Holographic pubes!

Hey guys- quick post today.

In case you're wondering wtf the title of this post is about, let me enlighten you...

I bought this ORLY the other day because it just looked gorgeous.

However, i haven't had much success with polishes like this,

and this time I was once again reminded why.

Here's ORLY's Be Brave' over NOPI's 'Kim-pletely in Love'

Sigh.

Does anyone else feel about them the way I do?

I don't know. Maybe I should have applied less or applied more (this is 1 coat of 'Be Brave'), but i JUST can't stand how it looks. I can't help but be reminded of nasty pubes when I look at this, however holographic and pretty they might be.

This is the second time I've tried to use a topcoat full of bar glitters,

and the first time I felt the same way I do now :/

Humph.

It sucks because they really are beautiful and shiny, just not for me.

What are your thoughts?!

Day 10: child's favorite animal

Happy Thursday!

My classes are only M-R so this is like Friday for me :)

Today's theme is your child's favorite animal!

Being that she's barely old enough to remember all the animals she's seen (unless they're ones she's seen on a regular basis), my daughter's favorite animal seems to simply be- a dog!

Or puppy, rather. She can almost say it :)

So here's what I came up with:

So this is by no means original, but it's super simple 'nail art' which appeals to my minimalistic nature :) This kind of stuff is right up my alley.

* fluorescent light

Here I used 1 coats of NOPI's 'Hard Kourt Fashionista' as my base... LOVE the instant opacity and fluid-ness of this polish, by the way. The brush is perfect for me, too- fat and short. Just like my little nails! :p

I used ORLY's 'Rage' and Zoya's 'Jinx' for the puppy paw prints.

This ORLY is one of m top 10 favorite nail polishes ever. It's super smooth and really compliments my skin tone. Not to mention that i'm a sucker for foils :x

This is the first time i've used 'Jinx', which I got back around in March. I was saving it for the fall season but decided to try it out now anyway. Closer to fall, i'll definitely have a good swatch of it!

All in all, I realllllly like this color combo!

I know the nail art is very basic and simple, but again,

that works for me!

Day 9: polish starting with same letter as your child's name

(^ well that was a mouthful...)

Good morning!

Back to the nail challenge today!

Today's theme is a polish that starts with the same letter as your child's name.

My daughter's name is Layla, and i know,

the polish LAYLA would have been perfect for this, haha.

But i don't have any :(

In lieu of that,

I found some others from my stash that work!

This is 3 coats of NOPI's 'Ladies in the Limelight' on 4 fingers,

& China Glaze's 'Pelican Grey' on my ring finger.

But the polish I wanted to really feature here is this awesome topcoat, 'Little Miss Sunshine' from GlitterDaze :)

I got this little sucker awhile ago when I got several other GlitterDaze mini's,

and it love it! It's super unique.

It's filled with pink and yellow "blossom" glitter, white and pink bar glitter, white and pink matte hexagonal glitter, and pink micro glitter- all in a clear base.

You can get this for $4.75 (mini) on their Etsy shop!

Like I said, I've bought several other polishes from here and love them all! :)

That's it for me.

Have a great day, guys! 

Day 7: child's room decorations

Hey guys!

So I just noticed something :x

I've got the days and themes mixed up JST A BIT.

This is due to one of the day's assignments being totally illegible. Well, at least a part of the sentences is. And EVEN when using my context clues like a good little English student,

I have no idea what it says.

SO, i'm just going to skip that day altogether!

Anyway,

tonight's post is about your child's room decorations.

My daughter's room is themed in a Jungle Jill theme,

which is basically jungle animals in light pink, white, green, and brown :)

I used her comforter as my inspiration:

Cute, right?

I tried my hand some stamping (which failed) and some nail art (which didn't turn out that badly):

Obviously i've tried to incorporate the different 'themes' of the comforter on each nail.

What's that on my pointer finger, you ask?

Well, it WAS giraffe print stamp. But it didn't exactly transfer over that well.

Neither did the zebra, obviously.

But whatever.

I don't claim to be a nail artist!

