Saturday, September 29, 2012

Just a Quickie!

Hi, happy weekend! I just wanted to give this quick post before I leave my house for the day. I'm off to the flea market!

I went for a low-key, neutral/nudie look. For my base coat I used China Glaze Dress Me Up (from the Hunger Games collection). The glitter layer is Essie A Cut Above. One coat of each!

Hope you enjoy!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

It's Grey's Anatomy Day!

Good morning! I am beyond excited, because tonight is the season premiere of my favorite TV show, Grey's Anatomy! I was going to try something special, but luckily I found this polish hidden in my Helmer. How could I resist!?

Wet N Wild Fast Dry Gray's Anatomy


I started off with China Glaze Elephant Walk as my base. This polish has a really excellent formula, it was thick but not in a goopy way, and went on very smooth. I only used one coat for the photo below.

Then I used two coats of Gray's Anatomy. In the bottle it looks just like gasoline, depending on how you hold it, you can see purple, green, blue, grey. So I took a bunch of photos to capture every angle!





Wet N Wild Fast Dry polishes are available at pretty much every drugstore for less than $3. I believe I got my bottle at Five Below for $1.99.

Hope you like! And if you love Grey's Anatomy like I do, let me know in the comments what you think of tonight's season premiere!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Chrome-tastic!

Hi all! Short post today since I'm not feeling that great. I wanted to try out two polishes I picked up over the weekend, and the combination was chrome-tastic! 



Two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Gone Grey, and the accent nail is Essie Set in Stones from the Luxeffects collection. I've been looking for this Essie polish for about a month now, and I finally found it at Walmart!


This looked much better in person, and what you can't see in the pics is just how fantastic the accent nail looks! I got compliments all day at work. What do you guys think of the chrome-tasticness? (Yes, I make up words!)

Totally unrelated, check out this awesome No Doubt performance from this past weekend's iheartradio mega concert in Vegas!!! (No, I was not there, and this is a video I found on youtube)

Monday, September 24, 2012

My First "Dotticure!"

Hi there! I finally got the chance to mess around with my new dotting tools, and I'm so happy I bought them! They were so much easier to use than I was anticipating. I'm really happy with the results, so I give you my first dotticure!!



These are the tools I used. I bought them at a local beauty supply for less than $4, I believe the brand is Debra Lynn. I've also seen them for sale online for about the same price.


And finally, here are the colors I used. Far left is my base, the rest for dots.
(left to right)
Revlon Charming, Sinful Colors Purple Diamond, China Glaze Coconut Kiss
Zoya Suri, Sinful Colors Let's Talk


Sunday, September 23, 2012

Sunday Sales & Extra Goodies!

Hello all! Today I have for you a very long post with a whole bunch of wonderful, but let's start off with this weeks sales.

CVS:
SensatioNail Gel Polish Starter Kit, $44.99
SensatioNail Gel Polish, $9.99 each
Nicole by OPI, $7.99 (regular CVS price)

The sales flyer also says if you scan your ExtraCare card at the "Coupon Center" in the store, you will get an instant coupon for $4 off any $12 cosmetics purchase!

Revlon cosmetics Buy One Get One 50% off
L'oreal cosmetics $5.99

*Remember, you have to have the new Balance Rewards card to get sale prices at Walgreens now! Sign up in stores or online!

Maybelline cosmetics Buy One Get One 50% off (get $5 UP rewards when you spend $15)
Buy any 3 Sinful Colors, Jesse's Girl, Julie G, or Wet N Wild polish, get $3 UP rewards 

And finally, Ulta has a new sales ad out!
Buy any 2 OPI polishes for $8.50 and get a FREE top or base coat
40% off all NYX and Revlon cosmetics
L'oreal Buy TWO Get One Free


