Lynnderella Sweets to the Sweet

After what seems like a century I finally got my hands on some lovely Lynnderellas!  I have a love/hate relationship with glitter as I love them but they don't love me and tend to peel off but I couldn't resist any longer.  The manicure I have today is Lynnderella Sweets to the Sweet.  I can't explain how pretty it is so just look :D

"Natural" Light

I think this polish would be much better over something like Essie Marshmallow.  The harshness of the white I used is a bit.. well, harsh.

"Natural" Light

This is two coats of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White over CND Stickey.  Two coats of Sweets to the Sweet over that, sealed with OTD.

DROOL!

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Flash

This polish is so yummy, it really does remind me of candy.  Hopefully I can better match up combinations in the future.  I also managed to get a few others, so look forward to swatches of those, too!

Zoya Dea

Out of all the colors in the nail polish spectrum, I realized I didn't have a brown that I loved.  I don't have many, if any, true browns.  I saw swatches for Zoya Dea and it looked perfect, and it is!

"Natural" Light

Thi is 2 coats of Zoya Dea over CND Stickey topped with NYC Grand Central Station.  My mom managed to get shimmers into my big 2 fl. oz. bottle of OTD, so I had to resort to back ups.  While GCS is wonderful for holos, it shrunk my Zoya.  It wasn't tipwear, it was tip pull aka shrinkage.  You can't see it in these swatches because I applied another coat of Dea before taking these pics, but beware, Zoya and GCS may not work for you either.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

Dea is a delicious milk chocolate creme.  It make have hints of red in it, I'm not entirely sure, but it does appear very brown to the naked eye and I love it!  Please excuse the fuzzy that got trapped in my final coat on my ring finger, I tried to mask it as best as possible!

Thanks for reading! (=

Personal Update & Giveaway Reminder

The new semester has started and I absolutely am going to be swamped for the next few months.  The past few semester I've only taken 9 credits due to transfer issues - as in, I couldn't find classes I needed and being a transfer student meant adjusting to a new school, etc.  Since I'm quite settled at this point, I'm taking 12 credits which means that many less hours to dedicate to my hobby.

I'm also only taking one English course this semester, which means the other 3 courses are classes I need to work much harder in as English has always come easy to me.  While I did previously have 15 papers one semester, I'm pretty efficient at them.  The courses I'm taking now (MUSIC? Geography, Special Ed) they're going to require more focus in a different way. I'm a bit, OK a lot, out of my element with those, specially music. Good vibes on passing that class.. I'm beyond musically challenged.

I do promise to make a valiant effort in posting as often as I can, as I do enjoy it immensely and find it relaxing. I may write posts in bulk when I have time and then schedule them throughout the week.  Hopefully I can manage both, since I love doing this, it'd make me sad to have to put it on the back burner.  I'm going to, for the first time in a long time, try to juggle full-time school, work, blogging and a boyfriend.  Who needs a social life anyways?

I also have my Praxis test coming up next month as well as a trip to Wisconsin to visit my BFF and her new baby! Congrats on the little stud muffin!! <3

And of course, I appreciate each and every one of you who take the time out of your busy lives to read, provide feedback and comment.  It puts a smile on my face every time I think about it (=

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Just wanted to remind my dear readers (you!) about my giveaway!  The last day for entries is Feb. 11th.

***I had mistakenly listed the 11th as Sunday, it's actually a Saturday.***

The Prize:

- Sally Hansen HD DVD
- Sally Hansen HD Byte
- Sally Hansen HD Laser
- Two surprise Zoya Polishes

The Rules:
1. Must be a follower.
2. Must provide GFC name & contact email.
3. Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on Saturday, February 11th EST.
4. YOU MUST HAVE A BLOG THAT YOU CAN PROVIDE A LINK TO.
5. This giveaway is International!
6. The winner has 48 hours to reply; in the event they do not, a new winner will be chosen.

A few things worth mentioning:
- It doesn't need to be a blogspot blog. Any host is fine.
- It doesn't need to be a nail polish related blog, any subject is acceptable.

OPI DS Passion

This is one of those bizzaro polishes that looks amazing in the bottle, amazing in photographs but sucks in real life.  Ok, that is a bit unfair, it doesn't suck by most standards: it's beautiful and has a strong linear holo effect, but it falls very flat against my personal skin tone.  It's a personal grievance.  It's a bit close to my skin tone and I don't think holo mannequin hands are.. good.  But I do love it regardless.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

This is 3 coats of OPI DS Passion over the Jessica holo basecoat, topped with NYC Grand Central Station.  NYC GCS really doesn't kill holos!  It may dull them a little, but I couldn't notice a difference.  My manicures feel incomplete without a topcoat, so I'm glad I now have one for holos!

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Flash

Flash

You really can't even tell what I'm talking about with the skin tone dilemma, but it's quite apparent in real life.  She is quite the knockout though!  Thanks for reading (=

Galaxy Nails!

I wanted to give galaxy nails a try after seeing so many wonderful examples.  Mine, unfortunately, look uh, much better at a distance.  They're not awful but I hope to do better next time.

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I used a previous mani to build on, click HERE to go back and see it.  That explains what I built on, since it was also a layered manicure.  It can be seen below.

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Upon that manicure I used a couple different things to create the effect.
-Hits Zeus (sponged over)
-Hits Demeter (sponged over)
-WnW Black Creme (sponged over)
-Finger Paints Asylum (sponger over)
-Acrylic paints in various colors (used to make the "galaxy" design)

I used paint brushes with the acrylic paint and a make up sponge for the nail polish.  I knew I wanted it to contain orange for contrast reasons.  The dots were done using  a dotting tool with paint, not polish, to make them irregular.

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Flash

Have you done galaxy nails? I'd love to see your examples!

Color Club Ultra-Astral with Valentine's Stamping

I'm slowly but surely accumulating the Starry Temptress collection piece by piece, year by year.  I really thought that was a fun collection and it brought something different to the table.  I have another to show you today, Ultra-Astral.  It's a hot pink base with holo glitter, eye-catching really.

"Natural" Light

This is two coats of Ultra-Astral over CND Stickey and topped with Out the Door.  Look how bright it is! It's kind of glowy. It stands out, jumps off your fingers almost.  I'm in love with it, by the way.

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I added some stamping to create a Valentine's Day feel.  I used Konad Special White polish.  The plates I used were Konad m57 and Bundle Monster BM202.

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"Natural" Light

This was a fun manicure, I may create it again for the actual holiday!

My giveaway is still running! Please click HERE to read the rules and enter (= Thanks for reading!