Hooray for the Red White and Blue!

This year is screaming by! Can you believe that it will be the Fourth of July in just a few short days? Me neither.

In the spirit of fun I suggested having a Fourth of July nail challenge to the Painted Ladies group on Ravelry. Ashley of I Enjoy Being a Girl graciously agreed to sponsor the event complete with a winner takes all prize. Fun Fun!!

Honestly, I can't count how many times I removed and reapplied polish to settle on the look I have now. I actually started going for something a lot more difficult. (Epic fail there for a beginner) then finally pared it down to the basics.

The challenge allows you to submit as many different looks as you like but I don't know if I'll have the fortitude to try another look on myself...maybe the daughter. But here it is.

Used: Orly 'Platinum' (white), Pure Ice 'Celestial' topped with 'Strapless' (blue), Sinful Colors 'Merlot' (red) and Stripe Rite Silver.
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CALM and WILD

Hi Everyone!! A very quick post for my past NOTD using the claire's mood polish Calm.Wild.. I will announce the winner of my simple thank u giveaway later today so just stay tune for I am still tallying all the entries!! anyways... here the claire's mood polish calm/wild with fauxnad P 51 (Chez-Delaney)

thanks for looking!! happy polishing!!


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World Cup 2010 Japan


Another heartbreaking World Cup game today as Japan gets knocked out of the tournament after a scoreless game with overtime that had to be settled with penalty kicks. The Japan team has recently been called the Samurai Blue so I used OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui for most of my nails. I then proceeded to use up lots of time, 2 different white polishes and a few reds to try and make the darn flag! I am not good at making a perfect (or even a decent) circle with a brush! I repainted that nail three times and this is after I had tried out various methods on a nail wheel. Blech. It still turned out ok eventually though.

Thanks for reading!
April Read Full...

Haul - MAC To The Beach Collection

I know this is a little late now but I thought I would post what I hauled from the latest MAC collection.



I got:

- "Marine Life" High-Light Powder
- "Hipness" Blush
- "Scorcher" Nail Laquer
- "Golden" Bronzer
- "Easy Lounger" Lipglass
- "Splashing" Lipglass
- "Lazy Day" Lipstick
- "Thrills" Lipstick
- "Funbathing" Lipstick
- "Firecracker" Eyeshadow
- "Sweet & Punchy" Eyeshadow


I haven't had much of a chance to try anything out yet but I'm very happy that I managed to get everything I wanted.

On that note, I have a little story about this haul. Ok, I think that I must have been one of the first people in Canada to order from this collection online. Seriously. I had worked an overnight shift the night before meaning that my shift ended at 6:00am. So, I decided to stay up and wait for the collection to be posted so that I could place my order before going to bed. I was getting a little antsy waiting so I was not only refreshing the MAC homepage, I was also periodically typing in product names into the search bar to see if they had been added. After a few attempts, the products started to show up and I had my entire order placed before the homepage was updated and even before product pictures were uploaded! I know it makes me look insane but at least I managed to get Marine Life before it sold out later that day when I might have still been in bed! Read Full...

New Toys!!!

Look what I got!!

Nail Stamping Plates & Pearls

The wheel contains pastel pearls and some other pretty embellishments. The plates are Faux-nads ie not the Konad stamping system but is the same concept. I've been playing around with them a little and I may invest in the special polish just to see if it's all that they say it is.

They're just. So. Fun!! Be prepared for a few Faux-nadicures. :D Read Full...

World Cup 2010 "Group of Death" Nail Art


I used my new ManGlaze Matte is Murder for last week's Group of Death games in this year's World Cup. Here's a definition of the term from Wikipedia.
A group of death in a multi-stage tournament is a preliminary group which is unusually competitive, because the number of strong competitors in the group is greater than the number of qualifying places available for the next phase of the tournament. Thus, in the preliminary round, one or more strong competitors in the "group of death" will necessarily be eliminated, who would otherwise have been expected to progress further in the tournament.
Brazil & Portugal made it out this time but Ivory Coast had to go home.

I won all of the ManGlaze polishes recently from Sara of Daily Polish. Thanks again! I used my amazing smARTnails sticker stencils and ManGlaze Hot Mess & Fuggen Ugly for the skulls.

Here's a shot of ManGlaze Matte is Murder before the skulls. It was easy to work with and required three coats.


Thanks for reading!
April Read Full...

