(Zoya) Phoebe

You wanna talk about glowy and amazing colors? Let's talk about Zoya "Phoebe", one of their matte colors. Oh. My. Gawsh.

Need I say more?

Tragedy strikes!

Well, strikes my blogging a least D: I've been super sick the last week, and just as I'm getting better and go to the store to get foodlies... My two favorite nails break!! What?!! Whyyyyy!!

Now I have nubs on my swatching hand and I hate it!! I guess it's time to let my Julep Nail Therapy stuff work it's magic.

I was just thinking yesterday that my nails are growing faster, I could already see ridges and I just buffed them the other day.

So it's time to post some nail mail pics and maybe some quickie posts on my favorite products. I got a BUUUNCH of nail mail yesterday- like, more than I was expecting! The mail person was like "oh crap..." and it took him forever to track them all down!

Maybe they should actually be open on Saturdays... Might lighten the load a bit -_- especially since they only tell me about my Friday packages about 5 minutes before they close >_<

Gah! Ok, gotta get ready for chem and possibly eat breakfast, this is my last week of classes so after Friday (if my nails grow out a bit) I'm going to be swatching up a storm!!!

*noms on donuts and gulps coffee*

What? Well, what do you eat for breakfast?

<3 and sunshine, it almost looks like spring around here! *kicks a patch of snow*

(Zoya) Bevin

I got my first Zoya Monday, and instead of telling you what I think about the company/polish why don't I tell you this little shaming nugget.... I have almost 30 more polishes from them on the way! I LOVE Zoya! I can't believe it took me so long to get some!!! This is the first one I put on, "Bevin" from their 2012 Spring line called "True". When I got it off ebay I had no idea it was a newer color, I was just thinking please let one green polish work with my skin tone!! For the love of polish!!

VICTORY!!!!!!!

(NARS) Orgasm

NARS "Orgasm" was one of the first nail polishes I fell in love with!! It is such a gorgeous color!! The minute I saw it months ago I knew I had to have it, and thanks to ebay now I do!!! Eeeeh!

(ORLY) Galaxy Girl

This is another swatch I did the other day- I seriously need to get caught up! I have a lot of pictures and a lot of drafted posts, but I keep getting nail mail and it distracts me from finishing them! So here is ORLY "Galaxy Girl", a sparkly duochrome I got off of ebay. Unfortunately a lot of my pics were inaccurate or blurry, so here is one from after I added CND "Jade Sparkle" over all but my ring finger. It's also showing a different angle then straight on, so this post is all kinds of messed up! Haha!

(Julep) Charlotte

Julep "Charlotte" is one of the colors I got in my March Julep Maven box and she's so pretty! She's a dusty purple, like a dusty grape color and was opaque in one coat! Amazing!! I didn't even need a topcoat she was so shiny.

Sorry if these pics are a little blurry, like with some blues/purples/reds, the color changed way too much with flash!

Something kind of scary I found out...

I have some cuticle oil laying around that I never use because I LOVE my Julep rollerball one! Thinking I would use them more if they had a different container, I ordered some empty rollerball bottles off of Etsy.

That's when I got to thinking- Self, you are gonna make your own nail polish in a month or two. How cool would it be to make your own cuticle oil as well??

Genius, I thought, and how hard could it be? Get a base oil, add some nice smell and boom! Cuticle oil!

Well, this is when my research uncovered some seriously scary stuff!!

(I look so cute and innocent, but read on to find my scary truths!)

(China Glaze) Blue Hawaiian

This is an older mani I did with China Glaze "Blue Hawaiian", a sparkly glittery blue that really reminds me of the ocean. Or a mermaid tail.

McEvoy Ranch Body Balm

I was in my college's shop looking for some stuff on sale (got some flip flops for spring break for $10 bucks! Whoo!) and saw some samples of a new product on a little table..

Something that is very well known about me- I have a sensitive nose. Not like, anything that smells is gross to me (although powerful smells can give me a headache) I more mean that my nose really really REALLY likes good smelling things! Bf just sighed because I zoomed to the sample table and started sniffing like a hound!

