Recent NOTDs

I haven't posted in quite a while and I have a ton of NOTDs saved up! And I had a nail polish realization - yellow and orange are fantastic on me! <3

 China Glaze - Life Preserver (2 coats) - 1 coat SV

Let me count the reasons I love this color! Perfect in 2 coats, it's gorgeous... well I guess that's it but I never really tried orange polishes before and I love this one!

Essie - Watermelon (3 coats) - 1 coat SV

Another fabulous color! It's like the inside of a Watermelon (making the name perfect) and really flattering. I think this shade would work well on lots of people!

Zoya - Kieko (2 coats) - 1 coat Armour TC

I wanted to love this color, but something about it just didn't do it for me. I love purple polishes and as this is a really pretty purple I thought I'd love it. The formula/finish was OK.

China Glaze - Grape Juice (3 coats) - 1 coat SV

I thought this was going to be super sheer when I first started applying it, but it built up nicely after 3 coats. I initially bought this color by accident (was looking for Grape Pop and picked up Grape Juice instead). It was a happy accident!

Nail Tattoos & Giveaway

I'm not good at freehand nail art and I haven't bought the Konad/BM plates yet, but I WANT to try these nail tattoos Big Ruby Tattoos! There are bulldogs on almost every sheet!!

I was browsing my usual nail blogs and saw that Once Bitten is having a giveaway for the entire collection! That is awesome!*crossing fingers!*

What a long week!!

Wow, has it been a long week or what? My dad was in the ER, sent home and then told to come back and be admitted early this week, so I've been back and forth from the hospital what feels like dozens of times. My poor dad, it's been hell for him.

Now, on to the good news! I got a new job!! I'm really excited about it, it's a great company with a lot of opportunities and I get to travel! Now to figure out my first day of work mani!? That's such a tough call!

Now for my nails today... I have been so stressed I broke like 4 nails. That made me so upset I drove straight to Ulta and picked up some Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator. I'll be using that to get my nails back into shape and let you know how it works out. While I was at Ulta I picked up China Glaze Sea Spray, from the Anchors Away collection. Wow, how much do I love this color?! It's a beautiful blue-toned gray with what looks like the tiniest bit of green. It even manages to make my pale skin glow. This is definitely a winner in my book!

As you can see my poor ring finger broke down the furthest and I'm so disappointed! Only yesterday was I looking at my nails and thinking, "wow my nails are getting long!" But, I've heard lots of good things about the Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator, so hopefully it will work for me!

Shiny Dancer take 2

I am determined to make this polish work! After wearing it for about 2 hours I decided it needed something else. I added China Glaze Cracked Concrete to it. I like the look, but it's not my favorite. But, I love Cracked Concrete, I think it's my favorite crackle or shatter so far.

 

Shiny Dancer

I wanted Sephora by OPI's Shiny Dancer since I saw swatches on ThePolishAholic's blog. I've been checking Sephora every time I go to the mall to see if they had it, but it's always sold out. Finally, today I picked up a bottle! It was the only polish from the Urban Ballerina set that interested me, but now that I have it I'm not that thrilled with it. :-( Don't you hate when that happens?

The application wasn't bad, 3 coats for full coverage, but it applied so much more blue than I expected it to. It almost looks like shiny denim, and I was hoping for more of a gunmetal or gray color. Oh well!

 Sephora by OPI - Shiny Dancer, 3 coats with a coat of SV

The color is a little off, but it was the best I could get. It looks more blue in person. I'm going to leave it on for a while and see how I feel about it later.

Awesome giveaways!

A Polished Life is having a great giveaway to celebrate 150 followers!

Life and Polish is having a giveaway to celebrate 100 followers!

Nail Addicts Anonymous is having a HUGE, SUPER, MASSIVE giveaway! They are giving away 80 polishes and nail art supplies!
Take a look at this!

These are great blogs, GREAT giveaways and everyone should enter and follow them!

Decisions, decisions...

Happy Sunday!!

I must have painted and then repainted my nails 5 times today just deciding on what color I was in the mood for. I had Spontaneous on my nails, which I love because I LOVE PURPLE! It's a gorgeous purple creme that was opaque in 2 coats. I got bored with the plain purple last night and added White Cap to it. I forgot to take a picture, but it looked like part of the Sunshine Collection from Zoya. The gold from White Cap made Spontaneous look light it was lite from within!

