Dreamy

Hello all! :D I did a fabulous manicure today! I am so in love with it! I have done a similar manicure to this before, but I just LOVE this color, I had to do it again.

Here is what I used as the base. Three coats of the Sally Girl polish. And a coat of Pure Ice Dreamy. What I did differently was I added a coat of Essie's Shine of the Times. Of course, as usual, I used my Orly base coat and my Seche Vite top coat. If you haven't seen this Essie polish, prepare to be amazed!

I honestly feel like I have fire on my nails. It is a gorgeous polish, with holo flakes. Yummy. I have seen this polish on top of black...and boy I can't wait to try that! It is gorgeous! But since it is spring time, and we are having a birthday party for my eldest today, I wanted something brighter.

These photos make the base polish look more orange than it actually is...but honestly, I'm fine with that! I'm loving this!!!

The fact that Essie named a polish a spin off a Prince song makes me love it even more. I am a HUGE Prince fan...thanks to my momma! I grew up listening to his music, and I currently own his entire collection. Sign O the Times is still one of my favorite songs. So, Essie, thank you for naming this polish Shine of the Times. It brings a huge smile to my face!

Yummy polish!! I'm thinking the Essie polish is what makes this base polish look more orange on my fingers. Fire fire fire!!! <3

I had been oooohing and aaaaahing at the holo flakes in this Essie polish for a while now. But I just could not bring myself to purchase it, until yesterday. I KNEW I needed it, even though my hubs will tell me that I already own plenty of glitter top coats. "BUUUUUT HONEEEEY! This one is diiiiiifferent!!!!"

I hope you all enjoy this bright and summery manicure! I do hope I have inspired some of you to go out and buy this awesome glitter top coat from Essie! I got it for $8.00 at Walgreens!

Until next time....

Christina

Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Zebra

After several manicures that I wasn't completely in love with, I finally did one that I liked. The other day, I did a purple gradient manicure. It was cute, and I think I did an okay job, but I wasn't in love with it. So much that I didn't even take photos of it. It looked weird on my fingers. So maybe purple isn't the best color to do a gradient manicure with my skin tone. Who knows.

I started this manicure off with Orly's base coat, then I had to do three coats of Wet n Wild Silvivor. I really like this color. It looks almost like a foil, but it isn't! It is very sheer, hence the three coats. One coat or even two would be fine, if you are looking for a subtle silver shimmer. But I wanted this baby to be opaque and look like metal on my fingers. I then used Seche Vite on top of the silver. After that had dried, I used my Konad m57 plate and my Pure Ice Black Rage polish to add the zebra print.

I am SO in love with this manicure. It really isn't too showy, I feel confident in it, and it makes my nail beds look a little smaller than they are...in real life, not so much in the photos.

I have been having some issues with my cuticles. From a distance, I'm sure they look great. But being a perfectionist, I am not happy with them. I need to research some remedies for ugly cuticles.

What I really really like about this manicure is: The Wet n Wild polish was only a few dollars. I got it for $1.99 at Walgreens. So far, I love it. Today is the second day I've had it on, and no chips or peals. So we shall see how it holds up. I'm hoping well! I really really love this silvery polish! I love how well the Konad pattern shows up on it.

Now, I did use Essie's Matte About You top coat on one finger just to see what it would look like. I literally could see no difference. I was hoping for it to turn out like the gold...which would have been way cool. But it didn't. Oh well. Maybe I can find another silver that will react well with the matte top coat.

Tell me, is this something you would try? Would you wear this for an every day look, or for a night out with the girls??

Until next time...

Christina


Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Matte Gold

A few days ago, I did a fabulous manicure. I have recently purchased Essie's Matte About You, and let me just tell you, I do NOT regret it. It took me a while to find this polish. I went to every Ulta in the metro of Oklahoma. Every Sally's. No one had a matte finish polish. They were all sold out of every single brand. Butter London recently came out with a matte finish, and I was willing to try that too...but it sold out after a few days of being on the shelf. So I had to go to Amazon. I purchased Essie's polish, mainly because I heard good things about it. And boy, were all the blogs/instagram photos/google searches right! I am so in love!!!

Please ignore my disgusting cuticles, and random cotton strands on my hands. I haven't even touched cotton this morning...but I had just recently washed my hands.

I used a base coat, Orly, two coats of Pure Ice Jaguar, and used my Konad plate M57 with Pure Ice Black Rage for the cheetah print. I then put a coat of Essie's Matte About You. I love love love everything about this manicure!!

I love how the matte finish FEELS. It's so smooth, and silky....and that is the best way I can explain the texture of this polish. I love love love it. This manicure is a few days old...so I do have a few chips on my right hand. No worries though, because it lasted about 3 days! So I'm happy. I usually redo my nails every three days, if I have time.

