in a tiff

quick post :) in a tiff by ultra pro lacquer from sally beauty supply. ok formula, a little thick. that afternoon at work, i topped it with china glaze fairy dust and a cover girl boundless color glitter (can't remember the name) on every other nail. the cover girl is the chunkier glitter. i apologize for my cuticles, they're horrid haha, and i filed the tips the other day quite a bit and you can see i missed a ragged edge here and there (don't judge me k) thanks for looking/reading! have a fantastic weekend!!!

*flash no glitter*

*sun with glitter*

icing paparazzi

omg omg omg, i have not been this excited for a nail polish in a long time. well, in a while haha. i honestly ran to the display in icing when i saw they had this color. and it was the last one so i had to grab it up! i just had to. i saw paparazzi on steph's closet and fell head over heels. it's so unique and different than anything i own and i love oranges!! this is a rusty orange bordering on mauvey rose (LOVES it) with tiny silver sparkles and bigger holo glitter pieces in it. it builds and applies extremely well, which was surprising to me. i was expecting it to be a little messy, as it reminded me slightly of lippman's anniversary superstar, but no mess no fuss! the brush in icing polishes is a dream, a bit bigger than most (think opi but slightly less wide and more thick?) but it worked awesome with my nails. this is three coats, although i honestly think you could get away with one, hee hee i just couldn't stop applying it! (i'm retarded.) no topcoat, cuz i wanted it to be a true swatch for once haha.

*flash*

the photos are regrettably a bit smaller than usual (no bigger when you click) because i accidentally changed the settings on my camera when i shot them and didn't realize it til today. except the one below, it gets bigger when you click on it :)


*full sun*

coconut kiss

i'm not gonna lie, this is a stupid name for a polish. and i love dumb polish names. mostly because this has nothing to do with coconuts. because they are brown, or white, or tropical, or whatever. but this polish is purple. and coconut kiss does not bring to mind the awesome purpleness that this polish is. but whatev.

i've heard that this china glaze is a dupe for nubar's utterly coveted pasadena purple (from gigi's tips on "he's just not that in to you"). p.s. i hated that movie. it gives chicks a bad name. no offense if you liked it. you can see pics of pasadena purple on scrangie's and the nailphile's blogs. i personally think coconut kiss is a bit prettier ;) but that's just me haha! unfortunately, i do not think it went all that well with my skin tone. i did borrow it from my friend mickelle (as we decided we're swapping and not buying for a while haha!) so no regrets. i hate polish regret, it's pretty much the worst thing. i'm being dramatic today sry.

it was hard to capture the color accurately, as my camera always turns purples slightly blue. the sun pictures are most accurate. this is three coats, i got a few bubbles in there. wasn't being especially careful with my application.

*flash**sun*

Edit: oh a postscript, i did the cuticle oil trick and no clean up with this guy too so i think it will become a regular thing for me. try it if you haven't. it's mad easy!

bronze baby

*yawn* i stayed up way too late last night doing this mani and watching house md. i la la love house!! it's pretty much the best show ever. put ya hands in the ayer if yous a true player..oh wait that's biggie smalls..not house...oh well. i'm sure house would put his hands in the ayer.

petites brand can be purchased at walmart and they really don't get enough credit. i picked this one up after seeing it on scrangie's blog and it's so hot. perfect formula, two coater, great great varnish. and CHEAP! less than $2. pick this guy up immediately. bronze baby...oooh smooth.yeah i'm showing more "gap" than usual, just happened that way this time haha. until we meet again m'dears!

french mani and red pedi

buenos noches blogger land!

i have not done a free hand french in forever, mostly because i'm not very good at it and i'm a perfectionist. so when i stare at my fingers all day and see the mistakes, i end up just taking it off. and a good french deserves more than a day of wear i think, am i right?! haha, anyway my nails have grown pretty well so i decided to give it a go. i went with the natural smile line and used essie blanc for the white, then fixed the line with a regular chisel art brush and acetone. which should make the line just about perfect, but nay it is not. oh well! i covered it with china glaze love letters, should've done two or three coats, but i ended up rushing so i could only do one and a quick seche vite top. i ended up with bubbles cuz i didn't thin my seche before :( and i couldn't tell at first, but the yellow of my beds is really personified. EW!! no bueno.

but a trip to ulta on friday resulted in FINALLY finding nail tek's foundation II ridge filler/base coat (which i've had a lemming for forever, mostly from mary's blog "body and soul") so i used it to mattify the french. which helped a little. anyway, never one to leave well enough alone...i had also purchased an ulta glitter polish (they were on sale for $2, regularly $5) called after party, a red and silver glitter, so i put that on top. i also threw on rush topcoat to make it super super shiny. i went the third day with a glitter french. so *phew* i think three days is a good run no? haha :)

