Tag Archives: NOTD

Wet n Wild Summer Collection 2016: Lost in the Wild Flowers

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This collection is almost old news by now, but I’m still seeing it in stores, so I’ll still tell you about it.  Plus, I  bought the whole collection and in my head that’s not really justifiable if I don’t officially blog about it.  So here it is, the Wet n Wild Summer Collection for 2016: Lost in the Wild Flowers!

IMG_7902IMG_7833This is such a pretty collection, right?  Let’s start with the pink…

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This bright pink cream is opaque in two coats and dries to a really shiny finish.  There’s not too much else to say about it.  The formula is really nice and it’s a really pretty color.    IMG_7798

In looking through my collection for dupes, I found a match that is almost dead on, and that is Wet n Wild – Lavender Creme.  The one I own is in the old style bottle, but this same shade is still available in the new shaped bottles.  Really, they are super close!  Lavender Creme is a hair lighter than Cherry Blossom On Top, but really, if you already have Lavender Creme, you can skip picking up Cherry Blossom On Top.  It baffles me when a brand puts out pretty much the exact same color like this.  I mean, I know Lavender Creme is in the Wild Shine line, and Cherry Blossom On Top is in the Megalast line, but really….  I feel like it’s not too much to ask for a limited edition polish to be different from what that particular brand already makes available.  First world problems, I know.

IMG_7817Leaf Me Be

This bright spring green polish is a jelly formula, so it dries really shiny.  On my index and ring finger is three coats of the polish on its own.  On my middle and pinky fingers IMG_7739is three coats over white.  Jelly polishes are always fun because of the nail art and jelly sandwich potential that they have.  And actually, the first thing I did with these polishes when I got them home, was to make a jelly sandwich!  Here it is on the left with two coats of Leaf Me Be, a coat of silver glitter polish, and then another coat of Leaf Me Be.  So sparkly and fun, but muted at the same time!

As far as dupes of this polish go, I didn’t really have any good ones in my own IMG_7845collection, but I did find a kind of close one while I was at Dollar General.  (By the way, there are a bunch of the Wet n Wild polish colors that are exclusive to Dollar General.  Really pretty colors, too!)  This polish is called Limelight, and it’s just about the same color as Leaf Me Be, except it has a yellow/gold shimmer.  It’s really pretty, but since I just bought Leaf Me Be, I couldn’t justify buying Limelight.  I’m not sure what Limelight’s formula is like.

Oh, one more thing about Leaf Me Be: it’s a stainer.  After my jelly sandwich mani, my nails were (well, still are) a lovely booger green color.  Really unattractive.  It’s not a big deal for me because I just slapped more polish over my gross looking nails, but if you don’t always wear polish, this might be a deal-breaker for you.

 

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Wild Wild Violet is a beautiful warm purple polish.  Much like Cherry Blossom On Top, it’s opaque in two coats and dries to a really shiny finish.  This is such a flattering color against my really light skin!

IMG_7812In comparing it to other purples in my collection, I found that I don’t have anything super close to this color.  In the comparison picture, Wild Wild Violet is in the middle, Fresh Paint – Sophia is on the left, and Wet n Wild – On a Trip is on the right.  You can see that Wild Wild Violet is the warmest of the three.  Sophia is a much more intense color; it’s almost neon in person.  On a Trip is obviously much cooler in tone.  I really like this polish and I’m super happy to have it in my collection.  IMG_7891

One more thing, though… This polish is the mother of all stainers.   What you’re looking at here on the right is my middle and ring finger on my right hand after I removed the mani I was wearing on the left.  Wild Wild Violet left the nail on my middle finger a crazy bright pink!  I’ve never seen a IMG_7832purple polish (or even a red or pink one for that matter)  stain like this!  Holy moly!  And even on my ring finger (which is still kind of green from my Leaf Me Be jelly sandwich) you can see pink dots which are from the leopard spots!  That means that this polish is capable of staining your nails even if you are wearing white polish underneath it!  And I had a base coat on!  The fact that I’ve ended the last five sentences with exclamation marks should be a good indicator of how crazy that is.

