Splatter Nails!

Today, I tried a nail art I had been eyeing for some time now, but had always been afraid of how messy it would be.  But I decided to just go for it tonight.  I did splatter nails!!  They look super cool, but they are still beginner nails haha, so they aren't perfect.  I had to play around with how far away the straw needed to be from my nails so a giant splotch didn't just cover the whole nail.  That did happen a lot on my first hand, but it's not terrible looking.

I started with a base coat of the Seche Vite base coat, and two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme White On.

I really need a new white, or some polish thinner.  This polish (and all my Xtreme Wears) are SOOOO thick!! It's really hard to work with.

Next I laid out a whole section of newspaper across my table, just to make sure all spots were polish could potentially splatter were covered.  I'd cover more than you think you need to, just to be sure!!
I picked my colors (Orly's Blue Collar, Beach Cruiser, and Velvet Rope), and used one straw per color. I cut the bendy part off too.

Then I put drops of polish one color at a time on a piece of paper.  I dipped the straw into the color and made sure there was some polish up inside the straw, not just covered around the edge.  Then I placed the straw over my nail and blew hard, once into the straw to splatter the polish.




















Tip: The farther from your nail you put the straw the more splatter effect you get.  The closer you are the more it covers the full nail.

For some reason, I didn't think to tape off my nails on my first hand (left hand). And let me tell you, that is a MESS.

I got smarter on the second (right) hand.  And I taped it just like I would for water marbling.  I use three pieces of scotch tape, one across the bottom of the nail, and the other two up each side of the nail. Sorry I don't have a picture of how I tape.

Since it was the second hand, and I learned from my mistakes, I like my right hand better, which is quite unusual!  Usually my right hand is more shaky since I'm right handed.  Here's my final RIGHT hand:

As far as nail art however, this is one that is pretty easy, and fool proof.  And there is no wrong way for it to look,  Every nail will look different, and thats ok!!  Just be sure to remember to tape the nail off, or you will spend quite a bit of time cleaning up your entire finger!

And I have a favor to ask you all.  A fellow nail blogger, Kat, from Kat Stays Polished is in a Blogger Contest on Facebook, to be a featured beauty blogger. If you could please follow THIS link, and just like the post, I would really appreciate it!!

Thanks everyone!!  Have a great weekend!

~Kat

I'm still here!!

Sorry I've been MIA lately, I've been swamped at work with a project and Hubs was off the last two nights, so I spent some quality time with him and BeBe.  But there's a few things going on in my nail world lately.
First of all, last week I mentioned I bought a new China Glaze holo in Cosmic Dust off Ebay.  Well, I received that in the mail on Monday.  I could not WAIT to tear into it, and test it out.  What a disappointment!!  I was hoping the negative reviews I read were wrong. They weren't.  First of all, when I would put the color on, not only was it really thick, but it would "bald".  It would pull the polish off, everytime I would go over it with another coat.

See how obnoxious this is?!  Which means also, that it took about 3 coats to make it opaque. 

Even then, it was a terrible application; it showed every flaw and imperfection.







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China Glaze had said, since this was a "true holo" it would be slightly more expensive than their everyday polish, with an MSRP of $14.99.  Which I personally think is ridiculous, considering how poor quality I think this is. Compared to Color Club at $10, it's a waste.

 

Here's a comparison of the two, the first and ring finger are China Glaze, and the other two are Color Club Angel Kiss.  

So for my mani last night (and today) I took the China Glaze off, and replaced it with the Color Club. It was a sunny (but FREEZING) day out today, perfect for a holo.  And then I did some funky geometric shapes with striping tape and black polish. It turned out uh-mazing!  I'm so happy with it, that tonight I'm going to do it to the rest of my nails.

 

So pretty, right?!  I'm in love.

And the other thing that I' super excited about, I figured out how to use the macro setting on my digital camera!!  Just in time for my review of ellagee's first collection.  Speaking of ellagee, she'd got a presale going on now, and all products will be shipped out April 1st, after the official opening of her shop.  I believe she said all preorders will be shipped with a little surprise to say thank you!! You can purchase or check it out here.  

And here's a look at my macro ability, using Orly's Right Amount of Evil:

 

Hooray!!!  I love it!

~Kat

Holy Excitment Batman!

