My Favorite Polishes Right Now for Winter

A few months ago I made a post of polishes I was wearing in Autumn. I thought now would be a good time to do a post for ones that I'm enjoying this season. Today was actually unusually warm (64 degrees!), so it's about time I get this posted before Winter is over! Believe you me, I am not at ALL sad to see Winter fade away. I will, however, miss wearing my best Winter-appropriate polishes.


Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Quick Jeanius

2 coats, plus top coat. This is the same base polish that I used on a stamping post a couple weeks ago. It's so rich and deep and glowy. The brush is bulky, but the polish still applied well. I think it was on sale at Target for about $4?

OPI Every Month is Octoberfest

2 coats, plus top coat. I reeeally thought this would photograph better! Boo. It's such a beautiful polish, I didn't do it justice. Just trust me, if you don't own this polish or one very similar, you should. Oh, I also wanted to point out that I didn't touch up my polish after application. Yes, I painted it that perfectly. Sometimes you have to be proud of your small accomplishments because there's not always going to be big ones. This retails for $9.50.

a england Saint George

2 coats, plus top coat. Ooo, isn't it gorgeous?! I feel like the base of the shade is emerald, but the beautiful holographic shimmer makes it lean more teal. I love this brand. The polishes are all so beautiful and they apply like butter. If only I had more monies so I could buy them all! I purchased mine from Ninja Polish for $10.

 Wet n Wild Fergie Ferguson Crest Syrah

2 coats, plus top coat. Again, the photos aren't doing proper justice. This polish has such a beautiful glow that isn't as visible in the photos. This is such a pretty polish for such a small price. I purchased it at Walgreens for a couple bucks I think.

 Sephora by OPI Son of a Gun

3 coats, plus top coat. This is a really sheer polish so I needed 3 coats and maybe 4 would have been better for photos. I love how this shade is so unique. It's a gunmetal gray, with a green tint, mixed with a blue tint. The complexity makes it so pretty. The whole Sephora by OPI brand is discontinued so I'm sad that I only have a mini bottle of it. Maybe I can unearth one at Big Lots if I'm lucky.

Are these the kind of shades you have been wearing lately? What is your Winter go-to?
Well Winter, it's been real. Now I'm ready for SPRIIIIIIINNG!!!! (picture me singing out that last part like Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain".)

Sochi Olympics Fever

USA! USA! I look forward to the Olympics months before they start. I love the anticipation for all the drama and excitement. The Sochi Olympics has not disappointed so far. I've been eating it up every night since it started. The figure skating and ice dancing has been amazing. The snowboard cross is so much fun to watch because at least half the athletes wipe out every run. My new favorite is the debut of slope style, it is seriously insane. If someday I magically changed and enjoyed being out in the snow, I think I would try my hand at it.

Of course it's always more fun to watch the athletes when you know their back story. You get so much more invested when you know what they've been through. Or when there is an athlete competing from a country who has never won a single medal. You kind of want them to be that country's national hero. It's emotional stuff, achieving lifelong dreams, and I cry with them every time.

I used to always think that if I ever competed in the Olympics that I would prefer to win a silver or bronze medal over a gold one. Out of the three I felt the gold was the least attractive. Or having one of each might be more cool than three gold ones. Is that weird?

What I used:
Sephora by OPI White Hot- thumb and ring finger
OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder- textured gold on my index
Clinique Strappy Sandals- silver on my middle finger and thumb
China Glaze Goldie But Goodie- bronze on my pinky and thumb
Jenna Hipp Awards Season-gold stripes on my thumb
American Apparel Downtown LA- red
OPI..Eurso Euro- blue
Sephora by OPI The Golden Age- gold and silver glitter on thumb
DRK_A Large Stamping Plate, purchased from Ninja Polish


What are your favorite winter Olympic events? Have there been any memorable moments for you so far? I'm a little partial to Ashley Wagner of team USA figure skating to a Pink Floyd song. It was pretty rock n' roll. :)

butter LONDON Wallis + Blogger "Auto Enhance" Photo Issues

Today's post is featuring a newly acquired polish, butter LONDON Wallis. This shade is from their Fall 2011 collection I believe. I don't own many butter LONDON polishes because they are expensive (purchased at Nordstrom for $15), and it is easier for me to justify buying more when it's doesn't cost so much. The other ones I have I bought on clearance for about $10 or $12. I decided to "splurge" because I had a Nordstrom gift card specifically purposed for nail polish. I stood at the nail bar for some time trying to narrow down my choices. I finally went with Wallis because I knew I didn't have anything like it. It was a necessary addition my my collection.

