Come on, Spring!!!

Worst. Winter. Ever. I swear,  this is the longest and coldest winter we've had in a long time. I'm over it. I live in Iowa, so seriously,  40 degrees is like summer to us. You'll see people with their windows down, shorts, picnics,  everything.  Just give me a day above 20. It's been hell on my nails and skin. It's hopefully going to be warmer today,  but that's supposed to come with snow. Ugh...


So, in effort to not slip into a sad dark depression,  I tried putting some cheery springy colors on. It didn't really help, but the niece's loved it.

My blue is Sally Hansen Baracuda, and I used several other colors for decor. I'm not sure what is going on with my lacey stamp... it looked fine in person,  but in pics it sure looks like its a little funky.

Still addicted to the cottage roses. What else can I put them on?

One more day until the weekend! !! Happy Friday Eve!
April

Here Comes My Nails!

Happy Tuesday.  I took a mental health day yesterday,  as I was super swamped all weekend.  One of my weekend activities is an organization that I am a part of puts on the largest bridal expo in our area. It takes a lot of volunteers and is a huge event. It basically funds everything we do all year. I always plan the after party, because,  well, someone has to, and I can't say no to a good party.


These were my nails for the event. I've always wanted to do the cottage rose look, and I'm addicted.  I of course wanted something wedding-ny, so this was super cool

I've got to say, I hated the tuxedo all day. I did these so late at night that I didn't have the energy to change the dang tuxedo. Everything else was so pretty and feminine,  blech. It was just so harsh! But I did love everything else.

The silver is from the OPI Christmas collection,  It's Frosty Outside. It's also a liquid sand polish.  This was on my pinky and my thumb. If you want to know about any of the other colors,  just let me know in the comments.


So, would you wear themed nails for an event?

April

Fake It Galaxy Nails

Hey-yo!!! It's so close to the weekend I can smell it!! I've got a very busy weekend ahead of me,  so hopefully everything goes well.

Today I have an awesome find that I snagged up at Walgreens the other day. I'm not usually a fan of this brand,  but it was so beautiful that I had to have it.

So I say to myself,  April... I bet that would be blamo on black. I was right! I always loved the galaxy nails I did back on the 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge, and I haven't done them since. Once I put this over black, I knew it was going to be perfect.

This is one coat of Essie Licorice,  and then the Sally Hansen Grape Shifter on the tips waterfalling down. I waterfalled a little Zoya Suri on the ring finger, but then still topped it with the glitter.

For those of you that might be nervous to try out galaxy nails,  this is a super easy way to accomplish that look.

I'm so in love. It's subtle with being stunning at the same time.


On another note,  I picked up an amazing stash at Ulta and TJ Maxx last night. Gotta love clearance polish! The Zoya's and the Orly were $4.99 each, and Mistletoe was $3.49. The OPI's came as twofer sets at Maxx, and also came with either sparkly hair ties or a cute little makeup bag. They were $7.99 for two polishes. Boom!

Starting at the top, then going clockwise: OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Sweet Heart, Zoya Suri, OPI It's Frosty Outside, Orly Digital Glitter,  OPI Meet Me Under the Mistletoe,  Zoya Sunshine and OPI Emotions.

Have a great Thursday!!!
April

Cult Cosmetics Classic Collection

Ok, so I had the coolest mani to show you all this morning, and guess what? Instead of emailing to myself from my phone, I frigging deleted them!!! Ugh!!! They were super cute purple ones with hand painted details.  I hope you all are as mad as I am right now,  because I think I might have steam shooting out my ears.


Remember when I said I have the worst luck ever with sub boxes? Well, when Cult Cosmetics changed their box from brand names to their own line in October,  I told them to take a hike. I got an email not too long ago saying that my order had shipped... *blank stare*. After several emails to their customer service line and attaching confirmation of cancelation emails,  I was credited the charge and bonus! I got to keep the polish they sent me.

I got the Classic collection,  which is 3 colors and a set of Mash dotting tools. Love the tools, I previously only had one tool I picked up from Sephora, and I used a sewing pin with a yellow plasic ball at the tip for my big dots. These will definitely come in handy.

