Navigate her....whimsically? Whimsical Navigation of Her? She? Nevermind.

Crap. It's Monday.

Alrighty, now that we got that out of the way, I can tell you the story of a sad little girl who neglected her nails for about 4 or 5 days while on vacation and saw a very stressful movie (Dark Knight Rises is awesome) and bit on her nails during the movie. This sad little girl is me. Unfortunately, my nails have been suffering from the peelys lately and I had to trim them down to start anew. I'm also starting the Nailtiques Formula 2 treatment so I'm currently sporting naked nails *sob sob sob*.

Here's the last mani I did before I decided I should just baby them some more and actually do a treatment like it says: sans polish. I layered two coats of Revlon Whimsical over Essie Navigate Her.

I've usually seen Whimsical layered over a light blue so I wanted to try a different underwear color. I liked this in person much more than I do in the pictures, but that's mostly due to the shorter nails. At least I still have free edge, I guess.

I still have some pics to be posted and, if I should run out or decide not to post them I'll probably do some simple manis, take pics and remove them for the 2 weeks I have to use the treatment so as to not interrupt your regularly scheduled programming. And to satisfy my need of polishing my nails. It's only been two days of nakedness and I'm already tweaking.

May you have that kind of day that makes you forget it's a Monday! (Good, just in case).

Rays of Purple Glittery Light

HAAAAAAAAPPY FRIDAY!

It doesn't really feel like Friday to me since, here in P.R., we had Monday, Wednesday and today off due to holidays, so you can imagine most places opened 2 days at most. The boyfriend and I are both off from work and, while I feel bad that he's not getting paid, it's also really nice to have some time off and see each other during daylight!

Onto nailtime, I've been sitting on these pictures for a while now and just never felt like posting them for some reason. They're not bad, I just don't think they were my style or some other random insecurity reason that made me not post them until now. I'm only posting them today because I'm putting (totally wrote purring, lol) off showing my sad post-vacation nubs :(

I started with a base of Essie Licorice, applied striping tape and layered Nina Ultra Pro in Purple X-ing. Then, I added the rhinestones to the starting point for the lines for a little pizzazz and a finishing touch.

See? Not bad, just meh. I really hoped the purple would contrast more with the black but, for a subtle sparkle, it was good. I originally made these for a guest post which I'm hoping you'll see soon because it has been one of my favorite manis to date!

Have a great weekend and I'll be off babying my nubs! Or going camping and messing them up even more. We shall see.

PD: Has anyone here tried the Nailtiques Formula 2 protein base coat thing? I just bought it and don't want to regret it! My nails have been peely and misbehaved lately :(

I'm Back with a Gradient, some News and a Haul pic!

Hey all!

Right now I'm in that bittersweet post-vacation mood. So happy to be home relaxed but still wishing I was on vacation so I imagine I'll be a little slow for a couple of days. At least I managed to get this post up :D

Today I'll show you the mani I wore on my trip to NYC! This has to be one of my most complimented manis ever. A girl at the pharmacy wouldn't charge me until I explained how I did them and a girl at Sephora was too busy looking at my nails instead of telling me if they had the Nails Inc. Sprinkles polishes! The best part? It's something that you probably know how to do already.

It's just a simple gradient! I did two coats of Illamasqua Radium and gradiented-sponged Illamasqua Muse and voila! I apologize for the pics, they look a little rough since I took the pics before top coat. The idea was to layer the black Fergie glitter over this, but then I decided to stamp, and then I never really had time to do either.

The fact that the gradient looks so smooth without top coat is really something to me. Gradients usually look loads better after top coat, but this time I used Sammy's tutorial (from the Nailasaurus) and it was amazing! I do feel I waste more polish with this method than my usual (painting the colors directly onto the sponge) but the results are too good to resist!

There's MOAR after the jump! A haul pic, mini-rant, survey and some exciting news for all ze readers!

Fergie's an L.A. Girl Full of Glitter (AKA, Black Glitter!)

*This is a scheduled post, I'll be back the 24th. Maybe 25th if I'm too exhausted*  

HAAAAPPY FRIDAY!!

As you probably know by now, Fergie is the beauty ambassador (I think that's the title, let me know if I'm wrong!) for Wet 'N Wild and has recently released her first nail polish collection/collaboration. It has cool colors but, what you really need to know (if you didn't already), is that it has a black glitter in it! And that's what I'm showing ya today.

I've done two coats of L.A. Girl Delirious, which is an awesome light teal color but with a golden shimmer! It's kind of a spectacular color and I'm so happy since this was just a random find and I have nothing else like it. I was at Charlotte Russe and they had a small rack of LA Girl polishes on the register! It's my first time seeing this brand here but I have heard good things about them before so I bought two.

I want to apologize in advance for the pictures, most of them were blurry and I have no idea why. 

