Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure All Fired Up and Midnight Glitz

A few weeks back I found a BOGO coupon for Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes. I was happy to find All Fired Up because I had been looking for that exact shade. Then I picked up Midnight Glitz because I loved the variety of glitters in the bottle. Ever since, I've been wanting to pair them up. Turns out they're not exactly a natural fit. But when I added a black polish under the glitter, it really made all the colors pop!

I applied two coats of All Fired Up, followed with top coat, and let it dry completely. I then placed pieces of striping tape, two side to side, lengthwise down each nail. I then cut Scotch tape into triangles and placed that on each tip. One nail at a time I applied one coat of black polish, globbed on Midnight Glitz, and carefully removed the tape. I let it dry for awhile before I finished with top coat.

If I could ever get my nails long enough, All Fired Up would be a perfect shade for Louboutin nails.

What I used:
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure All Fired Up- red
Sephora by OPI What's a Tire Jack?- black
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Midnight Glitz- glitter topper
Seche Vite top coat

I love these colors together and will probably do another manicure or two with them together! What do you think? These nails make me want to pull out my leather jacket and swipe on some bright red lips.

Pink Gradient and Holo Glitter Ruffian

I did this manicure back in October. I've been on the fence about whether or not I wanted to post it. I loooved wearing these nails. They were so girly! I am a sucker for gradients, and the glitter was so pretty to stare at. So I was disappointed that my photos didn't come out as well as it looked in person. I am finally just going to post it because no one but me even knows the difference!

I did the same gradient as the one in my Save the Ta Tas mani. I sponged the three polishes on each nail. Then I applied top coat to smooth it all out. For the ruffian look, I applied the glitter on the nail leaving a little gap between the cuticle, and bottom half of the sides. It was finished off with another application of top coat.

What I used:
Sephora by OPI What Aura Gonna Wear?- deep hot pink
Clinique Pinkini- bubble gum pink
Jenna Hipp Damage Control- pastel pink
Sephora by OPI Meet Me at the Disco- holo glitter
Seche Vite top coat


Are you into girly manicures? I'm not a super girly-girl, but pink does usually look good on me.

Special Edition: Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday today! Yay! I had to celebrate with festive birthday nails, and of course, share them with you! I may just have to wear this manicure for the rest of the week, I love it so much.

 They say it's your birthday (da na na na na na na), it's my birthday too, yeah! They say it's your birthday (da na na na na na na), we're gonna have a good time!

I have eleven candles on each hand, making 22 in total. What? You think I'm older than 22? (Don't tell anyone, but it's actually a milestone birthday for me!) Just kidding, I'm not shy about my birthdays, and don't think I ever will be. I like the attention and presents too much!

Since this post is all about me, I thought I'd make it a little more personal. Here are some things you might not know about me:

• I just celebrated my ten year anniversary this summer (I wrote a post for the occasion).
• I have two children.
• I am a cat lover but can't own a cat. :(
• I can palm a woman's basketball.
• I studied American Sign Language in college.
• I LOVE reading. I'm struggling with balancing between reading and doing my nails.
• Another hobby I'm passionate about is pen palling. I've also been seriously neglecting my correspondence since beginning this blog. I need to work on that.
• I'm older than 22. 

I made the candles by painting two stripes of color on each nail, except for my thumb where I did three. I let the colors dry completely, then masked off the areas using striping tape. I painted the whole nail, one at a time, with DS OPI Mystery. Isn't it gorgeous? I promptly removed the tape, carefully trying to avoid smudging. Then I added the flames using Barielle Banana Drop with my pointy dotting tool.

My kids had fun "blowing out" my candles. :)

I did write out all the colors I used for the candles, but decided the list was too obnoxious and confusing. So just let me know if you want to know what I used.

Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog! I truly enjoy working on it, and it warms the cockles of my heart to know that it also brings joy to others. 

Autumn Leaves Skittle Nails

Once again I am loving the colors of the season. Today's nails are a reflection of what it looks like outside my back door. I did some skittle nails in ombre fashion to showcase all of the colors in the leaves. Then I added some abstract leaves to display many of the shapes too. I say abstract because my son won't believe that the one on my pinky isn't a banana. I admit he has a point.

I am soaking up the beauty of the vibrant leaves while I can, before it all turns ugly and bare. Or even worse, blanketed in snow. Don't get me wrong, I do like snow. But it has its place. It belongs in the mountains, where I can gaze upon its beauty from a distance. Not where I have to drive in it or have it ruin my shoes.

The color on my middle finger I got from mixing together Sephora by OPI Paisley Attention to Me(the color on my ring finger) with some black polish. All the leaves were drawn on with my It's So Easy Stripe Rite polish.

What I used:
OPI Lost On Lombard- brick red
OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know- brown
Sephora by OPI Paisley Attention to Me- orange
Sephora by OPI Yellow My Name is Betsey- yellow
It's So Easy Stripe Rite in black
Seche Vite top coat


What do the colors look like where you live? Maybe when the snow comes it will inspire pretty manicures, and that will make it worth it. It's doubtful, but I can still hope.

