Friday, August 31, 2012

How to Remove Glitter Easy Peasy feat. Nails Inc. Pudding Lane


Hi ladies!

Today I have something that will change your polishing life FOREVER. I mean it, its big stuff. How many of you love glitter? How many of you hate removing said glitter? Well I’m here to tell you NO MORE aluminum foil, NO MORE dried out sad acetone soaked cuticles, NO MORE wasted cotton balls! For the special introductory price of $1.25 (on sale at your local Walgreens), I present to you: GLUE!

Lol, but seriously you guys. You might have already seen a couple of blogs mention the Essence Peel-Off Basecoat and how it’s really good for removing glitters since you just peel them off without any damage to the nail (Oooh Shinies has a good post*clicky*). Well, a lot of these blogs also mentioned that it just seemed like glue. Cue LabMuffin and other smart ladies who did some research and found out that yeah, it’s basically PVA glue. Then Pretty Purple Polish did this post and shit got real. 

Cue to present day, I decide I can wait no longer to try this myself and I run to my Walgreens where a 4oz. bottle of glue is on sale for $1.25, then I run back home to grab the Nails Inc. sprinkles polish I’d been neglecting for fear of removal. I do my little PVA glue basecoat and polish normally. Ain’t it pretty?




I took these pics on day 3 of wear and it’s exactly the same as when I applied it. I do have one important tip though: make sure to apply your top coat as fast as possible after doing your nails. I did 2 coats of Pudding Lane and went to bed. When I showered the next morning I saw I was missing little pieces on 2 nails, so you definitely have to protect them from water! Now, for the good stuff- the removal.




So easy! All you have to do is lift up a little corner (some people start at the cuticle line) and remove it! I used a rubber cuticle pusher to lift it up and it all came off in one piece! And you can see there is no damage to the nail at all. There was no tugging or anything that made me feel like I was removing the top layer of the nail like I would if I was peeling off polish. FUN FACT: I used to almost exclusively remove my polish by just peeling them off before I learned that it’s really bad for your nails. I believe that’s the main reason my nails have grown. 

I know I might exaggerate but this really changed things for me. I absolutely LOATHED glitters like you have no idea. Sure, I could look at swatches and think wow that’s pretty/sparkly but I would never bring myself to do a full glitter mani. Only problem is now I want ALL THE GLITTERS!

What do you think? Will you be trying this out? 

Have a good day and enjoy the weekend! I’ll see you tomorrow for blue nails!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

31 Day Challenge Day 4 - Green (Or finally, a color I like!)

Hey all! Long time no see :\

I finally have my school schedule all set and I'm pretty OK with it. Wish I didn't have class starting at 8:30am but it was the only one available and it's only 2 days a week so I guess I'll survive. 

Today we're finally getting to some colors I like in the challenge! I've had this mani in my head for a pretty long while and finally sat down to do it. All I can say is it has glitter and a jelly and it's all sparkly pretty. I may have taken a small crapload of pictures (again) so collage now, details later!


Look at all that green teal-y goodness...don't you wanna see more?


Sunday, August 26, 2012

31 Day Challenge Day 3 - Yellow (& 'Glequins')

Hi all!

Today the challenge was yellow nails and, I have to be honest, it's another color I haven't really warmed up to yet. I can enjoy certain yellows but, a whole mani of just yellow nails is too much for me even though I've been told it looks good with my skin tone.

For today's look, I did two coats of a Mattese Elite polish named Almost Famous and it was a streak fest. The thickness of the formula was awesome, I barely did any clean up, but the color was SO streaky! I had to cover it up with something and, since I've been craving holos, so 2 coats of Hits Hefesto went on top.

I love this look! The silvery tint from Hefesto dulled down the 'in your faceness' of the yellow and made it look soo good. I still needed something else though....Enter KKCenterHK store. A while ago, they sent me some loose glitter for review and I've been thinking of color pairings for it ever since. When I saw the little tub next to my nails I decided it was time :D



I did a couple of different and haphazard looks just to show you some of the ways you can use these. If you're not familiar with Sammy from The Nailasaurus, she's been doing looks like this with what she's now called 'glequins'. Her glequins appear to be larger so they work better for covering your entire nail, I would save these for smaller accents, like my 'Hurricane Nails'. The little tub is HUGE so these will last you forever. I don't know if they would be solvent-resistant to franken with though, so take that into consideration.

If you're interested, you can find these glitters HERE under 'Nail Art Glitters'. These are 1.0mm in size and they do offer VERY cheap shipping, though it may take a while to get to your hands due to the distance. Also, they offered a special coupon for my readers! When you check out, just enter the code 'hookedonpolish' for 10% off your order, good until Jan 31, 2013!

