Finding Fimo

So since I spotted a fimo nail art post in Chloe's Nails blog, I've been hooked. I've ordered up a ton and once I get a new idea in my head, another bumps my current mani right out. So my hands are super dry from all the nail polish removing, but it's so worth it - because this is fun!! Here's my newest fimo combo. China Glaze's "Shower Together" base coat, and Sinful Colors "Nail Junkie" as french tips. Nail Junkie is one of the neatest glitter swatches out there, as I previously swatched on top of a nice aqua Ulta base called Dance Teal Dawn last year.

So here is my creation of the day. My "Aloha, Bitches" french mani lol (have you seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall? It's totally a reference to the film)

3 Days Left To Win Deborah Lippmann And Nfu Oh Polishes!!! 75 Followers Gets Extra Prize!

Spread the word! 3 days left to enter and be eligible to win Deborah Lippmann's Razzle Dazzle, and Nfu Oh's 59.

And if we reach our goal of 75 followers, we will also be adding a swatch by Zoya. That'll be a surprise.

So please make your way to our original giveaway post, and sign up before it's too late! And stick around because another giveaway will be going on next month!!

http://apolishedlife.blogspot.com/2011/02/polished-lifes-first-giveaway-nfu-oh-59.html

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things ( Julie )

I was arranging my polishes out of boredom, and started to get creative and take photos of some really beautiful swatches. I grouped them according to type/color/glitter/flakes/etc and made it a bit artsy fartsy....check it out.

Which do you like best? Are there any here that you didn't know about? Any you might want to get your hands on?

(please click on the images to view them in all their glory!)

First grouping are my purples/indigos/eggplants/magentas/etc:

Zoya - Zara, Zoya - Deidra, OPI - Merry Midnight, Barry M - Dusky Mauve, Barry M - Indigo, Sinful Colors - Frenzy, Nubar - Violet Sparkles, Nicole for OPI - Step 2 The Beat of My Heart, Nfu Oh - 51

Next are my HEXAGON Glitters:

Deborah Lippmann - Today Was A Fairytale, Wet & Wild FastDry - Party of 5 Glitters, NYC - Starry Silver Glitter, China Glaze - Solar Flare, Hard Candy - Break Up, Hard Candy - Hot Pants, Deborah Lippmann - Ruby Red Slippers, Deborah Lippmann - Bad Romance, Nfu Oh - GS 05

And now for some Silver/Grey Swatches:

China Glaze: Fairy Dust, Zoya - Luna, China Glaze - Recycle, Deborah Lippmann - Today Was A Fairytale, Nubar - Antiquity Silver, China Glaze - Platinum Silver, Piggy Polish - Grey-T, Laura Mercier - Sterling, Nfu Oh - GS 05, Color Club - High Society

Care for some Powdery Pinks/Neutrals?

Barry M - Pink Iridescent, Zoya - Brenna, China Glaze - Innocence, Orly - Tie The Knot, OPI - Heart Throb, Essie- Pink Glove Service

And Last- this is for you, Erika- AVATAR swatches-

China Glaze - Dorothy, Who?, Piggy Polish - Navy I'm Right, China Glaze - Frost Bite, Chi - Midnight Rendezvous, Barry M - Indigo

It's bouquet with me by OPI for Sephora

I bought this a couple of weeks ago, but never really got a chance to use it yet. I havent been in the most creative moods lately when it comes to my nail polish, I can thank school for that one..

I used this on top of Zoya Icicle( 3 coats) and then 2 coats of IBWM. It prolly would have came out a bit denser with 3 coats, but I think 2 is pretty good for me.



I need to get out of this polish funk and start doing something like Julie, Renee, and Tammy and change it up!

Fimo Butterflies For The Ring fingers! SO cute (Julie & Tammy)

I found these on eBay, came out to about $3.00 and they arrived the next day...no joke! I just ordered a bunch more. They're made from fimo clay. These are butterflies, but there are also fruit slices, hearts, stars, flowers, animals, etc. I got mine from a seller in NY, but it seems most are based out of Asia. So if you're in the US and are looking to get them sooner, try this link.

