Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year's Eve 2015

Happy New Year! I didn't have much inspiration this year for my NYE mani because I used my favorite images for last year's mani lol. Here's my mani for tonight. It's China Glaze Liquid Leather topped with Serum No 5 Final Countdown stamped using MoYou London Festive 05 in Mundo de Unas White. Sorry that I took a few months off from blogging this year, but I'm happy to be back in the swing of things and that you all stuck with me. Thank you all so much and Happy Near Year to you all! <3 



Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Color Club Indulge Me & MoYou London Fashionista 04

Hi friends! It's almost 2015 and I'm sure you're all deciding what to wear for your NYE mani. I just did a NYE mani yesterday, but most likely it won't be what I actually have on that day because it takes awhile for one of my manis to actually go from SD card to laptop to being edited and posted. I don't know why I lag so much lol. This mani is from a month ago! I used Color Club Indulge Me and stamped using MoYou London Fashionista 04 in Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Orange Impulse. The stamping color didn't show up on the base as great as I would have hoped, but it was one of those things where there's no going back once your first nail is stamped! To see a swatch of Indulge Me without the stamping check out my post here.



Monday, December 29, 2014

Color Club Dirty Money & MoYou London Kaleidoscope 03

Happy Monday! Quick post today. I stamped over all 7 of the Color Club Seven Deadly Sins polishes I posted swatches of yesterday so I'll just be posting them throughout the week. Here's Color Club Dirty Money stamped using MoYou London Kaleidoscope 03 in Mundo de Unas Black. The black studs are from Born Pretty Store. I gotta say I like these Color Club polishes a lot more with some stamping and topcoat!



Sunday, December 28, 2014

Color Club Seven Deadly Sins Collection--Swatches & Review


Wow it's been so long since I've had time to do swatches. When I started working full time in February and was still going to school, I opted out of a few blogger programs and turned down a lot of indie polish makers who asked me to do swatches. I'm glad I've got back to blogging regularly and I'm getting back into reviewing stuff. I've missed it so much, so it feels great to get back to it!

Today I have swatches of Color Club's Seven Deadly Sins collection. This is their Fall 2014 collection and it consists of 7 matte, textured glitters. All swatches are 2 coats without topcoat.


Dirty Money


Indulge Me


Fierce


Under Your Spell


Friends With Benefits


You're So Vain


Obsessed

These aren't super textured compared to other "texture" polishes that I've tried. These are slightly bumpy, but don't have that sand-like quality to them. The formula was a little thick, but easy to work with. The colors are unique as I don't have any like these in my collection. My favorites and the 2 colors I would wear on their own are Under Your Spell and You're So Vain. You can purchase these polishes here for $8.50 each. I've stamped over all 7 of these colors and I'll be sharing those looks with you this week! 




Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Bestie Twin Nails--Fair Isle Snowflakes

Happy humpday! I'm debating whether to stop being lazy today and do Christmas nails or just leave this mani on for tomorrow. Decisions decisions! I'll probably do them in a few hours after I finish wrapping presents.

Today I have some holiday themed "Bestie Twin Nails" to share with you. I did these with the wonderful Rei of Reinovate. Of course out of all the polishes we have, we didn't have the same dark blue polish. It's so funny seeing what polishes another nail polish addict has because I end up wondering "how do you not have this polish?!" I used Picture Polish Freya's Cats and stamped using MoYou London Festive 03 in Mundo de Unas 18. The silver glitter is OPI Liquid Sand It's Frosty Outside. Well if I don't end up posting tomorrow, Merry Christmas my loves! <3


(This is darker in person, but my flash makes it look much brighter.)




Yaaaay here's my mani's twin! <3



Sunday, December 21, 2014

Gelibility Review

Hi friends! Yesterday I mentioned that the mint and white Christmas sweater mani I did was all gel. If you were wondering how I did it, wonder no more--I used Gelibility! I've been mentioning in my last few posts that I've recently been getting into gel polish. While I was doing some online shopping, I stumbled upon Gelibility. I decided to buy it and see how it worked out. Gelibility is a system that allows you to turn any regular nail polish into gel polish. There's a great video on their page that shows how to use it, but you basically mix Gelibility with your regular nail polish, apply it, cure it, and viola--gel polish. I mixed my polish on foil and I used a polish brush from an empty Seche Vite bottle. I'll show you my pics and then I'll let you know my thoughts!







