50 Follower Giveaway!

Yay! Earlier this week I reached 50 lovely followers and wanted to show my appreciation with a small giveaway. I can't believe I already have 50 followers, how fun.

I decided to get you ladies some pretty springtime colors from NYC. I haven't tried any of the colors myself, but they all look like creme polishes I would wear if I owned them (may be going to get some to try later this week, hehe)

Polishes (from Left to Right):
-Lavendar Cupcake
-City Sweets Pink
-Peaches 'N Cream
-Mint Macaroon

This giveaway is open for two weeks, and is open to North American shipping addresses only (sorry international followers) ENJOY!

Swatch: Sinful Colors - Nirvana

Now that the Girly Girl Challenge is over I am going to have to start being creative again without having a theme to stick to; hopefully I don't get too boring!

My natural nails aren't going so well ... another one broke today at work and I'm honestly just not sure what to do with them. They look HORRIBLE (they look OK in the swatches below but when they are nekkid, thats another story). Enough complaining though, this is one of my new colors and I really like it.

Polishes Used:

-Sally Hansen - Triple Strong (2 coats)

-Sinful Colors - Nirvana (2 coats)

-Out The Door TopCoat

While this color may be a little dark for summer, it's a nice creamy brown that is a less harsh alternative to black nails, and it seems like this color would go with just about anything. Do you ladies mind wearing dark colors in the spring/summer time or do you wear them year-round?

Girly-Girl Challenge - Day 8: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Today is the last day of the Girly Girl Challenge!!! *TEAR* This was fun and easy to keep up with since the posts were only twice a week. If I get invited to participate in challenges in the future, I definitly think that I will! Here is the re-cap:

For today's mani I decided to use the fun colors of Royal Blue and Pink and a leopard print stamp which seemed pretty fun too. Here is a photo of two coats of the blue by itself:

The picture is sort of blurry, but you get the idea. That blue is Wet n' Wild Saved By The Blue. Here is the final fun mani:

Polishes Used:
-Sally Hansen - Thicken Up! (2 coats)
-Wet n' Wild - Saved By The Blue (2 coats)
-Konad special pink
-Konad stamping plate m57
-NYC Matte Me Crazy

As we all know last time I tried using a matte top coat on a mani I didn't like it. On this mani however, I think it fits perfectly and I love how it looks. This blue in natural light is not as in your face bright as it shows up in the photos and with the natural shine of the blue polish, the topcoat turns this into a sort of "Satin" finish. Love it.

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" mani's and continue to follow them after this challenge is over. And a special thanks to Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog for putting this challenge together!

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of RockNPolish
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-Ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Laquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O'Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm Just Me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Overstuffed
Taylor of Rejoice
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

Layout Issues

Was trying to make some updates to my blog and now I'm having layout issues - bear with me!

Swatch: Revlon - Popular

I know it has only been a couple days since I switched back to natural nails but I am trying to stay positive (only 1 has broken so far - knock on wood!). Let's hope that I can keep this up :-) Random question: one of the feelings that just creeps me out is having my longer nails touch paper - does this happen to anyone else? Do you even know what I'm talking about? LOL.

Moving on.

I saw Revlon Popular at Ulta and wanted try to it out, but when I went back to the store to pick it up they were already out! Luck for me, I stopped at K-Mart on my way home from work today and they had a couple bottles of it. It is from the same line as Whimsical with the same idea, an opaque jelly base with glitter. Take a look!

Polishes Used:
-Sally Hansen - Thicken Up! (2 coats)
-Revlon - Popular (2 coats)
-Out The Door TopCoat

Overall, I like this polish! It's fun and pretty in a subtle way. Hopefully I will start to use some bright colors, I have been stuck in a lull of pale shades and now that it's getting to be spring I should add some more color. Stay Tuned...

Girly-Girl Challenge - Day 7: Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

First off, I want to say, "YAY, 50 followers!" Thanks for everyone who is following! Hope you enjoy my posts!!

Today's challenge is "Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice". Here is the list:

I was talking to one of my girlfriends at work about the challenge and she mentioned doing something candy related since that's sugary; then on the way to the grocery store after work, I thought, why not add sprinkles?! So here we go:

Polished Used:
-LA Colors - SuperStrength Nail Builder (2 coats)
-Revlon - Twinkled Pink (2 coats)
-Out The Door TopCoat (1 coat)
-SPRINKLES!

You can't get too much more sugary and sweet than this :) I tried to do something sort of "studded" with the sprinkles but I just ended up going crazy and putting lots on. Maybe something to try in the future with the "caviar" look, but with real nail supplies. (Not sure what is going to happen when I wash my hands!!)

Hope you enjoy my Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice look, and don't forget to check out the other ladies creations.

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of RockNPolish
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-Ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Laquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O'Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm Just Me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Overstuffed
Taylor of Rejoice
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

See you on Thursday for the final Girly Girl Challenge - I can't believe it's almost over :-(

Swatch: Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac + more

So if you were following my post yesterday, you know that my pointer finger had some issues; theremore, I made the decision to get all of my acrylics off and go natural. I am apologizing ahead of time for my pointer nubbin and will talk about natural nails in a bit.

