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.

laughing lilac and a cute fauxnad!

I bought this WnW polish from Harmon's for 1.79$ and I must say its so pretty!  This one required 4 coats to eliminate VNL but they were thin, so no complaints!

No BC, SH Inst-Dri TC

WnW Megalast in "Laughing Lilac"

OPI DS Ruby and cherries from one of my BM plates!

So cute! (=

Don't forget! My 50 Follower Giveaway ends on Monday! Click HERE for details.

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 (=

lets do it, LETS FALL IN LOVE!

Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love!

Valentine's Day is just a few weeks away so perfect timing to get some v-day manis in order!  I have on here I did and hated at first, but as I added each element I started to embrace it.

Started with a base color of Essie's "Knockout pout".  Ok, not joking on this one, FIVE COATS and still some bald spots!  I will not be using this polish again, most likely.  What are we paying 8$ for?  If I wanted full coverage it would've required SIX coats! LUDICROUS!

So yea, five coats.  Bright baby pink creme.  Super cute though.

 This was the final product after about an hour of decisions lol.

left to right;

-nailtekII as basecoat
-art club in white and shimmery purple (tips)
-essie's "knockout pout" (base color)
-opi by nicole "step to the beat of my <3" (heart glitter on middle nail)
-pure ice "dont you wish?" (glitter over the tips and middle finger)
-sally hansen insta-dri topcoat as topcoat
-used BM02 plate for the lips
-used BM11 for the tips
-used art club for the stamping

 What do you think?! Even lazy jellyfish do it!

back to school notd; stupidest name ever

Today was my first day at my new school and this is the manicure I wore.  Well, actually, I fauxnaded it, pics further down post.

This has got to be one of the stupidest named polishes I've ever seen.  "Caring Caramel". LOL.  I'm not kidding.  It's Sally Hansen Maximum Growth polish that I think was my mother's because it mysteriously appeared in my nail polish drawers one day.  I really do love it though, it works nicely with my skin tone!

"Caring Caramel" is a fallow color, according to wikipedia.  I google image searched the that word and it showed pictures of deer.  Alright.  It's like a, light tan.. muted brownish..  cappuccino sticks out in my head.  It is a creme finish with wonderful application.  Judging from the bottle condition and how aged it looks, I have a feeling it's discontinued.  Pretty nonetheless.

Then I went and stamped it with konad special black polish.  Which I hate, btw.  I am ready to throw the bottle out the window.  It gets EVERYWHERE.  And stains and spreads and doesn't come off.  Drives me nutso.

fauxnad of the day!

Your girl here had a moment of genius and remembered where Amaya (my friend’s 3 year old who lost/hid my stamper last week) hides all the toys when she’s over.  When the light bulb finally went off, I ran to her secret hiding spot (a basket of cat toys next to the TV stand in the living room) and sure enough found my konad stamper!  Seeing as I received my bundle monster plates earlier this week, I was super excited to play around with them.

 I ironically used my Art Club nail art brush in “Mochalatta” (I had just made a post mentioning I’d never use it!) for the stamps over a base of Almay One Coat “Sheer Angelic”.  First of all, I needed two coats, and second of all, why would they make a one coat sheer?  It wasn’t sheer like a sheer is supposed to be with the one coat, it was spotty and NEEDED a second coat.  Then again, my mother gave me this bottle like 4 years ago and I am pretty sure she had it for about 45 years before that.  It also smelled like burning rubber kind of, really strange.

Sorry for the quality of this photo.  The brown looks totally washed out.  And the Almay isn't quite that white, but it is a little more true-to-life than the nail art.  I find the nail art polishes to work pretty well with Konading, but when they're a bit aged.  Ya, like wine.  Better with age, they thicken up.  It's obviously better if there not goopy when youre hand-painting designs.  The second coat of "Sheer Angelic" finished up pretty nicely except my right index finger.  I didn't fret though seeing as I had plans to stamp!

Looks nicer in person, for sure.  The flash makes the red pigment show too much.  It's more muted in person.

Also, I'm getting really excited.  I've gotten 17 new followers since I started posting again on Dec. 19th.  I will have a giveaway when I reach 50 (=  What a great way to celebrate!

Christmas inspiration!

Hey everyone (=

With Christmas coming right around the corner I decided to make a few Christmas inspired samples of nail art!

I made a bunch but only three turned out nicely enough for me to share so im going to show you and discuss the lucky three.

