Mani-cure Monday: America! Eff yeah!

Happy Monday all! I've decided to start a new weekly schedule that will hopefully make me more productive. Not just in blogging, but overall. So part of the new schedule is blogging weekly on Mondays. I'm calling it "Mani-cure Monday". Most of us get the Monday Blues and according to the Bangles, it's just another Manic Monday. So what better way to cure the Monday Blues than with an awesome mani?!

Ok it may have taken me a while to explain it, but there you have it! This week I have a patriotic manicure of sorts. This was actually my July 4th mani, so you can tell how far behind I am in posting. I figured though that I can tie this old manicure in with recent events. As I'm sure you're all aware, the Olympics ended last night. For the last two weeks I've been glued to the television to watch as much coverage as I could. I really enjoyed the Olympics this year, especially all of the gymnastics and volleyball coverage. I also enjoyed last night's closing ceremonies, even though NBC cut some performers *ahem: Muse*. But I guess the Spice Girls performing kind of made up for that.

So to show my pride for the old U.S.A, here is my red, white and blue manicure.

I did love this combination of red, white and blue. The red is Pretty & Polished Nova, which may just be one of my favorite reds ever. There's even a bit of subtle holo in there. The white is Snow White from Brucci. I really do need a new white polish, preferably one that covers well in 1-2 coats. Any suggestions? Over the white I layered Essie's Stroke of Brilliance, the latest polish to be added to the Luxeffects line. Essie refers to Stroke of Brilliance on it's website as "platinum sparks", but the glitter is actually more blue in tone than silver. 

Lastly is a england Order of the Garter, which is a beyond gorgeous royal blue. It was a dream to work with and covered in two coats. 

Did this manicure help to cure your Monday Blues? I hope you enjoyed my new post! What is your favorite white polish? Were you addicted to the Olympics like I was? And who felt like they were back in middle school when the Spice Girls performed? 

Layering: Whimsical Kristen

I've finally gotten around to wearing Revlon Whimsical and I must say, I love this polish. It mostly came down to finding the perfect "undies" for Whimsical, because I knew I wouldn't be able to wear it on its own. Then, thanks to Zoya's buy 3, get 3 free Spring promo, I picked up Zoya Kristen! I knew it would be a great match for Whimsical.

Kristen and Whimsical together

Zoya Kristen a a gorgeous dusty light blue creme polish from Zoya's Feel collection. Their website actually describes Kristen as a "gull gray nail polish with a mild bluish hue." Either way, I really like this color and it covered beautifully in just two coats. Plus, it shares the same name as my best friend, even though she spells it differently.

Revlon Whimsical is light pink and light blue hex glitter, with some smaller blue glitter, in a milky light blue base. This polish has gained notoriety as being a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air. Whimsical is the much more affordable version. 

I used two coats of Whimsical over Kristen. Whimsical is a little bit watery (or at least my bottle was) and placing the glitter can be a little difficult. Despite this, I think that Whimsical is worth the little bit of extra effort. After wearing so many dark colors lately, this combination was a welcome change. I didn't want to take it off!

What do you think about this combination? Do you own either of these? Don't forget to enter my Spring Fling giveaway so you can win Whimsical! The giveaway ends tomorrow!

Wet n Wild: Speak When Spoken To

Wet n Wild recently released a collection of duo-chrome glitters called Be Jeweled as part of their Coloricon line. They're similar to the China Glaze Prismatic collection, from what I've been seeing and reading, but at $2.99 a bottle, way more affordable. They are Limited Edition though, so if you really like them, better pick them up when you see them!

I wanted to do some swatches of Speak When Spoken To since it's part of my Spring Fling giveaway! This polish has so much going on. It's duo-chrome AND glitter! To show you all the full effect, I layered Speak When  Spoken To over 2 coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather.

Look at that gorgeousness! Speak When Spoken To shifts from blue to a pink purple. I like the intensity that the polish gets with black under it. I used two coats of SWST. I could have just used one, but I like doing 2 coats of glitter to even it out. I usually really dislike the Coloricon polish brushes, and while this one wasn't my favorite, I didn't have a problem with it. It's actually a brush that works well with this type of glitter polish.

I also used two coats of Seche Vite top coat to get the mani nice and smooth. The only downside of Seche is that it definitely caused shrinkage within 24 hours. I did order some Cult Nails Wicked Fast, so hopefully that won't be a problem anymore once that arrives!

So there you have it! Do you own any of the Be Jeweled collection? Which are your favorite? Do you also own any of the China Glaze Prismatic collection? If you do, which do you prefer?

Someone will be the lucky winner of this polish, so be sure to enter my giveaway!

