New Year's Resolution

I don't normally do New Year's resolutions, but for the sake of my bank account, I needed at least one this year. Don't worry, it's not a "I will go to the gym", "I will quit smoking" (mostly because I don't smoke), kind of resolution. It's nail polish related and that's why I'm posting it here.

My New Year's resolution for 2012 is to not buy a new nail polish until I have tried all my "untrieds" at least once. I know, I know, I can hear the gasps from all the terrified Polish Addicts out there. How could I?! Why would I torture myself like that? But as I said, my wallet needs a break and I'm also running out of room for all of my nail related supplies. I've purchased and received a lot of polish over the last 3 months (by my standards) and the majority of them have been sitting neglected around my house.

Now this isn't to say that I can't buy other fun supplies such as micas and bases, but already made nail polish will be a no-no.

Hopefully I can resist picking up anything new for a while. Although resisting the OPI Nicki Minaj and China Glaze Hunger Games 2012 collections will be difficult if it comes to that. Let's hope it doesn't! I have a lot of nail polish to wear before then! (I counted and put all my untrieds in one place and I only have 16. That's not bad, right?)

Do you have any nail polish related resolutions for 2012? Or any other resolutions for that matter? Let me know in the comments section!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects: Winter Funderland

I guess I can owe my rekindled nail polish addiction to Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. I was introduced to them earlier in the year by friends and family. They seemed so new and innovative, an awesome manicure with patterns that doesn't smudge? Who knew?! And the patterns are adorable. Now I've found that nail strips are popping up all over the place and there's a lot of awesome ones out there, but Sally Hansen still puts out a great product. And from there, a new obsession was born.

I picked up the Winter Funderland nail strips a while ago along with Plaid About You. I used Plaid About You for my Christmas mani, alternating the nail strips with plain red polish. Now for my New Year's mani I went all out with Winter Funderland, which is a black creme-like base with silver and blue hex glitter and fine silver glitter. 

The application was a little tough with this print. The strips felt a little thicker than usual, which made it a little more difficult to get them to stick. I finally got it to work though and the manicure came out pretty well. There was some chipping, mostly at the tips of my nails. Despite the application problems, I still love this print. I can't help staring at it, it's almost like looking at the night sky. To me, black, silver and blue just scream "New Year's". I think Sally Hansen (or any brand) should put out a polish version of this nail strip.

Below are my results. I apologize for the pictures, I've been having some photography issues (lack of space for my equipment and lack of good light due to living in the Northeast), plus I was under a time crunch. My cuticles are also horrendous on my left hand.

I promise this design is 10 times better in person, but you get the idea. The other great part about these nail strips are that even though I ruined one of the tips of my index finger nail today, I just touched it up with some China Glaze Liquid Leather and was good to go. You can hardly tell that I messed it up! Now that's my kind of mani.

Are you a fan of nail strips? Do you like Sally Hansen or prefer other brands? Let me know in the comments section!

Sally Beauty Supply Post-Christmas Haul

I guess you can call this my part two of my Christmas present/gift to myself segment for this year. Pretty much every store had some type of sale on December 26th and Sally Beauty Supply was no exception. I was armed with a $5 off $25 coupon and the hopes of clearance items up to 70% off. Upon arriving in Sally, I noticed that the polish on sale were from the China Glaze Let it Snow Collection and Color Club as well.

Above is my nail polish haul. Not including the giant bag of cotton balls, some Pure Acetone, Nail Polish Thinner and Seche base coat that I picked up too. I got everything for under $35! (Singing up for a Beauty Club membership for $5 was basically free because of my coupon.)

Starting from the left is China Glaze's Liquid Leather. Before picking it up, I didn't own a black other than my Kiss Nail Art polish. I've seen lots of great nail art using Liquid Leather and figured it would be a great core color to add to my collection. Plus, black polish is great for a base under all the glitter polishes I now own.

Next was China Glaze Poinsettia from the Let it Snow collection which was on sale for $3.29! All of the polishes from this collection were on sale for that price and I couldn't resist picking up Holly-Day and Champagne Bubbles as well. 

I also picked up Orna-Minted by Color Club for $3.99. It's a silver glitter-fest that looks so unique. The glitter almost looks like it's bent. 

I think I did pretty well on my Sally Beauty haul. I won't spam you all with bottle pictures because the China Glaze holiday colors have already been praised enough. 

Did anyone else take advantage of the day-after-Christmas sales? If you haven't, check out www.sallybeauty.com to see what's left on sale! 

Merry Christmas Haul!

Santa and his elves were very good to me this year. I received a lot of great presents that were non-nail related including a Keurig and a Soda Stream (I love my beverages). But of course I also received a good amount of nail related presents. Among them was a glass nail file, which I really needed. I lost my old one somewhere in my last apartment. I also got my much wanted Bundle Monster nail stamping plates, some Konad stamping accessories, a Bundle monster brush & dotting tool set and some glitter and pigments. My husband sure did spoil me and I felt like a kid on Christmas.

I took a few pictures of the polishes that I got because I'm so excited to use them all!

First up are the two Sinful Colors polishes I got. On the left is Fiji and on the right is Frenzy. I think they will be a great layering duo. My mother-in-law has great taste! I actually didn't ask for any specific colors for Christmas, just nail polish in general and I'm very pleased with the results. I did specifically ask for the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top coat, which I got and also can't wait to use.

Among my presents were these adorable Christmas themed decals by cina. I forgot to take pictures of my purple and white cina nail art pens, but you get the idea. I may have to save these decals for next year. I'm already onto the New Year's mani!

Christmas also made me the proud owner of a few bottles of China Glaze. I'm excited to see for myself how great China Glaze is. The first color up is Princess Grace. I think it will be a great base for nail art. 

My sister-in-law apparently also knows me very well and gave me For Audrey. I've been wanting this color for a while, but with Christmas coming up didn't have the heart to buy it for myself. I love this new addition!

So pretty together!

Finally, the last two are Lorelai's Tiara (left) and Blue Year's Eve (right). Lorelai's Tiara is from the China Glaze Eye Candy collection and is oh-so pretty. Blue Year's Eve is from the Let it Snow collection. Again, so excited to try both of these. All of the polish and nail art supplies I got for Christmas will keep me busy for months, not to mention the shopping spree I went on today at Sally Beauty Supply (but more about that another day). 

Lastly, I got some awesome Franken bottles or Franken Juggs as they're called. They're sold here on Amazon by ManGlaze and I think they will be great for frankening. I may even have to pick up some of their polishes one of these days. 

So what did you all get for Christmas? Did you get lots of polish goodies? Merry Christmas!