Friday, November 22, 2013

Indie Review: Wikid Nails Diablo

*Purchased by me
*3 & Cruelty Free

Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite holidays. I like food. And pie.
But, my birthday also falls within a day or 2 of Thanksgiving. Once, in 2009, it was even on Thanksgiving!

So for my favorite holiday, I have been searching scouring this machine that is the internet, for the perfect Thanksgiving glitter.
I found it at Wikid Nails on Etsy in the form of Diablo.
Stay tuned until the end of the post for a coupon code!!

Lets see her in all her beautiful glitterness!


Here I layered 1 coat of her over one of my favorite Fall shades, Revlon Stormy Nights
1 coat of Out the Door topcoat was used. My accent nail is a stamped BM leave pattern.


Diablo is made up of bright red and orange hold glitters, as well as yellow, red and orange matte glitter in hex and square shapes! Such an awesome combo! Also, can you believe that I got such good glitter payoff in just one coat?! Believe it!


Next, I watched it over Sally Hansen's Haute Chocolate. This photo was taken outside in direct sunlight to show the sparkle!
I loved how smooth this formula went on and the glitter payoff was awesome. I did NO fishing!
I used the glob and spread method :)


Last but certainly not least, I swatched Diablo over a beautiful Essie pink Bass Fiddle 
Edit: I layered this over Julep Veronica


I loved how perfectly the pink complimented all of the glitter colors. Layering this over the 2 dark shades previously made it really Fall and Thanksgiving appropriate, but after seeing it over the pink, I can definitely see myself wearing this again for Valentines Day or in the spring and summer!!

So heres the deets!
You should definitely head to check out Cheryl's shop and Facebook!

Full size bottles are $7.50 each plus S&H.

She also so kindly offering a coupon code to my followers! You definitely don't want to miss out on having this glitter for the holiday!

COUPON CODE: 
WHS2013 for 25% off! Yes, 25%! Such a great coupon code AND it is good until the end of the year (12/31/13)! 
:)


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Thanksgiving Tutorial

It's time for another Tutorial!! With Thanksgiving only a week away I decided to recreate a manicure a friend posted on her Facebook after I showed you my halloween tutorial using JUST a Sharpie Marker!
That turned out to be pretty darn popular, so I am bringing you another tutorial using Sharpie markers.
LEAVES!
They are perfect for Fall and are definitely a lovely accent on your nails for Thanksgiving.


Lets get started!
I encourage you to try this even if you are nervous because Sharpie Markers are totally erasable on nail polish!!
I also have another Fall Tutorial HERE that is easy peasy!


First, I started by painting my nails 2 coats of a solid color. I chose OPI Vampsterdam. Any dark shade that compliments gold and bronze will do!
I have found that you don't always need to add a topcoat to make the Sharpie erasable. With a little elbow grease it will usually disappear.
Make sure you let the polish dry COMPLETELY!
(if you don't, you won't be able to rub off mistakes!)
:Patience, young grasshopper:


I used a 3 pack of Sharpies that I purchased at Target. It came with silver (not pictured) and bronze and gold colors. These will work perfect!


Using the Bronze Sharpie marker, I made a jagged outline at the top corner of my nail. This is the beginnings of a leaf!!


I then colored the leaf in. 
Remember: Sharpie is erasable! 
The metallic sharpies might need a little more muscle than a regular black sharpie, so I find that licking a finger and rubbing away or wetting a rag and wiping away works best!


Using the Gold Sharpie I created the outline for my second leaf in the bottom right hand corner of my nail. I made this one a little more spread out sideways.


Then I colored this leaf in too! They don't start to look like leaves until you add the veins!


Using a fine, black Sharpie I drew veins outward on my first leaf and across my second leaf.
You can create more leaves on your other nails or just leave the leaves on one nail!


Make sure to add a top coat to seal in your design!

I decided to make some other leaves. I did a couple different types on my other fingers. On my middle and pinky fingers, I created little leaves, while the leaves I showed you on my ring finger were slightly more complex. Experiment with different patterns!

Will you try this? What nail art tutorial would you like to see for Winter/Christmas?

Happy Tuesday!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Fall Funky with Orly

This weekend I went to my little cousins 9th birthday party-sleepover and gave a bunch of the little girls cute manicures! I went last year to her party and all the girls just loved getting their nails done, so I was so excited to go back again this year! Last year the zebra print accent nail was popular, this year it was too, but I mixed it up with some cheetah print! And I did Galaxy Nails on 2 girls. They loved it!
After I left for the evening, I was told as the girls were getting ready for bed, one of them pretended to use their phone to book a nail appointment with me!
Awwwww!
<3

I just discovered the beauty that is Orly Fowl Play and I don't have anything bad to say about it!
I am missing summer shades, so I paired this one with a funky lime green water marbled accent nail.


Orly Fowl Play is a deep purple jelly, filled with blue glitter and flakies that flash a burnt orange.
I used 2 coats to reach opacity.


