What's Crackalackin'??

Jello ladies and germs!  It's been faaaar too long since I've blogged :(  Let me just say wedding planning is a lot less fun than it sounds lol.  If you can afford a wedding planner... get one!  I am fortunate enough to have a lot of AMAZING women in my life who offering me they're help, so I really have no room to complain.  It's just very time consuming *sigh*

Anyway on to my post!  For today I have a simple mani and nail haul to share :)

I've gone a little polish crazy recently.  I'm still hunting for the Stick It To 'Em Slater from Wet n Wilds Saved by the Bell colletion, and while out on these hunts... I found other polishes to buy lol.  First tho I'm going to share the crackle polishes I reciedn as a gift from my soon-to-be-mother-in-law (featured in today's mani) :D

Colors Used; Love & Beauty - Coral/Gold, Avon Mosaic Effects - Gold Glimmer

She'd told me that a friend of hers was selling Avon and so she decided to order me a couple.  I love her to death!  She's too good to me :)

Here are a couple more pics...

I haven't really been a fan of crackle polishes.  The never seem to crackle enough for me and just end up look like a sloppy mess!  This one actually turned out really well, I think I may give crackles another chance :)

Onto the rest of my haul!

The Ever Elusive Polish Haul!

Finally!  I shall share my addiction with all of you lol.  These are all polishes I have purchaed in the last 2 weeks...

 JLB Metallic Colection (L to R): Deep Sea, Purple Rain, Hot Coco, Jade, Chocolate Lava, Immortal Gold, Cherry Pop

Not the greatest polish names ever, but MUCH better that the numbering thing they had going on in the last pack I bought (maybe they heard my whining? lol).  They are all practically one coaters, which is typical for most metallics.  I actually bought these to try them out because I wasn't sure how I felt about mettalics/how they would look with my skin.  And for $7 I'm thrilled I took the risk!  They're great polishes :)

 Claire's - Candy Shop

A polish that has been talked about, sought after, fought after for about a year now.  I'd read about this Deborah Lippman dupe back in March and thought, "That looks yummy... I want one!".  While passing by Claire's last week, I found it sitting by it's lonesome on a shelf and snatched it up!  It looks like a promising purchase, I just don't know what to do with it yer hahaha.

Wet n' Wild's Saved By The Bell Collection (almost!): Pom Pom Kelly, Straight A Jesse, Nerd Alert Screech, Chick Magnet Zach, Fashionista Lisa

I did a small happy dance at CVS when I found these polishes and then promptly threw a fit when I realized that they were sold out of Pin 'Em Slater (neon yellow).  Curse all of you girls who bought the odd amounts of polishes... grrr!! *sigh*  I'll get over it eventually... ok, over it!  They all painted beautifully on my color wheel and I'm excited to play with them :)

(L to R): Love & Beauty - Salmon, Revlon - Cotton Candy, Spoiled - My Saturn Broke Down, Spoiled - Show Me The Money

An odd grouping of polishes to end with but... there you have it lol.  Cotton Candy was used on today's mani.  The salmon is SO incredibly sheer that it will probably have to be used over other oranges and pinks.  The spoiled glitters I bought just because.  No real reason lol.

Ok, that's all the postings I have for you today!

Until next time!

Stef <3

Watermelon-Nom-Noms And A Haul :)

I just couldn't stay away!  Hello and happy Friday y'all!  :D

I know that I said I wouldn't post until Saturday... but I'm a big fat liar :P  I did a watermelon mani and decided that I had to share.  I've seen this done on a lot of blogs and it's certainly not an originail idea from me lol.  It just looked fun so I gave it a try :)

Colors Used: Julep - Rose, Julep - Leah, Sally Hansen - Green With Envy, Rimmel - Black Satin

2 coats of both Rose and Leah, Envy applied with a striper and I used a dotting tool for the "seeds".  Easy enough, right?  I topped it off with Out the Door.  I was extremely impatient and didn't wait for my polka dot's to set before top coating and I ended up with some streaks *sniff*.  Lesson learned (for now lol).

