Saturday Random Swatching: 5/18/2013

What up?  Happy to be bringing you ten more randomly-selected swatches for your viewing/drooling (oh wait, that's me around polish) pleasure.  Some are hot, some are not.  I let you know what I think about them, but more importantly what do you think?  Are any of these gonna be must haves for you?  

Nicole by OPI Scarlett from the Selena Gomez collection is a shimmer red, but it leans pink.  This is rather divine and the formula is great.  Two coats, nice and easy.  A.

Revlon Tangerine is such a funky color.  It really looks like a cross between egg yolk and marmalade, but I like that about it =p  Look at that delicious shimmer too.  This polish just oozes summer citrus.  Two easy coats.  A.

Sinful Colors Starfish is a muted medium pink cream, and it's fabulous.  Two easy coats, creamy goodness, and this fun color that looks like a depressed strawberry starburst candy.  :)  Doesn't make me depressed looking at it though; I think it's lovely.  A.

L'oreal Park Ave Luncheon is my "yellow" offering today.  I don't have that many yellow/gold polishes so I'm letting this shade be included in that category.  L'oreal has a color I featured called The Perfect Trench, but I don't know- I think my perfect trench coat would be this color.  I think this super neutral, light tan is beautiful!  Two creamy, easy coats.  A.

Sinful Colors Pistache is one of my favorite greens released in any of the Spring collections this year.  AND you can pick it up for just a couple bucks, woot!  Pictured here with two coats, it's a delicious creamy pistachio, trying to be electric, green.  Love love love!  A.

Misa Krystal Waters was the first Misa polish I ever tried, and I just died for it's captivating hue and dimension, but for some reason it took me forever to swatch it.  As you can see, it's not super opaque- you can see a bit of vnl here still after 2-3 coats, so that's too bad, but these glass fleck polishes are sometimes like that.  I still love the color but I give it a B.

Fingerpaints Easel-y Entertained was a fail for me.  Clearly it needs to be layered.  This is three thin coats and it's way patchy.  The base is such a nice rich violet I was hoping it would be more buildable, but it started getting too goopy.  Booo.  I did get it in a bargain bin at Sally's so at least it wasn't such a great loss- and I do like the color, but the formula was a let down.  Still- I ooh and ahh at that gorgeous twinkle :)  B-

Revlon Black with Envy was another bargain bin polish, but this one I loved!  Pictured with two coats, it's a delicious super shine gray/black mash-up.  Glad I found this one.  A.

Wet n Wild Fergie Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night is a murky based glitter polish that has small black hexes and larger gold hexes.  You can see clearly at the cuticle of the ring finger the difference between the base color and where the murky base of this polish starts.  It does deepen whatever shade you layer it over.  It is pictured here layered over Color Club Endless Summer.  Have to say, not terribly impressed here.  I finally gave the Fergie polish line a try after passing on it so many times.  My curiosity must always be abated...but I should have left it alone.  This polish just had no pizzazz and left me wanting.  I say you can take a pass on this brand.  C-.

Orly High on Hope from their Hope and Freedom Spring 2013 collection.  This one was the stand out for me from the whole collection.  I actually picked up three others first before I saw this one swatched on another blog and knew I had to go back and rectify my exclusion of this little fancy lady.  This picture shows of the dimension of the polish so well, in all it's pink/orange shimmer glory, but in the store this polish looks a little dull next to it's brothers and sisters.  Don't be fooled- it's the belle of the ball :)  Love it!  A+


Glad you came along today to bask in the blessing of a colorful world!

Song of the Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLLvnZ-gV0w

Over and out.

Festive Floral

Helloooo,

Quick freehand nail art look for you today.  I was feeling floral, and here's what I came up with.  

Are you submersing yourself in Spring? I stumbled upon the fabulous glitter combo you can see here as a base.  It is Amour Big Dipper Blues with Fingerpaints Laugh My Art Off over top and I was instantly in love.  I'll show you what it looks like on it's own right here in a sec.  Anyway, after wearing that for a day, I knew I wanted to play with it some more so I started drawing some flirty floral fun.  The colors for the floral madness are Milani White on the Spot and Hot Pink Frenzy, Sally Hansen Insta Dry Cinna-snap, Bonita Rose Garden, and Sinful Colors Calypso.  Here's what the base polishes look like on their own:

 Amour Big Dipper Blues on its own.

