Roses for Audrey

Purchased by Me

Hello lovely ladies! Where have I been for two weeks? Where have I been? I don't even know! As many of you may know, this is my final semester as an undergraduate in college, so I'm about to graduate! YAY! Unfortunately, that means less time for nails. : / I have around 5 weeks left and I'm drowning in homework and projects. So, I've been MIA. 

Today I have a "Welcome back Spring! We missed you!" manicure. Just a few delicate roses covering the cult classic, For Audrey. Doesn't every polish lover own this color? Funny note, it was my FIRST China Glaze ever! :) (/Pats own back - I've come so far!)  

The Lacquer Legion: Adoration

Purchased by Me

So The Lacquer Legion is a monthly nail art challenge set up by the awesome Sarah from Chalkboard Nails and the best part is anyone is welcome to participate! The Lacquer Legion gives a prompt around the middle of the month and then posts their mani's once a month on the final day and everyone gets to see all the other artist's interpretations of the monthly theme. Isn't that fun? So I decided to participate this month and the theme is adoration! I really thought and thought before deciding, what do I adore? Art? The beach? Family? Spanish and linguisitcs? Photography? My cats? Nothing felt proper until I laid eyes on my fiance and I thought "now this is someone I adore." and so it was!  *Cue cheesy music*

Sunshine and Gold - Flower Stamping

Purchased by Me

Hello ladies! Here is a stamped mani I did the other day that i just adore! I got so many compliments on it! Also, this post has quite a few pictures as I was ecstatic about how the light box was lighting up my nails. What do you think?

Plaid Nails for Christmas

Purchased by Me

Ahh plaid. The pattern of old man jammies everywhere - Isn't it perfect for my Winter Christmas nails? I've been playing around with so many different options to use for Christmas day at my fiancé's parents. I don't think theses are Christmas day winners, but I love them none the less.

Cheetah Nails and Giveaway Day 4!

Purchased by Me

So, I think Cheetah is ... out? I don't know. I can't keep up with trends. What I do know is that it's a step outside my comfort zone. Are you kidding me? Pink cheetah? Who are you?! Though it may have something to do with this amazing Betsey Johnson cheetah and rose print wallet that I fell in love with recently but didn't buy because I don't NEED a wallet. (the life of being an adult : / ) Anyways, this has to be my favorite giveaway polish so far, it's Nicole by OPI "A Phil's Paradise" from the Modern Family collection, it's just so metallic and mirco-glittery!

I added this funky cheetah print on top ... do people still say funky as in cool? Why am I so old?! Anyway, I think it would be perfect for parties or something of the like. It's playful and I'm in love with the pink spots.

Here is my cat. She does not appear to be pleased. The pink spots are Ciaté "Kiss Chase" and the black lines are Sinful Colors "Black on Black" and I created some misshapen dots with my dotting tool and painted some irregular C shapes around them with my nail brush kit. The Ciaté polish was such a find, I was literally thinking about how much I wanted one of their polishes with that ADORABLE bow on it, and the next day I found it at TJ Maxx and it was the first time i'd ever seen that brand! Bizarre. I'll be doing a review soon because I bought a whole Ciaté kit! :)

Here is the polish without the nail art on it. Pretty freaking sweet, huh? Looks so shiny! 

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Banksy Grunge Nail Art and 6 days of giveaways! :)

Purchased by Me

Hi gals! I have a super special post today. I reached 100 followers on Tumblr the other day and I decided it was time for a giveaway! :) (I have since reached over 200 since I decided to do the giveaway!) I wanted to do something special so I decided to do 6 fun days of giveaways, featuring a nail design to accompany each one. ^^

I'll start with the art! The base color is L'Oréal "Stroke of Midnight" and the mani was inspired in part by Serene at Copy Cat Claws. She has some beautiful art and you should definitely visit her blog!