As always, stop by the other blogs participating in the challenge!
 
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
 
Hope you enjoyed today's look and have a good weekend! (Or what's left of it :\)  

Thursday, August 23, 2012

31 Day Challenge Day 2 - Orange

'Ello ladies!

I'm back for the second day in the challenge! If I had been feeling discouraged about participating, you all would have convinced me with the sweet comments on the last challenge mani. I will never not be amazed at how nice everyone is in this, our little weird nail polish obsessed community.

Now, the task for today was Orange, and boy is this sucker orange. This is POP Beauty Mandarin, a neon orange color. I also freehanded my first leopard print! It's by no means ever anywhere near perfect but, from afar, it looked really cool. I sent a pic to le boyfriend of these nails and titled them 'Cheeto Nails'. They look exactly like that, like you ate a whole bag and that weird 'cheese' still hasn't been licked off.

EDIT: I completely spaced on mentioning who inspired me to do this! There's been a lot of leopard print nails but it was when The Little Canvas posted this awesome neon skittles mani that I decided to go for it! Make sure you check her blog, aside from being a sweetheart on twitter, she does great nail art too!



As you can see, definitely not perfect but that's part of the beauty of the leopard print, imperfectness still works. I do have to work on my spacing and not make the nail too cluttered. Also, you see the huge spot in the middle fingernail, right in the center? Yeah, that wasn't there. As I was about to take the pics I dinged the nail with the camera and took off some of the polish. Since it was late and I was cranky, I just filled in the hole with white, outlined the spot, topcoated and called it a day.

I hope you like this and if you have any advice/comments about this technique, let me know!

Never don't ever forget to check the other ladies participating!

-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Now We Go to Ollie for the Weather...

IT'S GON' RAIN!

This mani came about because I wanted something simple but eye-catching for starting school again. It's gonna be my first time in school since I'm a full fledged polish addict and I want errbody to notice my nails. And if I can make some extra cash doing friends' nails, then all the better*.

I started with two coats of the amazing Illamasqua Jo'Mina. It had been calling my name, weeping for longing for all it wanted was to grace my nails. So I flung all the untrieds to the side, and got to work. When I say flung, I mean I very gently moved them aside in their little basket that's holding them. As if I would hurt them.


NOTE: The first pic was color corrected and the rest of the pics in this post were untouched. My camera was being a pain and showed this too blue. When I was editing the pics I got so confused as to what the real color of this polish is, since it changes depending on the lighting. For a good swatch you can check this post at Vampy Varnish.

Next, I stamped with China Glaze Deviantly Daring from the new Bohemian collection and plate DRK-A. I accented the stamps with loose 'glequins' from the KKCenterHK store (Product Link). You'll be seeing a full review on these very soon.





NGHGAOMFGSDMF. I loved the result SO much! It's so rare that something turns out exactly as I planned it in my head. I even got the stamp almost completely centered! That's a new achievement unlocked for me. I have also named these 'Hurricane Nails' since it looks like the eye of a storm. Which is fitting since apparently we've got a hurricane or storm coming between today and Thursday :\. Awesome.

NOTE (part deux): I wanted to mention some quick things about the posting schedule. As you may know, I'm doing the 31 Day Challenge and we're posting every 3 days. This is longer than I usually like to update but, since starting school, I know I'm going to have less time to devote to the blog and I really want to concentrate on my last semester. I'll try posting non-challenge-related manis while I can, I just ask you to stick with me if you see the blog a little bare every now and then. I really can't thank you guys enough for your support (like in that first red challenge mani) and I'm definitely not disappearing! I also scheduled the second challenge mani so it should post without issues, but if you don't see the third challenge mani it might be due to a power outage or the likes.

Have a great day and, as always, thank you for looking!


*I know you're not supposed to start a sentence with 'And', but it's my style. Don't cramp my style :D

Monday, August 20, 2012

31 Day Challenge Day 1 - Red

Hey all! Monday, boo.

Aanyway, today I'm starting the famous 31 Day Challenge! I'm so excited to be joining these awesome ladies, I've always wanted to do this with other people and I know we've got a great group going. Special thanks go to Kimber from Kimber's Lacquer Korner for getting us all together and laying down the law ;).

Now, of course I wanted to start this off with a bang. And of course it didn't go as planned. I'm not a red nail polish fan. I can admire it on other people, but something about the way it goes with my skin tone has never convinced me. Point is, I was completely uninspired and confused when I started this. To add insult to injury, my topcoat bubbled like crazy and dragged the polish around so I had to find some way to fix it. I still kinda sorta maybe like the result a little bit though.

