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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Giveaway Alert: Belli Skincare's Motherhood Line on Lipgloss Break!

Click here to enter (US/Canadian residents only) for a chance to win Belli's Motherhood Essentials Kit.

You can enter up to once a day until May 10th.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Post-Ultimate Frisbee...


Played some frisbee today....probably not a good idea. The previous post was the before shot, here is the after shot :(

Originally I was planning to do some swatching in a few days after they grew out more, and it's been so sunny. We'll see...

I guess it's time to trim them shoooorrt...it's been a long time since I've had them really short. My right hand is a mess too. The pinkie nail broke off completely at the nail line!! Some recuperation is probably a good idea now.

Sally Hansen - Sugar Bare

This was an impromptu nails shot, hence the chippage, taken in the car during a 4-hour drive over the weekend. I got bored...

Sally Hansen - Hard as Nails - Xtreme Wear in "Sugar Bare". It's actually almost frosty looking in the bottle, and fairly well pigmented. Opaque in 2-3 coats. No one probably cares about SH nail polish, but I might as well talk about it.

Actually, this nail polish only cost me $0.50!!

I went to my local outlet store and saw a bunch of little plastic makeup bags with bottles of nail polish in them. 10 bottles per bag, for $4.99!!! I was amazed, I don't really care what kind of nail polish comes in it..it's the best deal I've ever seen. Will post more later..at some point.

Noah's Naturals giveaway at Lipgloss Break!

Click here to enter!

(U.S. Addresses only)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Sunny Day! Pure Ice - Party Time




This was actually some swatching I did yesterday.  It was a beautiful sunny day so I thought a nice sunny yellow would be appropriate.  Pure Ice, I found this in a dollar store for $0.99.  I spied some beautiful, pale yellow bottles on top of a shelf and got super excited, because I'm constantly looking for the perfect yellow color that still suits my skin tone.  

Can't say I was satisfied, though, because this polish was EXTREMELY sheer.  The polish itself was thin and kinda watery.  The directions say "shake gently.  apply 2 coats."  If I did that my nails would basically look like they were stained yellow or something.  

Anyways, these pics may not be accurately representing what this would look like if you actually wanted to wear it, it may or may not dry.  

This was 2 thin coats + 2-3 *thick* coats.  I didnt really want to wait for it to dry, but this color is pretty close to what the bottle looked like.  If you just do 2-3 normal coats it would just be kind of a sheer, yellow frosty effect.

Last pic was taken outside but NOT in direct sunlight.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day - Part II (Zoya Irene)





So I ended up doing a blue + green mani of Zoya Irene layered over Zoya Akyra for Earth Day, but it was rainy and shady poopy weather all day so I didn't really get a chance to take a pic.  

Instead, in honor of this wonderful green holiday, I will post my pics I took of Zoya Irene a while back, which I got from their exchange deal.  There was also no sun at this time, but they were taken outdoors.  Three coats, pretty good application imo, on the sheer side though.

On a different note, I know that I have zero readers, maybe the random passerby every once in a while.  I feel a little bit strange and silly writing stuff...i tend to ramble a lot and be wordy.   Right now, however, I am basically talking to myself. hmm..


Happy Earth Day!!



Still trying to decide what to do for an Earth Day mani.  I buffed and filed my nails last night, thinking that it might be more appropriate to go all natural, but I'll probably end up doing something just to get people's attention more.  In that case I will post later.  Last night I also tried to do a green/blue swirly pattern but failed miserably.  Actually, it didn't look bad but I had huge globs of nail polish on my nails.  

I also just tried to log in to Butter London's website for their Turn in Your Toxins thing...but now their website is broken.  

Monday, April 20, 2009

Asian Polish - Yellow & Zoya - Erika





This first one is a random yellow creme I got in China. (I get a lot of polishes from China, usually pretty crappy quality and probably full of toxic goodness..but cheap and comes in lots of colors).  This is one coat, and I think there are two coats on the pointer and pinky.  The polish really becomes a nightmare to apply after 1 or 2 coats.  I did the yellow with the intention of layering Zoya Erika over it, however, so excuse the sheerness.  If I feel up to it I might post a separate swatch showing the true potential of this "Chinese Yellow".  

Like I said, the second pic is one coat of Zoya Erika layered over the yellow.  I discovered this combo by accident and really liked the effect...which may or may not be apparent in these photos.  It started out with me wanting some cute yellow nails..but after 2,3 coats they got all streaky and not smooth at all.  That's when I decided to experiment with the pink over it to try to smooth it out, and the result was this nice peachy color that seemed to glow (probably from the yellow peeking out of the edges).  It was still kinda chunky so I wanted to recapture the effect in the 2nd pic, but maybe I was being too careful because the glowi-ness isn't really showing up.  Instead, I just look like I have nasty yellow cuticles.  Still, I really like the color

Oh, and these were taken outside...in the "brightest" of shady days.  No sun at the time.  There is sun now, but I cut my nails again recently after these pics were taken.  That made me sad and I don't really want to take new pics.  Plus I have two exams tomorrow which I should be studying for right now...

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Asian Polish - Nude Pink



This is a random mini polish I got in China. It's a nice, neutral beige-pink-nude kind of color. Will post pics of bottle if I get a chance. These were one of the first ever pics I took of my nails with the intention of showcasing nail polish. The color is pretty good, the quality is poop though. Consider this a test post.

It's also been a while since I've been able to grow out my nails at all. I teach piano, so technically I'm REALLY not supposed to have long nails...bad influence for the kids ^-^ oops. (I couldn't resist though, I've ALWAYS loved long nails since I was a kid, but my mom was always making me cut them. )

A while ago I was able to grow 'em for about 3-4 weeks after these pics were taken due to no lessons. I tried to squeeze in as many swatches as I could in that period. Ok that was a tangent. I'm done now.

This was indoors, taken under my desk-lamp (...) , I think it was 2 or 3 coats..not important.

Any tips on picture taking? I don't know how all those girls get such beautiful pics of their nails. I guess my camera skills are pretty shitty.

New "Beauty Blog"

Since my other blog is mostly a personal one, I figured I would make a separate public blog to satisfy my beauty/makeup/polish urges.  If I can keep it up, this will be dedicated to my new obsession with nail polish, and an ongoing makeup fetish.   An occasional random posting here or there on other subjects may emerge as well.  

Mostly, I just want a chance to post swatches and other stuff.  I'm kind of a newb to the nail polish blogging scene as well and found the Community Nail Polish Gallery, but couldn't figure out how to put pics up there or register.  Until I figure out how to do so (or are they closed to registration? what's the deal..I have no idea) I'll just do them here instead.

There is one thing that I should say upfront, and that is that most of my beauty products come from my local Rite Aid.  I operate on a tight budget so higher end products are probably not going to be seen here.  

I have a bunch of photos saved up that I will get to later.  These include mostly nail polish swatches, a few Zoyas from the exchange, drug store brands, and some random hauls.