Olivia Frescura

los angeles beauty & lifestyle blog

Jessica Nails Ava/New Kid In Town (It’s a Girl Thing) Review/Swatch

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Ava New Kid In Town Swatch
Ava/New Kid In Town swatch

I recently wore Ava from Jessica’s It’s a Girl Thing collection for Spring 2013 and I’m LOVING it. This is a super pigmented blue toned lavender with subtle silver shimmer. What a perfect spring color! I’ve been going through nail polishes like nobody’s business due to having so many to review, but this one lasted the entire time without a chip. I only wore it for 2 or 3 days…but it’s still a great result for me! These polishes are also really shiny without top coat, which I was impressed with because most shades look somewhat dull. I’d definitely recommend this brand if you can get your hands on it!

You can purchase this nail polishes online for $7.50, but I haven’t seen the collection go live yet! It launched at the end of January.

Jessica Nails It’s a Girl Thing (Spring 2013) Swatches & Review

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Spring 2013 Collection
Jessica It’s a Girl Thing Collection

I’m so excited to share Jessica Cosmetics‘ Spring 2013 nail polish collection, called “It’s a Girl Thing.” This collection is inspired by fabulous women in Jessica’s life, which is pretty sweet! This collection contains 6 colors, all of which have shimmer. My photos don’t capture the shimmer for the most part, but they are true to color! Vampy Varnish has photos with flash that will show the shimmer better. The colors included are (in order from the photo): Nadia (Sterling Queen), Sophia (True Blue), Ava (New Kid In Town), Alexis (Ruby Empress), Alia (Sun Kissed Beauty), and Amira (Smitten Kitten). I have swatched and reviewed each of these nail polishes individually below, but I will feature them in NOTD’s in the future also! All of these are swatched alone (no base or top coat) except for Ava, which has both.

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Nadia Sterling Queen Swatch
Nadia/Sterling Queen swatch

Nadia is a frosty grey/silver polish that was opaque in 2 coats. This is the most shimmery shade in the collection…the others have more subtle shimmer! If you’re not too careful it can get streaky though, so it isn’t my favorite.

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Sophia True Blue Swatch
Sophia/True Blue swatch

Sophia is a beautiful light blue that has a periwinkle look to it! It does have hidden silver shimmer. This is a quick 2 coats to be opaque. It’s very unique in my collection because I don’t buy a lot of blues, so I’m LOVING it!

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Ava New Kid In Town Swatch (2)
Ava/New Kid In Town swatch

Ava is the first one I have used for a full manicure. I love pastel purples in the spring, and this one is beautiful! This does have subtle silver shimmer as well. I used 2 coats for a perfect opaque finish. It does have a lot of blue undertones in it, but it is very different when compared to Sophia.

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Alexis Ruby Empress Swatch
Alexis/Ruby Empress swatch

Alexis is a nice red that applied so well, I only used 1 coat! This is the only one that has pink shimmer instead of silver shimmer. It isn’t super noticeable still! I wasn’t expecting pink shimmer so that was a cool twist.

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Alia Sun Kissed Beauty Swatch
Alia/ Sun Kissed Beauty swatch

Alia is a bright red-orange with subtle silver shimmer. This one is very unique and I’m really loving it. It isn’t quite neon but it’s very bright on your nails. I used 2 coats for this swatch.

Jessica Nails It's a Girl Thing Amira Smitten Kitten Swatch
Amira/Smitten Kitten swatch

Amira is a gorgeous hot bubblegum pink that screams Barbie Malibu dream house to me. I was able to capture some of the silver shimmer in this photo…yay! This one I wouldn’t have expected to like, but I do!

Overall this collection is very nice. All of the colors are unique because of the shimmer. I think my favorites are Ava, Sophia, and Alia. They all are super-shiny without top coat too! I have only worn Ava as a full manicure so far, but it wears really well- 2 days with only minor tip wear…no chips! These nail polishes are priced very well at only $7.50 each! You can purchase these nail polishes online. I don’t see them online as I’m writing this, but look out for them. My first impressions of Jessica are awesome! I have seen bloggers post about their Gelato Mio collection last year, so I was so happy to finally try their polishes out. I will be featuring these polishes on their own NOTD’s throughout spring and summer, but these are just my initial thoughts!

