Don't Paint Your Nails With the A/C Running.

I know it's bad news but I did it anyways. And now they're a mess and I've got to redo them.

This is three coats of Revlon Sunshine Sparkle over Orly Bonder and sealed with Out the Door. I thought it dried OK at first but oh it's a hot mess.  I got lobster hands too, but not in real life.. only in photos.

They aren't supposed to be textured!! Bubbles, bubbles everywhere! I sit about 3 feet from my window A/C unit, I should've known better. I don't know why I painted them anyways, I could've turned it off. Pssh.

China Glaze Sea Spray & Funky Fingers Accent Nail

My friend Gaby suggested doing this mani, I'm so glad I did! Instead of gold glitter, though, I used a gold foil. It's so beachy!

"Natural" Light

This is two coats of Sea Spray over Orly Bonder and sealed with Sally Hansen Diamond Flash. Which sucks, LOOK at the bubbling. No fan or air was blowing at me when I did my mani, so.. I'll give it one more shot one day, maybe.

"Natural" Light

For the accent nail, I used Funky Fingers Down to Earth. This is two coats as well. I really wanted to do white horizontal stripes on the blue nails but they chipped before I had a chance to. Sadface.

"Natural" Light

I really loved how this turned out, minus the damn bubbles. Thanks Gaby!

Sally Hansen Hard Lemonade

Another yellow for you guys! I just looooooooooove yellow. It's so happy, sunshiney. I can't wear it in clothing as it washes me out but I'll wear it on my nails.  I always overlook Sally Hansen because I've seen them a thousand times but I'm glad I took a second look at Hard Lemonade.

"Natural" Light

This is four coats (can't expect much from a yellow) over Orly Bonder sealed with Out the Door.  When I first used it, it was super runny but from leaving it open to paint my nails, it thickened a bit, I think.  I was able to do only three coats on my right hand.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

There is a super subtle shimmer in here.  You can't see it very well at first but once you know it's there, you can't not see it.

Flash

Essie Pink-A-Boo

I'd like to apologize real quick for my absence lately. I've been in a funk and haven't wanted to do anything lately, blogging included.  I won't make myself blog as I know that wouldn't genuine, but forced. I don't know what has gotten into me but a general aura of dumpy crankiness has been hovering over me for weeks.

I went to Harmon to pick up a magnified mirror and this Essie caught my eye.  Anything pink kinda does to be honest, but this one is very pretty, I'm glad I decided to get it! I took some pictures in sunlight to show the full effect of this beauty.

Flash

Sunlight

Sunlight

Sunlight

All photos seen here is 2 coats of Essie Pink-A-Boo over two coats of Revlon Powder Puff over a coat of Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD.  It's a jellylike pink sheer with blue shimmers!  It's so delicate and ladylike, I really love it.  Layering with Powder Puff really helped but you can still see some VNL. Formula was great as always with Essie, just a little sheer.  I love this, do you?

My HG Combo & Sinful Colors Cinderella

I was happy to add this beauty to my stash for not only a dollar but because of its uniqueness!  I don't have any sheer powder blues with pink shimmers.  I've seen this make perfect underwear for Glitter in the Air/Whimsical, too.

"Natural" Light

It's so light and fluffy and springtime and perfect.  I'm a bit sad, this took three coats.  It is sheer but it does build pretty evenly so it wasn't a hassle.  I dented two nails so I had to redo them, which sucks a bit when its a three coater.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

Tell me you're not in love.  I won't believe you, lol!  This is three coats over Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD.

"Natural" Light

 I had a hard time capturing the shimmer but you can see it in the close up, even more if you click to enlarge.  It's fairly obvious in real life, I'm just a bit not so good at the photographing part sometimes.

Flash

And if you're anything like me, you've been searching for your HG (Holy Grail, your ultimate, favorite, best working product) BC and TC match. I'VE FOUND IT! It's been uh, a few years but I figured it out!

***Orly Bonder & Out the Door***

I've been using both as a pair for a few weeks now and I've had the best results compared to any other combo of BC/TC yet.  I'm sticking to this. I'm THRILLED!  Bonder is a bit expensive, almost 9$ anywhere I've seen it so far.  But my topcoat is relatively cheap compared to some others, so it balances out.

