Unplanned Hiatus

Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a great holiday season :)  I haven't posted anything since November, and I have honestly only painted my nails twice since then :(  It has been very sad around my house. 

So here is what happened, the moment our local temperature consistently dropped below 50ish everyone of my nails snapped.  Literally, in two days I went from long healthy nails to less than nubs.  I have been miserable & sad because I hate nubs on my stubby fingers so I've not painted them and even if I had I wouldn't have wanted pictures of them.  Every time they have started to grow a little they peel and snap right back off.  In turn, I have slacked on my nail, hand, and cuticle care and in turn have made the problem last longer than it should have. 

Part of the problem is I stay pretty dehydrated, more so in the winter because I only ever want water when I am hot. I am making it my resolution to try really hard to hydrate (for health reasons as well) and get motivated to get my nails back in shape.  Until then I plan to post, albeit not as often as before, unpublished posts from before the snappage. Thanks to everyone for understanding and I hope to be back soon!

Orly Smoked Out Swatch- Smoky Collection Fall 2014

Today I have polish from the Orly Smoky Collection (Fall 2014) called Smoked Out.  Let me go ahead and say that pictures do NO justice for this polish.  I don't know why it was so hard to photograph but in real life it is gorgeous!

Fall Gradient

Who else super excited about fall weather & Halloween?! It's hit the mid 60s-mid 70s for the majority of days now and it feels so good to walk outside and not be drenched in 5 minutes. It also means fall and Halloween manis :)

Indoor with Flash, Wrapped With Mummy Cloth

China Glaze Don't Let The Dead Bite

Today starts the first week of (hopefully) many Halloween themed manis :) First up I have "Blood Splatter Nails".  For this I used China Glaze Don't Let the Dead Bite from the Apocalypse of Color Collection, along with China Glaze Red Satin for the accents. 

Outdoor shade, no flash

 

CG Don't Let the Dead Bite is a totally unique polish in my collection.  It is a sheer, nude jelly base with all different size red glitter.  The overall effect comes off as blood splatter, or sort of a brain type matter.  I used 3 thin coats, but could have gotten away with 2 thicker coats. 

LEFT: Shade, no flash RIGHT: Shade, Flash

I am also trying a new base and top coat, the base is Orly Bonder which I've heard great things about.  The topcoat I'm trying is Seche Ultra V UV Topcoat, which is a bit...different?  As I read in other reviews, it has an odd smell to me like very strong polish with a pepper hint as well.  It cured under a UV light but took 3 thin coats to get the same smooth coating as 2 coats of Seche Vite.  However after it fully cured it seems more gel like and is very shiny.  I am testing it by wearing the Seche Vite on my left (Cinderella) hand and the Seche Ultra V on my right (swatch) hand.

 LEFT: Shade, no flash RIGHT: Shade, Flash

LEFT: Design Macro-Shade, Flash RIGHT: Swatch Macro-Shade, Flash

 Shade, no flash

 Shade, no flash

Shade, Flash

 Bottle Shots- LEFT: Shade, Flash RIGHT: Shade, no flash

 Brush Shots- LEFT: Shade, Flash RIGHT: Shade, no flash

Close-Ups-  LEFT: Swatch, flash MIDDLE: Thumb, No Flash RIGHT: Design, Shade, no flash

TOPCOAT COMPARISON- LEFT: Seche Vite, flash RIGHT: Seche Ultra V, Flash

TOPCOAT COMPARISON- LEFT: Seche Vite, no flash RIGHT: Seche Ultra V, no flash

COLORS USED:
Base Color: China Glaze Don't Let the Dead Bite
Red Accent: China Glaze Red Satin

Coats: 3

Formula: great on all

Color: great on all

Base Coat: Orly Bonder

Top Coat: Seche Vite/ Seche Ultra V


China Glaze
Page  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram

Put A Bow On It Paloma!

 This is my FAIR DAY mani! We went to the opening night of our county fair last week and we took the little one.  He loved it and rode every ride he could, multiple times.  I'm more excited about the food, ferris wheel and animals than the major rides though (I guess I'm old!). 



