Friday, February 8, 2013

My blog is moving!

Hello all! Just stopping in to say I'm moving/renaming my blog. I don't spend enough time on a computer to be able to keep this one up, so I'm changing tactics a bit. I've started a new blog call Travelin' Nails HERE where I'm just posting pictures from my phone. Still swatches and probably occasional pictures of my cats, but I'll be able to keep up with that one since my phone is ALWAYS with me. Please take a moment to go over there and follow that blog instead! I'm keeping this one open for the images it has already, but there will not be any more posts.

Thanks everyone! Have a wonderful day/night!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Another Quickie with my first KB Shimmer!

Hey guys! I thought I'd pop in again with a quick post! I just got an order from Harlow & Co with some gorgeous indie polished! Today I'm wearing my first KB Shimmer polish: Witch Way?

It's a gorgeous deep plum jelly filled with small holograph hex glitters as well as other holo bits. It's not a classic glitter so I wanted it! Plus.... PURPLE! So it must be awesome, right? Well... absolutely it is! My photo is with 3 coats, and the formula was dreamy to apply. ^_^

I'll probably pick up more. I'm hoping to get a real post in here soon. Until then, here's the picture for you! (Hopefully it's in the right place.)

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Quick NOTD featuring Lime Crime's Milky Ways!

Hey guys! How are you all? Good, I hope! I'm still in my wrist brace but my thumb has improved enough that I managed a super simple dot mani! These are from my phone so sorry if the quality is bad.... and my cuticles are bad. Haha, but I think I get some slack there under the circumstances!

Dunno where the image will be since I'm on my phone! I used Milky Ways by Lime Crime for my base. The purple dots are Loreal Paparazzi Pleaser, the blue are Illamasqua Muse, and the gold is Revlon Gold Coin. I was inspired by another mani I saw but I'll have to update this later with where it was from!

That's all for now! I'm to get some swatches done next weekend if my wrist keeps improving! Goodnight everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Extended Hiatus

Hello everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. I figured I would pop in with an update! I've got some pretty severe tendonitis in my thumb and recently have been directed to wear a brace that greatly restricts my movement and makes holding a polish brush impossible. I don't have any backup posts at the moment so I'm stuck with nothing to post! boo! (On the bright side, I have two thumbs so I can still type fairly well!

I've got this brace on for a month and hopefully after that I'll be able to get back to it! With that said, I hope you all have a great night/day and that you enjoyed your holidays and the new year! Thanks for stopping by!

<3 amy="amy" p="p">

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Nicole by OPI: Denim to Earth

Afternoon! Happy Thanksgiving to those of you [and me] located in the United States! Hope you are having a good day! I got off of work early so I decided to do a post for you all. This is sort of a part two to the last post. As I mentioned, I think, the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Me + Blue was part of a two pack of polish I picked up from TJ Maxx. Unfortunately, while the other polish looked pretty in the bottle it was the complete opposite to Me + Blue... extremely disappointing.

In the bottle this looks like a deep plum-purple with pretty little purple/pink shimmer in it. The shimmer is nearly invisible on the nail. I'm not fond of polishes that LOOK black unless you  know they are a different color. This is one of those. My pictures are usually taken indoors under different types of lighting, but most always artificial light of some sort. This is what I when I looked at my fingers:

Look at the "e" in Nicole. See the shimmer there? I wanted that!

Well. That was disappointing. So I thought Hmmm, maybe if I go outside the sparkle will come out!! I went outside on my porch. I started in the shade, but had some sun so I hoped for some sparkle like what what in the bottle buuuuuut....... blah. Just blah dark-purpley blackness. 




Finally, I got some direct sunlight. Oh look! Look!!! It only  shimmers where the sunlight hits. That's it. It doesn't even move around the nail while you rotate your hand. :( I wasn't really impressed. You can make the image larger if you want.



This was really the only way to *sort of* see the shimmer: outside, up-close camera crop.

Can't see it? Enlarge and see the speckles. That's all they look like.

