"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. (=

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.

A Franken - Tippytoes (pic heavy!)

I think I am going to officially name all of my frankens after My Little Ponies.  Why the hell not, it is so much easier!  So I really love this one, but have you ever been sitting there mixing colors and have an "aha!" moment of perfection and then realize you basically all ready have that color?  I did.  I basically re-created China Glaze's "For Audrey" with a slight hue change and some glitter.  But I'm keeping it!

"Tippytoes"

It's a *little* more green.  And you can see the glitter better in the bottle than on the nail.  It's VERY subtle!

Indoor flash

Indoor flash

So then, as usual, I thought "You know what would be PERFECT over this? HIDDEN TREASURE!" So yea, I shlapped it on.

Outdoor - indirect sunlight

Outdoor - direct sunlight

DROOL.

I usually don't take pictures outdoors unless it will really benefit the color and show all the details.  Hidden Treasure is most certainly one of those colors to capture in the sun!  Oh it made it perfect.  Every once in a while I do something I like, and every once in a while I do something I hate.  This time, I LOVE it. Love love love.

Ingredients:

Funky Fingers "Wild Child"
Sinful Colors "Unicorn"
L.A. Colors "Energy Source"
Icing "Starlight"
Pure Ice "Don't You Wish"

And in true "Cathryn Form", I have NO idea of the recipe as I just mixed until I found something I liked.  Sorry, I'm good for that.

OK SO THIS IS IRRELEVANT BUT LISTEN UP.  Anyone grow up in the 80's or early 90's?  There is this website, Ghost of the Doll, which archived all of the girly toys released in those years.  I literally had a nostalgia freak out when I discovered this site.  It has pictures, years released, photos and more details about each toy than you can even comprehend.  If you're anything like me, the next 3 hours of your life will be spent on that site wishing you were a child again.  In which case I'm Sorry or You're Welcome, LOL!

flowery french & some recommendations

Every once in a while I do a mani that I really really like, this ladies, is one of those times, haha.  I loooooove the look of a french manicure and then add a cutesy little flower and a rhinestone.. oh it can't get better for me, really!

For this manicure I used two coats of Orly Nail Armor as a basecoat (I really love it by the way!  It has these little fibers in it that for a sort of mask over your nails)  I used L.A. Colors "Energy Source" for the tips, its just a relatively opaque white creme.  Then I put another coat of Nail Armor ON TOP of the tip.  For the flower I used my favorite color ever, Orly "Basket Case".  Sealed with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat.

I just wanted to make a few suggestions and recommendations and share some things I've tried over the past year or so that often times are overlooked because they're so commonly used!

Top Coat: I've tried a bunch of topcoats, from dollar store finds to Seche Vite.  The only one I am really 100% satisfied with (OK, maybe 99%) is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Topcoat.  The one in the red bottle.  The biggest thing for me is that while it does get goopy, it restores really easily with a few drops of thinner.  I have 1/2 of a bottle of SV that I can't bring back to life, and after spending nearly 8$ on a bottle of topcoat, it kills me to think of spending another 8$ on a bottle of thinner to fix it!  What are we paying for if it has such major flaws?  I know A LOT of people love SV, and it works great for them, but I haven't always had the same experience!  It has caused tip-pull shrinkage that caused me to have to re-do a mani within a few hours.  I see girls asking all the time on the Nail Board over at MUA what other alternatives are, and this is definitely my #1 suggestion.  It's half the price of SV (and other expensive topcoats) and worth a shot. That all being said, SV is not the worst thing in the world and I certainly don't want to offend its fans.  But it falls short for me and my biggest issue is really the price.

Strengthener: NailTekII without a doubt!  It's simply a miracle worker.  My nails aren't TOO bad when naked, but this turns them into fortresses, I swear.  I really only have positive things to say about this one.  Even though the bottle is nearly empty, it is still liquid-y and no sign of gooping up- which is something that really concerned me at first.  I bought this for almost 10$ and had very high expectations for the price and it has met and surpassed them all.  It also makes an excellent base coat, and dries super quickly so there's no treacherous waiting.

