Black Polka Dotted Limoncello

Hey Everyone!!! I am one of the most clumsy people ever. I just moved a huge stack of papers off the copy machine into the box the finished copies go into. In the process I managed to swipe the big stack across my top lip. It feels like at least one paper cut if not several small ones. That is talent. Not a talent I necessarily want though. The dentist went pretty good yesterday. The tooth is not infected or in need of major repair. A little tiny piece came off the side of it and she thinks that may have caused the sensitivity and pain, possibly. There is now some bonder on there which will hopefully protect and seal the tooth and keep it hanging on for as long as possible. I have to be really diligent about wearing my night guard though. I tend to forget. I feel like a football player or something when I put this stupid thing in my mouth. It isn't my favorite but it is far better than the root canal.

Today I have an awesome mani to show you. I absolutely LOVE this color and want to paint all the things with it. It reminds me of those little kiddie motorcycle/car rides they have at carnivals. It seriously makes me think of the carnival when I was a kid. It is also sparkly and pretty and I need a guitar in that color because it would be awesome.

This picture makes the bottle more neon than it really is in person. It is a less neon more of a soft lime green yellow in person in the bottle but it didn't play nice in pictures. I used Nubar Black Polka Dot and Layla Softouch Effect 06 Limoncello. I got the Layla on clearance at Ulta on a whim and I am so glad I did.

The Layla Softouch Effects polishes have a distinct finish that is neither completely matte or completely suede. They are a non shiny finish that looks soft if that makes sense. It is an interesting effect and I enjoyed it for the 2.5 seconds that it stayed that way.

These first shots are sun shots, obviously, because I wanted to catch the insane sparkle for you. I had picked this polish out with the intention of using Black Polka Dot on top from the get go. I didn't think about it at first but obviously if you put a glitter topper over a matte it will no longer be matte. Duh. I also didn't think to take pictures of the polish before I altered the intended finish. Another duh. 

Once I put the first coat of Black Polka Dot on I totally lost all focus and fell in love with Limoncello. It transformed the polish from a soft pretty color to a sparkling bright wow color. I couldn't catch the sparkle on camera no matter how much I tried but this baby sparkles!

I actually kept this mani on for three days that is how much I loved it. I used three coats of Limoncello which still left a bit of visible nail line. The polish is on the sheer side but it is gorgeous so it is ok. I topped it with one coat of Black Polka Dot and then top coat. 

Black Polka Dot is a great black glitter. I jumped on the Polka Dot set from Nubar when it came out because it was that awesome. I love black and white glitter. The only thing that could make this one better is if it was round glitter to truly make it a Polka Dot.

A nice close up shot for you. You can see a little bit of the sparkle in Limoncello and the fun Black Polka Dots.

Every polish I have tried from Layla has knocked my socks off. I really like this brand. I pretty much want to stalk all of the Ultas and try to get as many of these as possible. I bought this awhile back so I am thinking they won't be easy to find now though. 

I am going to have to do a mani for you guys without adding a top coat so you can see what the polish is supposed to look like. I really don't know if I can resist making it this sparkling awesomeness though. 

That's all for now :)

A Contest that I Won and a Small Haul

Hey Everyone!!! Oh what a month! I sort of forgot that school was wrapping up and that means tons of events and lots of money is needed for various things. I totally forgot that last night was my son's last concert of the year. What makes that even worse is I am an officer in the Band Parent Association. We scrambled around Wed night getting stuff for the concession stand and I spent all night at the school last night. I think the concert went well but I was holding down the fort at the concession stand most of the night so I didn't really get to check out the bands. Monday night they are going to play the National Anthem at the Miami Marlins Baseball game which is way cool and very exciting. I will definitely have pictures from that! 

Today I have to show you the awesome contest I won from Stephanie over at At Peace with Polish. She had a baby hunch contest before the birth of her son baby E and I actually won. I thought it was the most unique and fun contest and had such a blast entering. If you don't follow Stephanie's blog I highly suggest you do!! She is super cute and I love her blog. Go follow her here, I can't wait for you to get back :) 

THANK YOU STEPHANIE and BABY E!!!!! She sent me three awesome polishes that I can't wait to wear and blog about!

