Live and Let Die

Hey polish peeps.  Here's a bit of nail art featuring the base color Live and Let Die by OPI.  Not much else to say today, other than it was fun rockin' this look!  I hope if you recreate this look you send me a link to your mani.  Happy painting and enjoy your day!  Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to my blog on bloglovin' because google reader retires tomorrow and if you don't switch over you may not get updates on what's goin' on over here :)  The button to click is right over there -------> below my about me paragraph.  

Song of the Day: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs- Garden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39BirET8OIg

Over and out

Saturday Random Swatches 6/29/2013

Hello polish lovers!  Ten more beauties today, comin' right atcha.  Here's hoping you find something that tickles your fancy :)

Red: Avon Apple of His Eye is an almost-orange red with gold shimmer.  This is crisp and fresh and such a lovely take on the old standard in nail polish.  As with the rest in this collection from Avon, the shimmer is a bit of a mess to clean up when you're removing your polish, but it's just so beautiful that it's worth it, right?  A

Pink: China Glaze Pool Party is one of my favorite hot pink neons out there.  I think it's because it doesn't go over the top.  This is two coats over two coats of white polish.  As with most neon polishes, this one was a little tricky to even out, but the payoff is great!  What do you think?  Do you need a little kapow in your collection? A

Orange: Revlon Colorstay Sorbet is shown here with two coats.  Look how smooth and creamy.  I am really into orange polishes right now.  They're usually not the most flattering on my skin, but I think this color is so gorgeous.  Colorstay is Revlon's higher-end collection and it was easy to apply, but I'm not sure it's OPI price quality and that's what they charge for it at most drug stores.  I got this one on a clearance sale, and I think I'd need to try a few more to decide if it offers a very consistent high quality.  Of the two I've tried, neither has disappointed.  I give Sorbet an A.

Yellow: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Butterscotch is so beautifully unique.  It is an aptly-named yellow cream, and as part of Sally Hansen's higher-end collection, I can report it holds to the high standard of the brand and specifically the Complete Salon Manicure polishes.  Two coats and applies like a dream.  I think I found this on clearance at Ulta, but if you see it somewhere, you will not be disappointed if you add it to your collection.  A.

Green: Butter London Dosh is a kinda-lime, kinda-olive green shimmer.  This is two coats but could possibly use a third to make it really pop.  I've been waiting to add a Butter London polish to my collection for some time but it's 15 dollar price tag is higher than I'm willing to pay for polish as yet.  I happened to find this little beauty at a clearance price at Nordstrom Rack where they had a million of them...Not sure what that's saying about the polish, but I have to be honest and say I wasn't crazy impressed with this bottle as I was hoping to be.  Perhaps their cream polishes are lovelier.  Hopefully I get the chance to find out for myself.  B+

Blue: Color Club Blue-ming is from their Spring Pastels collection and it is just lovely.  Look at the color payoff in just two coats and the formula was nice and easy.  Color Club remains to be one of my favorite brands and this Blossoming collection did not disappoint.  Blue-ming is an A.

Purple: Spoiled Watch Your Language is an almost frosty medium purple.  This is two coats and I wish this color had just a little more depth.  It takes some layering, but still, for the price point, it isn't bad.  B+

Neutral: Julep Zora is a pale pink shimmer/cream.  I believe this is three coats because it needs to be built-up but the color is really fresh, sweet, and lovely.  I wasn't positive I was going to love this when I saw the bottle, sent to me in my monthly Julep box, but it was gorgeous on the nail.  A

Texture/Glitter: Maybelline Color Show Cocktail Dress over China Glaze Hanging in the Balance is this gritty black and Burnt Orange/Red glitter.  As you can see, the first application- on the first nail went on pretty smooth, but as the polish was exposed to the air it got gloopy and difficult really quickly.  This was very disappointing, and I had the same experience with another offering from their sequins polishes.  :(  Sad face because they make some really fun and unique combinations, they just have their formula off.  Maybe I'll thin this one out a bit and give it another go.  C

Featured Polish: Barielle Slate of Affairs has so much wonderful dimension.  the bottle shot shows better than what you can see on the nail in this picture.  When viewed from multiple angles, you get a lot of the brilliant blurple shimmer you can see in this bottle.  This is two coats, smooth and delicious- like most Barielle creams.  Love it!  A+

The above brands can be found at the following locations:

Spoiled- CVS, Walmart

Sally Hansen- Target, Kmart, Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens

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

Julep- julep.com

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

Barielle- transdesign.com

Revlon- Target, Kmart, Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens

Maybelline Color Show- Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Kmart

Avon- avon.com

Butter London- Ulta

Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!