Tomorrow I will be bringing you a Special Edition post, so stay tuned! 

My Favorite Polishes Right Now For Autumn

Right now I am really digging polishes that scream to me, "Autumn appropriate!". Ever since this season changed I've been so excited to put these on. These last few weeks have been so beautiful with the crisp cool air, drinking hot chocolate, watching the leaves fall...and staring at my gorgeous nail polish. Instead of keeping them all to myself, I thought I'd share some with you. So let's get right to it.

OPI I Knead Sour-Dough 

This color is warm and snuggly like a sweater. It is reminiscent of two of my favorite polishes, OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know and Sephora by OPI Metro Too Chic. They all are soft warm browns with pretty microshimmer.

2 coats, plus top coat. I got the hook-up and purchased this from SalonCentric for $4.50

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri No S-pear Time

This one might be a bit of a surprise if you know that I'm not a big fan of the color green. This green though, it so different than the few I have, and I couldn't pass it up. It also looks much better on than in the bottle!

1 coat, plus top coat. Purchased from Target, on sale for a little over $3.

China Glaze Goldie But Goodie

I really love this one! It's a gold foil, but with really warm copper/bronze tones. It's perfect for a party, but still everyday wearable too.

2 coats, no noticeable different from one coat, plus top coat. Purchased at Sally Beauty Supply. I think I got this as a BOGO, but retails for $6.79, or less with your Sally Beauty card.

Zoya Pepper

Ooo, this is so lovely. I've mentioned before that I love a classic red manicure. I love this brick red that coordinates with the muted shades I'm wearing in my clothing so well.

2 coats, plus top coat. Purchased at Ulta for $8(?).

OPI Sprung

This polish was part of OPI's spring collection, strangley enough. I think they came up with the color and loved it so much, they couldn't wait until the fall line came out to release it!

3 coats, plus top coat. Purchased from from SalonCentric for $4.50

So what do you think? What have you been wearing this season? What is your go-to shade?

Tutorial: Candy Corn Nail Art

On Nail Polish Society's facebook page I promised I would work on bringing you all some tutorials soon. I had a really positive response to my Children of the Candy Corn Nails post the other day. I figured this manicure would be a good place to start. So here it is, my first tutorial!

What you'll need:

• inexpensive makeup sponge
• Elmer's glue or Scotch tape
• white, orange, and yellow polish (the more opaque the better)
• optional- small nail art or cosmetics brush for cleanup 

1. After applying a base coat, apply two coats of white polish.
2. Cover the skin around your nail with Elmer's glue and let dry completely. I store my glue in an old polish bottle that I emptied out completely in the trash can, and rinsed thoroughly with acetone. You could also mask off the skin with Scotch tape instead.
3. Paint each polish color onto the makeup sponge, enough that it's well saturated.
4. Dab the sponge a couple of times on each nail. Reapply the polish to the sponge as needed. Repeat this step until you've reach the desired opacity.
5. Remove the dried glue, or tape.
6. Clean up around the cuticle with a small nail art or cosmetics brush dipped in acetone. My favorite is an e.l.f. concealer brush I purchased from Target for $1.
7. Apply top coat. A fast-drying brand such as Seche Vite speeds things up.
8. Now you could leave it as is. Or for a little more pizzazz, you can add some glittery polish on top. Or stamp a design on top. Endless possibilities! 

Let me know if you try this for yourself! I would love to see it!

Gilded Bumble Bee

This is an old post from back in August. I was trying to edit a typo and accidentally put the post back in draft form. I couldn't figure out how to put it back to where it was originally publish. Arrrggh!! So instead of having it just disappear, I'm republishing it. If anyone knows how to restore it, please let me know!

I have been blogging for over three weeks now. Why am I not perfect yet??!! What is this learning curve, and why is it harassing me? Seriously, I am an impatient person. I get frustrated when things don't turn out the way I want them to, even if I have almost no experience under my belt. This is why it took me years and years to finally learn how to cook. Every couple of years I would try something ambitious like lasagna,  and then throw my hands up in despair when it didn't turn out right. It might sound silly, but it's sadly true.

I've been clinging to my mantra now, "Don't give up! Don't give up!", because I so badly want to stick with this and improve. So I had a cool (says me) idea and it didn't turn out. Well good. Now I've learned even more than if it had gone perfectly smoothly.

I used blue painters tape to mask of the gold base and painted black over it. I can't cut it straight lines well, so it was hard to get the pieces even. I guess I didn't have the tape very secure against the nail because once I pulled them off, the lines looked all wonky. Some of the gold also came off with the tape, which was pretty frustrating.

What I used:

Ulta 14 Carat- gold base

Sephora by OPI Looks Like Rain, Dear- gold glitter

Sephora by OPI What's a Tire Jack?- black

I am pleased with the title though. Gilded Bumble Bee sounds either like the name for a trendy "chic boutique", or some Renaissance restaurant/inn.

Also, I felt like a gangsta with all the bling on my nails.