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!!

some "Hooray I survived Sandy" swatch spam

WOOOHOOOO! Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you heard about Superstorm Sandy and how shizz for us east coasters was all like:

well, I am happy to say my family and I made it through the storm. We lost power for a while and saw some trees out back come down (NONE of which came down ON us, thankmyeverlovingod), but we're good now. So, in celebration of our new lease on life, and also because I desperately need to clean out my "to post" folder, howzabout a ton of pics of lots of awesome recently released polishes? You down? Ok sweet. Let 'er rip!

First up, lets all admire the gorgeousness that is Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Twist of Lime, from the Fall 2012 Limited Edition Collection that started popping up about a month ago. This is 2 coats of Twist of Lime layered over 2 coats of Zoya Midori. On its own, this polish is really sheer so I definitely  recommend layering it and BELIEVE me, it is worth the layering. Freakin beau-dee-ful!! Gorgeous glass fleck yellow green that flashes either kelly green and gold depending on your angle of view. 

Next, we have another shade from the limited edition Diamond Strength collection. This one is called Blue Frosting and it is another multichromatic stunner. This one shifts from sky blue to lavender to a deeper purple and blue. I have2 coats of Blue Frosting layered over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Lacey Lilac. Like Twist of Lime, Blue Frosting is painfully sheer on its own and definitely needs underwear to bring out its true awesomeness.

Moving on we have YET ANOTHER limited edition Diamond Strength shade (yea, I admit, I bought the whole damn collection when I saw it). This one is Moonlit Dance--gorgeous gold-flashing orange glass fleck amazingness. This is 2 coats layered over Sinful Colors Courtney Orange.

Here's the 4th Diamond Strength shade I have to show you today (I haven't gotten a chance to try the others yet). This one is called All Aglow. This one lacks the color shift that the others have but it is still a beautiful glass fleck finish polish. This one requires no layering--this is 2 coats of All Aglow on its own. Oh Sally Hansen, why you do spoil us so?!

(nail decals courtesy of Kiss)

Here we have Nicole by OPI If the Blue Fits, which is from ANOTHER amazing fall collection--this one Target Exclusive. Beautiful sapphire blue and purple flecks in a navy blue base. I am seriously loving the ubiquitousness (not sure if that's a word or not--meh...) of this polish finish this season as it is one of my absolute favorites. I love the depth & multi-dimensional shimmer  it lends. This is 2 coats of If the Blue Fits on its own--seriously glossy even without topcoat!

 Lastly, we have Python from New York Color. This polish is from their limited edition fall 2012 Fashion Predator collection. This is the only polish in this post I am "meh" about. It's pretty enough--nice olive green glass fleck polish but I've seen it done better. Also, the formula on this one was thin and runny. I'm wearing 4 coats in the pic. C'mon, NYC, I know you are capable of better!

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed my spam. And hoping all east coast peeps are safe and haven't experienced too much Sandy-induced drama!!

Still kickin

Sup, homies? I know its been a while. Life keeps eating up all my time--damn you obligations and responsibilities!! Despite the fact that I haven't blogged about my nails, I HAVE been doing them and I've still created manis for the CNT Halloween Challenge. I just seem to be having issues with being able to get said manis posted on the days they're supposed to appear....sigh...oh well--better late than never, right??

So anyway, here's the mani I did for the "Bump in the Night (monsters, etc) " prompt of the challenge:

Yep, unoriginal mummy nails that 5 million bloggers have done 5 million times before.  But, hey, how many bloggers take pics of their mummy nails while holding adorable little tuxedo skeleton wind-up toys? Yep, that's me, always gotta shake things up.

This mani consists of:

Zoya Dove (the gray)

Wet N Wild Black Creme

Wet N Wild French White Creme

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear  Cherry Red for the pupils

Next up, I have the mani I did for the "pumpkins" prompt of the challenge:

outside shade

inside under swirly eco light bulb thingy

Yea I know, they kinda suck but, like I said, I'm still a newbie with all this free-hand nail art stuff. 

This mani consists of:

Maybelline Orange Blazes

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Moonlit Dance

Wet N Wild Black Creme

Only 3 more prompts left in this challenge. Think I'll manage to post about 'em before Thanksgiving? Stay tuned and find out!

Crumpet's Nail Tarts rock my socks

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! 

NOTD--Count on Marley's Harmony--a funky french mani

Don't you just love when nail bloggers combine polish names to make dorky post titles? Today's dorky title is brought to you courtesy of Nicole By OPI Count on Me, China Glaze Harmony and Zoya Marley, which (in case you somehow couldn't extrapolate this from the title) I used together in a funky french manicure.

