A NOTD!

Hi girls... thanks so much for all of your patience with me, I know it's been a loooooooooooooong hiatus and I really appreciate you all sticking by me. I have a belated 200 followers giveaway planned, I just need the motivation to put together the Rafflecopter and all that jazz. I'm in the process of figuring out exactly where blogging fits in my new life. Basically my days look like this: work, spend time with long lost friend, eat dinner, shower, pass out. My weekends are basically spent sleeping out with whichever friend wants me... so it's been busy. This post is courtesy of my 9am client who canceled on me... ;)

Anywho, today I have for you Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like, which is a blurple creme and is my first DL that isn't a glitterbomb (since my only other ones were the Get This Party Started set). I applied two coats and topcoat and got the following, although it dried satiny on its own. If I had to peg its color down, I'd say it's definitely more blue leaning, although a quick google search will show you it looks purple sometimes too. The second picture (the one with the awkward shadow, yeah, that one) shows the color most accurately.

Hope you ladies liked this post! Hopefully I'll be back with many more soon. :)

xoxo,
Amanda

Update

Hi all... I'm working on coming back. I'm doing better, but life has been so busy. It's funny, once you go through hard times, you really find out who is there for you... regardless of how neglected the friendship may have become. I've recognized a lot of great (and not so great - but we'll focus on the positive) people in my life, and I'm spending time with them again. It feels amazing. It's really been a nice journey... so I'm busy with new friends and old friends, but I'm working on finding the balance, which will include blogging. I'm still photographing my manis, so don't fret - they will return.

Thank you all for so much support and love and tweets and comments and joy. I love you, my little blogging family. <3

xoxo,
Amanda

Le Sigh.

Hi all - just a quick note. New posts are coming, slowly but surely. Sleep has been evasive for me lately and some of you (including my twitter followers) know that I'm going through a lot of changes. My boyfriend of five years and I are recently broken up, work has been hectic, etc. I have the rainbow glitters photographed, swatched, and ready to go - except that I'm lacking inspiration and such lately. I'm sorry to keep all of you on hold so frequently, I'm sure my excuses seem lame. I haven't forgotten about you all, and I'll be back ASAP.

xoxo,
Amanda

In Remembrance...

Hey girls, no nail post for today. You may remember from last year that February 2nd is an important day for me. First, the typical Groundhog Day meaning, and secondly, it's the day my mother passed away 9 years ago today. It's not a day I'm necessarily sad, but I always miss her especially on this day. Last year I did a mani in her honor (man, those pictures aren't my best but look how long my nails used to be! How do I get back to that?!) but I just haven't really felt like dedicating myself to do that again or to wear the same color again. Maybe it's a bit of a cop out this year, but with everything going on, I'm deciding against posting a mom mani.

Anyway, I'd really like to hear some of your favorite memories of YOUR moms today. I'll share some too. First, my mom was such an amazing advocate. I was her only biological child, and she would defend me tooth and nail. I remember in elementary school, a kid picked on me on the bus and my mom actually got on the bus, told the bus driver, and the bus driver made the kid apologize to me. It would have been really embarrassing to most kids, but I was just so proud to have someone stand up for me like that, against something that was probably no more than a few unkind words. (And don't worry, that kid never bothered me again.) Second, I remember how passionate she was, including about antiques. I remember going to flea markets with her where she'd spend hours setting up and organizing her treasures while buying some new ones. She'd always get me these refrigerated rotisserie chicken drumsticks and I remember it was my favorite part (oh, and one time this lady was selling a bunch of Halloween makeup and once when I was wandering around she gave me a ton of it). In many ways, I have her passion within me, such as my passion for nail polish!

What are your fondest or strongest memories of your mom?

xoxo,
Amanda

Hits Hera, No Violence Included

Hello lovely ladies! How are you all today? Splendid, I hope! If not, maybe some linear holo can brighten your day?

Today I have Hits (which in conjunction with the names of Greek gods sounds like you're striking them, to me. Hits Zeus, Hits Hera, etc... weird. Anyway...) Hera which is the deep teal holographic from the No Olimpo collection. This one is a beaut, although the linear holo could be subtle since the base is so dark. However, I like that since I think it's easy for base colors to get lost in the holo. I digress.

I used two (I think?) coats of Hera and it applied like a dream. The first shot is meant to show the color and will demonstrate what I mean about the holo hiding. It's a beautiful color, regardless of holo or not.

Here we go: the big show. The holo. The gorgeousness.

Why is my thumd always so much better at showing things? Coming up I will be showing you Lynnderella Shape Shifter and this thumb got two unique glitters on it! It's a magical thumb.

xoxo,
Amanda

OPI Sand-erella

Hello jerkfaces... just kidding. Just seeing who is reading this. If you're reading this, you're no jerkface! Today's post is very near and dear to me, because it features a linear holo - and one I grabbed at STEAL of a price. (Remember my OPI haul of 85 bottles for $50? Yeah, it was in there.) I didn't even know about Sand-erella until this haul but it's definitely the gem of that whole polish hauling extravaganza.

