are bad pics better than no pics?

So, I thought about it and decided--what the hell,  I'll post all my bad cell phone pics of the manis I've done over the past few months. VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK. In addition to being shot by inferior equipment in inadequate lighting, these pics feature work that was never intended to see the light of day--that means there's all kinds of ragged, dry cuticles, sloppy application & little to no clean-up. Think you can stomach it?

Orly Pre-amp stamped with Konad special white. This was sometime in late December...

Zoya Fei Fei stamped with Wet N Wild Black Creme. Mid December, maybe??

Purple ruffle mani done with more purples than I can remember and a dotting tool. 

My New Year's nails. China Glaze Blonde Bombshell stamped with Wet n Wild black creme with some decals thrown in for good measure. 

Icicle nails! The baby blue base  is a new for 2013 New York Color polish (I can't remember the name for the life of me and I can't find the bottle--arrgh!). The icicles were done with a Kiss nail art striper and then I topped it with a subtle teal blue glitter polish by Confetti (which I also can't remember and can't find...doh!)

Wacky acid trip nails! I started by making a bullseye pattern with all the bright colors from the China Glaze Cirque de Soliel collection, then I stamped over all that crazyness with Konad Special white. Utterly headache-inducing!

More colors from China Glaze Cirque du Soliel (my husband got me the entire collection for Christmas--told ya he was awesome!!). This is a base of Hanging in the Balance, dotted with Def Defying. The smaller dots inside the bigger dots are Hanging in the Balance again, which ended up taking on a dark green hue over top of the chartreuse--unintended but I still liked it!

So that's just a little glimpse of what I've been up to nail-wise over the past few months & what I thought was unworthy of blogging about. Ugh I cry just looking at those poor dry cuticles!! ::::rubs Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle cream feverishly into fingertips:::: I promise, cuticles, as God as my witness, you shall never go thirsty again!!

NOTD: Can't be Decoded

S'up peeps. Look at me posting twice in the same week! You'd think I was, like, a good blogger or something O_O...

Today, I have another nail of the day post. I just wanted to mention that despite the fact that my posts have been nothing but nails lately, I have NOT switched to polish-only blogging. It's just that, when I get super duper rushed like I have been for the past few months (when will it END), pretty much all my makeup habits fall by the wayside, except for my nails. Nail polishing is the one thing I never lapse on because 1) my nails are absolutely FRIGHTFUL when nekkid and 2) polish is my one true original cosmetic addiction--therefore, it's the one form of self-pampering that I absolutely refuse to give up, so even if I'm bumming it in sweats and flip flops and no makeup and bandanas tied to my head to hide the birds nest underneath, my nails are still always impeccably polished. It's just how I roll.

Ok enough yammering and onto some pics:

This mani was just kind of randomly thrown together but I ended up loving it. This is 1 coat of Orly Can't Be Tamed over Orly Decoded (hence the dorky post title). I got both these polishes for pennies at Sally Beauty Supply's most recent red tag clearance sale (LOVE when they do those...half off already clearanced polishes??? YES PLEASE!)....

Decoded is from Orly's fall Electronica collection. It is a grey creme that seems to lean a little lavender to my eye. Layering Can't be Tamed on top definitely brings out that purply goodness.

.

Now decoded is an absolute dream formula wise. Smooth and buttery and 2 easy coats to perfection. Can't be Tamed on the other hand, not so much. I said it before and I'll said it again, Orly you have GOT to get a handle on this sinking glitter issue. This is the 4th Flash Glam polish that I have used and, so far, all 4 have had this problem. And its a shame because the polishes are gorgeous and it's so nice to see such unique, chunky glitters being produced by mainstream polish makers (not that I have anything against indie polishes--I love them but they are very hard to get ahold of and they are significantly more expensive than your average store-bought polish). 

Somebody needs to let Orly know that there is this amazing thing called SUSPENSION BASE and if you're going to come out with glitter bomb polishes, you HAVE to use it. Can't be Tamed has beautiful purple hexes mixed with smaller gunmetal glitters but it is seriously annoying to have to shake up the bottle every 2 seconds during your manicure just to be able to reach glitter with your brush. (sheesh did I use the word GLITTER enough in this post? I promise I am NOT going for a record or anything)...

