There's disco in the air and hairspray everywhere...

Good morning!
Since Ange has been on a holo kick, I needed some blingy goodness myself. (She's such a bad influence!!)
Thus, today's feature is a fan favorite, Diamond Chainmail Charm.

Three coats, no base or top in sun

Holy bats is this pretty! It's the closest I can get to good MPJ without spending a small fortune. I like this better than Revvolution from Color Club, it seems more holo goodness to me.

Not much to say about formula because I think pretty much everyone knows by now. No trouble applying and of all the Diamond colors I own, this dries the fastest. Which is probably my only complaint with Diamond. And that's not much of a complaint.

Glitzy...

So who has original MPJ? Do you think this is a reasonable dupe?

Thank you for looking and hope the week ends on a high note for you! 

P.S. Tomorrow, I will be showing the extra special birthday nails. I appreciate everybody's feedback, you definitely helped settle the matter! ;)

Red as the veins she likes to swim in

Good day!
I am finally bringing you the last of my Del Sol haul from Cancun.

Del Sol Ruby Slipper

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Initially, this is a simple silver glitter in a clear base. Which is a go to for me when I do not have time to do a proper manicure. The formula is excellent and dries super, duper quick!

Of course, the magic happens in the sun...

Two coats, no base or top in full sun

This becomes a sweet, rosy red jelly with lovely silver sparkle. With more coats you will get a deeper red but it's still sheer. It's so much fun to play with and I knew it would look pretty sweet layered over something so I did. While in Cancun, I had to wear the Maybelline Colorama I picked up and I eventually layered Ruby Slipper over. The picture is not the best because I had to teach my sister how to use the macro feature on the camera.

Clicky to make bigger!

(Yep. You've seen this before. Taken at the Cenote gardens on the way to Chichen Itza.)

Ruby Slipper actually deepened the red and gave it some seriously nice sparkle. I think this is actually my favorite of all the Del Sols I bought. I wore it last Sunday because I had major fail with a China Glaze and I could not bring myself to rock it. So I removed it and slapped this on. It saved the day for me!

Thank you for looking! Hope you have a lovely day!

Fallen from the faded sky

Good morning!

As I promised, I am showing you L.A. Colors Reflections. Both on its own and layered over what I think is the perfect grey creme, China Glaze Recycle.

Index and middle: Two coats Recycle and two coats Reflections

Ring and pinkie: FIVE coats Reflections

No base or top coat in weak sun

Don't mind the fact that I'm klutzy and dinged this before I took a snap of it!

I was not kidding when I said in a previous post that this was sheer. Which is slightly disappointing. When I found this I was hoping it would be much more opaque. But, I'm okay with it. I love that it flashes blue and kinda sorta slightly lavender.
Gratefully this dries quickly so it's not too hard to build the color. I'm crazy enough to apply five coats to wear its on its own but then again, I will get up at 4 a.m. to do my nails. 

For those who do not wish to apply five coats, I highly recommend it as a layering polish. How it looks over Recycle is exactly what I was hoping for when I bought it. Of course I would want a grey duochrome!
It's pretty killer over black, blue and purple too. So it's still a keeper!

ZOOM!!

Spam, spam, spam...

What say you about this? Ridiculous in a good way or in a super very much bad way?

As ever, I am grateful for your visit. Have a lovely day!

HALP!

Good afternoon!

So, my birthday is on Saturday. I'm going out with all of my besties to my favorite bar and I want to look fabulous. Of course, my nails are a giant part of this plan. However, I need your help!
I know I want to do something with Konad or my Royal Punk decals but I can't decide on a base color.
I narrowed it down to purple then I narrowed down all of the purples in my stash to four.
Please help me choose!

From left to right:

Index- China Glaze Grape Pop

Middle- China Glaze Spontaneous

Ring- Sally Hansen HD Cyber

Pinkie- Orly Charged Up

My camera does not like the Sally Hansen at all and refused to show the pink flash it throws off. Just sayin'.

What do you guys think? Which purple is the winner?

The lights dim while we're dancing

Good morning!

