Jelly Sandwich with Sinful Colors "Gogo Girl" and SH HT

I love the look of jelly sandwiches and I am happy to show you this one.  While I'm not too crazy about reds (mostly because I don't wear them well - I love them on others!) the extra sparkle made this a bit more bearable for me.

When Walgreens was having their 99 cents sale on Sinful Colors, I picked out a few that I normally would dodge and Sinful Colors "Gogo Girl" is one of them.  But I think everyone should have a bright red jelly.

Anyways, for the sandwiched part, I used Sally Hansen "Hidden Treasure".

Two coats "Gogo Girl" - One coat HT - One coat "Gogo Girl"

I had a difficult time trying to photograph this.  The sparkle barely shows through on camera.  It was so attention grabbing in person though.  Maybe two coats of HT would've been more effective but I don't want to waste that beauty.

You can see it a little better here, but barely.  The sun was setting and all.

So the Hurricane Irene will be full force here in a few hours.  I think the anticipation is exhausting.  It's Saturday night and I've been waiting since Thursday afternoon (that's when I started hearing about it frequently).  Just sitting and waiting, it was quite ominous outside today.  The air was heavy, the sky was kind of dark.

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?

citrus inspired fimo manicure

My love for yellow is growing and growing.  I did a citrus inspired manicure yesterday and loved it! On to the pics!

4 Coats "Bad Kitty" SH Complete Salon Manicure
1 Coat "Rock Out" Maybelline Salon Expert and SH TC

My two little fimo slices (=

Are those limes or lemons? I don't know. But I'm going with citrus. I used a drop of nail glue and then used my cuticle pusher to help hold them flat until they dried.  This nail did not have "Rock Out" on it.  The fimo hardened really nice with the topcoat over it.  They remind me of those pencil top erasers, I used to have them shaped like lemon, lime and orange slices xD

The sparkles show a little better here.  They look more white
without the flash.  Silver shows with flash.

Refreshing!

Thoughts?

its sunday night already? really?

Uhhhh back to the grind tomorrow.  This weekend FLEW. Mostly because it was so fun (=  I have a sunshiney manicure to go along with the happy thoughts.

A few things worth mentioning: this is only my 2nd bottle of this brand/style/collection.  The insta-dri bottles are fug.  Doesn't matter though, since I owe a TON of Funky Fingers polishes and they're TERRIBLY UGLY.  The coverage was great! Streaks were easy to correct.

"Lightening" 3 coats.

Strange spelling. I guess it isn't supposed to be 'lightning' as much as it is the action to 'lighten'.  If it was up to me, I'd name this "BIG FRICKIN' DAISY". It reminds me of yellow daises, in a big frickin' way.  I've worn this twice since I got it a few weeks ago, which says a lot.  It's like the total-package yellow.  Light, cooler yellows don't fly well on me.  But the goldeny sunshine yellows look much better. Yellow is one of my favorite colors, second to pink, and I am glad I can wear it on my nails.  I am blonde and fair skinned so yellow clothing usually washes me out.  I'll take what I can get!

GAUDY.

I love the costume jewelry craze.  I got this for my sister as a possible birthday present, but she didn't want it because it wasn't "bedazzled" enough, so I kept it. Love!

And this weekend me and the boy decided to travel over to Pennsylvania and do some shopping (which he loves to do more than me) as well as some sightseeing. We hit up a flea market and I got a cutesy purse, wallet and phone case. And by sightseeing, I mean real sights. Look:

Breathtaking!

It was about 89 degrees with ABSURD humidity.  The walkways were steaming, but I had a great time.  A great weekend and a great day spent with my lovey.  Can't ask for much more (=

b.s.n. "floral wind" aka "flower fart" - nightmare manicure

This name made me think "flower fart" the second I read it. It's pretty on its own, look!

3 coats of "flower fart". i mean "floral wind"

It's a pretty raspberry jelly!  Decent application, funny smell.  Probably not B3Free.

Kind of hard to capture since it looks neon sort of, but it was nighttime and all I could do.  I got this for a dollar at my local dollar store. Anyways, here comes the nightmare:

EUUUGH. 1986 anyone?

