Week 5- Newspaper manicure

I have been sick all week, so I didn't get to post this until today.

I painted my nails with three coats of Pure Ice: Super Star! last Thursday, and you can see there is some tip wear already. I didn't use a top coat, but then I can down with the plague. Today I did manage to venture out and get a newspaper. I found a quote by Albert Einstein in it, "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough." I cut it out to use on my manicure. I started with my thumb and worked my way to my pinky. I did get better as I went along, but my thumb really is just a smudge of ink.

And here is my picture:


I am starting to feel better, so hopefully soon I'll be back to swatches and I will do better on next week's challenge.

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Weekend purchase - Snow Globe

I finally have it! China Glaze: Snow Globe



When I first went to try and buy this I was told that they were sold out and wouldn't get any more. But today when I went it this bottle was sitting on the clearance shelf. I am especially happy because I am sick again and not feeling well, but I needed to use my coupon before it expired.

I also have two Zoya polishes to swatch, Jasmine and Zara.

Lunar New Year's manicure

새해 복 많이 받으세요! (saehae bok mahni badeuseyo) Many fortunes in the New Year.

I based my manicure on one that I saw before, but I can't find the website. If I do I will link to it here. The photo I saw had a much more subtle gradient, but I didn't have the polishes that were used in the photo. I think mine kind of looks like fire.

The colors are a little off here, it is snowing so there is no natural light, not even through the windows.

Here is what I used:


From left to right: Sally Hansen Super Shine, Pure Ice: Siren, China Glaze: Ruby Pumps, and Jordana Pop Art in Golden Artist.

The base coat was Pure Ice: Siren, and then I layered half of my nail with China Glaze: Ruby Pumps.


I put a layer of top coat, and then layered the lower half with the Jordana (which is actually a stripping polish, but it is the only gold glitter polish I have.)


What do you think? Do you celebrate the lunar new year?

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Week 4- Plaid manicure

I was not confident at all in this manicure, so I only did my ring finger. I also originally I had planned to do it all in tape, but that didn't work out.

Here are the products that I used:


From left to right: Sally Hansen Super Shine, Pure Ice: Super Star!, Pure Ice: Siren, Jordana: Pop Art in Star Designer, Sally Girl mini polish #812029 Way 2 Disco, The Color Workshop top coat, and Art Club silver holo stars.

Here is the only picture of my first attempt:


Pure Ice: Super Star! is the base color and the red strips are Pure Ice: Siren. It reminds me of the English flag. After this picture it all got ruined and I had to start over, so I just free-handed the strips.

My second attempt:


I placed a layer of top coat between the Siren strip and the Jordana: Pop Art in Star Designer, but as you can see the red spread. It gets worse.



Here I added a strip of Sally Girl: Way 2 Disco, but it is hard to see. I also added the Art Club silver holo star to help hide all the red that was being displaced, even though it should have been covered with two layers of top coat by then, I did switch top coats after the first time the red made a mess, but it didn't make a difference.

Here is a clean up shot:


I found this manicure to be messy looking, so I took it off right away.

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Finger Paints: Curator's Crimson swatch

FingerPaints: Curator's Crimson is a nice smooth creme polish in red.


From left to right: four coats of Curator's Crimson and one coat of top coat; four coats of Curator's Crimson; three coats of Curator's Crimson; two coats of Curator's Crimson; one coat of Curator's Crimson.

Closer view:


I probably could have skipped the fourth coat, but you can't tell in these pictures, but indoors I could see through on the tip part with only three coats. I really like the color of this polish, it kind of reminds me of either a villainous character's polish or a dramatic 1940s actress's polish. I didn't use a basecoat and the polish did stain my nails slightly.

Do you like seeing the layers individually?

I received this as a prize in a giveaway from Polished & Not Quite Put Together. Go see her blog it.

Finger Paints: Vintage Violet swatch

Finger Paints: Vintage Violet is a shimmer nail polish with slight red and gold tones added to the purple.


From left to right: three coats of Vintage Violet, one top coat, and one coat of Sally Girl mini polish #812029 Way 2 Disco; three coats of Vintage Violet and one coat of top coat; three coats of Vintage Violet; two coats of Vintage Violet; one coat of Vintage Violet on the thumb.

A closer view:


This is a color that I probably wouldn't have picked out myself, but I like it. It was easy to apply, very smooth formula and became opaque quickly.

Do you like seeing the layers individually?

I received this as a prize in a giveaway from Polished & Not Quite Put Together. Go see it.

