Bringing back the 80's and 90's with Lisa Frank nails!

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I've been MIA. The last weekend and this past week have been nuts!! But now I've got some downtime which is nice. ^_^

The inspiration for this mani was from Mary from Swatch and Learn who did a Holographic Rainbow Leopard mani. But since I only really had two of the holos that she used, I had to improvise for the other two colours.

I'm sorry for the jacked up pics, they were taken JUST NOW lol and I did mani this last Friday! So not bad for 6 days wear!

For the colours I used Color Club Wild at Heart near the base of the nail, then Nubar Reclaim, then China Glaze Ahoy and finally at the tips, China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea. I was originally gonna use DS Extravagance and DS Magic but the black spots didn't show up that well. I used the leopard print from Konad image plate m57 and used Wet n Wild Black Creme for stamping.

I got so many compliments while rocking this mani and I just want to thank Mary for reminding me that I had wanted to try this a while back! Thank you also to Sayanythingbr00ke who posted up the tutorial on Youtube! 

You're a Tree Hugger? I'm Sew Psyched!!

Lame attempt at naming this mani but that's the best my poor brain can come up with after work LOL!

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, and I finally got to do it. The colours I used were Essie Sew Psyched and China Glaze Tree Hugger.

I did a half-moon mani using those page protector sticker things that you can get from Walmart. I painted one coat of Sew Psyched then waited for it to dry. Then I stuck half the page protector stickers on the base of my nail and painted one coat of Tree Hugger on top. Then I peeled off the sticker and voila! Half-moon done GOING GREEN style! Then just for fun, I painted a line using Color Club Silver Holo striper.

Taken outside, no flash. Look no more snow on the ground! 

Taken indoors, with flash.

Taken in full sun. Ignore that black dot, I don't know what's wrong with my camera. =( It won't go away...it's probably somewhere inside.

Crop shot of blurry glittery holo goodness.

When I first thought up this mani, I wasn't sure how many coats of Tree Hugger I would need to cover up Sew Psyched. Turns out all I needed was 1. How awesome is that? It's such a gorgeous green apple with pretty shimmer, perfect for spring. Sew Psyched is a greeny-grey colour, perfect for fall, but by the time I got this polish, winter was almost done. So I'll just use it now. =)

Love it or Leave it?

That was the question that popped into my head when I had chosen to do Color Club Love Em Leave Em as my next mani.

I felt like doing something a little neutral and give my eyes a break. LOL. So here is 2 coats of LELE. Photo was taken indoors at night with flash. This was also pre-cleanup LOL.

The holo isn't strong so you'll have to enlarge the pic and squint. LOL! You can sorta somewhat see a tiny little bit on my index finger.

So I debated on whether I should leave well enough alone or should I stamp? Of course the nail art addict in me won out and I stamped with Color Club Revvvolution and image plate m65.

These photos were taken in full sunlight and the holo won't even come out and play either. #holocapturefail Also, some of the images had smudged which has not happened to me before. I didn't do anything new except stamp with Revvvo. =(

Even though the holo is not GLARINGLY OBVIOUS, I still quite liked this mani. My co-worker said it looked Victorian. =) Nice break from the colours I've done so far.

The Electronica and White Cap disaster

Excuse me for this disaster I am about to show you. My parents have been riding me about changing my nails so often, saying it kills brain cells, I'm gonna suffer for it later on in life etc. Soooo when I do get the chance...it's hurried and sloppy. =( How do you explain Big 3 Free to my parents who don't understand?  And I don't know what to do about my dry hands and the skin around my nails. My job requires me to wash my hands A LOT and it takes a toll on them.

Anyhoo, here are some pictures of the disaster that I sported for about 5 days. Gah. Oh and these pictures were taken RIGHT before I took it off so, even more disastrous!

With flash. I was so disappointed with how this mani turned out. The other pictures of people layering White Cap over ANYTHING always looks gorgeous. Mine is a calamity of epic proportions.

Taken without flash. Another picture of the abomination.

I used Color Club Electronica for the base colour, stamped with my former #1 stamp champ, Sally Hansen Rave Review Critique, used image plate m57. I layered China Glaze White Cap over my index, middle and pinky fingers.

*sigh* I guess I can't win all the time.

