Quick Little Update

Hey there, just wanted to check in with you guys so you know I'm alive. It's been a weird week for me. Lots of my clients are in over-drive (is it a full moon?) and I'm finally starting to get full-time numbers of clients, so it's been busier than I was all summer.

But the real reason I didn't post much this week is twofold. First, my nails broke again, so I'm working with a smaller canvas: Colors That Look Good on Short Nails is coming back with a vengeance soon (I hope). And secondly, I'm a bit down and feeling uninspired. The down part is probably mostly related to my boyfriend being MIA this week because his close friend from New Jersey is visiting. I'm not clingy by any means, but I'm used to seeing him at least 4-5 days a week, and this week I saw him in passing or for about an hour two or three times. So there's that, being busy, lots of time to myself (which is, ironically, all I wanted on my vacation but couldn't seem to get!), and thus, some mild depression (don't worry, I'm a trained therapist - I'm going to work on some self-psychology and fix me right up... soon.).

So anyway, I need some inspiration. I took some pictures today for the first time all week and I'm going to write posts this weekend, but please feel free to leave me some comments of anything you'd like to see here. I also added a poll for those of you who would rather click a button than write some words, but feel free to do both, neither, or one of those options. Looking forward to something inspirational, mindblowing, less depressing at the least. Thank you all for being so kind to me and supporting me always, and I promise I'll be back full throttle (Charlie's Angels 2... hope someone caught the reference - hey, maybe I AM going back to my old self...) ASAP :)

xoxo,
Amanda

Guest Post: Lisa from Happy Nails

Hi everyone! This post is going to be coming to you straight from across the pond (unless you're reading this in Europe or not in North America, I guess) with my friend Lisa from Happy Nails! Enjoy!


Hello everyone!

My name’s Lisa and my blog is Happy Nails ( http://happynailsuk.blogspot.com/ ).  I’m a UK polisher, brand new to blogging but firmly addicted to colour and sparkle.  I am so happy to be guest posting!

In my post I’ll show you polish from one of my favourite UK brands, 17 by Boots.  I love it because a) it’s cheap, and b) it has a really vibrant range of colours.  I will be painting my nails blue with a cheeky bit of nail art thrown in at the end ;-)

These are the polishes I’ll be using:

On the left we have the lovely Ruby Gem, a rich and creamy crimson; in the middle, Mini Skirt, a bright solid white; and, on the right, the polish I’ll be mainly painting with here: True Blue, a solid, fairly dark primary blue.

After a base coat of Sally Hansen’s Double Duty (I only bought this a couple of days ago so can’t give a full opinion, but it’s worked really well for me so far), I painted 2 coats of True Blue.  I think it’s a fab ‘wardrobe staple’ colour but it is noticeably darker on the nail than it is in the bottle, as you can see in my pic:

 (Excuse my messy painting!  It’ll be evened out just fine in the top coat.)

After being patient for once and letting my nails dry fully, I got painting on my ring finger with Mini Skirt and then Ruby Gem, borrowing the skinny brush from a nail art polish for the details.  And this is what I ended up with...

A patriotic salute from the UK blogger!  *‘God Save the Queen’ plays in the background*

The above Union Jack flag is about as steady as my hand can get, and so I’m fairly proud!  The sparkle on the rest of my nails is from a prized polish in my collection, INM’s Northern Lights silver holo glitter top coat.  Here it is:

I ordered this online as holos are seemingly nonexistent in UK shops (especially if you live in the dreary North-East of England like I do!).  As a sparkle addict this polish drives me wild; holos are like catnip to me!  On this Union Jack mani it represents the most British of institutions... rain XD

Here I will wave goodbye with my nails sparkling.  Thanks so much Amanda for letting me post!

Hugs,
Lisa from Happy Nails xx

Ahh, it feels so British in here ;) Thank you for the lovely post, Lisa! I really have to start practicing my freehand nail art!

xoxo,
Amanda

Models Own Cremes/Non-Glitters

Hey ladies, quick little post today to show you the Models Own cremes I received recently. I ordered these during their 50% off sale and they FINALLY arrived (I was less than patient). Okay, away we go!

