HALLOWEEN NAILS... 1.

H. A. L. L. O. W. E. E. N.

Sums it up.

Halloween. The time of year where Oklahoma finally gets down below "Screw it, I'm only wearing sweat today" temperatures and into what I call Shiver Weather. The time of year where every Reeses peanut butter pumpkin within a five mile radius eventually makes a happy home in my left ass cheek.

The time of year when all the hoes wear lingerie and cat ears and no one even minds. The time of year when it's socially acceptable to invite me children to your front door and offer them delicious noms. (And, if you're like the lady down the street from me, boxes of raisins and toothbrushes because she obviously hates her life.) The time of year when I say "the time of year" too damn much.

I dressed up as The Queen of Hearts a few years back... wanna see? Okay okay, here I am. 

Don't make fun. I thought I was hot. 

ANYWAY 

To the point :) This is two coats of OPI Don't Be Koi With Me, paired with my horrible skanky cuticles. We're not on speaking terms right now.

DBKWM is a black label I've had for at least eight years, long before my obsession with polish began. For some reason, even though I used to only wear pink polish, I held onto it. So glad I did! Black label OPI have theee beesstt formula. This was so wonderful to use. One coat of Seche Vite and it was perfect.

And, while they were drying, I caught my cat, Lily, nibbling on my middle finger, hence the hilarious little teeth marks. WTF Lil? that can't taste good.

A day later I was sick of plain ol' orange, so my first Halloween mani of the year was born. We're starting out simple so that when my equally simple (and potentially horrifying) manis come later, they'll seem more fancy. I'm tactical in my mediocrity. 

Kleancolor metallic black polka dots topped it all off. My bottle is almost gone and it's my favorite stamping polish... anyone have a bottle to spare??

I thought it was pretty cute! And later, I was all 

oh yeah.

Cupcakes for everyone!

Rachael

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape - stamped!

Welcome, Erma and Gerds, to my first nail post in many moons.

I LOVED this mani and actually wore it for three days. That's a big deal! The base is OPI Gargantuan Green Grape. I received this beauty in a Fall Secret Santa group from the lovely Dana at Polished Claws Up! She is so sweet, and really spoiled me. This color is TO DIE FOR. Minty goodness really butters my muffin, and I don't know why I don't have a thousand colors like it. I must rectify that! But first, here's the oddly named and perfectly formulated GGG for your viewing pleasure.

 Two easy coats, stamped with a new Bundlemonster 2012 plate (I'll get the plate number asap!) and then dotted with Kleancolor Metallic Pink. Topcoat of Seche Vite.

lurvely

What do you think? It kind of reminded me of a mermaid... maybe because I just want to BE a mermaid sometimes. Minus the shell bra. That just couldn't be supportive.

<3

Rachael

China Glaze Sweet Hook- Stamped!

Hi everyone!! How ya doing? I've been buying too much polish lately... HARE Midsummer's Midnight, Candy Lacquer Frozen Treats and Summer Sweets... yeah. Lots. It's been SO FUN. Can't wait for them to come in so I can show you!

Okay, onto the mani!

Two coats of China Glaze Sweet Hook, a light pastel purple from their Electropop collection. I'm in love with this polish. Application is smooth, no cuticle drag or bubbling. I am such a sucker for these pale colors. I love brights almost as much, but pastels are just so soft and delicate... 

purpley... purple...

STAMPED. :) Bundlemonster plate 317 from their new 2012 set. I used Kleancolor "It Purple" for the stamps. Kleancolor metallics are excellent for stamping. It's not perfect, but I love that the new BM images are wide enough to fit the whole nail. I had no trouble at all!

This adorable little guy is a cupcake full of strawberry cupcake scented lotion. It was a gift from my friend Jade from Jetleymess. You should check her out! 

 Purple on purple... rawr.

What do you think?

Cupcakes for everyone!

Rachael

Orly Decades of Dysfunction - Stamped

Hello loves! How are you?

 I'm a terrible blogger. It's been forever since I posted! I don't have a job for the moment, so I will have more time for swatches and posts :) Whee, silver lining!

Anyway, here's a new polish for you. It's Orly Decades of Dysfunction, from the new Dark Shadows collection. There are four polishes and they're all nice, but I liked this one best. It's a pale pinkish white that went on streaky in one coat and had even coverage in two. I really like this color... It's different, but clean and simple. Of course I couldn't leave it alone, so you get some stamping!

Top coat of SV

Stamped with a BM plate and Kleancolor Metallic Sapphire.  I loooveee Kleancolor metallics for stamping. Look how bright blue that is! I had been planning an Autism Awareness mani, and thought this fit the bill even though it's a little late. The stamp kinda looks like ribbons from this angle :) 

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

PS... haul post tomorrow. I was waiting for a couple beauties to come in and they're finally here, so yay!!

<3

Rachael

Essie To Buy or Not To Buy

Hey everyone!! There's so many of you now.. Makes me a little nervous! And excited!!

Here's a quick post of a pretty polish that I'm not sure I love.

Essie To Buy or Not to Buy is relatively new, I believe, and it's a pretty boring, typical pastel lilac creme. In the bottle there's this gorgeous pink and blue shimmer that drew me in like a polish lover to a black label OPI, but it does not translate to the nail. At all. In any way. I waved my hands around like a fool in lamp light, artificial light, sunlight, black light, Coors light... okay, I'm kidding. 

