New Year's Eve Nail Art!

Happy New Year's everyone!  I am very glad that 2013 is about to be OVER and we can move on to 2014!  I never really seem to do much for New Year's Eve, usually I just watch TV and count down til the ball drops in New York City's Times Square.  This year I decided to do the same but in my free time to do a simple nail art post to celebrate the holiday!

So my simple nail art this time is: mix and match!  And maybe that doesn't count as serious nail art but for me I almost always have matching nails.  (Part of it is the rules for where I work and the other part of it is I am kind of lazy and one color is fast!)  I think that mixing and matching nail polish looks like fireworks, which here in the United States is a popular thing to do on New Year's Eve to celebrate.  I decided to pick out five different colors, one for each of my nails, and just go for it!  Here are the colors I picked:

Nicole by OPI's "Rainbow in the S-Kylie", OPI's "Big Hair... Big Nails", butterLONDON's "The Black Knight", Sally Hansen's "Golden-I", and China Glaze's "Sunday Funday"

  I picked out these colors for specific reasons.  I picked a major glitter to be bright and very firework like!  I picked a bright red and a blue to represent the United States of America.  I picked a gold to represent that Christmas just passed.  And lastly I picked a black with glitter to really look a dark sky with fireworks going off!  Okay so here is a bit about each polish:

Nicole by OPI's "Rainbow in the S-Kylie" is of course part of the 2012 Kardashion Kolors and is a major chunky glitter in a clear base.  As with most glitters is was hard to get the glitter on my nail and to spread it out to cover the entire nail.  And even after two coats it was plain that no matter what I did I would likely never be able to cover my whole nail.  "Rainbow in the S-Kylie" is very pretty though!  Also worth noting is that this glitter is a nightmare to take off!  Allow yourself plenty of time!

OPI's "Big Hair... Big Nails" is a reddish-orange jell nail polish and was part of the Texas collection from Spring 2011. As a jelly polish it is made to be a bit more see through but after three coats it was completely opaque and the color gorgeous!  "Big Hair... Big Nails" has no streaking and the formula was lovely!

butterLONDON's "The Black Knight" is a black nail polish with fine magenta and blue glitter!  "The Black Knight" came out in 2011 and aside from it's awesome name the color is very pretty!  I was surprised that this polish dried as a matte.  (I added a topcoat for the pictures!)  "The Black Knight" has a nice formula and was opaque after two coats and there is no streaking!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's "Golden-I" is a nice drugstore brand nail polish!  Just like its name this polish is a golden shimmer.  Formula wise "Golden-I" is a bit watery and after the first coat I worried, but thankfully after the second coat the polish was opaque and had very little to no streaks!

And last but not least China Glaze's "Sunday Funday" which is part of the Spring 2013 Avant Garden Collection.  "Sunday Funday" is this GORGEOUS sky blue colored polish!  Like many China Glaze polishes the formula is amazing and was basically opaque after one coat.  I just added a second coat to make the color brighter!

Overall I am very happy with how this easy and fun mix and match New Year's Eve Nail Art turned out!  All five of these nail polishes are great and I cannot wait to try them out on their own in the future!

Thanks for reading my blog!  And I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve!!!  :)

Sally Hansen "Blue It"

Hi everyone!  I hope you all enjoyed Christmas (if you celebrate Christmas that is!)  Every year after Christmas in North Carolina is when we have our best chance for snowfall.  And since I associate blue with snow I decided to pull out a blue nail polish.  I picked out Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's "Blue It" which is a super pretty royal blue.  (It didn't snow today but there was freezing rain!)

Sally Hansen's "Blue It" is such a pretty color and I couldn't wait to try it out!  The formula is nice, but almost a bit watery.  The brush held so much polish that it took me a couple of nails to master the best way to apply "Blue It."  However even after allowing tons of dry time and using a quick drying topcoat (Orly's "Sec'N'Dry")  several of my nails wouldn't dry and I managed to smudge three of them within the hour.  (You can see my pointer is smudged by the nail bed and my ring finger on the tip of my nail.)  But in terms of actual chipping Sally Hansen's "Blue It" lasted about two days before chipping.  Also even after having been dry for hours this nail polish managed to smudge some more, which was a bit disappointing.  While I know that darker colors can stain nails nothing prepared me for how blue my nails were going to be!  They looked awful and it took me a while to get as much off as I could.

Overall I really love the deep blue color of Sally Hansen's "Blue It" and the formula is fine.  But I am not a fan of all the smudges and chipping, though I am wondering the temperature of weather was affecting the nail polishes ability to dry properly.  I also am not a fan of the extreme staining on my nails, but I am willing to try this nail polish again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

You can give "Blue It" a try for yourself - it's available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Essie "Head Mistress"

Hi everyone and Happy almost Christmas!  I am very excited for Christmas because I love all the decorations and cookies!  Plus I love the red and green colors of Christmas!  So this year for Christmas I decided to wear a bright red nail polish, which reminds me of a Santa Claus suit!  The red I picked out is Essie's "Head Mistress"!

"Head Mistress" is a very bright red which looks so pretty on!  (I cannot tell you how much I love this color nail polish!)  So first off the formula of "Head Mistress" is amazing!  It applied very easily to my nails and was completely opaque after only one coat of polish, which is practically unheard of!  I did apply a second coat, but only because I prefer to wear two coats of polish.  Also "Head Mistress" had absolutely no streaks!  As for chipping I started to notice some minor tip chips on day one, but red nail polish does tend to showcase chips.  In the end I was able to wear Essie's "Head Mistress" for a second day before the chipping became too visible!

