Happy New Year!

I'm actually not a chunky-glitter-polish person, but for today (well, actually tonight) I made an exception.. The beginning of the year 2011 is a once in a lifetime experience after all!! :O

I used one layer of Barry M - Cobalt Blue and two coats of China Glaze - Dorothy Who? on top of it. For me it's definitely firework on the nails!


Now I'm moving to the kitchen to bake a lot of yummy 'oliebollen' (free translation: oil balls, hmm, that actually sounds very very bad, ha-ha) for tonight!

I wish you all a ...

  

       HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :party

China Glaze Recycle - amazing swatch! (Julie)

After a long day of shopping with my dearest Erika, I arrived home to find a little package in the mail from eBay. My China Glaze Recycle! What a great color! I was going to wear this alone, but I think i might have to add some sparkles to it to see how it looks. But for now, here is this amazing cream gray color in all its glory.

World Inspired Colours by Herôme - Bogota

Today I have a nail polish on from Herôme, a Dutch hand and nail care brand. A while ago Herôme created a line of polishes inspired by the riches and colourfulness of the world. The name of this line: World Inspired Colours (W.I.C.) -you didn't saw that coming, ey? ;)-. They gave each polish the name of a city and this one is named after the capital of Colombia, Bogota. Bogota is a muted periwinkle coloured polish with rosy gold glass flecks in it. I don't know what Bogota (the city) has to do with periwinkle and goldish glass flecks, but I honestly don't care.. :O What's more important: I love glass flecked polishes and this one's no exception. They're so sparkly!

The application was ok. I bought this polish a year ago and it thickened a little, but after adding some drops of polish thinner (I finally found it!) you're good to go! This is two coats with top coat.

Thanks for watching!

A Little Bit of Cash Went a LONG Way Today - Sally Sale Haul! (Julie)

I'm still quite high off my Sallys sale haul today. And mind you I had no idea they had their markdowns out today! I was just visiting starbucks and I saw that beloved table of markdowns out and packed full of sparkling bottles of goodies...so I ducked in, and the prices were infreakin'credible! They were practically GIVING the stuff away. The sale was an additional 50% off the already marked-down price.

First I went to see what kinda nail polish they had on sale - not all that much left, I'm sure all the good colors sold out immediately. But I did get the stragglers. They had China Glaze Xmas sets for $4.99, then 1/2 off....so 3 China Glazes for $2.50 (wow!) and peppermint cuticle oil for .99 and 1/2 off that price. There was so much stuff to buy! I also found a super cute caboodle marked down to $10, and half-off that price.

Now for the list - my haul-

2x - Mummy-May-I by China Glaze (Cus it's super pretty!!) for $1.00 each
1x - Ick-A-Bod-y - by China Glaze for $1.00
1x - Peppermint Cuticle Oil by China Glaze for $1.00
1x - Savvy FC *my first of this brand* in Tinsel swatch for $1.00
1x - caboodle carry case in Hounds tooth for $5.00
1x - Green hologram stars nail art for $1.50
1x - Sally Girl Pink Loose Glitter for $.40 cents
1x - Sally Girl Red Loose Glitter for $.40 cents
1x - 5 second Manicure (nail/cuticle oil) for $2.50
Oh, and nail polish remover cus I needed it (not on sale!)

Zoya "Crystal" From Fire And Ice Collection AND Second Attempt At Winter Nails (Julie)

I bought my first Zoya! The color was so irresistibly beautiful so I thought i'd give it a shot. It's called Crystal, and is from their Fire & Ice collection which I believe was released for their winter 2010 collection. I think it looks a wee bit better in the bottle than it did on my nails. It's a gorgeous color though. It's an aqua with golden sparkles in it. It took 3 layers to show the true color, and applied a bit sloppier than most, I would recommend allowing each layer to dry fully before applying the next. I was in a rush so I didn't, and kind of ruined the whole application. But here you go. Zoya, Crystal. (on a side note, I switched my top coat over from seche vite to Quick & Slick by Prolana. My Seche Vite started to apply really crappy and it's too expensive to keep buying new bottles!)

And as I promised myself, I was going to give the winter sparkles thing another try. I think i did better this time, but it still needs more work and different colors. I really want to try this in all silvers. But for now, it's a rainbowy mess :) But a good one!

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! (Julie)

I saw this amazing tutorial from a new blog on make up/nail polish/everything wonderful and I was immediately drawn to all the sparkles! It's SUCH a beautiful concept, but I just wasn't able to execute it like Audrey was on her demo. Maybe because my nails are too short, or I'm not coordinated enough...or perhaps because I had to improvise with most of the swatches she used! Either way, it was disastrous....but you can't blame a girl for trying.

