Essie Pink-A-Boo

I'd like to apologize real quick for my absence lately. I've been in a funk and haven't wanted to do anything lately, blogging included.  I won't make myself blog as I know that wouldn't genuine, but forced. I don't know what has gotten into me but a general aura of dumpy crankiness has been hovering over me for weeks.

I went to Harmon to pick up a magnified mirror and this Essie caught my eye.  Anything pink kinda does to be honest, but this one is very pretty, I'm glad I decided to get it! I took some pictures in sunlight to show the full effect of this beauty.

Flash

Sunlight

Sunlight

Sunlight

All photos seen here is 2 coats of Essie Pink-A-Boo over two coats of Revlon Powder Puff over a coat of Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD.  It's a jellylike pink sheer with blue shimmers!  It's so delicate and ladylike, I really love it.  Layering with Powder Puff really helped but you can still see some VNL. Formula was great as always with Essie, just a little sheer.  I love this, do you?

Sinful Colors Giveaway Ends 3/31!

I just wanted to remind everyone that my 250 Follower Sinful Colors Giveaway will be ending on Saturday, March 31st at 11:59pm EST.

PRIZE INCLUDES:
-Sinful Colors Pandora
-Sinful Colors Neptune
-Sinful Colors Athens
-Sinful Colors Zeus
-Sinful Colors Olympia
-Sinful Colors Grecian Sun
 
RULES:
1. Must be a follower.
2. Must provide GFC name & contact email.
3. Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on Saturday, March 31st EST.
4. All extra entries are optional.
5. Internationally Open!
6. The winner has 48 hours to reply; in the event they do not, a new winner will be chosen.

I'm at almost 400 followers right now and I'm just blown away!  Those who have advertised my giveaway have brought lots of attention to my blog and I am so very thankful, I wish you could all win!

New Nail Shape

I love my square nails, they took a while to get how I wanted them.  My thumb never cooperated though, it was always a bit roundy.  I also had a tough time with my index nail on my left hand, too.  I was constantly tinkering to get it straight while the rest were low maintenance.  I was looking down at them after not doing a mani for a few days and noticed, once again, some nails were wearing a bit in a rounded way.  I figured, what the hell, let me try it out.  I may, OK I did, take too much off, so they're nubbingly right now - but I can't wait to see how they'll look when they grow a bit!

My ring finger needs some more shaping but it needs to grow out a bit first.  The combo of polish is OPI Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI and Essie As Gold As It Gets.

Have you entered my 250 follower giveaway yet? Click HERE to enter!

Green Bottle Spam!

My green stash is so itty bitty I was considering photographing my CND Stickey just to bring the number up!  Greens have been growing on me a lot lately so the collection, I'm sure, should pick up eventually.

Mermaid's Tears - Jade is the New Black - Green Apple - Mitzi

Gentle Blossom - Jungle Fever - SaGreena the Teenage Witch - Sheri's Pistachio Creme - Ivy League - Fresh Teal - Dressmaker

Finger Paints Crysanthe-mum's The Word - Glo Worm Green - Jade - Jade Metal - Envy

Seaweed - Envy - Nail Junkie - Call You Later - Green Ocean

Blitzen - Kelly - Under Mistletoe - Peacocky - Sold Out Arena

Tribal - Mint Montuak - Wild Child - Tortuga

It's Alive! - Holly-Day - Gaga for Green - Navigate Her - Da Bush

Free Hand Shamrock Tutorial

Since I posted my most recent giveaway with an input space for suggestions, I've noticed the most requested thing was tutorials.  So I had to think about what I know how to do that hasn't been said a million times, and most likely better than I could describe it.  I use this little technique to make free hand hearts and since a shamrock is just three hearts with a stem, I figured I could share this with anyone who doesn't have or use stamping plates.

What You'll Need:
-A polish of decent contrast to your base color (I chose Essie Navigate Her over Funky Fingers Kelly.)
-A dotting tool
-Something to practice on (I use paper plates or the back of older Bundle Monster Plates, before they put the backing on them.)
-Acetone to clean off your dotting tool in case it gets goopy
-Something to wipe your dotting too off on (I use cotton rounds, but they can shred. A paper towel would work.)

What You Do:

Make sure your current manicure is dry.  It helps if you've already put your topcoat on and had that set, too.  If you mess up and have your topcoat on, sometimes you can swipe off your oopsie without damaging the base color.

1.

Put two little dots of polish.  This is also how I make free hand hearts.  If you use a tiny dotting tool, you can drag the pooled polish into a point, creating a heart shape!

2.

Add two more little dots on the side.  Do this quickly as you'll need to drag the polish from the dots to fill in the space at the end.


3.

Repeat on the opposite side. 

4. I really didn't know how to photograph step four since its a motion, but all you do is use the dotting tool to kind of push the polish into the center to fill in the space while keeping in mind what a shamrock looks like.

5. Use your dotting tool, you may need to re-dip to get more polish for this, to make a tiny little line at the bottom of the shamrock for the stem.

As you can see in the very first picture with my dotting tool and acetone glass, you need to practice it a few times to get it down.  Practice, in my case, didn't make perfect but it made "good enough", haha.  Given the fact you'll probably be using greens and it is nearly St. Patrick's Day, even a rough shamrock should be a discernible one!

Since I'm not so good at this, I only used one for my manicure as an accent nail.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

Flash

Just am FYI, Sinful Colors Green Ocean does not play nicely with FF Kelly.  It clashes, I feel.  This is two coats over my FF manicure from the previous post.  If you try this, I'd love to see your results! Post your attempts in the comments section if you'd like (=

Funky Fingers Kelly

I broke this one out of the stash because I realized I didn't have many greens, and since my options were limited, I went to the back of the FF drawer in my Helmer.  I bought this at Five Below a long time ago, I found it in the discount bin all by itself.