*shiny**matte**glitter*

also my sister decided to paint my toesies since i always paint hers while she was over the other day, so here's her work! revlon's cherries in the snow :) super cuuuute!

reposting magnificence

got this from a new blog i just started following, pixiwoo. caution: do not watch if you are a loser and will be offended ;)

it's so damn true.

revisited peachy orange

ok this notd is the very first nail look i ever posted, the charlotte russe brand no name peachy orange lacquer. but the picture was awful and it is a cute color so here it is again. i slapped it on in a hurry so the application is less than stellar. two coats, no fuss. this dries semi-matte but of course i used seche vite on top to dry this baby quick. xoxo!

blueberry wink

quick post :) nucolor nc2 blueberry wink

*edit* the brand is from a MLM complany called nuskin, based here in utah, sold internationally. sadly they don't make nail polish anymore, but i have oodles, so i might have to do a giveaway with some soon!

my nephew is in town and we've had a busy week! plus my photo software is being weird so sorry for the shorty post :D love ya!

"sheer" your toys

i was on the fence about buying this guy, because the color didn't jump out at me. even seeing the swatches on other blogs i wasn't super impressed with opi's "sheer" your toys from the holiday in toyland collection. it's a pale lavender-ish gray with bits of reddish flecks in it. however, it has grown on me and now i love it. i found it in a discount bin and i was on a binge (haha) and none of the other colors were doing it for me so i picked it up. i can see it being one of my favorite colors for real. a unique color and not too crazy so it is very wearable.

• nailtiques formula 2 nail protein
• orly bonder
• 2 coats "sheer" your toys
• seche vite

*flash**indirect sun*this is my second day look with orly's matte top coat. you can see the reddish flecks better :)

i also did this mani a little different, i got this genius idea to oil my cuticles before i polished to see if it would help keep the polish off my skin and WHOOPIE it worked like a charm, and believe it or not, these pictures are taken with absolutely no cleanup. (decide for yourselves if that is a good thing or not haha) and then like magic, i read on a few blogs and such that it is not a new idea, people have been doing this trick forever. so boo, i'm late to catch on. anyway, it's a cool idea for someone like me who hasn't heard of it yet. love ya!

pink crystalline

this notd is my standard go-to pink. it is actually a hand-me-down polish from my sister claire and i used it even when i wasn't really into polish haha. it always looks nice even with one coat. very pearly and as the name suggests, sort of crystal like in it's appearance in the sun. i highly recommend this as a work appropriate shade or just a pretty soft polish. (this was a quick at work mani, so it's not perfect haha)

• orly bonder
• 2 coats lancome vernis magnetic pink crystalline
• rush (sally beauty) high speed top coat

*flash**indoor natural light**full sun*

i didn't love the rush topcoat as a drier, it was just not fast enough for me. still felt a bit tacky after 5 minutes (which is terribly slow for me after seche) but it is incredibly shiny so i'll keep it on hand i think. maybe top off day old notd's when they lose their shine a bit or something. i do like the orly bonder though, very nice addition to my arsenal haha.

strobe light pedi

i was visiting my relatives in nevada (where i'm originally from) this weekend and we all seemed to have glittery pedicures. it was pretty cool haha, as it was prime sandal weather and super sunny. the girls there had all gotten glitter toes (with gel overlay) done and i had just used sally hansen's xtreme wear glitter polish in strobe light, but it looked about the same consistency. we were visiting for my cousin Daniale's baby shower and i couldn't resist including a pic of her cute belly! (even though pregnancy freaks me out a bit hehe)

i love this polish and got a ton of compliments on it. this is 3 coats with seche vite on the top so it wouldn't be scratchy.

lubu heels

greetings dear dearies! so this post is about china glaze's varnish lubu heels, which is a black polish with red micro glitter (kin to ruby pumps). the polishes were released together to be used to do a Christian Louboutin shoe type manicure, which means the darker black lubu heels on top with the red ruby pumps on the underside of the nail like Louboutin shoes. i didn't do this because it seems ridiculously hard and i don't have the time :) although fun. maybe one day.

