Adventures In Acetone

Wooden Shoe Like To Know [what my favorite shoes look like]?

2012-02-24T17:36:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I have a fun post to share with you today! As I said in my last post, I chose to try OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know? out of my new polishes. Turns out, the base color is so close to my favorite TOMS shoes and since they are covered in different colored polka dots, I wanted to do a mani just like them!

Here is a picture of just my nails in the sun so you can see the gorgeous shimmer in OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know?

Here are my TOMS shoes that I'm in love with:

Shady pic, the morning sun hadn't made it to the patio yet!

And here are a couple of the nails and shoes together:

Pretty cool, huh? I've been wanting to do my nails like these TOMS since I got them around the first week in December and am so glad I finally did! This is 2 coats of OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know? and a ton of different colors for the dots. Feel free to ask what a specific color is and I'll let you know. Thanks so much for reading!

I Love Nail Mail!

2012-02-23T18:58:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I've had some awesome nail mail lately so I wanted to share it with you! I won Ashley is PolishAddicted's January giveaway, got the Valentines Day Zoya promotion, and also got an awesome bloom.com order that was $40 worth of stuff for the $5 that I spent!!

Here is a group shot! This entire picture haul only cost me $13 out of pocket!!

Here are my awesome winnings from Ashley Is PolishAddicted!!! Thanks, Ashley!! I love them!

Nubar Black Polka Dot and Nubar White Polka Dot

Here are my Zoyas from the Valentine's Day Promo! (Buy 1, get a red free AND free shipping!)

Zoya Reva and Zoya Ivanka(I just LOVED Charla and Mimi so much that I needed to add Ivanka)

Here is my awesome bloom.com order! $5 for all of this! Can you believe it??

OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know?, Zoya Skylar, Zoya Bevin, Zoya Jem, and Burt's Bees Cuticle Cream.

What do you think of my recent nail mail? I chose to put on OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know?(and it's gorgeous!) today but I'm thinking of some nail art to add to it. Hopefully I'll have a post up for you on that tomorrow! Thanks for reading!

Max Factor Fantasy Fire!

2012-02-21T10:07:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! I have a pretty polish to show you today! It wasn't very easy to photograph and is one of the first polishes that I think look better indoors than out in the sun. It's Max Factor Fantasy Fire, the very close dupe to the infamous Clarins 230(that is only available these days on ebay from $60 and up). This however, is almost as hard to get your hands on unless you live in the UK, or have a super awesome friend that lives there that doesn't mind sending you one! My sweet friend, Denise, was kind enough to snag one and send it my way!

This was 2 coats of Fantasy Fire over OPI Blue My Mind.

First, I'm going to show you what it looks like outside(out of direct sun) and most of the time indoors.

I love this red shimmer this added to my blue. Gorgeous!

Now, inside, you can see the color shift from red to green shimmer:

The middle and index fingers show the best color shift in the picture above.

And for fun, here are a few shots of the color change on all of my nails at once.

So what do you think of this polish? I think it's really pretty, but if it's that close of a dupe for Clarins 230, I'm really glad I didn't shell out the money for Clarins when I wanted to a couple of months ago. It's gorgeous to look at but the color change(at least over this blue base, I'll have to try on black next) is harder to notice unless you are right under a light.

Thanks for reading!

Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed!

2012-02-19T15:40:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday, readers! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend, especially if you are getting a long holiday weeekend! We just got back from running a couple of errands and having a nice family lunch at Chilis. Yummy!

I had to break up a dog "fight" incident yesterday and sadly broke some nails! :( I had to cut and file them all down to nubbin nails and am sad about it, but I'm hoping they grow back quickly! I did get some Orly Nail Armor to try and like it so far!

It's been so rainy and gloomy lately but the rain let up around lunch time today and the sun is shining. I was so excited, I grabbed my camera and ran outside in case it didn't last long.

I am so happy to show you this Limited Edition Cult Nails polish! I was one of those crazies that stayed up to order the minute they went on sale at midnight last weekend. However, I just looked at their site, and you can still purchase your own Toxic Seaweed HERE. Looks like they didn't run out as quickly as Unicorn Puke did, but I didn't want to chance missing out on this polish. I'm SO GLAD I got it! It is so unique to others in my collection and I really like it with my skin tone.

sad little nubbin nails

This is a jelly with flakies and glitters packed into it and I love it! I had to do 3 coats to make it this opaque(and you can see the visible nail line[VNL] but it's not even noticeable in person because its so packed with glitters and flakies).

I used:

2 coats of Orly Nail Armor

3 coats of Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

1 coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast

What do you think of this color? I just love the name! It's so creative and really makes me think of pollution floating in the seaweed and ocean. Thanks for reading!

Nubar Polka Dots!

2012-02-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! Thank you all SO much for the congratulations and well wishes on my last post. You are so sweet! I'm happy I chose to share with you all!

I received my giveaway prize today from Ashley at Ashley Is PolishAddicted!! I won her January Giveaway and she sent both Nubar Black and White Polka Dots to me!!! They are so much prettier in person! I couldn't believe the hidden iridescent glitters in White Polka Dot.

I still loved my blue striped mani from yesterday, but just HAD to try these out, so I put 2 coats of each on! Of course it's not sunny out again today, but I hope these shady pics have captured the prettiness anyway!

On to the zillion pics I took to hopefully show you the glitters nicely:

You can really see the iridescent mini glitters over the dark stripe in the middle!

Don't forget that the silver glitters were already on my nails from yesterday(CDN Silver Sparkle Effect). Nubar Black Polka Dot just has the 2 size black glitters.

What do you think? Do you have either of these? They were a bit hard to get the bigger hex glitters on the nail but thankfully they dried quickly for how thick the clear base was when I applied it! Thanks for reading!

It's A...

2012-02-15T17:56:00.000-05:00

BOY!

Hello readers! I have some exciting news to share with you all today! I haven't posted this yet, so don't feel out of the loop, but we are expecting our 2nd child! We just found out it's a boy and I was so excited that I wanted to do special "boy" nails. I kept it simple with blues and white instead of designs for this one but I really like how it turned out!

The sun wouldn't come out today so this is an overcast picture.

I used:

A base coat of Cult Nails Get It On

2 coats of OPI Alpine Snow

A striper brush and each of these colors:

OPI Blue My Mind

Ulta Faded Blues

OPI No Room For The Blues

Nubar Night Sparkle

1 coat of CDN Silver Sparkling Effect

Top coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast

And for anyone who wants to know more about the baby, read on:

We are 18 weeks this week, due mid July. We will name him Owen James and are all really excited to add a little boy to our family since we have Hailey (3 3/4yrs) now. He kicks and moves around all day but I'm loving it! Morning sickness is long gone so I'm enjoying this pregnancy!

Here are 2 comparison belly pictures for you. First one is 8 weeks and then the next is 18 weeks. :) I can't wait for my belly to get bigger and bigger and bigger!

And here is one of our latest ultrasound pictures of baby Owen:

So that's my exciting personal news update for you all! Thanks for reading and sharing in our special week!

Lovebirds Valentine's Day Mani!

2012-02-13T10:54:00.000-05:00

Good morning readers!! I have a super cute Vday mani for you today! I was really expecting to do a lot more themed manis for this holiday but I have been wearing my designs longer so I've run out of time. At least I like this one a lot and will keep it for tomorrow as well!

I wanted to use my new CND Red Hot Sparkle Effects set!

I call it "Lovebirds" even though they are obviously not painted after actual Lovebirds.

They are "kissing!"

I used:

Base Coat of Cult Nails Get It On

2 Coats of CND Just Red

2 Coats of CND Red Sparkle

OPI Alpine Snow

OPI Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!

Zoya Savita

Striper Brush and Dotting Tools

1 Coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast

What do you think? Thanks for reading!! Hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle Vday Mani!

2012-02-08T08:00:00.008-05:00

Good morning, readers!! I got so many amazing polishes in my nail mail post but couldn't help but try out the Deborah Lippmann first. How could I pass that beauty up?? I decided I wanted to do some fun "skittle" nails with different designs on each one with black and Razzle Dazzle. Razzle Dazzle is an amazing glitter polish, it's one of my favorite glitters now! There is such depth to the polish with different sized glitters in the raspberry colored jelly base. Love. It really looks like it glows in person!

I apologize that the picture isn't showing a huge contrast between the 2 colors but we didn't have our normal bright sun today for me to take photos in. I love this mani! Ashley (from Ashley Is PolishAddicted) told me she thought it was like "rocker valentine" and I think I'd have to agree!

Index: Black with a Razzle Dazzle glitter tip gradient

Middle: Razzle Dazzle with LOVE stamped from my Essence stamp plate

Ring: Razzle Dazzle topped with Black Shatter

Pinky: Razzle Dazzle with black dotting tool hearts.

I used: Cult Nails Get It On Perfecting Base Coat

3 coats of Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle

Wet n Wild Ink Well for the black designs

OPI Black Shatter

Cult Nails Wicked Fast Speed Dry Top Coat

What do you think? It would have worked better with a more contrasted color but I do love how they go together. Thanks for reading!

Lots of New Nail Mail!

2012-02-06T14:39:00.001-05:00

Hello readers! It's a gloomy day outside so it won't be good for taking new nail pics. But, I had some awesome nail mail come in the past week and I wanted to show it all to you!

Here is a group pic of everything on my table:

Here is my amazing price package I received from Maria at Cult Nails for winning the Nail Art Contest! Thanks again to everyone that voted for me!!

Wicked Fast Speed Dry Top Coat, Get It On Perfecting Base Coat, Hypnotize Me, Let Me Fly, and Iconic!

5 Bundle Monster wheels with gems, shapes, etc! Wow!

Konad Double Sided Stamper and Scraper Set(yes, I've already used it as you can see on the scraper) and a set of MASH Stamping Plates!

Set of Shany Nail Art Brushes and Dotting tools! (Both my brushes and dotting tools were looking pretty sad lately and breaking so this was REALLY exciting for me)

Talk about an epic contest prize, right? Thank you SO much Cult Nails for this awesome box!

I ordered myself Deborah Lippman's Razzle Dazzle from ebay! I can't wait to try this beauty out!

My friend Aleta from The Nail Junkie sent me this awesome package! She picked up a extra set of each CND polish sets and I was able to buy them from her. She also threw in these awesome extras!!

I can't wait to try out the red set for a Valentine's Day mani! Thanks, Aleta!

Last but certainly not least, another friend, Denise, was kind enough to send me a Max Factor Fantasy Fire!! This is a very very close dupe to Clarins 230(which is HTF unless you want to pay over $50 on ebay!). It is in the UK so there was no way I'd get it here in the US without an awesome friend. Look at the sweet extras she threw in!! Thanks Denise!!!!

Well, there you have it readers! I had some awesome nail mail this week! I am trying to decide what to try next! Thanks for reading!

Wear Red Day! Cult Nails Iconic!

2012-02-03T12:24:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! Yesterday I received my amazing prize package from the Cult Nails Nail Art Contest!! It's so amazing, I'll do a post on it later for you! I was happy it came because I had chosen Iconic as one of my colors and today is National Wear Red Day! I had to put it on!

If you are interested in more info on Wear Red Day, you can go to this site. It's about supporting women's heart health and I bet you will see lots of people wearing red today in honor of it. I know my 2 favorite daytime shows on ABC are having red shows today: The Chew and The Revolution. I can't wait to watch!

On to my red nails for today's special theme:

I also did a couple heart stamps with my new Essence plate using China Glaze Passion.

Here are some nice swatch pictures of Cult Nails Iconic before the stamping. Those flakies and shimmer are so gorgeous!

I used: Cult Nails Get It On perfecting base coat

2 coats of Cult Nails Iconic

1 coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast speed dry top coat

Isn't this polish gorgeous?? I am not usually a red toned polish lover but I am really really in love with this color! I plan on doing lots of Valentines Day themed manis these next 2 weeks so maybe I'll become more of a red lover!

Thanks for reading!

SoFlaJo Year of the Dragon: Dragon Heart Review!