At least the other half of this duo had enough WOW in it to make up for this sadness. I'm actually still wearing a full mani of Me + Blue. I didn't take it off for Thanksgiving. Although, with all the food, at least the drooling didn't look so weird...... shhhh. Haha!

Thanks for checking in!

-Amy


*****Disclaimer: the polish in this post was purchased by me*****


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Nicole by OPI: Me + Blue

I'm going to start this post out by letting any blue lovers know that you might want to grab a kleenex or paper towel or something since this polish I have for today is guaranteed to make you drool! I don't usually like blue, but this polish has ME drooling! You've been warned!

I was at TJ Maxx the other day and grabbed one of their two packs of Nicole by OPI polish. I thought this looked pretty in the bottle, but I actually got it for the other color... which I will be posting soon and turned out to be a total let down. :(  Anyway, this is Me + Blue. It is a fine glitter polish in a blue base. It's not a shimmer, but it's not a pure glitter either. It's somewhere in the middle of a standard shimmer polish and say...  polishes like China Glaze's Glistening Snow from their Holiday Collection. Then, among all the already gorgeous glitter are holographic bits of glitter that give this polish a pop when ANY light hits it. I mean ANY. On the drive home from work tonight I could see the holo sparkle as I passes under streetlights. *drooooool*  

All of my pictures are with 3 coats that would have been easy if the brush hadn't been so terrible. I hate the wide brushes because my nails are narrow so the polish gets EVERYWHERE. Blerg! Anyway, 3 coats. There are a lot of pictures in this post and a included a few pre-topcoat to show the matte-glitter finish, so the pics are all under the cut so your poor browser doesn't spaz! I've noted if there is or is not topcoat being used For the topcoat pictures I used a coat of Gelous and a coat of NYC In a New York Minute.  Now.... blue/glitter/holo lovers, get your drool-wiping cloths ready before you click "read more."

Friday, November 16, 2012

Sensationail Wear Test Results!

Good afternoon! I'm back with the end of my wear test for the Sensationail brand of gel nail polish! Here is the original post for reference. I realized after about a day that keeping the same color on my nails, whether I had time to do them or not, was difficult! (Addict, anyone??? Haha!) But I really wanted to see how long this polish would last so I stuck it out until my first chip.



I painted my nails 11/6 and didn't have a single chip until today 11/11. While 5 days may seem to fall short of the advertised two weeks on the box, for someone as hard on their nails as I am, that is INCREDIBLE! The polish lasted through showers, play sessions with the kitten, room cleaning, work... I'm impressed. Before taking them off, all I had was that small chip on my left-hand middle finger and a medium sized chip on my right-hand ring finger.

This was originally just the bit on the right... but it got caught on my hair right before the picture and that ripped off the part on the left. Oops!

As you can see, there is almost not tip wear either! Awesome! I'll probably do this again when I have to go a few days without doing my nails!


There is also a special removal kit you can purchase and a removal tool, but I passed on both of those. The kit is just a glorified version of the foil method! And I used an orange stick to gently scrape off the polish after it soaked. It took me a little longer than normal because I didn't have any foil handy so I just held an acetone-saturated cotton ball over my fingers. I had to do them one by one, so yeah.... took awhile. But if I had to estimate, this could probably be done in 10-20 minutes with foil. (If you aren't familiar with the foil method for removing glitter, here is a quick tutorial: the foil method.) Just soak, then scrape the polish right off. If any is stubborn just soak a bit more.

I would recommend this product. It's on the expensive side, but once you get the lamp, really it's just the polish and there isn't a huge selection... that's if you even want to use the gel polish. You could always use normal polish with the base and top coat to extend its wear! ^_^

That's all for now! I'm trying to get a picture inventory going so I can post more regularly! Hope you all enjoy your weekend! As a bonus, my baby is growing so fast! She's a little rascal. Likes looking out the window though!

Juneau - 5 months

-Amy



****Disclaimer: all products in this post were purchased by me****