China Glaze - Spontaneous

I'll run through my list of indecision today! (China Glaze) Hawaiian Punch, then (All Zoya) Faye, then Faye over Lael, Faye again, (China Glaze) Coconut Kiss, Tree Hugger and I finally settled on Below Deck.

China Glaze - Below Deck

Below Deck is perfect in so many ways. It was opaque in 1 coat, but I put 2 on just in case. It's a beautiful color. I love the Anchors Away Collection so much. I don't have all of it, but what I do have doesn't disappoint!

Yellow - TAKE 2!

I loved China Glaze - Lemon Fizz so much I didn't want to take it off (like I normally do!) so I just added some Crackle to it. I had seen the combination of Lemon Fizz and Cracked Concrete on facebook and wanted to try it out for myself! The result? I LOVE this combination!

Left Hand

Lemon Fizz - Cracked Concrete - 2 coats of Seche Vite

I used a medium-thin coat of the Crackle and I really like the way the "cracks" cracked. Wow, how many time can you say crack in one sentence?

Right Hand

And here's a pic of a mini-haul I picked up at Sally's the other day.

inm Northern Lights Holo topcoat - Lemon Fizz - Tree Hugger - Hawaiian Punch - Fairy Dust

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day!

The weather is cold and rainy here today and I wanted to do a fun, spring-time nail because it IS spring, even if it doesn't feel like it.

China Glaze - Lemon Fizz

This is 3 coats with a coat of Seche Vite over it. Like most pastels, it started out streaky, but evened out as I layered on the coats and then SV helped even it out even more.

I tried to do a gradient with 3 of the sorbet colors from OPI's Texas Collection. It was a fail! It all got mushed together to look like one color. Next time it will be better!

All OPI - Guy Meets Gal-Veston, Do You Think I'm Tex-y? Houston We Have a Purple

See? Fail. The gradient was a more noticeable in person. I think the colors were a little too close to each other. It was fun trying though and I will definitely try again!

Zoya Haul!

An order that I placed from Zoya over 2 weeks ago finally arrived today! It was backordered and arrived in 2 separate packages - strangely enough 2 of the free gifts were in a separate package.  I didn't take pictures of the 3 free gifts I got, only the regular items.

32oz. Remove+ - Color-Lock system - Ki - Valerie - Kelly - Edyta

I love Remove+!!! It's literally the best polish remover out there. It smells fantastic, it removes polish and glitter (and layers of polish and glitter) better than pure acetone and doesn't dry out my nails. Sure, the price tag on Remove+ is a lot higher than a bottle of cheap 100% acetone from Walgreens or Sally's, but sometimes it's nice to treat yourself by using a better product and it's nice to know I'm using something that isn't ruining the nails I've worked so hard for (reformed nail biter here!!). I will always still use pure acetone for quick clean-ups on the skin around my nails (nothing beats that) but I don't think I'll be able to go back to it for regular polish removal.

I think I'm going to use Ki first - and I'm anxiously awaiting Zoya's upcoming promo!!
http://zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com/2011/03/zoya-nail-polish-promo-offer-coming.html

Green with Envy!

I did a St. Patrick's Day mani today (a day early) but I've been wanting to try out China Glaze Starboard and I figured that today would be a perfect day. How can I begin to explain how much I love this color? It's a gorgeous green cream that leans a little blue-ish on me. It was perfect in 2 coats but I put 3 on just because.

Flash

No Flash

Lol, you can see my reflection in the mirror because I took these in my bathroom because the lighting is the best in there. *note that, and will fix for future pictures*

I think the 3rd coat gave me some bubbles that weren't there with just 2 coats, but they are barely visible in person. This is CND Stickey basecoat, 3 coats of Starboard and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

Oh, and I got tickets for Jimmy Eat World in June during the presale today! I'm so excited! I've seen them so many times, but I love every show!

Loved OPI DS Extravagance, but needed some Crackle!

I love my OPI DS mani today, but I felt like changing it up a bit and felt like using a Crackle! I was going to put something over the DS but I couldn't decide which one, so I just switched everything up! I've been dying to try out China Glaze Watermelon Rind and decided to use Crushed Candy over it.

The crackle "crackled" really well. I put a top coat of Seche Vite over Watermelon Rind and after it dried I put the Crushed Candy Crackle over it in a medium-thin coat. I love the contrast of the Crushed Candy on Watermelon Rind. I like using Crackles in this way, keeping them in the same color, just using different shades. *ow, as I was typing I just pulled my sleeve back and like punched myself in the chest, I am so going to have a bruise.*

I love the combination of glitter/shimmer/holo under shatter or crackle.  I think it gives it depth and just a really awesome look. I like it a lot more than a cream or jelly under the crackles or shatter.

