Essence Vampire's Love Collection Part 2

Here are two more from the Essence Vampire's Love Collection. Part 1 can be found HERE.

This is Essence Vampire's Love Hunt Me if You Can. It is a black polish with silver shimmer. Not my favorite out of the ones that I have from the collection but it is still very pretty! It went on very nicely, formula was great! This is no clean up and one coat! The shimmer was kind of hard to capture, especially with my camera's battery being almost dead.

Macro shot of the polish in the bottle. you can see the shimmer particles! :)

This is Essence Vampire's Love in The Dawn is Broken. I love this one! This probably my favorite from the collection! It is a light grey speckled polish with a slight shimmer and black micro glitter. (yes you've seen this picture before, I used it in my Nail Art Tutorial: Rub-Ons!). This polish went on like a dream! This is no clean up and one coat!

Macro shot of the polish in the bottle! Look at it, isn't it pretty! :)

I got both of these polishes from my swap with Jewli at Fanning the Fumes. Thank you so much Jewli! I love them both!

Nail Envy Week 7

Here is Week 7. They are strong and not peeling. I love this stuff! You can see that there is some missing from the bottle now. I use this with every mani that I plan to have on for a day or more. I don't use it for my quick swatches. But I am a believer now! I've had less breaks too! Yippee!

This is back to the first time I used Nail Envy on February 18th 2012. I've filed my nails down a few times, so judged them on the length! :) But overall they are healthier and stronger! I love Nail Envy!


(The first picture is a bit blurry because my battery on my camera is almost dead and I forgot to charge it. It takes a few hours to charge! Sorry! It's also taken and a different time of day)

Nail Art Tutorial: Rub-Ons!

 

So I was told by Arielle, from PAA, that you can use scrapbooking rub-ons on your nails! Whaaaaaaaat!? Now I can use some of my scrapbooking supplies that are all collecting dust! Best. Day. Ever!

So I attempted and I succeeded! (see above picture) So now, I will show you, my dear readers, how to do it too! :)

Start with a base color. I chose to use Essence Vampire's Love in The Dawn is Broken. This is a gorgeous light grey polish with a slight shimmer and micro black glitter. The overall effect is a lovely speckle! The formula was wonderful and it applied nicely! This is no clean-up! Yes!

Next add a top coat. I used Seche Vite.

Find your rub-ons

 

I used American Crafts (one of my favorite companies) mini Marks in Traveler Accents. The above pictures show you the packaging, name, and the different images in the package. There are three different sizes in this package of rub-ons. The smallest being on the top.

Showing you the different sizes. I used the images in the top row.

For those who haven't used rub-ons before there is a backing to them. It is a separate piece of paper, sometimes even tissue-paper like. Keep this with the rub-on until you are ready to use it! Otherwise your rub-on might stick where you don't want it!

Cut out your image that you want to use. I chose two for an accent nail for each hand. Notice I also cut out the backing paper.

Next (and I'm a doofus for not actually taking a picture of this!), but you just remove the backing and place rub-on onto your nail. And voila! You are done! Mine were so sticky that I didn't really need to rub them one my nail. As soon as the rub-on touched my nail it attached! Easy-peasey!

Here's my other hand and the suitcase rub-on. I added a topcoat of Seche Vite to keep the rub-on on!

I can't wait to use up more of my scrapbooking rub-ons! Oh, and since I did this a few days ago and have already changed my mani I thought I would let you know that they come off with normal nail polish remover without any problems or long periods of scrubbing! Extra bonus! :)

What do you think? Is this something you would ever try?

Ulta Mini Haul!

So the other day I went into Ulta to use my rewards. I had a level 2 reward option. But wasn't too thrilled with the options. But was told I could get two of level 1 rewards. Well, that I could do. So I decided to get a package of cotton squares and a package of cotton rounds! I use these to take off my polish. I've never tried the squares before, but hey, for free why not!?

Of course I had to check out the clearance polishes!

China Glaze Below Deck, China Glaze Sea Spray, Essence High Spirits, and Sally Hansen Uptempo Plum. The Essence wasn't clearance but was it's regular price of 99 cents! :)

So my whole mini haul (polish and cotton) with a $3.50 off $10 coupon was $8.73! And I used my gift card on it, so it was like free to me! Love it!

Anyone else have any hauls lately?

L'Oreal: Owl's Night

So, of course this one would be one of the first polishes out of the Epic Royal Nail Mail that I got from the lovely Debbie of The Crumpet. This polish is awesome! As you can read from the title it is Owl's Night by L'Oreal. This is the polish that started the big swap and I can honestly say that I am not one bit sorry to have done it! :) Love this and all the polishes!