Count on Me is a super sheer and super gorgeous iridescent lilac polish that flashes pink, purple, blue and even teal in some angles. It came out a while back as a Walmart exclusive. My camera is completely disrespecting this beautiful polish in these pics as it shows absolutely NONE of the multi-chromatic flash. I layered 2 coats of Count on Me on top of Zoya Marley, a greyish lilac cream polish with a super secret shimmer (from the Spring 2011 Intimate collection). Then I let that dry, taped off my tips with Orly french tip guides, and painted the tips with China Glaze Harmony, a metallic purple from the Romantique collection (which I basically got exclusively for its stamping awesomeness). After that, I peeled off the tip guides and put on 2 more coats of Count on Me, followed by a coat of Seche Vite. Then my clutzy ass smudged my index finger before it dried, hence the random caviar accent finger (oh, wait, I forgot only Ciate can call that 'caviar'...I suppose I could go back and change the word...meh), which I created by painting the nail with Gelous and then dipping it in some light purple microbeads I got at Michael's. 

So have you ever rocked a funky french? Do you need tip-guides or are you able to free-hand the tips (in which case I am jealous as I have NO free hand nail art skills whatsoever)...

Spam on the cheap!!! Cleaning out the 'To Post' folder, the NOTD edition!

Here's a ton of NOTDs that have been collecting dust on my hard drive. aaaaand GO! (click on pics to enlarge--and there's a ton of them)

Up first is a series of lousy shots of a gorgeous mani. This was Essie No More Film topped with Essie As Gold as it Gets topped with (oh yea I'm talkin triple decker layering) Ozotic 529 Elytra. I couldn't get a good shot because the sun decided to fall out of the sky for like a week straight....yea I really need to fix my lighting situation cuz when you live in New England, you can't depend on the weather to give you the light you need!

Shifty shifty...

 Next is a Love and Beauty polish called "Dusty Blue" stamped with Color Club Gingerbread Man. Love and Beauty polishes are sold by Forever 21 for $2.88 a pop and they have an endless selection of beautiful colors (with annoyingly generic names), many  of which are dupes of much pricier brands (I'll have to do a post on the Love & Beauty dupes I have). Also, LA Girl makes Love and Beauty polishes and you can sometimes find the exact same colors marketed under the Love and Beauty name--but for a few bucks cheaper. Score!

 Here we have the lovely Zoya Apple (which, incidentally, Love and Beauty has an exact dupe of called "Yellow Green"---see what I mean about those names)...this is one of my favorite greens ever, yet somehow I didn't get a single good shot of it here...Love those gorgeous gold flecks!

 Next is that Cos Bar for Target polish I mentioned yesterday. It was, unfortunately, a let down. That fun, tangy lime green went gold on the nail--which wouldn't be a problem if I didn't already have a ton of gold polishes that look like this. Also, the formula was annoyingly thin--a 4 coater. Worse yet, I noticed bubbles allover my nails, so I decided to stamp it with a leopard pattern and add some nice, gaudy bling. Bimbo nails!!

 I saved the best for last. This beauty is "Holy Cow" made by F4 Polish, an awesome trio of polish-frankening sisters whose shop can be found here on Etsy. Holy Cow is made up of fine black glitter, slightly larger square white glitter and a healthy sprinkling of holographic microglitter. I layered a thin coat over NYC Sidewalkers for this mani but it can easily be opaque all by itself in a few coats. It was a smidge on the thick side, but a few drops of Beauty Secrets thinner solved that.

Looks like granite!!

Hope you enjoyed my spamathon! Hooray for the 10 little canvases at the tips of our fingers!

Green nail polish is awesome...

Kermit might have issues with the color, but I LOVE me some green--so since it is March and St Patty's day is coming up, I thought I'd do a post about my favorite green polishes. I managed to narrow the list down to 10 --yes I said 10. At first I wanted to include pretty much every green polish I own cuz I'm excessive like that. Anyway, I present to you, crappily photographed in no particular order :::shakes fist at grey, foggy weather::::, my picks:

no flash

flash

1. Sinful Colors San Francisco--gorgeous forest green shimmer

2. Orly Here Comes Trouble--bright. green. glitter. need I say more?

3. OPI Jade is the New Black. It's like the Stairway to Heaven of green polishes. There's no denying it's a classic.

4. Zoya Apple. That gold shimmer gets me every time. 

5. Finger Paints Guggen-I'm Lime-Lime green is my favorite shade of green and this one is so lime, I can practically taste the zing just by looking at it.

6. China Glaze It's Alive--this spot in my heart used to be occupied by Zombie Zest but the multi-sized glitter in that murky base is just too stunning, so poor ol ZZ got pushed right off the top 10 list.

7. Pure Ice Wild Thing. Guggen-I'm Lime's creme cousin. Lip-smackingly tangy.

8. Nubar Reclaim. Green + holo = AWESOME.

9. Sinful Colors Irish Green-a near-neon green squishy-as-hell jelly. Perfect for jelly sammiches!

10. One of my favorite polishes of all time--Color Club Glitter Envy from their awesome Starry Temptress collection--so unique with its bright green base and that odd but awesome speckled glitter!

Yes, Kermit it IS easy to be green infact...if you're finger nails, that is. 

So what do you think of my picks? Did I forget any?