TGIF! China Glaze & Sation

Happy Friday! I know I'm not the only one who is relieved the end of the week is finally here!

Today I have a quick NOTD for you! 

This is China Glaze Hanging in the Balance from the recent Cirque du Solei collection. It's one of those "crelly" (creme/jelly) polishes, for these pics I used two coats. Warning: this polish does stain a little!

 On my accent nail is Sation Tall, Dark and Has Some, which is a clear base packed with medium sized black hexes, black and blue glitter, and blue shards. It's hard to see the blue bits in my pics because they're almost the exact same color as Hanging in the Balance, but they were much more evident in person. 

I've really fallen in love with Sation since they revamped the brand, and their glitters are out of this world! Here is a shot of Tall, Dark and Has Some in the bottle:

Keep your eyes peeled for Sation spam in the future!

XOX

Jess

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I am on the fence about the mani I'm showing you guys today :/ I tried a gradient for the first time, and I'm a bit eh about it.

Check out below the pics to see which polishes and stamping plates I used to get this look!

For the gradient:

Essie Bachelorette Bash and Color Club Pucci-Licious

Ring finger:

China Glaze Dance Baby and BM 323 plate using Zoya Izzy

All nails had a base coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, and I needed some sparkle, so I added a top coat of INM Northern Lights!

Thanks for checking out my Valentines look! If anyone has or knows of a really good gradient tutorial, please send it my way - I obviously need more practice!! 

XOX

Jess

On Wednesday, We Wear Pink!

It's Wednesday, and you know what that means - pink nails!

Today I have a quick look at one of my all-time favorite polishes!

China Glaze Strawberry Fields

I really do think Strawberry Fields is one of the prettiest pinks in my stash right now. It has a beautiful golden shimmer to it, which makes it really special and unique. It does have a very sheer formula, so I layered two coats of it over China Glaze Live, Love, Laugh for these pictures. And I do apologize for the state of my cuticles, the weather here in New York is not being very kind to my skin recently!

What are some of your favorite colors from China Glaze?

XOX

Jess

First Water Marbling Attempt!

What's up party people! 

Today I have a nail-of-the-day look that includes my first attempt at water marbling! Let me tell you, it may seem like a pretty simple technique, but it's really hard to get the swirls just right, and to do it fast enough so the polish doesn't dry on the water! I absolutely need to practice this more, because I really love the look it creates.

I only did the water marbling on my accent nails because I started to get frustrated! First pic is my left hand, second is the right:

The polishes I used were: China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, China Glaze Deviantly Daring, and Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice. 

After doing these two, I realized I would never get through a full ten fingers, so I pulled out one of my favorite Orly's, Go Deeper, which matched really well!

Index and pinkie fingers: 

1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

1 coat Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice

2 coats Orly Go Deeper

Middle finger:

1 coat China Glaze Deviantly Daring

(original I had used Turned Up Turquoise as a base with Deviantly Daring as a stamp, it didn't come out the way I was hoping, so I just went over the whole nail with Deviantly Daring instead!)

After everything was dry I sealed it with a coat of Gelous, which gives a nice thick protective layer to your mani. (You can find it at Sally Beauty for around $5)

Hope you like my lame attempt at this technique! 

Before I go I just want to give you a little sneak peek at the nail mail I got yesterday! That's right... indies! Look for these babies soon here on the blog!

 See y'all tomorrow!
XOX
Jess

OPI Euro Centrale Collection - My Picks!

Happy Monday! 

Today I have a selection from the newest OPI collection, Euro Centrale. I decided to get 5 out of the 12 colors below.

You're Such A Budapest

You're Such A Budapest is a dusty lilac with a silvery blue shimmer. I obviously love this color, because I am a purple polish addict! I used three thin coats for these pics.

 Can't Find My Czechbook

Can't Find My Czechbook is one of those "Tiffany blue" wannabe colors, a touch darker than the real thing. Still very pretty! I used two coats for these pics.

 OPI... Eurso Euro

OPI... Eurso Euro's official description calls it a "deep blue" creme. To me this seems to lean much more purple than blue - which again I have no issues with! Out of all the colors I picked up from this collection, this is definitely my favorite. It is such a rich color, and I am already dreaming up hundreds of crazy glitter combos and other ideas to use this with! Two thin coats for this beauty!

 Suzi's Hungary Again

Suzi's Hungary Again... pretty color, pain in the tushie to photograph! No matter what kind of light I was in, or how much I fiddled with it while editing, I could not get this color to show right! It is an extremely bright coral, almost neon, with a very subtle shimmer. It is much more pink than these photos show. I will definitely be sporting this on my toes a lot once the warm weather gets here! I used three coats for these pics. You can get a better feel of the true color in the photo below, as a base for the glitter from this collection.

