Seche Vite

Seche Vite is a popular top coat polish, I'm sure you're all aware. Today I was reading one of my favorite polish blogs, Little Fairy Nails, which is in French. About Man Glaze Fuggen Ugly, she said "et il sèche aussi très vite :)" At which point I realized that sèche vite actually means "dry quickly."

LOL!

Franken: Cambodia

After reviewing some ELF polishes, I decided that one of them, Fair Pink, HAD to go. If you saw the review, you understand. So, I decided to toss some pigment into the bottle. I used TKB Tangerine Pop! and Coastal Scents Yellow Oxide.

Results? My latest franken, Cambodia:

Lovely color! That is two coats, in the picture. So, it is much more opaque. I really love this color!!!
to see where I came up with this color name click here

ELF Polish Review

I think ELF is a great company. I truly do. I have many ELF products that I use frequently and have even repurchased some of their products. One thing I love is nail polish. So, are the ELF nail polishes any good?

ELF Polish in Fair Pink

Price: 5 out of 5; It's only one dollar!
Packaging: 3/5; The bottle is deceiving. There is only .35 oz. Notice in the photos the large amount of glass on the bottom of the bottle. Also, you should be able to pull off the cap of the handle, but you can't, so you have to work with a big bulky handle.
Performance: 1 out of 5; Seriously. Seriously. It should not take more than 4 coats for opacity unless you're using, say, a glitter. See photos below.



Overall: 1.5 out of 5; I would not purchase again. I might not even take if for free, except I can franken with it.

I saved this by applying two coats of Orly Pearl wisdom over the ELF Fair Pink to give a bit of shimmer.

ELF Polish in Fluorescent Pink

Price and Packaging: same as above
Performance: 2 out of 5; You can kind of see it in the photo below, but this polish has separated. There are streaks of white in the polish. WTF? However, It applies well. 3 coats for opacity.
Overall: 2.5 out of 5; There are better pink polishes out there. This is nothing special. However, it is only $1.

ELF Polish in Pearl

Price and Packaging: same as above
Performance: 4 out of 5; This was opaque in two coats! FINALLY. (Sorry for messy pix).
Overall: 4 out of 5; I would purchase this again. I like the pearly shade, and well, it's only $1!!!



Overall: I do not generally recommend ELF polishes, but I think with the pearlescent colors, you might find something you like. When I have more cash, I'm going to pick up some more of their pearly colors, and maybe a darker color, and see how those work out.

TOTD?

Toenails of the day? Hehehe. It would never be OTD, anyway. It'd be OTW, at least.
I just saw someone post pix of their tootsies, so I thought I would, too. Tell me if you think feet are gross or not. If you do, then I won't do pix of my pedis.


Today, I used two coats of NYC Times Square Tangerine and two coats of this sheer iridescent orange neon from Claire's. (Came in a set of 5.) These neons dry matte; if you're not fond of that, you can throw a top coat over it. These pix are w/o top coat.

Also, tell me which type of pic you like better. The 2nd and 3rd pic are b/c I saw some pics of someones feet like that when they were showing their pedi off, and I thought it was cute, but maybe I'm dumb and everyone else in the world thinks a pic like that is lame.

Nail Care

Normally when I do my nails, I don't really take care of them. I clean off the polish with a nail polish remover an a apply the next color, along with base and top coats. Today, I decided to actually give myself a manicure. My nails are thanking me as we speak. My cuticles look a lot better, my polish looks better. My nails look pretty darn good.


First, I removed the existing polish with Sally Hansen Moisturizing Polish Remover. It works really well, but I can't speak to how much it moisturizes. I just never took notice. But I've been using the stuff for a while. Could be, if I switched to something non-moisturizing, that I would notice right away.


Next, I used Sally Hansen Problem Cuticle Remover, which I bought a few months ago, but only used it once. Didn't really notice anything. I took it out today and followed the directions: Apply a thin strip of Problem Cuticle Remover around cuticle and under nail. Massage into cuticle. After 3 to 5 minutes, gently ease back cuticles with Manicure Stick. Wash away excess with warm, soapy water. Huh, I definitely didn't follow those directions when I used it last time. So, I follow the directions. Afterward, my horrible cuticles were much improved. They appeared healthier and they were pushed back, so my nails looked better.


After applying the color, I used Avon Anew Ultimate Transforming Hand and Nail Cream. (whew! What a mouthful!) This product claims to:

"Visibly reduce fine wrinkling and strengthen nails and cuticles with a cream that reduces blotchiness and produces a naturally radiant, even skintone."

I can't really assure you if it does that. I don't think I have any significant wrinkling on my hands. It was a very thick cream. It feels a little greasy I think. I am not sure I love it. I might try another cream next time.