"Natural" Light

This was NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to photograph.  It's rare I have to alter the settings on my camera, but this one had me discovering feature I didn't even know my camera had! I'm not sure there is a color accurate photo in the 50 or so I took, so I'll show you the nonsense I was working with.

"Natural" Light??

I don't even know. Cellphone pic under my lamp, maybe.

This is 3 coats of Kelly over CND Stickey without topcoat.  It's a bizarre polish, somewhat of a suede.. jelly? Is that possible? I don't know what I'm working with; I've never encountered a polish like this.  Perhaps there's a hint of neon in here somewhere.

Taken with my cellphone.

Flash

It's not matte, but it's not shiny.  It's not a jelly but it's not a creme.  It doesn't photograph well and it looks like 5 different shades depending on the setting.  When I wore it to school, it looked neon.  Right now with my bedroom lighting, it looks like a forest green.  The very first picture is probably the closest to reality, maybe? Maybe the flash picture. I DON'T KNOW.

An Old Favorite: Orly Basket Case

Basket Case was one of my first non-Sally Hansen or WnW polishes so I hold it dearly.  In fact, my first bottle of it is actually destroyed because my dumb ass poured remover in it to thin it. DO NOT DO.  I got myself another bottle of it because I do love it so much.

"Natural" Light

I wanted to do a funky french with it.  It worked SO well as it only needed one coat, so I painted it on and was able to remove the guides right away.

"Natural" Light

 I used Konad Special White for the dots, and cute little sticker my sister got me for Christmas (=

Flash

It's quite fabulous on its own, too.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

Flash

This was two coats, but I could've gotten away with one thick one.  It's over Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD. LOVE!

hotpinkaurora's 250 Follower Giveaway!

I can't believe I reached 250 followers.  I remember when I started and was so excited I have 8 or so.  It has been a wonderful journey and I wanted to express my appreciation by hosting this giveaway.  These are from the new Sinful Colors Castaway Collection.  It is not complete, mind you.  I do not have Be Happy or Greek Isles here, but the rest are.  Good luck to the entrants and thank you for following along with me with each post you read or comment on.

PRIZE INCLUDES:
-Sinful Colors Pandora
-Sinful Colors Neptune
-Sinful Colors Athens
-Sinful Colors Zeus
-Sinful Colors Olympia
-Sinful Colors Grecian Sun
 
RULES:
1. Must be a follower.
2. Must provide GFC name & contact email.
3. Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on Saturday, March 31st EST.
4. All extra entries are optional.
5. Internationally Open!
6. The winner has 48 hours to reply; in the event they do not, a new winner will be chosen.

 -CLOSED-

My HG Combo & Sinful Colors Cinderella

I was happy to add this beauty to my stash for not only a dollar but because of its uniqueness!  I don't have any sheer powder blues with pink shimmers.  I've seen this make perfect underwear for Glitter in the Air/Whimsical, too.

"Natural" Light

It's so light and fluffy and springtime and perfect.  I'm a bit sad, this took three coats.  It is sheer but it does build pretty evenly so it wasn't a hassle.  I dented two nails so I had to redo them, which sucks a bit when its a three coater.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

Tell me you're not in love.  I won't believe you, lol!  This is three coats over Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD.

"Natural" Light

 I had a hard time capturing the shimmer but you can see it in the close up, even more if you click to enlarge.  It's fairly obvious in real life, I'm just a bit not so good at the photographing part sometimes.

Flash

And if you're anything like me, you've been searching for your HG (Holy Grail, your ultimate, favorite, best working product) BC and TC match. I'VE FOUND IT! It's been uh, a few years but I figured it out!

***Orly Bonder & Out the Door***

I've been using both as a pair for a few weeks now and I've had the best results compared to any other combo of BC/TC yet.  I'm sticking to this. I'm THRILLED!  Bonder is a bit expensive, almost 9$ anywhere I've seen it so far.  But my topcoat is relatively cheap compared to some others, so it balances out.

I've been plotting and thinking about what I'm going to have for my giveaway for 250 followers... I've got a pretty good idea.  Once I secure all of the polish, I'll post! Can't wait (=

Sinful Colors Grecian Sun & Neptune

I was on my way to class today when I realized I needed some lotion.  I *thought* I put my Aveeno in there yesterday, turns out I did.  But when I reached in, I grabbed my Aquaphor and I didn't want to rub that all over my hands.  So I made a stop at Walgreens (pre-realization that I did, in fact, have my Aveeno) to pick up a travel sized lotion.  My local Wags doesn't and hasn't had any of the new Sinful displays, so I got quite giddy when I saw that this one did. Fate!!

Grecian Sun went on like butter, butter I tell ya!  This is two coats, I probably could've done one if I had that kind of dedication.  When I got home I though, "Uh oh.. Savage repromote?"  Nah, I checked, my bottle of Savage is more green. Phew!

This is two coats of Grecian Sun (Why are you blue? Is the sun in Greece blue?) over Orly Bonder topped with OTD.  Excuse the boo-boo on my ring finger. I got anxious in class the other day and took it out that.  It was a bleeder.

It photographs very.. blue.  Under my room lighting it appears much more like Funky Fingers Cottage Stripes.

And then I added Neptune as an accent. Ooooooooh! So pretty. Kind of in loving with the pairing. *Toots own horn*  I actually schlopped Neptune over Grecian Sun.  Then more OTD.

I'm sure this has been said before but.. Neptune is a Roman god.  I thought this was a Greek themed collection.  Granted, this is from the company that has two polishes of the same name (Pink Forever/Pink 4 Ever) and a shimmery orange named Cloud 9.. but.. who is in charge there?  I've also spotted a typo on a bottle of I Miss Yuo.