Thursday, December 5, 2013

Essence Choose Me! with Gold Stamping

I had a lot of fun with this mani!  This particular polish, despite being glittery, wears well on me.  I paired it up with some other colors to achieve the final look.

Zoya Frida - Funky Fingers Platinum Record - Essence Choose Me!


Layering goes as follows:
  1. Nailtek II Foundation
  2. Two coats Choose Me!
  3. Stamped: BM 204, FF Platinum Record
  4. One coat Zoya Frida
  5. One coat OTD
I'm super happy with how this came out! Bonus: the gold gets a bit purposefully "lost" in the manicure, the stamping doesn't need to be perfect. 


I used the floral full nail design right above BM204 for the stamping.




Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Oopsie Daisies Christmas Polish - Fir - Limited Edition!

The wrapping up of the semester left me with little time for a big holiday collection, so I knew it'd be limited.. so I had to make it as fun as possible! Fir is a deconstructed Christmas tree polish - a clear based glitter topper with green shreds and various color glitter "ornaments" with a gold holo sparkle and white matte stars to top the tree off!  There are hints of blue, yellow, red,  pink and turquoise surrounded by the green of a fir tree.

Fir is available at the Oopsie Daisies Etsy shop now for a limited time only. CLICK TO SHOP.



Left to Right:
Two coats over OPI Jade is the New Black, ChG Red Pearl, ChG Holly-days, ChG Poinsettia.

Top to Bottom:
Two coats over OPI Jade is the New Black, ChG Red Pearl, ChG Holly-days, ChG Poinsettia.



Essence Colour and Go - Grey-T to Be Here

I've been rekindling my love affair with my Essence polishes and I'm ashamed that this one has gone untried for so long!  I love these polishes, they're a great price and totally decent quality with lots of colors that appeal to me.


Shown above is three thin coats of Grey-T to Be Here over Nailtek II Foundation and sealed with OTD.  It's got a light grey creme base with subtle pink shimmers that peek out just a little bit.  The color and formula was slighty sheer so it took three coats but it builds so nicely that it wasn't even an issue.  The pink/grey color combo works so nicely as well, a pleasant surprise!  My lighting setup washed out the shimmers a bit though, they are a bit more noticeable to the naked eye.



And I know it seems to be totally hit and miss and I'm sure I'm in the minority here but I ADORE the brush.  The shape and width of it completely fits my nails and makes application super easy.  I've seen a decent amount of dislike regarding the brush but I'm personally a huge fan of it.  It's a bit on the wide side so I can see why those with smaller nails/hands might not be too keen on it, though.


Saturday, November 30, 2013

Oopsie Daisies Nail Polish Mega Black Friday Sale!

I totally meant to post this earlier but the sale is active until 12/3 so not much time has been lost! 


Use code BLACKFRIDAY30 at checkout for 30% off your entire order, includes sale items, no minimum purchase!

Click HERE to shop now!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

OMG Nail Strips Review in Peacock

So for review today I have set of nail strips sent to me by the company for review.  I was able to pick two designs, Peacock being one of them, and then a holiday one that I'll do later on as the season approaches.

Image Source


So I pretty much had a really positive experience with these and was pleasantly surprised.  I don't think they're real nail polish like the Sally Hansen ones (no nail polish smell), but they weren't those glue-y sticker knock off ones either - phew!  They were slightly tacky which helped applying them with ease.  I had no trouble applying these and followed the instructions.  These wore the same on me as the Sally Hansen ones do, which is just a couple of days. I'm terribly rough on my hands and had been packing a large Oopsie Daisies order for Sweden and these held up really well!  Came off easily with acetone. No gooey melting, no mess. These were VIBRANT! I loved that about them, they jumped off my nails!





I did one hand with no basecoat, and on with. Both hands had topcoat and I didn't notice a real difference.  The only con to these I can think of is that I wish there were more sizing options.  My nails on my right hand are larger than those on my left.  My index and ring finger on my right hand (not shown) had pretty significant gaps but next time I'll use a larger size one (the extra thumb maybe?) and cut it down to size.

OMG Nail Strips are available online at the OMG Nail Strips Website

They are currently offering coupon codes as well! Four for $20 promotion with coupon code “4pack” and a 10 for $45 with the coupon code “10pack”.  The strips are available individually for 7.99$ a set.

You can also check them out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OmgNailStrips

And here is the instructional guide for applying them for any potential interest: http://www.omgnailstrips.com/nail-polish-strip-application-instructions


Thanks for reading!

This items was sent for me to review in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Nail Polish Giveaway!

Spreading THANKS this holiday by hosting a giveaway for 5 Revlon Chroma Chameleon Nail Polishes! Thank you to all of the blog followers, commentators and supporters!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Additional Rules:
1. OPEN INTERNATIONALLY* 
2. The winner has 48 hours to reply; in the event they do not, a new winner will be chosen.
3. You can tweet the giveaway once per day to earn extra entries!

*Excludes Saudi Arabia - I've had multiple packages that never made it to their destination.  In order to continue to do giveaways on an international basis, there needs to be this little caveat.

Good luck all!

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Ulta Eye Popping Poppy with Silver Gradient Design

I whipped out the striping tape to make this little design, which I originally wanted to do on all my nails but realized it was too time consuming.  Whenever I do venture to do any sort of designs or nail art, I start on my ring finger so if I find it too time consuming, it becomes an "accent" nail instead. Clever, I know, haha.


Eye Popping Poppy is super hard to describe.  I could've sworn I reviewed this polish before but I wasn't able to find it on the blog so I wasn't able to reference my previous description, oops.  It's a creme like jelly, it's not 100% either creme or jelly - there's a decent amount of sheerness.  It also lean coral/pink/orange depending on the lighting.  It's BRIGHT too, definitely has neon attributes!  Shown is 3 coats.


