Monday, May 31, 2010

Zoya Exchange Haul

Remember me saying, "Look what I got!"
Well goodness, I have been doing NOTD posts and forgot to let you know what I got.

Here is a quick shot of the goodies:
Zoya Exchange Haul

Top Row (l to r): Ginessa, Bekka, Gabrielle, Charla, Pru
Bottom Row (l to r): Adina, Perrie, Dea, Goldie, Raven

These were the best pics I could get because no picture I took caputured
all of the colors correctly. Stay tuned for actual swatches.

After this haul I think that I have more Zoyas than any other polish.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Going, Going, Gone

Yep, the amount of time it took for me to type the title was probably the amount of time it took for me to gobble this delight down. One of my faves.

What are you getting from the ice cream truck this summer?

Friday, May 28, 2010

Hidden Treasures on the Lagoon

Another corny post title but whatever. You knew it was going to be about the lovely Hidden Treasure from Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure line. This is once coat layered of Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure Lagoon.
Sally Hansen Lagoon with Hidden Treasure







Sally Hansen Lagoon with Hidden Treasure Sally Hansen Lagoon with Hidden Treasure


I am going to like this Hidden Treasure polish no doubt!!!

Sally Hansen Lagoon

Here is a quick swatch of the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure color Lagoon. I am still trying to get used to this brush. The wide brush is still hard for me maniuplate therefore more cleanup necessary. I actually did this while sitting in the car being a soccer mom so focus on the color more than anything.
Sally Hansen Lagoon
This picture was taken prior to cleanup but after going through the million of shots this one is most true to color as well.

I think I am going put some Hidden Treasures on top and see how it looks.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Iced Out Raspberry Ice

So it isn't iced out in diamonds but there is a little bling factor with the glitter. Naming my posts is such a pain sometimes. This mani was inspired by a mani that I saw on a forum I belong to. The mani was pretty simple but she had drawn the thiniest line of contrasting polish color along the tip of her nail. When I say thin I mean very thin, a lot less than a french mani. It was such a nice look and very basic but that thin line gave it just the right amount of "oomph" (that is a word I am sure) to give it a second look. I couldn't do my lines quite as thin and uniform so I went with a second line of glitter. I like this mani a lot. Hope you like it too.

I used Orly Raspberry Ice as the base color and LA Colors Art Deco Pens in white and silver glitter for the tips.

Orly Raspberry Ice Art

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Pssst...Look What Came In the Mail

Not a lot of time right now but I will give you a sneak peek at the box I opened today. JOY!!! Zoya joy!! Smile with me please.

Zoya Exchange Haul

I'll be back later to fill you on what I got. Should I even be considering doing another exchange? Gotta run!!

Orly Raspberry Ice

This pinkish purplish beauty is another Orly I am happy to welcome to my collection. My Orly collection went from 1 to 5 thanks to a clearance table at Sally's. Raspberry Ice went on like a charm and will give you nice coverage in 2 coats. If you are in a hurry you can get by with one but may see some nail line.

Orly Raspberry Ice

That funky groove on my ring finger is from a silk patch. Suffice it to say I am no expert at the patching thing so I think some more buffing at the edges is in order. My nail has grown some so the patch is no longer right near my cuticle. The two nails I do have patches on have not gotten caught on any snags though so I think I can live with this until it grows out a little more.

Orly Raspberry Ice

Both pictures have 2 coats of the Orly Raspberry Ice and 1 coat of OPI topcoat (along with some drying drops).
Sorry for the grainy photos. I have been trying some different settings on my camera and I think I have the ISO setting to high.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Milani Tricky Treat + Flair

My feelings about the Milani Tricky Treat are definitely on the "trick" side now seeing that it has been less than 36 hours and it already chipping. Perfect time to dibble dabble with new toys. I am not much of an artist but I did get a dotting tool that has a fine tipped brushed. It reminds me of my Sonia Kashuk Bent Eyliner Brush.
Dotting Tool Brush End
After unsuccessfully trying the dotting tool I flipped it and decided to see what kind of freehand design I could come up with. Trust me when I say I am no artist but it is fun to pretend sometimes. Then when it is time to look at my creation I am brought rudely back to reality. Oh well, nothing beats a failure like a try and sometimes it is just really fun trying.