Fingerpaints Laugh My Art Off over the top.  To-Die-For!

Hope you get your paint on!  Have a great weekend!  See you tomorrow for some random swatching- oh and watch the movie from yesterday's movie and a mani!

Song of the Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyqemIbjcfg

Over and out.

Movie and a Mani: The Giant Mechanical Man

Well Hello there!  If you're in need of a movie review to find something new to watch his weekend, you're in luck!  Again I've found you a little gem on Netflix streaming that you can go watch asap, no video rental necessary.  The movie of the day is The Giant Mechanical Man.  Here's a photo capture from the film.

Cast
Our lovely heroine, Janice, is played by Pam Beazley Jenna Fischer and the leading man, Tim, is played by the somewhat unknown to me Chris Messina.  I know he's on The Mindy Project, but I've never watched the show so I had no prior opinion of him.  I do however know I love Jenna Fischer's from The Office and her casting is what hooked me.  The supporting cast is rounded out with the likes of Malin Akerman from the hilarious Couples Retreat, Topher Grace from That 70's Show of course :), Lucy Punch who I thought was hilarious in Dinner with Shmucks, and Rich Sommer who has a small part in The Devil Wears Prada.  Overall, I thought pretty promising, and I was not disappointed!  Yay!

Overview
So I never like to put spoilers in my overview sections because I'm fully expecting you all to go watch these films I give a good review to, right? :)  You do....right?? =p  Let me just start by saying that I loved this film.  Have you ever felt out of place, the odd man out, like you're floating through life, like you're not meeting others' expectations, just a little off?  Well this film is about two people who can't seem to fit in anywhere, but when they miraculously find each other in this expansive universe, they finally start to feel like someone understands them.  You know that feeling right?  When you're with that person who just GETS you?  If you don't, it's out there- don't give up on it.  Janice and Tim have all but given up on being able to fit into the world's expectations of them.  They're not quite sure who they are, but they are sure it's not who their family/society is trying to make them be.  Tim is a street performer playing a ....giant mechanical man...and Janice is just a mid-thirties gal who doesn't have it figured out yet.  I mean, who of us has it figured out?? But what this film does is to emphasize, through the supporting actors, just how much of a square peg we can all feel at times.  I have to admit I saw this film on my Netflix streaming list of suggested films for me and kept passing on it cuz of the giant mechanical man part...well that's the whole title right? and it was kinda off-putting for me.  Hello, couldn't be more wrong- I totally felt this film and loved it.  It's not gonna be action-packed (all you action junkies out there) but it is heartfelt and a feel-good film.  I'm so glad I gave this film a chance, and I hope you do too.

Manicure
I totally knew I wanted to do a fishtail braid mani for this film.  It turned out like this:

I'm not sure if I've done a tutorial on how you accomplish this look, but if you're interested in learning how to do it just let me know.  The colors I used are Sinful Colors Gone Platinum, Avon Forest Green, and Color Club On the Rocks.  So it's probably not too convoluted what the intention behind this mani is, but I'll tell ya anyway cuz I wants too :)  I used all metallic-y colors to demonstrate how both characters were figurative robots in their lives.  The purple is Janice, the green is Tim, and of course the silver is the giant mechanical man that connects everything together and really makes the poignant moments ring through to your heart.

Nail Art in the Movie and Additional Review
I don't have either of these features today...there was no nail art- but plenty of makeup :)  I may exclude the nail art in the movie section of these reviews cuz there never is any! tsk tsk such a shame...

 And I was flyin' solo for this film viewing this week so you don't get my hubby's opinion today, sorry.  I know you wanna know the man's perspective so you can plan if this is a good option for date night, but here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5D8JMsPk3o

Conclusion
Don't pass this one up, it's sweet and endearing and funny :)  You're gonna feel better after watching it and that's always good right?  Casting is fab.  Chris Messina is a new favorite for me, and it made me feel more comfortable in my own skin.

Song of the Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p6PcFFUm5I
listen through to at least 1:20

Over and out.

