OPI Pepe's Purple Passion

OPI Pepe's Purple Passion from the Winter 2011/2012 Muppets collection

*sigh* Don't you hate it when you buy a polish with so much potential, and are left disappointed, let down. I know, not the way you want a post to start, but I thought I was really going to like this one... My favorite color is purple, it had little golden flakies in it- in the bottle, especially in the light, it looked pretty!
What you see is two coats- application was easy enough; the formula was fine, and OPI does have my favorite brush. What made this polish less than stellar for me is that the golden flakies practically disappeared on the nail, and the color was more of a dark raisin than anything I would call purple.
Looking at the pictures, I admit, I may be acting a little over dramatic, but I don't think this is a color I would wear again.

OPI Absolutely Alice

Base: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue
Topped with 2 coats OPI Absolutely Alice

I broke my pointer nail recently and was in desperate need of a distraction from how short it now was. I decided this was the perfect time to pull out the most amazing Christmas present I got this year- OPI Absolutely Alice! This is a beautiful mix of bright, glowing blue and gold glitter- it just twinkles and sings in the light. This was so easy to apply, thanks in part to a wonderful OPI brush.
I am so in love with this glitter, I'm going to let the pictures to the bulk of the talking.
Enjoy!!!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue

I was searching for a nice dark blue to serve as a base for a manicure I had in mind. I was hoping for something that would be an easy one coat and I thought Thinking of Blue may work pretty well.
The color of the polish is nice- it's a rich, slightly dark blue, no where near black. The formula of the polish was pretty darn good too!What you're seeing is one slightly thick coat- you'll notice there are no bald patches or areas where nail line is visible.
What you did not see was the near fit I had applying it because of the terrible, terrible brush! I don't often take pictures of brushes but this brush... oh this brush! Do you see how it got trimmed on one side but not on the other? That made it really hard to polish because one side would get all over the skin around my nails, and the other did not cover nearly enough of the mail.

While I understand that this is a defect, as I compared it to a few other Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes I have, it does not change how annoyed I was. Anyways, as you can tell, eventually I got all my digits painted, and overall, I would recommend the polish, but please check your brushes before you buy!

Cherry Blossom Nail Art

Did you really think I could leave well enough alone?
The pink of Barielle Belly Dance made the perfect canvas for some nail art! Despite the rainy weather of recent, I know we're in spring and I wanted something to reflect that.
In my area there is a stretch known as "The Blossom Trail". Down that there are millions of beautiful blossoms from the citrus trees, almond trees, peach trees, and so forth. I wanted to capture some of that picture for myself.
With just a black striper, white acrylic paint, and doting tool I made this surprisingly simple nail art!
Enjoy!

Barielle Belly Dance

Barielle Belly Dance from the summer 2010 High Steppin' collection

After all the greens of late, I decided I need a nice palette cleanser. This was one of the rare occasion where I was on a mission for a soft pink- something to add some color but not distract me.
I had an order from Barielle came in not too long and figured why not try one of the two pinks I had ordered. Belly Dance is, well, I hate to use the word boring, because that sounds like I dislike it (which isn't true!). I think a better way to put it is that this shade is your typical girly pink. It does have just a touch of tan to it and some shimmer to help it stand out from other pinks.
Application was pretty easy, and what you see are two coats. Clean up was a cinch, as pinks do tend to be pretty forgiving.
I do like this color quite a bit, but I am even more excited to share my next post where you see what a great canvas it made for a little spring time nail art!

Essie Going Overboard peacocked with Essie Trophy Wife and Spoiled Pet My Peacock

Base: Essie Going Overboard from the Spring 2012 Go Overboard collection

Diagonal: Essie Trophy Wife from the 2011 New Year's collection

Studded with Spoiled Pet My Peacock

Since I struggled a bit with Going Overboard, I wanted to make it last for a while- do something fun with it to make me forget about the poopy application. If you saw my post for Nubar Reclaim, you can tell I have a thing for peacocks. Their feathers are just beautiful! Going Overboard was going to get a peacock make over....

I did a diagonal stripe of Essie Trophy Wife on each nail- there was a subtle contrast between Trophy Wife and Going Overboard since they were both teals, but with over different finishes. The shimmer from Trophy Wife was pretty, but I decided to add just a little more to it by using the medium-large glitters from Pet My Peacock to stud the line between the two colors. Pet My Peacock is a mix of medium large purple, teal, silver, and gold hex glitters in a clear base. By bushing a little of that on to a piece of paper, I was able to use my dotting tool to fish out glitter and place it on the nail.

And here it is:

Nail Mail from Jaybird!

Today I got some awesome nail mail! My friend Jennifer, as known as Jaybird, sent me a ton of drug store goodies! I was shocked at how many polishes she managed to fit in just one box!
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves

You just know this is full of goodness!

Kudos to her for making sure they were protected!!

Holy moly! So much pretty glitter! So many ideas for what to do with these!

All the pretties! Can you believe she fit 45 bottles in there?!?

These will be perfect for summer!

Deep, dark Color Clubs!

More lovely Color Clubs 

Some Cosmetic Arts- the last two remind me of Mermaid's Tears and Seaweed from OPI

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear! Yes, those last two blues have holo glitter!!!

More Sally Hansen- Black Diamond on the end is so gorgeous!

Sinful Colors- I have never seen the middle color, Fig, before

NYC, Finger Paints and a Sonic Kashuk

Revlon and Nailtiques- I didn't know Nailtiques made colored polish

A Chameleon and a couple Borghese

Sorry I didn't include names, but if you need me to identify one, let me know and I'll do my best to let you know what it is :)

Thank again so much Jennifer!

Ulta Jaded with Sinful Colors Nail Junkie topped with Pure Ice Heart Breaker

Here is what I wore for Saint Patrick's day
I used a base of Ulta The Jungle Look, followed by a coat of Ulta Jaded. The sponged the tips with Sinful Nail Junkie and topped the whole thing with Pure Ice Heart Breaker.

The glitter is subtle since it's green on green, but I am quite happy with the way it turned out.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

In honor of Saint Patrick's day, here is some green nails and spam ;)  

Sinful Envy, OPI Jade is the New Black dupe

Nubar Reclaim

Nubar Reclaim in the sun!

Wet'n'Wild Teal of Fortune

Love & Beauty Light Green aka LA Girl Crowd Surfing

Finger Paints Vintage Velvet with Flakies

Sinful Colors Open seas- OPI Mermaid's Tears dupe

OPI Thanks a Windmillion

more Finger Paints Vintage Velvet with Flakies- one my favorite combos!

Have a great day readers! <3

All my green polishes! In honor of Saint Patty's

Here is some green spam in celebration of the holiday!!! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

Quick story:

So, I had all my bottles lined up from doing my green spam pics and DH comes into the room. 

"Don't mind me" I said kind of sheepishly realizing I had an army of green polish spread out in front of me.

"I love all the colors of green you have! So many different shades from green to teal!!" he replies.

I did some quick math, "Yeah, 56 different bottles of green."

"You're better stocked than most nail salons!"

"yup... probably..."

"That's awesome!" and he left the room smiling. and that ladies is why I keep my DH around.