Happy summer nails

Hello my Sweet Nail-Art Lovers
I missed you all week long, because i had this gorgeous manicure to share with you. And guess what? I even have a matching tows. In fact tows came out first and i really loved how this idea looked so i decided to make a matching manicure. This is not exact match but kind of look alike and made with the same base color and same decals. I really like the 3D effect that this yellow circle added to the design.
By the way this gorgeous base color is an amazing Zoya "Robin" from summer Flash collection.
So here are my tows and nail and i hope you ll enjoy, i had a blast wearing this sweet bright pair this week. Have a great week, and stay tuned next Sunday :)


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Update for June 27th

So, here's the low down on the down low.

Yesterday we had our first bbq of the year. Invited a lot of people, some were great and told use straight up that they couldn't make it, others didn't say anything at all and some said "great, we'll be there". So you know how many people showed up? (We were planing on 15 to 18 people) THREE! I kid you not. Of the people that didn't show only two bothered to let me know. I can't believe the rudeness of people for not even giving us the common courtesy of letting us know they wouldn't make it.
I mean really, how hard would it be to do a quick face book text, phone text even, I don't require phone calls or excuses, just don't make me go out and spend a lot of money on food that no one is going to be here to eat. *Fuming*

To bring the glass to half full, we're having Lewis' wonderful chili burgers for dinner, there's sweet tea in the fridge and I discovered that brats when cooked with onions and dos equis are really good. We have enough root beer and vanilla ice cream to make root beer floats for a month, oh and there's a lovely glass of fruity, red sangria sitting on the table with me at the moment, to me it's a deep red glass of sunshine.

In other news, I'm now a moderator on Ravelry for the Proud to be 12 Inches group. If you knit or crochet come by! I'm currently working on color themes to be voted on by the members. I like the idea of themes because I'm not picking out colors, rather asking what people think of in relation to the theme and letting their creative energy flow.
We're offering three options per month for the members to vote on. July is a done deal (pinks and purples). So for August so far I have a picnic theme. Did you know that in August there are three picnic related national holidays? Watermelon Day is the 3rd, S'mores Day is the 10th and Marshmallow Toasting Day is the 30th. Yummy!
My second option is Days of Summer (I always think of dark blues and greens with bright yellow). I'm still working on the third option. Suggestions?

As I type (very carefully mind you) I'm working on a new manicure which will be super cute I hope. It's got a bit more pink than I'm used to wearing but I actually tried it on my toes last week and it turned out pretty good. It's fun for me to try to achieve a look and figure out the best way to do it via trial and error. That way I can duplicate it easily should I choose to do it again.
Since I rarely do my fingers and toes the same way I'm still trying to figure out how do do my pedicure. I've been working on a look with peacock feathers but I don't think it will work for my squat, wittle toe nails. First things first though and a good soak, exfoliate and moisturize is in order. Summer is rather rough on my feet since I seldom wear shoes. I should be kinder to my feet.

Well I think that's about it for now. Nothing more to report. I'm off to accomplish the next step in my manicure. Ciao and blessed be.

Anita Read Full...

OPI Absolutely Alice


I won OPI Absolutely Alice from The Lacquer Lady. It's a gorgeous polish, dense blue glitter in a clear base with a sprinkling of gold glitter thrown in too. It takes three coats for opacity, which is not bad at all for a clear based glitter. While this is lovely, I just couldn't see mysellf wearing it again so I already passed it on to a new loving home.

I'm still way too sad to talk about the World Cup today. I started looking up players and teared up again. I'll try again tomorrow. Read Full...

Great drugstore finds! - Part 1

In this post I'm going to discuss some great products that you can find at the drugstore. I'm not a high-end product snob and I truly believe that you can find great products at the drugstore! I'm going to call this Part 1 because as I come across more great finds, I'll make subsequent posts.

1.) Revlon Colorstay Foundation

This foundation is my absolute holy grail of foundations and believe me, I've tried quite a few before finding this one.

The good:

- Blends flawlessly
- Offers medium buildable coverage
- Very long-lasting
- Comes in a wide range of colours so it's very easy to match your skintone
- Even if you cannot find a match for your skin, this stuff mixes really well so you can customize it to match you perfectly
- One of my favourite aspects of this foundation is that it comes in two formulas: one for dry skin and one for combination/oily skin
- It's inexpensive and one bottle lasts a long time

The not-so-good:

- The bottle does not have a pump applicator so it's difficult to get the right amount and you might end up wasting some if you're not careful
- The smell isn't the absolute best smelling thing in the world but you get used to it pretty quickly (plus with all the pros of this product, it could smell a lot worse and I would still use it!)

