I've Got a New Crush - Colored Foils

Honestly given my track record with foils I didn't think these would turn out.  Imagine my happy dance when they did!!

 

This is Tanzanite Fire foil that I got from Dollar Nail Art.  I applied it over China Glaze Side Saddle and finished off with Sally Hansen Clear'd for Take Off .  These lasted for three days before the foil layer on my right hand started rubbing off.

  

While the top coat did dull the finish a bit it obviously didn't have the nasty, discoloring, wrinkling effect I have had in the past.  I wonder if it's because it's a colored foil rather than the silver I've used in the past.   I am over the moon with how it came out.  I ordered some other colors so I'm excited to try them. 

*please excuse my nasty cuticles and shorty nails.  I've been doing a bit of housework and they've suffered, unfortunately I'd removed the foils already when I went to post these pics so pretty retakes weren't an option.

Yodel-le-hee Yodel-le-hee Yodel-oh!

I'm having a bad nail day.  You know, the ones where you detect a snag and instead of leaving it alone until you can fix it you pick at it until you end up ripping your nail to the point where you can't save it.  :(  Yeah, that was me last night...On FOUR nails!  We're talking down to the quick, itty bitty nubbins.  This is one downside to my new gel nails.  So sad. 
So I'm trying to determine how bad it is.  I certainly don't want the rest of my nails down to the quick, that would just be silly even for the sake of consistancy. So for the next few days I'm going to be working on them to see if I can get them back to the point where I'm not ashamed to show them to blog land. and for the next few posts you're going to be getting back photos.

Just so you know, I have to sing the title of this blog entry like they did in the Sound of Music. Yodel-le-hee Yodel-le-hee Yodel-oh!  And if I just gave you an earworm and you're going to be singing this throughout the day...well so am I so I'm not sorry.  :) Don't you just love me all to pieces? You can thank me later, lets move onto the star of this show.  Which I'm sure you've figured out is OPI's Yodel Me on my Cell.

I wasn't expecting this polish to be as sheer as it was. In the bottle it looks really rich and opaque but alas, it took three/four + touch up coats to get complete coverage. Totally worth it for this beaut though if you ask me. The color reminds me of the ocean when I was in Hawaii years ago. In this landlocked state of mine I rarely see it outside of screen savers.

Application was super smooth though, no streaking and since I took my time between coats no dragging either, exactly how I like it.

This is from the Swiss Collection which was kind of hit and miss with me.  This was for sure a hit.  If you have a thing for lovely blue's and don't have this, I highly recommend. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading.  Until next time, take care.

Guest Nails - Crackle Mani

Allow me to introduce my lovely daughter and her gorgeous long fingernails.  She was really excited (like really, made me proud) when I brought home the crackle polishes by China Glaze so she worked up a full mani using them and OPI's Black Shatter.  I think it turned out really cute.  We didn't get pics of it until she'd been wearing it for a few days though so pardon the wear and tear.  (I helped with application and clean up but she even took her pictures herself.)

First we applied a coat of Orly Bonder then two coats of Orly Dazzle

Then we applied China Glaze Crushed Candy to all but her accent fingers.

Her accent fingers (ring on her left, index on the right) were done with a top coat of OPI's Black Shatter finished off with two coats of Seche Vite. 

She was really excited for me to share this with you and any comments will be passed on to her.  Thanks so much for reading and have a great one.

And the Winner Is...

Ok, I'm posting this a little (lot) later than I planned but hey, it's still Monday right? 

I want to thank everyone for entering my give away.  Welcome to all my new followers, I hope you stick around. 

Ok ok, I'll stop stalling.  Without further ado, the winner of my 100+ Follower Give Away iiiiiisssssss

Sharon!!

Congrats, I'll be contacting you via email for your mailing address. 

Scented Polish, Fabulous or Flop?

Can you believe that we're almost done with the first week of March already??  Time does fly.

I want to thank everyone for entering My Katy Perry Collection give away.  (If you haven't entered it ends tonight at midnight my time (mountain standard time).  Find out more here!)  I'll be counting entries this weekend at work and will announce the winner come Monday. 

Now on with the polish post

I remember as a kid having a scented polish.  While I don't remember the specifics of it I'm sure it was supposed to be some fruity bit of fluff that was especially for the younger kids.  Of course it didn't really smell as good as the hype painted it but it wasn't quite as chemically as the regular stuff...which, not to date myself was back before the three free so was pretty darn stinky.
I haven't really taken note of any scented polishes until recently when I saw the Revlon line.  While most of the scents and colors didn't appeal I couldn't resist the temptation and have picked up a few.