On another note, I'm currently growing out my hair and I'm trying to basically keep it healthy with trimming, hair treatments etc. I just dyed it back to super dark again, I got sick of the black roots and gradual turning into mahogany brown with caramel highlights. I'm thinking of maybe doing updates of how my hair is doing and what I think of the hair treatments. What do you guys think?

Catching up!

I gotta catch up to posting my Konad/manicures!!! I've got 3 for you right now, one is my official Valentine's Day mani, one freehand fail and one is the "I'm-tired-of-wearing-red-and-pink" mani.

DRY HANDS/CUTICLES ALERT!!! You have been warned!

First is my official V-day mani. Base colour is China Glaze Ahoy and I stamped using Rimmel London Pure Silver (#1 stamp champ!!!).

Taken with flash.This was 2 coats of Ahoy. I love love love this colour!! The shimmer is so pretty and application was great!! Even though pink is one of my fave colours, I only have like 4 bottles of pink nail polish. 

Whole hand taken with flash. This is pretty colour accurate. I used the images from plates m72 and m04.

After 5 manis of red/pink, I needed a break!! So I decided to do a little bit of freehand nail art using the Color Club Dark Romance Matte Collection and failed miserably. I only took a pic using my Blackberry cam so please excuse the blurriness. And lookie! I haz nubbinz!

Thumb to pinky: Dark Romance/Smoke and Mirrors, Dark Romance, Dark Romance/Alabaster, Smoke and Mirrors, Dark Romance/Alabaster.

So after wearing it overnight, I quickly took it off and replaced it with this.

Ok so, no excuse for the blurriness of this picture since I was using my digi cam. =( This is one coat of Color Club Dark Romance, one coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and Color Club Matte Topcoat. 

Next I've got a hankering to do China Glaze Jolly Holly and layer it with White Cap! And maybe do it matte again? ^_~

'Til the next Konadicure!

Valentine's Day mini-haul

Belated Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!

So my bf and I celebrated on Sunday because he had to work yesterday. He took me shopping at Sephora, went out to dinner at our fave lil hole-in-the-wall that serves Thai and Vietnamese food and watched Gnomeo and Juliet! So at Sephora, he told me to pick out what I wanted (all within his budget of course) and I came out with these beauties!

Left: Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Eye Primer

Middle: Tarina Tarantino Fleur De Lash mascara in Black Opal

Right: Tokidoki Gelato Lip Balm Stain

Of course as soon as I purchased them, I tried them on! The eye primer is very good. It made my oily lids look matte and clean. Unfortunately, didn't have any eyeshadow on me so I can't test it for creasing, fading etc. 

The mascara was fantastic! Those who know me, know that I'm such a stickler for mascara. I was actually worried that I wouldn't like this because my first choice was Fairydrops Scandal Queen mascara. Unfortunately, they were sold out. =( So I quickly looked around and this caught my eye. This mascara is DEFINITELY buildable with minimal clumping for me. I still went through my eyelashes with a comb of course just to help fan them out. But I love love love it! No matter how many coats I put on, my lashes never had that crunchy feeling, they still remained soft.

The lip balm stain is also a big win for me. The shade I chose is Donutella, which is a sheer coral strawberry. The packaging is adorable first of all. I've always liked Tokidoki ever since I first saw it. The balm itself is fantastic! It glides very smoothly on my lips and the colour is very apparent!

Chel also picked this up for me at the Winners that she went to. Color Club Dark Romance The Matte Collection minis!!! 

L-R: Matte Top Coat, Alabaster, Smoke and Mirrors, Dark Romance

I have resisted matte polishes for so long because I never thought that they would look good on me. I wanted my nails shiny and eye-catching! But as soon as I put these babies on...I died a little. It opens up a different world of possibilities for nails! And of course, Chel said the proverbial "I told you so." I'm currently sporting Dark Romance with Hidden Treasure and matte top coat.

After our night out, we stopped by Walmart and did a little bit of grocery shopping. I stayed away from the cosmetics department until an idea popped into my head. I realized that I had no space for my polishes with the kits that I currently own, especially with 21 more bottles of polish coming my way! See previous kit post. So I picked up a Caboodles "doctor's bag".