The polish... Cult claims that these are "one and done" polishes,  meaning they only need one coat for full coverage.  I didn't find that as being the case. And of course,  as my luck would have it,  one of the polishes I got is a red.  Ugh. (Although it's free... I can't really complain).


This is El Matador,  a bright red creme. I found this to be slightly more warm toned than expected,  and although I probably could have gotten away with one coat,  I wouldn't have due to some patchiness.

Lighting : shade

Lighting : full sunlight

Next is Boneyards, a charcoal grey creme. Better on the opaqueness of the formula,  but again I used 2 coats for the same reason as above.

Lighting : full sunlight

And finally is Stay Gold, a golden glitter topper. Totally not my cuppa tea. I placed one coat of Stay Gold over El Matador.

Lighting : shade

Lighting : full sunlight

These weren't terrible,  and if I would have gotten some different colors,  I might have a different tune... but we all know how I feel about red, and dark greys are ok, just tend to make my skin tone feel a little washed out.  My other concern is that the brush is huge. Like HUGE. These make OPI look like Essie. With OPI, I feel as though the large brush isn't as full to make application on tiny nails difficult. For me, I have extremely small nail beds. (My pinky nail is only about an 1/8 of an inch- my thumb: 1/4.) I don't have a ton of trouble with OPI, but I think that's why I use so many Essie polishes, because their brush is smaller. These Cult brushes were not only big, but thick. I had a lot of clean up to do due to this. If you have larger nails, great. I think these would work extremely well for you. For me, it was somewhat of a nightmare.


I know some friends that love this line, but I'm still on the fence. What are your thoughts?  Cult Cosmetics polish can be purchased here.

April

Mannequin Hands, Take 1

Yay, it's Friday! ! I'm still having issues with working a full week. In the fall I took off every Friday of a home game so I could pack and prepare for tailgating, and then December had my birthday and all of those holidays in there. I'm hoping to get back into my regular routine by March, lol.

I've recently been interested in more natural and nude colors of polish.  One of the things I learned from the nail community is that you need to find your mannequin nails shade. This one might be pretty darn close.

This is OPI's Samoan Sand. I used 3 coats, and then added black studs and accents because I may want to find my mannequin hands shade, but just those would have driven me bonkers. Still need to work on my stamping... but I'm slowly getting better I think.

Thoughts? I also picked up two of the Naturel line from Zoya when they had their awesome 3 free promo. I got Rue and Taylor. I think that Taylor is exactly my mannequin hands shade just from swatching it out, but I need to get it on to make sure. Rue is darker than it looked in pictures,  so I'm a little disappointed. Oh well,  it might be very pretty on.


Happy Friday!
April

Sprout Non Toxic Nail Polish

Hey everyone!  I finally got some sleep, but don't you always want more? And why is it on Saturday I wake up at 7 am, but Monday through Friday I am dragging my half dead body out of bed?

I have an interesting post today.  I subscribe to the INN Box from inzuri,  and this last month was utter disappointment!  I was looking forward to the pretty and spunky polishes that I picked out (with inzuri,  you pick your own collection from three options so there isn't a surprise) and to my dismay,  I received a different collection!  I got a very lame and washed out pink color by Orly, a weird Burgundy China Glaze,  and a grey Essie.  The only one I would maybe wear would be that Essie, but definitely not one that I would have purchased or selected.  Ugh. They are supposedly sending me the collection I ordered,  but we'll see.  I have the worst luck with sub boxes!!!

Anyways, within my inzuri box was a special indie collection!  I was instantly excited.  But when I opened up the first jar, it was a clumpy mess. Do you remember floam? That's what it was like. I tried thinner, I tried warming it up, nothing unclumped it. I reached out to the company on Facebook,  and that was where I found out that these were non toxic nail polishes! The reason they froze, was because they are water based instead of lacquer based. Sprout happily replaced my polishes in lieu of this review.*

First glance, these colors are not my style.  However,  these particular colors are meant for children.  When I showed my 4 year old niece the purple one, she wanted it on immediately.  I was a little concerned on clean up of these, as you must use non acetone remover to take these off. I tried to be as careful as possible in application, so please excuse the messy edges.

