OPI "Peace, Love, & OPI"

Hi girls!  How was your weekend?  It finally started to feel like spring here, but I don't know how long it's going to last...We're supposed to have storms the next few days, and then I think it's supposed to get a bit cooler again.

Today I have for you "Peace, Love & OPI" from the fall 2013 San Francisco collection.

"Peace, Love, & OPI" is a silver duochrome with a purple and green shift.  This is two nice and easy coats.

My ring finger looks kind of brush stroke-y here, but you can't see that in real life.

I think this photo really shows off the pinky-purple duochrome.

So, what do you guys think?  I love colors like this, and I have everything that's even sort of similar.  If I get a chance, I'll do a comparison post!

Thanks for reading!

a england "Dancing with Nureyev"

Hi everyone!  I meant to get this post up last night, but I spent forever refreshing Llarowe.com trying to get a couple of her charity polishes.  I managed to get three of the four I wanted, so I did okay!  Anyway, after that I was so tired I didn't feel like typing up a post!  Sorry!

Today I have for you a england's "Dancing with Nureyev" from the new-ish Ballerina collection.  I had to google to see who Nureyev was.  He was a Soviet-born ballet dancer, and one of the most celebrated ballerinos of the 20th century.  He defected to France in the early 1960s, and sadly died due to complications of AIDS in 1993.

"Dancing with Nureyev" is a pale lavender holo.

I had a problem with my editing software, so I couldn't get my watermark to show up on the rest of these :/  Oh, well!

 I decided to add some little flower stickers to my accent nail.  I thought this went together really well!

The formula of "Nureyev", like all a england's formulas, was nice and creamy.  I used two coats here. 

a england can be found at llarowe.com.  What do you ladies think of this color?  I am definitely ready for springy pastels!

Thanks for reading!

Cult Nails "Seduction"

Hey guys!  Quick post today and only a quick couple of pictures because they're all that I could get to turn out right!

Cult Nails "Seduction" is a purple jelly with red and blue flakies.  You could probably build this up on its own, but since it's a little sheer, I layered it over some grapey purple undies.  The flakies in here are awesome!  I couldn't stop looking at my nails when I had this on!  They flash in the light from red to gold to green!  Unfortunately "Seduction" is not available anymore. I might try recreating this with some flakies and a purple jelly though.  I'll definitely post it if I do!

Thanks for reading!

Back to Basics: Hand and Nail Care

Hey ladies!

I've decided to start doing a series of "Back to Basics" posts about nail care, polishing, maybe some nail art techniques eventually.  I recently put together a little kit for my good friend Kristin, who complains that her nails are dry and brittle, and just don't grow.  I thought I'd share what I included in the kit as a basic on hand and nail care.

I'm putting everything under a jump, cause this is a little long!

Nail Pattern Boldness "Covetous"

Hi ladies!  How was your week?  I managed to have a relaxing and super-productive Spring Break.  I'm not sure that's ever happened before!  Unfortunately, none of my productivity had to do with school, so I need to get back in the swing of studying!

Tonight I have another chevron manicure.  This is a "negative space" mani with Nail Pattern Boldness "Covetous".

I can't quite decide how I feel about this.  I LOOOOVE the glitter (more on that in a second!) and I like pictures of negative space manicures on other people, but this just isn't doing it for me.  I think it might have been better if I had used skinnier chevrons, so there was more polish on my nails.

Anyway, "Covetous" is a dark navy glitter with some yellow-gold and pink glitters thrown in. This is such a fun, unique glitter!  And it can definitely be built to opacity on its own.  I did two coats here, and if they had been full-nail coats, it would have covered perfectly!  I'm definitely going to have to use this one again on its own!

Nail Pattern Boldness can be found at Llarowe.com.  They have a bunch of fun glitters.  I add one or two more to my wishlist each time I look at their collection.

Hope you guys have a good weekend!  Don't forget to check out my new Etsy shop!
Thanks for reading!

My Etsy store is open!

Hi everyone! 

Real quick post tonight.  I just wanted to let you know that I opened an Etsy store selling nail polish earrings! It's called RxDesign.  I'm slowly adding my inventory, so come take a look and let me know what you think!

Thanks!!

Nail Art: Chevrons

Hey guys!  Sorry I didn't get my St. Patrick's nails up yesterday :(  I've been taking this medicine the past few days that completely wipes me out.  I went to bed at 11:00 Sunday night and slept til 9:00 yesterday morning.  Then I ate breakfast and laid back down on the couch for an hour!  And after that I was still dragging all day at work, and when I came home after!  I was just didn't have the energy to take and edit pictures last night.  Luckily, this medicine is just an as-needed thing, so I'm going to stop taking it for now and go see my doctor again if I need something else.