Another thing I am working on to improve the appearing of my manicures is the way I treat my nails. I am being more careful about when I use my nails. It takes some work to type without using my fingertips, but I'm getting there. I have stopped opening soda cans and taking out staples with my finger nails, and I've seen a marked improvement.

All in all, I think my hands look nicer. They definitely feel better. I am thinking that it might be worth it to take a little extra time when I'm doing my nails from now on.

NOTD: Saturday March 14 2009

For the manicure today, I picked blue, because it is the boyfriend's favorite color and it was his birthday.

Okay, the pic says "Rocker Blue by Icing" but it is really by Claire's. Po-tay-to Po-tah-to. Same thing

Without flash
With flash

(Also, he thought it was a really cool color.)

NOTD: Tuesday March 02 2009

With Flash

Without Flash

This is one of those "band aid-but-better" colors, I'd say. This is from the Revlon Color Stay line and the color is "Always Natural (sorry, no pic of the bottles). It comes with the color and the top coat. These pics are actually sans topcoat. So, I imagine it'd be much more shiney with it. But without the topcoat, it really does look band aid color to me. Also, the texture is weird. It always feels soft and when I picked at it, it was stretchy. Weird. (Oh, oops for picking at my nails!) It's bugging me, anyway. I need something bright and vivid. I'll let you pick. Green? Red? Purple? Pink? You pick.

On second thought, no green. St. Patty's is coming up and I'll save the green for that.

Prezzies for Tiffasaurus

One of the prezzies I made for Tiffasaurus was a franken. I used a small bottle that had some Hot Topic topcoat that I got with a HT Fauxnad set. I used some clear topcoat, Grapetini by Icing, Pearl by Elf, and Wild Orchid by WNW (not pictured). I used about 1/4 clear topcoat, 15 drops of Grapetini, 10 drops of WO, and topped it off with the Pearl. But, remember, the bottle I used is really tiny. Grapetini w/o flash:

The result: Heliotrope!

I did my best to make these photos true to life colors. I added a bit of red to the photo. It's pretty close, now.
Here are the blush and shadows that I made for Tiffy. (Wisteria not pictured.) This is the only picture you get of them, because she needs some surprise. :-) I used micas and the matte base from TKB Trading. I used oxides and shimmer from Coastal Scents.

First Frankens!

So, I won't be updating here as much. I'm sorry! It's back to school and I've got a busy semester. But I did some very exciting stuff today! I made my first two franken polishes! The first one is a dark silver color. Not quite gunmetal, but not silver either. It is around the color of normal metals that you see in every day life, quarters, pipes, etc. It was made using Love My Nails Platinum and Maybelline Express Finish Onyx Rush. The LMN Platinum was over 3/4 empty and I have another color that is similiar, so I decided to experiment. I put in a little of the Maybelline Onyx Rush and looked at the color (the LMN already had some ball bearings in it). And then I put in a little more and tried it out. And I gradually upped the Onyx Rush until it was a great dark grey/silver. I'll have photos at some point. The second was made in an Avon Top Coat bottle was mostly empty. I added in Pure Ice Jaguar, Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine Wild Orchid, Rimmel "Nail Tip Whitener," and finally, three drops of the Maybelline Pure Onyx, because it was a little to light. It's a beautiful dusty dark lavender with some shimmer. I will have to take picture. It turned out so well.

Anyway, if you want to keep up with other goings on in my life. I will probably be writing in Mary Commentary more often. :-)

Nail Swatches!!!

Some nail polishes I bought a while back. They are all 99 cents each at Rite Aid! Pretty sweet deal! Each of these swatches is two coats with a top coat.

N.Y.C Big Apple Red Creme
This picture makes it look more orange-y than it is.
It's actually a darker red. Pretty bold actually.

Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine in Caribbean Frost

Yeah, again, the color a little off. It's a bit greener than this
It's a shimmery sea green color. Makes me think of mermaids. :-)

NYC Times Square Tangerine Creme
This color is spot on. A bright orange, very autumn-y color. Love it.

This color is spot on, too. NYC Charming Rose Creme
Rosy pink frosty color (I am so bad at color descriptions)

Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine in Bijou Blue
This is a frosty aquamarine color. It's the only one out of the five that needed a third coat (can you tell in the photo? I'm not sure.) In the bottle it looked a bit darker, so I was a little disappointed at first, but it's growing on me. The color reminds me a bit of Cinderella (but I suppose her color would be a bit lighter)

Sigh... NOTE TO SELF: take photos in better lighting. Try doing nail swatches when it's light outside!!!

A Gift Fit For A Princess

Today, Kevin went shopping for each other's Christmas gifts. It was great! First we went to Gamestop. Kevin is getting a Game Cube, Metroid Prime, and a James Bond game. He also pre-ordered COD5 while we were there (of which he is playing the beta right now. Loves it).