 I used Chalkboard Nails' Tutorial for distressed nails and added some stamping from MoYou London Rebel 03. I chose Banksy's Balloon Girl. I did the same image for my college art class two years ago, I just adore it! 

 (YES the time has come and passed to get a light box. I'm working on it! You'll have to just envision how beautiful they are.) 

And finally the swatch without the art.

 

Look at that gun medaly goodness! Pure steel. Can you see why it was calling for some grungy art? This is the first prize for the giveaway! I'll love to see what you can create with this polish. :D

In case you're curious, I used L'Oréal "Stroke of Midnight" as the base and layered Pure Ice "Siren" and Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" to create the distressed look. The stamp is done with Sinful Colors "Snow Me White." 

Good Luck! ♥ Pooka

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Winter is Coming.

Purchased by Me

Ha, I can't even lie. I'm such a poser. I don't watch Game of Thrones yet. YET! Key word. I was too involved with breaking bad to veer into another show and then school and work got in the way. (I'm full of excuses) but I did read the first book, does that count? ;)

For sure, winter is coming, can you see my dry old lady hands?! Yikes! But the mani was too cute not to share. So here she is, dry hands and all.

Walking Dead Nails!

Ahh, Breaking Bad is over, and now the only tolerable show on television is the Walking Dead, which lucky for me, i'm in love with! Thank God they haven't killed off Daryl. I'm team "Kill Daryl and We Riot."

Anywho, here is my humble homage to the best Zombie show on TV.

 (Warning, these pics were taken with a cell phone, *The horror, I know :C*, I feel shamed enough, don't push it, I had two impending tests and had no time to whip out the big guns, i.e. my Nikon.)

OK, enough cheese! Here they are. :)

Sinful Colors "Savage" Swatch and Review

Sinful Colors "Savage"

A creamy blue that dries with a matte/satin finish

 

Halloween Gradiant

Hello friends! I'm glad you dropped in to look at my very first gradient! Isn't it sweet? Speaking of sweet, isn't Halloween right around the corner? Ton pis pour moi, I have school and work and I won't be doing anything of interest. :C At least I managed to get a nail design in for the holiday. You know what they say... 

"If a holiday comes and goes without a nail design commemorating it, was there really a holiday at all?" 

-_-

 Halloween Nail Gradient (With a bonus skelly!)

The lighting today was terrible and I wasted the sun yesterday, I chose a "dingy" lighting to accent the Halloween theme... and sorry my nails are chipped and dull  I chose the "rustic" look for my nails to showcase the .... "creepiness of the holiday."

Sinful Colors SinfulShine "Break Away" Swatch and Review

Sinful Colors SinfulShine "Break Away"

Royal blue with a super shiny finish

Check out this beautiful royal blue! This is my first SinfulShine purchase from the Sinful Colors brand and I really like it.  I am not sure about the "gel tech" or what it is or if it's just words on a bottle.... (which I assume it is, I don't think there is anything "gel" or "tech" about this polish, but I haven't done any research.)

80's Geometric

These nails came out of nowhere. I sat down with an entirely different vision and this is what came out. Conjures images of 80's caboodles, too tight spandex, and crazy patterned shirts. I should have done a disco ball on one finger.

The blue is photographing a little green, but know it's blue. ^^

Honey Bee

"Oh oh my honey bee, I said oh oh my honey bee. Won't you save your honey baby, won't you save it all for me?  You're the buzz around my tree, you're the buzz around my tree and I've been waiting for so long you see to find somebody to satisfy me. " -Martin Harley Band

This mani was inspired by my new yellow polish from Sinful Colors "Unicorn". I started with a base coat of Sinful Colors and then I applied 3 coats of Unicorn. The black is Sinful Colors "Black on Black" and I created the bee line with my A.S.P Nail art brushes. 

The stripes on the bee were created using scotch tape that was cut into strips. (I really need some striping tape! :) I created the eyes with a dotting tool and Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" and I used the black with the tip of a pin to create the eyes.

