No Efforticure!

So most of the time my nails aren't actually painted all crazy, with fab designs the kids want to copy. I usually only wear out my design if it can replicated it on my other hand, or I can create something similar on the other hand. Most of the time they are just one plain colour. Boring, I know. But even I get tired of it after a couple days(I have never been a paint your nails ever day person), so I have to jazz it up. With a few strips of striping tape, a gold stud and textured polish(Zoya Tomoko), I have turned Sally Hansens Alchemy, a tipwear nightmare, into a delightful sparkly piece of art.

Do you recycle manicures?

 

 Ps. I topcoated everything.

My A-Z Challenge is ON TIME!

Feeling much better about crappy things that had happened last week and and looking forward to what new things are to come! Also a few days ago I was complimented on my makeup for the first time ever! Little background info, I have been wearing makeup more and more regularly since the beginning of the new year. Before then I rarely wore it unless it was a fancy occasion. Anyway, a new friend of mine was talking about girls doing their makeup really well, and they she said something "Like you". Now this is probably not that big a deal for most females in their 20's, but as someone who is just starting to get into it, and who isn't the greatest, it makes me feel fantastic.

Now onto the nails! I have been super slow when it comes to the A-Z challenge, but for the first time in forever I am actual posting on time! This week the theme is T for Texture. I started with a base of Zoya NYX(I'll talk about that in a separate post) and I decided to stamp over it with Sinful Colors Snow Me White. When I started I didn't know if I liked it, but when I finished all my nails, it kind of felt like it all came together. Success!

OH! One more thing! You can probably tell my nails are a bit shorter. I had a break in one of them, that I had been taking care of for a while. It was pretty low down, but growing out nicely. Then the other day it snagged on my shirt and started tearing down the centre of my nail, so I decided I had to cut it. I know some people are disappointed when they have to cut their nails, but I honestly don't mind, because I like them either way!

Here are some more A-Z creations:

An InLinkz Link-up

Zoya London: Sooooooo Quirky.

But not.

Today is the A-Z Challenge and once again I will be late. Not only am I busy this week, but I am doing things that need my nails to not be too quirky(The letter this week is Q). So I have gone in the total opposite direction of quirky and have a swatch for you guys.

This is London from Zoya's soon to be discontinued PixieDust line. It's a gray textured polish with silver shimmer. I used 2  easy coats for this swatch. To get it smooth I only needed 2 coats of top coat. Honestly out of all the textured polishes I have, this is probably the one I like the least. Not to say I don't love it, just out of all of them I am the least impressed with this one. It's very pretty, but doesn't make me swoon.

No topcoat

 Topcoat

Unintentional Wear Test - Barry M Majesty

As usual I am late with my A-Z challenge this week, but I have a good reason! Thursday I was going to do it, but then I had to transcribe a video. I don't know if you know anything about transcribing videos, but it is tedious. You sit there and type word for word what someone is saying, and what time in the video they started talking, and when they ended. Transcribing 5 minutes of dialogue takes about an hour, maybe a bit more. And if I have learnt anything from this it's clear to me that we say "Um" too much. Anyways through it all the polish I wore was Barry M Majesty. I ended up wearing the polish for days. Normally I would have wanted to take it off sooner, but it lasted sooooooo long.

Majesty is a champagne gold, textured glitter with both fine glitter and larger pieces. I goes on the nail a bit darker than the bottle looks. I used 2 easy coats, and it dried in no time at all. At the end of day two I put on 2 coats of clear polish and one coat of top coat.  It smoothed out easily. So easily that had I known I could have used only one coat of clear and one coat of top coat. It wore like iron for almost 7 days before it chipped. A+ from me!

No Topcoat Day 1

 Topcoat Day 6

Nicole By OPI - My Cherry Amour: Siiiiiiicccccckkkkkkkk

Blah! I'm sick and I have been for the past several days. I thought I would avoid getting sick this year because I like to pretend I'm invincible, but then the boy went and infected me with this damned cold! Anyways I'm feeling a bit better, but my nose is killing me. It was bad enough that I didn't change my polish for DAYS. My manicure actually started to........chip........and even then I still didn't have the energy to change it.

When I did gain a bit of my strength back I decided the least I could do was give myself a new manicure. Nothing fancy, just presentable. So I went with Nicole By OPI My Cherry Amour. This is a rich magenta, textured polish, with holographic glitter, from NOPI's Gumdrops line. It has that candy feel to it! I of course had to top coat it and wow, It looked stunning. It made the holo pop even more and made the colour look even more glorious. And just and fyi, it took 2 coats of TC to have it almost smooth(slight bumps not noticeable unless you looked closely) and 3 coats for total smoothness.

If you can get your hands on this I suggest you snap it up. I know it was a Limited edition collection, but you can easily find it on Amazon.

