Essie - Stones N' Roses

Hey guys,

Here is another one from Nicole, I have a love hate relationship with Essie, sometimes I love them other times I find them just horribly boring. This isn't normally a color I would reach for as it makes my skin look rather funky but I didn't hate it.

This was two coats.

This is
Essie - Stones N' Roses

Essie Sleek Stick - Sneek-e

Hey guys,

So these were given to me by my friend Nicole to try out since she always has gel nails so she really has no use for these.

Since they are Essie I was SO hoping that they would be the nail polish strips and not just flipping nail stickers.
No dice, these are stickers. Which means I'm probably going to hate them.

Sure enough I was hoping these puppies would last through my horse show in June but NOPE they lasted a DAY before they were peeling right off. I like the idea and the pattern but I HATE the stickers. They just don't last. After these peeled off I went and stole some old Sally Hansen nail strips my mom had gotten for christmas a couple years ago (You snooze you lose mom) And those worked perfect. Skip Essie, go for Sally Hansen

This is
Essie Sleek Stick - Sneek-e

Essie - Under The Twilight

Hey guys,

So I know I've talked before about how I sort of gave up on Essie after just a run of polish disappointments. As a rule Essie mostly does creme polishes, which is great but if that is your thing then your formula and pigmentation should be spot on. Which I find is hit and miss with Essie.

This polish was given to me by my bestie Nicole and I am happy to report this Essie was everything I wanted it to be, great application and nice pigmentation.  For a dark blue it didn't stain either.
This was two coats.

This is
Essie - Under The Twilight

Essie - Dress To Kilt

Hey guys,

So the plan today is to finally get my yard decorated for halloween! I have been slacking big time and need to get a jump on things otherwise I'm just going to have the same old boring halloween house as usual. Nope, this year it's up to me and it will be different!

Okay you you guys are aware of my obsession with Scotland. So when I saw Essie's Fall Collection, I immediately wanted the whole thing just for this one polish. I don't even really like Essie, but I managed to talk myself out of ordering the whole collection, but I did have to have this one beautiful red. That being said this polish blew me away. I've had some pretty hit and miss experiences with Essie and their formula, but let me tell you this was ALMOST a one coater! I was very impressed and I loved wearing this.

This is two coats.

This is

Essie - Dress To Kilt

March Bestie Twin Nails Challenge: Gradient

Hey guys,

So super exciting news!! My bestest nail polish best friend (that's totally a thing) Melissa from Claw of Cthulhu and I have teamed up to do a March Bestie Twin nails challenge!

We've been wanting to do this for a while, but it took some syncing of schedules, but it's happening!!

So here is how this is going to work. Every Monday we are going to coordinate our manicures. We've chosen 5 different themes, but other than that we have no clue what each other is doing. I'm really excited to see how this goes. Will we be on the same page for any of these or will we be polar opposites? So pumped.

So without further ado, I present you Week 1: Gradient. 

Click for more after the jump also click here to go to Claw of Cthulhu.

Random Swatch Spam

Hey guys,

Today I just have some random swatches for you, these four polishes were all presents from Chelsea. I actually swatched one of them while I was dogsitting for her then she wound up giving it to me.
 

More pics after the jump

Pink Ombre Manicure & What to Do When You Fall Out of Love With a Brand?

Hey guys,

So first I want to talk about something thats been bugging me for a while and I want to talk about. I considered putting this in it's own post but decided in the end to stick it with random manicure instead. Feel free to just skip the part and head on down to the pictures below.