Tuesday Tutorial: Half Moons

Good Morning Lovelies!  I have another fun and easy look for you to try today.  I'm sure you've seen this nail art around, it's called a half moon.  Let's take a look:

So, as you can see, you have a half moon peeking out at your cuticles.  This is a simply striking look that I think you'll be able to easily pull off.  There are a couple ways to achieve this look, and we're going to be using a striping brush(or your longest/thinnest brush) two bottles of nail polish, and then your regular base and top coats and materials you use to clean up around the nail.  Let's get started.

1) Start by painting a coat of you base/strengthening polish and then one-two coats of your first polish(the one that will form the half moon).  Then dipping your striping brush in your second bottle of polish and grabbing up a little bit of color, eyeball this location on your nail and drop a small drop of polish there.

2) After you have your initial marker point, eyeball where two more dots should be placed to complete the outline you will trace to form the half moon outline.

3) Next step is connecting the dots using the second polish and your striper brush.

4) Lastly you will take the second polish in hand and paint right onto your nail using your outline as the boundary.  With that line already it makes it much easier to stay in the lines ;) Finish with your top coat and there you have it.

Of course I couldn't leave it alone without giving it some more interest.  To get this extra design just take your striper and using the second color(the darker in this example) paint two more curved lines mirroring the shape of the original line you made and then one thicker at the tip of your nails.  Place one line down the middle of your nail vertically.  You should just have a barely detectable graphic on your nail now since we used the same color right over itself.  You can now take your nice bright contrasting color and confidently trace right over the lines you just made without fear of mistake!

Hope you try this look for yourself and let me know how it turns out.
The colors I used are Sinful Colors Serena and Chloe, Mercury Rising, and for the embellishment on the last photo, This is It.

Song of the Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV9JWDd3Kp8

Make your day fabulous!!

Over and out.

Summer Chic

So here's a look that combines the wild nature of Summer fun with the mild chic chick that is  Spring.  

To achieve this look I used two coats of Sinful Colors 24/7 and then did some freehand graphic nail art using Color Club Blue-ming from their Spring 2012 Blossoming collection.  It's kinda the mode I'm in right now.  I'm ready for swimming and sun bathing weather, bbqs and roller coasters but I'm still really enjoying the coy dance Spring plays with us (jumping from bright and sunny, to warm and windy, to rainy and green still).

Hope you enjoyed this look and that you try it for yourself.

Song of the Day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLLvnZ-gV0w

Over and out.

Saturday Random Swatching: 5/11/2013

Have 10 more little lovelies for you today.  Let's get started :)

Milani Black Cherry, as you can see, is a rich, luscious, vampy, almost black, red.  Whew that there was a lot o' adjectives.  But for realz this polish packs a punch.  It's just like Milani to never let me down- this one's another one-coat winner =D  Woot  A.

Kleancolor Sparkling Cosmos has been waiting to have it's moment to shine for a while now.  Kleancolor has such a wide range of kookie shades, kinda like China Glaze, but they are crazy cheap on amazon- like a buck a piece.  A trade up for that is that in general they take sooooper long to dry in comparison to other brands which is kind of a bummer.  But look at how fun this polish is.  A gorgeous pink metallic with (like the title says) sparkling magenta glitter packed in.  I love the brand's no fear stance on tryin' different color concoctions, but they need to work on their formula a bit.  Still gonna give it a B though cuz it's so purty.

Sinful Colors Orange Cream looks as smooth as butter, following in suit with the rest of the Spring 2013 Sugar Rush collection.  Can you see that subtle shimmer in there too?  Man, for a buck- Sinful Colors really does produce some fabulous polishes that I think you can definitely feel comfortable picking up if you're sticking to a budget like I am.  Yay for givin' us frugal ladies some truly gorgeous options!  A.

 Hello Julep Kathleen!  I just have to say- I love witty polish names- they really make me smile sometimes, but I also love the way Julep names their polishes.  Don't they make you feel like you can build a relationship with your polishes? lol  I know that sounds ridiculous- but ladies if you feel me put your hands up =D  This isn't really one of my favs from Julep.  This metallic gold doesn't really hold up next to some of the other really great gold metallics out there, but I think they were going for a little softer and more sophisticated metallic.  Anyhow, this two-coater just gets a B from me.