The thumb was hand painted with the nail art brushes and topped off with L.A. Colors Art Deco "24 karat" and folks, this is my right hand! Yes I did indeed paint it with my non dominant hand.

It's glossed off with a quick dry coat of Seche Vite! 

See the swatch of the base color "Unicorn" here.

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Fourth of July Manicure!

 Happy Birthday America! 

I'm here to celebrate. Corny - yes. Festive - yes.

So, anyways, here it is! It's completely free handed, as I have yet to invest in striping tape. : / It looks a mix between Uncle Sam's hat and the American Gladiator logo. (The latter my boyfriend pointed out, and it totally does!)

This was created using a base coat of Sinful Colors to prevent staining and every finger except my rings were painted with Sinful Colors "Snow Me White", the ring fingers were painted with a blue, Sinful Colors Sinful Shine with GelTech "Break Away" The free handed stripes were created with my asp nail brushes and my favorite red Pure Ice "Siren" I bought the little stars from Sally Beauty for about $3.50 and I think the brand was called a super generic "nail art"? I'm not positive. I threw the packaging away.

Ring Finger

The nails are topped off with a few coats of Seche Vite and the stars are almost flat.

I hope everyone will be celebrating this Thursday! Happy Fourth of July!

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Sinful Colors "Unicorn" Swatch and Review

Sinful Colors "Unicorn"

A light, buttery yellow

A color reminiscent of magical, mystical unicorns... Ok, well maybe not, but it does remind me of movie theater popcorn, freshly buttered waffles, sundresses, and brightly colored umbrellas, and possibly the color of the sky after a late day storm. Think clompy rain boots! :D Have you fallen in love with it yet?

Application 3/5 Okay, it applied a little streaky. To be fair, most yellows that I have tried do.
Drying Time 3/5 Moderate.

Texture 5/5 Smooth and creamy with a shiny and no bubbles!
Pigmentation Okay, It required a few coats to become opaque.
Number of Coats 3

Top Coat not added
Price $1.99 

Verdict - I like this color. It's a nice yellow in my collection. It's pale enough that it doesn't require extremely tanned skin. ( Which I literally NEVER have, I'm vampire colored most of the year. ) It's creamy and is a nice Summery pop of color. A nice change from the pinks I usually gravitate to. I would recommend it!

See the Honey Bee mani with this color here!

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Blue and White Flowers

Another stamped mani this Saturday! I went to Walgreens and stocked up on Sinful Colors this week. They were two for three dollars. I bought eight in total and I've been playing around with different combinations.

Here is one of my favorite blues. Will you just look at how blue it is? Can a color be any more blue than that? I don't believe so. Anyway, I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat and painted every finger except my ring with Sinful Colors "Savage" it is actually a matte color (swatches coming soon!) but transforms into this beautiful gloss with a quick top coat of Seche Vite ^^ The ring finger is painted with Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" 

The silver stamped color is Sally Hansen Instadri "Silver Sweep" This color definitely lives up to it's reviews as far as stamping goes. It shows so well! It's the best silver I've tried. The ring finger is stamped with Sinful Colors "Savage" and actually turned out better than expected, considering these plates are not brand name. 

Ok, now for the plates, I hate to do this but I have no idea the brand name of these! I bought them at Wal-Mart over  two years ago. I am fairly certain they are a knock off of a Konad design plate and you can find these flowers on one of their plates. I'll look into it. Maybe the brand name of these is Kiss? I'm not sure...

Is anyone else loving that blue? I can't think of a color that is more... completely blue than this. I think I'm in love :)

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Royal Blue and Mod Squares

Whipped out my stamping plates and tried some of my new polishes the other day. I am LOVING how the plates are coming with that half moon on the bottom edge of the full nail plates. This was the first time I've used the half moons to create a faux french tips on my nails.

