Thursday, March 31, 2011

Introducing Always Winning

I almost typed Always Willing and realized what I was doing! Boy am I tired! Always Winning is my first attempt at a true layering polish. This is a very unique polish, it can be buildable, but in about 4 coats depending on your application techniques. But as a layering polish I love the uniqueness of this one. I have to admit this one makes me a little nervous. It is completely off trend, but I couldn't help myself. My worry is that this is a definite love or hate color. I don't think there is going to be a middle ground here. I'll give a sneak peak, but I warn you now, because we have been in this lovely monsoon like weather, the pics just do not pick up the magnificence of this polish.

Always Winning is a sheer metallic lime green with a subtle brown duochrome effect. As an added effect it has gold and holo glitter dispersed throughout. The above picture shows how it looks in the bottle - it looks opaque in this picture - it really is not opaque at all. Let's take a closer look.

Here is one coat of Always Winning over bare nails

Here is one coat of Always Winning over Cruisin' Nude

Do you want to see 4 coats of Always Winning by itself? As most of you know I am not a fan of using 4 coats of polish, but for you I did. I would rather use this as the layering top coat I made it as. I really need to re-take these pictures when the sun it out - I just couldn't really capture it on the nail. But here it is with 4 coats.

Now it's your chance to speak up. Is it a win?



Paint Splatter Manicure

I recently did a paint splatter manicure with the konad plate M70. I used a rejected nude for Cruisin' Nude and then I added pink paint splatter using Devious Nature and then more paint splatter in black. I love the way the manicure turned out! Check it out!


Unfortunately, this is the only good picture! Boo! But how cool looking is this mani.
On another note, we received word yesterday that our next collection should be ready by April 15th! YAY! That means I should have it in my grubby little hands by the 22nd (Also my 16th wedding anniversary! Yikes I'm getting old! Well we got married young, so not THAT old! HA!) ANYWHOO, I was thinking of doing a pre-sale. What do you guys think?

The collection is also nameless at this point. We are going to work on coming up with a collection name, but since we don't theme the color names, it makes it a little harder. Let's see we have Let Me Fly, Devious Nature, Cruisin' Nude, Captivated and possibly Always Winning(I should know for sure on this one by this afternoon). Any collection name ideas?

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Winning Wednesday Answer

I decided to do a half moon mani or as it was commonly referred to in the 1920's & 1930's a Gatsby manicure since it went with the Winning Wednesday trivia question. Of course I had to use Quench for the manicure. That is the answer I was looking for - although wrong or right, if you answered, you were entered. And the randomly selected winner was from the blog www.handmadereviews.net. Congratulations!

Here is my gatsby mani: (Sorry about the poor quality - we had a heck of a storm brewing, so the lighting was terrible!)


Even after filing my nails down a bit, I am realizing that these talons are just too long. Juan told me tonight that they are intimidating looking. Not to mention typing and texting is starting to get a little difficult. I think it is time to trim them down! I still have a few mani pics at this length to show you and I probably won't get around to trimming them until this weekend, so you may see a few more pictures at this length, but soon they will be a bit more reasonably filed.

Also, for those of you who are not on Twitter, hang tight, I will be posting another give-away soon. I will actually be doing one for Facebook, one for Twitter and one for blog followers,(so three give-aways) so everyone will have a chance to win. The benefit to Twitter is that it is quick and easy, so most small give-away's will most likely be on Twitter, but I won't leave the rest of you high and dry - I promise! I will post the news soon - I promise!

Winning Wednesday on Twitter for Your Chance to Win!

I'm giving away at least 1 of my new glass nail files today on Twitter around 5pm EST today!!!

Follow on Twitter and RT your answer before this tweet:

RT with your answer for your chance to win an @ glass file:The half moon mani was also known by what name in the 1920's?


A hint: the answer is not Reverse French. The answer will fit with the character limitations!




Glass Nail File (Red)Glass Nail File (Black)


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

My Coral Glitter Finally Has a Name!

