Rainbow Accent Nail

Hey everyone!

I have a fun manicure today: green nails with a rainbow dot accent nail.  

I'll explain how I did it between the pictures :)

(click for bigger versions)

 Top picture: China Glaze Hey Sailor (bright red), Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Sun Kissed (orange), SHXW Mellow Yellow, and SHXW White Out (base color for the accent nail)

Bottom picture: CG Entourage (grass green with gold shimmer), CG Custom Kicks (Turquoise with gold shimmer), and CG Grape Pop (Purple).

For all the nails but the ring finger, I painted 3 thin coats of China Glaze Entourage.  Unfortunately, this isn't entirely color-accurate :P  It's a shade or two darker.

  

 For the accent nail, I did two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White Out.  Then, taking all my colors, I used a bobby pin to dot on diagonal dots.  

Wait to dry, put on top coat, and voila!  

I think these are really fun, and you can easily do them without special dotting tools.  

Thanks for reading! <3

Essence Nude It!

Hi everyone!

So on Thursday, I went to a Spring Formal dance for my school.  I wanted to go simple with my nails, so I chose Essence Nude It!  Nude It! is a perfect nude shade that's opaque in 2 coats.  The dry time was okay, nothing spectacular.  The only downside about these polishes is that they're very mini :)

These polishes retail for $.99 at Ulta.

I used base coat, 2 coats of Nude It!, and a top coat:

 Here's my shoes...

Look!  A perfect match! :D

Overall, I really love Essence's Color and Go polishes.  They're cheap, they're opaque, and this one just happened to match my shoes! :)

Thanks for reading! <3

Pink Ombre Manicure

Pink! :)  I've always wanted to try an ombre manicure, and so I decided today was the day!  I loved the way it turned out and I can't wait to do it with other color families too :)

Colors used:

-China Glaze Hey Sailor

-Essie Lights

-China Glaze Sugar High

-China Glaze Something Sweet

-Sally Hansen Xtreme wear White Out

(OPI natural nails base coat, China Glaze No Chips top coat)

 All lined up! :)

 Left to right: Essie Lights, CG Sugar High, CG Something Sweet, SH White Out

These all applied really smoothly, two coats for each.  My thumb was red (CG Hey Sailor) but since I still have a gigantic bruise there, I didn't want to gross anyone out :)

I really love this manicure and it's super simple, all you need are different shades of a color (i.e. pink)  Thanks for reading <3

China Glaze Fancy French :)

Hey guys!  So today I have a fun twist on a french manicure.  I used China Glaze Lemon Fizz and Bermuda Breakaway ($3 at 8ty8beauty.com).

I tried to tape off the french tip, but it messed up the yellow so I freehanded (resulting in a non-perfect application :)

 After my base coat, I did 3 thin coats of Lemon Fizz (very quick dry-time).  Sorry about my middle finger, my nail ripped off! :(

 Then I took Bermuda Breakaway and freehanded a thin-ish tip.  Since BB is on the thinner side, I sorta glopped it on so it would be opaque.  This took a little longer to dry.

Top coat, and done! :)

This is a pretty simple manicure that looks cute, and is super easy for touchups!! (I just needed to touch up some of the tips with BB)

Thanks for reading! <3

Color Club Love 'em Leave 'em (holo)

(Warning: be prepared for tons of pictures :)

Color Club Love 'em Leave 'em is a nude holographic.  I got this on 8ty8beauty.com for $3.  

I absolutely love this shade!  While it isn't blaring-holographic, it's enough to notice it.  Plus, there was no need for any special base coats (such as Nfu Oh's Aqua Base) since this applied like a dream in two coats.  I think this shade speaks for itself, so enjoy the never-ending pictures! :)

 A super up-close bottle shot to show the holographic :)

 Sunlight

 Shade - it turns into a shimmery light nude <3

 Even my dog loves it! :D

 Indoor artificial light

 Indoor with flash

Sunlight with flash

As far as wear goes, this polish is incredible!  I've had it for a full day without a top coat and there is not ONE chip (that never happens to me :)

Hope you guys enjoyed this!  

Dusty Hunting Haul!

I'm addicted.

To dusty hunting, that is.  For those of you who don't know, dusty hunting is where you go into nail salons in search of discontinued (and most often holographic) nail polishes.  Some of them have been there so long they're covered in dust, hence "dusty hunting."

