Birthday Dots

Hello all!!! Yesterday (Aug 6th) was my 26th birthday! Naturally I had to have some pretty spiffy nails when I went to enroll my eldest into Pre-K. (That is literally all I did for my birthday...getting old stinks.)

Summer is almost over, and I really wanted to take advantage of my bright colors before they look weird in the colder months.

Here's what I did:
1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Growth Spurt
1 coat Gelous
2 coats Julep Alicia
And I used a small dotter to make my polka dots with Hard Candy Frenzy, Wet N Wild I Need a Refresh-mint, and Konad Special White.
 1 coat Seche Vite

I love love love this manicure. I formed a circular pattern off to the side of my nail, rather than in the middle of my nail. I think it made it look a bit more abstract. I love the color combination, and  Julep Alicia will always be one of my favorite polishes. I adore it.

Application was beautiful, and drying time wasn't that bad. It did take me like an hour to do each and every nail...but let me just say: I was 100% worth it!

As you can see, my nails are crazy short. I had them growing so nicely, then they all broke. It really stinks to have short nails, but I have faith that they will be coming back stronger and hopefully will stay longer. One of my Instagram friends suggested Nail Magic...so we shall see how well it works. This is week one for me. It says it takes up to 8 weeks for stronger nails to come in...so I am testing them!

I have been trying to get good use out of my dotting tools lately. I forget how much I really love polka dots. I must remember this!!

What do you all think of this manicure? Is it too busy? What color scheme would you do?

Also, I would love to hear from you guys about Nail Magic. Have any of you used it before? Did it work for you? I would really like some input on this base coat!!

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.*

Sea Creature

Good morning!! I have a gorgeous polish to share with you all!! Two polishes, really! :)

First:
Wet n Wild's Teal of Fortune! This is a gorgeous teal jelly with lots and lots of glitter!

This is:
1 coat Sally Hansen's Double Duty base coat
1 coat Orly's base coat
2 coats Teal of Fortune
no top coat.

Here it is with flash! I really like this color. The brush is a little thick, but the color is worth fighting with the clean up! Speaking of clean up, it was a little tough. I feel like blues and teals like this always stain my skin. So I spent a lot of time doing clean up, because of that pesky brush. The formula is pretty thin, but the tiny glitter is not sparse. It is FULL of glitter.
I really love this color. I like darker teals. This polish by itself probably needs to have 3 coats to have full coverage, but I knew I would be layering with it, so I only did two.

Now for the star of the show:
The Hungry Asian's Sea Creature. This polish has been on my wish list for a long time. Even before I started this blog. I recently got it via mail for $4.50. Even though I knew I would love this polish, I went ahead and got the smaller bottle, due to financial lacking. BOO.
This polish is a jelly polish. Because I layered it, I'm not sure if it has an actual tint. I felt like it made Teal of Fortune just a tad darker. But it is FILLED with green, black, blue, and pinkish/purple glitter. The application was amazing. The formula is divine. And the way it feels on my nails is sooo smooth. Especially for a glitter!
Clean up was cake, mainly because the brush in this little bottle is awesome. I never have a big issue. I have a few stray glitters, but that is to be expected.
I literally can not stop staring at my nails. I am ALWAYS so impressed with The Hungry Asian's polishes. They're made SO beautifully!!!

Here's a sun shot. I took these in the evening yesterday, so they aren't the greatest sun shots. I'm sorry. I will be making a light box for myself again soon! I used to have one for my jewelry photos, but my little ones destroyed it.

Doesn't that picture make you want to go out and buy all of her polishes?? YUM! My next purchase from her will be U Jelly Red and Twenty Ten. I just need to start making money from buying polishes. Maybe I should be a secret polish buyer, or have a company pay me to try their polishes. Seriously. I accept polish as payment!

All in all, another wonderful manicure! I will probably wear this one for a few days, or until it chips. I can't bring myself to take off this gorgeous color/glitter/awesomeness!! I AM IN LOVE!!

 What do you all think of this color/polish/glitter? Have you tried any of The Hungry Asian's polishes??? What would you do differently??

I hope you all have a wonderful day!!! <3<3<3

Until next time....

Christina

PS:
I am thinking about hosting a tiny giveaway once I hit 25 subscribers. What do you think? What polish should I give away??

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.*

I don't give a Rotterdam!

I purchased a few new polishes recently. Two of them were: OPI's I don't give a Rotterdam! (which now I can cross off my wishlist!) and Layla Mercury Twilight. I have been searching for a hologram effect polish for a while now...and $15.50 later, I found one. Sigh.

On to the photos.

Here is OPI's I don't give a Rotterdam! Sorry for the blurry photos...if you see that white skin up on the left upper corner...that's my daughter Seyhan. She was trying to get into all of the photos. Sigh. LOL.

