Deborah Lippman "Candy Shop"

Happy Halloween!  I can't believe October is almost over!  I had hoped to get this post up early so I could post a Halloween nail tutorial, but sadly I've been busy and it just didn't happen!  Anyway to wrap up October's Breast Cancer Awareness month I decided to wear my very first Deborah Lippman nail polish!  I am so excited about this nail polish!  I just think it is so unique and gorgeous!

This Deborah Lippman nail polish is called "Candy Shop" and usually retails for around $16.  I purchased mine at Nordstroms but I am sure there are other places that sell this polish!

So "Candy Shop" is this gorgeous glitter polish with a light pink base color!  It looks really neat on and is packed with most every color of glitter under the sun!  The glitter is also in several sizes!  The glitter overlapped as I put the coats of polish on and look really fun!  "Candy Shop" took two and a half coats of polish, which meant I did two full coats and then had to add polish to the tips of my nails.  I found because if the glitter this polish took a fair amount of work to put on!  And I used two coats of my usual topcoat (Orly "Sec'N'Dry") so that my nails would feel smooth and not rough!  With so many layers I thought the polish would chip fairly quickly but I was wrong!  I went about five days before I saw any chips!

Overall I am very impressed with this polish!  It looks great once it is on and for me is worth the little extra bit of work to put it on!

EDIT: I just took "Candy Shop" off and it was very difficult!  The pink polish part comes off easily but the glitter sticks like glue!  It took me between 45 minutes to an hour to remove the polish!  I use a popular method of nail polish where you soak a cotton ball in nail polish remover and place it on your nail and hold it for several minutes.  Typically when you slide the cotton ball off nearly all of the polish comes off but in the case of Deborah Lippman's "Candy Shop" almost none of the polish came off.  I still love this polish but it is a pain to take off!

Thanks for reading my blog!

If you decide to give this polish a try it is available on Amazon (affiliate link)

OPI "My Address is Hollywood"

It is still October, which means I am still rocking only pink nail polish!  In case you aren't aware October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and I wear pink nails to support awareness!  This week's pink nail polish is this gorgeous OPI polish called "My Address Is Hollywood."

"My Address Is Hollywood" is this really unique pink that I would consider a hot pink with a hint of orange.  Also this fabulous color has lots of micro-glitter which makes my nails shine!  "My Address Is Hollywood" applies really well and you can almost get away with just one coat, though I used two just to be on the safe side!  And I am happy to say that "My Address Is Hollywood" did not leave any streaks on my nails at all!  However I was a little disappointed when the polish began to chip after only three days!  And instead of chipping on the tips of my nails it started to peel off, in small chunks, from my cuticles down.

Overall while "My Address Is Hollywood" did not last as long as I would have expected an OPI polish too, I am still very happy with the extremely easy application and the gorgeous color!

Thanks for reading my blog!

September Nail Design: Pinterest

Hey guys!  So sorry it has been a couple of weeks since my last post.  I ended up getting sick, and then I had to have my wisdom teeth out, and then I got sick again.  Anyway I am better now and so excited to continue painting my nails!

So last month I started trying out different nail designs that I had found, and I decided to try one a month.  So this month I decided to try an easy one!

Here is the original picture I found on Pinterest:

(no original source found)

The design didn't look too hard and the nice thing is I figured I could pick any light colored nail polish I want for the base color!  Plus I figured with a nail art pen writing "love" wouldn't be too difficult!

Here are the colors I picked:

From left to right: Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in "Black", Essie's "Raise Awareness", and OPI's "Gargantuan Green Grape."

Okay I decided that instead of just using one basecoat color I would use "Gargantuan Green Grape" as an accent nail color and "Raise Awareness" as the main color.  I know that this color combo is really more Spring-like than Fall-like but during the month of October I exclusively wear only pink nail polish.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is special to me because several members of my family are Breast Cancer survivors!  The Essie polish I used is named "Raise Awareness" because it is one of Essie's Breast Cancer Awareness polishes from 2011.  This year Essie has released four more pink polishes, which can be purchased at any ULTA store!

Alright here is how my nails came out:

This is my left hand.

 

 

 

This is my right hand.

 

 

So as you probably noticed I only wrote "love" on my left hand.  I did this because I am right handed and couldn't write well enough with my left hand.  I did however manage to put a heart on my right accent nail.  Both Essie's "Raise Awareness" and OPI's "Gargantuan Green Grape" required three coats of polish to cover completely.  Also I noticed that the black nail art pen has started to fade after only two days and come off (see the "v" on my left hand), which is a little disappointing because I used a topcoat to seal the design in.  But otherwise this Pinterest nail design was super easy to do and turned out great!  Also this design could easily be done using different words like: joy, hope, and peace!

 

Hope you liked my nail design and thanks for reading my blog!

China Glaze "Foie Gras"

This week I wanted to continue rocking my fall nail polish colors!  So I decided to pull out some more of my Hunger Games nail polish.  (I have realized that I own 9 of the 12 colors.)  So I pulled out China Glaze's "Foie Gras."  It is this this deep greyish brown color with a hint of purple.  When I first saw "Foie Gras" I wasn't sure I would like it on my nails, but I am happy to say that I love "Foie Gras" on me!