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! I have such an awesome polish to show you today! Jody from SoFlaJo just started a collection of polishes to celebrate the Chinese New Year honoring The Year of the Dragon. It's a collection of 8 multichromatic(color shifting) top coats with teeny holographic glitter as well. I love that Jody put glitter in with these because it really makes them stand out from other multichrome polishes!

They are made from natural pigments and glitters and are free of the chemicals Toluene, Formaldehyde and Dibutyl Phthalate. That is super important to me because I'm not a huge fan of nail polish that isn't 3-Free.

Because these are top coats, the colors show up best with a dark base color. I did my swatches over black as I always like to do the first time I wear a color shifting polish to be able to see the full spectrum of color shift.

The polish Jody sent for me to review for you is called Dragon Heart. This is the description from her website:

"Dragon Heart with Red glitter and depending on your basecoat, shifts from red to copper to gold."

Let me show you this beauty!

This is the red/purple color. Lovely!!

Here is mid shift to the coppery/gold color.

A more extreme angle to the sun to show off the coppery gold color!

I love this picture for a few reasons. You are able to see the different colors as well as the gorgeous holo glitters on my blurry pinky nail!

And for fun, I put the first 3 pictures into one so you could see the shift that I was able to capture on my camera. Please click to enlarge and see it better!

All of these pictures are 2 coats over a black base color, and one coat of Poshe top coat. It went on easily with a good consistency and dried quickly. I was able to take these pictures shortly after painting!

Isn't it so pretty? I really love it! You can find all 8 colors at Jody's shop page HERE.

All of her colors come in 5 ml bottles and are for sale at $5 each! Go check out her page to see the other colors available as well!

What do you all think of this? Thanks for reading!

Jelly Sandwich with OPI Save Me!

2012-02-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I was looking at the new OPI Nicki Minaj collection yesterday and picked Save Me to buy. Because it's been a while since a jelly sandwich post, which I love wearing, I thought I'd try it with Save Me. It toned down the wild and crazy silver glitter with holo bar glitter but I really like how it turned out. Especially in person. It gave the pink OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y? a hidden shimmer!

I used: Base coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

2 Coats of OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y?

2 Coats of OPI Save Me

1 Coat of OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y?

1 Coat of Poshe top coat

What are your thoughts? Do you like to do jelly sandwich manis with jelly polishes? I need to think of some new combinations to try! Thanks for reading!

Mermaid Tail Nails!

2012-01-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! In an attempt to make my Zoya Charla and Mimi Gradient nails last a bit longer, I decided to add and change them up a bit!

I did 2 coats of Ozotic Elytra 528 over the Zoyas because the multichrome glitters change from teal to purple so it went really nicely on top of both colors. Then, I stamped a silver fishnet design over top of it all. I think it definitely looks mermaid-ish!

Look at those gorgeous Ozotic glitters!!

I used:

One coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

2 coats of Zoya Charla

Zoya Mimi and a makeup sponge to do the gradient

2 coats of Ozotic Elytra 528

Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and Bundle Monster stamp plate BM-209

Top coat of Poshe

What do you think? I love the added shimmer from the Ozotic! Thanks for reading!

Like Mother, Like Daughter...

2012-01-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

Good morning, readers! If you are following my Facebook page, you'd have seen this picture I posted for you yesterday.

As I've mentioned before, I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter named Hailey. She loves nail polish and watching me do nail stuff, as well as painting her own nails. She wanted to try out 2 new polishes that we received from Carly at the Lacquered Lover and set to work at painting her own nails. She used the red as a base and the glitter as a topper.

The cutest part was that she went to get her little kid's Dora camera and sat out on the back steps and tried to take pictures of her own mani. That's when I took this picture that almost made me tear up:

How adorable is that? She was having a bit of a hard time so I took this picture for her of both of her hands:

(her little camera is obviously not the best with focus and pixel size so excuse the blurriness lol)

Tonight, she decided to paint her toes to match so here are some more pictures she took with her camera:

Showing off her two Wet n Wild polishes she used

Wanted to take one like Mommy does

And here is another picture of her from her camera so you can see her better.

I asked Hailey what she liked about the nail polish she used today and she said, "I love them and I really want to put stamps on them." Hah so there you have it. Looks like we may have to do some nail stamps this weekend on her nails.

So this was my proud mommy moment for the day. Hope you liked. Thanks for reading!!

Zoya Charla and Mimi Gradient!!

2012-01-27T12:07:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I received my 2 free promo polishes from Zoya yesterday and had to do a mani using the both of them since I couldn't choose just one! I love how this turned out! So simple and easy to do, and yet I can't stop staring at my nails!

These were Zoya Charla and Zoya Mimi! I love them both so much. Mimi is what we call my grandmother so it's even more special to me that I have a polish now with her nickname on it!

I used:
Base coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
2 coats of Zoya Charla
Used a ripped makeup sponge to do the gradient with Zoya Mimi
Top coat of Poshe

What do you think? Very mermaid-like in my opinion. Love! I now want to order more from this Zoya Sparkle collection! Thanks for reading!

Pretty and Polished Polish Reviews!

2012-01-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I have an exciting post for you today! My friend, Chelsea, from the blog Pretty and Polished , started selling her nail polishes on Etsy! I have 2 of her polishes to review and share with you all! You can find her Etsy store here with tons of gorgeous polishes! She offers full size and mini versions of her polishes.

She sent me Forest Phire and Born Again to show to you all! These are both the mini sized bottles.

Look at those beauties in the bottle!!

I'm going to show you Forest Phire first! It is described online as "a decadent green Jjelly packed with richly colored glitters. Looks like an enchanted forest full of Sapphires." This is 3 coats with 1 coat of Poshe top coat:

In the sunlight.

In the shade. You can see the glitter a bit easier in this shot.

Macro! Love it, check out those gorgeous glitters!!

Because I could still see my nail under 3 coats, I decided to try a layering look with Forest Phire and LOVE how it turned out. This is one coat over butterLONDON's British Racing Green. Also, one coat of Poshe top coat.

You can see it better in this macro shot. This is a great way to conserve Forest Phire as well! So pretty!

Onto the other polish: Born Again! This is described online as "an entrancing navy blue jelly base filled with blue, purple, black, and silver glitter. This polish is sure to make you feel alive!" I can't get enough of the shimmer in the jelly base! Love love love! This is 3 coats and 1 coat of Poshe top coat.

So pretty!!

What do you think of these 2 gorgeous polishes from Pretty and Polished?? I really like them and am so glad I was able to share them with you all! Head on over to Chelsea's Etsy shop to see what others she has available as well! Thanks for reading!

Periwinkle Shimmer Magnetic Polish!

2012-01-24T16:27:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I have my very first magnetic polish to share with you today. You Mix Cosmetics started selling a ton of awesome magnetic polish colors, as well as magnets, on their site! As of right now, I see 28 different magnetic color polishes and 4 different design magnets for purchase. They also have a ton of glitter and color changing pigments to make your own nail polish creations! This is the link to their magnetic polishes if you are interested!

This is 2 coats, and I hovered close to the nail(without touching) right after painting the 2nd coat. One nail at a time. I held the magnet for about 5-10 seconds over each nail and this is how they turned out. I am really happy with them!! I couldn't leave it as just a base color, though, so I did a small holo glitter gradient on the tips.

Look at the gorgeous blue shimmer on the magnetic parts!!

I used:

Base coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

2 Coats of You Mix Cosmetics Periwinkle Shimmer

The Diagonal Stripe Magnet

China Glaze Fairy Dust and Nubar Star Sparkle(and a makeup sponge) for the gradient on my tips

Poshe top coat

What do you think? I love the look of magnetic nails and I can see myself ordering more colors in the future!! Thanks for reading!!

There's A Zoo On My Nails!

2012-01-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! I had too much fun and had such great feedback from my Giraffe Nails post that I decided to add to the animal idea and do different zoo animals on each finger! My daughter, Hailey, LOVED them!! They are kind of like "animal skittles"(thanks, Heidi, for the term lol) and I like how they turned out. My husband told me I should do my right hand nails with the food for the zoo animals to coordinate with my left hand. So you will see my right hand as well in this post!

My left hand zoo animal nails:

Thumb: Elephant, Index: Monkey, Middle: Giraffe, Ring: Panda, Pinky: Lion

My right hand animal food nails:

Thumb: Peanuts, Index: Bananas, Middle: Tree branch, Ring: Bamboo, Pinky: Steak(don't make fun of my "heart" looking steak hahaha)

On to the paired up nails:

Peanuts for the Elephant

Bananas for the Monkey

Tree branch for the Giraffe

Bamboo for the Panda

Steak for the Lion(figured it was less gruesome than a cute little Gazelle)

What do you think? I'm going to list all of the polishes used for each nail below so feel free to skip it if you aren't curious of a color. Thanks for reading!!

Elephant:
OPI No Room For The Blues (base color)
Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid (head)
Essie French Affair (Inner ear)
Sinful Colors Black on Black(detail lines)
OPI Alpine Snow(eye and tusk)
OPI Absolutely Alice(water drops)

Peanuts:
Color Club Earthy Angel (peanuts)
OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys (details)

Monkey:
China Glaze Starboard (base color)
OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys (head)
Color Club Earthy Angel (Nose)
OPI Alpine Snow (eyes)
Sinful Colors Black on Black (details)

Bananas:
Orly Lemonade (bananas)
Sinful Colors Black on Black (details)
OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys (details)

Giraffe:
OPI That's Hot! Pink (base color)
Orly Lemonade (head)
OPI In My Back Pocket (nose, horns, and spots)

OPI Alpine Snow (eyes)
Sinful Colors Black on Black (details)

Tree Branch:
OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys (branch)
China Glaze Starboard (leaves)

Panda:
Color Club Puccilicious (base colors)
OPI Alpine Snow (head and eyes)
Sinful Colors Black on Black (ears, nose, eyes)

Bamboo:
Color Club Earthy Angel (bamboo sticks)
China Glaze Starboard (leaves)
Sinful Colors Black on Black (details)

Lion:
OPI In My Back Pocket (base color)
OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys (mane and nose)
Orly Lemonade (head and ears)

OPI Alpine Snow (eyes)
Sinful Colors Black on Black (details)

Steak:
OPI Alpine Snow(fatty part of steak)
Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar(red meat)

Giraffe Nails!!

2012-01-19T13:41:00.001-05:00

Hey readers! I have a treat for you today! Finally some free-hand nail art! I have been struggling for inspiration on some good nail art lately and today I had a good plan: ask my 3 1/2 year old daughter, Hailey, what I should do on my nails. She immediately asked if I could do giraffe nails, bringing us to this post!

I used: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

2 Coats of my new OPI That's Hot! Pink

Orly Lemonade and a striper brush to freehand the giraffe head and ears

OPI In My Back Pocket and a striper/dotting tools to do the noses, spots, and the horns

OPI Alpine Snow and Sinful Colors Black on Black with dotting tools to do the eyes and nostrils

Accent nail:

I stamped OPI Alpine Snow with the giraffe print design on Bundle Monster Plate BM-215

I used my striper and filled in the giraffe spots with the orange OPI In My Back Pocket(since the orange wasn't able to stamp opaque enough)

Top Coat of Poshe

What do you think? I think these are just too cute and one of my favorite animal designs I've done! I will most likely do a tutorial on these giraffes in the near future if any of you would be interested? Thanks for reading!

Neverland Nail Blog Blogger Spotlight!!

2012-01-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

Lindsey from Neverland Nail Blog asked me to do a Blogger Spotlight on her blog! How awesome is that? You can go check out the post HERE and read my interview questions!

OPI DS Temptation Stamping!

2012-01-13T13:56:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! TGIF! Anyone excited for the weekend or have any fun plans?

I have another stamping post to show you today! I received OPI DS Temptation for my birthday and knew it would be a really neat base color for a stamping mani. This design is from one of the Born Pretty Store stamping plates I got over the holidays and I like how it turned out! It's so sparkly in person and was a little hard to photograph since the sun was bouncing off all of the glitters in Temptation.

I used:

Base Coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

3 coats of OPI DS Temptation

Stamped with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes on stamp plate m79

Dotting tool used to add the accent dots with Orly Sweet Peacock

2 top coats of Poshe to get smooth

What are your thoughts on this? I love the colors in this design and think its one of my recent favorites! DS Temptation has a couple of different color glitters in it(pink and blue added to the purple) so its really pretty to stamp over. It adds more dimension to the colors.