LOOK AT THE MACRO SHIMMAH!

Then I added one coat of 'Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night'. Since that's a mouthful, it shall be henceforth referred to as the black glitter. Black Glitter has small hex black glitter and larger hex gold glitter. With the shimmer from Delirious (side note, love the name) and the golden hexes it was just magical :D.

GARBDSHAFDS I loved it. It's a black glitter you can find at Walgreens for $3.49 instead of fighting against hordes of polished crazies at Etsy. I mean, my wishlist still has a lot of indies, but that's exactly why. I don't have the attention span required to shop like that.

Now, while I don't have a scheduled post for Monday, I'll probably be tweeting (@PolishedKat) and Instagramming (@hookedonpolish) every nail polish that I buy while I'm in NYC so feel free to follow me there!

Have a good weekend ladies!

A Luxe and Lush Luxedo

*This is a scheduled post, I'll be back the 24th. Maybe 25th if I'm too exhausted* 

Hey everybody! I'm almost at 100 members!!! Soooo excited. I wanted to really thank anyone who takes their time to read/skim my posts and enjoy the pictures. It really means a lot to me so I thank you, again. Meanwhile, I'm probably in NYC exhausted from walking and dying of dehydration since there was supposed to be a heat wave arriving the same day we did....Awesome.

For today I have a random Essie find from TJ Maxx. I originally went to see if I found any of the Deborah Lippmann polishes at $7 and no such luck but at least I found this lovely vampy Essie. Apparently (according to a quick googling), it was from the winter collection waay back in 2010. The formula was like buttah, two fast drying coats and you're done. Please trust me when I tell you, this isn't black. It's one of those really-it's-almost-like-you're-wearing-black shades, but classier looking.

It's shiny like a mofo! This is with no top coat!

Then I remembered I've never used my Luxe and Lush from the Hunger Games collection so I slapped that on. It's not my favorite because of the difficult application, but the effect was quite interesting once I was done. I went for some thicker coverage in some nails and I think, in this case, less is more.

A lovely vampy departure from all the summery colors I've been wearing. I also really liked this on my right hand nubs :D.

Thank you for looking!

Essie A Crewed Interest vs Sally Hansen Sorbet

*This is a scheduled post, I'll be back the 24th. Maybe 25th if I'm too exhausted*  

'Ello!

Just a quick comparison post for today. I mentioned in yesterday's post how Sorbet was so much more peach than Essie's A Crewed Interest and, while nobody asked me to, I had already taken the pictures for a comp so here ya go :D

I have Essie on my pointer and ring finger, and Sally Hansen Sorbet on my middle and pinky. Like I said, Sorbet is definitely more peach while A Crewed Interest leans more salmon-y pink-ish. Can you tell I'm not great at color descriptions?

Also a quick shout out to Kelly from Kelly's Nail Blog who tagged me with the Liebster Blog Award. I haven't had time to do the actual questions (I will, promise! I love badgering you with useless facts about me), but I didn't want to let it go unnoticed without saying thank you. Also, check the girl's blog, she's really got some great nail art and posts! I'm itching to try her psychedelic tie dye nails but, after seeing her say her back hurt for a day after doing them, I'm putting it off....

Have a good day!

A Girly Sorbet Cloud

Hey guys! This is the first of a couple scheduled posts I have for you since I'm going to be on vacation until the 23rd. At the moment I don't know if I'll be taking my laptop with me so, to be on the safe side, let's say I'll respond to any comments when I get back.

Now, this is sorta kinda a Monday fail for me. It's not that the design came out terrible per se, but I think it looks a little cluttered and not as crisp as I would like. Let's just say it's half-a-fail.

I did some clouds a la Nailside! I've had this on my to-do forever and even did some on some false nails but it never made it's way to my own nails. For some reason, I decided to dot on the rest of the nails with the same cloud colors which were Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect in Sorbet, Revlon Gold Coin and Essie Marshmallow.

I have to say, Sorbet is kind of awesome! The only other peach I have is Essie's A Crewed Interest and it looks so pink next to this one. I have no idea if this goes with my skin tone or not but I loves it. I also chose Marshmallow so you could peek a little at the gold underneath and give it a softer look overall.

Btw, those aren't the same 2 pictures up there. I only now realized how similar they look....my bad. What do you guys think? I'm sort of regretting the dots. I also had to redo my middle nail because, the first time, it looked like a seriously bloated french tip or a messed up gradient. It wasn't good, is what I mean.

Have a good Monday while I'm vacationing it up ;) (Technically I leave 8am of tomorrow though so I'll still suffer the Monday blues with you).

Summer Fun Challenge Day 8 - Fun in the Sun

Hey all!

Today is the last day of the Summer Fun Challenge by Lindsey at Neverland Nail Blog. Special thanks and many props to her for putting this together! The rules today were basically no rules. Anything summery goes today so I recreated a summer fave of mine.