Do not be deceived by the bottle. It's just a reflection making it purple like. This polish is dark brown base with gold shimmer! Hello gorgeous! Went on with no problems! This is one coat! It definitely needs a top coat. I did this earlier today and have been typing away without a topcoat (gasp!) and there is some tip wear now. But not too horrendous! :)

Here's a macro of the bottle. Tried to get a bit closer but not a good photo. But this shows off the colors wonderfully! (really need to come up with a new word!)

While I was out shopping at Walmart (and wearing this polish) I found something I just had to have....ready?

Oh yeah! Owl earbuds! So flippin' cute! Love love love! How perfect are they!?!?!?! People laugh at me and say all somebody needs to do to get me to buy it is put an owl on it. But that is so not true. Some owls are just down right freaky! But not too many, and definitely not these ones! :)

Teal Tuesdays - Animal Print

Today's Tealicure option is Animal Print! So excited for this mani because I used 3 items, all of them were untrieds! Woot! Woot! :)

First, the base is Nails Inc Eden Grove that I got from Miss Debbie at The Crumpet in this Epic Royal Nail Mail. It looks way more green in the bottle IRL but is a deep teal creme on my nails! Yes! This is one coat of it too! It went on wonderfully! Love it!

I also used Silver Nail Effects by BarryM. Also from the Epic Royal Nail Mail from Miss Debbie! WOW! If you haven't used these nail effects, you need too! These are AMAZING! The stamp like a dream! Thank you so much Debbie! They also clean up from all stamping equipment and skin wonderfully too!

And this is the first time using my Cheeky Plates that I got from Amazon. This is CH1. And it worked wonderfully too! All around this mani is made up of 3 of the best products! Loved them all!

So I usually take a picture of the base color by itself before stamping but as I stamped my little finger I realized I didn't take that photo! Gasp!

So here is a picture I took with my err, unintended accent nails! :) Look how glossy Eden Grove is! Love!

Teal Tuesdays was started because teal is unloved and needed its own day of celebration!
Teal is a medium to dark bluish green color of low saturation; a dark cyan.
Open to interpretation, anything green with a hint of blue or blue with a hint of green is welcome here!
Aqua, Turquoise,Tiffany Blue, etc etc...all are welcome - we do not discriminate!

Click the Teal Tuesdays logo on this post or in my sidebar to be taken to the facebook page!

Some of the other blogs participating are
Colorsplash Nails
Gaga for Nails
Fancy Phalanges 
Gnarly Gnails
Geeky Owl
Mandy's Polish
Nails Beautiqued
No Holos!
Persistently Glittery
Simple-and-Beautiful

Nail Haul!

Here is a picture of the polishes I bought while in Canada! So many pretties! :) Look at the all the colors!

Top Row (l-r): Joe Fresh Orchid, Joe Fresh Peacock, Joe Fresh Teal, Joe Fresh Hunter, Joe Fresh Moss, and Joe Fresh Eggplant.

Bottom Row (l-r): GOSH Fairytale, GOSH Ocean, GOSH Purple Heart, Duri Gin Greyhound, China Glaze Pelican Grey, Nubar Elegant Indigo, and Nubar Stylish Peacock.

I'm soo excited for these polishes! These are my first GOSH, Duri, and Nubar polishes! And so many new Teals to use for Teal Tuesdays! :)

This is some things I got on my way home from my trip and in my Birchbox. The lipgloss (gasp not polish!) is by Hard Candy and is called Glossaholic in Vanilla. And I finally found Pure Ice Rio! My Walmart never has it in stock. I'm super excited because now I have all the ones that Caitlin did in her awesome post Pure Ice Comparison (with macros). Yes! This little Color Club is from my Birchbox for March. It is a mini in He Loves Me. It's a super baby pink that isn't too my color. So I think I might franken with it! :)

Now for picture as to why I bought this lipgloss.....ready?

Yep! Those are flakies in a lipgloss! Oh yeah baby! How cool is that! $5 at Walmart! Comes in other flavors too! :)

And guess what. There is this awesome woman over at PAA who is just amazing. One day I get a message saying telling me that she has sent me a prize! I'm all like what!? Why, for what? Her answer: for being you.
Awwww! Isn't she awesome! The person I am talking about is April from Munia's Nails. Her and I have talked back and forth for awhile now and I would say that we are friends! (I hope she agrees! hahaha!) (I would think so!) She's always going on the awesome Dusty Hunting trips and scoring awesome finds! She's my Dusty Hunting Idol! :) Well, at the end of this past week, my "prize" came. You want to see it?

OPI DS Mystery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, My. Goodness! I was so shocked at receiving this! It was on my wishlist! It is a gorgeous deep purple polish with gold glitter. I know many people don't love this polish but I think it is regal! Love it!

Tried to get a macro of this polish but my camera is hating on me right now. So this is as good as I could get....blurry semi close shot. Sorry! But you can see the purple and the gold! Loverly right!?

