Halloween Week Part 7: Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! This is my favorite holiday so I'm pretty stoked for today. I am handing out candy at my boyfriend's house so I'm fairly excited for that. Enjoy trick-or-treating! (Fun fact: there are no documented cases of strangers poisoning or putting razor blades in candy, only by parents... oddly enough.)

So the holiday called for something special: My first gradient! Megan sent me some cosmetic sponges in a swap, so I decided to use those and make something epic. And, um, I was close? Here's the colors I picked (the wand is my Migi pens, which unscrew to be normal, one coater polish!):

OPI Atomic Orange, OPI Funky Dunkey, and Migi nail art pens.

My base was plain white and I made a gradient going from white, orange, purple, to black, and I was mostly successful except the black didn't come out very much, and where it did... it stained my cuticles omg. I really liked the subtle effect though, it was really cool and I wish I had a good up-close shot to show you how it came out! (Although, if you're really curious, you could just enlarge the photos...)

And there you have it! Happy Haunting, Ghouls!

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 6

Hi all! Today's post is vampire themed nails. And, if you need reasons why (I bet you don't, but you're getting them anyway dagnabbit!), here are my best three:

1. I wanted to use Candy Lacquer Vampire Kiss.
2. I am a Twilight fan (keep your mouth shut if you don't like it. ;) You still love me, suck it up.)
3. An excuse to use some fimo canes, FINALLY.

So, for vampire nails, I started with Sally Hansen Sun Kissed on all my nails except my ring, which I added red from one of my Migi pens (hey, they were out, it was a one coater...). On the orange nails, I added Vampire Kiss which OMG IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND REQUIRES INTERNET YELLING DON'T JUDGE ME. I even got a red heart on my pinky which is <3 <3 <3. Then on the red nail, I added a fimo stick with vampire fangs! How cute is that?! Unfortunately, I cut this one a bit thick so it sticks up a little but it served the purpose.

Public Service Announcement: Sometimes, you're doing a manicure. Sometimes, your adorable kitty will walk by you, directly INTO your lightbox. And you will gently pet her and, um, forcibly push her out of it. And you'll look at your nails and think, "wow! I didn't get any hairs from her on my nails". And you will be proved wrong when you see the pictures on your computer. (So let's ignore those, mmmkay?)

So, anyway, in case you didn't catch on... I love this.

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 5

Hi girls! Quickie post as I'm trying to type and schedule as many posts as possible in case I lose power for an extended time. Please read my last post for some safety tips if you are in the area of Frankenstorm and stay safe!

Today's Halloween journey begins with Orly Decades of Dysfunction, which actually I wore alone for a day. This is almost mannequin hands on me, but a little pinker in real life. I compare it to the color of a piglet. This was two coats with Wicked Fast top coat and application was really easy.

Then I added Hit Polish Witches Brew on top. This is lime green, navy blue, and orange glitter in a clear base. It applied really easily! I'm also happy it had navy blue glitter and not the typical purple for Halloween.

What do you think? Sorry this post is quick and my pictures aren't 100% what they usually are. A bit stressed lately.

xoxo,
Amanda

Frankenstorm

Hi all my lovelies! I know some of you are in the path of Hurricane Sandy/Frankenstorm (including myself) so I wanted to post something quick to say stay safe! Here's some of the tips I've been hearing, in case they might be helpful for you!

• Fill up your gas tank; gas shortages may occur if flooding, outages, or road blockages occur.
• Stay alert! Keep up with updates and the storm as much as you can without causing panic. Know about evacuations and safety precautions in your area. Also, be aware if you live in low-altitude areas that you may be at increased risk of flooding. Know where you could go should there be an evacuation.
• Keep at least 1 gallon of water per day per person available. They're suggesting 3 days of water, though if you have anything but well-water you should be okay. 
• Keep lots of non-perishables: it's a good excuse to stock up on snack foods you don't normally let yourself have (says the girl who has a bag of Cheetos next to her...). Also keep canned fruits and vegetables, which could be eaten right from the can if you didn't have a heat source.
• Have a small emergency kit in an easily accessible place. Include flashlights, candles and a lighting source, an emergency radio (if you have one), and anything else you might need if the power goes out. There's tons of websites listing things you can include, but light is essential :)
• Most importantly: stay safe! <3

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 4

Hey all! Getting closer and closer to Halloween and since it's Sunday, it's officially Halloween week! What are you and/or your kids dressing up as? I was a zebra for my friend's party last weekend and I was going to be a dinosaur last night, but I got sick and had to cancel my party :(

Lazy Sunday is accurate in depicting this mani. I was SUPER lazy at this. Basically, I did a base of white (this is Sinful Colors, whatever their white is called) and added Pumpkin bar glitter.

