31DC2013 - day 18

20 minutes to go and here is my challenge post for today!
The theme for day 18 is Half Moon Manicure.

I got up today to do nails for a friend (which were BOMB and I need to get a picture of) and I ended up taking a nap... And slept until I had to go to work tonight. HA! So my nails had to wait until I got home at 10:30... And it took me an hour to settle on a design (and make an order from Forever 21...) And here I am!

Half moon glitter! I've always wanted to do a manicure with a gold glitter half moon but I never wanted to take the time to paint the base, let it dry, and add the stickers to do the flawless half moon.
So today I thought, "Hey, let's do a matte base and then I can put the stickers on right away!"

Wrong. Even though I used a matte base the stickers pulled up the polish.
So I fixed my booboo, and decided to add the glitter on freehand. I didn't have time for anything else!
I'm pretty shocked at how I managed to freehand the glitter on so well, and so quick. It only took a couple minutes!

I loveeeee gold lately. All gold everything.
The gold is Milani - Gold Glitz from the One Coat Glitter range.
The matte base is OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape Matte and it sadly needs three coats to be opaque which somewhat defeats the lovely characteristic that mattes have of drying solid super quick. 

Here's how it looked before I added topcoat.

Luv luv. Glad I managed to knock this out in time! 

i just love glitter, okay?!

Can't stop wearing glitter. Several glitters at once. All the glitter.
Here's a nice combo I wore last week!

Pink and purple and blue glitter, oh my!

It was kinda hard to get great pictures of this manicure but I think I did okay.

And the best part about this mani? Drugstore polish!
I started with a black base, and added two lovely glitters from Milani.
Milani - Twinkle (purple and blue glitter in a clear base, can be worn alone with a few coats)
Milani - Fuchsia (from the Jewel FX line, 2 sizes of pink glitter, clear base, best for layering)

Big fan. I think I have all the Milani glitters now... Maybe some swatch spam will happen soon!

quit while you're ahead...

Good morning! This is my last day in the Big Apple. I'm sure I'm probably crying about it right now. I probably never wanna leave.
I wonder how much shopping I'll have done by now... I guess you will soon see!

Today's post is something I thought I wouldn't post because it is so weird but I figured I should always share my hilarious fails just so you don't think I am alllllways perfect... ;)

This manicure started with good intentions! Lime green glittery goodness!

This is one coat of Orly - Here Comes Trouble, a great glitter from the Pin-Up Collection, over 2 coats of China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard, the neon green from the Summer Neons collection.

I love both of these polishes and they pair together really well!
I wore them for a day but then I felt like I should add some more glitter.

I said hey, let's add some more Orly glitter! I slapped on a coat of Orly - Spazmatic.
It didn't really do it for me.

Hey, let's add MORE!

...Still not pretty. The added coat of Milani - Fuchsia Jewel FX didn't make me happy.

Now I had no idea where to go.
For some reason I said to myself, "I bet this will look REALLY good if I made it into a jelly sandwich!"
...Wrong.

Oooooh boy. Someone threw up their easter eggs. Yuck!
China Glaze - Oxygen is the white jelly.

The moral of this story, quit while you're ahead, and enjoy that green glitter without adding a bunch of crap.

See you tomorrow with a live post, so long as I don't spend my entire day sleeping/recovering. Yikes!

rebecca returns!

Hello darlings!

I am so sorry to have been away from you for an entire week but hey, I'm back from the hospital, I'm totally drugged up on a bunch of steroids, and hopefully I'll be healthy for a little while!
You see, I am supposed to leave for a trip to NYC this weekend! Obviously I can't go to New York if I am super sick, so my doctor has me pumped up on drugs to just try and get me there. When I come back, I'll probably have to spend more time working on a more long-term solution for my Crohn's, but for now, I'm steroid-high and super excited for my visit to The Big Apple!
Let's hope I can stay well until I return.

In the meantime... I have a crap load of homework to catch up on... But I am gonna find time to get some posts done! I don't wanna leave my blog empty for another week while I'm gone. We'll see what I can do.

Now! For today!
I'm gonna show you a mani I wore a couple of months ago. I'm not really sure why I never got around to posting this until now!

A glittery leopard print manicure! I wore this at my cousin's wedding this summer.

I did this manicure using a set of nail art twins from Essence, plus some extra glitter.
Essence - Joe is a purple creme with a great formula and Essence - Victory is a glitter topper with small silver glitter and silver squares!
I also added a coat of Milani - Pink Flare on top for extra sparkle.
(I'm sure I will show a proper swatch of these Nail Art Twins another time.)

I added leopard print with my trusty dotting tool and black polish. Probably Essence - Black is Back. 'Cause I like that one.

It was a while ago, but I do remember getting a lot of compliments on my nails at the wedding!
Sparkles and leopard print, you can't go wrong.

Okay, I am off to do some homework, and schedule some posts in between!
Anyone wanna write my Environmental Sociology midterm tomorrow? No? No one? ... :(

31dc2012 - day 31

Hey guys! Welcome to the very last day of the 31 Day Challenge!