Thanks to everyone for all your name suggestions! We wrote each and every one of them down and went over all the different options and combinations. We started and stopped all weekend. I figured I still had time, then the email came... We can't get production started until the color is named! WHAT? NO!!! That means we need a name NOW! So back to work we went and for realz this time. The problem - Juan is dead set against any names that use the color name in it. So Give Me a Coral Some Time or anything like it was out. With the exception of Kelliegonzo's suggestion for Coral Me When You're Sober. He chuckled every time we re-read the list and that one made it to the finals. From there anything that sounded to "nail polishy" was out. He is such a picky man - so that meant all the Tequila Sunrise, Tropical Sunsets and the like were out. Every time I liked a name - he looked it up and responded with "There's already a ton of polishes with that name" Grrrrr. So we were left with Solar Flare, which we both liked, NMNE - which would have been a play on the anemone references and something to do with volcano's. We started writing down words that went with each of these things: dormant, fiery, release, phenomenon, fire pit etc... Juan thought we should name it Eruption. Yeah right! Then we came up with Dormant Lust. Looks like a winner, then we thought more on it and felt that it just wasn't right. We also received a tweet from who kindly reminded us that this polish is not dormant, so based on her suggestions we tried to incorporate one of her descriptions of the polish: Pulsating, effervescent and vital. We just had to add Pulsating Lust to the list! Ha! Like school children we giggled at that one. But really, I can't name my polish that! So after another short break break, we went back to work and had 4 names in a hat. Yup that is how the name was chosen! We pulled a name out of the hat 5 times and the same name was picked every single time! OK seriously, is that a sign or what? So the name is Captivated. WAHOO!!! We have a winner!

Now that that is over with, I wanted to thank everyone for the help in naming the polish! It really was a great starting point for us in getting this named! I also wanted to comment on a comment that asked if the polish was chunky. Hmmm, I had to try and figure out what the commenter was saying. I think that could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So I am going to try to answer it as best as I can and I hope this is what you were asking. By chunky, I took it as is the polish thick? or is it smooth? or is the glitter bigger than most other glitter polishes? Or does the glitter lay flat? I tried to take some comp pictures to hopefully answer all these possible scenarios. So here we go...

This is a glitter polish, so it will behave just like any other glitter polish. The only difference is that instead of a clear polish suspension, it has a colored polish suspension.

I first compared it with OPI Mad as a Hatter, RBL Look Good Be Cheap and China Glaze Atlantis. Atlantis being the closest finish to Captivated. Here is a comparison with just one coat:


I only did half the nail so you could see how "thick the polish is and the type of coverage There is clearly VNL here.

Here is two coats: 
I didn't take any side shots here. I figured with the next coat you can see the side shots and have a clear idea.

 Here is three coats:



All in all I think it is closest in formula to Atlantis. It is actually less thick than the two solid glitters. Now if chunky means the size of the glitter, then I think the glitter in Captivated is a bit bigger than the glitter in these. Not by much, but slightly. So I had to keep looking and then I found the perfect match!

OPI's Last Friday Night from the Katy Perry collection is the perfect match! This is two coats of each polish on a fake nail under an OTT light to show the size of the glitter. Holy crap our glitters are identical (well except the color of the glitter is different)! But size, cut, etc. The formula - identical! SO since I think most of you polish lovers have this color, this is a great comparison for glitter size and formula.

If you love Last Friday Night, you will love Captivated. If you hate Last Friday Night, you will hate Captivated. I will say that while Captivated is a jelly polish suspension, it is not as sheer as Last Friday Night. Captivated offers full coverage to the naked eye in two coats and even to your camera in three (see above photos). It can be layered using one coat over another color as well. But it is not sheer like Last Friday Night, so if you like it sheer, then Captivated may not be for you either. Of course, I LOVE Captivated and that I can use it alone or over something else. I LOVE the finish, I LOVE everything about it. Which is why it made it to the collection.  I hope you all LOVE it as much as I do. Onto the pics.

I used two coats of each in the above photo. It's so amazing how similar the glitter and finish is. I am definitely impressed with myself here. HA! I want to try Captivated under the Shatter polish now!


So there you have it, more info than you can ever possibly want on a polish color! HA! Did this review help?

