What's going on?

Where are the posts?

I'm sorry I've been on a slight hiatus. I got a new position at work and I'm going through the transition from second shift to first shift right now. And if there is one thing you should know about me, its that I don't do mornings. Like at all. Coffee is needed for sure, and lots of it! Getting myself up and dressed and the kids up and dressed and to daycare by 8 is reallya struggle some days! Then theres the commute (or my morning coffee break as I prefer to call it!) haha.

Any how, thanks to Pinterest, I now want dark purple hair. I was debating if I should or not, and decided I'd go with the dip dye look. I happened to have some purple dye, though it was lighter than I wanted so I decided I wouldn't bleach the ends so maybe they'd be darker. Some how in the whole process, my hair ended up with a blueish greenish hue on the ends. Hmmm... Pictures to come.

Instagtamed holo nails

I love this nail polish. Its what I put on whenever I don't know what else to so.

Sinful Colors Hottie + Midnight Blue

Another one with Midnight Blue. Obviously one of my favorite polishes at the moment! 

Better Late Than Never: 4th of July Mani

Yes, this should have been up a week and a half ago at least! I've been super busy it seems. I'm preparing to transition from second shift at work to first shift, along with a new position and I'm just feeling behind on everything!

This is what I was sporting on the 4th of July, and a couple days afterwards as well!

Sinful Colors Midnight Blue

Julep America

Seche Vite Top Coat

And good night loves!

My SV bubbled and almost runied a cute mani!

I was so, so bummed that my Seche Vite bubbled like it did. It got thick and is getting low. I didn't have any polish thinner, so  trying to smooth out the bubbles was kind of tricky. I took my buffing block and buffed the top coat a bit. I tried to get the majority of the bubbles off that way. It left the top coat looking really dull and scratched up. I added a layer of Revlon top coat over it to smooth it out. It kinda worked.

You can really see the pits from the bubbles on my thumb. 

First sponged gradient mani

I did my first sponge mani yesterday.

I used a base coat of Skin Food BL509.

I sponged on WnW I need a refresh-mint, LA Color Craze Atomic and Orly Le Chateau. My accent nail is a base coat of Skin Food BL509 with a Sinful Colors Nail Junkie on top.

I topped it with a coat of Seche Vite. The SV seems to have broken down the Atomic and made the color spread more. I am not a fan of this. Anyone ever had a similar experience with SV?

These were quick shots after a day of shopping and swimming and the sun was just starting to go down, but I wanted to make sure I got a few pictures at least. See the chipping on my middle finger? My pinkie was worse, which is why its not included. And yes, I'm holding a lighter, but in my defense I didn't have a bottle of polish with me and just grabbed something! 

OKC Thunder Mani

I did this last week for the finals.

Sinful Colors Midnight Blue

OPI Osaka-to-me Orange

The lightning bolts were done with a nail stencil and the letters were done free hand with a pen that ran out of ink.

Sinful Colors Midnight Blue

I have a huge soft spot for blue and green polishes. I'm sure you will see these two colors a lot. This is the 2nd blue manicure that I've done this week. I'll have pictures of the first one for you later. This was the first time I've used this polish so, review time!

After the first coat,  I was a little nervous, it was pretty sheer and streaky. The second coat made all the difference in the world, smother and more opaque. This is a beautiful metallic royal blue.

This is 2 coats with no top coat. I picked this up for .99 at Walgreens. (normally $1.99)

Overall, I love it. :)

Comparison: Revlon Plum Seduction and OPI All That Razz-berry

I haven't been blogging quite as much because I've had some eczema flare ups over the last few weeks. The skin around my nails is pretty dry and cracked in these pictures because of it. My toes are even worse. I've been working on the blog and trying to get my skin to calm down. A week later, they are doing much better. 

I started out thinking these were dupes, however, they are ever so slightly different. I have the Revlon on my pointer and middle finger and OPI on my ring and pinkie finger. Have a look for yourself:

bottle shot, full sun

both bottles, and one nail of each color

Plum Seduction on pointer and middle, All That Razz-berry on ring and pinkie

Ever so slightly different.

The OPI is just a little teeny, tiny bit darker. I don't think I'd be able to chose which one is my favorite because they are so similar. They are both pictured with 2 coats and no top coat.

I don't consider them dupes, do you?

My sons toes are green...

My sons toes are painted because he asked me to paint them green. Not just any green, John Deere green.  Anyone who knows him will know that something "John Deere green" is not anything new around our house. He absolutely loves John Deere. When I bought him a toddler bed, he wanted a John Deere green one. So I bought a frame at the thrift store for $10 that was white metal and painted it John Deere green:

 I also made him this John Deere rag quilt. The child absolutely loves John Deere.