I used 2 coats of Essie Fishnet Stockings, a beautiful deep brick red with a great non-staining formula. Then, when everything went wrong, I layered Essie As Gold as it Gets and stamped with RA-119.






So yeah...I'm gonna go ahead and apologize for this. I really didn't know where I was going with it and it shows. I do have some really cool stuff planned out for other challenge days so it will get more exciting :D.

The good part is there's more manis you can check out! For some better ideas, check the links below:


Have a good day lovelies! 

Friday, August 17, 2012

There's a lot of Sticks & Stones in Caicos

HAAAAPPY FRIDAAAYYYY!!

When you read this I'll probably be at my university trying to get the courses I need to graduate in December. That's right! Not only was I accepted back into school in my same program, I just need 4 classes and I'm out! Only to decide what I want to do for my masters degree, but that's later. Let's enjoy this while we can.

Continuing with Month(s) of Untrieds, I have for you today Essie Turquoise and Caicos and Sticks 'N Stones. I'm sure I have around 28 different turquoises but I had always wanted Essie's T&C, something about having one of the originals, y'know? I also wanted the slight squishyness of T&C and I love Essie's brush. Fun fact about this polish: it seemed to always be sold out at my Walgreens and just once did I spot a lone bottle. I grabbed it, then set it down next to me while I examined a new polish display. When I looked back, it was gone! So rude.




I'm actually wearing this as I type and I tweeted/instagrammed how happy it makes me when I look down. I had wanted Sticks 'N Stones for so long, finally in the last restock I bit the bullet and got it (along with a-England St. George which you already saw). I'm sure everyone and their mother has already seen it, along with the 945 indie versions but, again, something about having the original. Of course, this isn't the real 'original', but I won't be buying that version any time soon.

Sticks 'N Stones is actually still available at Ninja Polish as I type, so you still have a chance if you want it! Essie Turquoise and Caicos is part of the core collection but (at least for me) it was harder to find in stores.

Have a great weekend and keep your fingers crossed I can get all my classes!

OH, also, if anyone's interested, a bunch of bloggers are doing the famous 31 Day Challenge, starting Monday Aug. 20. We'll be posting every 3 days instead of daily so it won't be too difficult to keep up. For full deets and signing up, you can check Kimber's Lacquer Korner.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Fei Fei is in the Rainy Piccadilly

'Ello ladies!

Today I finally get to show you the epic haul I did that made me go on a no buy! I've been waiting forever for the stuff I ordered to arrive but the post office that sorts all the mail here has been sucking lately, as said by my mailman, so everything has taken longer. Either way, they're finally here, safe and sound!

For the nails, I'm sporting L'Oreal Rainy Piccadilly which is part of their LE collection out in stores now. It's a deep navy blue, so perfect for fall. Then, because I felt like it and the bottle was right there, I layered Zoya Fei Fei on top. Fei Fei really is beautiful and very unique. Beware though, the flecks will get everywhere and be impossible to remove.

Since I have so many pics to share, I placed them under the jump so let's go! (There was a kids show where they would draw something and be able to jump into it. Maybe Blue's Clues?)


Monday, August 13, 2012

I'm In Love with George.

It's Monday, I know but I don't feel like it is because this polish just makes me so damn happy.

What is this magical monday cheer upper? It's a-England Saint George! This is my first and only (but most definitely not last) a-England and ZOMFG I could not love it any more than I do. I've seen swatches of all the a-Englands multiple times and always wanted them, but recently bit the bullet on Georgie-porgie here when I was placing an order on Ninja Polish.

Prepare yourselves for the beauty of this polish. I took many pictures, some may even look similar but I just couldn't narrow it down any more. Oh, and I couldn't even capture the full and true awesomeness in pictures. It's just too perfect for my tastes.



ERMAGHERD, SHEINY. You know when people say a polish 'glows'? Yeah, put this sucker in there with the glowers. The scattered holo did not want to come out and play but it's so gorgeous even without it. I'm still going to try and snap a sunshine pic during the day, if the sun decides to grace us with his presence.

Ok, I'm done fangirling. What are you wearing this Monday? Any TV show you're hooked on right now? Something's wrong with my tv so I've been watching Breaking Bad on Netflix and it is SO good.

Thank you for looking and have a good day! 

Friday, August 10, 2012

Illamasqua Monogamous + Essie Penny Talk Stamped

HAAAAAPPYYY FRIDAAAYYY!! As you can see, sometimes I'm just not feeling creative with the titles. I'm definitely feeling this mani though!

