Cling Wrap Nails

 I have another fun mani to show you guys! I did a cling wrap manicure which is where you basically paint a coat of polish over a dry coat of a different color and while the 2nd coat is still wet you take a piece of cling wrap and dab it on the nail until you get almost a marble/granite look. My base color is a gorgeous dusty green called Open Seas by Sinful Colors, the purple is Color Club Rad Nomad, and the metallic purple is Essie Nothing Else Metals.

Sinful Colors Open Seas

Rainbow Galaxy Nails!

 Today I have some super fun galaxy nails! I've been seeing a tooon of galaxy nails on Pinterest and other blogs so I have created my own. This is the first time I have done these and I love how they turned out! I used a lot of different colors so I don't remember the exact ones.

China Glaze Holiday Charms 2012 Mini Set Swatches

 Today I have a mini set of China Glaze Polishes from their Holiday 2012 collection called Holiday Charms.

 And now for some swatches...

China Glaze Merry Berry

 Merry Berry is a rich burgundy toned red. This went on very well in 2 coats. Although this color isn't super unique I really the formula on this and will definitely be wearing it for the holidays.

China Glaze Glitter All the Way

China Glaze Glitter All the Way

 Glitter All the Way is a really fun polish with large green glitter and small red, gold and purple glitter. This was pretty dense in 3 coats. Below is a picture of the brush. I have no idea why it's twisted and just weird but oh well, it still worked fine.

China Glaze Red Satin

 Red Satin is a bright red creme/jelly. Again, not so unique but the formula was great. This is 2 coats.

China Glaze Winter Holly

China Glaze Winter Holly

 And of course I saved the best for last! Winter Holly is a gorgeous fine green and gold glitter. This one is so sparkly and I love it! This is opaque in 3 coats with a top coat.

My picks from the Sinful Colors 2012 Holiday Shimmers

 Today I have swatches of 4 new Sinful Colors that I found at Walgreens in the Holiday Shimmer Collection. I was really suprised to see these because they are really gorgeous I believe there are 6 new polishes altogether and I hope I can find the other 2!

Sinful Colors Dazzle

Sinful Colors Dazzle

 Dazzle is a very pretty dark magenta shimmer. This polish leans more toward purple with a hint of gold shimmer. This is 2 coats.

Sinful Colors Faceted

Sinful Colors Faceted

Faceted is violet glitter with opalescent bar glitter. This one is is really fun and would be great layered. This is 2 coats.

Sinful Colors Winter Wonder

Sinful Colors Winter Wonder

Winter Wonder is a gorgeous charcoal shimmer with hints of pink, blue, and gold. This is 2 coats.

Sinful Colors Ice Dream

Ice Dream is dense silver glitter with large blue glitter. This one definitely reminds me of snow! This is 2 coats.


Over all, I'm pretty happy with all of these! They are all very sparkley and shimmery and I love it!

 

Red Carpet Gel Manicure: An Evening To Remember

Today I have something a little different... I decided to do a gel manicure last night since this is a pretty busy week for me it will *hopefully* last (if I don't end up picking it off, which is really bad for your nails since it's gel). I found this Red Carpet Gel polish in the clearance at Ulta for 5 bucks, which is really cheap for a gel polish, and it's called An Evening To Remember. It's a black gel polish with really fine holographic and silver glitter and it is amazing! (This polish needs to be cured under an LED or UV light) I have pictures of what I used and a little description of what I did so keep scrolling!

These are the supplies that I used: Gelish Foundation Gel, Gelish Top It Off, Gelish PH bond, Gelish Cleanser, Red Carpet Gel Polish, and an LED light from Senstionail.

1. Cleaned and Buffed my nails

2. Applied Ph Bond which is a liquid almost like alcohol that dries the nails and helps with adhesion.

3. Applied a thin coat of Gelish Foundation Gel and cured under the light for one minute

4. Applied a thin coat of the gel polish and cured for 1 minute

5. Applied another coat of gel polish and cured for 1 minute

6. Applied Gelish Top It Off and cured for 1 minute

7. Removed the tacky surface of the nails with Harmony Cleanser(Alcohol) on a lint free wipe

These are the basic steps that used to do this manicure. ***I am NOT a professional, this is just what I find works for me***

Now On To Some Swatches!

Red Carpet Gel An Evening To Remember

Red Carpet Gel An Evening To Remember

Red Carpet Gel Instructions on Back of Bottle (click to make bigger)
I haven't done many gel manicures since I can never seem to keep the same color on for more than a few days, but this color will definitely stay on longer! I really do love gel polish: it dries instantly, it stays shiny, and it's supposed to last for around 2 weeks. I was thinking that I should test this out and see how long it can go without chipping so that might be in an upcoming post! 

Chevron Manicures

 I have really wanted to do a chevron manicure so today I got a little carried away and did 2! I have no patience when it comes to letting polish dry so they aren't perfect but they're getting there. To do both of these looks I painted on my base color (let it dry completely) and then used tape to create the chevron on the nail. I found it to be sooo much easier to stick the tape together at a 90 degree angle and then stick it to the nail. The chevrons turned out a lot better and looked about the same size.