Now that we have a name and everything is ordered, we are told that the ship date to us should be between April 15th & April 22nd! That means that we should have the polish somewhere between April 22nd and 31st.  eek I can't wait! 

There is a potential 5th color to the line, but we had a minor formula snafu that is being fixed. If it is fixed correctly, then Always Winning will make it to the collection, if it doesn't get fixed, then we will hold that one for the next collection. I'll let you all know as soon as I know. Can't wait to hear what you guys think!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

This Color Needs A Name

If you follow me on or , you have already seen this new color. If you don't follow me at those locations, you're missing out! So come join the party and follow me. :)

In the meantime, I just approved a fifth color for the next collection. Like I said, the more I sell, the more colors I will make, so we have now sold enough to add a fifth color! YAY! Hopefully it doesn't turn into the 4th color, since the 4th color has yet to be finalized. UGH! Fingers crossed that it isn't just 4 colors!

But after working with the lab for a coral glitter, I finally have it! I think I say this with every color - but this one is my favorite! HA! The down side is that this color has no name yet! I need to come up with one fast! It is a true coral jelly polish with intense amounts of gold and coral glitter that flash in the sun like nobody's business. It is buildable to wear alone or it can be used over another color. Here is a sneak peak:

The finger on the left has two coats and the one on the right has three coats

From left to right: two coats, three coats, 1 coat over Devious Nature & 1 coat over black polish


Top to bottom: 2 coats, 3 coats, 1 coat over Devious Nature and 1 coat over black

Left to Right: 1 coat over black, 1 coat over Devious Nature, 3 coats and 2 coats
Now how about two bonus random pics
Shell on the beach


Beach at night

So now that you saw the polish with no name - what do you think? Any name ideas?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Wanna Take a Walk With Me & T-Dizzle?

My friend Tara and I will walk the beach whenever life allows us to. We chat along the way and we always find something to take a picture of. I mean we really take our walks seriously! Ha! So today I decided forget the beach walk - we are walking the bridge! See technically we live on a barrier island off the coast of FL. So everyday on my way home from work I have to come back over the bridge. I love seeing the island stretch out in the distance in front of me. AHHH home. But I have to go through the torture of seeing all the people dedicated to working out running, walking and biking the causeway. So instead of our normal  3- 4 mile beach walk - we did the bridge twice for a little over a 4 mile walk.

Here's the bridge:
File:Eau Gallie Causeway 1.jpg

Here's the walkway. Not to big and cars are driving right by you. But you get the water on both sides so not to shabby. 

But why do just a walk when you can run up and down the stairs on each side of the causeway? We did the stairs up and down on each side on each trip so a total of 8 times. We're good like that!

I took this picture of Tara at the bottom of the stairs. She's trying to get a picture of the dolphins playing in the water. She didn't get one, but if you really look at the picture - on the middle/left side there is the dolphin! I got Tara & the dolphin! Nice!

We're muscle women! Oh yeah! 



Hope you enjoyed going on a walk with us! Now I need to go have a bowl of Lucky Charms! Kidding! Well maybe not, that sounds good now.... Hey everything in moderation right?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I Can't Believe How Long My Nails Are!

I changed my polish back to Quench since now that I have a perfect red I am LOVING red on my nails. But I realized today just how long my nails are getting! I thought this nail shape would make it harder to grow, but so far so good. I am debating on cutting them though. It is getting a bit hard to type and text at the moment. I even had a little difficulty putting my hair in a ponytail.  Check them out:

I used another Bundle Monster plate to do another design on my nails.  I used a gold Milani polish for the stamp design. This manicure didn't come out so great. My nails are just a bit too long right now for the plate designs, so it is taking two passes with the plate to get full coverage. In person it looks like tapestry. My nails look a bit shorter with the design on them. Weird!


Time for a close up!

And how about one of the pics from the night we took a bunch of pics. I put this one up on last night. I want to do something like this with one of the nail colors, but with a focus on the nails and not on me. What do you think?

Speaking of - I am going to have occasional small give-aways on Wednesdays. I'm going to call it Winning Wednesdays. So if you don't already on , do it now. You just might win a fun prize! Who knows I may start it today! 