Picked up some "Body Balm" because it looked seriously amazing and get this... it smells like basil!!! I fell in love at first sniff! Ahh Italian goodness be mine! My only concern was, how am I going to get this where I want it without making my palms greasy?

Solution: Makeup sponge. Win.

(more after the break)

(ORLY) Retro Red

This is actually way more coral than red, but I love it!!!

(more after the break)

Friday Nail Mail! This Weeks Overview!

WOOOOOHOOOO!!! Two of the packages I was most looking forward to got here today!!! Yeeee I'm so excited!!!! Get ready for picture spam!

(more after the break)

(Revlon) Popular

I think I'm starting to like pink polish more than I thought I would. There's something subtle about a pink for my mani. Even Revlon "Popular" which has some silver glitter in it!

(more after the break)

(NOPI) OMB!

Hey all! Happy Tuesday! (although after a three day weekend it's not so happy xD) Today I got some nail mail, but since I'm expecting a lot more and nothing toooooo special came today, I'm putting off posting until later this week. So right now I've got my swatch of Nicole by OPI "OMB!".

Here's a surprise- it's kind of a duochrome :O wat?!?

(more after the break)

Julep Stash Update!

My Julep stash is still growing, but I needed a picture of the pomegranate scrub so here we go!

(Pomegranate scrub at the top, a nail polish remover pad, cuticle oil and nail therapy below the pad)

Nail colors from top to bottom are Taylor, Marisa, Oscar, Maya, and Ellen.

I tried the scrub yesterday and I LOVE IT! No surprise! Julep makes amazing stuff! I scrubbed my hands (mostly the palms) before I showered, and then again afterwords. Added some lotion and my hands were smooth all day yesterday and today! Bf even commented at dinner last night that they were way smoother than he remembered and asked if I killed baby seals to do it D: ew! 

However, his bad joke made me check ingredients. I trust Julep enough that I doubted anything bad was in there, but I got curious anyway. Turns out it's mostly different kinds of salts with Shea butter, coconut and sunflower oil, and then pomegranate and cranberry scents. 

Needless to say I recommend it if you have rough hands or elbows like me. I'm trying to be better about how I treat my hands, as I used to do dishes without gloves and went to chem without them too! Now I have some nice lavender dish gloves that are super thick (no more cutting my hands open on knives my roomates leave in sink water!) and I badgered my TA into letting me use a box of bigger latex gloves when we work with chemicals. The ones she had out were tiny and made my hands sweat terrible, and cut off circulation so I never wore them :S Stupid man hands...

My only request to Julep is... MORE SCENTS PLEASE!!! xD

<3 and sunshine! And soft hands to boot ;3

(Julep) Ellen

Yes! A polish with my name!! xD "Ellen" is a deep red, described by Julep as "a stunning, deep berry" but it looks just red to me. I was debating if it was closer to dried blood or tomato paste and the bf said tomato paste. Thoughts?

(more after the break)

(Julep) Maya

Julep describes Maya as a "peachy pink seashell" and honestly, that's spot on! It has a great shimmer too, shiny and shimmering splendid! It's also kind of frosty with brushstrokes, but they aren't as bad as some others I've dealt with.

(more after the break)

(Revlon) Scandalous

Revlon "Scandalous" is one I picked up from my local Freddies on a whim. It's magenta hexagonal glitter with small circular ones in a black jelly looking base. Goes on a little thin, but you can get it opaque in two coats if you try. This is three, and I'm also going to note that I changed my base and top coat! Scandalous indeed! haha

(more after the break)

Weekend Ordering Excitement!

I'll have more swatches done today (too much homework, not enough nail polish!) but the last few days have been sort of thrilling around here when it comes to polish orders!

I finally heard back from the lovely Leah Ann at Larowe about Lynnderella polishes! Her new method is amazing in my opinion! She sent out an excel sheet with all of the Lynn polishes on it, you mark which ones you want and send it back with your address and paypal info. She plans to be getting shipments of polish from Lynn weekly, so she will be going through the list filling orders until stock runs out. I'm almost ashamed and almost proud to say I marked almost all of them! Eeek!  If you want in on this little transaction, go to the Lynn section at Llarowe, there are only a few polishes shown but she put an email address underneath that you can contact about ordering. Boom!