Next up for today, I want to show you some of the goodies I picked up this past week! 
China Glaze Halloween 2012
(left to right)
Roguish Red, Glitter Goblin, Bizarre Blurple, Ghoulish Glow
I called every store I could think of to find these, and could only find this set, not the individual bottles. I still want to get Immortal and Make a Spectacle. Even though I already had the glow in the dark polish, and the reddish-orange one wasn't on my list, I HAD to buy this because it was only $8.99 at Sally's!!! I ended up giving my other Ghoulish Glow to a friend :)

OPI Pink of Hearts 2012 Breast Cancer Awareness Set
You Glitter Be Good to Me and I Think In Pink
From what I understand, I Think In Pink is part of the regular OPI line, but I didn't own it yet. SO when I saw this on one of my favorite beauty supply's Facebook page, I told them to save me a set! The glitter is really pretty, and goes really well with the pink. Even if it wasn't so pretty, I would've bought this anyway, since I always like to support breast cancer awareness. China Glaze and Essie also both have a pink collection out right now.


Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers RIP Collection
(left to right)
Glow in the Dark, Rest in Pieces, Nail in the Coffin, Once Upon a Time
I bought these for two reasons: 1) they were only $1.99 each and 2) uh hello! They are packaged as little tombstones!

Now here is what I have been most excited about... stamping! I was walking through a mall I don't usually go to when I spotted a kiosk that had nail stamping supplies. Thinking they'd be cheap ones, I went over anyway, since all I owned was the Salon Express Stamping Kit (which I had NO luck with whatsoever). To my surprise, it was a KONAD kiosk! Has anyone come across these before? I'd only ever seen Konad online, and even though they were a bit expensive, I went ahead and got myself a few. The plates cost $8 each (buy 3 get one free... so technically I paid $6 each!) and I also picked up the stamper/scraper since the cheapo one I had was just awful. I cannot believe how much easier it is to use the Konad stamper and I have been playing with it all weekend. Oh, and I also went a bit crazy and ordered two more sets of about 25 plates each online, one from Cheeky and one from Bundle Monster. I am officially hooked on stamping!

Here is my first mani with stamping, and it also happens to be my first attempt at a "jelly sandwich." 


Unfortunately the camera I have been using doesn't do this mani justice. It was very elegant and had a 'bridal' feel to it. As my base I used 3 coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! then added one layer of OPI Pirouette My Whistle (I think I should have used two). I then topped it off with one more coat of DTMT. The stamp is from the Konad M40 plate, and I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

For my first attempt at stamping, I thought this came out really pretty! There was definitely visible nail line, but I actually liked it because it looked like a French tip! And I definitely want to work on more jelly sandwich combinations, because the look is so much fun. Stay tuned for more stamping, my Cheeky plates should be arriving tomorrow or Tuesday! :) :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Friday, September 21, 2012

OPI Unfor-greta-bly Blue & Zoya announcement!

Happy Friday! Today I have for you a polish from the new(ish) OPI Germany collection - Unfor-greta-bly Blue! I really love this blue, it has almost a dusty look to it (see the last pic). Being a HUGE New York Yankees fan, I think this is the perfect color to use for a Yankee-mani!

The first two pics are in the sun, the third is in the shade. I used two coats (probably should have gone for 3, but I was in a rush to go to work). Seche Vite topcoat!




In other polish news, I saw Zoya post on their Twitter today about their Holiday collection! Six absolutely gorgeous new colors make up the "Ornate Holiday Winter Collection" and you can check them out here! They are currently available for pre-order, and ship date is October 15 (which is two days after my birthday - looks like I found my present!) I am super stoked about this collection, and most excited about 'Blaze'! Which color are you looking forward to?


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Hard to Find OPI?

Hi all, happy hump day! :)

So the polish I have for you today I have been looking for since I started hoarding buying nail polish! Since I'm *new* to the game, I am not sure if this is hard to find everywhere, or just in my area. (Feedback would be helpful!) While walking around a mall I don't usually go to, I saw a huge OPI display at a hair/nail salon and, of course, had to check it out. This little gem was sitting on the very bottom shelf covered in dust! Therefore, it is my rescue polish! Ladies, I give you... The One That Got Away!



