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Friday, May 25, 2012

Gradient Friday!

Happy Friday, everybody! Today was declared Gradient Friday by the girls in the nail polish group I'm in on Facebook. Gradients are one of my favorite forms of nail art... they are super easy, and look super cool! I love how you can mix and match colors and make them flow! 

For my gradient today, I started with what I already had on my nails - Orly 'Beach Cruiser'. I don't have a pic of it on its own right now, but I will soon - I got four of the Orly neon polishes and I will save them for their own post! :) On top of that, I sponged some China Glaze OMG polishes! I started with 'BFF', then 
'IDK', and ended with 'DV8'. Added a layer of Seche Vite, and voila!  I think DV8 and IDK could have been better blended, but overall I like it!


Thanks for reading! Also, check out all of the other gradients fellow nail polish lovers created for Gradient Friday!! :) Have a great holiday weekend everyone!!


Monday, May 21, 2012

Sally Hansen Kitty, Kitty!

Hi everyone! I'm not sure if you all have heard about this website or not, but if you haven't, I suggest you join! It's called Influenster, and they have themed boxes known as Vox Boxes. It's free to make an account, and once you have one, you can unlock various badges that pertain to your interests. Then, when Influenster has a new box, they pick people to review it that have unlocked badges that match the products in the box. I got my first Vox Box, which was the spring beauty one. Here is a picture of everything that came in it:

Bath & Body Works Twilight Woods Body Spray, Dr. Scholl's Ball of Foot pads, Aveeno Body Wash, Sheercover Concealer, Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail strips, Chap Stock Shield 365, and  Soy Joy Bar

I already have the concealer, and I LOVE IT. So I'm glad to get another one. It is a very lightweight concealer, and feels sheer on your finger, but it actually has really good coverage! The body spray is a fragrance I hadn't tried yet, and it smells really good, so that was a nice surprise! The scent doesn't last as long as a perfume, but I was able to smell it for a couple of hours after I sprayed it. 

What I want to share with you today are the nail strips! This was the first time I had ever tried them. Here is what the contents looked like:

The color I got is 320 Kitty, Kitty. It is a leopard print pattern - - How did they know I was from Jersey?! :) It came with a cuticle pusher stick, nail file, 16 strips, and an instruction pamphlet. Basically, you make sure your nails are free from debris and oils, and your cuticles are pushed back. Then you take a strip closest to your nail shape, peel off the plastic, stick the decal on, smooth it out and over the tip of your nail, and file off the rest. Here is my nail strip journey:

Pretty neat, I think! Overall I liked these! Once I got the hang of applying them, it was rather quick and easy to put them on. 

Pros:
No drying time - that is awesome! 
Awesome patterns - it's really easy to wear intricate nail art!
Long lasting - I wore mine from Wednesday night to Sunday night with only one small chip

Cons:
Takes a while to get the hang of applying these - it took me about 3 nails worth of strips to get how to apply these. I wasted one decal in the process
Doesn't perfectly cover the nail - As you can see in my last picture, there is still some nail showing on the side of my ring finger nail. If I went to a larger size, the decal would have gone onto my finger itself.
You get 16 in a pack - You only have 10 fingers, so you are paying for 6 extra stickers that you may not use. But since there are only 16, you can only get one application out of them. I suppose if you cut the strips in half you could get two manicure's worth out of one package, but that's extra work on your part.

At the end of the day I love these for the cool patterns and no dry time. I probably wouldn't use them for just a plain color look, since applying actual nail polish does that better.

Thanks for reading!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Toxic Seaweed

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share a beautiful polish with you! This is Toxic Seaweed, by Cult Nails! Cult Nails makes some gorgeous nail polish, and Toxic Seaweed is no exception! It's an aqua/teal jelly base packed with green glitter and tiny flake particles that take on a coppery color in the bottle. Let's take a look at some pictures!

Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

That's three coats! Really pretty, huh!? This polish can be purchased over at Cult Nails.

Have a great day!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Tropical Gradient

Hi everyone! I know, I know it's been forever. My life just got so busy, and I find myself wrapped up in the Cali lifestyle... I guess meaning spending more time outside and less in front of a computer? I haven't stopped doing my nails though, and have pretty much like a jillion polishes to share! I am going to try my best to keep this going, as I truly do enjoy it!

To get back in the *hopeful* groove, I'm starting with a gradient! This is one of my favorite types of nail art... I just love how the colors blend together, and shift into each other. For this look I used all Illamasqua polishes. "Collide" is the base, and then I sponged on "Stance" and "Nomad". Topped off with some Seche Vite and voila! Smooth, glassy, colorful nails! These colors make me think of a tropical island... perhaps with a tropical cocktail in hand?


Have a nice day!