Overall I really like Essie's "Head Mistress."  It is a gorgeous red color and the formula is amazing and I love when a polish can be a one-coater.  However I do wish I could have worn "Head Mistress for more than two days before it chipped so much!  But I am definitely planning on wearing "Head Mistress" again because it is pretty!

Thanks for reading my blog and have a fantastic Christmas!  :)

butterLONDON "No More Waity, Katie"

Hi everyone!  Christmas is getting closer and closer and I am very excited!  Only 9 more days!  :)  Even though Christmas decorations are usually red and green I decided to wear a sparkly nail polish instead this week!  I dug through my collection and found butterLONDON's "No More Waity, Katie" which is this grey/purple glittery nail polish.  I originally bought this nail polish because f its name, which references Kate Middleton and how long she had to wait for Prince William (of the United Kingdom) to ask her to marry him.  I love Kate for her style and thought the color would be different form all the others in my collection.

"No More Waity, Katie" is different than any nail polish in my collection.  It is just such a unique color, half grey and half lavender purple with a bunch of silver glitter.  In the bottle "No More Waity, Katie" is pretty, but on my nails the color was less than pretty.  I guess sometimes being too unique isn't necessarily a good thing in the nail polish world.  The formula was awful, very watery and the glitter went on thick in some places and almost non-existent in others.  I ended up using three coats for the picture above and the polish still wasn't opaque.  Here's what "No More Waity, Katie" looks like after one coat:

As you can see one coat looks horrific!  I continued to paint my nails with the hope that it would look better after another coat.  And after a second coat it did look a little better but still un-wearable, which is why I applied a third coat.  here's what my nails looked like after a second coat of "No More Waity, Katie":

Other than an awful formula and this polishes inability to be opaque butterLONDON's "No More Waity, Katie" wasn't the worst nail polish I have every had or tried.  Since "No More Waity, Katie" looked pretty awful on my nails I didn't wear it long enough to see it chip.  As for removing I was surprised how well a chunky glitter nail polish came off!

Overall I would be willing to try butterLONDON's "No More Waity, Katie" again but maybe it would look better on a different skin tone? 

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

China Glaze "Starboard"

Hi everyone!  I am so excited that Christmas is almost here!  Only 14 more days!  :)  So with Christmas coming I decided to wear a green nail polish this week! I picked out China Glaze's "Starboard" which is this very Christmasy green color!

China Glaze's "Starboard" is a super gorgeous green color that reminds me of grass.  Formula wise, as with most of the China Glaze nail polishes I have tried, it was wonderful- not too watery and not too thick!  "Starboard" was completely opaque and streak free after two coats of polish!  Unfortunately the good stopped there, because within about six hours "Starboard" started peeling off in large chunks.  I didn't even get to wear this nail polish out of the house!

Overall while I still love China Glaze polishes and the formula and color are lovely the fact that it chipped almost instantly is a bit disappointing.  I plan on trying China Glaze's "Starboard" again soon and hopefully it won't chip as quickly next time!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

You can give this gorgeous a green a go for yourself by snagging it on Amazon (affiliate link)

Sephora by OPI "Just A Little Dangerous"

Hi everyone!  So this week Winter seems to have faded away in North Carolina!  (It is like 75 degrees out right now!)  And I have been enjoying the nice weather by spending some time outside.  This week I decided to try out a Sephora by OPI polish that I got in a special QVC set.  For those of you who don't know (because I think QVC is only in America) QVC is a TV channel where you can buy various types of items, but I usually buy make-up and nail polish from them.  I got this Sephora by OPI mini set last Christmas:

So this week I decided to try out another bottle from the set (I've tried one other nail polish from this set before and I plan on trying them all eventually!)  I picked out a pretty purple polish with purple glitter called "Just A Little Dangerous."  I really like the color and how the glitter shines in the light!  The first thing I noticed was the very tiny bottle makes it a bit difficult to get enough polish on my nails, but after a little effort I managed to get the hang of it.  The formula is nice, after the first coat of nail polish I was worried because "Just A Little Dangerous" had a ton of streaking, but thankfully coat two evened everything out!  After two coats "Just A Little Dangerous" was completely opaque and streak free!  As for chipping I started to see tip chips on day three and because it is a dark colored nail polish the chips were very visible.

Overall Sephora by OPI's "Just A Little Dangerous" is a nice nail polish.  The formula is good, it is opaque in two coats, the color is pretty and it lasts a decent amount of time before chipping.  I wish "Just A Little Dangerous" had lasted longer before chipping but as with most darker nail polishes the chipping is just super noticeable.  I will definitely wear this nail polish again!

Thanks for reading my blog! :)

Essence "Off To Miami!"

Hi everyone and Happy December!  Now usually I wear slightly more subdued colors in the Winter because it is darker out and ice cold where I live, but I was so excited to finally get my hands on an Essence nail polish that I just couldn't wait to try it out, even though it is more of a Summer color!  So this week I am decided to try out Essence's "Off To Miami!"

Essence is a British brand of nail polish and it took me an eternity to find some at an ULTA store, and then when I did they had a very small selection.  "Off To Miami!" was the only one that the ULTA had that I liked.  "Off To Miami!" is this super pretty coral color, with a lot of hot pink and I love it.  Formula wise "Off To Miami!" is fantastic and was almost opaque after one coat, which is always a plus, however I used two coats like I always do.  As for chipping "Off To Miami!" lasted about five days before I saw any chipping, which thrilled me!  I think Essence's "Off To Miami!" would have lasted a day or two longer but I ruined one of my nails with a Band-Aid (apparently Band-Aids love nail polish!)  Removing "Off To Miami!" was super easy and my nails had no stains and that makes me very happy!