As you can see, day 14 looks just like day 1--shiny and no chips! The only thing I noticed is that there's a slight tint of yellow to the polish as time went on, but I honestly didn't even notice it until I looked at my photos today. One more thing to note is that if you use a glitter polish for example, it may take an extra coat to achieve opacity as the polish becomes slightly diluted once you mix it with the clear gel. 

I have to say I'm impressed with the results. It was easy to use and it lasted a solid 2 weeks, which is the longest I've ever worn a manicure, ever. I love that I bought this early on getting into gel polish because I don't have to buy any new colors and start a gel polish collection from ground zero. There's a lot of polishes I own that I avoid using because I know they chip fast, but I look forward to trying them out with Gelibility! You can purchase a Gelibility set here for $37.95. 

**I purchased this**

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Mint & White Christmas Sweater Nails

YAY I made it to Saturday! This has been one of the longest weeks ever. Worked 68 hours this week and saying I'm pooped is an understatement. What's worse is that I was supposed to have a couple weeks off from work for winter break, but now I will be on call. Waaah there goes playtime for my nails. Oh well, at least I have some posts saved up that I was able to do over the Thanksgiving break.

Today I have some Christmas sweater nails! I know you've probably seen a ton, but how could I go through the holidays without doing some? I used Morgan Taylor Mint Chocolate Chip and stamped using MoYou London Festive 04 in Mundo de Unas White. The glitter is Zoya Tomoko. You can't tell from the photo, but I turned this all into to gel using Gelibility! I've been wearing this mani for the past 2 weeks and I'm ready to remove it today with my new Steam-Off gel removal system from The Painted Nail! I'll be reviewing Gelibility and the Steam-Off gel removal system in future posts. Keep your eyes peeled!



Sunday, December 14, 2014

Gelish Berry Merry Holidays & MoYou London Festive 03

Good morning beauties! I have my first holiday mani of the season to share with you today. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I really was impressed with the wear of gel polish and that I was going to take a few steps towards the land of gel polish. Well I decided to jump into it and I bought a Gelish kit on Amazon. Good thing I bought it last month when it was only $93 because now it's $140. I'm loving it so far. I've used it twice and I'm so happy with how well it wears. There's definitely a learning curve for application compared to regular nail polish, but I know practice will make perfect.

For this holiday mani I used Gelish Berry Merry Holidays and stamped using MoYou London Festive 03 in Mundo de Unas 17. The studs are from Born Pretty Store. My co-worker who is really into gel polish gifted Berry Merry Holidays to me. Yay for more gel polish for my baby gel polish collection! My collection might stay a baby though as I'm now trying out Gelibility--a product that lets you turn any nail polish into gel polish. I'll share that with you guys another day, but I'll just say it's kind of amazing!



 

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Wet N Wild Black Creme & MoYou London Fashionista 04

Happy Saturday friends! I can't believe we're already almost halfway through December. This month seems to be flying by. This is my last week of the semester for me and then I'll be on winter break! I can't wait. I'll also be off of work for 2 weeks, which is even better--more time to play with nails! 

Today I have a mani I did a couple of weeks ago while I was on Thanksgiving break. I used Wet N Wild Black Creme and stamped using MoYou London Fashionista 04 in Mundo de UnasWhite. The red is OPI Coca-Cola Red and the silver is OPI Liquid Sand It's Frosty Outside. I have to say this is an absolutely perfect shade of red. My husband even asked what color it is because he liked it so much and for him to ask is kind of amazeballs. See ya guys next time when I start sharing my holiday nails!




