ABC Challenge 'T' - a-England Tristam

Hi all!

Super short post, I'm very sleepy and have a massive headache at the moment but I really wanted to get this post up today!

I believe this was just one coat of a-England Tristam, which has been a lemming ever since it came out and it is finally mine thanks to Radha from The Polish Owl! Then, I added some holo stamping with Color Club Harp On It (because scattered holo + super holo = happy me at work) and a Pueen stamping plate (if anyone is interested in a review of these plates, please let me know).

I'm very sorry about the tip wear, this is another mani I've been wearing for almost a full week (still wearing it as I type) and last time I tried to fix the tips it looked all lumpy so I figured this time I'd show just how well its wearing. Needless to say, I love this mani to bits.

Have a great day loves!

ABC Challenge 'S & R' - The Red Angels are Sew Psyched

Hi all!

NOT DEAD! How about that? Sorry for my super extended absence, between work and getting everything done for graduation in two weeks plus my own personal down-time, it's been harder to get a post up. The biggest reason for my absence though? The sad sad state of my nails :'(. They've been peeling so badly recently and just brittle and dry that they're pretty nubtastic at the moment.

However, since I don't want to just disappear from the challenge altogether, I have a half-assed attempt to cram two challenges in one post! My base color is Essie Sew Psyched (for the S day) and I did a little accent stamp from RA-107 (for R day). I also stamped with Essie Good as Gold.

If the tips look weird its because I wore this for almost 5 days (!!) before taking the pictures and I had to retouch the tips a bit. Still, 5 days with barely any tip wear is pretty fantastic if you ask me! I never knew how to appreciate a long lasting mani until now.

Have a great day and (SPOILER ALERT) I'm actually wearing my 'T' mani as I type so be on the lookout for that post soon! (Could it be? Two posts in a week? EGADS).

Thank you for reading!

ABC Challenge 'P' & 'Q' - Pueen Q=17

Hi all!

So, since I missed two challenge posts in my absence, I decided to mash 'em up into one! I've known what I wanted to do for the 'P' challenge for a while but 'Q' was impossible, so I slightly cheated. I knew I wanted to use one of my new Pueen plates so I counted which letter Q was in the alphabet and decided I'd use that number plate. Luckily, the plate had a quilt-like image so it all worked out!

Started with two coats of OPI Russian Navy Suede (got really lucky at a beauty supply store recently and found 3 of the OPI Suedes!) then stamped my pointer and ring finger with PUEEN-17 and Essie No Place Like Chrome.

Tried going for a half-moon look with the stamp since the bottom edges on this plate are all half-moons. Not sure why, full review on the plates to come. I swear I did not like Russian Navy Suede until that macro. Just look at that depth and it's only one coat!! Only thing I'll say is that I didn't love the formula. Got thick fast and if you brushed one certain spot one time too many, it would pull the previous polish clean off, as seen on my ring finger macro.


See you soon for day R of the ABC Challenge! :)

ABC Challenge 'O' - OPI Gradient!

Hi all!

Getting the hang of this schedule.... I think. Not really.

Anyway, for about two weeks now I've been staring at three polishes on my table determined to do a gradient with them but I kept putting it off because I just didn't have time or was too tired. Imagine my joy when I sat down all determined to gradient it up and realized HOLY CRAP, this totally fit this week's ABC challenge prompt! That just gave me the boost I needed to get it done and I love the results!

All 3 polishes are from OPI, You're Such a Buda-pest, Can't Find My Czechbook and Eurso Euro.

My original intention was  to stamp over the gradient but I wanted to wear it on its own first. I wore it as is for maybe two or three days (because I was too lazy to stamp and afraid I'd ruin it) and then I had a bad-ish nail break on my middle nail so I had to remove it :'(. It was pretty while it lasted!

Have a great weekend loves! I heart you all for your comments, I really, really do.

ABC Challenge 'N' - Nails Inc. Sweets Way

Hi all!

Still being a pretty terrible blogger/nail enthusiast but I did manage to find a super old post that coincided with this week's challenge so here it is!

This mani was done in a rush for my neighbor's baby shower and while I truly enjoy the braided nails look, for the love of polish, don't ever use a sheer base glitter polish for the braid. This mani would have been so much better if I would have just used a solid white as an accent nail. Oh well.

Two coats of Nails Inc. Sweets Way, Essie Bikini So Teeny and Bettina Cotton Candy.