 I bought "Angel Wings" by Sally Hansen thinking it would be SUCH A PERFECT LAYERING POLISH. Instead, its a perfect piece of crap.  It shows as a frost, you can see brush strokes and the shimmer bits I was initially drawn to are completely overshadowed by the garbage that IS "Angel Wings".  I got it for 2$ at Five Below as an impulse buy. FUG FUG. "Angel Wings" is what my nail polish nightmares are made of.  Frosty attributes to any manicure or polish make me want to rip hair out of stuffed animals. I don't want it.  Do not buy it. Unless, you're into that kinda thing.

LOLSIDENOTE. Look at tiny my thumb nail. LOL. One of these things is not like the other..! I got reaaaaally pissed off on Wednesday and on my way home I must've done some damage.  By the time I got home, I had a ridiculous nubbin.  I didn't even remember doing it.  I am going to name it Judy.

yellow rainbow and ladybug mani

LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE yellow.  I was fiddling with my yellows and thought I would show them to you.

Bundle Monster plate 13

 Eek dry skin! Sorry, I took this right after I got out of the shower and removed it before I checked the photos, so this is the best I could do given those circumstances.  The cuteness factor should totally override the dryness factor though.  I used Wet N Wild "Black Creme" and "Red Red" for stamping.  An impatient me evidently applied the topcoat too soon.  There was some streaking which I should have known better to avoid. sadsad.

My yellow skittles (=

3 coats of each.

 I can't decide what I like best.  Warm golden tones like "Sundancer" are always enticing to me, but the brightness of "Lightening" is really summery and fun.  "Unicorn" and "Yellow Kitty" are softer which remind me more of springtime and as mentioned a few posts before, "Cayman Island" is pretty (to me) only under specific lighting.

Anyways, which is your favorite yellow swatched here?  What about your all time favorite yellow?

Sally Hansen "Shrimply Divine"

"Shrimply Divine" is truly, simply divine! First of all, the name cracks me up. And then what isn't there to love about a pink creme-y wants-to-be-a-jelly polish?

3 coats of "Shrimply Divine"

 It finishes like a creme and looks like one in the bottle, but it has a strange way about it when applying the first two coats. It's bizarrely translucent. But then that goes away. So I guess it is an irrelevant observation.

This really is a "perfect" polish!

I love pinks and I love cremes, so this has it all.  There really isn't anything bad to say about it! Especially since I got this for a steal at 3$ at Five Below. Wonderful application! I don't know about wearability since I removed it the next day.

SH Nail Effects & stupid thieves

I went to 3 different stores today because I decided to finally try out Sally Hansen Nail Effects.  After months of turning them down and passing, the two main stores I've seen them at (Harmon's & Walgreens) were ALL OUT of the patterned ones.  Go figure.  I finally found (some) at Wal-Mart.

I hafta bitch about this though.  They were picked through, mostly solid colors only left.  There were a few patterns but what really pissed me of is they were all (except maybe 2) opened and MISSING either one sleeve of strips or both sleeves of strips. Here's where I complain:

1. If you're going to shoplift, why would you steal *half* of the product? What are you going to do with EIGHT polish strips when presumably you have TEN fingers? Go big - or go home.  Instead of just removing the item from the inventory you're taking part of it, rendering both halves useless.  Stealing is wrong but I think partial theft is wrong AND stupid.
2. Do the associates really not pick up on this at all?  First of all there are cameras everywhere and undercover security guards who I've seen and picked up on from just being simply aware.  I just feel that Wal-Mart wouldn't be the smartest place to lift from.. but I guess if they're only stealing half of a product the shoplifters are not the brightest crayons in the box.
3. I really feel for whoever doesn't know what the item is supposed to be 100% and might not have the knowledge to count the things in the box.  Granted, you shouldn't HAVE to be counting and taking inventory but luckily I did because I almost bought a 1/2 empty box.

Anyways, I picked up"Cut It Out" which looks like a uncolored coloring book and I think I might have to fill some flowers in before I remove it officially (=  Application was easier than I thought, the first nail (right pinky) had a crease so I re-did it.  But the rest went on easier as soon as I got into the groove.

I'm not sure if it's me (which I am assuming it is me because nobody else seemed to have this problem..) but I've had two minor chips within a few hours.  I filed the edges like they said to, though.  Fortunately, the background color is white so it doesn't show much that it is chipped.

