Franken "Hot Pink Aurora" :D

I wanted to make a nail polish that reminded me of my blog's name.  I don't even really remember why I picked this name, aside from liking pink and loving auroras.  But I had a vision. And I executed it with my newest franken!

"Hot Pink Aurora" macro bottle shot.

My thought process while making this was to have a pink based jelly polish with a absolute crapload of glitters.  I wanted to incorporate a color that would also compliment that, so I added some blue glitter aside from the holo bits and silvers.  I mixed a ton of my favorite glitters, sparse holo topcoats and a foil to achieve this.

3 coats of "Hot Pink Aurora"
All photos are 3 coats with SH Insta Dri TC.

The large blue hex glitter was sticking to the sides of the bottle and I only managed to fish one out.  You can see its embedded on my pinky.  I was hoping to get more out, so I don't know if I am going to add more or just take it for what it is - what do you think?

Here is what I used:

Pink glitter has no sticker on it, so I don't know the name.
The blue nail art is is simply named "Blue Glitter"

I used this red jelly and berry jelly to tint it to pink.

As you can see, I used a bunch of different glitters so I only used a little bit of each.  Doing that ended up creating a unique end result, I feel.  The only adjustments I am thinking of making is possibly adding some ChG "Bad Kitty" and a little more B.S.N "Ocean Jewel". Thoughts?!

Best Blog Award & some random nail pics!

I was tagged for the Best Blog Award by Veronica from the Chic & Shiny Blog - thanks for recognizing me! While I know I do not possess the best blog by any means, just being thought of for a second is such a nice gesture (=

The Rules

You must link back to the person who awarded this to you! 

Share 7 random facts! 

Award 15 blogs and Answer the questions listed above! 

And send the people awarded a comment letting them know!

Random facts

1. I was never a nail biter, always a nail picker.

2. The lack of intimacy in life thanks to social networking sites really does bother me.

3. Daisies are my favorite flower. I'm allergic to roses.

4. I love reading local news websites and watching the news.

5. I have too many cats (six).

6. My toenails are always done as a French pedicure, regardless of season, event, etc.

7. In spite of my bitching about it, I really do enjoy going to school.

Crazy Questions

1. Fave Color -  Pink and yellow. It's a tie.

2. Fave Song - I don't have a favorite song, but Alanis Morissette has a song for any mood.

3. Fave Dessert - Tempura ice cream at the hibachi place.. yum!

4. What is pissing you off - Nothing I really need to put on blast or make public.  Stupid shit that needs to just go away, lol.

5. When you're upset you - "clean" which usually means I start sorting things.  Not the typical cleaning like windexing or mopping, but I'll start putting things away where they belong.  That and cigarettes, bad bad.

6. Fave Pet - Neenar!

7. Black or White - Black.

8. Biggest Fear - Aquatic life, ALL of it.

9. Best Feature - My hair. It's long, thick, naturally blonde and maintenance free!

10. Everyday Attitude - Get through it, look forward to something to keep spirits up, keep a positive attitude.

11. What is perfection -  a fairytale!

12. Guilty Pleasure -  Cheap reality TV (Like the MTV Challenges LOL) and nail polish, of course (=

As for the tagging - a lot of the blogs I follow have very busy women behind them.  So I tag anyone and everywhere who has the time to fill it out.  For anyone I am following, I am obviously a fan of yours and think you have a great blog. Sounds like a cop out, but I stand by that!

NOW! Here is some random pictures taken from my archive of manicures from the past. (To keep up appearances, of course.)

its sunday night already? really?

Uhhhh back to the grind tomorrow.  This weekend FLEW. Mostly because it was so fun (=  I have a sunshiney manicure to go along with the happy thoughts.

A few things worth mentioning: this is only my 2nd bottle of this brand/style/collection.  The insta-dri bottles are fug.  Doesn't matter though, since I owe a TON of Funky Fingers polishes and they're TERRIBLY UGLY.  The coverage was great! Streaks were easy to correct.

"Lightening" 3 coats.

Strange spelling. I guess it isn't supposed to be 'lightning' as much as it is the action to 'lighten'.  If it was up to me, I'd name this "BIG FRICKIN' DAISY". It reminds me of yellow daises, in a big frickin' way.  I've worn this twice since I got it a few weeks ago, which says a lot.  It's like the total-package yellow.  Light, cooler yellows don't fly well on me.  But the goldeny sunshine yellows look much better. Yellow is one of my favorite colors, second to pink, and I am glad I can wear it on my nails.  I am blonde and fair skinned so yellow clothing usually washes me out.  I'll take what I can get!

GAUDY.

I love the costume jewelry craze.  I got this for my sister as a possible birthday present, but she didn't want it because it wasn't "bedazzled" enough, so I kept it. Love!

And this weekend me and the boy decided to travel over to Pennsylvania and do some shopping (which he loves to do more than me) as well as some sightseeing. We hit up a flea market and I got a cutesy purse, wallet and phone case. And by sightseeing, I mean real sights. Look:

Breathtaking!