By the way, isn’t this mani using all of the polishes from this collection so fun?  I enjoyed sporting these nails.

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The last polish in this collection is a vibrant reddish-orange cream.  This one took three coats to be opaque, and like all of the others in this collection, it dries to a high shine.   This polish is red enough to not look too bad on my fair skin, but I think it would look extra good on darker skin.

IMG_7805As far as dupes for this polish go… There are a lot.  Pictured from left to right are Revlon – Fearless, LA Colors – Moody Red, Poppy Culture, and NYC Spring Street.  If I had realized that I had so many  polishes that were nearly identical to Poppy Culture, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up.  If you don’t have a fiery orange-red in your collection, Poppy Culture is a perfectly fine polish to pick up, but this color is hardly unique.

 

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Overall, I think this is a really fun collection, and the colors all work well with each other, even though they are not crazy unique.  The formulas are consistently good and the price tag of under $2 a bottle is awesome!  The only negative is that two of the four polishes are mega stainers.

So, what do you think of this collection?  Have you picked up any of these polishes?  Is staining a deal-breaker for you?  Let me know what you think!

 

Love Note Nails

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Here are the actual nails that I am wearing on Valentine’s Day.

IMG_4418It’s been a long time since I did a mani with a white base, and I forgot how bright and crisp it looks!  White looks great in the summer when my skin is a little darker, but it also works well with my pale winter skin.  I also forgot how great a simple doticure can be.  (Side note: My hubby asked me what dots have to do with Valentine’s Day.  He takes things very literally.)

I’ve seen lots of manis online with this cute little love note design.  I can’t take credit for it!  I think that Hannah, an Aussie nail blogger first came up with the design.  This design is so simple, but so cute!  Check her out: http://thenailtrail.com.au/  I’m a little jealous of her beautiful nail art, and I’m really jealous that she’s enjoying summer weather right now.  Here in PA, we are getting wind chills of 20 below 0 Fahrenheit this weekend.  Darn arctic blast.

I did this design for the Weekly Nail Art Challenge on Instagram.  This challenge is great for a couple reasons.  I like that it is only once a week, so that’s very doable.  I also like that there is a monthly theme (February’s is Contrast) and then weekly prompts.  This week’s prompt is Valentine’s Day.  I didn’t really have any great inspiration when it came to the contrast element of my mani, so I just opted to use contrasting colors.

I started by painting all of my nails white…. Obviously.  The black and red are just craft paint.  So much easier to clean up than nail polish!  I used a small dotting tool for the dots on all but my middle and ring fingers.  Then, using my tiniest brush, I painted the envelope design.  I started with the “V” that makes the outer flap of the envelope, and then added the other lines.  Then using my tiniest brush dipped in red, I wrote the word “love” on my ring finger.  Since I’m pretty terrible at writing with my left hand, I ended up just doing a few hearts on my ring finger on my right hand.IMG_4422

I find that the easiest way to make hearts is to use a dotting tool to make two barely touching dots.  Then I use either a small brush or a dotting tool to drag the dots down into a point.

I debated a bit whether I should make these matte or glossy… I was feeling in a glossy mood.

Well, that’s it!  Thanks for reading, following, and liking!  Have a great weekend filled with love!

How I Accidently Un-thermal-ed My Polish

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I just recently placed my first order with Polish Me Silly, an indie polish seller on Etsy.  I oped to order from Polish Me Silly because they offer a generous mini size polish of 9 ml in every color of their polish for $650-$7.50.  That’s one ml more than a full sized Julep polish, and let’s be honest:  it’s a rarity to use a a 15 ml bottle of polish.

Alas, half of the order is for my sister for Christmas, so I can’t really swatch those polishes for you, and the other half of the order is for me for Christmas, and the hubby shammed me into putting them away until Christmas.  I did convince him that I should be able to keep out one polish to use before Christmas since it’s so blatantly Christmas-y looking that I wouldn’t want to use it after Christmas.  And this is it:

IMG_4050   It’s called Are U Elfin Kiddin Me?  I’m not a swearer really, but the name cracks me up a little.  The reason I really felt I needed this polish is because it’s a thermal polish.  My hands were ice cold when I did my nails, so this pretty dusty bluish-green is the “cold” color.  Now, from looking at other reviewers pictures, I know this polish is supposed to change to white when it’s warm, and since the part of the nail that extends beyond the nail bed usually is usually the “cold” color even when your hands are warm, I was anticipating having white nails with green tips a lot of the time.

