Cream Eyeliner in Black (tight line, water line, bottom lash ling, and winged top lash line)
Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara (3 coats on top, 1 coat on bottom lashes)
E.L.F. Natural Lash Kit in Black

The flash washed out the eyeshadow, but look at those lashes!

I am using the E.L.F. Natural Lash Kit in this look although I am not fond of these lashes (read my full review here). The pair I used for this look were decent; the biggest problem with E.L.F. lashes are that that they're lengths are inconsistent. Though I won't repurchase, the one's I had hanging around did the job for this look!

What are your favorite false lashes? Did you wait for the Rapture in style?

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Posted in Fierce Femme Face of the Day , Lady Gaga , MAC

Beautiful Brains: Lady Gaga, Beauty Norms, and "Bad Romance" Inspried Nail Art

Put Your (Painted) Paws Up!

With this entry I am introducing a series of posts called "Beautiful Brains," which will be dedicated to the thoughtful and critical discussion of beauty-related topics. In these posts I will be combining my love for all things beauty related with discussions of more socially and culturally grounded contemporary issues, such as body image, the beauty industry, norms of gender and sexuality, and so forth.


Love or hate her, Lady Gaga is undoubtedly one of the leading pop culture icons on our generation. Through the bizarre and ever changing stylization of her body, Lady Gaga challenges what our culture perceives as beautiful and desirable. The 'Born This Way' era has introduced prosthetic spiked cheek bones and shoulders, but her play with corporeality began much earlier, as can be seen in the 'Bad Romance' video. In 'Bad Romance,' Gaga displays a protruding spine and giant doll eyes which exaggerate the cultural  markers of feminine beauty (slenderness and emphasized, youthful eyes). The visual effect is, I believe, intentionally unsettling. Even though we are told that extreme slenderness and youthfulness are qualities we should prize in women, Lady Gaga's interpretation is haunting. Through her extreme and overemphasized adherence to the beauty norm, she highlights how disturbing these expectations are. So is Lady Gaga freakish? Or are American beauty standards?

Thinking about Lady Gaga and her 'Bad Romance' inspired me to create nail design based on the music video. In the video, Gaga struts in some outrageous Alexander McQueen footwear. These nude, jewel encrusted heels are simultaneously delicately feminine and severely hardcore. Like pretty ballet shoes meets broken glass. I toned the look down a little and transformed it into a wearable nude manicure.

 

 

I am wearing 2 coats of Essie's Topless and Barefoot, an amazing true nude that went opaque in 2 coats. Though the color is the perfect nude I have been searching for, I found the formula to be a little finicky. It was pretty runny, and I couldn't avoid flooding out my cuticles.

The glitter gradient was achieved using Sally Hansen Hard as Nail Xtreme Wear in Strobe Light, which I have heard is a near dupe for OPI's Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry collection.I applied the first coat starting 3/4ths down my nail, another starting at half, a third on the top 1/4th, and a final coat just on the tip for maximum sparkle.

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Posted in Beautiful Brains , Body Image , Essie , Lady Gaga , Nail Art , Nail Polish , Sally Hansen