Here are all the polishes I ordered... one is tucked away for my next giveaway! (Hint: I'm not swatching it so you won't see it on my blog!)

Purple Poppy, Fuzzy Peach, True Blue, Blue Lagoon, Lili's Pink, Top Turquoise

Purple Poppy, Fuzzy Peach, True Blue, Blue Lagoon, Lili's Pink, Top Turquoise; all swatches are one coat except Blue Lagoon

What do you guys think? I was super impressed with these, so far! They were really easy to work with and one coat (for the most part) and very shiny on their own! Which one is your favorite?

xoxo,
Amanda

Migi Nail Art Pens

Hey guys and gals! I'm going back to work today and not so happy :( i wish i could be on vacation always! Oh well. Today I have for you a recent purchase from the Big E last week, Migi Nail Art pens. I stopped because they were doing free nail art and my friend, Nikki, wanted some and I ended up buying the kit. It came with 4 double sided nail art pens:

I got the silver package which includes red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, black and white. There are four or five other sets that include various other colors (neons, pastels, etc.) but I decided to get the basic one for now.

Here's a look at the pens:

All put together

Separated in half for the two separate colors

The tip of the pen side

You can also open it and it comes with a brush so you can paint as well!

One of my designs: be gentle! I'm still learning and just wanted to show what the pens can do!

Pretty basic nail art pens, but it was such a good deal (to me)! For $25, I got the pen set I just showed you, this cool zipper bag thing, and the best part: free polish replacements for life. That's right. If I use up my black, I can order a black. If I use up any or all of them, I can replace them all. If I decide I want a color from another kit, I can order it free of charge! All I pay is $2.99 for shipping and I can order up to two colors per day. I've already ordered four new colors, and I'm just waiting for them to come in now!

Overall, I think this is a pretty great set! Even if it had been $25 for the pens and the bag, not bad; but the free refills?! Sold! What do you ladies think? If you want to buy these, you can buy online at miginailart.com and shipping is free right now!

xoxo,
Amanda

Work Inappropriate #5

Hey girls! For the first time in a while, I'm writing a post and posting it immediately - no saved drafts to post! Anyway, this lovely polish was possibly my favorite of the week (but I also could be found saying that about Amour and OPI...). This is Milani Blue Flash from their one-coat glitters:

With flash



In natural light

Milani is true to its word and this covered in one coat! However, above it two coats because I wanted to make sure it was really opaque and covered up any leftover glitter pieces from Work Inappropriate 1 through 4. ;) I was actually sad to wear this one for only a day, and now I wish I had bought all the Milani one-coat glitters when I had a chance!

What do you think? Which Work Inappropriate has been your favorite so far?

xoxo,
Amanda

Guest Post: Dana of Polished Claws Up!

Hey girls, today's post will be brought to you by my lovely, sweet friend Dana from the blog Polished Claws Up. Yesterday was the first day of fall, so I found this post very a propos and the glitterfest will return tomorrow!

Hello ladies! This is my very first guest post, and I couldn't be MORE thrilled that it's on my lovely friend Amanda's blog! :) When we were throwing ideas back and forth, we agreed on a fall theme. Immediately a few different ideas went streaming through my brain, and I decided to try something new! I give you my fall mani! Enjoy!

When I think fall, I think the great outdoors! What could be better then a deep green (Orly's Wandering Vine) and a deep shimmery brown (Orly's Golden Maharajah)? FLAKY SPARKLE of course!!!! I finally had an excuse to try my ever-so-stunning Crowd Surfing by L.A. Girl Rock Star Nail Color. :P

I started with two coats of Wandering Vine on all but my ring finger, and decided to let the gorgeous Golden Maharajah stand on it's own with it's bronzey brown goodness on my ring finger. Wandering Vine has been in my stash for years now, it's a dark true green and needed two coats. Golden Maharajah is also an oldie but a goodie, a warm-toned brown with bronze shimmer within. Also two coats. Crowd Surfing is far too sheer on it's own, so to finally have a reason to layer it was wonderful! CS is a very sheer polish with a lime green base, green fine micro glitter, & awsome golden flaky glitter.

