Essie Sable Collar

Hey Everyone! I thought today was Thursday and then was highly disappointed when I realized it was only Wednesday. Bummer. I have started to move into the Valentine's Day manis, however, I don't have any ready to post yet. Those should be coming up soon. 

Today I have very unique polish from Essie. It is from the 2013 Winter Collection or the Shearling Darling Collection. I am still not sure if Essie actually names their collections or if they just pick one of the colors and put the name up on the display. 

This gorgeous color is Sable Collar. It is a brownish purple with are really pretty pink opal shimmer. I absolutely love this color.

I used two coats of Sable Collar for this mani. I did get a couple of tiny chips really quickly when wearing this polish but they weren't really noticeable and I went two days with this mani.

A lovely nail friend gifted me a mini bottle of this polish and I am so happy she did. I just about forgot about this one until I saw the bottle. Essie is not my usual go to brand but I do absolutely love some of their polishes and colors.

The coloring is a little off in these next two pictures due to the sunlight but I had to show the shimmer. It really popped in the light on my drive home. 

The polish looks so glowy in these two pictures. Sable Collar is definitely a winner!!

That's all for now :)

July Festive Mani

Hey Everyone!!! I can see again!! I could actually always see but some days it was more uncomfortable than others. Today my eye is actually bugging me a little more than it was yesterday but it isn't as bad as it was. Luckily it started feeling better before the $350 eye drops they wanted me to use. I politely said heck no I am not spending that much on a 30 day supply of eye drops you are out of your mind. That was WITH a discount coupon too. Hopefully it feels completely better within a week and I don't have to think about those eye drops again. For now I am using the gel and ointment and drops you can get over the counter and things are improving. 

Today I have my after the 4th of July festive July 4th mani. I loved this mani after I did it but I used the Elmer's Glue base for easier removal and after one hour at the kennel I had some chipping. I took pictures and then removed the mani which sadly didn't even last 24 hours.

I used a base of Essie Hide & Go Chic from their 2014 Spring Collection. I used two coats.

I topped Hide & Go Chic with my July 4th Franken. I used two coats of the franken.

This mani was quite sparkly and fun. I almost want to do it again because I loved it so much and it didn't get to stay on for very long. 

That's all for now :)

Zoya Channing

Hey Everyone!! Once again I got a late start on editing and posting because I had to wait my turn for the computer. I am going to try and get ahead a little bit this weekend so that I can get the posts up earlier. We will see how that goes.

Tonight I have Zoya Channing from the Fall Cashmeres and Satins collection. Channing is from the Satins part of the collection.

I used three coats of Channing. It is a gorgeous metallic rusty copper red shade. 

Since I can't leave anything alone I had to try some stamping over it. I really loved the color of Channing and thought gold would look nice. I was also too lazy to go look for a copper polish to stamp but I really like the way the gold looks so my laziness worked out well. I used Essie Good as Gold for the stamping. 

I stamped with Cheeky plate CH-44 from their 2012 Summer collection. I think these look slightly like brass knuckles which I don't mind at all. 

C was very upset because I hadn't shown him this mani last night and he says it is the coolest one I have done lately. He only noticed it because he came up behind me while I was editing the pictures. Perhaps he should pay more attention.

I really liked the metallic color combination for this mani and it was nice and bold and kept catching my attention throughout the day. Definitely one of my favorites.

I meant to take a picture of Channing without the stamping but I completely forgot about it. I will definitely be using this polish again so I will have to remember to get pictures of it then. 

That's all for now :)

Mexican Nails

Hey Everyone!! It is finally Friday which is my friend. I have a throat infection which is not my friend. I will probably make this one short because I really just want to go relax on the couch. Last night I had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant with my PE teacher who now teaches my son PE. Crazy huh? I babysat her kids who are now 21 and 18 and now she is teaching my 15 year old. It is crazy. Since I wanted to be festive for the event I went with a Mexican theme on the nail art.

I used several colors for this mani. All of them were Essie except the black I used for stamping. To start off I used two coats of Marshmallow for the base. I then sponged Shorty Pants, Orange it's Obvious, Shake Your $$ Maker and an unlabeled mini red polish on as background.