So anyway, that's all I got for y'all today. Maybe someday soon I'll be able to get back to swatching, reviewing and even using all the makeup that is currently gathering dust in my bedroom but, for now, I hope you can survive on mani posts only. I know a majority of my followers are fellow lacquerholics, so I have a feeling you won't have a problem with it! :)

I'm back--and I got spam!!

hey, remember me? yep I'm back to blow the dust off this blog and see if I remember how to post. It's funny, I somehow thought I would have more time to post once my kids went back to school. Man WHAT was I smoking?? Between shuttling them to & from places, homework, tutoring, soccer & the fact that their little brother doesn't know what to do with himself when his beloved big brothers are gone (and is therefore very cranky and VERY prone to getting into anything and everything the minute I turn my head), I have my hands more full than ever! BUT every now and then I do get a chance to paint the nails on those hands and when I do, I make sure to snap some pics, so here's some NOTD (nails of the day) spam for yas:

The above little lovely is Legal Assasin by Dandy Nails. It's part of her newly debuted Halloween collection and I picked it up when she did an impromptu pre-sale. It is basically the DREAM halloween glitter I've fantasized about making if I had ballz enough to make my own polish--black, purple and green micro glitters hanging out with bigger orange hexes. I wore it layered over OPI French Quarter for your Thoughts because I wanted the glitter to take center stage. I only needed 1 coat of LA to cover those gray undies up and only needed 1 coat of Seche Vite to make it all smooth. I loves me some dense yet flat glitters!

And next we have R.I.P. by Orly--3 coats topped with Seche Vite. Small gold and large orange hex glitters in a sheer black base (I showed its sibling polish in my previous post). Once again, Halloween in a bottle and I lurve it. I gotta mention the formula was a bit of a pain, though. Orly you need better suspension bases for your glitters!! I had to pick this bottle up and shake it several times during my mani because all the glitters just wanted to sleep at the bottom of the bottle. This tends to be a problem with lots of Orly glitters--Androgenie, and most of the Flash Glams, I'm looking at YOU! 

Here we have a fail art attempt I wore to celebrate the start of Football season. I'm not much of a sports person in general but I'm ALL about the football. I'm a Philadelphia Eagles fan (although I'm reluctant to admit it at the moment--damn, guys did you have to let the Cardinals run ALL over you like that?!) and the closest polish I have to Eagles green is Zoya Suvi. I did a silver glitter gradient with a silver glitter nail art striper polish & a bit of sponge and the silly little pigskin accent nail is OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys with a white Kiss nail art striper for the laces. 

And I saved the best for last. Behold the majesty of Nicole by OPI Just Busta Mauve:

(PLEASE enlarge these pics and scope all those gorgeous bitty flakes)

full sun

full sun

partial shade

full shade...be still my little heart!!

Just Busta Mauve is part of the Fall 2012 Target exclusive collection (yes that means you can only get it at Target--but it's also available on their website. This beauty is made up of tiny  blue, purple, copper, red, and gold metallic flecks and the amazing thing about this polish is that all the individual shades are actually discernable--it's like gorgeous cosmic multi colored tv static or something!! LOVING it! Nice job, Nicole. Now if you just ditch those ugly, awkward saggy boob-looking bottles, you'll be golden! (oh yea, and this is 2  perfect, easy coats of JBM over Nail Life ridge filler base and, as always, Seche Vite is on top!)

So I hope I made up for my absence with this spam...now I gotta run and get my kids ready for school (yep I woke up extra early just to write this post cuz I love you guys that much ;)...I'll be back soon, I promise! 

I'm already rockin Halloween polish, early September be damned!

OMG, you guys!! I don't know if you've heard but the peeps at Orly have glittered up Halloween something fierce! Check out Monster Mash:

DEATH by green glitter. LOVE!! Monster Mash is big green holo hex glitter, gold  micro glitter & gold bar glitter--all in a slightly tinted chartreuse base. I've never seen glitter quite like these big hexes. If you enlarge the photos, you can see there is actually a cross-hatch pattern on the glitters--probably has to do with their reflectiveness. It's STUNNING!