This is from the 2011 Katy Perry Collection. It went on flawlessly, two coats of shimmery raspberry perfection!  

For my accent nail, I used one coat of OPI In a Flirtationship.


So basically this is my new favorite polish! It is just incredibly beautiful and is actually a great fall color, so I will definitely be wearing this again soon! Also, for the record, I ADORE Katy Perry!!!!

Here is a little bonus picture, since I didn't have the chance to post yesterday. Essie Aruba Blue, two coats, with one layer of INM Northern Lights on the accent nail.



Monday, September 17, 2012

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise / Atlantis!

Hi there! Short post today. I am in sparkle heaven with this combo! I used two China Glaze polishes, Turned Up Turquoise and Atlantis. 

I finally remembered to take a pic of my base before adding a layering polish! This is two coats of Turned Up Turquoise. It applied pretty well, the first coat was streaky, but evened out very nicely on the second. It dried to a satin/matte finish (since it is technically a "neon") and my pic below is without a topcoat. 

Sorry about my messy cuticles, I always clean up at the very end!

After that I added three coats of Atlantis, which is an unbelievable holographic glitter! I seriously cannot even being to describe how pretty it is. The first pic is blurry on purpose, so you can see the sparkle, for some reason it didn't translate well in my outdoor shots.





A coworker told me this combo reminded her of The Little Mermaid, and I can totally see why! Hope you've enjoyed :)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sunday Sales!

Good afternoon! I'll be giving a rundown of this week's sales, but I must say I'm not very impressed by them. There is, however, a little something from Walgreens that I'll get into later.

CVS:
No sale prices this week, but you can earn Extra Bucks Rewards - 
Buy $10 of Milani cosmetics, earn $3 Extra Bucks
Buy $10 of Sally Hansen products, earn $3 Extra Bucks

Rite Aid:
L'oreal cosmetics are Buy One Get One 50% off
All NYC cosmetics are 40% off
Sally Hansen is Buy One Get One 50% off
Maybelline cosmetics are Buy One Get One 50% off (spend $15 or more, you'll earn $5 Up Rewards)
Revlon cosmetics are Buy One Get One 50% off (spend $10 or more, you'll earn $4 Up Rewards)

Target:
Essie nail polish is $7.79 (though I think this is the regular price for Target)
Also at Target and totally unrelated, apparently the FURBY is back!? Do you guys remember these little critters?

Sally Beauty and Ulta are still running their September sales. You can check those out at my original post here. Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty ends this week, so they will have a new ad out next week. I stopped by Ulta last week and they already had out some Halloween stuff, so you can expect to see that here soon!

And now for Walgreens... this week they are launching the Balance Rewards program. From what I understand it is very similar to the way CVS and Rite Aid's rewards programs work: the more you spend, the more points you earn, and you get coupons. 5,000 points will earn you a $5 reward; 10,000 points = $10; and so on, the most they list on the website right now is 40,000 points = $50 rewards. You can sign up in stores or at their website. They also have some sales:
Revlon cosmetics are Buy One Get One 50% off (spend $10 and earn 2,000 points; spend $15 and earn 3,000 points)
L'oreal cosmetics are Buy One Get One 50% off
Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips and "Select Nail Color" are Buy One Get One 50% off. (I'm a bit thrown by "select nail color," I guess we'll have to go to the store and see which are marked, but the ad shows the Magnetics polish)

That's all for sales, nothing too exciting this week! On a side note, I went to my local Sally's yesterday and asked if they had the new China Glaze Halloween collection yet, and she told me they are expecting to get it this week! I'm really excited for this, I saw some swatches over at ThePolishAholic and they look great!

L'Shana Tova to all my Jewish friends, have a very sweet and healthy new year!
**This is NOT my picture, I saw it on the Boston Herald website**

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Zoya Ibiza with Zoya Maisie

Happy Weekend! Today's post will be short and simple, because I have to get to work on major swatching today!