What do you think?

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**This post contains products that I have received for free– for more information, please read my Disclosure Policy**

 

Joico Pre-Oscars Style Lounge Event #TurnHeads

Joico Hair Models with Creative Director & Stylist Damien Carney
Joico Hair Models with Creative Director & Stylist Damien Carney

This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of attending Joico’s pre-Oscars event at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. I was really excited to attend this event because, despite hearing great things, I’ve never tried Joico! Not only did I get to learn about the brand, I got to learn about their new styling products, which are very innovative.

Joico Pre-Oscar’s 2013 Style Lounge Event (3)
Joico’s styling line has sleek silver packaging!

The big breakthrough with these new styling products is the technology. Joico put a lot of research into the Human Genome Project and discovered that certain peptide chains are missing in damaged hair, but are present in healthy hair. After discovering that, Joico had the Bio-Advanced Peptide Complex created and added it into all of their products, including the new stylers. This technology doesn’t just wash off your hair after you take a shower, it lasts for up to 25 washes!

Joico Pre-Oscar’s 2013 Style Lounge Event (4)
Sweet treats in the suite!

A few stand out products to me are the Instant Refresh Dry Shampoo, Humidity Blocker, and the Fast-Dry Finishing Spray.

The dry shampoo is unique because it does NOT leave any white residue at all. Damien sprayed a ton of it into the models hair and it still looked great (and not dry!).

Humidity Blocker is great to prevent static, which I’ve been having an issue with lately, so I think that this will help combat that well. It also will hold your hairstyle in place.

The finishing spray seems like a miracle product. In the first shot you can see the blonde model who has curly hair. She wore those curls for 12 hours and they still looked perfect. Damien used so much of the hairspray in her hair for the demos but it didn’t feel crunchy at all (and yes, I did touch her hair!).

Joico Pre-Oscar’s 2013 Style Lounge Event (2)
Liquid Nitrogen mixology!

Something else that was very fun, was this mixology demo. This was to represent the new Bio-Advanced Peptide Complex because it is a new technology for hair, much like using liquid nitrogen in something edible!

Blood Orange Screwdriver using Liquid Nitrogen
Blood Orange Screwdriver using Liquid Nitrogen

Our treat was a blood-orange screwdriver with coffee bean bits on top. It was delish! The consistency is almost snow-like.

Joico Pre-Oscar’s 2013 Style Lounge Event (8)
#TurnHeads instagram wall

Not only has Joico launched new products, they’ve also kind of re-branded themselves by creating a new tagline, turn heads. Who doesn’t want to turn heads with their fabulous hair? They even had a super cool printer at the event where every picture tagged with #turnheads was printed out and put on the wall! They also have a Turn Heads video from their shoot at the SLS hotel that you can see here.

Joico Pre-Oscar’s 2013 Style Lounge Event (5)
Materials featuring the new tagline and shoot!
Joico Pre-Oscar’s 2013 Style Lounge Event (7)
Damien Carney and Tiffany Hines

Damien also demonstrated some products on actress Tiffany Hines‘ hair. I chatted with her for a bit after and she was super sweet. If you ever see her rocking emerald (the color of the year) on the red carpet, you have me to thank! Just kidding…kind of.

I can’t wait to review these products for you guys, I’m clearly very excited about them!

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PBA to Host Three One-Day Regional Salon Summits in 2013

If you are a salon/spa professional in the Minneapolis, MN, Las Vegas, NV, or Boston, MA area, check out these summits that you can attend in 2013. For details and pricing please click here.

Minneapolis, MN – April 7, 2013 | Las Vegas, NV – July 14, 2013 | Boston, MA – September 9, 2013

In an effort to continually provide education, best practices, peer networking and
business support for salon/spa leaders and beauty professionals, The Professional Beauty Association (PBA) is
hosting three one-day Regional Salon Summits across the U.S. starting in April.

