Misc Nails 2012 - Part 1

Hello, again!  I went through some of my manis from 2012 and I thought I'd share some of them with you now. 

Ready for lots of pictures?  I'm splitting this up in to two parts because there were quite a few pictures and I didn't want to overload you all in one sitting.

Part 1

Orly Snowcone with KleanColor Blue Holo as an accent.  I waited a long time to get Snowcone and I have no idea why.  It's super pigmented and *bonus*, it doesn't stain!  A big thank you to Nailstah for the KleanColor way back in 2011.

Zoya Evvy (dark green-grey creme) and Zoya Quinn (deep berry).  The contrast of these colors was really great IRL...couldn't exactly capture it in pictures.

Zoya Bevin (mint) and Zoya Kristen (blue-based grey) with a little NYC Love Letters for some sparkle. 

Color Club Revvvolution (black holo), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Orange Crush, black striping polish and a bit of silver holo glitter to give it some pow.  Obviously, this was a Halloween mani.  I was feeling kind of uninspired for Halloween this year.

Milani Violet Dash (purple creme) and Milani Jewel FX Lavender as a glitter gradient.  I wore this for the first annual Southwest SparkleCon 2012 as organized by Makeup Zombie.  SO much fun meeting some new sparkle friends!!

A plastic wrap mani using a pale pink (I haven't a clue what it was) and China Glaze Designer Satin.  Super easy mani with maximum bang for your buck.  I loved this one!

And last, but definitely not least, a really pretty water marble using Zoya Anja (purple) and Zoya Midori (green).  This is the first marble I'd done in a while and I was happy how it turned out.  I really like how some of the green faded in to the purple.

I don't usually post makeup pictures but I wanted to share this one.  I did this as my look for a derby bout in October.  This is Fyrinnae Velvet Vampire (red) and Raven's Prophecy (black).  This look took me FOREVER but it turned out just like I wanted it and it was so pretty with gorgeous sparkle (that I couldn't capture). 

Stay tuned for Part 2 - coming soon!

January 2013

I'm not announcing my comeback, I'm just going to say...I have some pretty polishes to share with you.

With everything I have on my plate, I just can't blog like I used to.  I still do my nails (all the time) and I usually take pictures of them, but I rarely get the time to sit down and edit the pictures.  My plan, right now, is to compile my manis over the month and share them with you, in bulk, at the end of the month.  Sound good?  Here we go.  And, like always, all pics are clickable to make bigable!

This was my New Years mani.  It's kinda Christmas-y and it's all Winter.  I started with a base of Milani Juno.  Then, using BM14, I stamped snow flakes using ChG Designer Satin and a random white.  To finish it all off, I applied a layer of ChG Snow Globe for a little extra sparkle.

I picked up this gorgeous polish at Ulta while on a "we gotta get out of the house NOW" trip with the bestie.  I don't usually even look at the Layla polishes because they're pretty pricey, but this happened to be on sale (and I had a coupon).  Layla Ceramic Effects Green Galaxy (CE 54) is a gorgeous, gorgeous deep green jelly with green micro glitter, small round green glitter and big green hexies.  This polish wore like iron - definitely worth the money!

I was feeling in a nail funk when I did this and it snapped me out of it right away!  I started with a base of Revlon Royal (probably one of my top 10 fave polishes ever).  After that, I stamped the pretty flowers using Orly Snowcone and BM224.  I added pretty purple rhinestones in the center of one flower on each nail.

I did this one originially for a "glitter" challenge for a FB group I'm in, but I couldn't get a good picture of it.  You can't go wrong with a classic red nail!  This is Zoya Alix with Milani Glitter FX in Red.  The Milani claims to be "one coat" but for this much coverage, I started with a coat of Alix and then layered 3 layers of the glitter.  That's not what I'd call one coat!  I wore this for 4 days and love it.

This is what I ended up using for the glitter challenge.  Let me tell you...this is a mess polish!  I started with 3 coats of Orly Fowl Play then added a coat of Finger Paints Twisted (I loves me some flakies!).  And because that wasn't enough, I ended up using a coat of Milani Jewel FX in Twilight.  I am NOT looking forward to removing this (can you say "foil method"?).

So...there's January.  Maybe...if you're lucky...I'll post a review of a couple manis from last year later!

Randomness

*peeks out*  Hey, there Kitchies!  How the heck are ya?!  I've been busy (yeah, shocker.  I know.)  I thought I'd take a few minutes and share some random manis with you today!  Ready?  I have no idea when I wore any of these.  Sorry about that.

