There’s a saying about adding insult to injury, but I feel like this weekend just started out as the opposite of that saying. Not only is it a 3 day weekend, I also just woke up to read an email saying I won a contest from My Life of Makeup, NailPolish, and Beauty Addictions! Her site has some great tips and reviews for both nails and other beauty products.
Apparently entering contests actually pays off and I’ll soon be the recipient of the full Fuzzy Coat collection. I guess it works out that Sally Hansen didn’t send me them :). Thanks so much to Janella for putting on the contest!
I feel like playing Mario Brothers after doing this manicure – am I dating myself? This design makes me think of princesses, specifically Princess Peach; obviously the pinkish color contributes to the thought, but I think the gold studs (especially the diamond shaped stud) actually remind me of a crown.
What is Princess Peach doing in this photo?!
This manicure is done with Covergirl’s Timeless Rubies polish. This is the first time I’ve bought their stuff and I’d say the color itself is great. I don’t think these pictures do the color justice and it was such a busy week that I didn’t make the time to shoot photos in different lighting for the best effect (these photos were actually taken in the parking lot of my work).
It’s a combination of a shimmery look, a bit metallic and a bit of a duochrome as well. Depending on the lighting orange and gold pops out from the pink, and even a bit of grayish blue? The brush was fine and the polish was thin enough to control the two coats I did; not sure if a third coat would make much of a difference. I didn’t get any big chunks chipping off, but the tips did start to wear pretty fast within the first few days.
After almost a full week of wear all the studs are still stuck to my nails and they don’t get caught on anything. I was impressed with how well the larger diamond shaped studs curved to fit my nail (which I’ve found can be an issue when attaching larger accessories). I’m excited to play around with the other shapes and get some creative designs! Use code EAG10 for 10% off an order at their online store!
Polishes Used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Covergirl Outlast Timeless Rubies (2 coats)
Pinky tip has China Glaze Angel Wings (which is gorgeous/holographic and you can’t tell from the photo)
As you may recall from a previous post back in July, I won a Sally Hansen’s Take It Off, Show Off contest for my Fourth of July nail art. Well, my prize bag o’ goodies arrived in the mail Saturday, check out the spread!
Sally Hansen didn’t specify what the prize pack worth $100 would include so I spent the entire month of August predicting what I thought would show up in the mail. Most of my guesses were about right on what prizes they would send – a spread of their newer skincare line of products, some polishes, some Salon Effects polish strips plus a matching file and toe spacers. I thought for sure they’d send a few of their newest polish lines “Fuzzy Coat” and “Sugar Coat”, but that’s where I was wrong! 😦
I’m very grateful for the fabulous package; the only real tragedy is that I already own two out of the three actual polishes that they sent me! Fortunately, the one I don’t own (the muted mint green “Jaded”) is one I’ve been eyeballing for a long time. Strangely enough, I think I’m most excited about the zebra print toe separators for pedicures because my old set disappeared :). Thanks again to Sally Hansen for the goodies!
Keep an eye out for an upcoming contest I’ll be posting where you can get some Sally Hansen’s products and more for free!
My friend Jody purchased some new polishes last week and requested I give her a doticure with them. How could I say no?
On a side note, this may be my signature style manicure since I’ve had it requested by multiple people.
It was time well spent because we got to hang out and while I was at her house I learned about an organic farm festival happening the following day, which I ended up going to. I also found out Jody has a pear tree she doesn’t pick; I think pears for manicures is a fair exchange :).
The polishes used for this manicure:
Maybelline Color Show Impeccable Greys as base color
Maybelline Color Show Go Go Green as lime green dots
Maybelline Color Show Green With Envy as mint dots
Sally Hansen Xtremewear Celeb City as silver dots
I don’t know what polish the gold dots are
Sally Hansen Nail Treatment Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat
This was the first time I have used the Maybelline Color Show brand. The brushes were workable and the colors are very current. The gray definitely needs two coats to look good and you can see in the photo near the cuticles how it looks if there is only one coat. The mint and green dots were opaque with one application and I think the glitters help tie the whole thing together. I love this color combo and because we did the right prep her nails lasted all week!
Spread the word far and wide! I can’t take credit for this amazing idea; all I can say is that I took the little initiative it required to execute.
Right before bed last night I came across this idea for storing nail striping tape on a scotch tape holder. I rummaged through my desk before retiring for the evening and the minute I got home from work today I got down to it. It only took a few minutes and the hardest part was finding the end of each of the striping tapes. All you have to do is take your regular tape off your roll and put your striping tape on. Done!
Just a quick post to say that “The Devil Wears Polish” is having a giveaway contest to celebrate getting 500 likes on Facebook and for opening her polish shop. Her colors are amazing, but I think the best part are the racy names she gives her polishes. She’s giving away some of her custom made polish colors and other goodies, any of which I wouldn’t mind owning!
