Real life.....

Has been getting in the way this week. I've had alot going on in my personal life, but I won't get into it here. The only bright spots this week were my bday on Monday and my mother's on Sunday.

To celebrate both, my parents, my husband, and I went out to dinner at Carraba's. The food was great, and we all had fun :) I have some swatches of what my husband got me as well as a few manis from this week. Let's start with what I had on yesterday.

So, you may may not have heard of a new method of dealing with glitter that's taken the polish community by storm. It calls for using a glue, such as Elmer's, watering it down a little, and using it as a base. For my glitter accents, I applied two coats and let them dry completely before applying the glitter. I used an old, clean nail polish bottle and filled it about 90% with Elmer's Glue-All, then added water and a couple of stainless balls, and shook the crap out of it.

Ok, for my mani, I decided to use one of my bday gifts, the Ulta exclusive OPI Skip the Gift Wrap with an accent of Nicole by OPI Kendall on the Katwalk. Two coats of each, with KOTK receiving two coats of Gelous, all topped with Seche. I love Skip the Gift Wrap, it's the perfect Christmas green. However, I absolutely hate KOTK, I think this is the first time I've used it, and it was horribly thick and goopy. I have a feeling, though, that one of China Glaze's Cirque colors, Water You Waiting For? (I think) is a dupe for it. I need to pick it up :P

Here are the mani pics, including how removal looks for the glitter.

The glitter didn't peel off, exactly; I used a rounded cuticle pusher to lift it off and kind of scrape it. I did this very gently so as not to injure my nails, but I think I prefer this over using acetone.


As I said earlier, Monday was my bday and Sunday was my mom's. Things got very iffy on Monday on whether we would go out Monday, and I didn't do my nails, until about an hour and a half before. Unfortunately, the weather here was so nasty and humid, it actually effected the dry time, even with Seche.

My mani was very simple: two coats of OPI's Birthday Babe and one of Happy Anniversary. Both are so pretty, I really don't wear them enough.

Don't mind the shimmer on my hands, that's from my lotion, CND Vanilla Velvet. It smells heavenly.

Now for some swatches! These are all OPI colors.

Every Month is Oktoberfest- 2 coats

Bogota Blackberry- 2 coats

Unfor-greta-bly Blue- 2 coats

I Think in Pink- 4 coats

Isn't that Precious?- 4 coats

Giftcards for Everyone!- 2 coats

Last Minute Shopper- 2 coats

Skip the Gift Wrap- 2 coats