Poppies Mani

Hey everyone!

These nails are inspired by a video tutorial I saw on YouTube 2-3 years ago. I can't remember the name of the user and I wasn't able to find the video, so if this mani looks familiar and you know who the original artist is, please let me know! 

The weather in Ohio has been quite blah and I was in need of some brightness! 

Pure Ice in Unzip Me

Sally Hansen in Bubblegum Pink

China Glaze in Gothic Lolita

Sally Hansen in So Poppy

SinfulColors in Cloud 9

Black acrylic paint

The colors used in this "poppies" mani were inspired by Spring Poppies 1 by Susan Hazard. It's a very pretty painting!

This mani works best if you use polishes with the same finish. Here I had all shimmers. It just keeps the busyness of the pattern from being too overwhelming...

I attempted a water color nail here using the same colors. Unfortunately the brush I used was very small so it didn't have quite the intended effect but I find it quite interesting.

Also here is some pic spam of my international swaps

Mavala Black Diamond, Model's Own Mystic Mauve, W7 Metallic Venus. Marks and Spencers Rainbow, MaxFactor Fantasy Fire

Fantasy Fire Close Up

So much GOSH! Names below.

Until next time ^_^

Nubar Mail!- Bynubar.com review

I was really excited when I saw the new Polka Dot set by Nubar. They are so pretty no??

image from bynubar.com

I was still on the waiting list for Lynnderella's Connect the Dots so I thought these puppies could satisfy my craving for black and white glitter toppers until I could finally get my hands on CTD...

I ordered my set from Bynubar.com. I looked around on amazon and other online retailers to see if I could get a better deal but in the end, if you want both White Polka Dot and Black Polka Dot, I recommend getting it directly from the source!
For $20 you get both Polka Dot toppers and Diamont Seal and Shine, which is a really good top coat!

The set came in this poly box. The outside of the box was very dusty... This picture was taken after I had blown most of the dust off, and there is still a lot there. However, the inside of the box was pristine so I didn't really care.

Here they are outside of the box! the Black Polka Dot reminds me of the black bean abyss they have at Moe's Southwest Grill. It's just a big pot of boiled black beans that you can have them put on pretty much anything you order. It looks like a bubbling cauldron of black plague but it tastes delicious!
White Polka dot is much more innocent looking in comparison no? As you can see here, the white is a little more of a pearly white. The glitters are a little translucent but still very pretty.
And of course the Diamont top coat peeking in the back!

Star Sparkle and Night Sparkle

 also went ahead and ordered 2 Nubar polishes that I had been lemming for! Star Sparkle, a silver holographic glitter, and Night Sparkle, a dark blue glitter. These are both full coverage glitters and take 2-3 coats...

My overall experience with Bynubar.com was rather pleasant. Shipping was a little higher than I expected it to be (at over $13 for 5 bottles of Domestic polish) so that was a little disappointing. I fiddled around with what was in my cart to try and figure out how their shipping works. For 1 bottle of polish, shipping to Ohio was $13 ish dollars, adding the polka dot kit and another bottle did not vary that price. Adding another 3 polish kit, however, increased shipping by about $1. So if you are going to order something from this site, I recommend you make it worth the shipping and order more than just a couple bottles...

*please be aware that shipping is likely to vary by location. Your shipping may be significantly different from mine if you live on the west coast for example*

It took about 3 days for my order to process and an additional 3 days for shipping. Shipping was done via UPS. I personally do not have a preference between USPS and UPS other than USPS usually being cheaper but I know that some of you do :)

Most of you probably know about the quality of this brand so I won't babble on too long about it. Mostly these met my expectation for the brand. I can't wait to mess around with these :D

Also, as luck would have it, the day I ordered these, I received an email from Llarowe saying that my bottle of Connect the Dots had been shipped >_<

Oh well, now I have lots of black and white glitter toppers to show you guys! woohoo!

What would you prefer, Nubar Polka Dot or Lynnderella Connect the Dots?

Until next time ^_^

Drugstore finds!

Hello everyone! 

this is just a quick picture post of some of the stuff I recently got at the drugstores around here

Found these Revlons at Walgreens and CVS. I was on the hunt for whimsical but no such luck. However, there is nothing like glitter polish to make up for that!

