Untried Creme + Glitter + Jelly

Last day of the month and last untried creme! I never thought I had a glitter addiction until trying not to use it... just kidding. I've always known about my glitter addiction.

First up is the creme: China Glaze Dance Baby, which my buddy Jamie sent me. This applied perfectly and was so shiny on its own! I love pinks and this won me over immediately.

Then I added Studio M Poparazzi, which was kinda chunky and a little hard to manage but whatever:

And finally, OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! on top to make it a yummy jelly sandwich <3

Here's to March - the theme for our untrieds is "rainbow". You'll have to wait and see what that means! Go see what Amanda and Sarah are wrapping up the month with.

xoxo,
Amanda

Stop! It's a Trap(eze)!

Happy hump day! It feels so weird for me because the last few weeks I've had Mondays off for snow, sickness, or holidays... so Wednesday feels like Tuesday! Anyway, we're nearing the end of February, hope you get all your comments in before March 2nd because I'm drawing a winner sometime that day! I'm going to do this again next month but I have to round up some prizes first :)

Today's post is China Glaze It's a Trap-eze. At first, I was really overwhelmed with the amount of glitter in the bottle and I didn't like it much. I thought it'd be hard to work with and lumpy and too much going on to really be pretty, but, happily, I was wrong! My glitter-lovin' heart loved this! This is about three coats, I believe... but my notes are basically that I was just really excited about this so they're no help. No top coat in this photo but I'm sure it would help with any texture issues, although all the glitters sat flat on the nail.

What a glitter beauty! Do you own this one? I'm glad I didn't sell my bottle before trying it because I'm sort of in love!

xoxo,
Amanda

China Glaze Mimosas Before Manis

Hey everyone, almost done with February untrieds and today I didn't even cheat! I have one of the new Avant Garden China Glazes today, Mimosas Before Manis (which on my label is Mimosa's Before Mani's and ughhhhh). This is pinker than my photo but I honestly couldn't capture this accurately and was really enraged by it and decided to move on. However, I do love this color and will wear it again. This is three coats and it was easy peasy.

Go check out Amanda and Sarah!

xoxo,
Amanda

Inspired by... Instagram!

Oh hey look who's on time for a challenge! ;) Today's nails I saw on Girly Bits' Instagram months ago and saved the picture to my phone (I do this a lot with the high hopes someday I'll actually try them out). Mine pales in comparison to hers, partially because her nail length really allowed this design to work and mine were a bit to short but anyway, the photo is here. Also, my color choices... gosh, there's so much wrong with this I am effectively labeling this a FAIL.

The base os Color Club Bintage Couture and the dots are Orly Butterflies, China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On, and Sation Lollipop! Goes the Princess. The photo shows them more yellow/orange than IRL, imagine this with a more pink hue.

Aaaaand now you guys know why I never try nail art anything.

xoxo,
Amanda

Last Week's Untrieds!

Gotta make up for lost time today, folks! Here's a few untried cremes to make up for my absence last week (sorry about that!). Don't forget - my comment giveaway ends this week so get your comments in on these last few posts to up your chances. I think I'll continue this tradition next month! What would you guys like to see for prizes?

Anywho... gonna give you three manis today because I way overshot my goal of creme untrieds one swatching day and I'm making up for lost time.

Sation Drama Doll is the pink below. It was brighter in person but not quite neon since you can see below it dries shiny. This is three coats and it was streaky and took forrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to dry. I'll still use it again because I love pink.

Then you know me... step one: paint on a creme, step two: add glitter. This is OPI Lights of Emerald City from the new Oz collection. This was two coats as the glitter is fairly sparse on its own.

Next I tried Sally Hansen Wet Cement which my BFF Amanda sent me. This covered easily in two coats though it could have used a third and was a little thin for a normal creme. I fixed that...

 ...with glitter! Below is Black Cat Lacquer The Dream of the 90s Is Alive, which is a gray based crelly with a whole bunch of colors and black shapes. I like the sizes of glitter in this one because they're pretty consistent. Sometimes when a glitter has varying/huge shapes it makes it hard to manage all of the glitters on the brush. This was a dream to apply, one coat applied like normal polish and then I dabbed some glitter on some places/added a second coat if needed.

