Mani Monday: Keep Calm and Paint On

Hey,

I went to get my nails done today, the color I chose was China Glaze Keep Calm and Paint On. It was part of the Avant Garden collection that was released in the spring. I just had my nails mint but saw this and wanted it on my nails, I was going to buy this one but I couldn't find it, now that I have on my nails I'm glad I didn't, I have Re-Fresh Mint so a shimmer top coat would pretty much make this color so it's not worth it in my opinion. It's a pretty color and my nails are acrylics so the paint won't chip but it will fade. I don't know what the top coat was. The polish isn't so blue in person.

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NOTD: Going Green

with flash

Hey,

I have been very bad with posting, I started a new job and have been working 50 hour weeks and therefore I haven't had much time to write up a post and then post it. But I am going to work on that starting now! This week I went with China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint and Four Leaf Clover. Both gorgeous shades of green and great polishes. I used Four Leaf Clover as my accent nail and then the mint on the rest of my nails.  Both these polishes last long on the nails and they really compliment each other. I used no top coat or base coat. Four Leaf Clover is very staining on the nails, in my experience using a base coat makes no difference with preventing stains from this polish.

without flash

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Mani Monday: Sunny Days with an Orange Fix

With flash

Hey,
This week I decided to do something bright for summer on my nails, these nails are really cute and fun for summer.. The colors I used were Rimmel 60 Second polish in Sunny Days and Maybelline Color Show polish in Orange Fix. I did four coats of the yellow, this one isn't as opaque as I would like but with a white base underneath two coats should work great. For the accent nail the orange only took two coats and the orange polka dots went on in one coat, but I did go over a few making a few darker. I used no base coat, and the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.


With natural lighting

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So far both polishes are holding up well, but the yellow didn't dry to nice and got a little messed up since I used so many coats.
 

Mani Monday: Caramel Cupcake



What it looks like in sunlight

Hey,

This week I went with Rimmel 60 Second polish in Caramel Cupcake, its a pretty nude. Unfortunately this color is not flattering with my skin tone, so if you have a medium skin tone you may want to pass on this polish, although it looks gorgeous in the sun; it makes your hands look like mannequin hands. It would probably look nice on some one with either a dark skin tone or a light skin tone. The polish itself is great, has nice lasting power, goes on opaque in two coats which for a nude this cheap is amazing, it also applies so easily. These polishes truly are great and I would recommend them, but this shade just isn't a good color for me.

What it looks like in natural lighting

I think from now on I'm going to include picture of what the polish looks like in natural light and in the sun. I'm also going to try to get back into blogging by doing at least three post a week.

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Ways to Change Up Your Manicure

No one likes chipped nails and the same
manicure can get boring.

Hey,
 
Do you have chipped nails, getting bored with your manicure mid-way through the week, or tired of the same old one color manicure week after week but not so great at nail art? Well if any of those apply to you then this post is perfect for you! I want to share with you a few easy ways to change up any manicure and a few that hide those chipped tips. I personally only like to paint my nails once a week so this is what I often do to cover up the chipping, I may add on to these and do a part two. The green is Rimmel 60 Second polish in Sage All the Rage and the brown is Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Commander in Chic. Both featured in a haul recently you can see that here and the green was just in my past Mani Monday, which you can see here. Also when doing these try to pick an opaque polish to make these much easier.

The middle one isn't actually pointy it's the
light reflecting.

 
So the first thing I like to do is like a half moon manicure but with a triangle, this has been pretty trendy lately and is a fun twist on the half moon manicure, I used a post it, pretty strange but it worked pretty good. I cut one of the corners on the sticky side and stuck that on the base of my nail and then painted the tip, I did have to touch up the green because it was a little messy so painting on the triangle would probably be easy if you aren't trying to cover up any chipping. To do that I would use two pieces of tape and just tape them onto the nail forming a triangle at the base.
 
Next is one of my personal favorites, I actually do polka dots on my nails fairly often. I think they are super cute and good for any color combo, and they look great as an accent or on all of your nails. I use the ball of a sewing pin but a dotting tool is the more conventional way, I just don't own one. I have also used lollipop sticks for bigger dots and that worked really great.
 
The half moon manicure is a pretty popular easy nail art trick. The most common way and the method I used was using binder reinforcement labels, these can be found at store like Target, Walmart and any other drugstore for around a dollar. You just stick these on the base of the nail as low or as high as you'd like and then paint the tip, wait 30 seconds then remove the binder reinforcement label.
 
This next one is pretty easy and really cute, all you do is paint thin vertical strips and then paint the top third. This adds a little bit more then a French tip but also covers your chipping.

Lastly is the French tip, classic and so looks great with any color combination. I just free hand this, but I have always heard that if you move your finger instead of the brush it makes the perfect strip. You can also try the binder reinforcement labels and tape to achieve that perfect tip.

What are your favorite ways to spice up your manicure or hide chipping? Remember none of these have to look perfect, mine sure don't but I still always get compliments on them so don't worry about them not looking perfect, they are just easy ways that anyone can do.