I puchased Lacey Lilac earlier this week when I bought Revlon Radient and hadn't had a chance to use it as an allover color on my nail and wanted to try it out. It was a cute color but of course I couldnt leave it plain so I added a shimmer too.

Polishes Used:
-Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac (2 coats)
-NYC - Love Letters
-Out The Door TopCot

The pictures are really washed out and everytime that I tried to darken them it really threw off the rest of the photo. Sorry ladies!

Let's rewind to February when I put on acrylics; I did it the day my hard-drive crashed because that was sort of the last straw with things, and I couldn't deal with my nails constantly being brittle, peeling, and breaking. When my pointer nail broke off I decided it was time to go natural again. Right now, most of my nails look OK, but I have only had them off for a short period of time and they will probably start breaking soon. What have you ladies used to get your nails stronger? I have heard all different suggestions, but what works for you? I am open to anything, I just want strong natural nails!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Swatch: Revlon - Radient

Yesterday at work my pointer finger had a little accident and I'm now down to a stub (soon to be corrected...) so please excuse that nail in the pictures.

I bought Revlon Radient earlier this week when I was at Ulta and was excited to try it out. I normally don't wear glitters, frankens, anything along those "super hard to remove" polishes but this one just seemed so fun and I got it with a coupon ;-)

Polishes Used:
-Revlon - Radient (2 coats)
-Out The Door TopCoat

I used this polish over  my bare nail but I think it would look even better overtop of a blue/teal/black polish. It has small and medium glitters in blue and larger hexagonal glitters in silver, green and blue.

What is your favorite type of polish? Glitters? Jelly? Creme?

Enjoy your first weekend of SPRING!

Girly-Girl Challenge - Day 6: Who Inspires You?

Today's challenge is "Who Inspires You? Show some love to your favorite female role model by creating gorgeous nails in their honor". Here is the list of challenges:

So OF COURSE, I picked my mom!!! She's great and I would consider her one of my best friends :-) Her birthday is in the month of October and therefore her birthstone in OPAL so I wanted to try to do opal nails using a watercolor technique. Check it out:

Polishes Used:
-Konad Special Polish - White (2 coats)
-NYC - Sidewalkers
-Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac
-Sally Hansen - Frozen Creamsicle
-Savvy - French Rose Opal Frost (1 coat)
-Out The Door TopCoat

They didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped; though for my first time trying a watercolor effect I think it was fairly successful (minus the fact that my ring finger seems to have twice as much color as the rest of my nails!) Have you girls tried this technique before?

Don't forget to check out the other ladies Inspired nails here:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of RockNPolish
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-Ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Laquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O'Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm Just Me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Overstuffed
Taylor of Rejoice
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

Also, I know it's not nail related but since I picked my mom as my role model, here is one of my most favorite pictures of us from my wedding day; enjoy!

Swatch: Spoiled - Shrimp on the Barbie

I did this quick swatch earlier in the week but saved it for today since I knew I would have other posts coming up for the Girly Girl Challenge.

I always see ladies "mattifing" their shimmery polishes and they look so good! When I tried it though, I didn't love how it turned out; I still love the color, but think I will stick to shiny next time I wear it.

Polishes Used:
-Spoiled - Shrimp on the Barbie (2 coats)
-NYC - Matte Me Crazy

Do you ladies see what I'm saying and why I don't like it? Maybe there is too much shimmer in the polish on its own that it's over-powering the matte? Should I be using two coats of matte polish? Any suggestions on using Matte and the best application are always appreciated.

Overall, I like the color and the application of Shrimp on the Barbie - it's sheer in one coat but covers nicely in two (although not completely opaque). In the pictures it looks a smidge more "hot pink" than it really is, but overall, since it is pink, I know I will end up wearing this polish plenty more in the future.

Girly-Girl Challenge - Day 5: Gotta Love Chick Flicks!

Today is Day 5 of the Girly Girl Challenge and that means "Gotta Love Chick Flicks". As always, here is the challenge:

So I am sort of cheating because my FAVORITE chick flick is actually Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant, however, I was very inspired by the movie for a mani, therefore, I moved to one of my favorite musicals, The Sound of Music (I know my husband is NOT on  board with musicals and therefore, they become Chick Flicks in my house).

When  I think of Sound of Music I think of this picture, which is what inspired my nails:

It's been WARM here for Pittsburgh in March and the green grass with yellow flowers from the movie just seemed to be perfect for this challenge.

Polishes Used:
Sinful Colors - Mint Apple (2 coats - base)
Sinful Colors - San Francisco (1 coat freehand)
Essie - Da Bush (1 coat freehand)
Sinful Colors - San Francisco (another coat freehand)
Zoya - Pippa
NYC - French White Tip
Out The Door TopCoat

I hope that you're not TOO burnt out on the green from St. Patrick's Day and I honestly don't normally wear it but something just came over me today. lol.