Today I wanted to bring you a couple of pictures of recent nail looks.

 Left Hand

 Right Hand

 This is my rather sad attempt at a nautical look.

Items used:

Idyl Metallic Blue base, two coats.

Left hand has L.A. Girl Matte White on ring, three coats

Art Club stripers in red and white for ring fingers

Art Deco striper in gold glitter for tips

I layered Pure Ice Heartbreaker over the blue on the right just for funsies before using the white striper.

It's not bad but it could have been better. Admittedly, the inspiration hit me rather late in the morning so I did not give myself enough time to really plan it out.

What I wore yesterday.

This look was a refresher and I was actually rather pleased with how all of the layering turned out.

The original look was two coats of Essie Chinchilly topped with two coats of L.A. Colors Reflections which is a snazzy sheer grey duochrome. I forgot to take pictures of the original but I plan to have swatches of Reflections up later. Though I do not show my thumb in this, it has the same decal as the ring finger.

What I did to refresh the original was:

Two coats of Pure Ice Heartbreaker

On thumb, index and ring fingers I applied Nailene Bedazzled decals from the Fashionista collection.

On middle and pinkie I applied dots with Art Club striper in silver glitter.

All was topped with Art Club Sealer.

I loved how it all came out. It still had the blue flash from Reflections and Heartbreaker gave some green tones as well as some much needed twinkle. The rhinestone on my index are my favorite decals, I could crazy go nuts with those! (And, yes I meant just what I said. Homestarrunner reference, anyone?)

That's it for now. I'm off to catch up on some swatching. See you all a little later!

Disclaimer: The decals were provided to me by Nailene for consideration.

Compare and Contrast

Good day friends!
Today I'm doing some comparisons between Del Sol Rock Star and China Glaze Dorothy Who?

Dorothy Who? on index and middle

Rock Star on ring and pinkie

Both are three coats without base or top coat.

Dorothy Who in real life is more of true blue with silver glitter while Rock Star has green tones with blue glitter. The silver glitter in Dorothy Who is finer and much more dense while Rock Star has bigger glitter that spreads fairly even on the nail. Both are pretty sheer with a jelly-like finish. Rock Star is much more the luscious jelly type. 

They look the same in bottle in this picture but not so much in real life!

So which to buy? The cheaper alternative is Dorothy Who. However, if you'd like the novelty of color change in the sun, go with Del Sol. Both are B3F. Both apply beautifully, dry quickly and shine like crazy.

So which do you prefer? Would you buy both?

Hope this helps! Thanks again for stopping by and have a lovely day.

Don't park your booty, don't park your can It's time to party, it's time to jam

Good day, friends!

Today I'm showing some pics of a recent Konad. It's based on a design I came up with while playing with polish and Konad on a fake nail. I like how it came out but I think I will try it again with some other colors because I think what I chose doesn't quite do it.

L.A. Girl Matte coral base

China Glaze Adore, Metallic Muse and Millennium stamps

Konad plate m21

(Do not mind the pinkie. I tried to stamp Orly rage too but Trixie decided that

was the best time to demand some love from me.)

Both pictures were taken in my back yard. My flower box is exploding!

I have tulips and wildflowers popping up everywhere.

Thank you for stopping by. Hope the coming weekend will hold lots of fun for you all!

Skin MD news

Good day guys!

I just got the most recent newsletter from Skin MD and wanted to share some news of their latest giveaways.

First up is the Twitter giveaway which ends on April 25.

You can win a great basket loaded with goodies and most importantly, Skin MD Shielding Lotion.
What do you need to do to enter? If you don't have a Twitter account, then sign up! Start following @skinmdnatural and retweet the phrase, "I want to win the @skinmdnatural Spring Spa Basket Giveaway."


Next up is the really awesome Mother's Day Pamper Package! (If you love Lush products, you will want this!) This contest starts on April 26 and ends on May 5. Be sure to get those entries in! Sorry to say that this USA only but I've no doubt something will come eventually to you lovely people in Canada and Europe.