Anyway, I went to bed early last night and got a good, restful night of sleep, and then I got so much done today!  I did my taxes finally this morning (got a nice big federal and state refund, whoohoo!) and then I cleaned and organized my office here at home.  I still had boxes to unpack from when we moved in last May!  I got everything sorted, and now you can see the floor!

Okay, sorry for all the talking, those were just two things on my Spring Break To-Do list, and I'm glad I got them done!

For today's manicure, I used some nail vinyls I got from Nail Vinyls on Storenvy.  I've used striping tape before, and I figured this would be pretty similar, but it turns out they're a little different!

 Nail vinyls are more substantial and way stickier than striping tape.  At first they would pull up the polish underneath when I tried to reposition them.  So I stuck the vinyl to my hand a few times to try to make it less sticky, but then it wouldn't still to my nail at all!  After some finagling I got it to work though!

This is one coat of RBL "Pause" over two coats of Butter London "Fishwife".   It was really hard to get accurate pictures of "Pause".  My camera kept wanting to make it blue.  For some reason, darker lighting (like the two above photos) worked better.  "Pause" is a grape purple shimmer, and "Fishwife" is a weak minty holo.

I'm glad I bought these vinyls; I'm already thinking of my next mani with them!  Have you guys tried vinyls?  Do you have any tips?

Thanks for reading!

Comparison: Jade "Deja Vu" VS KBShimmer "Whole Lava Lovin'"

Hi everyone!  How are you doing on this cold Sunday?  Is it cold where you are?  Yesterday it was about 75 degrees here, and then the temperature dropped all through the night.  The high today was 55 at 12:05 AM!  Just after midnight.  And then it was in the 30s all day and there was sleet and snow!  Urgh!!  When is spring going to come and stay for good??

Anyway, today I have a comparison for you.  When I was fishing out all my red holos, I realized that Jade "Deja Vu" and KBShimmer "Whole Lava Lovin'" looked pretty similar.  Here are a couple bottle shots:

Here they look pretty similar.

Here I think you can see that the Jade is a little lighter red, and has a slightly stronger holo.

And here they are on the nail:

Overall, I think you can see that the Jade has a stronger holo effect, and I think that's what makes it look a little lighter.  They're both beautiful though, and they're different enough that I can justify having both!

If you guys ever have any comparisons you want me to do, post them in the comments and I'll do them if I have the polishes!

Thanks for reading!

Contrary Polish "River Market"

Hi girls!  Sorry it took me so long to get this up; yesterday was a long and tiring day!  Purina came over yesterday to film me and Tumnus.  It was totally fun, but a little hectic!  I was going to post this up last night, but then Ben and I went to run some errands, and when we got home, all I wanted to do is go to bed!

Anyway, this is the polish I finally decided on for the Purina shoot.  They recommended jewel tones for shirts, so I decided to take the same cue for my nails, and went with Contrary Polish "River Market".

I tried to get pictures in a bunch of different lighting, but no matter what I did, this came out way more blue (and more sheer) than it is in real life.

"River Market" is a purple jelly with red shimmer.  I used two coats, which looks fine in real life, but you can totally see some VNL here.

I have friends who live in the River Market district of Kansas City (which this polish was based on!).  It's a really cool area.  There's the river (obviously) and there's a farmers' market with a bunch of good produce and really good local restaurants.  Going through these polishes in the No Place Like Home collection makes me want to visit again; it's been awhile since I've been to KC!  Maybe this spring or summer I'll get a chance...

Lastly, here's a photo of me and my nails from the Purina shoot!  Doesn't my house look nice when it's professionally lit?

Thanks for reading!

Edited to add: Carrie's creations can be found at Llarowe.com.  Love her shimmers!

Rescue Beauty Lounge "Jack" and "Locavore"

Hi ladies!

How is your week going?  It's almost over, and then I have Spring Break next week!  Woot!

Today I have a polish that I picked by randomly sticking my hand into my bag of Gosia's borrowed polishes and grabbing something.  I ended up with Rescue Beauty Lounge "Jack", a beautiful hunter green creme with blue shimmer.  Then I decided it would go great with one of my untried RBL's, "Locavore", and here is the result:

Okay, these pictures are nice, but they don't do justice to either polish.  The glitter in "Locavore" kind of covered up the blue shimmer in "Jack", and my camera just couldn't capture the sparkliness of "Locavore".

"Locavore" is a mix of gold, magenta, and aqua microglitters.  I tried to get a good macro shot, but again my camera was freaking out.

This is ONE COAT people!  You could totally build this to opacity on its own, but removing it would be a bitch!

I didn't mean to do a St. Patty's day manicure, but this would totally be appropriate for St. Pats!  And the mix of glitters in "Locavore" would have been perfect for Mardi Gras!

Do you girls have plans for St. Pat's?

Thanks for reading!

