Dusty Leopard.

I finally won a contest!! And in the cutest way possible!  Thank you to Diana from Painted Lady Fingers and her ferret Cybele for choosing me as the winner of the Smooth and Polished Giveaway!  I can't wait to try the goods out when they arrive. :D

On to my NOTD.

Wet N Wild - 207, Broken Hearted with konad m57 in OPI - No Spain, No Gain.

The shopping hiatus is officially over! I rushed to the store to pick up No Spain, No Gain yesterday. I did a mani with just No Spain, but I was in a horrible hurry and it looked it.  So today I removed it and started from scratch.  I'd been wanting to use the leopard print for a while and this polish is SO pigmented that it was perfect to stamp with.  So smooth, so opaque.  Honestly the only thing I don't like about it is the pro wide brush, lol. I guess I'm just so used to the size of the China Glaze brushes that anything bigger is hard for me to control.

I will definitely be rocking this mani over the weekend.

When you wish upon a star...

 I started with two coats of China Glaze - Towel Boy Toy.

Then I added two coats of Sinful Colors - Nail Junkie.

Then I added stars and one coat of this Hot Topic nail polish that I have no idea of the name, followed by one coat of Seche to make it nice and smooth.

I've been wearing this for three days now and took these pictures this morning.  It still looks perfect and shiny and wonderful.  I've been wanting to get around to using that Sinful Colors glitter for a while.  It is a nice jelly but I've done tests and it takes three-four coats for me to get it opaque.  Towel Boy Toy was the perfect base for it to glimmer and shimmer and shine. :D This mani is particularly distracting when I'm driving.

Sassy Rose.

China Glaze Short and Sassy, stamped with OMG.

I got this on clearance at Sally's (also two for one!) and it is a beautiful deep red! I have very few reds in my collection so I was happy to pick this one up.  It was opaque in one coat and went on nice and smooth and everything.

I got a little antsy and added some Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - Diamonds on top of it. Love the glitter!! The next red on my wishlist is Ruby Slippers! I've been waiting to get my hands on this for a while! I mean bright red glitter?! Can't get any better than that.

A Hatter that's gone mad.

OPI - Mad As A Hatter over Color Club - Revvvolution, although you can't tell.

Bit of a lazy post today.  I wore this polish last week right after I broke my nails.  I forgot to take pictures of Revvvolution, but I just want to emphasize the perfection that is this polish.  It was opaque in one coat and complete shimmery holographic heaven.  I had Mad As A Hatter sitting out on my computer desk this and the next thing I know I'm putting it on. Haha. It just had some kind of power over me.

It is pretty cool, but I have to say that I love Alice more.  Honestly, I might even be able to do without this in my collection at all. *shrugs*  Maybe I should see what it looks like over other colors but I think, even with all it's colors, that it's sort of one note.  Then again I am one who loves colors that POP.

Happy Earth Day!

China Glaze Tree Hugger, Towel Boy Toy, and Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Platinum. 

(My goodness, I need brown nail polish...)

Happy Earth Day! Thought I'd do this mani to celebrate our wonderful Mother Earth.  We just went out to the store and bought a water filter and some reusable bottles, so no more plastic water bottles for us.  Do your part and make a change in your life to help preserve our environment.

Bonus picture of my cat Autumn in her usual place when I'm painting my nails. :)

Watermelon Rind.

China Glaze Watermelon Rind, Metallic Muse and konad m65.

I've had this color waiting in my queue to use forever and it did not disappoint!  Very unique shimmery blue/green! Awesome color, and an equally awesome application.  Metallic Muse stamped wonderfully and I can't wait to get some more China Glaze metallics to try out with my Konad.

I know you can tell! I've had two nail breaks - my middle and ring fingers - and I refuse to cut them off!  They both broke below the quick (was opening a particularly stubborn window) and I'm seeing my inlaws for the first time in two years next week so I refuse to go with shorty nails. Haha. I attempted to Super Glue them back together (LOL, I KNOW) and that's not really cutting the mustard, so today I went to Sally's and bought silk wraps and will attempt to fix them properly, ala My Simple Little Pleasures.

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but I wore the heck out of my last mani!  It met its demise when I met my first batch of Crawfish this season. Nom nom nom.

Watermelon Nights.

Color Club's Electro Candy and What A Shock with some Art Club black holographic stars.

I love both of these colors!  I painted my nails a plain pink last night and when I woke up this morning and saw all of my polish out on my polish table, I was inspired to be creative.

Plus, I've wanted an excuse to use those black stars for a while.  This is three coats of both polishes along with the color intensifying top coat.  I don't know how much the TC really intensified the color, but it served it's purpose alright.  These go on smooth and sheer, and, honestly, a lot better than any China Glazes that I've been using lately.  Love the brush, love that there was no streaky-ness.  And I love the intensity of the colors as far as neons go.

A quick question: Does your polish table look like this when you're done with a manicure?