As always, don't forget to check out the other ladies "Chick Flick" mani's here:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of RockNPolish
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-Ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Laquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O'Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm Just Me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Overstuffed
Taylor of Rejoice
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

See you soon loves!

Swatch: Sinful - Cinderella

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was good, and the wedding my husband and I went to  was very fun! It was a Persian wedding and not something that I had experienced before, which made it extra special; we got to try lots of Persian food and listen to the ceremony and music in Farsi. Fun Fun.
As I mentioned last week I was going to wear Sinful's Cinderella to the wedding which I did. I took it with me to the hotel and ended up painting my nails there the night before. So even though everyone already knows what Cinderella looks like, here we go:

I actually like the darker color background in these photos from the hotel room and may start to use a darker color background when I take my pictures at home (instead of our basement walls!)

Polishes Used:
-Sinful - Cinderella (2 coats)
-Out The Door TopCoat

Once wearing this color I can see why everyone was so excited about it. The blue is very pretty and the pink shimmer in it is right up my ally (I look better in cool colors), and even though you could wear it in only one coat it completly covers in 2 (2 coats is normally my max). I would say, if you don't have this color and they still have it in stock at your local Walgreens you should go pick up a bottle, I can't imagine this looking bad on anyone.

See you tomorrow for Day 5 of the Girly Girl Challenge.

Swatch: OPI - Pedal Faster Suzi

Welcome loves! Hope you are having a good weekend!! It's going to be a quick post today since I am scheduling this ahead of time; we are at our friends' wedding. (I LOVE weddings - I would do it again if I could - same guy of course!!!)

Here I am swatching Pedal Faster Suzi, one of OPI's new colors in the Holland Collection.

This is two coats of Pedal Faster Suzi. I really like this color and it sort of reminds me of one of my favorite colors in college OPI's Aphrodite's Pink Nightie.

I must apologize for my poor ring finger. I need to file it down - it got all bumpy and I should have fixed it before I polished.

Hope you're enjoying the weekend and see you on Tuesday for Day 5 of the Girly-Girl Challenge!

Girly-Girl Challenge - Day 4: Inspired by the Runway

Today is day 4 of the Girly-Girl Challenge, and the theme is "Inspired by the Runway". To refresh your memory, here is the list of challenges:

One of the latest trends that I really like is color blocking with orange and pink. I never really feel like I can wear this combo but wish that I had the budget to purchase bright colorful clothes (instead of my black and white pallet that goes with everything - my work clothes are so boring!!)

So this is the photo that inspired my nails. PS. I LOVE SJP.

And here are the nails!

It was a simple design and I just freehanded the pink on after using the orange as a basecoat. I am suprised how close the color of the polish is to the magazine! Very pleased with my choice :-)

Polishes Used:

-Essie - Braziliant

-NYC - Fushia Shock Creme

-Out The Door TopCoat

As always, don't forget to check out the other girls Runway Inspired nails here:

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Laquer Lover
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-Ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Laquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O'Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm Just Me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Overstuffed
Taylor of Rejoice
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

As I mentioned it's going to be a busy weekend for me. I have off work today and tomorrow for the NCAA Tournament. I don't LOVE college basketball, and my Alma-Mater (Duquesne University) didn't make the tournament but they are hosting the first round and me and my hubby are going to watch the games live; so that's exciting!!! Keep an eye out for me on TV ;-) 

Girly-Girl Challenge - Day 3: Delicate & Elegant

Today is Day 3 of the Girly-Girl Challenge and therefore, is "Delicate & Elegant"; as I mentioned before I have really been enjoying this challenge and once it's done, hope to do some more in the future! Once again, here is what the challenge consists of:

When I heard Delicate & Elegant I immediately thought of my Konad plate m71 that I haven't had a chance to use yet. It's a very girly stamp and for once my stamping actually worked as I was hoping it would! Here it is:

Polishes Used:
-Sally Hansen - Frozen Creamsicle (3 coats)
-Konad White Polish (and plate m71)
-Out The Door TopCoat

The third picture is the best representation of what the colors actually looked like (the first two shots are washed out). Frozen Creamsicle is a jelly polish and as I mentioned, I needed 3 coats for full coverage (for me that's a lot - I usually prefer creme polishes!)

Don't forget to check out all the other lovely ladies "Delicate & Elegant" mani's!!

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Ashley of Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Jodi of Captivating Claws
Danielle of Laquer Lover
Elly of Polishable
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Kate of This Charming Kate
Bethany of Plethora of Nails
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady
Eugenia of Talon-Ted
Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind
Amanda of Nox Nails
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Emily of The Laquerologist
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Tressa of O'Natur Nail
ChiChi of I'm Just Me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly
Amanda of Berry Polished
Robin, Erin and Anna of Polished Cousins
Bonny of Overstuffed
Taylor of Rejoice
Jess of Nearly Natural Nails

ALSO, I was able to finally find Sinful Cinderella and will be wearing that to a wedding that I will be attending on Saturday. Hopefully I will be able to swatch it later in the week but if not, you all know what it looks like ;-)