lincoln park after dark

*yawn* i am soooooo tired. but had to post this before i passed out haha. the great this about short nails is wearing dark vampy colors w/o feeling like elvira mistress of the dark. the bad thing, at least for me, is getting excess polish all over your fingers at the top. this is usually not a problem with longer nails. oh well. i got opi's lincoln park after dark finally, part of their chicago collection, which is a super dark sort of jelly-like (but not) purple almost black. very easy to apply, two coater. i feel very un-summery with these edgey bad boys haha.

purple people eater

i love that song, purple people eater. it reminds me of singing to old 50's cassette tapes in my grandma's buick on road trips. so i chopped my nails off. the more you get to know me (or my blog) you will realize that i am easily bored. i have also changed the look of my layout again. yay! this notd is mac's violet fire and pure ice's new lilac frost on the ring finger. i just can't get enough of VF, dude i am sooooo in love with this guy. ga ga gorgeous!

california coral

notd essie california coral :) me likey! very orange, very pretty. no problemos with this guy!

sag harbor

okey dokey. i was in the mood for some blues with all the rain we've been having, even tho it didn't rain today. i chose sag harbor, one of the essie polishes i got this past weekend at ulta. i've only tried one other essie in my life so it was exciting and a little challenging i'll admit. it was a little runnier than i expected and i probably should've done a few nails over, but i didn't feel like it. i am content.the redness you see on my hands is leftover from removing my ruby pumps polish. and p.s. this is my right hand woot!

b-day haul

so these are the beauty goodies i got on my birthday this past saturday, mostly from my beautiful wonderful amazing gorgeous sister claire! i la la love her! we even made a trip to ulta and nordstrom so i could pick a few treasures on my own. the polishes are: opi's don't melbourne the toast, banana bandana, essie's sag harbor, shifting power, flirty fuchsia, california coral, castaway, and MAC's violet fire. ♥

ruby pumps

i decided to celebrate my b-day with a more spectacular mani than my previously chosen opi pink and picked up ruby pumps by china glaze. shy and demure it ain't! ah where to begin? i started this love affair with seche clear base (which i got free @ sally's) and used two coats of RP and then ended with my first use of seche vite top coat. and i'm head over heels. who wouldn't be??that's all for tonight dearie dears :) la la love ya!

tutti frutti tonga

hello hello! i wanted to try out a new nail shape, so i filed my tips into a more oval shape :) i never thought i could pull this off before, but i figured hey if i don't end up liking it i can always go back to square right? why not, and it's not like super dramatic like pointy or anything ;) it's my b-day tomorrow so i decided to try something new and delicate and pretty and dainty to make me feel extra cutie haha. the shade is opi's tutti frutti tonga, a pearly pale pink that reminds me of seashells. i had to use 3 coats because it can be rather sheer but it's worth it. i didn't use a top coat, just opi's drip dry drops.

my new fav mascara

they say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem right?

hello, my name is kellie and i'm a mascara-holic. i have so many it's not even funny. i haven't decided if i'm going to do mascara reviews or not, so we'll see, but i just wanted to drop a line about my newest and most favorite mascara since my last greatest discovery. i thought i had found the holy grail of mascaras in Dior Iconic *bows down*. but then after reading all the great things ladies have had to say about maybelline, the drugstore guru's of mascaras, lash stiletto mascara i had to try that baby out. and i LA LA LOVE IT!!!!! believe me, not one flake smudge or tear from that formula and my lashes were a mile long and stayed curled all day. ♥

notd dare

this notd is a blue sparkly called dare by petites that i got at walmart. i'm not terribly impressed unfortunately. i don't love the bumpy texture, but hey what can you do with glittery/shimmery polishes? it's a pretty darkish cornflower blue. and cheap at $1.29, so i might give the other smooth ones a try next time. hey why not?

jamaica me crazy

so i thought i lost the ability to do a credible manicure after what i've dubbed "monday's multiple mani massacre" (he he) but turns out it was a fluke. i'm cured! phew! i picked out a color i haven't tried since i've bought it, and never on my tips, only toes. idk why, it's lovely. pure ice's jamaica me crazy is a frosted fuschia, and in certain lights gives of a duochrome-y looking sheen. haha i'm not much with all the terminology yet so yeah whatev.until next time, live long and prosper!

when life gives you lemons...

you paint that sh*t gold.

in this case, i painted my nails gold. to be more specific, i removed the lemon-y yellow color (which i did love) the nasty salon ladies painted my nails and replaced it with a light nudish gold lacquer. i used cosmo-not tonight honey! from opi's russian collection. this is one of my favorite work appropriate shades; i even used to wear it when i was a dental assistant and we were FORBIDDEN to wear color on our nails or lips or anywhere, hee hee!

it does have a few shortcomings, as some frosty shades do, at least for me. visible brush strokes and a few bumpy bumps, but that could just be user error :D

the next notd i'm showing you is one of the many shades i painted on last night as i had my OCD freak out session. i did a few others, but they turned out ugly-uggo on my camera so i refuse to post them. maybe that's why i ended up scrubbing them off so hastily 5 minutes after i was finished with applying them. *sigh*

this is a pastel green from Charlotte Russe (i swear it looked more blue in the store when i bought it) that looks almost minty, kind of reminicient of MAC peppermint patti? no name really that i could see. it was a friggen pain and a half to apply, runny and streaky and i had to apply about a billion coats. oh and it did not wear well, but that could be due to my weird episode aswel, so don't read into that part ;) it is pretty tho.