Overall I am very pleased with Essence nail polish and "Off To Miami!" is a gorgeous color, with a great formula, no streaking, no staining, and long lasting!  I will definitely be wearing this nail polish again and I plan on buying more Essence polishes as soon as I can get my hands on some!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

OPI "Skip the Gift Wrap"

Hi everyone!  It is the end of November and I can hardly believe that 2013 is starting to wrap up!  Now we just have Thanksgiving later this week (if you are American) and then Christmas and before you know it we'll be saying "Hello 2014!"  This week I decided to try out a pretty Christmas-y green polish by OPI called "Skip the Gift Wrap."  Can you tell I am excited for Christmas??  :)

OPI's "Skip the Gift Wrap" was part of a special collection for Christmas 2012 that was only at ULTA stores.    I decided to get this nail polish because the name is cute and I don't own too many dark green nail polishes.  Formula wise "Skip the Gift Wrap" is somewhat watery and a bit difficult to control.  I tend to find that OPI polishes have good brushes but since "Skip the Gift Wrap" is watery the OPI brush was unhelpful.  After two coats "Skip the Gift Wrap" was not opaque on most of my nails and there were streaks all over the place!  As for chipping I don't know how long "Skip the Gift Wrap" might last because it looked awful on my nails and started chipping almost instantly!

Overall the color of OPI's "Skip the Gift Wrap" was prettier in the bottle than on my nail, the formula was watery and hard to manage, and bad formula left lots of streaks all over my nails!  My nails looked so awful that I actually couldn't wear this polish anywhere and it only stayed on my nails for a couple of hours.  In the end I probably won't be wearing OPI's "Skip the Gift Wrap" again anytime soon.

Thanks for reading my blog!  And Happy Thanksgiving America!  :)

Sinful Colors "Paris"

Hi everyone!  I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here!  The year really is flying by!  So this week I decided to try out a major glitter this week to celebrate the holiday season!  I picked out a golden glitter by Sinful Colors called "Paris."  I originally purchased this color because I love the city of Paris and the gold glitter in the polish reminds me of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night!

Sinful Colors "Paris" is a true glitter polish and it probably wasn't meant to really be worn on its own.  The picture above shows my nails after three coats of polish.  The formula of "Paris" was nice and easy to apply to my nails however it definitely isn't opaque.  (If you look carefully you can see the line on the tips of my nails.)  But while this nail polish wasn't completely opaque it is shiny enough that you might could get away without a nail polish underneath, or search for a similar color to blend in as a base coat color.  I tested "Paris" on top of a super pretty purple polish from New York Color called "Lexington Lilac" and it turned out to be gorgeous!  Check it out:

Sinful Colors "Paris" over New York Color "Lexington Lilac."

As for chipping I'm not actually sure because I didn't wear it long enough to find out.  "Paris" is a nail polish that I would wear to a party and not on a regular day.  As for removal it did take a little bit of work but overall it came off in less than 15 minutes which is pretty good for a glitter polish!

Overall I am very pleased with Sinful Color's "Paris" because the color is gorgeous and glitter nail polishes are always a fun way to perk up a holiday or party!  And it is great that "Paris" has a clear base polish so you can wear it nicely over colored nails!  I definitely plan on breaking out "Paris" over and over again because the color is so pretty and glitter polish is always fun!

Thanks for reading my blog and have a Happy Thanksgiving (if you live in the United States!)  :)

Covergirl "Pyro Pink"

Hi everyone!  So with the premiere of  Catching Fire this coming weekend I decided to try out one of Covergirl's new line of products, which are themed from the districts.  (And if you haven't read the books or seen the first movie all you really need to know is that Covergirl has a special beauty line to go with the new film Catching Fire.)  I purchased all nine of the nail polishes from the line but I am just now getting around to trying them out!  This week I decided to wear Covergirl's "Pyro Pink."

"Pyro Pink" is a purple and pink glitter polish.  It is very shimmery and shiny and it looks really neat on my nails!  The formula is okay but I had a hard time getting good brush strokes and the tips of my nails did not get covered as well as I would have liked.  After two coats of polish "Pyro Pink" was not completely opaque and while it left no streak marks it was a bit see-through on my nails.  As for chipping it started on day one with a few small chips and it only got worse from there.  By the end of day one "Pyro Pink" was chipped beyond repair and I removed the polish.  When it came time to remove this nail polish it was a nightmare!  With all the glitter it did not want to come off and especially stuck to my skin!  I spent quite some time trying to pry it off!

Overall while I love the color of Covergirl's "Pyro Pink" I was majorly disappointed by how quickly the polish chipped and that it wasn't completely opaque on my nails.  I am willing to wear "Pyro Pink" again and maybe next time it'll last longer for me!  I also hope that "Pyro Pink" does not set the tone for the other eight polishes in this collection!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

You can grab "Pyro Pink" for yourself on Amazon (affiliate link)

China Glaze "Fast Track"

Hi guys!  So for the last few weeks I have been wearing darker Autumn/Winter colored nail polish so I decided I wanted to mix it up and try a lighter color.  I struggled with what a lighter color that still fits in the Autumn/Winter palette might be until I thought of beiges.  Beige is a wonderful color that can fit into every season if it is done right.  I finally settled on China Glaze's "Fast Track" which is a slightly darker beige full of gold glitter, and it just felt Autumn-like.  "Fast Track" is part of the Spring 2012 Capitol Colours Collection, which is the collection of the movie The Hunger Games.  For those of you who care "Fast Track" is the nail polish for District 6, the Transportation district.