The blue is Sinful Colors Sinful Shine with Gel Tech "Break Away" (Exclusive to Walgreen's)

The stamped color is Sinful Colors "Tokyo Pearl" and it definitely isn't a thick polish, or extremely opaque. So using it was an experiment, but I think it turned out pretty nice. Shown here, it shows pretty nicely, but only because it is over a pretty dark color. Any lighter, and it probably wouldn't work. I added Seche Vite top coat and sealed the tips.

I do want to say, even though I'm not reviewing the polishes, this mani did chip rather quickly. I painted them at night and by the next night, I had tip fading and a few chips near the edges! I originally painted the blue to do a swatch and review, so I actually didn't have a base coat under it. I'm sure that didn't help the staying power of the polish. I'll try to figure out if it was the Sinful Shine polish or the lack of a base coat.  

The stamp is Cheeky's "B" plate. (I should do a review on the plates soon, too... some of them work.) But I'm just adoring the half moons!

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Sinful Colors "You Just Wait" Swatch and Review

Sinful Colors "You Just Wait"

A lovely pinkish duo chrome that boasts highlights of green and silver.

I'm going to start by being honest... duo chrome and sheer colors don't always flatter me, but I was pleasantly surprised by this color! It was both subtle and eye catching at the same time. It practically blended in with my skin tone unless my nails caught the light. 

 

Application 4/5 Good. Went on smoothly and didn't show any brush strokes.
Drying Time 3/5 Moderate. It dried at a standard rate, but I applied each coat very quickly and didn't allow each one to dry fully :/ So there was significant smudging after an hour and a shower later. 

Texture 2/5 Two of my fingers had major bubbles. I probably could have avoided it if I had painted my nails slower and allowed more drying time in between each coat.
Pigmentation Extremely Sheer. Which isn't a disadvantage. It would look really nice over a dark colored polish. It took three coats to reach a good opacity.
Number of Coats 4! Three made it opaque, but three of the fingers had major bubbles so I added another coat to  smooth it out.

Top Coat not added
Price $2

Verdict - Recommend! I like this color a lot and it's a nice "almost nude" option and Sinful Colors are so cheap!

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Nautical Nails

So, I have this bad habit of not changing my nail polish until I absolutely HAVE TO. Meaning, chips, cracks, or out growth (Too much visible natural nail) etc. So needless to say, I'm thankful that I have some girls in my life with pretty nails so I can practice my designs. 

These nautical nails were done on my awesome sister-in-law April. Bless her for sitting through a couple of hours worth of painting and drying (and fixing! My niece is only one, so changing, bathing, feeding, ... all of these are not "wet nail polish friendly" activities)

Enjoy the pictures! I'm still trying out different styles to capture the nails in the best lighting.

I started with Sinful Colors Base Coat

The blue is Sinful Colors Sinful Shine with Gel Tech "Break Away" (Exclusive to Walgreens)

The red on the accent finger is Pure Ice Siren (I adore this red, it applies smoothly and it the perfect bright red)

The gold is L.A. Colors Art Deco in "24k Glitter" I applied this using a small art brush to make the anchor and the "buttons" but I used the actual striping brush that comes with the nail polish to create the faux french tip on the red nail. The art brush is not a nail specific one, just one that can be picked up at a local craft store.

The white is L.A. Colors Art Deco in "White". To make the strips on the pointer finger I used the actual brush that comes in the nail polish because it is a striping brush.

Tip: Instead of trying to draw straight lines to make stripes, try placing the finger being painted on a flat surface and steadying the hand holding the brush next to it. Instead of moving the brush along the fingernail, place the tip of the brush at one end of the nail and rotate or "roll" your finger under the brush. So the nail being painted it moving, and the brush stays still. 

To make the heart, I used the art brush and added a small bit of the white polish to create a glossy effect and the black polish is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in "Black Out."

These nails are topped off with a coat of Sally Hansen "Clear'd for Takeoff."

Hope you enjoyed these, maybe I'll try to coordinate with a patriotic holiday next time I do a Red, White and Blue theme. :)

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