Friday, January 31, 2014

Twinsie "Tuesday"-Anniversary Edition

Hi everyone, happy Friday.  I am so thankful it is Friday right now.  I drove 8 hours straight yesterday for work and that always makes me so exhausted afterwards.  We are supposed to get a big winter storm, although they aren't sure when, with a bunch of snow and ice.  Fun times.  Hopefully wherever you are you are staying nice and warm :)

Today is not Tuesday, however today is a special edition of Twinsie Tuesday.  Today is the second anniversary of the beginning of Twinsie Tuesday and for today we all are taking part in a special anniversary mani.  We were paired with a Twinsie and we had to create a manicure based on their very first Twinsie Tuesday post.  I was paired with Lakeisha of Refined & Polished and her very first post was a fishtail mani in blue, silver, and yellow.  You can see this mani here.

For my mani, I wanted to use her colors, but with a different design.  My favorite thing to do is polka dots so that's what I did :)  The polishes I used were Essie Maximillian Strasse Her, Zoya Sara, and OPI This Gown Needs a Crown.





Check out what these other great ladies created:


Alaina at The Little Canvas
Amanda at Amandalandish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Rachel at Top Coat It
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Collection and How To: Pinterest Swap

Hi everyone, happy Thursday.  I've got a quick post today since I will be headed in the field for work.  I have a collection of five polishes from Revlon.  I got a few questions yesterday on how pinterest swapping works so if you are just interested in that, scroll all the way to the bottom of the post :)

Today I have part of the Revlon Chroma Chameleon Collection.  There are a few other colors of these polishes, but I received these from a giveaway :)  These polishes are supposed to be duochromes from what they look like in the bottle.  The formula for all of these was really sheer.  I used three coats of polish plus topcoat for each of the swatches.

Cobalt

First up, my favorite from the five, Cobalt.  Cobalt is obviously a deep but bright blue with a tiny hint of purple flash.  Three coats provided good coverage but as you can see, this polish is brushstrokey.



Topaz

Topaz is a light colored cool green with an aqua flash.  Brushstrokey again but good coverage in three coats.



Tanzanite

This polish is a medium purple with a dark purple flash.  This was one of the sheerest out of the five, you can still see visible nail line after three coats.



Aquamarine

This polish is an aqua colored polish with not much of a flash of any color.  This one covered better and was one of the least brushstrokey.



Gold

This polish is a gold green color and I assume it is supposed to be a dupe for Chanel Peridot or OPI Just Spotted the Lizard.  It doesn't live up to the nicer polishes though.  This one was pretty sheer and you can still still visible nail line after three coats, also very brushstrokey.



I wasn't too impressed with these polishes but I'm not complaining since I won them in a giveaway.  I wouldn't recommend any of these unless you see a color that you really love.  

Now onto the "How To".  I briefly mentioned Pinterest swapping in my post yesterday and I got a few questions about it.  Basically pinterest swapping is a way to get rid of your brand new or slightly used polishes for someone else's polishes.  Maybe you got the polish in a giveaway and don't care for it or you received the polish as a gift or simply you bought the color, found out you didn't like the color or it didn't work on your skin tone and it's been sitting there ever since.  

The first step would be to make a pinterest board with polishes you want to swap.  Here is a link to mine so you can see an example.....here.  It is usually common courtesy to say how used the polish is.  You can say "BN"-brand new, "BNNU"-brand new, never used, or say something like "swatched once", "one mani", "a few manis", something like that.  If it is more used (like it has a visible amount of polish gone), you probably want to take a picture of the bottle so people can see how much of the polish is gone.  

Once you decide to swap, you can search for others boards on pinterest like "nail polish swap", "polish swap", etc.  People also do makeup swaps but that just isn't my thing.  People will say how they prefer to be contacted in the description of the board, otherwise, pinterest comments work just fine.  Keep in mind that some people are just looking to sell and not swap, but it will usually say this.

The last step to swap is contacting a person when you see a polish you like.  The easiest swaps, and the only ones I've been doing, are "swap for swap".  Meaning, you swap the same amount or value of polish, your shipping cancels each others out, and there is no exchange of money involved.  People will ask for your swap board link and let you know if they are interested.  If you agree on polishes, you can exchange addresses over email or private message on Facebook, and that's it. 

In the last week or so I've swapped about 30 bottles of polish, mainly OPIs.  It's a great way to re-home polishes that don't get enough love :)  If you have any questions on this, leave me a comment and I'll be sure to respond!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

OPI Swatch Spam-4 polishes

Hi everyone, happy Hump Day.  Hopefully your week is going well.  Not much new to report around here.  I did make it to the gym again this morning, that's two days in a row and I'm pretty proud of that.  It's cold here, but that's pretty much the same everywhere else and tomorrow I have to go in the field for work.  I'm trying to not let that ruin my day though and am trying to focus on the positive.  That's been one of my biggest goals for this year, to have a positive attitude.  