 Eek- OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me....speaking of fun polish names.  The thing about OPI is you can count on the brand to bust out great quality in their formula.  I probably only every been disappointed by maybe two OPI shades that have found their way into my hands.  That being said...compared to something like Sinful Colors- you are investing a bit more of your hard earned keesh for their reliable brand...and yet not near as much as some brands.  Kinda right there in the middle of the pack I'd say.  But ya- safe bet when you're picking up an OPI.  And look at this super fun shade!  It's kinda a slug green lol- which I totally LOVE.  It's shades like this that remind me there's beauty in the unusual and hmmm I wonder what Bach would think of this A polish.

 Electric blue crelly here we come!  Color Club Endless Summer is screaming out to you to get out there and enjoy the sun, that's for sure.  I think this was three coats, a bit trickier as crellies can be, but just such a gorgeous blue. Ahhh :)  B+.

China Glaze Fancy Pants was for me one of the stand-outs from their 2013 Spring Avant Garden collection.  Hmm, which do I love more...the violet shade or the divine pink shimmer built in?  More so than OPI, China Glaze can sometimes be a toss up whether you'll get a good formula- but what you're making the trade for is originality and gutsy stabs at brilliance.  I loved this color, and maybe if you just pick one from their Spring collection- it should be this one ;)  A.

 Ok, this is Ardoise from Sinful Colors.  Meet my new murky obsession.  Like I said before- they rock some tight shades for such a small price tag.  Me likey that combo!  Doesn't this color just melt you with its darkness?  Well it does me.  A.

Aight, this one I think had very good intentions.  This is Sinful Colors Super Star.  I think the name is a good one, they were trying to really pack a punch into this polish, and I think part of the problem is it's not that great on its own.  I should have layered it over another blue polish because once you get enough on there to get rid of most of the vnl, you've got a big goopy mes...yup that's right- Sinful didn't hit the mark on this one- but it had such good intention.  The colors of the glitter combo is fab :)  B-

Hmm, why haven't I featured this polish yet?  I think every week I look through my "to post" folder and think I'm totally going to give this one it's proper place on my random swatching but I get sidetracked I guess...Well this is my first picture polish bottle and it's called Denim.  True to what my ladies are sayin' their formula is grand.  I hope to add more of them to my polish family, but they are a brand that's a tad out of my budget, so we'll see :)  Now I know they're worth the hype at least ;)  I love these polishes busting out with dimension!!  It's a softer "denim" look than I had imagined in my head when I ordered it online, but I loove it.  A+ shade of the week.

Hope you found something you liked this week.

The above polish can be found at the following places:

OPI- Ulta, local beauty supply stores

China Glaze- Ulta, Sally Beauty Supply, transdesign.com, head2toebeauty.com

Julep- julep.com

Color Club- transdesign.com, head2toebeauty.com, Ross 

Sinful Colors- Target, Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens

picture polish- harlowandco.org

Milani- CVS, Walgreens

Kleancolor- amazon.com

Till tomorrow, stay groovy :)

Song of the Day: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oRSxvF6Pz4

Love 2:03!

Over and out.

General Nail Care and Prep

Howdy Gals :)  First off I want to let you know I've added a way to follow me on Bloglovin' which is a super easy way to keep track of your favorite blogs and they email you each day with the blogs that have something new for you to read.  I really enjoy keeping track of the gals I follow this way :)  Follow my blog with Bloglovin  Now on to the topic at hand...get it? =p

I've had a request to go over some basic nail care essentials and steps to take before you even start your manicure.  This is basically your foundation.  Your ideas can be great but not end up turning out as you had planned them if you don't take the steps to care for your hands and prepare your nails before applying polish.  I'm going to go over things that I do to protect and nourish my hands/nails.  Let's get started:

If you're just starting out and want to whip your nails and cuticles into shape I'm going to suggest some products that I love just for this purpose.

Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover

The purpose of this product is to basically dissolve the white, sometimes flaky, overgrown cuticles that creep further and further down the length of your nail if not kept in check.  If you use this product a couple times a week for a few weeks you should see some noticeable improvement.  You apply it to your cuticles and allow it to sit for a short time(instructions are on the back of the bottle).  Once the formula has had a chance to saturate the unwanted excess cuticles you use your cuticle pusher(shown in the following picture) to push your cuticles gently back up away from the nail tip.  You wash off this formula shortly after to avoid the substance staying on your skin for too long a period of time.