I'm not sure if I'll take these beauties off over this weekend unless they chip so I hope you all have a safe and fun weekend! Thanks for reading!

Flaky, Fancy Clouds! And A Contest..

2012-01-12T11:43:00.000-05:00

Good morning readers! Surprised for a post the day after the last one? Me, too! It was a rainy day around here yesterday and I couldn't help brainstorming about more mani ideas and decided to try something new sooner than expected!

I saw these "fancy clouds" yesterday on Nailside and thought it would be a fun design to try! Here's a tip that I learned the hard way, use one coaters or its very thick and easy to smudge by the end of adding all of the colors. haha. It wasn't too hard, but since I used some OPI polishes with the pro-wide brush, it wasn't super easy to make the "bumps" for the layers.

Since all 3 colors are similar to one another, it ended up being more of a subtle design that still got to showcase the new Finger Paints Special Effect I got recently! Next time, I'll do more contrasting colors, but I knew I wanted to do darker colors so you could appreciate the flakies.

I used:

Base Coat of OPI Base Coat for Natural Nails

2 Coats of OPI Roadhouse Blues

OPI Dating A Royal and

Sinful Colors Black on Black for the cloud layers

1 coat of Finger Paints Motley

Top coat of Poshe.

A close up so you can see the gorgeous purple and teal flakes in the Finger Paints top coat!

What do you think? I love the different color flakies!!

Also, I recently entered the Cult Nails Nail Art Contest on Facebook and wanted to share my entry link with you in case you wanted to vote for me! You just have to "LIKE" my photo in their contest photo album for a vote.

Here is the direct link to my photo: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=326953777337751&set=a.326953690671093.86174.141755299190934&type=1&theater

OR you can click on my photo below to go to it! This is the Needle Marble Design I did a while back!

I really hope I win because the prize is a lot of nail art tools as well as some Cult Polishes!! Thank you for any votes you are willing to give! Also, Cult Nails is going to give a prize away to one of the people who voted for the winning entry!! How awesome is that?

Thanks for reading! Hope you all have an amazing day!!

Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe!!

2012-01-11T11:38:00.001-05:00

Hello readers! Well, I finally took off my stamping mani and got to try out this gorgeous polish!! Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe. This was one of my amazing birthday presents from my bff, Heidi, and I am SO happy to have it. When we got together yesterday, she said it looked like a glitter sandwich without having to do the layering part! I totally agree! Love love love this polish!

Since it's a dark blue jelly, it wasn't that easy to photograph.

Here is a close up so you can see the different glitters! How pretty is this?!

I did 3 coats in these pics but it could easily be worn over a dark color with less coats of ATU. I did one coat of Poshe top coat and it was almost completely smooth after that.

What do you think? Do you have this polish or any other Deborah Lippmanns? I didn't think I'd ever own this so I am super thankful that Heidi got it for me!! Thanks for reading!

Paisley Nails!

2012-01-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I feel like it's been ages since I've posted a stamp nail design so I am happy to do this post today! I've been wanting the Konad paisley design stamp plate for the longest time and when I found out that Born Pretty had a dupe(and it was on sale a few weeks ago!) I snatched it up! I couldn't wait to use it and am not disappointed!

I had to try out the gorgeous new blue OPI that Ashley got me(as seen in yesterday's haul post) so I decided that would be the base color. It was pretty enough to be left on it's own, though! I wish I'd taken a pic to show you just the blue before the stamping.

I used:
Base Coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
2 Coats of OPI No Room For The Blues
Sally Hansen Color Quick Chrome Pen in Fuchsia Chrome and Born Pretty Plate m60
Flower detail dot in a-englad Lady of the Lake
Dot detail in butter LONDON British Racing Green
Top Coat of Poshe

This was the first time I stamped with the Sally Hansen Chrome polish pen and love the coverage! I think I grabbed this on clearance a while back and am now wishing I'd grabbed some more colors. Also, I can't wait for my nubbin nails to grow back out. I was keeping them shorter over the holidays when I was too busy to keep up with them and now I miss my longer nails! Grow grow grow!!

What are your thought on this plate design? I love paisley!!! Thanks for reading!

New Polish Gift Haul!

2012-01-04T16:26:00.001-05:00

Hello readers!! I'm back from our long 2 week holiday visit to my parents' house so now I'm ready to get back to some blogging! While I was gone, I received some gorgeous polishes for my birthday and Christmas that I want to share with you now!

Here is a group shot for you of all of my new goodies:

These are for my birthday from my bff Heidi! She sent me OPI DS Opulence, OPI DS Temptation, Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe(!!!!!omg!!!), and the butter LONDON Dressing Table Duo of Tart With A Heart and The Black Knight! How spoiled am I?! Thanks dear!!!

I received these for Christmas from my brother's girlfriend, my dear friend, Ashley! OPI No Room For The Blues, That's Hot! Pink, and Happy Anniversary! I can't wait to try these!!!! Thanks, Ashley!! :D

How's that for a new haul post? I love love love all of them and can't wait to show them off to you!! I also received 2 Born Pretty Stamping plates so I'll be showing you some new stamping designs this week as well!!

Thanks for reading! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

Born Pretty Dried Flowers Review!

2011-12-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! I have a special post for you today!! I was in contact with the Born Pretty Store and asked to review their Dried Flowers for you all! Hopefully after this review you will love them as much as I do and want to try them out!

This is what will come when you order:

12 Different Dried Flowers in these cute reusable plastic containers! So much nicer than baggies!

6 different colors of smaller flowers. About 5-6 of each color.

6 different colors of bigger flowers. 2-3 of each color.

Now, let's see how they work!!

I picked a smaller green flower to put on my pinky nail. I suppose you could use tweezers to gently take them out but I was careful and dumped them onto my hand and picked one before dropping the rest back in.

Apply a clear coat so it is tacky. Place the flower on the tacky polish and press down on all sides.

Once it's stuck down, apply your thicker clear top coat. I did Poshe and didn't have any problems with it hurting the flower. I think I even ended up doing 2 coats once the first one dried so I was sure all of the edges were sealed.

I also wanted to try out a bigger flower for you. I chose this blue one to try on my thumb.

I did the same as with the smaller flower. Did a clear coat and stuck it down while it was still tacky. These were a little more difficult because there are so many steps and petals that need to be stuck down and I even went back with my clear polish and brush under a few that weren't sticking down.

Then, take little scissors or edge/cuticle clippers and carefully trim the excess from around your nails.

Then, again, use your thicker top coat to seal it all in. Poshe again, 2 coats.

And here are the 2 finished nails. Neat, right? I love how vibrant the colors are against this fuchsia polish!

Do you like this look? I do, and am so glad I got to try it out!

Born Pretty Store sells a ton of nail and beauty supplies at low prices! They ship from Hong Kong so it's about 2-3 weeks to deliver to the US, but well worth the wait for the price you pay as well as the quality.

The people at the Born Pretty Store were kind enough to give me a 5% off coupon code for all of you readers! Just use the code: JACJ61 to get your 5% off!

You can click this banner below(or on the sidebar where it will stay for easy access) to get to the Born Pretty Store and check out some of their awesome nail products! Plus, there is always free worldwide shipping! Can't beat that!!

Have any of you tried these, or other dried flowers before? How about anything else from the Born Pretty store? What are your thoughts? Thanks for reading!!

My December Julep Maven Box!

2011-12-12T07:30:00.000-05:00

Good morning, everyone! I have this month's Julep Maven box to share with you today! I've heard lots of mixed reactions to the boxes this month but I LOVED mine. One of my favorite boxes so far! Granted, my box wasn't one of the ones with nail appliques, but I probably would have liked that as well. On to the box!

In this box:

Pomegranate Body Creme ($18)

Fast Dry Top Coat ($14)

Helena Nail Polish ($14)

Nail Pearls(free holiday gift)

Total Retail Price: $46. I paid the normal $19.99 Maven subscription price!

Helena is a gorgeous and bright fuchsia pink. It's a little more purple than my pictures are showing, but really pretty anyway! This was 2 coats.

I also used the quick dry top coat in these pictures! I like it, it's thinner so don't expect Poshe or Seche Vite, but it made the polish shiny and I was able to touch my nails once I painted all 10. I've heard it smears designs a bit, so I'll keep this one around for when I have solid colors. That is common with a thinner quick dry top coat anyway.

I love love love the pomegranate body creme! It smells really yummy, and my hands feel great after using it. I think it is my favorite hand lotion that Julep has sent me! Not the least bit greasy and absorbs very well into the skin within a couple of minutes. A+ from me!

I haven't had a chance to try the little pearls yet because I don't think the color goes well with this polish color so I'll get back to you on that in a later post.

All in all, as I said before, I love this box! What do you think of what I got? Did you get this box or a different one? I'd love to hear what you thought of your box this month!

Don't forget, with Julep Maven:
-You can request a new "shelf pull" if you don't like what colors they've picked for you
-You always get free shipping, as well as 20% off their site
-You can pause, cancel, or send to friend any month by the 25th
-Your box is shipped on the 26th(as well as your card charged for it)
-It's 19.99 a month for at least $40 worth of products
-You get $15 credit for each Maven you refer(keep track of who you refer in case Julep has another glitch)

If you want to sign up now, here is my referral link:
http://www.julep.com/AP.aspx?ID=520&EID=14751479
Again, please let me know if you use my link so my credit doesn't get lost.

Thanks for reading!!

Ulta Pro Denim Blues Collection Vol 2

2011-12-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! I have more swatches for you today! This post will be all about the Denim Blues Collection Volume 2 box set I picked up recently. Seems that Ulta jumped on the blue jeans bandwagon that we've been seeing in more expensive brands. I love blues lately so I was glad to snag this up. Only $9.99 at Ulta! These were all 2 coat swatches.

First up we have Faded Blues:

shady shot

sunnier shot

I like this blue because I don't have many other light blues like this. Not sure how often I would use it, but it's pretty!

Next up we have Gray Couture:

shady shot

sunny shot

This is a metallic/frosty silver. I like it more in the sun but dislike the brush strokes that come with frosty polishes. Not sure how many people have silver jeans so I'm wondering why it's in this set, but I'll let it go.

On to my favorite of the bunch, Denim Glitz:

shady shot

sunny shot

This is my favorite! There is a slight purple duochrome at certain angles but it was too hard to capture for my pics. I love the shimmery flecks in this polish, as well as the bright color of it. Love love love.

On to my other favorite, Soho Skinny:

shady shot

sunny shot

Look at that hidden shimmer!! Such a gorgeous polish. Love it!!

And the last polish in this set, Rhinestone Rocker:

shady shot

sunny shot

This would be a great base color for a Galaxy mani! Black with different sparkles in it. Not totally unique, though, as Ulta also has this exact shade in their normal polish line called "Little Black Dress."

What do you think of this collection? I am continuously impressed with Ulta polishes lately! 2 coaters with great formulas! Yay, Ulta! Thanks for reading!

Ulta Glitterati Minis..AKA Deborah Lippmann Dupe Set

2011-12-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! I have a fun post for you today! Remember my new Ulta polish sets I showed you in my haul post yesterday? This post will show you one of those sets: the Glitterati set. I got this set free with my $5 off coupon, but it is on sale for $4.99 now if you want to snag it at your local Ulta. I was impressed with all of them because they only needed 2 coats! At least 3 of these are very close to popular and pricey Deborah Lippmann polishes. Maybe you can help with with the 4th one and tell me if it's also a dupe?

Here we go:

This is a close up of the box set. They are not labeled individually but the box is labeled.

Note: these swatches are a little bumpy because I didn't use topcoat. :)

First up we have Ulta Hide and Go Sequins. This is a dupe to DL Bad Romance. I don't own any Deborah Lippmanns but I did already have the recent Revlon Facets of Fuchsia dupe!

Index and Ring finger have Ulta Hide and Go Sequins and Middle and Pinky nails are Revlon Facets of Fuchsia. The Ulta is only 2 coats while Revlon required 3.