One more photo...

As you can see, there is some tip wear.  I wasn't planning on posting this mani because it's been done so much.  But I've had it on for a couple of days and I just love them.  So I took pics well after I should have.  Cest la vie!

I also wanted to share my recent polish purchases with you... after the jump!

A Monochromatic Mani (aka Ombre :P)

Good day to you nail art / polish lovers!  It's almost the weekend as much as I love my time off, the next few days are going to be busy and hectic.. bleh.

Well, for today's mani I decided to do a full ombre look (I did a frenchie ombre that you can view here if you'd like :) ).  I love the color grey... a lot!  And grey scale nails just sounded like a great idea, so here they are haha...

 These are my favorite grey's in my collection.  I really like the ombre look, I think it's very fun!  There is another technique that I want to try out where you just use one color polish and add drops of black or white to change the shade. 

Here are the colors used...

Rimmel - Black Satin, Charlotte Russe - Smolder, Julep - Meryl, Confetti - Lonesome Dove, O.P.I. - Skull & Glossbones

Of course, I can't just leave plain polish on my fingers.  I need some pizazz!  Lol so I added my go to glimmer on top.  You know what it is I'm sure...

 China Glaze - Fairy Dust

It's my favorite, what can I say?  It's just so sparkly!!

As a side note, I've had a couple of friends ask me about my manicure techniques.  While I'm still learning myself, I have found some of the tips at Nails by Kayla Shevonne to be quite helpful!  Her "Manicuring 101" series is pretty awesome :)

So that's my post for today... unless you are curious about my recent polish haul ;)  It's after the jump!

Naked Nails, Products & Hauls... Oh My!

Hey there lovelies!

I don't think I've mentioned it but, along with learning / doing nail art, this is my first attempt at growing out my natural nails.  I've decided that I want to document this with pics and some comments through my blog.  I do apologize if this does not interest you in the slightest, BUT... I also will be sharing nail polish hauls and some products that I absolutely love and use on a very regular basis.  So, stick around :)

The following pics are of my left and right hands just after I removed the polish from yesterday's post...

The very first thing I noticed was that I take way better care of my left hand (the "modeling" hand) than my right hand... and that just seems a little unfair, so I shall be remedying that soon lol.  They don't look too terrible but I do have some splitting at the tips that I'm dealing with.  I bought some crystal nail files and I hope that they will correct this problem :\

I've had a couple of people ask me what happened to my left ring finger and I thought I should fill you all in.  I'm a dumb.  And a klutz. I was removing those purple fimo bows with M.A.S.H.'s super pointy nail art tweezers and I slipped... and gashed my finger pretty good.  It's healing faster than I thought and I'm sure my hand will be picture perfect again soon lol.  Now onto my polish hauls and favorite products!

Glitter Sammy... Take Two!

Good morning lovies :)  I can't believe it's already May; this year is just whizzing by *zoom*!

The mani today is my second attempt at doing a glitter sammy.  The last one was pretty but a little too delicate for my taste.  So I decided to go for something bolder ;)

 Colors Used: City Color - Red, and Spoiled - Jewel Heist

 I did 3 layers of each color and topped it off with SV.  This is a very interesting red in that it seems really sheer when first applied but by the time I got to the third brushing, it seemed completely opaque.  I had to top it with more glitter or it would have been a terribly boring mani!   I like this attempt is better than my first one but it doesn't make me go "ooOOOooooo!".  What do you guys think?  Any feedback?

I also wanted to show you all the mani that I did on one of my sisters (FSIL)...

 I cannot remember the colors used at the moment, I'm sorry! And I apologize for the blur :\

She wanted a ladybug theme but it had to be something she could wear to work and this was the end result.  I've seen a lot of these mani's because of the "April Shower's Bring May Flowers" challenge and I wasn't planning on posting another / beat a dead horse, but what the lady wants she gets :P  She was pleased which, of course, is what I always strive for.  