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Mani Monday: Sage All The Rage

Hey,
 

This week I decided to paint my nails with the sage green I hauled Sunday, you can see that post here. In that post I mentioned that I have been loving neutrals lately and this color is gorgeous. It is the perfect sage color, better for fall then summer but still gorgeous now. I did two coats and then used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat, I love the way this polish applies, it went on so easily since the brush is huge and I didn't get it on my skin at all, I will definitely be picking up more of these polishes and suggest them to you too!

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The picture is pretty accurate in what the color look like in person.

Mani Monday: Mighty Mango

Hey,

This manicure got me so many compliments and the combination looked so amazing together. A lot of people also asked if they were meant to be lady bugs, but really this was just me using a topcoat I don't get many opportunities to use. For this manicure I used Sally Hansen Mighty Mango and put China Glaze Whirled Away, I love the way the two pair together. I used the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat. I do believe this lasted me half of the week before chipping. The china Glaze polish was a limited edition and I do not believe it is still available. The color is a bit more orange in person.

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Also I have a post coming soon on my favorite summer polishes.

Mani Monday; Mimosa's before Mani's

Hey,

This week I decided to use another one of the polishes I hauled last week, I used Peachy Keen as my accent nail. Both polishes are from China Glaze, Mimosa's Before Mani's is from the Avant Collect, Peachy Keen is a permanent color. I love this combination and have talked about Peachy Keen many times and its been in several Mani Mondays. Mimosa's Before Mani's is a beautiful coral that leans more pink then orange, there is a very subtle shimmer in it, but it appears to be a creme finish on your nails. This is a perfect spring combo and I suggest both these polishes. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat with no base coat. It did wear off a bit on my pointer fingers after about three days and then it started to chip the fourth day so that isn't to great but the polish is still gorgeous and I am rough on my nails.

The polish isn't that bright in person, it's more pastel. Sorry for the non cropped picture.

Last weeks haul, featuring Mimosa's Before Mani's, here. Mani Mondays including Peachy Keen: Peachy Keen With a Gold Sheen and Peach and Periwinkle, it was also mentioned in my favorite spring polish post which can be viewed here.

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NOTD: Easter

Hey,

I have a Mani Monday coming up tomorrow, although it's on what I had on my nails last week but I just painted my nails for Easter, it's like midnight on Saturday, well Sunday now. But I wanted to share my Easter nails with you, I mainly stuck with pastels and then added white polka dots, I personally think it's super cute and looks like little Easter eggs. I also uploaded an Easter ETOD, which you can check out here.

Colors used:
China Glaze Fade Into Hue, blue
China Glaze Tart-y for the Party, purple
China Glaze Re-fresh Mint, mint
China Glaze Peachy Keen, peach
Sinful Colors Beautiful Girls, pink
Sally Hansen White Out, white

I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat, I did these pretty fast and my whites starting to get goopy so they did come out a little messy, but I think that just adds to them and makes them look cuter, I added the dots randomly too and the colors aren't on any finger for a reason, in fact both hands are different.

Happy Easter!

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Mani Monday: Nude Nails

Hey,

Last week I bought a few new nail polishes, I will upload a haul either tomorrow or Thursday, I picked up these two colors: Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Bare Naked which is on all of my nails except my ring finger which has Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Coin Flip. I generally don't go for colors like this. I love this two paired together, I also have Coin Flip on my toe nails.

Bare Naked is a gorgeous nude with a very subtle shimmer and Coin Flip is a gold with sliver shimmer, it is a metallic. Both are holding up pretty well so far, I painted my nails on Saturday and I have no chips. I used the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat and no base coat. Coin Flip took two coats and Bare Naked took three, but it should work with two my nails are just a bit stained right now. These are both great polishes and the colors would look great with most skin tones.

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NOTD: First Mate, plus mini haul

Hey,

It's been a bad few weeks, especially these past two weeks, which is why I haven't been blogging and for it being such a crumby week I decided I needed to treat myself to a few new bottles of nail polish. I picked up, all by China Glaze, Ingrid and then the two for today's NOTD Whirled Away(limited edition, part of the Cirque Du Soleil Worlds Away collection) and First Mate. Ingrid is a mid tone taupe brown with a subtle gold shimmer, Whirled Away is a clear based, not glitter so I guess confetti polish with mainly black but some white chunks too, all in different sizes. First Mate is a beautiful dark almost navy blue. I love the combination of First Mate and Whirled Away, I will say that I was a bit disappointed by Whirled Away but I am glad to have it because it looks really nice after a few coats but on its on or just one coat is a bit disappointing. I only used Whirled Away on my ring finger as an accent nail. I didn't use a top coat or a base coat. All polishes purchased at Sally Beauty Supply.

Sorry for the glare!

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Links:
China Glaze
Cirque Du Soleil Worlds Away collection
Sally Beauty Supply

NOTD: Vintage Boutique

Hey,
Yet again another late nail post, I wanted something fall, I love fall I feel like everyone who is into beauty and fashion says that but it has always been my favorite season. Last week I mentioned that I may be done with these and I still am unsure if this will be the last one or not, I will definitely replace these post with something else for Mondays. So this week I chose to use Vintage Boutique, its a gorgeous fall color, I'm not always the biggest fan of brown but there is something about this brown that I just love, it reminds me of fall and hot chocolate, which I do categorize as a fall item. I don't know how to even begin to explain this brown, it seems to me like it has purple in it and at the same time it seems like it doesn't and is more of a taupe or mushroom brown. It's an Avon polish, part of their Nailwear pro+ nail enamel line, and I do believe this is only sold around now, but I may be wrong about that.