Illamasqua Monogamous is a color that, for some reason, as soon as I saw swatches I had to have it. It's not a completely unique shade but, something about it called my name. Maybe it's that flawless Illamasqua formula, the matte-rubbery finish of the polish or the fact that it looks like liquid foundation on your nails. Point is, I wanted it and it did not disappoint!



I find this so flattering! It makes my nails look long and elegant. Le boyfriend used the word "mature" but I didn't take offense. 

Essie Penny Talk is part of the Mirror Metallics collection. From what I've heard, they have heinous formulas when you try to do a full mani with them. However, they are fantastic for stamping. It's like that's their true destiny. I stamped with Konad plate m64.




This is such a subtle effect IRL, you can barely tell it's there with the shine of the top coat. Something about the subtleness (don't think it's a word, but it totally should be) of the colors and the pretty soft image reminded me of Oooh Shinies' style of stamping. BONUS: She's showing this same stamp on her blog today! I was also going to add some gems but I didn't like how any of the colors looked, so I left it as is.

Have a good weekend and remember that, if you like/want this shade (or any other Illamasqua), you have a chance to win it in my 100 follower giveaway!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

100 Follower Giveaway! *CLOSED*

Hey all!

It's finally here, my first giveaway! For a while I've been stashing certain polishes like a squirrel so, when the time came, I'd have cool stuff to give you guys for how awesome you've all been to me. I can't adequately express how much I appreciate the support you've all given me. I've never been one to stick with hobbies for long but, thanks to you all, I'm still really into the whole polishing game so this is the best way I can think of to show my gratitude.



Here's the sitch:

  • This giveaway is US Residents only. As much as I want to spread the love to the international readers, I just don't have the budget for shipping right now :(
  • You must be a GFC Follower to enter, new members welcome of course! You can also earn multiple entries aside from GFC and your email. 
  • There will be (1) extra entry awarded to the familiar faces who have commented in the past. I debated about adding this since I am a huge lurker- I can be the most loyal reader to a blog and never officially follow it or comment. At the same time, I really want to express my thanks to all who have vocally supported me in the past, those whose feedback has helped shape the blog. You don't have to do anything for this, I'll do it automatically.
  • This giveaway will be open until August 25th. After I email the winner, they will have 48 hrs to reply or I'll pick a new winner.
  • Use the Rafflecopter widget to enter.

Do the clicky after the jump for more pics of the prizes and to, you know, actually enter!


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

A Different Kind of Olympic Mani

Hey all!

We're back to do another Polish Days! This is a monthly event where bloggers agree to do a mani based on a certain theme and post them all at the same time. The event is organized by the lovely Hannah aka Polly Polish who does (what I can assume is) a buttload of work to make sure this event goes smoothly. This time around the theme is the Olympic Games!

As some of you may know, I'm from and live in Puerto Rico. We're a tiny island (100x35 miles) with a lot of people and even more living in the US. We're also proud, and yesterday one of our own made us even prouder by winning a bronze medal in the 400m race in the athletic program. It's our first olympic medal in this event and the first in these olympics as well. This is sort of my nod to him, for uniting an entire island for the brief moment it takes to watch the race. I'm not kidding, offices literally had signs saying "Closed to watch the race". We're also not a very productive people.

For this I used O.P.I Dutch Ya Just Love OPI and did the saran/cling wrap technique with Essie Penny Talk. For the two accent nails I did a caviar/fish egg/microbeads and on my thumb I just freehanded P.R. with Penny Talk again. I used purple because the "string" that holds the medals is purple. Plus, I've seen a lot of purple in the decorations and banners, etc.





The color of the beads and the polish wasn't 100% but I googled SOO many images of "bronze" and there were very different results in there, so I just rolled with it. I was originally going to skip this Polish Day because I could not come up with any ideas worth doing. I felt like every idea had already been done and a million times better than I could do, so I went with something a little more abstract and close to the heart. It's most assuredly definitely not my best work, but it was also 2am when I finished these so...yeah sleepy.

This is for you, Javier Culson. We're still super proud even though you wanted to bring us the gold.

Sorry if I babbled, have a good day and don't forget to check the links for all the other Polish Days manis!

Monday, August 6, 2012

A Vixen that is Demure and Stamped

It's MONDAY! Why am I excited about this abomination of a day you ask? Today I'm receiving nail mail that I've been waiting for forevuh! I don't know if it's the postal service here or because things have to get on a plane to get to me but items take a while to get to my polish hungry hands.

