PixieDust Chyna

Hey Everyone!!! I am getting oil all over the keyboard and mouse as I am doing this post but I figure the oil on the keyboard will stick around and moisturize my fingers later too. I am rather disappointed with my current mani. If I had another color with me I would probably take it off and redo it because it is making me crazy. The actual polish is nice but it is a clear based glitter and my nails are stained a great deal at the moment. The glitter is silver but actually looks more gold thanks to the lovely shade my nails are stained currently. It isn't a pretty look. In my genius stupidity I have fallen off the healthy eating wagon and really did not eat well this weekend and I am paying for it now. I feel pretty awful and totally messed up my system. Next time I want to eat some junk food I hope I remember how awful I feel right now so I can avoid it.

Today I have Zoya's version of the textured craze polish.

Zoya Chyna is from their 2013 PixieDust collection.

In the bottle Chyna is a gorgeous bright sparkling red. Had I only known this polish based on what was in the bottle I would have probably passed on it thinking it was just another sparkly red glitter. It wasn't until I saw pictures of this baby on the nail that I knew I HAD to have it.

I don't go gaga over red polish ever but this polish made me drool. On the nail it is a darker, richer, deeper red with a gorgeous sparkled effect. I wanted this polish so bad and waited way too long to finally get it. 

I used three coats for this mani. I should have waited longer in between coats as you should wait until it dries more than I did but I am impatient. It took longer for this one to dry on me because I didn't let each coat dry before I put the next coat on. It did end up drying just fine and it didn't take all that long but I did end up dinging one of my nails due to my own impatience. 

There wasn't a whole lot of sun when I wore this but I did get a glimpse of sun. The pictures of course didn't come out good enough to do any justice to this color.

This picture however shows you the sparkle. Oh how I love that red. Zoya says not to wear a base coat or top coat when you apply this polish. I am a rebel so I did use a base coat.

I always want to put a top coat on these textured polishes to see what they look like but I couldn't bring myself to top coat Chyna. She is way too pretty and awesome without the top coat. For those of you that don't like textured polishes this one isn't as rough as the Liquid Sand polish was. Obviously there was still a texture to it but it was much less textured than I was expecting.

I took a ton of pictures of this mani. It is rare that I get this excited over a red polish.

I absolutely love the sparkle that the PixieDust polishes offer. It is a finer sparkle than the larger chunk o sparkle that OPI has in the Liquid Sand polishes I have. The name PixieDust is perfect for these polishes and I give a huge two thumbs up to whoever came up with that name. I do think of either pixie dust or sugar sparkles when I see the way these polishes sparkle. I feel the need to get all of them now.

I wanted to stamp over this mani but could not bring myself to messing with it. I think I am going to have to do it again with the stamping idea I had. I think it would look great stamped.

That's all for now :)

Tiffany Case

Hey Everyone!! One of these nights I am going to get a complete, uninterrupted, night of sleep. It definitely wasn't last night. I could use a nap right now. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday but we are celebrating tonight because they are going on vacation tomorrow. I am looking forward to the yummy dinner and cake we have planned. 

Today I have my first mani with one of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. 

This gorgeous blue is Tiffany Case from the 2013 The Bond Girls Collection. It is a pretty light blue sparkly textured polish.

I used three coats for this mani. I actually put top coat on my ring finger to see if there was a noticeable difference. I asked the kids and C but none of them could pick out which nail was different so apparently it is not noticeable at all. Once I allowed them to touch it they did say it was smooth but by then they were convinced I was crazy and there was nothing different about any of them.

The only other textured polish I had tried was Milani Yellow Mark which is creme. This baby has some sparkle too it which I very much like and gives it a whole different look. 

Some of the sparkle looks like it comes in larger silver glitter pieces which catch the light quite nicely. I didn't have any issues with the texture but usually that sort of thing doesn't bother me anyway. 

I wasn't sure I could be on board with the texture trend but after giving them a try I do like them. I am not rushing out to buy every texture in existence but I do quite like some of them. OPI is coming out with a couple non sparkle Liquid Sand Polishes for Fall which should be interesting. I think what I enjoy most about their take on texture is the sparkle. 

Another random background for you! I made a bunch of those little wine glass tags for my cousin's bridal shower. I had them all laid out so I could take a picture because I like to take pictures of all my projects. I figured it would make a distracting background for my mani pictures.