Next up we have Fashionable Late. This is the only one that I'm unsure of any DL dupes. It looks to be similar to Today Was a Fairy Tale but more gunmetal colored and not silver.

This is only 2 coats. I love this! You can see the 2 different sized glitters in the darker base color.

Next up we have Black Tie Affair. This seems like a dupe for DL Ruby Red Slippers. I have the other RRS dupe: Wet n Wild Behind Closed Doors from the On The Prowl Collection to compare for you.

Index and Ring fingers are Ulta Black Tie Affair and Middle and Pinky are WnW Behind Closed Doors. Again, Ulta only needed 2 coats while Wet n Wild needed 3.

Lastly, we have Glamoflauge. This seems like a dupe to Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe. That is the only DL I've ever had on my wishlist and I feel now that I can erase that and enjoy this little beauty. I don't have anything to compare for you, but you can see ATU swatches here from my friend Sarah at Chalkboard Nails.

Only 2 coats. Lovely isn't it? This is the polish that I bought the entire set for. I love love love it!

What do you think? Are you going to go get this set, or do you already have it? I was pleasantly surprised with this set and hope they decide to make them full sized! Thanks for reading!

New Nail Mail and Haul Post!

2011-12-09T11:12:00.000-05:00

Hello readers!! Since I've been keeping my manis on longer lately, I haven't had as much to post. So yay for enough new nail polish for a haul post!

Here are all of the recent things I've acquired:

First I have my amazing Secret Santa polishes from Lyncia:

L-R: OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air, OPI Rainbow Connection, OPI Gone Gonzo, China Glaze Twinkle Lights, China Glaze Snow Globe! How awesome are all of these?

Next up is a polish I got myself during a sale at Ulta while buying for others:

China Glaze Marry A Millionaire from the new Eye Candy collection. Can't wait to try it!

These are from another Ulta trip I took yesterday with some amazing coupons and freebies:

The Ulta Pro Denim Blues Collection Vol 2, and Glitterati sets.

Denim Blues L-R: Faded Blues, Gray Couture, Denim Glitz, Soho Skinny, and Rhinestone Rocker.

Glitterati L-R: Hide and Go Sequins, Fashionably Late, Black Tie Affair, and Glamoflauge.

Lastly, my Julep Maven December box arrived yesterday!!

A huge 4 oz tub of Pomegranate body creme, Fast Dry Top Coat, Helena, and a little case of pink/coral colored pearls. Awesome! Stay tuned for a Julep box post.

Well, there you have it! My most recent purchases and nail mail. I have to add these to my stash list so I'm not sure how many I am up to now! Eeek! Thanks for reading!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-12-06T14:43:00.000-05:00

Hello readers!! Are you ready for my next Christmas mani design? Ashley from Ashley is Polish Addicted helped me decide what to do today and I love how it turned out! I got to use mostly new polishes I've received recently and I love them all! I got to try Savvy Femme Couture Ruby Slippers from my Let's Get Nailed giveaway win, and Rainbow Connection and Fresh Frog of Bel Air from my Secret Santa gift!

Here's my close up of the tree nail so you could see the glitter ornaments easier!

I used: Base Coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

2 Coats of Savvy FC Ruby Slippers

A makeup sponge and OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air sponged onto the tips in a gradient style.

Tree: Striper brush and Zoya Veruschka to make the tree.

Fresh Frog of Bel Air on top to add the green mini glitters.

OPI Rainbow Connection on the tree for the ornaments.

China Glaze Passion and a striper for the garland and star topper.

Top Coat of Poshe.

What are your thoughts? I love how this turned out! I enjoy these holiday manis and can't wait to think up the next one. Thanks for reading!

Frosty the Snow Man Had a Jolly, Happy Soul...

2011-12-02T09:19:00.000-05:00

Good morning readers! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday if you celebrate it. We sure did! I've been busy since we got home and therefore am just now getting around to writing a new post for you all. Hope you didn't miss me too much ;)

Anyway, since it's finally December(yay!) I wanted to post my first holiday mani for you! It's not actually "Frosty the Snowman" but I thought it would make a cute title. This is just a generic snow man but I really love how he turned out!

I received China Glaze Snow Globe in a secret santa gift swap yesterday and instantly knew I wanted to do this kind of mani for you! The snowflakes didn't come out as cute as I'd hoped, but this mani was really all about the snowman anyway. :)

This is a shaded picture so you can see the true beauty of Snow Globe!

I used: Base Coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

2 Coats of China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le

1 Coat of China Glaze Snow Globe

Snowflakes: OPI Alpine Snow(such a fitting name!) and a striper brush/dotters for the snow flakes.

1 more Coat of China Glaze Snow Globe over the snow flakes.

Snowman: OPI Alpine Snow, Sinful Colors Black on Black, OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress(scarf and flower), OPI In My Back Pocket(nose)

Top Coat of Poshe

What are your thoughts? I plan on doing some tutorials on this design this weekend for you. I really love how this turned out and its putting me right into the Christmas Spirit--which I needed because we plan on getting our Christmas tree today and decorating it and the house this weekend. YAY! Thanks for reading!

Green Zebra Mani!

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! I decided that I have really been ignoring my stamp set lately and decided to pull out my plates and use them again. I forgot how easy and nice stamped nails are! I love the uniformity of the design!

Tried to get a close up for you to see that the base really has that green shimmer in it!

I used: Base Coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

2 coats of Ulta Professional Green With Envy

Stamped with Color Club Perfect Mol-ten(from the Foiled collection)

Bundle Monster zebra stamp design on plate BM-223

Top Coat of Poshe.

What do you think? This was my first time stamping with one of the Foiled colors and it worked out very well! I like the sparkle texture compared to a smooth metallic color. I also really liked the base color because it almost looks black but its a different tone so it's not so harsh against my skin color. When you are out in the sun, you really see the green in it. Lovely.

Thanks for reading!

Michelle is a Heart Breaker

2011-11-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone! After swatching my Julep polishes yesterday, I decided to leave on Michelle as a base color for the new Pure Ice Heart Breaker I picked up. It's a really pretty teal shimmer and you can't beat the $2 price tag at walmart! I can't wait to layer this on other base colors as well.

What do you think? I've seen Heart Breaker a few times on blogs lately so I knew I had to check it out when I was at Walmart. Thanks for reading!

My November Julep Maven Box!

2011-11-19T08:03:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers!! My Julep Maven box showed up when I was out of town so I am just now getting around to writing this post for you. This month, there was an option to get the "polish lovers" box if you weren't interested in the original box of polish, lipgloss, and a makeup bag. I opted for the Polish Lover box.

In this box:

Trina Nail Polish ($14)

Michelle Nail Polish ($14)

Diane Nail Polish ($14)

Total retail price: $42. I paid the normal $19.99!

On to the swatches:

First, I give you Diane. A dark green that is great for fall! When in the direct sunlight, the green lightens enough to see it.

Next up is Michelle. I gorgeous dark navy blue! I love it!

And I saved the best for last: Trina. Look at the hidden sparkle when the sun hits your nails! So gorgeous. It makes me want to carry a tiny sun around with me inside so I can see this all the time.

All in all, I really like the Polish Lovers box and I think it was a great option! I can definitely see myself wearing all 3 polishes.

Turkey Nails + Tutorial!

2011-11-18T10:24:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers!! For those of us in the US, we are less than a week away from celebrating Thanksgiving! I thought it would be fun to do a Thanksgiving themed mani for you. It was so easy that I also made up the tutorial in case anyone wanted to duplicate it for next week!

My trees in the background are starting to change colors, yay!

Do you like my turkey? LOL. It's a little silly, but cute and I think it fits in with my other animal head designs. The color on all of my other nails is L'oreal Owl's Night! Isn't it gorgeous? I can't believe I've had this for over a month and haven't tried it before.

On to the turkey tutorial:

These are the polishes I used:

Left to right: Color Club Antiquated(from the Foiled collection), OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress, China Glaze Cross Iron 360, GOSH Yellow Bombay, OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys, OPI Alpine Snow, and Wet n Wild Ink Well.

The tools used:

Striper brush, detail brush, medium dotting tool, small dotting tool(my small dotter tip actually broke off recently but it still works!).

Step 1) Paint your entire nail with Color Club Antiquated.

Step 2) Using one of your colors(I used I'm Not Really a Waitress) and your striper brush, make a feather shape that goes about 2/3 the way up your nail.

Step 3) Using your orange, red, and yellow polishes and your striper, repeat step 2 until you have the entire tail feathers.

Step 4) Using your brown and your striper brush, paint a circle head shape and a neck.

Step 5) Using white and your medium dotting tool, do two eyes.

Step 6) Using black and your small dotting tool, put small black dots in the center of the white eyes.

Step 7) Using your small detail brush and your orange, draw an upside down triangle for the beak.

Don't forget your favorite top coat! I used Poshe.

Well, what do you think? Cute, silly? Will you try it? Thanks for reading! Keep the tutorial requests coming!!

Piggy Nails Tutorial!

2011-11-17T07:55:00.000-05:00

Hello lovely readers! Are you ready for another tutorial? Traci from The Trace Face Philes requested this design. This was one of my earliest blog post art designs and it got a great response(I even found my picture on a cosmopolitan magazine website in another country!). It's my most viewed blog post with almost 500 page views! This design was from Simply Rins and I duplicated it! I hope you like it!

Here is the full mani:

Here's how you can do it:

The polishes I used:

Zoya Caitlin, Sinful Colors Starfish, OPI Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!, Wet n Wild Ink Well.

The Tools I used:

Striper Brush and Medium Dotting Tool.

Step 1) Paint your entire nail with Zoya Caitlin.

Step 2) Using your lighter pink, Draw a circle on the bottom half of your nail.

Step 3) Using your darker pink, draw a smaller half circle on the tip of your nail for the nose.

Step 4) Using your dotting tool, make upside down triangle ear shapes. This part is a little tricky but its mostly like making three dots that connect.

Step 5) Using your dotting tool and black, make your two eyes.(I messed up my right eye here, oops!)

Step 6) Using your striper brush and black polish, do two little lines for the nostrils.

Don't forget to add your favorite top coat! There you have it! Super cute and really easy.

What do you think? Will you try it? I'd love to see your tutorial tries posted to my facebook page!

Please let me know of any other tutorials you'd like to see! Thanks for reading!

Barry M Mani!

2011-11-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning, readers! If you saw my nail mail post yesterday, you know that I recieved 3 Barry M polishes in a giveaway. I was so excited about them and they were the first new polishes I tried. I wanted to use all 3 of them, so this is the mani I came up with.

I used: Base Coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
2 coats of Barry M Berry Ice Cream
1 Crackle coat of Barry M White Nail Effects
1 Coat of Barry M Hologram Hexagrams
1 Coat of Out the Door

What are your thoughts? I was impressed with this white crackle! I've heard that Barry M makes the best crackles and I may have to agree! The Berry Ice Cream went on amazingly and I had barely any clean up because it didn't try to flood my cuticles or anything. The hexagrams were a bit tricky to place on the nail because they float in a really thick clear jelly. Even with top coat, they were still a little uneven because I was trying to move around the hexagrams. But I really like my mani and you can only tell if you rub your finger over a nail.

Do you have any Barry M polishes? I definitely want more now! Thanks for reading!

I'm Back!!!

2011-11-15T10:47:00.000-05:00

Hello readers!! So sorry its been a while since my last post, but if you are a liker on my FB page, you would have read that my grandmother was very ill in the hospital and we had to leave town to be with her. Thankfully, she is out of the hospital now and recovering so I will be back to normal posting.

When we returned home, I had 3 nail mail packages waiting!! I also got a few things while I was out of town so this post is to show you what I have recently acquired!!

All of my new goodies!

These are the things I bought while out of town.

Top row: Unnamed Cosmetic Arts glitter, Wet n Wild Diamond in the Rough, and NOPI Kendall on the Katwalk.

Bottom is the Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe collection(Mine have the flower caps and labels on the bottom!)

Nail Mail:

My November Julep Maven Box Came! I got the Polish Lovers Option Box.

Left to Right: Trina, Michelle, and Diane

I won my friend Samina's giveaway at Sam Nails It! My first Barry M polishes!!!