Weekend purchase - Three Jordana nail polishes

Clockwise from the top: Jordana 674 Red of Hearts, 673 Lilac Hearts, and 675 Pink Hearts.

I actually bought these a couple of weeks ago from my local grocery store. You can see that I used two of them in the Week 1- Make it Sparkle Manicure. They look like knockoffs/dupes of Nicole by OPI's Have A Heart, Love Your Life, and Step 2 The Beat of My Heart. I don't know how close the Jordana polishes are to the Nicole ones, because I don't own the Nicole ones, but I can show you swatches of the Jordanas.


Here is 674 Red of Hearts, sorry about the horrible dry cuticles. The red glitter was spare in this polish when compared to the Lilac or Pink Hearts.


673 Lilac Hearts, also has dry cuticle, sorry. This polish seemed to have the most glitter.


675 Pink Hearts, this one turned out blurry in the pictures the first time and I removed the polish before I knew the picture was blurry, so it had to be redone. No dry cuticles this time, but lint or fuzz instead. :\

All of these polishes apply on thick, were three coats each, fast drying, and the hearts had to be purposefully pulled out of the polish. I saw in the Nicole by OPI forums that the Nicole heart polishes also had this problem, getting the hearts out of the bottle was difficult.

In all, not bad for $3 for all three polishes and will probably appear in my Valentine's Day manicure.

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Week 3- Colorblock manicure

So, I wasn't sure what a colorblock manicure was, I had to look it up.

Here are the polishes that I used:

From left to right is: Finger Paints: Sketch N Etch, Cerulean Seascape, Art You Wondering, and Sally Hansen Super Shine.

First I painted my nails with Sketch N Etch and my ring finger with Art You Wondering and a layer of top coat:


And then I taped down all my fingers, except my ring finger:


And then I painted on Cerulean Seascape:


Took the tape off carefully:


I forgot to take pictures of putting down Art You Wondering?, but it is the same process as putting on Cerulean Seascape.

Here is the final nail:


And all together:


Originally I was going to place the colors in this order: Sketch N Etch, Art You Wondering?, and last Cerulean Seascape. After I swatched Art you Wondering and realized that it was not opaque I switched the order with Cerulean Seascape and placed Art You Wondering? last. I'm not sure that I made the right decision. You can see that this manicure became thick, with all the layers it is no wonder (3 layers of Sketch N Etch, 1 top coat, 3 layers Cerulean Seascape, 1 top coat, 4 layers of Art You Wondering? and 2 layers of top coat= 14 layers of nail polish.)

Needless to say, this manicure didn't last long. I took it off right after taking the pictures, I just couldn't stand the thick/lumpy tips.

I don't think I would do this style of manicure again, it took a long time for me to do (3 days!) and I didn't like the lumpy tips.

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Finger Paints: Art You Wondering? swatch

FingerPaints: Art You Wondering is a teal/green micro glitter in a clear base.

So I started off with clean nails:


One coat:


Two coats:


Three coats:


Four coats, at this point my camera started having problems with the glitter even though I was taking pictures indoors:


My first attempt trying to capture Art You Wondering? outside in the sunshine:


There were many pictures like that, this one is a little better:


This one is the best out of all the outdoor pictures I took. Four coats and two layers of top coat:


It's hard to tell from the pictures but there are two different colored glitters, one is teal and it is the majority of the glitter, the other is a bright green. This polish does dry very rough, so you need a top coat, unless you don't mind the roughness. I used two coats of Sally Hansen Super Shine to smooth out the glitter.

I really liked the color and used it in the upcoming Week 3- Colorblock manicure challenge.

This product was bought with my own money for review by myself.

Weekend purchase - Finger Paints: Art You Wondering?

I bought this to go along with my Week 3 - Colorblock manicure, so a swatch will be coming up quickly.

Konad Starter Kit Giveaway (and chance to win $200 worth of Konad)!

I'm entering Konad Starter Kit Giveaway from Lindsey's Lacquer at http://lindseyrivait.com/lacquer/?p=963
ends Feb. 13, 2012 at 12:01 a.m

Week 2- French Tip Manicure

At first I wanted to do something spring like and flora, but then I went outside and remembered that it is still winter here.

So, here is what I used:


From left to right is:
Sally Hansen Super Shine top coat, Pure Ice: Platinum, Jordana: Pop Art in Star Designer, and The Color Workshop top coat.