First is a Christmas tree design I free handed (can’t you tell?!) on a base coat of a mini polish from five below from a set scented and colored after Laffy Taffy Candy!  It smells just like you would expect artificial banana nail polish would smell, haha.  It dries slightly metallic even though it’s a crème in the bottle.  All of the colors in that set dry metallic, which was quite a surprise because I bought them because I love crèmes!  I used  Funky Fingers “peacocky” and Sinful Colors “HD Nails” (a Christmas-y green) for the tree.  For the garland I used Art Club “Malmsy” and for the ornaments I used random colors from my collection. I used an unnamed brown (cherry cola scented!) for the trunk and sealed with a coat of Sally Hansen “Confetti” and Insta-dri top coat.

I found using an unfolded paper clip is the perfect size to make the intricate little dots for the ornaments.  Since the end isn’t rounded, it doesn’t hold too much polish and leaves just the perfect amount!  This design was super easy to do because trees are naturally irregular and you can’t really mess up that (=

The next design I did was a simple, very understated fauxnad design of a white bell (I am out of the Konad special polish so youll have to forgive it not showing up 100% opaque!) on top of a base coat of Funky Fingers “peacocky”.  I used some gold glitter nail art brush to add an extra sparkle on the bell and sealed with a coat of Sally Hansen “Confetti” and Insta-dri top coat.  Very simple, not too showy but I hadn’t seen any Christmas bell nails lately so I figured it was worth creating!

My last and favorite was actually supposed to be a candy cane but I messed up and ended up making it into a red French tipped design instead.  I used the V design in Dark Red Art Club nail art over a base coat of L. A. Girl “white French” and finished up with a green star rhinestone for that added Christmas sparkle.  I didn’t use any tape on this one but if I was doing a full set I certainly would need guides. 

Hope you enjoy them & happy approaching holidays!!
(All images are clickable!)

mint apple refresher (=

Hello ladies (= as mentioned in a previous post, I have some extra time on my hands so I hope I can update and post as well as view, read and share with all of you!  It is official though: got all my grades back and I have my associates degree, should be arriving in February!

This next NOTW (Nail of the week!) has been one of my favorites because it didn’t start out as a NOTW, more like a NOTD.  But I have continually added onto it so much that its actually lasting a long time but each new addition gives it a little bit of a refresher so a) it looks fresh and b) I don’t get bored of it!

The layering goes as follows;

Sinful colors: Mint apple

ORLY: liquid vinyl

Art Club: Black

Art Club: Silver Glitter

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top coat

China Glaze: Matte magic

It started out with two layers of mint apple, and then I added one more for total opacity.  I am out of basecoat and haven’t had the thought cross my mind to purchase any new ones, so I didn’t use one, lol.  I then sealed it with one coat of the Sally Hansen topcoat.

It wasn’t until the next day that I added the flowers on the thumb and ring finger with a little bit of sparkle.  Being the awful disorganized mess of a person I can be, I actually misplaced the fauxnad plate I used so I don’t even know which number it is! M24!  I used the Art Club polish for it though, the thick formula works great with konad and fauxnad!  Two days later I decided to give another try on a French tip.  (My favorite concept yet worst execution! Love the classic look but haven’t been able to get it down just right.. until now!)

I used this tape that I bought for Christmas presents from Five Below for a dollar xD  I will definitely be investing in some French manicure strips because this tape is a double edged sword. 

Pros:

leaves the CLEANEST lines I’ve done yet

perfect amount of sticky that doesn’t pull off base coats

Cons:

Is 100% clear and VERY hard to place straight.

Not meant for nail care so leaves the tiniest little gaps on the edges (that I fixed with Art Club)

I loved the final look!

A day or two later, I decided to mattify my mani and loved it even more!  I am not sure WHAT caused this problem, but about half and hour after applying Matte Magic, the edges of my nails were really white, looked like a bad case of dry cuticles.  They still are and I don’t know how to get rid of it )=  My cuticles were just oiled and lotioned before I took these pictures, so I don’t think it was the actual dryness of my cuticles.  I really don’t know what caused this chemical reaction!  Anyways, the final product;

thanks for viewing (= i love to hear comments and feedback so let me know what you think!
(ALL images are clickable!)

where has this year gone?!

holy cow! time to breathe!
its been non-stop go-go-go mode since i last posted anything.

i graduated with my associates degree this month :D accepted to my first choice school and have busted my ass doing so! i got my tonsils out yesterday (ugh talk about a new level of pain) and have had spare time to snoop around the nail blogs and hopefully get back into the gist of things! to be honest, i miss blogging and i miss reading all of the blogs i follow, too.

as a graduation present, i purchased seven new china glaze polishes that should be here eventually, i guess. im assuming snail mail will be worse than usual considering all of the holiday shipping going on.

basically that last manicure i documented is on my facebook from june! i havent had the time or patience to even take a simple picture.

my unofficial recollection of this mani;
base color was hard candy
pineapple was some sort of cappucino colored nameless brand
the green was a nail art from five below, idk which!

look how shoddy my cuticles are haha. well nice nails wont further me in life so i suppose the sacrifices ive made are only worth it in the long run xD my nails are actually super cute right now but i dont have a camera to photograph with. i hope to get back into the swing of things and cant wait to show off my new polishes (=

miss you all, how have you been?!