I also ordered my third Julep Maven box!! I'll post an updated pic of my growing Julep stash in my next post when I swatch Maya. Seriously cannot get enough of their products. It looks stylish, the formula is good, the base coat is amazing, and now I have a scrub to try out! Click the link to become a Maven!

I finally ordered some polish from an Etsy site I had been eyeing called Huemorista on V-Day (forgot to mention it then, woops!) and am very excited to try her out! She had a deal that was buy a set, get a polish free, so I'm expecting a big package in the mail! Squeee!

Next up is another order from Llarowe, this time polishes from the A England Mythicals collection! I've been wanting some A England polishes for months, and Leah Ann finally had the ones I wanted in stock so I gobbled them up! Yum yum! So excited to try them out, I've heard only great things. Also I'm really interested to see what new sets A England comes out with, so far they only have two, Mythicals and Legends, and both are beautiful collections.

I'm pretty sure my last ordering announcement is from Lacquistry, another Etsy shop I've been watching. The polish that stood out to me was "Happiness is a Warm Gun". Don't ask me why but I'm a sucker for gunmetal polishes! Must be the southerner in me or something... Anyway, I got the only top coat effect she had in shop, a limited edition red (bada-boom baby!) and a frosty snow looking one as well.

Oh, nope, another order came to mind! Amazon as per my usual haha! My first CND effects are on their way to meeeee! xD Amethyst and Jade sparkle looked great, so I snatched them up along with a few franken jugs from Manglaze. *rolls up sleeves* Yep it's true, I am bound to get into the franken bizz nizz!


So, expect some serious Nail Mail*** next week! I'm really excited! Retail therapy always makes me feel better :D


***Nail Mail is an idea from Tracy at The TraceFace Philes, a blog I love! I hope she doesn't mind if I borrow it :o


No joke, I'm really excited to swatch all of these goodies! Plus it's a three day weekend so I'm gonna try to burn through more of my current stash before my new shinies get here. Any polish swatching requests? I'm all ears!

<3 and sunshine everyone!

Swisspers Cotton Pads from Amazon

Here shall be a post that isn't nail polish, but is equally amazing! Taking off nail polish can be a pain (sometimes the prettiest of sparklies are the evilest to get off!) and buying cotton pads and other removing cloths can be expensive. And also kind of lame, at least in my opinion. I didn't really enjoy picking up face pad things at Freddies almost every time I go there, and I visit Freddies three times a week normally!

So like I said a couple of posts ago, I checked Amazon for the brand of pads I use, Swisspers, and found a deal!
 

To clarify, each pack that looks like this

...has 50 pads in it, and there are six of these packs in one order for a total of....

...300 cotton pads. And unless you have very stubborn polish, you can clean all ten pretty fingers with one pad. Sometimes more. 

I'm not even kidding, and Amazon isn't paying me to tell you this (although if you click on the link up there and buy it they will give me some compensation xD) but this is a FANTASTIC deal! I get Amazon Prime shipping, ordered it Wednesday (Feb 8) and it was here Friday (Feb 10), and even if you don't have Prime in my experience Amazon doesn't take its time shipping things to ya!

It's now Feb 18, and I haven't even gone through half of my first bag! I'm doing my nails AT LEAST once a day, sometimes more, and I'm using them to cleanse my face too. Sheesh!

Hope this helps y'all out!

<3 and sunshine!

(Julep) Marisa

Ok, sorry for the terrible pic quality and lack of bottle shot. I must have eaten something bad this afternoon because I became very very sick, had to cancel my date with my bf, and slept for three hours. Bleh. Needless to say my brain isn't in the right place, but I love this polish and have to share it.

Julep "Marisa" is one that I got from my February box, and I added "Oscar" to my ring finger in a wannabe gradient, mostly just to spice things up.

Since the usual picture editing site I've been using for years will be closing soon, I'm trying to do this through google+. Bah!

(more after the break)

Julep Maven!

Just a quick post about the Julep Maven stuff! My V-Day catch-up post showed my first Julep Maven box and I thought I'd note some other stuff about it!


I added a "Recommendations" page where I will add other things I find interesting and want to pass on, and more Julep info is there.


