Cherry, baby!

Today in the challenge, it's Fruit Salad!

..Okay, so I might not have a whole lotta fruits goin on, but I was happy with this mani=]  Who doesn't love cherries?  What better way to try out my new favorite red=]  I love how much more comfortable I've become with doing nail art, I think I need to invest in a variety of other brushes hmm..









This is (except my rings) a base of e.l.f medium red and two coats of OPI Moonsooner or Later over that.  Don't ask why, I was tryin out some layering..I'm not sure if it even made a difference lol
 On the rings I have a base of Revlon Temptress, and I used my itty bitty brush to make the cherries, with Moonsooner or Later and The Jungle Look for the stems.

don't break my heart..

More summer challenging!  I told y'all I was getting better this month=]

Honestly, I googled images of buttercups lol and I'm not even positive if this is an alright interpretation, I don't know if they really have dark spotty things in their lady bits but something else had to go in there. I don't think I could get tired of creating floral manis.  On my ring finger is a hair lol I trimmed my bangs yesterday at the nail/makeup/hairdoin' desk and didn't exactly clean up very well.  What?  I'm lazy..

 This is what I used to create these lovelies! Left to right: Deborah Lippman Almost Paradise & Let's Hear It For the Boy, China Glaze Gaga for Green, Sally Hansen mellow yellow, China Glaze agro, Zoya Bevin, Kleancolor Neon Yellow, as well as my palette and brush=]

It's my party I'll do the PCF SC if I want to

Today's theme is GREASE!  It's actually Summer Lovin' but...where else should my mind go? Oh my goodness, the movie that initially started my absolute love of musicals.  My musical movies are by far the movies I have seen the most of in my lifetime, probably a tie between the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Rent, I cannot count how many times, but both my DVDs skip badly.  Actually I think I lent my RHPS to somebody a long time ago and haven't seen it since, which would really piss me off if I didn't know it scene by scene, song for song.  They can have the skipping DVD!  Anyway, I didn't do anything overly Grease-like, but I did decide I wanted to do something vintage, since it's a movie that's made to look like the 50's. I give you, floral-ly goodness!

This is a base of Zoya Cho, then the roses are made from e.l.f medium red (darker) and OPI Monsooner or Later, and Ulta the Jungle Look (darker) with Zoya Traci for the greens

Matte, and outside:

So, if you can't tell, I'm quite proud of this!  I'd been wanting to do floral print for a while.  This last photo was actually the third going on fourth day of this mani.  Yeah. You can probably tell that I've cut my nails down, and therefore, less chippage!  Actually none at all for this one..I's pleased=]

If you've stayed to read this long, today is my birthday! I love that this challenge is on my birthday because I absolutely loved creating it.

Summer Challenge: Sea shells!

Hey guys=] Today's challenge is my favorite so far, because for one: this mani can be used on more than one day (score!) and for two: I think it turned out super cool, and really I made it up as I went along.

I really took a lot of pictures, but these were the best ones I could find out of the bunch.  I was trying to figure out what I could do to recycle Zuza, I had been wearing it for a day or so.  I decided a beach theme would definitely work since Zuza looks like how I would imagine some really breathtaking ocean water would look.  Everything I used is above: Color Club Coral Cascade, China Glaze Fast Track, China Glaze Kinetic Candy, Noname Maurices teal color, Sally Hansen French White Tip, Sally Hansen black, and Zoya Zuza.  Below are my brushes I used, and the underside of a nail wheel, which I find are handy for doing nail art as little palettes.

I painted on the sand (fast track) and then some waves (noname teal) and then the splash of the wave (kinetic candy) and then some little shore things, in random shapes mean to be the actual shells (coral and white and black) and then a little crab on my index, ain't he cute?  Yes, he has legs, they are just small and my camera doesn't like beach scenes..or me..
I added top coat because I wanted this to last a couple days. I was so proud of this one.  I almost didn't though, because I like how textured it looked with the waves.  I sort of did a sweeping of the polish alongside the teal line and then smudged it kind of with the brush.  I know what you're thinking, wow that beach is cluttered.

This reminds me of two of my aunts, they both used to live in Texas.  My aunt Donna died when I was younger which really bites, but my other aunt still loves the beach just as much even though she hardly gets to see it anymore.  She's one of those types that themes their house in beach-like art and such, which is cool=]  I do miss visiting Texas every summer though, I haven't been in about 10 years.

Summer Challenge, Pink and Purple!