I used L.A. Colors Wire for the silver and mapped it out with striping tape, and them used a makeup sponge to dab it on to create the gradient effect. Super easy, just a bit tedious to cut up the thin tape.  Sealed with on coat of OTD and over NailTek II Foundation basecoat.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sinful Colors SinfulShine in Blue Suede Shoes - LOVE it!

I love this polish. I've worn it three times already and I haven't even had it very long.


The SinfulShine line is a series of polishes with "Gel Tech" that makes them similar to gel polishes in terms of shine and wear.  I'm thrilled with this polish (only SinfulShine I own at the moment), I look forward to getting more.  This is a dense creme, only two coats - could do one if it was thick enough!  The shade is beautiful, too.


I had a bit of an incident while showering and took off a chunk of my nail with my razor )= My index is gonna be a bit wonky for a while but I couldn't manage to cut the rest down to match. So annoying too as my index takes a beating from everyday life and is the slowest to grow. I'm just pretending it matches and invite you to pretend along side me :D




And here's what it looks like with my new Oopsie Daisies polish "Mod" on top of it! One coat of Mod.


Thursday, November 7, 2013

NEW COLLECTION! Oopsie Daisies Animal Crossing Inspired "Countryside Critters"

L to R: Festivale, Night Owl, Mystic, Up & Away!, Mod, Sea Nymph
Where to Buy: Oopsie Daisies Etsy Store
Price: 8.50$ a piece
Ships: Worldwide excluding Saudi Arabia & Bangladesh

I am so so so excited about this collection!  Countryside Critters is a collection inspired by one of my favorite games in existence, Animal Crossing New Leaf.  I pulled some of my favorite characters and items from the game and turned them into polishes! 

Festivale;
Festivale is a teal based jelly with various micro effect flakies inspired by Pave the Peacock!  Shown here is 3 thin coats on its own.




Night Owl;
Night Owl is a clear based glitter topper that represents the verbose character Blathers!  Glitters are brown, white and turquoise to represent his feathers and his cute little bow tie. Shown is one coat over Sinful Colors Seaweed.




Mystic;
Mystic is a deep plum jelly polish with copper, red and blue micro-glitters to represent the fortune teller in Animal Crossing, Katrina.  Shown is 3 coats on its own.




Up & Away!;
Up & Away! is a white creme polish with various sizes of hexagonal yellow, green, red, blue, purple and orange matte glitters to represent all of the fun colors found in the Balloon Furniture Series!  Shown this 3 coats on its own.




Mod;
Mod is a clear based glitter topper polish with various sizes of grey, black and white matte glitter inspired by the Modern Series in Animal Crossing. Shown is 1 coat over Sinful Colors Blue Suede Shoes.




Sea Nymph;
Sea Nymph is a lilac based creme polish with baby blue, aqua, pink and lavender matte glitters in various shapes and sizes. Sea Nymph is inspired by the Mermaid Furniture Series from Animal Crossing New Leaf!

Thanks for looking! The Countryside Critters Collection is now available for purchase.  Links are at the top of this post. Have a great day! :D

Ridiculously late Halloween manicure! Frankenstein!

I've been slacking so bad, that I'm posting a Halloween manicure I did on the 7th of November.  Eek. Enjoy anyways, hehe.


I did Frankenstein! So cute, so simple.  I used Essie Mojito Madness for the green and WnW Black Creme for the black.  For the thumb, I painted my nail green and waited for it to dry.  I used unique shaped nail guides and painted over and then removed the guide.  I dotted on some eyes and pupils as well.  For the stitched nails I used more nail guides and then painted over the meeting point of the green and bare nail with a black striper. It took all of 10 minutes! So easy, so I loved it.




Monday, October 21, 2013

October 2013 Ipsy Bag

I love just about everything from my Ipsy Bag this time around. It was PACKED full of some super fun items that I'm very excited to share with you.


I just have to add how cute this bag is. I love it so much!


Here we have the worst group shot I've taken to date. I have no idea what was going on with my camera and lighting set up today. I made sure to use my familiar settings; there was so much contrast and wonky lighting so I apologize in advance.


First up is be Delectable Strawberry & Cream Hand Cream. This stuff smells SO incredible. It's super sweet, and smells exactly what you'd expect it to smell like. I prefer sweet over floral and musky so this is right up my alley although I do realize it's not everyone's cup of tea. It's got a really nice feel and again, the most delicious scent that may exist!



Next is Big Sexy Hair Blow Dry Volumizing Gel. I don't know anything about hair products, but it smelled nice. I have nothing to contribute except the lone picture but here ya go!


Next was a FULL BOTTLE OF ZOYA. Yesssssssss! I adore my Zoya polishes and this is the second one I've gotten from Ipsy/MyGlam. This was a bottle of Giovanna.




Shown above is three coats with no topcoat. There are some slightly visible brushstrokes but it's so beautiful that I don't even mind.  It's just stunning in person!

Next is Buxon Lips in Dolly. I've gotten one or two of these before in previous bags.  Again, I don't know enough to comment coherently about them so I'll just share the pictures.




Finally, the last item in the bag was a package of face cleansing wipes from La Fresh. These have a nice clean, almost citrusy scent.



There ya have it folks! I was so completely pleased with this bag this time around. Last month there were mini butterLONDONs in some of the Ipsy bags and I was really bummed about not getting one (I didn't post September's bag but I most definitely did not get a polish), so this month's bag made up for it in a great way :)