I am not sure what Orly Nail Armor is, maybe it is a strengthener, too.  It has ridge fillers which is something I need from time to time in between buffering sessions, etc.  I've only used it a few times but I am happy with its performance so far.  I think this normally runs about 7$-8$ but I got it on sale for 4$.  As far as ridge fillers go, I tried China Glaze Ridge Filling Base Coat.  There are no reviews for it on MUA, and I've searched.. if anyone finds anything please let me know.  It a total PITA.  It never dried - even over night.  It stayed tacky.  I tried to do a mani over it to see what would happen, and that also stayed tacky for a day.  I can't figure out if it was a bad batch or the product is legitimately garbage, maybe it just doesn't work with my body chemistry.  I have no idea!

Ok, that's it for now, I've rambled enough!  Happy polishing (=

funky fingers POP ARTIST

Hello ladies!!  It's Sunday, as you know, but its rainy and actually kind of warm out.  Not the worst combination of weather I've faced this year so I'll take it.  I have a nice, bright summertime polish for you today but it is most certainly a neon, and cannot be photographed true-to-color.  I tried to color correct to the best of my ability with photoshop.  It's also a jelly, for that added fun haha-you-can't-photograph-me touch!

Funky Fingers "Pop Artist"

The name alone inspired me to add some fun decoration.  I CANNOT get enough of the polka dots lately.  I'm sorry they've been on every many I've posted lately, but addiction is addiction so please don't judge.

I tried outside, but its cloudy. Fail.

Color corrected.  Yea, its *this* bright. My dad couldn't look
directly at it, lol!

Dots:

Art Deco "Baby Pink"
L.A. Colors "Energy Source"
OPI DS "Elegance"

The fact that I can't capture neons, yet alone neon jellies, discourages me from wanting to swatch 'n show!

This is probably my last reminder before my giveaway ends tomorrow night at 11:59PM EST. Click HERE for details and submission form (=

pretty little funky french!

I had no idea what I was going to do when I started out with this mani, but it eventually turned into something.

3 coats of China Glaze "Good Witch?"

Then I used my nail guides for french tips but angled them accordingly.  I used 1 coat of L.A. Girl in "French White" for the tips and lined the edge with L.A. Colors Art Deco in White to keep a cleaner line.

L.A. Colors Art Deco in "Baby Pink" for the dots.
I also used my Kiss nail art pen in silver for more dots!

Don't forget to enter my 50 Follower Giveaway!

hot blooded by L.A. Colors

I bought "Hot blooded" by L.A. Colors Color Craze line at the Dollar Tree last week for, you guessed it, a dollar.  "Hot blooded" is a deep red jelly based polish that REFUSES to photograph as such.  For a more accurate description, think of the last time you were bleeding and how it changes from deep purple, to dark red to bright red (as it oxidizes).  Basically, "Hot blooded" is the middle stage of the color transformation.  Not purple, but not the bright red everyone associates with blood.

Now, you're all going to think I'm nuts because this is bright freakin' ketchup red.  Regardless of sunlight, flash, no flash and shade this color photographs as BRIGHT RED.  And it's not!  Not in the bottle and not on the nails! 

Color sample from the website.

 

 I actually really like how it's not bright red but unfortunately it's nearly impossible for me to capture, so I tried my hand at color correcting it in Photoshop.

This is what I came up with, lol.  It's more accurate than any picture I could take.  But not exactly what it looks like in actuality.  I google image searched the color and all of the swatches I saw looked bright red, too.  C'est la vie!

the tale of two purples

Purple Pamploma is my first ever OPI so I was very excited to add it to my collection.  I had dinner plans with the boy (well.. he’s not a boy.. actually 5 years older than me, but you get the idea) and had to hurry up the process because I still had to wash my hair.

 The culprits!

Learned a few lessons this week.. such as showering 25 minutes after doing your nails equates to the optical illusion (so-to-speak) of 10 days of tipwear, instantly!  Talk about being royally pissed.  I had top-coated and painstakingly removed ALL excess polish during the clean up and did the impression test and they seemed OK.  Yea, not really at all.  Luck for all of us, I took pictures before I destroyed them (=

A purple creme (= perfect! Totally into purples lately!  Purple Pamploma, according to Wikipedia, looks much like "Byzantium" in the bottle, photographs more like "Fandango".  The flash definitely lightens the color as a whole but it isn't far from the true color.  The sunlight has a similar effect.  Very pretty regardless!
 

Sooooooooooooo after my disastrous shower and dinner date, I came home and redid my mani.  Chose another purple, surprise, and I am a little bit surprised how similar they appear in pictures!