Today I decided I would finally try a cocktail mani!  For those that don't know, this is where you paint your one hand all one color, and then the other that same color on two fingers, but the first three fingers have a different color.  You know, the fingers you hold your glass with!  The accent nails can be a bit spicier while the other nails a simple creme, or really whatever you want.  China Glaze held a contest not very long ago (time escapes me) and you can still find their idea page on google.

 I really needa start doing my nails during the light of day again..

I did this right after I got my Zoya trio in the mail, and I chose to keep it simple.  This week was a bad one for my nails, a couple started breaking on my right hand, and the next day I couldn't stand it any longer and now all my nails are short, with the nubbiest being on my right hand.  Zoya Kimber and Tru.  Both are opaque in two coats, with awesome shimmers that apparently cannot be captured in my tired haste..

Do you all like this "trend"?  I don't see a lot of people doing it so I don't really know if it's considered a trend or..what.. I feel really weird about my accent nails being on my right hand, since my left hand is the star of most of the photos on my blog (and with good reason..) so I think I'm gonna break the rules next time and do the cocktail part on my left.  What do y'all think?

Summer Challenge, FEET

I've been so busy scheduling posts for later dates, I completely forgot about today's challenge.  And probably because my mind just wanted to forget...okay it's pedicure.  Now, before you judge, my family has Flinstone feet.  Don't know what that is?  That's trying to find a 6.5 WIDE anywhere I go.  Doesn't always happen.  Sometimes I have to settle for a 7.  7 is too big for me, but I digress...

For some reason my feet do look extra swollen in this photo, but I'm pretty sure they were fine...they were flat on the floor which is adding to it, they look a lot more slender otherwise!  I probably had just gotten off work and came home and did them.  The redness around my nails definitely adds to the look of swollen-ness, but I can assure you it is only the China Glaze Strawberry Fields I had just taken off before applying Revlon Fearless.

So there you go, my wide ass feet, my ugly carpet...I really did try for this one, and this was actually taken over a month ago.  I've had better pedis since then.  Why, why wouldn't I take photos?

summer challenge! blue and pink

Oh dear, where does the time go?

I am sleepy, kind of stressed, and on top of that just not having the greatest month.  I'm definitely keeping positive, I have a full-time job with plenty (normally) of down time so that I can keep up with other things like this and studying, I'm on my way to fulfilling my education in cosmetology part-time, it gets closer everyday! It's still like two years away lol School's definitely not the greatest.  If you're looking to go to beauty school anywhere I can imagine this would be true: It's like high school, only worse.  I'm not there to make friends, so it's okay that there are really only a few people who seem like they could be potential friends.  The thing is that I'm in a class full of girls so it can sometimes be a huge whine-fest, which is super annoying.

On top of it all I have the sweetest boyfriend in the entire world=]  He really does fully support my cosmetic obsession by not judging all of the money that I spend on polish and makeup...he even gave me a $20 sally's gift card today just 'cause!

Anyway, I'm not even positive if today's a challenge day, but I've been seeing pink and blue, so I think it is.  I originally did this mani for the summer sunrise, but didn't have time to write a post about it, but luckily I did an interchangeable manicure=]

You can probably tell that I took the photos on day 2 of this one, and that I used Seche Vite for the top coat lol Anyway, this is two coats of Deborah Lippman Let's hear it for the boy, then a cloud in OPI Melon of troy, followed by Finger Paints Louvre This Pink (I think..) except on the ring where I switched the two clouds.

I wish I had pictures of day one, I actually used Poshe on top of DL LHIFTB, and then seche vite on the rest, so maybe that's why it shrunk to make the first coats visible..?  Also the lighting is so awful on this, I really should've gone outside..

Well, I do have more things planned, I just haven't had time to write lol stay tuned=]

Summer challenge, a couple days late! & review

God, I have been so MIA this past week!  Sorry y'all =/

It really would be easier if I had my own computer, that's definitely a goal for the nearish future, so for now I have to find some spare time between work, school and sleep to not only do my nails daily (which I have actually usually been keeping up with on most days) but uploading gets put on the backburner til I absolutely have no clothes to wear and my poor boyfriend just suffers and tries to find a cleanish t shirt to wear to work.

So anyway, onto the mani!  I did this one a few days ago for the Summer Challenge that I've been slacking on, for Friday's theme was: Swimming Pool!

First let me say that I did enjoy this ombre mani, and wanted it to definitely be more swimming poolish.  My first thought was to stamp over it with a lovely design in alternating colors.  My second idea was to do a marble.

What the eff do you know, I tried to marble and failed miserably..luckily I got these shots before I messed it all up!