*flash**blurry to see the glitter*i gotta say i mostly liked this polish in bright light and sunshine as indoors or under lamp light it looks pretty plain or slightly brown/burgundy. which is kind of disappointing. i used two coats, maybe three would've been better suited. it applied very well with the first coat being rather runnier than i expected. i noticed with some wear that one or two of the glitter pieces on top (even with seche vite) lost their pigment and became flat tin colored rather than red, which really annoyed me haha. it looked like a smudge or a dirt spot that i couldn't wipe away. not a big deal for normal folks, but for a perfectionist like me, i was going crazy. i look forward to this color on another day, as it is really beautiful. hope your weekends are going splendidly!

banana bandana

haha there's a joke by demetiri martin (who is worth checking into if you like stand up) where he's like i always feel stupid when i spell banana, cuz i never know when to stop. and that's how i felt typing banana bandana as the title of this post haha. opi has a winner on their hands with this one. it's very similar to orly's spark, which i had posted awhile ago but i do not own it, so it's ok haha. plus it's much softer and i think more flattering to my skin tone. i had the usual yellow streaky issues with this guy, so i put on 4 coats, but it was worth it. the end product was sans streaks and looks bee-yoo-ti-ful :)

• nailtiques formula II nail protein
• opi nail envy matte
• 4 coats opi banana bandana
• seche vite top coat

*sun**natural indoor light*

essie it's genius

hello dears! i got essie it's genius for a slight discount at trade secret so i was stoked to try it out. it looks simply grand in the bottle, rich aubergine purple with gold shimmer oooh! and it was gorgeous in both natural indoor light and outside in the hot western sun. however, i had to screw it up internally. this mani never had a chance. the whole tip wrapping thing and me just isn't gonna cut it i'm afraid, kids. at least until i find a better technique. because, like i said, i really don't mind a little tip shrinkage. i just don't. also, probably more importantly, my base coat cocktail this time around was simply too thick and messed it up, so DON'T try this combo at home!

• opi nail envy matte
• essie fill the gap ridge filler
• 3 coats of essie's it's genius
• seche vite top coat

*full sun**outside morning shade*i love this color and will wear it again minus the mistakes :)

essie castaway

ok i think this may be my favorite mani since ruby pumps. and that is pretty big. i would describe essie castaway as barbie bubblegum pink. not quite too little-girlish tho, kinda rocker barbie. but delicate at the same time. just good old girls just wanna have fun cyndi lauper good times pretty polish.

i'm gonna take a cue from my girl CCee from TeamSugar (known her forEVA on there) and lay out the steps to my manicures, as i do not do traditional "swatches". guess i shoulda told y'all that earlier. i just feel like if i put so much time into something and i'm so proud of it why wouldn't i wear it for at least 24 hours haha. and that means using full base and tops every time i do polish. just to clear that up in case anyone was wondering ;)

1. nailtiques formula 2 nail protein (first time using this)
2. essie fill the gap (another first time use)
3. 2 coats essie castaway (tip wrapping in between coats)
4. seche vite dry fast top coat

*flash*
*lamp light* so far i'm loving the essie fill the gap ridge filler, my polish went on a lot smoother and the polish has a much more even appearance than i'm used to. have a happy weekend m'dears!

chanel delice

hola blog readers of the world! my notd yesterday was chanel delice, which i'm sorry to say i do not particularly love. it's ok but just that, ok. and it was a pain in my butt. like i've said before, i'm trying to grow my nails out a bit and therefore do not have much of a free edge right now. well this color is super sheer so unless i wanted a ton of ugly uneven short VNL (visible nail line) i had to layer the crap out of it. and so i did. so i give you 6 coats. and that, my dear friends, is dedication. the in-bottle color is so effing pretty though so i just kept layering and layering and layering. and the end result is just ho-hum. the edges of my cuticles are a bit discolored from my last polish, sapphire blue so please pay no mind to that. it's an alright polish and i'm glad i tried it, but it's not one i'll probably be reaching for again anytime soon. (and i borrowed it so that's good too!)

on another note, i've been slowly converting my friend & co-worker mickelle into a fellow polish-junkie and i convinced her to buy some seche vite top coat the other day. she likes how fast it dries but has experienced more tip shrinkage than i do. maybe because her nails are rounder at the top and she doesn't use their base coat? idk but i've heard poshe top coat is better for the tip pull issue. i personally don't mind a little shrinking at the edges, plus i would outweigh that "con" with all the "pro's" that come with seche. what do you guys think, is there a top coat that you prefer?

chubby cheeks

the title of this post could describe pretty much my whole immediate family haha. we're a hearty bunch with loud mouths, big smiles and chubby cheeks :) this notd is on my sister Clarrisa's beautiful nails. she's 12 years older than me but looks maybe 3 years my senior, cuz of her gorgeous baby face. i like her nails better than mine, because like most of her, they are smaller. she's very petite so her nail beds are more compact and somewhat flatter than my longer, rounder ones. idk, she likes mine so i guess the grass is always greener eh.

the color is chubby cheeks by essie from their summer 09 collection. it's a bright reddish creme coral that applies like a dream in two coats. super flattering on her and p.s. i love how easy it is to paint other people's nails!