Purple Star

I was looking for a base color to use with a silver star stamp and realized I hadn't tried my Finger Paints Be a Pal-ette yet!  I thought I had read good things about this brand on other blogs, but I was really unimpressed with the formula/application.  I wonder if I got a bad bottle?  It was streaky and dried super fast, which left worse streaks when I dragged the brush through tacky polish.  It somewhat smoothed out by the 3rd coat.  I'm disappointed in what a pain it was to apply because I love the color!  It's such a pretty shade of purple with little glitter flecks.  I also REALLY liked it with Celeb City stamped over it, and then I went and added a top coat and messed it all up.  My NYC shiny top coat is apparently getting old, and it bubbled.  I will probably try this color combo again with a new top coat.  :-)

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Colors Used: Finger Paints Be a Pal-ette (base), Sally Hansen Celeb City (stamp)
Technique: BM05
Purchased: Finger Paints at Sally, Celeb City at Kroger or CVS
Verdict on the colors: Irritated with the application on Be a Pal-ette, but I loved the color so much I'll use again.  Celeb City is still one of my favorite stamping polishes!!

Look What I Got

Sorry for the cell picture.  I went to Sally today and picked up 7 of the new Hunger Games collection!  They weren't out yet but the nice sales lady got them for me out of the stock room.  =D

From left to right: Stone Cold, Smoke and Ashes, Luxe and Lush, Dress Me Up, Foie Gras, Riveting, and Harvest Moon.

I can't wait to get home and play with them!

Dotty Flower Manicure and OMG I HAVE A MATTE

Last weekend my sister discovered that one of the new Spoiled polishes I'd picked up was...a MATTE!  I was super excited, I love all the matte polish pictures online and they are high on my list of WANTS.  I found Seche Natural at the CVS by my house and had been hoping it would work as a matte top coat, but alas it does not.  I decided to use it as a base for my first dot manicure effort.  I was hoping I would be awesome at this from the get go and could use this as a submission in the Chalkboard Nails dotting contest, but...no.  I'm not displeased with it for my first try, but definitely want to practice before the March 5 deadline.  Here it is!

Spoiled Distant Memory.  I would say this is actually "matte-ish."  Is still has a little sheen, but is much less glossy than a regular polish.  The finish is almost plastic-like.  You can still see some of the micro glitter flecks in it, even with the less than glossy finish.  It's very pretty, and I love teal shades!

 

 

And the dotty flower manicure:  This has a top coat over it, you can see the difference in finishes on Distant Memory.  I like it with a top coat too!

  

I meant for these to be 3 petal flowers...it's a less defined than I was going for.  I think it's still cute!

 

My husband and I are currently redoing out living room and den, so naturally 30 minutes after I finished this I went to bring cans of paint in from the car and smudged my flowers all to hell.  This did teach me that you want FLAT dots though.

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Colors Used:  Spoiled Distant Memory (base), Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On and Hot Magenta (spots).  I used 2 coats of Distant Memory, but it was pretty thick with 1.  Making mental note to try it with stamping.

Technique: Dotting tool

Purchased: I got Spoiled at CVS, and Sally Hansen's from CVS or Kroger.  I know those are super common, but whenever I see colors I like on a blog I always wonder where they got them (for less common brands) so I decided just to make it a regular part of mine.

My Stash List!

My goal is to one day have all these swatched and linked.  But for now this is my list.

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Deborah Lippmann
Across the Universe

ORLY
Rage
Green with Envy
Satin Seal Matte Top Coat

Konad
Black

Pure Ice
A List
French Kiss
Cheatin
Free Fall

Nabi
Lilac Magnetic

Cover Girl 
Pink Prism

NYC
East Village
Cashmere Creme
Starry Silver Glitter

10
Spring Awakening


Confetti
Moonstruck

Spoiled
Pretty in Pink
Ants in My Pants
Distant Memory
I Got So Plastered

Maybeline
Denim Dash
Go Go Green
Timely Turquoise

Julep
Oscar
Elizabeth
Rachel
Melissa
Charlotte
Jodie

Sally Hansen
X-treme Wear
Blue It
In the Spotlight
Flirt
Crushed
Rockstar Pink
Hot Magenta
Celeb City
Insta Dri 
Gone Grey
Going Grape
Speedy Sunburst
HD
Laser
Spectrum
Salon Manicure
Nude Now


OPI
Teenage Dream
Yodel Me on My Cell
It's My Year
Strawberry Margarita
OPI Ink
The One That Got Away
Russian Navy
Yoga-ta Get This Blue
Swimsuit...Nailed It!
Sephora by OPI
Teal We Meet Again
Traffic Stopper Copper
Never Enough Shoes
It's All About Me
Sparktacular!

Milani
Bet on Red


Finger Paints
Be a Pal-ette


China Glaze
Haute Metal Crackle
Black Mesh Crackle
Luxe and Lush
Foie Gras
Stone Cold
Smoke and Ashes
Dress Me Up
Riveting
Harvest Moon
Make an Entrance
Blue Iguana
Awakening
Emotion
Atlantis
Pull Me Close -- Magnetix
Eyes Like Sapphires


Sinful Colors
Rise and Shine
Let's Talk
Forget Now

Color Club
Electronica
Emerald Depths

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Tape Manicure/First Julep Box

I didn't take pictures of my first Julep Maven box, but February's "It Girl" box came with Rachel, Oscar, and Elizabeth.  I'd never tried the Julep brand before, but the deal on the Maven boxes is amazing and was the perfect opportunity to try!  I love them.  I decided to try a tape manicure with Rachel and Elizabeth.  Rachel is SO pretty.  I took probably 50 pictures trying to capture how shimmery and deep the color is and still don't feel like I adequately captured it.  It really is beautiful in real life. 

This one is way over exposed, but you kind of get more of the glimmery-ness of Rachel here.

I really liked this manicure.  I got multiple compliments about it at work and even a referral credit for Julep out of it. 



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Colors Used:  Julep Rachel and Julep Elizabeth
Technique: Taping
Purchased: Through the Julep Maven program (disclaimer: not being paid by Julep).  If interested you can find out about the Julep Maven program HERE And use discount code COLOR2012 to get your first box for only $0.01. 

Verdict on the colors: LOVE both of them!  I really like the Julep formula, it's so smooth and the colors are really vibrant.  I used 2 coats of Rachel, but both are already pretty opaque in 1 coat.  I want to try stamping with them.

Greetings Nail Enthusiasts,

And welcome to my new blog!  My name is Kat, I'm a 26 year old wife, mother, and cube-dweller who has in the last year or two rediscovered my love of nail polish.  College and the first years of a new career/marriage/baby kind of sidelined my previous nail painting habits until one day I walked into a CVS on my lunch break and saw the new line of Sally Hansen HD nail polishes.  A side note about me—Ferrets are my spirit animal.  I make “nests” of things around the house.  I have hidey holes where I put important things so I won’t lose them (the problem being that there are too many of them I forget where I put them).  Above all, I have a deep, deep love of shiny things…so…the Sally Henson HD display called to me.  And BAM! I remembered how damn awesome nail polish is.  So here I am.  Until very recently I’d never done anything more complicated than layering, but I am starting to get into stamping and nail art.  Hopefully I will improve over these first few manicures I have to post.  :-)