Thumb: Pure Ice French Kiss
Index: Kleancolor Neon Aqua
Middle: Maurices no name aqua color
Ring: China Glaze For Audrey
Pinky: Revlon Blue Lagoon

I love it! All based with Sally Hansen Double Duty, and topped with Seche Vite (In case you couldn't tell by the shrinkage on the thumb..)

Onto more business:
My makeup haul for school!  I've got good news about everything=]
I researched the shit out of makeupalley.com before going shopping, I wanted to know what would most likely work for me, my fair freckled combination complexion.  I have an oily-ish T zone, visible pores on and around my nose (and chin)  I don't have a complete need for full coverage, but that really would help on the days I wanna go full on rockabilly, so I chose medium since this would also be my everyday makeup and any rockabilly critics out there can suck it. I do recommend trolling makeupalley.com as well as any other review sites you choose, but be smart about it.  For one girl's bad review there are five good ones, and vise verse.  You have to know and understand your own skin type before you go along with someone else's review of a product if you haven't tried it, as well as factoring in little details, like did this girl start with a fresh, clean face?  Did she use primer?  You don't know her life!

WARNING:  This is a makeup haul AND review.  You can see from the photo directly below that it is a pretty freakin sweet haul.  You already know I can get wordy with my reviews.  Stick around if you're up for it, but don't go crying saying I didn't warn you, sweetheart.

Anyway:

Woo, okay let's roll this off:
32 cosmetic sponges from I don't remember what brand but I bought ALL of this at Walmart.  I bought the kind that says Latex Free. Revlon Photoready 3D Volume Mascara, Colorstay 24hr Creme Gel Eyeliner, Colorstay 16 hr eyeshadow quad in Precocious, Lip Butter in Creme Brulee, Colorstay foundation with softplex SPF 15 in Buff, Photoready Color Correcting Primer, Cover Girl Classic Color Blush in Rose Silk, Coty Airspun loose face powder in translucent, the brushes I think are Paris Presents Limited Edition, but don't quote me on that I have since forgotten and can't really find anything to match it online...hmm..

Here we go!
 I bought the latex free makeup sponges, because I'm pretty sure I've read that the kind with latex are harder to clean I think?  Anyway, you can use these wet or dry (I prefer wet) and use em a few times, clean them with a makeup brush cleanser, and re-use them.  I do wish they sold Beauty Blenders at walmart, but we can't have everything.

Revlon Photoready Color Correcting Primer! I think. I can't remember if I got the Color Correcting or Perfecting.  Why the eff would you make two Revlon?? Such a hard decision.. Anyway, This stuff works awwwessoooome.  I actually have no idea if the foundation even lasts 24 hrs like it says, at least not without this stuff.  I haven't used anything without this stuff yet. It's verrrrry smooth. Goes on smooth, glides over your skin.  It doesn't pill up in little white gross looking bits all over your face like I've had some primers do (ahem, talkin' to you, Hard Candy!) I'm no expert, I've definitely never ventured outside of the drugstore world of brands for makeup.  I'm cheap!  This stuff works great though, and it's not gonna break your wallet to do the job of holding that makeup in place! My mom has the receipt for everything so I'm googling prices here (walmart sucks and doesn't have this on the website) $10.39 is the price for this baby.

Above that in the photo is the Revlon Colorstay foundation with Softplex SPF15.  The claim on the cap of the foundation is that this will last you 24hrs.  I have not tried that one out yet lol, but I have however gone about 16 hrs with this on top of the primer.  I use a wet sponge to apply and blend, and I love it!  There was a lighter shade than Buff, and normally I go for the ivoryest of ivories, but almost all of the fair skinned reviewers on makeupalley.com said that this was the one to go for, that the lighter shade was just way too weird looking.  This shade works perfectly on my light skin, so they were right!  I did get the normal/dry skin formula, as they have that and an oily/combo skin formula.  A lot of the reviews also said that the oily/combo kind had a weird smell to it, and was pretty gloopy to boot, and that the normal/dry was the one to go for and worked a lot better.  I must say, again, they were right.  This does not make my skin more oily, I think it actually does help with the oil a bit.  I think I touched this up with a compact powder after about 8 hours of wear?  And I literally just dabbed a little powder on my nose.  It wasn't a noticeable oiliness, like it normally is.  I did it purely out of the sake of habit.  This was $9.98.