Finally, Julep Michelle. This is two coats of absolute blue perfection. Sorry the flash is incredibly bright on my skin and I look vampiric. I guess my camera can't handle the dark colors on me... but it's pretty color accurate, a little more navy IRL.

Then I added Cirque XX which Amanda sent me in a secret Cupid exchange and OMG AMANDA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. This is absolute glitter perfection. Love at first sight applies here. This was one coat, it was absolutely packed with glitter which is good because I never ever want to run out of this. Ever. *snuggles bottle*

So there you go, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xoxo,
Amanda

I'm Late, I'm Late, I'm Late for.. Inspired by...

A tutorial? I think this counts for mine and Amanda's Monday "inspired by" series except it's clearly not Monday and actually I found this on Facebook. I have had a really good excuse for being late because last Monday, Blogger was uploading all my photos as black boxes and not the actual photos... but then the rest of the week I was just lazy and whenever I had time to blog, my notepad wasn't with me to tell you what polishes I used. Anyway, you'll get a couple posts today and starting fresh tomorrow!

This was a tutorial from Nailed It and it was exceptionally easy to do but I still fudged it up. Regardless, it was adorable but don't examine the dots too closely (except on my pointer finger because those came out pretty perfect). In retrospect, I would have used a smaller dotting tools for the outermost dots but meh, you live and you learn.

The base color here is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (thank you Amanda, what a perfect white!) and the dots are: Sation You're My Lacquer Charm (coral-pink), China Glaze Tart-y for the Party (light purple, bottle in my hand), and China Glaze Aquadelic (blue). I loved this look! Really easy and it looked complex so all my non-blogger friends would probably love it and how much time it took, etc. etc. etc. They don't have to know the truth. ;)

xoxo,
Amanda

Untrieds: Sally Hansen Carribean Coral

Hey everyone! Sorry this post is late. I have another post I'm drafting too with my explanation of why but the post at hand is more important :) Today Amanda, Sarah, and I are back with our untrieds challenge and I actually didn't cheat (much).

This base is Sally Hansen Carribean Coral which is a red-leaning coralcreme, though the bottle looks like it has shimmer. It didn't translate to the nail so I'm calling it a creme :) Application was easy in two coats, no top coat in this picture.

Then I felt bored and had leftover Valentine's Day thoughts floating in my head so I did a simple skittle mani using my white dotter. My heart's wonky so it looks like a weird triangle but whatever. The glitter on my accent nail is Different Dimension Love Her? I Don't Even Lacquer! which had really good glitter payoff but I had to fish for the heart to get it out of the bottle :( It's a fun color anyway and I'll try thinning it for next time.

There you go, happy Thursday!

xoxo,
Amanda

February Untrieds .. 5?!

Hey everyone. I can't believe how this month is flying by. Already on my 5th untrieds challenge with Amanda and Sarah! Thank goodness because I'm craving more glitters on my blog... not that I haven't snuck them in anyway ;)

Today's polish is actually from Amanda so even more reason to love it! This is Sephora by OPI Read my Palm which is a really perfect green. I am not a huge green person but this is one of my favorite shades. This is two coats and it applied like butter. Also, don't you love Amanda's label? I love her so much.

I'm sure you all expected this by now. I had to add glitter, had to. I suck at this challenge. Who's idea was this anyway?! Oh, yeah... mine. *changes subjects* This is Naild'It Unique Hocus Bogus which I bought from Llarowe a while back and I haven't tried this either until now, but it's a perfect complement to the SOPI. Hocus Bogus has purple, blue, teal, and black glitter in various sizes. There's also some stars and I think maybe large round black glitter? But I might have imagined that. This is one coat which distributed pretty well on its own but I did go back and add a couple hexes to even it out overall. Really pretty polish!

Here it is a little closer to show it off <3

Anyway, have you guys noticed a difference in my photos? I've been trying a different technique and wondering what you all think. Please let me know in comments!

xoxo,
Amanda

Treasures by Tan Review

Good afternoon everyone! I totally thought I scheduled posts for this weekend but apparently I totally forgot with the long weekend... Americans have tomorrow off for President's Day- which leads me to ask: do you think Michelle Obama gives Barack a card on President's Day? Who makes such cards? Just a thought I had.