I am rather disappointed that I won't make it to the shower but with the car problems and work I won't be able to make it up there. 

That's all for now :)

Naughty Nautical

Hey Everyone!! I am not overly excited to get to the end of this week because my son will be going to his dads for two weeks. I am however ready to have a day off so I can sleep in a bit. I am so tired. I have a big polish organization project planned for this weekend and I am hoping to make it to the supply place to get a few things for a birthday package. I recently bought a lot of polishes for a ridiculously awesome price and it just arrived yesterday. I have no idea what I am going to do with all this polish but I can't pass up a good deal. I need to work on my self control when it comes to clearance, sales and great bargains. 

Today I have an awesome polish from Essie. Naughty Nautical is from the 2013 Summer Collection and it is gorgeous. This was the main polish I wanted from the collection but the one that seemed to sell out first. I finally found it at CVS where I was able to get a great deal on it with coupons and extra bucks. It was the last bottle so I was lucky to snag it and I am sure glad I did.

I will take nail pictures wherever and whenever I can as you can see. My mother and I were working on a cupcake cake and since the cake prototype was there I figured it would make a yummy background. Those stupid cupcakes were so very delicious too and every time I see the pictures I want more.

I used three coats of Naughty Nautical which is a gorgeous teal with a subtle shimmer.

The shimmer was hard to capture in pictures but it was there and very prominent when the light hit it the right way. Even when the shimmer wasn't overly obvious it gave this polish a gorgeous effect. 

I am surprised that for as much as I loved the color and shimmer I didn't take a million pictures of this mani. The color is so pretty and a great summer hue. I should do my next pedi with it. I actually love both polishes I have from this collection. I need to take another look at the other four colors too.

That's all for now :)

Incredible Hulk Smash!

Hey Everyone!! Happy Tuesday. Somehow I missed Monday and didn't get a Blue Monday Mani posted. I suck. I had one but the pictures aren't edited and we had to run some errands last night then I was just way too tired. I haven't gotten much sleep since Saturday night and I am so exhausted. I ordered a coffee this morning and I think they forgot to add the coffee. I don't know how much cream they added but it is more than any person should ever use in their coffee. I of course didn't notice this until I was already at work and took the first sip. No bueno. It is borderline gross actually. I think that is about it for my buying coffee in the morning. I am going to have to suck it up and make it at home because apparently putting cream and splenda in a cup of coffee isn't something the people at Mc Donalds can handle. 

Since I kinda took a little break there without even meaning to I have an Incredible mani for you today.

I used a base of Girly Bits Hulk Smash! I knew I needed this polish as soon as Pam announced it. 

Hulk Smash is a gorgeous bright green jelly with purple shards and tiny micro glitter in it. It looks a lot darker in the bottle than it does on the nail. 

Since I pretty much think I am 12 sometimes I stalked and stalked Llarowe until the FUN IP plates were stocked. This is FUN 11 and has an awesome assortment of cartoon characters. I knew I had to do an Incredible Hulk mani with the stamping plate and Hulk Smash. See, I told you this one was incredible ;) 

I used three coats of Hulk Smash for this mani. I didn't use a base under it but you could change the color of Hulk Smash depending on what you put under it. I wanted to use the color as it was made but next time I might layer it over a green to give it a different look. I love versatile polishes.

I made an Incredible Hulk stamping decal then added one on each ring finger. 

I used Essie Shake Your $$ Maker to color the Hulk in. I think it was the perfect Hulk color.

I LOVED THIS MANI! I am not a major comic book nerd but I do love my characters and didn't take this mani off for several days.

Now I want to do a ton of cartoon character manis. I need to do Iron Man! and the Sesame Street gang, Charlie Brown, Rainbow Brite...who am I kidding I need to do them ALL!  I absolutely love the images on the FUN IP stamping plates and they worked perfectly. I was worried the image would be too big for my nail but you can see Mr. Hulk fit nicely on my little nails. 

I was excited to show this mani to the girl that does my hair because she is into the comics and all that stuff. She enjoyed my Hulk mani. Now I just need to win the lottery so I can buy ALL of the FUN IP stamping plates!