It was about 89 degrees with ABSURD humidity.  The walkways were steaming, but I had a great time.  A great weekend and a great day spent with my lovey.  Can't ask for much more (=

one coat wonder!

I'm always blown away by the concept of a one coat polish.  OPI DS "Fantasy" can certainly be worn with only one coat; I have proof!

OPI DS "Fantasy" - one coat!

 The slight slight slightest bald(ish) spots on my thumb were my own fault.  I was so lazy to fix it.  But this polish is so pigmented and glorious.  I tend to avoid darker colors but I cannot deny this one!

I have meganubbins now, by the way. I'm not thrilled but I don't have a choice.  They were taking a beating so I just trimmed them all.

I went into Harmon Beauty Supply to pick up some acetone and I saw on the bottom of a display some OPI DS bottles on sale for $3.97.  I didn't have this one, so I grabbed it and I am glad I did!  Darker colors usually don't do it for me, but the sparkles and the opacity of this really blow me away.

b.s.n. "floral wind" aka "flower fart" - nightmare manicure

This name made me think "flower fart" the second I read it. It's pretty on its own, look!

3 coats of "flower fart". i mean "floral wind"

It's a pretty raspberry jelly!  Decent application, funny smell.  Probably not B3Free.

Kind of hard to capture since it looks neon sort of, but it was nighttime and all I could do.  I got this for a dollar at my local dollar store. Anyways, here comes the nightmare:

EUUUGH. 1986 anyone?

 I bought "Angel Wings" by Sally Hansen thinking it would be SUCH A PERFECT LAYERING POLISH. Instead, its a perfect piece of crap.  It shows as a frost, you can see brush strokes and the shimmer bits I was initially drawn to are completely overshadowed by the garbage that IS "Angel Wings".  I got it for 2$ at Five Below as an impulse buy. FUG FUG. "Angel Wings" is what my nail polish nightmares are made of.  Frosty attributes to any manicure or polish make me want to rip hair out of stuffed animals. I don't want it.  Do not buy it. Unless, you're into that kinda thing.

LOLSIDENOTE. Look at tiny my thumb nail. LOL. One of these things is not like the other..! I got reaaaaally pissed off on Wednesday and on my way home I must've done some damage.  By the time I got home, I had a ridiculous nubbin.  I didn't even remember doing it.  I am going to name it Judy.

"Broken Hearted" & some updates

There are a handful of things in life that I repeatedly try, thinking I'll like it.  Romaine lettuce, yogurt, sushi.. oh, and crackle nail polish.  I think Einstein is quoted as saying that insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". I finally had the smallest glimmer of a breakthrough with China Glaze Crackle Glaze in "Broken Hearted" :D !

1 coat of "Broken Hearted" over 3 coats over
L.A. Colors "Energy Source".

Wheeeeee! A crackle I like!  I have black and silver shatter from OPI and could take or leave both of them.  "Broken Hearted" is definitely a keeper!  I had a strange moment at work when one of my coworkers had the SAME manicure on as me.  She had this same crackle coat over white.  It strangely excited both of us, lol.

Cute!

A couple of updates:


On my temporary tattoo manicure:  I had seen the idea somewhere before but as stated in my previous post, I thought they were special nail decals.  I do not want to claim 100% credit for the idea as the gears started turning once I accidentally got the tattoo on my nail.  It was kind of an, "Oh! I bet those were regular temporary tattoos" more so than a "LOOK WHAT I INVENTED" kind of deal.


Anyways!  Mine started to smush off/peel at about noon today but I can't be sure that it was their fault.  I use antibacterial hand sanitizer countless times a day, as well as old-fashioned hand washing.  I've literally used hand sanitizer to remove the tattoos before, so I'm certain it contributes to general removal - but I had a top coat on.  That stuff is pretty strong, so who knows what it does.  It's also possible their tacky nature didn't sit well underneath a topcoat.  I will definitely make note of this next time I wear them.


On a positive note, does anyone remember Squidgee (Quidge/Artemis)?

My little Momma.

After months of steroids and a handful of vet visits, our little peanut of a cat is doing much better!  She's much more active, alert and eating way more than before!  Thankfully, her medicine isn't very expensive at all and she just goes for check ups every once in a while. Her treatment is no where near the cost of her original diagnosis visit so we weren't forced to put her to sleep. Phew. (=

FLORAL NAIL TATTOOS!

I have a fun one for you today ladies (= I was giving the kids at work tattoos when I frigged one up and noticed it stuck to my nail.  I remember seeing a long long time back something about temporary tattoos for nail decor.  I thought they were a special brand or a specific product, but they aren't!

Nail Tattoos!

 I started with 3 coats of white underneath, put a topcoat and let it set.  About 20 minutes later  I started tattooing.  This is what I used:

Five Below - $1

 Forgot to take picture THEN cut. Oops.

So I went floral, I wanted good coverage and shapes that made sense.

Right Hand.