As with all dark colored nail polish I was worried that "Foie Gras" would stain my nails, so I used my standard clear base coat ("Invisible" by Sally Hansen) and I was pleased that "Foie Gras" left no stains!  I used two coats of "Foie Gras" because while the first coat covered relatively well it left some streaks.  But after applying the second coat my nails had no streaks and the coloring of "Foie Gras" looked fabulous!  As usual I applied a topcoat (Orly's "Sec'N'Dry") on my nails to help my nails dry faster.  The topcoat made "Foie Gras" a little bit shinier and made the color a little more vibrant.

As for chipping, there wasn't any.  I wore "Foie Gras" for about a week and I saw absolutely NO chips.  In my opinion China Glaze's formula is one of the best I have found!  When I wear China Glaze polish I find that the only reasons I have to repaint my nails after a week is that A. I feel like painting my nails again and B. my nails have grown so quickly that the top part of my nail isn't painted!

Overall I love the great fall coloring of "Foie Gras" and I love the great quality of China Glaze nail polish!

Thanks for reading my blog!

You can give "Foie Gras" a try for yourself by snagging it on Amazon (affiliate link)

Sally Hansen "Emerald City"

Hi everybody!  This week has been super fun because I am watching some friends' farm!  And since I was thinking about farms my mind instantly wandered to the movie, The Wizard of Oz, then I remembered that hiding somewhere in my nail polish collection was a bottle of nail polish called "Emerald City."  I dug through all my bottles until I found it, and it is of course a gorgeous emerald green color.  So this week I am rocking Sally Hansen's "Emerald City."  The added bonus of "Emerald City" is it is actually a popular fall trend this season!  And that trend is Jewel Tones!  So this week's nail polish is a double win!

"Emerald City" is a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail polish, which sells in most drug stores, Wal-Mart, and Target for around $3.  I really like Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear polish because it isn't too expensive but it last for about five days before it starts to chip a lot.  "Emerald City" is no exception to my love of Sally Hansen, it is this really gorgeous sparkly emerald color, that goes on well.

"Emerald City" applies really easily for me, which is nice since sometimes darker colors are hard to do.  For me I only needed two coats of "Emerald City", along with my usual basecoat and topcoat.  The first coat covers and looks a tad streaky. but after applying the second coat the polish evened out and has absolutely no visible streaking!  I have also found that "Emerald City" doesn't stain my finger nails or the skin around it (I am a pretty messy applicator) and removes easily.

Overall I really love Sally Hansen's "Emerald City" and I get tons of compliments when I wear it!  I also love how versatile "Emerald City" is!  You can wear it as a nice fall color, it is great for Christmastime, and it is a nice relaxing color for summer!

Thanks for reading my blog!

China Glaze "Dress Me Up"

With schools starting back this week it is really starting to hit me that Summer is coming to an end!  Pretty soon the weather is going to turn cold and when it does it'll be time to tone down my nail polish.  I decided to ease myself into it by wearing a more muted color this week.  I picked out a very pretty dusty rose color called "Dress Me Up" by China Glaze.

"Dress Me Up" by China Glaze is in fact one of the colors from The Hunger Games collection that came out earlier this year.  It is this really pretty dusty rose color.  I really like the color on my own but you'll notice my accent nail.  Originally I hadn't planned on doing an accent nail but a few of the little girls at church liked the design on my nails from last week.  (See my August Nail Design post below.)  The girls begged me to do it again so I decided to do it as an accent nail.  The colors in the accent nail pattern are "Celeb City" by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear (silver) and OPI's "Your Palapa or Mine?" (green)

I've been wearing "Dress Me Up" for several days now and I haven't had any chipping at all!  I am in love with China Glaze nail polish because I find it to chip far less than many brands of polish I use.  It is nice to be able to wear nail polish for a week or more without chips.  Typically I end up repainting my nails at a week with China Glaze polish not because of chipping but because my nails grow quickly.

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer and thanks for reading blog!

If you want to try "Dress Me Up" for yourself it is available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link)

August Nail Design: Pinterest

So this entry is a little different than the rest.  I have a Pinterest, and I often spend endless hours looking at nail polish designs.  I have found tons of gorgeous and fun nail designs and I have finally decided to try one!  My plan is to try a new nail design every month, along side of my usual polish posts.

Here is the image I found on Pinterest:

(originally from: http://gosteieagora.com/ )

I thought the design was super cute and the picture gives a pretty good description of how to do the design.  I went through my nail polish collection until I found colors similar to the ones in the Pinterest picture.

Here are the closest colors I had:

(Left to right: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Celeb City," China Glaze in "For Audrey," and Essie in "Tart Deco.")

The Pinterest design called for gold polish but I didn't have any so I substituted silver.  It took me a whole afternoon and several attempts before I managed to perfect the Pinterest design.

Here's how mine turned out:

I think my nails came out pretty good.  However there were a few things I discovered along the way.  First off I found it easier to sit and do each nail one at a time instead of just going down the line.  But that is just my personal preference.  It was easier for me to focus on doing a single nail completely before moving on.  And secondly I found that you should let your nails sit for several minutes before applying a topcoat.  It is hard to tell from the picture but if you apply the topcoat to quickly you'll smudge the design.  A few of my nails have smudges.  Other than that this Pinterest nail design was really easy to do.  I also found that the three polishes I have picked along with Orly's "Sec'N'Dry" topcoat have held up really well.  I've been wearing this polish for nearly a week and I haven't had any chips!

Thanks for reading my blog!