ravamped franken; Moondream

So I originally made a franken that I was not happy with! But I revamped it.  And now I love it.

Moondream (After a My Little Pony LOL)

Ingredients

This is the original.  I added lots more white
to achieve the color I wanted.

Close up of the shimmers.  Click to enlarge.

Pretty lilac shimmer/creme.

 I'm really glad I added more white.  I was not happy with the original color and it sat in my drawer for a while before I took it out and decided to change it.  Now it's wearable.  The bottle I used had a clear polish in it, so it has a clear base.  I really like these bottles though. I got them at the Dollar Tree and they're Maybelline brand.  They're smaller than RBL bottles but similar.  I wish I had a whole hoard of these to franken with!

Which do you prefer, the before or after?

giveaway reminder & kitties

Just a little reminder for those who may have missed the original post, a week from this Monday is last day to enter my 50 Follower Giveaway.  Even though I am up to 66 now, which is even more exciting :D :D :D

All information as well as the form can be found HERE.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And just so you don't feel like I left you hanging, here are some kitty pictures.

Neener

Ralphie

Squidget

Frank

pretty little funky french!

I had no idea what I was going to do when I started out with this mani, but it eventually turned into something.

3 coats of China Glaze "Good Witch?"

Then I used my nail guides for french tips but angled them accordingly.  I used 1 coat of L.A. Girl in "French White" for the tips and lined the edge with L.A. Colors Art Deco in White to keep a cleaner line.

L.A. Colors Art Deco in "Baby Pink" for the dots.
I also used my Kiss nail art pen in silver for more dots!

Don't forget to enter my 50 Follower Giveaway!

im convinced its springtime

This mani reminds me of some kind of really trippy retro wallpaper.  Therefore, I love it.

BM 12

This polish, Essence "What Do You Think?" is one of those mind%#$ colors that doesn't look anything like it photographs.  Its a salmon-y PINK in the bottle, and on the nails.  Yet comes out PUMPKIN FRICKIN' ORANGE.  I don't like orange.

3 coats, a pink but unfortunately orange creme.

Cleaned up my edges last night so nails don't look so rough!

Color Club Art Club in White for the stamping.

My mani is the third bottle in from the left.  You know, the PINK one.  I swear on all that is good and glittery that it is the same color on my nails.  Wanted pink, got orange. Sadface but it looks cute with the flowers at least (=

mod dots baby yeah!

Look what I did!

Dots!

This design is over 3 coats of Essence "Movie Star".  For the dots I used Essence "No More Drama", "Sundancer" and "What Do You Think?" as well as China Glaze "For Audrey".  I used the back end of my dotting tool.

essence "movie star"

Today was a long ass day.  Cold and boring and long.  That was today.  I'm still cold, relatively bored and since its officially Wednesday now, I can't complain about it being long.  Ok, enough rambling.

Essence "Movie Star"

Alright this is my wonky hand.  My index finger is FINALLY, after over a month of fighting with me, growing back normally and healthily.  My middle finger split on the free edge so I had to file it down.  My ring finger has been victim to my constant picking.  Pinky is fine, thumbs a little dry but what else is new; I can't possibly lotion anymore than I do sometimes.  I'll do better next time (= I owe it to my readers to not put up hackjob photos and I am trying! 

3 coats of this delightful dark grey creme!

 See this is my other hand, much more aesthetically pleasing!  (Text is backwards because I had to rotate the photo.)  Look how different the color shows up in the bottle compared to the nails.  It's closer to the color in the bottle.  I just love a little novelty so I wanted to share.

OK normally I feel like a sales rep for Funky Fingers but now I'm jumping ship.  Onto the Essence boat of luxury.  I cannot comprehend how for 99. cents these polishes are so freakin' fabulous.  Excellent dry time, affordable, fun colors and most important a shiny, perfect formula.  Remember, I bought these at ULTA.  You should get some, for reals.

Look how fun.  Cuter than the Gosselin kids I tell ya!

Size comparison next to ChG "For Audrey"

OK, that's it.  Go buy some of these.

sally hansen "gentle blossom"

So the other day I returned a 90$ handbag that I got on sale for 57$ because I really couldn't swing it right now.  My father told me that it would "build character".  Oh yea, I feel it building.  Anyways, to reward myself for making such an adult decision I bought myself a new nail polish. I bought this beauty for 5.50$ at Wal-Mart.

Sally Hansen "Gentle Blossom"

I would have rather have had that purse, because it was truly perfect, but this is a decent exchange.  

