Friday, May 31, 2013

OPI My Very First Knockwurst and Essie Beyond Cozy

Happy weekend, ladies! :) I am so relieved to be home for the weekend! I'll have some down time to just relax, which also means time to catch up on blog posts! I think I may make a few scheduled posts for the next week or two since I am finishing up my current University year.

Today I have for you a simple mani I did a week or so ago: OPI My Very First Knockwurst with a slight glitter gradient of Essie Beyond Cozy.

OPI My Very First Knockwurst Essie Beyond Cozy
OPI My Very First Knockwurst
Essie Beyond Cozy

OPI My Very First Knockwurst Essie Beyond Cozy
OPI My Very First Knockwurst
Essie Beyond Cozy

My Very First Knockwurst is probably my favorite pink-nude creme in my collection! Its formula and application is a dream and I love how it looks against my skintone. I added a slight gradient effect to my ring finger with a recent purchase of mine, Beyond Cozy, which is a silver and gold fine glitter. I love this combo together!

What do you think of this pairing?
-Shelby


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Essence Let's Get Lost and Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you're all having a good first half of your week; mine has been rather long. I have tests this week and other things going on so the weekend could not come any sooner!! I am SO pumped to show you my mani that I did probably about an hour ago. Usually I photograph and take my sweet time a) uploading my photos to my computer and b) actually making a post about said photos, but I just couldn't wait to show off this beauty of a manicure!!

I recently did a combo nail/wax swap with Dana from Polished Claws Up and she gave me a couple vintage polishes from Sally Hansen. I only have a few vintage polishes myself, one being a Sally Hansen, so you better believe I was excited. Without further ado, I'll get into my mani details!

Below I used 2 coats of Essence Let's Get Lost and 2 coats of Sally Hansen Secrets Frost.

Beware: photo spam. I repeat...major photo spam! :)

Essence Let's Get Lost Sally Hansen Secrets Frost
Essence Let's Get Lost
Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Essence Let's Get Lost Sally Hansen Secrets Frost
Essence Let's Get Lost
Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Essence Let's Get Lost Sally Hansen Secrets Frost
Essence Let's Get Lost
Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Essence Let's Get Lost Sally Hansen Secrets Frost
Essence Let's Get Lost
Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Essence Let's Get Lost Sally Hansen Secrets Frost
Essence Let's Get Lost
Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Essence Let's Get Lost Sally Hansen Secrets Frost
Essence Let's Get Lost
Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

I cannot get over how flippin' gorgeous this manicure is!! I know I've been doing an excessive amount of manis with accent nails, but this one is extremely special. Let's Get Lost is a bright blue/teal creme that was almost a one-coater. I added 2 coats for good measure and to fill in slight patchy areas (very very slight I might add). I've had odd luck with some of Essence's polishes, but Let's Get Lost gave me zero issues, I'm totally smitten! Now I am in love with Secrets Frost. It is a scattered, finely milled silver holographic glitter. Although you can't see the holo in the photos very well, I promise you that the holo is clearly there in person and twinkles. Secrets Frost had a great application and completely covered my nail in 2 coats. I love the formula of this polish! It probably has tons of nasty chemicals in it, but I can sacrifice for one polish ;) Overall, I can't get enough of this mani!!

What do you think of this mani?
-Shelby

PS: I just realized while writing this post that the names of these two polishes rhyme. Ha!


Sunday, May 19, 2013

China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le and Sinful Colors Rainstorm

Hello, friends! I've had a long, yet relaxing weekend. I'm back at school for the week and settling into my normal routine. I wanted to share with you a manicure I wore a couple weeks ago. I've been very much into doing different dotticures lately and I especially like this one!

What I used:
2 coats China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le
Sinful Colors Rainstorm (dotting)
medium & large sized dotting tools





Secret Peri-Wink-le is very true to its name; it's a periwinkle cream! I love all shades of periwinkle and this is no exception. I feel like this specific polish started the periwinkle trend since this came out far before others did. The formula on this polish is not my favorite. As you can tell, there are some patchy areas (index finger). I used two coats here, but three coats or two super careful coats would've been better. I then took two sized dotting tools and decorated with Rainstorm, a dark blue creme. I love the pairing of the two colors from the same color family!