KelBel Cosmetics: Super Grover!

Hey all! Just a quick post today. I'm going to try to get swatches up of the polishes from my Spring Fling giveaway (with the exception of Popular). I have 2 of each polish so you can be assured that the polish in the giveaway is of course not used. :) 

Today I have the swatch picture of Super Grover that's on my Etsy shop. I layered it over different colors to show how awesome this polish is!

From top to bottom: Super Grover over black, alone, over blue and over silver

Super Grover reminds me of my older brother. One day he was walking through school (I forget if it was high school or grammar school) and he decided to burst into an empty room, like Super Grover does, voice and all. But to his surprise, it was actually a classroom full of students! It's one of my favorite stories and pretty much sums up my older brother. Well maybe not exactly, but it's the kind of thing that runs in my family.

So I hope you enjoy this polish as much as I do. Most likely it will be a Limited Edition color or I'll have to make it a new formula. The winner of my Spring Fling giveaway will have a real treasure on their hands (literally). Enjoy!

What do you think of Super Grover? Let me know in the comments section!

Hometown Haul!

I was back in my hometown of Astoria, Queens this weekend for a surprise party for my Aunt. Since I live about 2 hours away from home, I usually just stay for the weekend when there's a special event going on. That resulted in me also making plans with my best friend to see The Vow (because we love sappy chick flicks) and then go in search of shamrock earrings. While I did not find shamrock earrings (sad), I did manage to find every store within three blocks that sold nail polish.

Anyway, that brings me to the reason for my post. I came across some great polish that I normally don't have access to, so I went a little crazy. Here's my hometown haul! (I also broke my no buy, but it's back on again.)

I ended up getting these beauties from three different stores. A random beauty supply, Claire's, and Ricky's. 

I found the L.A. Colors in the beauty supply store. I like the colors and they are super cheap (.99 cents), so I had to pick them up. On the left is Pink Sizzle, a lovely pinkish red / gold duo-chrome. The one on the right is Rainbow Glitter, which actually just looks mostly like red, blue and silver glitter. I think it will be great for around the 4th of July.

Next was Claire's where I managed to find two of their Magnetix collection. These were the only two colors left and they were buy one get one 50% off. They actually don't have names, which is unfortunate. It was funny buying these because I remember going into this particular Claire's all the time when I was in grammar school for all the latest trendy jewelry. I guess things haven't changed all that much.

I went to Ricky's last, which was a mistake, because they had everything I could ever want. Well, not really, but almost. They had the OPI Holland Collection, a whole display of Color Club Magnetic Force lacquers, one OPI DS, and a lot of Butter London polish. There was also other displays that I didn't even look at. I was in heaven to say the least, but after a whole day of shopping I had to choose wisely. 

I picked up Electro-Midnight from the Magnetic Force by Color Club collection. I think out of any magnetic nail polish, I have to own a blue. And of course, I picked up Butter London Knackered (my first BL), which is absolutely gorgeous in the bottle. Ricky's also had a promotion: when you buy any Butter London polish you get a nail file and bottle of Powder Room for free. I love the shape of the Butter London nail file and who doesn't need more remover?

And because I am in love with Knackered in all it's duo-chrome sparkly goodness, here are some gratuitous bottle shots.  

No flash

With flash

Look at that sparkle!

I can't wait to wear all of these!

Have you had any good hauls lately? Do you own any of these colors? Let me know in the comments!

My Funny Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has enjoyed their day. I always like to think that Valentine's Day isn't just for couples. It's a day to spend with whomever you love, no matter if it's a significant other, family member, or friend. While I understand why many people dislike the holiday, it's a nice day to fill with love.

Anyways, today I have a Valentine's themed mani. I didn't have time to do any nail art, but I like my results none the less.

These are the two polishes I used for my Valentine's Day layering. On the left is China Glaze Princess Grace and Wet n Wild Sparked.  I had a few different combinations of Sparked (pink and silver glitter) on a nail wheel and actually let the hubby decide which he liked best. I was surprised that he picked this one, I was sure it would be Sparked over China Glaze Liquid Leather (which looks awesome by the way).

I used two coats of each polish. Princess Grace is the perfect light pink and applied very nicely. If I were wearing it on it's own, I probably would use three coats, but for layering two is perfect. Sparked also applied well for a glitter polish and provided good coverage in two coats as well. I think the combination is perfect for Valentine's Day. It's subtle, but not too subtle. I love it so much I'll probably keep it on all week. It's already been three days and no chips!

I hope you all enjoyed my Valentine's Day layering!

