Recent Nail looks

Good morning, loves!

I have been having a lovely "weekend" so far. Matt surprised me with a bunch of goodies that are wending their way to my hot little hands. I will be receiving a new bikini, an 18 piece fauxnad plate set and the Coraline "B" kit.
Woo-hoo! Tonight, we're going to see the roller derby with our friends. Gonna be good times!

In the meantime, I have a couple of looks for you. One being nail art and the other yet another of my layering experiments.

First up:

Orly Dazzle base

China Glaze Nova on thumb through ring

China Glaze Atlantis on pinkie

This was last weekend's mani and more proof that I am not immune to my fellow blogger's influence. Lisa showed it not too long ago and I had to have it!!! (You know how I love silver polish!) Seriously, it is the amaze. I need to give you a proper swatching and review because it is awesome on its own.

Anyway, this look was on my second day of wearing it and since it was sunny, I wanted it to be even more flashy! This was done with Nailene French pedicure guides and with only about 30 minutes before having to be at work. Yay for fast drying polish and Out The Door!

Next up is probably my second favorite ever polish and a little layering!

China Glaze For Audrey as base

L.A. Splash Golden Seahorse layered on top

I adore For Audrey. Maybe it's my love for Ms. Hepburn, maybe it's because it's pretty danged close to Tiffany blue and you just don't see that often on one's nails. I'm not sure why exactly but it makes me so happy. This is yet another refresher mani. I was terribly impressed how well For Audrey stood up after a day of processing shoes. (BTW that is not pleasant. I'm handling used shoes here, people. Cleaning them with harsh cleaner and a magic eraser. On those days I'm washing my hands at least a thousand times. And sometimes I long to wash them in bleach and boiling water.)

I digress. I layered two coats of Golden Seahorse and I was in love. For Audrey was a perfect canvas, besides black, to show off the shimmer in the blue base of this. That and it was gold glitter. Super fun!

This picture was shown after wearing it to work and it too held up pretty nice. Tip wear, yes and minimal chips. But I had an easy day that day, I was just processing furniture! 

What's your favorite way to refresh a manicure? Do you layer or use nail art?

That's it for today. Back to work for me! Thank you for looking and hope you have a weekend that makes you smile!

Mermaids

Good day, loves!

Today I'm bringing you a polish from the Great Sally Haul of '09. (Thanks to those awesome gift cards!!)
Andrea showed this awhile ago as part of a cool konadicure she did and I had to have it! I had no idea how cool this would be! Of course, I am referring to Nina Ultra Pro Mermaid!

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

You do not see the dings on my ring and pinkie.

*End Jedi Mind trick*

Mermaid is such a pretty, soft, slightly minty green. By itself the duochrome is subtle but it really pops when layered over black. Two coats left me with VNL but since it has a milky quality, it's not an issue. To do a full mani of this, I'd opt for four coats. Again, not an issue because this dries quite nicely.

This was such a great find that I knew nothing about. I'm grateful to Andrea for giving me the tip!

What colors have you seen on other blogs, you just had to have? Do any bloggers influence your buying decisions?

That's it for now, loves. I have to finish tackling the pile of laundry known as Mount Lambchop.

This is not the Chicago Bears defensive lineman

Good morning, my loves!

I was tagged by Niki  for the "Show Me Your Fridge" tag.


It was hard to take a picture because my kitchen is truly a one butt affair. I was sitting on the counter trying to get the whole thing in there but it wasn't going to happen.

I really do not like it. It came with the house.

I tend to use the side more for "important" things like my calendar and a copy of my work schedule for Matt.

What I do have is the calendar for garbage pickup, random magnets, ticket stubs for Tesla and Spamalot, a baby picture of my friend, a coupon for gum and bottle openers. (We like beer.) I even have my ancient name tag from Old Navy stuck up there. My fridge is also dirty because I have yet to do the deep clean in the kitchen. The horror! Avert your eyes!

I'm supposed to focus on one thing on my fridge and I think it's the best thing. A picture of my Trixie with her babies at their very first vet appointment in 2008. I'm childless by choice so these are my "babies."