Thanks again for having me on your blog, Amanda! It was fun coming up with this mani! :)

So there you have it! Thanks for the lovely post, Dana! I don't feature many browns so I'm sure it was a treat for my readers to see it for once! :)

xoxo,

Amanda

These are a few of my favorite things... Giveaway!

Hello everyone! As promised, at 128 followers, I have my second giveaway beginning! You might have been wondering what the significance of 128 was and it just happens to be a combination of my favorite numbers (12 and 28). The theme of the giveaway is a few of my favorite things, which I wanted to share with all of you. I asked for your suggestions about what you wanted in a giveaway and most people wanted a group of polishes, so this is a way to include those things and let you guys get to know me a little too :) It's a win/win/win (that's from The Office, my favorite TV show ;) )

The Rules:

1. Open internationally (however, if there is something that customs would not allow, it may not be included. The customs form will be labeled "used cosmetics" so that nobody would have to pay fines or taxes).
2. You must be 18 to participate or have express permission of your parent or guardian.
3. Do not enter using multiple GFC or email accounts; I will be checking and any duplicates will be disqualified completely.
4. Entries must be received by October 7th, 2011 at 11:59pm Eastern Time.
5. The winner will be picked using random.org and the winner must reply in 24 hours or another winner will be picked. 

So here's the prizes: a few of my favorite things.

• Glitter: Sation Holiday Spirit
• Multi-colored glitter: Claire's Bedazzled
• Holo glitter: OPI Servin' Up Sparkle
• Holographics: OPI DS Reflection
• Matte polishes that look great with top coat: Zoya Lolly
• Hand sanitizer: Bath and Body Works Watermelon Sanitizer
• The color gray: Color Club De-luxe-cious
• Candles: Yankee Candle Macintosh (note: if you do not like strong scents and you win, please let me know and I will not include this or can include another scent)
• Miniature things: Disney Jungle Book mini
• Vanilla: Warm Vanilla Sugar body spray/perfume
• Surprises: extra prizes not listed here will be added to the package :)
• Simplicity: which is why there are only two possible entries.
• Twitter: which is why it is one of those two entries.

To enter, you can earn two entries:

• Mandatory: be a GFC follower, include your GFC name and email. You must also include 3 of YOUR favorite things.
• Optional: follow me on Twitter @amanda_npe, tweet about this giveaway (including the link to this post) and include the link to your tweet in a separate comment below.

Extra entries will not be awarded for posting on your blog, facebook, adding me to your blogroll, etc. but you are always welcome to do so anyway :)

xoxo,
Amanda

Work Inappropriate #4 & Fried Koolaid

Hello girls! How are you liking this glitter series? Too much? Too often? Well, too bad ;) I have a few more planned as I top off my vacation so you'll get probably 3-4 more glitterbombs and I'll be back to normal!

Today I have a much sought after polish: Correction Tape by Wet n Wild from the On the Prowl collection. I'm stupid, though, and layered it over black when it contained black glitter. In the words of Homer Simpson: d'oh! Oh well, it still looked gorgeous!

After about a 18 hours, I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I put Love and Beauty (Forever 21) blue glitter over it:

 And then added their green glitter as well:

It was a little too far from the original at this point, so I just took it all off and started with another day of my glitterness :)

And finally, this is fried koolaid:

Those of you who read my tweets already know this (and lots of you were curious about it!) but I went to a fair (The Eastern States Exposition, or the Big E) which is here every year, and my friend Nikki (holding the container) bought Fried Koolaid for us to try. It looks so weird, but it's basically fried dough with koolaid mixed into it. It tasted like fried dough but a bit sweeter, and the aftertaste was like straight up koolaid mix. Weird, but not bad!

xoxo,
Amanda

Work Inappropriate #3

Hello again! Another day of vacation, another glitter mani :) I must say, it's been rough removing a glitter polish every day - but definitely worth it ;) Today's polish is one I bet is overlooked a lot, and I bought it off Amazon for about $2-3: Amour Rain Glitter. This is pretty similar in style to Mad as a Hatter: lots of multicolored glitter, really dense, can be worn alone for a glitterbomb.