 So for today's nails I didn't do any fair themed art, instead I chose to match the color to my cardigan I'm wearing tonight.  I absolutely LOVE how the main nails turned out on this mani, I can't stop looking at them! 

Stone Cold Payton

Today I'm showing y'all a very simple tape mani, dark and vampy for fall but still has glitz. This was done using Zoya Payton, with China Glaze Stone Cold on the accent.

Zoya Payton is a dark cranberry to plum jelly base with holographic glitter scattered throughout.  It is a truly beautiful polish, and in sunlight it really lights up!  My accent nail I taped off with striping tape and used China Glaze Stone Cold, a dark grey shimmer with a matte finish.  Finished up with a coat of Seche Vite.

Striping & Glitz

Hey y'all! Up for today is a black and white and glitter all over mix match mani :)  I was going for a dark, simple colored mani with lots of eye appeal and this definitely met expectations.  I was inspired by this post on the nail polish challenge.

First I used Finger Paints Where Art Renoir, a black polish with silver glitter, two coats for my base.  For my middle finger and the base for my ring finger I used a base of China Glaze Gossip over Gimlets then two coats of OPI In True Stefani Fashion.  On the ring finger I used double thick striping tape stripes and added FP Where Art Renoir on top.

Fifth Anniversary Nails

Today's mani is themed for my anniversary, based on our wedding tattoos.  My husband & I usually celebrate (little celebrations) both our wedding & dating anniversaries, the wedding one is today (5 years) and our dating one is in October (8 years).

 On our wedding day

Mani & tattoos = after the jump :)

Mix & Match Mani

 This was a mani I had been looking at for a while now on Pinterest.  There are actually 3 version that I pinned; a blue one, purple one, & a red one.  When I looked into the blue one I found that the girl had actually done this design in a few other schemes as well.

Happy Birthday To Me

Happy Birthday to ME! My birthday is tomorrow so today I am sharing the nails I did for this weekend.  This post was inspired by this post by BadGirlNails. 

Neutral Cheetah

Let me start by saying I am not a fan of any animal prints, never have been.  However, seeing work/play/polish's cheetah mani has completely changed my mind.  As I write this I am wearing cheetah print pajama pants. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Glitz Mani & Pink French

Hey y'all :) This is a mani I based off a picture I found on Pinterest from Chloe's Nails.

Shades of Grey Ombre

Hi y'all, this is a quick mani I did with Silver, Greys and Black.

Silver is Maybeline Silver Aluminum, Grey is Ulta Smoke Screen and China Glaze, Topped with crack (CG Fairy Dust)

Blurple Green Ombre

Yet another ombre ;) Is it obvious how ombre obsessed I am?  They are just such a simple way to do bright colors and nail art with very little time.

Navy & Pink Texture Dots

Simple texture mani for today.

Can't Let Go & Miss Conduct

Not much to say about this mani other than I love it! These colors paired really well and the difference in textures worked great :)

Dragon Eggs

Ok, if y'all haven't seen these already TRUST ME, you are missing out! These amazing little balls of awesome are based on a tutorial from Accio Lacquer and I am crazy grateful she made such a great tutorial because I am in love with making these! My 2 year old is also in love with the "Dagon Eggs" :)

Without further ado...


This one was created using Orly Fowl Play & Zoya Opal

MORE eggs after the jump!

China Glaze Seduce Me Swatch

Today I have China Glaze Seduce Me, a beautiful redish pink creme polish I grabbed at Sally's on impulse with some coupons.

Zoya Payton Swatch

This is a swatch Zoya Payton, part of the Zenith Winter Holiday 2013 Collection.

This polish is described as a "full coverage galactic cranberry polish with holographic glitter".  It has an almost-jelly finish, with a great depth and sparkle.  It immediately became one of my favorite polishes.  Two coats gave perfect full coverage.

Black Ombre Tips

This is OPI DS Extravagance, with China Glaze Liquid Leather sponged on the tips :)

Spoiled Ants In My Pants

Today I have a surprise polish win.  I grabbed this on a whim at CVS and LOVE it!

This is Spoiled Ants in My Pants, with an accent of China Glaze Ruby Pumps.