Well hello there! Here's a jelly sandwich for you!

Hello lovelies! I wonder if any of you are still out there? I hope so!

I'm popping in to show you my current manicure. I'm on spring break this week, so I have a little free time for once!

I decided to try a "jelly sandwich." I used one coat of OPI - Yall Come Back, Ya Hear, one coat of Ulta - Pinada Yada Yada, and then two more coats of YCBYH.

 I love how it turned out! Plus, YCBYH is so smooth and shiny and perfect anyway.

What do you think of jelly sandwich manicures?

Thanks for reading! I miss you guys!

Is anyone still out there???

Hello, neglected lovely readers!

My first semester as a nursing student is winding down, so I wanted to check in here and let you all know that I'll be posting swatches again after this week! I can't have my nails painted for clinicals, so I've been bare-nailed for most of the semester. Scary, but I've embraced it!

Anyway, I miss blogging so much! I didn't realize that I'd just completely stop posting once school started. Sorry! See you again soon!

Blog Sale!

Hello! Time to get rid of some of my nicer rarely-used polishes! Please click the jump for details!!!

Shipping info is at the end- I only ship to the US/Canada- Sorry! Paypal only, please.

Blog Sale?

Hello, readers!

I'm going to have a TEENY TINY blog sale later this week. Some HTF/LE polishes, but just like five. I'm debating whether or not to sell my bottle of OPI - My Private Jet, the original formulation. I love it and cherish it, but I never wear it because I don't want to waste it. So that's a possibility.

Other than that, a couple of Chanels, RBL, OPI... I think that's it. I need any money I can get to buy my books for nursing school!

So I guess this is just a heads up, or something.

Have a great week!!!

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Ice Queen

Hello everyone! I did not take these pictures in a smokey brushfire. We're having 100+ degree weather here in Maryland, and my camera fogs up the second I walk outside! So, while these pictures are not the clearest, they're humorous and absurd.

My co-worker told me this manicure was "blog worthy," so here it is! I'm wearing Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Pink Blink with two coats of Sally Hansen Ice Queen on top. Pink Blink is a really nice baby pink. Opaque in two coats. Ice Queen was a gift from another of my co-workers. I wore two different earrings one day- one pink and one blue. She saw this polish at the store and it reminded her of me for that reason!

I love this look. It reminds me of cotton candy. I'm really sorry you have to view this manicure through a haze, but such is life. Ice Queen is a clear base with tons of teeny tiny silver glitter mixed in with larger pink and blue hexagon glitter. Very cute!

I love the new Hard as Nails bottles. I hate big round bottles, like OPI and China Glaze. They take up too much space! This bottle is thin and flat. I like it.

Is it very hot where you are? Hopefully you're inside enjoying the AC, just like I am!

Deborah Lippmann - Boom Boom Pow

Hello, readers! Today I have an awesome Deborah Lippmann polish to share: Boom Boom Pow. This polish is made with real 24K gold dust, and it's very different from other chunky gold glitters. I have one by Sally Girl, but it lacks the tiny gold microshimmer particles of Boom Boom Pow. I have seen a lot of swatches of this polish layered over darker colors, but I decided to put it on bare nails (with my usual Orly Bonder as a base and Seche Vite as a top coat).

I really like this look! My nails do feel a little naked, and they're not the whitest they've ever been, but I feel like since the polish is gold and not truly clear, it doesn't matter so much. This polish is too beautiful to not wear alone every once in a while. Please click the picture to enlarge it and see the gold microshimmer!

What do you think? Do you ever wear clear-based glitters on your bare nails? Thanks for reading!

American Apparel Neons

Hello, and I hope you all had a great July 4th weekend! Today I have my collection of American Apparel Neon polishes for you. The only one I didn't buy is the Neon Orange because I don't care for it, but I did swatch it at the store. There are seven polishes in the collection. I think there wasn't originally a Blue, but now there is.

