NEONS

(from left to right)

Sinful Colors - Why Not

China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy

China Glaze - Sun Worshiper

Essie - Play Date

PASTELS

 (from left to right)

Essie - Fiji

China Glaze - For Audrey

Essie - A Crewed Interest

Sinful Colors - Unicorn

NEUTRALS

(from left to right)

China Glaze - Sea Spray

Essie - Marshmallow

Revlon - Aloof

Essie - Topless & Barefoot 

GLITTER

(from left to right)

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Disco Ball

Sinful Colors - Queen of Beauty

Wet n' Wild - Sparkled

What are some of your favorite nail polish colors for summer??  :)

This has been a stand-out product for me for awhile now.  It has quickly become blog-worthy.  It's Essie's "Disappearing Trick".  As I was looking for a base coat, I came across this cute little green tube promising to make your dry cuticles disappear.  I was intrigued and shelled out the $8 for it.  I was a little skeptical at first, but the product very quickly impressed me.

The Good:
- Really does a fantastic job at softening your dry cuticles
- Goes on smooth
- Moisturizes very well
- Dries to a soft, non-sticky consistency
- Lives up to it's promise to make dry areas "disappear"
- Very travel friendly
- The applicator is very nice
- No crazy scent to it

The Bad:
- The price.  I don't think it's worth $8...maaaybe $5, but you know how Essie is kind of pricy anyways

- The liquid-like consistency has a habit of shooting out of the tube if you squeeze it too hard

BEFORE

AFTER

So you can tell from the pictures that it did significantly reduce the appearance of the dry spot on the left side of the nail.  I just applied it via the tube and then used my other hand to rub in the product a little bit.

Bottom line??  BUY IT!! :)

I was inspired by nail guru MissJenFabulous' nail tutorial that she called it "Delicate Pink with a Touch of Sparkle".  It's like a french manicure, but instead of white tips, they're glitter.  And I took my own twist on it changing the pink color used to a light purple.  I'm in love :)

Polishes Used:

Base - China Glaze "Sweet Hook"

Glitter Accent - Sinful Colors "Queen of Beauty"

Spring/Summer 2012 Nail Polish Haul

Ok, so when there are sales on nail polish....I can't help myself.  And this week it was a gold mine for nail polish sales.  I justify it in my head as "it's cheaper to buy a bottle than get a manicure".  Well, then I look in my drawer and figure I have spent way more than a monthly manicure.  Owell.  Some people collect stamps, others collect dolls.  I collect nail polish.

Walgreens is having a Sinful Colors sale $0.99/ea!  They do this regularly, so if you happened to miss this sale, don't worry.  Keep an eye on their ads for their next sale.  So I got 5 for $5!  I haven't tried any of these on my nails yet, but descriptions of each color are below.

Queen of Beauty: Chunky silver glitter polish.  I tried it out as soon as I got home and it gives just enough sparkle without being over powering.  *perfect!*

Cinderella: Soft baby blue with pink micro shimmer.  It's not chunky enough to be a pain to take off, but it catches the light just beautifully.  Kind of reminds me of the opposite of Kimpletely in Love by Nicole OPI.

Unicorn: Your soft yellow.  If you are wanting to try a yellow nail polish, but not sure which hue will suit your skintone...give this one a try.  Softer yellows can compliment any skintone.  Plus yellow is perfect for springtime!

Folly: Bright deep pink that leans towards the red color family.  This will look gorgeous on any skintone.  I'm thinking of using this as a pedicure color.

Glass Pink: The reason I went to Walgreens.  I wanted to get Kimpletely in love, but this looks like an exact dupe.  It is a soft pink with a shimmer to it.  The only difference I noticed is that Kimpletely seems to be a little less shimmery.

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Now for the China Glaze portion.  Sallys AND Ulta were having a buy two get one free sale this week.  So I got 3 at Ulta and 6 at Sally's.

Gothic Lolita: A beautiful purple.  It's almost like a deep-colored neon.  SO pretty..Especially on those toes!

Wicked Style: Your average bright pink, but it has some red mixed in to make it a tad bit of a deeper shade.

Sun Worshiper: I thought this one was so unique.  The camera makes it look yellow, but it has more orange in it.  It's a bright yellow-orangy neon.  So pretty!

Peachy Keen: A perfect peach color.  If you want to branch out and try new, bold colors, start with peach and work your way up to yellows, blues and greens.

