Romy Raves

New Year’s Greetings My Beauties! I have been MIA on my blog for the last couple of weeks because I took a much needed vacation with the fam, hit Palm Springs, San Fran, ate deelish food, drank gorgeous wine and just relaxed. It was very nice, but now I am back and have lots of fabulous products, events, services and treatments to share with you! First up, is this fabulous new spray-on foundation from Classified Cosmetics called Aero Minerale. It is launching at Ulta stores nationwide this week.

What do I love about this product? It is awesome, easy to use and it gives you that flawless airbrushed look without having to carry around a heavy machine or needing a professional technique to apply it. The best part? It’s affordable at under $15 bucks! Most products of this caliber cost way more! Not only does it give your skin a beautiful even finish and offer lightweight buildable coverage (it makes your skin look like it was in the hands of a pro), but it also contains your daily dose of vitamins and botanicals too.

And here’s further proof of just how fab this product is: The lead makeup artist from Twilight Breaking Dawn ordered 1,000 cans of Aero Minerale to use on the entire cast of the movie. A thousand cans people! That’s a a lot of product! So this stuff really works!

So what are you waiting for? Head to your local Ulta and pick up a bottle or two for yourself, your face will love it and so will you!

So you have heard me blog before about Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips, which I absolutely fell in love with because they are fun, quick, easy and totally statement making! Well, I have another great new nail product discovery to share with you: Broadway Nail Dress (pictured on my nails in the silver mesh style)

Broadway Nail Dress is a set of unique stickers that you apply to your nails for an instant manicure in minutes. They are super easy to apply, come in five hip and trendy styles like silver mesh, leopard and floral, and it is similar to Minx but costs a fraction of the price ($5.49) and doesn’t require a professional heat application. 

Basically, you select the sticker that best matches the size of your nail, peel it off, apply it to your nail, smooth out the bumbs with the buffer that comes with the kit and file off the excess. The sticker forms to your nail through your body heat and you can even apply a top-coat for longer wear. And once you get bored with them, they are super easy to remove and just peel off. How cool is that?!

So here’s my opinion of Nail Dress: It’s a fabulous, fun, super affordable way to make your nails look great with minimal effort or expense. They are super easy to apply (I applied mine, while sitting on my couch watching Glee), they look really hip and cool and they are super easy to take off. However, this is not a long wearing product and it only looks good for a few days before it starts to look worn or lift. So, if you want a quick and easy short term nail makeover I’d go with Broadway Nail Dress, but if you want something a little more professional looking and longer wearing, I’d go with Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips.

Broadway Nail Dress can be found at Walgreens, Walmart, Kmart and Rite Aid stores nationwide

In honor of Wine Wednesday, I just had to share with all of you wine lovers and oenophiles, a new red wine discovery that I am totally obsessed with right now Adeladia SchoolHouse Recess Red 2007

So why am I so excited about this wine you ask? Because it tastes like an expensive finessed high quality Rhone/Bordeaux blend for a fraction of the price (which BTW is $15/bottle right now or $10.50/bottle if you buy a case!) I bought this while I was wine tasting in Paso Robles this past holiday season, and when my bestie came over last week for a GNO, I grabbed it off my everyday wine drinking rack. Little did I know, that this was not your average week night bottle. After just one sip, I was totally blown away by how delicious and full this wine was, and considering the price it was even more impressive.

This does not taste like your everyday bottle of wine. It has richness, depth, complexity, creaminess, chocolate and spice and tastes divine. The 2007 Recess Red is best described as ‘Bordeaux meets The Rhone Valley meets California’ – a mixture of all my favorite wine styles. This delicious blend has wonderful tasting notes of berry and dark chocolate with a spice box finish. It’s been about a week since I drank this wine, and these tasty and addictive flavors still linger on my palate.

The Adelaida Recess Red 2007  consists of 10 grape varietals, primarily Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, and really embodies the mountainous terroir of coastal Paso Robles. The fruit chosen for the SchoolHouse label comes from the same vineyards as Adelaida’s primary label and is handled separately (so it’s not just a mixutre of leftovers), fermented with native yeasts and spends 26 months in French oak. This affordable and remarkably delicious wine is meant to drink now and pairs well with anything from pizza to more exotic creations.

If love complex, full, creamy spicy wine blends, you will love this one. And at $10.50 a bottle, how can you afford not to? I just bought a case and you can get yours HERE (click on CASE SPECIAL).

Cheers!