My boyfriend gave me Neon Red, Neon Violet, and Neon Green as a surprise. I loved them! I wore full manicures with each, and each lasted at least three days. The green is definitely my favorite. It's so so SO SO bright! So I went back to American Apparel to get the rest, but I opted to skip the orange. I'm just not a fan. The coral is orange enough for me. Here, swatched from index to pinkie, are Neon Blue, Neon Yellow, Neon Orange, and Neon Coral (also on my thumb). You'll really have to click to enlarge these pictures for the true color. Blogger is muting the colors.

Here's a full manicure with Neon Blue, on my right hand. I'm disappointed! I just did my nails last night, and they already have tip wear! I didn't have this problem with the green, red, or purple, so I don't know if maybe I just did my nails too fast or something. And also, because you need to know, this blue gave me MAJOR smurf hands when I removed it. My fingertips are totally stained blue. That's a huge downer.

You definitely need top coat on all of these if you want a shiny finish. The blue was the only one to dry with some shine.

What do you think? I'll post swatches of the red, green and violet soon.

Minnie Mouse Nails

Hi, everyone! Sorry it's been so long. You know, I'm tired of saying sorry, so I better start posting more often. Here is my current manicure, inspired by Miss Minnie Mouse! I really wanted some simple nail art, so I went with dots. I was thinking about trying to draw her bow, but I really stink at nail art. The simpler, the better. I was inspired by Minnie's polka-dotted dress, which is red with white dots. Her shoes are yellow, and her ears/arms/etc are black, so I added one yellow and one black dot on each nail.

So what do you think? It was so easy.  I did two coats of China Glaze - Hey Sailor to start. It's my favorite red! Then, I dipped the non-brush end of an art brush in nail polish and dotted it on my nails. I did all of the dots in white first, using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Lavender Cloud. Then, I put one dot of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow and one dot of American Apparel - Hassid for the black dot.

I really love this look, and I think I want to try it with different color combinations! I found many pictures of Minnie in a blue dress with a pink bow, so I might do something with that next time. I don't know why, but I'm all about Disney lately!

Thanks for reading! I hope you're having a great week!

Love and Beauty - Chunky Holographic Glitter

Hi, everyone! I know, it took a long time for me to post another blog! My bad. I had orientation for nursing school this week, and also I got sick. Some sort of cold/allergy combo. Gross. I hate blowing my nose, especially in front of other people, and there was a lot of that this week due to the fact that I couldn't miss orientation!

Okay, all snot aside, here's a manicure for you! This is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Chocolatte, which I've shown you before, and two coats of an unnamed Love & Beauty polish. I just named it "Chunky Holographic Glitter" because that's exactly what it is. You can get these polishes at Forever 21, and this one is pretty good! I used Seche Vite as a top coat as usual, but this look lasted me four days. I could have left it on, but four days is a loooooong time for me to sport the same polish.

Look how pretty it looks in the bottle, too! It's like a rainbow of color. Enlarge the picture to see all the rainbow prettiness! This look reminds me of Britney Spears' outfit from one of her MTV VMA performances of years past, and a coworker of mine had the same thought. Remember that outfit? Nude with glitter all over? Here, the image on the right: Britney. Yes? No? She used to be so hot. And then there was THIS. Admittedly, that's a terrible angle, and she still looks better than most women out there.

Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Weird, Sleepy Nail Art

Okay, I have sleeping problems. And I take medicine for this. And the medicine makes me do weird things at night. And I always wake up with little surprises. And this isn't the first time I've tried to do my nails too late at night, after taking my medicine. BUT this is the first time I took pictures!

 Here we have China Glaze - Blue Iguana over Hard Candy - Lava. I had the Lava manicure already done, so that part looks okay! But then, I guess I decided late at night that I needed some blue "nail art" in my life. Stripes, dots, and globs. The top coat on my pinkie is a chunky holographic glitter from Forever 21.

My friends at work and my mom thought this was too funny not to blog.  As usual, click the pictures to enlarge and see the true color. What do you think of my beautiful art???