That's Gus's paw on Trixie's belly.

Dita is right next to him.

Their brothers live in California with my sister-in-law.

My vet is awesome and they took pictures for us as well as for Trixie's file. Now when I get a reminder in the mail, Trixie's beautiful face is on the postcard.

So now I have to tag some more people!

Nathalie

Lisa

The lovely ladies of Short 'n Chic

More tags to be coming because Andrea did it hit 'em up style and tagged me too!

That's it for now. Time to do nails and hit the showers!

Have a great day and thank you for looking!

P.S. This is my Friday. I'll be visiting with all you fine people on your blogs tomorrow. I've been slacking on my social obligations! Bad lamb.

Tempest in a...

Good morning, my loves!
Wow, has my week flown by! It's my Thursday and I'm looking forward to my days off. Probably because my arms are so sore from processing furniture. Let me tell you, most of the prefab stuff is not light! The good thing about it is that I gots me some guns and the bikini body will be good to go come March. Damn, I love my job!

Now on to the nail polish! This morning I bring you China Glaze Tempest.

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

I don't know why I did not buy this sooner. My sister picked hers up during a trip with me to Sally to get the Romantique collection. I walked out with Adore and she got this. I played with this back in September and decided I needed my own bottle. I didn't do so until like three weeks ago. Yeah, I suck.

Nonetheless. Tempest is a lovely blurple with slight duochrome. Sometimes it looks more purple that flashes blue and vice versa. It actually Konads okay too. Formula is perfectly in the middle. Not too thick or thin. Color builds very easily and is not chock full of brush stokes.

I'm so glad I finally got this and I think it was worth the wait. What polish do you keep seeing and loving but forget to buy?

That's it for now. I have much to do before work and the sugar cookies I bought last night are calling my name...

Have a wonderful day and hope you all enjoy a special snack today!

I was made for lovin' you...

Good morning, loves.
Today I'm bringing you one of the victims of the picture eating monster!


This is L.A. Girl Disco Brites Retro.

Two coats, no base or top, in the weakest sunlight imaginable.

Last time I posted this, I showed four coats and was a little worried that this would be a no-go for me.

Well, I can tell you it was all operator error. I don't know just what was wrong with me that I couldn't handle applying this but I sucked very much that time. I blame a mix of red wine and exhaustion.

This was great in two coats but three is my usual standard and what I will do again the next time I wear this as a full mani. The color is super bright and cheery and would be a great option for a friend of mine who is an Oregon State Beavers fan. (Blech. BTW, that's our state college athletic rivals. I do not *heart* them.)

The formula is good on this. It's opaque quickly and it goes on well provided you aren't impaired by really, really good Australian Cabernet. The dry time was iffy the first go round but was awesome this time.

It has a lot of shine without top coat and is not quite as neon as my pic would suggest. But it is bright enough to make me happy. The cool thing about this collection is that they all are supposed to glow under a black light.

Do I have pics of this? No. Why? Because I'm a bad friend who couldn't make it to a friend's birthday party.

Seriously, my friend had a "graffiti" themed party. Everyone came in white and drew on one another with pens that glow in black light. And I couldn't be there. Which was too bad because I was all set to wear this and take pics at said party to show you how it glows. So, I fail.

However, I may have a black light bulb hanging around in the Halloween decorations in the garage. I will just have to summon the courage to try and find it. Then I have to not be a LOP and actually take pictures.

Let's hope for the best, shall we?

That's it for today. I'm off to get ready for work!

Have a wonderful day, my friends!

Awake, not awake

Good morning, loves!
I'm back at the grind again and it's gonna be a hefty week! I haven't been up for very long but I wanted to share a post with you before I refresh and redo yesterday's manicure. (Oh, time management...why are we not friends?)

This is China Glaze Awakening and I picked this up not to long ago on one of my Sally binges.

Two coats on index and middle, no base or top with weak sun

Three coats on ring and pinkie.