Shown here is two coats plus top coat. The formula is really smooth and was easy to apply. butter LONDON describes Wallis as a "tarnished, olive gold". The description is so spot on, but it's hard to see in my photos! I tried to boost the color level as much as I could to get the color more accurate, but this was the closest I could figure out. Here, it looks more solidly green, with a gold tint. In person though, the tarnished gold is so much stronger.

(The following is for Blogger users)
It was already frustrating not being able to get the photos as color accurate as I wanted. You can imagine how much more frustrated I was when Blogger was auto-enhancing my photos once I uploaded them! You can compare the difference here with the photo above being the original, and the photo below is the one that was auto-enhanced. Pretty big difference, right?

I wasn't even aware that that was an option until I saw someone write a post about it a few months ago. It's mostly hard to know this is part of your settings because it can only be changed through Google+. So when I read the post, I promptly found my photo settings and turned the option OFF. I guess because I took two months off from blogging, Google+ decided that I wanted it back on and changed it back for me. Arg. I'm glad I at least figured it out. I honestly thought that I was losing my mind and/or I needed glasses. 

If you have a Blogger account that is connected to your Google+ account and want to turn the auto-enhance option off:

1. Go to your Google+ page

2. Go to Settings

3. Scroll down to Auto Enhance, and select "Off". It will automatically save your change. Although in my case, it changed it back a few months later. It might be something you'll want to check periodically.

About the polish again: I don't know how much this color compliments my skin tone, but I don't really care because it's so beautiful on its own and I can't stop staring at it!

I Heart Valentine's Day

Reasons I love Valentine's Day:

1. chocolate
2. flowers
3. spa gift certificates
4. more chocolate
5. cards in the mail

Valentine's Day is not at the top of my list of favorite holiday's, but it has its own merits. This year has been extra fun because my kids have been so excited for it these last couple of weeks. It's not like I built it up by telling them that it's cool or even that they get anything. All they knew is that it's a day that has a special name, and that was good enough for them!

For the manicure I started off with two coats of OPI At First Sight. I've used this polish previously for my Happy 10th (Wedding) Anniversary mani. Apparently I associate it with romance or something. Then with a sponge I painted on a gradient of At First Sight, OPI Princesses Rule, and Sephora by OPI Casting Call, and dabbed it on my nails. I repeated the process a few times until I got the desired amount of color.

To create the hearts I used Casting Call again, and also It's So Easy Stripe Rite polish. These polishes don't have color names, but it looks like a dark fuschia.

Here's a fun fact about me: My first boyfriend and I broke up the day before Valentine's Day. True story. I had these friends that were a really cute couple, and I showed up at school and they were being all ewy-gooey with each other. I totally cried. Boo-hoo. That year Valentine's was really sad for me, but I usually see it as a good excuse to make cute cards for people and show them that I care. At least when I've remembered to...

What I used:
OPI At First Sight
OPI Princesses Rule!
Sephora by OPI Casting Call
It's So Easy Stripe Rite in fuschia color
Seche Vite Top Coat

Here's to wishing everyone gets a little love today! Better yet, I hope you've shared some. Either way, I'm sending out my lovey vibes to you. :) XOXO

Long Time, No Post.

I know, I know! It's been two whole months since I've last posted anything. Sorry everyone, I wasn't planning on taking such a long break. I haven't been feeling 100%, but I should be back in the game now. 

Having been so long, I felt a lot of pressure to make my next post super awesome. Those were my intentions anyway. Not only have I not been posting, but I've neglected my nails completely. That means I'm a little out of practice. Apparently my stamping skills really suffered.

At least my thumb nail doesn't look half bad, right? For Christmas my sister sent me some MoYou stamping plates. Isn't she awesome? :) I should have taken a photo of the plate before I used it, but I forgot, and now it's all streaky looking from the acetone. For a better picture of the MoYou Fairytale Plate Collection 04, look here. All of their plates are soooo adorable, I want them all!

I've been watching as much of the Sochi Olympics as I can, and I wanted to do a design to reflect some aspect of the games. These nails were inspired by the Opening Ceremony. There was a part towards the end where they made it look like the night sky, so that's what I was going for. Let's pretend all the squiggly lines here are part of my "artistic" interpretation.

Seriously, what happened to my pinky? It looks like I had a seizure while I was stamping it.

What I used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Quick Jeanius
Sephora by OPI White Hot
MoYou Fairytale Plate Collection 04

Well I better get back to practicing all my skills that have atrophied during my long absence! I've missed you all! I can't wait until I turn out something really good.