Jade Holografico "Deja Vu"

Hi girls!

How was your weekend?  I'm going out after work tonight to get sushi with some friends!  I'm so excited; it's been a long time since I've had good sushi!

Today I have another practice kitty manicure:

This is Jade Holographico "Deja Vu".  When I pulled out all my red holos, I noticed this one and KBShimmer "Whole Lava Lovin'" are very similar, so look for a comparison on that soon!  This top photo is the most color accurate, "Deja Vu" is not quite as maraschino-red as the next two pictures.
 

I added a couple little paw prints on my accent nail with some new dotting tools I got off Amazon.  I'm loving these paw prints!  I think they're super cute :)

Jade is a Brazilian brand that can be found, like almost everything, at Llarowe.com.  These are a bit cheaper than most holos tend to be, and the formula is great!  Could have been a one-coater, but I did a second coat just to deepen the color.  If you're looking to try your first holo, and don't want to spend too much, I definitely recommend Jade!

Thanks for reading!

Colors By Llarowe "Dirty Diana"

Hey girls!  I meant to get this up last night, but then I got caught up in the excitement of having the Purina people over (more on that in a second!), and then Ben and I went to Office Depot later and we ended up being there longer than we planned on.  Some shit went down guys, lol.  Basically the manager wouldn't let us use a coupon from the website even though we were making a LARGE purchase (Ben's re-doing his office).  Whatever, we went home and ordered everything online and the manager missed out on a big sale that probably would have helped him make his plan for the night.

Anyway, the people from Purina came over yesterday to see how Tumnus was around strangers (he's a little shy, but he comes around), to discuss what the video will be about, and to see what the lighting is like in our house.  It turns out the video is for an ad that will be on their website and on their banner ads on other websites!  We'll be celebrities! 

I've been trying to think of ideas for manicures that will be a little eye catching, but not distracting on camera.  I don't even know if my hands will make it on camera, but I want to be prepared!  Here is my first test-mani:

This is Colors By Llarowe "Dirty Diana" with a little kitty tail on my pinkie!  I don't think you can tell it's supposed to be a cat tail though; it just looks like a squiggle :-P

More beautiful pictures after the jump!

Alter Ego "Beach Comber"

Hi girlies!

I'm so glad this week is halfway over!  My test today wasn't too bad, and we have a quiz tomorrow, but I think it'll be okay too.  I got some exciting news today!  I'm participating in a market research study about cat food, where the company gives me a bag of food to feed to my cat for a month and record any changes in his behavior, health etc.  It's been a week so far, and Mr. Tumnus really like this brand!  It's one that I haven't bought before cause it's a little too expensive.  Anyway, there are different "levels" of the study, and we got a call today that someone from the company is going to come out to our house to see how Tumnus does around strangers, and if all goes well, we'll be video taped next week!  I haven't asked what exactly they're taping for, but Ben is convinced it's for a commercial.  That would be awesome!!  My kitty could be a star!

Anyway, on to the polish!

Alter Ego Nail Enamel is a new brand to me.  I had never heard of it before picking it off of Gosia's polish wall, but I love aquas like this, so I had to give it a try!
Here is "Beach Comber":

"Beach Comber" is a beautiful aqua with a scattered holographic shimmer.  It dried to a satin-matte finish, but I really wanted the shimmer to come out, so I added a coat of Seche Vite.

Beautiful shimmer!!  The formula on this was a little sheer-it took 3 coats for full opacity- but it flowed wonderfully.  Hardy any clean-up needed!

I know I've said on here before that my favorite color combination is aqua and purple, so I decided to add some stamping with Julep "Morgan" and MoYou London Suki plate 06.

Alter Ego Nail Enamel can be found on Etsy and Storenvy.  She has some really awesome colors AND a "Three Spree" where you can pick any three full-size colors for $19.99!  I'll definitely have to take advantage of that once my no-buy is over!

And now, so you can say you knew him before he became famous, is the star-to-be!

This is his "Treats?" face :)

Thanks for reading!

Contrary Polish "18th and Vine"

Hi ladies!

I have another test this week, so sorry for the lack of posts the past few days!  My test is Wednesday, so after that I'll be back to posting a bit more.

Today I have the first polish I've tried from Contrary Polish, "18th and Vine".  Carrie, the maker of Contrary Polish, is from Kansas City!  I didn't realize this until she put out the No Place Like Home collection, which this polish is from.  Each polish in the collection is based on an area around Kansas City.  18th and Vine is the Jazz District, which is home of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the American Jazz Museum, and it's working jazz club, The Blue Room. 
I have family in friends in KC, so I've been there many times, but I've never been to the Jazz Museum.  I'll have to visit next time!

Here is "18th and Vine":

 Beautiful!  This post is a little picture-heavy because I love this color so much, so I've put the rest under a jump!