Anyway, Tanya of Treasures by Tan was kind enough to give me a blogger discount so I have a couple swatches from her. I swear I posted these already but apparently my mind is totally gone. Up first is Grama Cupcake which is a white base with all sorts of neon and ROUND glitters. The color is inspired by what Tanya's son calls her mother, how cute! I layered two coats over white and had no issues with application or fishing. You can see from the bottle this is PACKED with glitter, and no sinking.

My other pick was Star Light Star Bright Wishin' For a Cure Tonight which is a special polish for Tanya because it's dedicated to her son, Tyler, who has juvenile diabetes. 50% of the proceeds from this polish will go to juvenile diabetes research so if you're on the fence about it once you see it, hopefully that pushes you over the edge to order it!

SLSTBWFACT (what a mouthful haha!) is "different size/shape glitters in turquoise, purple, white, black, iridescent, and of course silver holo “wishing” stars all in a clear base" as Tanya describes it. I layered two coats over OPI DC Cherry Blossom and it was pretty easy to apply. I had to fish a little for the stars but nothing extreme, definitely worth the effort.

Hopefully I inspired you to check out Tanya's shop on Etsy because I was really impressed with her selection! Polishes are $8.50 for a full size except for SLSBWFACT which is $10 to account for the donation included in the cost. She also has a deal to buy 3 and get 1 free!

xoxo,
Amanda

Laquerlicious Review

Hi everyone! Hope you had a good Valentine's Day! I didn't celebrate really, my beau's mom is visiting and we decided to celebrate this weekend instead. Today I have some swatches from Laquerlicious. Michelle was kind enough to send me three of her polishes to try and show you so away we go!

First up is Garden Pansy, which I was unable to find a listing for on the Etsy shop, so it may be part of a new collection. I layered 2 coats over American Apparel Dynasty but it was probably buildable alone in two coats. This had a purple base with purple, blue, and magenta glitters in it. My only complaint about this was the smell: it smelled like a nail salon, which is bearable to others but it caught me off guard so I thought it was important to mention.

Next is Pink Granite, which has black, pink, and white glitters in a clear base. There's a couple shades of pink glitter in it too, which made it unique for me since I've seen quite a few black, white, and pink glitter combinations. I layered it over Cherimoya Blockbuster and it was really easy to work with. I used the typical dabbing application for indie glitters but didn't have to fish for glitter at all. I really loved this and next time I think I'll wear it over a pastel creme!

Finally is Washed Denim which is the blue complement to Pink Granite, almost. This seemed to have a greater variety of white glitters and the black glitter was finer than in Pink Granite but I really liked this color scheme. I layered it over Julep Popova. Important to note: there's blue ROUND glitter in this, which everyone seems to be really excited for lately - myself included. You can see a few of them towards the tip of my ring finger! I loved this combination of glitter and application was superb, this is just one easy coat applied like normal creme nail polish and I didn't really have to push anything around for the look below.

There you have it! I was really impressed by this brand overall and plan to purchase again soon. Laquerlicious is available on Etsy at $8.50 for a full size bottle. She has lots of polishes on sale and also a couple to benefit pitbull charities for $15. You can also follow her on Facebook or Instagram, her username is CreativeNailChick.

xoxo,
Amanda

Untrieds & Sparkle Nail Lacquer Review

Happy Valentine's Day! Umm... so... you may have noticed from my preview picture that this is a glitter. But you'd be wrong! I have an untried creme/neon as a base and it's China Glaze Pink Plumeria but I may have gotten a little excited and forgot to photograph that part... so... uh... put your imagination goggles on my friends, and block out the glitter. Then go over to Sarah and Amanda and see what people who can stick to challenge rules come up with ;)

Just kidding. YOU CAN'T BLOCK THIS GLITTER OUT. It's sparkletastic and gorgeous. But let me get back to that... Sparkle Nail Lacquer was kind enough to work out a deal with me and I picked out some stuff to review! Of course I chose Glitter Bomb, and none of you are surprised. Glitter Bomb is exactly what it sounds: all types of glitter in a clear base. I can see moons, butterflies, stars, and hearts on my nails and I didn't have to fish whatsoever. It was absolutely loaded with glitter and very easy to apply, although a couple of the larger glitters curled (see the big square on my pointer finger). I didn't notice any others curled in the bottle so it might have just been this one type. Either way, I was satisfied!