 I know the edges look a little choppy here, but that's because I did the fine tuning filing after the pics.  Also, my own fault, there's a gappy gap on my thumb.  Barely noticeable in real life though!

In an attempt to salvage my 10$ manicure I have since sealed the tips with a top coat and it seems to be helping out quite a bit.

UNICORN & how to kill a mani in 5 seconds!

This color is the second one that I found in the bucket of random Sinful Colors at Walgreens.  First of all, the name is so irrelevant I had to buy it.  Secondly, it looked really pretty in the bottle.

FIVE RIDICULOUS COATS OF "UNICORN"

Yea, 5 coats. Enough to make me never use it again.  Also, the lobsterhands are out of this world in this pic.  I think there might have been *some* slight skin staining from the previous color I had on, which was a bright corally red.  But this is mostly just a contrast thing here.

Observe ladies, as I successfully KILL a perfectly fine manicure.

One coat of SH Hidden Treasure. Not dead, yet.

I should have left it here.  I should've stopped.  It actually looked really pretty like this.  But it was like, oh I don't know.. 3 AM and no sunlight, obvs, so its full beauty has not been captured in this pic. Ok, onto the murder scene.

Ew. Sorry.

I publicly apologize for doing that.  I don't think I like the shatter.  I said originally I didn't hate it, but, this is FUG. FUG FUG FUG FUGLY. For those of you who don't know fugly means "fucking ugly" - and that is the perfect description of what I have created.

Also this has got to be the most layers of polish I've ever worn. Lets count! Counting is fun.
2 coats of Orly Nail Armor
5 coats of Sinful Colors Unicorn (lol)
1 coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure
1 coat of my HG TC
1 coat of Shatter
1 more coat of my HG TC

THAT'S 11. My standing record!

i caved.. OPI Black Shatter

I caved!!! I totally did.  I've seen TONS of shatter/crackle manicures lately, and to be honest only a few have actually looked like something I would wear.  There's a difference between liking something and liking something enough to wear it.  Most of them are really pretty and unique, but ultimately not for me.

I didn't want to write off shatter/crackle without at least trying it, and I figured somewhere down the line I would pick one up and give it an honest effort.  Well I went to Harmon's on my lunch break and saw one bottle of it left and something inside me went off.  I held it for a while, and walked around with it - debating SO hard.  And obviously, I caved. Here is what I came up with!

Two coats of Orly "Nail Armor" - Two coats of OPI DS "Divine"
One coat of OPI "Black Shatter" - One coat of Sally Hansen
"Hidden Treasure" with a topcoat of SH Insta-Dri

Hidden Treasure doesn't look as nice here as it does in real life.  It realistically adds an extra sparkle and shine that just wouldn't photograph for me.  Since I don't know when the next time I'll be able to have free time during daylight, I had to use indoor flash.

OPI DS "Divine" GORGEOUS.  Almost didn't want to cover it!

A delightful bright magenta holo!

Before HT and the TC - a surprising leathery finish!

The verdict? Well normally I know myself pretty well and know when I won't or will like something, but actually.. I DON'T HATE IT!  It's actually alright!  Black Shatter is a unique finish and I obviously don't have anything like it - so it's a nice addition to my collection.

I've seen the China Glaze crackles and the only one I would consider is the pink one.  The rest are OK, except the white.  I haven't seen anyone pull it off in anything that is even slightly aesthetically pleasing, IMO of course. People with hi-res photos, you can see how its not 100% opaque so the base color tends to poke through.  I don't like wearing white polish except for accents anyways, so no real surprise that I don't care for it.

What is your final opinion on the crackle/shatter craze?

sally hansen "gentle blossom"

So the other day I returned a 90$ handbag that I got on sale for 57$ because I really couldn't swing it right now.  My father told me that it would "build character".  Oh yea, I feel it building.  Anyways, to reward myself for making such an adult decision I bought myself a new nail polish. I bought this beauty for 5.50$ at Wal-Mart.

Sally Hansen "Gentle Blossom"

I would have rather have had that purse, because it was truly perfect, but this is a decent exchange.  

I did a little research on this one before I bought it.  I kept seeing it at Walgreens and passing on it.  I looked over a few swatches and decided to go for it.  I don't like spending more than a couple bucks on a polish but I made the stretch to 5.50$ because I don't have anything like it.  Except maybe Sinful Colors "Mint Apple".  MA is darker than GB, I can already see that, but they're the most similar out of my stash.

