Butter-Fly Stroke

Hey Everyone!! Well, it is still raining!! I actually love the rain but I would prefer for it to start after I get to work. When I am trying to get up in the morning and all I can hear is the sound of pouring rain it makes it very difficult to want to get out of bed. The good news is it is keeping me from doing my morning rounds where I check out the drug stores and Sally's on the way to work. I am sure it has saved me a few dollars. In more good news little Neil went to the vet today and though he has a urinary tract infection he is going to be fine and is not having the horrible issues we had when Bruce was young. We do have to start feeding both of them some special food which I am sure won't be cheap but at least he is ok. I was so worried about the little guy. I wish I had a video of this because I would loved to have seen it and be able to show you all. Apparently on the way back from the vet after he got meds and was feeling better Neil was sitting on my son's lap in the front seat and trying to catch the windshield wipers. It must have been quite hilarious to see. 

Today I have one of my Target clearance finds. I love clearance!! I usually buy the Sally Hansen Insta Dri polishes because they stamp well. I haven't tried this one for stamping yet.

This is Butter-Fly Stroke from the 2013 Limited Edition summer colors. It is a pretty buttery yellow color.

I used this pretty cool holo orange striping tape to put stripes on this mani. I hadn't used striping tape to actually make stripes that I leave on my nails yet so this was a new one for me.

Ok. I remembered why I don't love the Insta Dri polishes for actually nail painting when I did this mani. They have HUGE paddle brushes that make a huge mess because they are so huge and engulf my nails. I don't like the brushes, at all, not even a little bit. They are ranked only slightly higher than the Wet N Wild/Spoiled brushes. I do like the Insta Dri polishes and have several of them and they are usually great for stamping.

I actually tried to do a completely different mani with this color and others and the striping tape but it was an EPIC fail and I had to take it off immediately. It was really bad and looked very candy corn like. Since it was already late I figured this was going to have to suffice. I actually ended up really liking this mani however it was the first time I used the striping tapes for stripes and I didn't really know what I was doing.

The tape went on pretty well but then I went and put top coat on it and it freaked out. Some of the tape wrinkled a little and some of it lifted. I was able to keep it on there for most of the duration of the mani but the edges did lift. I need to check with other people more experienced with this tape but I am thinking perhaps it shouldn't be top coated.

I think it might be time to kick photobucket to the curb. I had a heck of a time trying to figure out what it did with these pictures. I keep uploading to this one album and it uploads successfully but when I log in at work the pictures are not where they should be and the only way I can find them is by looking in recent uploads. I don't have time for difficult things. I am going to have to suck it up and get the storage on Google. Does anyone else use photobucket and have this problem? It could be operator error but really it isn't rocket science. I tell it to upload to my mani folder then look in my mani folder the next day and it isn't there. OY. 

That's all for now :)

KBShimmer Radioactive

Hey Everyone!! It is FRIDAY!!! So exciting! Ok, only mildly exciting since I don't have much planned for the weekend but Fridays are always good. I ordered some nail art supplies yesterday which I am anxiously awaiting and the plates I ordered last month arrived yesterday! I love new toys. I can't wait to show them to you and play with those! I think I will be spending some time making some polish jewelry this weekend.

Today I have an awesome polish to show you from KBShimmer. I love neon polishes! I didn't realize that this one glows in the dark too! I don't know how I missed that part because I love Glow in the Dark stuff but it took me googling the polish to realize it.

I am crocheting a Barbaloot for a nail board friend and thought this would make a funny picture. It did lol KBShimmer Radioactive.

I can't wait to show you the finished Barbaloot! I love this polish and actually have it on my toes too. I love when my toes glow in the dark, so fun!

Radioactive is an awesome neon crelly polish with black glitter in various shapes and sizes.

I wanted to add some fun nail art to this one but couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. I used Sinful Colors Sunny Day striper to make stripes. I didn't realize until now that the Sinful Colors Stripers are actually named. Duh for me.

I started with a white base and actually taped off the mani with striping tape before applying Radioactive.

I used three coats of Radioactive. I use the white base to make the color brighter. There is a picture later of Radioactive without the white base.

This polish is not a jam packed glitter so not every coat got a lot of glitter. I did fish a couple of pieces out on some of the nails because I wasn't getting as much glitter as I wanted. I had to mess around with placement too but that was not due to the polish but rather the nail art. The glitter kept ending up on my striping tape which was going to be taken off when I removed it so I had to push them around a little so they would be on the nail when I removed the tape.

After removing the striping tape I was left with white lines which were perfect for applying Sunny Day. I used the brush in the polish but should have used a smaller nail art brush since the one in the polish was a little too big. Most of the lines still came out pretty decent.

As you can see I got a nice sized chip in my polish. I wanted to wear this for more than one day because I was having so much fun with the glow in the dark. I hate chips! I hate chips even more when the polish has been on my nails less than 24 hours.

I have been giving a treatment a try and it is beginning to anger me as all my manis are chipping super fast. Today's mani chipped when I washed the pan I made my eggs in this morning. I have had this mani less than 12 hours, most of which I was sleeping, and it is already badly chipped. I am about ready to throw the treatment out the window.

