Nail Layering with Sally Hansen and NARS

I REALLY need to get better about the timing of my posts- I took these pictures last fall. I guess that would be fine, but the two Sally Hansen polishes I used were limited edition and no longer available. I suppose a few may be floating around on eBay if you get desperate enough.

I LOVE layering. It's rare these days for me to wear just one polish by itself. Some times the layering experiments are huge fails and some times they turn out awesome. This was one of the awesome times. I layered Sally Hansen All Aglow, a purple foil-y polish, over NARS Midnight Express, a dark blue jelly, and slapped Sally Hansen Crystal Beading, a sheer multichrome that flashes from teal to blue to purple to pink, over the top. My pictures didn't manage to capture the best duochrome actions, but it was fabulous. Trust me.

NOTD- Lime Lights of Olympia

So here she (he? it?) is. The promised first "real" post! Nail polish is my first and main love so it's fitting that this is my first post back.  I bought Sally Hansen Lime Lights, a sheer shimmery green, in a two pack from Dollar Tree so it basically cost me 50 cents. It look horrendous by itself, but looks awesome layered. Don't worry, I haz proofs.

And here are my disclaimers (Maribeth I know you love these, haha)- please excuse my gross cuticles as I basically didn't give a crap about my nails for several months, the sloppy application job as I don't have my clean up brush, the bad quality pictures as I'm using an unfamiliar camera, and anything else your eyes may deem offensive. Okay, now that we are sufficiently disclaimed, we may proceed.

This is one coat of Sally Hansen Lime Lights over 2 coats of Sinful Olympia.

Sinful Olympia and Sally Hansen Lime Lights

Whew, that wasn't so hard. Hope to see you guys again soon!

Rainbows on Crack(le)!

I'm terrible when it comes to nail art. I desperately wish I could do it, but I lack art skills and I have no patience. I even fail at nail stamping.  But I still get the urge to have something to do something besides regularly painted nails and this is what I came up with. It's not the most revolutionary design in the world, but it made me happy because it was different from what I normally do and it was sparkly!

These are the polishes I used. You won't actually see a picture of the Nicole by OPI because I used that color on my thumb nails and my thumbs are too ugly to show, haha. I've swatched the L'Oreal colors and you can see them here.

In the sun

For some reason the crackle never "cracks" as well on my left hand. I think I might be applying it too thickly or something. I wish I would have taken a picture of my right hand as well because it looked better. I know crackle is probably a bit played out by now, but I really like the silver crackle. I have the black OPI one and never wear it because I think it looks kinda ugly.

In the shade.

Well, that's all I have you you guys today. I everyone is having a great weekend! I ordered a Kindle yesterday and because I am impatient I paid the $3.99 for one day shipping (I have Amazon Prime- the best thing ever). So I ordered the Kindle yesterday at around 6 pm and it got here today right before 11 am. Definitely worth the 4 bucks! I downloaded like 40 books yesterday in anticipation and I can't wait to start reading! Squee! I'm such a nerd! I'm just glad that you can put ebooks on there from other sources and don't have to buy them all from the Amazon Kindle store. I'm super cheap and would never had bought the Kindle if that was the only way to get content.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Nail Layering With Flakies!

So, I'm sick AND sad today. Perhaps the best combination ever. Plus, my boyfriend is working today and I'm not the best at being alone when I don't feel so good. I make some pretty silly decisions. Such as, I didn't feel like making food so I'm eating pepperoni straight from the bag. It's kinda gross and they're REALLY greasy so I think I'm going to stop, haha.  Oh, and I still have a test to take today online and I have an essay to write. Yay!

So, I'm reaaaally behind in swatching so I had to dig to find something worth posting. I'm still determined not to miss a day of blogging even if my heart isn't completely in it.  Oooh, know what sounds good? Chinese food! Probably not the best meal for someone sick, but it comes with soup. That helps, right?

I actually took these pictures before I started blogging and they got lost in a random folder. I was trying to layer as many cool things as possible and this is what I came up with:

taken inside under artificial light

This is 4 different polishes layered. They were (in the order they were applied):

• A random dark blue shimmer. I can't remember exactly which one.
• OPI Catch Me In Your Net
• Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure
• CoverGirl City Lights (holographic glitter top coat)

taken in the sun

taken in the shade

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Random NOTD: Sally Hansen Fractured Foil Over L'Oreal Pink Shells

Sorry, this is going to be a short post!  I atarted my second class for this summer yesterday.  I taking Biology, which is what I'm majoring in.  I like biology better than chemistry (which is what I took this past month) so I'm hoping it's a bit easier.  These summer course are so fast paces and tiring, but I just want to finish school as fast as possible so I can stop being a hobo and mooching off my boyfriend.  I know he doesn't see it that way, but that's the way it feels to me.  I can't wait to start my career and we can buy a house and I can start participating financially!  He's supported my ass for way too long.  But he's the sweetest thing and has never complained.  He would never think to complain either.

Anyway, here is a mani I did a week ago or so.  I really like how it turned out with the silver crackle over the hot pink.  I've showed you both of these polishes before. L'Oreal Pink Shells is here and Sally Hansen Fractured Foil is here.

Sally Hansen Fracture Foil over L'Oreal Pink Shells

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Week 13: Shopping my Stash for Untried Polish- Sally Hansen HD in Resolution

I bought 4 or 5 of these Sally Hansen HD nail polishes when they first came out.  I quickly realized how sheer they are after and put the rest of them in my Helmer to be used on a day when I had the patience to layer them or apply a million coats.  And seeing how patience is not one of my virtues these never made it back OUT of my Helmer.