I also wanted to try her quick dry top coat, which is something I've been in the market for ever since my Wicked Fast dried up. I can report this top coat was awesome! Below is one coat and it could have used two, but this was a pretty dense glitter so I'm not surprised. It did dry super fast and it's now my current go-to top coat!

Alright, so now that you've seen all you need to see, head on over to Sparkle Nail Lacquer. By the way, this week they're having 14% off with VALENTINE14 so you can save on your glitter fix! Just a tip :) Happy day of love and remember that I love you!

xoxo,
Amanda

Valentine's Day Nail Ideas

Hey everybody. You may or may not know that I love Valentine's Day. I love hearts, pink, purple, and candy so it's the perfect time of year for me to get all of that in one day! I tend to look at it more like a day to express fondness for others and not just a significant other so it's kind of like Thanksgiving for people... if that makes any sense. Anyway, the big day is tomorrow so I did some nail art (ha. loosely using the term) and wanted to show you!

First up was a really easy look I did using glequins. I started with a base of Nicole by OPI Kim-pletely in Love (very apropos name, right?). Like its name sake, this polish was a little tough to work with and sheer. (Just kidding, low blow? I don't really have any feelings towards Kim Kardashian but I couldn't resist.) I think this was 3 coats. Then I made the red glequins into a heart shape on my accent nails - voila! Instant easy nail art!

 Next up, I tried to get a little more creative. My base color here is Catherine Arley Hologram (I'm not sure if that's the name or the collection name but it's the only identifier I found on the bottle) which is a red scattered holo. Then I grabbed my white Migi pen and went to work with some different heart designs. I really grew fond of my middle finger's design but wasn't sure if anyone would know what it was. And I realize some of my hearts on my pinky look like Mickey Mouse. Shut up.

Finally I have another simple mani if you have heart glitters. I used OPI DC Cherry Blossom as a base and put a row of heart glitters across in a couple patterns. The alternate nails are just topped with I Lily Love You (another apropos name) which I'm pretty meh about. Super simple and I love the base color!

What do you plan for your nails this Valentine's Day?

xoxo,
Amanda

February Untrieds 3!

Good morning! Today I'm back with Sarah and Amanda for our untrieds challenge. But it also is the week of Valentine's Day so you bet your bottom dollar I have a twist in this cremes challenge! I have another Butter London polish for you today, this is Kerfluffle, which I admit I would have bought just for the name. A quick google search tells me it means "a commotion or fuss" so there's your fact of the day. Learn some knowledge, kids. Anywho, Kerfluffle had perfect perfect perfect application! Below is 2 coats with no top coat (or clean up, actually! boom!). I thought this was baby pink when I bought it but it's more of a peach with pink undertones as you can see below. Loves it! *snuggles bottle*

But for Valentine's Day I'm using hearts hearts hearts galore! So here it is with Different Dimension ...more on top. Every finger has a heart but they're different colors so the lighter ones blend in a bit. I had to fish LIKE CRAZY to get the hearts out of this and was not super pleased but I was determined so here we go!

Thoughts? Disbelief that there's even more heart glitters in my stash?

xoxo,
Amanda

Inspired by... Pinterest!

Hello everyone, happy Monday! Today is my second Pinterest inspired mani with Amanda. On my Butter London Molly Coddled post, I alluded to the fact that there'd be another post with that color, so Molly Coddled is my base color for a mani inspired by this post by Dori Davis (which is a new-to-me blog but I'm obsessed with it now):

Dori used tape to create the hearts but I'm a rebel (Dottie? anyone catch that reference?!) and decided to freehand it (which should indicate to you why last week's Pinterest mani involved using heart glitter rather than my mad freehand skillz). Also, since it's "Inspired by Pinterest" and not necessarily "Copy Pinterest", I decided to only do hearts on my middle two fingers and used Candy Lacquer Love-ly Lavender on my pinky and pointer. The gray crackle is the one from China Glaze but I know you guys don't really care about that so I'm going to channel my inner lazy and not look up the actual name.

What do you think? I was amazed how perfectly my middle finger's heart cracked and even mentioned it on twitter haha! I think this is a good, muted way to show a Valentine's mani that isn't all red and pink and hearts. (Though there's nothing wrong with that in my book!)

xoxo,
Amanda

Silly Saturday!