Here were my choice swatches - It's a lovely little group of colors, they just don't work together! Too much going on -

1- Essie in Pink Glove Service
2-OPI in Sparkle-icious
3-Hard Candy in Hot Pants
4- (the only one I did have) - Golden Enchantment by China Glaze

I am not going to show you my entire hand today, because I haven't cleaned all the excess glitter and my fingers are an absolute mess. But I think this'll give you a good idea. And I think if I had to give this little concoction a name, it'd be fairy diarrhea. YUM!

How To Wrap Your Tips

Did you know that applying a little bit of polish at the end of the free edge of your nail (the nail tip) makes the nail polish last longer? The free edge of your nail suffers the most from everyday chores, so the polish will damage easily. That is what we call tipwear. A bit of polish on the nail tip can prevent that. And it doesn't only extend the wear of your beautiful polished nails, I think it looks very nice too.

I tried different ways to apply nail polish on my tips. The way I'll show you in this post works best for me and is in my opinion the neatest!

First a picture of my nails with three wrapped/covered tips and one unwrapped (I guess I don't have to explain which one that is :O ). The polish I'm using is Kristi from Zoya, a juicy red.

Ok, let's go.. How to get neat wrapped nail tips without globs of nail polish under the nail?

• Make sure your nail is clean, dry and oil-free;

• Apply your base coat. Also put a little bit on your nail tip (the same way I explain below) to protect the nails from staining;

• Start off with the first layer of polish;

• When you covered your whole nail make sure there's just a little bit of polish left on the brush, wipe off the excess if necessary;

• Place your brush in a 90 degree angle (see picture below). You're going to use the side of the brush for wrapping;

• Wrap those tips! Put the side of the brush against the nail tip and swipe the  brush from left to right to cover the whole tip with polish (see picture below);

• Add a second layer of polish on the nail if necessary. You can wrap your tip again;

• Wrap your tip with a little bit of top coat. Then cover the whole nail with top coat to seal everything.

And voila, you're done! :) Then it looks something like this:

See? Nothing under the nail, just on the tips.

Another picture of the end result:

I hope this howto was helpful! Do you wrap your tips while polishing your nails? Or do you change your nail colour so often it's not worth the extra trouble?

Thanks for watching!

An Amazing Christmas, New Deborah Lippmanns, and SNOW! (Julie)

Christmas was a success! Spent the eve at Dad's, and dressed my shih-tzu Abba up as an elf--- I normally don't subject my pups to that kind of torture but she just looked so damn cute.

Spend Christmas day at moms, the back home to exchange with my boyfriend, Liam. He bought me new car speakers for my jeep, 2 new Coach bags, The "magic bullet" (no, that's nothing perverted!) - and his Godmother bought me 2 Deborah Lippmann swatches that I picked out at Nordstrom. Ruby Red Slippers, and Across the Universe. I only got around to swatching Across the universe because I have been dying to give it a try, and I'd like to keep it on for a day or so :)

Then I woke up this morning and HELLO snow! We are expecting anywhere from 8 inches to 16 inches in NY. It's looking like a winter wonderland outside. It might not have snowed on xmas day, but this is the next best thing :)

Here is Across The Universe -
Initially, I applied 3 coats of DL's Across the Universe and it was too chunky and I removed it. What a waste! I then decided to apply 1 coat of DL's Across the Universe on top of 1 coat of black NP by China Glaze. That is the best black np I've had so far! It only needs one coat, applies with no mess, smooth, and evenly. So here is Across the Universe as photographed this morning.

Here are my 3 Debora Lippmann's together...all that sparkle! So pretty!

I will swatch Ruby Red Slippers either this evening or tomorrow. But for now, here's a close up of the swatch inspired by Dorothy, herself ;)

The Christmas Story: What Christmas Means to Me

link

The Christmas Story from Luke: Chapter 2

1 About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. 

2 These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 

3 Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. 4 So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family. 

5 Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, 6 and while they were there, 7 she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. 9 All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. 10 But the angel said, “Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. 11 This very day in King David's hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. 12 You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.” 

13 Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

14 “Praise God in heaven!

Peace on earth to everyone

who pleases God.”

15 After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay. 

17 When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. 18 Everyone listened and was surprised. 19 But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant. 

20 As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.

source

I wish you all a merry Christmas! :h May God bless you!

Zoya - Kristi

This is Zoya Kristi. A red creme. An awesome red, the perfect red. In my opinion, that is... :O

It applied like butter, this is two coats with topcoat. If you don't want any visible nail line you can add one extra coat.

Another winner from Zoya, great job!

Thanks for watching!