Overall, I give this product a 9 out of 10 and the missing point is solely because it does not have a pump applicator, otherwise this would be a perfect product for me.

More products after the jump!



2.) Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

Here's another of my holy grail items! I used to be a serious mascara junkie; I would buy every new mascara that came out just hoping that one of them would give me the results I wanted. Little did I know, this bad boy was under my nose the entire time. Now, a quick note: I have super long eyelashes to begin with so I can't say that I know how this will work for those with shorter lashes, but it does amazing work on mine.

The good:

- The price is VERY reasonable (about $6 depending on where you live)
- Adds serious length to the lashes (no joke, my eyelashes actually touch my eyebrow when I have this on)
- Adds decent volume to the lashes (I find it adds more length than volume but the volume it adds is still pretty awesome)
- Shapes the lashes well (I don't know how else to phrase it but this mascara fans the lashes out so that it gives the illusion of a more elongated eye shape)
- Doesn't clump if you know how to work with it (I've heard some people say that it can get clumpy but I haven't had this problem)
- Comes in a waterproof formula that works just as well (which is something I don't find very often)
- Easy to remove

The not-so-good:

- On the first couple of uses I find that the brush picks up a little too much product, but that can easily be fixed by swiping the brush along the edge of the bottle to remove the excess
- As some others have said, it can get clumpy

Overall, I give this product a 9.5 out of 10.


3.) Wilaverde Nail Polish Remover

This product is something I came across recently and I'm SO glad that I did! It's an acetone free formula that also claims to be moisturzing, which is something my cuticles love.

The good:

- It's acetone-free (this is a great aspect of this product, especially for me because my cuticles absolutely hate acetone)
- It's enriched with soy to provide moisture while removing polish and it really does do that! The formula is oily which some of you might not like but my cuticles soak it right up.
- It doesn't smell like nail polish remover (which means my boyfriend isn't complaining about being high every time I do my nails now!)
- It removes polish just as well as acetone formula removers
- Comes in a fragrance-free formula for sensitive skin

The not-so-good:

- It's a little more expensive than acetone formula polishes but it's still very reasonable
- I wish that it was packaged in a squirt bottle as I find those much easier to use

Overall, I give this product a 9 out of 10.


4.) L.A. Colors Art Deco Nail Polish

These polishes have a thin tip brush so they're perfect for nail art.

The good:

- The brush is super thin so you get great control and you're able to create fun nail art designs
- They're really inexpensive ($1.00-$2.00 each)
- They come in a wide range of colours and finishes
- They're fast drying

The not-so-good:

- I've found the formula on these to be a little inconsistent; with some colours it's great and with others it seems a little sticky/stringy
- Th glitter ones can be a little more watery than I would like but you can work with it

Overall, I would give these polishes an 8 out of 10 and for the price, they're completely worth it.


5.) Pamper's Sensitive Thick Baby Wipes

Yes, baby wipes. They're so great as makeup removers!

The good:

- Really inexpensive compared to makeup remover wipes, especially considering how many more you get (for example, usually when buying makeup remover wipes, you would get 25-30 for $7.00-$8.00 but with these, they come in a container with 60 wipes for only about $3)
- To save even more money, you can get the refill packages which come with 3 packages of 60 wipes for about $7, meaning you get 60 wipes free
- They remove makeup just as good as any makeup remover wipes I've used
- They're made for sensitive skin to prevent irritation so you can use them on the eye area
- They're pretty thick so you can use both sides of the wipe and you'll really only need the 1 wipe to remove all of your makeup, including eye makeup

The not-so-good:

- These won't completely remove waterproof mascara

Overall, I give this product a 9.5 out of 10.


Alright, that's all for now. As I said, I will make future posts with more great drugstore finds.
Thanks for stopping by! Read Full...

PATRIOTIC

Everytime I use the fimo clay dots from oaktreedollshouseminiatures.com the nails turn out so cute so I had to incorporate them into the 4th of July theme. I created the flag on the ring fingers with acrylic :)

This is OPI gel polish in Big Apple Red. I hand painted the design.

4th of July nails! I mixed this confetti with stuff I purchased from dollarnailart.com. The white stars are confetti from Zurchers party store.

This is a light blue art glitter called Mystery. I added fimo clay flowers from kennickkreations.com.