Anyways so something I've been thinking a lot about lately is "What do you do when you've fallen out of love with a brand or company?" This doesn't have to apply strictly to nail polish although in my case it does.
In my case this is Cult Nails. Now I really do like the polish itself (I almost feel like I'm in a "Don't bring the kids into this" position, the kids being the nail polish) It usually has a great formula and there are some really fun colours (Yes, Flushed & Charming I'm looking at you two). However I feel like I really just can't support the actual company. A couple months back when Cult Nails reached a milestone on Facebook they had a sale, right in the middle of my no buy. So of course me and a friend took to Twitter to whine about being in the middle of our no buy. We were totally both on board to break our no buy and splurge and hoard some more Cult Nails. When we actually got a reply out of Maria. All it said was "Sorry?" Now the adult in me is saying "Stop being a baby, suck it up"
Bottomline is I felt a little bit unappreciated as a customer. Whether or not it is justified.
Now I find myself looking at my polishes I have with a bit of resentment, then I feel guilty (polishes have feelings right?)
I wish this had happened after I had grabbed a few more polishes I (still) want, I wish I could be less immature about this.
So really what happens next? Guess only time will tell.

 

On a lighter less whiney note: I love a good ombre mani even though I tend to really suck at them (for some reason I aways pick a colour that just throws everything off) Anyways I thought this one was decent enough to share with you guys. I was rockin some pretty serious nubs when I did this too. blech I hate when my nails are that short however it has to be done sometimes. Then I topped all the pinks off with a coat of Zoya Chloe and then some Matte About You.

For this I used

Essie - Foot Loose

 Zoya - Whitney
OPI - If You Moust You Moust

OPI - Sparrow Me The Drama

OPI - Pink Friday

Zoya - Chloe

Essie - Sssssexy

Hey guys,

So a while ago I told myself that I wasn't going to buy any more Essie polishes, I've just never been wowed on any sort of consistant basis. Yet when I saw the Essie Snakeskin magnetic polishes I guess I couldn't stop myself. So I grabbed my go to- red. The application on this one wasn't bad at all, although I should stop with the magnetic polishes because for some reason I just can't seem to get the knack of it or get it the pattern over my whole nail. Odds are I just need to work on my technique and practice.

Overall I thought these were kind of cool. Will I buy more? no but the colours are nice and I like snakes. (If I could find the picture of my friend's corn snake wrapped around my arm I would show it to you but I have no clue where it is.) If you like magnetic polish this could be for you. Assuming you're better at applying it than I am.

This is

Essie - Sssssexy

TV Inspired: Game Of Thrones

Hey guys,

Today's manicure is Game of Thrones. I fricken love that show! I mean really all I need to say is Khal Drogo, The Hound, and Jon Snow. 3 perfect reasons to watch, Jaime Lannister is pretty hot too, once you get past him being a huge asswipe. 

So I basically did four of the main sigils (or I tried... some are a tad abstract) Stark, Lannister, Targaryen, and Baratheon. 

For this I used

Nails Inc - Carnaby Street

Essie - Turning Heads Red

Sally Hansen - Black Out

Sephora by OPI - Frankly I Don't Give A-Dam

Layla - Golden Nugget

Art Club - Yellow

Orly Instant Artist in Jet Black, Crisp White, Fiery Red

TV Inspired: Hart of Dixie

Hey guys,

So Happy Valentines Day, I personally am not a fan. Pretty much since for as long as I can remember my Valentine has been one of the four-legged variety. Not to discount them, they're quite easier to love than many a human being.

Today's TV Inspired manicure I at least feel somewhat fits into the lovey dovey crap that is V-Day. 

Hart of Dixie Now I've loved Rachel Bilson since The OC so I was super excited when HoD debuted. Add in Wilson Bethel & Scott Porter and you've hit the trifecta. (Can you see a pattern here?? Good looking guys significantly up how much I love a show. Sad but true.) So I've got the hearts, the bluebells, the Rammer Jammer, and of course we can't forget about the lemons!

For this I used:

SOPI - Neutral Beauty

Essie - Cute As A Button

China Glaze - Lemon Fizz

NOPI - Step 2 The Beat of My <3 

Orly Instant Artist in Crisp White, Tweetheart, Leafy Green

Quo Instant Artist in Red

TV Inspired: Chuck

Hey guys,

So quick blurb before I get into today's post.