Revlon Colorstay Gel eyeliner.  I thought this was so neat!  The packaging is really cool, and smart!  I hate buying gel eyeliners, and having to keep up with the tiny little brush that gets black gel everywhere in my makeup bag, also getting dirty in the process of storing it in my makeup bag.. Not so anymore!  The swatch is just a quick little swipe, not really trying for any precision or boldness. This can definitely be built up and made darker simply by applying it normally instead of swiping this on your arm...Overall, i do love this product, and it definitely does stay until you take it off! It won't fade or smear into your crease, or mess with your shadow. Note, I don't use the Revlon primer on my eyes, I do however use Mineralogie Natural Cream Concealer in N1 (from Birchbox $16.00) as a primer on my lids.  Works wonderfully with this! $7.99

I will say that I don't recommend this for the cat eye look, which I'm trying to perfect right now..I'm on the lookout for a liquid with a precision tip.  I'm terrible with regular liquid eyeliner, but I so want to perfect this look!  It really is a must.

Covergirl Classic Blush in Rose Silk.  I was looking for something natural, and they were out of the lighter shades =/ so I got this, and I don't mind that it isn't what I originally wanted =]  It looks nice against my skin tone, and though it is a powder (I wanted to try a cream) it does not fade on my cheeks!  This is the best makeup haul ever, seriously..no problems! $4.84

Revlon Lip butter in Creme Brulee.  This is the perfect nude!  I've never tried nude shades on my lips, I'm always the girl who has to wear bolder shades if I wear color on my lips.  But sometimes I do feel like I should play up my eyes more, and I don't want to seem overpowered by my makeup.  As I said before, I will definitely be buying more lip butters!

Coty Airspun loose powder.  If you have not tried this stuff, for fear it looks and smells like something your grandma wore years ago, seriously don't let that stop you!  This powder is AMAZING! Controls shine like a boss, and has been around since the 30s.  A lot of people on makeupalley.com couldn't stand the smell.  I happen to not mind it so much, it smells like flowers and sweet candy...like I'm covering my face in crushed smartees with a hint of old lady smell.  But not musky and gross like old lady smell can be. No offense to any old ladies, you smell like a freaking bed of roses!  The smell doesn't even linger, it's gone by the time you're out the door.  If you're more sensitive to smells than I am and you hate me for reviewing this in such a way, uhh don't care.  This product is freaking awesome. $6.99.

The Revlon Photoready 3D volume mascara is up next, I got this in blackened brown.  I'm gonna be honest, I do like mascara, and I do like this mascara.  Probably more than any other mascara I have tried.  My lashes don't necessarily NEED mascara, but it's part of beauty you know?  I definitely hate putting on fake lashes, I have yet to perfect doing that in a way that doesn't leave me a blinking teary eyed makeup everywhere mess.  I can say that I do recommend this for your lashes, it does seem to coat all of them uniformly, and lengthen and volumize the way it's supposed to.  $7.19

I forgot to swatch the eyeshadow!  Review on that later.

More on life and school and most importantly, nails here soon=]  Thanks for sticking around!

Summer Challenge: Day Four!

Oh, hey there!  I've been absent..
Not to get into a lot, but my grandmother has just had surgery, so I've just spent my last two days off over at her house helping her out and stuff...and putting off getting together summer challenge stuff!  Family is important though, and that's why i was not only watching over my grandmother, but my two young cousins (8 and 9) and let me assure you, I was not on a manicure rest!  I have been painting, removing, pressing tiny girly looking adhesive nails on, peeling them off, putting different ones on, peeling those off, painting again...and none of it on myself!  Well, okay I did find the time to do my own nails last night, and I think this manicure can double up on my summer challenges!  Not too sure, I may actually want to do a different one for the future challenge day.  I did miss Wednesday's challenge, the theme was summer dots.  I already did a dotting mani earlier that I feel is the perfect summer dot manicure so can I just cheat and lead you to that one..?

Okay, so today's challenge is orange freestyle themed.  And I feel like it could double over onto June 29: Underneath the stars.  If you don't agree, then I hereby surrender myself to the crumpet, and shall take my punishment accordingly.