First of all, I never know which color I'm going to use when I start, so I always bring about six to start with, plus all the obligatory base/top coats and/or treatments I'm going to be using.  Then I usually get a paper plate or something to practice on a little bit before I get started.  By the time I'm done it looks like a tornado's gone through. Sheesh.

Taste the Rainbow.

Thumb to Pinky: China Glaze Towel Boy Toy, Kiwi Cool-Ada, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Sun Worshiper, and Pool Party. **Apologies! This first picture was taken before clean-up!**

Come on! You know I had to do it! I just could not pick which polish I wanted to try first!

I decided against a top coat on these because I thought the matte-look was completely awesome.

They applied wonderfully! The polish was just the right thickness and it dried very quickly.  I had to use three coats of everything except Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, which I used four.  I can still see VNL on the yellow and the orange, but it doesn't really bother me.  Also, it seems like the longer they dry, the darker the colors are.  This is most noticeable with the green.

 

These are in different light, but you can clearly see the green is darker and the other colors are practically the same.

My absolute favorite is Pool Party with Sun Worshiper coming in a strong second.  These colors just POP and I love them!  I was very hyped up for this collection and it did not disappoint.

Custard Pie.

China Glaze - Lemon Fizz, Konad m79 with OPI - Jade is the New Black.

So, in trying to match my outfit again, I painted my nails another shade of yellow! ..And this was one of those manicures that you're so frustrated with by the time you're through that you're ready to take it the hell off, but you don't out of spite for the time you've already committed to it.

For instance, the lines were supposed to go straight across the nail, but the first one went on crooked, so I just went with it.  Not to mention that I repainted the middle finger three times!

This is what it looks like from my POV. I put top coat on the pinky and it completely changed the color of the stamp, so I just left the rest without a top coat.

Came home today to find this in the mail!!!!

Get ready for some neons, ladies!!! Right when I finish this post I am going to embark on the obligatory skittles mani!! So excited!

ETA: If you're following me and I'm not following you back it is because your blog doesn't show up on your profile! Drop me a comment with it so I can read what you're up to. :)

Tickle me pink..

Rimmel 60 Seconds Stars - 626 Be A Star!

I wore a dark pink shirt to work today, so I dug through my polish collection to find something to coordinate.  This polish matched almost perfectly.  The polish is really a very deep, rich pink, exactly like the color of the bottle. I couldn't get a picture of the darker qualities of the pink, but at least I got the shimmer.  I didn't even realize how beautiful this was until it caught the sunlight on my steering wheel during the drive home.

I've had this polish forever, and I am sad to say that it is one of only two pinks that I own! I need to change this stat!  What are some of your favorite pinks?

I'm happy, feelin' glad. I've got sunshine, in a bag..

China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky with konad m57 in Grape Pop.

The color is beautiful and bright and exactly what I wanted, but me and this polish did not get along at all!  And I was so excited after the pastels went on so well.  It was thick and goopy and horrible. Ugh.  This is 2/3 coats depending on the finger because it went on so streaky that I had to use more coats to cover up the brush lines.  Of course it dried with bubbles on some of the fingers and also of course when I woke up this morning I had pillow lines on some fingers..

Clearly it is time to invest in some polish thinner. I need this polish for football season! This and Grape Pop will make an excellent LSU manicure! Geaux Tigers!

Dollar Tree Finds!

Friday, discouraged after a long wait at the DMV I wandered into my local dollar tree to look over their polish.  They never really have much, and this was true on Friday.  So I got directions to another dollar tree nearby! There, I had to stop myself from buying everything because I am officially on a shopping hiatus.

The haul:

The first and last polish came in a pack of two for $1, and everything else was $1.
Left to right: NYC Metallic Nail Glossies - Molten Metal, LA Colors -572, 571, Topcoat and Hardener-Strengthener, Sally Hansen Salon - Sweet Creams

I attempted my first water marble with the blue LA colors and China Glaze - Tree Hugger for about an hour before admitting that I failed miserably and giving up.  ..Then I attempted a French manicure with Sweet Creams and a shimmery white that I had and also failed miserably.  That cream made my nails look fake.
:(

Finally, I begrudgingly put on NYC - Molten Metal.  ..And instantly loved it.  This is a warm metallicy brown color that is completely unique to my collection.

This is three coats.  It was actually drying with a pretty glossy finish, but I couldn't resist the lure of Seche Vite.  Hence, there is shrinkage.

After this post I'm going to see if it will konad. :)

The Sunshine Award!

Woot! I was nominated for an award, y'all!  Thank you to Annie from Nailstah who nominated me! Go check her blog out if you haven't already.

These are the rules of the award.

1. Post the logo within your blog or post.
2. Pass the award onto several other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received an award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person whom you received this award from.

I'm passing the Sunshine Award on to:

1. PerryPie at PerryPie's Nail Polish Adventures! Her livejournal community was the trigger that activated my full fledged polish addiction.

2. Colette at My Simple Little Pleasures for her awesome tutorials! She always keeps me creative.

3. Siobhan at The Nailphile because she posts everyday and is not afraid to try anything once! She fuels my addiction for decals!

OMG Pop!