I have rainbows on my fingers; it’s a good day. This lovely shimmery manicure is made possible by BornPrettyStore.com’s Holographic Polish Effect #9, and it’s a big wowwy wah woo for me. (Reminder use code EAG10 for 10% discount on their site).
I did a different base color on each of my nails and then painted one and two coats of the holographic polish on top. I can’t decide how I like it more, because both styles are equally pretty. My thumb has a white base, pointer has gray, middle finger has black, ring finger has fuchsia and my pinky has no base, just the holo polish.
At one coat the base colors show through quite nicely; the black really makes the rainbow shimmer from the polish pop and the white really highlights the purple hue, but really every color I tried worked with this holographic polish. At two coats it is pretty opaque and only a bit of the base is even apparent. I didn’t try three coats, but I’m sure at three coats the bases would not show at all.
It’s a small bottle, but I’m sure it would still last and the brush was very flexible and soft, plus a good workable size. The polish itself is not thick, went on really smooth, and dried quickly. It also wasn’t very smelly, which is always a plus! I completely recommend this polish because I can’t stop staring at my nails!!
Polishes Used:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Sally Hansen White On Thumb + Holo
Sally Hansen Wet Cement Pointer + Holo
Sally Hansen Black Out Middle + Holo
Ulta Plum Perfect Ring Finger + Holo
Only Holographic Effect #9 on Pinky
Poshe Top Coat
Disclaimer: I received the holographic polish as a free promotion, however all opinions expressed are my own!
From the time I was a little girl going into Hello Kitty stores to my adult life watching anime and visiting Japan I have always loved the kawaii (meaning cute in Japanese) culture and characters.
I recently got the S10 “Cute Rabbit Cat Animal Design Nail Art Stamp Template” from BornPrettyStore.com and using this adorable stamping plate was high on my priority list after a week long trip to visit my dad in Canada… it’s true, I was suffering some nail art withdrawals from being away :D.
The stamping plate has 7 different little characters on it – bunny, kitty, teddy bear, chick, panda, giraffe and the seventh is what I like to call the “mystery animal”; I think it’s a sheep? My confusion lies in the fact that what would appear to be horns and ears look more like two sets of ears – I think it’s a cute character either way, but would love to hear your guesses!
I started out with a different color on each nail, all topped with the beautiful, glittery, pearlescent Ulta Diva (I love putting this over a bunch of different colored nails because it ties them all together and makes them look a little more pastel).
Each nail is also stamped with a different color, none of them are made specifically for stamping. I used a combination of thick quick-dry polishes and thinner shimmers to see how both turned out.
The thin outline images on the plate (the chick, bunny, kitty, panda and mystery animal sheep thing) seemed to work better with the thin nail polishes. When I tried to use the insta-dri polishes on the thin outline images they didn’t transfer well; I think this is because the lines are so fine that the thick polish dried almost instantly. The Insta-Dri polish worked great on the bear (which doesn’t have thin lines) and pretty well on the giraffe where there are big spaces for polish to fill.
Overall I’m really pleased with the plate and for 99 cents and free shipping I don’t think it can be beat!
A total of 11 colors plus Seche Vite Base Cout and Poshe Top Coat
Ulta Peach Parfait
SH Insta-Dri Petal Pusher
Ulta Cream of the Crop (on clearance in some stores)
Ulta Mint Condition
Ulta Bam-Blue-Zled
Ulta Diva
SH Insta-Dri Sonic Bloom
SH Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet
Chi Razzle Dazzle
Ulta Dance Teal Dawn
Ulta Ultra Violet Femme
On a side note I’m really happy that I picked up the Poshe Top Coat, it’s very similar to Seche Vite, but without the toulene. It didn’t smear the polish underneath, not much shrinkage and no chipping as of day 3. Much better than the Orly Top Coat I recently purchased!
If you get anything from their online store use the code EAG10 for a 10% discount.
I just received some awesome products from bornprettystore.com today. First, they arrived in just a week when I was told to expect 2-4 weeks, so you can image how happy that made me! Second, the holographic polish is gorgeous, although I will admit that at first glance I was sad because I thought it wasn’t really holographic, that is, until I stepped outside into the sun and BAM! Very holo rainbowy (yes I know that’s not a real word). Third I love the metallic studs (my first!) and Fourth, the stamping plate I got is definitely going to be one of my favorites because the little Japanese style cartoons are ridiculously kawaii (just like everything in Japan I’ll add; let me know if you want to see photos from my trip).
I’m going to have a hard time deciding what to get next from them because they seriously have a million cute things for super cheap with free shipping. Stay tuned for upcoming displays/reviews of the items I got below. I would have done my nails tonight with some of this stuff if it wasn’t for the fact that I just did them!
Nail Smiles 