NFU OH #51 Oh Yessss! (Julie)

I know I keep becoming even more enthusiastic with each new blog I write, but I think I have just found the messiah of all nail polish. And it is NFU Oh #51. How does one even describe just how awesome this color truly is? In some light it's a deep purple, others a lighter purple, pink sparkles, rainbow prisms, gold undertones, I could go on and on and still not describe this color with nearly enough justice. But I do feel that my photography will better depict the beauty of this swatch. And the bottle, too!


I used 3 coats, and 4 would have been even better. It gets even more bold and amazing with each application. This would probably be better worn on top of a burgundy polish though, because it's expensive!! I want to salvage what I can of this.

Like Yin and Yang - Sinful Colors And Ulta Wintry Swatches (Julie)

I dropped into Walgreens, my trusty supplier of Sinful Colors just to see what they're up to, since I haven't bought any of their NP in ages. I wanted to see if they had anything wintry and glittery, and there I spotted the swatch they call "Nail Junkie". It is a sparkly, flaky, super shimmery green jelly with blue, silver, and gold flakes of various sizes. I thought it looked amazing and really impressive next to the other swatches they had in the store. When I brought it home I had a feeling it would be lack-luster by itself, so I paired it with my Ulta swatch "Dance Teal Dawn". So glad I did! The color is so bright and vibrant, and they work perfectly together. This has become my "favorite for now" color. The teal of the Ulta really helps the blue sparkles in the Sinful Color swatch pop! The Sinful Colors swatch is rich and loaded with sparkles, and has brought me back to understanding just why I fell in love with them to begin with! Thanks Sinful Colors. I think I'll be back :) Now just try and not chip so fast...

This application was a nail hardener base, 1 coat of Ulta's Dance Til' Dawn, 1 coat of Sinful Color's "Nail Junkie", and seche vite to seal the deal.

Collection Pics (Julie)

So I had to follow suit since Erika has such an amazing collection! Mine isn't nearly as large or beautiful, but I'm working on it. Actually, this past summer, I sold just about all of my NP at my yard sale because I had no room for anything! Everything you see here is pretty much brand new, as of late summer '10. So rest in peace former collection! I am impressed with how far I've come since then though! My heart belongs to sparkles, the chunkier the better. I have many different brands, and plenty more coming in the mail this next week. So I will update this post as they show up. Here's what i have so far:

I have a horrible make-up bag that is soon going to be replaced with some kind of kaboodle. Take a peek inside...kind of a beautiful mess!

We'll start with Finger Paints. A nice inexpensive brand with really pretty swatches. I am not really too into their NP because I notice that even with a decent base and top coat, they like to peel off in one big strip. So I've limited my FP collection to strictly colors I MUST have. And these are really beautiful!

My Nubars *Swoon* Nothing much needs to be said about this brand. It's a growing obsession and I expect many more soon.

My Ulta swatches - the aqua color is fabulous!!! The pink is gritty and I'm not a fan, but the sparkles in this color attracted me to it. It's very beautiful.

My love, my life...China Glaze! I have more CG than any other color. I'll start with my very favorite 2 colors. This is Pixie Dust and Golden Enchantment. I don't remember the name of the gold one. But they're top coats and complete just about any color you can imagine, and reflect about every color of the rainbow. These should serve as staples to any nail polish collection, because they really do complement just about every swatch.

I have the blues....My China Glaze Blues...

Metallics:

Some random beauties (my favorite of the 4 being the black with red sparkles.

Prior to my yard sale NP clean out, I had just about every color made by Sinful Colors. Now I only have two. Mainly because I'm not a huge fan of their formula. But these colors are irresistible.

My Color Clubs - do you see that orange/pink/luminescent swatch to the right? Wow, i know!! I need to get a few bottles of this because I run through this color really fast. I probably wear it more than any other color.

Here is my first nail art swatch. It's a really pretty black with colorful sparkles.

My very lonely and bland Essie collection. I do like them, but I haven't explored essie all that much yet.

My 3 Orlys. Another brand I don't care for the formula all that much. But they do come out with some really great colors once in a while that I can't leave behind.

Hello, sparkles! My one and only O.P.I (more are coming!), NYC in the most amazing swatch I've seen from them, and a Forever 21 color that I adore.

Just LOOK at this color! I know! Gorgeous!

You're not so bad yourself OPI. (this is from the burlesque collection)

2 extra brands - Sally girl I won't be buying again, the application is awful. Nail Savvy I found new at the thrift shop and have no idea where to find this brand.

It's a nice concept, I love the pink and blue sparkles though! Anybody else make a better formula with a similar color?

My beloved Deborah Lippmann in Bad Romance.

And you see? I wrote this too soon, because just as I posted this blog, my brand new Hard Candy showed up! Do you SEE this swatch? No I mean do you really see this swatch? Holy moly, it's freaking fabulous! It's called Hot Pants. It's infused with large and small sparkles and a translucent pink jelly base. Woohoo! This just made my day brighter!