I saw this swatched on Colette's blog and I had to have it. It's a subtle duochrome that flashes some bronze. It looks really purple in the bottle but it's more of a pinky-mauve on the nail. I was falling in love as I was swatching because it's really pretty and multi-dimensional. It's a great choice for the times I need to look more "girly." (Don't ask. Really. Don't.)  I knew this would be awesome to layer with too.

And I have not been disappointed. I tried it over black and grey already and it looks gorgeous.

That is all I have for now. Time to get myself moving and ready to face the day!

Thank you for looking. Have a wonderful day!

My name is Mighty Lambchop and I am a nail polish addict....

Hello, loves!

I'm bringing a new favorite to you. I love me some vampys though I am very picky about them. (Hmm...a constant refrain around here.) But what I will be showing you has captured my heart so much that I had to buy one for Nicole! It truly is that lovely.

L.A. Girls Rock star Addict

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Oh man, this is gorgeous! A beautiful deep red jelly with gold glitter! I get my best results with three coats because it darkens with each coat and looks stunning.

The formula is great. No streaks, no drag and dries very nicely. And it has such a lovely shine even before adding top coat. *swoon*

Of course I cannot leave well enough alone. So I used matte top coat over it just to see what it might look like.

Same as before with one coat of Matte Magic!

This picture really needs to be clicked on to enlarge to see the glitter. I love textures that you see when you matte glitters but I was really impressed by how the color itself looked with the matte coat. Pretty...

 Have you tried this brand and/or this particular collection? What's your favorite of them? 

Hope you have a great weekend!

Crazy bout the craze

Hello, loves!

Today I'm showing you one you've seen before but I finally was able to pick up for myself.

Wet n' Wild Craze Inferno

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Wet n' Wild really hit one out of the park with this collection. The formula is simply wonderful. It flows nice, does not pool at the cuticle, dries quick and really only needs two coats.

I'm really impressed with the improvements they made on packaging. It's such a cute little bottle and the graphics on the cap are great. I appreciate that they've taken the opportunity to revamp. It makes a drugstore brand much more lust worthy and brings a certain sophistication.

I have plans for this little number with Konad. However, it may be a little while before I can show it to you because I'm hunting down a certain plate. Let me just say it will definitely a Moonspell inspired mani!

That's it for now, my loves! Today is the beginning of my week and it's going to be a busy one!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend...

Who's lazy? Oh, right, it's me.

Good day, loves!

So I'm a big, lazy lump. I won a set of the OPI Tiny Tinsel minis from Deb and I never got around to swatching them. I'm a jerk. Seriously. Today I'm showing them off because I really hate being behind.

Silver Belles

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Loved this but I love silver and gold polishes. This applied nice and without brush strokes. Don't like that it feels a little gritty but hey, top coat always fixes that!

Amethyst Twist

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Don't mind the ding on pinkie. 

My absolute favorite of the bunch. What a gorgeous purple! I was bowled over that this was good to go in two coats. I average three on almost all of my polishes but that's just how I do. I wanted a pretty, glimmery purple like this and I'm so happy to have it!

Berried in Gifts

Two coats, no base or top, weak sun

I was surprised by how much I liked this. I'm so picky about reds and berries. This was just really pretty and shiny. It made me happy every time I would catch sight of my hands.

SUN!!!

I had to take this one because the sun shining through was a glorious golden bronze and it really made this glow. And I liked how it lit up my living room wall. (That was one labor intensive paint job in the living room but it paid off nicely.)

That's it for now! I am off to work on scheduling some posts and then swatching in the sun. I don't know how long it will last today before the rain comes back!

Enjoy your day!

Roll tide?

 Good morning, my loves!

 Today I am doing a proper swatch of L.A. Splash Crimson Tide for you as well as a little layering experiment.
(As requested by the lovely and amazing Lisa.)

I'm doing this again because I used Crimson Tide as a Xmas mani. Which itself was a special request from Matt. It came out awesome and what's really funny is that my boss liked it. He actually grabbed my hands to show the assistant to the director of retail sales when she came to our Xmas party.
I have a kind of shot of it when Matt took a picture of the necklace he bought me.