Black and White Nails - SPIDERS EVERYWHERE!

Don't worry folks, there will be no photos of spiders in this post.

So I found 2 spiders today in my room. One of them was IN MY BED. Then yesterday I killed another one. Now I feel like they are everywhere, and I feel like they know I am killing their friends by flushing them away. So now they are out for vengeance. Those sneaky, 8 legged, Bastards.

These are black and white nails(and a seamless segue). These were inspired by Victoria of Manicurator, and a tutorial she did for Nail It Magazine. For mine I used Wet 'n Wild French White Cream and Zoya Dahlia. I just taped of the section I wanted black and boom, magic. Beautiful, simple, magic.

Victoria of Manicurator

Victoria of Manicurator

Victoria of Manicurator

Essie - Lots of Lux: Forbidden Love.

So I will be honest.  I'm not a huge fan of Essie.  I only have a few of them, but in order for me to buy an Essie I have to REALLY love it... or get it for free.  Currently I have 5 Essies.  One I loved until I wore it because it stained like craze. Two of them I bought because I did in fact like the colours, and to this day I still like them.  Then I have one that I got for free, which I like because it was free.  Finally there is this polish, Lots of Lux.  I am IN love with it.  It is by far on of my favourite polishes I own.

Now buying it was a magical experience.  When I see a polish I'm thinking of buying the first thing I do is look up swatches.  Even if I'm in the store and the bottle is in my hand.  I always want to see how it looks as a full manicure.  Here's the problem with this colour.  In photos and when looking at it in the bottle the colour looks AMAZING.  But in photos the polish always looks kind of grainy, and sand like.  For me a nice textured polish should not look like sand thrown into polish or stucco(textured polish that does not have shimmer in it tends to look like this)  So I was torn, a grainy polish, but a stunning colour. I decided I just needed to have it.  It was too pretty to pass up... and it was on sale :P

When I got home I applied 2 easy coats of this polish, and I was blown away.  This rich, bold blue, that was filled with what looked like gold, green, and purple glitter was even prettier on the nail than in the bottle.  I think the problem with photos is the fine glitter does not photograph well, and because the texture is so fine up close it does look a bit grainy.  Long story short this polish does not photograph well, and you all need to buy it NOW!

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! Hopefully you can still find it because I THINK it was limited edition.

Does anyone else here shop for polish with their phone out?  Checking reviews in the store.

Neon Pop! Oh, and Varnished Valkyrie turns 2 today!! Huzzah!!

Sorry I haven't been updating often, but I have been having bouts of insomnia and it leaves me feeling drained.  I'm hoping that passes soon.  I have nothing really interesting to share apart from I made the best slow cooker ribs ever.  The end.

Today I have this simple manicure inspired by Silvia Lace Nails: Textured nail art with a subtle splash of neon.  I loved how the colour looked just popping through the black textured polish.  For mine I used Milani's Dude Blue and Zoya's Dahlia.  I kind of changed up the french as you can see.  It's still simple, but a but a bit funky.  And even though the textured polish was layered over polish it still wore like iron.

In celebration of turning 2 don't forget to check out our 2 year anniversary wishlist giveaway!!

First Holiday Swatch of 2014!!!: Finger Paints - Sparkle In The Sky

Let's get the party started 11 months early! Today I have an older Holiday polish, from way back in 2013.   It's Finger Paints Sparkle In The Sky, from their 2013 LE Enchanted Winter Holiday collection.  Also a near dupe for OPI's polish Alcatraz...Rocks.

Sparkle In The Sky is super, duper pretty.  It's a navy textured polish with what appears to be fine pieces of  light green and purple(maybe pink) glitter.  I used 2 coats and it dried quickly.  Although not as fast as her sister Snow Crystals.  I also added 2 coats of top coat after a day or so.  It didn't smooth it out completely, but it wasn't noticeably bumpy.  It was noticeably pretty.  It really was like a sparkly night sky.

Overall I love this polish and I'm really happy I picked it up.  Do you have any polish from this collection?  I honestly don't think I heard much talk of this polish online.

 W/ top coat

 In sunlight

First Holiday and Finger Paints Swatch of 2013 & The Holiday Manicure That Never Was. Plus I meet the creepiest man yet!

Creepy man story!  I haven't had a good one in a while eh?  So a couple days ago I was looking for an external hard drive for my laptop.  I was going to get one that was made for just Mac.  Instead I got one that was made for Mac and Pc, but it had to be reformatted to use with Macs.  In case reformatting it was too hard, or a pain due to my poopy laptop I knew I had to keep the receipt, just in case I had to go back and exchange it for the Mac specific hard drive.  I'm out of the store 30 second when I realized I dropped the receipt.  Since I wasn't far I decided to retrace my steps.  While looking for it I thought I saw a guy looking at me, but I was paying more attention to finding the receipt.  When I was directly in front of the store, I feel someone behind me, directly behind me.  I turn around and the guy I thought may have been looking at me was.  "Hi" he said.  He was close enough that I could feel, and smell his breath.  At that point I went into the store to try and shake him off.  As I walked into the store I turned around to see if he was still there.  He was.  And he said "Don't walk away pretty lady".  It's safe to say I walked away as fast as I could.