This is what Tammy did - a nice bright pink by OPI with a blue fimo butterfly-

And I did Indigo by Barry M, a blue/black butterfly, and a top coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment

Here it is blurred so you can see the rainbow sparkles:

Oh and don't forget - there are only 4 days left to sign up for our Nfu Oh & Deborah Lippmann giveaway! So get on moving to that post and enter!!

:)

Walgreen finds(erika)

Last weekend I took a trip to Walmart with my mom. I was hoping to see if they had any Hard Candy left. Now I am aware of how the walmart is around my grandmother's. Well walmart did shock me when I went into the cosmetics aisle. They had... 2 colors. Sky blue( which i own already) and this horrid yellow. Blech. So I ended up going home with nail polish remover and cotton(whoa, big spender here). Right next to the walmart is a Walgreen's. I went in, and saw a Wet n Wild display. And literally grabbed the last 5 colors they had. In no order in particular:
Buffy the violet slayer, Gray's anatomy, Hannah Pinktana, Party of five glitters, and Blue wants to be a millionaire. I was shocked they had Party of five glitters as It seems to be hard to find from a few bloggers.

Party of five glitters, this one is insane with glitter

Week 2 in recovery (Renee)

While at home recovering, (and let me tell you, it gets old FAST) I decided to give myself another manicure (it's amazing how nail polish chips off, even when you aren't being super active!). Disclaimer: any resemblance of this manicure to anyone's, living or dead, is strictly coincidental ^_~
It's my first time doing such an intricate design, but since nail design is HUGE in Japan, I decided to try it for myself (trust me, it gets SUPER crazy here, including 3D plastic objects and other things). My design is much tamer, though I have to take a pic of the nails I bought on here sometime.

I started with a Jordana salon formula in frosted pink that I had totally forgotten about. What's nice about this polish is it contains the powder of actual pearls (or so the label states) which gives it a natural and pretty pearly sheen.
Next, I used Maybelline Express Finish Glitters (remember those?) in Mandarin Mars to put on the tips in a triangle twist on the french manicure design. I have some more Maybelline Express colors, I just need that polish reviver and I'll be busting them out ::winks at Erika::
Then I put dots of NYC polyester pink on the tips, and above I painted hearts. They may look like the same color, but they're not, the middle is red and the two sides are dark pink.
Finally, as gel nails are really popular here, I used a gel-look topcoat from Japanese brand Coffret D'or, mabe by Kanebo (though it's hard to see in the pic.)

To make my designs, I use a nail brush that I bought here for the equivalent of a whole dollar! Even better, the brush actually comes apart and snaps into itself, making it much more portable.
The lighting in the pic is casting some weird dark shadows on my fingers..0_0

I'll be back again soon with beauty tips!

Pink n Purple Polka Dots (Tammy)

My very first post... :)he-he

My nails are wrapped in acrylic in this picture, since I have been experimenting with all of that because my nails ALWAYS break if not wrapped. But since then I have changed to gel and I am in love. I think acrylic is harder to apply.
Anyway, that day I was in the mood for dots. I hadn't really tried to do it and didn't really know how to but the first thing that came to my head was tooth picks. I applied one coat of Nailtiques Nail Protein Formula 2, two coats of pink (I had just got it from Julie :)). I cut the tip off the tooth pick because I wanted a decent size dot, put some purple nail polish on a napkin and dipped the tooth pick in it. It took me a couple of dot mess ups to get it right but I liked the end result. After a day and a nail accident, I decided to reverse the colors on the index fingernail. I actually liked it better this way.

Colors:
Pink: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
Purple: Eva - Purple (Didn't use a big name nail polish.)

Sorry for the crappy pic but don't have a really good camera yet ;)

Sunday Manicures With The Ladies (Julie)

I brought my big old Caboodles full of polish (& then some) over to mom's today so we could do nails. Myself, my sister-in-law Tammy, and mom.

Tammy is a big Nfu-oh fan, mainly the flakies - so she used 2 coats of 056 on top of a pretty sparkly green by Confetti.

Mom likes pink, always has! So we did Razzle by OPI - and blinged out her ringfingers with Nfu-oh GS 04

And last, I am really on a red kick - so used my favorite Ulta red, and used OPI Shatter on my ringfinger, and a little jewel to top it off.