I really love the way "Fast Track" looks in the bottle but until I actually got it on my nails I was a bit worried how it would look on me.  I haven't had much luck with beige/peach colored polish before.  However I think "Fast Track" looks very nice with my skin tone!  Formula wise "Fast Track" is wonderful!  It is just right not watery or thick and very easy to apply to my nails.  After two coats of polish there were no streaks and the polish was opaque.  As for chipping, aside from accidentally smudging one of my nails while it was drying, "Fast Track" lasted four days before it started chipping.

Overall I am very pleased with China Glaze's "Fast Track."  The beige with gold glitter is such a pretty combination, the formula is fantastic and it was nice to be able to wear a nail polish for more than one day for a change!  I am definitely still a fan of China Glaze nail polish!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

If you'd like to try this nail polish out it can be purchased on Amazon (affiliate link)

Nails INC "Upper Brook Street"

Hi everyone!  It is late Autumn and Winter will soon be here so I am having fun trying out darker colors!  This week I decided to wear a deep blue nail polish by Nails INC called "Upper Brook Street."  I got this nail polish in a Nails INC set I ordered from QVC.  The complete set looks like:

"Upper Brook Street" is such a gorgeous purple blue color!  The formula is nice but it does have some streaking.  While "Upper Brook Street" is a darker color it definitely needs two coats of polish to be opaque!  Since I have a mini bottle it was a little hard to control the brush, but that is only because of the tiny size of the bottle.  As for chipping "Upper Brook Street" lasted about three days before the chipping started, and when the chipping did start it was bad!  There were chunks falling off almost continuously until I removed "Upper Brook Street."  Also I was very happy that this dark blue nail polish left no stains on my nails and was easy to remove!

Overall I am pretty pleased with Nails INC's "Upper Brook Street."  The color is gorgeous (and the picture doesn't even do it justice!), and the formula is good.  The tiny bottle size made it a bit difficult to apply but that isn't Nails INC's fault that I purchased a mini size so I can forgive that!  I wish that I had been able to wear "Upper Brook Street" just a little bit longer but three days is still fairly decent.  I definitely plan on wearing this nail polish again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Orly "Decoded"

Hi everyone!  So in my efforts to try out some darker Autumn/Winter colored polishes I decided to rummage through the Rubbermaid bins and see what I could find.  I looked through all the darker colors and found that I haven't tried out a grey nail polish in a while so I pulled out Orly's "Decoded" which is a medium to dark grey.

Orly's "Decoded" is a basic grey cream, which I thought would be a nice cold weather color since it matches the sky's clouds in North Carolina during Autumn/Winter.  Formula wise "Decoded" is extremely watery and it was relatively difficult and time consuming to apply to my finger nails.  After a few attempts I found that by removing as much excess polish as possible from the brush and using multiple quick brush strokes that I was able to successfully paint my nails.  After two coats of polish "Decoded" had no streaking which was nice after all the hard work and effort it took to get this polish on my nails!  After applying a quick drying topcoat I waited for my nails to finish drying and before I could even take pictures for this post my nails started to smudge.  "Decoded" refused to dry even though I used an Orly topcoat, which is supposed to work best with Orly nail polishes.  I was definitely unhappy because it took me forever to master how to apply Orly's "Decoded" because of its awful formula and then it looked gross after less than two hours!  By the end of the first day I removed "Decoded" because it looked horrific and was extremely smudged and still felt tacky and semi-wet to the touch!  Also when I removed Orly's "Decoded" from my nails it left awful stains on my nails, which just added to my list of dislikes about this polish.

Overall I am seriously disappointed by Orly's "Decoded."  The only nice thing about this nail polish is its nice grey color!  Otherwise the formula is overly watery, difficult to control, and refused to dry after many hours which caused a ton of smudging and chips.  Not to mention the horrid stains it left all over my nails.  I probably will not wear this nail polish again, unless I can find a way to get it to actually dry.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

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

Rimmel London "Purple Reign"

Hi everyone!  So Autumn has come late here in the southeast and our leaves are just now starting to look pretty, but I am glad that it wasn't a bad year for the leaves!  This week I decided to pull out a purple nail polish because I like purple and I hadn't worn a purple polish in a while.  :)  After digging through my collection I pulled out Rimmel London's 60 Seconds in "Purple Reign."

"Purple Reign" is a really nice royal purple color which I thought was very appropriate for Autumn because I typically start wear darker colors.  Formula wise "Purple Reign" was okay.  It went on fairly easily and since Rimmel London has nice wide brushes.  I was very surprised though with how light "Purple Reign" looked on my nails.  It looks so much darker in the bottle.  After two coats of polish there were a few minor streaks and the nail polish wasn't completely opaque, which was a bit disappointing.  As for chipping it started within the first 12 hours.  "Purple Reign" took forever to dry even with a topcoat (Orly "Sec'N'Dry") and my pointer finger got smudged, which can kind of be seen in the picture above.  After day one "Purple Reign" was chipped and smudged beyond repair and I had to remove it.

Overall I am a bit disappointed by Rimmel London's "Purple Reign."  The color is very pretty, though I think it looks better in the bottle than on my nails.  And it was totally a let down that the polish didn't want to dry and then started chipping and smudging.  Then you add in the few streaks and that it wasn't opaque after two coats and it looks like I probably won't wear "Purple Reign" again anytime soon!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Sally Hansen "Jaded"

Hi everyone!  Happy November!  (Even though my November is starting off with pouring rain!)  While I enjoyed wearing lots of pink nail polishes in October I was very excited to wear a different color nail polish again!  I decided to go with a blue-green nail polish as my first post-pink month!  Ever since I saw Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polish in "Jaded" I wanted to try it out.