Don't get my wrong, L.A Colors "Nuclear Energy" (I believe, according to their site.  The bottles have no labels and I have long since discarded the packaging!) and PP are completely different.  Nuclear energy is a jelly and PP is a creme.  They also have different a different hue and saturation.  They appear remarkably different in the bottle, but not so remarkably different on the nail.

Caution: slight gore ahead!

 This is another shot of Nuclear energy on my right hand.  I am soooo tired of looking at my nubblette index nail on my left!  Anyways after uploading the pictures I realized what a hackjob my hand looks like O.O

Note the numerical labels;
1. ouch.

2. OUCH.  (You better believe acetone was fun!  AAUUUUEEEEGHH!! Stung like a B*$@! - only inflamed the wound)

3.  That dent is not visible to the naked eye.. really, I can't even see it.  Yet "macro" makes it so apparent.  Thanks, technology!

I've NEVER been a nail biter. But I've always been a nail picker.  I'll pick pick pick and not even realize it until I draw blood.  I think I did this on the way home from my boyfriend's house.  I'm not sure.  I don't even realize that I do it. Luckily, I don't pick my nails when I have polish on them, its some kind of subconscious deterent and that's fine, great actually.  They're usually bloody stumps when I am not up-to-date on my blog, which is why I will continue to blog as long as I have it in me.  However, not so lucky for my cuticles and the skin surrounding my cuticles.  I unintentionally tear it to shreds and the anti-bite nail polish serves no purpose here.  I don't have to be nervous, anxious, upset or angry.. I just habitually pick at my nails.

Mentioned as my two nail related new year's resolutions were better cuticle care and perfecting "the gap".  I think I've done a decent job on the gap part.. still more work to do..

Any advice on how to shed this habit?

cuppycake nail art

I've been seeing cuppycake nails all over lately and makes sense with cupcakes on the rise and possibly peak of their popularity.  This design is not my own, but as mentioned, they're everywhere and I haven't the slightest clue of who did this first.  I had lots of fun with these and once the first one was done, I was able to get the hang of it and finish my other nails in an assembly line fashion.

background:  Funky Fingers "Cheshire"
wrappers: Funky Fingers "Daiquiri on deck" and China Glaze "Lemon Fizz"
icing/sprinkles/cherry: assorted Art Club Nail Art polishes
I used a paperclip for the sprinkles and shine on the cherry and and the end of a paintbrush for the cherry itself.

For the following picture, I did a little more abstract cupcake design doing only one accent nail as a cupcake and the rest as icing and sprinkles (=

I used L.A. Girl "French White" for the bigger white parts.  I made a tutorial which I will be sure to post later!

NYE mani; before & aftermath

I am usually a rather decisive person.  I can easily make executive decisions when needed, haha. However my NYE mani was quite the mental debacle.  My first try was Funky Finger’s “Snake Skin” with L.A. Color “Live” as the French tip.  And I stared at it, and stared at it and blinked a few times.  Disgruntled, went to sleep with it anyways.  Next day I removed it and it took almost a HALF HOUR to get the sparkles off of me.  They were everywhere. Up to my wrists and anywhere else I happened to touch.  Under my nails, stuck in my cuticles, on my face. These are pre-cleanup because I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it.  I actually never did the clean up, lol.

Then it was time to pick a new color.  So I stared at my stash. And stared a few more minutes.  Finally decided on my new Funky Fingers “Tribal” which is a bright turquoise.  Which strangely enough dried matte but I wanted some sparkle so two coats of Cover Girl’s “City Lights” which added the perfect amount of what I wanted.  

So pretty! I am in love with this combination!  Tribal is actually a little bit darker than these pictures show, but I couldn't capture it.  So just pretend, k? K :D

I mattefied it this morning for kicks.  LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!

I was sick for about 4 months with strep and tonsillitis, just had them out mid-December but I was well enough to go out for NYE.  I am 23 years young and went out maybe 4 times this WHOLE year so I unintentionally went balls-to-the-wall last night and consumed roughly 70$ worth of liquor.  (I planned on going out for just one drink, oopsies!)  No hangover though, every third drink have a glass of water; FAIL PROOF.

LOL the damage!  My thumbs were chipped too.  I am not sure how that happened but I am going to go with the excessive dancing xD

off topic;  Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill is one of my favorite albums, ever.  I just this week discovered a hidden track and I am so in love, one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard: Listen to this!

Have a SAFE, HAPPY and HEALTHY new year ladies!!

polish additions!

