The Traveling Postcard

Sunday! I don't even care that the weekend is over, because I am so pumped to get this week under way. This coming weekend, I am going to Country Fest at Gillette Stadium to see Kenny Chesney, Eric Church (!), Eli Young Band and Kasey Musgraves and I couldn't be more excited. My friends and I have been going every summer since we graduated and summer just can't end without live country music.

So every now and then I think I might do a post like this that talks a little bit about my interests outside the world of nail polish. With nail polish of course!

On a recent trip to Walmart, I finally spotted the Fing'rs display that I have seen numerous bloggers talk about. I ended out picking up 2 sets of nail tattoos, that reminded me of 2 of my other hobbies.

Here's a snapshot of one of the packages. The front and the back with directions.

When I am not working, blogging and doing regular life things I am most fond of being:

A Traveler and Postcard Collector. 

I didn't manage to travel anywhere this summer, but several of my friends and family members did! And they sent me postcards along the way, which makes me so happy! 

My goal is to one day have a postcard from all 50 states.

I am well on my way with postcards from 27 states.

And 18 different countries.

From several different continents.

I store all my postcards in a fancy box I found while antiquing in New Hampshire.

I have hundreds of postcards. I am pretty proud of my collection.

I was super happy to find these nail tattoos from Fing'rs, especially since I could tie them into my other favorite hobbies. These were super easy to use. I painted my ring and middle fingers with 2 coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I cut the paper to size, peeled off the plastic covering, dipped in water for 10 seconds and pressed it onto my nail. The design slid right off onto my nail and I used polish remover to clean up any over hang around my nails. It was just like those temporary tattoos you had when you were little!

You have to be sure to use a topcoat or the design will come off when it gets wet!!

Unfortunately the design only lasted about 2-3 days for me before it started to rub off when I got it wet. I don't think I put enough top coat, but I really liked how easy they were to use and how cute they turned out. Anyway, my accent nail is a road map design, to symbolize the traveler in me. My middle finger is the postmark from a postcard, with writing. Which reminded me of this:

My oldest postcard, postmarked February 23rd, 1925. The 1 cent stamp is still attached. Turns out, my grandmother's family has a whole bunch of travelers! I started collecting postcards when I was 7 or so, my first trip ever was a trip to Florida (to visit Disneyworld), where I got my first postcard.

My grandmother let me have all of the old postcards she had from her family. I have taken good care of them. I have a bunch with the stamps still attached!

Here is another photo of my fun traveling mani and a postcard I received from my friend who is off in Texas this summer learning how to be military police for the Navy. As you can see, we can't wait to be reunited!

What do you collect?

Polishes used in this mani: Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Gallifreyan Sunset and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

Water Water Everywhere!

During my most recent giveaway, I asked you all to write a blog post comment answering the question "What is your favorite summer activity?". 

A lot of you answered SWIMMING! Only one of you answered Concerts. 

Which happens to also be my favorite summer activity!

The pool water inspired this most recent mani. 

I've also been pretty into using Saran Wrap to create some funky designs on my nails, which is what I used for this!

I love the Saran Wrap technique because it really is super easy to do and you can get some great results! I started with a SH base coat and 1 coat of Wet n Wild Teal Me Slowly.

Then using the Saran Wrap technique I lightly dabbed on Essie Avenue Maintain and China Glaze White on White on top of that. My index finger is 2 coats of SH Gem Crush Showgirl Chic over a PVA base coat. 

PS. I am testing out a lot of the questions I had gotten surrounding PVA Glue after my post HERE.

I put one coat of NYC top coat of all to seal in my design! 

I am not sure if this ended out looking totally like the way water looks in the pool with all the reflections, but I think I got close!

Have you tried the Saran Wrap technique? Tips on Tuesday Tutorial coming soon, maybe?

Now the sooner I get to sleep, the sooner it will be FRIDAY! 

WooHoo!

Tips on Tuesday: How My Custom Polish was Born

Ever since I discovered indies, I have always wanted a custom polish. But, I didn't think I was creative enough. I didn't have a vision of a polish that I wanted knocking around in my head. And the thing that stopped me the most from requesting a custom was...

What if I didn't like what was made for me?!

That would just be the worst.

After talking a bit with Emily from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics, I decided to take a leap and request a custom. But I wanted 2, a solid color and a glitter topper. I like 'sets' of things.

My exact words to Emily when purchasing my custom were as follows:

"I like mint greens, fuchsia and purples. Pinks too. I really don't know what else to describe since I have never ordered a custom before. So maybe I would like a duo chrome (since those seem like your fave to make) and then a glitter topper? Do you need more information?"

Good thing these polish making peoples are creative, because if that was sent to me, I would have NO idea what to do with it...

All throughout the custom making process, Emily conversed with me. She talked to me about different size glitters she has, different duochrome shifts and different colors I like. 

I mentioned I have an affinity for vampy purples.

And Sapphire Abyss was born. 

You can name your polish if you want, but I let Emily go ahead and name my customs. Probably because she wanted to mail them to me, and I still hadn't come up with any names.

I am SO bad at naming things. 

