Sugar Plum Yum!

Good morning, Kitschies!!!  I don't know about you, but I am *beyond* happy it's Friday.  It has been a very, very long week.  Work has been a roller coaster.  The boys are being PitAs and the hubs is the hubs.  So, I'm really looking forward to having a few days off.  Well, not really off since I'll be at home, but at least I won't have to worry about work.  Unless they call me.  But I'll worry 'bout that when it happens.

I was at Sally Beauty Supply before Christmas and I had heard some girls who had found some Color Club glitter polishes there.  I was skeptical because my Sallys has never had Color Club, but wonders of wonders, they had the holiday display!

This one was a little hard for me to photograph, but I started with two coats of WnW Black Creme and then used two coats (I think it was 2 coats) of Color Club Sugar Plum Yum (SPY).  I was a little worried about SPY because it was scented and the last scented polish I tried, I couldn't stand the scent, but I pressed on.

SPY is a clear based *packed* with large purple hex glitter and smaller green hex glitter.  The scent on this was not as offensive as Revlon Grape Fizz - I didn't even notice it by the next morning!

The thing I didn't like about SPY was some of the large purple glitter wasn't all the way flat, so it didn't lay flat on my nail.  But, overall, I did like this mani.  I wore it around Christmas and it was a nice change to the other more Christmas-y manis I did.  It was festive without being in-your-face.  You can click on that image to see the pretty, pretty glitter better.

Did you pick up any of the Color Club holiday collection?  What did you think?

Hope you all have a great weekend!!  I have a lot to do this weekend (as always) and I hope I get it all done.  Oh!  And I have to remember to go to the store because we're having THIS for dinner tomorrow night.

Believe Me!

Good morning, Kitschies!  We're head long in to another work week.  I had derby practice last night.  Well, actually, it was skills test night and while I didn't expect to pass (yet), I did much better this time 'round.  I made it about 2/3 of the way through this time.  I was doing really well until I took a hit - I wasn't ready and I tumbled back and ended up with my right skate under my right hip and now I have a large bruise (that's probably only going to get larger) about 3" in diameter in the exact shape of my wheel.  How my right skate wheels ended up almost to my butt, I'll never know.  Either way, I stopped the skills test at that point and was happy I had made it that far.  I did much better than I expected I would, especially for not skating for the last two weeks.  There's a test every month, so I'm hoping to pass in early 2012.

Enough of that.  On to the sparklies!

I've seen these polishes all over the blogs and I finally found them about 2 weeks ago.  I picked up two but ended up giving one to Wendi because I had something really similar to it already.   I had just chopped down all my nails because I was getting some bad breaks, so I used my new polish to console myself.

This is WnW Believe Me, It's Real.  I knew it's a bit on the sheer side, so I started with LA Colors Static Electricity as a base and then used two coats of Believe Me on top.

The bling in this polish is pretty enough to overlook the fact that it eats top coat - two coats and still a bit bumpy (I use ChG Fast Forward).

I love macro shots!  Believe Me is little blue glitter suspended in a sheer blue base with larger purple hex glitter thrown in for fun.  The contrast of the purple against the blue makes it really pop.  So pretty!!

I'm throwing this over-exposed pic in just for fun.  I was having a hard time capturing the purple (who doesn't?!) and got this kinda cool pic. 

The draw back to these beauties?  They're a pain in the buttocks (kinda like the pain I have today!) to remove.  You definitely need to use the foil or felt method for removal. 

Have you picked up any of these glitter bomb WnW polishes?  Which is *your* favorite?

It's Pronounced Fronkensteen

Happy Halloween, Kitschies!!  I have a compilation post for you today of all the Halloween inspired manis I've worn over the last week or so.

But...before I begin...a clip from one of my all-time favorite movies - Halloween or otherwise.





There is no more magical connection that Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman!

Anyway...on with the polish!  All pictures are click-able to make big-able. :)

These were my first two in my Halloween sets.  I started with a base of WnW Black Creme then I used two coats of ChG Ick-a-Bod-y from the Awakening collection (Fall 2010).  This gave me the effect I was looking for but I was a little disappointed because the orange glitter is a little chunky and made the finish a little rough.  That's just me being a little over critical.  The orange glitter is a perfect color.