Here is my creation.







Milani Tricky Treat Nail ArtMilani Tricky Treat Nail Art


I am open to "you should've", "I would've", and "try this" types of feedback. Input is always welcome here.

Sorry, I forgot to mention Wet N Wild Black Creme is the black polish I used.

Milani Tricky Treat, I Am Saying Tricky but Maybe Treat

This polish has me sitting on both sides of the fence. First off the color isn't one that I would usually wear. It seemed a little dull initially but the more I looked at it I could appreciate the metallic look. What exactly this color is I was hoping maybe one of my readers could help me out. The bottle looks like a shimmer tan/gray/hint of rose mix. Told ya, I need some help here. On the nail some mix between gray and tan. That sounds odd but I ended up liking it. There is the "treat".

Milani Tricky Treat
The "tricky" was the application of this polish. Probably one of strangest applications and formulations I have dealt with. First off the brush is thin with not a lot of spread so it took at least 3 strokes to cover most of my nails and then another half a stroke. Thumbs down to that. Then, on top of that, while the polish seems normal in the bottle it applies like an old, thick, goopy polish. CONFUSING. I battled to get a halfway decent (indudge me please) mani out of this. Two coats is sufficient if you can manage to get it all perfect in 2 coats. I surely didn't. Maybe some Konading is in order.

Milani Tricky Treat
This is the second Milani Polish I have used. The first one, Garnet Gems, gave me no issues at all so I won't form an opinion on the overall brand just yet. There are still a few more Milani's in my untried stash that I am willing to give a shot.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Dotting Tool- Tips Please

This seems like a fairly straightforward tool to use but I want to know if I am being deceived. Whenever there is something that looks really easy it turns out not to be so. Hopefully this will be as easy as it looks.

Dotting Tool

If you have used this tool before please chime in with some pointers and and save me if it isn't as easy as it looks. If it is as easy as it looks, cool, that'll be a first.
ALL TIPS WELCOME!!! THANKS.

More Giveaways

The app I use to update my other giveaway page isn't available to me at the momement so I am just going to do a simple blogposts with a buch of the giveaways I have come across.


Pimp My Nails First Giveaway

Ends May 24th

You can win the cute pink stamping set from Essence
and also the new
Catrice color Big Spender Wanted!




Zoya Underrated Beauties Giveaway!
Ends June 1st.

For the win is:
Zoya Raine
Zoya Bailey
Zoya Brizia
Zoya Coco
Zoya Flowie
Zoya Gaia
Zoya Pasha
Zoya Sasha.


Ends June 10th

Set #1
H&M Hello Kitty "Garden Green" (light shimmer green)
H&M "Mambo" (purple cream)
H&M "Bella's Choice (bright Tiffany blue)
Set#2
H&M Hello Kitty "Turquoise Kitty" (turquoise with tiny sparse silver microglitter)
H&M "Mambo" (purple cream)
H&M "Blue my Mind" (royal blue creme)



"Katrina's Favorites" Giveaway!
Ends May 31st

- Covergirl's Disco Dazzle
- Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure
- China Glaze's Strawberry Fields
- China Glaze's For Audrey
- OPI's Absolutely Alice
- OPI's Jade Is The New Black

Friday, May 21, 2010

Finally Did A Konad Again..

I feel like it has been forever since I have done a Konad. Coming from doing one every 2-3 days to recently seeming like every 2-3 weeks it is my forever. On to eye candy because I know that is what you are waiting for.

Konad S6 5-19-10

For this Konad I used Sally Hansen Sea and Be Seen as the basecoat. Using Konad plate s6 and Zoya Ibiza I did a single stamp on each finger. Whoa, what a pain to try and get these centered. My trick for this print was to focus on the line down the middle of the image and try to get that down the middle of my nail. I did my right hand first since I never photo that one. Sad to say my left hand is better than the right hand I am still not totally pleased with the left. You will notice that I tried double stamping my ring finger. That is the longest nail so why not do something a little different.