Today I have some OPI swatch spam to show you...again.  These are some of my most popular posts so I guess that means people don't mind them :)  I do show a lot of OPIs on my blog and I figure I should explain a little.  OPI holds meaning to me because it was my very first non-drugstore brand.  I like them and I like to collect them.  I never pay full price for them and usually I end up averaging about $4 a bottle using coupons, finding clearance, etc.  And yes, my husband is fine with it, he encouraged me to start my blog in the first place :)  Also, I'm not into shopping for clothes, makeup, purses, or shoes so that's also why he doesn't mind it.  Let's jump right in now.

First up, OPI Cute Little Vixen.  I had a previous post on the majority of the OPI Winter Mariah Carey shades because I had found them all on clearance at Ulta.  I wasn't dying to get this collection because I don't really like Mariah Carey, however this was one of the shades I did want.  I usually check Ulta every weekend for polish and found this one last weekend on clearance.  Maybe they found it in the back that week or something?  


Cute Little Vixen is a magenta shimmer.  This one surprised me because it looks much more red in the bottle, but leans pinker on the nail.  It kind of reminds me of OPI Diva of Geneva a little bit.  The formula was fantastic, I used two easy coats with topcoat.



Next up was the other one I wanted from that collection but couldn't find.  Then I found this one last weekend, same as the one above.  OPI Ski Slope Sweetie is not a polish I would go for but it is stunning on the nail.  It's a white with a ton of gold shimmer.  I either used two or three coats below but there were no problems with the formula.




Third is OPI Live and Let Die.  I've had this polish in a mini since last Christmas and never used it because I thought I wouldn't like it......Wrong!  Live and Let Die is a deep cool green with gold shimmer and it's really pretty on the nail.  The only downside was that it did chip quickly on me.  Two coats with topcoat below.




Last up is OPI Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI.  I got this polish in a pinterest swap (before last week I didn't know there was such a thing).  I really wanted to love this one because it's a mid-tone purple with copper shimmer.  For me, it just fell flat on the nail, I just couldn't see the shimmer like you can in the bottle.  Maybe I need to try this one when we have some sun.  Two coats with topcoat below.




There you have it, more OPI spam.  I just did trades on pinterest for more OPIs, over 20 bottles....so expect to see more in the future ;)  Do you own any of these colors?

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Twinsie Tuesday: Your Nail Care Routine

Hi everyone, happy Tuesday.  Surprisingly this morning I've already been to the gym which really makes me feel accomplished.  I even got out of bed during the five am hour which is very early.  I decided yesterday that it is too hard to sit through 9 hours of work and then feel motivated to go to the gym, I'm just too tired mentally at that point.  So yesterday I googled "how to motivate yourself to get out of bed early to go to the gym".  Everything I opened gave examples of how to get out of bed at 7:30.  Seriously?  That's waking up early?  I would really like to know who those people are because by 7:30 I'm at work.

Today for Twinsie Tuesday, the prompt was "your nail care routine".  I thought this was pretty fun because I've never done a post like this.  I've learned a lot about nail care since I started blogging.  Pre-blogging I didn't do anything to take care of my hands or nails, my only hope was that my hands didn't crack and bleed in the winter, which they always did anyways.

First up is base and top coats.  I wasn't sure what qualified as nail care so I just included whatever I thought was relevant.  When I first started blogging I thought base coats were dumb and I didn't understand why people used them.  Then, after blogging for several months, my nails were stained so bad that I couldn't have them bare because they looked so bad.  That is the main reason I use base coats now, to prevent staining.  I used OPI Natural Nail Base Coat and I never have problems with staining any more.


Topcoats are trickier.  For nail art, I always use Seche Vite because it dries lightning fast, glossy, and doesn't smear nail art.  The downside is that it chips like crazy on me.  For manicures that I'm going to wear, I prefer Sally Hansen Insta-Dri because it holds up better, the one downside is that it does smear nail art.  I have not found my holy grail topcoat yet :)

For products to maintain my nail shape, I used a file that I got at Sally's and never end up cutting with nail clippers.  The file has a high or low (?) enough grit that I can file in one direction and take down the length pretty quickly.  I have to file my nails every five days because they will look like talons.  I swear I have some of the fastest growing nails on the planet.  I use a buffing pad that I got from Sally's to smooth the nail after filing and I included a picture of my favorite clean up brush, which came in a set from Born Pretty Store.


For polish removal I use pure acetone on cotton balls in this little pump bottle, also from Sally's.  For glitter, I use this pot of nail polish remover.  It has little spikes on the inside which grip the glitter and pull it right off.  I love it, it saves me from doing the foil method.