Now let's talk about something else!  Polish!  So this year I wasn't really crazy about any holiday polishes.  But when I got a coupon from Sally's I decided to try some of Finger Paints Polish.  This is from their LE Enchanted Winter Holiday collection.  Not only is this my first Finger Paints of the year, but it is one of my first Finger Paints of EVER!  

This is called Snow Crystals.  It's a textured sparkly, silver polish, with fine glitter and small pieces of silver hex glitter. Went on in 2 easy coat.  Unlike a lot of textured polishes it doesn't look that different when you add top coat.  I think it's because it's already so sparkly to begin with. It really does remind me of sparkling snow.  I can honestly say that I wasn't really into textured polish, but Finger Paints has for sure made me change my mind! Get it now from Sally's before it's gone!  Finger Paints retails for $5.29 USD.

Outdoor - No topcoat

 Indoor - Topcoat

Finally after wearing these for 4 days I decided to add a little Holiday Cheer to them.  I wanted to try Candy Cane nails again.  So I got out some striping tape and red polish and did my thumb.  And when I looked at it the first thing that jumped into my head was... "Eh."  I felt nothing.  It wasn't horrible or anything I just wasn't loving it.  So I decided just to take the whole thing off. 

Is there any one else out there who was on the fence about textured polish? Or are you someone who wont finish a mani, if you're not feeling it?  And I don't think I need to ask about creepy men.  I think we can all wish they didn't exist.

Adventures In Stamping: The Second Attempt

My first attempt wasn't that bad.  Since then I can honestly say I haven't tried it again, until now.  Today I have for you the MLS301 Born Pretty stamping plate from the Born Pretty Store.  As you can see it's pretty much a big plate o' fun.  Lightning, candy, Robbie Williams tattoos(if you know anything about his tattoos you'll get this).  I decided I wanted to use the starts and put it on top of some textured polish.

I'm learning that stamping itself isn't that hard. I just need to work a bit on placement and such.  But I will say one thing I noticed after using a more expensive plate vs. this was the sharpness of the image.  You can tell with this plate that the sharp crisp edges were a a bit lacking.  But nothing to make a fuss over.  I made sure I used an old plastic card rather than a metal scraper that would scratch up the plate.  Clean up was easy as pi.

Overall I'm excited about this plate and can't wait to use it again for some nail art.  My next idea involves rainbows.  Maybe.

If you want a plate like this head on over to the Born Pretty Store.  You can find it there for $1.99 USD.  And you can use our 10% discount code 'EAL91' for an even bigger discount.  AND shipping is FREE!!!

How was my second attempt at stamping?

*Product sent for honest review

Lava Nails: This is the reason I have a bottle of textured polish. That and SCIENCE!

Fact:  I own one bottle of textured polish at the moment.  Zoya Dahlia.  One of the main reason why I bought it was to try this.  I think I would call this a success!

I started off by leaving on the base of Moonlit Dance.  Then with black acrylic paint I messily painted on where the black was going to go.  After that I painted on Dahlia over the black paint using a nail art brush, and adding a tiny bit of black on top of the orange.  This looked much cooler in real life as in some of the black areas I went over them maybe twice.  Then in other areas I went over them around six times.  Not only did I have textures going on because I did more layers in some places more than others it gave it this really neat 3D look!  After I did that I decided to go over the orange with a sheer orange Orly polish(I don't remember the name right now and I can't find it on the bottle(mini)).  I wasn't really loving how shimmery the original orange looked under it.

Fact: Lava- Molten rock above the earths surface, expelled by volcano.  Magma- Molten rock below the earths surface!

Ummmmm...SCIENCE!

Textured Chevrons

Initially, I wasn't too sure about this season's texture trend. While reading up on it, I came across a swatch of OPI Get Your Number with topcoat...well, that holo glitter got me! I later found it in a discount bin and decided to go for it. After playing with it a bit, I kinda started to like the texture. Of course, I couldn't have just a boring, lumpy mani...

Starting with a base of Hot Topic Finn on every nail, I stacked shaped manicure guides from Born Pretty Store onto my index and middle fingers to create the pattern. One coat of Get Your Number, remove guides, bam! Pretty neat way to work the texture trend.

I actually like these a lot!

These would also be really easy to do with scotch tape. I'd like to try this look again with a contrasting base, or a more wild design with striping tape.

Have any of you wonderful readers tried any textured polishes?