Thank you all for still being here despite my slightly irregular/sparse posting and I will answer all your comments soon, it annoys me to no end to have unanswered comments! I'm actually  pre-scheduling this and I'm nodding off as I type so I'm off to bed and feeling productive :D

Have a great day!

ABC Challenge 'M' - Catrice Mint Me Up

Hi all!

Thank you all for your well wishes on my previous post about the new job! I've been working since Monday and it's good so far but getting used to the schedule is killing me. Its definitely an adjustment and I'm working on finding a new rhythm for blogging and doing my nails that doesn't exhaust me too much so posts might be random for a bit but I promise I'll be back to full force soon!

Today I have my first Catrice polish on the blog! I have four of these beauties to show you soon but I couldn't wait to wear this one in particular and, fortuitously, it was also great for a challenge post! This baby is Catrice Mint Me Up and it's like Butter London Two Fingered Salute's long lost sister. Very similar base color (from what I can tell in pictures) and coppery flecks but this has the added golden shimmer. The effect is very subtle and from afar it looks like a dusty minty green with pretty shimmer but I know it's more special than that :D. Many many thanks to Deborah from Love, Varnish for making me need these and then actually helping me get them!! <3

This was just ONE coat! I should have done two since I see the ridges on my nails a bit but time is SO sparse lately that one coat is really all I could do and coverage was fantastic at just one.

Doing this post made me realize I missed blogging more than I thought so I'm going to take another moment to thank you all for reading my blabbering, it really does make me happy to see all your comments (which I'll respond to soon).

Have a great day loves!

Fancy Taffy Pants!

Hi all!

Today's post is for the ABC Challenge but I just had to go with that cute title instead of my usual "ABC Challenge 'L': blablabla".

This mani was actually completely coincidental. I painted my nails Friday with a new polish and kept it on until Tuesday (which is forever) but I had absolutely no idea or inspiration to do some nail art for today's post. It was then I realized that the mani I had worn all weekend had a polish starting with L so I used these pictures instead. I really didn't want to share this just yet for several reasons, which I'll go into later, but I didn't want to keep missing posts.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Fancy Pants and added accent nails of Lacquerlicious Tart Taffy, which had been a long time lemming ever since I saw Mimi's pics on her blog, so when a 25% off sale appeared, I pounced.

This looked so pretty but Fancy Pants chipped HORRIBLY. Within 24 hours I already had small chips at my nail tips and eventually it started peeling off in sheets. My mom had this same mani at the same time and hers didn't even last a full 10 hours, but she also has her hands submerged in water far more than I do.

Also, I ran into some issues with my Lacquerlicious polish. First of all, it's sinking :(. I can tell she's using suspension base and I know from several people that none of her polishes ever did this so it's probably a case of a bad batch. Either way, turning it upside down for a minute takes care of the problem right quick. The other issue is that it seems like some of the glitters stained my nails. It was very very faint and barely noticeable but I saw it and thought I had a rash on my nails. I am not very logical when it comes to nails. A very wonderful person indeed had the same two polishes and is trying out this combo as well to see if it stains the nails so I will update this post later with her findings and tell you if it was just me or not.

UPDATE: My very nice tester informed me she did not have any staining with the Lacquerlicious polish and she wasn't even wearing base coat! So it might have been an adverse reaction with my base coat (Nailtiques).

Small personal announcement: I'm starting a new job on Monday! That's pretty much the reason my nails have been so sad lately, I've been running around getting everything done before I start. I don't anticipate it will disrupt the blog too much but I will let you know if anything changes.

Whew! That was a much longer post than I anticipated and I didn't even go into the whole China Glaze/Vampy Varnish situation. Let's just say that as a blogger, I'm not happy with China Glaze.

Have a great day loves!

ABC Challenge 'K' - KIKO 400 (Silver Holo!)

Hi all!

So this challenge was a bit of a pain in the butt. Not because I didn't have a K polish to post, but because I didn't have time to do anything for it! Tuesday was a very emotional day here in PR as we were in the finals of the World Baseball Classic against Dominican Republic, with whom we have a very long history of competition so tensions were high all-around. We lost, whatever. ANYWAY, point is, I would've painted my nails Tuesday if I hadn't been busy and from then on I haven't really had a chance or motivation to do them (I'm actually naked as I type, GASP!).

All that explanation to say that the mani I'm showing today was one I did and posted on Instagram about 5 weeks ago but I never took lightbox pictures of because life happened, so today I'm showing my cellphone pics I had stored (which are surprisingly good, I can see why people use their phones for blogging sometimes).

