Abstract Candy Corn!

Hello dolls!

I'm continuing on with my Halloween manis and I decided to try out a design I saw last year and absolutely loved.  It's called "Abstract Candy Corn" and I was inspired by the ever so talented Adventures in Acetone...

 Colors Used: Sally Hansen - White On, American Apparel - Manila, L'Oreal - The Muse's Inspiration

After the time consuming eyeball mani from yesterday I decided I wanted something simple.  I had considered sponging, but wasn't really feeling that mess haha, so I decided on striping instead :)

After applying my base coat of white,  I went back with my yellow polish and , using the brush, painted the top half of my nails yellow. I then went back thru with a striping brush and added my abstract-y middle.  Everything was top coated and... tada!  That;s all there is to it :D

Really loving the way this turned out!

#thisishalloween ;)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Spellbound Nails' Give Up the Ghost Collection!

Hello dolls!

It's that time of year again when the air starts to chill, the sun goes to bed sooner and the spooky-scary's come out to play.  It's also the time of year when the Indies release their Halloween collections!

I'm pretty sure I look forward to Indie holiday releases more than anything else.  And no other Indie get's me swooning like Spellbound Nails ;)  Last year Ashley just about killed me with her "Hocus Pocus" inspired collection and this year is even better... she chose Casper!!  I have 2 of the Glow-In-The-Dark's to share with you (*disclaimer)...

 

 Spellbound Nails - Instant Primordial Soup Mix

Fist up I have Instant Primordial Soup Mix (you know, the goo that Casper's Father came up with to bring ghosts back to life). This polish is a red-orange jelly with orange holo glitter mixed in.  How perfect is this??!

!

  

I applied 2 easy coats with topcoat.  This beauty glows orange when charged (about 3 minutes)

  

 Love it!

 

 Spellbound Nails - Get An Afterlife

Get an Afterlife was the tagline used in promos for the movie!  This polish is a sheer baby blue crelly with holo blue and black hexes, holo silver squares and fuscia dot glitters.

 

 While this polish is very sheer, application was a cinch.  the glitters dispersed evenly and without issue.  I applied 3 coats with top coat.  Now bust out your sunglasses, because this stunner GLOWS bright blue...

 It's like staring at the sun!! If the sun were blue haha ;)

I know I say this all the time, but I seriously am in love with Spellbound Nails!  The quality of the polishes is always consistent, Ashley's customer service is unmatched and I go gaga for every collection she releases!  Give Up the Ghost Collection is currently available for pre-orders at Spellbound Nails' online store, with the full release being on September 27th. 

Until next time! 

Stef <3


* This product was provided to me for review.  I received no payment or other compensation for the review of this product.  The opinions stated here are completely my own.  The contents of this review are based on my direct experience with this product.

I'm Koo-Koo Cachoo over Summer Camp!

Hello dolls!

I have a a collaborative mani to share with you today.  I recently joined a group of beauty bloggers that focus on women of color.  I love polish on every person of every color, but it's been nice to connect with women who have the same questions/issues that I do as an ethnic blogger (especially color accuracy... can you say nightmare??).  Anywhosy, we are linking up today with a shared theme... the color orange!

 Colors Used: Color Club - Koo-Koo Cachoo, Colores de Carol - Summer Camp

When I found out the color we would use was orange, I knew exactly which polish I would be using.  Koo-Koo Cachoo is an amazingly obnoxiously bright orange that I am just crazy about haha.  I started with 2 coats and let it dry,

 I then pulled out a recent splurge of mine... Summer Camp!  As a first year director of my own camp, this was a must have for my collection.  It is very befitting of the constant chaos that is Summer Camp... I love it!  This is one easily applied coat :)

That's all I have to say about that...

Please be sure to check out the posts from my fellow Proud Beauty Bloggers of Color!

An InLinkz Link-up

Until next time!

Stef <3

It Feels Like Spring!

Hello, hello!

It's been a week since my last posting... eep!  I actually decided to take time away from blogging and focus on my family and time with my husband.  It's important to prioritize from time to time right?  Lol, I've also been taking this down time to get my nails back into tip-top shape.  I'm currently rocking shorties, but the feel strong which is far far better than where they were a month ago!  All of this is the reason why I'm pulling some nail art from the vault...

 Colors Used: Revlon - Apricot Nectar (scented)

The weather in Southern California is so gorgeous right now (sorry to all my snow bunnies!) and I just thought this mani is a good reflection of how I'm feelin' ;)

 

 I started with 3 thin coats of Apricot Nectar.  this polish is from Revlon's new-ish line, Parfumerie.  Scented goodness!!  This polish (when dry) smells a lot like a creamy, fruity candy.  I really like it.  I had to use 3 coats because it is ever so streaky, but I didn't mind... it's gorgeous!  I then used some acrylic flowers and beads that I found at Sally's Beauty Supply.  Really simple and pretty :)

 *sigh*

I promise now that the holidays are over I will get back on a more regular posting schedule.  I've got lots of goodies to share with you :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

A Simple Fall Mani

Hello, hello!

