Deborah Lippmann - Today Was A Fairytale and Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Hello snow day!! This is probably one of the worst snowstorms of the year here - NY is swallowed by snow. I've just about had enough of the snow and the winter, and I hope we have an early spring. Look at this chaos! I do love fresh snowfall, but in a few days everything is brown and mucky and disgusting.

So Liam took me to the mall this evening, we were getting stir crazy from being in the house so much due to crappy weather. I got two lovely new additions today - I am not able to swatch them until I return from vacation Sunday, but I did take some great photos of them so you can see how beautiful these really are. Today was a fairytale is the most amazing glittery color - silver and blue are just so cohesive and I can't wait to try this with a powder blue base. Hit me with your best shot is a slate gray/blue and I want to try this in a reverse french. Both are so lovely and a treat to look at until I get to try them :)

I also gave the sparkly french mani yet another go, because it is definitely my favorite experimental mani! This is my best yet, because I had the right swatches that all went together much better.

Butterfly wing nail art( or at least my attempt at it) (Erika)

I went on FB a few weeks ago, just to spend a few minutes(coughhackhours) looking at nail polish pics. I noticed that Julie had "Liked" a few pics, so the nosey person I am, I went to see what else was posted, haha. After about 10 mins of looking, I found this tutorial by the amazing elenaeris:



Instantly I wanted to try it! So fast forward a few weeks( hey even if with nail polish I drag my heels, really got to try to work on that whole procrastination thing...) and here are the results:

The nail polishes I used are:
Sally Hansen Insta-dry 430 Brisk Blue
Kiss Nail art (black)
Kiss Nail art (white)
Color Club nail art (opal glitter)

This is my first experience with the Zoya color lock system. I have to say I'm impressed! The remover is amazing! Non drying and no god awful toxic smell. My favorite is the base coat called Armor. It really grabs the color and leave a nice and smooth finish. I am a little bias about the speed drops. I don't think it really helped in the fast dry dept. But overall, its a great set for a person who is starting out with building a nail polish collection(or obsession..tomato..tomoto)

Katy Perry for OPI Shatter Polish (Julie)

Took a drive today to Ulta to check out the new Katy Perry line. There wasn't much left - and the shatters were all gone, which is what I was really after. Had a nice employee check in the back, but there were none in stock. So I shopped around for a while, and low and behold, I find a bottle of Shatter hidden amongst the sale boxes that somebody must have tucked away to come back to. Lucky me!

I applied it over Revved Up Red by Ulta Professional Nail Lacquer line - it's a really bright red and I thought it'd really glow through the black.

I am not sure how I feel about this. It did apply evenly and shattered immediately, and dried fast. However, it dried matte which I hate - so I applied 2 coats of Prolana Quick & Slick, and it was an improvement. I think it's neat I am just not sure it's my style per-se. I think I prefer the shimmery stuff. But maybe it'll grow on me.

How to grow your nails naturally - Key ingredient Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (Julie)

Today I was looking online for a site that could provide me with some homemade natural remedies for weak nails, and I came across one in particular that looked really good...not to mention yummy. I truly felt like Winnie the Pooh with his honey obsession. The two key ingredients are Extra virgin coconut oil (i luckily had in the cabinet!) and honey. The entire site and more interesting recipes for home nail care remedies can be found here: http://naturalnailcarerecipes.homestead.com/nailsoaks.html

It's a really simple recipe, and this is supposed to help your nails grow strong. I took equal parts Langnese creamed honey and Nutiva extra virgin coconut oil that I had in my cabinet already. (you can use regular honey)

I put them in a microwavable safe (duh) bowl together. (as I said before, you might want to first melt the coconut oil for 15 secs then add honey, and microwave another 10-15 secs)

 

First attempt was 15 seconds. The honey melted nicely, the coconut oil did not. It kinda looked like glaciers in a sea of pee. I have a way with words, don't I?

Not quite ready yet. Shoved it back in the microwave for another 15 seconds and it was much better.

Dunked my hands in for about 7 mins (it calls for 10 minutes but I got bored fast, and it was starting to dry and get sticky as it cooled)

For the last few minutes, I applied it to both hands entirely, and massaged it in. Rinsed it off and my hands felt soft, and smelled great. I felt pampered! I enjoyed it and will try and do this often.

Repeat this twice a week for stronger nails. Good luck!

Chanel Paradoxal PERFECT Dupe (Julie)

I know Erika had mentioned a dupe before, the one made by Revlon - and she said the only problem was bubbling. I found a dupe that is amazing! It's absolutely perfect, i see no differences whatsoever. It applies beautifully in one swipe, and bolder in 2. It doesn't bubble, and it is perfect with a seche vite top coat. It's by Barry M and is called Dusky Mauve. They are in the UK, so if you are outside the UK (yes, they do int'l shipping) I would suggest making a slightly larger order to make it worthwhile.