L: Konad supplies, top coats, stripers, polish remover, cotton squares

M: China Glaze, OPI, Color Club

R: Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild, Joe, Minis, Sula and all others

China Glaze, OPI and Color Club

Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild, Joe, Sula, Minis, CQ, Rimmel, Maybelline

Next post will be my Valentine's Day mani and current one.

'Til the next Konadicure!

Update and hello to new readers!!

Hello beauty bloggers!! Hope everyone's doing well. Just wanted to say a quick hello to my new readers! Thanks for following!

I've got two Konadicures that I wanted to show you. I used Orly Bonder as a base coat and Seche Vite as a top coat for both.

1st is a base colour of OPI DS Magic. Instead of stamping though, I took a cosmetic wedge and applied a diagonal french tip using Color Club Worth the Risque.

This was taken with flash to show the pretty shimmer. It's blue with some pretty purple shimmer that's very obvious in the bottle but you gotta look closely to see it on the nail. No problems with application, cleanup and removal was a PITA though.

Taken without flash in natural light. You can't even see the holo-ness of Worth the Risque but it's there!!

2nd Konadicure is with China Glaze Jolly Holly and Sally Hansen Color Quick Chrome Pens in Green Chrome. The image was from plate m65. I got the awesome idea from Erika, from her Stamping with Sally post. Thank you!

This photo was taken in natural light. I am so in love with Jolly Holly!! I was initially gonna stamp all my nails but then when I saw how gorgeous the colour was, I dwindled down to one nail. The Sally Hansen Chrome pens are awesome for stamping!! You just have to be careful that the brush doesn't get dry otherwise you're gonna have a hard time with it. 

'Til the next Konadicure!!

Je suis désolé Part 2

Just a word of caution, this post is even more pic heavy than the last one!!

This is the 7th Konadicure I had done on Christmas Day while watching The Big Bang Theory Christmas Marathon!! :)

I started off with China Glaze in Coconut Kiss. Such a beautiful purple but as purples go, they NEVER photograph well!! I took pictures of the swatches with my Blackberry cam and my digi cam.

Taken with my Blackberry cam with flash.

 Taken with my digi cam, no flash, natural light.

As you can see with my digi cam it looks more blue than it really is in real life! The image from my Blackberry cam captured it the closest.

So of course I had to Konadicure it up using Color Club in Worth the Risque and image plate m63. Worth the Risque is another Stamp Champ!

Without flash.

With flash.

This Christmas season has been really good to me in terms of hauls so I just took some pics to show you guys what I got from my friends!

These are all the Christmas gifts I got this year pertaining to nails. :) They are described below.

Swiss Collection by OPI which has:

Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous 

Yodel Me on My Cell

Color So Hot it Berns

RapiDry Top Coat.

Burlesque Little Teasers by OPI which has:

Rising Star

Take the Stage

The Show Must Go On!

Ali's Big Break

One of my nurse friends has given me a Deluxe Nail Salon with 7 polishes and a hand dryer! The person who was solely responsible for bringing me into the world of Konad had gifted me with OPI My Private Jet to my utter delight!! My loving boyfriend had, along with other gifts, given me a shopping spree at Sally's! I got 3 China Glazes: Coconut Kiss, Avalanche and Reggae to Riches, and a curling iron! Finally, I had also gotten 5 Konad image plates from 2 other friends.

My Puppy has also been kind enough to pick up these marvelous items for me at her recent Buffalo trip.

From left to right:  OPI Designer Series in Extravagance (which I am so excited to use!), Seche Restore (which I sorely needed) and Color Club in Electronica (a dupe for the OPI Ink I gave her).

I will also be receiving an Etude House Dear Darling Bling Bling nail polish sometime in the next 2 weeks thanks again to my Puppy! It's a gorgeous pink! I'm super excited!

This should learn me to update my blog more often! Sorry for the overload!!

'Til the  next Konadicure!

Je suis désolé Part 1

I'm sorry to the handful of people who read and follow my blog. I have been very neglectful and have not updated you all!! Since I've got so much to share, I've had to divide this into 2 parts!

I have 7 Konadicures to show you! 5 of the 7 belong to my friends who have wanted me to do a make-over on their nails. 6 of us nurses from work got together and had a sleepover and of course I brought my kit with me! I did 5 Konadicures in one night!! 