In the bottle "Jaded" looks like a gorgeous aquamarine/mint colored polish however the good stopped there.  This Sally Hansen nail polish is beyond watery and miserable to apply!  After two coats of nail polish "Jaded" was beyond see-through and it refused to dry smudging and causing a huge mess.  After applying a quick drying topcoat (Orly "Sec'N'Dry") "Jaded" finally dried, however they looked so awful that I just took pictures and then promptly removed this nail polish!  I have no idea how long Sally Hansen "Jaded" would have lasted if I had been able to actually wear this nail polish for more than 2 hours.

Overall I am very disappointed with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Jaded."  While the color is nice everything else about it is awful!  I have no plans to use this nail polish every again and it will most likely sit in my Rubbermaid bins gathering dust.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Nicole by OPI "Naturally"

Hi guys!  Happy end of October!  In just a few short days it will be Halloween and I am thrilled!  I love a good fun holiday!  :)  Also Halloween marks the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I can get back to wearing different colored polish!  For my last pink polish of October I decided to pull out Nicole by OPI's "Naturally" which is part of Selena Gomez's Collection.

"Naturally" is a light hot pink, if that makes any sense.  It is a lighter color pink but it is very bright or hot.  It is very pretty and very youthful, which definitely fits with Selena Gomez's image.  Nicole by OPI had a very wide brush, which I like but it is almost too wide.  Fortunately "Naturally" has a good formula that holds onto the wide brush and in most cases makes it easier to apply to my nails!  However after two coats "Naturally" is a bit see-though and definitely has some streaks.  But the streaks mostly occurred on my thumbs, which are my widest nails and require me to use more polish and more brush strokes.  As for chipping "Naturally" started to wear off the tops of my nails after about two days and by day three the chips started.

Overall Nicole by OPI's "Naturally" is pretty good.  The color is very pretty and the formula is okay.  And I can even handle a few minor streaks and that "Naturally" lasted about three days before chipping too badly to be worn.  I wish I could have worn "Naturally" a little longer but since it was super easy to put on I will definitely be wearing this nail polish again!

Thanks for reading my blog and Happy Almost Halloween!  :)

OPI "The Impossible"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone is enjoying Autumn.  It is still October so therefore I am still rocking shades of pink nail polish for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  This week I decided to finally try out an OPI Liquid Sand nail polish.  Liquid Sand is a textured nail polish and first debuted as part of the Mariah Carey collection that came out earlier this year.  Now I am NOT a fan of Mariah Carey but I did want to try out Liquid Sand polish so I purchased her mini set, which features Mariah's four Liquid Sand polishes.  Here's what the mini set looks like:

So this week's color is OPI's "The Impossible" (the only pink polish in the picture above!) and is a hot pink textured nail polish that has huge glitter chunks in silver and hot pink in it too!  I was pretty stoked to try out liquid sand nail polish and see how it looks and how well it works!  Formula wise "The Impossible" is very nice.  The formula was slightly watery but when it comes to glitters and possibly Liquid Sands polishes it was much easier to control because the nail polish wasn't as thick.  In terms of chipping the tip chips started after about three days and by the end of day four the chipping had gotten really bad and I had to change out my nail polish.  As for removing Liquid Sand nail polish, it was very similar to other heavy glitter polishes.  It took me about 15 or 20 minutes to remove, which was a bit annoying but not the worst.  The picture at the top features "The Impossible" with a top coat (Orly "Sec'N'Dry") and here is what this nail polish looks like without a topcoat (and as it is meant to be worn):

Overall I am very pleased with OPI's Liquid Sand nail polishes.  "The Impossible" is a very pretty color and looked nice on my nails!  Also I was happy to be able to wear this nail polish for four days.  I also enjoyed that Liquid Sand polishes could be worn with or without a topcoat depending on what kind of look you were going for.

Thanks for reading my blog and happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  :)

Dupes: OPI "A Definite Moust-Have" vs. Nicole by OPI "A Like-Haley Story..."

Hi guys!  I hope everyone is enjoying October and looking forward to Halloween, which is coming up soon!  I love Halloween because I am a candy-o-holic and I enjoy passing out the candy to the children in our neighborhood!  Since it is still October I am continuing to wear pink nail polish.  But this week while digging through my nail polish collection I cam across OPI's "A Definite Moust-Have" and Nicole by OPI's "A Like-Haley Story..." and they looked nearly identical in the bottle.  So I decided to see if they were dupes or not.  Here are the bottles next to each other:

Now obviously Nicole by OPI and OPI are produced by the same company so I guess it isn't too surprising that there might be some dupes within their many brands.  But I still wanted to test it out and see for myself!  Formula wise the NOPI (Nicole by OPI) and OPI polishes were identical.  Neither were too water or difficult to handle and the brushes are very similar too.  Upon removing the nail polish I discovered that neither polish stained my nails, which I appreciate!  I found the polishes to be nearly identical the only minor difference being NOPI's "A Like-Haley Story..." has tiny little glitter pieces while OPI's "A Definite Moust-Have" has an iridescent shimmer. 

In the end I don't think you need to own both nail polishes and can pick just one of these.  However since they are both so similar in formula, brush, price, and the amount of polish in each bottle (.5 fluid ounces) that I don't have a favorite out of the two.  I suggest you just go with whichever one you are able to find!  Both polishes are part of limited edition collections so I wouldn't wait too long to look for them!

OPI's "A Definite Moust-Have" is part of the Summer 2013 Couture de Minnie Collection which came out earlier this summer.  And Nicole by OPI's "A Like-Haley Story..." is part of the Spring 2013 Modern Family Collection (based on the TV show of the same name) which came out at the beginning of the year.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Essie "Madison Ave-Hue"

Hi everyone!  It is still October so I am still wearing pink nail polish in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month!  :)  This week I decided to wear Essie's "Madison Ave-Hue" which is a hot pink nail polish with a silvery shimmer!  (Which you can kind of see in the picture.)