I'm really proud of myself for finishing this challenge again, I think I came up with some pretty fab designs.

It was definitely nice to challenge myself to do nail art every day for a whole month... But now I think I need a little break. This manicure is staying on for a few days. At least. Ha!

The theme for today is to Recreate A Manicure You Love.

Like last year, I've decided to recreate a manicure done by someone participating in the challenge with me this month.

I chose a leopard print manicure (duh) from the lovely Kayla Shevonne. It was her design for the Glitter theme.

(She recreated my Andy Warhol look today! Click here to see that.)

Tada! I love the combo of nude and glitter. And leopard print. (Shocker.)

Kayla used a different nude color for her manicure but our glitter is the same!
I used:
OPI - Did You Ear About Van Gogh?
Milani - Purple Gleam
Essence - Black is Back

My glitter had a bit of a strange reaction with this mani. On my right hand I did solid glitter because I was lazy (as usual) but it would not dry fully. Certain areas just wiped completely off.
I noticed this because I messed one up on something and when I touched all the others to see if they were dry, small areas came completely off too.
I have no idea why! I've worn this polish a bunch before with no issues. Maybe it was my base coat? Who knows!

I'm wearing my purple glitter Toms today with my purple glitter mani.

Challenge complete!
I'll see you tomorrow with September's haul post (and maybe a challenge recap,) and then I'll probably take a day or two off. Hah. I deserve it.

glitter NOTD

Good evening everyone!
I almost didn't bother to make a post today because I've been pretty busy, but then I realized I have about 100 things just sitting around waiting to be posted (okay, maybe more like 20) so I decided to just do a quick NOTD post!
(NOTD meaning Nail of the Day for those of you unfamiliar with the term!)

This is just a quick accent nail mani I wore a few weeks ago using two of the Milani One Coat Glitters.
I adore these glitters, but I have a hard time getting them to stay on my nails for longer than a day!
I layered them over coordinating polishes to try and get them to last longer but that didn't really work. Still chippy. Oh well! They look fantastic while they last. (The purple especially!!)

The purple is Milani - Purple Gleam over China Glaze - Flying Dragon.
The blue is Milani - Blue Flash over China Glaze - Blue Sparrow.

I love how the glitters have several shades of glitter, it makes them really interesting. And the formula is awesome! They don't quite cover in one coat as the collection name suggests but you only need two.
Oh, and be sure to apply lots of topcoat, because they sure like to eat it up.

Okay, that's all! Have a lovely evening!

framing fail!

I bet you guys have seen framed manis going around the nail world lately.
I didn't really like them until I saw this mani from my friend Kim @ feedkmayeorchids.
I redid it pretty much instantly after seeing it!

But I kinda failed. My stamping didn't come out clean and my frames were super uneven.
You probably don't see the flaws the way I do... But they are there!

I wanted to love this mani but I just couldn't see past the imperfections!
It's such a cool idea, though. I love the zebra and the pink and the gold!

The zebra image comes from Konad m57.
The pink is Color Club - Peppermint Twist.
The gold is Milani Jewel FX - Gold.
The mani began with a white and black zebra nail and I added the pink around the edge with a small brush.

Looks pretty cool from afar, right? Haha!

What do you guys think? Have you guys tried these difficult frames on your nails?

time for a HOT mani - featuring studs from Born Pretty

Hey guys! Pretty much I am the worst blogger ever this week, because I am busy being a good employee at my new job!
I've been super super busy but it's gonna slow down after tomorrow and I can get back to my regular flow. Good thing, too, because I might soon die of exhaustion! Opening new stores is hard work. But I love my new job and my coworkers. So life is good!

Tonight I'm going to show you a mani that is freakin' hot!

I recently received some new items from Born Pretty to review so you'll be seeing those over the next little while.

The first thing I tried out are these awesome studs!

Sexy! I'm a sucker for anything studded so I adore these nail studs.

These are the 4mm gold square studs from Born Pretty which you can buy right here.

They came in a nice resealable bag:

There are so many things you can do with these studs, I had a hard time deciding what to try first!

I got so many compliments on this mani, the studs are really eye-catching and fun to wear. They give your nails that extra somethin' somethin'!

The base color is China Glaze - Love's A Beach from the Summer Neons Collection. I'll have a full review of these polishes when I get the second half in the mail, but let me just say now that this one is amazing!
I love the shimmer and the formula is fantastic. 2 easy coats. As usual for neons it dries matte but comes alive with topcoat.
My ring finger is Milani Jewel FX - Gold.

I applied my studs into a coat of wet Seche Vite and then I added another coat on top.
I wore this for 2 days before losing a stud - and that was only because I was unpacking dozens of boxes at work! I could likely get these to last 4-5 days under normal circumstances.
Despite being kinda big, I didn't find they stuck out much at all once covered in a thick coat of Seche Vite.
The one on my pinky nail was more stuck out because the nail is so much smaller but that's to be expected.

Overall I totally love these studs and I can't wait to use them in a bunch more manis!
Get these and all your other nail art needs at Born Pretty.