;)

I used:

Zoya's 'Gaia' as base on thumb & Zoya's 'Kylie' for dots

China Glaze's 'White on White' as base on pointer and ring finger

NOPI's 'Hard Kourt Fashionista' for giraffe print & BM10

CG's 'Re-Fresh Mint' for base on middle finger & 'Kylie' and 'White on White' for flowers

Konad polish in pink & Konad plate m57 for zebra print

OPI's 'Pink Friday' on pinky

ALSO,
Don't forget to enter my giveaway &
 vote for your favorite eye look for a tutorial!

Day 4: child's favorite movie

Good evening, everyone!

Today is Day 4 of the children's nail art challenge- favorite movie!

Again, seeing as how my daughter is too little to really have a favorite movie yet,

I just went with what one of MY favorite movies was as a child...

Fern Gully!

In case you've never seen this movie (for shame!),

it's about some fairies and animals that live in a giant tree in a rainforest.

Suddenly, humans come in and try to cut everything down,

so it's now the forest's inhabitant's new mission to stop them.

... sound familiar?

Yeah, James Cameron kind of TOTALLY stole the idea for Avatar :p

Anyway,

there were a million routes I could have gone for this mani.

Due to lack to time,

I decided to do some basic stamping.

So on my thumb you have a pathetically done sun,

with ferns and other plants on all my other fingers.

On the ring finger.... well, I was going for some whimsical fairy orbs or something,

but it just turned into colored dots... -.-

OH WELL.

Obviously the ferns and plants apply because that's what the forest is made of,

and the idea behind the dots was to represent the whimsy behind the fairies,

since I'm not artistically talented enough to draw one of those :p

I used:

Thumb: NOPI's 'Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam'; BM04 plate; Zoya 'Pippa' for sun

Pointer: Nubar's 'Reclaim'; BM19 plate

Middle: Zoya's 'Ivanka' BM03 plate

Ring: Nubar's 'Reclaim'; OPI's 'A Grape Fit'; China Glaze's 'White on White'

Pinky: Zoya's 'Ivanka'; BM03 plate

This definitely wasn't my favorite thing that I've ever done,

but it worked okay for this :/

Day 3: your child's favorite TV show!

Itttttt's Monday!

meh.

Though I start a new summer class today,

and i'm pretty excited/nervous about it :x

Anyway,

i'm pretty excited to share today's mani with you.

The theme was your child's favorite TV show.

Being that my daughter is only 9 months, I don't really let her watch TV that much, (and she doesn't seem interested in it most of the time), BUT,

she DOES seem to absolutely. love. Mickey Moues Clubhouse :p

So that was my theme!

Here I created little mouse heads over a red base,

with some white polka dots- which seems to be the signature thing to do.

The black is Maybelline's Color Show in 'Onyx Rush'.

The base is NOPI's 'Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi' from the Kardashion Kolors collection.

I have to say i really, really loved the NOPI. It goes on just so smooth and was almost perfection. The brush size was just perfect for my nails, which are wider than most people's, it seems like.

Also, on my right hand,

(ink from my pen got on my ring finger right before I took this :/)

FINALLY some successful work with the dotting tool!

I have no idea why it took me so long to get the hang of it,

but I finally did.

I realllllly love this mani. I don't want to take it off!

My daughter seemed rather mesmerized with the polka dots, too :p

What do you guys think?

Stay tuned for more from this challenge tomorrow,

and have a great day!

new favorite!- 'One Big Happy Fame-ily'

Helloooo everyone.

Just finished re-watching some of Game of Thrones from last season in preparation for the new season starting this sunday!! :e

Anyone else watch it? Or read the books?

Both are amazing. So if you haven't- do it.

OKAY, I'm truly excited about tonight's polish. I bought it on a whim and didn't think much of it, but now it's seriously one of my new favorites. forreal. 

I don't have any other polishes like it, & it just looks amazing.

I give you NOPI's 'One Big Happy Fame-ily'

* outside, no flash

(forgive my bone dry cuticles; working on that. i feel like i'm always saying that...maybe I should switch to a different cream..)

