Pink Wedding Fail

Ok, so now that the wedding is coming up, I have been on the hunt for the perfect pale pink. The problem is, I am not good at finding pale colors and I don't usually like pinks. 

So yesterday, I went to Ulta during the Buy 2 get 1 sale, and spent forever trying to find some shades. The blue for my toes was no problem. The pinks, however, ugh. 

Long story short, I ended up going to the clearance bin, and I picked up Piggy Polish Piglet (see fingers in the top two and thumb in the bottom) and China Glaze Something Sweet (fingers in the bottom and thumb in the top two) I added some gold dust on them this morning to see if it would salvage it for the day anyway. I think the colors are nice, but too bright for my wedding.

 I need help! I am going to go to Sally's today to try again. If I cannot find a good one at Sally's it's back to Ulta to buy the traditional Essie Wedding Collection colors. But-- I am trying to avoid that. Let me know if you have any suggestions. 

 

First an apology.

It has been a really tough year. Wedding planning took up more time and energy than I ever wanted it to, but now that we are two weeks out, I am revitalized and ready to throw myself into the blog again. Hopefully, I will be able to pull some readers back.

A quick rundown of events of the last six months.

1. My nails were tired, rundown, chipped and they just weren't holding polish.
2. I planned a wedding and will be getting married in two weeks!
3. My fiance fell at work and has been off, had surgery, and has been in a cast.
4. His work fought the claim, so we have been on one income the last two months (two months before the wedding)
5. We have to prepare for a hearing now and dealing with a lawyer right before the wedding.

So basically it was like a mini-bout of depression, without the depressed mood. I've been handling it all pretty well, but I have had to just deal with it and not have any time or money for distractions, now I am slowly getting back to my normal self and I am ready to start blogging again.

Easter Egg Mani

Things have been slow as far as nails go. I am giving my nails a break, because under all this polish they are getting weak and ugly. But maybe by the end of this week, I'll be ready to create again. How do y'all keep your nails in a polish mood?

Anyway,

Here is a mani I did for the last week, an easter egg mani. I used CG Light as Air, Essie MCA, and Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow. With the other two colors nearby, the Light as Air came out really lavender, which was nice, and the mellow yellow was not as soft as I wanted, but it definitely reminded my of Easter eggs.

At the end of the rainbow.

I decided to do an unconventional St. Pat's Day Mani, because I knew I would be decked out in my green anyway, and thought I would play with the rainbow.

For the colors I used:
Red- an unnamed Red I got for Xmas, that I really like
Orange- OPI on the same paige,
Yellow- SH Extreme Wear, Mellow Yellow
Green Zoya Midori
Blue- China Glze Shower Together.

I am really proud about the way it came out, though I would love  better quality of this shade of red-- any suggestions?

--MB

Vintage Wallet Series Part 1

My favorite accessory I own is this vintage style clip wallet, so I decided to see if I could pull as many similar and complimentary colors from it and match what polishes I have.

First up is Zoya Irene. It's a beautiful gold-toned green, It applies very clean, which is necessary for me, and I think it matches nicely.

In other news, life is both busy and happy. I am thoroughly enjoying the new job, and I get lots of feedback, which was sorely missed before.

Also, this week I adopted two rescue rats, who had a very sad story before they came into my home. You can read their story and see pictures here.

Up and Away, but not quite Irish

As Irish as I am, I was more than thrilled to get Four Leaf Clover from the China Glaze Up and Away collection.
And it was a beautiful color, just not quite Irish.

I ruined this batch of photos btw, but thought it still deserved posting.

But perfect for Spring!

What do you think?

Wicked

I know y'all don't usually respond well to my posts with my eyes, but here was the eye makeup look I did for taking my mom to Wicked this weekend.

I used the Ulta black eyeliner and Emerald Isle eyeshadow from my freebies, and my favorite UD Skyscraper mascara. For highlighting and blending I used the other colors in the same palette as Emerald Isle.

For my nails I wore......... Emerald Sparkle (Surprise, Surprise)

Light as Air

I didn't think I would like this color, but it had that look of something that looks bad on the hanger but is just interesting enough to buy it anyway, in hopes it will look amazing on.

And, I love it. The only reason I didn't think I would like it was that it is very light and pastel compared to my normal shades. But it's pretty cool. It applies very well, and though these pictures are a little messy (another at work mani) I think I will leave this color on today even though I had planned to move to an Alice in Wonderland color, in honor, or should I say honour, of seeing the movie I've waited so long for.

