Essie Sunday Funday

Nothing to Disclose

Ever since Essie went retail in November 2010, I've been itching to pick up bottles here and there. When the Summer 2013 Naughty Nautical collection was announced, I couldn't help but pick them all up. While playing "pick a random bottle of nail polish to wear" in July, I grabbed Sunday Funday, a coral polish with microglitter silver shimmer to it.

I used a base coat of Cult Nails Get It On, 2 coats of polish and a top of Digital Nails Ain't Nobody Got Time For That.  The polish wore well, no pooling or streaking.

Here it is in the sun. I'm slightly sad that you can't see the microglitter/shimmer at all but it's there, I promise.

In the shade you can see the microglitter/shimmer in the bottle but it just gets completely lost on the nail. Additionally, you can start to see VNL on my nails - especially my pinkie. A third coat would hopefully fix that right up.

Overall I wasn't in love with this polish but I couldn't bring myself to give it away either.

You can purchase essie in a number of locations for $8 a bottle; check out their website for more.  You can also like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, follow them on Tumblr, follow them on Instagram and follow them on Pinterest.

#31DC2013 Day 7: B&W Nails

It's been really awesome to see people participating in the #31DC2013 on Instagram - people are just so creative! For today's challenge - B&W - I didn't know what I wanted but I knew I wanted to break out my Konad... which has literally been collecting dust since I bought them back in 2010. Shame, I know.

I started with a base of Cult Nails Get It On, one coat of Cult Nails Fetish (a wax finish black) and then for my stamping polish, I used Cult Nails Temptest. For stamping plate, I used the full designs on Konad plate m65. I didn't stamp my pinkie finger and used the ORLY Instant Artist in Crisp White to make my little triangle.

I stamped my ring finger first and it went okay but I didn't let it dry enough and so it smudged when I added Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat.  Next I stamped my middle finger but didn't line my stamper up right so only 3/4ths of the nail was stamped. On my pointer I pretty much got it down!

Either way, I'm happy with my attempts and look forward to the rest of the challenges as they come!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

#31DC2013 Day 6: Violet Nails

I was probably most happy to get to Day 6 - Violet Nails. I absolutely love wearing purple polish.  I had a base coat of Cult Nails Get It On before decided to wear the new Zoya PixieDust in Carter and then decided to take some striping tape to my ring finger and add a coat of Zoya PixieDust in Stevie. I was really happy with the results. I didn't use top coat for this manicure except on my accent nail but it was a thin layer to keep the PixieDust effect.

I'm in love.

I'm also in love with my CND Special Edition SolarOil. It was released last year and it has hints of vanilla and golden amber. I found out that they are releasing it this year as well and have already purchased a bottle.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

#31DC2013 Day 5: Blue Nails

I told you I'd catch up! Challenge #5 is Blue Nails - and I was worried about staining so I decided to go with a lighter blue.

I used a base coat of Seche Natural for a matte finish, 2 coats of China Glaze Sci-Fly By which is from the Hologlam collection and then attempted The Nailasaurus waterfall manicure using ORLY Instant Artist in Crisp White, Jet Black and True Blue.

I don't think I totally nailed it, but I'm excited about how simple this was! The stripers on the ORLY Instant Artist are the perfect size for small lines like this - although I think I need to make my lines closer in size and maybe just make more lines in general.  I had tried a few weeks ago and it wasn't really a win.

But hey, it's a learning experience and I'm learning!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

#31DC2013 Day 4: Green Nails

Day 4 means green nails - one of my least favorite of the polish colors. I started with a base of Cult Nails Get It On followed by 2 coats of Zoya Meg, a shimmery apple green polish. Next I added dots using Ruby Wing Birdie and outlined them with ORLY Instant Artist striper in Jet Black. I did not add a top coat but voila - we have instant cheetah print... in wild colors.

Simple - not overly complicated! The toughest part was outlining the dots as my hand isn't as steady as I'd like but I think it went over okay!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Ciaté Corrupted Neon & Suncatcher

Ciaté had fallen off my radar after they were picked up at Sephora but I'm back on the ball and wanted to share 2 new collections with you. You may have seen them already at your local Sephora.

The first is Corrupted Neon.

This kit contains a Ciaté Matte Neon Paint Pot, Ciaté Loose Neon Glitter and the Ciaté Mini Corrupted UV Top Coat and come in 4 different kits
-Club Tropicana (orange colors)
-Foam Party (blue colors)
-Mega Foam (yellow colors)
-Shout Out (pink colors)

The Ciaté Corrupted Neon Manicure set is available for $25.

The second collection is the Suncatcher Summer Collection that also has an "Afterglow Topcoat" which transforms your manicure into an after-dark neon glow.

The Ciaté Suncatcher Collection paint pots are $15 each.