Yesterday after work, I begged my sister to let me stop in just one nail salon by our house (there's about 9 within five minutes of our house, 4 of which actually sell nail polish).  We walked in to a full salon, and the lady impatiently pointed me toward the rack of polish after I asked her if she sold any.  I immediately spotted a silver cap (which almost always means holo) and grabbed a China Glaze TMI (from the OMG collection).  Satisfied with just that, I walked up to the counter.  Then, I noticed the counter was stuffed with OPIs.  I asked to see a random one with a silver cap, and I saw it was an OPI Designer Series in Signature!  I paid $8 each ($16 total) for the polishes, and even though that's sort of expensive for dusty hunting, I was beyond happy.  The Designer Series sold for $15 retail when they were still available, and they go for so much more on eBay (same with the OMG collection).

Enough talk!  Pictures! (click on them for larger versions)

 The bottle shots <3

 TMI might've been used once or twice, but I don't care at all!  Hahaha the bottle was full

 LOOK AT THE RAINBOWS. The second picture is blurrier, but it shows more rainbow :)

 TMI is one of the less-holographic of the OMG Collection, but it's still a gorgeous color!  

China Glaze on the left, OPI on the right.  TMI is more holo in real life, but it's not bam-in-you-face like DS Signature is.

Conclusion: I love dusty hunting.  And this was just one salon, mind you!  I'll be entering a lot more salons in the pursuit of the OMG collection and now the Designer Series!

Thanks for reading! <3

8ty8beauty.com Review

Hi guys!

Instead of a Nail Of The Day, I decided to put in my 2 cents about 8ty8beauty.com.  If you haven't heard of the site, it's a discount nail website.  Brands such as China Glaze and Color Club are available for around $3, which is less than half the retail price!
I've heard both good and bad things about this site, but I couldn't pass up the amazing prices :)

One main complaint by most bloggers and YouTubers is that the site doesn't display how much shipping costs until after you pay.  So, I emailed customer service to see how much it would be.  This was their reply:

Hi Lauren,

1 to 4 bottles is $7.00
5 to 9 bottles is $12.00
10 to 24 bottles is $13.00
All 0.5 oz. bottles or smaller.


Sales,
Tony

It's probably better to buy from 8ty8beauty.com if you have a large order.  Main line: I love this site!  I got my package in 3 days!  It ships from the East Coast, and I live on the West Coast!!  It was packaged with lots of newspaper and bubble wrap, and I don't think those polishes could've broken if they wanted to :)  Overall, I definitely recommend it.  Thanks for reading! <3

Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost

Hi guys!

So a couple days ago I went to Ulta to get some Essence polishes to try.  I was still in need of a plain black creme, so I got one from Wet n Wild (it gets really good reviews and it's only a dollar!  Where can you go wrong? :)
Before I left, I grabbed Caribbean Frost as well as Black Creme (or is it Creme Black?) since it was only a buck.  I am so glad I got it!  For $1 (.48 oz), this is a steal.

The formula is great, it was opaque in two coats and the dry time was quicker than I had expected.  The only downside is that it's a bit streaky, and I think it's gonna stain my nails :)

 See the streaks?  No matter how hard I tried, they wouldn't go away :P

Overall, I definitely recommend this polish.  The wear is average: I started seeing tip wear after a day and a half (I'm super rough on my nails!)
You can count on me picking up other colors from Wet n Wild soon!  Thanks for reading <3

China Glaze IDK swatches and review!!

Hi guys!!

Today is an exciting day :D  I've just started to slowly collection the fabled China Glaze OMG collection (back from 2009)!  These holographic polishes are sought-after by almost every nail polish collector, and I'm no exception.  However, in order to get your hands on one of these heavenly polishes, you're gonna have to cough up some big bucks on Ebay.  My first (and only at the time) OMG polish is IDK, a light purple holographic.  I got this off Ebay for $20 including shipping, but I don't regret it at all :)  The only polish I'm worried about getting is OMG itself...it goes for $50 - $60 on Ebay.  I'm not sure if I'm ever going to own it :)  Without further ado, here is the polish of all polishes!

(click on the pictures for their full-size glory :)

 I used Nfu Oh's Aqua Base with this and IDK applied like a dream, but I've heard a special base coat isn't really necessary for the OMG polishes.

 Under my super-bright desk lamp - the sun is keeping away from the Northwest :(

 Regular lighting

Shade - you can see a little holo still, but not much.  What I love abut the OMG polishes is that even when the holo is gone, it's still a gorgeous color that I love on its own.

However amazing this nail polish is, the wear is horrific.  I had major chipping in less than a day, and by two days almost half of the polish was gone!  This is expected with holographic nail polishes since you can't use a top coat (it dulls the holo effect), but even my Nfu Oh 65 lasted longer than this!  Oh well, it's the price you pay for the most amazing nail polish ever ;)

Thanks for reading guys! <3