I forgot to take pictures of the process, but here is what I did: I started with first laying down a coat of Sally Hansen Super Shine and then I used painter's tape to tape off the ends of my nails. I painted the tips with Pure: Ice Platinum. I removed the tape and laughed at my horrible middle finger, I didn't place the tape right and you could really tell. So I broke out the nail polish remover and did that nail over. Then I used The Color Workshop's top coat, there was no reason for changing from the Sally Hansen, I just wanted to try it out (it is a bit thick but it dries pretty quickly.) Then I practiced using the Jordana: Star Designer, it has a long brush for striping and I had never used one before. I sealed that with another layer of top coat. On my ring finger I attempted a snowflake design with the Jordana, I think it looks a bit more like a star, but my 5 year-old daughter did call it a snowflake without any prompting. Then I place one clear rhinestone in the center of the snowflake/star and sealed it in with another layer of top coat.

Here it is a picture indoors:


and a picture in the sun outside:


A closeup of the snowflake/star:


I did have a little bit of trouble with the Pure Ice: Platinum bubbling again, I don't know what is wrong with that polish.

I'm planning on doing the color block manicure tonight because my nails are getting too long and will need to be cut soon or else the will break. And when they break they like to break in the quick and that just hurts. Hopefully I figured out the right type of manicure to do, I did a search on google and it brought up stuff that I know couldn't be color block (like French tips and half-moon manicures.)

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Liebster Award

The sweet Jackie over at MeMa's Mani's gave me the Liebster Award! Thank you!



The Rules are:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal the five blogs you have chosen and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award onto your blog.
4. Request that people you have sent the award to forward it on to their favorite bloggers.


I have chosen the following blogs, if you have already received this award, sorry...I still think that you deserve it!!! They are all fantastic blogs, PLEASE give them a look. :)
#1 Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together
#2 Jenna at Jenna Froggy (although I think she has done it before)
#3 Polarbelle at Polarbelle
#4 Jennifer at Fab Fatale
#5 Natalie at Gems in a Bottle

"Liebster is a German word, meaning dearest or beloved, but it can also mean favorite. The idea behind the Liebster Blog Award is that it is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers in order to create new connections and bring attention to these wonderful blogs!"

Pure Ice: Super Star! and Platinum redux

You can see my previous review of Super Star! here. And you can read my previous review of Platinum here.

So, I tried these colors again. I made sure to wash and dry my hands carefully, to make sure it wasn't oil on my hands that was causing the bubbles. I painted each very thinly and a lot of extra drying time between layers.

In the pictures below each nail has four layers of color and two layers of




Super Star! is on the left and Platinum is on the right.

Super Star! is a nice and creamy, I think it would be good for a French manicure.

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Finger Paints: Tiffany Imposter swatch

I'm not exactly sure what color this is supposed to be. Depending on the light FingerPaints: Tiffany Imposter it is blue or green.


Tiffany Imposter is a creme/cream polish and very smooth.


It kind of looks streaky in this picture, but it isn't.

I'm not too keen on the color, but the polish applied evenly and smoothly.

This product was bought with my own money for review by myself.

Week 1- Make it Sparkle manicure

Here is what I used:


From left to right:The Color Workshop top coat, Northern Lights Hologram top coat in "Gold", Finger Paints: Motley, Confetti: #083 Party Palace Blue, Sally Girl mini polish #812029 Way 2 Disco, Pure Ice: Don't You Wish, Jordana #675 Pink Hearts, Jordana 674 Red of Hearts, Pure Ice: Busted, and Finger Paints: Sparkle top coat.

I applied them from right to left, starting with the Finger Paints: Sparkle top coat and finishing with the Color Workshop's top coat.



And here is a close up of the messy fun:


These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.

Split personality nails

My nails have a split personality right now. Yesterday while I was sick I started on doing some nail art on my left hand, that I will hopefully turn out good and I'll post it up soon. But then Jennafroggy posted the 2012 challenge and on my right had I started the challenge.

Here is my left hand with Sally Girl mini nail polish 812051 (I believe this color is called "Poser" but I am not 100% sure.):


And here is my glitter bombed right hand:


I'll write about the different polishes that were used for that in a different post.

I tried to take a picture of my hands together, but I couldn't get the camera to work with just my chin.

The right hand reminds me of a diva style manicure, while the left hand is a classic polish. Sort of good girl versus band girl polish.

Although I will tell you glitter hides many polish flaws even if they are hard to take off afterwards, while creme polishes collect dust like crazy.

These products were bought with my own money for review by myself.