Keep your eye out for some more BP product reviews soon, including a way cool polish!

And don't forget to use my coupon code if you order, for 10% off your purchase!

Product provided for honest review.

glitter in the air + extra glitter!

Good evening! Or prevening, for all my Big Bang Theory fans out there.

Today I'll be showing you a random mani I wore about a week and a half ago. 

Please excuse the little purple hearts on these photos, but I'm sure you'll find them less offensive than what was underneath... I had a booboo. And it was super painful and made it hard for me to pose my hand. I actually had naked nails for a few days because I couldn't bend my thumb enough to paint them! Haha!

I wanted something dainty for my first mani after having sad naked nails, and I decided I wanted to finally wear Deborah Lippmann's Glitter In The Air.
I had yet to wear it because I couldn't decide what color to wear underneath!
But it struck me to use Color Club Secret Rendezvous, a sheer lavender color that you can use several coats of to make it opaque, or wear just 2 coats like I did for a jelly finish.

I really liked the combo! But I got tired of it after a few days so I added some more glitter.

Not my best effort.
I filled in one side with Nicole by OPI - One Less Lonely Glitter, and added a stripe using Milani - Purple Outline, from their nail art collection.

Meh. I think liked it better before the added glitters.
Hey, at least I found a nice way to wear Glitter In The Air!

glitter bomb!

Good morning!
I know I said yesterday that I would be posting my Teeez holographics today, but I forgot that this is Monday. And Monday means Monday Nail Art Challenge on Polish-Aholics Anonymous!

Before I get to that, however, I want to share a link with you.
Recently I came across this blog - Loodie Loodie Loodie.
This lovely lady shares all her knowledge about nails, and I have learned SO much from reading all her posts. I read them all in 2 hours because I was so interested. I know so much more about my nails now!
Go read her posts. Your nails will thank you! She also has some YouTube videos!
(Have you noticed this happening to you? I have, and this post saved me some worrying! I thought there was something wrong with my nails!)

Okay, back to my own nails!
This week's theme was glitter bomb.
I have a lot of glitter. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do.

I decided I wanted to try a glitter gradient, using the colors from my peacock mani as inspiration!
It turned out pretty nice! But it had to come off right after taking the pictures. You'll see why.

Glitterrrrrr! The gradient effect was much smoother in person.

For these blinged-out nails I used:
Color Club - Object of Envy (green)
Milani One Coat Glitter - Blue Flash
Milani One Coat Glitter - Purple Gleam
Icing - Runaway (pinky purple)
I also used several glitters from the 2 way nail art pen set. (Shades of green and blue to help smooth out the gradient.

This was so pretty and glittery and I would have liked to keep it on... But...

Look how thick it was! It would never dry.
I took the easy way out and wiped it all off with a tissue.

wanted it, bought it, swatched it, hated it, returned it

Did you read the title of this post? It sums up my feelings on this polish.

Do you ever hear someone talking about a polish or see a swatch of it and want it really badly, but then hate it when you actually buy it?
It happened to me with Milani's Rad Purple from the neon line.
Kayla Shevonne mentioned it in a recent post and I figured now was the time to show you this polish so I could warn everyone about it. I swatched it ages ago but didn't post it because I hate it so much!

Bleh. Yuck.
As you can see, Rad Purple is not very rad and nor is it very purple. Nor is it neon.
It is sheer, burgundy, dark, and dries semi-matte. 4 coats.
There is not one thing I like about it.

Don't let the bottle fool you - the bottles have a wrap around them, hiding the true color. I will never understand why.

I hated it so much that I actually returned it to the store and exchanged it the same day that I swatched it.
Do you ladies have any experiences like this one? Let me know so I stay away from those polishes too!

Remember yesterday when I begged for some nail mail? I got some very exciting nail mail. :)

This was from the lovely Inge of PolishSis. Her blog was one of the first blogs I started reading! Long before I had my own!
So when she contacted me for a swap I was delighted. And even more delighted when I got the goodies!
I'll have a more detailed post when I swatch them. I plan on swatching them on Thursday!
Now... If only my other 15 packages would come... heh. (Don't worry, they aren't all polish.)

OPI - Burlesque collection glitters - swatches and review

This was a very good day for me so far so I decided I would make a nice glittery post for you guys, and show you all the glitters from the Burlesque collection. And do 2 comparisons.
This is super pic heavy.

(Yeah that picture has the Alice glitters in it too but you get the point.)

Before we get to the swatches:
Why has today been so good?
I got German nail mail. 18 bottles of it.

Martina was so sweet that she even included 2 color&go's from my wishlist. Thank you again, Martina!!

They were all  wrapped up in German flyers in this big box of packing peanuts. It was like a nail mail treasure hunt!
Swatches to come in the upcoming days, I'm sure!

And then I got awesome blink tickets. Awesome ones.

I'm in row 11 of section 201. I'm pretty sure the 100 sections are going to be open floor.
So. Delighted. So much closer than the last time I saw them!! :D

Okay, now that's out of the way.
Keep reading for the glittery goodness!