Jesse's Girl Glee Stamped

Hi everyone,

Today I wanted to share with you one of my fav drug store polishes.  Jesse's Girl Glee is only $3.99 at your local Rite Aide.  It's become one of my absolute fav polishes.  This polish reminds me of what I think a Mermaid's Tail/Fin would look like.  It's a beautiful turquoise/green polish packed with shimmer & glittery goodness.  It applied beautifully and was completely opaque with 2 coats.  I had no issuesEXCEPT this polish stains horribly!  I only had it on about 45 minutes & my nails were super stained when I removed the polish.  I can only imagine how bad it would have been if I had kept it on longer.  No matter how hard I tried, I could not capture the beauty of this baby.  I'm thrilled I took a chance & purchased it.

CLOSED----50 FOLLOWER GIVEWAY!!!!!! TO BE ANNOUNCED SUNDAY NOON EST!!

UPDATE 4/1/12

Yayyyyyy!! Today is the day of my giveaway. First of all I want to thank each of you for following my blog. I plan to give more awesome giveaways soon (very soon)!!

I tried really hard to think of a fair way for this giveaway so I just went old school (I am a grandmother u know lol). At 11:30 am EST I will place all my followers name in a cup & have my daughter draw a name out at NOON Today & that person will be the winner. It's that simple...

The winner will have 3 days to contact me. If I don't hear from them, I will draw another name and that person will be the winner.

I just wanted this giveaway to be Fair & Fun!! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

50 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY

Hi everyone,

I'm am so excited to be sponsoring my very first GIVEAWAY.  Thanks to the help of some of my friends who actually networked for me I have finally reached that goal & then some!  I can't believe there are so many people who have the same polish interest as me.  I wanted to show you guys how much I appreciate you for taking a moment to read my blog. 

I am giving away a brand new ENTIRE COLLECTION fo the China Glaze OMG collection!  This set was an unbelievable find & because I already have as set, I wanted to share the love.  This set is being sold right now on eBay for $245!! WOW!!  I will be picking a winner on Sunday April 1, 2012 at NOON Eastern Standard Time.  I wanted to be as fair as possible the winner so that each person follower had the same opportunity to win so I have to allow myself some time to figure out how to do that yet but I have some ideas.

Essie Marshmallow--Untried

Hello Everyone,

Today I wanted to show you one of my untried polishes buy Essie called Marshmallow.  Marshmallow is a jelly based white creme polish.  It's pictured below with 2 coats & is so bright & squishy looking.  I don't' know what took me so long to try it but it's turned into my favorite white.

Zoya Yara ~ Beautiful Green

Good evening everyone,

Today I want to show off another one of my Zoya polishes that I purchased during their B3G3 free promotion.  Her name is Yara!  Yara is a gorgeous army green with tons of gold micro glitter.  It's stunning in the bottle & just as magnificent on the nail.  

Yara's formula is a dream.  I used 2 coats for the perfect coverage & had no issues whatsoever.  Did I tell you guys that Zoya is my favorite brand?  I was scared that the color would be off putting on my skin tone but I actually like it on me.  Pictured is Yara without a top coat & she's still super shiny.  The gold glitter shines bright!  I knew I was going to stamp over it so I didn't think the top coat was necessary.  

Inspired by The Nailasaurus--Zebra Nails

Afternoon everyone.

I originally saw this design on The Nailasaurus's Blog & I fell completely in love.  It was absolutely amazing to me & I knww immediately that I wanted to give it a try one day  Please go check her out as ALL her designs & swatches are flawless.

Items Used

Base Color: OPI Did You Ear About Van Gough
Layered Color: Jesse's Girl Fire Fly
Stamping Color: Kleancolor Black
Stamping Plate: Konad M57



I began with 2 coats of OPI Did you Ear About Van Gough from the Holland Collection. I have to admit I fell in love with this nude. It applied like butter & had a super gloss without any top coat.

Next I layered it with 1 coat of Jesse's Girl Fire Fly.

Next I taped off most of my nail & painted the edge with Kleancolor Black. After that dried, I stamped it with the same black using Konad Stamping plate M57

Zoya Jem stamped

Happy Sunday everyone. This morning I want to show you another Zoya polish that I purchased from the Zoya B3G3 free promotion. This beauty is called Jem...

