Good evening!
Sorry for being late with yesterday's post. I've been trying to cope with the reappearance of someone that I haven't spoken to in over three years and never thought I would see again in my life. It's been very wearying and emotionally draining, leaving me exhausted. I won't bore you with any details; suffice it to say things are coming back to the surface that I would rather stay buried x.x
Anyways. Over the weekend, I treated myself to a little retail therapy. I had a coupon for Ulta and finally some time to be able to go again. I also stopped in Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'll be showing you the other goodies I got in the coming days, but today's post is dedicated to one beauty in particular.
As you've prolly seen, one of the big trends right now is neons. Personally, I'm kinda over already. Neons seem to be on trend every summer, imo, so why keep repeating it? I only own a handful myself, and that's limited to pinks and blues for the most part. Neon yellow, orange, and green are all way too highlighter for me and just do not look good.
While I was in BBB, I went to look at their polish display. Right away, I noticed the Color Club neon display, lol. I passed over most of them, but did pick two that I liked and didn't have anything similiar to, one of which I'm about to show you. Like most neons, the two I picked up dry to a mostly matte finish.
When choosing what to do for yesterday, I immediately reached for CC's All That Razz, which is a gorgeous neon berry pink. Out of my own curiousity, I decided to layer it over one coat of Milani's White on the spot (which is awesome, btw). I wanted to see if layering ATR would really make it brighter, and boy it did.
Like I said, I started with one very nice coat of WOTS, then layered three thin coats of ATR and topped with SV. It didn't take all that long to dry, since neons tend to dry quicker. It wasn't retina- searing, but it was bright!
Now, you may recall I mentioned last week or the before I ordered a new stamper, an XL, squishy stamper; this mani gave me the opportunity to try it out. I did have to rough up the stamper a little with a nail board so it would pick up images better, but I have no complaints otherwise. This new stamper is so much better and easier to use. For my mani, I used BM 205 and Konad Special White to stamp with. The image covered all but my thumbs nicely.
Good morning! Sorry didn't post yesterday's mani up last night. I had gotten a rather dubious surprise and I'm still trying to process it.
Anyways. So, the weather here is still very blah with more rain predicted. I felt the need to at least have something bright and pretty on my nails. Last weekend I picked up Splish Splash from China Glaze at Sally's. This is a pretty shade of blue. I had seen on another blog, don't recall who's right now, saying the Splish Splash is a lighter version of Frost Bite. I don't totally agree with that, as SS has its own magic.
Like most other neons I own, it has a slight shimmer in that's evident in the bottle and translates to the nail. It does dry matte, but not as matte as some neons. And, unlike my others, it was opaque in 2 coats. Nearly all the neons I own take at least 3 for opacity. Overall, I love this color.
So, for my mani, I applied two easy coats of Splish Splash and topped with SV, which just brought it to life. It didn't take long to dry, and once it did, I applied one coat of Lightning from China Glaze, which is one of their Crackle Glazes, and one more coat of SV.
Good evening and happy Pink Wednesday! Whew, I barely got this ready and posted in time, but I was determined to do so :)
Ok, I don't know about any of the rest y'all, but here in Sunny FL, we're expecting several days of rain x.x While that's not a bad thing, since we desperately need it, it make for blah weather and blah moods. In an effort to be not-so-blah, I figured I would do a pretty, happy pink mani.
It was really a matter of time before I used my Orly Butterflies. It's such a pretty pink jelly, not quite neon but not boring either. I love it, if for no other reason than it's named Butterflies :) I did two easy coats of it, then layered two more coats of Zoya Belle. Belle brought Butterflies up just the bit I was hoping for. They are a perfect complement. Seriously, my pics don't do justice because it was so crappy out, and I wasn't even gonna try to do indoor pics.
Good morning everyone! I hope y'all are doing well this lovely Tuesday morning, and if not, I hope it gets better for you :)
So it seems I'm on a stamping kick lately. I've ordered a new stamper after Sunday's mani fail, I bought a set of Mash plates yesterday, and today's mani features more stamping. I also have a few more stamped manis planned for this week xD I think I have a problem lol.
Today's mani started with two very easy coats of Zoya Myrta. I just love this orange, it's just perfect for summer right now. I topped with SV and waited for it to dry.
For the stamping, I used two plates that have flame images and 3 different colors. The first image I used is on Bundle Monster plate BM08 and stamped that in yellow 2-3 times on each nail. I repeated that step but with orange. Both of those colors I used are Migi nail art pens. These are great because you use them are either a polish or a nail art pen. Here's what they look like.
Mine came as a set of four double sided pens. I really can't tell you how much they are, as they were a Christmas gift :)
For the last little bit of flames, I used Bundle Monster plate BM01 stamped in Zoya Sooki. Topped all with SV again and done. I'm quite proud of how this turned out.