Next up is Franken Fingers.  LOL  I started with 3 coats of Kermit with a Twist, a great franken creation from DragonRhi Creations.  It's a pretty apple green base with darker green and gold glitter.  I got this one is a box of franks from Chris and I don't know why I waited so long to use it.  It's so pretty and wears like iron.  Using my black striping polish, I created little Frankenstein stitches on each of my fingers.  This is the mani I wore to the derby championships last weekend.

Speaking of derby championships, you saw the whole look in THIS post, but here's a better full-face pic of me that night.

I went with a green eye theme to match my nails.

Next up are my mummy accent nails.  I used Ulta Underground on 3 of the nails and ChG White Out on the accent nails.  Then using my black striping polish, I created "bandages" and I used yellow acrylic paint for the eyes.  I ended up doing this just on the left hand because I was too heavy-handed to do good looking bandages on the right hand.  And ignore the smearing of the black stripes - stoopid striping polish smears no matter how long I wait to put on top coat.

This is what I wore for the end of the week last week and through most of the weekend.  This is Zoya Tanzy (from the Sunshine collection, Summer 2011).  What I like about Tanzy is that it has a bright orange color but there's lots of gold glass fleck in there, too.  I painted little flowers toward the tips of my nails using black acrylic paint and Tanzy as the center of the flowers.  Somehow, this ended up kinda looking like leopard print, but I knew they were flowers and that was good enough for me.  LOL

Last but not least, this is what I'm wearing for Halloween.  I used two coats of WnW Black Creme and then I sponged on a few coats of ChG Zombie Zest (also from the Awakening collection, Fall 2011) using a makeup sponge, just on the tips. 

I really liked this one because the slime-green glitter on the tips makes the black base almost look like a super deep green (think Nars Zulu).  I don't know what made me think of doing this look...it just kinda popped in to my head on Sunday afternoon.  I think it's a good end to two weeks' of Halloween manis!

Whatever you do for Halloween, be safe!  Keep an eye on the little ones - they're super crazy tonight.  I'll have pix of my little guys in a few days.  Happy Halloween!!!

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!

When a Frost Isn't a Bad Thing

Good Monday morning, Kitschies!!  I hope you had a great weekend.  Mine was busy and productive.  We celebrated Mason's 2nd birthday with local family and friends on Saturday.  He was so wiped out by the time we got home, he took a 4 hour nap!  Then Sunday was my 7th wedding anniversary.  To get away just for a few hours, the hubs set up a babysitter with his brother and SIL and we escaped to see The Hangover, Part 2.  After that, we went home and did the usual chores and such.  We celebrated with an order-in Chili's dinner.  It was low-key but fun.  The bulk of our anniversary gift will be redeemed a week from today when we go see one of the hubs' favorite musicians in concert at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.  It's going to be a busy week preparing for the trip...this week cannot move fast enough!!

To distract me from all the anxiety that has found me, I'm going to post a pretty mani I did a few weeks back.  First, a little back story.  My bestie went to visit her mom around Christmas and I remember getting a text from her saying that this polish was SOOO pretty and that I had to get it.  I don't remember if she grabbed it for me or if she brought it back from me, but some how, it found itself in to my stash.

This is Wet 'n Wild Eggplant Frost.  Where they get the frost, I have no idea, but this is a gorgeous color!  If it was a frost, trust me...it wouldn't make it anywhere near my fingers.  It's a really pretty royal purple with a strong blue flash.  So pretty!  These pics were taken indoors with flash.

Indirect sunlight.  I had some trouble with the formula - it seemed kinda thin and it took 3, if not 4, coats to completely even out the color.  And I remember it had some pretty bad cuticle drag.  But, the color is so pretty, it's worth the extra coats.

Direct, full sun.  This color just glows!  But I wasn't content to just have eggplant colored digits - I had to add a splash of white in there, too.  I really liked this mani and loved the color but it wasn't long for this world.  I only wore this mani for two days and then had some major chipping.  I guess that's what you get for a polish that cost (at most) a buck.  I have had better experience with the newer WnW polishes. 

What do you think?  Is Eggplant (not a) Frost a keeper?  Maybe it would last better as pedi color.  I think I just found my vacay pedi color!

