Faux Water Marbling

I am a huge fan of water marbling only I can't do it myself.  I have tried many, many times and have been unsuccessful each time as well as left with a HUGE mess.  So after perusing the nail art blog world, I found many people utilizing this technique as an easy, clean alternative.  It's basically dabbing 3 or more colors on your nail and using a toothpick to drag through the polish leaving a marbling affect.  You just have to work quickly because as soon as the polish begins to dry it will start to get chunky and difficult to work with.  I like how it turned out for being my first time.  I maybe could have not done so many swirls so it looked more like a water marble but I still really like it.  Thanks for visiting!!

And the Winner Is....

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thank you to everyone who entered and submitted some really great nails!! I'm already assembling a fall giveaway & Seche Vite will be part of it thanks to the poll results and everyone who supplied their input. Again thanks for visiting & Congrats again Gabbby!

Sinful Colors: Study in Style Collection "Pull Over" Swatch

I snapped the photo of the collection display when I stopped at Rite Aid today.  I'm really loving this set! Only thing with this collection is that "Leap Flog", a really rich pretty green is the only new color (I learned this fact from Nouveau Cheap - awesome blog!) . I will be swatching "Leap Flog" shortly .  According to G from Nouveau Cheap and many other bloggers, Sinful Colors notoriously re-releases colors all the time.  Anyhow I just fell in love with yellow so I decided to swatch it first, AND green is my favorite color so that should tell you how gorgeous this yellow is! It reminds me of a Thanksgiving-ish color, a really rich yellow and a bit on the dark side with some almost orangy undertones.  It was almost completely opaque with just one coat.  And it's only $1.99! This color makes me want to rush into Fall - I do not like the heat or Summer.  I like bundling up and getting cozy with my chubby babies.

I've been missing my nail art lately! Recently I haven't had much free time.  I just finished up my son's first birthday party and we've just started the process of getting our home on the market so between open houses and trying to keep the place clean for then next open house, I've had little time for my nail art.  But I have tons of post it notes on  my phone with all my nail art ideas to come.  Also before you go submit a picture of your summer nail look.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.  THERE IS JUST 2 DAYS LEFT FOR ENTRIES.  And just wanted to remind everyone that if you want to be considered for the awesome prize you need to enter a photo.  Good luck everyone and thanks for stopping by!!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pure Ice Twinkle

I thought I would do a simple swatch today.   I've been working like a mad man planning my son's 1st birthday party so I've had no time whatsoever to do any cute nail art.  I picked up this color at Walmart the other day because it was only $1.67 and it was so pretty.  It's like a perfect summer color with how it reflects gold nicely.  Kind of like looking at a really nice sunset.  I added a picture from the the Pure Ice website so you can see how it looks in the bottle.  The picture does it no justice at all.  It also went on almost opaque with one coat.  Anyway before you go check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.  There is less than 2 weeks left for entries.  Also just wanted to remind everyone that if you want to be considered for the prize you need to enter a photo.  Good luck everyone and thanks for stopping by!!

Naked Palette Nails

Jordana - "Cabaret"

Sally Hansens - "Golden"

So here are my "Naked" nails.  I have wanted this palette FOREVER! At $50 the price kept me back as well as the fact that I have purchased things that have similar colors.  But after going to the mall maybe 5 or 6 times now drooling over it, I just splurged.  I love the look of this palette.  The velvety matte brown and the sleek gold lines shining through.  So I tried to recreate an abstract look on my nails using Jordana's - Cabaret, Sally Hansen's Golden and Essie's - Matte About You top coat.  This was a hard manicure!! The matte top coat is unforgiving! I started with a coat of the Golden and a quick dry top coat.  Then I used striping tape from KKCenterHK to place randomly on my nail.  Next I applied the Cabaret and let it sit just a couple of minute before I went over it with the Matte About You.  The tricky part was since the matte top coat dried so quickly I have to be fast at removing the striping tape.  And the tape can be a little sticky.  I wound up having to do a couple of nails over but overall a little bit messy but I really liked it.  It was my first time using the matte top coat in this way so, trial and error.  But I get the gist of it.  Since I showed the outside of the palette I might as well show you the inside.  PRETTY right?! I might have similar colors already but they do not compare to the vibrancy of these colors.  They are so smooth to apply as well.  There is a Naked Palette second edition that came out a bit ago but I like this one better.  In my opinion this one has a better color range.  You can do a mean smokey eye with Naked 1 but with Naked 2 the darkest color other than the black is a medium plum you would really have to pile on to get it deep shade.  Anyway before you go check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.   Thanks for visiting!!

What is Influenster?

Okay so I know this is a blog about nails but I just couldn't keep this to myself.  A couple of months ago a friend introduced me to a website called Influenster.  It's a website that is basically a middle man for large companies.  They put together a box with anywhere from 4-7 sample and full size products for their members to survey and report back their thoughts on the products by way of post surveys.  So in order to find a demographic for a certain box with related sample products they have developed a variety of surveys which they call "badges".  Once you complete a survey, you are awarded that particular badge and if and when they assemble a box that relates to that badge, they will contact you to see if you would like to participate in that particular sample.  It's that easy.  And it's totally FREE!