Each session during the day-long summits will be led by highly qualified and respected industry leaders and
consultants. Discussion topics range from marketing and staff development to business management and
government affairs and are designed to assist salon owners and beauty professionals to elevate their business,
careers, and our industry as a whole with practical information they can readily apply.

Networking with other salon professionals will also take place to allow attendees to learn from one another and
discuss common interests and business strategies with the help of debt advice government. The PBA Regional Salon Summits are open to all, regardless of
PBA membership.

PBA Regional Salon Summits will be held:
• Sunday, April 7, 2013 – Minneapolis, MN
• Sunday, July 14, 2013 – Las Vegas, NV (As part of PBA Beauty Week at Cosmoprof North America)
• Monday, September 9, 2013 – Boston, MA

Featured core sessions:

Living Life on the Edge, Where the Results Are | Speaker: Matthew Fairfax
Salon owner and small business consultant Matthew Fairfax will share his strategies for getting businesses out
of their comfort zones and on track for success. Discussion topics include team building, emotional intelligence,
financial planning/management and conflict resolution.

Social Media and Salon Business | Speaker: Kelly Ehlers
In this interactive session, social and mobile media expert Kelly Ehlers will teach basic business techniques using
various social media platforms. Attendees will learn how to build a simple and effective social media strategy that
engages clients and grows business.

Leadership in the Age of TOO | Speaker: Tom Kuhn
Industry leader, coach, adviser and artist Tom Kuhn will provide tips to prevent over-extending both personally and
professionally while growing your business and income. Tips and best practices from Kuhn’s “Q Program” will focus
on creativity and visual tools that help drive business.

PBA Government Affairs Panel | Speakers: PBA Government Affairs Team
This panel will discuss the legislative issues facing the beauty industry today, including deregulation, FICA Tax
Fairness legislation and the PBA State Captain Program. Team members will also answer audience questions
pertaining to these topics.

Even though this does not apply to me personally, I thought if any of my readers are stylists you may be interested! Back to regular beauty blogging tomorrow! 🙂

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ISSE 2013: Skincare & Makeup (Dinair, BonBliss, G Body Art & More!)

A smaller section of ISSE was devoted to wellness and spa-like booths where I found many of the things I will be talking about in this posts! There aren’t many makeup brands at ISSE compared to hair or nails, but it was still nice.  If you’re looking for makeup…head on over to IMATS or The Makeup Show!

I got to see BonBliss, who make solid body scrubs that I have reviewed before. They just came out with a new size for professionals, scoopables. I think that this product would be great for manicurists because it isn’t nearly as messy as traditional body scrubs!

ISSE 2013 BonBliss
BonBliss body scrubs

G Body Art Professional have very unique stencils for their glitter tattoos. If you saw in my intro post, I told you to guess which one I got…an orange kiss! Remind you of anything? These glitter tattoos are great, but not too long lasting. As soon as I got it into warm water, it was easily rubbed off. It lasted 2 days, though!

I’ve seen Dinair at pretty much every single trade show I’ve been to in the past 5 years. I got to check out their newly redesigned airbrush compressor, and was even given my own system that I’m VERY excited about! It’s purple, as you can see from my haul!

A few other makeup brands there were Cailyn Cosmetics, IPKYN, and Michael Marcus Cosmetics. I haven’t tried any of these brands but they all look pretty cool! NYX was also there but their booth was too crazy to even photograph! They were very popular.

As far as skincare goes, most of the products available were for professionals only. I stocked up on tons of face masks! I love collagen face masks, which are similar to Bel Mondo Beauty’s that I’ve reviewed before. At the show, I got mine 10 packs of 2 for $50 from Martinni Beauty! Another mask I love is the Grand Central Beauty face mask, and I found a similar idea from Banzai Living. KollagenX has all 24 carat gold products including a collagen face mask, skincare, and a lipgloss. Everything felt really nice on my skin from what I tested at the show!

And that pretty much concludes all of my ISSE coverage. I hope you guys liked it! I had a great time and hope to go next year as well!

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