4 coats.  Light minty green with silver shimmers (=

The swatches I did view beforehand all said 2 coats.  I have NO idea how anyone could get away with 2 coats on this one, but I needed 4 and it could have honestly used a 5th!  I didn't get to wear this one for very long because I dented 2 nails and smudged 1.  That's OK though, because I well certainly wear this soon, its beautiful!

Don't forget to enter my 50 Follower Giveaway (=

possibly the ugliest color in the world

I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this.  It was only a dollar, so there was no real loss here.  Maybe the Dollar Tree lighting got the best of me?  I know I hate frost finishes for polishes, hate hate hate.  I couldn't really tell in the store.  I am not really even a big fan of blues either.  So for all of our comic relief, here is the ugliest color I have purchased, worn and photographed to date.

Ladies and ladies, I present to you "Bold Frost":

UGLY demin-y sorta blue. 3 horrific coats.

HOOLAG.

I would like to mention that this came packaged in bubble packaging with a thin cardboard backing.  WTF is all over the bottle? QUALITY, that's what!

Pretty sure I am doing to dump this bottle (since setting it on fire is a hazard) and use it for frankening.
Click to enlarge the gory details, if you haven't eaten recently.

Sorry for making you look at that blue.  Here is a delicious picture of yesterday's mani to soften the blow! Essence in "No More Drama"

hidden treasure & 50 readers!! :D

So I mentioned previously about a long time lemming that a total dollface, Anne from MUA, sent me out of sheer kindness.  I would always check drugstores for it even though I was well aware it was a LE and I most likely wasn't going to find it.

TA-DA! Sally Hansen "Hidden Treasure" :D :D :D!!

Look at it, sitting there so coyly. Oh yes, I am fancy.
"Hidden Treasure" is a to-die-for iridescent flakey polish that lives up to its hype (to me at least!).  I typically don't catch onto the fuss of popular polishes aside from "For Audrey" and now this one :D Guilty!

This is 2 delicious coats of "Hidden Treasure" over two coats of Funky Fingers "Off with Their Heads!".  Which is a pink, SO deeply pink, that it appears red.  But it isn't, promise.

Anyone else seeing Chinese New Year's all over my nails.  I am, and not on purpose.  It reflects mostly gold and hints-o-green. Love (=

HOLY CRAP! 


As of right now, I have 51 readers! Well, 50 if I don't count myself, lolol.  When I started blogging again in December I had 13 (or 17?) readers and from then I have accumulated quite a few, and that is just really exciting to me.  I do this because I enjoy it, I enjoy what others post and it really is nice to be part of a community where others take an interest in something you also love.

I see a lot of people who totally link-whore up other blogger's comment sections with their own blogs.  I've never been one to do that so I really feel that people follow because they either like what they saw or take a general interest in what I am posting - and that is a great feeling.

Thank you all for helping me achieve this milestone, even though it may be a simple one.  I enjoy reading your blogs everyday, as well as your comments and I hope you enjoy mine, as well.  Ok, enough using the word "enjoy".  That was like 50 times rapid fire.

As promised, a giveaway will be held in celebration of my growing blog.  Look for a follow up later this week, I'm thinking late Thursday or Friday. xoxo!

mermaid mani

I've tried sponging with make up sponges before and haven't had the best of luck.  Truthfully, I've only tried twice and the second attempt was better than the first.  Anyways, I tried something different for this mani by taking the brush from a polish I never use and cutting it super short so I had more control. So I guess it really wasn't "sponging". Then I just blended, a lot.

I like the thumb, ring and pinky, but I lost the gradient effect on the other two nails, sort of.

I started with a franken aptly named "Jaded".

Then I used this arsenal of greens and teals;

left to right;
funky fingers "peacocky"
sinful colors "mint apple"
franken "jaded"
funky fingers "wild child"
sally hansen HD "pixel pretty"
funky fingers "bizerk turq"
& the last one is the brush I cut, but some of that made its way into the mani.

Then I just tapped and poked my nails like nutso.  I put a drop of each onto the back of a fauxnad plate and just kept dabbing all over.  I love blending :D

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!