When my friend explained this to me, I was like - nothing is free, but this really is.  Companies stand to profit from sending out samples so this is a win-win situation.  I filled out the application, took the badge surveys and was contacted for my first box about a month later.

Here is what the survey badges look like 

Here is a sample survey from the "Foodie" badge

Each survey takes about a minute or so to complete.  The questions are pretty general.  If you happen to fit the profile for the next sample box they send out, you'll be contacted to fill out a pre-survey.  They get a little more in depth with about 20 questions.  Once you reply, you'll receive your box within 2 weeks.  Once you receive your box, you check in with Influenster letting them know you have received your box.  They'll send a follow up e-mail about a week later with a post survey regarding the products you tested.  You take the survey regarding the products and what you liked/disliked and that is all.

I was sent the "Latina Beauty Box" the other day.  I'll take you through it:

This was everything in my box.  Great right?! I'm not sure why they called this the "Latina" beauty box.  I don't think any of the contents have anything to do with me being Latina.  I'm taking my post survey in a few days once I've had the chance to use every product.  One thing is that as of now Influenster does not ship internationally.  From what I have gathered from reading blogs and the Influenster Twitter is that they will start shipping to Canada by the end of this year.  Also it's one box per household even if there may be more than one qualifying Influenster member.  One more thing, at times Influenster sends out single items.  So there may be a survey where they only send out 1 cookie to sample.  I know they did this recently with a Quaker oatmeal cookie.  What you receive is random.  Hope you found this helpful and if you like free samples like me, go sign up.  Also before you go check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.   Thanks for visiting!!

Jelly Sandwich Manicure

E.L.F. "Lilac"

NYC "Starry Silver Glitter"

This was my first attempt at a Jelly Sandwich.  It didn't go over very well.  If anyone has any suggestions for me I would gladly appreciate them.  Maybe I didn't use an opaque enough base color, or maybe my glitter wasn't big enough, I can't figure it out.  I was almost not going to post this but I decided to just do it.  Good or bad, I figured maybe I can get so helpful hints out of it.  Anyway this lilac color from E.L.F. is the ABSOLUTE prettiest lilac I have seen so far.  It goes really well, I think with my skin color.  Also forgive my smeared middle finger nail.  My 1 year old woke and I thought my nails were completely dry but I forget, they are never completely dry when I think they are.  Before you go check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.   Thanks for visiting!!

Nail Decals

Loreal "Versailles Romance"

Water Decals from KKCenterHK

 

These water decals remind me of the washable tattoo's I used to put everywhere when I was younger.  They were so very easy to use.  They come 20 to a sheet in 4 row's of 5. I cut out each individual flower and soaked it for about 10 seconds.  I then removed it from the water with tweezers and slid it off the paper onto my hand.  Next I picked it up from my hand with the tweezers and it applied it to my nail.  I made sure to pat it down until the decal is secured onto the nail then I went over it with a quick dry top coat.  This manicure went really quick.  These decals are pretty sturdy.  I accidentally folded one in half and was able to get it flat again with the tweezers.  I was sure it was going to rip but it didn't.  KKCenterHK has pages and pages of these, they are really cute.  It's an easy and quick way to get an awesome looking manicure.  Before you go check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.   Thanks for visiting!!

Pink Diamonds

NYC's: Lincoln Square

I love how this manicure came out despite the fact that I didn't get the glitters on too straight.  I was sent these diamond shaped pink glitters (item Rhombus Laser Glitter- LB912) from KKCenterHK.  They have tons of nail art items as well as makeup and hair products at very reasonable prices.  I have seen the Nailasaurus do this manicure using hexagon shaped glitter and it came out awesome so I wanted to try this.  It takes a while and I needed 2 coats of my top coat to ensure the glitter was really on there but I can't stop looking at my nails. Before you go, check out my giveaway page.  Just send a quick email with your favorite Summer manicure attached to enter into the Summer Giveaway.  Thanks for visiting!!

Summer Giveaway Entries

HERE ARE THE ENTRIES AS OF NOW  :) 

Entry by: Janelle 

 Entry by: Serena Mertl 

Serena's nail art can be found at

 http://pinterest.com/73sam

 Entry by: Tania Escobar 

Entry by: Maria Raikova 
Maria's nail art can be found at
www.redpolishorbadpolish.blogspot.com

Entry by: Tami McTaggart

Entry By: Laura Fry

See more of Laura's nails at: 

www.picturesnpolish.blogspot.com

Entry By: Gabriel Chambers

See more of Gabby's nails at:

glitchnails.blogspot.com

Entry By: Christine Lui
See more of Christine's nails at:
www.steamynails.blogspot.com

These are wonderful! I will be adding as the entries come in!! Good luck & thanks for visiting!!