Formula wise, this polish is a little thick--of course--because they STUFFED this bottle full of as much glitter as physics would allow. The glitters spread out well and they are DENSE. My swatches are 2 coats of Monster Mash over black, but the black can barely make its presence known under all that bling!

I topcoated this mani with 2 coats of Gelous and 1 coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out....and then I proceeded to STARE at my hypnotically twinkly nails for 2 days straight.

Monster Mash is part of a glitterfied trio that Orly has released for Halloween 2012. The other 2 polishes are R.I.P. (BIG orange glitters in a black base) and Right Amount of Evil, which looks to be the orange version of Monster Mash. The only thing I love more than Halloween themed stuff is SPARKLY halloween themed stuff so, of course, I got all 3 polishes and will be posting the other 2 soon!

Yep, still alive and I even did a glitter gradient!

Much like a bad penny or a poltergeist, I'm BAAA-AAAAACK...and look what I did:

My first ever glitter gradient!! Holla! Cross another nail art technique off my "I SO need to try that" list! 

My base color was Orly Emberstone, from their OMFG-amazeballs Mineral FX collection (to date my absolute FAVORITE collection Orly has ever put out). Then I sponged on a random gold glitter that I think I may have gotten at Old Navy at some point (but don't quote me on that)...then some Seche Vite top coat and bodda boom boddabing--ya got a glitter gradient. 

Now pray with me that I will find the time to upload and edit more pics so I can do more posts!!

Patriotic monkey claws!

Happy 4th of July, USA! Hope you're all enjoying your day off. Me and my family are just having a real chill day at home--just us playing in the yard and grillin some burgers and later on we'll shoot off some fireworks we bought, cuz it ain't the 4th unless you're blowing something up, amiright??

So, of course, being a proud lacquerhead, I had to dress my nails up for the Holiday. Behold the uber creative (*sarcasm*) mani I came up with:

Gee...stamped stars and stripes & some red &  blue glitter on  a white thumb. Yea, I know I'm a nail art visionary...

Polishes used are: Revlon Frankly Scarlet; China Glaze Ring in the Red; Orly Stone Cold; Hot Topic BlackHeart Beauty 'Royally Screwed'; Finger Paints Papier Mache (both for thumb and for stamping); OPI Gettin Miss Piggy With It....and the whole she-bang topped off with Seche Vite of course!

Well, off to enjoy the rest of the day with the kiddos. Have a happy and safe 4th!

Salt N Peppa Popsicle

Look, ain't I funny? I did one of those thingies where you combine the names of polishes in your post 

title to make it sound like something completely different. That's right, peeps. You better be scared of me & all this cleverness I got over here...

Alright, enough senseless rambling...

THIS, people, is the amaze-bawlz, retina-seering, practically radioactive insanity that is Orly Melt Your Popsicle from the line of neons they just released. Yea, these photos? Not even CLOSE to the redonk brightness these babies give off. Let's just say that, if your power goes out and you're wearing this polish, you will have no need for a flashlight....These 2012 Orly neons are the BRIGHTEST polishes I have ever come across in my entire career of polish-obsessing.

OH, and the awesome black and white speckly things on top of Melt Your Popsicle? That would be none other than Salt N Peppa, beautisimal (yea it's so awesome, it needs a whole new word to describe it) creation of Karin and Lexi of Lush Lacquer, who (as I've mentioned before) serve up sparkling indie  fierceness over on Etsy. Seriously, if you haven't already, go buy their polishes! These ladies have some kind of crazy sorcery over glitters. I've never met such gorgeous, well-behaved glitters in my life. I know I must sound like a broken record but, once again, these glitters come out of the bottle with no problem, lay down nice and happy on the nails (a few of the bar glitters might hang over a nail's edge but ALL bar glitters are guilty of that) and spread out beautifully. Love love love and love some more!