A quick post today featuring a  polish that I had no clue what to do with lol...

 Colors used: Julep - Brielle, Spellbound Nails - You're a Virgin??

Sooooo I recieved a polish from Julep that I wasn't really crazy about, but I was determined to make it work.  

 

I started with 2 coats of Brielle, a gorgeous burnt orange that's just not so gorgeous on me haha.  Brielle is practically a one coater, the formula is amazing.  I then painted one coat of You're a Vrigin?? over a black base.  Last I added a small black stud to tie it all together.  Top coated with Color Club Clear.

 

 I like that the glitter and orange ended up complimenting eachother.  It was a good excuse to wear it again ;)

Wishing you all a very happy Thursday!

Until next time!

Stef <3

Candy Corn Spooks

Good morning, dolls!

I told myself that I should calm down with the Halloween manis for a little bit.  You know, maybe pull some regular nail art from out of my picture vault?  Yea, no.  That didn't happen lol.  Last night I thought to myself, "Candy corn!".  But it's nail art that has been done... a lot.  heck, I did it last year.  So then I figured I could incorporate those colors without actually doing cany corn.  Right?  Right!

 Colors Used: Color Club - Almost Famous, Daisy Nail Lacquer - White Diamond, Rimmel - Black Satin, China Glaze - Toe-tally Textured, Sinful Colors Nail Art - Time Off

I started with my base colors.  3 coats of Almost Famous. 2 coats White Diamond, 2 coats of Black Satin and 2 coatts of Toe-tally Textured (which I bought on clearance specifically so I could use it for Halloween lol).

 

I used the water decals that I received/reviewed for KKCenterHK and placed my ghosts on my ring finger.  Then I took the Sinful Colors striperand added some stitching to my middle finger.  I threw on some top coat and that's all she wrote ;)

Boo!

The most challenging part of this nail art was finding a good yellow to use.  They are notoriously streaky, which is sad because yellow is one of my all time favorite colors.  Almost Famous is a really great yellow polish, but still... it requires 3 thinnish coats before the streaks are covered *sigh*.  Do you have any yellow recommendations?  I'm on the hunt!  Hahaha...

Until next time!

Stef <3

Monsieur, Natasha & Korin!

Good morning, lovelies!

It's that time again...

The "normal" polish I'll be wearing to church this morning is...

 Crystal International - Monsieur

Have I mentioned that I love love love nude polishes?  I went thru a bit of an obsession a few months back and have been refraining from wearing them all the dang time haha.  When I saw that this came in the box of 6 Crystal polishes I recieved, I was stoked!  As with any nude polish I've ever tried, Monsieur is a bit streaky.  This is shown with 3 coats and top coat.

Reatil: N/A

 Julep - Natasha

Natasha is described by Julep as an "intense orange crème".  Now here is where I disagree with them.  Intense... yes!  Crème... absolutely not!!  I was a little disappointed when this polish came in the mail because it was not at all what I was expecting.  It is much more of a jelly/crelly than a Crème.  It is very streaky and required 3 coats.  I still had a visible nail line after 3 coats, altho you cannot see it here and that was a little irritating.  On the plus side... I really like the color lol.

Retail: $14.00 ($11.20 Maven Price)

Julep - Korin

Korin is described by Julep as a "spring green crème".  I'm in total agreement this time!  Very creamy and also very gloopy. And streaky.  It's just been that kind of day haha.  I've had to add a few drop of nail polish thinner to make it manageable.  But I really love the color of this polish, so it was worth the extra effort.  At the time of me writing this, Korin is not available for purchase by itself on Julep's site.  It is paired with Drew in a "Watermelon Wedge" set for $19.99.  This is 3 coats with a top coat.

I'm really loving this Sunday swatching thing!  I hope you all are finding it helpful/useful/entertaining/not boring lol.  I've been tossing around the idea of doing a monthly round up of my favorite products I've used each month.  I know a lot of ladies do it, but there are lots of products I'd love to share :)   Any thoughts?

Until next time!

Stef <3

"Hazard"-ous Leopard

Good morning, lovelies!

I want to start by saying hello and welcome to my new followers :)  Yesterday afternoon, while I was at work,  OPI discovered my little blip on the interwebs via Instagram.  Not only was I surprised, I was overwhelmed by the overall response. 100 new followers in an hours time... holy canolli!  So thank you all for making my day!

Today's post is a kind of "palette cleanser" for me.  I needed something clean an simple...