Polka.com

over You're Such A Budapest 

over Can't Find My Czechbook

over OPI... Eurso Euro

over Suzi's Hungary Again

Polka.com is a fun mix of medium sized purple, pink, and teal hex glitter with tiny purple glitter suspended in a clear base. As soon as I saw the first promo shots for this collection, I fell in love with this. It is just a gorgeous mix and I love how well it matches all the colors I picked up! For all the photos above I used one coat over the base color. And another clever name from the lovelies at OPI! 

So there you have it! This is a really nice collection from OPI, I may even have to go back and pick up one or two more colors that I was iffy about at first. My absolute favorites are OPI... Eurso Euro and Polka.com. 

Have you gotten any of these beauties yet? Which colors are your favorites?

XOX,

Jess

Sunday Sales!

Hello all! The weekend is almost over, but at least there are some good things to watch on tv tonight - who is excited about the Grammy's!? I can't wait to watch the pre-show, just to see what everyone is wearing, especially since they sent out that list of what you cannot wear tonight! It should be very interesting! (Although I may have to cut away from the actual awards show to watch Downton Abbey!)

Today I am bringing back Sunday Sales! Every Sunday I scour the ads of the big pharmacies and beauty stores to find some good deals for you! 

Source: Google images

All of the sale prices below run from today through Saturday, February 16 (except for Sally Beauty, which runs the entire month).

CVS
Wet N Wild Spoiled: 2 for $3 
All NYC cosmetics are Buy One, Get One 50% Off
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes are $5.99 each
All Milani cosmetics are Buy One, Get One 50% Off
All L'oreal cosmetics: Spend $12, and earn $4 Extrabucks rewards

Rite Aid
All Revlon cosmetics are 40% off
Wet N Wild cosmetics are 40% off
Sinful Colors polish: Buy 3 and earn $3 UP rewards
Jesse's Girl cosmetics are Buy One, Get One 50% Off

Walgreens
Wet N Wild Fergie collection: 2 for $5
Revlon - select color polishes are $3.99 each
Sally Hansen Crackle and Gem Crush polishes: 2 for $10

Ulta
Butter London Sweetie Shop Spring 2013 Collection: $15 each
Revlon Nail Art Duos are $5.99 each
Nicole by OPI polishes are $6.99
Sally Hansen Magnetic polishes and Salon Effects Nail Strips are $8.99 each
OPI Mariah Carey collection: $9 each
China Glaze Cirque du Solei collection: $7.50 each
Ulta Romantic Notions 4pc. mini polish set: $8
*Don't forget to print your coupon! $3.50 off a $10 purchase!

Sally Beauty
Orly polish: 2 for $11
China Glaze: save $1 on each polish (entire stock)
Finger Paints: free color polish with purchase of top coat
Nail Tek treatments: save $5 on 3
Cina Nail Art pens: Buy 2, Get 1 Free
Seche Vite: Free base coat with purchase of top coat
Buy a 2.5oz Beauty Secrets nail treatment, get a .625oz for free
**I also received an e-mail from Sally's this morning stating that through February 18, you get a free Orly polish with any $3 purchase! (Limit 1 per customer)


And there are your sales! Anything in particular you will be running out for? I know I will be stopping by a few of these places today! My favorite quick-drying top coat is NYC Grand Central Station, so I will definitely be stocking up on those at CVS, and I'm on the hunt for a few Revlon's and a particular Jesse's Girl polish, so Walgreens and Rite Aid are in my future as well! (If you'd like to see what other polishes I'm after, you can check out my wishlist on Pinterest!)

Hope you all had a great weekend, I will be back tomorrow with a few of my picks from OPI's new Euro Central Collection!

XOX
Jess

My First Franken!

Good morning beautiful people! I hope those of you on the East Coast have made it through the night unscathed, Nemo has dumped at least a foot of snow in our area! I don't mind being snowed in though, it gives me time to catch up on cleaning, laundry, and most importantly, swatching!

Today I am really excited to show you all my first franken! For those of you that may not be familiar with the term, a "franken" is a polish made by mixing together a bunch of other polishes. For this franken (which I have yet to come up with a name for!) I mixed three different polishes. My base was Wet N Wild Spoiled Nail Junkie, then I added lots of China Glaze Luxe and Lush. To finish it off with some extra shimmer, I used a little Orly Twilight. After some thinner, this baby was good to go! 

I think this is really beautiful, it has a jelly-like turquoise base, packed with glitter and flakies and shimmer - what more could you ask for!? For my first try at frankening, I think I dun good :P All these photos are layered over Zoya Ibiza.

 

Here is a super close-up shot....

and a bottle shot! :)

I am really excited about this, I hope you guys like it too! Frankening is a whole lot of fun, and there are just endless possibilities!!! 

If you have any ideas as to what I should name this bad boy, let me know! It reminds me of oceans and mermaids!