First up is Princess Pink, a bubblegum / cotton candy colored shimmer. This screams fairy princess and cupcakes. This was two coats.

Lighting:  Shade

Lighting: full sunlight

Next is Purple Reign,  a little darker shade than Princess.  It again was very girly and MJ sure loved it. Two coats.

Lighting: shade

Lighting: full sunlight

Last is Duchess Pink. I really wouldn't call this pink, I was more of a coral shade. I liked this one the best out of the three. Colors like this make my pale skin look tan, so that's a win for me! Two coats.

Lighting: shade

Lighting: full sunlight

A base / top coat was also provided,  which I used for all three polishes. They mentioned to me that they have an adult line, with more grown up colors. Also, they are improving their formula so that whwn the products are shipped to the ice tundra that Iowa is right now, they don't get damaged. My favorite thing about these polishes is that there was no smell. Let me repeat that. THERE WAS NO SMELL. This line would be perfect for people with sensitivity to chemicals, or are preggers. I'm a very earthy-crunchy girl (even though I know nail polish isn't the most enviro friendly), and I appreciate that a business has created a great product that is not harmful. I would definitely reach out to them for that next baby shower gift. Sprout polishes can be purchased from Etsy here.

April




*These polishes were provided to me for review by the company or their PR for my honest opinion

Texture the Week Away

So I totally hate the first week of the month.  I am very active in several committees and boards,  and they all meet the first week. I'm exhausted.  I did this mani earlier in the week, but then didn't have time to blog about it.  I changed my polish because I have the worst habit of if my polish chips, then I tend to bite or peel the rest of it off.  Especially if it's a glitter,  I totally bite it rather than remove it.  I'm terrible.  *PSA... Kids, do not try this at home!*

Anyways,  I stopped by Walgreens to pick the DH up some cold meds, and I had to wander by the beauty section.  Have you seen L'Oreal Gold Coast collection??? I think I fangirl squealed a little when I saw these. They are textured polishes,  and also have some chunky glitter in them. I spent almost 30 minutes trying to decide on which ones to purchase.  I'm not a huge fan of texture polishes,  so I hem-hawed over these forever.  One of my favorite texture polishes is OPI'S Alcatraz... Rocks! And it's a dark purple with major shimmer in it. Its beautiful,  and I thought, geez April.  These are kind of close to that beaut. Well dammit, I bought 3. This one is Sexy in Sequins.

This is only 2 coats, but I probably could have gotten away with one. I used a super ugly but pretty China Glaze green, Budding Romance for my accent nail and topped it with a gold stud.

Now I got super frustrated that my camera wouldn't pick up the duo chrome amazeballs shimmer this, so I took it inside.  You can see it in the bottle what it looked like on the nail. Stupid camera.  Why couldn't you photograph like that???

I snagged up two other colors, and Too Dimensional is one of the prettiest shades I have ever seen. It also is a one coater. Hidden Gems was ok. This is the one I argued with myself over forever and I ended up purchasing.  Its weak sauce on the first coat,  but full opacity on the second.

Here's another shot at a drugstore brand of a texture polish.  Will you try it out or pass it up?

April

Lavender Gradient with Sephora X

Hey guys... so is it frigging cold out, or what?  Schools are canceled,  church services were canceled on Sunday... it's so darn cold. I'm hoping for a little spring weather,  so I broke out the cheerful spring colors to maybe get in a warmer mood.

I forget sometimes about doing thise old school techniques like gradient.  I start out with a white base, in this case I used Essie Blanc,  and then sponged on three different shades of purple.

The main reason for this is to share this amazing shade from the Sephora X line, Freaky Like Freud. Its an insanely holographic lavender top coat,  and it just explodes with rainbows when the sunlight catches it. I finished off with a leafy stamp from the Pueen Love set.

This definitely brightens my spirits a little,  but to have a day over 20 degrees would be nice too.

Stay warm, my chickadees... I'll be the girl in the knee length wool voat, scarf and hat. You may be able to recognize the tip of my nose peeking out.    =)

April