"Madison Ave-Hue" is a blue based hot pink, which is my favorite kind of hot pink nail polish!  Formula wise "Madison Ave-Hue" is a bit watery and because Essie has a pretty small brush I find it very difficult to control the nail polish.  Which means it goes all over and I end up spending 20 minutes trying to get it off my skin and I don't enjoy that.  As for chipping "Madison Ave-Hue" lasted for about three days.  After that it chipped off the end of my nails and many of my nails had scratch marks on them.  The scratch marks made my nails look rough and not shiny.  As for removing "Madison Ave-Hue" I was worried that it was going to be hard because of all the glitter.  But I was surprised and after about fifteen minutes all of the nail polish was off and it did not stain my nails!

Overall Essie's "Madison Ave-Hue" is pretty good.  The color is fantastic and reminds me of Barbie pink (I was a 90's child so Barbies were my thing!) and I like the surprise silver glitter.  But the formula was not very nice and it was a bit difficult to handle, however the brush did not help.  I will wear "Madison Ave-Hue" again and maybe with a little practice I can get better at using Essie's tiny brushes.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

If you want to try this pink pretty it's available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Disney Nail Art Post!

Hi everyone!  I am in Florida for the week on my first vacation in nearly eighteen months and I am having a great time!  My Mom and I went to Disney World for a few days and had a blast at Magic Kingdom!  I decided I wanted to do some nail art for the trip and I thought of Minnie Mouse's bow!  So I whipped out my red and white nail polish and some nail dotting tools and created this very simple nail art!

To start this super easy nail art I picked out red and white nail polishes by Sally Hansen.  Here they are:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Cherry Red" and "White Out."

I started out with a clear basecoat (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Invisible") followed by two coats of "Cherry Red."  After the red polish dried I applied a topcoat (Orly's "Sec'N'Dry") and my nails looked like this:

Sally Hansen's "Cherry Red" is a really pretty color and the formula is nice.  After the topcoat had my nails completely dry, which took about fifteen minutes (though I waited about thirty minutes just to be extra sure) I pulled out my dotting tools.  I purchased my dotting tools from Amazon and it is a set of five dotting tools which are double ended creating ten different dotting sizes.  I picked out one of the bigger ones for this nail art!  Then I used Sally Hansen's "White On" to create dots in a random pattern on each of my nails.  Each nail has between five and eight polka dots on them.  Here are what my dotting tools look like:

  I had lots of fun with this mani and had an even better time at Magic Kingdom!  Here are a couple of pictures:

 Cinderella's Castle as you enter the park!

Belle's Castle, which is new and is actually a restaurant. 

Rapunzel's Tower.  It is a miniature but it would have been cool if you could climb it!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails "Tough Chick"

Hi everyone!  It is still October so I am still rocking pink nail polish!  This week I decided to try out a Sally Hansen Hard As Nails nail polish called "Tough Chick."  I picked this nail polish up because I loved the name and it is pink!  :)

"Tough Chick" is a pretty hot pink with yellow/orange shimmer in it.  While I like the color the formula was horrific!  It was super watery and that made it impossible to get good coats of nail polish on.  And in the end my nails turned out streaky and not opaque at all!  Plus I could never get the nail polish to completely cover my nails, which was weird and awful looking!  In the end I wore "Tough Chick" for less tan an hour because my manicure looked horrific and I didn't want anyone seeing me in public like that!  So I don't know how long "Tough Chick" would have lasted before chipping.  However "Tough Chick" was easy to remove and didn't stain my nails so that was nice.

Overall I am super disappointed by Sally Hansen Hard As Nails "Tough Chick."  Literally it was awful in everything except it is a pretty color!  And frankly that isn't enough for me to wear this nail polish again!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

You can grab "Tough Chick" for yourself by buying it on Amazon (affiliate link)

Sinful Colors "Starfish"

Hi everyone and happy October!  I love October because the leaves usually change into gorgeous colors here in North Carolina and it is Breast Cancer Awareness month!  Breast Cancer Awareness is special to me because my Mom and Aunt are both survivors.  So to help celebrate I wear only pink nail polish, because pink is Breast Cancer's color!  So this week I decided to wear Sinful Colors "Starfish."

"Starfish" is a gorgeous dusty light pink color!  I really love it!  I love the brand Sinful Colors because the nail polish is usually a $1.99 (USD) a bottle but every so often drugstores will have them on sale for 99 cents (USD) a bottle!  I love when that happens!  And this time my Mom was the one who found them on sale while she was at the beach and brought me home a few bottles.  Formula wise "Starfish" was a bit thick but overall still manageable.  After two coats "Starfish" was opaque and had no streaks.  As for chipping "Starfish" lasted about two days before the chipping started.  And I was able to wear it for a third day before it started to look horrible.

Overall for 99 cents I can live with nail polish being messed up by the third day.  "Starfish" is a gorgeous color and for the most part I found it to be a good nail polish.  I will probably wear New York Color's "Starfish" again.

Thanks for reading my blog!  And Happy Breast Cancer Awareness month!  :)

New York Color "Wine Bar"

Hi all!  I cannot believe that September is almost over!  Autumn is really here now and all that wonderful warm Summertime weather is gone!  I decided this week to wear one of my favorite fall colors: Burgundy!  I just love red colors in the fall!  Earlier this year I tried my first New York Color nail polish and I loved it so much I went and bought some more colors!  So this week I decided to wear New York Color's "Wine Bar."