Left to Right: White Nail Effects, Hologram Hexagrams, and Berry Ice Cream. Thank you so much Samina!! I can't wait to try them!!

These are another giveaway win!! This time I won the 25 Follower Giveaway over at Let's Get Nailed. Check out all of those polishes! Thanks Brittany, Jen, and Ericka, I can't wait to try them!

Well, there you have it! Hope you liked my recap and I'll get a new nail post up soon.

Just some reminders, check out my blog sale tab and my blog facebook page! Thanks for reading!!

Day 3 of Untrieds: Essence Chuck and Blair

2011-11-03T13:07:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone! It's onto another untried polish today for our Day 3 of our 30 Day Challenge. This post is actually a pair of untried polishes. I received these from my friend Ruth in Spain when I got my Bella/ Edward and Thelma/Louise sets and haven't even been able to use them until now. So YAY for this untrieds challenge!

Chuck is the gorgeous blue base color and Blair is the glitter topper with big and medium silver hex and holo mini circles . Essence Twins are so gorgeous and I think I need more! Chuck could easily be a 1 coater(although this is 2 because it's a habit) and this is only one coat of Blair on top of it! Love love love!

What are your thoughts on this set? I just can't believe I waited so long to try it, I just love blue!

Come check out what the rest of the girls did for their Day 3 of 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge:

Alexandria at Je T'aime Lacquer
Alyssa at Always Polished

Amber at The Polished Momma

Andrea at Addicted to the Allure of Beauty

Ashley at Follow the Yellow Polish Road

Caitlin at Something Creative

Carly at Lacquered Lover

Caroline at Good Lack, Nail!

Caroline at Shadow's Nail Art

Chelsea at Pretty and Polished

Gwen at Pudgy Nails

Ingie at Limited Addiction Nails

Jamie at Nails Adored

Lindsey at Nailtopia

Natalie at Gems in a Bottle

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Cherry Glam Girl

Sarah at Lucky Lacquers

Thalie at Glazed Talons

Taylor at Nailed to the T

Ozotic Mishmash Comparison

2011-11-02T17:24:00.000-04:00

Hello readers! Are you ready for the big comparison post between all 4 new Ozotic Mishmash holographic multichrome polishes? You can go see my individual posts for 531, 532, 533, and 534, as well if you haven't been around for the Mishmash-athon.

First, lets look at a bottle shot:

Right to Left: 531, 532, 533, 534

I painted each nail to correspond with one of the new colors for these pictures. Index is 531, middle finger is 532, ring finger is 533 and pinky finger is 534. All are 2 coats over black with topcoat.

At this angle(and most of the time), you can easily see the 4 different colors.

You can see a bit of a color change.

At this extreme angle to the sun, 532, 533, and 534 look like the exact same polish!

And at this angle, the same thing happens to make it look like 532, 533, and 534 are the same.

Here is a shady picture for you to see the mutichrome.

As you can see, 531 is the most unique. 532, 533, and 534 can look like the same polish in certain angles of the light. 532 has the most color change compared to 533 and 534 because it also has that green/teal added to the blues and purples found in 533 and 534. I honestly don't think you would *need* all 3 of those polishes unless you are a collector or feel it's important to have each. But I'll leave that up to you! :)

I love them all and once again want to thank Leah Ann at Llarowe for providing them for review. I hope this was helpful for anyone trying to decide what they want to buy from this collection. Thanks so much for reading!

New Ozotic Mishmash 534!

2011-11-02T13:52:00.000-04:00

Good afternoon, readers!! I have the last color in our Ozotic Mishmash-athon for you today! Stay tuned later today for a comparison post on all four Ozotic Mishmash holographic multichrome polishes! Have you read my other posts on Ozotic 531, 532, and 533?

These pictures are of 2 coats over black, with one coat of top coat. Top coat does not dull the holo effect, yay! I love purple polishes so was very excited to try this one. It's another one with purple and blue tones. The color change didn't seem as drastic as some of the others in this set, but it's still a pretty polish!

Say hello to Ozotic Mishmash 534:

Purple

Pinker purple.

Bluer Purple

Blue

Pretty bottle!

The shaded picture. You can't see as many colors as some of the previous polishes.

So what are your thoughts? I can't wait for you to see my comparison post and hopefully be able to help you choose which colors you want to buy!

Again, I want to thank Leah Ann from Llarowe for sending me these polishes for my honest opinion and review on them. I love them!! Please go check out her shop and Facebook Page to see all of the amazing polishes she has to offer! She is the official US Stockist for Glitter Gal and A-England polishes, as well as part of the piCture pOlish network. She has also recently added HITS polishes to her site!

Also, I just wanted to add that this will count as my Day 2 in the 30 Days of Untrieds Challenge!

New Ozotic Mishmash 533!

2011-11-01T14:03:00.001-04:00

The sun is out!!! Great news because that means that I can continue with our Ozotic Mishmash-athon! If you haven't been keeping up, go check out my previous posts on Ozotic 531 and 532. These are a mishmash of multichrome and holographic particles to make some gorgeous polishes!!

This will also count as my Day 1 of the 30 Untrieds Challenge.

This is 2 coats over black, and topped with Orly Sec n Dry. I've decided that 532, 533, and most likely 534 are very similar. All have blues and purples in them, so I'm not sure you would actually need to buy all 4 of these Mishmash polishes. Lets let the pictures show you what I mean. I'm thinking that layering them over different corresponding base colors may change their similarities a bit more but I am showing all over black. After I've done all 4 posts, I will do a comparison post for you to maybe help decide which colors you want to order!

Let me introduce you to Ozotic 533, Ozotic 532's bluer sister.

Blue!

Purple!

More blue tones.

Rainbow bottle and nails shot!

Here is the shady picture. As you can see, it's mostly blue tones with purple at the top.

I love this color as well! These polishes blow me away with each new one I try and Ozotic owns my heart. Do you have any of these Mishmash Ozotics? What is your favorite so far?

A special thanks goes out to Leah Ann from Llarowe for providing these gorgeous polishes for me to review for you! Leah Ann is the official US Stockist for Glitter Gal and A-England polishes, as well as part of the piCture pOlish network. She has also recently added HITS polishes to her site! Her shipping is fast and extremely affordable! Please visit her site: http://shop.llarowe.com and check out these amazing polishes that are usually hard to get if you live in the US! She also has a Facebook Page with lots of swatch links!

Don't forget to check out my BLOG SALE! Tab is at the top of the page!

New 30 Day Challenge!

2011-11-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

My friend Taylor at Nailed to the T came up with this easy 30 Day Challenge and I'm joining in along with a ton of other bloggers/nail friends! Taylor has a list of others on her post if you want to see who else is participating.
The challenge is easy, you just use one of your untried polishes each day starting TODAY!

Feel free to join in! Let the fun begin!

BLOG SALE!

2011-11-01T10:05:00.000-04:00

I've just posted my first blog sale!!

Go check it out HERE or at the new tab!

Flower Nail Tutorial

2011-10-31T13:04:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween readers!! Unfortunately, it's a gloomy day here and I can't continue with the Ozotic Mishmash-athon until we get sun. Crossing fingers that will be tomorrow!

So, instead, I have a tutorial for you. Ashley at Ashley Is PolishAddicted requested this design, so here you go!

Here is the full mani picture:

Now, onto the tutorial! I decided to show the design for my index finger, but you will get the idea of how to do the other nails as well.

The polishes I used:

China Glaze Thataway, China Glaze Passion, and OPI Proz & Bronze.

The only tool used:

A striper brush.

Step 1) Paint your nails with you base color. I used China Glaze Thataway.

Step 2) Using your gold polish(China Glaze Passion) and your striper brush, draw simple flower petals coming from off of the nail.

Step 3) Using the same gold polish and striper, fill in the petals.

Step 4) Using your glitter(OPI Proz & Bronze) and striper brush, paint over a smaller petal shape in the center of the gold petals. I had to do 2 coats because the glitter wasn't dense enough.

Step 5) Using your striper and same glitter polish, do curving lines from between the petals.

Don't forget top coat!

What do you think? You could do this with any color combinations and they are simple, easy flower nails! Please request more tutorials! Thanks for reading!

New Ozotic Mishmash 532!

2011-10-30T11:50:00.000-04:00

Good morning, readers! I hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday today!

Are you ready for day 2 of our Mishmash-athon? I got such a huge amount of comments on my post of Ozotic 531 yesterday, so thank you for that! These Ozotic Mishmash holographic multichrome polishes are so gorgeous, I just know you will love today's post as well!

Say hello to Ozotic 532! The most dominant color in this polish is teal, but it changes to royal blue and purple as well! The purple is also very easily noticeable, but the blue is like the hidden secret you get to see at just the right angle of light! I really love this polish and it was just as amazing to apply as 531. These pictures are of 2 coats over black, and one layer of top coat. Again, the top coat does not seem to dull the holo effect at all in these polishes!

The photo above shows off the teal.

The gorgeous purple!

The hidden royal blue

Such a pretty bottle!

And here is the shade picture to show off the multichrome.

A special thanks to Leah Ann at Llarowe for providing these polishes for me to review for you all! Don't forget to check out her online store at http://shop.llarowe.com. She is the US Stockist for Glitter Gal and A-England polishes, as well as part of the piCture pOlish network. Also, she has recently added HITS polishes to her store!

What are your thoughts? Are you drooling over these polishes yet? Stay tuned for days 3 and 4 of the Mishmash-athon to help decide which colors you want to order from Llarowe! Thanks for reading!

http://shop.llarowe.com

New Ozotic Mishmash 531!

2011-10-29T16:00:00.003-04:00

Hello readers, I have some amazing polishes to show you for the next 4 days! The super sweet Leah Ann from Llarowe sent me all 4 of the new Ozotic Mishmash holographic multichrome polishes to review and share with you!! I was so excited for these to come out and they did not disappoint! They are a mishmash of the best Ozotics: multichromatic and holographic! Can it get any better than that?! I doubt it.

Now, let me introduce you to the gorgeous 531! This seems to change color between gold, bronze, a reddish purple, and even green sometimes. Ozotic may just be my favorite nail polish brand. They are a little sheer but are meant to be worn over a black base(or another dark color). This was just 2 coats over black, and you could get away with one but I wanted to show the true color of the polish. They apply flawlessly, the cap is almost rubbery so it's easy to keep hold of it, and the brushes are great. A+ from me!

Of course I took a zillion pictures, but here are my favorites:

At this angle, you can really see the bronze color among the rainbow!

This is the reddish purple I was talking about! So pretty!

Check out the linear holographic particles! Gorgeous!!

Even the bottle looks amazing in the sunlight!!

And if you were interested, this is a picture when the sun went behind the clouds. You can see the many colors here. Green on the top, gold, bronze, reddish purple, etc. It seems that the green and gold are at the most extreme angles when the sun is out so I couldn't get it on the camera very well unless it was shady like this.

Topcoat did not weaken the holographic effect at all, which I love because I can't stand going around without top coat! I love this color and can't wait to try out the other 3 and share them with you here!

A special thanks to Leah Ann at Llarowe for providing these to me for review! Leah Ann is the official US Stockist for Glitter Gal and A-England polishes, as well as part of the piCture pOlish network. She has also recently added HITS polishes to her site! Her shipping is fast and extremely affordable! Please visit her site: http://shop.llarowe.com and check out these amazing polishes that are usually hard to get if you live in the US! She also has a Facebook Page with lots of swatch links!

http://shop.llarowe.com

Partial Flower Water Marble Tutorial

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

It's time for another tutorial! Hope you are enjoying them! Have any requests? Please ask! This one was requested by my BFF, Heidi, because it wasn't one of my designs she was at my house watching me do.

Sheesh, let me just say that it is a lot easier to water marble on your nails than a nail wheel!! I just didn't want to take off my needle marble nails from yesterday to do it on my finger.

Here is a refresher of the water marble I did for the 31 Day Challenge:

Onto the tutorial:

The polishes I used:

OPI Alpine Snow, Wet n Wild Ink Well, Buy Me A Drink, and Ready to Pounce.

The tools you will need:

Something to collect the excess polish, something skinny to make the design on the water, and a cup or small bowl to do the marbling in.