I used black polish and Bundle Monster plate BM-H24 from the holiday plate set for the stamping. I stamped the maracas and the chili pepper design and made stamping decals for the sombreros. 

I used Shorty Pants and Orange, it's Obvious to fill in the decals. I actually had green sombreros on my thumb but I didn't get a picture of those.

I thought it was a pretty festive mani but the base was a little darker than I had thought and I wasn't able to use the cactus image so that was a bummer. I will have to use that one another time.

I still have this mani on today since I got home too late to change my mani last night. I still love it. Nice and festive.

I doubt I will be going to Mexico anytime soon but I am going to have to find a reason to do Mexican nails again.

I was surprised I had enough Essie colors to pull this one off. I had taken a blue out as well but it didn't make it's way into the mani.

Ew, I just remembered I am supposed to gargle with salt water. yuck.

That's all for now :)

Power Clutch and School of Hard Rocks

Hey Everyone!! It is almost Friday! Yay! I think I am getting sick. I might just be losing my mind. I think I have a swollen lymph node which generally means you are sick from what I read but I don't feel sick yet. I am going to the doctor tomorrow because I am a paranoid freak. T has a sore throat currently so I am really hoping he isn't getting sick. The weather has gone from cold front to 80 degrees back to cold front which I don't think is helping. I am absolutely loving the cool air though. I should have worn socks today since my feet are freezing. Right now I am seriously regretting not buying a pair of boots. My feet are cold in their sockless flats.

Continuing on with Essie week I have two polishes to show you today.

For this mani I used Essie Power Clutch from the 2011 Fall Carry On collection and School of Hard Rocks from the 2011 Winter Cocktail Bling Collection. I used three coats of Power Clutch on my index and pinky fingers and three coats of School of Hard Rocks on my ring and middle finger.

I used the opposite color to stamp with Cheeky Jumbo-A plate. This was the first time my rectangular squishy stamper and I got along fabulously. You can see where a bit of the pattern was messed up on my ring finger but that was my fault.

When I first looked at these pictures I almost forgot which color I used where. Due to the pattern they looked the same to me. I figured it out but because I left after dark last night so I had to rely on indoor and dim lighting some of the pictures were useless. 

This is one of those pictures that the colors look really close.

I really love both of these colors. They are dark and cozy looking. Both applied very nicely and stamped really well.

I need to do something about my indoor lighting situation.

I attempted to take a picture under the light in my car. It wasn't awful and at least you can see the difference in the two colors.

That reminds me I should go take pictures of my mani before the sun goes down and I am stuck using indoor lighting again.

I should probably brush my hair too since I am going out to dinner tonight and I have yet to brush it today. 

That's all for now :)

Essie Trophy Wife

Hey Everyone!! Today I am so tired I really wish I had a nice large coffee to drink. I might think about going to get one at lunch. We will see. Apparently some cool weather has come into town. I hadn't finished making my fingerless gloves because it is hard to think about gloves when it is 80 degrees out. My hands are cold today and I could use them, doesn't that just figure.

Today I have a great Essie polish for you. 

Essie Trophy Wife. Essie describes it as "a perfect deep teal pearl" It is quite a pretty polish.

I used three coats for this mani. This is one of the older Essie polishes I own. It looks metallic and doesn't show a ton of brush strokes so it is an A in my book. 

I would have done nail art of some sort over this mani but it was so late. I had done a gel mani since my nails are all weak and thin and on the verge of breaking. It took me about 2 hours to do the gel mani. Best part about the 2 hour gel mani is that it looks like all I did was put clear on my nails. I posted a picture on Instagram. I need get a link to it on here at some point. I think I like Instagram.

I bet this polish would be nice stamped. I am going to have to try that.

I really enjoyed the color but I was itching to do some stamping on this polish all day. I never did but boy did I want to.

Since we haven't seen Bruce in awhile I figured I would get a picture of him up. He was being really mean the other day so we put a shirt on him. This is his security shirt. He cracks me up when he sits in the window with his security shirt on. He looks so pleasant.

That's all for now :) 

I won a giveaway and Parka Perfect.