That's all for now :)

Butter-Fly Stroke

Hey Everyone!! Well, it is still raining!! I actually love the rain but I would prefer for it to start after I get to work. When I am trying to get up in the morning and all I can hear is the sound of pouring rain it makes it very difficult to want to get out of bed. The good news is it is keeping me from doing my morning rounds where I check out the drug stores and Sally's on the way to work. I am sure it has saved me a few dollars. In more good news little Neil went to the vet today and though he has a urinary tract infection he is going to be fine and is not having the horrible issues we had when Bruce was young. We do have to start feeding both of them some special food which I am sure won't be cheap but at least he is ok. I was so worried about the little guy. I wish I had a video of this because I would loved to have seen it and be able to show you all. Apparently on the way back from the vet after he got meds and was feeling better Neil was sitting on my son's lap in the front seat and trying to catch the windshield wipers. It must have been quite hilarious to see. 

Today I have one of my Target clearance finds. I love clearance!! I usually buy the Sally Hansen Insta Dri polishes because they stamp well. I haven't tried this one for stamping yet.

This is Butter-Fly Stroke from the 2013 Limited Edition summer colors. It is a pretty buttery yellow color.

I used this pretty cool holo orange striping tape to put stripes on this mani. I hadn't used striping tape to actually make stripes that I leave on my nails yet so this was a new one for me.

Ok. I remembered why I don't love the Insta Dri polishes for actually nail painting when I did this mani. They have HUGE paddle brushes that make a huge mess because they are so huge and engulf my nails. I don't like the brushes, at all, not even a little bit. They are ranked only slightly higher than the Wet N Wild/Spoiled brushes. I do like the Insta Dri polishes and have several of them and they are usually great for stamping.

I actually tried to do a completely different mani with this color and others and the striping tape but it was an EPIC fail and I had to take it off immediately. It was really bad and looked very candy corn like. Since it was already late I figured this was going to have to suffice. I actually ended up really liking this mani however it was the first time I used the striping tapes for stripes and I didn't really know what I was doing.

The tape went on pretty well but then I went and put top coat on it and it freaked out. Some of the tape wrinkled a little and some of it lifted. I was able to keep it on there for most of the duration of the mani but the edges did lift. I need to check with other people more experienced with this tape but I am thinking perhaps it shouldn't be top coated.

I think it might be time to kick photobucket to the curb. I had a heck of a time trying to figure out what it did with these pictures. I keep uploading to this one album and it uploads successfully but when I log in at work the pictures are not where they should be and the only way I can find them is by looking in recent uploads. I don't have time for difficult things. I am going to have to suck it up and get the storage on Google. Does anyone else use photobucket and have this problem? It could be operator error but really it isn't rocket science. I tell it to upload to my mani folder then look in my mani folder the next day and it isn't there. OY. 

That's all for now :)

Shake Your $$ Maker

Hey Everyone! It is quite a gloomy day today and has been raining non stop since at least 5:30 am. It is ok because I love the rain and it fits my mood. We had to take my car back to the mechanic (yes again) and now they are saying we need to rebuild the engine to a tune of around $3,000. I am trying to avoid thinking about it but it is rather stressful. 

Today I have a great polish from Essie.

Shake your $$ Maker from the 2013 Neons Collection. I wouldn't say this is a neon polish but it is a bright green sheer jelly.

This is on the sheer side of the jelly spectrum and took me 4 coats,  4 coats!!!!! I was not pleased with using 4 coats. I didn't layer it over white though Essie does suggest using these neons over white.

As you can see there is still visible nail line and you can see all the little imperfections of my nail which isn't really a good thing. I do love the color as it is a very bright, vibrant green.

I will tell you that both my father and fiancé (whom we will refer to as C from now on because I think the word fiancé is weird) who rarely notice my nails commented on this mani, more than once.  They both loved the color and actually noticed it on their own so that says a lot about this polish.  

It took awhile for this color to grow on me. I am pretty sure my negativity toward it stemmed from having to apply four coats to get the coverage and color I wanted. When I finally got over that the color started to grow on me and now I love it.

It was hard to photograph because I couldn't capture how bright it was and then in direct sunlight it looks a little too bright like the picture above. 

I actually passed this polish up several times. When I first saw it I wanted it but then got to thinking that I am sure I have something similar and put it back. We did that dance a good 3 or 4 times on different shopping trips.

I finally broke down and bought it because I had some coupons and extra bucks at CVS but they didn't have any of the other colors I wanted and this lone bottle of Shake Your $$ Maker was sitting there begging to come home with me. I finally gave in and am so glad I did.

I don't think I realized this collection was full of jellies until I started applying this polish. I think I need to look into the other polishes now too. 

That's all for now :)