 

Revlon Hearts of Gold fx, Nail Sauce Abalone Shell and Layla Flash Black.

 

This picture was supposed to be a picture better showing the polishes but I don't think I quite captured that. Duh for me. I am super excited and trying to figure out if I could use all three together lol I love them!!! THANK YOU AGAIN STEPHANIE!!! 

Now the next three polishes I picked up when I was making my polish hunting rounds. I tend to frequent the stores in case they suddenly have something awesome appear. Most of the time I just look but on some occasions there is actually something interesting going on. I saw the new Sinful Colors line at Walgreens the other day and was super excited. The Sinful Shine with Gel Tech is supposed to be "5x more glossy than a patent leather shoe". Um, ok. I am not really sure where they came up with that or how they tested and came up with an exact 5x amount but hey whatever floats your marketing boat.

 

 

I picked up two colors. I made a quick decision because I really had to pee and my son was not being of any help in picking out colors. I picked Steel Reserve and Amazonian. They are more than regular Sinful Colors polishes at $2.99 each but when you are getting "5x more glossy than a patent leather shoe" you are going to have to pay a little extra! I tried Steel Reserve quickly on my toes one day when I was about to head out the door in flip flops. It was a rush job because I was literally heading out the door so I don't have much input on them yet. I can say they were pretty glossy but I will have to do a full mani before I come to any conclusion on them. 

I also happened to pop into Sally Beauty Supply and found one of the 2013 Wild About Spring colors on clearance. 

 

I passed on Fishin' for Fun when I saw the whole collection because I don't do pink very often. I must say though that this one and Are You Hoppy were on my radar when the collection was out but I resisted. When I found it on clearance and had a coupon I decided it could come home with me. Had Are You Hoppy been there it would have come home too lol.

 

Something about the colors of this one makes me happy. I will have to wear this one soon! 

That's all for now :)

P.S. ohhh next week I have an awesome preview of a few of the Shipwreck summer collection from Smitten Polish. I am super excited about them! I can't wait to show you all how awesome the collection is!

Layla Green Galaxy (CE 54)

Hey Everyone!! Running a little late tonight but I hope this mani makes up for it. 

Tonight I have one of the Layla polishes from their Christmas in Laylaland collection. It does not have a name on the bottle but after looking it up this color is called Green Galaxy (CE 54) It is one of Layla's Ceramic Effects polishes and it is GORGEOUS! I picked it up after Christmas when it was on clearance and I wish I had gotten the others now.

Green Galaxy (CE 54) is a gorgeous green jelly base with small glitter and larger hex glitter.

I used two coats but I could have used three. The pictures show some balding that I didn't notice until macro decided to show me loud and clear.

I still have some issues with applying jelly polishes. This was very easy to apply I just don't use a light enough hand.

I LOVE THIS POLISH! 

I wish it was easier to find Layla polishes. I also wish they were a little bit easier on my wallet but this polish is so pretty I almost don't mind the cost. Almost.

I love the shade of this polish, it reminds me of jello. I am hungry right now lol.

I bought one other Layla called The Butterfly Effect (CE 52) which I can't wait to wear. It looks amazing in the bottle so I am betting it will look amazing on the nail. 

Sadly I had a really bad break, as you can see. The other day my ring finger nail broke on this same hand so now I have semi nubbins and a mutant nail on my left hand. I guess it is time to switch back to my right hand for photos. 

That's all for now :)

Ocean Rush at the Ocean

Hey Everyone!! Today I have Saturday's beach day mani for you! We went to the beach for a few hours in the morning and I took the rare occasion to wear a holo. Whenever I wear holo nail polishes I end up with no sun. The first little bit we were there was no exception! It was bright out but there was cloud cover that was blocking the sun. It figures. The sun did come out, I have a nasty burn to prove it. I almost posted a picture of that but figured it would not be nice to subject you all to. I do have beach and holo pictures for you instead though.