Then, because I loved Tangled in my Web from Wet n Wild on day 1, I added that. Voila!

Here's a close-up of my favorite finger. I don't know why, my ring is ALWAYS my favorite and always comes out perfect. Do you have a favorite finger?

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 3

Hello out there my pretties! Whoa, that sounded in my head like the witch from Wizard of Oz. Weeeeirdddd. Halloween is really getting into my brain.Anyway... Today's post is another quickie because (shhhhh!) I'm writing this at work. Don't get too huffy and puffy, I'm currently not being paid for this time at work so it's fine. :P I'm hosting a Halloween party this evening so I knew I wouldn't have time to write this post otherwise (no, this isn't my party mani, but maybe I'll show that belatedly!).

Today's mani was made using Orly RIP which came out this year. I actually whined about not finding this enough that TWO people sent me bottles haha! Glad to have backups ;) It's your quintessential black base with orange glitter. I did two layers over Wet n Wild Ink Well. On my ring finger I skipped RIP and put orange crackle (because, sadly, I didn't do ENOUGH crackle when it was popular so I sneak it in now and then...). Unfortunately, this crackle didn't crack too much. Humph. Stupid crackle making me look crazy!

Then, because I can never leave well enough alone, I matteified (matted? added matte? mattied?) the glitter and it's BEAUTIFUL. For some reason it still looks glossy on all but my middle finger, which I'm guessing is from a) the top coat not being 110% dry when I took this or b) the lighting reflecting. Either way, pretty cool!

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 2

Hey guys and gals, quick post today. Not feeling too chatty! (For once...)

Today's post is a polish from China Glaze's 2010 Awakening collection for Halloween that somehow I didn't wear until this mani: China Glaze Mummy May I?. I layered two coats of it over Wet n Wild Ink Well (a magnificent one coat black creme, fyi - probably a dupe for their normal black creme with a different name for the On The Prowl collection). MMI is small fuchsia glitter in a blackened base (I think it's dark dark purple), a perfect combination for Halloween without being black and orange.

I loved this! Not sure how it sat untried for so long, but a great mani nonetheless.

xoxo,
Amanda

Your Invitation!

Hi all! Just a little heads up about a nail challenge I'll be doing this upcoming month: The Lazy 15! This is based off the idea that all of us who made it up didn't want to do a challenge for every single day, so we decided to do a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule of posting. Here's the challenge lineup and let me know if you want to join! We'll have an inlinks set up soon :)

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 1

Hi there ladies and gents! My post title MIGHT be a lie... the 7 manis I had for a week of Halloween were good, except for one. That one mani (which would have been yesterday's post) was all sorts of a hot mess once I saw the pictures and I couldn't bear to post it. Does that ever happen to you, a perfectly good mani until you see it photographed? Humph. Anyway, six days until Halloween, and it'll be seven if I do one more! Weeeeeeeeee!

For this mani, I started off with three coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed, which is a beautiful orange creme, although it has some jelly tendencies so we're going to call it's a crelly. Then I put Wet n Wild Tangled in my Web from the elusive On The Prowl collection on my index and ring fingers and the pumpkin purple glitter on the other fingers. 

I LOVED the way TIMW looked, but not so sure about the shiny purple. I think my brain just doesn't seem to recognize shiny glitter anymore since I buy so many mattes now. (Side story: the other day I bought a shiny glitter and when I was trying to look at swatch pictures, I was literally thinking, "oh my god, this is TOO BRIGHT" because the light was reflecting off it.)

So there you have it, a VERY simple Halloween mani (hey, don't judge me because I can't freehand whatsoever!). Happy early Halloween!

xoxo,
Amanda

Pink Wednesday: Swatches and Review Styler Design

Hi girls! I'm writing this post at 11pm on Sunday so please excuse me if I sound a) depressed or b) sleepy, because I am both. (Depressed because tomorrow - today - is Monday, and that means I have a work week ahead of me starting today, boo!)