Sinful Colors - Irish Green

Hello readers! This is SUCH a cheat post. By that, I mean that I'm totally only posting this swatch so I have something to post. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time for fun manicures, or to take pictures. Right now, I just put on a cool pink holo frankenpolish that I made a while ago. I will do my best to take some pictures tomorrow and get this baby posted, and explain how to franken your own glittery polishes!

I know, ONE finger? Total cheat. But level with me here, you know you can't walk into Walgreen's or Rite Aid without being smacked in the face by the Sinful Colors neon display. The only one that really called to me was this green, so I picked it up. And, for the money ($2 I think?), it's awesome. Very squishy and jelly-ish. Three coats was fine, and I do thin coats. So if you're thinking about it, pick this baby up!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Easy Rose Nail Art!!!

Okay, so I saw THIS post on one of my favorite nail blogs, "Also Known As..." and I had to try it myself! Kellie followed THIS nail tutorial on YouTube by CutePolish, showing a very simple but very cute manicure. I'm so into floral at the moment, but who isn't? The best thing about this manicure is that anyone can do it, and you can use any polishes you have!

 I used China Glaze - For Audrey for the background. For the roses, I used Zoya - Lo as the background and China Glaze - Hey Sailor for the accents. For the leaves, I used Essie - Pretty Edgy. What do you think?

I couldn't wait to take these pictures after I finished, so please excuse any polish on my fingers! What do you think? Would you try this manicure? It was so easy- it even looks good on my right hand!

Zoya - Kiki

Howdy! Long time no see! Sorry, this was my first week of working full-time for my internship. It's very physically and mentally exhausting, but here I am, with a beautiful polish to show you!

I think this is now officially my favorite pink polish. I love pink, so that's saying a lot! I ordered Kiki even though I already had Gilda, which is pretty close. Kiki is lighter and more neon-ish, and the shimmer is more fine than in Gilda. I think you'll have to click to enlarge the photo to get accurate color. Blogger keeps washing out all my brights.

I love the bright tone, I love the microshimmer, and I love the formula! Two coats and it was perfect! I definitely recommend Kiki if you're looking for a fun polish for the summer.

Yesterday, I went to see Hangover Part 2. It was hilarious! Go see it! Well, go see it if you don't mind full frontal male nudity. Any big plans for the long weekend?

Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat

Hello! I found the Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoats at Walgreens yesterday, so I decided to do some quick swatches of the ones I picked up!

I chose Distressed Denim and Cherry Smash. I love the names! Very cute. The blue is a cobalt blue with sort of a jelly finish. Here, I'm showing you two coats of OPI Pirates of the Caribbean - Skull & Glossbones with one coat of Distressed Denim and one coat of Seche Vite. The blue crackled less than the red, but I still really like it!

Here's Cherry Smash, again shown over S&G with a coat of Seche Vite. I love this one! It's more cherry and less orange than it looks in the picture. It crackled really well!

And here's a quick experiment I did with both Crackles painted in different directions with Seche Vite on top. I don't know; I was just playing around!

So what do you think about these two? Are you over the crackle trend? I'm not! I love putting on some crackle to spice up a manicure I've been wearing for a couple days. Thanks for reading!

Deborah Lippmann - Yellow Brick Road

Howdy! I have a beautiful new polish to share with you today. This is Yellow Brick Road from Deborah Lippmann. This color got some buzz when it made its debut on Lady Gaga's tips at the Grammy Awards. I immediately freaked out. You guys, no joke, I once had a dream about the perfect yellow jelly nail polish, and I even wrote it down in a notebook I keep of things I want to remember.