Hey Everyone!!! Omg what a Monday it has been and it is only 11:05. Apparently my phone did something stupid last night and the alarm didn't go off. T had to come wake me up at 6:42 asking why I hadn't woken him up for school yet. My phone wouldn't turn on and the red light that comes on when it is being charged was lit up. It was non responsive to anything but taking the battery out We have no idea what happened. It may have not been plugged into the wall completely but the phone was in a weird frozen state of not wanting to turn on. I was too tired when I got back from dropping him off so I didn't try out the new exercise bike. I didn't want to get up for work either. It threw everything off not having that shower to wake me up before taking him to school. Then when I was getting ready to leave C couldn't locate his wallet which could have been a major issue. He found it in the laundry. I stopped by CVS to get a drink and that took longer than expected so I was late to work. When I got to work our container arrived and the moron driver parked it so crooked that I can't park in my normal spot. The warehouse guy was trying to convince me I fit but I didn't feel comfortable parking there. Instead of actually telling me I needed to not park at the other space he didn't so when the delivery of stuff just arrived guess who had to go and move her car? Yup I had to squeeze it in between my boss' car and the truck anyway. 

Today I have a mani for you and some pictures from an awesome giveaway I recently won. THANK YOU TAMMY!!! Not too long ago The Canadian Nail Fanatic held a giveaway and I was totally surprised and stoked to find out I won it! I was so excited. If you aren't already a follower go over there and follow, you won't regret it! Tammy does AMAZING stamping manis and is a sweetheart! I always check out her blog for stamping inspiration and if I ever want to see what a plate looks like I check her blog to see if she has used it. Seriously, follow her! I actually pulled her blog up to get the link and realized I wasn't yet following her on Instagram so I had to do that before posting. 

The giveaway was back in November and it was for 3 Dashica plates of your choice and two Sally Hansen Nail Prisms. I was super stoked at the prospect of getting the plates alone but the Nail Prisms were unicorns I never attempted to hunt down because I thought it would be impossible to find. I was crazy excited to win. This is what actually came in the package, Tammy snuck some extra goodies in there as well as the plates and polishes.

Some cute nail decals and a plastic scraper. I have been wanting to try out a plastic scraper so that is way cool. Those decals are super cute too. I love hearts.

Not only did she send the nail prisms but also a cute W7 glitter too!

I had picked Dash55 because of the cat images. I need to do cat manis! It is a need!

I loved the rain clouds and that star pattern on Dash54. I love rain.

Dash8 has that heart pattern that I could not resist. I think the flowers are super cute too but those hearts won me over.

There was also some tea, chocolate and that cute little gingerbread man. Super awesome prize package! Thank you so much Tammy!!! I love your blog and I loved this prize so much!

I of course had to use the plates asap. I had picked up Essie Parka Perfect from their 2013 Winter collection when I had some extrabucks at CVS. I figured it would be perfect to use with the rain on Dash54. When I pulled out the plates I was struck by the swirly pattern on Dash55 and used it instead.

I used three coats of Parka Perfect and three coats of Essie Chinchilly on my ring finger. Parka Perfect has a really pretty shimmer to it in the bottle but it is pretty hidden on the nail. That was slightly disappointing but the color is so pretty it makes up for it. I am not a huge fan of Essie because most of the polish I find streaky and thin and difficult to apply. Chinchilly was fine but Parka Perfect started out with that same thin and streaky consistency I am not fond of. It ended up being ok but I did need the three coats to make sure it was even. 

When I started stamping I was a little concerned that neither polish would stamp well enough to be seen on the other color. I was really surprised and thrilled with how well the stamping came out.

Chinchilly I thought would stamp decently because it is a little thicker and darker. It worked very nicely. Parka Perfect actually stamped really well and shows up very nicely over Chinchilly. I am still surprised this worked out so well. I am loving the Dash plate as well. The image is crisp and clear and so pretty. I can't wait to try the other designs out.

I didn't get a lot of pictures of this mani unfortunately. It was really very pretty. I was kind of reminded of drapes or a very pretty couch. I love these colors together.

I want to say another big thank you to Tammy over at Canadian Nail Fanatic! Also if you want to go check out the Dash plates you can see the website here. There is a new line of Infinity plates that they just released recently too. Now that I have tried these babies I am going to have to get more. They are great little plates with super cute designs.

That's all for now :)