So, the John Deere green request came as no surprise to me. I was surprised that he asked me to paint his toe nails. I didn't think twice about doing it, just surprised he asked. I brought him to the store with me to pick out his perfect idea of John Deere green. He chose Wet n' Wild Fast Dry "Sagreena the teenage witch"

So I guess this post is less about nail polish, and more about how I love my son and will paint his toes whenever he asks me to.

(my favorite is color is also green, can't wait to use this polish on myself!)

Sinful Colors Nail Junkie and Orly Le Chateau

I picked up Le Chateau this weekend at Sally's, it was on clearance which was an additional 50% off, so this bad boy was $1.99.  I tried it out alone, and thought it could use some glitter. I tried a different glitter on it first (Finger Paints Flecked) which didn't show as much blue as I thought it needed, so I went back to the stash and pulled out Nail Junkie, it had blues and greens and it looked much better. This was a late night mani, so it wasn't perfect. 

In the shade

Shade

So much glitter! The camera was really struggling with it.

 

Base Coat

2 coats of Orly Le Chateau

1 coat Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Review and Swatch: Skinfood Nail Vita Apple Milk (BL509)

This is my first experience with Skinfood since they aren't readily available anywhere around me. At least not that I know of. I do tend to stick to drug store brands because I live in a small town and that is what we have available. However, I seen this color and I needed it. 

The formula of this polish was good, it covered smoothly in 2 coats. For me, 2 coats is expected of new polish, I've found it rare to get a polish that only needs 1 coat. I had no problems with application, the first coat was quite sheer, but the second made a world of difference. When I originally bought the polish online, it looked much greener, but when it arrived, I could see more of a blue tone to it. Either way, I'm happy with it and like the color. I have another Skin Food polish to review, and that will probably be next. 

Basecoat: NutraNail Strengthener with Green Tea Antioxidants

Polish: 2 coats of Apple Milk

Top coat: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

My hands are in rough shape.  Standard disclaimer: I work in a warehouse, my hands and nails get a lot of abuse. I also took acrylics off about a month and a half ago and have had tons of breakage issues since then. Anyone have any good suggestions on how to deal with this?

Nail Mail

Quick post for right now. I got these in the mail and can't wait to try them out tonight.

Sinful Colors Exotic Green and Call You Later

Sinful Colors Exotic Green is one of my current favorite polishes. The price is great, the color is great, the formula is great. I used Call You Later as an accent nail, it is an awesome glitter with green and gold small glitter and larger green glitter as well. I picked both of these up at Walgreens for 99 cents during a sale.

The camera didn't do the best at picking up the glitter on the nail, but look how awesome the bottle looks!  Green is a favorite color of mine. :)

2 coats of Exotic Green

1 coat of Exotic Green + 1 coat of Call You Later on accent nail

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Picture is after about 36 hours of wear, and there is significant chipping on my accent nail on the other hand. 

Blood Splatter Manicure

I did this a few weeks ago, but for the sake of regular posting and getting some more content on my blog, enjoy!

Base coat: NYC French Tip White

Splatter: Jordana Holiday Red (Never again! I'll use acrylic craft paint next time)

Overall, I'm satisfied with the technique. The red went on super thick and took forEVER to dry, even with a quick dry top coat (which smeared it!) So, I've learned a few things and the next time I do something similar, it will be much much better.

Pure Ice "Platinum" and stamping for the first time

I'm willing to try any $2 nail polish. Cheaper polish leaves me more money for other pretty things, like new earrings. I found Pure Ice at my local WalMart for $1.97, and they had a lot of colors. I picked up Platinum. This is a shimmery, metallic white color. It is very thin, but layered better than expected. I had seen a swatch that another blogger did that said 4 coats. I did 2 coats of Platinum and 1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. I then decided to try my hand at stamping. I used Revlons Silver Screen and stamped a flower slightly off center on each nail.

Picture was taken after 24 hours of wear. (and I work in a warehouse!)

My phone is in the shop and I have a loaner phone right now and it takes worse pictures than mine does. I can't wait to get my camera fixed too! 

First post, new blog. Woo hooo!

Do you like pretty things? Well I sure do. I like pretty nail polish, I like pretty yarn, I like pretty clothes, I like pretty hair styles, I like pretty home furnishings, I like making pretty things. If its pretty, I probably like it.

I'll probably post a lot of lame cell phone pics for the time being. My good camera needs to be fixed and my point and shoot is kinda crappy.