Confession: I hate doing my own nails! I am so picky and detail oriented that it takes me forever to do my own nails, and for many years I have gotten weekly or bi-monthly professional mani’s and pedi’s so that I can keep my nails in tiptop shape. Another confession: I prefer male manicurists because they are even more meticulous than me. True story, about ten years ago I had a fab male manicurist who appreciated my attention to nail detail and nicknamed me PG-13, which stood for ‘Picky Girl’-I remember him fondly. . . but I digress, now back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

Being a beauty blogger, I have lots of opportunities and requests to try the latest and greatest polishes and new nail products which is particularly hard because as I mentioned I don’t like doing my own nails. And, recently I have been obsesssed with the unrivaled staying power and mirror shine of CND Shellac which only adds to this challenge. So it took a really unique and special product to get me to do my own nails and thanks to Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips, I am back in the saddle again.I am totally impressed with this unique and statement making nail product, which is a cross between nail polish and wearing fake nails IMO. Salon Effects Polish Strips are adhesive nail shaped strips made out of REAL nail polish that you can easily apply to your own nails in under an hour with no drying time. They come in 24 fashion forward styles, last up to 10 days and easily come off with nail polish remover. 

They are so frickin COOL! They really look like a pro did them and little old picky me did them herself (and you can too!) I was truly impressed that I could do something that looked this good! The designs are so fun with choices like metallic leopard (Kitty, Kitty shown on my nails below-LOVE LOVE it!), zebra, lace, flowers, mesh and glitter. They truly have a WOW factor and remind me of the professionally applied Minx for a fraction of the price.

There is definitely a learning curve to getting the technique right. Basically, you find the strip size that best fits your nail, peel the protective coating off the strip, position it just right along the cuticle, press it into place with warm fingers, run the cuticle stick around the edges to make sure it sticks, pull it over the end of the nail and file off the excess~Viola, you have a pretty snazzy looking nail design!

I am totally obsessed with this fun nail product that looks awesome, professional quality and costs under $10. You can buy Kitty, Kitty Salon Effects Polish Strips HERE or you can find it at your local drugstore. Let me know what you think and post pics please!

Every girl loves a fabulous professional blowout, but honestly in these strained economic times, a great blowdry usually costs $50+ and that is cost prohibitive for many of us these days. . . until now. I am excited to introduce you to drybar, a brilliant and timely concept that offers you professional high quality blowouts at an affordable price ($35!!) in a fun, fabulous, chic and modern atmosphere.

drybar is the brainchild of Alli Webb, a seasoned hairstylist who trained under some of the best in the hair biz like Toni & Guy and John Sahag. About five years ago, Alli left the hair biz to start a family, and then she decided to start a side biz of offering her friends in-home weekly blowouts and suddenly her business quickly exploded. This boom lead her to the idea of opening up blow dry only salons–exclusive, all style, high design shops with a fun and inviting atmosphere and skilled stylists. The first drybar opened in LA in February 2010 and now there are 4 locations with more locations opening soon. And the concept is plain and simple: No cuts. No color. Just blowouts. Only $35. 

And here’s a glimpse of what you can expect when you visit drybar: “Welcome to drybar”, the bartender/receptionist says. “So what’ll it be?” the bar maid/stylist asks, much like a bartender might ask you when you shimmy up to the bar. This barslang is totally intentional here (and creative) and I love it! And it only gets better: You order your preferred blowdry style from the bar menu/look book which has both pictures and descriptions of the styles. Options include things like: Straight Up-the signature blowout, the Manhattan-sleek and smooth, Southern Comfort-big hair lots of volume, a Cosmopolitan-lots of loose curls or a Floater-head massage.

I order the Straight-Up (smooth with some body) and just relax and enjoy from there. I love the sleek modern feminine decor, the charging station for my iPhone, that they offer me a cocktail (champagne of course!), and that Sex in the City is playing with closed caption on the flat screen. This salon is clearly designed with the needs of today’s modern woman in mind, and I totally appreciate that! This is the kind of atmosphere that makes me want to come back for more, it’s so inviting, modern yet homey, and totally up my alley. And the best part comes at the end when they do the ‘Big Reveal’ (FYI you face the bar/TV when they are drying you, so that you can relax and unwind) and show you your finished style in the cute vintage style mirror. I find this to be a delightful added touch!  And I like my finished style, but want it a tiny bit straighter so without batting an eye, my bar maids smooths it a bit with a flatiron and then it’s just right. Here I am with Alli (checkout her FAB hair!) and my Straight Up blowdry:

drybar is Simple. Fun. Fabulous. Girlie. And the perfect place to primp for New Years Eve! Book your appointment now, how can you afford not to?  Find your closest drybar location HERE.