Here's the what's what and details from the newsletter:

Pamper Package valued at over $150

2 Bottles Skin MD Natural original formula

2 Bottles Skin MD Natural SPF15 formula

7 Piece Manicure Kit

              Emery Board

              Nail Brush

              Angled Nail Clippers

              Regular Nail Clippers

              Cuticle Nipper

              Four Way Buffer

              Cuticle Sticks

5 Piece Pedicure Kit    

              Toenail Clipper

              Pair of Toe Separators

              Stainless Steel File

              Ceramic Buffer

              Secure Grip Cap

Lush 6 Pieces Naked Set

              Sexy Peel Soap

              Buffy Solid Body Butter

              Therapy Solid Massage Bar

              Squeaky Green Solid Shampoo Bar

              Fresh Farmacy Facial Soap

              Vitamin E Toner Tab

Bath Bomb

Bubble Bar

Pair of Spa Socks

Luxury Cloth Loofah

Soothing Gel Eye Mask

3 Candles with Seashell filled Candle Holders

Rules for Entry

Must reside in the USA

Methods of Entry

1. Sign up for our weekly skin care & beauty e-newsletter here http://www.skinmdnatural.com/forms/mothersday-giveaway.php . When you sign up you’ll receive a free gift our 20 page DIY Beauty Guide

2. Follow @skinmdnatural on Twitter

3. Tweet - I entered to win the @skinmdnatural Mother's Day Pamper Package Giveaway

4. Fan Skin MD Natural on Facebook

5. Post about the giveaway on your blog and email giveaway@skinmdnatural.com the link to your post

Finally, if you fan Skin MD on Facebook, you will get a 15% off coupon code! Offer is good until May 31 so get after it!

Black Valentine

Good morning!
Today I am bringing you another tribute to my friends. This particular one is for my friend and boss, Tanya.

Three coats Sally Hansen Salon Formula in Black Patent Leather

Fingr's Edge Royal Punk Nail decals on index, middle and pinkie.

Konad Special Polish in Metallic Pink, stamped with fauxnad plate E01

All topped with two coats Art Club Sealer.

The above picture is pre-cleanup, sadly. I applied the black base the night before but I got up at 5 a.m. the next day to apply the decals and the stamp. Then I was off to the showers and ready myself for work.

I chose this combination because it's all the things Tanya likes. Black and hot pink together, skulls with a sense of whimsy and butterflies. It's sassy, tough and a little tongue-in-cheek.

Let me tell you about this special lady I'm paying tribute to.

Tanya is one of my bosses but she's also my work wife. I've been crazy about her since I met her. She's got a wicked sense of humour and each day we work together is freaking awesome. She's tough, resilient and smart. She's a fucking firecracker, yo. She's one of the major reasons why I love my job so much. 

By the way, she's also gorgeous. Seriously. How could you not fall in love with her?

This barely begins to explain how snazzy she is but I assure you, she is amazing.

I'd like to leave you with another picture of this mani. It didn't wear so super well but then again, me and Tanya were processing furniture that day so it really didn't stand a chance.

Kalmah!! Get this album, it is the hotness!

Just a little shopping note: I got the decals at Fred Meyer but they can be found at Walmart, Rite-Aid and CVS. They were easy to apply and the designs were kick ass. I'm looking forward to using the crown decals for another look some other time.

Hope you have a lovely day and thank you for looking!

Caught in an ocean of blue emptiness

Good day, friends.

We've had some sun here and again in Oregon so I wanted to show you a little something I got in Mexico.

Del Sol Rock Star

Two coats, no base or top, indoor light

Rock Star is a lovely royal blue jelly with blue glitter. Three coats makes it more opaque but two was enough for swatching purposes. In bottle it's very similar to China Glaze Dorothy Who? Sadly, I do not have comparison shots so I will have to add that to my to-do list. 

Application was easy and smooth and the dry time was very quick. What's super fun is what it looks like in sunlight...

A gorgeous deep turquoise!

I love that this almost looks glass flecked. Upon closer inspection, the glitter isn't but it's a neat illusion.

