Here is one of my StrangeBeautiful polishes, a taupe from Volume 4. I did two coats here.

I really need to rave about the smooth and perfect application here! They are so easy and pleasant to apply.

The bottle shape is slightly annoying to me because it feels unstable. I worry I could easily accidentally knock it over while painting my nails!

It's also kind of weird that they have no names, but I guess I'll get over it.

Maybe I should name them myself? :) Ambiguous Stone.

» Read More...

It's been entirely too long since I've posted. I apologize for my absence! I'm not sure why I've been dragging my heels about blogging lately. Maybe just a rut? Maybe just tired from work. I n any case, I'm still around, still painting my nails...oh so frequently! So I do have lots of catch up pics to show you. :)

This is the Claire's Mood Shy/Flirty. I left it matte and actually used a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic as a top coat because I couldn't bear not to put any form of top coat on my mani. Apparently the little white specks are from the Matte Magic and I should've cleaned off the lip of the bottle and/or my brush better (or so I'm told). :)

After hot water.

After cold water.

Now this was a wacky combination that looks very unassuming. I did Claire's Mood in Bored/Excited. Then I topped it with Claire's Mermaid.

That's the Mermaid bottle above. It looked very streaky and uneven, so I threw on China Glaze Shooting Stars, which has a way of making everything look better! (And it did!)

The color change was fairly subtle and showed just like french tips that were a bit more corally than the rest of the nail.

This mani was super duper girly frilly frou-frou for me and it kind of freaked me out at first! But then I embraced it whole-heartedly and had lots of happy thoughts including snowflakes, sparkles, unicorns, icicles, snow cones, ballerinas, rainbow brite, etc.

I think it was Morgan who had asked for tips on how I apply polish in general and I am still going to post that for you soon! Again, I apologize for the delay and thank you for staying with me. :)

EDIT: I have to laugh at myself - it's been so long since I've posted that I conveniently forgot what size photos I normally show. These are quite a bit bigger!! Do you care? Do you like this size better? Let me know if you have an opinion on the matter. Thanks!

» Read More...

I hope you are having a terrific weekend! I just enjoyed some tasty food that my Mom prepared for the holiday. She was kind enough to share with my husband and I. Two of my favorites! Greek potato salad and Blueberry Buckle (like coffee cake). I also enjoyed some delicious chicken curry she made. Thanks, Mom!

For my 4th mani, I started with two coats each of Nicole by OPI A New Kind of Blue and Sally Hansen HD Zip.

Then I did stamping designs with Konad Special White polish, using plates m11, m33, and Bundle Monster plate BM20.

I followed with a coat of China Glaze Shooting Stars.

I like how it turned out, but I would do it different if I had it to do over again. I don't like how the BM20 big stars turned out. I had to double stamp because the design is small and I didn't get things lined up very well, so it looks pretty wonky!

I think the big stars look like deranged clouds. :) I also kind of think I should have maybe gone with fine silver glitter. The holo glitter feels too snowy to me. In any case, just me picking apart a perfectly cute mani! Nothing too wrong with it, really. I hope you all have a safe Holiday.

» Read More...