I used some of the Nailene decals I received with my holiday card from them

and I had to add a little Konad. It was fun and I was just in love with the color. I know, surprise, right? Anyway, Google ate a few of my pictures and so I'm finding myself having to reswatch what disappeared.

Two coats, no base or top, weak sun

Same as above but indoor light.

This is a deep red jelly with red and gold glitter. It dries insanely quick so I found that it was going on streaky and becoming tacky on the brush. The trick is to just lay it on thick and quick. Once dry it is bumpy and lumpy but two coats of top coat smooths it all out. It's a little muted without top coat so I highly recommend topping it off  to truly showcase this beauty.

I am crazy in love with this and I'm so glad I took a chance. I'm not a huge fan of the application issues but the quick dry makes up for it.

Now for the layering.

Two coats of Golden Seahorse and Crimson tide over Wet n' Wild black creme on index and middle.

Two coats of same over Nailene French white.

Golden Seahorse looked amazing over black. The blue deepens and the gold glitter really shines. Crimson Tide over black is much like ChG Ruby Pumps over black. Gorgeous but nothing transformative. I did not heart Golden Seahorse over white except that it allowed the gold glitter to pop. I did, however, love Crimson Tide over the white. Mmm...jelly!

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the layering. What layering experiment have you tried that you adored? What layering was just a hot, hot mess?

Thank you for looking. Hope the day is treating you well!

Pic Spam

Good day, loves!

I have some random pic spam for you full of Konad and layering experiments.

Wet n' Wild Black Creme

Nailene French White on ring

Zoya Purity for dots

Plate m4

I just wanted a black and white mani and I decided to use an image that I had not tried before. I'm really thrilled with how it came out!

Wet n' Wild Black creme base

NYX Puprle Ave on index

Sinful Coco Diamond on middle

NYX Blue Ave on ring

L.A. Girl Rockstar Crowd Surfing on pinkie

Wet n' Wild Black Creme base

China Glaze Awakening on index

Orly Fantasea on middle

Sinful Serena and Chloe on ring

Nina Ultra Pro in Mermaid

Diamond Cosmetics Matte smoke base

Sinful Coco Diamond on index

Orly Fifty-four on middle

Orly Fantasea on ring

China Glaze Awakening on pinkie

China Glaze Dorothy Who?

Middle and pinkie topped with Diamond Cosmetics matte top coat

China Glaze Millennium on index and ring

plate m15

That's just a little taste of what I've been up to over my last couple of "weekends." I sure had fun doing these looks!

Thank you for looking and hope you have a lovely evening!

Orly Week - An extravaganza

Good morning, loves!

Today is the end of Orly week and I've much to show you.

I have the last of the Metal Chic matte collection for you starting with Solid Gold.

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Formula on all of the Orly mattes are brilliant. The metallics are especially nice because they look really thick but flow so smoothly.  Solid Gold has great shimmer that keeps it from being a boring flat gold. What makes it so interesting is the textured, stone-like appearance it has on the nail. That alone makes this collection a knockout!

 Next up is Fifty-four.  And my terribly stained nails. It's pretty rare I wear something so sheer that I need to worry about trying to whiten my nails. So, yeah.

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

It was hard to photograph but this actually shows up quite well on the nail. The pink microglitter has a duochrome quality that flashes red and bronze. It's an amazing layering item and I was surprised how well it layered over cool colors and warm. Love each Other, the companion to this, really looks its best over darker, cool colors. Fifty-four worked so well on lighter colors and that was a pleasant surprise.

Finally, we have two favorites appearing together. (Because I realized that their solo pics were some of the ones eaten by Google. Bah!) Orly Glam Rock and Enchanted Forest are two I love and I plan on doing a sweet konadicure because these really need to be rocked together!

Two coats over Nailtek Foundation II, indoor light.

Oh, Glam Rock...I love you. You are so pretty! I love the speckled, stone texture. Good for Orly for choosing a copper rather than a silver or a bronze for this collection. This was the one I had to have immediately upon seeing it for the first time. It is the hotness! Maybe I'm the only one here but the name alone makes me think of David Bowie and I have to start listening to Ziggy Stardust.