I did a little research on this one before I bought it.  I kept seeing it at Walgreens and passing on it.  I looked over a few swatches and decided to go for it.  I don't like spending more than a couple bucks on a polish but I made the stretch to 5.50$ because I don't have anything like it.  Except maybe Sinful Colors "Mint Apple".  MA is darker than GB, I can already see that, but they're the most similar out of my stash.

4 coats.  Light minty green with silver shimmers (=

The swatches I did view beforehand all said 2 coats.  I have NO idea how anyone could get away with 2 coats on this one, but I needed 4 and it could have honestly used a 5th!  I didn't get to wear this one for very long because I dented 2 nails and smudged 1.  That's OK though, because I well certainly wear this soon, its beautiful!

Don't forget to enter my 50 Follower Giveaway (=

possibly the ugliest color in the world

I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this.  It was only a dollar, so there was no real loss here.  Maybe the Dollar Tree lighting got the best of me?  I know I hate frost finishes for polishes, hate hate hate.  I couldn't really tell in the store.  I am not really even a big fan of blues either.  So for all of our comic relief, here is the ugliest color I have purchased, worn and photographed to date.

Ladies and ladies, I present to you "Bold Frost":

UGLY demin-y sorta blue. 3 horrific coats.

HOOLAG.

I would like to mention that this came packaged in bubble packaging with a thin cardboard backing.  WTF is all over the bottle? QUALITY, that's what!

Pretty sure I am doing to dump this bottle (since setting it on fire is a hazard) and use it for frankening.
Click to enlarge the gory details, if you haven't eaten recently.

Sorry for making you look at that blue.  Here is a delicious picture of yesterday's mani to soften the blow! Essence in "No More Drama"

Additional Giveaway Information

First of all I am SO sorry that I forgot to include this in the initial giveaway post and have to create another post to clarify.  I don't like that )= And I apologize.  I forgot to mention the semi important factor that this contest is open to the Continental United States Only; excluding Hawaii and all other countries.

This being my first giveaway and honestly having no clue as to what I am doing and figuring it out day by day, I feel it would be easier, this time around, to ship somewhere within the States that would be affordable and easy.  I will edit the information on the original post as well.

If possible, let me know via a comment on this post if you have entered and are out of the country so I can unfortunately remove your submission. In the event that I am not notified, and someone who is out of the country wins, a new winner will be immediately chosen.

Again, truly sorry!

essence underwater and no more drama

I found out there is an Ulta in driving distance on one of my many commutes home from school and stopped there this Thursday to take a look around.  I found these cute little mini bottles of Essence Colour & Go polishes and picked up 3 for 99. each!  I loved them so much I went back today and got 3 more :D  Here are two that I have already worn as a full mani and I really adore them both!  They are actually .16 FL OZ which is a little bigger than most mini polishes which was an extra bonus factor.

"Underwater"

Navy blue creme with tiny blue shimmers!

3 thin coats = beautiful!

"No More Drama"

Lovely lavendar creme; 3 thin coats

Beautiful, aren't they?
Don't forget about my 50 Follower Giveaway!

50 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!

It's finally here; my first giveaway!  I am so excited.  But I also haven't a clue as to what I am doing so, lets cross our fingers and hope for the best here.  I feel a little like Oprah in the sense that I have been able to find a few of my favorite colors to date and I get to share them with you.. MY FAVORITE THINGS!! Ok, the goods to be given away:

 8 polishes and their descriptions;


-Funky Fingers "Cheshire" - This is my favorite purple ever.  A purple creme, seen HERE

-Funky Fingers "Voodoo" - Black jelly base with teeny tiny little copper shimmers, seen HERE

-Funky Fingers "Elephunk" - Grey creme base with with the tiniest hints of a silvery shimmer, seen HERE

-Funky Fingers "Sand and Stilettos" - A DENSE silver glitter with holo glitters, too.

-Funky Fingers "Tribal" - A bright turquoise creme that is to die for, seen as the base HERE 

-Funky Fingers "Icicle Lights" - A glitter packed mix of purple, green and red tiny hexagonal glitters.

-China Glaze "Naughty and Nice" - A deep dark plum jelly.

-Cover Girl Nail Slicks "Sun Kissed" - A shimmery yellow with yellow and gold looking shimmers.

Here are some closer shots (sorry about the horrific photography here) of the polishes.

Chesire - Elephunk - Tribal

Sand and Stilettos - Icicle Lights - Voodoo

Naughty and Nice - Sun Kissed

RULES:
1. MUST be a follower.
2. MUST provide GFC name & contact email.
3. Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on Monday, March 7th EST.

EDIT: This contest is open to the Continental United States Only; excluding Hawaii and all other countries.

Submissions are now closed; winner will be announced shortly!