Step 1) Paint your nails white.

Step 2) Fill your bowl with room temperature water. Then as quickly as you can, drop 3 alternating drops of each of your colors to make the concentric circles.

Step 3) Using your pin or small dotting tool, drag through from the outside to the inner circle from all directions to make it look like a flower.

Step 4) Dip your nail on one side of the center of the flower. You can place your nail in the very center if you want, but I was trying to get it close to my original design.

Step 5) While your nail is still under the water, use your other tool and "gather" up the rest of the polish on the surface of the water. Once it's all clear again, remove your nail. It should look something like this. I didn't go far enough to the side of the center(its hard to aim the nail wheel) so you can see the center of the flower on the nail. You get the idea though I hope!

Once it's dried, add your topcoat. Don't forget to tape around your nail or use vaseline to make clean up easier. You can see that in my original water marble tutorial.

What are your thoughts? I love seeing what designs I can come up with while water marbling and I hope you will try this one. Thanks for reading!

Needle Marble Design

2011-10-27T11:29:00.000-04:00

Hello readers!! I tried a new design technique today. After seeing this post from Liquid Jelly a little while ago, I knew I had to try it. She put this video tutorial up if you want to see how it's done.

Also, my friend Sarah from Chalkboard Nails just did this other variation of needle marbling yesterday!!

I made mine more "gloomy" colors so maybe they fit in with Halloween coming up. Or, they just reflect the gloomy day we have outside today. Either way, it wasn't too hard to do and I plan to keep trying at this for new designs and colors in the future.

I used: Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid

Color Clubs Artsy Crafty and Blue-Topia to do the swirling

Sponged some Nubar Star Sparkle around the design

2 Coats of Out The Door.

What are your thoughts? I got this gorgeous Cult Nails in a swap with my friend Heather and just HAD to try it out. The sun wasn't out so you can't see the shimmer on my nails, but in this picture you can see it in the bottle!

Have you tried needle marbling? Thanks for reading!

Galaxy Nail Tutorial

2011-10-26T11:59:00.000-04:00

Good morning, everyone! I have another tutorial for you today! This one is super easy and anyone can do it, even if you think you don't have any nail art skills(I'm looking at you, Traci!). My friend Traci, from The Trace Face Philes, requested this Galaxy nails tutorial for you today!

Some things to note:
I'm just showing you what I used to do my design. You can use any colors, similar to mine or not, and make it how you want it. I just started pulling colors out of my drawers that I wanted to use.

I didn't have any nails that looked the same because I sponged randomly all over the place.

I think it's too hard to mess this up because there is no real technique here.

Here is a refresher photo to show you what I did for my full mani of Galaxy nails:

Onto the tutorial. Warning, there are a TON of pictures.

Here are the polishes I used:

Pure Ice Electric!, OPI I Juggle...Men, OPI Alpine Snow, piCture pOlish denim, Ulta Material Girl, a-england Lady of the Lake, Wet n Wild Jungle Fever, Ozotic 528, China Glaze White Cap, and Nubar 2010.

This is the only tool you will need:

Make up sponges. (sorry this is out of focus. Couldn't tell until I cropped it. At least you can tell what I am showing you)

Step 1) Paint your nail with the dark shimmer color. This is Pure Ice Electric! and was only $2 a walmart. A plain black would work, I was just going for more shimmer since I didn't do stars in my design.

Step 2) Add one layer of OPI I Juggle...Men. This added a blue and purple shimmer to the black.

I wanted to show this picture of my workspace. I use an old placemat(i've also used those bendy cutting boards you can get at the dollar store) to mix colors.

Once you have the dark base ready and dry, you will want to rip some pieces of the makeup sponge to use.

Make drops of color and then dip the sponge in it. Make sure to sponge a few times on the placemat before you put it on your nail so you get all of the excess polish off.

Step 3) Sponge on a bit of your white. I did this randomly on all of the nails in different shapes and locations. Don't try to be too perfect with it because a lot of it gets covered by other colors.

Step 4) Dab on your next color. This was Ulta Material Girl. I loved this color because it has holo sparkles in it. Again, we are just doing it in random spots on the nail.

Step 5) Add your next color. This time was piCture pOlish denim. This one was kind of sheer but it has some great flakies in it that transfer onto the nail.

Step 6) Add your next color. This was Wet n Wild Jungle Fever(green).

Step 7) Add another color. This was a-england Lady of the Lake. (purple with holo sparkles). This one wasn't as sheer as some of the colors so I did it in between the white sections on the black so it broke up the black stripe that was showing.

Step 8) Add your shimmer. This was China Glaze White Cap. It's a sheer shimmery white with gold in it. I only did this up the right side of the nail. When it comes to these last 3 glitter/flakie toppers, I like to do them in separate spots on the nail so you catch the different glitters when you turn your nails in the light.

Step 9 and 10) I apparently forgot or accidentally deleted step 9. So this shows the last 2 toppers I added. on the bottom left we had the Ozotic 528 glitter(teal) and at the top left you can see the Nubar 2010 flakies that are a copper color.

Don't forget to add a top coat. :)

This shows my color drops and dab marks with my used sponge pieces. Thought it may be helpful.

So there you have it! I hope it wasn't too difficult to follow all of my picture steps. Are you going to try it? I'd love a link or picture posted on my fb page if you try any of my tutorials!! Please give me more tutorial requests to post on here for you.

Also, did you notice my new layout and 2 new tabs at the top of the screen? 31 Day Challenge and Tutorials tabs for easier navigation through my nail art.

What are your thoughts? Thanks for reading!!

I am in Flakie Heaven!

2011-10-25T12:10:00.001-04:00

Hello readers!!! It came, it came, it came!!!!! My Cult Nails Unicorn Puke just came in the mail! I had just finished taking off my old polish when I heard the mail truck driving around our culdesac--perfect timing, I say. So of course, less than 20 minutes later, my polish was on and ready for pics! Are you ready?!

This was 3 coats on it's own. I wanted to see it's true potential first, before trying it on some base colors. This is such an awesome purple jelly color, and then to add in all of these amazing flakies...just epic. I love it!

Look at all of those multicolored flakies!!!!!!!!!

I got #136 out of 275 bottles.

There were only 275 bottles made under the name "Unicorn Puke" so I had to pre-order to make sure I got one and am so happy I did! This color will be released under the name "Clairvoyant" with the rest of the Cult Nails Winter Collection in the next month or two. So don't fret if you missed your chance at Unicorn Puke and love the color. :)

I can't wait to add more Cult Nails to my collection! Cult Nails is actually based out of my hometown area so it's pretty exciting for me! You can check out the rest of the Cult Nails polishes and order them online here.

What are your thoughts? I plan to try this over other colors in the future, but I love it on it's own! Did you get Unicorn Puke? Thanks for reading!

EDIT: If you want to see this over some different colors, come check out what Allison did with her Unicorn Puke today! I am surprised that I love it over red!

NOPI Nicole...Spotted! VS. Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

2011-10-24T15:03:00.000-04:00

Hello lovely readers! I am sad to report that I did not get my Cult Nails Unicorn Puke today even though usps.com said today was the expected delivery date. :( I was so set to do that post for you today that I had to figure out what else I could post on. I am feeling pouty so I decided to just do a comparison post for you instead of doing something on my nails that I wouldn't want to take off tomorrow when I should finally get my Unicorn Puke.

I've had Sinful Colors Nail Junkie for around 6 months but always forget to use it. I recently recieved NOPI Nicole...Spotted from Ashley's giveaway and when I was putting it away in my melmer, I realized it looked like a dupe for Nail Junkie! So here are some comparison pictures with 1-3 coats, labeled below each picture.

Bottle shot. Nicole by OPI Nicole...Spotted! and Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

Index and Ring: 1 coat of NOPI, Middle and Pinky: 1 coat of SC.

Index and Ring: 2 Coats of NOPI, Middle and Pinky: 2 coats of SC.

Index and Ring: 3 coats of NOPI, Middle and Pinky: 2 coats of SC.

So surprisingly, Sinful Colors was much more pigmented and didn't need more than 2 coats for full coverage. I don't even think that 3 coats of the NOPI is as dark as 2 coats of the SC(shown in the last picture) but who wants more than 2-3 glitter coats, anyway?

My thoughts: I actually liked the application better on the NOPI(thankfully it was their old brush and not the dumb new rounded one that I hate) and it was shinier when dried. Sinful was thicker and a little harder to apply, but I bet some thinner could solve that problem since it's been sitting for 6 months in my drawer.

I'd love to use the NOPI over a color instead of trying to use it on it's own.

At $2 each for Sinful Colors and NOPI around $7, you can choose which one you'd like to spend your money on. I think they are both gorgeous but I probably don't need both. I think I'll add some thinner to my Sinful Colors and give to my sister, Chloe, and Mom to add to their growing nail polish collection!

What do you think? Do you have either of these? Which would you choose? Thanks for reading and hopefully my Unicorn Puke will be posted tomorrow!

Penguin Tutorial!

2011-10-23T14:57:00.002-04:00

Happy Sunday, readers! Welcome to all of my new followers thanks to Kayla, I am so happy to have you all here checking out what I am posting today! Since I like my spider web nails too much to take them off today, I'm going to show you how I did my penguin nails for Black and White day on the 31 Day Challenge. Here is a refresher if you don't know what I am referring to:

I've had a few requests for this one. Ready to see how I did it?

These are the polishes I used:

Wet n Wild Ink Well, OPI Alpine Snow, and OPI In My Back Pocket.

The tools I used:

Large and Medium Dotting tools, Born Pretty Hello Kitty Sticker sheet(for the bows!)

Step 1) Paint your nail black.

Step 2) Using your white polish, make the belly shape. I had to do 2 layers of this to make the white opaque.

Step 3) Using your large dotting tool and white polish, make 2 eyes. (as you can see, my right dot wasn't perfect, but it's not very noticeable unless its this close up of a picture)

Step 4) Using your medium dotting tool and black polish, place two smaller dots inside of the white ones.

Step 5) Using your large dotting dool and your orange polish, make 2 feet. (I like to have them partially off of the nail so it's not a full circle and more like only part of a circle shape.)

Step 6) Using your medium dotting tool and orange polish, make a beak shape. Kind of an upside down triangle. I like to make the bottom point and then drag up some more polish to make it look more like a triangle.

Step 7) Once you are sure your white is dry, use tweezers to apply a bow sticker and press down gently. You can see if my full hand picture that I didn't let mine dry enough and some of the bows "sunk" into the white.

Don't forget topcoat to seal and protect the design. Remember, a thicker bead of topcoat spread gently over the whole nail makes it easier to not have the design "bleed" (because bristles touch the design using thinner top coat.)

What do you think? If you try it, please share your picture on my facebook page! Also, please send me requests for more design tutorials that you'd like to see! Thanks for reading!

Sparkly Spider Webs!

2011-10-22T16:32:00.001-04:00

I have exciting news for you today! One of my biggest nail art idols, Kayla of Nails By Kayla Shevonne, posted that Adventures In Acetone is her Featured Blog for October!! This is such an amazing honor to be recognized by someone with such awesome nail art talent. You can read her blog post here. Thank you, Kayla! This means so much to me!

Something else exciting that I want to share: this is my 100th blog post! Wow! That went by fast! I feel like I should have done anniversary nails for the occasion or something. :)

Instead, I wanted to do a Halloween themed mani today. Just a little over a week left until Halloween and I've only done one other Halloween design.

This was pretty simple. Just used a striper brush and black polish for the webs.

I used:

Base Coat of OPI Nail Envy

1 Coat of China Glaze Cross Iron 360

2 coats of Wet n Wild Tangled In My Web on the ring finger

Striper Brush and Wet n Wild Ink Well for the web design

1 Coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust

Top Coat of Out The Door

Also, I wanted to add, that I put on Julep Glow On Hand Brightener before I took this picture for my reader, Alexisaurus, who requested to see it on after the last Julep Maven Box post. Can you tell that it makes my hands glow a bit?

This wasn't very hard to do and I just felt like it needed that extra sparkle so I added that coat of Fairy Dust to lessen the harshness. I really like how this turned out! What are your thoughts? Thanks for reading!