I used the tattoos according to the instructions which is really easy.  Peel the acetate off, apply to nail and hold a wet towel until it slides off!  Super simple!  I patted the design down with the wet paper towel to get it to hug all of my nail curves and wait about 10 minutes before applying my topcoat.

There is a new strange kind of clean up involved though.  You can see on some of my fingers that there is some glue looking stuff.  The tattoo that adheres to the skin is tricky to get off without ruining the design on your nail.  Somewhat time consuming, about 20 minutes for a half-done looking job.  I suppose cutting the tattoos to your exact nail shape could ease clean up.  But like i said, this was my first time and there was some trial and error.  I can't wait to do this again (=

What do you think?!

watermelon mani and a confusing haul

HELLO! It's 2:00am. Ever just wanna type in caps? I really do right now, I want to yell this post at you. But I won't. I just want to megaphone this whole post. But again, I will do no such thing.  I wanted to make two separate posts but decided to make on mega post because it felt right.  I will be covering a haul and a watermelon inspired manicure. Onward!

WATAMELON.

It's "inspired", therefore not a direct representation of a watermelon.  I've done the watermelon manicure on the kids at work: red base color, green french tip and black polka dots.  It's actually cute but it wasn't working for me this time so I dodged it.

2 coats of Essie "too too hot" (red)
3 coats of L.A. Colors "Energy Source" (white)

My biffle, Coryn, gave me the Essie.  SO WATERY. It flooded my cuticles before I even knew what happened.  But for once, it didn't take 42 coats like all my other attempts with Essie have, so can't complain!  It's really pretty though, once I realized it was watery I just used less polish and it was fine.  Then I added black and white dots with my dotting tool.  The watermelon shapes I got at Sally Beauty Supply for $5.50 along with a bunch of other fruit shapes.

They're flat. My nails are not.  A tiny bit of practice and I'll be able to get them to lay flush in no time!  Super cute designs though.  They also had a flower wheel but I was really drawn to the fruitsies.  OK HAUL TIME.

So it's official.  My drawers used for polish are PACKED full.  So any polish I've been purchasing lately just sits on my desk.  Right now I count about 25 just sitting here.  I can barely move my mouse anymore.. so what does this girl do? DUH - SHE GOES TO A DOLLAR STORE AND BUYS A TON MORE.

"dizzy" - "yellow aura" - UGH THE STICKER IS GONE.

"Hallucination" - "Nude" (wtf?) - "Floral Wind"

"Hallucination" looks like glass slippers to me, love that!  The middle polish is a clear jelly base with holographic glitter, stars and moons. So, naturally, it's "nude"?.....?? This dollar store brand takes their business seriously as you can clearly see.  Also, the random decision to capitalize some polish names and leave others makes me "lol".  One I have from a month or so ago actually has a typo and is "royal puple". NOT A WORD.

"Broken Hearted"- "Black Shimmer" - "Planet"

 WRONG. WRONG. IT'S ALL WRONG.  First, this picture sucks. It's really dark; my bad.  Second, "black shimmer" is actually black glitter. It LOOKS like its in a black base, but oh no, dollar store scammers got me this time.  Its CLEAR. It's black glitter in a clear base.  And it's not even glitter, it's just tiny black plastic squares, lol. In this case, I got what I paid for. So now I have 9 new polishes to add to my desk.  Nice, I'll just keep my diet coke on my head.

essence "Where is the Party?"

Where is the party, you ask? On my nails evidently.  Duochromes remind me of disco balls but not for the obvious reasons, lol.  I think they're both fun to watch.  It's OK, I'm 65% crazy, so either judge or move on xD

3 coats of Essence "Where is the Party?"

I did 3 coats, but 2 was enough.  I started the 3rd coat and realized it didn't need it but finished because, well, just because.  I also smudged my ring finger on my car keys, oops.

It's purple!

And then it's not!

Greeeeeeeeen!

Sunlight shows its rainbow (=

WOW.

Then I ruined it with "silver shatter" and took it off.

With my experiences with Essence, I've never encountered any problems.  Fantastic formula, great cover and application and decent wear. I got this for 99 cents at Ulta and absolutely recommend it for anyone who finds it purty.

yellow rainbow and ladybug mani

LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE yellow.  I was fiddling with my yellows and thought I would show them to you.

Bundle Monster plate 13

 Eek dry skin! Sorry, I took this right after I got out of the shower and removed it before I checked the photos, so this is the best I could do given those circumstances.  The cuteness factor should totally override the dryness factor though.  I used Wet N Wild "Black Creme" and "Red Red" for stamping.  An impatient me evidently applied the topcoat too soon.  There was some streaking which I should have known better to avoid. sadsad.

My yellow skittles (=

3 coats of each.

 I can't decide what I like best.  Warm golden tones like "Sundancer" are always enticing to me, but the brightness of "Lightening" is really summery and fun.  "Unicorn" and "Yellow Kitty" are softer which remind me more of springtime and as mentioned a few posts before, "Cayman Island" is pretty (to me) only under specific lighting.

Anyways, which is your favorite yellow swatched here?  What about your all time favorite yellow?