My FMIL just got back from Stagecoach last night and is ready for a new mani, so I'll be posting her nails soon as well.

One last thing before I go!  I went with my honey to get his hair cut on Friday and while his stylist was cutting away I walked over to Rite-Aid to peruse their polish collection.  They had polishes that I'd never heard of before (the Color City I used on today's mani and Jessee's Girl) and most of their selection was on sale.  This is what I hauled home...

Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet, Jesse's Girl - Spring Break and Wham Bam, City Color - Red, Sinful Colors Midnight Blue and Rimmel - Black Satin

I've swatched them on my color wheel and they're all lovely colors!  I can't wait to use them in future mani's!

A final word... Rhinoceros :P

Until next time!

Stef <3 

My name is Stefanie and I'm addicted to polish! :)

Yellow, Yellow!  I hope the day is treating you well :)

What I've got to share today are my recent polish purchases... which might be a little out of hand at the moment.  I have no shame!  :P

I've collected these beauties over the past week and a half to 2 weeks (I've lost track :/).  To start off with I have my recent purchase from Foever 21...

From L to R: Baby Pink, Faded Rose/Multi and Orange (I wish they'd come up with better names for their polishes!)

I've swatched these on my color wheel and, aside from the orange, they paint beautifully.  My only complaint would be that the Baby Pink is stupidly sheer.  I'm still glad I bought them :)

My next purchase was a few days later while I was at Target with my honey and 2 dear friends of ours.  I stumbled upon E.L.F.'s Spring Collection (I wish I had kept the box!).  These polishes are usually $2 a pop but the boxed set was being sold for $5... I had to bring them home lol.  And I'm so glad I did, they're wonderful :)

 From L to R: Coral Dream, Flirty Fucsia, Party Peach, Smokin' Hot

I don't know if it's just my set but the Coral Dream and Party Peach, in my opinion, should get together and do a name swap because they are incredibly confused!  I've double checked online and the bottles are labled correctly, so... I dunno... maybe I'm the confuzzled one...

These next 3 photos are from my VERY FIRST trip to an ULTA store... I thought I'd died and gone to my own personal polish heaven!  And here is why...

I've been looking for simple glitters and Essence for a while:

 From L to R: Pixel - Pixel Dust, Essence - Space Queen and Essence - Wanna Be Your Sunshine

These swatched beautifully on my color wheel :)

Swatched these on my wheel and loved them all!  I can't wait to wear them :)

I found ULTA's dupe for OPI's Rainbow Connection and a very pretty blue creme (scratch and flip):

 From L to R: Blue Streak (which is a little streaky at first) and Pinata-Yada-Yada

That dupe is definitely going in a jelly sandwich soon. Oooo maybe the Baby Pink!!  Idea formed... *ding*! :D

 But the most exciting part of the whole trip were these 2 pretties!

From L to R: Revlon's Posh and Whimsical! :D:D:D:D:D

I was acting like a giddy little girl in that store lol.  I've been eyeing Posh for a long time and they had it at a great price but I never, NEVER thought I would find Whimsical!!  I figured I'd jumped on the nail train too late and she (I'll call her Whimmy) was gone forever. She was the very last one, sitting next to Posh, and I almost walked right past her... YIKES!  To be fair, Whimmy was sitting in the display slot for Dream On aaaaaannnndddd she didn't have a place of her own anywhere that I could see.  She obviously was waiting for me to come and take her home.  And I'm so excited :D

One last thing to share!  I love painting others nails just as much as I love doing mine.  My Future Mother-in-Law (from here on out referred to as my FMIL) asked me to give her a mani that would match her outfit for Stagecoach (a country music festival) this year.  Together we brain stormed and came up with this...

She's happy, I'm happy and I hope you're happy :D

Until next time!

Stef <3