This is gorgeous in the sun and it's close to L.A. Girl Rock Star Headbanging but not as green as China Glaze Watermelon Rind. (OY. Again, another thing to put on the list.)

While on vacation, my sister's pedi began to chip because she forgot to apply top coat (Bad Pooky!) so we decided to layer this over her original Zoya Tallulah. It was stunning! And I forgot to take a picture. (Bad Lamby!) It totally deepened the color and lots of sparkly going on. However, it didn't really change color in the sun. I think Tallulah canceled that out. I'm pretty sure that if it was layered over something lighter it will still change color in sun though.

That does it for me. Hope the weekend was relaxing and refreshing for you!

Love, love is the answer and that's all right

Good day, friends.

Last week I renewed my Sally card and took advantage of their 2 fer nail polish deal. Since I've been in a continuous foul mood I needed to buy a bright, summery color. (I've been wearing lots of greens and blues lately. They do not help.)
Therefore, I bring you:

Orly Orange Punch

Three coats, no base or top in sunlight

Holy bats is this bright! Looove that. This beauty is fairly sheer so three coats is best but I like four with these.

I do not need to tell you how quickly it dries. It's Orly. Enough said. It doesn't dry quite as matte as is typical with neon. It's a bit satiny finish. My camera did not like this in sun so I took another one in a strip of shade on the kitteh's window seat.

Still pretty damned bright but not as blinding.

This is a great pedicure choice and I'm actually sporting it on my toes in a way. I did a skittles pedi with my neon polishes just to give me the giggles. I kind of wish I'd had it before I went to Cancun because that would've been a fun pedi for the trip. Oh well, there is always next year!

What are your favorite pedi colors? Would you sport the neon skittles look on your toes?

Thank you as ever for stopping by. Love to all!

You're the ground of my life when I feel like I've lost my faith

Good day, friends.

I've embarked on a little project to occupy my attention and pay tribute to some of the lovely people I have the privilege to know. If you recall, I did a tribute mani for my friend Connie. 
This time I did one for my buddy, Robert. I also have one planned for his wife Angi but you will see that in another post.
Let's vamanos on to the picture, shall we?

Three coats of Orly Charged Up

Misa Dirty, Sexy Money stripes

indoors with flash

Robert requested a mani with his favorite colors, royal purple and teal. I knew Dirty, Sexy Money would be the perfect teal for this but I had a hell of a time choosing the right purple. It was between Charged Up and China Glaze Grape Pop. I opted for the Orly because it really embodied the idea of a rich, regal purple.

Charged Up is beautiful. Like Green With Envy and Mint Mojito, it applies sheer. Three coats was terrific but I would've opted for four. Again, this is not an issue because Orly polishes dry amazingly fast. Damn, Orly is good! This dries super shiny and looks so yummy. The wear on this was phenomenal. I had a tiny chip on my right index finger and slight tip wear. 

Charged Up is part of the core collection and easily available at Sally. I highly recommend getting it because it's a great season less purple. It's dark enough for Fall/Winter but cheery and bright enough for Spring/Summer. I also recommend getting your hands on Orly polish period because it is teh awesome and I've become the most annoying Orly fangirl. Just sayin' is all.

So let me tell you about my friend, Robert. Seriously, he is amazing. He's always so mellow and even-keeled and it is very soothing to be around him. He's wickedly funny and incredibly generous. He always treats us to goodies and coffees at work, will hold your hand while you cry your eyes out in the office because you've had a stressful day and is always offering to help in any way at all. The only other male I've known to be like this is my beloved husband. I am so grateful to know Robert and honored that he calls me friend. On top of that, he introduced me to one of the sweetest girls in the world! But I will tell you all about his lovely wife in another post. ;) 

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look. Big hugs to all of the lovely people I've had the honor to meet in our kick ass nail polish world. You guys rock!

Because you're feeding the fire within me

Hello, friends.

I wanted to show you a mani I did the other week. When I came back to work after my days off, I resolved to take no shit from anyone. Of course I decided to wear my emotions on my nails.