What did you wear on your nails for Valentine's Day? Did you have any special plans? Anyone out there get engaged? Let me know in the comments section!

Pretty & Polished: Nova

Hey readers! Today I have yet another beauty from Pretty & Polished! This time it's Nova, which I thought would be fitting considering Valentine's Day is upon us.

Nova is a red polish with holo shimmer. To me, Nova falls under the cherry / apple red spectrum. I'm usually not a fan of reds, usually preferring blues and purples. Most of the time reds are too bright for me. That said, I absolutely love Nova. It's the perfect red and the holo shimmer just adds that little something extra to make it unique. The polish also applied like a dream and was opaque in two coats. I topped it off with some Seche Vite for a really glossy shine, although it did result in some shrinking.

All of the above photos were taken in artificial light. I tried to get pictures in sunlight, but the weather did not want to cooperate. 

You can pick up Pretty & Polished from Chels' Etsy shop. At the moment most of the polishes are out of stock until a shipment of supplies comes in. But keep an eye on the shop for updates!

What do you think of Nova? Are you a fan of reds? Let me know in the comments section!

*This product was provided to me at a discount for an honest review. Please see my disclosure page for more information.

Purple People Eater

Today I have a comparison post for you lovely readers! I don't really have any polishes that are dead-on dupes of each other, but I have some that are similar. Last night I put some on a color wheel and here are some of the results. If you couldn't tell from the title of this post, I went with a purple theme!

First, I have another picture of my Party on my Yacht and Galactus manicure, this time with my iPod, which is also purple. I've realized I own A LOT of purple stuff. My iPod and wallet are both purple, along with a hoodie (a la Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship) and a bunch of tops. I also picked out purple post-its this week at work. So yeah, I love purple and apparently it shows. Also, anyone remember the movie Purple People Eater? I loved that movie!

Credit

The first comparison is between two purples, Pretty & Polished Galactus and Sinful Colors Fiji, which I wore a while back. As I was writing this post and editing photos, my husband made me Google Galactus. Apparently, Galactus is a Marvel character who goes around the universe destroying planets after Silver Surfer finds the planets for him. Needless to say, he wears purple. So that's my fun tidbit for the day!

On the left is Galactus and on the right is Fiji, each is three coats on the nail wheel. Clearly they are not dupes of each other. They fall in the same general purple family, but Galactus has the holographic shimmer, while frenzy does not. 

Out of the two, Galactus is my favorite. It is a lot more opaque in fewer layers and it has the holo shimmer.

Next are two polishes that are black bases with purple glitter. Wet n Wild Night Prowl vs. Revlon Scandalous (formerly Facets of Fuchsia). Again, clearly not dupes, but they fall in the same family.

On the left is Revlon Scandalous and on the right is Wet n Wild Night Prowl, 3 coats of each. Scandalous is a bit harder to work with than Night Prowl, but has the better payoff. If you want a black polish with purple glitter, Scandalous is the way to go.

I still have yet to use Revlon Scandalous, but I think when I do I'll layer it over a black creme to make it nice and opaque. Night Prowl is pretty good as a stand-alone polish. 

So there you have it, some purple comparisons! 

Which are your favorites out of these? What's the one color that dominates your nail polish collection and your wardrobe? Does anyone else remember the Purple People Eater movie? Let me know in the comments section! 

Pretty & Polished: Galactus and Party on my Yacht

Today I have swatches of the first two polishes from Pretty & Polished! I showed you my haul from Chels' Etsy shop a little while ago. She makes some great creations, so be sure to check out her Etsy shop (linked above).

I wanted a simple, quick mani since things have been busy around here. With that in mind, I figured the perfect combination would be Galactus and Party on my Yacht. No stamping or nail art required.

Mini bottle shots

I decided to do a mani of Galactus, which is a purple polish with very subtle holo shimmer. I love purples and I can safely say this will be added to my list of favorite purples. I used two coats and a top coat of Seche Vite to give it a glossy finish. The application was great, easy to work with and opaque. I would have liked a bit more holo in this one, but maybe it was just my bottle or I didn't shake it enough. 

Then I put three coats of Party on my Yacht on my ring finger as an accent nail. Party on my Yacht is a white creme polish packed with hex and bar glitter in pink, purple, gold, green and blue. It's probably one of my favorites from Pretty & Polished that I own. It actually reminds me a little of Mardi Gras in a bottle. I had a little trouble with the application on the first ring finger, but then I got better with the second nail. I think the trick is waiting a little for the coats to set. 

The last two photos show the holo a little bit more. It was hard to capture since I didn't have sunlight to work with, but it's there. I love this mani (and pardon my short nails) and I'm definitely looking forward to trying out more of Chels' creations. And stay tuned because I should have a savings code for you in upcoming posts!

