China Glaze Glittering Garland & Christmas Stamping

I've said it 100 times, but I'm really not a fan of green nail polish.  I've never found it astoundingly beautiful on my hands.  That again being said, I found China Glaze Glittering Garland somewhat an exception to the rule.  I like what it brought to the table!  I wanted to add some nail art to it, too.  This was the final product:

My thumb is stained a bit, that drives me nuts when I don't realize it until a day or so later while cropping pictures after the manicure is long gone.  I apologize for the sloppiness! Allow me to walk you through how I got to the previous photo though. (=

Three coats of Glittering Garland.

I started with 3 coats of Glittering Garland.  Two would've been enough if I had been more consistent in my application.

"Natural" Light

Flash

Depending on the lighting, they look like two totally different polishes!  I guess that goes with most polishes, though.  It sparkles more with flash but looks much darker.  The flash pictures are more true-to-life.

I used fauxnad plate M03 and Konad Special White for the snowflake design seen below.

It was pretty just like this but I can't ever leave well enough alone, so of course I added more and more.

As you can see, I didn't stamp the snowflakes with a green polish.  I used some cheapo dollar store brand called b.s.n in Ivy, its a bright green jelly, over top of the snowflakes.  I then used BM plates 205 and 225 for the Christmas designs.  After they tried I put one coat of Confetti Tiara over and then sealed with OTD.

Let me just tell you that the b.s.n. polishes are the most vile scented things I've encountered in my entire life.  It doesn't smell like nail polish, or that chemical Klean Color smell.  It smells like hell. OK, so it does smell chemically, but it's beyond explanation.. sooo I guess that ends my post. LOL.

Confetti "Moonstruck" + SH "Hidden Treasure"!

Before we get onto the polish I have some sad and inconvenient news.  Yesterday I was diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  I have to wear a brace on my right hand for 1-2 months and then probably get cortisone injections.  There is a surgical option but I don't think it'll go that far.  Typing with a brace is hard, polishing with a brace is hard, writing with one is damn near and impossible and changing diapers for the kiddies at my job is actually impossible.

Last week my right hand went numb, mostly the fingers.  And four key fingers to diagnosing CTS were all going by the book.  My thumb, index finger, middle finger and half of my ring finger are all numb and there's some aching in my wrist.  It's pretty uncomfortable but bearable.  Right now I have my brace off because I needed to give it a rest for a little bit, but I normally won't be removing it.  That being said, posting may decrease in frequency or decrease in text.  I can post but typing is really annoying and difficult, so we'll see

Anyways, onto my NOTD! I saw this color on the NB at MUA but also on a coworker and when I went to pick up my brace from CVS I saw it was the last one and had to grab it!  For $1.99 you really can't say no, hehe.

3 coats "Moonstruck" + 1 coat OTD

Yes you read that right, Out the Door (OTD).  I am trying Out the Door for a bit.  I currently have two active bottles of SH ID red bottle but one has been causing bubbles really bad.  I figured I would give another TC a try.  OTD is about fifty cents to a dollar cheaper, depending where you shop.

It's muddy and murky but oh so pretty.  It's a strange color.
Kind of a gray with hints of lavender with some kind of
murky brown undertone.  It's unique!

Application was great.  After one coat I thought we were in trouble, it looked streaky and a little hopeless but this color took such a positive turn.  I am in love!

And we know I can't leave well enough alone, so after wearing this for a day I came home and added SH HT!  One of my favorite layering polishes, ever.  It brings something different to the table and I like that.

1 coat SH HT + 1 coat OTD TC

It's a rainbow (=

Love!

So what do you think about "Moonstruck"?  And what about the addition of HT?

confetti "first kiss" & i won a prize :D

This week was ass. Just sayin'.  It was long and enough crap went down that I don't even feel like complaining about it. OH YEA, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. Moving along.

I was moving some of the polishes off my desk when I found one I hadn't seen in quite a while, Confetti "First Kiss".  I have quite a few colors along these lines but I can't help it, they're my favorite.  Pink cremes are all I ever need.

"First Kiss" - 3 coats.

I had this on for a whole day before photographing it, so that is why we have some chips-n-wear.  I bought this at CVS for 1.99$ and thought the brand would be comparable to Sinful Colors.  Maybe not.  Formula left lots to be desired but the topcoat evened it all out.  Streaky and thick were the major issues; even thinner didn't help all too much.

My hands took a BEATING TODAY.  I worked this morning for 5 hours and was inevitably on diaper duty.  Between the constant switching of powered latex gloves that sucked any sense of moisture out of my skin and the cheap foaming hand soap provided by the daycare, my skin was WHITE, like ashy white.  I don't know how many times I applied lotion but it was not even helping.  I think if I worked full time there this blog would be no more.

So I won a giveaway that I had completely forgot about.  I woke up from a nap earlier and found a package on my bed and it totally cheered me up!  Alicia from Painting 'Em Up held a 15 follower giveaway with the prize being Icing "Electric Sapphire" and since the turn out was rather small she decided EVERYBODY WINS and sent us all a polish.  I -love- that attitude.  She wrote me a letter explaining she could only find so many of said polish but sent a really pretty blue glitter with hints of green instead; I am not disappointed, its so pretty! Can't wait to wear it :D THANK YOU!!

"Starlight"

BTW - the height of this polish is almost the exact height of my British Literature II textbook (which it is leaning up against in the picture).  That damn book is over 3000 pages and the most awkwardly shaped annoying-to-carry book I've been faced with yet.  It bulges out my school bag, lol.

FRIDAY YES & NEXT WEEK IS SPRING BREAK SO NO CLASSES. HAPPY CAMPER.