Next, we went to the mall. Tim and Patrick went to the arcade while Kevin and I wandered around a couple different stores before landing at the perfume counter at Belk. We had stopped at VS, but Kevin didn't like their perfumes. At Belk, we tested out basically everything. The top contenders were Estee Lauder Pleasures: Delight; Vera Wang Princess; and Roxy. In the end, we selected Princess. I am sooooo excited! It smells delightful.


What Vera Wang says:
Created for the playful, unpredictable, independent woman who treats every day like an event and adventure. This is a woman who likes to make her own magic, this sheer, flirty blend of water lily, lady apple, mandarin meringue, and golden apricot skin are melded with sheer floral notes, accented with dark chocolate, and finished with a pink frosting accord, amber, warm woods, musk, and vanilla - a whimsical treat.

I actually got one of the gift sets, with a body lotion and a little bottle for your purse. It is TOO cute! :-) I love my Kevvy!!!

I am not allowed to have it yet and he cannot have his Game Cube. After all, it is not Christmas yet. But I know, if he pouted and said please, I'd let him play his games.

I may decide to ask for one of the other fragrances for Christmas. They were all so nice.

Anyway, in addition to the fragrance, after Belk, I dragged all the boys to Claire's and picked up some nail polish. I got a blue that is a really beautiful very pigmented color. I swatched a bright extremely pigmented orange while we were there and it came out matte. I don't see a lot of matte polishes. I also got a set with 5 smaller polishes, bright bright colors: green, yellow, orange/coral, fushia/purple, and blue. They are all a bit iridescent and a bit sheer, except for the orange/coral and fushia/purple. Those are pretty good. They also dry matte, but with a top coat look very nice. Not the wet-shine look, but still nice.

ANOTHER haul!!!

So, this is another haul. I'll put up some looks soon. I'm still working. I'm not the best. I don't want people to think I'm doing tutorials because you should NOT come to me for tutorials!!! Lol, not yet at least!

Anyway!

Don't you absolutely love clearance? I do. OMG, do I ever. Well, I went to Target looking for some mini string lights to hang in my dorm room (like X-mas lights, only I don't want x-mas light colors. I want a string of purple and a string of pink). Well, I failed in that attempt. They are out of stock right now, but they'll have more in soon. So, naturally, I perused the beauty aisles. Jackpot! Tons of stuff on clearance!

Target haul:
This is my Target haul, all together it was about $50. I'm totally a bargain shopper, so when I see makeup on clearance, I snatch it up.

This was my best buy of the day. These are two Maybelline Shiny-licious lip glosses in Coral Punch and Chocolate Cherry. As you can see, they're marked at $2.48 a pop. However, they both had manufacture coupons attached for $2.00 off!!! So they were $0.48 each! What a deal!

I have never used this before. It's Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Cloud Wine. I've never used any kind of cream blush before so, it'll be fun to experiment with.

I had been looking for some eye crayons or jumbo eye pencils and I stumbled across these in a bin full of other clearance stuff. I LOVE HiP products, so I had to get every color they had on clearance.

These are some NYC pencils. The blue one (In The Navy) is an Eye Liner Pencil and the others ( Endless Love and Mockingbird) are Eyeliner Duets with black at the other end.

I am out of toner, so I picked this up and, went ahead and grabbed the exfoliater, too.

I LOVE lip plumpers. I don't know how many of them actually work, but I love how they feel, too. This one seemed to work. I don't know if it would work all day, you'd probably have to keep applying it, but it made my lips flush and they seemed a little plumper. I don't know.

I have NO eye cream, so I picked this up, too. Not much to say because I have nothing to compare it to. The box says it will "help reduce the appearance of dark circles and under eye puffiness, while instantly boosting skin's radiance."

Walgreens:

This is my Walgreens mini-haul. Covergirl was buy one get one free and Physician's Formula was 40% off.

This is Physican's Formula Circle Rx to cover up AND help reduce under eye circles. I got it in Soft Yellow because I think yellow helps hide the circles better.

Two Covergirl Outlast Smoothwear All-Day Eyeliners in Onyx and Smoke

Finally! I got the famous Lash Blast(in Brown Black)!!! Since everything was buy one get one, I also got Volume Exact in Very Black. I'm super excited to try these.

I've never used mascara with these kind of brushes! They're really soft and, well, pretty funky looking!

Walmart:

I saw this and HAD TO HAVE IT. I love fun colored mascara and I had never seen pink before! The way this works is you put on the blue and then swipe the pink across the tips so your eyelashes are pink AND blue!!!

Topcoat

Basecoat

Nail polish in a stick! These are OK. The nail polish is pretty thin (so it can get through the brush) and it took several coats before my nails looked black, but it's easy and convenient. I think you're better off sticking with the sheer colors though.

Two other nail polishes. As always, love Sally Hansen. But I was drawn to this sparkly blue color. Unfortunately, it's very thin. It would be good as a kind of top coat to enhance another color.