Thank you thank you thank you so much April! I love love love it! :)

And I promise I do have plans for more swatches and nail art and tutorials and a new blog header! I do I really do! But this semester is kicking me! Ugh, only about 4 more weeks and I'll be done! I have a practicum this summer but I will have more time to play! So please, bear with me, I do have good intentions! And some awesome ideas that are going to explode soon because they need to be given life! :)

Adventures in Stamping: Black & White Mani

 

Some of you may have seen this one before. Shhh! Don't tell anyone!

This is Color Club French Tip (two coats) as a base with one coat of Essie Tennis Corset to add a bit of shimmer. And I used Konad m63 with Konad Special Black to stamp with. This is my favorite pattern. So this picture was actually used in my 31 Day challenge for Inspired by a Pattern. :)

I had big plans, really I did. This week's challenge being black and white mani. So many ideas! But I got sick. Some allergic reaction/virus. My arms and hands were swollen and aching and it was creeping up into my neck at times. I was exhausted and couldn't catch my breath. But I went to urgent care and was told it was an allergic reaction or virus but they couldn't tell which one. But I am doing somewhat better now. So with me being sick, I had to push back to school work. So this weekend I had to catch up on my school work and ran out of time to do a new mani. Sorry!

But I have some awesome ideas brewing in my head for some manis! I'm excited! And all the new polishes to choose from! I also have some haul pictures coming up too from my trip to Canada!

Second Nail Mail Post for Today!

So two nail mails post in one day! :) Yep! This my fellow readers is the long awaited nail mail from Jewli at Fanning the Fumes. We started this swap...looking it up in my messages....wow! December 29th is when I we first talked about it! Wow! Polishes have been added to since then. And then we waited until March to mail them because though Jewli lives in Germany, she was going to be the US in March, so cheaper shipping!

I am so excited they are all finally here! :) Top row (l-r): Essence Nail Art Twins Romeo & Julia, and Bella & Edward (still get a kick out of Edward being the sparkly one!). Then there is Essence Hello Holo, Essence Vampire's Love in Hunt Me if You Can and the Dawn is Broken. Next is Essence We Will Rock You Re-Mix Rock top coat in Smoky Finish, and finally Essence Blue Addicted.

Still need one more polish for my Vampire's Love collection to be complete! Into the Dark is the one needed.

Second Row (l-r): Catrice Sold Out Forever (no idea it has a shimmer!), Catrice I Wear My Sunglasses at Night, Catrice Sing: Hey, Dirty-Lilah (has a subtle silver shimmer ), and Catrice Dirty Berry (it's a holo! I had no idea!). Then I got two essence stamp plates, wow, these are smaller than I thought they would be, not the images themselves, but the actual plate. But I love them! I love all my polishes! Thank you so much Jewli!

So this is the package that Jewli's polishes came in. I saw that stain and got all scared! Oh no! My polishes!!!! Then I sniffed it..................

Nope, just yummy Kinder chocolate! They were all squishy, I could barely pick them up without them oozing all over! But I still tried one! Mmmmmm! Yummy goo! :) Sadly, it has come to that time when it is too hot to send chocolate to people in Arizona. :(

Thank you Jewli!

Nail Mail Packages 5 and 6!

Remember this pile of packages? Well, it's time to reveal packages 5 and 6! Woot! Woot! Let's start with the white envelope in the upper right corner.

This is a swap from Anne Catherine from the PAA group on facebook. She mentioned that she had one of the H&M Bambi polishes available so I snatched it up! We agreed to add another polish and she picked out this amazing IsaDora polish called Bronze Patina, it's gorgeous! She also sent me a postcard and some yummy candy one is Hello Kitty! :) I'm so excited! Thank you so much! Love it all!

The next and final package is the white US parcel box.

This is from Shalon at The Polished Pixie. We are both in this group where we swap with a different girl each month! This is the first month we've done the swap. Look at the goodies she sent! She sent me yummy candy, all of it is gone now! She also sent me this stinkin' adorable owl key fob (is that what it's called?). Love it! The label lists One of Everything (an etsy store) as who made it. The polishes she sent me, (all were on my wishlist!) are (l-r, top row) Kleancolors Holo Chrome, Metallic Orange, Metallic Fuschia, and Metallic Black. Aren't the minis stinking adorable!? Kleancolors are amazing to stamp with! But they are super stinky!

The bottom row of polishes are all from Dollish Polish. These are my first Dollish Polishes! These are called Fire In The Night Sky: Aurora Australis, Northern Lights, and Aurora Borealis. These three polishes are all special effects top coats. Aurora Australis flashes orange to pink, Northern Lights flashes green to gold, and Aurora Borealis flashes blue to purple. I'm so excited to use these! Thank you so much Shalon!