I started with two coats of KIKO 400, the silver holo from their LE collection a while back and stamped with black and DRK-A on my pointer and middle finger.

Not a macro, just zoomed in on one of the previous pics.

I loved that mani so much I feel like wearing it again now that I see it. However, the idea for this mani wasn't just born out of nowhere, it was meant to mimic my new ring! My mom bought it as my birthday present and brought all the way from Morocco for me. It's perfect. If you know me a little bit, you know I love swirls too much so this is quite appropriate for me :D.

So that's it from me! I didn't realize this post would be so rambly.

Have a great day and check out the rest of the manis that were posted on time for the challenge!

ABC Challenge 'J' - Revlon Jaded Night

Hey all!

I had a really hard time picking what to do for this challenge day. Originally, I wanted to do a really cool jelly sandwich but I figured I've already shown all my jelly polishes and I just wasn't feeling inspired when I sat down to do it. Then, I remembered I still haven't worn a very special (to me) polish starting with J but I knew I wouldn't get good pictures of it so I settled on this combo you're about to see. It's nothing too special but at the same time absolutely gorgeous.

I started with two coats of Revlon Jaded Night, this was part of a LE fall collection in 2011 (!). I remember this polish being one of the first that I semi-hunted for and as such will always be a bit special. Then I added another polish that was such a huge lemming for me, Essie Shine of the Times. Even though SOTT wasn't the lemming per se, it was Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure but OMG I remember to this day looking at the pics of those magical flakies and being so excited when a dupe surfaced.

Looking like nothing super special...

You start to see a bit of the magic...

Suddenly, BABLAM macro and it's magical and fiery and beautiful

Mmm pictures like that make me think I'm not so over flakies as I thought :D.

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

ABC Challenge 'I' - Barielle Island Breeze

Hi all!

For today's challenge I planned to do a quickie Illamasqua swatch but I found all my Illamasqua shades have been featured here already (some more than once). So, I went through my untrieds and found this little gem, Barielle Island Breeze! I don't have very many Barielles, just a few here and there that I've picked up at TJ Maxx (and the elusive Falling Star, which I totally should have posted for F day of the challenge but just figured it out now. GRR) but they really have some lovely colors.

Onto the polish! Island Breeze has a steely blue base between turquoise and aqua with a greenish shimmer that makes the polish look lit from within (I am really, epically bad at describing polish colors). I used three coats of Island Breeze, though it looked great at two I just wanted a third coat to saturate the color and shimmer. Then I did my very first glitter gradient with Jordana Cosmos.

The shimmer wasn't as apparent on the nail as on the bottle but it's definitely more shimmery than my camera captured. Looking back now, maybe the third coat was counterproductive and hid the shimmer. I have to add that the formula on this polish was just wonderful. Not too thick or runny but buttery and amazing. Also, I'm pretty happy with the glitter gradient! It still doesn't look as amazing as other ladies make them look but it's not bad for a first try.

What do you think? Any tips on how to do glitter gradients?

Have a great day!

ABC Challenge 'H' - Orly High on Hope

Well 'ello there! Forgetting the fact that I suck and missed a post on Monday....

I had something really awesome planned for today. I promise, it was gonna be so boss, you guys. But then I ran out of time and realized one of my new polishes had a name starting with H and this polish is so complex and awesome that I decided just swatches would be good enough. Especially since I had such a hard time picking the pictures for this post, they were all pretty. And that's not a compliment on me, but the polish.

So which is this new and awesome polish (as if you hadn't read the post title)? Orly High on Hope from their spring 2013 collection! This polish is just... nghh (yes, I'm using guttural sounds to describe a polish). It has a slate blue-gray-greenish base with a chunky multichrome shimmer, almost glass flecky but finer than a glass fleck, the overall appearance on the nail is a shimmer. Formula was a little thick but not difficult at all, two coats is all you need for perfect opacity.

At very extreme angles and in low lighting, you can even see a little green shimmer a la Fantasy Fire or Clarins 230. In regular lighting and from afar it looks dark but the pink shimmer is still noticeable though not overpowering like it is in pictures. Still such a great polish in my eyes that I couldn't bring myself to add anything over it.

Also, this is the haul I made last night at Sally's. With coupons, sales and discounts all I paid out of pocket was $12.27!! My jaw dropped at the cash register when the girl said it was just $12. Spring polishes are my weakness :(.