Enchanted Forest was one of the must haves of the Once Upon A Time collection and I'm so glad I got it. (On another note, how awesome was Orly's marketing for that collection? Loved the fairy tale theme and just what they did with it.) Of the dark greens that were released at that time, Enchanted Forest is by far the best I purchased. I have Zoya Envy and I love its blackened green but this is exactly what I wanted in a dark green.

Enchanted Forest is a wonderful creme that applies like a dream and has so much shine without top coat.

This has been great option for my Duck Day manis and looks suer awesome with Konad.

There it is my loves! I have a Sally coupon to use which I'm certain will mean I'll be bringing more Orly home with me.  Who will be picking up the Bloom collection and the Sweet collection? Do you prefer one over the other?

Hope you enjoyed this and it reminded you what a great brand Orly is.

 

Thank you for looking and hope the day goes well for you!

Orly Week - Iron Butterfly

Good day, loves!
We have another installment of Orly week and this is another of their amazing mattes!

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light.

I'm very picky about black polish. (I know, weird, right?) I have to have something that truly captures my interest. Iron Butterfly totally caught my attention and wouldn't let go. Nothing like a matte black with silver glitter!

So let's go over the specs:

Formula is top notch. Flows evenly on the nail, easy to control and not prone to brush strokes. Dries fast but does not get tacky on brush or while applying.

Opaque in one with a thick coat, two are best for to ensure total coverage. Wear on this was not as good for me as with Glam Rock (which has its own post to come!) but I wasn't upset by this. Just something I expect when wearing a matte. Then again, I did wear this to work and my experiences are never typical. 20% of my day is paperwork and 80% is running, running and running. I am truly rough on my hands and nails!

Seriously, I have mattes from different brands and I own three bottles of matte top coat and I love them. But Orly has honestly done this trend right and so well that I don't want to use anything else. The color is just hot and it's ridiculously easy to apply and go. Love that. It will def make a great canvas for snazzy Konad!

I did not try top coat over this because I was much too in love with how it is. I will eventually try it but today was not the day!

So, who's ready for matte to die and pastels to rule? What kind of thing do you want to see next from polish companies?

Thank you for stopping by. Hope the weekend is fun and filed with delights!

Orly Week - Green With Envy

God morning, loves!
My weekend is over and it's back to work for me. Today I'm bringing another installment of  Orly goodness.

Three coats, no base or top, indoor light

Green With Envy is a color I had been eyeballing for awhile but didn't get because I was sidetracked by getting my hands on some other Orly shades. This is a lovely blue based green.

It totally makes me think of summer and this may be one color I will have to sport while in Cancun.

Formula is great but I was surprised that the first coat applied sheer. I really shouldn't be since I own Mint Mojito and that applies sheer on first coat as well. Three coats are definitely needed but color builds quickly and dries very fast. I love how shiny it is even without top coat! This is a great addition to my range of greens and I'm so relieved I finally picked it up. Now I just have to make a list of more Orlys to buy and focus on that when my no-buy is over! ;)

As always, I am grateful for you coming by. I hope the day treats you well!

Orly Week - Fantasea

Good day all! I'm slowly climbing out of my box of sadness and getting back into the game.
Today I'm continuing my showcase of the hotness of Orly.

Two coats, base or top, indoor light

This is a gorgeous color. I love the purple and that it flashes pink but it's much more than that. It has a golden bronze tone that flashes and makes it so much more interesting.

You definitely want to apply three coats for best color result. The good thing is that the formula is superb and it dries so quickly. There is not a lot of wait time between coats to build color. There will still be VNL with three coats but even I can live with that!

Angled to show golden flash

Fantasea is amazing for layering too. I loved it over Purple Velvet that I showed in my last Orly post. I tried it over another color that I can't tell you about yet but it looked super hot! It also showcased its golden bronze tones. I can't wait to try this over both black and white polish!

So, if you have no Orly in your stash, perhaps you'll rethink. I cannot rave about this brand enough!

That's what I have now. Thank you for looking and being the lovely, generous people you are! Love to each and every one of you.