Today I am lucky enough to have some polishes sent to me by Sarah at Styler Design. Sarah makes really unique polishes and I'm really excited to show you what she sent me for review. Here we go!

Someone remind me to stop trying to be artsy with my photos.

 First up is Fire Dog, which is a clear base with black and white hex glitters. I layered this over my new Hits Hello Kitty collection Apple (I was seriously dying to try it, and this was a perfect opportunity).

Just Apple. It's so squishy and prettyyyy! 2 coats

 Then I added two coats of Fire Dog. The application on this was tricky because I had to do some fishing since the glitter kept settling to the bottom (you can see in the photos). Swirling the 3 balls inside helped a bit but the white ones were stubborn! I'm going to add some Fix a Flat and I think it'll perk it right up :)

But, I do LOVE the combination of this one. You may know from Twitter that I am constantly on the search for a good black and white glitter and this fit the bill. It was definitely unique in my stash, where I tend to have B&W glitter with bars, hexes, hearts, etc. and it was nice to see just a plain B&W hex one that will work over so many bases and let the color scheme really stand out. I loved it against Apple! It's also SUPER shiny!

Next up is Coral Splash which I LOVE. Coral Splash is a jelly base with multicolored small glitters in it. I applied two coats by itself (no base coat) and it went on like butter. It's basically an instant jelly sandwich. The glitter in this one was sparse at times but definitely makes for a fun effect and I loved it. I wanted to wear this as my NOTD but it didn't match my costume so I couldn't :( It'll be perfect for summer!

Finally, I have Kiley.  This is a sheer, jelly-ish pink base with varying colors of pink glitters in it. It reminds me a lot of Lex Cosmetics Tuilleries (which is a huge compliment, since, you know, Tuilleries was based on my color story!). This was really easy to work with. It self leveled so I didn't have any issues with bumps or globbing and it was very subtle; this could definitely work for work. I didn't know the best look so I layered it over different colors to show it in an ombre. Left to right (or pointer to pinky): over Mattese Elite neon pink, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Sinful Colors white, and 3 coats by itself.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Coral Splash was definitely my favorite of the three but they're all so great! Styler Design is available via her Etsy shop and are $8.75 for full size or you can buy 3 minis for $14.25.

xoxo,
Amanda

Influenster Beauty Blogger VoxBox: Fall 2012

Hi girls! Quick review today, since some of you also got this box and many of these products would have been difficult to photograph in use.

I was lucky enough to be selected by Influenster to receive a beauty blogger VoxBox, and I was so excited! If you haven't heard of the program, check out the website here. (Please let me know if you'd like an invite, I still have a few left!) Here are the products I received and my brief reviews:

• NYC New York Color IndividualEyes Custom Compact: I loved this compact. I generally don't wear very much eye makeup, so these colors were neutral enough that I can dress this down for work and up for a night out. I tried it with the included double-sided applicator and it went pretty smoothly, though I might try using my own brushes in the future to make it more precise. Retails for $4.99.
• Kiss Ever Pro Lashes Starter Kit: I wore these for my Halloween costume (I dressed as a zebra, and you can see pictures on Instagram @amanda_npe) and they were great for added "drama" to my look. Mine were really thick so I wouldn't usually wear them, but for special occasions they work great. The glue was awesome too, I loved the applicator instead of having a tube to squeeze. Retails for $5.99.
• Bath and Body Works Mini Candle: This wasn't a scent I'd normally choose but I gave it a shot with my boyfriend over and he loved it! I liked it, but ended up giving it to him to enjoy! haha! Retails for $3.50.
• EBoost Orange: I can't wait to try this. You may know that I work with the public and am always paranoid of getting sick, so I'm saving this for a rainy/snowy day filled with sick clients to make me feel more energized and less prone to sickness! Retails for $28/box of 20, $39 for 30, and $39 for a box of 12 shots.
• Goody Simple Styles Spin Pin: I'm excited to try this, too, but I'm actually swapping with Amanda on this one, since she got light hair and I got dark hair and we each need the opposite! I'll keep you posted ;) Retails for $7.29.
• Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream: This is another product that I'm deferring to a friend; my hair is stick straight and won't really work with this product, but my friend Sarah has gorgeous curly hair she's going to try it on! I do love the scent, though! Retails for $6 for a full sized bottle.
• Vitabath Fragrance Mist Citron Leaves: Another product I wouldn't have thought to try necessarily but really like. The scent is lightweight and reminds me of spring!

