SAG Awards

Well, it's awards season, so that means lots of great red carpet fashion. Although I didn't watch the SAG Awards, I was pretty pleased with the dresses. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the evening:

TRENDS:

Crayola Hues: 

Emily Blunt in Oscar de la Renta, Kyra Sedgwick in Emilio Pucci, Jessica Chastain in Calvin Klein

I absolutely love all three of these dresses. These ladies look gorgeous in bright colors and are definitely on my best dressed list.

Black & White:

In contrast to the bright hues, we also saw a lot of black and white.

Angelina Jolie in Jenny Packham, Emma Stone in Alexander McQueen, 
Jane Krakowski in Antonio Berardi, Ashley Simpson in Jenny Packham

 Tilda Swinton in Lanvin, Kristen Wiig in Balenciaga, 
Rose Byrne in Elie Saab, Zoe Saldana in Givenchy Haute Couture

I'm not a fan of either Angie or Emma's dress, but they're both so gorgeous that I don't really care. I like the interesting neckline on Jane's dress, but the fit's not quite right. I think Ashlee's dress is awful, although I've seen her on some best dressed lists.

The ladies in white were some risk takers, and I do love to see that on the red carpet. I'm glad that Tilda Swinton is dressing like a lady and wearing makeup. On the fence about the Kristen Wiig's choker, but leaning toward thinking it's cool. I kind of love Rose Byrne's glitter jumpsuit, although a friend watching the SAGs tweeted that it looked rough from the back view. I wasn't watching, so I don't know. I guess jumpsuits generally aren't that flattering to the derriere. I HATE Zoe's dress. Just no. It's like a bad Princess Leia homage. (That's not a dig at Star Wars --- Princess Leia is hot, but this dress is not.)

BATTLE OF THE GLEE GIRLS!

Lea Michele in Versace, Naya Rivera in Naeem Khan, Dianna Agron in Carolina Herrera, 

Jenna Ushkowitz, Amber Riley, Heather Morris

I think this one's gonna go to Lea, with Naya in a close second. Dianna Agron again disappoints. Her dress looks like something a middle-aged woman would wear to a black-tie wedding, although I think her hair looks kinda nice. Heather Morris: I love black and leather much more than the next girl, but I'm not feeling this high-low mullet dress. Had the dress just continued as is from the hip down, I think it would be pretty cool. Jenna: Again with the weird mullet dress. She and Heather are almost the yin and yang of the weird hemlines --- Heather doing the bad-ass, dominatrix version while Jenna goes with the feminine, floral version. I don't like either. I must say, I'm very disappointed with Amber Riley, as she looked so great during last awards season. I guess the dress is still pretty figure-friendly, but that bow --- eeks. 

BEST DRESSED:

Natalie Portman in Giambattista Valli, Jayma Mays in Reem Acra

Jayma Mays looks uh-mazing in this sparkly black gown, and Natalie Portman is showing off that post-baby bod well in this plum gown. Gorgeous.

WORST DRESSED:

Shailene Woodley in L’Wren Scott, Meryl Streep in Vivienne Westwood, Busy Philipps

Ugh. These are just bad. Shailene, that print! Meryl would have looked better if she'd left off the weird piece of fabric and belt and just gone with the dress underneath. And really, Busy Philipps? You're at the SAG Awards, not a backyard barbeque.

Images from People.com, except for Jenna Ushkowitz's photo from FabSugar.com.

Starry Night

My cure to any bad day is to catch up on my DVR, pour a glass of wine, and paint my nails. So that's exactly what I did last weekend, using my new Essie LuxeEffects top coat, which I recently purchased from Target with my $1 off coupon (ain't no shame in using coupons, y'all). It turned out a little differently than I thought it would. Doesn't it look kind of whiteish, goldish in the bottle? Yet when applied, it has a pretty iridescent effect that ranges from pinkish orange to green, depending on how the light hits it. I'm excited to try this top coat on its own or with a lighter, pastel color. The great thing about this polish is that the glitter particles are very fine, so it doesn't chip as easily as other glitter polishes. Also, I'm hoping it won't be such a pain to remove.

(Essie LuxeEffects multi dimension top coat in "Shine of the Times" and Essie "Aruba Blue")

Sorry my cuticles look a little ragged. This picture is taken on Day 6 of the manicure. How do I get my manicures to last so long, you ask?

1. Start off with Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat.
2. Apply your regular polish in thin coats and wait for them to dry completely before applying the next coat. I generally use high-end polishes like Essie or OPI, and I think that probably makes a difference. I used two coats of the Aruba Blue for this manicure.
3. Finish off with Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. My favorite top coat was Nailene Acrylic Nails, but I think they must have stopped making it because I can't find it anymore. It worked just as well as Seche Vite, without the harsh chemical smell. (The Seche Vite bottle warns you not to use it if you're pregnant, so I wonder how many years I'm taking off of my life by using this stuff). Still, I like the Seche Vite pretty well.

You can get this base coat and top coat at Ulta, or somewhere else on the Internet, I'm sure.

Hope you guys enjoyed my first blog post! I'll make sure my mani is fresher in the next one.