Happy Monday!  Enjoy your day and try to stay cool (and out of the smoke if you live in the SW part of the States).

Red HOT

Happy Tuesday, Kitschies!  I hope you enjoyed your day.  Things are starting to wind down here at my house and that's my favorite time of day.  The boys are in bed.  The hubs is at the grocery store and then will be at Planet Ego tonight.  I get the house to myself.  And it's quiet.  So nice!  Today was pretty busy at the clinic.  The front desk was a little short handed and I, being the good employee that I am, offered to lend a hand.  It was nonstop from when I got there until lunch.  To top it off, I managed to irritate my elbow playing Lightsaber Duels on the Wii with the hubs this weekend.  A couple adjustments and a kinesio taping later, it's feeling ok, but it's still bugging me.  See...this is why people over 30 should not play video games.  LOL

*ah hem*  Anyway.  It's anything but HOT here in Albuquerque.  It's 28* right now and it's just going to get colder.  I'm all for Winter, but this, my friends, is ridiculous.  To show you how utterly unprepared Albuquerque is for the cold weather...39 public schools had water pipes break over the holidays.  Yep, 39.  That's all but 3 of the schools in the district!  Good for you, Albuquerque!  Good for you.  However, this color is sure to kick it up a degree or two.

A while back, I decided I *needed* to find a red jelly.  I have very few jelly polishes and after seeing somebody post a knockout red, I had to find one.  But it couldn't be just any red.  It had to be a jelly.  I wandered over to Walgreens while on lunch one day on a quest to find *the* red jelly.  The checker at the cosmetics counter checked on me more than a couple times to see if she could help me find anything.  I told her I was looking for a bright red jelly polish and asked if she could recommend any.  She looked at me like I was speaking some weird foreign language.  You know, it always strikes me as odd when you ask a specific beauty-related question to somebody who works in the "industry" and they have no idea what you're talking about.  So, after opening I don't know how many red polishes, I found what I was looking for (in a place I wasn't really expecting).

This is Wet n Wild Caught Red Handed.  Love the name for this polish.  This is a super glossy red jelly, plain and simple.  I don't know why I have a tendency to look past WnW - they've come a long way since the early days.  The formula on this was great and so was the wear.

I LOVE this color!  Bright red.  Glossy.  Hot.  Sexy.  Ignore the VNL because it wasn't that obvious IRL.  I think most jellies tend to show more VNL when photographed with flash.  I wore this after the time change so getting a natural light picture is difficult.

HAWT!  This is the most color accurate photo out of the group.  I got lots of compliments on this mani.  It was so super shiny - I didn't use a topcoat until a day or two later.  The wear was really good - I got at least 3 days out of it.

Proof that some things should just be left alone!  What you see here is an attempt (and fail) at stamping.  Needless to say, I promptly took this off and started over again. 

This weekend, Chris from Lacquer Wear for Tips and Toes tagged me for a fun little fact session.

 

Here are the rules: Mention 15 facts and tag 5 other bloggers. 

 

#1 We have two cats: Sol & Luna.  Sol was "adopted" by my hubs when he lived in NC.  Luna was gifted to me for my birthday about 7 years ago.  They are the laziest things I know.

#2 One of my knees has a tendency to hyperextend.  Not fun.  It kept me out of the Air Force.

#3 I joined the Air Force but got kicked out (see interesting fact #2).

#4 My favorite big screen actor is Johnny Depp.  I love everything he's done.  Everything.  Except Secret Window.

#5 I love music.  Pretty much all music.  But I don't love my hubs' taste in music sometimes. 

#6 I used to be in marching band.  In "college" (jr college, but who's counting) I knew the music so well, I covered for other instruments (on my piccolo) when they'd drop a phrase.

#7 My favorite Christmas gift as a child was a record player.  Yes.  A record player.

#8 I've never seen the video of the Twin Towers falling and I hope I never do.

#9 I love to cook but hate to clean up.

#10 When I first started working in a doctor's office, we kept the schedule on paper books and didn't have a computer anywhere other than the billing office.

#11 I'm allergic to bananas.  And latex.  Did you know those allergies are related?