So, basics: Sand-erella, three coats, kind of sheer, builds up well, glorious linear holo, pale purple. Top coat added, did not dull.

In the artificial light with none shining directly on it, no flash. Good shot of the color of the polish.

 Then, BAM, flash!

Pros: everything. Cons: my bottle was only about 1/2 full (see, I'm an optimist) and I'm hoarding it in case there is ever an apocalypse and I actually use an entire bottle of polish (has never happened, except with top coat).

More cons: CHINA GLAZE AND OPI Y U NO MAKE MOAR LINEAR HOLOS?

xoxo,
Amanda

Amanda Does Fauxnad

Hi all! I know a whilleeeee ago I asked you all what you'd like to see more of, and the resounding answer was nail art and stamping. I've slacked on that, but this mani reminded me why STAMPING IS AWESOME AND YELLING ON THE INTERNET IS NOT. Sorry for your little virtual eardrums.

My base color was two coats of Orly Frisky which I snatched up on clearance at Ulta recently. My nails are little nubbins here which always means my cleanup process suffers... sorry. I just hate to look at them so much I avoid thorough cleanup, I guess ;) Anyway, so, yeah... Orly Frisky. A lovely blue creme which is sooooo much more mint green than it shows up here.

Then I thought, "Oh! My readers! They want stamping!" and so I found the single Bundle Monster plate sitting within reach - BM210. (hey, how did he get out of his dungeon?!) I used my favorite design from the plate and Icing Chrome Teal and voila! My favorite mani of the longest time was born. (it's a newborn here, that's why the cleanup is so messy. see how I made it work?)

xoxo,
Amanda

Thank Blue to my Lovely Readers ;)

Hello there... *sheepish*. I know, I know. I've been MIA a lot lately. So much going on in my personal life, blah blah blah. Onto the polish and I won't bore you with the asinine details of my existence.

Anyway, this mani is sort of an homage to all my readers and followers. Despite my often prolonged absences recently, my followers have been increasing! Hello of you out there, and thank you for being my inspiration again.

I started off with Ulta Alter Ego. I definitely thought this was green, I don't know why. This is clearly a blue metallic polish and it was super easy to work with. Here's two coats and top coat.

Now, once I realized it was, in fact, blue, I decided it needed some freshening up, so I added some of my favorite stuff... glitter! And thus, my Lynnderella Thank Blue! mani came to be.

I used two coats of Thank Blue! and it was blingtastic. The metallic and glitter combo was perfect (IMO) and I was in love with this mani... however, I'm also a Lynnderella addict (evidence? See my last ten posts and the percentage of which contain Lynnderella - they are my antidepressant).

Just for good measure, I wanted to show you all the bottle from which Thank Blue came. You can really see all this polish has to offer in this shot!

Anyways, this mani can be summed up in one word: Sexual. Amanda knows what I mean.

xoxo,
Amanda

Sparkle Sunday: Wet n Wild Sugar Coat + Some Magic

Hello there! How's everyone doing? As I write this, I'm waiting for my nails to dry since I've smudged and redone them about three times now. Sighhhh, nail blogger problems! It seems like every time I paint my nails, everyone calls or texts me, I have tons of doors to open, my bed needs to be made, etc.! 

Anywho, today I have a lovely polish I bought from Steph's blog sale (I've been blog sale hoarding lately). I got lots of goodies from her, so it's kind of surprising that the light pink is the one I picked, but I digress! You'll see the rest soon! (Hint: one of them is what I'm waiting for to dry ... that was an awkward sentence. Sorry.)

This mani was what I wore for my friend Cath's birthday at Hibachi. I wanted something fun and pretty, so I put on Wet n Wild Megalast Sugar Coat. This is a sheer-ish light pink, which built up decently. Below is three coats and there's lots of VNL but I don't care because I had bigger plans for it ;) (Ignore the poor cleanup on my pinky, I forget that it has a side sometimes...)

Then I added Lynnderella's One Nutty Fruitcake (oh, me and my multicolored glitters...) which is a mix of basically every color glitter except silver in a million shapes and sizes. Basically, it's pure love! I added two coats over Sugar Coat and this magic happened:

Pre-topcoat

With topcoat

With topcoat

Ahhh, do you hear that? Birds singing, angels getting their wings, miracles happening... no? Just me living in glitterland?

xoxo,
Amanda

Nfu Oh 63

Hi gals! I have a very special polish for you all today, a Nfu Oh I got from Jacqui's blog sale! I don't have too much to say since the pictures speak for themselves! This is Nfu Oh 63, which is the nude colored holographic one. I used two thicker coats and still had some bald spots which weren't very noticeable (even in pictures). These pictures are without topcoat yet, but I did add it and didn't notice it dulled the effect.

Sigh... I need to wear this again when I'm not sporting nubs :(

xoxo,
Amanda