Song of the Day: Friendly Fires- Kiss of Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0H3jEwUYc

Over and out.

Lattice With Dimension

 It's Friday, Friday!  Quick post on a new design that I really enjoyed wearing.  Here is a lattice design with some dimension thrown in on the accent nail.  What do you think?

The base color for this design was Kleancolor Boogie Nights.  Here it is on it's own:

Happy Friday to you all and we'll see you tomorrow for some random swatching.  Start off your weekend with a bang tonight!  xoxo

Song of the Day: Foster the People- Helena Beat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABzh6hTYpb8

Over and out

Movie and a Mani: Beautiful Creatures

Hello my fellow nail art lovers :)  Happy Thursday, and welcome to another movie review and it's accompanying manicure.  Today's film is Beautiful Creatures.




Cast
I don't know about you, but I have been excited to see this film ever since I watched the first preview for it and I saw it's amazing supporting cast!  The two main leads were virtually unknown to me, but count those four intriguing faces surrounding them in this poster above.  Jeremy Irons(The Man in the Iron Mask, Eragon, The Lion King!), Emmy Rossum(Phantom of the Opera, The Day After Tomorrow, Shameless), and absolutely two of my favorite actresses ever- Viola Davis(The Help, Eat Pray Love, United States of Tara) and Emma Thompson who is in well, everything, but also(Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, the Harry Potter films, and Stranger than Fiction to name a few).  The supporting actors I really feel always make or break a show and in this case I bet you can guess how I felt about their performances as a team...  The lead female is Alice Englert, who actually became really intriguing for me in this part because I knew none of her previous work.  The male lead is played by Alden Ehrenreich who was equally unknown to me.  Neither actor disappointed however.  Ehrenreich was charming and engaging as he played a young Southern high schooler anxious to get out of his small town, and Englert was exactly what she was meant to be- new to town, mysterious, a duality of dark and light and relate-able.

Overview
Beautiful Creatures is set in a small town in the South and for Ethan Wate(Ehrenreich), the new girl in town is a breath of fresh air, even though she brings with her rumors of darkness.  Ethan soon discovers that the mysterious Lena has a family tree full of twisted secrets but his affection and interest in her never wanes.  This film is a story of their meeting, how it affects their lives and the town, and most important it concerns a monumental occurrence that will take place on Lena's 16th birthday and whether or not Ethan and Lena's relationship can survive it.

Manicure

The base color for this manicure is Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-Parison, and I used it because it represents the very pale faces of those in the Duchannes family.  Lena stands out from the others in her town not only because mysterious occurrences surround her, but also because she is so pale.  When I decided to represent Lena's powers on the nails I decided that I wanted to show her duality of good and bad represented through black and cobalt blue shimmer polishes.  She seems to have darkness even in her light, and there's murkiness all around her so I included the Orly Sea Gurl sponging around the sparking of magic emerging.  What do you think?  Does it make you think of Lena?

Conclusion
I recommend this movie wholeheartedly.  I do not have any additional review for you as I watched this one solo this time.  All I can say is that if you like any of that supporting cast...you should see this film.  If you love the concept of love bringing two souls together, whether society or tradition supports their connection, then you should watch this film.  If you like movies about coming-of-age and how each person-small spoiler-(whether her or she be supernatural or not) feels out of place and has an overwhelming desire to know themselves, to know their truth- then you should watch this film.  There are many reasons I think you will enjoy this show and a few of them are:  1) Great performances- most especially by Thompson  2)outstanding videography and special effects without being all about the special effect- you know what I mean  3)endearing love story, and 4) and intriguing and engaging story.  This film made me want to read the series- and there are four in total from this series written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  I truly hope you enjoy it. :)  Let me know what you thought of this film in the comments below and what sort of nail art it would inspire you to create.  Better yet- get your polish out and start painting- and show me it!