Good evening! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I know tomorrow is Monday, boooo, but at least enjoy what's left! :P
Ok, so I told y'all a few days back that I had joined a stamping group on FaceBook. Well, one of the things they do is called Stamping Sunday. People pick themes, vote on them, and whatever wins is the theme that Sunday. Today's theme was glitter: glitter bombs, glitter accents, whatever! Just as long as glitter is in there somewhere, or at least that's how I understood it to be :P
I haven't been on a glitter kick for awhile now, so a glitter bomb was definitely out the question, but accents I could handle. First, I started with a base color of China Glaze Kinetic Candy. Two coats of KC and one of SV, and let that dry. For the stamping, I used Shany plate SH24 and Jumping Jade from Sally Hansen InstaDri. This gave me the begininngs of a peacock feather on my nails.
For the "eye", I used a golden yellow from a nail art pen (no name), Rebel Spirit from Color Club, Tallulah from Zoya, and Stone Cold from Orly, in that order, applied with dotting tools. For my glitter effect, I topped with Northern Lights in Silver. I also added a little gem to both ring fingers.
Now, the feather itself didn't come out as nice as I had hoped, and I blame that on my stamper. I have one of those Konad double sided stampers that have abolutely no give. As of half an hour ago, I have a new stamper ordered that should remedy this problem. I will keep you posted :)
Good afternoon! I hope everyone is doing well and has some plans for the weekend, or at least for Father's Day :) Hubs and I plan on going to my parents for dinner, and that's about it. Hubs had to work today, so that killed anything for today lol.
For today's post, I'm showing you what I rocked yesterday. Yes, it features Shatter, so if you don't like that, feel free to skip it. I know not everyone likes it. I started with 2 coats of Aqua-delic from China Glaze and topped with SV. Once that was dry, I applied a thick coat of Super Bass from OPI and one last coat of SV. I love this Shatter. I've done a similiar mani with Super Bass and Fly, but I like this one as well.
That's it! Simple, easy, done!
Now, I'm gonna be adding some more stuff to my blog, like a tab for my foot and hand care routine as well some of my tips and tricks. I hope you find at least some of it useful :)
And good evening!
As promised, here is today's Pink Wednesday post!
It seems I'm on a bit of a jelly kick, because I used one for today's feature. This time, though, I chose to do a candy mani as opposed to just the jelly. There are a few ways to do a candy mani-
1. One coat base color, 1-2 coats glitter, 1 coat jelly.
2. Two coats glitter, 1 coat jelly.
3. One coat jelly, 1-2 coats glitter, 1 coat jelly.
There may be others, but those are the ones that I'm familiar with. Normally, I do the first method, but it's entirely up to you. It's really a matter of the look you're trying to achieve. Today, I decided to give the second method a whirl, so I started with one of my chosen jelly, OPI's Do You Think I'm Tex-y?, with 2 coats of Wet 'N Wild's Bow in my Presence (Coloricon line), with a second coat of DYTIT. Since it was a little rough and I wanted to stamp, I topped with SV.
Now, since it was a candy mani, I had the cute idea of stamping candy on top. I flipped though my plates until I found the closest image possible, bornpretty plate m37. I stamped the lollipop image with China Glaze's Millennium and finished it all with another coat of SV.
I gotta say, I'm a little iffy about this one. It's not quite as cute as I pictured it in my head, but it could be the color combo. Or, I could just be overly critical xD Anyways, you can judge for yourself.
Good morning!
This will be the first of two posts today, since I never got around to posting yesterday's mani >.< Yeah, time got away from me, and before I knew it, it was bedtime! /fail
So, over the weekend, I managed to make a Sally's run, and lo, I spotted the China Glaze neons. Even though they haven't been out long, the display was already picked over, BUT I found the one color I truly wanted from that collection: Ride the Waves. RTW is an interesting polish. First and foremost, it's a blue jelly. Second, even though it's a jelly, it dries to an almost matte finish, which brings me to third, it feels like plastic once it is dry. Let me tell, it's a royal bitch to take off with normal polish remover. I highly recommend using acetone to take this one off.
Just very recently, I joined a group on FaceBook for nail stamping. Very nice people in this group, and some very talented people! It had gotten me inspired to do some stamping for yesterday's mani.
I started with 3 coats of Ride the Waves and topped that with SV, which made it nice and shiny. I still had some VNL, but it was tolerable. For my stamping, I used my bornpretty plates, M04 and M11. I stamped the butterfly with Konad Special White and the flower with China Glaze Millennium. Because RTW is so vibrant, it made the butterfly look more blue than white, lol.
Good evening!