It's Official... I have a problem!

Today I stopped at Ulta after a doctor's appointment and picked up a few OPI DS polishes...

DS Mystery - DS Jewel - DS Extravagance

I LOVE DS Extravagance, but that could be because it's the only one I've tried so far! It is definitely the most holo of the 3. Here are a few pictures. Some are blurred to show the awesomeness of the holo!

The first picture is more true to color, but the second definitely shows off the holo-goodness more! Overall, I LOVE this polish. I have a soft spot for berry and purple shades, so this was definitely sure to please from the beginning.

I also stopped at Sally's on the way home and picked up a 4 China Glaze Polishes.

Liquid Leather - Awakening - Grape Juice - For Audrey

And at Target I got

DVD

Can you tell I have a thing for purple polishes?

Happy Monday!

I usually hate Monday's... especially after daylight savings time, but today was a good day!
I got my order from 8to8beauty.com! I heart them, I get stuff from them so quickly and their pricing is so reasonable! Here are pictures of what I got!

Stella - Watermelon Rind - C-c-courage - Ruby Pumps

Alter Ego - Alias - Worth the Risque - Revvvolution - Covered in Diamonds

Professional kit Seche Vite and 8to8beauty.com gave me a cute pop-up Essie 2011 calendar

I was dying to try Stella, so far that's the only polish I've used from this haul. I LOVE the color, it's absolutely fantastic and it looks great against my skin, but it stunk and was a little bit of a PiTA to work with. It wasn't so bad that I won't use it again, but I might try to thin it out a bit before I use it again.

This is not 100% true to color, but it's dark out and I think it's the best I'm going to get!

Update** I was so excited to publish this that I forgot the second reason I was happy today! My favorite band is coming back to my area! In fact, they are coming to the town next to mine! I don't have to go to NYC or Philadelphia this time! I so love Jimmy Eat World!

Nail Blogs

Recently I've been reading Nail Blogs and the first one I started reading was The PolishAholic. She is celebrating her 1 year anniversary with a giveaway! If you want to enter go here - PolishAholic Giveaway

There is a lot of good stuff in the giveaway and it's a great blog!

Lydia

Some new Crackle combinations!

I am LOVING China Glaze's Crackles! I am loving China Glaze!
Here are a couple of pictures of some new Crackle mani's I did this weekend.

This is actually the same mani - China Glaze - First Class Ticket under Fault Line and 2 coats of Seche Vite. But, you can see how different the purple looks in different lighting.

And this is OPI - The One That Got Away under China Glaze - Cracked Concrete with 2 coats of Seche Vite.  Please excuse the cuticles in these pictures!

My new loves!

My newest haul!

 

Pool Party - Sun Worshipper - Yellow Polka Sot Bikini -  Kiwi-Cool-Ada - Towel Boy Toy - White on White - Black Mesh Crackle - Cracked Candy Crackle

First Class Ticket - Strawberry Fields - Reggae to Riches - Coconut Kiss - Flying Dragon - Fault Line Crackle - Broken Hearted Crackle - Cracked Concrete Crackle

Crackle Craze!

I'm definitely into the OPI Shatter and China Glaze Crackle craze big time!! And I am definitely OK with that!  My sister and friends are even into it!  When I miraculously found a stash of Black Shatter I picked up a bottle for my sister and should have picked up a couple more for my friends!  My friends and I have been having weekly polish parties.  Love it!  Here are some of my favorite looks.

Sephora by OPI - Miss Bossy Pants

China Glaze Crackle Glaze - Broken Hearted

2 Coats of Seche Vite

Sephora by OPI - Who Let the Dorks Out?

OPI - Black Shatter

2 Coats Seche Vite

Zoya - Dannii

OPI - Black Shatter

1 Coat Seche Vite

What I'm Listening To: Adele - Rolling In the Deep

First Post!

Here I am! This is my very first post! I intent to write this blog about the things I LOVE! In no particular order -
TRAVEL
MUSIC
MY PETS
MAKE-UP
NAIL POLISH
SHOES
Maybe some coffee love will get thrown in once and a while too!

Here's a super cute picture of my dogs you everyone can see them!
The chocolate lab is Max and the English Bulldog is Teddy (both rescues!)