Frog Nail Tutorial

2011-10-21T14:35:00.001-04:00

Hello readers! After that 31 Day Challenge with changing my nail designs every day, I feel like I need a little break and plan to wear my manis at least 2 days. That being said, I don't want to have a bunch of days without posts for you, so I think I'll be filling them with some tutorials and swatches.

This tutorial was requested on my FB page, from Ashley at Ashley is Polish Addicted(her blog is new, go check it out because she is the sweetest person ever and has some great nail ideas!). If you didn't get to see, I did this frog mani on green day of the 31 Day Challenge:

Are you ready to see how I did it? Here we go!

These are the polishes I used:

Zoya Veruschka, China Glaze Starboard, Color Club Twiggie, OPI Alpine Snow, and Sinful Colors Black on Black.

The tools I used:

A striper brush, big dotting tool, and medium dotting tool.

Step 1) Paint your nails dark green.

Step 2) Using your light green, make a rough circle. I used the actual polish brush here and not the striper.

Step 3) Using your striper and the same light green polish, add front and back leg shapes. Make sure you do the back legs so they look like they are folded and not straight out.

Step 4) Using your big dotting tool and white, make two dots for the eyes on the center of the top of the head.

Step 5) Using black polish and the medium dotting tool, make smaller dots in the white dots for the pupils(or irises? what would that be considered? lol)

Step 6) Using your striper brush and black polish, make a mouth. This didn't come out as steady as I'd hoped, but unless you are looking this close, you can't tell that it's not a perfect line anyway.

Step 7) Using you medium green, add some leg line details to make it more obvious where the legs are bent and attached to the body of the frog.

Once it's dried, gently apply your top coat. If you use a bigger bead of top coat and then gently smooth it out onto the nail without the bristles touching your design, you have a better chance of it not smearing your artwork. I like Seche Vite and Poshe so far the best for nail art because they are thicker.

There you have it! Will you be trying it? If you do, please post your picture on my facebook page! I'd love to see! Also, please write me your requests for more tutorials! Thanks for reading!

Do You Think I'm A Tex-y Gold Glitter Sandwich?

2011-10-20T15:51:00.000-04:00

Hello readers! Today I am posting a mani that I've been wanting to try for weeks! I recently found the OPI Texas collection at Ulta and picked up Do You Think I'm Tex-y? because I heard it was a jelly polish(or a sorbet according to OPI). I love glitter sandwiches and have really been wanting to try another one after my first one, and I love this one even more. I think OPI needs to make more polishes like this collection! Also, I've just discovered that stamping in a jelly sandwich is amazing and I want to try this with all of my jelly polishes! It makes the stamping more subtle and adds a fun depth when you add that jelly layer over the stamp!

In the sun

In the shade

I used:
OPI Natural Nail Base Coat
2 Coats of OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y?
1 Coat of Milani Jewel FX Gold
Stamped with China Glaze Passion and an image on Bundle Monster Plate BM-221
1 more coat of Do You Think I'm Tex-y?
Top Coat of Orly Sec n Dry

What are your thoughts? I love how the top jelly polish coat tames the bright gold glitters and the gold stamping. It looks a lot more squishy in person and I love how it turned out. Thanks for reading!

Excuse Moi! and New Polish Haul!

2011-10-19T09:11:00.000-04:00

Good morning, readers! I am back from our vacation weekend and have a simple post for you today. While I was away, I found the OPI Muppets collection at JCPenny and grabbed Excuse Moi! to add to my collection! I love all of the different color glitter in the pink base. So pretty!

Indirect Sunlight

Direct Sunlight

You can kind of see the different color glitters on the nail here. So pretty!!

This was only 2 coats for full coverage! Its still a little bumpy after a coat of Gelous and Orly Sec n Dry, but I don't mind that with glitters.

Also, when I was away, I got a pedicure with OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress and loved the color! I have been hearing about this super popular red for a while now but didn't fall in love with it until it was on my toes! The next day, I ran to Ulta to get a bottle and instead found it in this cute 2 pack!

When I got home, waiting for me in my mailbox was a giveaway package from Ashley at Nailin' It! Thanks so much, hun, I love all of my goodies!!

Cute Bath and Body Works nail file, and Nicole by OPI Nicole...Spotted! and Party in the Penthouse.

So there you have it! I also made a Facebook Page for my Blog if you'd like to check it out here! I am still adding pictures to it so it's still pretty new. Thanks for reading!!

My Favorite Polish

2011-10-13T17:00:00.001-04:00

Hello readers! For now, the challenge is on hold and I am editing this post to just show this amazing Ozotic 528 as my favorite polish. :) Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do.

It was hard for me to pick a favorite polish, but I think I have to go with Ozotic Elytra 528. One of the ones my husband ordered and surprised me with, and just look at how gorgeous it is! Love love love it.

This is 2 layers over Wet n Wild Ink Well, and topped with Orly Sec n Dry.

Well, since I've already posted on this polish, I don't have much else to say on it. We are going out of town for a wedding and 4 day weekend so don't expect another post until Tuesday at the earliest. What do you think of this polish? Thanks for reading!

My October Julep Maven Box!

2011-10-12T15:56:00.000-04:00

Hello readers!! This is one of my most favorite posts I do each month! I received my Julep Maven box and couldn't wait to show you what I got! I am "American Beauty" and here are the goodies:

In The Box:

Dendrie nail polish ($14)

NEW Julep Glow On Hand Brightener ($32)

NEW Julep 2011 Holiday Color Brooklyn ($14)

Total retail price was $60, and I got these for FREE!

Since I signed up before a certain date when the referral system had a glitch, I recieved this month's box free to make up for any possible lost referrals! You would normally pay $19.99 a month for your Julep Maven box.

First up, we have Brooklyn. Such a gorgeous red!! This is 2 coats. It was hard to capture with the glitter and I think my pictures make it more bright/cherry than it is. I love it. I think I may wear this to an upcoming wedding because it is so gorgeous!

This is topped with 2 thin coats or Orly Sec n Dry and you can still see some texture from the glitter found in the red base. I'm sure that Gelous before my top coat would have made a huge difference.

And here we have Dendrie. Described as "a chic, dove grey." This was pretty sheer and needed 3 coats for these pictures. I don't think I love this with my skin tone but it's a pretty grey!

As for the Glow On skin brightener, I really love it. It smells so nice and doesn't feel too greasy while on my hands. It must have some kind of shimmer in it because my hands really looked like they glowed when I had it on. I just love the hand treatments we get in our monthly boxes with the polishes!

My verdict for this months box? I like all of it! Even though Dendrie may not be flattering on me, it applied nicely and dried so quickly and shiny! I had no top coat in the above pictures! I look forward to seeing what I get next month in my Julep Maven Box!

Don't forget, with Julep Maven:
-You can request a new "shelf pull" if you don't like what colors they've picked for you
-You always get free shipping, as well as 20% off their site
-You can pause, cancel, or send to friend any month by the 25th
-Your box is shipped on the 26th(as well as your card charged for it)
-It's 19.99 a month for at least $40 worth of products
-You get $15 credit for each Maven you refer(keep track of who you refer in case Julep has another glitch)

If you want to sign up now, here is my referral link:
http://www.julep.com/AP.aspx?ID=520&EID=14751479
Again, please let me know if you use my link so my credit doesn't get lost.

Anyone plan on ordering? What do you think of my new colors? Thanks for reading!

Matte Mani Plus Nail Haul Pics

2011-10-11T13:05:00.000-04:00

Hello readers! The rain let up a tiny bit this morning so I was able to take pictures of my previous mani with a matte top coat added! It looks pretty awesome, I just love making glitter matte! I also want to share my recent nail mail and polish hauls with you.

What do you think of the matte? I used Essie Matte About You and love it! Please excuse the lack of lotion before I took the pic, I was just happy it stopped raining long enough for me to snap some pics!

And on to my recent hauls:

14 new polishes and 2 new hand lotions.

First up, we have my very first polish swap(and it was international!) with NAIL L00PY! Left to right: All About Nails Purple Rain, GOSH Yellow Bombay, and No7 Blackberry! I am so excited about these UK brands! Thanks Nail Loopy!!

Next I have NYC West Village sent to me from Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous... She had a giveaway and sent this as a consolation prize when I didn't win. How sweet is she!?! Thanks again, Jenn!

Onto another giveaway, I won these goodies from Destany at Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom! This was my very first giveaway win and I was so excited!! She sent me Wet n Wild Tulip-git To Quit and this awesome Arome Ambiance Hand Cream! Thanks, Destany!!

I picked these beauties up from Ulta last week. They were having a buy 2, get a free base or top coat sale, plus a $5 off of $10 coupon so I got all 3 of these for $12 and they are $8.50 each normally! Score! Left to right: Natural Nail Base Coat, Bubble Bath, and Do You Think I'm Tex-y?

My October Julep Maven box!!! I got (L to R): Dendrie, Glow On Hand Brightener, and Brooklyn! I will be doing a separate Julep post soon on these.

Lastly, I got the China Glaze Haunting Collection from Sallys over a week ago! L to R: Ghoulish Glow glow in the dark polish(!!), Black Mesh crackle, It's Alive, and Cross Iron 360. This pack was like 12 dollars for all 4!!

Well, there you have it! Hope you enjoyed my post! Have a wonderful day!

Louise and Edward over Big Smoke

2011-10-10T09:24:00.000-04:00

Hello readers! Now that the challenge is over, I've started to try some new polishes I bought during the challenge month. There seems to be a lot going on with this mani, but I really like it in person and can't stop looking at my nails! I appologize for the pictures, it's been rainy here so they didn't come out as good as usual.

This was just essence Louise over butterLONDON Big Smoke. I could have stopped there, but I wanted more color.

This is with essence Edward added. They are much more sparkly and colorful in person, I wish I could have gotten a better picture.

What do you think? Should I have stopped after Louise? Thanks for reading!

Day 31: Recreate A Favorite Challenge!

2011-10-08T11:42:00.000-04:00

Hello readers!! I finally finished the 31 day challenge!!! :) Today's theme was to recreate a favorite challenge and my facebook friends and I decided to recreate something someone else did on a challenge day. I chose to recreate Sarah at Chalkboard Nails ladybug design(used for polka dot day). You can see her post here. Check out the rest of her posts, too, her nail designs are amazing!

Here are my ladybug nails:

I used: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

Color Club Red-ical Gypsy

Wet n Wild Ink Well, dotting tools, and a striper brush for the design.

Top coat of Out The Door.

What do you think? I love it! We are going to a pirate festival today and I thought the colors would fit right in. I am glad this challenge is over and I can start some more of my new untried nail polishes!

Thanks for reading!

Day 30: Inspired By A Tutorial

2011-10-07T09:29:00.000-04:00

Good morning, readers!! I actually have this post ready on time! Tomorrow is the last day of this 31 day challenge and I think I am looking forward to it! It's been fun, but I think I need a break from all of this nail art! I have some more Essence Twins sets that I haven't been able to try so those may be up first!

Today's challenge was inspired by a tutorial. I am always trying to recreate Cutepolish's designs and you've already seen some posted on this blog. This time, I picked a Halloween themed mani to recreate! Here is Cutepolish's tutorial:

And here are my nails:

I freehanded this design instead of using tape like in the tutorial but other than that, it's the same idea.

I used: Base Coat of OPI Base Coat
Base Color: OPI Bubble Bath
Color Club Almost Famous(yellow)
OPI In My Back Pocket(orange)
Essie Blanc(white)
Top coat of Out the Door

What do you think of my first Halloween mani of the season? Thanks for reading!

Day 29: Inspired By The Supernatural

2011-10-06T09:50:00.000-04:00

Hello readers! As promised, here is the 2nd post of the day. Today's nails were supposed to be inspired by the supernatural. With Halloween coming up and all of the scary nails, I wanted to be different and do nails inspired by Fairies!

On my accent nail I did a fairy sitting on a flower, but I really liked all of the other nails since they were a gradient. I must add that the gradient is more apparent in person because these holographic glitter polishes are blending in to each other in this sun shot.

I used: Milani Digital as a base color
Sponged on OPI Teenage dream for the tip gradient

What do you think? I love these in person and keep looking at my nails. I think I'm a huge fan of glitter tip gradients and will probably do many of these in the future!