I have so many exciting things to tell you about from this weekend!!  And I have a mani for you :)

First of all, Erin over at Black Sheep Lacquer created a fun new nail polish a few weeks back, and opened up the name of the polish to her fans. 

Photo courtesy of Black Sheep Laquer

 

I entered the name "Circus Freak", and she picked it!!  So as a thank you, she will be sending me a mini of the polish.  I will definitely be swatching and reviewing this polish for you guys when I receive it! Look at all that amazing color and glitter!!  

Second, I entered an Instagram giveaway for a TON (literally, a ton) of prizes.  I wasn't thinking I had a shot of winning, but when I signed onto Instagram last night I was surprised and excited to see that I won!  Listen to all these goodies:

1. Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe set of 7 glitter polish

2. Dermystique Moisturizing Skin Serum with 24k gold flakes (interesting!)

3. Swatching Wheel

4. Crushed Velvet for nail art

5. 2 Sation nail polish (Confessions of a Nail Tech and The One & Phony)

6. Revlon Moon Candy Polish

7. 3 Princessa nail colors (green glitter, teal glitter, and copper glitter)  and finally, 

8. Wet n Wild 8 color eyeshadow palette.

How amazing does that all sound!?  

And the most exciting part!?  I found a new indie polish maker on facebook.  I messaged her and asked if she was looking for people to review and swatch her polishes, and she was!!  Her line is called EllaGee, and you can find her on Etsy soon, and this is her Facebook page.  Here's a sneak peek at her first collection:

Photo Courtesy of EllaGee polish

Super gorgeous right!?  I can't wait to test these babies out.

The least exciting part of this whole post is my nails tonight haha.  They are actually a nail art fail. A while back I bought a 10 pack of crafting scissors and I haven't used them since my chevron mani from a few weeks ago. I really wanted to do a wave mani, with two contrasting colors.  I love the colors, but the idea in my head was so much cooler. And since I wasn't happy with the first hand (my left hand) I tried a different pair of scissors on my second hand.  

So I started with a base color of OPI DS Reserve.  Such a gorgeous pink holo, that goes on gorgeously.

I added a watermark, because I'm worried about people stealing my photos. I see so many photos all over the internet from my favorite nail blogs, with no photo courtesies, so I've made a watermark to protect my photos.

And the contrasting color was Orly Liquid Vinyl. I cut pieces of scotch tape with the scissors, and placed it over half my nail and painted the black.  I immediately peeled the tape off, so it didn't pull away the polish, making a nail mess.

This is obviously my left hand.  And I wish this was a more defined wave.  It kind of just looked like I drew a freehand line down the center of my nail.

And this is my right hand.  I like this cut more, but I wish it was a little sharper.  I mean it's ok, but I guess I'm my own worst critic.  And of course, there is that stupid black smudge from the Seche. Wah.

So both of my hands are different, and that is going to drive me crazy tomorrow, but I don't want to take it all off tonight.  

Hope you all had an awesome weekend!!

~Kat

Born Pretty Goodies!!

A few weeks ago, I was on one of my favorite beauty blogs The Helpful Housewife.  She had a post about a 10% coupon code for Born Pretty. She talked about all the cute phone cases they had that were cheap.  And since I had just gotten my upgraded iPhone, I decided to check it out. I was able to get a new, unique Hello Kitty phone case and screen protector for $4!! With free shipping!!  Of course, it comes from China/Hong Kong, so the shipping could take some time.  They say 16-20 days is average.  Mine came to me in just about 2 weeks, which was a lot faster than I expected. 

Being a three year old, BeBe loves Hello Kitty, so she hasn't let my phone out of her sight since I put the case on.  I have contacted Born Pretty about getting a button for the side of my blog, so when you're interested in browsing or purchasing, you can just click the link.  I'll update you when I receive that!

Google Reader.

I'm sure you've heard from others, Google decided to end Google Reader July 1st of this year. Which means you will no longer be able to follow all of your blogs though Google. However there is a solution, I have an account on Bloglovin and you are able to follow this blog, and all other blogs you follow through that site.  They also have an import all button, and they will import all the blogs you currently follow with google for you.

So, if you could click the little (well it's not THAT litte) Eiffel Tower button over there, it will take you to my blog on Bloglovin, where you can then follow this and other blogs, once Google Reader closes.  I know it's a hassle, but I appreciate each and every one of my readers, and I would hate to lose you because of silly google!!

~Kat

Huge Off-Day Haul!

