Workplace appropriateness

Today I bring you China Glaze Fifth Avenue. This was shown recently and I'm a jerk for not remembering who it was. :( Anyway, I decided to go with something work safe today.
I bought this when I was out of work and was getting ready to interview. I decided on this because it still gave me color and when I wasn't interviewing anymore, I could always layer over it with something cool.
I suppose everyone needs some neutrals in their stash, right?

Two coats in full sun

I was happy with the result and I do like the color but it is a little boring. So I had to do more.

One coat of Nina Ultra Pro Molten Gold

The Ninas are simply awesome. I love the berry tones it gives Fifth Avenue and the gold flash is mesmerizing.

This still keeps the manicure work safe but adds some much needed flash.

Now to plan a snazzy manicure for Thanksgiving...

Thank you for looking and see you again tomorrow!

Duck Day Mani

Good morning!

So this is my Duck Day mani from this weekend. It was a simple and easy one since I really had limited time.

I used Sinful San Francisco for my base on index through pinkie and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening on thumb. The green banner is stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Jumpin' Jade, the black is Wet n' Wild Black Creme and the White is Konad Special Polish. I used Lightening to stamp the banner over the green but again, this didn't pop much. I also changed the alignment of the stamp for my green nails and they kind of looked like flames. The banner image comes from plate m4.
I was most pleased with this and how quickly it all came together. If I could say that for the game. It was a killer! It was a nail biting overtime victory and that's too much suspense for me! Good thing I don't bite my nails or I'd really be in trouble!

That's it for now, my friends. I hope you enjoy your day!

NOTD

Today's nails are Wet n' Wild Black creme layered with Nina Ultra Pro Molten Copper. It was hard to capture all of its dimensions. Molten Copper can look  like a dark purple foil that flashes golden olive green and teal. Depending on the angle, it is reminiscent of peacock feathers.

I have nearly collected all of the Nina moltens. I thought this was the last but then I found Molten Opal.  I must have it! It looks similar to China Glaze Rainbow in bottle but we'll see how it is in real life.

From Nails

From Nails

From Nails

I will soon have pics from my latest haul to show you. I did pretty awesome considering I had less than 20 bucks to spend. Stay tuned! Duck Day mani to come soon as well.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your Sunday!

Island dreaming

It's official. I am over Autumn and have decided to skip Winter. Probably because I am seriously planning another trip to Cancun. We could definitely use it! (BTW, Matt and me are taking vitamin D supplements and it is really helping.) I dream about this often:

Oh hells yes, y'all.

So I decided to swatch one of my favorite blues for you today.

Two coats, hardly any sun

This is Orly Calypso Breeze from the Tiki Time collection. I only have this in a mini size but I need the full size.

As usual, Orly is amazing. One thicker coat is opaque and it dries super fast. The shine factor isn't too bad considering Orly cremes dry with a satin finish. I have played with this for Konad and it's a winner. Orly is one of my absolute favorites to Konad with.

What a pretty blue!

Calypso Breeze is a truly season-less color but man, does it make me miss Cancun. What can I say? I was meant to be an island girl!

Thank you for looking and here's hoping your morning treats you well!

Give me glitz

I have mentioned time and again that I am a sucker for metallic polishes. I love golds, silvers, bronzes and coppers. Which is funny since I only wear white gold and sterling silver jewelry. Go figure.
Last winter the Flourish collection was released and I HAD to have Richelle.

Two coats, failing sun

Richelle is a unique gold. It has some bronze-y and rose tones but it still is definitely gold. This is a great option for anyone who shies away from yellow golds. This requires three coats for full coverage and really doesn't show much brush stroke unlike other metallics.  My only complaint is that I get these weird little clumps of polish somewhere on the nail. Now, this has been doing that ever since I brought it home and used it for the first time. It is really weird. Anyone have any ideas?

Snatching the last of the sun

This wears really well. I wore this for three days with minimal tip wear and a few chips and this was without the Color Lock System. If using the Color Lock System, this should wear a little longer. Provided you are not digging through giant boxes of smelly, donated shoes or building fake Xmas trees. Just sayin' is all.

As always, I thank you for coming by. Enjoy your evening!

Sweetness

Good day!

Today I bring you a lovely Zoya polish that I bought ONLY because of its name.

Zoya Dita!

Two coats in failing sun

I'm not much for reds, pinks and berries but I do have a few. Dita was a pleasant surprise for me. I didn't think I would like it but I wound up loving it! It just cheers me so.

The formula is awesome as ever. Three coats would be a must for full coverage because two still shows VNL. This dried quick and stayed shiny and glossy. I had no issues with staining when I went to remove it which was a relief. That's one reason why I dislike wearing reds or berries!

As I mentioned, I bought this because of the name. This is my little Dita:

Dita the tiger eating Auntie's hair.

(I don't understand why she does this but she loves it.)

Looks like a cocktail for the nails!

Thank you for looking! I have some more things coming up and a little surprise.

Now it's off to Sally, Rite-Aid and Dollar Tree for more polish!

Where I been and Duck day mani

Friday was a special day with much rejoicing.
It was my sister's birthday and we took her out to our favorite bar to celebrate.

Left to right:

Matt, my sister, me

Our bestie, Edica

Our other bestie, Nae and Nae's boyfriend, Chris

We had a super good time and it was a nice way to start my week.

Now on to the Duck Day mani.

I received my China Glaze Loves You Snow Much set on Friday and I knew I would have to use it right away. I was rocking Zoya Harley on Friday and I really did not want to remove it.