I am in a major neon phase right now. Everything I want to do has neon colors in it. I am trying to keep away from doing all neon all the time. I think I will definitely keep my toes neon though!

This polish is one of the few that I would consider getting a backup for. I am loving the shade and the black glitter. The fact that is glows in the dark totally makes it an instant favorite.

The application on this one was great and it has totally perked my interest in the other awesome colors KBShimmer has to offer. I had been looking at this one for a LONG time and finally was able to get it recently. Very glad that I did!

I decided I wasn't taking my mani off for one nail so I just painted the chipped nail with three coats of Radioactive. You can see here I didn't use a white base so it is not AS neon as the others. It is still definitely bright and lives up to the name Radioactive it just isn't AS bright as it would be with the white. I have it on my toes without the white base and it is still quite neon and eye catching!

That's all for now :)

A Scandalous Apple Berry Smoothie

Hey Everyone! What a day. I have the kids at work with me today. That is always fun. I think I may be allergic to work. lol Not the actual work but my place of work. When we got here this morning my son had a huge sneezing fit and runny nose crazy episode. Over the past few days my cough/congestion garbage has been acting up really bad too. I was already thinking that I seem to have less problems on the weekends when I am home but the fact that my son started sneezing and such within minutes of being here is making me think. I might have to try and do a DEEP cleaning of my office and hope that it doesn't kill me in the process lol

Have you ever not been overly impressed with a polish but then put it on and smack yourself with a shoe for not realizing how awesome it was in the first place? THAT is what happened to me with this polish. OMG. I love Cult Nails and have been a fan since the brand launched. Around the time I started getting into the nail scene on the internet and found out about the nail boards and such is about the same time Maria launched Cult Nails. I didn't know her from the boards or anything but found her blog and followed her through the launching of the brand and I have been a fan ever since. I haven't been able to get all of the polishes they have put out (darn you lack of money lol) but I do have a nice collection and I am always looking to get the ones I am missing. Recently I found a couple on a blog sale and jumped on the opportunity to bring them home.

Cult Nails Scandalous is from the 2012 Divas and Drama collection. This was one of the collections I missed out on but because Maria puts out so many awesome polishes it kinda got pushed down the list by newer polishes that I covet. THANK GOODNESS I jumped on it when I saw it listed on the blog sale because it is GORGEOUS!!!

I had a picture of just Scandalous but I had taken it inside before doing the nail art and the lighting was awful. I will definitely do another mani with this color soon because it is so awesome. Scandalous is a coral dream of a polish that has that squishy jelly look that I am in love with. It pulls more orange on me and totally reminds me of a juicy candy.

I used Rimmel Apple Berry Smoothie from the Cocktail Colour Collection that has been popping up in stores. The Cocktail polishes are gorgeous foily, glass fleck, shimmery polishes. There are five polishes in the collection but the bottles are on the small side. I believe they are 6 or 7ml and my Walgreens has them for $2.49 a bottle. Due to size and price this one was the only one I actually purchased and only because I had a coupon.

I started with a base of Scandalous which is sooo yummy. I didn't want to do nail art on all the nails because I didn't want to cover Scandalous up.

I used striping tape that I bought on ebay to tape off the designs. I was actually going to make my index finger match my middle finger but then decided one nail had to be plain.

I was attempting this mani and rushed so I ended up messing up a bit. I tried to hide it on this hand by making the pinky a little different. It didn't work but still looks pretty cool.

I love both of these polishes and actually really liked them together. I need to do manis with each of them alone though because they are both such pretty polishes.

That's all for now :)

Angel Kisssed Four Leaf Clovers

Hey Everyone!! I decided to try and organize my pictures on the computer today. What a mess. I have a million pictures and getting them all into folders and labeled is quite the task. I have pretty much all of 2012 through today left to do. Yikes.

Today I am going to show you another St. Patrick's Day manicure. 

I used Color Club Angel Kiss from the 2012 Halo Hues collection. 

I used Australis Here Today Gone Tomrrow and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Orange Impulse for the stamping. I actually used a green striper polish to stamp as well but don't have a picture of it.

I used the four leaf clover design on Konad plate M22.

I also used the thin lines on the design on the lower left of Mash plate Mash-43.

I started with a base of Angel Kiss. I love the Color Club holos, they apply so well and are great polishes. Look at that holo, it is so strong.

I stamped the four leaf clovers on all my nails except the accent nail. I actually used the green striper polish then restamped over it with Here Today Gone Tomorrow. You couldn't really see Here Today Gone Tomorrow as well as I wanted when it was stamped alone. 

You can see on some of the stampings I didn't line them up quite right. I think it makes it look 3D like, that or like I really need glasses. Luckily only two of the nails were really bad.

I then used orange and white to stamp thin lines on the tips. 

I didn't want them to look uniform which is probably good because I did have some alignment issues with stamping the lines.

I used striping tape for the accent nails. I applied the tape and then two quick coats of Here Today Gone Tomorrow.

I love the way the accent nail looks. 

This is an indoor shot just to show you how awesome the holo effect is even inside.

That's all for now :)