This is one my top 10 favorite polishes.  Revlon Royal is a gorgeous, squishy royal blue jelly.  I made it jelly sammich with Jordana Pixie Pink glitter.  I loved this!

I caught flakey madness like everybody else did when Finger Paints released their flakey collection.  This is Orly Charged Up with Finger Paints Twisted.  You can't go wrong with a good flakey polish, but this mani was just kinda meh to me.

Zoya Faye.  I want to love this.  Really, I do.  But I just...don't.  I want the rosy purple to show through more.  Most of the time, all you can see is the bright gold glass flecks.  It is a pretty polish in theory.  Just give me a *little* more purple...please.

This was better in my head than it was on the nail.  The green is Sinful Colors Mint Apple.  I don't remember what the blue is, but it's a pretty sky blue with just a touch of shimmer.  Maybe a Milani?  Yep.  I'm pretty sure it's Milani Beach Front.  The flowers are Milani White on the Spot and Yellow Whiz (worst. polish name. ever.).

I don't usually like white nails because they're so stark.  But, when you pair it with a pretty glitter and make it a gradient, it's a win for me!  This is Milani White on the Spot with Fuchsia Jewel FX.  I say I don't like glitter because it's such a PITA to remove, but looks like I use it pretty often when you lump manis together like this.

There ya go!  Hope that holds you over for a little while.  Sorry I've been so sporadic with posting - life doesn't slow down anymore.  Be back soon...?

I Loves Me a Glitter Sammich

Happy Wednesday, Kitschies!  I was catching up on my blogs this evening and I came across a pink Wednesday post and it made me realize that it was, in fact, Wednesday.  I've been MIA the last few days because we had our first official Winter storm blow through New Mexico between Sunday and Monday.  As a result, the schools were closed (which is good because the roads were not in good shape) and I stayed home with the boys.  Then we heard that the schools were going to be closed on Tuesday.  OK...the roads are still a little icy, so I guess I can agree with that.  So, I stayed home with Nate and the hubs took Mason to daycare.  I ventured out of the house and the snow and the roads weren't that bad - especially once I got down in to the valley.  And *then* I got a text from a co-worker telling me that the schools were going to be closed again on Wednesday because of "hazardous road conditions on secondary roads".  Seriously?!  WTH?!  Luckily, my MIL agreed to take Nate so I could go to work (for the first time in 4 days, which I'm not *really* complaining about).  The roads were fine this morning - a 2-hour delay would've been fine.  ANYway...Nate had fun with his grandma and he got to go to Explora with his cousins and I got back to work.  It has been a long and short week all at the same time.

Speaking of pink Wednesday posts, it was THIS post by Ice Queen's Nail Parlour that made me realize it was Wednesday.  And it reminded me that I have a similar mani to share! 

I'm not gonna lie.  I have *no* idea when I did this mani.  I can tell you it was in the Summer, but beyond that...no clue.  What I *can* tell you is this is OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y, a really pretty raspberry jelly.  And sammiched in there is Milani Gems.

This was my first glitter sammich mani and I'm impressed that it turned out the exact way I'd hoped.  That doesn't happen very often.

I can't remember *when* I did this one, but I *do* remember getting compliments on this mani.  I remember "this is your prettiest one yet" being thrown around a time or two.

If you've followed my blog for a while, you probably already know I'm not the biggest fan of chunky glitter, but when it's in a glitter sammich or mattified (like I did HERE), I like it a little more.  In fact, I liked this so much, I ran out and grabbed Revlon Royal.  I had been looking for an excuse to pick that one up for some time and I finally found the excuse I needed! 

Now a question for you, my lovely readers.  What is your favorite jelly polish?

Have a great day!  See you again on the other side.

Once in a Blue Moon

Good morning, my lovelies!  It's Thursday (and sorta my Friday) and I'm glad this week is drawing to a close.  Nate doesn't have school tomorrow (in service already?!) so he and I are going to spend some quality time together.  I don't know what we're going to do yet, but we'll do *something*.  I kinda wish he knew how to skate so I could get some practice in, but if I were to take him with me right now it would be rather counterproductive.  Anyway...we'll do something...maybe bake a cake...

I finally got my stuffs together and prepped some pics for you.  Well, for me, but I digress.  Let's get to the pics, shall we?

I started with WnW Blue Moon as a base (2 coats, 3 in some areas).  I picked this one up at Walgreens in July when they were on sale for 99-cents.  This is outdoors in filtered sun.