I've been plotting and thinking about what I'm going to have for my giveaway for 250 followers... I've got a pretty good idea.  Once I secure all of the polish, I'll post! Can't wait (=

OPI Wing It & Color Club Fame and Fortune

I was at the mall this weekend and went into Essentials and saw a few of the Color Clubs left that I had been wanting, I hadn't seen them anywhere else so I grabbed Fame and Fortune as soon as I saw it.  I wanted to incorporate it into a mani so I layered it with OPI Wing It that was given to me by a friend from my nail polish forum; the result was fun!

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

Flash

This is 3 thin coats over CND Stickey, no top coat.  Even with three coats there still is some VNL, but the coats were super thin so that may have a hand it it.  This polish is crazy.  It's really glowy and was a pain to photograph.  The flash picture is further away from its true color, it doesn't quite lean that red in real life. It's hot pink with a neon-y orange undertone and shimmery and maybe even some micro glass flecks.  It's unique is what it is, and I love it, really.

I wanted to play off of a "jelly sandwich" and since Wing It is somewhat jellylike, I sandwiched Color Club Fame and Fortune in it.  This is two coats of Fame and Fortune with another coat of Wing It and then one coat of Instant Artificials and then sealed with OTD.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

The two colors play nicely as Fame and Fortune's base color is very similar to Wing It's base color (a hot magenta of sorts).  My only gripe is that the flakes in Fame and Fortune don't necessarily lay flat.  On two nails, even with IA and OTD, they stuck out and didn't lay flat.  I ran my finest grit buffer over it a few times and it seemed to fix it; good to know! Just make sure it's dry otherwise you'll botch the whole thing.

Thanks for reading! (=

Sally Hansen Loyal Lavender & Pretty Petunia

I have more lavender for you :D  My BFF Britty sent this one to me because she knows I LOVE pastels.  Sally Hansen Loyal Lavender has a pink contrasting shimmer to it so it was more than just a pastel, it's a shimmery one!

"Natural" Light

This is three coats over CND Stickey sealed with Out the Door.  It's pretty isn't it?  More suitable for springtime than winter, so I'll have to bring it out again then.

"Natural" Light

Flash

You can really see the pink shimmer in the flash picture.  After wearing this for a day I wanted to jazz it up so I put one coat of Sally Hansen Pretty Petunia over it.  It's a gorgeous glass flecked baby pink and it played so nicely with Loyal Lavender.

It's really subtle but it added lots of extra sparkle that was eye-catching when I moved my hands.  Cute that both names have floral connotations.

OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster

I have one grievance about this polish and it is the way the name is worded.  It should be "I Mainely Eat Lobster" in my head, that's what I always call it. Suzi needs to fix that, it sounds unnatural the way it is.  Anywhoodle, I got this for my birthday and I can't figure out why I've never posted it as I've worn it a few times already.  Maybe I didn't tag it? I don't know, but here it is!

This is three coats of OPI over a coat of CND Stickey and sealed with Out the Door.  There is a super subtle gold shimmer in this polish which I just love even though you can barely see it.  I really love corals, I love this polish a whole bunch.

"Natural" Light

 You can try clicking to enlarge to see the shimmer but it really is subtle. I like that it's hidden in there.

Flash

I'm not a fan of the OPI pro-wide brush.  It works on all my nails pretty decently except my pinky.  It ends up painting on square so I always have to fix it.  I think if the brush was maybe 8 or so bristles thinner width wise it'd be alright.  I have big hands and big(er) nails too, I can't imagine what you petite handed ladies have to do to get it to work with you!

Fresh Paint Eggshell & SH Glass Slipper

I did a layered mani with Fresh Paint Eggshell underneath Sally Hansen Glass Slipper.  So wintery and snow-like, click to enlarge on these to see the detail!

There is the MOST subtle white shimmer in Eggshell.  It's a pretty unique color being a sheer, jellylike white with the shimmer.  I'm pretty sure I didn't capture the shimmer on camera but I assure you, it's there.  This is 3 coats over CND Stickey, no TC.

It just looks so squishy and shiny.  I got this at Five Below for $2 but they're also sold for 3 for $5.  The bottle is square and reminds me of the Color Club bottles, which I love.