This about sums it up.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Orly Week!

Good day, loves!

I decided to do a theme week (of sorts) and highlight my recent Orly haul. I am a huge fan of Orly. They offer some great colors and the dry time is exceptional. I'm so excited for their new Spring collections and can't wait to get my hand son them!

Today I'm bringing you another of their mattes from the Matte Couture collection.

Purple Velvet

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

 I said before when I showed Blue Suede that Orly got the matte trend right. This is a rich shade of purple that is not at all chalky. This applied beautifully and of course it dried amazingly quick. The formula is fluid and not thick or gloppy. I didn't find that I needed to work extra quick or had any issues with coverage.

This is becoming my most favorite of my matte cremes mainly because it's a shade of purple I've been wanting for so long!

 I couldn't help it but I had to do some layering experiments with it and I am truly impressed!

Left to right:

NYX Purple Ave

Orly Fifty-four

Orly Fantasea

NYX Blue Avenue

Simply gorgeous! I am especially in love with Fantasea over this. I definitely will be trying some more layering with this because it makes for an awesome base for glitters, flakies and duochromes.

That's all I have for now. Thank you for looking! Hope the day finds you in good spirits!

Happy, Happy!

Good morning loves! I was tagged by Cindy and Nicole for this tag. The idea is to list ten things that make you happy. I have a hard time narrowing down to ten but I will simply have to try!

1. My husband - Matt is an amazing man. Even when I am annoyed with him, I only want to be with him. He truly owns my heart.

2. My sister - She is so lovely. Warm, bubbly, sweet and the best sister one could hope for. She is also my only offline person who shares my passion for makeup and nail polish. (We can spend HOURS browsing makeup.) I admire her so much and I have walked away from people that didn't like her. (That's just crazy if you don't like her.) I will always be there for her and take care of her.

3. My besties - I have a great group of women that I spend most of my time with that have become family.
Pixie and Sugar Mama are my two closest that I talk to all the time and hang out with as much as possible. (Which is hard since Pixie lives in Seattle but I go there at least twice a year to be with her.) Kim is one of my  coffee date besties and she rocks my socks. She is so funny and so warm and loving. She just took to me since day one and I'm grateful to know her.
Finally, there's Chris. She's my bestie from high school that I reconnected with on Facebook and we've simply picked up where we left off. It is amazing and I am so grateful to have this opportunity.

4. My kitties and my dearly departed dogs - Trixie, Gus and Dita are the best cats EVER. Trixie healed my broken heart when she came to be with me and I treasure her. I still mourn the loss of my Copper and Daisy.
Matt had them when we met and they were our babies. Daisy was my buddy and Copper was Matt's. They were such wonderful dogs and I cherish that I was able to share a life with them.

5. Music - Metal truly speaks to me. Moonspell, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, Death and Slayer are my absolute favorites. (I cheated here. Naming Deep Purple and Black Sabbath actually covers a lot of bands. Like, Dio. Check out their "family tree" sometime and you'll see what I mean.)
That said, my other favorites are :
Social Distortion  - Their music soothes my occasional homesickness for Orange County, CA. They are also the second most seen in concert act on my list.
Prince - Do I really need to explain?
Sam Cooke - He was amazing. He wasn't just a singer but a producer, songwriter and composer.
Depeche Mode - Of course I love them. And I would still like to make out with Dave Gahan.
Lady Gaga - She's brilliant. Simply brilliant.
I also have this thing for melodramatic ballads. So there is more Air Supply on my ipod than is allowed by law.  Finally, I adore Flamenco. That's good stuff for the sexy times right there.

6. Makeup and nail polish - Because I love color so much. I love how it can change your mood and I love customizing my look for special occasions.

7. The library - I love reading. I actually thought about becoming a librarian but I realized I'm much more business oriented. Nonetheless, I think librarians are rock stars. Research is the hotness.

8. Sports - You know how I love my Ducks! I love, love football, baseball and hockey. That's my big three.
My favorites?
NFL: San Francisco 49ers
MLB: Anaheim Angels
NHL: L.A. Kings
(I have no regional allegiances. Not at all.)
I also love my Nebraska Cornhuskers football. I don't know what I will do if the Ducks ever play them. My head may explode.