God help my children, because I have pet birds and their names are their colors. 

Gray Bird and Yellow Bird. 

Sapphire Abyss is a vampy purple with a blue shift. Up close there is such a nice shimmer to it. Without even knowing what kind of polish I wanted, I got exactly what I wanted!

Emily sent me swatches via facebook message to make sure I liked what she had created. She showed me several different sets of swatches in all different lighting and heard any concerns I had. If you check out her facebook albums, you will see just how many swatches she will take for you!

My main concern: I didn't want it too dark. I didn't want it to appear to be black with 2 coats.

Swatches here are shown as 2 coats and you can see that it is not too dark at all!

Next up is my glitter!

During my conversations with Emily and talking to her about different glitters, I told her I like dot glitters. She worked to incorporate a fuchsia dot glitter into my custom. Since I didn't give Emily much direction, she messaged me to ask me if I like gray and pink together. Why yes, yes I do!

Emily named this polish something silly, so I am going to call it my Princess Glitter. My Princess Glitter has fuchsia dots, gray hexes and blue flakies/shards. When Emily sent me the initial swatches of my glitter, I thought it needed something extra.

I searched through some of the photos on Emily's Etsy shop, to get a better idea of some of her holographic glitters. She even sent me photos of some of the holo glitters she had. I asked her to add a sprinkling of small holo glitters (as seen in Holo Hex). 

She did and sent me some new swatches to look over.

Viola! I had my polish!

My Princess Glitter is shown here as one coat over Sapphire Abyss, with topcoat.

She was such a pleasure to work with even though I had no idea what I had in mind for my polishes. 

She was in constant contact with me and showed me several different swatches. I felt comfortable voicing concerns to her and telling her what else I wanted added to my color. 

I am so happy with her customer service and with the outcome of my polish! 

Thanks Emily!

A custom polish is $12.74 and you can find the listing here.

Have you ever ordered a custom? If you have, how was your experience? If you haven't, why not?!

**This was based on my experience with Carpe Noctem Cosmetics. I have never purchased a custom polish from any other indie maker and do not have another experience to compare to**

I have a Secret!

Most Sunday's sneak up on me. Bam weekend over. However, being a Rhode Islander, I have tomorrow off. We still observe a controversial state holiday, called Victory Day. 

Google it. 

Yep, we're jerks.

Tonight I have 2 of my most coveted polishes ever. 

2 polishes, 1 from each of the Color Club Halo Hues collections.

I have shown you a Scattered Holograhic polish around these parts before. One of A-England's finest. You can check out Tristam HERE.

But I have never shown you a linear holo.

Did you think it would be prettier? 

This is why I love holo polish...It's like you have a secret on your nails. 

Inside, or in the shade, this polish is pretty boring.

I will wait a minute until you can pick yourself up off the floor after the faint that just happened.

Eternal Beauty is a lovely light purple, that outshines itself in the sun.

Check out that halo! (The oval rainbow that is created by sun hitting the holo particles).

I used a base of Orly Ridge Filler, 2 coats of Color Club Eternal Beauty (2013 collection). No top coat.

I use a ridge filler when wearing these polishes because they tend to show every imperfection in your nail for some reason.

Eternal Beauty was opaque in 2 coats. This polish was a little on the thin side, but application was pretty flawless. I waited between both coats to avoid any dragging or balding. 

Kind of looks like a sticker, huh? Maybe a little like the ones you used to get out of the vending machines at the grocery store when you were little?

Next up is Harp On It from the 2012 collection.

Again, this one is pretty dull in the shade. HOI is a classic silver holo. A must have in my opinion.

Harp On It, is shown here as 2 coats over Orly Ridge Filler, no top coat. 

The halo doesn't seem as strong in these photos as Eternal Beauty but I assure you, that this polish is absolutely astounding in sunlight.

This polish was a little on the thin side, like Eternal Beauty, but again application was pretty flawless. I waited between both coats to avoid any dragging or balding. 

Despite what appears to be a very 'glittery' type polish -- holos are so finely ground up glitters, that removal is like any creme polish. BONUS!

What do you think? Need them? Have a holo that is even better than these?! Let me know in the comments, because I want it!

Check the Color Club website, Ebay or Amazon for these pretties! I believe I bought mine from Ebay, as that is who had them cheapest at the time I was searching them out!

Happy Sunday! 

Tone it down NEON!

I SAID TONE IT DOWN, NEON!

All caps is sort of how I feel about neons, sometimes. They're like your parents when you were a teenager, you feel like you can't take them anywhere! 

Too loud, too bright, too bold.

I get it. 

So, how do you tone down a neon polish?

You could wear it without a white base. 

You can see in that post, that some of them are a lot less bright without a white base.

OR

Tips on Tuesday ALERT!

Do a neon French Tip!

Whenever I have a strong desire to do a neon on my fingers, I usually do tips. That way, I can still get away with wearing such a loud polish to work, because it isn't too stand-outish. You get the little bit o' pop without all the wham-bam in your face kind of color.

You can follow my Easy French Tip Tutorial HERE to get this look!