So there you have it! Did you get a VoxBox? What did you think? Anything you'd like more information about?

xoxo,
Amanda

Guest Post: Dolores from Colorful Bottle

Hey ladies, today I have a post from my lovely friend Dolores in Slovenia who swaps with me all the time so I can get international goodies :) We decided to do guest posts for each other to show off some of the stuff we got in our swaps, so check out what Dolores did and then check out her blog Colorful Bottle!

 

Hi!

I'm Dolores from Colorfulbottle and I got honoured to prepare a guest post for The Nail Polish Enthusiast!

When me and Amanda completed our last swap package we got a really crazy idea. We decided to prepare guest post for each other with our new goodies =). I really couldn't wait to make this post, but I sadly had some other obligations so I couldn't prepare my post as fast as I wanted to prepare it. Now I finally made it, and I'm really happy with the result =). 

It was really difficult for me to pick one polish out of so many new pretties in my stash, because of my BIG problem I decided to do a gradient( I got to use 2 colours and not all polishes match, so I ended up with only 3 possible gradient combinations), I used pastel colour for the base because Amanda once said to me, that it is probably my fault that she started liking pastel polishes. I also wanted to include glitter in my manicure, but glitter really isn't my thing. I also have to admit that I cheated a bit. I wanted to do soft stamping on top, but out of all gorgeous nail polishes that Amanda sent to me, there wasn't a pastel polish that would stamp great, this is why I ended up using KONAD special polish, 

Here is what I prepared:

 

 

For this gradient I used Orly Lollipop as a base ( 2 coats) and then I made a gradient using Color Club Mr. Socialite and Orly Lollipop

I upgraded my manicure with KONAD polish in pastel violet and BM 16

 

I was really satisfied with what I ended up with and I hope Amanda likes it too =)

This is all from me!

Thank you all for reading my post and big thanks to Amanda for hosting my post!

Have a lovely day!

 

 -----

xoxo,
Amanda

 

Quick FYI!

Hey ladies, my dear friend Jacqui's giveaway ends tomorrow - go enter (or don't, and I can win). Click HERE to enter for the tons of Halloween goodies!


xoxo,
Amanda

Pink Wednesday: A Geeky Rainbow Cocktail

Hi pretties! How's it going out there in Internetland? I hope all is well with you guys and if not this is sure to cheer you up! I'm clearly not grasping the fact that it's autumn and refuse to wear anything remotely fall-related. So you get some more bright colors and such for a little while, weeeee! Denial is so fun!

For this NOTD I started with Urban Outfitters Cocktail, a perfect colored coral with not perfect application but much improved over Smush.

After that I added my most recent go-to glitter, Geek Glitter Rainbow Guard:

This is such a perfect combination, to me. I love finding colors that make all the glitters pop and this one does! The Geek Glitter is easily applied (see my previous post) and I just love it. I don't have enough good things to say! Seriously.

Oh, and just to amp the drool factor, here's a close up. Don't look at my cuticles. They'll make you cry, and we just want you to drool over glitter - no tears! PROMISE ME YOU WON'T LOOK. Ahem...

What do you think? I love this freaking polish. That's all there is to it.

xoxo,
Amanda

Lacquistry to the Rescue!

Hello again! How's it going? I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

I have a nail fail Cinderella story for you all today! I started with Sally Hansen Whisper, one of their Smooth and Perfect line which is anything but. This is, I think, four or five coats and it's still gross. It's frosty and sheer and terrible with my skin tone. Maybe layering it over white would have saved this on its own but nope. Didn't do that for this mani, so it's just this gross mess:

But then I remembered I have an entire Helmer drawer (plus a basket or two I haven't put away yet...) of indies, and one of them was this oldie but goodie, Lacquistry Frosty Marrow. Believe it or not, I was into indies far before it was huge (umm, hipster attitude much? sorry. it's true, though!), and Lacquistry was one of the first brands I discovered on Etsy.  I bought Frosty Marrow and A Friggin' Circus way back when but haven't used either yet, which is criminal. Anyway, I decided to try Frosty Marrow over the hot mess Sally Hansen and it definitely saved it!