What do you think of this mani? Do you own any creations from Pretty & Polished? Do you plan on picking some up? 


*The products in this post were provided to me at a discount for consideration. Please see my disclosure page for more details. 

Nail Mail: Pretty & Polished

First, I want to say a great big hello to my new blog followers! Thank you for following my blog and I hope you've enjoyed the posts so far!

I'm going to keep this post pretty short. Today started with me forgetting to set an alarm and waking up a whole 40 minutes late. Me waking up that late has never happened. I was so confused and frazzled trying to get out of the house on time. I skipped my shower and coffee in the morning, and the whole day I just felt so out of it. I still managed to get to work on time though.

And on top of all that, my cold that stopped two day ago decided to come back today. Yay me! 

But that doesn't matter, because the other day I got some nail mail! Chels from Pretty & Polished makes some awesome polishes that she sells through her Etsy shop. She recently provided me with some at a discount for review and they arrived earlier this week!

I don't have swatches just yet, but here are some bottle shots for you to enjoy!

From Left to Right: Nova, Martian Salad, Cryptid, Galactus, and Party on my Yacht.

I can't wait to wear them all! Most of them are holos and Party on My Yacht is a glitter polish with a white base. My reviews and swatches will be coming in the next few weeks! 

Do you own any from Pretty & Polished? Do you plan on picking any up from Etsy? What are your favorite Etsy shops?

*These products were provided to me at a discount by Pretty & Polished for review.

Lorelei's (Blue) Tiara

I doubt anyone has been keeping track, but I'm up to untrieds #8 and 9. Although I can't say that's great progress because my resolution completely went out the window and I've purchased even more nail polish lately. Sales are my weakness and that's what's gotten me. But I am resolving to do a no buy right now. Let's just see how long that lasts.

For this manicure I decided to do some layering. My base color was two coats of China Glaze Blue Year's Eve from my Christmas haul. Blue Year's Eve is a shimmery royal blue that I would classify as a jelly from the Let It Snow collection. I was really excited about this polish because I love the color blue, but ended up being a bit disappointed with the formula. In all fairness, Time Traveler was a tough act to follow. I found Blue Year's Eve to be a bit watery and definitely needs 2-3 coats if you want to wear it alone. Luckily I was covering up my two coats.

Next I layered one coat of China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara over Blue Year's Eve. Lorelei's Tiara is a glitter polish made up of small silver and light blue hexagon glitters from the Eye Candy collection. I also got this one for Christmas and I love the combination. I also can't help that it reminds me Lorelai from my favorite show, Gilmore Girls, so it automatically has an edge over other polishes. I thought I would need 2 coats of LT, but there is sooo much glitter in there. I'm pretty sure that Lorelei's Tiara could be opaque on it's own without any layering. 

I couldn't just stop there. On my ring fingers as an accent, I added one coat of OPI DS Coronation. The difference of my ring fingers to the rest of my nails is very subtle and didn't work as well as I would have liked. 

I'm not going to include DS Coronation as an untried just yet, because I think I need to give it it's own post. I finished off everything with a coat of Seche Vite and the glitter has smoothed out nicely. 

Layering with Blue Year's Eve

Layering with Lorelei's Tiara

I still can't help staring at this combo. It's glitter packed, but also has a wintry feel to it. Perfect for this time of year. Despite my minor troubles with Blue Year's Eve, I'm still a fan of these two China Glaze polishes. 

 

What do you think about this layering combination? Do you own both of these polishes too? Let me know in the comments section!

Untrieds #2 and 3: A Fiji Frenzy from Sinful Colors

I ended up wearing For Audrey for a full week because I loved it so much. Plus, there was hardly any tip wear and virtually no chipping. China Glaze is quickly becoming a favorite.

However, this is not a China Glaze post. I still have a bunch of untrieds to get through, so this week is a two-for-one mani. You may remember from my Christmas haul post that I got both Fiji and Frenzy from Sinful Colors. From the moment I saw them together, I knew they'd be a great layering combo.

I started off with a Seche Clear base coat, then two coats of Sinful Colors Fiji, which is a bright purple. I wasn't too thrilled with the coverage of two coats and the formula is a little watery. My ideal polishes are opaque in 2 coats, but Fiji would probably need 3 if worn alone. I left it at two coats though since it was a base for layering. Fiji is a pretty purple, but it didn't blow me away. Overall, it's a good color to have for layering.