China Glaze Heli-yum

Scorpion fauxnad stamp in Wet n Wild Black Creme

and China Glaze Millennium with Nailene decals

I like that it's deceptively sweet but has a darker, more aggressive facet. Which is a pretty apt description of myself now that I think about it. Huh...

What's funny to me about the pic is that my iPod was pretty well loaded with some fierce thrash, death and black metal to help channel my aggressions but Fates Warning was what was playing when I snapped this. A little prog/power metal never hurt, right?

A closer look...

This mani certainly lifted my spirits for the day and I received a lot of compliments. I hope I sent the messahe to those who needed to hear it. Don't underestimate the wrath of the Mighty Lambchop!

Thank you for looking. Hope the weekend brings nice weather to you all!

So far behind I am and running over idle ground

Good day friends!

I have a lot to talk about today that you may or may not be interested in. So, if you're not into it I have some picture to tide you over. (And no worries, yo. It's cool.)

Orly Satin Hues Satin Eloquence

Two coats, no base or top in sun

This is the other HTF Orly I got from ebay. It is incredibly sheer so you really would need four coats to make this worth it. That said, I really like it. And it's pink! I do not love pinks but this makes me happy. This is an old formula with formaldehyde and the like so it does not smell pleasant. However, it did apply beautifully and dries quickly. I love the satin finish because I love mattes and it would be too sweet and twee were it shiny.

I have tried it as a layering polish but my results have been very much bad. And that's all there is to say about that! ;)

Now on to the things that have been troubling me. And, yes, troubling. 

I got back to work to endure one of the most challenging weeks since I started. We had to prepare for an annual inspection by the director of retail sales and that entailed cleaning every square inch, making sure everything is in its place and everyone is doing their jobs precisely.  I had to do all of this with a co-worker on vacation and two cashiers on vacation. It was so fucking aggravating because I also had to contend with employees calling out sick. I was angry, stressed and out of my fucking mind. 

We got high marks on our inspection but it wore me right the fuck out. I spent my entire "weekend" trying to recover and I didn't quite do it. I had another week being short staffed and busting my ass.

In spite of all that, I still love my job. It was just very hard for two weeks.

What else is on my mind? Glad you asked.

I am in a complete rut. I come home from work and do the same exact thing every night. I do the same things on my days off. I am so bored and uninspired. It's got me upset and desperate. I'm so unhappy that I've been pulling away from all my friends and just blowing things off. I just hang out in the house with the cats. Just thinking of going out fills me with dread and this is no bueno.¡Qué lástima!

I need to find something to give me some spark. I'm not about to quit nail polish nor am I going to give up this blog but I have thought about it. In the middle of a tantrum but, yeah.

There are some things I do want to do but I just don't think I will get to. I have a spare bedroom that I essentially use as a wardrobe. I have a cool little vanity in there, an awesome vintage dresser and a sweet little couch. I've always wanted to make it a hang out for myself but it just hasn't happened. It needs a lot of work to get it where I want it and I need help. Bob knows, I adore my husband but he's not going to help me get rid of the cheap ass armoires taking up most of the fucking space in there.

Aside from the work the room needs, I'm worried that I will not be able to use the room. Why? Because of my beloved husband. 

This is something I've been dealing with in the 10+ years I've shared with Matt. He hates to be alone. If I'm in a different room, he'll keep popping in to ask me what I'm doing, will I come watch TV with him, how long am I going to be in there, and so on. Mind you, he does not like my nail supplies in the living room. He doesn't like seeing anything left out. (It's always my stuff too...)

So I feel like I'm in a no-win situation. I do have to mention that he is better about it than he used to be but I am not confident that he would be cool with me hanging out in another room for awhile in the evening.

I don't know what the fuck to do and I'm just pissed about the whole thing. All I can do right now is force myself to get out of this funk and quit being a bad friend. Meh. I just need my Sugar Mama. She always makes things better.

Thanks for taking the time to read this if you have. I'm sorry it's so whiny. I hope to be back to normal soon.