I was really excited when I ordered Zoya Ibiza on mbeautylounge.com. They are a really great site for polishes that you can't really find in stores anymore. Ibiza is a beautiful deep blue, with a nice subtle shimmer. As soon as I got it, I knew I had to use it for layering with the blue Zoya fleck polish, Maisie! 


Two coats of Zoya Ibiza, layered with one coat of Zoya Maisie!


Maisie is soo pretty, it flashes between indigo and pale blue and green, depending on what kind of lighting you're in. Both of my pictures are in the shade, because I felt you could see the shift best that way. There is a bit of tipwear, pics were taken the day after I put this polish on. 

This is a great combination and proves that fleck polishes look much better layered over dark colors! 

Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for your Sunday Sales!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

What Is It?!

Hello!!! I was so excited to do today's manicure! It's very simple, but means a lot! One of my favorite co-workers is pregnant, and today she went to the doctor to find out... is it a BOY or a GIRL?


I'm very annoyed I can't get this picture to flip!

For my pink polish I used Essie Pink-A-Boo (4 coats, it is VERY sheer), and the blue is Essie Bikini So Teeny (2 coats). Then I got playful and added little question marks on my blue nails!

Let me just say I love Pink-A-Boo, despite it being so sheer. I definitely recommend layering this over a white or light pink, so you don't have to use as many coats. This pink has a great shimmer that flashes pink and blue. Bikini So Teeny is great, two coats to perfection, and I got compliments on the color all day long.

That's all for today... and oh yeah, she is having a GIRL!!! 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

On Wednesday, We Wear PINK!

Happy Hump Day! As per Mean Girls rules, on Wednesday, we wear pink!


First of all I have to say I am so in love with my base color! I should've just worn it on it's own, but of course I always put a little something extra. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of it before layering. The base is China Glaze Pink Plumeria from the Summer Neons 2012 collection. When I first opened the bottle to swatch on my nail wheels, I actually squealed at the first brushstroke and said "it's so beautiful!" It is an absolutely gorgeous lighter pink, with a shimmer to die for! I used two thin coats for today, topped off with a Seche Vite topcoat. And because I am crazy, I decided to layer over it Zoya Chloe. The official Zoya description of Chloe is: Zoya Nail Polish in Chloe is a sheer coral pink base with two types of duochrome Mylar flakes: red-orange to gold and gold-green to blue. A fun flake glitter topcoat that can be layered over any shade to create a fascinating 3D effect.

I tried really hard to capture the awesomeness that is Chloe, but ended up with a big fail. Next time I'm going to try layering it over something darker to see if it brings the flakes to life a bit more. 



Stay tuned for tomorrow's mani, which I am super excited about! :) :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Always Remember: 9/11

Good morning. Today's manicure is red, white, and blue for Patriot Day.  All I can say about today is that I cannot believe it has been 11 years already.


For my base I used one coat of Essie Marshmallow, with one coat of China Glaze White Cap over. Then I used a small eyeshadow brush to sponge the blue and red stripes (two "coats" of each). I used Sinful Colors Ciao Bella (blue) and Orly Torrid (red). I finished it off with one coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle for a little something extra. As always, Seche Vite top coat.


And a pic of what I used, minus the Essie Marshmallow:

(left to right)
Pirouette My Whistle, Torrid, White Cap, Ciao Bella


A picture of the unfinished Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan, which I took the day I went to the 9/11 Memorial. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Always Remember; Never Forget.


Monday, September 10, 2012

A Quick Reminder....

Good morning! Just wanted to give everyone a quick reminder before I went to work... today is the Butter London Buy One Get One FREE sale at ULTA!! Remember it is TODAY ONLY! I'm really hoping to get over there after work - hopefully they will have some left by then! 



Thanks to my co-worker Jenn for sending me this great pic! Have a great day, there will be another post tonight!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sunday Sales Day!