Sunday, December 7, 2014

Nude & Black Damask Nails

Hi friends! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I have a quick post for you today using one of my new MoYou London plates. I love that they keep coming out with new plates because I literally can't get enough. For this damask print mani I used Essie Cocktails & Coconuts and then stamped using MoYou London Fashionista 08 in Wet N Wild Black Creme. I didn't use my Mundo de Unas black stamping polish because I didn't want the black to cover the base too much. I really enjoyed wearing this palette cleanser for a few days. As much as I love colorful nail polishes, it feels nice to sport a nude mani every now and then.



Sunday, November 30, 2014

Mustache Nails for Movember

Wow November went by fast! Before the month ends, I gotta share this manicure with you guys that I wore a few weeks back for Movember! I wasn't really sure what the real meaning of Movember was besides guys growing mustaches and nail addicts doing mustache manicures so I decided to look it up. In case any of you didn't know either, men grow out their mustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues like prostate cancer.

I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and stamped using MoYou London Hipster 07 in Mundo de Unas 2. The pink creme is OPI Suzi Has A Swede Tooth and the pink glitter is Zoya Pixie Dust Arabella.

I had all of last week off and did some swatching (haven't done that since last year in December!) and a lot of manis to share with you throughout December. Can't wait to share them with you all!




Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Birthday Nails for the Birthday Queen

Good morning my loves! My birthday was actually yesterday, but I was too caught up enjoying the day off with my husband that I forgot to post my birthday manicure. I didn't have time to do a proper birthday manicure last year, so I wanted these to have a very obvious birthday design.

For my index finger I used OPI Hey Baby and stamped using MoYou London Pro 08 XL in Color Club Harp On It for the holo diamond background. Then I stamped using MoYou London Happy Birthday 01 for the word "birthday" and MoYou London Pro 08 XL for the word "queen" in Mundo de Unas 2. I did the same background for my middle finger and the crown image is from Red Angel RA-119. My ring finger has China Glaze Liquid Leather stamped using MoYou London Pro 08 XL in Color Club Harp On It. The glitter on my pinky is from OPI I Snow You Love Me.

These were so fun to wear this week and people really noticed them. I had a great birthday weekend. My husband got my name tattooed on him, he got me a Louis Vuitton purse, and an iPhone 6 plus! I'm a happy wife!



Saturday, November 22, 2014

Madam Glam Gel Polish--Review


Good morning lacqueristas! I have a couple of posts lined up this week for you. I'm off of work and school all next week so I have a bit of extra time to play with my nails! 

Today I have a review of Madam Glam Soak-Off Gel Polish. I was contacted a few weeks ago by Laura of Madam Glam to see if I would be interested in reviewing their new gel line. I was hesitant since I've only had one previous experience using gel polish last year and I didn't really care for it, but since I have a full-time job now and I only change my polish once a week, I decided to try gel again--and I'm so glad I did! 

I was sent a Base Coat Gel, Gel Polish in #3 Blood Orange, and Top Coat Gel. I applied the base, cured, color, cured, another coat of color, cured, stamped (optional), topcoated, cured, and then removed the tacky layer with alcohol. I couldn't bear to wear the polish without art, so I stamped using MoYou London Artist 09 in Mundo de Uñas 17. Here's how it turned out!



The polish name isn't on the bottle, but there is a color swatch on top of the cap that is true to color.

I wore the polish for 10 days without any chipping and no tip wear. I could have easily got another week or more out of this mani, but 10 days was already a long time for me without changing up my nails. After 10 days, it still looked as shiny as the day I applied it! My nail art started rubbing off a bit on my index nail, but I read up a bit on stamping over gel since then and others recommend doing 2 coats of top coat over stamping. Here it is at 10 days:



I soaked my gel off using the foil method for 10 minutes and removal was pretty easy. Of course it takes longer than removing regular nail polish, which I need to get used to, but my nails weren't damaged at all and it's totally worth the amount of wear you can get out of one manicure. 

So my final thoughts? I was impressed and pleasantly surprised. I received so many compliments on my nails for the time I wore this mani. Application was easy, wear couldn't have been better, and removal was easy. You can purchase Madam Glam Soak-Off Gel Polish here for $19.95 each and get 30% off using coupon code YGEL30OFF. Don't be surprised if you start seeing a lot more gel polish from me! 