Hi everyone! I hope you're all as happy it's the weekend as I am. You know that song "Everybody's Workin' For The Weekend"? Yep, that's perfect for me. Let's all have a listen while we see some pretty swatches!


Today I have some swatches from Silly Lily who was kind enough to send me some polishes to review and I'm so impressed! First off, here's the packaging:

Now onto polishes! First I have Bunny Eggs which I did a crap job of picking out base colors for. The green is Essie Da Bush and the yellow is Nerds Lemonade from a Claire's set... I thought the bright would bring out the pastel glitters but it just looks sorta... gross. So ignore my ring finger! Bunny Eggs has light pink, lilac, and green glitters in a clear base. There's some microglitter in there too which might be iridescent or tiny pastel glitters, my eyes aren't good enough to know which one. What I can tell you is that I love this! It's very glitter packed so there were no issues getting glitter onto the nail. Very easy to grab and place as you'd like them!

Next is Winterberry which I have an alternate name for but let me show you it first and let you decide which name suits it better ;) Winterberry is a light purple base with black and purple matte glitters. I layered this over Julie G Fairy Tale to conserve the polish itself. This application was super easy and the swatch below is two coats.

Now... Alaina helped me with this visual. What do you think: Winterberry or Purple Dalmatian? I think we all know the clear answer here.

Finally, I have Feelin' Hexy which was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. Lily told me to pick three polishes and almost all three were rainbow glitters, but I knew I needed to narrow it down to one because I'm a crazy person if I order just rainbow glitters, right?! So it took a lot of assistance from Amanda and Wes but both of them unanimously chose Feelin' Hexy as their #1 pick for me and I have to listen to my advisors. Feelin' Hexy is rainbow matte hexes in a clear base, really easily applied. I layered this over OPI Mermaid's Tears.

PS This polish combination is what inspired me to say to Wes I felt I was on a roll with my base color choices... hence, I'm the ACE OF BASE. Points for you if you know that band and now have one of their hits in your head. I'm not even sorry for that... you're welcome. 

Anyway, Silly Saturday complete! Silly Lily polishes are available on Etsy for $4 minis of $7 full size, which is one of the most affordable full sized indies I've ever encountered! Lily was also very friendly. I'll definitely be ordering from her soon (probably those other two rainbow glitters...)

xoxo,
Amanda 

Quickie Blog Sale!

Hey guys, my stash video inspired me to de-stash so I have some polishes I'd like to sell. I'm only selling these in groups and for now this will be US only. Email az270890@yahoo.com to purchase. Shipping is included in all prices. Usage is as shown, if you have any questions please feel free to ask prior to purchase. I will be unable to do refunds or exchanges but polishes will be packed with bubble wrap safely! Note: each grouping also comes with free extras of the same genre (i.e., an extra OPI with the OPI set or extra indie mini with the indie sets).

OPI DS/Black Label, $45 30 OBO: Extravagance, Reflection, You Ottaware Purple (about 60%, needs thinner), Nice Hand...Great Nails, and New England Nutmeg.

OPI Misc, $25 18: OPI on Collins Ave, True Ab-original, Senorita Rosealita, Call Me Gwen-ever

Color Club, $20: Beyond the Mistletoe (label fell off, handwritten label on bottom), Backstage Pass, Holiday Splendor, Sugar Plum Yum UPDATE: now also includes Very Merry Berry (not pictured- blue and magenta glitter, scented)

China Glaze Tronica, $30: Techno Teal, Electra Magenta, Gamer Glam

China Glaze Misc, $20 14: Ray-diant, Jungle Queen, Outrageous, Atlantis

Butter London, $20: Rosie Lee, Victoriana

Zoya, $15 11: Jaime, Dannii

Essence, $20 15: Hello Holo, Evil Queen, Troy, Chuck

Orly/Essie, $18 15: Fowl Play, Razzle, Pink-a-boo

Full Size Indies, $20 18: Hare Midsummer's Midnight, Aphrodite Lacquer Wrapping Ribbons Bows

Indie Minis, $12 10: Hit Polish Candied Violets, Lacquerhead Save the Bows, Lush Lacquer Party Hearty

Drug Store, $12 8: Pumpkin moon glitter, elf Mango Madness, Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer, Maybelline Matte Grey

Sally Hansen, $12 10: Diamond (vintage holographic), Glass Slipper

Nfu Oh 64, $12

xoxo,
Amanda