Blue Midnight

I have another polish from Pure Ice's Velour line!! I am absolutely loving every single polish in this line, and I can't wait to try the others!!!

Here's what I did:
1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gelous
2 coats Pure Ice Blue Midnight
No top coat

I love how silky these feel, and the way they look. I am in looooove!!!

Hope you enjoy this mani!
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.*

Pure Ice Velour

When I heard that Pure Ice came out with a velour line, I almost peed my pants!!! I love it when polishes dry to a silky, velvet like finish. So naturally I dashed to Walmart to *hopefully* find the whole line! I found 9 out of 11! Good haul for me!!

Since I'm on a gradient kick, I couldn't wait to see how these velour polishes would look in an ombré mani!!!

So here's what I did:
1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gelous
Then I used Pure Ice: Grunge, Touch Me Softly, and Temptress for the gradient

One photo is shown with no top coat, and one is shown with 1 coat Seche Vite.

Which is your favorite!?

I can't wait to do some stamping and simple manis with these polishes. They're opaque and gorgeous!!!

Do you own any from this line? What do you think??

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.*

Free Form Stripes

Good morning! I have a fun manicure to show you today! (I promise, I am almost caught up to my Instagram..and will be posting blog posts as I go...)

As I told you all before, I bought a ton of new Orly mini bottles, so naturally, I had to keep using them! So here we go!

I must admit, I do not think these are my best work. My lines could be much better, and the dots, which I wanted to look more like lace than regular dots, did not turn out to my liking. But failed or successful manicure will be featured on my blog. I'm human. So I have bad days too.

Here's what I did:
1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gelous
2 coats Orly It's Not Me, It's You
I used Pure Ice Black Rage for the black french tip.
Kiss White Striper for the stripes.

I found Orly's It's Not Me, It's You to be wonderful! I absolutely love the shade, the application, and how girly this polish is. This is for sure going on my full bottle wish list!! I love it!

Clearly, I need to do a little more practice on my stripes, but I found the Kiss White Striper polish to be perfect as well. It is my unsteady hands that are the problem. Lol.

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.*

Lava Lamp Nails

Goooood morning!!

There has been a trend on Instagram that I knew I had to try. There isn't a definite name to them, but I like to call them Lava Lamp Nails.

I must admit, these were harder than I thought they'd be. But since I've done them once, I am positive I can improve my skills on them. In concept, they seem very easy.

So here's what I did.

1 coat Nail Magic
1 coat Gelous
2 coats NYC French White Tip
I painted half of my nail with Pure Ice Black Rage
Then I took a medium sized dotting tool, and placed the dots along side the diagonal line I created. Then placed the opposite color  dots on each side of the line.
I topped it all off with Seche Vite.

These nails really look so cool on. I feel like they're melting into each other. It's beautiful. I, being my worst critic, see some flaws, but practice makes perfect, so I will for sure be doing these again. I'm glad I did the mixture of black and white for my first time with these. I think it really shows the dramatic dripping to the work. I love it.

What do you all think of these? Have you seen these be done before? Would you try this? What colors would you use?

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.*

Gradient Stripes

Good morning! I have a fun manicure to share with you all!!! I entered into a contest on Instagram, which required stripes. I plan on entering as many times as possible, while improving my striping skills. So expect several striped manicures. Lol.

So here's what I did:
1 coat Sally Hansen's Double Duty base coat
1 coat Orly's Bonder base coat
I sponged on:
Wet n Wild Through the Grapevine
Wet n Wild On a Trip
L'oreal Jet Set to Paris

Then with tape, I taped off my mani and added Pure Ice Black Rage. And topped it all off with Orly's No Chip top coat

I'm still not very good at the whole taping things off, and painting over them. My tape never ends up even, and I had a huge issue with paint coming off when I removed the tape. I just then took a paint brush and fixed the problem spots.

The colors sponged on great though! It was cake! And of course, my Black Rage glided on like jelly.

My ring finger did get a little messed up, but I really don't think it was that bad. It could have been worse, that's for sure!!

What do you all think of this manicure? What would you like to see in my next stripe manicure? Ideas? Suggestions? I value all of your input, so I will try whatever you guys throw at me! :)

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.*

Jacket Buttons

Good evening fellow nail bloggers! I have a fantastic manicure for you!

I asked my daughter, Seyhan, what she thought my nails looked like, and she said jacket buttons. :) I think she's right.

I really really really like this manicure! Here's what I did:
1 coat Sally Henson's Double Duty base coat
1 thick coat Pure Ice Black Rage
I used Color Club Gingerbread Man for the dots with my dotting tool
1 coat Essie Matte About You

I love love love my Pure Ice Black Rage. If you use enough the first time, you don't need to do a second coat! The application is always a breeze, the brush is perfect, and the formula is amazing. I use Black Rage more often than any other polish in my stash of 70.

I only have flash photos to share with you all. I didn't get a chance to take photos this afternoon. My daughter, Zoey, has a therapist who comes to our house to work with her. And that took up a lot of our time today.

I am really happy to report how well the Gingerbread Man polish did with Matte About You. I was afraid it wouldn't look good, since it is more of a foil type polish. It took on the matte, but stayed glittery...which is the only way I can explain it. I think I will have a hard time taking this polish off.

I really wanted something more edgy, but to stay with the dots, since my dotting tools are being severely neglected.

I am a huge fan of black and gold combos. Something about the two together makes me wanna dance. Lol.

I also have yet to run into any problems I've read about online about Matte About You. I read the reviews on Amazon.com before purchasing it, and some people say that the matte doesn't last long, and ends up shiny in a few days...I haven't had that problem. Others said it chipped within hours...Again, no problems here. I also have two kids, and I'm currently the only parent...and mine holds up pretty well. I never expect a manicure to stay perfect more than two days. I expect tip wear and chips. I'm really rough on my hands. Another reviewer said that it started peeling from the middle?? Whaaat? Maybe they got a bad batch, cause I've never ever ever seen it do that!!! Maybe I'm not that picky about my nails...so if it does end up shinier...I don't notice it at all.

I hope I have given you a good reason to go out and buy a matte top coat! I know I don't regret my purchase! <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.*

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.*

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.*