please excuse the craptastic application, as i said, i was fed up by that time.

notd spark

i don't know why, but i ended up in a nail salon today. i know, i know. please no lectures, i've already been punished enough. i won't go into it all, but it was pretty terrible. the color i chose ended up being the only good thing about the experience. this is orly spark, a creme light yellow.

quick toe look

i slapped on some china glaze for audrey the other day for a quick pedicure and decided to jazz it up after i put the glitter over my nars manicure. i tried to do some white polka dots at the top but it was late and i was failing so i did kind of a fading silver glitter tip look thing. the glitter polish is from GAP, picked up about a million years ago. looks pretty when i stare down at my feet. <3

modified nars

i was a little bored with my orangey nails, nars orgasm, but didn't feel like doing a whole new color last night so i put nyx sheer nude (dumbest name ever) which is actually a super pink glittery color on the tips. the pay off was pretty super if you ask me :)

click to make bigger

wishlist june 09

my big 23rd birthday is just around the corner on the 20th and i'm not super excited about getting older and not having anything significantly change in my life haha. but oh well, blah blah wah wah. i guess everyone feels like that huh. my sister-in-law mary (christmas is her last name believe it or not) is doing the whole cake making thing and she said she's going to try to make me an Edward Cullen cake. HAHAHA! i told her he has to sparkle. we will see how this turns out. i may have to send it in to cake wrecks haha. anyway, here is my current wishlist. not necessarily for my birthday presents, but just stuff i've been lusting after. mostly after i started reading blogs and such :( haha.

click to make bigger

clockwise: daisy by marc jacobs, iskin ipod case, nail tek treatment/mattifier, shiseido mango passion lip gloss, curl cloths, m.a.c. style warrior polishes, essie neons, rainbow hemp flip flops

notd nars

this is the cult-worthy color from Nars called orgasm, and it is SOOOO beautiful. i had to layer on a few coats cuz i still have some green sludge under my nails from the nasty jumpin' jade fiasco and i had VNL (visible nail line). but i la la love the formula and had no troubles with it! lovely.

*flash, so you can see the golden glow*

*lamp light to bring out the true peach*

when i see the pictures, they remind me of the notd i very first blogged about the peachy orange from charlotte russe, and really they are super close in color. but the latter does not have golden glow. and really, and what is an orgasm without the glow ;)

ds design

hello hello, readers you hit the nail post jackpot, three looks in one day woot! here's the OPI DS design color which is a beautiful nude holographic. i la la love it. easy peasy application too. holos = <3

notds' jumpin jade and sexy silhouette

i hate sally hansen's insta-dry polish. not because of the formula, because that in itself is pretty great. SUPER fast drying, rich color, etc. because of the design of the bottle and the brush. stupid stupid stupid. clumsy and chunky and bleeeccch. the awesome result is only because of a tremendous amount of clean-up. i'm de-bottling this baby as soon as possible. this pretty dark green is called jumpin' jade.

*Edited: i no longer love this polish. i decanted (or whatever it's called) it and it got on my hands of course and it has stained them. STAINED. like won't come out. i've been bathing them in acetone. awesome. and my nail beds now hate me and are calling me filthly things under their breath. yep, i like to personify my body parts sometimes.

this next color is from china glaze, called sexy silhouette. it's a pretty glowy fuchsia pinky reddish color that i jazzed up with some nail stickers. i got excited and used two thick coats and thought it dried quickly, but it ended up bubbling later. boo. oh well, it is still pretty pretty.

cherry whisper notd

hello hello readers! it's a nice cool evening here in the west US and i'm feeling a nail post coming on. i did this mani last night and have gotten so many positive comments on it i HAVE to post pics. i wasn't going to, not because it's not amazing or anything, but because it's a NuSkin NC2 polish that is discontinued. and really REALLY what is the point of putting out the pictures of something beautiful and fun and lustworthy if someone can't go out and get their hands on a bottle of it after reading about it??? well, i guess nothing. except amusement. so here goes, nothing special except a beautiful frosty hot princess pink. the color is actually darker and more fuchsia than the picture makes it seem but eh what can you do. no sunlight. the application is so flawless with this brand, thin and bubble-free. the color is called cherry whisper, ta da!

eww the side of my cuticle looks so chomped and heinous, sorry sorry <3

nude & holo notd's

the nail look i put on my tips this evening was one of my favorite nudes in existence. OPI's Skinny Dippin' in Lake Michigan from the chicago collection. it's a pure nude with sparkles. LOVES it! i actually ran out of my first bottle and saw this in a discount bin at beauty express or trade secret or something like that and had to snatch it up. and i do believe it is the very first time i have EVER repurchased a nail polish color specifically. it's very work appropriate and just lovely. it's nothing super exciting but if you're looking for a nude with a little something extra, this is your guy!

the next look is gonna be for my tootsies and yes, you'll get to see all ten little piggies. i used china glaze 2Nite, which is a bright blue holographic sparkly thing. very pretty. i tried it on my tips when i first bought it a few weeks ago, but used a top coat and it severly diminished the holo effect so i ended up removing it. i just used a clear base coat this time on the toes and no top coat but had to use my trusty drying drops of course. please don't mind the toe separators :)