You may remember this ancient post where I swatched China Glaze Sun-Kissed and Spoiled I'm So Jaded and said it was the base for some awesomeness. Well I never found those pictures so I just recreated the mani for today's challenge. This also features my first and only (so far) indie polish!

Wee! I have Dandy Nails Colorblind² over each of the polishes and I just freehanded the diagonal stripes with the same polish brush. It turned out to be a little difficult because of the huge Spoiled brush and, even so, every nail ended up looking super thick in the end (totally thought of Linkin Park there).  I got the idea for this mani from this post from Rebecca Likes Nails. Now I that I re-look at hers, it was so clean and crisp...makes me sort of hate mine. Anyway, I seriously need Sticks 'N Stones in my life.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this challenge as much as I have! As always, remember to check the other ladies' blogs for their awesome work!

Summer Fun Challenge Day 7 - Summer Stylin'

EEP! This challenge has flown by, just one more to go!

For today we have Summer Stylin', meaning something inspired by our fave summer fashions. As always with these challenges, I *JUST* (see the asterisks? It means I'm serious) came up with a great idea that would have been soo much more in tune with the theme but, alas, it is 3am and I'm scheduling this before sleep. Maybe one day I'll create the mani in mind as an ode to one of my most used things!

Back to the nails; I was pretty stumped so I just took inspiration from the shirt I was wearing while shopping earlier in the day. I use this type of loose-fitting shirt with a little tube/bra thingy under them. It's one of the few things that don't make me want to murder the boyfriend when he hugs me and I'm overheating. It's 'fresh' is what I mean, comfortable to wear in the heat. Oh nevermind, just look at the pretty pics:

For this look I used the big fan brush that came with my brush kit. I've recently learned it has many uses for makeup, but I'm yet to discover how else to use it for nails. I just placed some drops of polish on some parchment paper, dipped the brush and painted my nails with that. If I got too much on the nail I would brush it off with one of the clean sides of the brush. I'm holding the actual shirt in the second pic there so you can see where I sort of got the idea. I definitely ran in another direction with it though.

Then, because it looked so empty, I stamped with Wet 'N Wild black creme and DRK-A.

Why two different stamps? BECAUSE I CAN. Mostly because I couldn't decide which one I wanted to stamp with, but also because I can. Who's gonna complain about two different stamps? No one right?! NO ONE?!

Sorry, I'm a little yelly. If you're interested in knowing the polishes I used or a more 'in-depth' instructions, let me know! Always happy to oblige after I've had some sleep.

Have a good Tuesday! Sidenote: the new Spider-Man movie is pretty damn good! Poor Tobey.

Illamasqua Radium Sponged Marble

IT'S FRIDAY!!

I'm feeling really happy right now. Wanna know why?! Don't care, telling you anyway. I booked a vacation with le boyfriend! We're going to NYC for a week now in July. He's all excited about me meeting his friends and taking me to eat everything I haven't tried or can't try here and taking me to his favorite spots around the city. I've been to NY just once when I was about 13-14 and this time I'm going with someone who knows his way around (he lived there for 7 years while he studied) so I feel... safer I guess? It's also my first time going away with a boyfriend so, yay.

Ok, since I went all wordy with my personal stuff I'll keep it simple with the nails! This is 2 buttery coats ofIllamasqua Radium which I wanted since forever (like most other Illamasquas) and did the saran wrap sponging with China Glaze Gothic Lolita.

I'm not gonna lie, Radium might not be the single most unique color but, to me, the slight shimmer it has, the fact that it doesn't stain and just the awesome Illamasqua formula made me want it. I'm sorry I just have the one picture of the marble, they all turned out awful since I was in the middle of cleaning when I remembered to take the pictures before I wrecked it. This was also before I trimmed my nails. Sigh, weren't the pretty?

Oh I also wanted to ask if anyone had a good book recommendation. I know le boy is going to sleep through the flight so I have to do something else for entertainment.

Ok soo that's it from me! Enjoy your weekend and... yeah, that's pretty much all I had to say... That second part of the sentence feels unnecessary now...

Summer Fun Challenge Day 6 - The Big Blue

Hey peeps!

I have been so hurried lately for some reason, I never seem to be able to do my nails before 11 or midnight so it doesn't really leave me much time for experimenting but I was determined to make this mani work! So determined in fact, that I said screw it all and kept polishing until 4:30am. The boyfriend was soo not happy with me yesterday morning. All he wanted was to get to the beach early and all I wanted (could) do was sleep. We eventually got there and had a great time.

BUT... I think it was worth it! I may have done my most successful watermarble mani yet! It is by no means perfect or up to par with some amazingness I've seen from other bloggers (I'm looking at Kelsie's recent watermarble), but it's my best so far. Mostly because I liked the colors I picked.