My blog is being part of a "competition", I would really appreciate if you would vote for me, its under the best new blogger category. It's a really great way to find some awesome blogs too. http://www.theblogcat.com/p/blog-cat-awards.html

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Nail polish: http://shop.avon.com/shop/product.aspx?level1_id=300&level2_id=301&pdept_id=313&cat_type=C&pf_id=45832

Delayed Mani Monday; Awakening

Hey,

Since this week fall starts I wanted to paint my nails in a fall themed color. I picked this up a while ago and featured it in a haul, which you can see here. I was debating on what color to get when I had bought this polish and prior to getting this I heard that it was like a sunset on your nails and it really is. I think this is a beautiful polish but I'm not sure if I would repurchase it, I'm glad to have it in my collection but I don't see myself getting a lot of use out of it. This polish is called Awakening and its by China Glaze. It's like a purple/orange/rust/pink in one depending on the angle. Its a unique and gorgeous polish, and I do suggest checking it out because its so different and even though I'm not in love with it you might end up loving it. The picture I used only captures the purple side but seriously you need to check this out in person. I used Seche Vite as my top coat, no base I find I don't hate it when it isn't paired with a base coat but I'm still not blown away by it,.; thankfully its almost gone! Since I'm almost done with that top coat I want to know what your favorite top coat is, I need to pick up a new one soon.

Also I know I've been late/ not posting much lately and I'm sorry about that, I'm trying and hopefully I can start getting more post out and back on schedule. I also may not be able to do these Mani Monday post anymore, but will try to replace them with something else, but I am not sure if I will or will not be able too, I'll know for next weeks hopefully.

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Mani Monday: Blossom

Hey,

I wanted a good transitioning into fall color this week, so I went with this pretty pinkish red color by Avon called Blossom which is a discontinued color they had for fall a year or two ago. With that being said I know I've seen colors pretty much exactly like this one from Sinful Colors and OPI, pretty much every nail polish company has something similar. I think this would look really nice paired with a brown, mauve brown or taupe. I just used a top coat this week which was Seche Vite, and last week that top coat got "dirty" it just looked filthy and I have no clue how that happened since I'm not the type of person to even let my hands get dirty, it was really strange and just wouldn't wash off.

Sorry for the really messy nails, I honestly just painted them and typed this up a few minutes before it was posted and usually I do this the night before, I've been so busy hence the few blog post this week.

Also the polish is a bit more pink tones in person not as bright.

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Mani Monday

Hey,

This week I just wanted something simple but yet pretty and still semi bright. Typically I go for a nude/pink when I don't know what to paint my nails but this week I wanted color but not to crazy so I went with China Glaze For Audrey, I've had a post with this before in a past Mani Monday and a haul. I really like this color but I think it might be getting a bit gloppy and I haven't even had it for more then three months so that's not good. It is a gorgeous color though and I'm going to wait a while and see if it gets worse or if it was just then. I also might add a bit to it later this week and therefore I might have a post probably Thursday of how I touch up a manicure mid way through the week. I didn't use a base coat but I did use Seche Vite as my top coat.

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Mani Monday: Ballerina

Hey,

This week I just wanted something pretty and natural but still there. I went with Avon Speed Dry+ Nail Enamel in Ballerina, its a gorgeous soft pink that just leaves your nails looking natural but still pretty and polished. This polish is extremely sheer, it took three coats to get it that opaque, but I can still see the tips of my nails and a little white dot I have on my nails through the polish. This is great for someone who doesn't like bright colors or if you can't were them for work or school, its also a great anytime polish; good for summer, spring, fall and even winter because its so soft and natural. I didn't use any base coat but I did use top coat this week, which was Seche Vite as usual, but if you get this or have this or something similar using a white or a lighter pink that's opaque underneath will give it a gorgeous look, this is also a great polish to match shimmery top coats with.

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Nail polish 
Seche Vite, you can check out my review on this here.

Mani Monday: Lavender and news

Hey,



Sorry for the messy nails.

I hope the title wasn't misleading, I decided I wanted to try newspaper nails, I only did an accent nail with it. I know this is pretty old but I have been meaning to give it a try for quite some time; as in over a year, and just never got around to it. Here is the link to were I originally learned how to do this, I used alcohol pads instead, but either way works, check that out here. The polishes I used were Luxe Lavender and Urban Gray both by Avon and in the Nailwear Pro+ nail enamel line. Unfortunately Urban Gray has been discontinued, but its just a nice muted light gray, similar to a newspaper. I painted all of my nails except the ring finger with the Luxe Lavender and the ring with the Urban Gray, I used Seche Vite and Seche Clear as my top and base coat, you can see the review I did on those here.

Nail polish
Seche

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