#HePicksMyPolish Julep Diane

Nothing To Disclose

Not too long ago, there was a popular video tag on YouTube of "Boyfriend Does My Makeup" where the lovely ladies handed over control to the guy in their life. Most were pretty disastrous but funny to watch no matter what.

Recently, on Facebook, the blogger Sparkle Queen allowed her fiance to pick her polish and long story short, #HePicksMyPolish was born. Much like the #31DC2013 Challenge, there aren't any REAL rules on this - just have fun!  You can read more about the #HePicksMyPolish tag here and check out this graphic from Sparkle Queen. (Click for full size.)

So when I told my husband that I needed him to pick a polish for me, he got way too excited to run to my stash. What I didn't realize was that he was picking "his favorite color" (this is news to me) which is also probably my least favorite color I own... dark forest green.

In the sake of challenges, I give you Julep Diane.  I used a base coat of Duri Rejuvacote, 3 thin coats of polish and a top of Cult Nails Wicked Fast. This polish is super dark so don't be too upset if all you can see is black - there is green under there, promise.

See - green. Definitely one of my least favorite colors I own. I got this as a part of the November 2011 "Polish Lover Option" Julep Maven box.

I'd like to let him pick more often but I think I may have to get my son to pick (he's 6) for some more fun in my posts.

Julep is available on their website for $14 a bottle.  You can like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Be apart of #HePicksMyPolish

China Glaze Liquid Crystal

Press Sample

In July (don't judge) I decided to close my eyes and randomly grab a bottle of polish to swatch. I came up with China Glaze Liquid Crystal from the 2012 Prismatic Chroma collection. When I first heard about these, i was really excited. The official release stated "bright blue holographic with purple tint dusted with silver, gold, green, pink and orange.  Hello.

I started with a base of Cult Nails Get It On, 2 coats of polish and a top coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast. I know others have found this polish to be gloopy or thick but mine applied well without any real issues. It did eat top coat though, so you may want to add a second layer.

In full sun, this looks more like turquoise polish with glitters, although in the bottle, you can see hints of purple around the edges.

In the shade, the purple starts to peek out and you can see that the "dusted" parts are actually glitters. This combo of glitters was pretty popular last year and I've seen it in a few polishes this year as well.

Indoors with indirect light you start to see the color shift but sadly, no holographic properties here.

And just as I was about to call it a day, I was able to get full on purple tint from this little fiend. Thanks Liquid Crystal!

China Glaze [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply as well as TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

#31DC2013 Day 3: Yellow Nails

Cutting it close today, I know. But I had a glorious 3 hour nap as it rained, so sorry, not sorry.

Today's challenge was yellow nails, and this was a challenge for me because I typically HATE yellow polish.  Like really hate.  First I thought about glitter, then cremes, then golds and then I just got distracted.

When I was searching my boxes, I immediately came across Color Club Daisy Does It, which is a yellow microglitter shimmer in a slightly yellow base. However, it was just too sheer so then I found my Ruby Wing Birdie and put down 2 coats of that.  (I started my manicure with Cult Nails Get It On.) Then I added 2 coats of Daisy Does It. But I didn't feel complete so on my ring finger, I added one coat of Sation Twinkle, Twinkle Big Star and one more coat of Daisy Does It to make the glitter look more yellow than gold.  Add Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat and DONE.

I actually really, REALLY liked this manicure! I didn't get as much glitter as I hoped out of my Sation bottle. The larger rainbow reflective pieces sank towards the sides of my nails and all that really stood out was the red glitter, but I can't wait to layer it over white and see it all pop out. I even considered wearing this look to work! It's just the right touch of glamour.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

#31DC2013 Day 2: Orange Nails

Happy Labor Day to all my USA friends! I literally spent the day doing labor, but what can you do.  Today's challenge was "orange nails" and I had a hard time finding an orange in my stash that I wanted to wear today!

I ended up going with the Jesse's Girl JulieG Beauty Guru as my base. This was part of the original JulieG launch before they got their own bottles.  I started with Cult Nails Get It on for my base coat, 2 coats of polish and Cult Nails Wicked Fast as my top coat.  Then I tried to get overly ambitious with my ORLY Instant Artist water-based paints in Crisp White. I'm one of the new Nail Art Society Nail Art Gurus and these ORLY Instant Artist water-based paints will be in the new box that is coming out. I promise to write more about that later - but I have to say it was really easy to use.

Day 2.

Trying to use my new point-and-shoot camera. It's a Canon PowerShot A4000. I bought this to replace my beloved PowerShot A2000 which broke on the bottom earlier this year.

I think every thing went well until I got to my pointer finger and then I got crazy and it was bad.  But hey, working on it just means I have somewhere to go up!

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.