That's it from me today, have a great day!!

ABC Challenge 'G' - Pop Beauty Grass (and Glitter!)

Hi all!

First off, I'll admit I don't like these pictures. I was literally sweating a fever out when I took these and they just don't look as good as I'd like. This cold (or whatever it is) has kicked my ass so hard that on Monday I was bedridden all day because my body ached so much I could barely move so I feel I couldn't do this awesome mani justice. 

Now for polish! I started with two coats of Pop Beauty 'Grass' (of which I don't have pictures alone because they turned out horribly), then added one coat of 'Algae Bloom', a beautiful franken by Mimi from Makeup Withdrawal! I was so excited to get some of her frankens as a bday present, I've long admired them from afar. Grass is a neon green and the perfect base for Algae Bloom's radioactive green base but it looked a little too neon for me so I added one coat of Zoya Frida to deepen the color.

Like I said, this mani was so much better in real life and could have looked better in pictures but I just wasn't up to it :\.

Unfortunately, Mimi has no plans as of yet to sell any of her pretties because she's like Gollum and wants to hoard them. I have a few more frankens that I'd like to share with you and I hope you don't hate me because they're not readily available.

Have a great day lovelies!

ABC Challenge 'F' - Revlon Facets of Fucshia

Hi all, happy candy day!

Today I'm finally back with day F of the ABC Challenge and I've chosen a semi-untried, Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia! This polished caused a big hooha when it came out due to it being fantastic and glittery in a time when indies were practically non-existent. Thankfully, Revlon heard our cries and it is now a permanent core shade and was renamed 'Scandalous (but since my bottle is Facets of Fuchsia it totally counts for the challenge). 

I'm showing one coat over black undies.

This was a semi untried because I wore it once last Halloween, to a dark nightclub where it got zero love and it hadn't been posted on here yet. Application was super easy and I love the simpleness of the glitters! It harkens back to a time before the 18,000 indie brands and glitter bombs.

Now, if you're at all interested in the crapmess my adviser got me into and why I've been gone for a week, click the Read More button below. Otherwise have a great day doing whatever you're going to do, whether it be celebrating valentine's day with a loved one, friends or not celebrating it at all!

ABC Challenge 'D' - Don't Talk Bach To Me

Hi all!

Thank goodness that the fabulous mani that I mentioned on Monday started chipping, or I wouldn't have had the heart to remove it! Last night I remembered that I didn't have a post ready for today and I had no idea which polish to use, so I started rummaging through my drawers and found one that I hadn't posted here yet! (At least, I don't think I did...)

I'm showing two coats of OPI's Don't Talk Bach to Me from their Fall collection. It's gotten a lot of flack for being one of those ugly colors but I really liked it. It's different, like a really muted yellow with a hint of poopy undertones? Anyway, then I stamped with Illamasqua Muse and plate DRK-A.

For some reason, with the stamping and maybe my camera, it looked more like a chartreuse green but HERE is a color accurate swatch. I didn't really like this when I finished but it grew on me, so much so that I did the other hand to match because I didn't have time to do anything else.

What do you think? I love how Illamasqua Muse stamped but I probably won't use it too often for that. It's a little too expensive for a stamping polish lol.

Have a great day!

C is for a Creative Fantasy and Clown Puke Sandwich!

Hi all! I'm currently typing from the floor of my university. I really hate my schedule this semester.

We're on day C of the ABC Challenge hosted by Kimber and, because I'm such an overachiever, I used two C polishes. First I applied two coats of China Glaze Creative Fantasy, then one coat of KBShimmer Clown Puke and one more coat of Creative Fantasy for a yummy looking sandwich.

Look at that!! I had NO idea Clown Puke had different shaped glitter in there! After getting these I thoroughly inspected the bottle and it seems half moons and flowers are it, no hearts or stars but I don't mind at all. I thought of adding NPB Boop-Oop-a-Dupe on top but it hid the glitter a little too much so I kept it as is. Also, I don't ever want to run out of Boop-Oop-a-Dupe.

It's also very fitting that I'm showing a KBShimmer today because I'm expecting delivery of my latest order, two polishes and their new topcoat (of which you can expect a thorough review later).

What do you think? Someone asked me what my favorite polishes were and my answers were mostly jellies. I heart jellies. Have anything else to say? Chat with me, I'm bored waiting for class lol. Remember you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and now KiK!