9. My job - No lie. I love the people I work with, I love what we accomplish and I love knowing that we are doing good things for our community. This job was the opportunity I was looking for to prove myself and use the skills I've acquired. I'm grateful to my boss for taking a chance on me and believing in me.

10. YOU - Yes, you my friends. You guys are amazing. How could I ever get through a day without you?

Thank you for stopping by. I am to tag ten more people but I just don't want anyone to be left out. So feel free to join in and don't hesitate to let people know that Mighty Lambchop said so!

Hope everyone has a good day filled with love.

Some housekeeping and catching up

Good morning loves!

Just a quick entry for today. I have a new work schedule that is taking some getting used to right now and it's been a very good week for business! (YAY!!) But, I'm longing for my vacation...especially since my boss is on his!

In other news, my wisdom teeth surgery went fine. I didn't hurt a whole lot thanks to having the best dentist ever. I was lucky and didn't need stitches so my recovery is faster than average. I just miss brushing my teeth. I have another week before I can. Let me tell you, rinsing with salt water is no substitute. The good news is I floss like a maniac!
The truly sad part of this for me was the first day it was done. Gus and Trixie wouldn't come near me when I came home! I was a drooling, bloody mess and they were frightened of me. Gus eventually made up with me that night but Trixie didn't until the next morning. Just when I needed my kitties to lift my spirits!

I have a request for you. My friend, Kim, just started a new blog chronicling her weight loss journey with a medically supervised program. She's nervous about it, blogging and becoming healthier. Would you mind stopping by and saying hello? She's an amazing woman with a great sense of humour. I'm very proud of her and want to support her every step of the way.
http://butter-flygirl.blogspot.com/


Finally, I leave you with at least one nail polish picture!

Sinful Colors Coco Diamond

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Markdown!!

Yep. I picked up one of Sinful's TWO Coco Diamonds. Frankly, I got the more interesting one. I don't so much care for the brown version. This was sitting by itself at the gift set display at Fred Meyer right before Xmas and it was marked down to $1.57. I could not resist!

I love the blue, grey and brown tones as well as the teensy blue glitter. This dried faster than most of my Sinfuls and was acceptable in three coats. I'll probably use it more for layering because I tried it over Essie Chinchilly and it was pretty hot!

Thank you for looking! Hope everybody has a wonderful week!

Glittering in the ocean

Good morning loves!

Today I'm bringing you the other L.A. Splash I received from Cherry Culture. (I will have to re-swatch Crimson Tide since Google ate my picture.)

Golden Seahorse

No base or top coat, indoor light, two coats

This was a big surprise for me. I didn't realize that this would be a chunky glitter. I'm not sure why.

Anyway. This is a lovely light blue that applies sheer. Color builds quickly and the gold glitter is chunky but disperses pretty evenly over the nail.

You need to work very quickly with this because it dries fast. So fast that it becomes a bit tacky on the brush during application. I love a polish that dries fast but this was a challenge!

I found it best to load the brush with a large amount and almost mop it on. This helps avoid bald spots like the one seen at the tip of my ring finger. The good thing is that you don't have to wait forever to dry despite adding a thick coat.!

It will dry gritty and bumpy but I found that two coats of Out The Door smooths things out well.

That is what I have for you now, lovelies. Today is my Tuesday and it will be a busy week! Hope you have a relaxing weekend and everybody keeps warm!

Old Navy Goodness

Good day loves!

Today I'm bringing you the only polish I picked up from Old Navy. This is Tip Toe polish in Gold Rush. It is a stunner!

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light.

Gold Rush is such a cool color. first coat shows a pretty blue toned purple loaded with gold shimmer. It is rather sheer but it builds up quickly and very nicely. Three coats is best. As you build, the color takes on a browned out gold. Quite the color!
No problems with the brush and this flowed on the nail like butter.
I picked this up for $3.50. Me like the price. There were lots of colors but this was the only one that appealed to me. Not sure how long they will be offering polish, could have been a holiday gift item.