I justify it by saying I think Alice would probably wear this color if she had the choice.

Curiouser and Curiouser....

Nail 9-1-1

So because I've been sleeping ALOT to rest up my body so it can fight against the dangers of Kidney stones. I have been setting my phone/alarm on silent except for alarm. AKA "Alarm Only" but one day this week, it was accidentally set to "Silent", which meant no alarm, and I slept in until 7:53, which meant I had all of 22 minutes to get ready and arrive at work (15 minutes away).

Normally I can pull this off in a pinch, however, I had fallen asleep after a nail fiasco involving Icing Lucky Luis, which I couldn't even capture and won't wear again. But what's left of it can be seen above.


So, regrettably, I had to arrive at work with the nails from H-E-L-L. But on the way out of the door, I grabbed a bottle of nail polish remover with about two drops left in it, and China Glaze Flying Dragon and Orly Prima Gloss Gold. And since I have my own office now, I was able to spare about 20 minutes to do the best I could to cover it up/clean it up and look presentable.

And since I didn't have but two drops of remover left, I had no way of cleaning up, which as you can tell from previous pictures could have been a disaster. Regardless, I managed to pull something off that actually turned out ok. And looks cool and unique enough to share here.

So please don't judge me based on the grossness, and instead see the beauty in a quickie-at-work mani that saved the day.

 I used three coats of Flying Dragon, but chose it because it dries super fast. And then I covered it with Prima Gloss: 1. because my Seche Vita is running low and is no longer efficient, and 2. Because I thought it would work out.

It did.

Sooo Soooooorrrry

I know I have been MIA the last two weeks, my kidneys decided to attack me. But I am back, and I finally have something new to share.

This amazing blue came in my Ulta package I got for free via an amazing deal in Fenruary. I gave one of the two colors that came away (It was a golden yellow and I cannot pull that off)

The other, however, was this electric blue that was called "Something Blue"

And though I hesitate to say I will wear this for my wedding. (well maybe on my toes) It was a very cool color with a lot of smile built in.  No matter how bad I was feeling, this color said to the world. I'm here and I am electric. Boogie, Woogie Woogie.

It's Friday, It's Friday!

I made it to Friday! My Black w/Mad Hatter combo has successful survived, with just one lost chipped off nail on each hand! Don't worry though, I would never go blank-- I painted the blank nail on each hand For Audrey, which actually looks pretty punk next to the sparkly black.

Anyway, I should have new swatches for you guys tomorrow, and I am finally thawing out so there should be sunshine soon.

In the meantime, check out this amazing blog http://slapdashcookster.blogspot.com/ from my friend Nakesha, whose nails have been featured here before. She has started a cooking blog that takes a similar approach to food that I do with nails. Loves it!

Some Good Beauty Deals you Can't Pass

I have some good news for y'all! There are some amazing deals on the internet right now, and if you have the spare change, you should definitely partake.

1.) Ulta is offering a free 15-piece set with any purchase of Ulta products. The set includes two nail polishes, a blush, a bronzer, two eyeshadow quads, a lipstick, a lip gloss duo, a mirror, a cosmetic case, a dual-ended eye liner and a four-piece brush set. To qualify, you only need to spend 17.50, which is less than the cost of three eyeshadows ($21, $7 each) or many other fabulous items.

The set comes in Tiger Lily (warm), Peonies (cool) and orchids (spring trend colors) I went for the spring trends.

I don't know what prompted the deal, but it is by far the best out there right now, and now that I've secured mine, I had to share. The deal is good through Feb. 20 or until supplies last.

2.) The other hot deal is Zoya's New York Fashion Week celebration, in which you get two free full-size nail polishes with any $10 purchase. If you buy two polishes ($14, or $7 each) you can get two more free. Use this as a chance to get the Reverie collection on the cheap. The code is NYFW, and $14 will come off your total once you go through the checkout process. The deal is good through Friday.

Let me know if you have tried or are planning on trying out either deal. I am still toying with the Zoya deal. (I don't know what I would get)

What are your favorite Zoyas (No MORE Greens, I have plenty Zoya greens thanks to Green Friday)

Glam Rock!

I am at the end of my first swatched of my most anticipated collection-- OPI Alice In Wonderland.

