Quick Post and Plug

Hey everyone! First up: I'm having a blog sale, I've made a list rather than taking photos since this will be easier to keep up with so please check it out. I have some black label OPI, lots of indies, some limited edition China Glazes, etc. I didn't list shipping because I'll figure it out on a case-by-case basis depending on country, how many you want, etc. but I'll be reasonable (starting around $2). Email me at az270890@yahoo.com if you're interested in anything! The document is here.

Onto the swatch of the day, an old one from when I was growing my nails out and apparently my cuticles rebelled. This is 2 coats of Julep Charlotte, a pretty purple creme.

I added Pretty and Polished Hello Dolly. There's two photos because the first one is the most awkward hand pose ever but shows the polish better than the second where my hand is normal *shrugs*

xoxo,
Amanda

Inspired by... Pinterest!

Hi everyone, sorry I've been so lazy with these lately. I tried a gradient recently and I think it was enough for me to swear off nail art forever lol. Anyway, my Pinterest nails today are inspired by Dressed Up Nails' Dotty Hearts post. She did hers in a number of colors so each nail was different but I just chose two colors to alternate. Basically, the technique here is to use dots to create dot shapes and then outline it in another color. I used the same dotting tool but applied different amounts of pressure to get varying sizes and then went back with a tiny one to fill in gaps. The teal ones came out pretty cool but the purple on pink is a bit more subtle than I'd hoped.

Oh! The base color is Julep Carrie and the dots are Sinful Colors Sweet Nothing and Sweet Tooth. Go see what Amanda's got for you! (PS this entry counts for additional comments for my giveaway I posted earlier if you comment and let me know in the Rafflecopter widget!)

xoxo,
Amanda

Inspired by Instagram/Another Blog

Hi everyone. I feel so meh about blogging lately. It's so much work to go from taking the photos to publishing a post and I'm just tired lately. Sorry about that, hopefully my mojo will be back asap :) Also, please note: the commenting giveaway will be active for March. I just haven't picked prizes yet! Would you guys prefer several smaller prizes or one grand prize? Any requests? Let me knowwww!

Today's mani was inspired by Nicole, the photo I used for inspiration was from Instagram but she has a similar mani here as well. This was a really simple mani to do, actually, but I love love loved the look! Nicole's on to something here, folks!

The base color here is OPI Rumple's Wiggin' (hi Jamie! thanks again!) and the dots are Finger Paints 15 Minutes of Frame, Julep Hayden, and Sation Holiday Pink. I just used three sizes of dotting tools and did a few dots of each size on the nail. Ta daaaa!

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

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

I Owe You a Bunch of Untrieds...

Hey everyone... I present this post with my tail between my legs because I've been a terrible blogger lately. The holidays, this time of year, lots of personal changes/stresses.... I've lost my blogging steam a little bit but I want to get back on track! I owe you three untried challenges plus tomorrow so you get three today then one tomorrow and I won't let Amanda down! Our challenge this month is brands we only have one untried of, which is actually really hard for me...

First: Julep Reese with Hits Fizzy. I did kind of a glitter gradient to show it off. Reese is a perfect pink IMO and applied really easily. I'm not super crazy about Fizzy but it's Hello Kitty so let's face it, I'll keep it forever because I can't break up the set.

And so I kind of cheated because number two is another Hits untried but it's a creme and the other was a glitter so I don't think it counts? This is one coat of Hits Blueberry. I could definitely have done a second coat but when it wasn't under my lightbox lights it seemed fine at one!

Finally, I have Hit Polish (Hits... Hits... Hit... this was unintentional) Witches Brew which is (obviously) a Halloween polish so I am really late on this one. I actually really adore this although I apologize because I'm not sure what nude polish that is underneath. If I ever figure it out I'll update this but, let's be honest, will any of you care to check back? If you care, leave me a comment and I'll figure it out (it's in my notes but I'm lazy right now...)

Ok done! You better enjoy that because who knows when I'll blog again.. jk, jk. I'll post tomorrow!

xoxo,
Amanda

Pink Wednesday & Hello Kitty!

Hey everyone, happy belated Christmas and happy Kwanzaa and happy festivus! Christmas Eve and Day were so busy for me I completely forgot about posting, oops! I did show you my Christmas nails if you follow me on Instagram, though... not a total fail. (Ok, it still is.)

To make it up to you, I have some more of the Hello Kitty collection from Hits. I'm pretty much obsessed with these and if they ever release another trio I'll certainly buy it. One of my swatches is also a pink base so that TOTALLY counts for Pink Wednesday, right?! (See, sometimes being late is awesome.)

First up is Blueberry, a nice periwinkle-blue creme. This was 1-2 coats (I forgot, ahhhhh!) and it applied really easily, like all the cremes in this collection.

Next up, I used Julep Reese for the base:

And did a gradient of Hits Fizzy on top, which was the only glitter of the HK collection. I always do my gradients using Orly Smudge Fixer... basically I dab the glitter on the tip and use Smudge Fixer to "smudge" the glitter across the nail, like you see here :)

So Hello Kitty? Win. Hits? Win. Glitter and awesome cremes? Win win win! Now go check out some other winners for their glitter swatches from yesterday, Amanda and Madeline!

xoxo,
Amanda