Picture spam alert! I not only got my camera issues fixed, but I am quite proud of how this turned out!

inside:

outside:

blurry inside:

blurry outside:

emphasis on the thumb inside:

thumb outside:

blurry outside again, just 'cause =]

Galaxy nails! I have been wanting to do these for quite some time, but haven't been able to sponge correctly or use the colors I felt were right for it.  Some of these are obviously blurry to show the awesomeness of the holographic glitter=]
Specs:
Base coat: Sally Hansen Double Duty.
One coat of China Glaze Smoke and Ashes from the Hunger Games collection (the PERFECT galaxy base, in my opinion)
Index, middle, ring & pinky:
sponged on Revlon Dreamer in the middle in oddly shaped circles and stuff
sponged on one side China Glaze Tree Hugger
on another OPI My Address is Hollywood
on another Revlon Not so Blueberry (which is scented, and I'm not sure but I might be okay with that.  Maybe.)
sponged in the center Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party
sponged the tips with CG Smoke and Ashes, and a bit around the sides til I was happy
To pull it all together, China Glaze Fairy Dust.  I really mean it.  This mani would not be the same without it.  Ever since I first saw it I knew it would be the perfect topper to a galaxy mani.  I've been lookin' around a lot, okay?  I see people all the time free-handing their own stars or dots in white on their galaxies, and I just think it totally takes away from it all, for me that is.  It just looks more realistic with the shimmering holographic bits in there, I think.

For my thumbs:
First, I sponged on Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party, so the other colors would show up better.  This is an explosion of some kind.  I sponged on Revlon Fearless, and then alternated between that and Kleancolor Neon Yellow and Neon Orange, slowly making my way toward the tip of the nail, finishing with Revlon Fearless.  Then I topped that off with CG Fairy Dust.

Okay, so it isn't all about orange, but I have really been wanting to try this one out for a while, and it turned out even better than I expected!  So I needed an excuse to post it and tie it into the summer challenge lol

What's your favorite galaxy mani?  Am I offending you with my dislike of free handed stars instead of glitter?  Am I breaking the rules of the summer challenge too hard (um because there aren't any, get your facts right!) Wanna whine about it in a comment?  You can whine about anything down there, you know.
I'll read it, and respond in a timely manner with my thoughtfully thought thoughts =]

Summer Challenge: Day 2!

Today is the second day of the Purple Crumpet Fairy Summer Challenge!

The theme for this mani the Chelsea Flower Show!

I know nothing about flower shows, but I have plenty of floral stamp designs in my Cheeky collection, so here it is:

 Sorry for the blur! I could not get my camera to focus on these at all..I think i messed with the settings the other day and just messed everything up..

Quick note before the specs:  I've been using my Sally Hansen double duty base and top coat for a few days now, and for someone who changes their nails daily, this stuff seems to do the job!  My nails are no longer chipping off at the tips and looking a little rough..they just look normal when I take off my polish! anyway..

This is two coats of Revlon Fearless on all fingers except the ring, which has two coats of Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party.  Then I used two designs that seemed to go well together, and stamped on my thumb and index fingers with Sally Hansen French White, and Revlon Fearless on the ring.  Topped off with Sally Hansen double duty, and then Seche Vite because I was sleepy=]

I am in love with this red.  To me, this is a true red. It could be a little bit deeper, just a teeny bit and then I would classify it completely as true, but I don't care I love it.  It's the perfect pin-up red, and the rockabilly girl that lives in my mind wears this all day long.  I really should let her out more often..

What do you think?  Check out the other lovelies participating, and join in if you want!

Debbie @ The Crumpet - http://thecrumpet.blogspot.co.uk/

Danielle - http://lbobeauty.blogspot.co.uk/

Neivys - http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.com/

Jo @ Northern Nails - http://therockchicksrambles.blogspot.co.uk/

arlene @ http://euzefelus27-nailart.blogspot.com/

Helena - http://nailwish.blogspot.com.es/

Cuti-CLUE-les - http://cuti-clue-les.blogspot.com/

Katee - www.agirlandherpolish.blogspot.com

Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges - http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/

Sarah - http://www.ynails.blogspot.co.uk/

bec - http://lacquerdreams.blogspot.com.au/

Misha - www.enigmatic-rambles.blogspot.com

Sharon - http://whatcolorismycoat.blogspot.com/

Melissa - http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/

Laurie http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.com/

Lucie @ Lucy's Stash www.lucysstash.com

Emma @  http://manicurity.blogspot.com/

Caitlin - www.caitlinscreativecorner.blogspot.com

Jane- http://absolutevarnish.blogspot.com/

Vic @ Glowstars http://glowstars.net

Jackie- http://memasmanis-jackie.blogspot.com/

Rychelle @ Colorsplash Nails- http://colorsplashnails.blogspot.com/

Stella - http://mywetnails.blogspot.com

Missy @ http://missysmanis.blogspot.co.uk/

Kim @ http://apolishedaddiction.blogspot.com/

Christine @ http://lost-in-my-reverie.blogspot.com