What do you think of this mani?
-Shelby


Monday, May 13, 2013

Ulta3 Mulberry and Ulta Boogie Nights

Hey there! I have quite a few posts I need to make, I've been stocking up whenever I can on photos of my manis, just in case! I'm hoping my back up photos will help me not take such a long break again :)

Below I used Ulta3 Mulberry and Ulta Boogie Nights!

Ulta3 Mulberry Ulta Boogie Nights
Ulta3 Mulberry Ulta Boogie Nights

Ulta3 Mulberry Ulta Boogie Nights
Ulta3 Mulberry
 Ulta Boogie Nights

Ulta3 Mulberry Ulta Boogie Nights
Ulta3 Mulberry
Ulta Boogie Nights
I never can get enough of glitter gradients! This one is no exception. Mulberry is a wine leaning berry creme. In some lights it takes a purple tint. Unfortunately, the formulation of this polish was pretty bad, but I added some polish thinner to remedy it. It's gotten a bit better, but still not ideal. Although, I really do love the outcome and the polish was nice and smooth :). Boogie Nights is a gold glitter with lots of rainbow medium-sized glitters throughout. This glitter will go with almost any color since it contains all the colors of the rainbow. Also, the formula was easy for a reverse glitter gradient. 

What do you think of this mani?
-Shelby


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Orly Silver Pixel, Orly Gumpdrop and Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun

Hello there! I have a mani to show you today that I wore last week and totally loved! I paired a fun, bright spring shade with a metallic and glitter accent nail :)

What I used:
2 coats Orly Gumdrop on all my nails except ring finger
2 coats Orly Silver Pixel on my ring finger
1 coat Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun on my ring finger


Orly Gumdrop Orly Silver Pixel Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun
Orly Gumdrop
Orly Silver Pixel
Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun


Orly Gumdrop Orly Silver Pixel Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun
Orly Gumdrop
Orly Silver Pixel
 Nicole by OPI Confetti Fun
I definitely loved the look of this mani! Unfortunately, the formula of Gumdrop kind of made the process a hassle. Gumdrop was on the thicker side and was hard to make perfectly even. With that being said, I may be able to add some thinner to the polish and see if the formula improves! The painstaking process is worth it because the color is gorgeous- a bright blue/mint creme. I added Silver Pixel, a new shade added to Orly's FX line, to my ring finger for an accent. Its formulation was very easy- I love the different sized glitters in Silver Pixel because it just adds some nice dimension. Confetti Fun, from NOPI's Selena Gomez collection, tied the silver and aqua together with its rainbow large and small glitters. Confetti Fun was easy to work with and it wasn't hard to get an even amount of glitter on each nail. Overall, I love the look of this mani!

Do you have any of these shades? What do you think of this mani?
-Shelby


Wednesday, May 1, 2013

OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and Simmer & Shimmer

Hello ladies :) I hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday! I am so glad the week is already halfway over, I can't wait to come home and see my boyfriend this weekend. It'll be nice to relax after a long week. Last night I tweaked my back a bit and can't ride my bike around campus. So I'm hoping by this weekend I'll be feeling much better!

A couple days ago I wore a couple new polishes I got recently: OPI Can't Find My Czechbook (Euro Centrale collection) and Simmer & Shimmer (Burlesque collection)

Below I wore 2 coats of each; CFMC on all fingers but my ring finger, S&S as an accent nail:

OPI Can't Find My Czechbook Simmer & Shimmer
OPI Can't Find My Czechbook
OPI Simmer & Shimmer

OPI Can't Find My Czechbook Simmer & Shimmer
OPI Can't Find My Czechbook
OPI Simmer & Shimmer
I love this combo! When I first saw promo pics for the Euro Centrale collection, Can't Find My Czechbook immediately stood out to me. It's the perfect bright blue for summer and man, did it not disappoint! It applied flawlessly and I have nothing negative to say about it (other than my photos which do not do the color justice)! I finally got my hands on a couple more of the Burlesque glitters- I am in love with the glitters from that collection and was more than stoked to get more! Simmer & Shimmer is a dense uniform-sized glitter in blue, pink, gold silver, etc. I love the small-sized glitter in the same color, especially because it fully covers the nail in 2 coats! I love glitters like this!

Do you have either of these polishes? What's your go-to glitter-cream pair?
-Shelby