I hope you all enjoy this gorgeous manicure! :) And I hope you try it!!

On a different note, I will be trying to keep this blog up to date as best I can. I have recently been dealing with my youngest daughter's issues. She will be seeing a billion doctors in the next few weeks, so I can't promise a post as often as I have been. But I will try. I also found out my husband will be deploying in April. Joy. Life has been crazy, but I can always rely on my polish to brighten my day!

Until next time....

Christina

Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Konad

Saturday I received my Konad stamper and two plates (m57 & m60) that I ordered!! I cannot explain how happy I am to finally have this awesomeness!! It is uber easy to use, fast, and it looks awesome. I will say that you do need to practice practice practice to get the stamps to look okay.

I got the double stamper, mainly because of my children and their tiny fingers. I did some dots on my daughter, Seyhan's nails last night, and it looked so awesome. The best part, it dried crazy fast. So I didn't have to worry about her little fingers getting polish all over my house.

Last night I tried out different polishes, and different designs on my nails. I will admit that I was getting very frustrated. It is hard for me to get the pattern straight onto my nail. The stamps aren't big enough for my fat thumbs, so I need to figure out what to do there. (Any suggestions?)

ALSO, I did not buy the Konad special polish. I'm thinking that I might HAVE to at least buy the white and the black. My white polish isn't goopy enough, and doesn't show up as well as I'm sure the special polish would. I was trying to avoid buying the special polish, because it is kind of expensive. $6.00 for polish that is goopy like old polish? Sheesh. So maybe I will have to goop up my black and white and see how that works.

After receiving my Julep polishes, I could not wait to use them! So here is Alicia. I think it looks great with my skins. I used a basecoat (Orly), two coats of Julep Alicia, the pattern, and a coat of Seche Vite.

Now, with my cuticles, I have been having one heck of a time getting them used to all the pampering that I have been giving them. They've been peeling and cracking. And I have been using oils, lotions, and scrubs. I think they're just like "whoa, we had no attention for years, and now all of a sudden you want to love us again???" I think they're rebelling. Typical.

For this look I used the dot pattern on my m60 plate. I think these nails turned out adorable. I will for sure be doing it again.

Until next time...

Christina

Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

HAPPY MAIL!

I just checked the mail, and it wasn't my Konad....but it was my Julep Maven order!!! I became a Maven, and I will be getting a box of nail goodies every month! I have been CRAZY excited about these products!! If you would like to become a Maven, go HERE. You won't regret it, I know I don't! For $19.99 a month, you can get $40.00 worth of product sent to your door! Amazing, huh??

Here is what I received today!!

Why some of my photos uploaded sideways, I will never know. I'm no computer whiz. Boo.

Any who, I received the colors Alicia and Portia. I also received a nail file, and a glycolic hand scrub. If you guys have not used glycolic products, you are missing out. Glycolic is an acid that penetrates the skin very well. It sloughs off dead skin cells, exposing new ones. Seriously, this stuff will make your hands feel like a baby's behind! ;) I am SO very excited about all of these products! I have been oohing and ahhing at Julep products for a while now, and I am FINALLY able to purchase them!! I can't wait to write a review on the polish and hand scrub!!! <3

Until next time...

Christina

Being a gardner is tough.

Tough on my nails. Seriously. I painted my nails yesterday...I went out in the garden, and they were completely ruined after. I know I should be wearing gloves when I garden, but there is something magical about digging my bare hands into the earth. I love all things plants and nature. So, I'm willing to ruin my nails a bit for beautiful flowers.

Excuse my cuticles in these photos, I have been in the garden for the past few days, and it has just ripped my hands apart. So pretend like they're perfect. :)

First I did two coats of Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter. I love this color. It is actually pretty opaque, which I thought was impressive! I did two coats only to take care of any "bald" spots.

Then I added Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty on the tips and a little further down. I wanted to do a sponged effect, but I just didn't have time to do it. I thought it looked nice anyway. It did take a little while to dry, but that is partly my fault. I had been searching for seche vite and didn't find it till last night.

I really do love this manicure. A lot. I even did my toes like this. And I rarely ever do my toes.

So since that manicure was destroyed last night, I redid my nails today. I am attending a wedding this evening, so I wanted a color that looked good with my skin, but wouldn't stand out as much as that blue. So here is what I did:

I did a coat of this Sally Girl polish. Sadly, my label doesn't have a name. :( So if any of you know what the name of this color is, I would love to know! It isn't as opaque as I would have liked, but I already knew I was going to be layering, so one coat was plenty.