These nails have 3 different colors of pink with silver stars.
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Nails of the Day - Jawbreaker Candy


Hey out there,

So I thought I would start out my first blog post with a simple posting of my notd. This started out as a design inspired by the game Twister but it started to get a little messy and instead of starting over, I decided to run with it. So now I'm calling this design my Jawbreaker nails because it totally reminds me of those big jawbreaker candy I used to get cavities from when I was a kid.

Products:

• Orly "Orlon Basecoat"
• China Glaze "White on White"
• Revlon "Revlon Red"
• China Glaze "Four Leaf Clover"
• OPI Ogre-the-Top Blue"
• Orly "Spark"
• Orly "Sealon Topcoat" Read Full...

Reader Apreciation Giveaway! Ends July 11th. (Closed)


We're having lots of fun with this blog! It's been a little over a year now and I've learned so much and met so many great people! I want to have another giveaway that's open internationally and I can always do that when I don't have a company sponsoring the giveaway. Everything is brand new. Some are items I've won but can't use or don't need since I already have something similar. Some items were purchased just for this giveaway.

One lucky follower from anywhere in the world will win:
  • A set of Kiss Mix or Match Nails
  • Cream Perfume Company Rose de Rosee Body Moisturizer
  • Olivia Care Olive Oil Verbena Soap
  • OPI Tiny Takeouts Hong Kong Collection
  • 2 Tic Tac Polishes
  • 3 Maybelline Express Finish Polishes
  • A Sally Girl Polish
  • 2 Sally Hansen Salon Polishes
  • A Nubar Polish
  • 4 Sinful Polishes
Here are more details and pictures about each item.

We have a set of Kiss Mix or Match Nails (MNK01), Cream Perfume Company Rose de Rosee Body Moisturizer, & Olivia Care Olive Oil Verbena Soap.

OPI Tiny Takeouts Hong Kong Collection which includes Red My Fortune Cookie, Dim Sum Plum, Suzi Says Feng Shui & Rapid Dry Top Coat.

Tic Tac Polishes in Blue & Green.

Maybelline Express Finish in Lime Aluminum, Blue Aluminum & Golden Khaki.

Sally Girl Honey.

Sally Hansen Salon polishes in Ru-by or Not to Be & Pick a Sheer.

Nubar 2010! My favorite nail supply store just started carrying a limited selection of Nubars for $2.50, woohoo!

Sinful Colors in Cloud 9, Pearl Harbor, Courtney Orange & Mint Apple.

RULES:
PLEASE READ ALL OF THE RULES BEFORE ENTERING.
  • This giveaway is open to followers worldwide!
  • This giveaway starts today, June 25th, and will end Sunday, July 11th, 2010 at 11:59PM Central Time.
  • We'll select the winner with random.org's random number generator and notify the winner by email on Monday, July 12th.
  • The winner will have 24 hours to respond. If the winner doesn't reply within 24 hours, that winner will forfeit the prize and an alternate winner will be selected via random.org.
HOW TO ENTER:
Everyone has the opportunity to earn up to six entries per person. You only need to fill out the form once. This works MUCH better than comments, so I've turned them off for this post to avoid confusion.
  • Mandatory Entry. Leave your name and email in the form below. That's all that is required for this one!
  • Become a follower or tell me if you are already following. (optional)
  • Blog about this giveaway or post in your sidebar, linking to this giveaway (doesn't have to be a separate post). And make sure you leave the link in the form. (optional)
  • Tweet about this giveaway, only once please! Leave the link to your twitter status update in your entry. (optional)
  • Tell me how you keep your nails from staining or remove the stain once it's there. I always use a base coat but my nails are still a little stained. (optional)
  • Look through our nail art posts and tell me your favorite. (optional)


I did not receive any compensation for this giveaway in the form of product or payment of any kind. I just love you all and wanted to share! I love to share!

Thanks for reading!
April Read Full...

Meet Duncan


I thought I'd mix things up a bit. I've done posts about food, and nails, I think it's time for a pet post.
This is my boy Duncan. He is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, a breed that is known to be a favorite of the Queen of England and since I shan't be hobnobbing with the Queen Mother anytime soon he is my solitary link to royalty.
He's taking a quick break from playing fetch with the beloved boyfriend. His sister Baby got a hold of his $.99 tennis ball and chewed it almost beyond recognition. Good thing they're cheap.
Duncan is a rescue, we adopted him from Best Friends on Tour. Not a lot was known about his history other than the original owners got him as a puppy then chained him up in the backyard and ignored him for the next four years. As a result the poor boy is beyond needy and has some OCD issues.
After the passing of my Rotti Baron, Duncan stepped up as alpha male, a role he had been lusting after from the get go. Baby ignores him for the most part but Darwin (both of whom you shall meet at later times) loves to fawn over him.
Duncan is the primary work out for our vacuum. I don't know how he can shed as much hair as he does and not be bald. The dark green carpet in our bedroom is seldom without a dense cover of white.
In addition to fetch, Duncan likes walks in moderation, liver treats, peanut butter and long naps. He also enjoys licking (his OCD) and petting himself with your feet. Read Full...