My first step was to apply a thin coat of Five Golden rings over Harley.

It was pretty.

Then it was time to break out the Konad and the dotting tool and have some fun. The gold was a little luxe so I wanted to roll with the rich feeling and I chose the fleur de lis pattern from plate m15. That one has always been a headache for me because it refused to transfer properly. I took Sasse's tiep to lightly file the image and that worked for me.

 

Dots are China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Zoya Goldie

Images are Emerald Sparkle and Goldie

I love how this turned out. The gold stamp was really subtle but it was so pretty. Emerald Sparkle stamps well and it's sparkles really popped in bright light. However, Emerald Sparkle is much too pretty for something like this. It is best to be shown in all its glory. Which is to come...soon!

Thank you for looking!

China Glaze Recycle

Last winter I was crazy about grey. I had great makeup in grey but no nail polish. I was hunting high and low and all I found was polish waay out of my price range at the time. (I was saving for Cancun then too! Guess that will be my winter getaway destination from now on!)

Since I was pretty new to China Glaze, I did not know they had a grey creme until I saw Recycle on All Lacquered Up. I immediately rushed to Sally to find only disappointment. They did not have it! Which is a constant refrain about the Sally's here in town. Thank bob for e-tailers! I finally got my hands on this when I placed an order with Transdesign.

Recycle fulfills all of the lemmings I had. I didn't want it too dark and certainly not too light.

Three coats full sun

Recycle turned out to be the perfect middle ground for me. It's fully opaque in three coats and dries fairly quick and with plenty of shine. I love wearing this when I want something edgy but I'm not feeling black.

Imagine the possibilities...

I knew this was going to be a great choice to have some cool sheers and glitters layered over and I'm looking forward to doing some Konad with it. (I haven't because I have an idea for it and I need some more supplies!)

I did not hesitate to do some layering experiments last week  and I'm pleased as punch!

From left to right:

Pumpkin Holo

OPI Brand New Skates

Haken Blue Crush

China Glaze Fairy Dust

Fairy Dust is just awesome. Blue Crush is such a winner, it's so gorgeous on its own and it looks so neat layered over so many colors. BNS over this deepens the gray and is a good idea for those that don't like its sheerness.

Left to right:

Sally Girl It's SoU

Hard Candy Mr. Wrong

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Gold

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Ruby

It's So U's blue sparkle pops on darker bases and I love the way it twinkles.

I threw Mr. Wrong on there on a whim and it's ok. I would like it better if I had applied it better.

Molten Gold never fails to please me. I really love how the pink shines here and it definitely deepens the gold. (Which I could not accurately photograph!)

Molten Ruby looked really snazzy in person. I especially like how it makes the red richer and the grey adds a great dimension. I will definitely wear this combo as a full mani!

Thanks for looking!

Curry Duck Day Mani

Good morning!
Happy day! I went to the Sephora inside J.C. Penney last night with my sisters and had soo much fun! It is amazing how makeup and nail polish can change your mood. Anyway, I walked out with my first ever Urban Decay shadow palette and I am crazy in love!
I will also be picking up some more polish this weekend so I will be having plenty to show you.

What we have today is last week's Duck Day mani. I like how it turned out but it was rather subtle. I kinda knew that the Ducks would fall to Stanford so this mani was not nearly as exuberant.

New York Summer Amaranth

Orly Love Each Other

Wet n' Wild Shield

Zoya Goldie

China Glaze Medallion

Konad Image plate m21

A rare picture of righty.

I did not stamp the full flower design on plate m21. I just used the head of the flower because it looked more like a coin in the metallics. Then I used a dotting tool to place dots of Medallion around and in the center of the flowers.

I think my right hand came out way better than my left. That rarely happens! As I was applying this, I noticed that it evoked the kind of embroidery found in Indian textiles. That gives me inspiration to try this again with some other colors. I can't wait to do that!

Thank you for looking and enjoy your morning!

Hello!

It's been awhile, huh? I'm sorry to say that this is the time of the year that my life becomes a nasty, vomit inducing roller coaster ride. I have nail pics and plans for some haul and that will come...eventually.
So if you'll indulge me, I'd like to take this moment for a little ranting.

Work

Ahh, retail. I hate you from November to January. The holidays truly blow and it is no different in non-profit retail. I've been up to my eyeballs in Xmas since September. I've built fake trees, strung lights, arranged figurines, cut myself on broken ornaments, tagged and hung up ugly sweaters. I've sorted through tangles of cheesy Xmas jewelry, merchandised scarves and gloves, collected vacation requests and written people up. I am exhausted and the holiday season has not yet begun. To top it all off, I have a four hour management training session to attend next Wednesday. My day off. My choice was to leave four hours early one day next week or get paid four hours of overtime. I took the overtime. I have nail polish to buy!!
But I do not look forward to this. There will be buzzwords, role playing and group studies. Oy. That is one part of my job I despise.

Husband

Right now, Matt is in Las Vegas again for another training seminar. I'm glad he's gone ONLY because of his seasonal affective disorder. He is nearly impossible to live with this time of year. Nothing pleases him and he is always angry. I'm hoping this trip will recharge his batteries for a week and that he will enjoy the lovely Vitamin D supplements I bought us. I need to find him a hobby that's cheap so we can save more money for another trip to Cancun. Because I do not want to smother my husband in his sleep.

The Holidays

I do not look forward to this. At all. Frankly, it is much too depressing to tell you all about it.

I think I've done as much damage as I can. Bear with me, guys. I'll have happier stuff later on. I promise.