As I was looking for more untrieds the other say I came across this one, Sally Hansen HD polish in Resolution.  The color looked gorgeous in the bottle so I knew I had to try it out.  (Click here to see what I wore in previous weeks of this series).

This was 3 coats with top and bottom coats.

Sally Hansen HD polish in Resolution sun

Please excuse my ugly nails and crappy application.  My swatching hand is still on injury leave, and I’m not great at painting this hand or taking pictures of it.

Sally Hansen HD polish in Resolution shade

This is one of those colors I like better in the bottle than on the nail.  It’s a bit sheer and bubbled a bit on my nails.  This is weird, because I haven’t had a polish bubble on me in over a year.  Also, there is a dusty pink shimmer you can see in the bottle but doesn’t translate as well to the nail.  You can still see it, but only in certain lighting and at certain angles.  I still like the color though and I will probably wear it again at some point.

This was taken under a lamp.  You can see the dusty pink-ish shimmer a bit in this picture- especially in the bottle.




Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Sally Hansen Crackle Polish in Fractured Foil Swatches and Review

I was hoping to get pictures of a few more manis with this crackle polish before making a post about it, but I'm still lamenting the loss of my nail on my swatching hand and refuse to take pictures of it.
I had heard that the Sally Hansen crackle polishes didn't "crack" as well as other brands, but I was actually impressed with it. I have the black OPI crackle and the formula is disgusting- it's like tar.  I still wasn't sold on the whole crackle thing even after I bought the black one, but the silver has finally pulled me in.

When I bought the crackle polish I was wearing Orly Luxe, a pale cool gold.  I was worried that there wouldn't be enough contrast for the crackle to show up, but I had to use it anyway.

Sally Hansen Fractured Foil over Orly Luxe in the sun

Next time I will use a darker gold, but I still think the effect is pretty cool.

Sally Hansen Fractured Foil over Orly Luxe in the shade

in the sun

For this mani I used two different blue cremes from Models Own.  The darker blue is called Betty Blue and the lighter one is called Top Turquoise.I think I messed up with my index finger because i don't think the polish was dry enough when I painted the crackle over it.

in the shade

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Perhaps My Favorite Mani Ever- Sinful's Mint Apple under Hidden Treasure

Damn, I just realized I passed my 100 post milestone like a week ago!  I was anticipating it and counting it every day since about post 85, but then of course I completely forgot about it.  Not like post 100 is any more special than any other post, but for some reason I feel accomplished making it past 100, haha.

I'm still very behind in editing pictures and I'm so busy it doesn't seem like I'm going to catch up any time soon.  When you're busy it always feels like there will some how be a magic time when you'll be able to catch up on everything you need to do.  You tell yourself, "I can't wait until I can get a little break and then I'll be back on track."  Yeah, it doesn't work like that for me.  I get a little break and I take a nap and forget about all the little things I wanted to do.  I guess I'm destined to be playing catch-up the rest of my life!

Today I'm posting a mani I did like 2 months ago that I never got around to posting (while my nails were long! *SOB*).  It was inspired by this mani by my friend Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!


I don't have the OPI she used, but I've been wanting to use Sinful's Mint Apple again and this was a good opportunity.  I love how this looks so much. I rarely repeat manis, but I have to with this one. This is either 2 or 3 coats (Sorry, I forgot to write down how many!) of Sinful's Mint Apple with a coat of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure on top.

In the sun

In the shade

To show all the different flaky colors

Macro nail picture

I love this.  It reminds me of a sunset over a tropical ocean.




Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Random NOTD: Hidden Treasure over OPI's I'm His Coral Friend Matte

Hey guys!  Hope your Tuesday went well.  Mine wasn't bad- got some errands done, that kind of booooring stuff.  I was cleaning out my picture folder on my computer and found this pic of a mani from several months ago.  I wish I had though to take pics in the sun before I removed it!  Still, I love this and will probably recreate it some time in the future.

This is 3 coats of OPI I'm His Coral Friend as a base, which is a bright red-orange coral jelly.  I then topped it with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure flaky polish and a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic top coat to make it matte.  I wish I was able to capture that the flakies still change color with a matte top coat, but you'll just have to take my word for it!

This is taken under a light bulb which makes my skin look sickly and yellow, yay!

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

NARS Purple Rain (and something fun)

NARS Purple Rain was my first high end nail polish.  I kept seeing pictures of it over and over on blogs loved it, but there was NO WAY I was going to pay $16 for one nail polish (Hm, it looks like they raised the price to $17 recently).  But maybe you can guess by the fact that this post is called Purple Rain that I caved.  I still don't own that many high end nail polishes; I don't really see the need to when there are so many cheaper brands that are just as good, if not better like China Glaze and Orly.  But still, Purple Rain is one of the prettiest polishes I own.

Stick around to the end and I'll show you something THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!  Well, maybe not, but it is pretty.

Purple Rain is a blackened  red-toned purple with pink and purple shimmer.  This was 2 coats and no top coat.

Purple Rain in full sun

NOW FOR THE EXTRA PRETTINESS!

1 coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over NARS Purple Rain!

Full sun

Outside in the shade

See? Aren't you glad you stuck around?  I told you it was pretty.  I wish Hidden Treasure was still available and east to find.  Oh well, at least I have a back up!


Available:

• $17.00 at Sephora.com
• Brick-and-mortar Sephora stores
• $17.00 at NARS' website

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!