This really is a pretty navy blue with just a hint of shimmer.  And for 99-cents, even like this, you really can't go wrong!  This is outdoors in shade.

But I didn't leave it there.  I really wanted to do a jelly sandwich, but I couldn't find my one jelly polish, so I did something a little different.

I put a coat (or 2) of Milani Gems over the top of Blue Moon and then finished it off with a coat of ChG Matte Magic.  Now, usually I don't care for matte finish.  At all.  But, every once in a while, I find something that works and I like it.  Like this one.  Indoors with flash.

Outdoors, filtered sun.  There's another thing I *want* to love but usually don't once it's all said and done: glitter bombs.  Partly because it just looks like a mess on my nails and partly because I hate the removal.  But, the matte finish really kinda subdues the bling of the glitter and that's what makes me like it. 

I'm sure you won't see this kind of mani on my blog very often, so look while you can.  LOL

I'm gonna get back to work.  I hope it's not too hot wherever you are today and I hope work goes smoothly.  See you soon!

Pink Wednesday: Milani Digital

Yep.  I'm baaaack.  And I'm back with another attempt at On Wednesdays We Wear Pink (since last week's post got dumped by STOOPID Blogger).  I'm not a "Plastic", but I appreciate a good pink polish.  Let's get on with it, shall we?

I picked up this polish a while back (a couple months ago?) but hadn't found a time to fit it in to the rotation.  I finally decided to give it a try for Easter (yeah, I'm behind on my mani blogging - what of it?).

This is Milani Digital.  A pink scattered holo.  It's not in-your-face like Nfu Oh 61, but it's still a pretty holo.  This was taken indoors with flash.

Outdoors, bright direct sunlight.  The thing about the Milani holos is that they're not really at their best in bright light.  It's almost like they need artificial light to really show.

Outdoors, shade.  In indirect light, you can see more of a silver sparkle than a holo flash.  Milani holos are a great option if you want something sparkly but not obnoxious.  The formula on this was a little thin, but not as thin as Hi-Tech that required I don't know how many coats, but this is 3 coats.  And the wear was a little better than average for a holo.

Happy Pink Wednesday!  Check out more Pink Wednesday blogs HERE.

Mani FAIL & A Partial Redemption

Yay!  It's Friday!  But I can't get too excited about it being the weekend because I'm not feeling all that great this afternoon.  Headache and blah stomach.  BUT - it's the weekend, so I'm sure I'll start feeling better as soon as I head out of the office toward my car.

I was digging through my polishes last weekend after my previous HT polish disappointment and found a pretty little bargain I picked up at the Dollar Tree a while back.  I think I remember having this polish once upon a time and I really liked it.  But as I was applying it, I remembered that I didn't like it all that much, either.  We'll get in to why in a moment.

This is Plum Motion from Maybeline - it's one of their 60-second dry formulas, which is a BIG FAT LIE!  This is a shimmery, almost frosty, plum/mauve duochrome.  It is nowhere near dry in 60 seconds.  And it dents and smudges horribly even after a coat of FDTC.

I tried to get the duo to show up on the camera, but I couldn't.  Maybe if I had gotten a picture outside?  Doesn't matter.  This didn't stay on my fingers long enough for an outdoor picture.  Good thing I only paid a buck for this!  Oh...and it came with matching lipstick, but the color is much too dark for me - it makes me look like a clown with purple lips.  LOL

Now...on to a bit of a redemption, but not involving this polish.  A while back (a long while back, now) I won a giveaway from Libby's Pink Vanity.  In the box 'o goodies, I received Milani's Dot Com.  It's an interesting shade: royal purple with irregular copper flecks.  It's really kinda pretty in the bottle, but I didn't care for it all that much once it was on my fingers.

So, to see if I could redeem this kinda blah polish, I grabbed my bottle of Hidden Treasure.  I brushed a good thick coat on top of Dot Com and I got a really pretty golden effect - it made the copper flakes show up more, too.

I'm not totally in love with this, but it was a lot prettier than it was initially.  You know Hidden Treasure - depending on the light, it shows up gold, green or pink.  I need to use Hidden Treasue more - I think I'll start slapping it on top of a mani I've been wearing for a day or two to see if I can create something I totally love.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll find that one color that I've been searching for but never knew it.