So there it is! I'm in love, even with my crappy cuticles. Okay, so I obsessed over this polish after I saw it, but then I saw some swatches online and started wavering. It looked VERY warm-toned and that turned me off, especially at $16. Then, I bought a Groupon from Beauty Bar and when Yellow Brick Road became available, I decided to go for it. I also ordered Boom Boom Pow and Butter London - Thames, both of which I'll be reviewing soon. Anyway, I'm so glad I ordered this one. It's the perfect glossy sheer yellow jelly. I show my boyfriend all of my manicures because that's what I do, and he said, "Looks expensive." I think it's the glossiness.

If you're on the fence about this one, go for it! You'll be happy!

OPI - Planks a Lot

Hello readers! Today I have another pretty polish from OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean line. This is the purple, Planks a Lot. Purples are always hard to capture in pictures, and this one is no exception, so I'm showing you pictures in both natural and artificial light. Here's natural lighting:

 And here's artificial lighting, with flash:

In my mind, the natural lighting picture is probably more color accurate. The flash makes the polish look more red-toned, when it definitely has a blue base. I think it's a bit dustier than it looks in the natural lighting picture. I definitely like this polish, but it's probably not one of my favorites! If I'm looking to wear a special purple, I'd rather wear either American Apparel - L'Esprit or OPI - Funky Dunkey.

You may notice that the name of my blog is slightly different- because I was accepted into nursing school! So I'm now officially a nursing student, or at least I will be in the Fall! Yay! I hope you all had a great weekend!

OPI - Stranger Tides

Hello again, readers! Thanks for the comments on my last post- I still haven't figured out how to reply directly. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake. Anyway...

Here's Stranger Tides from OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection! I can't say enough how great I think the collection is. What can I say- I'm really feeling the vibe. I like how most of the colors are neutral-ish, but with a twist. Stranger Tides is a light sage green. I feel like it pulls a little bit warm. As soon as I saw the preview pics, I knew I had to have this one.

This is the most color-accurate picture I took, and it's in more sunlight than I usually have in my pictures. I think the color is pretty true to this. Dusty light sage. Yeah. Get this polish! If you're on the fence, go for it. It's beautiful and special and neat.

I hope you're having a great week! I'm already ready for the weekend.

OPI - Pirates of the Caribbean

Hello loves!

I'm just popping in very quickly to show you the three polishes I chose from OPI's new POTC collection. I was lucky enough to find a fully-stocked display at my local Ulta. I skipped out on the Silver Shatter because I'm not too into the shimmery shatters.

I picked up Stranger Tides, Skull and Glossbones, and Planks a Lot. I didn't plan on buying PaL, but they were buy 2, get one free. What do you think of my choices? Do you plan on getting any polishes from this collection? I think OPI will have a big hit here.

I'll be back soon with swatches! Today I'm wearing Stranger Tides, and it is freaking awesome.

Zoya - Elodie

A WEEK WITH NO POSTS?!?! I feel terrible. And I couldn't even get a good picture of my current manicure. I was on a business trip for a couple days, so that must count for something!

Zoya - Elodie is so hard to capture. It's coral. A pinky coral. But for some reason, the pictures look either too pink or too red. AND Blogspot is color-correcting my pictures again. Oh, sigh. Click the pictures to make them full size and see the actual color. Plus, check out my new ring! Very blingy.

I started to get some chips after two days or so, which is sad. I slapped on some Crackle to breathe some new life into the manicure

So there you go! I hope you have a great week! I'll do my best to post more often.

Sally Hansen - Crushed

Hello everyone! Today I want to show you Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Crushed. As you'll notice, I cropped out my ratty cuticles! I can't even look at them at the moment.

Anywho, I was looking for the perfect shimmery dark orange. I don't really like orange in general, but somehow I got the idea that I needed a reddish-orange immediately. I found Crushed, and I really like it! It's very glowy. Sometimes it looks more red than orange, although it looks quite orange in my pictures. It's pretty much exactly what I wanted.

This picture does a good job of showing the pretty shimmer. I think of tangerines when I see my nails. There's a lot of depth here, and at less than $3 a bottle, you can't lose with Crushed!

Thanks for reading! I hope you all got through Monday without much trouble.