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!!

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!!

Huggies Wipes Inspiraiton

Santee "White"

Color Club "Almost Famous"

OPI "Uh Oh Roll Down the Window"

Sinful Colors "Nirvana" 

Revlon "Safari Chic"

I had been eying the pattern on my son's Huggies Wipes box for some time now and I'm glad I finally did it.  I love how it came out.  I'm trying to preserve this manicure for as long as I can.  It was so simple.  Just a small dotting tool and my polishes.  I listed only a few of the colors I used, you can really go with whatever you have that looks similar which is what I did or go with a completely different color scheme.  I might do
that next.  It's just really eye catching and cute.  Thanks for visiting!!

Braid Manicure

Nubar "Hieroglyphics"

NYC "Lincoln Square"

Sally Hansen "Golden"

I saw I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous' fishtail braid manicure and thought it was the CUTEST thing.  She linked the Lucy's Stash blog with a really neat tutorial.  Once I saw how easy the tutorial looked, I had to try it for myself.  I stuck with 3 colors since it was my first time.  It took a while to complete both hands & I had to use Seche Vite (which I despise) because it was pretty well layered once I finished.  But overall I was pleased with the outcome.  And please excuse my scraggly cuticles.  The summer weather is killing them and it seems like no amount of cream is helping.  As I type this, I have slathered on the lanolin to help them heal up.  Working in an office where I shuffle paper all day doesn't help either.  I'd like to ask a favor of anyone who may be reading, if you can please fill out my survey on the front page regarding the quick dry top coat that works best for you.  I want to know what people like most so when I do my giveaways, I know what people prefer.  Thanks for visiting!!

Summer Color Blocking Manicure

 

Sinful Colors "Hazard"

Sally Hansen's "Limestone"

Color Club's "Almost Famous"

Santee's "White"

Sinful Color's "Dream On"

Sinful Color's "Aquamarine"

Forever 21's "Neon Pink"

I have been MIA again.  For those of you who are mom's out there maybe you can sympathize with me.  My son will be a year next month and I breastfeed him.  He's a big boy! And literally taking ALL of my vitamins along with any energy I may have left.  And being my second baby along with work, I am just drained.  I haven't painted my nails all week.  As much as I want to, I choose sleep and rest over my nails.  Anyway I really couldn't stop thinking about this new trend and really wanted to try it.  I started with my new base coat of OPI Nail Envy for Thin and Peeling nails, then 1 coat of white.  Next with a black acrylic paint and a thin nail art brush, I lightly painted random horizontal and vertical lines.  I find that when I use acrylic paint I have more control over it and it dries much quicker.  Next I took a small dotting tool and filled in each square, I have more control with that too.  I tried it with a brush and it was streaky and I had to go over it multiple times, so using the dotting tool took just 1 application.  Once all the blocks are filled in I went back over each black line.  That covers up any mistakes I made while filling in each block.  Lastly a coat of Orly Sec'n'Dry top coat.  I still fully intend to post the giveaway I've had ready for the last 3 weeks on Tuesday, my day off.  Thanks for visiting!!