Konad S6 5-19-10Konad S6 5-19-10

What made me really happy is the checkout lady at the grocery store told me she liked my nails. She went on to ask if I get them done in my area. I let her in that I do them myself.

Don't you love when you get compliments on your nails and people think you had them done by someone else. Made my day!!!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

My Orly Family Has Multiplied...

Well, I only had one Orly polish, Green With Envy, which I adore. Now my Green With Envy has some family members to join it. I love clearance tables!!

Orly Haul 5-18-10


From left to right:
Orly Glam
Orly Prisma Gloss- gold
Orly Enchanted Forest
Orly Raspberry Ice

Yippee, I really liked the application of the Green with Envy so I am excited to try these as well!!! What is your favorite Orly color?

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sally Hansen Sea and Be Seen

Now that I have tried to fix my 2 nails the best that I can on to the polishing. I was uber-excited to try the polishes I won from Dolly. Surprisingly enough I didn't try the Hidden Treasures first I went for the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Sea and Be Seen. This purply-blue or bluey-purple depending on you lighting has lots of tiny flecks of glitter giving the polish a nice sparkle. It just dawned on my as I type this that this series is supposed to be a basecoat, strengthener, growth treatment, color, and topcoat combined. Oops, old habits die hard and I had on OPI Basecoat.

Here it is looking more blue:

Sally Hansen Sea And Be Seen



Here it is looking more purple:

Sally Hansen Sea And Be Seen

The brush took some getting used to. I have never used a brush like this and it was interesting to get used to. One stroke will cover the majority of your nail with a little on one or both edges depending on your technique. So how do I get that little bit left without have another whole stroke over the majority of my nail. I am all about uniformity and proper technique but it just seemed like I was overlapping way to much nail when I painted the second stroke. It all turned out fine in the end though.

To Keep or Not to Keep...Your Broken Nail That Is

The other day a came across Colette's video on patching your nails and it dawned on me that I have never really, really gone through any extraordinary mearsures to save a nail that may be about to break. The typical course of action for me is to tear it off and wait until it grows back. Recently I did try some nail glue because the tear was so low into my nail bed it would have been insanely painful to have it break all the way across. The thought was to glue it, let it grow out some and then break it off.

Glue was a pain, pretty messy, and it still felt like my nail was snagging. The video shows how to apply a silk patch to your nail. Seemed like it was worth a shot so I went out and got the necessary supplies. I won't go into details just check head over to My Simple Little Pleasures.








Nail Repair 5-18-10 NailRepair 5-18-10 NailRepair 5-18-10


The pics show a cut up strip, my nail with the patch on, and what it looked like after patching. You can see the tear in the nail a little bit in the second picture under the patch but it was hard to take a picture of. I also did a second nail with the same type of tear. Hopefully this works because I would like to be able to save some of my longer nails. I'll let you know the results. Mind you this is my first time doing it so I may need to perfect my technique some before I get maximum results.

Do you bother trying to save your nail or do you just let it go and start fresh? Just curious as to what measures you go to and what products have proven successful for you.

Monday, May 17, 2010

I WON I WON I WON

First off before I say anything a big THANK YOU to Dolly from A Day in the Life of Dollface. She has some fabulousness on her blog and always look forward to new posts from her.

I always enter giveaways hoping to win but thinking I never will. Guess what... I WON (in case you didn't figure that out by now)! Since I won I have kept pretty quiet about it because I wanted to be able to show everyone the goods and my gosh the goods are GORGEOUS. She sent me my first Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes and I am so ready to try them out.

I got Lagoon, Hidden Treasure (everybody scream!!), and Sea And Be Seen. She also sent a cute little note thanking me for being a follower. How sweet is that.