For my last swatch I did Orly Liquid Vinyl covered with one layer of Mad as a Hatter and 3 of Seche Vite. I plan on getting the most of this mani, so it is worth taking it off when the time comes.

In the meantime, enjoy these pics. Mad As A Hatter, if you haven't heard already, dumps a ton of glitter in just one coat and I am sure it can be layered over a ton of options. I almost went with white, but wanted to try my new black out, so I killed two birds with one stone.

 

And as a bonus, here's a shot I took of Off With her Head:

RED, white and Absolutely Alice

So in honor of my favorite time of the biennium-- OLYMPICS. I have some colors/ NOTDs from the last few days to share for you.

First are some Valentine's Day Reds-- The first is A Flirt! Red I got in a set for Xmas. I love it, actually. It is a red creme that is a pure Valentine's Red... But it didn't wear so hot. It was cute, but started to wear down after 30 hours or so.

It was a beautiful color though, and one coat did it!

 

Next was Thanks So Muchness, which I am actually wearing today, thanks to a wonderful gift from my best friend on Friday. This was the mini I was least looking forward to trying of the Alice OPI collection. (which isn't saying much, because I love them all)  But it came out really nice after two coats, but was a little messy with the mini bottle and brush.

Take a PEEK:

All right-- the white is obviously my transparently fair skin, and for the blue-- I couldn't resist the color I was looking forward to the most from Alice OPI -- ALICE!!!!

I had to fit it on my toes, because I am keeping the cleaned up Thanks So Muchness for Valentine's

My Mom actually painted my toes as a treat today, and I was Uber Pleased with the color-- It is everything I hoped and everything you'all want it to be if you haven't tried it-- Now let's just see if it holds up on the tipsies, because that's the only complaint I have heard-- Still, even if it only lasted 3 minutes, this color is totally worth every second.

Audrey, the call girl

Because it's a snow day, I decided to have a little fun with a new polish (for me) and a recent favorite.

Today I bought For Audrey, a China Glaze lemming for me, which I had been going back and forth on evertime I saw it, but finally took the plunge. I am glad I did... I hesitated because I do not typically like Tiffany blue, but this came off a little more Robin's Eggy, or so I tell myself.

I abstractly striped it over Icing Call Girl, which I am still in love with and had worn to work for the hour I was there...

The result reminded me of an over-the-counter medicine's packaging, but I still really like it... you?

Shot Through the Heart....

 

The goal for this VDAY mani was to do something a little rockerish, so what's more rocker than glitter, glam and lightning bolts? .... nothing, that's what!

For this look, which lasted all of Sunday and half of Monday before I dropped a ream of paper on my cute thumb, I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps, two lightning bolt nail stickers, and then I did something near blasphemous to the ruby pumps....

I layered Ulta Gold Digga on top-- 

It did take away the light from within RP, but the end result was pretty cute and Bad Ass in an Avril Lavine I'm trying to hard kind of way...

Thanks to my Pittweiler Izzy for helping with the poses!

Giveaway Winner!!!!

Congratulations --- Smart Cents Mom --- for winning my first giveaway. I only had six people enter, so I cut up the names and had BF draw one, and he picked you! Congrats again, I sent you an e-mail.

Ok 4 Work

So the first week of work was AWESOME. I actually got promoted on Friday and am officially a salaried member of the team! (sorry for lack of posting, I was adjusting to a new schedule)

But for the past week I got to do my job, which is writing and promoting, marketing and PR, and I also got to play receptionist, because the normal receptionist was out. So for inspiration, I wore a lot of Mad Men inspired fashion. It was super cute. I also wanted to show my nail personality but not go too far in the first week.

So I went with this nice navy, which is also pretty awesome, but can look muted against the right greys.

So for your enjoyment, OPI Yoga Ta Get this Blue-- my first week at work color of choice. Next week is going to start out a little more extreme, with a V-Day mani.

The nails that got the job

So, after a grand total of one day officially unemployed, I got a new job, and I started Monday. So, now I can think of last week as a paid vacation.

These are photos of the nail color I wore Friday when I got hired. The color is Orly Enchanted Forest, which I got on sale at Sally, just like many others. I applied the other half of the duo, prisma gloss gold, and for a grand total of $1.99 I got this look and a job!

As I mentioned before, I like to think of the prisma as pixie dust, so I like to think of it as the enchanted and the green as the forest.

It all applied very cleand and easily. This is two coats!