For my accent I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green with Envy and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls for the water marble. I used an Art Club striper to add some black dots.

I think this satisfied my need for some summery bright nails with a lime green accent nail with a deep purple. Plus, I cannot resist green and purple together! I fall for it every time <3

Back to the grind tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tips on Tuesday: Keeping it Trendy!

Time for another Tips on Tuesday! 
Tonight I have a mani using trendy colors for the season: 
GREY! 
or gray, whichever you prefer.


I wanted to do a cool grey ombre…but I discovered I don't own a good sequence of grey shades, so I improvised and used white and one of the NEW Julie G Textured polishes!


I started off with 2 coats of Zoya Raven on my thumb and transitioned into OPI Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous, Orly Mirror Mirror, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Julie G textured Silver Bells.

This is the first Ombre I have ever done and I think it turned out pretty good. I am not sure if I can rock different colors on each nail to work though!
Do you think Ombre manicures are acceptable for the office? Are you rocking the trendy greys for Fall/Winter?

Monday, November 11, 2013

Remembering Veteran's Day

I wasn't going to show you a Veteran's Day mani but I decided that it is important to remember our heroes. Especially after hearing someone at my Kickboxing class on Friday describe today as a "fake" holiday. I have a lot to say about that, but I won't bore you with a tangent! ;)


My very best friend is currently serving and I have had various friends and family serving. Once upon a Time, I also had an (ex)-boyfriend serve overseas, so the military, their services and the family/friends they leave behind, are close to my heart.


For this mani I incorporated a camo pattern with an accent nail of poppy flowers. 
Polishes used: Accent nail: base of a white OPI, OPI OPI Red and an OPI green that I can't recall the name of right now. For the camo print I used a base of Revlon Spanish Moss (army green), Revlon Bare Bones (a beige), Julep Kendra (dark green) and Zoya Raven (black).

Make sure to Thank a Veteran Today! <3


Thursday, November 7, 2013

Essie Fall 2013 Collection

I am starting to see all the Winter Collections cropping up in my local Ulta and drugstores, but I don't want to chase the Fall weather into Winter weather just yet! Tonight I have 4 of the 6 Essie Fall 2013 polishes, with some fun nail art!


First us is Vested Interest. This is a nice deep, dusty teal. I love this one and have worn is a couple times since I bought it.
It went on great! Swatch shown is 2 coats, plus 1 coat of NYC top coat.


Next up is Cashmere Bathrobe, a slate grey, with a subtle shimmer. The name is perfect I think! It definitely makes me think of bathrobes! I wish the shimmer in Essie polishes was a bit more pronounced, as the shimmer in this one was barely there!
Grey is such a trendy color right now and this one is a really nice shade!
This one also went one great! Swatch shown is 2 coats plus 1 coat of NYC topcoat.


Out of the bunch I purchased, For the Twill of It, was my least favorite. I had high hopes for it when it was in the bottle, because the duo chrome shift was really awesome! This was sort of a "beetle" type duo chrome with shifts from greens, to purple and grey hues. I wanted it to be more purple!


There was a lot of green shift. Overall, it was a cool polish BUT what I didn't like about it - is that it chipped SO easily! Within ONE day I was seeing major chippage! Bummer!


Now this one, The Lace is On, was my absolute favorite!! I swear it glowed from within. This color was just such a vibrant fuchsia, I could hardly stand it! I have worn this one a couple times and I had it done on my toes too!
Swatch is shown here as 2 coats with 1 coat of NYC topcoat.


Last but not least, since The Lace is On and Vested Interest were my 2 favorites, I ended out wearing them together in this funky interlocking dotticure. This looks a million times more complicated than it really is. I loved these together!

What do you think? Did you pick up any of the Fall 2013 polishes? 


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Hello Kitty Nail Art

Hello Hello! Well, that was the last of the Halloween festivities! Bring on the holiday shopping!
I headed into Providence this weekend for a night out with some friends and I couldn't believe how many kids were still running around in their costumes. I thought for sure the weekend after Halloween wouldn't be a big Halloween party weekend, but I was wrong. It was fun seeing everyones costumes though!

As the last of the Halloween spirit disappears, I am going to share some photos of the mani I wore to go with my costume!


I was Hello Kitty for Halloween. 
Here I am in my costume with my cutesy nephew, Charlie!


I used Confetti Dance Party Pink on index and middle finger. On my ring finger, I used 2 coats of Carpe Noctem Under the Cover of Light and on my thumb and pinky, I used Razzle Dazzler from the Sally Hansen Gem Crush collection.


I ever so carefully painted Hello Kitty's lovely face onto my index finger using a toothpick and a very small dotting tool. I used an Art Club striper in black and SH Mellow Yellow for her nose and OPI Party in my Cabana for her bow.

I love how this turned out!

Is everyone ready for November?