Three coats (could have been okay with two, though)

Up close in sunlight

I must say I LOVED this mani. So fun and glittery and colorful. Lots of colors of glitters in this bottle: red, pink, silver, blue, and some others I can't quite pinpoint because I get overwhelmed with the sparkliness whenever I try to look :) For those of you who craved MAAH, pick up this guy! It's not a dupe by any means but definitely fulfills that dense multicolored glitter craving!

xoxo,
Amanda

Pink Wednesday/Work Inappropriate #2

Hey dolls! I'm still on my glitter kick while I can, but I wanted to post for Pink Wednesday, so the only logical decision was pink glitter! I got Pop Pink Glitz at Ulta not long ago on clearance for $5 and I was really impressed that it was opaque on its own. This is three thick coats:

Sorry for the glitter on my cuticles, it was all over the place! I don't notice it on my actual finger but, man, it's clear as day on here!

As you can see, Pink Glitz is small pink, silver, and holo glitter suspended in a clear base. It's dense, so it could be worn on its own (like here), or a thin coat could go over a polish to use it like a topcoat. What do you think?

xoxo,
Amanda

Work Inappropriate #1

Hey girls! This week I'm so excited to show you a whole bunch of polishes I don't normally get to share because I have to be work-appropriate. However, I'm off work this week so I'm wearing all the ones I've been longing for! Starting this off is OPI Crown Me Already! from the Miss Universe collection. I'm so glad they included this one, because it's a gorgeous, disco-ball, silver glitter bomb that is opaque on its own and doesn't require tons of coats. I used 3 coats for the swatches below and no base color: this is all glitter, baby!

In sunlight

In artificial lighting

Up close to show the texture and glitter

I really liked wearing this polish! I wore it for my friend's birthday because I figured it would match anything I wore (except gold, which I don't wear). What do you think?

xoxo,
Amanda

Pink Shatter

Hey girls! This post is coming to you via a request from Marisa at Lively Lacquer. I considered posting this before, but I thought everyone was burnt out on crackles/shatters - I guess not! haha Anyway, I did this over a nail wheel I already had painted from my previous haul with all my new polishes. I figured it provided a variety of colors and finishes to pair with the pink, so here we go!

First, a bottle shot, just to give you an idea of the color and consistency of Pink Shatter. I found this to be much thinner than the other crackles and shatters. My OPI Black Shatter is pretty much shot; it's totally goopy and almost solidified (I'm sure it could be saved with some thinner, but I don't have any of that!). Pink Shatter, no matter how long I keep it open or work with it, seems to stay about the consistency of a normal polish, if not slightly thinner. MUCH easier to work with!

The following are shots over various colors and brands from my recent haul in the previous post. If you have any questions about what polish is which, let me know, but it was too many to label each one.

Again, blogger flipped this one and I have no idea why. Please let me know if you know how to fix it!

My favorite combinations were over green (Jungle Fever), the black, and white. It was hard to see over most other colors, since Pink Shatter itself is kind of shimmery and sheer. I'm glad OPI finally got the formula on these right, but I think it's the tail-end of this trend and it may have been a bit late! In any case, it's a great shatter to have and it is in support of breast cancer awareness so I like that as well :) What do you think?

xoxo,
Amanda

Some More Hauls

Hi ladies! Do you guys like seeing haul posts? I post them pretty often but I'm just wondering if they are of interest or if it's better if I just stick to manis and swatches.


These are bottle pics then the quick and dirty swatches immediately below them in the same order.

I got these five mini glitters from etsy from a seller called Windestine. These were $8 including shipping and definitely worth it!