Here is a picture of the finished product! Ignore my poor nails on the right.

I was exhausted but happy that the girls liked their manis. :)

Now because of this...my own Konadicure took a beating and did not last until Christmas day.  So I was inspired to do another Christmas mani!

I used China Glaze in Long Kiss as my base. Here is a swatch of it with flash. Such a gorgeous polish and the application is dreamy!

I had done a Christmas gift wrap inspired Konadicure using Color Club in Rule Breaker, Sally Hansen in Gilt-y Pleasure and Sally Hansen in Celeb City for the stamping on my index, middle and ring finger. All 3 are Stamp Champs!! That's what I call nail polishes that stamp very well, no re-doing the stamp because pieces of it didn't stick properly etc. :)

The bows on my thumb and ring finger were stamped with Color Club in Worth the Risque which was supposed to be holo but I really didn't see it. :( 

Sorry for the tip wear and such...this picture was taken right before I removed it.

Part Deux up next!

Puppy and Kitty gift exchange!

YAY! Our long-awaited gift swap has finally passed and we took lots of pictures to commemorate! (Warning: another pic heavy post!)

My Color Club Holo glitters in the forefront with my OBI nail polish remover and kit in the background.

My haul!! My kit, OBI nail polish remover, 3 Color Club holo glitters, Sula nail polish trio in Teal,Royal and Moss and glass nail files.

Puppy's haul! Seche Recondition and Dry Fast Top Coat, LA Colors Art Deco stripers in silver and bronzey gold glitter, Color Club Wild at Heart kit, Konad image plates s6, m64 and m65, OPI You Don't Know Jacques and Ink.

Kitty and Puppy!!

Christmas tree and the ornaments!

Fun times! Thank you so much Puppy for my gifts!! I love them all and I can't wait for my CG Wireless and my CC Revvvolution and Worth the Risque!

Forgetfulness and MAJOR HAUL!

Ok so remember the Konadicure that I was talking about in my last post? The one that looks like wrapped gifts? I made a boo boo and removed it without taking a pic of it in my camera. =( WHOMP.

But I did manage to take a pic of it on my Blackberry so here is the blurry goodness.

Base coat was Orly Bonder and Top coat was Seche Vite.

Base colour was Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue It and stamping colour was Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Rave Review Critique.

Image plate used was m64.

Blue It was such a PITA to remove. It stained like a mother!!

Here are the loser shots of me and Puppy with our "holiday manis"

We couldn't stop laughing while taking the pictures! =D

So yesterday I decided to stop by the Winners by my house and see what I can add to my Christmas kit for Chel a.k.a. Puppy. I found some great things to add! LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

Color Club sets! I couldn't believe my eyes! I picked up 2 Wild at Heart sets, one for me and one for my Puppy. 

The Wild Heart set includes

Love 'Em/ Leave 'Em (beige-y holo)

Wild and Willing (multi-chromatic pearly shimmer)

On the Wild Side (Gunmetal frost)

Rule Breaker (Teal shimmer)

Wild at Heart (Purple holo)

With Abandon (Black/dark brown base with bronze/gold shimmers)

I can't wait to try out Wild at Heart but I have to wait until after my next Konadicure that I've got planned. I'm going to be using China Glaze Lubu Heels, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet and Celeb City and image plate m64. 

My nails are au naturale for today...just some Sally Hansen Triple Strong on it. But wait til tomorrow cuz I'm gonna get my Konad on!

Nail Polish haul!!!

Ok, so my awesome Puppy went across the border for Black Friday. She picked up a whole bunch of nail polishes for the both of us. She was kind enough to pick me up 3 Color Club holo glitters in silver, black and gold!! I'm super super excited about it!

But, since we're greedy now with holos, we've decided to order Worth the Risqué and Revvvolution online! From no holo to a whole bunch of them!!

She's putting together a kit for me as my Christmas gift and I'm putting one together for her as well!! I can't wait for us to exchange gifts!

Plus...I got my long-awaited and long searched for Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure!!! That name is so fitting cuz it's not readily available and you gotta just find it with good timing! And it was on sale too so even better! I would've grabbed two but it was the very last one on the display! Can't wait to layer that baby over black creme but maybe no Konad stamp with it?