"fruit stripe gum" mani!

pink & yellow are two of my favorite colors, but it wasnt until i finished this marbled mani that i realized they looked a bit like fruit stripe gum, especially my pinky!  this time i think it went a little bit better than my previous attempts. im starting to figure out what works best for me and which techniques are more efficient.

from left to right (and in the order used):
funky fingers "off with their heads!"
hard candy "splendid"
konad black
l.a. colors art deco "gold glitter"
sally hansen intsa-dri anti-chip top coat

i used fauxnad plate m11 for the design. i also used my dotting tool with the gold glitter to enhance the overall look by putting dots of gold glitter over the black dots.

i was happy with the final result, mostly because i havent been able to get a marble to look halfway decent. i think this mani overall though is a little flashy for me. i only wore it for one day and ended up taking it off.  i dont know if it was the color against my skin or what but i think i have a preference for more simple manicures! i did my friends nails too with a neon purple and a neon blue and she wears it so much better than i wore mine. ill try to get pics of hers up later.

also, just a side note: five below has an alice in wonderland collection with some very pretty cremes.  there is also a blue glitter that was beautiful! not sure if this is old news or not but i was so excited!

(bottom two images are clickable!)

notd x2

i finally had the chance to wear dorothy who? as a full mani. i LOVE IT. it applies so nicely and it is smooth with one topcoat. i used sally hansen insta-dri topcoat rather than seche vite so i can see how long it takes for chips. so far ive found that both topcoats are neck and neck. sally hansen dries a tiny bit faster than seche vite, but both apply about equal. if anything id say that seche vite is a little bit thinner, but not enough to notice if you werent trying to pick them apart.

any who, on to the pics:





i used fauxnad plate m11 with konad special polish in white for the design. it thought it was cute enough, simple, not over the top.

i also did my friend kristi's nails (well one hand, she did the other) she likes china glaze's "cowgirl up" and used fauxnad plate m20 with special white polish too. i just dont see anything fabulous about this color!



just a side thought..
am i the only person who isnt going ga-ga over opi's mad as a hatter? there isnt one appealing quality about a mish-mosh of rainbow glitter to me. i see and hear about it everywhere but it doesnt do a thing for me! anyways, thanks for reading lovies (=

fauxnad!!

so as im sitting here eating my dinner (at 1 AM mind you..), a true food of the gods: cup-o-noodles (in chicken flavor!) i notice a small mail package sitting above my keyboard. !! thats why my dad was trying to wake me up earlier while i was napping. (i still have a lot of pain from my wisdom teeth being removed.. i havent been sleeping more than 3 hours at a shot) my package has come.. my FAUXNADS ARE HERE!

chicken flavor cup-o-noodles has to wait, my fauxnads have top priority. i opened them like ralphie opened his red ryder bb gun in a christmas story. no, really. anyways since i was swatching earlier today, after i finished i did a cute french mani on my right hand and im not ready to part with it yet. most of the time i have two different colored hands lol. my right hand (im right handed) is my test hand and my left hand is the hand you see photographed lol, well my right had polish on it from my china glaze haul i wanted to try out my fauxnads asap so i broke out the konad supplies and got to work..

i flipped. they werent WORKING. at all. wtf. then i realized i has having a true blonde moment when i discovered an almost invisible piece of plastic on top of every single plate. oops? lol. anyways i tried a few on my right hand and they work, beautifully. im so exciteeeed. there arent any full nail images which i knew buying them, but the confirmation still made me a little sad. i suppose i can splurge the $6 for the real plates for full images. in these times, a girl has to be frugal. i got 21 plates for $18 off of ebay. if i had bought 21 plates from konad it wouldve come to $126 before shipping. i call that a steal (=




most of the plates were individually packaged, but put of the wrappers had the majority of the plates in them. theyre mostly tiny flower themed looking images with intricate dots and added cutesy. im excited!

BONUS FOR YOU!



my little prince (=