I then added two coats of Pure Ice Dreamy. I love love love this polish. It is very thin, so you have to do a few coats if you're just using this color. I love the glitter, and I loooove how it matches the Sally Girl color perfectly. Coral/salmon/pinks always look really good with my olive skin tone, so this would be a go to polish for me. It also makes me look a little more tan. ;)

I am hoping to receive my Konad stamper in the mail today...so maybe I will add to this manicure. OH! Also, let me just tell you how much I LOVE Seche Vite's fast drying top coat. It is glossy, yummy, and it really does dry crazy fast. With having two small children, this is always something that I appreciate! THANK YOU Seche Vite! I was able to do my manicure, take some photos, and have my nails be completely dry. Hopefully it will help me avoid being clumsy about my polish!

Well, until next time. <3

Christina

Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Do nails breathe?

I have been looking at hundreds of nail blogs the past few weeks. (I've been crazy sick with a cold, and have had a ton of time to blow on the inter webs) A lot of people think nails do not need to breathe, or that they do. In my education, I was taught that they do not need to breathe at all. Nail polish is actually really good for nails. I keeps them strong and healthy. But what I have found is they do need a break. If you are like me and only use 100% acetone to remove polish, you do need to give your nails a good hour to rehydrate. I've been using Solar cuticle oil for over 6 years and I swear by it. It keeps your nails and cuticles hydrated. I also pair it with lotion. After removing any polish, I do let them hydrate for an hour. As I'm sure most of you know, oils and lotions will cause polish not to stay well. So before I apply more, I have to clean them with more acetone to get rid of any oils. That is why I let them hydrate and soak up all the oils for an hour before applying more polish. it is important to hydrate your nails. It keeps them from peeling, breaking, and keeps them healthy. Your hands and nails create their own oils, but of you keep removing it, they'll never stay strong. So please remember, HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE!!! And also remember to drink a lot of water! Water not only helps your body, but it helps your nails and your skin! I am a caffeine addict, but I try to drink as much water in between as possible. It keeps my skin on my face clear, and makes me feel better. I have also been taking Biotin. I love this stuff. It really does help your hair and nails grow! I suggest checking with your doctor to see if Biotin is the right supplement for you!

Now onto the polish I previously posted about. Today was day three, and I had a ton of chips everywhere. Tops, by my cuticles, and it looked like it was not going to stop. So I am currently rehydrating, and then I will paint paint paint. I'm not sure what I will be doing, but photos are in my future!

Until next time...

Christina

Revlon's Scandalous

I went to Walgreens yesterday, and saw this delicious color. I had a coupon for other brands of polish, but I couldn't resist buying this one. And I am happy to say that I am glad I did not pass it by!! It is GORGEOUS.

I looooove the purple glitter.  I love that there are two different sizes of glitter, and I love how they seem to suspend in the polish. Now, I did find this polish to be very very sheer. The black isn't as opaque as I would have liked, but not to worry! I did two coats of Pure Ice Black Rage, then a coat of Revlon's Scandalous.

I personally think it was a hit! I am a huge fan of black polish. I wore nothing but black for years. But that purple glitter. It is so beautiful!!

Just look at all that glitter in that bottle! YUM!

I plan on keeping this polish on until it chips. I'm going on day two, and it is staying on perfectly! I use ORLY base and top coat. Which is new for me, so I'm putting all these polishes to the test! Running around with two crazies, (a 2 year old, and an almost 4 year old) should be the perfect polish test! :)

I did buy a Konad stamping kit recently! I can't wait to get it in and have more fun!!!

Until next time....

Christina


Disclosure *I was not paid for this review. I was not given the polish for this review. I paid for the polish with my own money. This is purely my own opinion, thoughts, and suggestions about this polish.*

Introduction

My name is Christina. I have started several failing blogs, and I am determined to do it again, except the failing part.

I am a mother of two beautiful little girls, Seyhan and Zoey. I am crafty in pretty much everything I do. I am so blessed in all areas of my life. I have a wonderful, supporting husband, a great family, and wonderful friends who are always cheering me on.

I have recently become re-obsessed with nail polish. Every time I go to any store with nail polish, I spend a while just staring at the beautiful colors, glitters, and holos. I was a nail biter for most of my life. I even went to cosmetology school, and took care of my nails every day, and ended up biting my stinkin nails again. I am determined never to go back to that! I have been educated in all things nail care, and I plan on sticking to my education!

This blog is my outlet to let the world know what polish I am wearing, what products I love, and to take photos of my polishes with my camera. (Baby number three is what I call her, she is a Nikon D5000.)

I am looking for a nail community, advice, and tips. So please, send them my way! I am also wanting to share my knowledge, so ask any questions you may have!

Christina