Jem is a deep burgundy shimmer color with a super fine gold glitter. It's absolutely beautiful.

The application was a dream. I used 2 coats below but could have gotten away with only 1. Pictured below us no base coat, 2 coats of Jem & 1 coat of NYC in a minute top coat.

I also stamped over Jem with my Cheeky Plate D X-Large plate using Kleancolor Metallic Mango. I'm still new at stamping but this was so easy to do.

Note: All pictures were taken in natural light with my iPhone as I am not a professional. I do this for fun...:)

Thanks for reading

Crystal

Zoya Roxy

I picked up Roxy during the Zoya promotion buy 3 get 3 free. I have to admit, Zoyas promotions are the absolute best! I saw swatches of Roxy on the Zoya Facebook page & thought it was amazing. I also thought it would look good against my skin tone. And boy was I right!!!

This baby is a STUNNER!! It applied with perfection. 2 coats & Roxy blinged all over the place. I topped it with a coat of NYC in a minute top coat (which happens to be my fav)

Roxy is a dark berry base with tons of berry glitter. I fell absolutely in love. This has moved to one of my fav colors. I didn't want to remove this looker but I have to swatch the rest of my purchases. Enjoy the pics.

Note: pictures are taken with my iPhone as I'm not a professional reviewer. I do this for fun.

Zoya "Crystal" Spectraflaired...

Zoya had a buy 3 get 3 free a couple of weeks ago & I could not help myself & purchased "Crystal". How could I resist purchasing a polish with my name??? Lol

Crystal is a blue almost foil/frost color packed with fine gold glitter. It is absolutely Stunning!! Crystal applies beautiful & takes 2 Coats until opaque.

I decided to have a little fun & add a spectraflair top coat to my thumb. I can not explain to you how amazing this looks!!

I think the color looks great against my skintone & all in all I'm thrilled with my purchase.

Please enjoy the photos. The last photo is with flash..

Clarins 230 "CRUSHED"

I've been lusting over the infamous Clarins 230 for months. I scanned eBay & saw it selling for $60 plus for 1 bottle of polish. I could never justify to myself to spend that much on 1 bottle. But last week I convinced myself. I said to myself "SELF, you work everyday. Your bills are paid, you are not going into debt & you can afford it. There is nothing wrong with splurging on yourself". So I did it!!

I went to eBay, I held my breath & I purchased my Unicorn Pee for over $60!!! And I anxiously waited for my package to arrive.

It took 4 entire days to get here. I ripped the package open only to find that my bottle was CRUSHED & so was I....

NO!!!! How could this be?? How could my bottle have been crushed during shipment? I'm devastated! I'm hoping the Seller does right by me but until then, I'm heartbroken...

UPDATE:

I heard from the Seller couturebellasera on eBay & I have to admit they were not only VERY friendly but super helpful. They communicated with me almost immediately. They calmed me down from my panick (which is not easily done when I'm in my ways) lol & they provided EXCELLENT customer service. They have agreed to ship me another bottle of polish & I'm definitely a happy camper & would definitely purchase from them again. WHEW! What a day... Thanks for reading...

Sinful Colors Cinderella & Revlon Whimsical

I've had both Revlon Whimsical & Sinful Colors Cinderella for a while but I never reach for it. I'm not sure if it's because I feel like the color won't look right on my skintone or whether I was waiting for Spring. Well.... Spring is here...

Cinderella is a translucent fine glitter polish that has almost a goopy, sandy type application. This polish is a bitch to apply so you need to apply in super thin layers. When I originally swatched this polish I didn't notice how hard it was to apply. I used 3 very thin coats & 1 layer of Whimsical on top.

Although I think these polishes are beautiful, I'm not a fan of them on my skin tone.

China Glaze OMG Collection Giveaway!!

Hey guys, I'm really excited to be doing my 1st giveaway. Help me get to 50 followers & one of those followers will receive the entire collection!!!