To put it shortly, Julep is a company in Seattle that does nail polish and other great manicure and pedicure items. For $20 you can become a Julep Maven normally, right now you can become one and get your first box for only $1, free shipping!! Fantastic deal, as this months box had around $50 worth of nail items! You also get a discount store-wide and free shipping. It's really easy to join, just take a quiz to see your style, and if you don't like the one you got, you can always pick a different box/style. It's also super easy to skip a month or cancel! These people are all about customer satisfaction! 




I just swatched my first polish from there, it's fantastic, and like I said in my previous post the cuticle oil is so easy to use and has already made a difference on my fingers in just one day!




No, Julep is not paying me to tell you this. If you follow one of my links and become a Maven, I will get credit, but that's what happens with every referral program. I'm just so pleasently shocked with all of the great things I've heard about this company, the great deals, and the great products!

http://julep.com/?r=19023237 <- that will take you to the quiz and site, and if you use the code "shareonfeb" it will bring the price of the box down to $1.

<3 and sunshine, I hope some of you join!

V-Day Catch-up!

Man! Yesterday was insane! I went through three different V-Day manis (pictures to follow), got an amazing gift from my maoma (pics to follow) and my first ever Julep Maven box! (click on the link to join, pics to follow!)

Ok ok ok, where to start.... V-Day mani and why I had three D: My first attempt was an idea I got from Pinterest (find me there!) but.... bad things happened. This one I attempted the day before V-Day, which was an all around terribad day! It was supposed to look like hearts stacked on each other and.... well we will get to that.

My second attempt was at a gradient mani, which started out looking terrible but by the end I was in love! Unfortunately this one was lost to smudging while I was organizing the stash /facedesk.

My final mani looked good while I left it simple, but then I went and tried to stamp it and....... well yeah -_- I should have put a topcoat over my base color so the stamp would stick better. And of course, I was so busy and distracted that I never took pictures of my final mani! Darn!

So here are my two previous <3day manis. First up was my gradient that I improved until I loved!

(more after the break)

(Pure Ice) First Time

This was my first Pure Ice nail polish- fitting, no? "First Time" is a metallic green, and like all greens I thought it was beautiful but my skin HATED it! D: It looks gorgeous here but I couldn't keep it on my nails for the sole reason that my skin clashes terrible with green tones *sniffles*

(more after break)

(Revlon) Whimsical

To follow my favorite polish, it seems almost wrong to do a least-favorite D: but here she is, Revlon "Whimsical" which is trying to be a dupe of Deborah Lippmann "Glitter In The Air" which I do not have. I love DL colors.... I don't enjoy the price tag :S maybe next time my Maoma takes me to Nordies I will persuade her they are worth it (even though I'm not sure I believe it myself, I should try one to see at least right?)

In any case, as you can see here.... disappointing :(

(more after the break)

(OPI) I Vant To Be A-Lone Star

Howdy y'all! This here is my favorite polish! xD I hope I can do it justice! It's OPI "I Vant To Be A-Lone Star" from their Texas collection! Squeeee! It's a gorgeous grey-sky blue shimmer that I seriously adore! 

(more after the break)

(NOTD) Margarita Night!

Last night was Margarita night at my friends place, and my contribution was a Margarita pizza! I went all out and got fresh mozzarella, basil, and made my own tomato sauce! I had a few spare minutes between cooking and leaving (not enough for straight lines!) and threw on this mani to celebrate.... the weekend I guess haha!

(more after the break!)

(Borghese) Aurora Sunset

This week is hectic for me D: and on top of that I'm having terrible luck with swatches! They keep gooping up and smudging despite my best behavior!! Darn it!

One I got done some-what successfully was Borghese "Aurora Sunset", a shimmery orange that is bright  and happy. My only problem was how thin it was. This is five, count em, FIVE coats!

(more after the break)

(Nicole OPI) Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam

Nicole by OPI is one of those brands I only recently heard about. This is "Khloe Had  A Little Lam-Lam", a dusty teal creme/jelly polish that I spotted at Freddies and grabbed!

(more after the break)

(American Apparel) Rouge

Today I have American Apparels "Rouge" for you, and I have to describe this as a dusty rose creme. It's opaque, it's feminine, it's pink without being in-your-face-LOOK-AT-ME pink... what can I say? It's awesome!