Polishes used:

First 2 photos: SH base coat, 1 coat Essie Mademoiselle (a light pink to cover staining), 1 coat Essie Pure Pearlfection (some sparkle!), Fresh Paint Guava (bright peach), and I used a base coat of CG White on White with WnW Nerd Alert: Screech (green), top coat NYC

2nd 2 photos: SH Base coat, CG White on White for the base before WnW Nerd Alert: Screech (green) and Sinful Colors 24/7, top coat NYC.

What do you think, reader? Fancy new fun way to wear some neons?

Lazy days and Blue Skies

This weekend was forecasted to be pretty nice. It rained a bit on Saturday, which OF COURSE was the day I decided to trip it down to the beach. 

Typical.

I was channeling blue skies all weekend with some cloud nail art and 

I decided to show you my 2 favorite blues from recent Spring/Summer collections.

First up is Essie Avenue Maintain from the Essie Spring 2013 collection.

Essie Avenue Maintain is a dark sky blue. Surprisingly enough, it is opaque in 1 coat. I used 2 coats here to even it all out. It's almost the same color as the sky in the background!

I don't own very many blues but I really love this one. 

A bonus about this polish? It STAMPS.

Next up is a light sky blue by Wet n' Wild Wild Shine from their Pop Art collection 

called Teal Slowly and See.

As you can see, this is definitely not teal. It is the absolute perfect shade of light sky blue.

Despite the pastelly nature of this color, it was opaque in 2 coats and it really offered full coverage. 

This is definitely a new favorite blue of mine and I am super happy to have it in my collection.

Unfortunately, I really hate the brush on the WnW Wild Shine polishes. It is really thin and long. 

It is one of those brushes you keep having to dip back into the bottle for 

more polish just to paint ONE nail.

Up next, I used Teal Me Slowly in a cloud mani. 

My sister showed me a photo of some cloud nail art on instagram 

awhile ago and I just couldn't get it out of my head! 

This blue worked perfect!

I used an Art Club white striper for the white and by dripping some onto a plate, I used a dotting tool to create the fluffy clouds. 

White clouds on a sky blue background ALWAYS remind me of Toy Story.

::Grins::

Do the clouds remind you Toy Story also? What are you favorite blue polishes?

Back to the grind tomorrow! Hope everyone is ready for Monday!

Indie Review: Carpe Noctem in Concrete Confetti and Bubblegum Blues

*Products purchased by me

*Cruelty and 3 Free

I hate ticks. I just launched myself out of my bed because my kitty, Tinka, dropped a tick on my sheets, which climbed up my arm. 

Guess who isn't sleeping tonight because I keep feeling fictional creepy crawlies on me?! 

THIS GIRL. 

Ok, gunna shake it out and we can get back to this review! 

Photo heavy...

Tonight I have 2 more polishes from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics to show you.

You have already seen the infamous Man in White (no longer available) and South Haven Sunset, both beautiful duochromes. 

Tonight I have another duochrome and a glitter to show you!

First up is Concrete Confetti.

CC is packed with varying sizes of hex glitters in a rainbow of metallic colors and black!

CC went on smooth and had great glitter coverage in one coat. 

Shown here over Color Show Blue Blaze, over a SH Base coat and NYC top coat.

 The base on Emily's glitter polishes is a little on the thick side, but, along with a good shake, I find that this lends to getting a ton of glitter on the brush -- so no fishing for glitters here! 

There appears to be some reflective curling on that gold glitter, but these glitters do lay flat on the nail.

I am really liking the look of this. I wasn't sure about all the black glitters in there but oh my! I don't know about you but this look really reminds me of 

LEOPARD PRINT!

Check out my ring finger! I feel like that could totally be leopard spots without all the hard work of painting or stamping them on!

Shown here over Essie Mod Square and SH Xtreme Wear Perfect Pearing.

Up next we have a duochrome called Bubblegum Blues!

BB is the opposite of MIW. It is a light pink, fuchsia base, with a blue, sometimes periwinkle shift.

Photo taken in direct sun.

The first went on a little sheer, but built up with a second coat. There was still a little bit of a visible nail line (VNL), but the blue shift really helped hide this and it wasn't very apparent. 

Shown here 2 coats, over a SH Base coat and NYC top coat.

Photo taken in the shade.

Ah! I love that blue shift!

Up close you can see some brush strokes, but they aren't noticeable in real life. 

I think this is a perfect summer polish when you're nice and tan!

Overall, I really like these 2 polishes and I don't have any complaints! Concrete Confetti is definitely a new fave glitter of mine! 

You might have noticed that none of Emily's polishes have labels on them! Emily does this, because she thinks it is more important to see the polish, than a giant label. I agree! Makes for some pretty bottle shots! :)

What do you think, Reader?! Do you have any of Emily's polishes yet?

You can check out the rest of Emily's stock in her Etsy shop here! Definitely more swatches to come from me, since I picked up a huge haul! 

You can also follow Emily on facebook to get the latest and greatest! She is always posting sneak peeks of customs she is working on (including 2 for me!).

Emily's polishes come in 3 different sizes, retailing from $3-$9. Every order comes with a mini nail buffer!

Almost Friday!