Monday, March 21, 2011

Inspired Manicure

When I was a kid my mom had an oriental style tea set similar to one pictured below. But in my memory hers was red and white instead of blue. That could be just because I would have wanted it in red instead maybe? 



Either way, I recently ordered the BundleMonster stamping plates on Amazon and when I saw the one below Plate BM20 the top right design reminded me of the oriental tea set. I knew I had to use this design in a manicure.

I used Dazzle Dry Misty Moon for the base coat. It is a white with a tinge of grey and taupe undertone to it. Dazzle Dry polishes dry super fast and since I had a million and one things going on a fast drying base for this manicure was exactly what I needed! For the design I used Cult Nails Quench. 



I love the end result of this manicure! I think it came out so amazing. Although I keep getting asked if my nails are fake or told they look fake by people who know these are really my own nails. I felt like I was wearing a pre done design. But either way, I am loving it! Unfotunately it comes off after just doing my nails yesterday. It chipped already! Only one nail too, but I banged it and at least it is just a polish chip and not a nail break! (I better go knock on some wood!)

As an added bonus, my daughter B used the top middle design on same plate to do her nails. I thought I would show you her nails as well.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

St Patty's Day Manicure

My friend's birthday is today and we are going to a good ol' fashion Irish Pub to celebrate her Birthday & St/ Patty's Day. I figured I would give myself a cool manicure for the occasion. the problem is that I worked a 10 hour day, then went shopping for a gift for my friend (Hey I've been another busy, so last minute shopping it is!), then I came home ate dinner and met up with a neighbor for a bit while the kids played outside. Now back in the house, the kids are in bed and I have a chance to put a manicure together. I am exhausted! I just want to go to sleep, but I figure I can push through. Needless to say the idea of this manicure was cool, but the execution is shody at best. I really need to get my act together. If I was looking at another blog seeing this, I would wonder why the girl even posted it. But since I am tired and just want to get to bed, you get to see my bad work. Even though by the time you see this I will be at work busting my behind. Oh well, such is life sometimes. Not everything can be perfect and neither is this manicure.



Now that I have shown you, I may just march my little (big) behind upstairs and just take this mani off! 

But so I leave you with something nice, this last weekend was another friends birthday and we celebrated with a 70's inspired bash. Here I am with Juan wearing our 70's attire. Juan got his stuff at a thrift store that same day. Me on the other hand - well ironically, all those items came out of my closet! But put together it gave a pretty decent 070's vibe if I do say so myself! Check out that blue eyeshadow!

LOVE these shoes! OK so not so much 70's with the exception of the platform, but SOOO hot! Juan asked where I got the stripper shoes! WHAT? I love these shoes! How dare he! 

the obligatory Charlie's Angel's shot when posing in 70's attire...except I am missing two angel's! :(

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone! Please make sure if you go out to have a good time today, that you remain responsible and get a designated driver or call a cab if you need one. Just one mistake can cost a life. I hope everyone stays safe today while enjoying some fun! I will be drinking some water this evening since I am driving, and you know what - that is perfectly fine with me, since I will still have a great time with my girls! Enjoy!


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Another Try at Some Nail Art

I have been trying some more Nail Art lately. I thought I would show you another attempt. I saw somewhere an oil slick type of design. I can't remember where I saw it and when I tried to find it again, I couldn't find it. Basically it is created by dropping one color of the CND effects on your nail and while it is still wet applying an opposite CND effect into that one and then just moving your hand around while it dries to create an oil slick look. It almost looked like a water marbling technique without the mess. I tried it using CND effects in Jade Sparkle (I think that is the name of the green one) and an old pink Sally Hansen Prism polish. But I wasn't getting the effect I wanted, so I painted my nails with a Navy polish and then dropping these colors on my nails and patting on them. I think the end result came out pretty good, not what I set out to to, but pretty cool none the less.

Here is the Navy polish on it's own. These were done late at night so I only had the OTT light to use.


Here is with the polishes dabbed over the top. It looked like a night sky. Loved the look!



So what do you think? Yay or nay on this look?
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