* inside, fluorescent light

This polish is a gorgeous lilac packed with tons of silver shimmer. It's part of the Kardashian Kolor collection & sold exclusively at CVS. 

I wasn't sure how I would like this shade on my hands,

but it really surprised me. I love me a good shimmer, so that just did everything in :)

Kardashian chick-lettes :p

Wooooooooo for it being Friday!

So I'm getting so stoked seeing all these Easter manis that I figured it was time to do one of my own. I love pastel colors (which are, of course, associated as Easter colors) so this time of year shall be quite fun for me as a blogger :p

Ok, for tonight's inspiration I used a bit of personal history mixed with some classic Easter manis. When my mom was little, her Grandfather (who owned a farm) would always give her & her siblings baby chicks dyed different colors for Easter. They'd keep them for a little bit, then take them back as they got older.

I've also seen some people do some really cute Easter nails using baby chicks doing various things, so I thought I'd follow that line of thought.

First I want to brag about the fantastic base polish I used:

'Ladies in the Limelight' by NOPI's Kardashian Kolor collection.

This is a lovely pastel yellow creme that's sold (I think) exclusively at CVS stores. I bought this just a couple days ago thinking that it would be a great polish for the upcoming holiday... and I was right. I'm usually not a fan of yellow on my nails, but this one is awesome!

Alright, moving on to the chicks...

(messed up my middle finger's eyes last minute & didn't feel like fixing it)

Granted, this is a pre-clean up shot because I was just SURE my daughter was going to wake up & i'd mess them up, (she did) so I took this as soon as I finished.

Anyway, what do you think?!

I love these little guys.

Again, nothing new but it was still fun to do.

I used:

'Ladies in the Limelight' as base (3 coats)

China Glaze's 'Alpine Snow' and a striper/regular brush for the egg shells

black Konad special polish & a dotting tool for the eyes

Sally Hansen's 'Sun Kissed' & dotting tool for the 'beak'

I wish I had been able to clean the mu & get a shot before they got messed up,

but oh well :/

Next time, I suppose.

Whatchya think?

Let me know :)

Have a great rest of the night!

xD

pot o' gold!

SUP.

So tonight I tried my first gradient... >.<

It wasn't pretty, I'm afraid. It was much harder than it looked, wtf.

One of the reasons why I'll stick to mostly makeup... :P

Anyway, I thought I'd share it with you guys nonetheless,

& maybe ya'll can give me tips!

* initial idea

*i know this is cropped weird; I did a wonky job on my middle finger & was attempting to crop it out as much as I could :x

So obviously I had St. Patrick's day in mind when I did this- the whole pot of gold thing.

If I could actually DO a gradient, I think it actually would have looked really good.

:/ oh well.

I used NOPI's 'Khloe Had Little Lam-Lam' from the Kardashian Kolor collection as the base. This polish is a deep, almost forest-green creme. It was a litttttle gloopy, but still easier to apply than I thought. One coat was enough for me, believe it or not.

The glitter is China Glaze's 'Blonde Bombshell' which is a fantastic gold glitter with teeny pieces, larger pieces, and 'strips' (for lack of a better word) of gold glitter, as well.

I really like the two together :)

What are your thoughts?

Tips?

Let me know!

Have a great night/early morning!

ruh-roh raggy--dupes?

hello all!

I took a slight hiatus this weekend because we went back into Knoxville to see all our family and friends, & it was pretty awesome, for the most part.
:|

Tonight I have a little post that I just wanted to do for myself, if nothing else.

I've bought 3 crazy good multi-colored glitter polishes over the past couple months, and now I realize that - they're basically all the same.

sigh xP

So here I have a comparison to show you!

*From L to R:

Finger Paint's 'Fun-Fetti'

NOPI's 'Rainbow in the S-kylie'

Ulta's 'Pinata-Yada-Yada'

....

Can you guess which is which?

:brow

So yeah, 

they all totally look almost exactly the same- aside from very subtle differences.

The first on the nail wheel is the Ulta polish. It's a clear base with small hexagonal gold, magenta, orange, green, dark blue, silver, and red glitter. Then it has larger hexagonal glitter in magenta gold, silver, and orange.