For moisture I have two favorite products which are Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil and Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.  I mainly use the Essie because I think it works really well.  I apply it before bed and if I don't, the next day my cuticles are instantly dry.  I do want to try the new one from Nicole by OPI, it's like a pen type applicator, I just don't like the price of it :)


Hmmm, can you tell what lotion I like?  I've always hated lotions since I was a kid.  I can't stand that greasy feeling and I think OPI Avojuice is the closest I've found to not being greasy.  I have another full bottle on my desk at work in coconut melon, and that's my favorite scent so far.  I haven't tried most of the minis yet, just holly berry and that has almost a too strong of a smell.  The only one I don't like so far is grapefruit but I did get it on clearance.  The only other lotion I will use is Suave lotion with cocoa butter because it doesn't leave a greasy finish.


That's it for my nail care routine.  Do you do anything similar?  You can check out these other fabulous ladies as well :)

Alaina at The Little Canvas
Amanda at Amandalandish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Rachel at Top Coat It
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish

Traci at DrinkCitra

Monday, January 27, 2014

Sweet Heart Polish: Death is Only the Beginning Collection

Hi everyone, welcome to Monday.  Sorry for no posts last weekend, I was just so burnt out with life because of stress from my job.  I had posts but I just couldn't bring myself to write them up.  Today is one of those posts :)  The weekend was nice and relaxing for me.  Saturday I did some shopping and my husband and I went and saw Lone Survivor (I think that's the name).  It was one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen, I would highly recommend it (unless you have a problem with the realistic kind of gore, then don't).  Sunday I lazed around the house and folded eight hundred loads of clothes and watched The Office on Netflix.  I was feeling pretty positive about starting a new week until I got to work this morning to a nasty email.  I think the root of it was the said person had to work on the weekend, which, I honestly have no sympathy for.  I spent most of last year working every night and weekend with no credit, no praise, and no pay for it so yea....

Anyways, today I have a collection from Sweet Heart Polish that I won in a giveaway.  Death is Only the Beginning is a new collection based on the movie The Mummy, which I love.  There are eight polishes in the collection consisting of scattered holographics in very pretty colors!  Let's get right into it.

Ameniphus

This polish is a warm coppery brown holographic.  Good formula, I found that most of these seemed pretty sheer but that was fixed by doing three thin coats of polish.  I used three coats with topcoat below.



Drink From the Nile

This polish is a bright cobalt blue holographic polish.  This polish is really stunning, the color is just amazing.  Three coats with topcoat below.



Scarab Shells

This polish is a purple holo with a blue shift.  There is something very magical about the color of this polish.  Three coats with topcoat below.



O'Connell

One of my favorites of the group!  O'Connell is a bright aqua blue holo.  This polish is so vibrant and really stunning.  Three coats with topcoat below.



Book of Amun-Ra

This polish is a sheer warm gold polish with tiny gold microglitter.  I would recommend using this one as a topper, instead of trying to make it opaque.  As you can see, it's very sheer and I used three coats with topcoat below and there is plenty of visible nail line.



Oasis of Ahm-Shere

Another favorite!  Pictures really can't accurately show the beauty of this one, it is stunning in real life.  This polish is a medium emerald green holo but it's a very light emerald and I thought that was really unique.  Three coats with topcoat below.



Sands of Time

This polish is a frosty gold holo.  I used three coats with topcoat below.



I am a Librarian!

Last up, a pretty raspberry pinky red holo.  Three coats with topcoat below.



Although I am admittedly not the biggest fan of holos (gasp!), this collection really hit it out of the park for me.  The polishes are a bit sheer, but I think the visible nail line is much more evident in photos than it is in person.  My favorites out of the group were Ameniphus, Drink from the Nile, O'Connell, and Oasis of Ahm-Shere.  You can find these polishes on etsy here.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Swan Sweater nail art

Hi everyone, TGIF.  This is going to be a super quick post for me today because I am so overwhelmed it's hard for me to form clear thoughts :)  I ended up so upset at work yesterday that I had to leave.  They just continue to put so much on me and I can't handle it.  It's been the same situation since last October and hopefully after my next two projects it will be over.  I'm not saying this for sympathy, just as a personal update sort of thing.  On the bright side, it's Friday and I scored a bunch of polish deals yesterday.

Today I have some nail art inspired by a grey J. Crew sweater that I saw online.  The sweater was a pretty grey color and had a big swan on it.  I thought....I want to do that on my nails!  To create this look, I started with a base of Essie Cashmere Bathrobe.  To create the swans, I used the tiniest nail art brush I had with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Essie Licorice, and OPI A Roll in the Hague.


  
That's it for me today!  Enjoy your Friday!