 Colors Used:Sinful Colors - Hazard, Daisy Nail Lacquer - White Diamond, Rimmel - Black Satin

It's been a long time since I've done a leopard print mani.  I know a lot of people feel like it's over done. And while I'm not a huge fan of animal print, I occasionally like to dabble in the wild ;)  This is 2 coats of Hazard.  I used a medium sized dotting tool for the white splotches and my striping brush to create the black "c's".

I think I like it!  Hahaha :)

How do you  feel about animal print mani's?  It is time for them to go?

Until next time!

Stef <3

An Orly Ruffian

Good day, dear hearts!

I have yet another bright/neon polish to share with you today (Shocking... I know!).  I was at Sally's almost a month ago looking for a good silver foil polish and stumbled across neon goodness...

 Colors Used:  Orly - Dazzle (silver) and Mayhem Mentality (neon orange)

Having a foil polish really helped with my ruffian design this go around.  It was easier to smoth out the edges with this silver polish than it was with my Sally Hansen Golden-I.  Photographing this mani, however, was a nightmare!  The above photo was taken in my usual lighting... at my desk, with a desk lamp, using flash.

This photo with the greenish tinge was take in my bathroom.  Fluorescent lighting, no flash.

This last photo I feel is closest to the true color of the polish and I took it in my car.  Don't worry, I wasn't driving!  The hubby was lol.

All in all this mani was 1 coat of dazzle and 2 coats of Mayhem Mentality.  Two new faves in my ever growing collection :D

Just an fyi... I know I had said that the TPC for May would be starting this week.  I was very off lol.  It starts up next Tuesday.  it will give me a chance to do the final mani for the Hobby Polish Blogger challenge... Re-create Your Favorite :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

April TPC - Day 4

Helloooooo, darlings!

It's the final day of April's Tri Polish Challenge and while I'm glad to tuck these bright polishes away, I'm a little sad too.  I've really enjoyed this month's challenge because the formula on these Color Club polishes has been amazing!  They're so much fun to work with haha.

Today's mani doesn't really have a theme, it's not inspired by anything.  My hubby said, "I don't know what it is, but it's awesome!!".  I'm inclined to agree ;)

I used the same 3 Color Club polishes as before... Edie, Jackie OH! and Koo-Koo CaChoo.  I also used a new silver polish, NYC Tribeca Silver.  And the white dots are my go-to Sally Hansen White On.

I started with Edie and Koo-Koo Cachoo as by base colors, each requiring 2 coats.  I then took my 3 CC polishes and painted  blocks of color on some transparent tape.  While I waited for that to dry, I took out my striping brush and applied my Jackie OH! stripes to my thumb, index and pinky...

Last I cut triangles out of my painted tape, layered them, dotted my white and applied my silver stripes.  I top coated them with Nutra Nail Speed Dry and that was that!

I've had a lot of fun creating manis for this challenge.  I'm not sure if I'll be doing it again next month, tho.  There is another FB group that I am apart of called the Hobby Polish Bloggers and the ladies have come up with a challenge for the month of May.  Granted, it's also 4 manis and there is no set schedule.  Maybe I could do both?  I dunno.  What would you all like to see?  Help meeeee!!!!  Lol ;)

Don't forget to take a peek at the other gals below...

Until next time!

Stef <3

April TPC - Day 3

Hello my dears!

Today's mani is day 3 of the Tri Polish Challenge.  I chose to do a mani that I saw on Pinterest waaaaay back when I first got into nail art.  It's a "Cardiac Monitor Mani".  Lol this is my attempt at sounding smart.  You can go ahead and call them heartbeat nails ;)

Same 3 Color Club polishes as before used in this mani.  My base is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  I wanted a light base so that the colors would pop, but I didn't want it to be stark white.  MBSW is a happy medium because it's an off-white with a greyish hue.

I started with 2 coats of MBSW and then used my striping to apply my lines.  My one complaint about this mani is that I wish I had blended the colors where they meet for a motre seamless transition.  But, it was late... and I was sleepy... zzzzzzzzz....

Anywhosy, dar i'tis!

As always, I invite you to check out the other mani's below :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Drip, Drip, Drop!

Good afternoon, lovies!

I have to make this post quick and to the point because I have to rush off to work haha.  I just finished these about 5 mins ago, please forgive the cuticle oil...

 Colors Used:  Sally Hansen - White On, NPW Rainbow Micro-Nib Nail Art Pens

I LOVE the way these turned out!

  I bought the nail art pens last year while shopping at Urban Outfitters and I've only used them on one occassion.   I figured they need some attention ;)

I'm so sorry that I don't have the time to get into more details with this mani, but I hope you enjoy it :)  Something fun and funky to brighten my day haha.  Now off to work I go!

Until next time!

Stef <3