Easter eggs!

Happy Easter night!

I know this is my second post today, but it's technically my 1st since the post earlier was on a mani i'd done a couple days ago... O_o

Anyway, I love pastel colors, so I've been excited about having an excuse to use a LOT of them due to the Easter holiday.

Tonight I tried a little Easter mani,

though I like it better before I attempted the nail art :/

Even so, I shall show you anyway!

*indoor, no flash

** prior to nail art

So clearly I still need to do loads of practice when it comes to the dotting tool... but I rather like my middle & ring finger :p It looks completely amateur obviously, but that's what I am when it comes to nail art... and practice makes perfect! (or so they say)

Besides, my favorite part about this was the polishes I used, not the art :)

I used:

NOPI's 'Ladies in the Limelight' as base on thumb

NOPI's 'One Big Happy Fame-ily' on pointer

Zoya's 'Kylie' as base on middle

China Glaze's 'Re-Fresh Mint' on ring

Zoya's 'Phoebe' on pinky

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

NOTD- 'It Starts With Me'

hey guys, just a quick post tonight.

Many of you may know by now (I feel like it's quite obvious) that I'm a sucker for metallics- particularly in the polish arena.

Tonight's number is no exception.

I JUST SO HAPPENED (read:forced myself to remember needing cotton rounds so I could have an excuse to go to the nail polish aisle) to be browsing the nail aisle in Walmart tonight & I found some lovely metallics from the 'Liquid Metals' collection (one of which I already have, see it here).

I behaved & only chose to get one,

and it hasn't disappointed :D

Behold, NOPI's 'It Starts With Me':

This is a wonderful, golden-rose metallic. The way the two colors look in the polish reminds me very much of how the gold & red look in OPI's 'Designer... de Better', for some reason.

I tried to do a better job of capturing the gold & rose here, but my pictures just can't seem to do it justice :/

* fluorescent lighting-- you can see more of it's golden tint here

As with other NOPIs, I really love their brushes. I have short, fat (or so it feels), wide nails- & this brush really is just a perfect fit for me to quickly & easily slap this puppy on. No clean up was really even necessary on this one.

All in all, I absolutely love this gal. Metallics are already high up on my list, so that combined with the fact that it's a great neutral color- makes it one of my new favorites for sure.

Do any of you have this?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading!

:)

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!

:)

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 3- 'Rich in Spirit'

goooooood afternoon, ya'll.

Welp, classes officially started back today :(

In honor of such, I picked one of my favorite blues for today's polish.

NOPI's 'Rich in Spirit'

* fluorescent lighting

* regular, indoor lighting

ALLLLLLLLRIGHTY.

'Rich in Spirit' is a metallic, silvery blue that is gorgeous 8)

One of my favorite colors to wear on my nails is silver, & this gives me a nice variation. I think it would look quite nice with this look, also. This polish is a great, wintery shade and is definitely one I can't wait to wear again :i

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!
:)

Kardashian Kolors & my spontaneous haul!

Hola!

I'm really hoping that UPS isn't swamped with people returning gifts or something this week, because I need my purchase from Sephora ASAP as it's the new Urban Decay Mariposa Palette! I'm so stoked & can't wait to try some looks out with it.

Anyway,

 as I was in Walmart picking up a few items, I remembered that I had a walmart gift card... and what better way to spend that than on some polishes & other things I don't need! :) Seeing as how I bought the primary necessary items I truly NEEDED, I felt justified in splurging a little on myself through frappacinos, make up, and nail polish :p

I give you my little spontaneous Walmart haul!

but HERE is what I was most excited about:

*from left to right: Kendall on the Katwalk, Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi, Khloe had a Little Lam-Lam, It's All About the Glam, and Hard-Kourt Fashionista!

asngkajbgjka! All the walmarts/targets i've been checking lately have been completely out of this collection, so I couldn't believe my luck when I just happened to stop by the aisle today & found almost  ALL of the collection!
Due to feeling crappy about blowing all of my gift card on nail polish, i just bought 5 :p

Also, I bought 4 PureICE polishes:

*from left to right: Spit Fire, Dreamy, All Nighter, A List

I was particularly drawn to 'Spit Fire' and A List', but i'm pretty excited about the others, too.

Lastly I got this Essie:

'Wrapped in Rubies'



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


What do you guys think?
Do any of you have any of these ?!

(mini) haul !

So I went on a mini shopping spree (for i'm on a pathetically strict budget) and got 5 new polishes to add to my teeny tiny collection!

Woo! Since i've recently decided to quit biting my nails, I got these in the hopes that I can wear them soon on my slightly less crappy nails :) HOORAH!

I bought:

Nicole by OPI's 'Rich in Spirit'

Essie's 'Buy me a Cameo'

Nicole by OPI's 'Gone Wishin'

Sally Hansen's 'Platinum'

Sally Hansen's 'Pink Promise'

: )

i'm quite happy with my purchases. I'll try to get some of these on here soon!

Do any of you have any of these already? If so, what do you think about them?