Oddly though, even when I would stick my hands in REALLY hot water, I couldn’t get the polish to change really white.  Here’s  a picture right after I got out of a hot shower:

IMG_4056They are obviously a lighter green, but they are not white.  The only thing I could figures is that somehow either my base or top coat made a difference.  The base coat I used was Orly – Bonder and the top coat was INM – Out the Door.

To make a long-ish story a little shorter, I eventually painted a stripe of the polish on some aluminum foil.  On top of the polish, I painted a little stripe of INM – Out the Door and NYC – Clear, the only two topcoats I had on hand.

Here’s my little swatch after running it under cold water:

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And Here it is after running it under hot water:

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Ah-HAH!  Mystery solved!  You see that spot that stayed green?  Well, that was where I put the INM – Out the Door.  I haven’t really researched the science behind these thermal polishes, but there is something in my Out the Door that un-thermal-ed this particular polish.

By the way, I put this polish on my toes with the same Orly – Bonder base coat and the NYC top coat and they change color just fine.

So, the moral of this story for me is that the next time I get a thermal polish, I’m going to do a test swatch with my base and top coats before I dive in and do all my nails.

Now I’m a little torn.  Should I take off this polish that isn’t even showing any tip wear and redo them with the NYC top coat or should I give it a few days before I redo them?

Oh, and I fully intend to swatch and review the other polishes I got after Christmas, and if my sister is agreeable, I’ll show you the polishes I got for her, too.

Thanks for reading!

Sparkly Red Snowman Nails

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Let the Christmas manis begin!  Here’s how I kicked things off this year:

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The red and white are nail polish, but all of the details on the snowman are craft paint.  Here’s a better view:

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I was tempted to add stripes to his scarf, but I just didn’t quite trust that I wouldn’t screw up the whole thing.

Oh, and I must tell you about this amazing red polish.

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It’s Broadway Nails – Hot & Sexy.  It’s a red micro glitter in a red jelly base.  When you apply it to your nail, the glitter sort of sinks down so that the surface of the polish is incredibly smooth and shiny.  You know how some micro glitter polishes have a textured finish and if you want them to really be sparkly, you need to add like, four layers of top coat?  Well, this is not like that at all.  The sparkle on this polish has such depth!  I’m really going to have to fight the urge to make this the base of every Christmas mani.

That’s all for now!  Thanks for reading, liking, following and commenting!

Golden Leafy Nails

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Right now I’m spending a good chunk of my free time raking up all of the leaves in our yard, so it seems like the appropriate time to sport some leafy nails. Here they are:

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I just can’t make my right hand pose nicely.  It’s all awkward or something.  Anyway, the base for these nails is NYC – Royal Chic.  I sort of think this is from a collection that was out not that long ago, so it might be a little hard to find now.

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The wet polish looks just like Hershey’s Syrup.  I feel like this polish should smell like chocolate.

Then I added some leaves with Wet n WIld Fergie – Gold Album.  Every time I use that polish I can’t believe how beautifully gold and sparkly it is.

I was sort of tempted to just “leaf” my mani like that, but since I had already pulled all of my fall colored polishes off my rack, I decided to go ahead and add some color.  I used polishes that tend to to be sheer so that the gold would show through.  I just used a little brush and added a little bit of color to each leaf.  I topped it off with a shiny top coat.

After four days of wear, I had no major chips, just some tip wear.  I touched up the tips of my nails with the brown polish and then for kicks I added a matte top coat.

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I really like how this looks with a matte top coat!  The metallic leaves just really pop off of the brown background!  I think I’m going to get a full week’s wear out of these.  Hooray for that!

Thanks for reading!