"Wine Bar" as the name suggests is a burgundy color and super pretty!  The formula is fantastic and it went on easily and was opaque in two coats!  As I applied the first coat of New York Color's "Wine Bar" I realized that it is a semi-jelly nail polish.  It isn't as see through as a real jelly but it has the same super shiny jelly look when dry!  As for chipping New York Color impressed me again!  I didn't see any chipping until day four and even then it was only a few minor tip chips!  "Wine Bar" lasted me through several shifts at work and through my housework!  I am very impressed that a 93 cent bottle of nail polish lasted four days!  And removing "Wine Bar" was super easy and my nails weren't stained at all!

Overall I still love New York Color nail polish and "Wine Bar" is such a gorgeous color!  I couldn't be more pleased by the quality of this nail polish and I plan on wearing it a lot more this Autumn!  :)

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

FLOWER "Eye of the Tiger Lily"

Hi everyone!  After wearing some calmer Autumn colors the last couple of weeks I decided that I needed to brighten it back up!  Since the leaves are going to be changing soon I decided to pick out a bright orange.  I don't own very many orange nail polishes so I picked out FLOWER's "Eye of the Tiger Lily."  For those of you who don't know FLOWER is a drugstore brand owned by actress Drew Barrymore. The make-up line and nail polish are all reasonably priced and are happily made in the USA!

FLOWER's "Eye of the Tiger Lily" is this super bright orange nail polish.  I assumed that "Eye of the Tiger Lily" would be a cream but in fact it is a jelly nail polish!  The formula is lovely and went on super smooth ad after two coats of nail polish the orange color of "Eye of the Tiger Lily" was nearly opaque and had no streaking at all!  In terms of chipping "Eye of the Tiger Lily" didn't per sat chip as much as it just wore off.  In less than 24 hours the nail polish had worn off of the bottom third of all my nails.  (You can kind of see it starting in the picture!)  It was very bizarre and have never seen it happen before.  I ended up taking "Eye of the Tiger Lily" off after one day because it just looked awful!

Overall I am very disappointed that FLOWER's "Eye of the Tiger Lily" didn't last!  The color is very pretty and the formula is nice but I probably won't wear this nail polish much because if wears off so quickly!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

ULTA's "Tutu Cute"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone is enjoying the slightly cooler weather.  (Even though I am already missing Summer!)  I know purple nail polish isn't really a fall color but I love purple and I realized I haven't worn a lighter purple nail polish in a while so I decided to dig through my collection for one and I found ULTA's "Tutu Cute"!  And aside from its pretty color I just live its adorable name!

ULTA's "Tutu Cute" is a fun purple purple.  It isn't a dark purple and it isn't lavender it is somewhere in the middle and I love it!  ULTA nail polishes vary in price but I got "Tutu Cute" in a sale where it was buy one get one free, so I got a fantastic deal!  Formula wise "Tutu Cute" is wonderful!  The polish went on super easy and was nearly opaque after one coat!  Also there is no streaking on any of my nails, which makes me very happy!  As for chipping it started almost instantly.  By the end of day one I had tip chips on all of my nails and several small chunks missing from three or four of my nails.

Overall I am completely disappointed by how quickly ULTA's "Tutu Cute" chipped, but the formula is so fantastic and the color is really pretty and I am willing to repaint my nails with "Tutu Cute."  Plus since I got this nail polish during a buy one get one sale it only ended up being between $2-$3 (USD) for the bottle which is a great price!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Essie "Going Incognito"

Hi guys!  Autumn really is getting closer and closer and I am already dreading the cold weather!  So in my effort to temporarily forget the cold weather I decided to try out a green nail polish by Essie, since Summer is full of green trees and grass!

Essie's Going Incognito" is a deep forest green nail polish that is super pretty!  I had seen "Going Incognito" a lot on Pinterest and had been wanting to try it out for a while so I was very happy when I got my hands on it earlier this year!  The formula was so-so.  It was a bit on the watery side and it took me a few nails to get the hand of it.  In the end the formula didn't slow me down and after two coats there was no visible streaking and the nail polish was completely opaque.  As for chipping it started after only two days, and when the chipping did start the nail polish fell off in big chunks, which was sad.  And when I removed "Going Incognito" I was worried that it might stain my nails because it is a dark color, and unfortunately there was some staining.  My nails were tinted green for a week!  They looked awful and I couldn't go out until I had painted my nails again!

Overall I am a bit disappointed in how quickly Essie's "Going Incognito" chipped and by how much it stained my nails, but the color is fantastic that I am willing to give this nail polish a second chance some time soon.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Candie's "Aqua Denim"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather like I am.  So this week I decided to test out a new (at least to me) brand called Candie's.  Candie's is a brand produced by Kohl's stores.  Their name polish runs about $6- $7 (US) a bottle.  I love trying out new brands because sometimes you find a new brand of nail polish you love and this is especially true with Candie's by Kohls!  I decided to try out Candie's "Aqua Denim" which is a fantastic royal blue color!

Candie's "Aqua Denim" is super pretty and I just adore blue nail polish (and I own far too many!)  I was a bit worried that because it is more of a drugstore brand polish that the formula might not be stellar, but I was very excited when it went on flawlessly!  The formula is smooth and was nearly opaque after one coat.  And after the second coat the color was gorgeous and "Aqua Denim" had no streaking at all!  Touch ups were easy and even though it is a deep royal blue I had no staining on my skin.  However when I removed the nail polish my nails were definitely stained, but after a little extra work with nail polish remove and some old fashioned soap and water my nails returned to their normal color.  As for chipping I began to see chipping on day two, which was a bit disappointing.  I had hopped to wear "Aqua Denim" for at least four days before it chipped!