I finally got around to using OMG for a base polish and I absolutely LOVE how it looks.  But how come no one told me that it was such a pain in the ass to apply?! Agghhh...  Thin, fast-drying, splotchy coats.

I was so mad after the second, uneven coat that I was about to take it all of and quit! But once I got the third on, all was forgiven.

This polish is awesome!  I used Grape Pop and Konad m65 for the design, which never worked before.  But I heard the tip somewhere in the blogosphere that you should file down the plate if it won't pick up a particular image and this completely worked.

At one point I had everyone in the kitchen looking at the way my nails shimmered in the fluorescent lighting. Haha.

Love these nails.  I can't wait to pick up some other polishes from this collection to try out.  I'm not going to lie, I just started a job with the Census and I painted my nails holographic silver because we were being finger printed the next day.  :)  I got lots of compliments.

Grocery Store Wonderland.

I went to the grocery store after work yesterday to pick something up for dinner.  You know, the normal.  Just happened to wander down the polish aisle. You know.. the normal. :)  I was casually glancing over a rack of OPIs and -- BAM -- there they were! No display, no warnings, no $12 price tag, no nothing!

Ohhh how I have been dreaming of owning you.  I never thought I would see these out in the real world, you know?  And for $6.99 at THAT.  I immediately came home and put on Absolutely Alice.

I don't know if you've heard, but pictures just don't do this polish justice!

So I took a few. :)  This one is in the sunlight from my window. :)

And this is with a flash! Also.. I have no idea what is on my finger in this one. Hmm.

Oh! And I was already wearing this beautiful blue Revlon polish, Midnight Affair.  It was the perfect base for Alice to glimmer and shine all over the place!

And I am content with the world. :D

Woe is me.

I just busted a new bottle of Seche Vite on my carpet!  I don't know what to be more upset about about!  The fact that I just lost a whole bottle of $7 Top Coat.. or that my carpet will smell like said top coat from now until who-knows-when.

All I have to say is thank god for Resolve and TransDesign.

Easter Mani!

To begin with Sally's has buy two get one free on all nail polish this month!  I wandered in there to use my $5 coupon for joining the beauty club last month and was ecstatic when I walked out with three polishes for only $5!!  Am going back as soon as I can convince the husband that it's a necessity.

Now on to the Easter Mani!

I used China Glaze - Light As Air and Lemon Fizz for the base, and For Audrey for the flowers.  I put top coat on the pointer finger and decided I needed to let the polish dry first or it would destroy the integrity of the flowers, so none of my other fingers have TC on.

Light As Air. This is true to the picture.  This polish dries darker than the bottle. Still a beautiful pale purple.

Lemon Fizz. This color actually matches almost identically to the bottle.  So pale.  So beautiful.  Definitely a new favorite of mine.

For Audrey. I have nothing bad to say about this.  Definitely a new unique blue to add to my collection.  I did my nails with my brother's girlfriend and she used this.  Needless to say it is breathtaking alone. :)

Here it is with a top coat after the polish had dried.

I'm sure by now that everyone has heard the rave reviews of these pastels, and they are all true!  All of these polishes were opaque in two coats - a feat for pastels.  And they all went on wonderfully smooth and matched almost perfectly to the bottle color.  I am particularly in love with Lemon Fizz and plan to use it as often as I can, whenever I can.

Actually, I am in love with the whole mani!  Tomorrow is my first day on a job and I am fighting the urge to wear this loudly and proudly.  ..Are big, hand-made flowers immature or awesome?  I lean towards awesome, but I want to come off as professional.  *sigh*

Holographic overload!!

The day after I got my bottle of OMG in the mail I got Color Club - Worth The Risque and Revvvolution!  I couldn't wait to take my last mani off and do this one.

 
Worth The Risque!  Love this!!

Here is a better shot of all the glittery wonderfulness.

Then I took french tip guiders and added some Revvvolution!

Had to re-do the middle nail three times before I gave up and settled for the smudge in the middle.

I can tell that this polish is going to get a lot of use in the future. :)  They both were almost completely opaque in one coat and omg so shiney!  I'm sure everyone has heard the praises over this collection and I am here to say that they are all true.  Haha.

Look forward to my Easter Mani on Sunday. :)

Holographic like woah.

I've had this OPI in my collection for a while now and I've just never gotten around to using it.  That's because every other time I paint my nails it seems like I'm painting them blue.  Oh well!  I love blue. Haha.

Oh, and in sad news, I had to cut my nails because I'm learning how to play guitar and they were too long to push the strings down on the frets. :( 

And with that I present to you:

Two coats of OPI - See Ya Later, Sailor! Over two coats of black.  This picture (sadly) isn't very good.. This polish REALLY sparkles.  Especially over black.

But this one's better!  This is plate m57 in China Glaze - OMG (!!!!!!) over top. Love this manicure.

 One more because it can't get better than glittery blue. 

Also, a lesson.  Do not jump up and cook dinner five minutes after you paint your nails.  I don't care if you do use Seche Vite. :\