(more after the break)

(L'Oreal) Tweet Me

Tweet Me was a surprise shimmer! Well, at least for me. I expected another creme but there's amazing stuff in this one! Extra pic because it needs extra love!

(more below the break)

(L'Oreal) Boozy Brunch

I couldn't leave it alone- this is L'Oreals "Boozy Brunch" which reminds me exactly of that retina searing construction orange! I did have to alter this pic a bit to get the color right, my camera spazzed and made it a washed out yellow-orange, whereas in real life it's more reddish/coralish make-your-eyes-hurt orange xD

(more below the break)

(L'Oreal) Club Prive Swatch

I really should be swatching last weeks haul like a mad woman, but I picked up L'Oreals new "Color Prive" when I visited my local Fred Meyers today and had to put it on! I also grabbed "Boozy Bruch" and "Tweet Me" from what looks like the same line. The tag underneath said limited edition, but it doesn't say anything about being limited here at their site so maybe it's just their new spring line?

Ok, so these are my first pics on this blog, give me some feedback please! I'm doing this one in full color and in black and white to see which makes it easier to tell the color. This one is all color...

... and this one is mostly black and white...

... however neither capture the almost teal quality of the polish! When I first saw it I said "robins egg?" out loud, and my bf said "teal?" at the same time, and I think it's a perfect description! Robins egg with a hint of teal, in a beautiful creme! The first coat went on a little thin, so I went ahead and made the second coat thicker. They dried relatively quickly but I still saw visible nail line on my pinky so I threw on a third coat.

Of course just before it got completely dry I had to go stir dinner, hence the ding on my index D:

So these were $5.99 at freddies, or you can order it at amazon here!

Thanks for reading, I hope this helps everyone :)

<3 and sunshine to all!

Intro!

Hello everyone! It looks like this is the week that I will at least start my nail blog! I got more packages of polish this week than any before (excluding my birthday, what a haul!) and more pretties that I was dying for than I could have hoped.

To begin, I'll point out that this blog is in early, early stages. It's my first blog, my first time photographing nails/polishes, and it's bound to start bumpy. But start it will, and continue I must! Of course, any helpful hints tips and advice is welcomed fully.

To learn more about me and my polish, I'll add to the "About Me" page.

To learn who inspired me, I'm going to add a page "Nail Blogs I love". Check those out for some seriously fantastic blogs!

In all honesty, I wanted my first blog to be a food blog, as I spend most of my time cooking or in the kitchen cleaning. Look for my food blog (Lavish Noms) in the future if you are a foodie as well!

As a final, my nails are never going to be very long. I use my hands a lot (fashion design minor, cooking three meals a day, doing dishes constantly, etc) and my nails take the beating most.

To give you an example, I'll post a (totally icky) nail polish free pic of my nails later. But for now, have some images I took with my iPhone of this weeks crazy haul!

These are the ones I just picked up at my local Fred Meyers ( I think that's a west coast store? idk I never see any in Oklahoma) on Monday. Nothing special, from left to right the brands are Milani, Wet n Wild, Color Club, Revlon, Essence, L.A. Splash, and Sinful.

My excuse for those is that I got several As on my tests the previous week. So... I rewarded myself with some excitement xD

Little did I know that in the mail, on its way were these pretties!!

So from left to right that's Hits multichromes, a little bottle of Glitter Gal, the new Finger Paints flakies collection, and some flakies from Hits on the right end.

Not pictured (because they got delayed a day or so) is Color Club's Revvolution and Nubar 2010. 

Glorious cuticles batman that's some serious polish!! I couldn't stop squeeing as I opened each wrapping. So very very excited! Also, that's my roomate's legs in the back of the picture. She also got a package but was more interested in the sparklies I was getting ^_^ 

So I'm already started swatching, but the new pictures will be taken with a point and click, not my iPhone (ick) nor my Canon Rebel XSI (which I left back with my parents.... darn it all).

If you have any comments, feel free to tell me! Or advice on the best way to post pictures to a blog... it took me the better part of a day to get these poopy ones set up D:

<3 and sunshine to all!

-Natural Log