Now, this is where I get more into my personal history. I mentioned that I worked there for five years. When I first started, they offered polish but it was horrible! It smelled REALLY bad, applied like crap and chipped like mad. The only plus about them was the bottle shape. Kinda reminiscent of the old Urban Decay bottles and somewhat like the no name polishes at Hot Topic.
They were awful and they never brought them back.

The Nave has always tried to offer some kind of bodycare, cosmetics, whatnot with mixed results. They had teamed up with Kiss My Face one year at holiday and launched a bodycare line. (That was really lovely and smelled pretty dang good.) However, they got into some legal trouble over it and next thing I know, I'm tearing down the display and having to drastically mark down the product. Like for a quarter. Yeah.
Since I've left, they've had some holiday gift cosmetics and fragrances but my homies that are still there reported to me that they were no bueno. Eventually they mark it all down ridiculously cheap and hope it just gets stolen by teenage girls.
Oy.

So, the Tip Toe polish is a really nice departure and I hope they make it a core part of the line. I would happily go to my old store again to buy more. (And I only shop the Nave online because I can't handle being in that store now. I spent WAAAY too much time there as is!)

Thanks so much for looking. Hope you are having a tranquil day!

My Storage, let me show you them again.

Today's meme seems to be about nail polish storage. Thanks to China Glaze asking to see pics on Twitter and Facebook! I showed you all what I had going on way back in September. This is what I have going on now.

Extra large Caboodles train case that cannot fit all of my polishes.

Pretty much since the day I bought it.

This is every polish I own.

My sister gave me this case. It holds treatments, tools, lotions, etc.

The other side is housing nail tips and two acrylic kits.

I haven't decided what to do with the acrylics yet.

This is a cabinet on my buffet. We got polish remover, pads and foil.

Quite the transition in such a short time, no? Eventually, I 'll be needing more! I'm thinking I will end up taking over the entire buffet. We use it more as a decorative piece and some storage but since the office is all cleaned out now, I can move the extra A/V stuffs in there. ;) I certainly am evil!

Nailene French Manicure Kit

****DISCLAIMER****
This post highlights a product that was sent to me by Nailene for review.
The opinions therein are my own and not paid for.

The kit with traditional French polish colors and top coat.

Shown with white tips and one coat polish.

White tips with two coats polish.

The finished result with top coat!

Good day loves!  Today I'm showing the French manicure kit Nailene sent me to review.
This kit is thoughtfully put together with two traditional French mani colors, top coat and tip guides.

Now on to the real deal:

The tip guides require a little practice for placement and alignment. Your nails MUST be prepped and clean before placing the guides or they will not stick well. The overlap of smile line on my nails is because the guides lifted while I was waiting for the white polish to try. I thought I had my nails fully prepped but not so much. Bad Lamb!

The white polish dries very quickly and with a satiny finish. Application was quick and easy but brush control is key or the tips will look much too thick. The peachy polish has a thin and watery consistency but does not pool or drag. Like any sheer, it does streak but it seems to level itself . That was a nice surprise!
This too dries with a satiny finish and very quickly.

The box recommends applying two coats of the peach and I did that. However, I didn't care for the results. It made the already thick smile lines look even thicker. The streakiness was even worse with a second coat but that was more operator error than anything. I did like that it made the smile line less vibrant and more creamy.

The top coat provided has a consistency similar to beloved Out The Door. Not too thick or too thin. It leveled out a small ding on my index and dried within a minute. It offers a nice shine but it's not a high gloss at all. Which may be a good thing if one is going for a nice, traditional French.


Final thoughts:

I really like this kit. It's great for the novice since it includes tip guides. My personal application of the sheer polish needs some work but I don't think that should dissuade a newbie for trying it out. Personally, I would use all of the elements in different ways rather than together. That said, it is nice to have all elements in one kit for ease of use and access.


The French Manicure kit can be purchased at Walmart, Kmart, and CVS.

Thank you for looking! Hoping the day finds you warm and loved!