The next on the nail wheel is the NOPI from the Kardashian Kolor collection. Quite honestly, this really looks the EXACT same as Ulta's version. Of course with a clear base, 'Rainbow in the S-kylie' has small, hexagonal magenta, silver, gold, orange, green, and light blue glitter. The larger pieces of glitter are the same colors. What gives this polish an almost pastel feel is the light blue rather than dark blue, and the absence of red.

Lastly, we have the Finger Paints polish- my favorite. This polish has a clear base with teeeeeeeny tiny green glitter, small hexagonal glitter in orange, gold, silver, and magenta... and then loads of large hexagonal pieces of glitter in the above colors plus green, red, and dark blue. The concentration of large glitter in this polish is greater than the other two, and really adds a glamorous touch to the polish. 

Though all the polishes use verrrrry similar colors, I find the colors in 'Fun-Fetti' to be the richest. It glistens more in the sun, and is therefore more mesmerizing :)

Do any of you have these?

What are your thoughts?

beauty/nail mail & simple V-day manis

Happy Valentine's day!

normally i think this holiday is totally dumb & overrated, but it has a whole new meaning for me now because-

1 year ago today is when I found out I had a bun in my oven xD

now my little munchkin is my Valentine.

Anyway, I got a few goodies in yesterday.

My Feb. Birchbox!

stamping plates

stamp set

yay! can't wait to use these, although I've still got to get some Konad polishes :/

And I haven't even had a chance to really look in the Birchbox yet,

but I'll try to do that soon & devote a whole post to it :)

On to the nails.

Both of these are super simple and were done, obviously, in light of Valentine's Day.

NOPI's "Hard Kourt Fashionista' ( a rich, chocolate-y creme) & Milani's Jewel FX in 'Red' (clear base with very large red hexagonal glitter)

I just bought the Milani yesterday because it. is. phenomenally. pretty.

so ridic.

I used 2 coats of the NOPI & one coat of the Milani- then one of SV.

It reminds me of a V-day chocolate box, for some reason.

Super simple, but I really really love that red glitter.

Fabulous! <3

Next up,

* daylight, it's a gloomy day :/

* artificial light w/ flash- messed up on middle finger... this cold has really dried out that one

So this is apparently all the rave right now- using 3 colors from the same color family and going from pinky to thumb with the lightest to darkest colors. The lightest on your pinky and ring, medium shade on your middle and pointer finger, and the darkest on your thumb.

Again, totally simple... but I like the effect.

NOPI's 'Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi' on pinky & ring

CG's 'Ruby Pumps' on middle & pointer

PureICE's 'All Nighter' on thumb

Then just for kicks, I used OPI's Designer... de Better' and a dotting tool to make little hearts on my thumb.

I like the simplicity of both of these.

Hope everyone has a fantastic V-day!

:)

N00b week! Day 7- 'Follow Me on Glitter'

good afternoon, fellow bloggers!

Alas, n00b week is at an end. 

However, I picked one of my new favorites to finish this week off.

NOPI's 'Follow Me on Glitter' from the Kardashian Kolor collection!

* 2 coats, in daylight

'Follow Me on Glitter' is a black/dark grey base with tons of tiny charcoal glitter and chunky, colored glitter. 2 coats is all you need, really, & perhaps a top coat to keep it from feeling gritty.

So i was pretty stoked when I bought this, but now that I've seen it on I'm not really that impressed. Quite honestly, it looks EXACTLY like China Glaze's 'Tinsel Town' and OPI's 'How's it Snowin'- except the larger glitter in this polish are colored, instead of silver :/ A little disappointing, but I'm glad I tried it out nonethless.

Do any of you have this?

What are your thoughts?!

Thanks for reading everyone!

n00b week! Day 4- 'Kim-pletely in Love' & 'Fabulous is my Middle Name'

Happy Friday!
I hope everyone has had a fabulous week! I'm ready to sit back and relax this weekend, myself.

ALRIGHTY THEN,
so today I've got an interesting pair for you.
I recently bought both of them (obvi) and hadn't planned on using them together, but I actually quite like the way it turned out.