So, I'm two days late posting this mani. This is what I was rockin' for Friday. Pretty much all last week the weather was absolute crap here. I could've dealt with it being cloudy all the time, but the humidity made it feel like I was walking around in soup whenever I left the house >.< Gotta love summer in Florida! So in an effort to brighten up my mood (because that weather seriously did in my sinuses and head), I did a bright mani for Friday. For that of you that don't like Shatter/Crackle, I suggest you skip this :P
I started with 3 coats of Zoya Arizona. It seems no matter what, I have to use 3 coats for the cremes I have from that collection. I don't know why, maybe because they're so pigemented it makes them thicker and harder to work with? I don't know. I topped with SV and let that dry. Seche did take care of most of the streaks that lingered after the third coat. Once that was dry, I pulled one of my least used Shatters: Pink Shatter for Breast Cancer Awareness last year. In the bottle, it's a vibrant medium pink. On the nail, it becomes more jelly like, as is the case with the Red and Blue Shatters. Over Arizona, it became really bright. I know in my pics it looks more orange, but trust me, it's pink. I got a lot compliments on it :) Topped all with SV again and done!
Good evening and happy Pink Wednesday!
I'm gonna try to keep this short, as I've just exhausted and my typing gets hella bad when I'm like this lol.
So, lately I've been seeing alot of gradient manis, and have done a few recently myself. Yesterday, I was browsing LTHP's blog post, and she posted a very helpful tutorial for gradients. This one calls for using a damp sponge, which I thought was interesting and decided to give it whirl.
I must say, I love the results I got on today's pink mani!
I started with two coats of OPI's Pink Friday. I personally don't like using a white or nude base for my gradients; I prefer to use my lightest color as the base, so as get it more opaque. I topped with SV and let that all dry before proceeding to do as the tutorial said. The other colors I used were OPI's Kiss me on my Tulips and China Glaze's Fuschia Fanatic. I went over my nails twice with the gradient and topped it all with SV. See for yourselves!
Goooood morning!!
Today is the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, and in honor of this occasion, butter LONDON created polish by the name of Lillibet's Jubilee. Inspiration for the name apparently came from a childhood name used for the queen. I think it's adorable, personally :)
I managed to get in on a group order for this color when it was first released. You can order it directly from butter LONDON's website as it is readily available. I had only seen promo pics of this right when I ordered, but I wasn't disappointed at all with the color.
In my opinion, LJ is a silvery lilac, metallic polish. I'd also say it's a "cool neutral". Application was a breeze; I prolly could have gotten away with just one coat, it was the opaque, but I did two anyways. It is a very tame color for me, lol, but I like it. It's a nice change.
I did a little stamping on thumbs, the image was too big for my ring fingers, using Red Angel plate RA119 and Wet 'N Wild's Black Cream and little "gem". Everything was topped with SV.
Good evening!
I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine wasn't too bad. I went and got my hair, which it desperately needed since my little coloring fiasco back in March. It feels so nice to have my hair looking good again.
So, the weekend before last, I managed to get in on a special birthday offer from Llarowe. She was offering 49% off any one item in her shop. Right off the bat, I knew I wanted to get a multichrome. I ended up getting Ludurana Reluz, and received it by the end of the week.
I used this on my nails yesterday........... I was super happy with the color. Blown away. I was not happy with the formula. I was shocked at how runny it is, and how thin and sheer it is. I had read on another blog that she had achieved opacity in 2 coats....... Sorry, didn't happen for me. I needed three, and in some lighting, I swear I still some bald spots. That might have just been me, though. And, omg, is it stinky!! I was still smelling it hours later.
The color shifts in Reluz are amazing; you can see that in my pics. It's just the formula sucks xD The first pic is inside without a flash, the rest are outside in direct sunlight.
Good morning and happy Saturday! I hope the sun is shining where you're at on this second day of June. Wow, I can't believe it's June already. That means hurricane season is upon us here in FL xD Even though, you know, we've already had two named storms lol.
Anyways!! I wanted to show y'all the mani I rocked yesterday. I meant to get it posted last night, but it had been a long week, and a pissy ass day, and I ended up going to bed early. But better today than not at all!
Yesterday's mani featured two new polishes; new to me and new, current collections. The first is my base, Maybelline's Sapphire Siren from their Color Show collection. SS is exactly that- a sapphire blue creme that tries to be a jelly with its incredible shine. I did two coats of it and was very happy with it. Staining was very minimal, which surprised me. I topped with SV and let that dry.
The second polish is Gleam me Up from China Glaze's Crackle Glitter collection. GMU is a turquoise/teal colored glitter crackle. It's no where near as opaque as it looks in the bottle, which was a teeny bit disappointing to me, but that disappeared once I saw how nice it looked over SS. I did a kind of thick coat, so it would crackle nice and topped one last time with SV. Now, being that it is glitter, GMU is a topcoat eater, so you'll want to use possibly a second coat of SV or something like Gelous to get it smooth. I only did one coat over it and really wish I had done another. Also, you will want to use acetone to take it off.
