Peachy + Pirouette my Whistle

Hello everyone! So today I bring you a manicure that I am a bit iffy on. Now don't get me wrong I love love love the end result, but I have some mixed feelings overall. I started off wanting a very simple and summery manicure so I chose an untried of mine, Revlon's "Peachy", which I have always liked, but never been too keen on actually wearing. After one coat it was VERY streaky, but I thought no problem a second coat will even it out. Well a second coat helped and those less obsessive might have been fine with it, but for me it was way too patchy. Unfortunately, I tried to fix it with a third coat and that was a disaster since the formula got thick and goopy and ended up making it all worse. If I had let it dry completely between coats maybe that could have been avoided, but I did wait about 5 minutes between coats and that is about the limit of my patience. I did absolutely LOVE this color though so I didn't want to totally start over so to cover up the imperfections and add a bit of sparkle I added a layer of OPI's "Pirouette my Whistle". I love the combination, but I am a bit sad that the one time I wanted to keep it simple with just a single color I really just couldn't do it. So without further b*tching here are the pictures so you can judge for yourself. :-)

As you can see there was some serious bubbling and in person it was very oddly thick in some spots and thinner in others so it looked a bit wonky.

Like I said at the beginning, I really do LOVE this look, but I just was a bit upset with how bad the formula was on "Peachy" since I really loved that color on its own. Oh well though I guess all that matters is that I did find a pretty combination in the end. :-) Until next time then! :-)

Zoya Zuzu + Revlon Sheer Seafoam Jelly Sandwich!

Hi everyone! I have an awesome mani for you all today! I was lucky enough to get the Zoya promotional mini bottles of the 3 pinterest chosen colors from the surf collection for just the shipping price so I decided to use one of the most talked about shades from that collection (and one I had my eye on for a while) Zoya "Zuzu"! 

"Zuzu" is a great color on its own, but I really wanted to create a cool jelly sandwich with it so I added two coats of Spoiled's "Pet my Peacock".

I really loved this combo, but to make it into a jelly sandwich and tone it all down just a bit I added two coats of Revlon's new "Sheer Seafoam". This isn't your typical jelly sandwich since I didn't use a true jelly polish and I started with a solid base, but I think it came out really awesome!

Even though I think this is an awesome combo and a gorgeous mani I just had to amp up the sparkle factor a bit so I added one coat of Confetti's "Ice Ice Baby". I love love love love love the end result! The glitter in Ice Ice actually looks sort of like flakies, but also sort of like a holo...it is just an awesome polish on its own even!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did! I ended up leaving this one on for a whole week solid! AMAZING! :-)

Sammich time!

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been a bit MIA lately, but I am back tonight with an awesome mani! I wanted to do a jelly sandwich so I started off with an opaque base, just to make it easier on myself, so I did one coat of Avon's "Vintage". This is such a great pale blue that is nicely opaque in one coat and perfectly opaque in two.

Then for the glittery goodness filling in this sandwich I decided to use OPI's "Gone Gonzo" from the Muppet  collection. 

I feel like this would be a great combo on its own for a pedicure or a fun party manicure, but I wanted to calm it down a smidge so I added a layer of Essie's "Marshmallow" just to make it all a bit more mellow. :-)

I absolutely adored this combo! I ended up wearing this for about a week before it started to chip and I had to remove it. I got lots of compliments on it too so I think this will have to be repeated at some point. :-) Well I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did and I will be posting again soon! :-)

99 Things :-)

Hey everyone, so I have seen this going around a bit (most recently here) and I really enjoyed reading other bloggers responses so I thought I would join the club and do it myself. So here goes! 

1. Started your own blog - Yes indeed!

2. Slept under the stars - Done! Many years of camp took care of that one. 

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain - Yup, I hated every second of it, but I did indeed successfully climb Masada. 

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo - recital in high school 

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightening storm - Yes, but I didn't enjoy it! I hate thunder and lightning! :-( 

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch - I started making my own beaded jewelry thanks to the wonders of google :-) 

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables 

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight - Hahaha totally done that! 

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Of course! 

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb 

26. Gone skinny dipping 

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - Of course

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise - Actually three and they were all fantastic!

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight - Absolutely! 

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted - My Great Uncle used to paint everyone's portraits and he did one of me from a picture he took at my Bat Mitzvah.

48. Gone deep sea fishing - Yup! And I caught the biggest fish that day too!

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling- I went snorkeling on two of the cruises I went on. So much fun!