First off, before I start, I just wanted to say I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and hope you all have a safe, happy and healthy new year (=

Now, on to my new polishes!  This month was bountiful in polishes from gifts to polishes I bought myself, I am so happy to have these new additions to my collection and can hardly wait to use them all!  I am going to start with the polishes that were given to me.

My best friend, Coryn, bought me 3 polishes from Five Below.  They are holiday themed glitters, which you can just never have enough of!  I am super excited for these in particular because I already own quite a few Funky Finger glitters and they go on so nicely!  They’re packed with glitter and cover completely in just a few coats.  Their formula is surprisingly easy to work with.  I also love Funky Finger’s crèmes.  Their shimmers are nice too, but I am not crazy about shimmers so I tend avoid buying them. Aside from Five Below, I don’t know where you can buy these but I’m sure a little digging online will be fruitful for anyone interested.  They’re very inexpensive too, I get 3 bottles for only 5$!

I was pleasantly surprised to find a bottle of Nicole by OPI in my stocking.  Since my dad does all the Christmas shopping I was even more surprised.  He cracked a joke saying something about the price of it, 7$ at Wal-Mart.  I could only laugh because he didn’t realize how much it was until he looked at the receipt.  I explained to him that’s exactly why I don’t own any of them, lol!  He unintentionally bought me one from the Justin Beiber line which is fine, he said he picked out “Step to the beat of my <3” because it looked very different from the others and hadn’t seen me use anything like it before.  Thanks daddy (=  I have this one on how over a base of Lemon Fizz by China Glaze and its so cute.  The hearts are a little tricky to pick out of the bottle but it really isn't an issue.  I love the little pieces of glitter in it too.  Just adds a nice, unique touch!

I found four colors I had never seen before at the beloved Dollar Tree and I am super excited to use these!  I go crazy when I see new polishes available since I already own most of the ones that are on the shelves.  There are like, maybe 5 dollar trees that are all about 15-20 minutes away and the one in South Plainfield is the only one with a decent selection and new additions.

e.l.f in fair pink (on left) and fluorescent pink (on right). I don't think I've seen these before but the bottles are thin and rectangular and I could not resist! (and at a dollar a piece, there's no reason to!!)

 L.A. Colors, Color Craze in Static Electricity (blue) and Live (Silver). The silver looks particularly unique as the particles are notably fine and minuscule.  Can't wait to see what I can do with this!

Next is what I am super ultra excited for!  As a present to myself for finishing community college and graduating with my Associates degree, I bought a handful of polishes online at head2toe.  A total of 8 polishes (including the ridge filling base coat, not pictured) came out to 34$ and change, shipping included.  They arrived about 5 days later.  Super exciting for me since a bunch of these were colors I’ve wanted to ages!!  My mom picked out Cheek to Cheek since sheer, shimmery pinks are her favorite and the only type of polish she will wear.  My roommate picked out Emerald Fitzgerald because she loves darker polishes and wears them very well.  

The rest were my doing.  Blue Hawaiian was a last second addition to my purchase since I realized I don't have many if any blues.  Bad Kitty was absolutely beautiful in the swatches I have seen and I couldn’t resist! I have already worn it and love it!! It chipped after a shower though, sadly.  But I really do love it.  I am wearing yellow fizz right now and adore it, so excited I bought it.  I have wanted For Audrey for ages and have been meaning to buy it.  Ruby Pumps was bought because I realized I had NO reds.  I have one that has been used up completely and it was a glitter too. 

I also wandered into a Sally’s that’s right near the Dollar Tree and ended up getting one of the gift sets for a discounted 7$.  The set came with Naughty and Nice, which is a really pretty and unique maroon, burgundy jelly and Mrs. Claus, another red glitter addition!  It came with a free gift, the Peppermint Cuticle Oil.  Smells great and works nicely, but I feel like the bottle is always leaking because it gets everywhere!

I also wanted to try out some new base coats and top coats so I am starting with Beauty Secrets.  They were 3$ a bottle but have large sizes available for 6$.  I actually used them three times already and I love them!  Both dry so fast.  I can't tell you about durability though because I change my polish far too often.

Basically I am super excited for my new additions and will have lots of updates available when I start swatching or making NOTD’s out of them!  What did YOU get for the holidays?  I can’t wait to see!  - Images are clickable to enlarge!

-Cathryn