I really like this polish, as I knew I would. It is a light blue with sprinkles, as Seyhan calls them. :)

I used:
1 coat Sally Hansen's Double Duty base coat
1 coat Orly's base coat
2 coats OPI I don't give a Rotterdam!
(I should have used three, to patch up bald spots, but I knew I was painting over it...so I didn't)
1 coat of Seche Vite.

 I really like how this isn't BLUE. It is subtle..and kind of greyish...I love love love it.

Then I decided to try out my Layla Mercury Twilight.

I used:
1 coat Layla Mercury Twilight
1 coat Seche Vite

Ok. I really like this polish...but I do not like it as a one coater. In the house, I can see brush strokes. I wanted this hologram to be a little more sheer to go over other polishes....but that is not the case. You can barely see my beautiful Rotterdam blue.

Out in the sun, it is gorgeous. You can't see brush strokes. No bald spots. Just rainbow goodness.

I think this polish will be amazing by itself. And it better be! For freaking $15.50. SHEESH.

I think this was a great manicure....given my lack of knowledge on these polishes. Next time I will use Mercury Twilight by itself, and do three coats instead of two of I don't give a Rotterdam.

What do you all think of this manicure? Do you know where I can find a sheer hologram polish that layers over polishes well??

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.*

Galaxy

I am sure you all are SO sick of seeing Galaxy nails...but I have never tried it...so here we go!

I would have loved to take photos with all the polishes I used...but I would end up with a lot of photos. If you are interested in the colors, I can photograph them together, and list them. But for now we will just call them by their color. Any combination of these colors will work!

Here's my process:
1 coat Sally Henson's Double Duty base coat.
1 coat Orly's base coat.
2 coats Pure Ice Black Rage.
I sponged on the design.
1 coat of Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty
1 coat of Seche Vite

 I used a white, yellow, pink, teal glitter, and a little bit of Hard Candy Beetle. I used my dotter for the white stars. Then added the silver glitter on top for more stars.

I learned how to do this manicure on Youtube. The link to the tutorial is HERE.

It was SOOO easy! Easier than I thought it would be. And I think it turned out beautifully! :D

And the surprising part of it all, this manicure does not feel thick at all. I was worried it would feel like I had a billion coats on...but not at all!!!!

I also found a new cure all for my yuck cuticles. As my readers, you know I have been fighting with them for about a month or so now. I found my cure!!!

Sally Hansen's Instant Cuticle Remover! This stuff is STRONG, so I only use it MAYBE once a week. I don't like to be harsh on my skin...so I try for once every other week. I love it! I follow the directions on the bottle, and this stuff just takes away all the cuticle grossness. I love it! I wash my hands after use, and then apply Solar Oil and lotion. I am so so so happy I found this stuff!!!



Since it is like 10am here in Oklahoma, I thought I would share my morning routine with you all.

I literally sit in front of this computer reading the 70 blogs I am subscribed to. I drink my coffee, and read everything on my reading list. I make breakfast for my munchkins, and then get to work on planning my next manicure, looking at nail polishes, searching for the coveted Connect The Dots polish (which can be bought on ebay for a low price of $89.95!!!), and read read read, comment comment comment. I try so hard to cheer on other nail blogs, comment on new discoveries or awesome manicures, and give any advice if it is asked for. I am working very hard to get this blog going. So I hope all the people I follow do the same thing. Because what I have found in searching for nail blogs: The people with the smallest number of followers always have awesome stuff! No lie. I'm not saying people with a billion followers have lame blogs. They have AMAZING blogs, which is why they have a billion followers. I'm just saying that people like me, who have a few followers, usually have very interesting blogs.

To all you small blogs out there in interweb world: Keep on blogging!! I know I am! Keep up with the dedication and great work! If I have found you, I'm reading!!! If I haven't found you....I WILL!!!

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.*

Beetle Juice

After the crazy thick Whimsical, I decided to swatch another polish that I have been DYING to share.

I recently discovered the Wal-mart near my house carries Hard Candy beauty products. My heart skipped a beat when I noticed the VERY small polish selection. I have seen SO many beautiful Hard Candy polishes, I was delighted to be able to see them in person!

The one I decided to purchase is called Beetle. It was $4.00 and 100% worth every single penny.

Wanna know why??

BAM!

Here's what I did:
1 coat Sally Henson's Double Duty base coat
1 coat Orly's base coat
2 coats Hard Candy Beetle
1 coat Seche Vite top coat

On my ring fingers, or accent fingers, as they are fancily called, I did add a stamping pattern using my Konad Special black polish, with Bundle Monster plate BM-208.