It was pretty windy and the waves were pretty rough. I love the waves though so it worked out well for me. This was later in the morning when the clouds cleared.

A picture down the beach.

It was a great day until it started getting TOO hot and we ran for air conditioning.

Layla Ocean Rush.

I kept shoving my hand in ds' face asking if they saw the rainbows. I think that got annoying.

I used two coats. After being in the water a couple of hours it was rather chippy as you can see on my pinkie.

The holo is strong and the color is gorgeous. I used Nfu Oh Aqua Base as a base for this one because I knew it would work and I didn't want to play around with base coats.

 I also used topcoat. It didn't seem to dull the holo at all.

The mani didn't last long due to the chipping but it sure was pretty while it did.

Since I have rarely seen a holo ON ME in the sun I was very impressed with this one. 

Application was decent. I have tried to use a Layla holo before without the Aqua Base and I have had some application issues but this time things went a little better.

I now need to try my other holos but I am avoiding all contact with the sun for awhile.

That's all for now :)

Layla Turquoise Wave

Hey Everyone! This is a bit late because Mr. Bruce Kittlee Master Ninja Warrior took a misstep in the litter box and needed his feet cleaned. I had the unfortunate pleasure of giving the brat a bath. Usually he is a pretty good bath taker with only a little bit of resistance but tonight he wanted no part of it. He managed to scratch the crap out of my arm and bruise me as well scratching the crap out of my eye. After cleaning the cat, medicating my eye and all that fun stuff I realized the computer was stolen for a few rounds of spider solitaire. lol. BUT I have it back now and here we go.

Today I have a Layla Magneffect polish for you. I found this in the special Walgreens that has huge amounts of OPI and various other cool things that normal stores don't have. I intended on checking the price but wasn't paying much attention and bought it before realizing it was $11.99. A bit high for my liking and I contemplated returning it because I felt it was more expensive than I could justify. I finally decided to keep it and I am so glad I did. I took a ton of pictures for you because it is THAT awesome.

Layla Magneffect in Turquoise Wave. This baby is a gorgeous.

The magnet for these polishes is actually on the cap. THIS is the only issue I have with this polish. It made it somewhat of a pain to work with because of the placement. You either have to apply a coat then put the cap back on the bottle to turn the bottle over and use the magnet OR turn the cap over and let the polish drip down the brush. I guess you could pry the magnet off and put it somewhere else but with my luck I would lose it.

I held the magnet a different way for each nail so I could see the different patterns it could create. You are pretty much stuck with lines either horizontal,vertical or diagonal. The other issue is the line that runs between the two half circle magnets. I think it makes a little gap in the design which I didn't like. It is hard enough to work with magnets since they don't curve with the nail but the gap in my opinion creates more space than need be on the nail.

The result is gorgeous though. In real life when you move your nails it seems to move with you. If you have ever seen cat eye beads it does the exact same thing as the beads. It is really gorgeous.

Each nail was one coat then magnetized. I messed up on one of my pinkies because I touched the magnet to the nail. That pinkie was redone by putting another coat on. If you apply another coat it erases the pattern and you just start over.

I absolutely LOVE this polish and went back to buy another one but chickened out at the last minute. I really want more of these but like I said at $11.99 it hurts a little more. Can you tell I don't have many of the more expensive brand polishes in my collection?

I looked these up online to see if there was an etailer that sells them and according to Aveyou.com they were released nationally on 7/31/11. Aveyou.com carries them for $13.50 each. I have never shopped with them so I have no personal experience with their service. These polishes might start to pop up elsewhere soon.

There are 12 colors in the line.

Layla is an Italian company coming from Milan. Considering it is an Italian polish and Walgreens has it cheaper than online I think I just talked myself into running out and getting more lol.

I could rave about this polish all night but I think a cookie and drink are in order after the evil bath experience.

That's all for now :)