52. Kissed in the rain - I feel like this one is a given for most people

53. Played in the mud - YES! :-)

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - Yes twice.

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - I have a bag of them :-) 

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial - Yes indeed!

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square - Yes, although I typically try to avoid that area because of all the crazy tourists! Yikes!

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job - My first job ever this nutso lady called at 8am on a Saturday morning and told my mom I was fired because I didn't show even though I told her 3 weeks in advance I had something else and she said it was okay. 

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London - Yup!

77. Broken a bone

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem - Spent 6 weeks touring Israel so I definitely walked in Jerusalem :-) 

84. Had your picture in the newspaper 

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve

86. Visited the White House - 7th grade class trip to DC.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox - Yeah, but I don't remember it since I was too young. 

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Got a tattoo 

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone - Of course!

99. Been stung by a bee - Yes, once and hopefully never again!

Well, I got 30...I guess that is good? Not sure I want to experience all of these...being involved in a lawsuit doesn't sound pleasant. :-) Anyways, hope this doesn't bore you all too much! :-) Be back with nails soon I promise! Just letting them recuperate a bit after the trauma of a 31 day challenge. 

Dutch Ya Just Love OPI + Shine of the Times = LOVE!!!!!!

Hi everyone! I am back after a short break for my nails sake. So today I bring you a color I had debated about buying, but in the end couldn't resist (as usual). So OPI's "Dutch Ya Just Love OPI" (Dutch for the rest of this post) is a really nice purple with a pretty bronzy shimmer that was one of the stars of OPI's Holland collection. I thought I wouldn't need this color since it isn't something I could see myself using all the time, but after seeing it swatched over and over again I broke down and got it. I finally decided to test it out last night and I really liked the color, but I wanted to kick it up one more notch so I added one coat of Essie's "Shine of the Times". So here are some pictures of just Dutch on its own to start.

I thought the formula was a bit on the thin side so if I had been planning on wearing this on its own I would have gone for a third coat to punch up the opacity and even things out a smidge more.

I love how this looks! You can see some green and gold and bronze flashes with this topcoat that just makes it look so cool! Anyways, I think that this combo is just perfectly awesome and I hope you all enjoy it too! :-)

Challenge Day 31- Recreate your favorite challenge

EDIT: I just realized that although I set this to post it failed to do so! UGH! SORRY!!!! Well here it is now! Sorry again!

Hello everyone! Well I have a very special manicure for you today. It is the last day of this very interesting and wonderful challenge. So for this one I decided to recreate my pansies because I loved them so much, I got tons of compliments on them and I had this nagging feeling that they just would have been that smidge bit better with a different background color. So I started off with two coats of Sinful Colors "Morning Star", which is such an amazingly incredibly wonderfully beautiful color! I am totally in love with this color and actually wore it on its own for a day. It has such incredible shimmer to it and it is such a light and easy summer color. Then I used Sally Hansen's "White On", Sinful Colors "Amethyst" and Finger Paints "Lemon Sour" for my pansies. I again followed this tutorial and it really is fool proof. Anyways, there isn't much more to say about this manicure other than I love it and I think it is the perfect way to end this challenge! :-)

Well everyone, I think that I will be taking things just a bit slower now for a little bit since my nails seem to be showing some signs that they need a breather. I will certainly still be posting regularly, but I don't think I will be doing so every single day for a little while. I hope you enjoyed this challenge as much as I did since it certainly was a great way to get me to do some things I had been considering and even do some that I never considered! :-) Have a great day everyone! :-) 

Challenge Day 29/30- Inspired by the Supernatural/ Inspired by a Tutorial

Hi all! So for the Supernatural challenge I wanted to do something a little bit different than your ghosts and whatever and I have been eyeing these Paint Drip manicures so I thought True Blood would be perfect for my Supernatural inspired mani since it is just chock full of that stuff and what cooler way than with bloody nails! I have been wanting to try out the whole drips manicure thing for a while so I thought I could sorta kill two birds with one stone. I looked at a bunch of different tutorials for drip manicures and kinda ended up doing it my own way so it was inspired by a lot of different tutorials, but not exactly executed following a specific one. So I started off with one flawless coat of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry in "Silver Sweep" and then I painted some freehand very basic tips with "Cinna Snap", which is another Insta-Dry color. After the tips were on I used "Cinna Snap" and placed three dots per nail below the tips and then used a small paint brush and more "Cinna Snap" to connect the dots to the tips. I kinda went over that a couple times until it came out the same shade and opacity and looked vaguely drippy. (maybe not a real word, but you get the picture) After that was slightly dry I used the paint brush to add some highlights using "Cherry Red" by Sally Hansen. I am actually really happy with how this turned out and I think I will be doing different "drips" in the future! :-)