So there ya go: one FAIL and one notsobad.  I hope your weekend doesn't have any FAILS and it's better than notsobad.  Tune in some time this week - I'll be sharing my PHD Just Tips challenge mani (love it!).

I just saw that I've reached 100 followers!!!  THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!  You guys make this whole blogging thing worth it.  You know what this means, right?  I'll be announcing my 100 follower giveaway in the next couple of weeks. :)


Listening to: This Love by Maroon 5
Mood: redeemed

Me? Stylish?

It's Friday!! It's really slow here at the clinic today and I'm looking for stuff to do. Sounds like it's a great time to make another post. And this way the hubs won't bug me for spending "us" time with my face buried in the computer screen. Two birds. One stone.

I was reading through my list of blogs last night and I was shocked to see that I had been presented with my first blog award!! Yay, me!


This wonderful little award was given to me by the lovely Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes.

The rules are:

Copy the award above, place it on your blog - link your blog back to me and name five things about yourself! Then pick 5 bloggers you'd like to tag with this same award.

Five things about me? I did something very similar to this earlier in the week - coming up with five more things is gonna be hard. Let's see...

1. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. Then, while in high school, I took a class as an aide to a preschool class. That cured me. Those kids were horrible!!!

2. I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue. You know what they say about flute players...

3. I tried to go in to the Air Force but they kicked me out. LOL I had an old knee injury that came back to haunt me and I couldn't run the distance they wanted me to run in the time allowed. As a result, I spent a couple of very hot, very long months in Lackland, TX, only to be sent back home.

4. This is hard! I collect red, white and blue Beanie Babies (and the like). I don't have a whole lot of them, but when I see one, I grab it! And run!! LOL

5. I love games!! Dominoes, Yahtzee, Cranium, Ziggity, Uno - you name it. The hubs doesn't play many with me so every time I get to spend time with my mom, we play a game.

Now it's my turn to name some lovely bloggers for this wonderful award! The envelope please...

Makeup Zombie

Elevation of Purpose & Desire (now this means you have to post more!!)

Polish Hoarder Disorder (PHD)

Getcha Nails Did

Rebellious Makeup


Now, so this post isn't just about me, I thought I'd share a mani I did a couple weeks ago. I won a giveaway from Libby's Pink Vanity and this little pretty was in the box!

I got Milani HiTech a while back and I loved it, so I was pretty excited to see HiRes in with the various other goodies. I gravitate toward purple polish for some reason, so it was perfect for me. The holo isn't as good as HiTech, but it's purple, so you can't go wrong. The above pics are 3 coats (a must with holos) and a top coat. Taken with flash. I think I had an outdoor/sun picture but it didn't load completely on to the flashdrive. Ah...technology. She is a finiky biatch. These pics make me a little sad because I've had to cut off my nails since then. Booo!!!

Listening to: (You Want To) Make a Memory by Bon Jovi
Mood: bored

Sparkly Goodness

When I first re-started my love affair with nail polish, I spent quite a bit of time on various blogs trying to find what I was looking for. At that point, I didn't know what I was looking for. Until I found holographic polish. I was instantly in love. Of course I couldn't find the brand I was lusting for (China Glaze OMG collection) and I wasn't about to pony up for Nfu Oh (yet), so I was on the hunt. Eventually I found out that Milani also has a holo collection. Milani? We have that everywhere! Off to Target I went. And what did I find? The entire holo collection. Decisions, decisions. After much deliberation, I landed on HiTech; a beautiful spring lime green with lots of sparkle and holo goodness. Usually I do NOT go for green polish - especially lime green! But I had to make an exception for this. I did this NOTW the middle of April. The formula was a little thin...it took at least 3 coats to cover all the bald spots. And the wear? Well, it wasn't the greatest. I think it chipped after three days. However, all the attention and compliments my nails got were worth the short wear. Once I go through the other colors in my collection, this will be at the top of my list to wear again. These pictures don't do the rainbow holo justice - very rainbow-y in person.

Inside with flash

Inside with flash

Outside, bright sun

Now what am I looking for? The perfect: super shiny top coat, berry creme, bright/neon pink that lasts and doesn't apply flat and cuticle remover.

What color do YOU want to see next? If I don't have it, I might just have to go find it!

I'm doing a new recipe tomorrow night for dinner. If it's any good, I'll post the recipe with pics (of course) for you. AND...don't forget to invite your peeps to check out my blog - giveaway will happen when I reach 15 followers. Only 4 more to go!


Listening to: Glee on the TV in the living room
Mood: Can I go to bed yet?