Well, Hello there!

I know you guys haven't seen a post on this blog in awhile. But as another long time friend of Erika's, and a reader/ supporter of this blog, I mentioned to her that I hadn't seen any posts in awhile. I do like to support anything my friends do, and have been reading since the beginning. So she asked if I'd like to take part, and here I am!

Now i'm nowhere near as good with a brush as Erika, Renee, and Julie are. More like Ernestina Does A Manicure, in my honest opinion. And I think I may be dating myself with that paraphrased reference. :-P But I do love polish, and have a willingness to get better so bear with me!

I've been buying polish since middle school when all I could afford is a 99 cent bottle of Wet 'N Wild, sadly those hideous colors of blue and metallic apple green are long dried out, but the memories remain (of hideous manicures). Painting something pretty on your nails makes you feel good, and why shouldn't we all treat ourselves to some good feels now and again?

For my first post I decided to post on a polish that was bought for me as a gift from Erika when I went up to NY to visit; Deborah Lippman's Lets Go Crazy. You should know, I'm a HUGE sucker for purple and glitter so this polish was a no brainer for my first Lippman. I've read around  about it, and the consensus is that it's chunky,  the purple is murky... Well you all can google that if you're interested. Also, until I get my camera charger in the mail, I'm stuck with my 2 year old ancient smartphone camera. So no judging on the picture quality until I say so! :)

Rejuvacote, Lets Go Crazy, Out The Door Topcoat. 

Plus showing off some possibilities for future posts :)

First things first, I LOVE this polish. I do think it needs some work to come out well, though. It could be me who knows. But sheer purple, with tons of colored glitter? I'm probably biased as a lover of purple shiny things. 

These pictures will get better I promise. I'll also invest in something to get those bits of polish off by my next post

So this was one coat of Rejuvacote, which is my standard base coat. Two thick coats of Lets Go Crazy, followed by one thick coat of Out the Door. I did have to fish every few nails because the glitter was getting sparse, as well as a quick cap and roll. But despite that, and some streakiness, I still have a big mushy soft spot for this polish. As I get more used to doing my nails more often i'll definitely revisit to see if I have the same issues. Anyone have this polish have the same issues? Let me know!

Bonus: Have any of you seen this link for cute Valentines mani ideas? Now I'd change the pink to purple, as i'm not a pink fan. But that's just me. A solid purple mani, with maybe a red heart on the thumb is as Valentine-y as I get. But, they're all super creative. :)

What is the most you will spend on a nail polish?

Chanel.. we need to talk.

I've ofter wondered who are the crazies who pay more then 30$ for a nail polish, for 30 bucks this polish better serve me breakfast in bed and drive me to Target! I think my cut of for a nail polish would be ..how much does a Chanel go for? 25-28 dollars? And that is pushing it. And is it me or is Chanel getting very lazy with the colors, white polish.. seriously Chanel. You are better than that.

Sorry, Tom, I cant spend 30 bucks on your very pretty but high priced nail polishes.

Okay all you Clarins unicorn pee buyers, don't take this the wrong way, but yeesh! How did you spend the money for this gorgeous polish without cringing when you hit the paypal button?

bitter.. cause Ill never own this beauty.

So what is your spending limit. Do you have one, if you don't can I stand next to you while you shop for nail polishes and worship you?

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.

Valentine's day nails (erika)

So as promised from last nights blog, here is my valentine's day look.

 

Using the flash.. good but also bad...(grrr tip wear!!)

Yes, I know the picture isn't the best, but after taking about 15 pictures I gave up. I know.. terrible, a nail polish quitter. 

I do have something to confess, that may shock you. I really do not like valentine's day, or how my family mispronounces it every time "valentime's day". You would think that a person who loved chocolate, hearts, and the color red would go lady gaga over it. But alas, I could care less. Can you tell I didn't receive a lot of valentines as child..or hugs for that matter?

But this is a great excuse to swatch my new China Glaze "ruby pumps" from their Wizard of Oz series. I have Dorothy Who? the amazing blue sparkly masterpiece, so I knew that the red would not disappoint. I added a simple white outlined heart, just something simple and classic. Like moi of course;)

I am going to (finally) do a blog about my recent stashes that I have acquired over the past month. I used to be one of those people who hated "hauling" I felt like it was just plain showing off, but now I know its just a way to show the new polishes that are out there, to drool over of course, ha ha.

But alas, I must go, but I do promise a haul blog! Ta ta for now:)

Just some nail of the week(Erika)

Sorry about my lack of posts... Sadly I have no reason, but lots of school work and sleeping. I spent the past weekend (well part of the weekend) visiting Julie. We have to make plans about a year in advance because shes a busy gal, and im sorta kinda busy(work, work, work).

We broke out the nail polishes, including the ones that she got for me at Ulta:) And I used her Barry M Indigo that I top coated with Nubar 2010.

This was taken a few days after I painted them, so excuse the tip wear and chipage. I also didnt realize that it could have used another coat, damn you sunlight.
I need to get, yes need, to get Indigo by Barry M. I came close to getting a dupe, Royal by Revlon.

 

 But as you can see, Barry M is more purple, so as order must be placed because this color is just amazing. The end. Tomorrow I shall post my VDAY manicure. It needs some, ahem, fixing. Lets just say, taking a shower after you paint your nails is not a good idea.


Here is the Barry M website:
http://www.barrym.com/

Cult Nails - Up And Coming and AWESOME! (Julie)

*Tues Feb 15 -Just updating this post to say WOW! I got my Cult Nails Iconic yesterday and I am just in love!! It was everything I hoped and some more. The flakes are the perfect size and amount, it applies smooth, and I'm on the second day of wear (I chopped, I cooked, I worked!) and not even one chip yet. My only recommendation would be to just be sure you let each coat dry before you apply the next to prevent bubblies. I used 3 coats, and no top coat. Though I'm sure seche would help reflect the gold glimmer in this polish. It's just super. And now I think I need to get the other too!

Here are my swatches of Iconic - my application was messy, sorry!

Iconic in direct sunlight. Wow!

I stumbled upon a nail polish *franken genius while skimming blogs the other day, and it turns out that she has released her own line of nail polish called Cult Nails, and so far from what I've seen, the swatches are to die for!

I pre-ordered a bottle of Iconic - it's a deep rose cream with gold sparkles and flakes in it. So completely unique!! When I say I LOVE flake polishes, I mean it. And I feel like there's a whole other realm of possibilities that most nail polish companies (with the exception of Nfu Oh) really haven't explored yet. So my hopes are that this line by Cult Nails is uber successful, so that the creator, Maria Morrison can rock out the flake polishes and make me happy woman :) I see SO much potential in her ideas thus far!

What do you think?

(these photos belong to cultnails.com)

Iconic:

 

My Kind of Coolaid:

 

Living Water:

*franken- mixing together of different nail polishes to create a brand new polish