 Here is Beach, a really nice yellowish green and we know how I love green.  Green beaches...not so much.  I did NOT love the scent on this one, not pleasant at all and while it wasn't the chemical smell of regular polish what ever beach they were basing the smell off is a place I don't want to visit. I wish they'd gone with a lemon, lime or green apple for this instead, the fruit scents are far better in my opinion.

 Super sheer, I stopped counting how many coats after the third.  Pretty sure I've got at least five here and check out that nail line.

I probably shouldn't have shaken it, bubbles are bad!

 Not So Blueberry has a distinctive fruity scent that while not exactly what I'd call blueberry, I really liked.  I'd be tempted to keep my fingers up my nose for this one. 

 Not a sheer as Beach thankfully, this is three maybe four coats.  That shimmer gets all over the place when you go to take it off though.

 The hearts came from Nicole by OPI's Step to the Beat of My <3

Finally Grape Icy (which was swatched awhile back on longer nails)

 This is my favorite color of the three.  Unfortunately the scent wasn't as strong as the other two but it is a very yummy if not cliche grape scent. 

All three have had a very thin consistency, which cause puddling around my cuticles and took several coats to achieve good coverage with Beach being the worst. 
I grabbed Grape Icy and Beach  a while back and just recently got Not So Blueberry, The scent can last up to two days which is as long as any of these lasted on nail. On my nail wheels the scent has lasted over a week but that's obviously not with hand washing, dishes, cleaning etc so I can't say much on that. 
These would be great for kids or anyone with a sensitive nose.  I know there is a Cherry and Raspberry scent with colors being what you'd expect as well as a blue, orange and a couple of other colors/scents as well.  If you have a problem with the smell of regular polish you may want to look into these as an option.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading.  Wishing you a great day!

Color Club and OPI - A Dynamic Duo (pic heavy)

I wanted to have a little bit of fun so I grabbed Color Club's Volt of Light.

 Holy Moley, that's bright!!!

 Truth be told, I stopped counting how many coats this is after I reached the fourth one. 

 It applies quite nicely but it looks a bit sparse. 

It has a lovely green shimmer to it though that I just adore.  It doesn't like to come out for pictures though, this was the best I could get, you may want to click it bigger.  

Let's add a little Black Shatter to the mix now!

 Zinggggggggggg!!!

 It makes me think of the new school crossing signs they have now. 

 I'm loving the way the Shatter worked on my nails. 

 Can you see that green shimmer coming up through?  

Hope you liked.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Take care!

Have you entered my Katy Perry Collection Give Away yet??? It ends this Friday.

Traditional Polish Over Soak Off Gel

Thanks to everyone that's entered to win my Katy Perry Collection give away which ends this coming Friday...!!!  If you haven't already entered, you can find out how HERE!

Can I just say how nice it has been being able to send personal replies to the individuals that are NOT set as No Replies.  I can't tell you how much I love that feature!  Remember, it's a super easy automatic entry!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled nail post.

I've been conducting a little experiment on how long traditional polish will last over the soak off gel nails.  I applied two coats of OPI Black Cherry Chutney back on the evening of the 23rd with no base coat and followed by two coats of  Seche Vite and a bit of sillyness on the tips that you'll see in the pics but pretend isn't there because it didn't come out at all pretty.
This is what my nails looked like Saturday night.

I think I can safely say that the super high shine/slick surface of gel nails keeps traditional polish from adhering as well as it does to acrylics.  Obviously I have a high flex point on my index finger even with the additional strength of the gel.

Surprising enough the tips don't show much wear.  Of course it was a bit worse on my right hand but that's to be expected since I'm right handed

I removed the polish with non acetone remover and was thrilled with how simple the removal was.  On my right index finger I did discover this though.

As scary looking as it is, it's only gel deep.  Upon removal of the gel (which was blissfully easy in comparison to acrylics) I found the damage to my nail to be minimal.  

So so far I am pretty happy with the gel nails.  I am concerned that they aren't providing enough support though.  I have found my nail edges get rough quickly and I've developed a couple of snags.  That's not good since I chronically pick at them if I don't have a file handy.   I'm going to continue to work with them though to see if I can get them to work better for me since as of now I prefer them over acrylics.   My next test will be to see if by using a bonding base coat traditional polish will last longer.  I'll let you know.