Mardi Gras Nails!

Hi dolls!  Merry Mardi Gras!  =)

In case you didn't know, Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French and is the last hurrah before the liturgical season of Lent.  If you are so inclined to learn more about that particular facet of this holiday, feel free to Google it, as I'd rather not lecture.  =)

I love Mardi Gras, you just do not understand.  It's so colorful and boisterous and fun!  I would kill to go to New Orleans during Mardi Gras.  It's not just about the beads, you guys, haha!  There's dancing and masks and parades and copious amounts of drinking involved.  And FOOD!  Cajun food is probably the best thing in the world and the only authentic Cajun restaurant near me stopped taking reservations a week ago.  But Mardi Gras also means pancakes to me.  So you will probably be able to find me at IHOP stuffing my face.

Thumb and ring fingers: China Glaze Liquid Leather with dots in the other colors

Index finger: Orly Wandering Vine

Middle Finger: Zoya Pippa

Pinkie finger: Nicole by OPI...Justin Bieber purple that I can't remember the name of.

On top of all: Sally Hansen Disco Ball

This was really fun to do, even if I obsessed about the dots and then got mad that my pinkie finger smudged at the top.  The dots I realize are a little difficult to see on the black, but nude or white would have just been wrong.  The entire time I did this manicure I was listening to The Civil Wars and zydeco music.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

OPI Italian Love Affair

Hi dolls!  =)

I have seen so many cute Valentine's Day manicures on the blogs this past week that I decided to add to them myself.  I used OPI's Italian Love Affair, which is a super soft, ultra feminine pink creme.  It did make me think that it was almost more of a Parisian pink because of how soft and romantic it looked.  I mean, I've had ballet tights and leotards and stuff the color of this polish.  It made my inner high school and college age selves very happy.  This would be great as an "interview appropriate polish" by itself.

My only complaint about this polish is that it could have been an easy two coater if it hadn't been for the fact that there were so many bald spots and streaking with just two coats.  It really needed three coats to look proper.  My OCD would not let me have that happen to may nails.  Either way, this polish is highly recommended and will have a permanent place in my collection.

Next I used a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in black to apply a single line of very small dots and a little bitty heart onto my ring fingers.  I think the idea I was going for was "heart strings," cause that's what it looked like to me.

The lighting in the last picture is very weird.  But at least you can see a close up of the design.  =)

Super Bowl Sunday Nails

Hello lovies!  =)

I have a special Super Sunday post for you today because it is Super Bowl Sunday!  And you know what that means: beer, wings, and grown men running around in tights!  Neither of the teams I wanted are in the game, so I don't really care either way who wins.  But it gives me a perfectly legitimate reason to do themed nails.

Both teams' colors are blue and red, although different blues (Patriots is more of a navy blue and Giants is more of a royal blue), and whoever wins gets a big gaudy fancy silver ring.  I have lots of red polishes and lots of blue polishes.  Most of the blues I have are either so dark you can't really tell they're blue or they're really light, but I did have one that is in between the two teams' colors, so I used that one.  The mani is supposed to represent both teams along with the silver of the Super Bowl, but I just ended up with Patriots nails.  Whatever.

What I did was paint one half of my nail OPI Thrill of Brazil and the other half essence color and go Just Rock It.   This was also before clean up, because it's late and I'm feeling lazy.

Then I put a thin layer of Sally Hansen silver crackle top coat with a quick dry top coat to seal it.

I don't know about you, but I hate crackle polishes.  I remember when they originally came out when I was in middle school and they were just the coolest thing since sliced bread and portable CD players.   I even remember being kind of excited when they made a comeback in early 2011.  But after wearing them and trying make them function properly, I have decided that I hate them.  I just don't like the way they look.  Not my favorite.  I can't think of a nail trend that I like less.

I realize that the red goes higher on my nail bed than the blue does, but I just couldn't get the essence brush to cooperate with me like the OPI brush.  For one, OPI is a normal size and has a decently manageable handle on the brush.  Essence only comes in mini sizes, thus has a tiny brush and handle.  So please don't judge me too harshly.  I'm probably only going to wear this manicure as late as Monday, anyway.

So please enjoy.  =)

Zoya America

Hey everyone!  TGIF!  I have something brand new today, and let me tell you, it really is brand new to me.  This is my first Zoya product, and I have fallen in love!  The formula is so smooth and it goes on perfectly.  The pigment is rich and I got complete coverage with no bald spots with two thin coats.  I probably could have gotten away with one thick coat, but I did two just to be on the safe side.

Now that I've had a taste of Zoya, I want more of them.  America actually looks very similar to OPI Thrill of Brazil, only with the tiniest bit more orange in it.  Still, it's the classic pin up red that holds a special place in my heart.  This might even be my new go-to shade.  ;)  And the bottle's really pretty.  Like Deborah Lippmann's and Essie's bottles had a baby and popped out Zoya.

With flash

Without flash

Then I got a little overly ambitious and tried to do candy cane nails for the holidays.

Fail.  I used Sally Hansen White Out and Pixel Oh Sooish! to make it look like candy.  Oh Sooish! is a translucent white glitter, almost a glaze, that adds that extra bit of shine.  Essie Marshmallow would probably be very similar, I just don't have that one.