KISS ME

Hi Ladies!! Happy Friday everyone!! here I wanna share with u a mani that inspired by one of my favorite song.. it's "KISS ME" from SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER.. I Love this song so much and I always pick this song whenever we have a Videoke session with my High School friends...that's all for today!!

thanks for looking!
happy polishing
polishes used:
bobbie purple passion
konad sp white, red & black

image plates used:
konad M4
konad M51
A photo of our Videoke session with my High School friends
have a great weekend everyone!!

here's the Music Video of Kiss me by Sixpence none the Richer!!

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My Nail Polish Collection PART #1: Whites, Golds and Yellows




Hey guys,
as I promised I'm going to show you my nail polish collection! Today I'm showing you part #1, my whites, golds and yellows. I'm gonna put the finish of the nail polishes in brackets behind them (sh = shimmer, m = matte, c = creme, and so on) and also if they were limited edition [le] or are discontiued [dc]
So here we go:
1 u.m.a. - goldfinger [sh/g]
2 Astor mikado - nr. 13 [sh] [dc]
3 RdL quick dry nail color - 41 [sheer]
4 RdL pink french manicure - 31 [sheer]
5 Essence color and go - ?? [g]
6 no name nail color from a kit [g]
7 Essence tip painter - white [c]
8 Essence cute as hell nail polish - 01 naughty but nice [le] [c]
9 Nivea color mini - 59 yellow sparkle [sh]
10 Essence color and go - 23 sundancer [c]
11 Essence nail art freestyle and tip painter - 02 flower power [sh] (sorry for not having this on the main picture, I took the picture before I got this nail polish)

I hope you liked this post and I'll blog to you guys later!!

Disclaimer: Nothing was sent to me for free and I'm not payed by anyone.
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A Man-icure

Well, pedicure actually, but man-icure was a much catchier title.

Lewis, the beloved boyfriend actually loves it when I give him pedicures. He finds them very relaxing (he's actually fallen asleep on me a few times.) The good ones go the full nine yards, the soak, sloughing cream, lotion, the works. But if he's looking a little shoddy I'm not above a quick and dirty.
One of the things that I love about him is the fact that he's got no problem with me putting a lick of polish on his toes. He actually thinks it's pretty cool and will get involved in the color selection to the point that I've gotten polish with him specifically in mind.
Metallic gold polish with gold glitter was the most flamboyant we've gotten, usually we stay in the dark colors, blues, black/grays and some greens.
Since my success with Alayssa's cheetah nails I've been wanting to try some different looks using the same technique. Lewis was kind enough to be my guinea pig and here are the results.

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OPI Up Front & Personal


I won OPI Up Front & Personal from the Lacquer Lady's giveaway. It's a lovely champagne foil/glitter color. 4 coats. Still sheer but very pretty.

Woohoo USA!!!!! That was a very stressful game! So glad we made it through even though we had not one but TWO disallowed goals this cup that should have been counted!

Today's World Cup hotties are the Socceroos of Australia who played hard but were eliminated today. Special mention for Harry Kewell who couldn't play today because of a red card & Tim Cahill who was today's man of the match.

Thanks for reading!
April Read Full...

MASSINI SLAMMING RED

HI LADIES.. just a quick post heres the mani that I made from my revive slamming red polish that given to me by Angie (SCANDALOUSLY POLISHED) this polish is very fabulous Im really in love with this polish when I saw scrangie's swatches on it..it has a holo glitters that really makes this polish fabulous!! Thats it for today!!

thanks for looking!!
happy polishing!!
indoor
polishes used:
massini slamming red
A no name China black/gray polish with holo glitters
aics #4 polish
massini slamming red
under artificial light
here are the polishes that I had with me on my baggage when I went home here in Manila... would u like to guess how many polishes are there on the track? I'll give u a clue it's more than a hundred... and I'm still waiting for bunches of my polishes on my cargo box to arrive..XD
my special polish for nail art stamping
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