Day 28: Inspired By A Flag

2011-10-06T09:20:00.000-04:00

Good morning, readers! I was busy yesterday enjoying my hubby's vacation this week and didn't have time to post this mani for you. So this is "yesterday's post" and I'll post "today's post" later on.

I wanted to do something different for the flag inspiration than the American Flag because I had already done an patriotic mani for the 4th Of July. I remembered there was a flag in the new Disney Tangled movie so that was my inspiration.

I used: Color Institute Purple Paradise for the base color
Color Club Almost famous for the sun
Orly Lemonade sponged over parts of the sun.
Top coat of Out the Door

What do you think? Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check back for another post later!

Day 27: Inspired By Artwork

2011-10-04T20:11:00.000-04:00

Good evening, readers!! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I am still trying to figure out if I'll be posting in the evenings or mornings so I'm sorry if the time of day is inconsistent for a little while.

Today's challenge was Inspired By Artwork and I knew I'd have to do a design based on a M.C. Escher art piece because he is my husband's favorite artist and we have some books of his work on our bookshelf. I asked my husband last night to look through his books and pick out a design for me. He found Circle Limit 3 and I was excited to try it out today!

I used: Base Coat of my Julep Base Coat
Base Color of Essie Blanc
For the design: Wet n Wild Ink Well
OPI Conga-line Coral
Pure Ice Jaguar
Essie Coat Azure
Color Institute Spring Fling
White Acrylic Paint

What do you think? I had the most trouble with the fish eyes but I do like the end result. It was pretty cool to be able to take that second picture of my nails on the page of the art book! Thanks for reading!

Day 26: Inspired By A Pattern

2011-10-03T18:49:00.000-04:00

Hello readers!! Sorry for the late post, we were having a family day today but I didn't want to fail at the challenge so I did this simple mani tonight to keep up. Is this even considered a pattern? I think it looks like Halloween fishnet stockings :)

I found the China Glaze Haunting set today at Sally's and knew I had to try out It's Alive!! I stamped over with Sinful Colors Black on Black with the fishnet design from Bundle Monster plate BM-209. It could use a coat of Gelous to smooth out the glitter but I just did one coat of Out the Door because Gelous has smeared my stamping before.

Look at that pretty glitter!!

So what do you think? It was a simple pattern design and even though I had planned a more intricate design, I like how this one turned out. Thanks for reading!

Day 25: Inspired By Fashion

2011-10-02T10:14:00.000-04:00

Good morning! Today's challenge is Inspired By Fashion. I'm not usually up to date on fashion and usually just wear what I like so it took me a bit to decide what to do. I ended up going with a Coach purse pattern because I do like purses and I thought it would be easily recognizable for a nail design.

This bottom picture is more color accurate. I used Essie French Affair for the base color and a striper brush with Color Club Foil Me Once(from the new Foiled Collection I found at Ross this week!) for the C's.

What do you think? I love the two colors together and think the design came out pretty well. Thanks for reading!

We Have A Winner!!

2011-10-01T14:06:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for entering my Bella and Edward Giveaway! We have a winner!!!

CONGRATS to Bri!! I have emailed you and you have 48 hours to respond or I'll have to pick another winner.

Don't worry if you weren't a winner, I already have another giveaway I'm thinking about. :)

Day 24: Inspired By A Book

2011-10-01T07:30:00.002-04:00

Hello readers! I have some exciting nails(to me!) to share today! When I saw this challenge day I knew I had to do the Twilight Saga book covers on my nails! They are one of my favorite book series, as well as some of the prettier book covers that I've seen and I knew they wouldn't be too difficult to transfer onto my nails.

For reference if you aren't a Twilight fan, here are the 4 book covers(this came up in google image search, it isn't my photo):

And here are my nails:

The index finger(Twilight cover) was the funkiest for me. I just couldn't get the hands and arms to look right. The middle finger(New Moon cover) is my favorite.

And my right hand matches the thumb on the left hand. I splattered on the black with the same white and red used in the Twilight designs.

What do you think? I like them a lot and did some challenges ahead of time so I could wear these longer. They look a lot neater when they aren't under a macro photo setting. :)

Day 23: Inspired By A Movie

2011-09-30T07:30:00.003-04:00

Hello readers!! You will see more "mommy" coming out today with my movie inspiration: How To Train Your Dragon! It's one of my favorite kid movies we have at our house and it was too fun to do these nails!

What are your thoughts? These are definitely not ones that I duplicated onto my other hand as it took me long enough with my right hand doing the details. I loved looking at these ones and Hailey got a big kick out of them! Thanks for reading!

Don't forget about my giveaway! Ending TONIGHT!

Day 22: Inspired By A Song

2011-09-29T06:36:00.000-04:00

Good morning readers!! This was another interesting challenge for me, and I don't think it made for the prettiest nails or colors but I am glad I did it.

My daughter, Hailey, is almost 3 1/2, and this is one of her all time favorite songs. We sing it all the time and it was the first song to pop into my head when I was brainstorming for this challenge. She was a little camera shy for this performance but I am adding this for your viewing pleasure(I had to turn my computer volume up a lot--my camera doesn't seem to record sound loud enough):

And now for my nails:

Hahah, so what do you think? I know my spiders aren't that cute but Hailey LOVED seeing them on my nails and even wanted me to do hers. I say that's a win in my book. Thanks for reading!!

Don't forget my giveaway ends on TOMORROW!!!

Day 21: Inspired By A Color

2011-09-28T08:28:00.000-04:00

Good morning! Happy Hump Day! Are you all excited that the work week is half way over?

Today's challenge was annoying to me at first until I started reading through the names of polish on my stash list page and there were a few I actually wanted to do. I settled for this one because I hadn't worn it on all of my nails since I got it and I love it!

OPI Mad As A Hatter is one of my favorite multiglitters and pretty hard to find these days for a cheap enough price. Of course I had to do the Hatter's Hat on my accent nail!

What do you think? I think the neon orange makes it a bit too bright and reminds me of a leprechaun but at least you can see it over that dark purple base color. Thanks for reading!

Day 20: Watermarbled

2011-09-27T09:25:00.000-04:00

Good morning, readers!! Have you entered my giveaway? It's closing this Friday!!

I have a fun mani to show you today! I just have to say that I love watermarbling! There are a lot of different designs you can do and its not too difficult either. I did a little tutorial for you here a while back(don't laugh at my terrible pictures though LOL).

I have to add, that it takes up a good amount of polish, though, so make sure you don't use any of your HTFs or more expensive brands. I did this mani from 3 of the new Wet n Wild On The Prowl Collection colors. I was going for something a bit darker since it's officially fall and really like how this turned out!

I used: Base coat of Julep Base Coat
Base Color of Essie Blanc(I always start out with a white canvas. The colors are so thin when watermarbled so they can look too sheer and white makes them pop more)
I watermarbled with Wet n Wild Buy Me A Drink, Ink Well, and Ready to Pounce.
2 coats of Out the Door.

The pictures don't really capture the shimmer in the colors but I think they still look nice in the pictures regardless. I am happy with how these turned out, what do you think? Thanks for reading!

Day 19: Galaxies

2011-09-26T07:30:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone and thank you for stopping by my blog! Today's challenge was Galaxy Nails and I was a bit nervous about this one. Thankfully, though, it's a lot easier than I thought and I ended up loving it MUCH more than those half moon nails yesterday! It was a lot of different colors and glitters sponged on with a ripped up makeup triangle and I don't even think my pictures do it justice. Much prettier in person because the different angles show the different types of glitters.

In the sun.

Out of direct sunlight.

I used: Base color of Pure Ice Electric!

A coat over that of OPI I Juggle...Men

Then I sponged on in various areas:

Essie Blanc,

Ulta Material Girl,

piCture pOlish denim,

Wet n Wild Jungle Fever,

a-england Lady of the Lake,

Ozotic 528,

China Glaze White Cap,

and Nubar 2010.

Top Coat of Out the Door.

I really like how these turned out and keep looking at them. I even love my right hand because it was easy enough to look as good as the left in this mani! You should definitely try it sometime!! Thanks for reading!

Nail Mail and Haul Post!

2011-09-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

The past 2 weeks have been big for me in terms of getting nail polish! I got a lot of nail mail, and also had some new hauls from Ulta, Sally's, and Kroger. Here are the pictures(please click to enlarge!):

a-england Lady of the Lake and Tristam! Purchased at Llarowe

Ozotic 528, 505, and piCture pOlish denim from my husband!

OPI Roadhouse Blues and I Lily Love You from Kroger grocery store!

China Glaze Traffic Jam from Sally's Beauty Supply!

My Ulta Haul on the butterLONDON sale day!

L-R: Ulta Taupe on a Rope, Ulta Chic Peek, bL British Racing Green, bL Big Smoke, Ulta Army of 1, and Ulta Material Girl.

The entire Wet n Wild On The Prowl Collection!! My friend Alyssa was able to find these for me and send them my way!

L-R: Buy Me A Drink, Ready To Pounce, Behind Closed Doors, Tangled In My Web, Correction Tape, Jungle Fever, Ink Well, and Cougar Attack

essence nail art twins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(the extra bella and edward for my giveaway aren't pictured). Ruth was able to send these to me from Spain! I love them!!!!!

L-R: Bella, Edward, Thelma, Louise, Chuck, and Blair.

Such an amazing 2 weeks of polish for me!! Hope you enjoyed reading!

Day 18: Half Moons

2011-09-25T10:47:00.000-04:00

Good morning readers! Today for the challenge, I had to do a half moon mani. I, personally, have never even wanted to try this because I'm not a fan of the trend. I did it for the challenge, but I didn't like it when I was done and probably won't do it again. Here is a picture for you to see anyway:

I used: Base Coat of OPI Nail Envy
Base color of China Glaze Traffic Jam
Top color: a-england Tristam (using circle reinforcement stickers)
Top Coat of Out the Door

I probably could have used better colors together but these were 2 new ones that were in my "untried" pile and I wanted to use them! What are your thoughts? Have you done a half moon mani? Thanks for reading!

Day 17: Glitter

2011-09-24T10:20:00.000-04:00

Good morning, readers! Thank you for all of the kind words on my husbands homecoming. I am back now and will be continuing with the 31 Day Challenge as usual. Today is Glitter Day!! I am very excited to show you these polish pictures because I consider them to be the PRETTIEST 2 polishes I have out of my entire 260+ polish collection! And the best part? My husband surprised me with them right before he came home!

My husband was able to coordinate with the awesome ladies over at piCture pOlish for my surprise package while he was still deployed and they were so sweet and helpful in getting my "wish list" polishes to me! I was SO surprised to see the package arrive with all 3 polishes I loved the most from their site and even more excited to put them on my nails!

The 3 amazing polishes are shown above! Ozotic 505, piCture pOlish denim, and Ozotic 528.

I've already shown you denim in my recent flower nail challenge here. It's the prettiest blue with amazing flakies and shimmer in it. I can't wait to wear it again!

Today's mani will show layering with the 2 remaining polishes: Ozotic 505 and 528. I first saw this combination on More Nail Polish and knew I had to have these polishes one day! Get ready to be blown away! This was one coat of Sinful Colors Black on Black, one coat of Ozotic 505, and 2 coats of Ozotic 528. A top coat of Out the Door sealed it all in. All I can say is that these are the very most favorite nails I've ever done and would wear them every single day for the rest of my life! Ozotic 505 is a multichrome and Ozotic 528 is part of the Elytra collection and basically a multichromatic glitter. Both of these polishes look amazing alone over a black base, but I had to go for the full whammy my first time using them. I hope you love them as much as I do!

And now for picture overload!

This picture above isn't in the best focus(click to enlarge!), but I loved how it shows 5 or 6 different colors from the same polish at one time! How can you NOT love this polish combination?!

Check out that close up!!

piCture pOlish and Ozotics can be purchased from the Australian piCture pOlish website and range from $9.90-$14.00.

If you live in the US, you can purchase them from Llarowe here and the shipping isn't international.

I couldn't stop looking at my nails while I had this on and I still wish I could wear them everyday!! What do you think? Thanks for reading!