Zoya America retails for $8 US, Sally Hansen White Out and Pixel Oh Sooish! both retail for about $2.50 US

Gold Chrome

No Sunday post this week, so we get a Super Special Monday post!  I was really tired last night and decided to just go to bed.

Christmas came early at my house--my parents decided to get me a new digital camera so I could take better pictures for my blog!  Yay thoughtful parents!  I'm still trying to figure out the best setting to take the polish pics on, but I think I have it figured out now.  Huzzah for 14 megapixels.

This is Sally Hansen's Gold Chrome pen.  Pretty handy for a manicure in a flash.  This would be perfect for that moment during the holidays where you forgot you had to be somewhere or there was a surprise gathering happening in the next five minutes.  You just click the pen, paint, and it is dry within 30 seconds.  I'm completely serious, it was smudge free dry, completely cured within about 30 seconds.

Be sure that you buff the life out of your nails before using this one, I could see every single little ridge and imperfection in my nails while wearing this and it drove me insane.  One coat does the job, two coats is best.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT put a top coat on this.  I tried to and it ruined the paint job.  It is perfectly shiny as is, it just doesn't look exactly like chrome on your car would.  It looked more like brushed gold, almost a matte.  It did wear off very quickly.  And not like polish normally wears, it faded like a marker on plastic wears (if you've ever had to write your name on your water bottle and rubbed at it, you know exactly what I mean).  But it was pretty while it lasted.

 Natural light

With and without flash













I got my Sally Hansen Gold Chrome Pen for $8 US.

Broach the Subject

Super Sunday posts!  Hope everyone has been enjoying the long holiday weekend, I know I've enjoyed my day off.

I'm starting off my holiday manicures with a lovely nude by Essie from the winter 2011 line.  This one is Broach the Subject, a wonderful cream nude.  I actually held it up to my work pants and it is a darker khaki color, not a camel like I originally thought.  I got complete coverage with no streaking or bald spots in two coats.  And then just to jazz things up and make it even more holiday-y, I did a white glitter fade on my ring finger as an accent nail.  I used Sally Hansen's Disco Ball.

All but the last picture were taken under artificial light.  The glitter fade was much more noticeable in person, but the whole point of it was to be subtle. Just not as subtle as the pictures made it.

Essie Broach the Subject retails for $8 US plus sales tax.  Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Disco Ball retails for $2.50 US plus sales tax.

Haute Chocolate

It's almost the weekend!  Yay, I'm so excited!  =D

So today's featured color is Sally Hansen's Haute Chocolate, from the Complete Salon Manicure line.  This line is supposed to have your base coat, varnish, and top coat all in one simple application.  I still put a separate top coat on because my OCD doesn't allow for me to not use a top coat.  But this particular line actually does the trick.  You get a nice smooth application with a richly pigmented color, very little drag, but I did notice a couple bald spots when I held my hands up to the light while at a stop light.

Haute Chocolate is a redish brown, almost like milk chocolate with a touch of burgundy.  I got this shade back in the beginning of fall when it was released with the fall collection and only just now got around to posting it.  This shade does have a little bit of shimmer to it, but it's such a rich dark color and the shimmer is so faint that it just looks perfect.

In natural light

Artificial light

While I was at Target picking up a couple things (including a couple new shades) the nice cashier gave me an awesome compliment on the polish!  Oh so happy.  I also went home and immediately changed the polish, but I'd had it on for about 3 days, so I was bored.

This polish didn't have any chips by the second day I had it on, but it did experience some shrinkage around the tips of my nails.  These pictures were taken after a couple minor touch ups.  It removed like a dream though.  No staining and no smearing onto my hand from the cotton ball.

Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Haute Chocolate retails for $6.49 US plus sales tax if applicable.

Bronze Ablaze

Happy Hump Day!  I have a couple more fall colors in my arsenal since it is still actually fall, and Stateside we have one more holiday before Christmas.  I think this shade is technically in the winter collection, but it looks fall to me.

This is Bronze Ablaze from Sally Hansen's Insta-Dry line.  I'd have to classify this as a metallic, not exactly a holo even though it has some slight holo qualities.  It's a coppery gold base with green accents, like real bronze is supposed to have once it's started oxidizing.  I keep forgetting that bronze has a green tint to it when you're using it as a shade.  I either see that coppery color or full on green like the Statue of Liberty.

Application was very easy with minimal streaking, but once it dried there was no streaking at all.  The brush is huge so you can easily get the standard 3-stroke coverage, but if you're not careful it will get all over your hands.  The bottle isn't the most aesthetically pleasing to me, it's a weird pyramid shape that I don't quite understand.  It's supposed to be the middle price value of the Sally Hansen lines that are sold at all major retailers, so the bottle just doesn't fit it for me.  But it's still a great lacquer, despite what I think about its packaging.

In direct sunlight with the bottle

Natural light

Artificial light 

These pictures are all with a quick dry top coat to seal and add extra shine.

This is at day 3 of this polish.  I had no chipping and very little shrinkage (if any).  I ended up taking it off and changing it before I could do any real damage to it.

It did make me incandescently happy that as soon as I walked into work the first day I had this on I got compliments on it.  =)

Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Bronze Ablaze I got on sale at Target for $4.05 US plus sales tax.