Saturday, November 15, 2014

OPI Nordic Watermarble

Happy Saturday my friends! I have a quick post for you today as my Saturday is flying by as usual. I swear every weekend I have a whole to-do list and end up lounging around and online shopping and then I end up getting to only 1 or 2 items on my to-do list.

Here I have a water marble accent nail using OPI With a Nice Finn-ish, OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid, OPI Ice-Bergers & Fries, and OPI Going My Way or Nor-Way all from the OPI Nordic Collection. Index and pinky have OPI With a Nice Finn-ish and middle finger has OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid. I used the decal method where you create the design in the water, but instead of dipping your finger in, you let the polish dry for at least 20 minutes, take the whole piece out, cut a piece for your nail and then use like a decal. It definitely has a learning curve, but I will be trying out that method again! See you all next week with a review of gel polish--my second experience with gel ever.




Friday, November 7, 2014

OPI Get Cherried Away & MoYou London Explorer 05

Happy Friday and hello 3-day weekend! This week felt long and was really stressful so thankfully I was able to leave work a few hours early for a mental health half day. I just had a lovely nap and I'm feeling better already. Too bad I'm currently wearing gel polish for review otherwise I would be doing my nails. I can't complain though, my nails still look as fresh as they did the day I painted them.

Today I have a mani I wore a few weeks back. I had 1 hour to do them before going out with some friends so I did something super simple and just stamped accents on my ring fingers and thumbs. Here's OPI Get Cherried Away stamped using MoYou London Explorer 05 in Mundo de Unas 17. The studs are from Born Pretty Store. 1 hour probably seems like plenty of time for you gals to do your nails, but I typically like to allot myself 2 hours for painting them, adding nail art (usually stamping), cleaning up, and taking pictures. How long do you gals usually spend doing your nails?



Isn't this color divine?! <3


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Creepy Halloween Crawlers

Happy belated Halloween! Unfortunately I'm 2 days late posting these, but the good news is I was able to do 3 Halloween manis which was more than I could have hoped for. I worked on Halloween and it was nice because one of my co-workers brought a huge bag of wings and different headbands and costume pieces so I used a tiara and some fairy wings. I suppose I was a fairy princess. After work Mr. HeartNAT and I went to my sister and her husband's place for a night of scary movies which was perfect since it was rainy. Onto my nails!

Index and middle: Color Club Harp On It stamped using Bunny Nails HD-C in Mundo de Unas #2.
Ring: China Glaze Liquid Leather stamped using Bunny Nails HD-C in Color Club Harp On It.
Pinky: Zoya Pixie Dust Dhara (with top coat).



Sunday, October 26, 2014

Undead Halloween Nails

Hi loves! Are you surprised that I'm actually posting 2 days in a row? I kind of am. Today I'm sharing my second Halloween themed manicure. After this one I have one more to share with you. My Halloween spirit honestly starts and ends with my nails, but that's better than nothing right? I know some people like seeing what costumes people have for Halloween, but I personally enjoy seeing what everyone comes up with for their Halloween nails. For this I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and stamped using Bundle Monster BM-H08 in Konad Princess Apple Green. The glitter is Zoya Pixie Dust Dahlia. So what are all of you lovelies going to be doing for Halloween this year?




Saturday, October 25, 2014

Purple Sugar Skulls

Greetings to all of you spooktacular people! Halloween is fast approaching and I'm just getting around to posting some Halloween themed manicures. I did this one a couple weeks ago and I really loved how it turned out. I've waited almost a whole year to use this plate, but it was worth the wait. Here's OPI Skating On Thin Ice-land stamped using MoYou London Artist 11 in Mundo de Unas 21. The glitter is Zoya Pixie Dust Carter. I purchased my first Zoya Pixie Dust polishes about a month ago and so far I'm loving them! My next couple manicures will feature pixie dust polishes because I'm hooked!