(oh God, the cuticle horror show. For your own safety, look AWAY from the base of my nails)

(note the gorgeous iridescent microglitter that is also mixed into Salt N Peppa & ignore my tip-wear...frickin housework always wreaking havoc on my manicures)

This mani consists of:

basecoat of Beauty Secrets nail hardener 

1 coat of Finger Paints Papier Mache

2 coats of Orly Melt Your Popsicle

2 coats of Lush Lacquer Salt N Peppa

1 coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry Topcoat

So are you on board with the neon trend this summer? What about the black and white glitter bonanza currently happening in the indie polish world? I, personally am in SO much luuuuurrve with both these things!

Five Favorite blues in honor of Autism Awareness Month

image source

As many of you know, April is Autism Awareness month. This is a cause very near and dear to my heart, especially because I have family members who have and live with Autism. Blue is the official color for Autism Awareness, so I thought in honor of the month, I would do a post about my 5 favorite blue nail polishes.

From left to right: Revlon Royal; Orly Stone Cold; Color Club Otherworldly; Barielle Falling Star; China Glaze Dorothy Who.

sun

shade

Here's why I love 'em:

Revlon Royal: It's a beautiful, easy to find cobalt blue jelly! And an affordable one at that! What's not to love?!

Orly Stone Cold (from the Mineral FX collection): This is basically blue polish perfection. The formula is impeccable and the finish is to die for! It's almost like a micro flakie or something (the particles are too large to be  called "glass fleck" in my mind)--the shimmer is insane and it has this amazing depth to it. Definitely one of my top 10 "most awesomest polishes ever'!

Color Club Otherworldly (from the Starry Temptress collection): I am in love with all the Starry Temptress polishes. Otherworldly has that odd but awesome sparkle-less glitter that gives the polish this unique speckled look that I am absolutely obsessed with. I also love the nearly neon shade!

Barielle Falling Star: Gorgeous, slightly dusty blue with orangy-copper glitter. I mean, COME ON! Of COURSE this has to be in my top 5 blues. LOVE!!!

China Glaze Dorothy Who: There's a good reason this polish is a classic--it's frickin AMAZE-BALLS! It's also one of the first China Glazes I ever bought & the one that got me hooked on the brand. 

So are you a fan of blue polish? What's your top 5?

It's not too late to post my St Patty's day look, right?

Heck, green is awesome all the time--not just St Patty's day, so here we go:

This is the redonk look I was rockin on St Patty's day:

Green glitter gaudiness--gotta love it. 

The green glitter I used in this was the fantastically awesome Glamour Doll Eyes Eyelights in Cashed Out...I am LOVING these Eye Light glitters! They are so fine and sparkly and they are incredibly affordable too at only $4.00 for a full size pot (samples are available, too: 1.00 for .5 gram baggie and 1.75 for 1 gram of product in a 5 gram jar)! Once The Hubz gets back and I can get back to my regular blogging schedule, I'll be doing a massive swatch and review of Glamour Doll eye cosmetics...I'm SO frickin smitten!

Products:

eyes:

NYX HD shadow base

several greens from BH Cosmetics 120 palette 1st edition

Sally Girl glitter adhesive patted on top of shadows

Glamour Doll Eyes Cashed Out affixed onto Sally Girl adhesive

Jordana Fabuliner in black

Maybelline The Falsies Flared

Wet N Wild Acapulco Glow Bronzzer under brow as highlight

face:

Almay Clear Complexion foundation, powder and concealer

Garnier anti-dark circle eye roller

Physician's Formula Happy Booster blush

Wet N Wild Acapulco Glow Bronzzer

lips: 

random clear lip gloss (think it was NYC Liquid Lipshine)

Of course the green glitter didn't stop on my eyes. It spread to the nails too courtesy of Orly Here Comes Trouble. If I had more time, I would have busted out some nail art shamrocks or something but, as I've mentioned before, I am severely short on time right now. 

Oh how I love this polish!!

Stash Porn: the Orly edition!

I don't have all that many Orly polishes...yet! :)

pinks, reds, purples (including my favorite hot pink EVER--Oh Cabana Boy)

whites, metallics, charcoals, blacks

Greens, blues

getting all Sesame Street on you--O is for Orly. Yay I'm smart!