Overall I like Candie's by Kohls "Aqua Denim" and definitely plan on wear it again and possibly buying a few more of the polishes!  However I do wish I had been able to wear "Aqua Denim" longer and that the nail polish didn't require extra work to de-stain my nails.  But since the formula is so fantastic I am more than happy to wear Candie's "Aqua Denim" again.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

butterLONDON "Toff"

Hi everyone!  I cannot believe it is September already!  Summer just kind of flew by and pretty soon Autumn is going to come and I am not ready for that because I have never been a fan of cold weather!  So in preparation for cooler weather I decided to pull out a dustier, darker color.  I decided on butterLONDON's "Toff" which is a gorgeous dusty purple/brown.

I adore this color nail polish because it is pretty and calmer and perfect for Autumn but it isn't so cold and harsh like Winter.  Formula wise butterLONDON's "Toff" is very nice.  It went on well and wasn't too thick or watery so I was a happy camper.  The formula of "Toff" was so great that after one coat the polish was almost completely opaque, but I added a second coat just to make sure there were no streaks.  However I didn't have to worry about streaking because "Toff" had none!  As for chipping I started noticing chips on day two.  And while the chips weren't so bad because "Toff" is a darker color the chips were very noticeable!  I am somewhat disappointed by how quickly "Toff" chipped because butterLONDON nail polish usually costs $15 (US) a bottle.  However earlier this year ULTA had a sale and I was able to get some butterLONDON nail polish, including "Toff", for $9 (US) which was awesome!

Overall I adore butterLONDON nail polish and "Toff" is a gorgeous color and perfect fro Autumn.  However I am not a fan of paying such a high price for a nail polish that is going to chip after only two days!

Thanks so much for reading my blog!  :)

Nails INC "Royal Botanical Gardens"

Hi everyone!  I can't believe it is the end of August already!  It seems like 2013 just started and here we are 2/3rds of the way through the year!  Since Summer is nearly over too I decided to break out one last super bright blue!  I picked Nails INC "Royal Botanical Gardens" which is this super gorgeous turquoise/aquamarine color!  This is my favorite color of all time and definitely my favorite nail polish so far this year!

Nails INC "Royal Botanical Gardens" has a really nice formula.  It wasn't too thick or watery and went on easily.  The first coat of nail polish looked a bit streaky but after the second coat the polish looked fantastic!  In terms of chipping I saw some minor tip chips by the end of day three.  And it wasn't until day five that I really got any massive chips.  I will say though I did go swimming twice with this nail polish on and I don't know if the chlorine messed the nail polish or not.  But five days is a great amount of time for a nail polish to last so I'm very happy with it since Nails INC nail polishes cost $9.50 (US) at Sephora!  (I do buy almost all of my Nails INC polishes at Sephora unless I can get a better deal elsewhere!)

Overall I am very pleased with Nails INC "Royal Botanical Gardens"!  I adore the color of the nail polish and how long it lasted before seriously chipping!  And I nice formula always makes life so much easier!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Sally Hansen Magnetic "Ionic Indigo"

Hi everyone!  Happy end of Summer!  (Well not so happy for all of those going back to school!)  So I know that magnet polish came out a while ago but I finally got a hold of some at a reasonable price!  I found this Sally Hansen Magnetic polish at Wal-Mart in the sale section for under $5 (USA).

Sally Hansen "Ionic Indigo" is a magnetic nail polish in a fun denim blue color!  I love the color because it is different from most of the other magnetic nail polishes I have seen!  So magnetic polishes have a magnet on the top of the cap.  Each magnet has a pattern embedded in it, mine is the classic wave, which can be seen on the side of the cap.  The cap with the magnet is a faux cap that comes of the reveal a smaller cap which you hold while painting your nails.  It looks like this:

When I painted my nails I followed the directions on the bottle.  The directions on the bottle for achieving the magnetic nail polish look say:

1. Apply a clear base coat of nail polish.

2. Shake magnetic polish to activate.

3. Apply one thin coat of magnetic nail polish to all nails and let dry.

4. Apply a thick coat to one nail at a time and hold the magnetic cap above nail polish for 10 seconds.

5. Allow all nails to dry.

6. Apply topcoat.

I wanted to show you my nails along the way.  Here are my nails after the one thin coat of nail polish:

The nail polish has a great formula.  It went on very easily ad was opaque after one coat.  And to be honest this nail polish looks nice without using the magnet!  After allowing my nails to dry I went one nail at a time and applied a thick coat of nail polish and held the magnet above my nail like this:

(Sorry the picture is blurry but I had to use my timer to take the picture and this was the best I could get!)

I found that the magnetic pattern worked best with a thicker coat, as the directions suggest.  But that being said the magnetic pattern is very weak and hard to see on most of my nails.  I waited nearly 20 minutes before applying a top coat (Orly "Sec'N'Dry") but the pattern still smudged.  In the end my nails look more like dark wash denim jeans, where the color fades in some places.  As for chipping I was worried that the thick coats of "Ionic Indigo" would cause the nail polish to chip very quickly.  However "Ionic Indigo" lasted almost three days before I saw any minor tip chips! But by day five the tip chips started to get worse and my nails looked a little rough.  Removing the nail polish was easy and "Ionic Indigo" left no stains on my nails!

Overall it was really cool to try out a magnetic nail polish and the color before and after the magnet was pretty.  But the fact that the magnetic pattern wasn't very prominent was disappointing.  However since I was able to wear "Ionic Indigo" for five days before needing to repaint my nails I would definitely recommend Sally Hansen Magnetic nail polish!  I do plan on wearing Sally Hansen's "Ionic Indigo" again but maybe next time I will try wearing it without using the magnet just to change it up!

Thanks for reading my blog!  And I hope everyone has a great first week of school!  :)

You can try all this magnetic fun it is available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link)