Sally Hansen Winnings

My daughter still jokes with me about when I found out I won since she comes to look at the nail blogs with me sometimes. There we were just reading along to find out who won and post congrats when I saw "Taki J" on the screen. "Oh my gosh, I won!!," my daughter says it was hilarious when I said it sounding all crazy...ha ha!! Anyway thanks for reading. Stay tuned because I will be doing some swatch AND I will also have a giveaway coming up soon!!!

Claire's Mixables Ocean Breeze

Another Mixable mishap but it is all good, I still like the color. When I say mishap I simply mean the bottle I got seemed to be shaken a little to much so the layering effect is more of a swirled effect. This is the 2nd bottle of Claire's that I got like this. Anyhow Ocean Breeze is a baby blue with a bit more lavender than the picture shows. Three coats got rid of most of the streakiness.


Claire's Ocean Breeze


It still looked pretty chalky and matte so I knew I wouldn't be wearing this alone. You know my theory, GLITTER MAKES IT ALL BETTER!! This had been proven true once again. Enter Wet N Wild Psycho. A clear polish with iridescent glitter.


Wet N Wild Psycho


Two coats of Psycho gave just enough glitter for a subtle shimmer.

Claire's Ocean Breeze


I did add a final coat of Seche Vite because I needed my nails to dry quick so I could get out the door. Sorry for the chips and tip wear. I took these pictures after a weekend of washing dishes and holding babies :-)

Friday, May 14, 2010

Do You Know What A Thimbleberry Is?

I don't but I'll figure it out by the end of this post. Anyhow here is Sinful Colors interpretation of Thimbleberry. Nice, I must say. A different color than I am used to wearing but I will be using this again.

Sinful Colors Thimbleberry


Okay, a thimbleberry is kind of like a raspberry but Wikipedia says it doesn't ship well so that is why it isn't typically seen commercially. Thimbleberry jam is commonly sold in areas where they grown. Yum, I want to taste some now.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Ruby Kisses Red Romance

This isn't a brand I am familiar with or have heard much about in the other nail blogs I read but I came across it at a local beauty supply store. Always looking for some new brands to try I snatched up a few and this is the first one I have tried. Ruby Kisses Red Romance. I must admit I do like the name. This is 3 layers I think.

Ruby Kisses Red Romance


The first layer was quite opaque, the second didn't have enough sparkle, so I tried a third layer. No problem with application other than my impatience and not wanting to wait for each layer to completely dry.

I wasn't to sure about the glitter. There is a mix of rectangular pieces and small circular pieces. The circle pieces were fine but the rectangular pieces were a little to sparse making it look a little odd at first (I say at first because this polish did grow on me).

Since I have been a little bored with my manis lately (just polish, no Konad or designs) I stepped out of the box and tried these LA Colors Art Deco pens. My daughter is great with them. The first and only other time I tried them was disastrous so I let them be.

Ruby Kisses Red Romance


What do you think. Not horrible. Not great, but not horrible. Doing my right hand was torture and that is why you don't see any pics of it!! Here is the final result as they seemed to dark so I thought the white would give it a little pop.

Ruby Kisses Red Romance



Should I have gone that far? White stripe or no white stripe, which way do you like better?

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

Claire's Mixables- The Joker Is On Me

I am not going to call this polish a fail at all since I think my bottle was just a fail. I puchased this bottle of Claire's Mixables Joker during the dollar days event so it was inventory they were trying to get rid of and when I saw it I thought interesting concept. When I looked at the bottle I thought there were supposed to be swirls of colored polish throughout the bottle but it was really supposed to be layers of colors. I guess someone did not take head to the DO NOT SHAKE sticker on the cap and gave it a good shake.

So here is my bottle:

Claire's Mixables Joker

and if you were like me and didn't know, here is a bottle of what it is supposed to look like. A layering of a fuschia, black, and light aqua color. No biggie though, I forged on and decided to see what would come about with this.

Claire's Mixables JokerClaire's Mixables Joker
Layer 1 definitely looked purple but was very streaky and dried to an almost matte finish. Layer 2..ahhh..black nails or at least a very very very dark purple. There was no sunlight but even with a flash I didn't see to many hints of purple. I did end up slapping on a 3rd coat for good measure though.