31 Day Challenge Recap

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I officially survived my first 31 day challenge, and it was just like everyone who has done it before said: fun, time-consuming, mentally draining, and a great opportunity to improve nail art skills.  I posted each day during the challenge,  but I thought it would be good to post all of the pictures in one place, just for easy future reference.   Here we go:

Day 1:  Red Nails

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Day 2: Orange Nails

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Day 3: Yellow Nails

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Day 4: Green Nails

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Day 5: Blue Nails

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Day 6: Violet Nails

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Day 7: Black & White Nails

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Day 8: Metallic Nails

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Day 9: Rainbow Nails

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Day 10: Gradient Nails

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Day 11: Polka Dots

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Day 12: Stripes

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Day 13: Animal Print

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Day 14: Flowers

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Day 15: Delicate Print

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Day 16: Geometric

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Day 17: Glitter

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Day 18: Half Moons

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Day 19: Galaxies

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Day 20: Water Marble

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Day 21: Inspired by a Color

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Day 22: Inspired by a Song

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Day 23: Inspired by Movie

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Day 24: Inspired by Book

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Day 25: Inspired by Fashion

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Day 26: Inspired by a Pattern

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Day27: Inspired by Artwork

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Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

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Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural

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Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial

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Day 31: Honor Nails You Love

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So that’s it!  The heading for each day is a link to my post from that day, if you’d like more info.  Thanks for reading!  Also, please let me know if you’d like to see a tutorial on any of these looks!

Day 31: Honor Nails You Love (31dc2014)

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I MADE IT! I MADE IT!

I’m pretty sure I painted my nails more in the past 31 days than the average woman paints her nails in a year.  For today, I recreated a mani that was originally done by Jaunty Juli.  (She is awesome, so check her out on YouTube.)  I almost did these nails yesterday, but I decided to save these for today so that I don’t have to take them off after one day.  Here they are:

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These nails took a little bit of time, but they really weren’t hard.  Check out Jaunty Juli’s tutorial on her YouTube channel for the details on how to get this look.

So, now that this whole thing is over, I think I’m going back to posting on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so that I can get my sanity back.  Thanks so much to all of you who have hung in there with me for the past 31 days!

Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial (31dc2014)

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Day 30!  Only one more day to go!  I’m gonna make it!

For today’s nails, the idea is to do nails based on a tutorial done by another nails artist.  I opted to try the dry brush technique.  I’ve seen this technique in a lot of tutorials by a lot of different bloggers, so I’m not really sure who to credit with coming up with it first.   Anyway, here are my nails:

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The second picture is in direct sunlight.

These nails were super easy to do and required absolutely no artistic ability and no tools!  I just started by painting my nails with a nude color, then I chose 5 or 6 polishes that I thought were nice fall colors. After the nude polish was mostly dry, I took one of my polishes and wiped pretty much all of the polish off on the neck of the bottle.  then, using the little bit of polish that was still on the brush, I made little streaky patches on each of my nails.  Then I went through the same process with each color.  If you’d like to see a real actual tutorial on this technique, please let me know!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you tomorrow for the 31st and final day of this challenge!

Day 28: Inspired by a Flag (31dc2014)

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Today was another long day for me, so this is going to be good and short again.  I’m mostly Swiss (with a little bit of German) so I decided to do a little tribute to the Swiss flag:

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And here’s my Cinderella hand, in case you’re curious:

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I’ll see you tomorrow with some supernatural fingers!

Day 27: Inspired by Artwork

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It’s been a long day, and I just got home after being out doing stuff for 13 hours, so this is going to be short and sweet.  I was initially stumped for today, so I did an image search online for “artwork” and found this:

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So I painted my nails to look like this:

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I was super happy with how these turned out!  In case you’re curious, here’s a pic with my thumb:

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And in case you are still curious, here’s my right hand.  It’s my Cinderella hand: the hand that does all of the hard work, but doesn’t get any of the glory.

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It’s time to take these off and get some nails that are inspired by a flag.  I’m pretty sad to take these off 😦

Oh, and to those of you who have given me lots of love over these nails today on instagram, thank you, thank you, thank you!  You all are sweet! See you tomorrow!