 

 

For this look I used 1 coat of Crushed Grapes by Tip Toe Nail Polish from Old Navy and the lighter purple is Cheshire by Funky Fingers from FiveBelow plus a top coat.

In this mani I used Milani White on The Spot, Sinful Colors Open Seas, and the pink is China Glaze Make an Entrance. I absolutely loove this color combination!!

E.l.f Nail Polish Swatches

Today I have 4 E.l.f polishes to show you guys: Smokey Brown, Nude, Party Purple, and Dark Navy. I bought them in a set at Burlington Coat Factory a little while ago. These are my only E.l.f polishes so I don't know if they are all part of a collection or just random. I know I only paid around 5-10 dollars for them. I love bargains!

E.l.f. Dark Navy

Dark Navy is a beautiful navy shimmer. I love this! This is also only one coat.

E.l.f. Nude

Nude is obviously a light nude color. If you looked took off the label from the bottle it looks just like foundation. This is 2 coats plus top coat.

E.l.f. Party Purple

Party Purple is a purple and silver shimmer. This one is also very pretty and super sparkly in the light. This is 2 coats.

E.l.f. Smokey Brown

Smokey Brown is a grey toned brown. I love colors like this. It's subtle but still interesting. This is 2 coats.

I'm really glad I picked this set up! I honestly like every color! If anyone knows if these are part of a collection please let me know. Also, if anyone has found other E.l.f sets somewhere that you like I would love to know!-G.P.

Naked Nails: Confessions of a Nail Biter

 I'm really trying to do my best to stop biting my nails! I promise! (not as easy as I thought) so I know it has been a few days.  I've been using moisturizers and I've had O.P.I. Nail Envy on. Half of the time I don't even realize that I'm picking or chewing on my nails until all I have left are nubs, jagged cuticles and skin:(  Not to mention that pain when you cut (or in my case bite) too far into the nail bed*refer to my ring and pinky finger below. It makes me cringe just thinking about it! I decided to take a few pictures of my natural nails to share. I haven't posted anything in a while so I could take the time to heal my nails. Tbh this is the best they have looked in a long time so I'm making progress. After starting this blog I have noticed that I'm becoming much more aware of my biting so that's a good sign!  Baby Steps.

My Collection/Storage

 Today I decided to give my nails a break and show you my collection and how I store it. I am always interested in seeing how other bloggers store their stash so I thought I should show mine! I use a hanging clear acrylic wall rack (I believe it's from 8ty8beauty.com) and it holds around 80-90 polishes. I have most of my China Glaze, OPI, and Essie on the rack. For the rest of my stash I use a "Melmer" it's like a mini version of a Helmer. I purchased that at Micheals in the scrapbook storage section. It holds all of my extra OPI, China Glaze and everything else. For my nail care stuff, nail art, and gel nail stuff I have a Sterilite container with drawers. This is very pic heavy, just a warning:D

 

1st Drawer OPI, Orly, Ulta, Nicole by OPI, Top/Base Coats

2nd Drawer Sinful Colors, Color Club, Blue Cross

3rd Drawer Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild, LA Colors, Revlon, and random polishes

1st Drawer files, buffers, acetone, cuticle remover

2nd Drawer Qtips, Glitter, nail polish strips

3rd Drawer Bundle Monster, glitter, stickers, rhinestones

4th Drawer Mini OPI & China Glaze, Tips

5th Drawer Harmony Gelish Kit

5th Drawer Harmony Gelish Kit

OPI Sky Fall The Bondettes Minis Swatches

Today I have swatches of 4 mini OPI Sky Fall polishes that came in a set called The Bondettes. This set includes GoldenEye, The Spy Who Loved Me, The World is Not Enough, and Live and Let Die.

Front of Box

Back of Box

I thought I should include pictures of the packaging just in-case you guys were wondering what it looked like. The back of the box lists each color and a little description. Btw, my dream job would probably be designing the packaging, displays, and advertising for OPI or China Glaze. I absolutely looove seeing the designs for new collections!

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

 The Spy Who Loved Me is a bright red glass flake with warm golden and orange shimmer. Love this one! This is 2 coats.

OPI The World Is Not Enough

OPI The World Is Not Enough

The World Is Not Enough is described on the box as " rosy silver...". This also tends to look a little brown as well. This was very sheer but super sparkly. This is 3 coats.

OPI Live and Let Die

OPI Live and Let Die

 Live and Let Die is a b-e-a-utiful dark teal with gold shimmer. This is hands down my favorite out of these 4. Very opaque in 1 coat.

OPI GoldenEye

OPI GoldenEye over black

GoldenEye is a dense, flaky, golden glitter. The first photo I have GoldenEye by itself in 2 coats. I probably wouldn't ever wear this one by itself (I'm not a huge fan of gold polishes) so I decided to layer this over black. This one is really gorgeous and definitely a go to for layering.