Song of the Day: Holy Ghost!- Jam for Jerry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sum95SDzsYo

Over and out.

Wednesday Weekly Wrap-Up: 6/26/2013

Hello :) It's Wednesday so I have some pics to document our week.  Not too many cuz I only have one little munchkin here.  Little Missy has had all the attention for over a week now and she is loving it!  Here's a few snaps from her week as queen of the roost.

We've done a lot of lounging like little princesses do.

More evidence

Love

I found some new shoes in Mommy's closet.  Faster to shop there than to drive to town.

Lookin' good, eh?

Sweet girl gets all the snuggles on Mom and Dad's bed when there's no stinky boys around to steal the attention.

Hmmm...

Then look what this little sneaky figured out was so fun today!  Love her curiosity :)

That's pretty much what the little lady's week has consisted of :)  What with everyone having the sniffles around here and it being rainy, we haven't had much fun out of doors; maybe this week we'll remedy that.

Want to leave you with this little beauty from my sweet, sweet hubby.  Bringing home flowers and chocolate for no reason at all...that's what's up :)

Hope you've all had a great week and we hope you're well and most of all we love you!

Song of the Day:Peter Bjorn and John- It Don't Move Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5uOfj7ukjU Over and out.

Tutorial Tuesday: Woven Star from Last Friday's Post

Hey party people.  I had a request to create a tutorial for the nail art I featured on Friday's post- this geometric, woven star.  This may look tricky, but if you know what order to draw it in- you'll be done in a flash :)  Here's the finished look:

1) To start paint all of your nails your base color.  I chose Nicole by OPI Nothing Kim-pares to Blue but you can pick whatever color you like.  When that's had a chance to dry, move on to step 2.

2) Using your contrasting color, paint long lines across the nail in this pattern- an X with a line through it.  It helps to have a long, thin brush for this step, but if you don't- that's ok; just pick a small brush for detailing and use it throughout.

3) This step starts the layering.   Starting where one line meets the edge of the nail, draw another line in at a small angle to meet the next line to it's right- that make sense?

4) Once you've done that with every line in your fingers will look like this.  So you started with 3 long lines, and now you have drawn 6 little angles.

5)  For the sake of clarity, I changed to a white paint here to demonstrate where I am in the process.  Whatever is white is the step you need to do now.  See how I've drawn another slightly angled line up from one tip of the original 3 lines you made, but this time to the left, not the right?  Don't do it in white, just keep using your original second color.

6)  The white lines show what it will look like when you've done step 5 all the way around the star.  This design is cute in and of itself, so if you want to stop here, you can.  If you want to cover the entire nail, keep reading!

7) The white lines show I've drawn another angled line from the original star points, but to the right again.

8) Now lines from the original points, but to the left again.  At this point your nails will be full and all you will need to do is draw a few well-placed line in the empty spaces around each edge to make it look as if the star continues off the finger.

9)  When you've filled-in all the spaces, you will have achieved this look:

 Cover with your favorite top coat, and there you have it!

I hope you give this eye-catching nail art a try and let me know if you did and how it turns out for you.  Don't forget to let me know if there's any certain design, whether you see it on my blog or not, that you want me to feature on Tutorial Tuesday.  :)

Song of the Day: ceo- Come With Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T74frXBpgk Over and out.

A Little Psychedelic

Hello loves :)  Quick, kookie nail art today.  This is what happens when you love playing with your paint a little too much.  I was feeling this swirling, third dimension kind of vibe today.  It's pretty much the moment where Lord Helmet says "Ludicrous Speed!" There isn't much else to be said.  I feel like this accent nail is sucking me in, telling me I need to paint more!  I think I shall heed it's enchanting call.  

Here is the base color- Revlon Decadent by itself.  I think this is what got me into the land of time travel- look at the dimension in this polish with the lovely blue shimmer running throughout.  Love it!

Hope you're all feeling fabulous and having a happy Monday!

Song of the Day: Teenage Mutants- Out of Time(Original Mix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g46Ousxc9Aw Over and out