Hunger Games Mani

 

 So I've been sick and didn't get around to doing a full on mani for this, but at least I have some of The Hunger Games Collection polishes from China Glaze. The base is Agro, it is a beautiful olive green shimmer. Gorgeous! My application was a bit gloopy but not too bad. Oh and this is only one coat! 

I put Luxe and Lush over it to add some fire! :) This is a chunky mylar flakie with a clear base. Gorgeous! It flashes blue, pink, gold, and green. I did notice that when I was applying this it felt as if my bottle should be empty but I think it's just the texture of the polish and that it's not as thick as other polishes. The above picture has a coat of Seche Vite.

Here is Agro on it's own. See, gorgeous! And you can't tell it was gloopy!

Sorry about the photos not being up to par. My new camera is being lame! I'm about to give it an ultimatum. :)

So, are you going to see The Hunger Games movie? I hope to go today! I'm super excited!

Dupes: NerdLacquer I Aim To Misbehave vs Orly Fowl Play

So the other day I wore NerdLacquer's I Aim to Misbehave, remember? (If not, go here). Well, as I was applying it Orly Fowl Play popped into my mind as being a dupe. So I thought I would compare them. As you can tell straight from the bottle shots they are not dupes. But they do have some similarities! Let's take a look shall we?

Macro shot of NerdLacquer I Aim to Misbehave. You can see it is a purple base with red, silver, and blue glitter.

Macro shot of Orly Fowl Play. Look, purple base with red, silver, and blue glitter! See why I thought they could possibly be dupes. But this is how they are similar. :) But the red glitter in this one seems to be flakie than glitter. (no complaints here!)

Whoops! So not dupes! This is one coat of each. NerdLacquer on the left with Orly on the right. NerdLacquer is more of a berry purple with Orly a definite purple base. Nerdlacquer is more opaque too and bumpy!

Still one coat of NerdLacquer on the left with two coats of Orly on the right.

So, though they both are a purple base with red, silver, and blue glitter....that is where the similarity ends. Do you need both? That's a heck yes you do! :) And yes, you are most welcome for added more lemmings to your wishlist! :)

An Epic Royal Nail Mail

Package number 4 step right up! This is the biggie baddie box with orange label. This box contains pretties and goodies from an epic swap carried by the royal post from Debbie at The Crumpet. This all started out because Debbie mentioned she had a lemming of mine. And blew up into the full blown epicness that it is! :)

Oh, you want to see what's inside? 'Kay!

Ta-daa! Boom baby! Boo-yah! Look at all the purdies! So loverly! I seriously oohed and ahhed out loud when opening the box. (after finally getting the box open, Debbie has some serious taping skills!)  :)

Here are all the Nails Inc polishes (sorry for the not so in focus picture, overcast and still trying to learn the new camera). L-R: Little Miss Chatterbox (do you all remember these books? I loved these books!), Eden Grove (can you believe Debbie gave me a teal!), Buckingham Palace (deep royal purple, get it? royal!?), Chelsea Embankment (gold glitter), Hans Place (IRL it looks a bit more peachy), and The Fuschia's Bright (love the name! hot pink shimmery goodness).

These are my first BarryM polishes! Stupid camera doesn't like the goodness and so it made the foils blurry. But it is Silver Foil, Nail Effects (black crackle), and Good Foil. Debbie tells me the foils are really good for stamping and I have seen her nails when she stamps with these...amazing! She also tells me that this crackle is better than OPI. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks less gloopy in the bottle than OPI crackle!

My first Leighton Denny in Berry Nice. I am not familiar with this brand but Debbie I believed called them "lush". I will take her word for it because it is very pretty and I love the bottle! And here is the reason for the swap. L'Oreal's Owl's Night. Yep. See why I needed and wanted this polish! Oh and it's gorgeous too! :)

This my dear readers, in the Essence bottle, on the left is a franken by none other than Debbie her self! She named it Fusching Gorgeous (we are pretending to pronounce it Few-shing)  ;)  It is gorgeous (look at that, just like the name!)! It is a pink base with a crap-load of glitter! Ahh, I love me some crap-loads of glitter! :)  And yes the bottle really is shaped like that! Love it and the color and holo fatty glitter! These little itty biddies are Max Factor (yep same brand that does Fantasy Fire) in Disco Pink and Intense Plum. Love the colors and the size super cute!

The bottle on the left is by Funky Dazzlers. It is a pink base with a ton of micro silver glitter! So much fun! And suck tiny glitter! The other polish is well, all I could find on it was Miss Sporty. I assume it is the name of the brand? Debbie, any help? But she is a pretty shimmery duochrome like polish!

At last but not least the goodies that put in the box. All of them were yummy in my tummy! Especially those long red, yellow, pink, white candies called Maoam. They are so super duper yummy! They remind me of childhood! Mmmmmm.....childhood! :)