NOPI's 'Kim-pletely in Love' & 'Fabulous is my Middle Name'

My camera just isn't good enough to really capture the delicate amazingness of 'Kim-pletely in Love', so go here for a good swatch.

So here's how it turned out.

* fluorescent light, no flash

* sunlight, no flash

I used 2 coats of 'Kim-pletely in Love' and 2 coats of 'Fabulous is my Middle Name', also.

The former (part of the Kardashian Kolor Collection) is a beautiful, delicate, light pink with a blue micro-shimmer, though you can't see it in my pictures because it's so subtle... but it's really neat. It's fairly sheer, so I'd suggest putting it over a nice pink base coat.

'Fabulous is my Middle Name' is a BRAND NEW polish just released this past January exclusively at Walmart stores (it was released with 2 others, also). It's a clear base with tiny silver glitter, and then larger red, charcoal, and pink confetti glitter. I don't have any other polish like this, which is what made me snatch it up.

HOWEVER,

now that I've seen it on, I really can't get past the fact that it looks like pubes on my nails :x Gross, I know. Either that OR whiskers... like after a guy shaves. It looks like a guy shaved right over my pink, yet-to-dry nails, so now they look furry and pube-y. Sigh.

What do you guys think?

Maybe I can get past it the longer I wear it...

?

Newest additions!

heyheyhey!

I'm taking a break from the mindless paper I'm writing so liven things up a bit with a post :)

Quickly, I made a few extra purchases today and wanted to share!

YAY! 

* from the Kardashian Kolor collection, 'Follow me on Glitter'

* left is Zoya's 'Tanzy' next to NOPI's 'Fabulous is my Middle Name'

* also from the KK collection, 'Kim-pletely in Love'

** super sheer polish, so hard to see on the wheel :/

:party

I'll try to have some swatches up of these soon!

Do any of you have these?

What do you think?!

And because when I think of the Kardashians I think of rich and girly things, I thought this song was rather appropriate :P

I've Got the Blues Week: Day 1- 'Kendall on the Katwalk'

Good morning, ladies! 

So in honor of school starting back this week, I decided to dedicate my posts to blue polish o_O

For day 1 I chose to feature one of my newest blues- 'Kendall on the Katwalk' from the NOPI Kardashian collection.

This polish has a light blue base and contains light & dark blue glitter and purple glitter.

* regular indoor lighting

*fluorescent lighting

I used 2 coats (though no top coat) & I was surprised how much I LOVED this polish :D The effect really is divine after that second coat. Application was actually very easy and it dried super super quickly. This polish hardly makes me feel blue at all :P

KardasianKolors: It's All About the Glam & Hard-Kourt Fashionista

hey guys!

So i could hardly wait to try out some of the polishes from the Kardashian collection that I bought yesterday, & here's what I have!

I attempted 'It's All About the Glam' first.

At first I thought this was just another typical white, cream polish, but it's actually got a really faint, pretty shimmer to it.

Unfortunately, it didn't translate onto my nails like I thought it would :/

No matter how many coats I put on, (I did 3 in the following pictures) I just couldn't quite get it to look like I wanted it to- it's just too sheer. On my so-so nails, it didn't look good at all. On longer, more pretty nails, however, I'm sure it would look great.

* just more sheer than I was looking for :/

* hopefully you can kind of see the shimmer here; sorry they're a bit sloppy!

So like I said, on a person with prettier nails & on someone who's more of a nail 'artist' than myself, I'm sure this polish would look great. Just wasn't what I thought it was going to be, & I wasn't crazy about how it looked on my beginner nails :/

ONWARDS,

The second polish I tried today was 'Hard-Kourt Fashionista' & i LOVED this one.

This is rich, creamy, chocolate brown. I was surprised at it's natural shiny-ness (?)- i hardly needed a top coat!

*excuse the messed up thumb :/

Anyway, I really didn't think I would like this color as much as I do. I'm not usually a fan of earthy tones on nails, but this one really surprised me. Definitely glad I scooped it up!

Thanks for reading,
& have a great night!
:)