Cuticle Pusher and Nail File

Here is my well-loved nail file of the moment...and cuticle pusher.  Once you have your cuticles trained to stay in their proper form you shouldn't need it all that much, but once a week or so.  Get yourself a nail file that has two different grit levels and see which responds best to your nail.  The file I am using at the moment is a 100/180.  I use the lower level grit for almost all jobs, but sometimes- especially with bad tears or rips that leave you having to match every nail to a now short one- you need a heavier duty file.  You base it off of how your nails feel.  You don't want to pick anything too harsh on your nail, causing too great ripage to the nail edge, and always file in one direction.  There are many nail shapes, and you pick whichever you like.  Google "finger nail shapes" and you can pick something that looks attractive to you.  Another thing to keep in mind when you're shaping your nails is what shape is the most realistic to fit into your lifestyle.  I like the "squoval" shape because it is a mix between square and oval and seems work best for my busy mommy life.  You experiment :)

Argan Cuticle Oil

Here's another product I love.  I think I got it for free during some promotion Sally's Beauty Supply was having and I try to remember to use it as many nights as I can.  You just apply it to your cuticles and around the whole edge of your nail to soften and nourish.  

Lotion

If you want to have a beautiful-looking manicure, you need to have soft, moisturized hands.  A big key for you will be to apply lotion to your hands like it's goin' out of style.  Just think about how many times you wash your hands every day... and especially if you use a lot of hand sanitizer during your day- you need to moisturize woman!  Here's one of the many bottles I rotate among.  I especially like this one I found at Sally's because it doesn't give you that lingering oily feeling.

Base/Strengthening Polish

Now it's time to strengthen that nail.  Just like anything, nail care is something you have to work at- as you've seen so far.  Get yourself a good quality base coat polish.  I was using OPI Natural Nail Strengthener, and when it got about this low I didn't like having to tip the bottle to get more product each time, so I switched to another good one by Orly called Nail Defense.  You can not apply this stuff too much.  Its vitamins are going to strengthen your nails against breakage and promote growth if that's what you're looking for.  I still get nicks and rips in my nails because I just use my hands for everything, but I wouldn't even want to imagine what they'd be like if there wasn't a protective layer giving me a hand every day.  Besides protecting your nails in times that you're not sporting polish- when you are these little babies defend against the polish staining your nails...as best they can.  You're still going to have stainage if you're painting your nails consistently and a good trick to help with that is whitening toothpaste!  Rub it into your nail and scrub it with a nail scrubber for a bit- you'll be happily surprised at how well this works.  The other thing base coat does, before I forget, is to level out the surface of your nail for the polish to work with.  This is important whether you're doing nail art or just a simple two-coat-job of your favorite new polish.

Nail Polish Remover and Flat Brush

These are tools you're going to be armed with for every manicure if you like your nails looking tidy.  I mention them in this post because I like to moisturize right before I paint my nails so that my fingers look fresh if I'm taking pictures.  However, you don't really want to put your base coat directly onto a nail bed bathed in lotion, so a quick swipe with your brush dipped in polish remover over your nail surface will pick that lotion up and you can immediately apply your base coat.  If you aren't aware of how to use these products during your polish application- they are for clean-up.  Do you look at nail art pictures and wonder "how do they stay on the nail surface only and not get any on their fingers?  I always get the polish all over my fingers!"  Well the answer is in the above tools.  Dip the brush in polish remover(pure acetone works the best but also dries out your cuticles, so you decide) and run it along the edges of each nail and just tidy up.  Easy Peasy!  Once you realize the you can quickly pick up any messes you've made during polish application- it definitely makes the task less daunting.  Take it easy ladies- all will turn out well in the end! :)

That's it- Nail Care and Prep in a nutshell.  I hope you found that helpful and it gives you the kick in the pants to get started on making your own pieces of wearable art now that you've seen how achievable it is!

Love you, darlings :)

Song of the Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBy3LyC4OWI

Over and out.