Flip Flop Fantasy: I finally tracked down this sucker.  I wore it yesterday and it's a gorgeous neon pink.

Happy Go Lucky: A brighter, lemon-colored yellow.

For Audrey: A classic shade that everybody always buzzes about.  It's a gorgeous minty-turquoise.

Sea Spray: A greyed-out blue.

Electric Beat: I think it is best described as a neon baby blue.  It's not super bright, but gorgeous on the nails.

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Hope y'all enjoyed it.  Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite polish colors are for spring/summer.  Blog post coming soon about which ones in my collection I'm going to pull out for these next few summer months.

xoxo.  Laura

This is the second and final post about my new nail polish shades.  Like I said in the previous post, I have an ever-growing collection that is getting a tad out of control.  :)  All of the nail polishes were not purchased all at one time.  They were purchased over a period of a few months.  Plus I usually never buy anything at full price.  They were BOGO 50% off and I had coupons.  So that is how I ended up with so many.  Plus Revlon nail colors are usually inexpensive.

I'll start this haul with the new colors in their collection.

Colors from Left to Right are:

Flirt - A cool bubblegum pink. I'm obsessed with this one.  I find myself reaching for it again and again.

Naughty - A cool purple-grey with a duo chrome of pink.  So purdy!  ;)

Aloof - Your standard white.  This formula helps you achieve full opacity with just two coats.  And it has a taaaad bit of silver shimmer to it.  This is the perfect winter color.

Dreamer - A creamy sky blue.  Not much more to it.  I can't WAIT to try this color out.

Chic - A blue-grey that is just.....so.....Chic!

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Now onto the couple colors I bought, but aren't in their new collection.  I guess I was in a springtime/easter mood when I bought these.  haha.

Sunshine Sparkle - This yellow just looked soo nice in the container.  I'm not sure how the opacity or formula is, but it just looked perfect for springtime.  It doesn't have noticeable chunky glitters to it, but it does have a very slight shimmery silver tone to it.  Plus I don't have a yellow in my collection.

Minted - A soft-mint green.  No glitter or shimmer.  Just creamy and gorgeous! 

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I invite you all to click the links in the right hand corner and join me on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.  :)  I'd love to chat with y'all!

Much love, hugs and new nail polish colors!

xoxo   Laura

Lately I have been obsessed with nail polish.  I'll be out and pick up one or two new shades that are just staring at me...begging me to take them home.  My collection is now violently growing.  This is all probably thanks to the girls of Eleventh Gorgeous on YouTube.  (if you don't know who they are...check them out!)

I was at Walgreens this afternoon and thought I would treat myself to a few little $2 nail polishes.  I've never tried the "Sinful Colors" Brand before, but the line carries some of the brightest and most fun colors I've ever seen!  :)

Light Blue - "Why Not" - And why not get this one??  It's a fun bright aqua blue.  It makes me miss summer, though.  :(  I was inspired by one of the girls on The Bachelor.  I forget who...but she had gorgeous blue nails and I thought I needed a color like it!

Orangy-Salmony-Coral - "Hazard"- This is one of those where the picture does not do it justice.  I'm not a huge fan of straight-up coral colors, but this one was just calling to me.  This will make a pretty toe color this spring/summer.

Dark Blue - "Midnight Blue" - I jumped on the cobalt blue bandwagon finally.  I haven't tried it, but it looks gorgeous in the bottle.  It isn't completely creamy like the other two are.  It looks as though it has a little hint of shimmer and a duo-chrome of a purply/pink color.  So pretty.

So with all that said...Go get you some Sinful Color nail polishes!  :)

xoxo.

Laura

It's been waaay too long since my last blog.  It was a VERY busy holiday season, but it was fun.  I am glad, though, to be back in the swing of things.  

Lately I've found myself wandering away from makeup for a little bit and veering towards nails.  I'm slowly becoming obsessed with nail polish.  My reasoning to myself every time I purchase a new color is "its cheaper than getting a professional manicure" haha. ;)

I have run into one problem.  (I think all ladies at some time or another have this issue).... HOW the HECK do you get nail polish to last longer than a day??  I recently treated myself to one of those gel manicures for the holidays and there was absolutely NO CHIPPING for 3 WEEKS.  I had to finally take it off because my nails grew out.  Not because the mani looked bad.  Now, I know I can't get the gel polish results at home because you need a special UV lamp to cure the gel layers, but I really want my DIY manicures to last more than a freakin' day!

