Long Time No See!

Hi everyone!

Today I'm posting three different manis I've been rockin' since the last time I posted. In chronological order, here they are:

Remember the Essence nail stickers I bought a while back? Well, I wore them out! The application was pretty simple: just find the right size, stick, and file off the excess. Sadly, my nails are small compared to the sticker sizes they provided in the package, so I used up all the small ones. Hahaha. The largest one they have can actually fit on my big toe if I wanted.

It's REALLY metallic. I had some serious foil-age goin' on when I wore them out, especially when the sun was out. I think I blinded several people, but that's why I loved them! Unfortunately, I didn't like the fact that my nail edges never felt smooth. I peeled them off two days later and went back to nail polish. The design was great, but I still love painting good ol' polish on my fingers instead.

Another thing I think some people don't know about me: I hate crackle polish. I never understand why some people are SO obsessed about it, especially the colorful shades. For the most part, it looks like a disease, or very poorly constructed roads. But I figured I shouldn't hate on something without reason, so I picked up OPI's Black Shatter at the local beauty store back at home (for $6 only! Figured I shouldn't pay full price if I wasn't sure about it). I layered it over Zoya Zara, a pretty medium purple with warm golden shimmer.

I messed up my index finger, but the rest of my fingers look better. Ya know what, black crackle polish isn't so bad after all. It's quite alright. I still don't agree on the other colors out there though, like red and blue. *Blech* :P

I stopped by Walgreens today and picked up several polishes that were on sale! Guess who's on a glitter craze!?

L to R: Wet n' Wild Night Prowl, Kaleidoscope, Sally Hansen Ice Queen, Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters, and Teal of Fortune (which looks blue in this picture...it's more teal IRL)

I pulled out a baby blue creme polish (The Face Shop in BL602) I got from Debbie while I was in Korea. It's streaky on the first coat but evens out quite nicely by the 2nd and 3rd coats. I was super excited by my new purchases and used Kaleidoscope and Ice Queen on top! I dumped extra glitter on the tips, and I quite like it!

Blurred to show glitter:

It's so glittery and sparkly that I was distracted by my nails while driving out today. I probably shouldn't be doing that, hahaha. It's so pretty!

Zoya Bela & ULTA (essentially Essence) Haul!

Zoya Bela is a cute, wearable light pink that is buildable in 3 coats. Apparently it made an appearance in Black Swan, but I still haven't watched the movie yet, so I have no idea how it all matters. However, what matters is that Bela is a very pretty color for all skin tones, clothing choices, and it's very work-appropriate.

But obviously there is no way that I'm just going to leave it alone. :P I pulled out Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Night Flight, some Konad materials, a dotting tool, and scotch tape to create the mani below:

w/o flash

w/ flash

My lines with the tape are not clean, but I think I did pretty decently for a first-time tape user. I really love this mani...it's simple but intriguing.

This past week I've been to ULTA twice...both times using this awesome $5 off $10 coupon to get all of these. I believe it was about $14~$15 for all. Pretty awesome deal! I went Essence-crazy since everything was so cheap!

I think I'm particularly excited about the nail stickers...the design looks like shattered glass! I think there's a konad plate out there with a design similar to this, but I don't own the Bundle Monster Plates (barely got a stamp and scraper last week, yo) and I've never tried nail stickers either. Doesn't hurt to try! This was $2.49 before coupon deduction.

Oh, and a bonus: I did my apartmentmate's nails last week for Sun God! I followed Chloe's tutorial here and my aptmate liked it very much. :)

Essie - Merino Cool

The other Essie polish I mentioned picking up (in the previous post) from a haul is Essie's Merino Cool. Merino Cool is a gray-purple taupey color that looks mature and refined without being a boring light pink. It's neutral enough to be office-appropriate but enough to get noticed.

You can see the purple better in this picture. This is 2 coats.

(Sorry for the dry hands....heh.)

Taped off a diagonal section and painted on Zoya Marley, a creamy soft lilac with subtle shimmer. Added some gold rhinestones along the line, and topped it off with some Seche Vite! I love this top coat.

Final pic of my mani while wearing a cute handmade rose ring made by my boyfriend's baby sister! :)

Essie Blanc Polka Dot Mani

Happy belated Mother's Day!

I went home to LA for the weekend to see my mom and finally went to this beauty shop in my area for a nail polish haul! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of what I bought since most of the things I got I left with my mother as a gift. Nevertheless, many of the things I got were a steal! This place sells Essie for $3, ORLY for $3.75, and OPI for $4.75! I picked up a dotting tool, glass filer, two Essies, one OPI, Essie fill-the-gap base, top coat, konad stamp/scraper and a couple templates for just $25. :)

One of the polishes I purchased was Essie's Blanc. It's a plain white polish that I would assume most nail fans would own, but for some reason, I only have white polishes with striper brushes. So this is the first time I've been able to paint my entire nails white! I used the new dotting tool I got and picked out several colorful polishes for this mani. It's super cute and fun, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it, so I've taken it off already.

Polishes used in this mani:

- Essie in Blanc

- Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in 330 Posh Pink

- Zoya in Robyn

- Pure Ice in #616 Wild Thing

- Etude House in Lilac Milk (direct translation from Korean)