 Frosty Marrow is lots of little iridescent glitters (one of my favorite things ever is iridescent glitter) in a clear base, and it's perfect for adding just a bit of glitter to a manicure. I actually wore this to work because it was pretty subdued but gorgeous.

Finally, here it is in low-light, which is what my hands are in most of the time since my office is in a basement and I rarely see the light of day during the week. I think this is one of my favorite shots of it! Definitely shows how delicate this mani was.

Thoughts? Do you own any Lacquistry?

xoxo,
Amanda

Caged Bird Lacquers!

Hi everyone! TGIF! I'm really excited to bring you this post today because, well, they're adorable. I won't even get into my usual chitchat because I'm that excited.

Today I have two polishes Sarah from Caged Bird Lacquer sent me for review. First of all, the packaging she uses is probably the cutest ever:

 But the polishes are also adorable! First up is Delicata, which is a pink jelly with white glitter. I layered two coats over Mattese Elite neon pink. I had to do a little bit of fishing but nothing extreme (you can see the glitter settled to the bottom, but once I get mixing balls I'm going to add those, which will fix that!). This is one I can easily see working at my job because the glitter is pretty subtle, and this baby is so shiny! I wished I had tried this one second because I wanted to make it my NOTD lol!

Secondly I have Faerie Carnival, which is pastel glitter in a clear base. I'm pretty much obsessed with pastel glitter, especially because that's another glitter I feel like I can get away with at work because it's so delicate. For this swatch, I layered two coats over Barry M Lemon Ice Cream. The application on this was so easy and I didn't have to do much fishing at all! I loved this, so pretty!

So there you have it! Sarah's shop is currently open here on Etsy. Minis retail for $5 and full sized bottles are $10. They are big three free, handmade, and super cute (look at the bows!). Sarah also ships worldwide and is open to custom orders, plus she's so sweet to talk to!

xoxo,
Amanda

Urban Outfitters Smush

Hi ladies! How's the week going? More than halfway through which is promising! I have short Fridays so I'm really looking forward to the weekend already since it's almost here for me! Any plans?

Today's post is Urban Outfitters Smush, a Tiffany or mint blue. It reminded me of China Glaze For Audrey but I forgot to compare, so let me know if you're interested in a comparison.

This is four coats of Smush. Yes, you read that right, four. You can see I didn't even do cleanup with this one because it was an absolute nightmare so it came off right after these pictures. It was super streaky and the application was tricky, at best. I was pretty disappointed in this one :(

Such a shame, because the color is so pretty! What do you guys think? If you want to try it, it's listed in my Blog Sale! ;)

xoxo,
Amanda

LynBDesigns The Girl Who Waited

Hiii! Happy October! ....I am so lazy.  I've had about 90 posts worth of pictures sitting around and I am just too lazy to deal with watermarking them. So, don't steal them, please?

Today I have for you an oooooooooooold indie I bought long ago from LynBDesigns. She had some sort of buy 3 get 1 deal so this was my free one and the one I liked most, actually. This is from a Doctor Who collection, but I don't watch the show so I don't quite get the reference of "The Girl Who Waited", but anyway...

TGWW is a frosty lilac base with microglitter and (drumroll, please) pink flower glitter! You all know what drew me to this. I've never seen bottles like this before, they are actually pretty awesome because they have a rubbery handle but they're a bit too tall to stand up in my Helmer.

For this mani, I wore three coats with two coats of Wicked Fast on top. TGWW is, unfortunately, a test of patience for me. It took a really long time to dry between coats and dragged really easily, so you might notice some imperfections in my painting this time.  I definitely had to fish for the flowers but the payoff was so so so cute! Not sure I'm a fan of the frosty base, but it was a cute girly look for sure. This was one of the more unique indies I've seen in a while (the clear base + glitter formula is the most common and this went outside the box for sure).

What do you think? The flowers are freaking adorable but I'm not sure the color looks so good on me and will probably be swapped away :( LynBDesigns are available in her Etsy shop for $8.50 and currently are buy 2 get 1 free!

xoxo,
Amanda