If you haven't noticed already I have posted a link to my stash spreadsheet in the pages above. It's not as detailed as my spreadsheet I keep on my desktop and there really isn't any ryhme or reason to the way I split it up by sheets. I'll probably continually be tweaking this so keep checking. Or don't thats cool too, I promise I won't be mad.

Second is that I have grand plans to make up a few of my own indie polishes, I haven't decided whether I want to make them for mass consumption or not, it'll really depend on how things work out. I already have all my ideas and inspirations in place. To start I'm only making 4 different ones, and I've only gotten enough to make 4 bottles of each (didn't want to get in over my head) So watch for swatches some time in March!

To the polish! Today's manicure is inspired by none other than one of my Top 10 fave shows of all time. Chuck there is just nothing about that show I don't love. It's another one that should have lasted longer, but on the flip-side at least this way it didn't wind up burnt out like so many great shows.

For this I used
Bed Head - Master Mind
Island Girl - "Tarzan"
Essie - Lacquered Up
Orly Instant Artist in Jet Black & Crisp White
Art Club - Yellow
Quo Instant Artist - Red

TV Inspired: American Restoration

Hey guys,

So when it comes to TV I will watch almost anything (anything but Cake Boss.... I can't stand him) one of my favourite channels is the History Channel, with Pawn Stars, American Pickers & American Restoration, they've hit the jackpot (Counting Cars is great too) so this manicure is dedicated to my favourite of the three: American Restoration I love watching them bring stuff back to life. Plus Tyler & Brettly are pretty adorable too.

So for this manicure if you watch the show you should be able to appreciate this.
the index finger is the old rusted Coke machine, the middle is the Coke machine sandblasted. The ring finger is the Coke machine painted. The pinky is the final product.

For this I used
Essie - Turning Heads Red
China Glaze - Desert Sun
China Glaze - Hook and Line
Orly Instant Artist - Crisp White
Quo Instant Artist - Red

8 Days of Halloween - Day 6 - Candy Corn

Hey guys,

So yesterday was quite busy. I got almost every single thing on my list done.

Pumpkins (AVENGERS! ASSEMBLE!)

Fixing Briar's costume

 

The only thing that really didn't get done was the front yard. It snowed all day so it really wasn't worth it.

This is my Candy Corn gradient.

For this I used 

Nails Inc - Carnaby Street

Essie - Fear or Desire

Essie - Blanc

8 Days of Halloween - Day 1 - Jack - o - Lantern

Hey guys,

So the plan is for the next 8 days (Holy crap Halloween is in 8 days??!!! I feel like I have totally dropped the ball this year. I need to horror movie it up this weekend) Give you guys a Halloween mani every day. I promise this is going to happen!

I love halloween!!

This is my Jack-o-lantern Mani.

It didn't turn out quite like I wanted but I still like it.

For this I used.

Essie - Fear Or Desire (orange base)

Cirque - Kabocha (orange glow in the dark)

Orly Instant Artist - Jet Black

Orly Instant Artist - Crisp White

Art Club - Neon Yellow

Black & White Watermarble

Hey guys,

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Well you fellow Canadians anyways.
So last night I got to see Nicole, and for those of you who read my blog semi regularly you'll know that when Nicole comes to town often new nail polish follows her. She gave me a couple fun ones. A UV colour changing polish and a glow in the dark polish. October is so the month for glowing polishes! I'll hopefully have those up here soon.

Today I have hands down the best water marble I've done to date. Still not perfect but its come a LONG way from my first terrible one I did.

For this I used

Essie - Blanc

Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers - Black Pearl

Nails Inc. - Electric Lane

Agent Stahl SOA Manicure

Hey guys,

Today I have for you my Agent June Stahl SOA Manicure.

What do I think of Stahl... Lets just say its not appropriate to print. She deserved what she had coming to her. When I talked about this manicure Chelsea said it would have to be boring and grey like her suits. 

For this I used

Sephora by OPI - Frankly I Don't Give A-dam

Essie - Bobbing for Baubles