Busy Bee!

Oh my, I am missing my little blog!  I have been so busy with work work work that I haven't had time to post.   I had a pretty good haul the other week of some new Essence lovelies (new colors, bottles and brushes!),  the new Misa collection for fall called Wanderlust, and a few from the China Glaze New Bohemian collection - all of which I'm just dying to try on and share here on my little neck of the web.  I'm hoping to get some time on Labor Day to play nail dress up and catch up.  Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Until then, enjoy the last holiday weekend of the summer and this picture of my cat, Sady.   ☺

Essie's Penny Talk

Essie recently released a line of metallics and I thought they were all pretty "meh" except for this bad boy
Penny Talk, which I picked up at my neighborhood Walgreens.  This is the first true copper metallic polish in my nail polish stash and it is a stunner, in my opinion.
It's a copper that is shiny and as true to the color of a brand new penny as it could possible be.  I know.  I compared. I think these picture below look ok, but I can tell you it's much prettier in person.

For these photos  I used a base of Bonder, 2 coats of Penny Talk and SV to top it off.  Now, keep in mind metallics can be tricky.  They dry really fast and tend to streak, so if you don't load your brush enough it can be a problem, but if you load it too much that can also cause issues as well.  I had to do my index finger twice because when I went in with the 2nd coat my brush didn't have enough color on it and it cause these ugly drag lines and we couldn't have that.  So it was just a little bit of trouble for a whole lot of pay off.

Here ya go:

The one thing I'm really bad at when blogging about nail polish is remembering to make a mental note of how much I paid for it.  I believe this was $8.00 at Walgreens, but don't hold me to that number.  

So what do you think?  Are you digging the copper? What's your favorite color to wear when it comes to metallic polish?  If you would like to see the other colors in the line you can check them out on Essie's website.  

Until next time ☺

China Glaze Electric Beat Dot Mani

I'm really digging the whole dot manicure thing and trying to get the most out of all the nail polish I have and my tools.  The payoff is so good for such little effort.

I had picked up China Glaze Electric Beat at Sally's because it was on clearance and loved it so much, I couldn't bear to take it off, but at the same time I was getting bored.  So I figured the best was to get some freshness and added longevity to Electric Beat was to go dot.

I used Electric Beat as my base.

such a preeeetty blue!

Then picked out a few colors in my stash that I thought would compliment it. 

OPI DS Coronation, Revlon Blue Lagoon, CG Electric Beat, Butter London Victoriana

I used a piece of foil and folded it in half to make it a little more stiff and dropped a pool of the first color I was going to use, which was Blue Lagoon.  I dotted all my nails using the same polish keeping in mind the design I wanted and then let dry.  I keep a cotton ball with acetone on it in the corner of my foil to wipe the tips of my dotting tools so that they don't get globby.  If the pool of polish starts to dry, I just drop another little pool on the foil.  I noticed that applying the dots with the "side" of the tool vs straight down on the tip seems to be more effective in getting a nice dot shape.

Then I switched to Victoriana and finally Coronation.  I let everything dry completely before apply a topped of SV.  

Hope you like it.  

Until next time.  ☺

Nails Inc Sprinkles Collection - Pudding Lane

So I thought that Sweets Way won the race in the Nail Inc Sprinkles Collection, but I was wrong, VERY wrong.  Pudding Lane is AWESOME!  It is so stunning - I can't stop looking at my nails!  Let's see what you think.

Per Sephora.com, Pudding lane is described as "teal with navy and gold sprinkles".

Let me warn you, the brush for this polish is very thick so you think you're going to have a hard time with the application, but it really wasn't too bad.  I was able to control things fairly well.  For this manicure, I used  my Orly Bonder base, 2 coats of Pudding Lane and 2 coats of SV on top to smooth it all out.  I'm on my 4th day with this manicure and it's still holding strong - Next to no tip wear at all.  

My boss told me it reminded her of the pools at Hearst Castle.  I agree!

photo from  http://blog.aaronmphotography.com

So has Pudding Lane convinced you that you NEED a new nail polish and this is the one your gonna get?  You can find the Nails Inc Sprinkles Collection at Sephora or Nails Inc for $9.50 a pop.

Until next time.  ☺

Nails Inc Sprinkles Collection - Sweets Way

I am so digging these kind of glitter polishes!  They are so fun and adorable.  I'm calling them NYAG's - Not your average glitters.  When I saw The Polishaholic's swatches for the new Nails Inc Sprinkles Collection, all I think of was 2 words:  Preeetty!! and WANT!!!
I picked up 2 of the 4 in this collection - Sweets Way and Pudding Lane (which I have on calendar to wear this week) @ Sephora last weekend for $8.50 a pop (the website says they are $9.50 but I could have sworn they were only 8.50 at the store - I could be wrong though).  It is very possible I may have to go back for Sugar House Way, because looking at the swatches again make me long for it so.  I'm still on the fence about Topping Lane though because it reminds me a little too much of DL's Candy Store.

Per the Sephora website the Sprinkles Collection is described as: 

What it is:
An innovative nail formula that imparts a cupcake-topping effect.

What it does:
With just one product, this polish delivers a unique sprinkle effect. The glitter particles are mattified to give you the perfect amount of sparkle. Available in multiple pastel shades, each is named after the most delicious streets in London.

And Sweets Way is described as - white with pastel blue, pink and silver sprinkles

I have to once again apologize about my poor ragged cuticles in these pics.  I swear I have been saturating them with cuticle love, but alas, they are being resistant little rascals.

For this manicure, I used a base coat of Orly Bonder, then just 2 coats of Sweets Way and topped with a coat of SV.  Application was a cinch and dry time was speedy.

Until next time. ☺

China Glaze For Audrey - Dot Manicure

I am loving my new dotting tools.  I found a blog, which I can't seem to find the link to, that used similar colors and this pattern, so I though it would give it a shot.  I am loving the result and have gotten so many compliments on this mani.  So much so, that I've been wearing the same mani since Thursday night.  Now that's a rarity!

Here we go!

I used Orly Bonder and two coats of For Audrey by China Glaze to start. I love For Audrey because it's that perfect Tiffany blue.  My bathroom towels are this color.  Just lovely.  

These are the colors I used for the dots.  I used them all pretty randomly and in random sizes.  No real planning other that what I wanted the shape of the pattern to look like. 

I topped it with SV and there you go.  Super easy, but delightful mani in no time.  

Hope you like it!

Until next time.  ☺

Cookies n Cream Mani a la Sticks 'n Stones by Cover Bands Lacquers

Today's NOTD is cookies n cream.
I looooove this look.  Solid white polish topped with a black and white glitter.  Reminds me of cookies n cream ice cream (hands down my favorite ice cream of all ice creams).  Mmmm.....ice cream.  Hits the spot, especially during these hot AZ summer months.  Ii-iiice Cree-eeeeam.

Behold!  I started with my go to Gripper base followed by 2 coats of Snow Me White by Sinful Colors.  Then I used the "splat and smooth" method to apply Sticks 'n Stones by Cover Bands Nail Lacquers via Ninja Polish.  Topped with SV.  And presto!:

The white hexagonal glitter is so sweet!

Photo cred: http://www.mylot.com/w/image/2324245.aspx

Black and white bar glitter too!  Oh my!!

A little flicker of holo.  ☺

There you go.  What do you think?  Do you likey?  I sure do!

Until next time.  ☻