Since today is day 6 of Lindsey's (Neverland Nail Blog) Summer Fun Challenge and the theme is anything ocean or water related, I knew from day one I would do a watermarble. Wanna see? JK you're probably already looking at the pictures and not even reading this. It's ok, I won't blame you, I babble.

And a (super awkward) shot of my most favoritest thing ever about this mani: my thumbs! It was so completely obviously not on purpose, but I got a mirror image!

I'm getting better but my problem is I just cannot get the same image on all my nails. Just look at poor pinky sticking out like a sore thumb (badumtss!). Lol, but really. Pinky be trippin'. I did have to significantly trim down my nails too because my pointer and middle finger were all peely and stuffs so I had a sad for a while but this mani totally helped my sadness.

Sorry this was so wordy, have a great day and may your nails never break!

It's Sandwichin' Time!

Hey all, me again! Told ya there was gonna be something exciting soon ;)

Today I'm participating in a really fun group post thing coordinated by lovely Hannah at Polly Polish. Aside from being a total sweetheart and planning this whole thing, she also says things like 'knob' 'I'm chuffed' and the likes so how can you not, at the very least, enjoy reading her stuff?! It's always fun for me to chat with her on twitter.

Onto nails! We're all doing jelly sandwiches! I really wanted to come up with something cool for this challenge but I had the hardest time picking combinations for the sandwiches. Finally after much planning, I stumbled onto something I liked.

I started with one coat of Revlon Royal, added a coat of Milani Gems and picked some big hexes from a random Forever 21 glitter polish. Then, instead of another coat of Royal, I added Milani Rad Purple which is supposed to be a purple neon, but is actually a berry colored jelly and finished with Seche Vite to actually get it to dry.

And because, you know, matte glitter.

Mmm...I much prefer how this looked glossy, it looked juicier. I was aiming to get a blurple sandwich with this layering but the polishes didn't really blend how I thought. It just looked blue at the edges and purple where the glitter was but I am happy with the final outcome! It also looked purplier when matte.

Alright, that's it from me, I'm all talked out for today. Remember to see what the other ladies did for their polish day below!

Hannah (Polly Polish)

Jen (The Nail Polish Project)

Susy (Susy In Color)

Jenny (Beauty by Jenny)

Mara (Mara in Polishland)

Nail Tart

Salla (OMG Polish Em)

Jasmine

Deborah (Love Varnish)

Kat (Hooked on Polish)

Melissa (The Crimson Petal)

Cassie (Sparkles Make Me Happy)

Pris (Pris Nails)

Julie (Time On My Nails)

Keisha (Refined & Polished)

Alexis (xoxo Alexis)

Cuti-CLUE-les

Mihaela

Stephanie (Sincerely Stephanie)

Heidi (Pretty Painted Nails)

Sabine (My Polish Stash)

A Lacquered Affair 
Nail of This Week
  Wendy’s Delights
  Charlotte’s Nails
Unhas a Trois
  Polished Off 
  Colores de Carol
  Nailutopia
  Manicurity
Ishah x Beauty
Fab Fingertips
  Pish Posh & Polish

Summer Fun Challenge Day 5 - Are We There Yet?

Good morning!

Sorry I kinda disappeared on you for a couple of days, I know I missed a Monday fail but, aside from the exhaustion I was feeling, I also had a pretty busy weekend. I do have some exciting stuff lined up though so stay tuned for that!

Today we have day 5 from Lindsey's Summer Fun Challenge. I can't believe it's almost over, just 3 more manis to go after this one! Nevertheless, we live in the present, not the future or past. Unless you're watching a sci fi movie, then it's ok.

So, for a while, I didn't really know what to do for today. Instead, I kept remembering Kelly's (Nailpocalypse) mani about her road trip and thinking "Why can't I think of something like that?!". Then, I got to thinking what a road trip meant for me and I remembered the famous landmark here in Puerto Rico which you always see: las Tetas de Cayey! Or, in english, Cayey's boobs. In short, they're two mountains that sorta look like boobies, so that's what we call them.We're a very simple and happy people. If they look like boobies, that shall be their name.

 

I swear I wanted to post this on a Monday fails, but I didn't have time to redo it, so I apologize to your eyeballs. I first did the sky, some sponging for the clouds and I got to work on the mountains. I combined about 4 different greens and sorta applied them all haphazardly thinking that would make it look more like a mountain. It did not. Then my mountain shape got all blobby and unrecognizable. I then freehanded little border around to simulate a car window. Finally, I did the '52' on my thumb since that's the road that takes you through there. At least my numbers are acceptable, but the rest? Blegh.

Here's a pic of the mountains for reference:

Source

Sorry to be such a downer and if you want to see some better manis, check the Inlinkz collection below!