#12 My blood type is B negative; neither of my parents are Rh negative.

#13 I get in to phases where I'll do something hardcore and then I won't touch it for a long time.

#14 I made up a song to sing to my boys when they go to bed at night.

#15 I have 13 tubes of lipgloss/lipstick in my purse.  And they're all pretty much the same color.

 

And now...the tags...

Wife, Check. Mom, Check. Now What?

Just Lu 

Makeup Zombie

Dancing Phalanges

Imperfectly Painted

Challenge Accepted - Part 2

Good evening, Kitschies! I can't believe it's Wednesday evening - even though it kinda feels like it should be later in the week. The hubs had to leave for an overnight out of town business trip so I was in charge of the kidlets. One of my patients asked me how I find time to work. Well, it's the only thing that keeps my almost 4-year-old alive. I'm only sort of kidding. If you have a kid around this age, I know you understand. I love the kid but he knows exactly what to do to get on my last nerve. Anyway...we went to McDonald's for dinner so he could run around and maybe get a little tired. He's watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse now, hopefully winding down to go to bed. Ah...the kids' bedtime. That's the best time of the day!

Enough with that. As you probably remember, I made a submission to PHD's patriotic challenge last week. She posted the submissions on Sunday - here's the patriotic challenge gallery - take a look at all the cool submissions from all over the world! Monday brought with it a new challenge - analogous. We have to use 3 neighboring colors from the color wheel she provided. I really love these challenges! It gives me a chance to do something with my nails that I wouldn't normally do otherwise (and get some colors I wouldn't normally buy). Just like last week, I went home and, once the kids went to bed, broke out the polishes and created away! I have quite a few pictures for this one because I snapped a pic at each step. I was afraid I wouldn't like this much because I don't like the colors by themselves, but I really like the finished product.



What I used (front to back): Sinful Colors in HD Nails, Wet n Wild in Envy and Sinful Colors in Let's Meet. All three are shimmer. Out of these 3, I like Envy the best - it has a pretty subtle gold shimmer. HD Nails and Let's Meet were both pretty pigmented and would only need 2 coats on their own. Envy, however, would definitely 3, if not 4, coats to be totally opaque. This kind of worked toward my advantage since I went for a staggered color approach.


After the Siche Vite basecoat, I did 2 coats of Let's Meet. Bright yellow. Blech. I really am not a yellow person. It doesn't look good with my skintone. But with the other colors, it isn't so bad. I'll probably end up using this as a layering polish or art some day. By itself? No way!


Second color was Envy. It's a lime green with a subtle gold shimmer which ended up working really well with the yellow. I started at the top outside corner of each nail and pulled it across in a diagonal pattern. This is 2 coats.


On top of Envy is 2 coats of HD Nails. This is a prettier green and I can see myself using this as the main color in another mani. HD Nails is a grass green with shimmer. It really tied the other two colors together. After I finished with the 3 colors, I felt like it was missing something. I dug out my gold glitter nail art brush and did a thin stripe between the yellow and yellow-green. That's what it was missing!

Indoors with flash

Outdoors, direct sunlight

The hubs took the pic with both hands - not bad, huh? I really do like the way this turned out. Today is day 2 with this mani and it's wearing surprisingly well. I was sure I'd have some chipping since there's basically 8 layers of polish here. No chips and no tip wear. On top of the good wear, I've had quite a few compliments! One person asked me where I got my nails done and she was shocked when I told her I did them myself. Happy Megan! LOL There you have it! Challenge #2 for me. I might even give this one another try! As with the other challenges, you have until this Friday evening to get your submission in. Check out PHD Challenges for all the rules.

Just a parting note. My BFF, none other than the beautiful Wendi from Makeup Zombie, and I were talking (well, we were texting, but that's how we talk) today and we decided we're going to do a crossover post for eachother. It's still in the very early stages of development, but I think it's going to be good. It'll be fun for us at the very least! Keep your eyes open for that one.

Whew! I'm beat! It's been a long day. My wrist has been hurting/aching - cross your fingers it's not the beginnings of carpal tunnel from all this extra computer work. To quote Invader Zim: "That would be...not...good."

Listening to: Presto (live) by Epica
Mood: salty