Anyway, continuing with Month(s) of Untrieds, today I have Essie Demure Vixen for you. It's a beautiful nude-y color with an amazing pink shimmer. It borders on looking like old-lady mauve but doesn't really get there so it's still wearable.


It has a good formula, doesn't streak or drag though you need 3 coats for full opacity, but that's to be expected. This is meant as a sheer color and it totally works. I don't know why I like this so much.

Then I stamped with China Glaze Gothic Lolita and Konad plate m64.


I love this look. It's eye catching but still delicate and classy. My stamping wasn't perfect but I'm slowly getting the hang of it again.

This is also my first set of pictures using my new lightbox! I honestly don't know how I feel about them. On the one hand I can tell they're probably going to be more color accurate, but they look softer, unfocused in a way. So I ask you all, do you think they look better/same/worse? I definitely still need to fiddle with it and re-learn how to pose and take pictures with this but I'd like any feedback you have to offer :)

Have a good day and, don't worry, the week will be over before you know it! Then you get to do it all over again. Ok, that might be a downer, sorry.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Month(s) of Untrieds: Essence Walk On Air

Wee Friday! Not like a wee Friday, but like Weee it's Friday!!

Welcome to my month(s) of untrieds! I didn't behave very well during July and ended up with a serious amount of new polishes that I've yet to swatch/wear. I know I owe you a haul pic but I'm waiting on two very exciting packages that I want to include in the picture. That being said, I've decided August will be a NO BUY month for me and I'm really going to try not to buy any new nail polishes until I manage to wear all the ones I have.

When I started really loving polish I was all about the dark vampy colors but, lately, I've been in the mood for brighter colors. I don't know if it's because it was summer and that's what was available but I'm just not feeling the previews I've seen of the fall collections so this seems as good a time as any to do this little project.

For the first day I have some old swatches of Essence Walk On Air, one of the two lonely Essence polishes I could rescue from a ravaged Ulta during my trip to Miami in April.



Mmm creamy blue perfection in two easy coats. I really wish I could get more Essence polishes, they have such great quality for such a great price and I quite like the tiny bottles, except when it comes to storage.

Sorry this first day was kind of a snooze but I'm still giving my nails a little polishing break while I apply the Nailtiques treatment. Next week I'll have all new manis while I work my way through the untrieds!

To apologize for the boring post, I give you a picture of my dog while I was packing:


Unfortunately, while I could not take her with me on the trip, she was there in spirit. And in hair. There was hair on every piece of clothing that was on the bottom.

Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend and don't text your ex when you're drunk. It almost never works out well.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Guest Post at Globe & Nail!

Hey all!

I'm not really here right now... What you're seeing is an illusion. Well, technically you're seeing a preview of the post I did for Emma at Globe and Nail! I did this about a month ago and I'm so happy you finally get to see it because it's one of my favorite manis I've done in a while.

Click on the picture to take you to the full post and, while you're there, you can drool over some of Emma's amazing pictures!



Wednesday, August 1, 2012

They Tried to Make Me Go to Rehab, I said "Ok, if it's got this awesome jelly"

'Ello and happy hump day! I'm kinda sorry about the long title. Not a lot sorry, but a bit.

Don't worry, I'm still a proud nail polish addict and not heading to rehab! Although, I've sort of misbehaved lately. August is definitely going to be a NO BUY AT ALL UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES* month for me. I got the mother of hauls today at Sally and I'll be showing you pics of that either tomorrow or Friday. If you've been wanting some China Glazes lately, make sure to head to Sally this week as they're all on sale $4.99! That's excluding the New Bohemian and Crackles but it does include Out on Safari.

**EDIT** Apparently, the China Glaze sale is month long for August! Make sure the sale is valid in your area as well before heading over at Sally's official website.

Today I'll be showing you Spoiled Checkin' Into Rehab (3 coats). It's an awesome blurple jelly with flakies that decided to be all blue in my pictures, forcing me to try my hand at color correcting on photoshop. The result is...different. My skin looks waaay off but at least the polish color is more accurate. I say it's "blurple" because, while it is mostly purple, the jelly formula makes your nail tips look blue if you have long nails.




I loved it like this but needed MOAR flakies and, since I'm notoriously indecisive, I layered Essie's As Gold as It Gets on three fingers, then Shine of the Times on my pointer and thumb.



This was also pre-nubs. Sigh, weren't they beautiful? It's really a shame that Spoiled has such craptastic brushes, because some of the colors are really worth it.

Hope you have a good day and you're never forced to have naked nails!

*Unless it's a really amazing sale on a huge lemming.*
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