I am SO in love. Inside my house, the polish looks more purple/vintaj brassy. But outside it looks more reddish/greenish. I love how the colors change with each angle. I've never had a polish like this before, and I am SO happy Beetle was my first!

I use Solar Oil as my cuticle oil. Like I have said in previous posts, I swear by this stuff. I love it! I even love its weird smell. :)

All of my photos were taken inside, by a window, with my Nikon D5000.

This polish did come with a metallic plastic heart ring. As cheesy as it looks, I will TOTALLY wear that ring!!! <3

Look at that green! YUM!!

I hope you all enjoyed this manicure. It was super easy and I can't stop staring at my nails!!! The application was sooo smooth. I seriously could have just done one coat of this stuff, but I wanted to make sure it was pretty opaque. I am happy it goes on so beautifully in two coats...I think I will be a bit selfish with this polish! ;)

Is this something you would try? Don't forget to check out Wal-mart for Hard Candy polishes! <3

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.*

Milani Jewel FX

Hello all! I have an interesting review for all of you.

I recently purchased Milani's Jewel FX in Hot Pink. My daughter, Seyhan, reeeeeally wanted this polish, so I gave in and spent the $4.99 on it at Walgreens. When you look at the bottle, you think "Oh my gosh, this is going to be GORGEOUS!"

And it IS gorgeous. But let me tell you a little bit about why I HATE this polish.

Here is my application process:
A coat of Sally Hansen Strengthening polish.
A coat of Orly's Base Coat.
One coat of Pure Ice Black Rage.
FOUR, let me repeat, FOUR coats of Milani's Jewel FX, Hot Pink.
A coat of Seche Vite.
And to see what it looked like, a coat of Essie's Matte About You.

Ok. I hate this polish. And maybe if I knew how to properly apply it, I would like it. But it was a nightmare. I wanted LOTS of glitter on top of my black. Which I got....after fighting with the glitter through all four coats. It was goopy, yet runny, and every time I did a coat, hardly any glitter would end up on my nail until this giant glob of polish dripped onto my nail. Which then I had to fight with it just to even out. ( I left my ring finger un-matted so you guys could see the shimmer...)

I absolutely love the glitter. I really do. It is VERY pretty. But I will never ever ever plan on using this polish as the main star. I will layer over it, or only use it when I want a few hex glitters.

I seriously feel like I have a layer of cement on my nails. It is SO thick. I cannot wait to take this stuff off.

I am so disappointed. For $5.00, I would expect to get a nice quality polish. I hear that Milani's smaller glitter polishes are amazing...but their chunky glitter polish is a fail in my book. Maybe I will pick up a smaller glitter polish next time I'm at Walgreens. But if it is anything like this, I will be returning it. The only thing keeping me from taking this back to the store, is how much my daughter loves it. I doubt you'll see this on my nails for a while.

Now I'm off to scrub this stuff off, and do another manicure that doesn't require fifty billion coats!!!

Have you tried Milani polishes? Do you like them? I want to hear from YOU!

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.*

Fancy Dots

Hello readers! I've got a fantastic manicure for you! Seriously, I am SO in love with this one!!

Here's what I did:
I used Sally Hensen's strengthening base coat, Orly's base coat, two coats of Essie's Sand Tropez.
Then with my Bundle Monster plate: BM-212 (You can buy this awesome bundle HERE), I added the print with Essie's Merino Cool. After that was dry, I decided to fancy it up a bit, and used my new dotters (TOTALLY worth the $4.50 I spent on Amazon: you can buy them HERE. And let me tell you how amazing their customer service is! I accidentally ordered two packages of these bad boys, and one dotter was missing! So they're having it sent out to me asap! Which then, I will give to a good friend of mine.) and added some gold dots with my Pure Ice Jaguar. I then topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I did this manicure yesterday, so sorry for any tip wear. After several doctor appointments today, my hands are screaming at me! "Don't use your nails to open that box of matzah bread!" "I can't believe you are scraping stickers off things without a tool!" "YOUR NAILS ARE NOT TOOLS!" (They actually said these things to me.)

I am just so impressed with how well this came out! I wanted a manicure that wasn't too flashy or bright....we are having family photos taken tomorrow...and I don't want to look back and say "OH MY GOSH Christina! Why did you wear that BRIGHT green polish with that outfit!!!" This way, I am safe!

All in all, a great manicure!! I highly suggest the Bundle Monster plates for your Konad stamper, or other brand of stamper! Some reviews have said that some of the stamps don't work very well...but I have not found a pattern that didn't work well! But I still have a ton of other plates to go through, so who knows. For the price, I can't complain! :D

Being a nail polish addict, I am trying NOT to paint my nails again until after the shoot tomorrow....wish me luck!

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.*

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.*

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