Well I hope you all have enjoyed this challenge so far so now just one last day to go! Also I really do appreciate each and every comment and all of my very precious few followers! :-D

Challenge Day 28- Inspired by a Flag

Hi everyone! Well today I bring you an epic FAIL! For this challenge I was inspired by the American flag and I thought I would try and do some stamping. Well that was a bad idea apparently. I haven't had much practice with stamping and so I am still not all that good at it, but I have a star image so I thought it would be perfect. I started off with a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Red Cherry" and Barielle's "Berry Blue" then I used "White Out" by Sally Hansen for the stars. Here are the pictures for you to judge yourself...

I did two coats of "Red Cherry" and three coats of "Berry Blue" and I just realized that I had some very fruity nails with this manicure! I used the Salon Express stamping kit for the stars and I am going to blame my technique for this failure because I had a lot of trouble scraping the polish off evenly. I think that my ring finger came out the best so I guess there is hope for me someday getting the hang of it, but just not with this attempt. Hope you enjoyed this one too even though it isn't quite a winner. :-)

Challenge Day 27- Inspired by Artwork

Hi again everyone! So I have always been a HUGE fan of Vincent Van Gogh's works. When I was a teenager my parents even took me on a trip to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and I think it was probably the most amazing experience of my life! So of course I chose his works in general and I suppose more "Starry Night" in particular for my inspiration. I tried to mimic his signature swirl on one nail since I didn't have the patience to do them all like that. I started off with two coats of "Neptune" by Sinful Colors, which I am utterly in love with now! I love this color so much! It is an amazing blue with the most beautiful shimmer to it. The formula was pretty good since I got good coverage with two thicker coats. For the accent nail I started using my trusty Art Club in light blue to make a swirl then I used a small paint brush and a bunch of other nail polishes to layer on top and outward to get that Van Gogh feel. So here we go with the pictures!

As you can see the Van Gogh style is a bit harder to achieve with nail polish than with actual paint, but I was pretty happy with the overall look. I think that "Neptune" is the perfect color for this manicure because on its own it reminds me of "Starry Night". Hope you enjoyed!

Challenge Day 26- Inspired by a Pattern

Hi everyone! So I am going to post a few different times today in order to catch up a bit on this challenge. I am hoping to finish it up by Wednesday and then I am planning on slowing down a bit to give my cuticles a bit of the break they deserve. So here we go! I recently bought a super cute dress at Marshalls and although the pattern of it is simple I really love it so that is where my inspiration came from for this manicure. I have to apologize in advance though because I couldn't get any good pictures of this manicure when I first did it and by the time I could get a decent picture I had pretty much destroyed it. So I only have one fairly lousy picture of it for you today, but I will swatch it on a nail wheel soon and add that for you all to see it better. It really is a lovely and subtle combination that I got lots of compliments on. So to start here is a picture of the dress that inspired me.

Here is a picture of the dress on me...please excuse the bra strap showing.

So I started off with two coats of "Nite Owl" by Orly, which has become my favorite neutral polish ever since it doesn't make my skin tone look weird and the formula is fantastic. Then I topped this off with one thicker coat of Sally Hansen's new Jewel Overcoat in "White Veil". I love love love love "White Veil" I think it is very pretty when used over the right base color and gives a very unique look to your nails with the satin white glitters and the chunky gold hexs. So overall I loved this combination and I am sure if I had let it dry properly before going out it would have lasted a lot longer, but I did this super super super quickly and then didn't let it dry enough before showering and washing my hair so it kinda got destroyed instantly. So here is the only picture of it. I promise I will add a nail wheel swatch soon!

Challenge Day 25- Inspired by Fashion

Hi everyone! Sorry this is so late and it is going to be a quick one too. So to get to it I have been loving the trend this season for bright colors and color blocking so I decided to go with some brights for today's manicure. I used Wet n Wild "Blazed", Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Green with Envy" and a blueish that I can't remember the name of from Sephora that I absolutely hate the formula on. I will check later and update with the name, *EDIT: the name of that polish is "Myrtille"* but for now onto pictures!

As you can see I switched up the color order on each hand a bit and I truly love this overall look! It is so much fun! Well enjoy! :-)