Here is where it gets fun. GLITTER. While I was not going to walk around with black nails I added some bling to them. Glitter makes everything better right. YES!!!
Claire's Mixables JokerClaire's Mixables Joker


Of course I couldn't stop at one layer, so the final product was 3 layers of Claire's Joker and 2 layers of the NK Gold glitter. TA DAAAAAAA!!

Claire's Mixables Joker

I think I saved this mani. What do you think? Have you ever had a mani go terribly wrong and done something to make it great?

Monday, May 10, 2010

I Am on Cloud 9

Right now I am on cloud nine. I had a great Mother's Day (Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the Mom's), great workout out the gym this morning, and my tummy is full. But needless to say I am behind in my post so I need to catch up.

This Sinful Colors orange will definitly cause your eyes to do a double take. I wouldn't consider this a neon orange however it is quite orange soda bright with lots of POP!!
Sinful Colors Cloud 9

I decided to swatch what a white base under this polish would look like. While it is nice either way I do prefer it with a white base. It is more obvious in person but with 3 coats of polish on my pinky finger you can still see my nail line.








Sinful Colors Cloud 9Sinful Colors Cloud 9



What colors do you prefer to use a white base under?

Friday, May 7, 2010

Polish Tote

I grabbed these little totes at Walmart with no particular purpose in mind. You know how you know you will find something to use things for even if you don't know right at the moment and since it is a good buy you go ahead and get it (I know this is a run-on sentence but I write how I think sometimes and well, sorry). These little tote baskests come as a pair and were only $1 for the both. They did sit in the corner for a while and then one day when I had to carry all my new nail polish purchases down to the basement where I keep the rest of my stash this was perfect.
Nail Tote
Now whenever I don't want to be stuck in the basement doing my nails I just throw the polishes and tools I need in here and go sit wherever. Just now I threw in a couple polishes, top coat, drying drops, nail file, toe separators, a yogurt and spoon, my magazine, and my cell phone and headed up to my bedroom to veg out. One trip. As I was heading up my daughter said, "You love that thing don't you!" I could only smile. The little things that make life easier are just great.

Do you always do your nails in the same place or do you have polish in multiple rooms? What do you tote your polish around in?

KOTD: Iris I Was Thinner & S6

Here ya have it, the Konad I did with the Sephora by OPI Iris I Was Thinner. In addition to the Iris I Was Thinner I used Wet & Wild French White Creme. Looking back I probably should have just used the Konad Special polish in White. The Wet & Wild as you can see from the pics is a bit to thin which means it dried a little to fast and didn't transfer as well as the Konad Special Polish probably would have (which is the exact reason they have special polish..duh). This is the first time I have used this pattern which is on the S6 plate. I like it even though it didn't turn out so well. Total user error though.
Konad s6 5-6-10

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Iris I Was Thinner- NOT

Surely, there had to be some controversy when naming this polish. Sephora by OPI all I can ask is why? Why in this day and age of women of varying shapes and sizes do you name a polish based on wanting to be thinnner. Really, can I paint my nails without worrying about my weight? Of course I could have just not bought the polish as a protest but I am really not that worked up about it. More of a fleeting thought of tacky name, pretty color.

Anyhoo on to the pics...







Sephora by OPI Iris I Was Thinner Sephora by OPI Iris I Was Thinner


The flaws and indentations on these nails are quite obvious but I will address that in a moment. First I will just do a quick blurb on the application of this polsih. The polish reminds me of the composition of my Orly Green With Envy. It seems a bit thin but it goes on nice and smooth. Not a one coater, two if you are great and got the 1st coat just right, and 3 if you are like me and need that last coat to smooth everything out and make sure it is all uniform.

Three coats looked great and I applied my top coat and used my OPI Drip Dry drying drops for the first time. I actually just relaxed and watched TV for a while. Then I went to bed and woke up with these horrendous nails with all sorts of dents. What in the world, what about the drying drops, what did I do wrong!?! GRRRRRRR. These darn sheet indentations are going to be the death of me.