Above and below: Summer Love, Sunset Glow, Fireworks, Surf's Up, Pansy (one coat of each over a nail wheel painted half white, half black - to show them over both conceivable options)

Then, I finally ordered from a-England! I must say, this company is amazing! Adina is an incredibly kind person who takes an interest in her fans, and I'm definitely glad to support anybody like that. She's announced recently worldwide shipping is now free indefinitely! So go take advantage!

Above and below: Lady of the Lake, Tristam, and Merlin (two coats each)

And now.... drumroll please! Wet n Wild On the Prowl! (Confession: no, I didn't actually find these. It didn't look good for my area since we never get limited edition products, so I bought these off eBay)

Above and below: Ink Well, Buy Me a Drink, Ready to Pounce, Jungle Fever (one coat each)

And the glitters...

Above and below: Cougar Attack, Behind Closed Doors, Correction Tape, Tangled in My Web (one coat each)

And finally (for today) I ordered from Cult Nails when she had her Labor Day sale. Shipping was SO FAST. I ordered Friday and had them Tuesday, on a holiday weekend! Wow!

Above and below: Living Water, Let Me Fly, Awakening, and Iconic (two coats each)

 So, that's all for today! I'm still waiting on my Models Own order, which is annoying because a) I placed the order on August 23rd and they confirmed it then on the 28th told me I had to re-do it and b) because it's shipping from the same place as a-England, yet I got a-England a few days ago and they shipped days after Models Own. Hmph!

Which of these would you like to see as a mani, in a different combination, etc.?

xoxo,
Amanda



OPI Play the Peonies

Hey there! I'm excited to post this today because I've been lemming this polish for a while, and I don't really know why, but the swatches online just made me need this color. I'm not usually a light pink person, or even a shimmery person, but this one is gorgeous! This is three coats of OPI Play the Peonies:

This is a very pale pink, almost nude, with subtle shimmer. I really enjoyed wearing this color. It felt really feminine and pretty, and inspired me to find other light pinks I might enjoy (preferably without shimmer). Do you ladies have any suggestions?

xoxo,
Amanda

OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It!

Hellooooo out there in internet land! Today's post is not filed under "Colors that Look Good on Short Nails" because I'm not convinced this color looks good on me at all. But for the sake of science and proving that I love it anyway, here's OPI Swimsuit... Nailed It!

The picture above is two coats, no topcoat. This is actually a color I'm a big fan of, hence why I wore it two days regardless of skin tone ;) I loved the shimmery goodness, even if the color isn't the most flattering. What do you guys think?

xoxo,
Amanda

Colors that Look Good on Short Nails: Part Une

Hey ladies! As I previously mentioned, my nails are a little bit nubbin-y lately because of my breaks. Never fear, I have been patching, applying strengthener, applying lengthener, and just plain hoping to get my nails back to a reasonable length. But for now, you get the great (please read this with a booming voice like you're at a wrestling match or something. Think of the voice they use to say "let's get ready to ruuuumbbbleeeeee") COLORS THAT LOOK GOOD ON SHORT NAILS series. And here's the first part: Ulta Mint Condition. This is two coats and no topcoat (yet):

See how shiny and pretty it is?! Even on my little nubs! I actually wasn't expecting it to look nice, since when I polled friends on twitter, everyone said to go with dark colors. However, I'm in denial that summer is over and I'm still using all my summer untrieds until further notice. And, because I only have one picture of Mint Condition for some unknown reason, here's a bonus picture of my kitty, Star:

She looks kind of possessed here because her eyes are this really bright green-yellow, but when she closes her eyes she's super cute (to me, because I'm her non-fur mommy) because she's totally black and nothing stands out. I've actually taken some pictures of my nails with her as a background because she's such a solid, opaque background... but then I have to deal with the fluffy fur all over me ;)

Oh, and yes, she's spoiled and sits on my kitchen table all the time. And she's too cute for me to punish her for it. :)

xoxo,
Amanda