Since I have a three year old at home, and daycare is FLIPPING expensive, I only work three days a week.  So Tuesday BeBe and I went in search of polish deals.  I heard recently been told by one of my polishaholics that TJ Maxx and the like were unexpected places to find cheap polish.  So we went around town to all the discount stores, and really only found one decent deal.  I got a two pack of Nicole by OPI for $5.  Most of the stores had a few Orlys, a few Sephoras by OPI, some sets I had never heard of (Beauty Connection, I think?)  But nothing super great; however they did say they routinely get new polish in.

These are Prized Possession Purple and One Time Lime.

I also decided to try my luck at Sallys, since there are so many new Spring collections out and companies were getting rid of some permanent line colors to make room for new ones.  Mine had a large selection of mostly China Glaze Cirque de Soleil, since they were the only store in my area that didn't have them BOGO.  I picked up four China Glaze for $3.29 a piece, and one regular priced new permanent color Orly. 

From right to left: Escaping Reality, Tree Hugger, Watermelon Rind, Water You Waiting For, and Jealous, Much?


Finally we had to swing by Target because I had completely run out of remover!!  Oh the horror!!  And in their clearance bins I snagged a 2-pack of Revlon nail buffers for $0.88!!  My nails were so stained from a dark polish, and I thought they might help. They are the perfect size to carry in my purse too, in case it's ever needed. 

Sorry for the stock photo, but I really needed the buffers and ripped into them instantly!!

So I spent a grand total of $26.52 I got 7 polishes and two buffers.  Not a bad job!

I really love the Jealous, Much? by Orly, being in my obsessed with mint stage and all.  It's the only one I've swatched so far.  I'm going to try to get them all swatched by the weekend so I can have a post on them, they all look so pretty!!

 Clockwise from top left: Escaping Reality, Water You Waiting For (both Cirque colors), Watermelon Rind, Tree Hugger

Center: Jealous, Much?

Not my cheapest haul, that was 4 polishes for $6 when Sallys had clearance polish an additional 50% off, but still not a bad deal, considering China Glaze is currently 2/$11 on sale at Sallys.  And speaking of China Glaze, I don't have it yet, but I just ordered one of their new holos off Ebay for a STEAL.  Look for that coming soon!

~Kat

Three Hard Candy Swatches and Review

Did you all have a great weekend?  Are you experiencing the "Daylight Savings Hangover"?   I certainly was today. 

So, this weekend after my baby free night, I went to Walmart, in search of Hard Candy Polishes.  When I was in middle school in the 1990s, Hard Candy was huge!  I coveted it since Alicia Silverstone wore 'Sky', a light blue (what wasn't sky blue in the late 90s!?) on David Letterman.  But since I was in 6th grade and was making very little babysitting, I could only dream since then it was being sold in department stores.  The bottles back then where small and square, with a plastic (usually) heart shaped ring around the handle.

I had this ad hanging around my room; I cut each piece out numerous times and hung them everywhere.  Seeing this brings back serious memories. 

So when I saw they partnered with Walmart and brought out new polishes, I couldn't WAIT to try it out.  It took a few trips to a few Walmarts, but it paid off and I finally found it!  I bought three to try initially.

From left to right: Tinsel Town, Gummy Green, and Cocoa S'more. Sorry they aren't in the same order on the wheel!!

 Tinsel Town is gold, blue, green and purple bar glitter in a thin blueish base.  The first two fingers in just Tinsel Town (2ish coats) and the last two is 1.5 coats over one coat of Orly's Liquid Vinyl.  I will use it over another color 99% of the time.  I haven't been a huge fan of bar glitter in the past, but I really like this!

This is Cocoa S'More. It's a thin beige cream with black and white glitter throughout, giving it this speckled appearance.  This is actually a complete dupe for Nails Inc. Sugar House Lane from their Sprinkles line!  With a top coat, it's smooth and not harsh from the glitter. I love this speckled look!

This is Gummy Green, it's a mint green cream with the same white and black glitter from Cocoa S'more.  I love this color (it's the mint green obsession); it makes me really want mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I just realized that's probably why I took BeBe for a mint oreo blizzard from DQ after work...

Anyways, after swatching I did a mani with all Gummy Green with a Cocoa S'more accent ring finger.  I really like these polishes. It's not Sky, but they still satisfied my inner 13 year old.

~Kat