Good morning! Happy Grandparents Day, haha! Today's post will be short since I have to go visit my lovely grandparents. You can see a funny picture of them at the end of the post :)

Here are your sales for this week, they run from Sunday 9/9 thru Saturday 9/15. 

Walgreens:
Revlon Buy One Get One 50% off
Maybelline Buy One Get One 50% off
Wet N Wild Megalast OR Fast Dry $1.49

CVS:
NYC Buy One Get One 50% off

Rite Aid:
Maybelline Buy One Get One 50% off

And don't forget, Ulta's sales that I had up last week are still running - tomorrow, Monday 9/10, is the one day only Butter London Buy One Get One Free sale!

Sally Beauty's sale is for the entire month of September - you can check out the sales flyer at their website sallybeauty.com.


Today's manicure is Zoya Fei Fei. I really like this color, it has the greatest multicolor shimmer in the right light! Not quite gray, not quite blue, its the perfect mix. I used three coats here - two seemed just a bit too sheer for me. I decided I also needed an accent nail, so I used Hollywood Walk of Fame from Wet N Wild's Fergie collection. This is a very difficult polish to use, the first few brush strokes I didn't get a single star on my nail! The stars definitely need to be placed (carefully!) and they do not lay completely flat. But, they are fun and cute, so it was worth the time. Good thing I only did an accent nail instead of all 10!



And here are my wonderful grandparents! They had absolutely no idea I was taking pictures of them - I flipped around the camera in my iPhone, and just kept taking pics as they checked out my phone. They're the best!

Have a good rest of the weekend! If you're fortunate enough to live near your grandparents, go give them a big hug today!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest and Barielle Purple Hearts

Happy Saturday! My plans for the day have been postponed because of some crazy storms in my area, there is actually a tornado watch! I was going to sit outside and do a crazy swatch-fest, but that will just have to wait :(

Today's manicure I saw first on Scrangie, and I had to copy it, I loved it so much! This is Barielle Purple Hearts layered over OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest. I used two coats of each, but I'm wishing I only used one coat of Purple Hearts. I love me some sparkles, but I would've rather it was more subtle. Sorry for the mess on my middle and ring fingers, I did this in a rush before work and could not for the life of me get my cuticles free of glitter!


Here is the rest of my Barielle haul! I got everything on transdesign.com:
(left to right)
Out-GreyGeous, U-Concrete-Me, Swizzle Stix, Falling Star, Snow Day, 
Purple Hearts, Buddha-ful, Elle's Spell, Shannon's Attitude
*the first 5 polishes came in the Moody Blues pack (only $13.50!)


And of course, I also had to go to Walgreen's this morning since today is the last day of the 99 cents Sinful Colors sale! 
(left to right) Unicorn, All About You, Rise and Shine, Precious Metal, You Just Wait, Fig

Earlier this week I picked up a whole bunch of SC polishes, I forgot to take a pic, but here is what I got: Ciao Bella, Gorgeous, Forget Now, Frenzy, Queen of Beauty, Innocent, and Call You Later.

Tomorrow is Sunday Sales Day, stay tuned!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Sinful Colors Let's Talk and Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos

Today's manicure was inspired by yesterday's post! I'm a bit purple obsessed at the moment, and I think this might be the first time ever that I have the same polish on both my fingers and toes! 

First of all I have to forewarn you and say how disappointed I am by the pictures! For some reason it kept coming out more blue than purple.

 The base is two coats of Sinful Colors Let's Talk. I really like this brand, usually if you use a nice thick coat you can get away with just one, but since I tend to do thinner coats I used two. And bonus, they are less than $2 a bottle! (This week they're on sale at Walgreens for 99 cents!)

The sparkles are a great holographic glitter from Funky Fingers called Sand & Stiletto. The only place I've ever seen Funky Fingers is Five Below, and they're 3 for $5. 


If you don't have a Five Below near you, this glitter polish is an exact dupe of Color Club Sugarplum Fairy:

(left to right)
Color Club Sugarplum Fairy, Pure Ice Spitfire, Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos