Taking A Break

Hey Everyone!! Well, I have been putting off actually making this post for a bit but figured since I actually signed into Blogger today I mind as well post. It is pretty crazy around here lately and I just haven't had the time or energy to deal with anything. I think my nails were naked for a good week and even when I painted my nails I didn't do much else. I finally got back into doing my nails and even stamping but I am not ready for taking pictures and editing and all of that stuff that comes along with blogging.

For the past month my stomach was upset and after going to the doctor they determined I need to have my gallbladder removed. Aside from being absolutely TERRIFIED of having to have surgery it set off some major anxiety. So I have been dealing with all of that and the looming appointment T had set up for his ears. That appointment finally came this week and took FOUR hours to get everything done. They might have to either put a tube in his ear or do surgery on his ear because of what is going on there so that adds a whole new level of stress and anxiety . In addition to that C was laid off of work and things are just crazy right now. I am trying not to freak out and stress too much but that is near impossible.

Since my surgery is scheduled for right around Thanksgiving and then the holidays are pretty much around the corner I think it is easiest to take a little break and try and pick up on the blogging again in January. It isn't ideal and if I feel like popping in and making a post I will but right now I am just too stressed to enjoy it much. I will keep posting on Instagram since that is fairly easy and the cats are just too cute not to post and I think I will try and post pictures over on Facebook too. 

If you can send good thoughts I would really appreciate them, especially when the surgery gets closer. I am actually a little bit calmer right now but I am sure the freaking out will commence again as we get closer. Definitely check out IG though because I am posting my manis over there when I change them. 

That's all for now :)

OCC Radiate

Hey Everyone!!! It has been a pretty stressful week over here in turtle land. Luckily tomorrow is Friday and I have a chocolate bar at my desk. 

Today I have a pretty simple stamping mani I did not long ago. I bought Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Radiate on a whim from I think a Store Envy store. It might have been a blog sale but I don't recall exactly where. I pretty much just added it in because I wanted to make the shipping more justified and it was pretty cheap. I can not rave about this polish enough. I LOVE it!

It is ORANGE and it is juicy and it is bright and fun. Radiate pretty much made me want to try all of the OCC polishes I could get my hands on because the application was fantastic. Smooth as silk and no problems at all. Plus that color is awesome. 

For the stamping I chose a simple small image from the Pueen 25F Sumptuous Gallery set. I chose the little flower from PUEEN 18. 

I didn't want it to be too boring so I used some of my ArtsyFartsyCrafts glitter to fill in the flower and leaves and give it a little bit of sparkle.

I really liked this mani but didn't get good pictures of it. Sorry about that. I forgot to take the pictures during day light hours.

I figured I would make up for the not so great pictures with a cute picture of Bruce modeling his new shirt for you all. He is such a handsome boy.

That's all for now :)

Born Pretty Store Plates

Hey Everyone!!! I am super excited for the upcoming Born Pretty Store Stamping plates. I just saw their newsletter and realized that they will be released Saturday the 20th!! So excited. 

You can see pictures of the new plates here and also participate by sharing their banner to get a free plate. They will be on sale for 20% off for 24hrs which is always nice. They also have deals if you buy three or more you get a free plate or 8 or more you get a free stamper. 

They have a super cute Christmas one that I am going to order immediately.

http://www.bornprettystore.com/stamping-nail-c-268_94.html

That's all for now :)

Monkeys

Hey Everyone!!! Well, my stomach is feeling much better this week. T is doing better but we still don't have his test results because the doctor's office claims the results haven't been sent and the radiology place claims they sent them. Supposedly they sent them again so we will see. I was quite annoyed earlier when I was put on hold for 10 minutes and shuffled around only to be told there are no results and I have to call the radiology place. Glad it is their job to give me my results. So very annoyed.

Today I have a fun stamped mani I did for my brother's visit in July. Long standing joke was that I use to tell him he was from a monkey farm so I often give him monkey stuff. I figured a monkey mani would be perfect. The top coat did smear my stamping which angered me.

I used Dashica Infinity Plate 02 for the stamping. I love these little monkeys.

The plate stamped perfectly every time. It is nicely etched and a breeze to work with. I love Dashica plates and the new Infinity plates are awesome. She has more plates being released soon and I am excited to see what new designs she has coming out.

I can't tell you all the colors I used because I mixed a lot of colors together to get the perfect shade. I was not very pleased that the top coat smeared the stamping. I had made stamping decals and I floated the top coat but it didn't much help. 

That's all for now :)

Wet N Wild See Ya' Soon?

Hey Everyone!! Oh what a week. I have been having stomach issues all week and I am not the least bit thrilled that it hasn't gone away. Luckily I got in with the doctor tomorrow so hopefully we can make this stop sooner rather than later. 

Today I have a Wet N Wild Megalast color for your viewing pleasure. I would have shown you the bottle shot but it angers me. In the bottle See Ya' Soon is a gorgeous duochrome shimmer beauty. On the nail the duochrome is completely non existent. I took pictures from every angle and position and nothing wanted to show up. It didn't flash in person either. It is still a very pretty shimmer but it lies. 

This is three coats of See Ya' Soon. It had a nice formula and application.

It is a very pretty blackened teal green shimmer. It did spend a lot of time looking like a plain dark polish though.

It does look pretty in the sun.

In the shade though most of the pictures don't show off the shimmer at all.

Still pretty but not anything to write home about in the shade.

Looks like your everyday dark black or maybe navy polish.

When you catch the shimmer it is definitely pretty and non boring.

I tried really really hard to get the purple flash that the bottle shows to come out and play but it just wasn't going to happen. We were lied to. No duochrome we will NOT see ya soon.

That's all for now :)

Born Pretty Store Octagon Plate Case

Hey Everyone!!! I don't know what is going on lately but the stars are not lined up in my favor. I haven't been feeling all that well and T has had a lot of doctor appointments and such. Things are starting to settle down so I should be able to get back to posting regularly. I of course need to remember to take pictures of my manis though. I had a new polish on the other day and completely forgot to take blog pictures so I will be using that polish again in the very near future. I am still working on the great stash organization. Today I have a great organizational necessity for stamping to review. I was sent this item by BornPrettyStore for review. 

Today I have a review of the BornPrettyStore 24 Slot Nail Art Stamping Plate Holder. When I first saw this holder on the site I was very excited because it was made to fit those octagon QA style plates which didn't fit in any of my other plate holders. This cute little case is sold for $5.29 on the site but you can use code JLG10 for 10% off your purchase.

The case they sent me was a dark pink but they also have a lighter pink color shown on the website. The case is very similar to the smaller case that the Pueen plates come in. 

The outer cover is one solid piece so there are no seams where the holder could potentially fall apart. There is a sturdy snap closure and a bolt that holds all the sleeves together inside. The outer cover did stain the first and last sheet slightly but it is not really that big a deal. The holder feels very sturdy.

I have a few of the octagon plates that were previously homeless so I was very eager to see how they would fit in this case. The case comes with 12 double sided sleeves.

The sleeves were made of a thick PVC plastic material and are very sturdy. I was impressed with their thickness and believe they will hold up really well.

There are slots on each side of the sleeve which I love. In one of my binders you have to slide both plates in the same slot and I much prefer that each side has a slot. 

When I initially slid these plates in the fit was snug. I was not sure that they would fit in there really well at first but after sliding the plate in and out the fit is perfect. It will be snug at first, especially when you have two plates in the sleeve, but the plastic loosens up a bit and allows the plates to slide in and out with ease.

I will definitely be needing more plates to fill this holder up! I have seen others say that you can fit the round plates in this holder as well. Since I have holders for my round plates and was interested in this solely for my octagon plates I didn't try to put any of the round ones in there. The internal size is 6cm x 6cm so most of the round plates should fit nicely. Once again you can find this holder at BornPrettyStore for $5.29. 

That's all for now :)

CK Emerald Green

Hey Everyone!!! It has been a very long past couple of weeks. We are still trying to figure out what is wrong with T and he has tests and doctor appointments to go to. I think the stress is catching up to me since I had a lovely anxiety attack Tuesday. I am feeling better except for my tooth bothering me again. I am going to need to finally make that dental appointment next week. Things could be worse though. 

Today I have what was probably my biggest lemming. An amazing polish fairy from a forum I belong to gifted me this polish recently when she found out it was my number one most wanted. I nearly fell out of my chair from excitement and how amazingly sweet she is. I literally opened the package and did my nails I was so very excited.

Calvin Klein nail polish. Who knew?! I had never known that Calvin Klein had polish until someone posted this baby on their nails one day. It was instant love. 

I love the cap! I am not really into the whole designer name thing and the only thing I really know about Calvin Klein is that I can not stand CK One. This guy used to drench himself in that stuff then sit in front of me in my Algebra II class and it gave me a headache everyday. I can't stand that smell to this day. 

The gorgeous Calvin Klein Emerald Green. 

I used three coats of Emerald Green for this mani. OMG it is as gorgeous in real life as it was in the pictures I first saw of it.

The formula was good but I was not entirely fond of the brush. I can get over the brush though because the color is so pretty.

It is so glowy.

And pretty.

And I took a ton of pictures of it.

I am still ridiculously excited about this polish and I can't believe I finally own it.

I couldn't say thank you enough.

I actually somehow chipped my one finger within 24 hours. I don't think it was the polish I think it was when I opened a box or something at work.

Yes, I totally just redid that nail and kept on wearing this bad boy.

I love this polish. I would totally paint my car in it.

So very pretty. So very generous and I am so very happy! I can't wait to find a way to pass that type of generosity forward.

That's all for now :)

Too Cool for Pool

Hey Everyone!! Guess what day it is...it is HUMP DAY, wooo wooo!! I wish it was Friday but I will take Wednesday. I am tempted to take Friday off. We will see. Today I decided my hair was hanging too dead like and I cut my bangs a bit. They are long bangs. I watched some youtube videos and decided to just go for it. It looks choppy because it doesn't blend with my long dead hair but at least it breaks it up a bit. We will see how it goes after I wash it. I also cut my palm doing this. Don't ask, I have no idea. 

Today I have a simple mani I did using one of the Sinful Shine colors that recently appeared randomly in my Walgreens. I really hate the way Walgreens just throws new colors in with the core colors instead of putting out displays. Sinful Colors is actually on sale this week for .99 (in most areas) so I figured it was a good time for this post.

I used three coats of Sinful Shine Too Cool for Pool. It is a gorgeous blue with a very pretty pink shimmer. I love this color.

I decided to jazz it up a little and used some pink half pearls to compliment the shimmer. I bought these from some radom ebay store.

I put a single pearl in the middle of all my nails and stamped a pretty floral design on my ring finger. I used Mundo de Unas Mexican Pink for the stamping. I used more pearls for the centers of the flowers.

I can't remember which stamping plate I used so I will have to add that information later. 

The application for Too Cool for Pool was very nice. 

I attached the pearls to a wet coat of top coat and then added another coat on top to make sure they were more secure.

They stayed on quite nicely.

Taking an accurate color picture in doors is not very easy with this color but I was more interested in showing off that shimmer. 

That's all for now :)