Since we're talking about nudes anyway, there's a polish I've been wanting to show you. I bought it on a whim — no doubt during one of Ulta's $2 house-brand sales — and it turned out to be my favorite "my nails but better" shade.

For comparison, here are my naked nails.

Wedding Belle is a

It occurred to me that there might not be too many swatches out there of MAC's most recent Pro line expansion: the Nudes collection.

Nudes repromotes a few items, and introduces a few new ones — everything swatched here is now a part of the permanent collection. If you don't live near one of the nine Pro stores in the

This week I'm giving away a Trish McEvoy prize pack ($61 value): her Essential Eye Base in Demure (swatched here), her lipgloss in Irresistible Pink (swatched here), and her velour powder puff.  (The sales associate said: after you've applied your foundation with brush/sponge/fingers, press the clean puff all over for an airbrushed finish. He mentioned Trish's Treatment foundation

Summer is here, and with it, fantasies of beach vacations. And on Bobbi Brown counters right now: Bobbi's Beach Club.

In the club: a new limited edition Shimmer Brick (Beach, $38), five new long-wear cream eyeshadows ($22), a clear SPF 15 Lip Shine (in the same formula as the tinted shades; $22), and of course, Bobbi's Beach fragrance ($55)

Soaper1 is single-handedly turning me into a green-fiend. Check out her fab swatches and review of the latest from OPI-for-Sephora's seasonal collection:

Read My Palm is part of the Havana Nights collection — the other polishes in the collection are: Caliente Coral (spicy orange), Rumba Romance (bronze shimmer), Teal We Meet Again (shimmering deep blue green), Caribbean Cocktail (ocean blue

I'm borderline superstitious about my hair.

I have fine, naturally curly hair, and I live in a very humid environment. I love my curls, but they definitely "need help" to look good. The alternative is flat roots, frizzy ends. I think ages 13 – 22 were pretty much all bad hair days.

What happened when I was

I'm delighted to introduce today's guest swatcher, Katie from My Lips But Better. My Lips But Better is all about makeup that flatters and enhances your natural features, so you look like the best version of yourself (which is my own personal goal when I wear makeup).

It's pure coincidence that Katie offered to swatch and compare primers

Congratulations to Traci, who won last week's Guerlain Meteorites, and to @mari_buzz (in Brazil!), who won the Lancome GWP. Your prizes are on their way!

Good luck to everyone entering this week's giveaway!

Trish's Capri Collection is now on counters — though I hesitate to call it "the" summer collection. It's more like "a" summer collection. While Trish's limited releases are always appropriate for the season, she doesn't seem to do big seasonal collections. Just as Trish edits her line to keep it manageable, her collections are never overwhelming.

I'm sure you've realized by now that Soaper1 is a nail polish black belt. She's not only on top of color trends, she's also quite adept at a trend called "konading," stamping a design on your nails using a contrasting color of polish. Konad was the name of the first (or largest) company to offer the stamping

Another stunning creme polish from SpaRitual's Believe collection: Spread Your Wings. Spread Your Wings is apple red in sunlight, deeper indoors — the sort of color that's elegant all year.

SpaRitual runs about $10 a bottle, and you’ll most often find them in spas and nail salons (there's a salon-finder on their website, and Spa Nordstrom can be a good

I know I'm not the only one freaking out over Shu's impending withdrawal from the U.S. But there's an amazing community of makeup lovers out there, and a few brave volunteers asked what they could do to help, as the stock at counters dwindled.

I owe a huge thanks to bellamelly, who has been trekking all over her hometown to

We don't often talk about Becca, because the Australian cosmetics brand is one of the few without a presence in Dallas — to my profound disappointment. Becca is best known for its wide range of foundation and concealer shades (and the incredible willingness of their staff to try to match you to a shade over the internet),

YSL's summer collection is online and hitting counters. I'm hoping to swatch it soon, but I thought we could drool over the product listings now.

There are two new water-resistant cream eyeshadows — one permanent shade and one limited edition. The limited edition "Fard Lumiere Aquaresistant" is #19 Riviera Blue. The permanent shade is #5 Golden Sands.

Life is just more glamorous in Chanel. At the brand's recent show in Saint-Tropez (of course), global creative director of Chanel makeup Peter Philips showed us summer-ready natural beauty with a taste of what's coming for fall. There are obviously holes in my information, but here's what the models were wearing:

Skincare

• Hydramax + Active Nourishing