DV8, LOL, BFF, IDK, 2NITE, OMG, qt, TMI, TTYL, FYI, GR8, G8R, & L8R

This collection has been long sold out!! This is open to International followers as well...

The only rule is you have to follow me on my blog. Nothing more & I will choose a random winner based on an automatic system.

This is the EXACT set that you will receive...

Nail Mail!! My Zoyas arrived!!!

My Zoyas from the promotion are finally here!!! I'm so excited & love them all!! I can't wait to swatch them.

Roxy, Yara, Charisma, Crystal, Julienne, Jem ��

Revlon Whimsical for swap

I've been hearing folks are having a hard time finding Revlon Whimsical & it's a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air. I purchased a few in case anyone wanted a swap. Have a great day everyone!

UPDATE: 2 Swapped. 3 left

Some of my stash....

Some of the stash.....

Unswatched/Unused Polish/Acrylic Paints & Image Plate Storage

Spectraflair & Color Pigments

Two of my Nail Racks

NOTD using YouTube tutorial

I used a YouTube tutorial to get this look. I'm so proud of myself! Of course it's nowhere near as good as hers but considering I'm new to nail art I think it turned out great. Here's a link to the tutorial

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wy2GC45wWWA

I absolutely love how it came out! She's awesome!!

NOTD China Glaze Peachy Keen

I had to do another quick Mani this morning. I was inspired by my blouse. I think this color looks really good on my dark skin.

I used China Glaze Peachy Keen with Essie Pure Pearlfection from the Luxeffects collection layered on top. I actually love this combination.

Nail Mail!!!!!!!

Yayyyyyyy!! I'm so excited!  I get home from a long day's work & go to the mailbox & what do I see?  A box full of nail goodies from Colour Coated !!  Thank you so much for a smooth transaction!  I'm super dooper pleased!!!

From left to right:

Zoya Keiko, Zoya Neeka, OPI Malaysian Mist, OPI Moon Over Mumbai, OPI Divine Swine, Color Club Gingerbread Man, Color Club Miss Me Mistletoe.  I can't wait to swatch them!!

My first crack at a gradient...

Last night as I chose what outfit I would wear to work today, I thought about attempting a gradient on my nails for the 1st time. Now, I'm not the most artsy person in the world but I buckled down & looked at several YouTube videos & thought to myself, I can definitely do that!

So I went thru my nail racks & decided on 4 colors that I had in my shirt. I chose Nicole By Opi - Count On Me as the base coat, Nicole By Opi - Fashion Diva, Opi - Pampalona Purple & Essie - Pure Pearlfection

Its not perfect but im so proud of myself! I think it looks awesome! And so do my co-workers! I'm not a polish professional but for my 1st attempt at nail art, I think I did great!

I can't wait to stalk more blogs & get inspired to try new things!! Check out the final result below.

Disclaimer: these are iPhone pictures without all the bells & whistles of photoshop & macro cameras so the quality isn't great. But who cares! This is just for fun! :)

Running late with jacked up nails...

I woke up late this morning! I run to the shower and get dressed. I look at the clock & realize I have exactly 8 minutes to get to work without being late. I compose myself, throw my hair into a ponytail & head out the door. As soon as I place my hand on my steering wheel and realize I have NAKED NAILS!!!

I dash back into the house & grab the very 1st polish off of my nail rack. OPI "Let Me Entertain You". I drive like a mad woman to work & clock in. I was 3 minutes late!!

I went to the break room & paint nails. No top coat, No polish remover for mistakes... Just polish and me! And the polish won. My nails look horrible! But I'm going to share them anyway because I thought this was hysterical! I've been hiding my nails all morning...

Enjoy.. Until next time

Crys

l

Yayyyy I did it...

I'm so very excited!!  Today I got the courage to start my very own nail polish blog.  I have recently become absolutely obsessed with nail polish & nail art.  For the past couple of months I've been bookmarking my favorite nail bloggers & admiring their amazing swatches & nail art.  I have learned so much.

Last year this time, I didn't even paint or grow my nails but my co-worker harassed my horrible nails so badly that I committed to doing better this year.  My nubbins have grown but are still a work in progress.  I hope to continue to become more knowledgeable in taking care of my nails as well as become better with nail art.