Then I added SH Glass Slipper which is a white flakie.  It looks so icy in the bottle, love love love.

That is just one coat of SH Glass Slipper; it's densely packed and I like that.  I sealed with one coat of OTD and between the two polishes, it was such a shiny, pretty manicure.  Definitely perfect for winter!  I bet it'd look crazy with ChG Party Hearty over it, too!

Avon "Wicked" + "Gunmetal" Swatch and Review

My friend the Avon rep bought two polishes from herself to keep at my house because I am her official unofficial manicurist.  The two colors she picked are not my personal bag, they're dark and vampy and I am cremes and pastels but I decided to swatch them anyways to see what they looked like.  And we're off..

Gunmetal - One coat.

I thought this was a one coater but that's because the crappy lighting in my room tricked me.  You can see bald spots but under standard lighting it looks fine.  This applied smoothly but as mentioned before, most definitely a 2 coat kind of color.  I didn't hate this on me!  It made me feel a tab rebellious actually - LOL.

"Gunmetal" Indoor, flash.

The other polish she picked completely surprised me by being a one coat wonder.  I think I have maybe 10 of these total, and they're mostly holos and the super pigmented WnWs.  Anyway, this is an honest to goodness one coater.

Indoor, flash

Indoor, flash

OPI Silver Shatter - Indoor, flash

This was difficult to photograph but we haven't had much sun lately.  I work with what I've got, and I've got rain and monsoons, lol.  As I said before, this color is not for me.  It's really pretty, especially in the bottle.

If you're interested in these colors you can go through my own personal Avon lady, Coryn, by visiting her website HERE.  She does ship in the US.  Most countries have their own Avon site, as well.

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?

funky fingers "cayman island" scented polish

Yellow: the double edged sword of nailpolishes.  So pretty in the bottle, but rarely looks nice on my skin tone and has terrible application. I am always instantly drawn to the yellow bottles but tend to steer clear. And once again, I am reminded why.

Five coats of Funky Fingers "Cayman Island"

Excuse the blurry at the bottom. I'm working with a different camera and I think one of two things occurred: me setting the focus wrong or condensation on the lens. Either way you get the basic idea of this polish.  Some nails required 6 coats due to streaking and impossible touchdown marks.

Yellow shimmery sheer with green shimmers.

It is a sheer polish too, that also being the reason it needed so many coats.  It is also scented - but not Revlon gag-inducing scented.  This polish has a light, refreshing lemon-y scent to it, but it really very very subtle. (Which is a good thing! Revlon's blueberry scented polish triggered an 8 hour migraine for me.)

Click to enlarge to see the green shimmers.

The photo directly above captured the green shimmers pretty well. In indoor lighting the color gets lost on my hands and doesn't POP like it does in sunlight. This photo is a more accurate representation of what the color looks like most of the time. It is pretty, I think that is pretty undeniable, but it isn't for me. I probably won't ever use this again.

As far as my skin goes, in order to keep the eczema at bay, I have been avoiding the rubber gloves at work as much as possible.  Only in cases of #2 diapers and blood do I put them on. I haven't decided if the constant washing has been aggravating it, but the absence of the powder from the gloves has certainly made my hands less irritated and very few cracking incidences.

i finally got that handbag that got away!

WHO LOVES DISCOUNTS AND COUPONS? This girl, that's who.  Originally $89.00 I got it for under $30.00 because I stacked coupons and discount things.  I had bought it a month or so bad for $67.50 and returned it because that was too much.

It's SO cute in real life.  The sides have lace all over them and it sparkles.  I tried to take a few pictures but couldn't get a good full shot. Anyways, here are some detail shots.

Close up of the lace.  The glares are the sparkles.

IDK what this is, but it's detachable lol.

I LOVE the gems all over this thing!

CUTE liner! Bag is huge, holds tons of my crap!

I don't know who Sienna Ricchi is, never heard of her, but the bag just caught my eye a while back and I love it. It has the perfect amount of inside pockets and space. Love Love Love!

Anyways, to stay relevant, here is a possible repost of E.L.F in Champagne, I think.  This shimmer gave me mannequin hands!!  I can't remember if I posted this before of if it was just patiently waiting in my backlogs.  Oh well. Enjoy (=