Goodluck to everyone :D !!!

i was sick & qipao looking mani

For the sake of all things sweet and juicy (wtf?), it is a damn miracle that I am here to type this to you today, at 4:45am.  Technically it’s Thursday at this point, but my internal clock couldn’t tell you that, I had to check a calendar just now.

Saturday evening around 4pm my friend called me to go to the store with her because she had to pick a few things up before her baby arrived (which it has - between now and then, it’s a boy! Congrats mama!)  Anyways, the second I walked in the door upon coming home I felt a kind of slight scratchy feeling in my throat like I needed a drink of water.  So I had a bottle of water and within in the next few hours it was all downhill. 

I’ve never, ever had such a fast onset of an illness before in my life.  It literally developed within 2 hours.  By 7pm I had a 102.0 fever, the chills, an intensified sore throat, dizziness and body aches that came from the left field beyond my wildest dreams.  I managed to take my sick ass to the doctor on Sunday morning and they said it was a virus that had to run its course. OK, thanks here’s your co-pay!

So from Saturday evening til about Wednesday afternoon I had taken roughly 18 showers to try and keep warm, taken well over the recommended dosage of Advil and Exedrin to keep the fever at bay (which by the way, was at a steady 103.3 for THREE DAYS, I’m sure my liver will be thanking me later), and had not slept more than 1 consecutive hour.  I kept blacking out from delirium from my fever.  I’d wake up and not remember falling asleep, but the same episode of a show would still be on, so I was literally just going in and out of consciousness.

Didn’t do my substitute hours at work on Monday and haven’t been to class yet this week.  The only things I have eaten are popsicles and chicken rice soup and water.  I feel about 75% as of now, which feels amazing compared to how I was earlier this week.  But I am pissed, me and the boy had plans for Sunday and Monday that had to be canceled. He was very understanding and just wanted me to feel better, but I wasn’t understanding of the laws of crap and still remain bitter. 

Anyways, I am feeling a lot better and finally have the energy to sit at the computer long enough to do anything semi-productive.  Since this is a nail polish blog and not a “Cathryn what are you going to bitch about next blog” I will show you a mani I had done before the damned bubonic plague hit me.

I used a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic over my previous post's manicure and jazzed it up with some nail art.  I cannot even tell you what I used aside from white and gold nail art polish and one of the BM plates; that's about as detailed as I can get, lol.  The fever erased my short term memory.

Reminds me of one of these numbers.  A qipao it's called.  I didn't do it on purpose but I couldn't see anything else when I finished!  Image is from here, it is not my picture.

And here it is again!

Ok lovies I certainly did not forget my giveaway that I will be doing soon.  It may be a day or two behind because of how backed up I am on all other aspects of life right now but it will be up and posted by Sunday.

hidden treasure & 50 readers!! :D

So I mentioned previously about a long time lemming that a total dollface, Anne from MUA, sent me out of sheer kindness.  I would always check drugstores for it even though I was well aware it was a LE and I most likely wasn't going to find it.

TA-DA! Sally Hansen "Hidden Treasure" :D :D :D!!

Look at it, sitting there so coyly. Oh yes, I am fancy.
"Hidden Treasure" is a to-die-for iridescent flakey polish that lives up to its hype (to me at least!).  I typically don't catch onto the fuss of popular polishes aside from "For Audrey" and now this one :D Guilty!

This is 2 delicious coats of "Hidden Treasure" over two coats of Funky Fingers "Off with Their Heads!".  Which is a pink, SO deeply pink, that it appears red.  But it isn't, promise.

Anyone else seeing Chinese New Year's all over my nails.  I am, and not on purpose.  It reflects mostly gold and hints-o-green. Love (=

HOLY CRAP! 


As of right now, I have 51 readers! Well, 50 if I don't count myself, lolol.  When I started blogging again in December I had 13 (or 17?) readers and from then I have accumulated quite a few, and that is just really exciting to me.  I do this because I enjoy it, I enjoy what others post and it really is nice to be part of a community where others take an interest in something you also love.

I see a lot of people who totally link-whore up other blogger's comment sections with their own blogs.  I've never been one to do that so I really feel that people follow because they either like what they saw or take a general interest in what I am posting - and that is a great feeling.

Thank you all for helping me achieve this milestone, even though it may be a simple one.  I enjoy reading your blogs everyday, as well as your comments and I hope you enjoy mine, as well.  Ok, enough using the word "enjoy".  That was like 50 times rapid fire.

As promised, a giveaway will be held in celebration of my growing blog.  Look for a follow up later this week, I'm thinking late Thursday or Friday. xoxo!