On top of Fiji, I used one coat of Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat and then I applied two layers of Sinful Colors Frenzy. Frenzy is purple and light blue glitter in a clear base. After two coats, it really does look like a glitter frenzy! I finished off the mani with two coats of Sally Hansen No Chip Top Coat to smooth it all out.

As you can see, I tried something new and thought it might be a good idea to take my photos while holding a coffee cup. It didn't work as well as I would have liked. Holding a coffee cup in your hand, inside a light box while trying to take photos of your own manicure is awkward! 

It's hard to capture how sparkly this combo of Fiji and Frenzy really is. But I love it in person!

Overall I like this layering combo a lot. The purples in the two polishes compliment each other well and the light blue glitter adds that extra pop of color. This combo keeps catching my eye throughout the day and sometimes the combination even looks fuchsia out of the corner of my eye. I'm looking forward to using Frenzy for other layering combos in the future!

What do you think about this layering combo? What is your favorite shade from Sinful Colors? Do you like my (coffee) mug shot? 

Untried #1 of 2012: A Palate Cleanser

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's Eve! Now we're into 2012 and I'm enjoying it so far; a 3 day weekend will do that. Hopefully 2012 will bring a lot of exciting things! I know there have already been a lot of announcements so far in the world of nail polish about new lines and collections. Lots of cool stuff ahead!

I started on my New Year's resolution of using all my untrieds today. Removing the Sally Hansen Winter Funderland design was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. The black polish just did not want to come off and the glitter didn't help either. I feel as though I've worn so much glitter / hard to remove polish lately. My poor fingernails are weak from all that pure acetone! So I've been wanting to do a mani with a nice, simple creme polish that won't demolish my nails. (Ha, see what I did there?)

So for my first manicure of the year, I chose to go with a classic: China Glaze For Audrey. It's one color that I had been looking forward to getting my hands on and I was so happy to get it for Christmas. It is definitely a "me" color, I love blues and purples. And who doesn't like a Tiffany-inspired blue?

The application was great, For Audrey covered perfectly in two coats. I used a Seche base coat and the Seche Vite top dry coat. (This nail blogger is growing up, a base and top coat?!) I absolutely love this color even if it's not the newest one on the block. I also think it will be a great base for trying out my new nail stamping kit and a perfect color for my birthday week!

Both pictures were taken inside. The top one was with flash, I believe the bottom was no flash. I was too lazy to get my lightbox set up since our Christmas tree is in the way. But see, so pretty! I'm slowly, but surely becoming a big fan of China Glaze. 

Have you tried For Audrey? Let me know!

Welcome and First Mani!

Welcome to my nail blog, Nail'd It! I have always enjoyed nail polish and doing my own manicures and pedicures. My motto is why pay someone when I can do it myself and spend that money on a good bottle of nail polish.

Most of my manicures in the past have been simple; just a plain mani with one type of nail polish and no designs. Little did I know I was missing out on amazing nail designs. Thanks to the blog HelloGiggles, I was exposed to the world of DIY nail art and numerous other nail blogs and Etsy shops. There are some very talented ladies out there and it inspired in me a new appreciation for nail art and nail polish.

This blog will contain my nailventures, if you will, into the world of nail art and my journey from nail n00b to hopefully nail pro. I hope you'll enjoy the ride and my trials and tribulations.

My first featured mani is one I will call "Vanilla Funfetti".

For the base I used Brucci Nail Hardener in "Snow White". I haven't worn white nail polish, with the exception of french tips, in years. I thought white would be a welcome change from the typical mani. The white didn't apply as well as I would have liked, but it may be due to the lack of a base coat. (I know, I know, I should use a base coat, but I have a bad habit of never using one. I'll change that soon.)

On top of two coats of Snow White, I used "Party of Five Glitters" from the Wet n Wild Fast Dry collection. It's a polish with assorted sizes of blue, green, silver, red and fuchsia glitter with a clear base. The glitter was a bit more sparse than I would have liked. I had to play around with the coats before I found a good balance, but also had to be cautious about not ruining the white base. 

To top it off I used an Acrylic Top Coat by Brucci. And there you have it, the Vanilla Funfetti design! I've had the mani on about a week now and there has been hardly any chipping. For my wear and tear on nails, this is great. The pictures were taken on day two. 

 The products:

Brucci "Snow White"

Wet n Wild's "Party of Five Glitters"

So there you have it! I've really enjoyed this design all week. Snow White stands out nicely and the Party of Five Glitters adds a pop of fun to the whole thing. What do you think, is this a Nail'd It! or a Fail'd It? Also, do you consider a Franken to be layering polishes or strictly mixing in a bottle? I'm curious and have a lot to learn, so leave some comments. Until next time!