After countless trial-and-error experiments, I've run across a concoction that has proven to last again and again.  This discovery works waaay too well not to share with you all.  So feel free to pass it along!!  :)

1. BASE LAYER: Sally Hansen's "Hard as Acrylics: Hard as Wraps" (with nylon)

Apply not a thin, but not a thick layer of this.

Make sure it dries completely!

2. COLOR: Any color you want is fine.  

The one I am wearing currently is from Revlon's new collection called "Flirt" #250

It's a gorgeous cool-toned bubblegum pink

Make sure you apply 2-3 coats to get your desired opacity.

Make sure every layer dries completely before you apply a second coat

3. TOP COAT: Sally Hansen's "Mega Shine" 

(dupe for Seche Vite but without the stink or nasty chemicals)

**It says it dries within 60 seconds...and it will be to the touch, but 

wait about 10-15 minutes before you touch anything

because it will smudge.**

Then I apply the mega shine top coat every 2-3 days to give it an added layer of protection and to extend the life of my manicure by a couple days.

And there ya go...this is after 2 days (and counting!) after I applied another layer of the 

Mega Shine and it's still lookin very purdy! :)

xoxo.  Laura

Instead of always wearing dark nail colors during the holidays...I decided to switch it up.  I found the absoloute most gorgeous shade for winter.  

It's ESSIE MARSHMALLOW.  

(Nevermind my index finger nail...it broke yesterday..booo)

Its a creamy/milky white color.  I was looking for a color that wasn't stark white.  I didn't want my nails to look like I got bored with a bottle of whiteout.  ;)

The thing with most neutral/light Essie colors....it takes a lot of coats to get it to full opacity.  This is 3 coats and it's still at about 80%.  Which is fine, because I like the smooth, milky effect it gives.

I absoloutly love this color and I'm planning on wearing it to a Christmas party next week with nude shoes, black/blue lace dress and I'm thinking gold toe nails!  

Happy Holidays to each of you! :)

xoxo. 

Laura

Hello Beauties!

I was wandering around Sally's Beauty Supply earlier today and as I was deciphering whether or not to buy a Hair One sample, the nail polish section caught my eye.  (surprise, surprise!)

I was browsing through the China Glaze section.  I've always been a huge Essie fan, but the China Glaze colors were just calling to me!  I've heard other people rave about this line, so I thought I'd give it a try myself.  They're a couple bucks cheaper than Essie and I've heard great things about them.  And, I mean, for $6.99/bottle ($5.99 for Sally's club members!) why not try one??!!

I was mainly looking for a new color that would transition nicely from autumn to winter and that I could wear throughout the holidays.  There were reds, eh...nudes, done it, pinks...did that last year.  Geez, I was getting discouraged.  I was perusing through all the gorgeous shades, but this one in particular caught my eye.

This is "Black Diamond" from China Glaze's Winter 2007 Ski Collection.  Even though it's 4 years old, I feel like it is the PERFECT shade to bring back for this season.  It's so versatile!  I can wear this to the family Thanksgiving supper, but I feel like it's dressy enough for a night out on New Year's Eve.

It's a gorgeous cool gunmetal color with a tad bit of a navy undertone along with little specks of silver shimmer.  It doesn't have that much shimmer that it's annoying, but just enough to give it a little bit of shine.  In the photo above, that's two coats taken with my iPhone camera.

The packaging, specifically the handle, reminds me of the OPI polishes.  The formula is very smooth, goes on opaque with two thin coats.  Then I topped it off with Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Top coat to prevent chips.  I'm not sure about how long this formula wears, since it's my first China Glaze purchase.

I hope the formula holds up.  It might be a new favorite nail polish line!  :)

YouTube HOW TO: 

Get a Professional-Looking Manicure at Home

Happy November Everybody!!

Thanks for stopping by...I invite you to check out my YouTube, Twitter & Facebook!

xoxo. Laura

Randoms:

*I hate spring cleaning.  I like to "nest" more in the fall right before winter.  My closet is now the way I want it...nice and clean!

*Sunday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week.  Football, coupons, coffee with the boyfriend and shopping day (sometimes a big breakfast is in there somewhere).

*Excited about Thanksgiving!  I love holidays where you eat lots with family.

*I ate an entire snickers candy bar before lunch and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it!