Sparkling,Facets of Fuchsia, Radiant, Smoldering

 I noticed some new Wet n' Wilds at CVS. I think the colors are the same (at least some of them...) but the bottle is new! and they now have a wide brush :D unfortunately, this wide brush is reminiscent of the Spoiled line's wide brush so it's not that great... Regardless, for $1.99 these babies were a steal! the colors are nice and the application (minus the brush) was quite nice.

Disturbia, I need a refresh-mint, Through the grapevine

 The Gem Crush collection was on sale at CVS so I decided to pick up a few of them too. I had been on the fence about these. I really liked the glitter and colors, but at $6.99 a bottle, that was just a little too much. Especially since some of these are dupes of China Glaze polishes which I can get for $3! 

Big Money, Cha-Ching, Lady Luck, Razzle Dazzler, Be Jeweled, Showgirl Chic

 These Essie polishes were found at CVS. I was super excited to see Sew Psyched there. I don't have anything that looks like it so it had to come home with me :)

As Gold as it Gets, Sew Psyched, A Cut Above

 The 2 Spoiled polishes will probably be used for frankening but Rise and Shine is here to stay! it's such a gorgeous and bright polish!

Shaken Snow Globe, Rise and Shine, I only eat salads

 Last but not least, I had to go to 2 different Walgreens but I finally found Cinderella. This is probably the prettiest color released by SinfulColors. Pastel creamy blue with golden flecks. Nail polish perfection! I strongly advise using some underwear for this polish though. It's a little on the sheer side (3 coats to opacity) but also, underwear will make it last longer :)

 If you are interested in Cinderella, I did pick up an extra bottle. It's up for swap on Makeup Alley. If you want it, just message me on there and we can work something out!

alrighty, well that's it for today!
Don't you just love drugstore finds?

Until next time ^_^

Half Moon Lace and Swap Haul

On to week 6 of the challenge! this time we're doing a half moon manicure. 

This is a very simple idea, especially if you have binder reinforcement stickers. Then all you have to do is paint your base color, wait for it to dry, stick on half a reinforcement sticker, paint your accent color, peel of sticker and tadah! instant clean lines!

Since so many of you have been posting up valentine's manis, I thought I would try and make this half moon a little valentine's friendly.

I chose very girly colors, pink and purple to start with. Then I added some lacey looking accents. Some of them ended up looking more like tiaras but oh well right?
You will have to excuse my sorry looking middle finger nub. I broke it on my car door a week or so ago (which is why I you only saw my right hand for the newspaper mani) and it is only now starting to look like a nail again. I would have shown you my right hand instead but my freehand was not quite up to par on that one... Hence nubbin!

Essie in Cute as a Button

L'oreal in Violet Vixen

White acrylic paint

I have also been swapping like crazy for the past month so I thought I would share the polish related exchanges with you :)

 I managed to get nearly all of the Kleancolor metallic polishes, which are amazzzzing!

Group shot!

Clicky to see them in their full glory!

I also got my paws on a few other goodies

Revvolution, Holo Glitter, Spectraflair Topcoat, Glitz and Glamour

I now have fulfilled all of my black holo desires :) plus the spectraflair topcoat turns any polish into a linear holo! how freaking neat is that! I got my from Panduhh on MUA. She makes some neat frankens!

Sweet Peacock, Clarins 230 dupe, Zoya Valerie

I also got a Clarins 230 dupe from Panduhh. It's not quite as flashy with green as what I have seen from the real 230 but it truly is gorgeous and I love it!

Ocean, Pedal to the Metal, Cute as a Button

My first GOSH polish! I am so excited! I have been eyeing this beauty for a long time now. I just have to come up with the perfect design for it now >_<

I also got a new stamping plate and the wonderful Rainbow's End nic stick. Since I really hate the brushes on these type of applicators, I followed some instructions on MUA on how to decant these bad boys and ended up with this:

The bottle is only about 1/3 full since the nic stick really doesn't contain that much polish but it is gorgeous! If you want to try this yourself, let me know and I can direct you to the instructions I found. It was actually super easy to do...

Techno, City never sleeps, Sparkle Blue

lastly I have some neat-o glitters. The Sparkle blue is actually much more purple than blue but it has great flakies in it which is always awesome!

Well that's all folks, I hope you enjoyed my pic spam! I have some international swaps in the work right now so I may post up those whenever I receive everything :)

 Do you ever get into a swap frenzy? 

Until next time ^_^