See? Pretty, but so boring. Formula was alright, a little dragging even though I waited a few minutes in between coats. This is three, and the effort was not really worth it.

Can you kinda see it?  GORGEOUS. But on my nails.. nada.

Sooo Essie got stamped in the face with Kleancolor Metallic Black and a cute leopard/cheetah/whatever stamp, then a coat of SV. Better!! 

What do you think of To Buy or Not to Buy? I think the name is ironic. 

VERDICT: I should've have bought.

Stay tuned for my 100 Followers giveaway!! 

See you soon :)

-Rachael

Color Club Lumin-icecent

Hi there! How was your weekend? I hate to start on a sad note, but I found out that an old friend succumbed to a rare bone cancer yesterday. She was nineteen, and my heart broke when I got the news. We weren't incredibly close, but Becca was a sweet, shy girl, and the world is darker without her. I apologize in advance for any morose-ness. (is that a word?) I'm sure I'll be back to perky and bitchy and silly soon :)

This man is one of my favorites. The base is one of my top lemmings, conquered by the wonderful Gina Marie over at Adventures in Mani-land. Go check out her blog! She's fab, and so is this polish. It's Color Club Lumin-icecent, from the Foiled Collection. It's gorgeous. Obsessed.
Only issue is that foils cling to my ridges, yeah I'm looking at you index finger. Jerk.

I stamped with BM plate 21 in Kleancolor Metallic Black. I love how it really pops after a coat of SV.

So pret-tay, like model oh cheeleedah

Hope you like today's post. :)

Don't forget about my GIVEAWAY!!

-Rachael 

Kleancolor Teal Marble and Orly Rage

Hello lovely readers! I did this mani last night, when I had a little patience to spare after work. It was my first taping mani and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's definitely not perfect, but it was fun and I'll definitely be doing this again! I started with two coats of Kleancolor Teal Marble, a really pretty shimmery teal with iffy application. I had to reeeallly wait for it to dry before the second coat, and even then I had some dragging. I had great control, though- the brush was nice. After the second coat, I was very pleased. I did a coat of SV to make it less likely to budge after it was taped.

Then I taped off a random angle and I used one perfect coat of Orly Rage, a gorgeous rose gold foil. I loooove this polish, and thought it looked pretty cool and edgy with the teal. Then I used a crappy little brush (my striping brush is missing... hmm) and freehanded the black lines. I liked the way the black separated the colors. I really liked this mani! What do you think??

lamp light

the tape did weird things to my ring finger... lame.

Thank you all for reading! Happy Saturday evening!!!

-Rachael

Sinful Colors Zeus

Hi!! Today's mani is sweet and simple. Zeus is part of the new Sinful Colors Castaway collection which hit Walgreens stores just a few days ago. I called to see if my local store had it before I got out in the rain, and when I got there the sweet employees called me "That polish lady." I'll take that as a compliment!

Zeus is a dusty periwinkle tinged purple. It's darker than the average lavender and has a gorgeous pink shimmer running through it when the light is just right. Application was no problem, dry time was excellent, and at $1.99 average per bottle, the price is right, too. You know I love Sinful Colors :) This is two coats, top coat of Seche Vite, and my ring finger is stamped with a little butterfly in Kleancolor Metallic Black. Fauxnad plate m25.

lamp light

loook at the gorgeous pink shimmer

Work destroyed this mani. I hope my new OPI Nail Envy starts workin' it's magic.

What do you think of Sinful Colors? Some people seem to get runny or super thick bottles, but I haven't had a bit of trouble. Maybe I'm just easy to please. Ignorance is bliss!

Thanks for looking :) So happy to have you all here. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Late night nails

Heeellooooo darling readers! It's about 2:15 am where I am and I have to be up at 6:30. Wooosh

Valentine's day was beyond wonderful. My boyfriend... sigh. Wonderful.

Tonight's nail painting was initially a fiasco. I attempted to do China Glaze Aquadelic, one of my new favorites, and for some reason it just didn't work. I struggled, cursed, chucked something across the room, and finally quit.

After rummaging around, I blindly chose Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Which Couldn't Possibly Have A Longer Name in Fairy Teal. It's a lovely dusty teal creme that covered perfectly in two coats. I friggin love the brush on this brand. Seriously. It's like a paddle and I wanna spank my nails with it. Omg I said that.

I started with a base of my new OPI Nail Envy. I'll be reviewing it in a few weeks or so, when I've had adequate time to see if it's worth the price tag.

'Cause I couldn't stop with just Fairy Teal, I stamped a flower from BM plate 03 and then filled it in with Sinful Colors Nail Junkie, a gorgeous teal base with silver, gold, green, blue, and teal hex glitter. Then I did some little dots with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Celeb City, then a top coat of Seche Vite. And then I looked at the clock and cried.

Hope you liked this post- Valentine's day mani. I'm ready for greens and blues... and sleep. Love you all! Have a wonderful Thursday!

-Rachael 

Colorful Camo + Stamping

Hey lovely followers! How's everyone tonight? It's a little after seven pm for me. I have an eight am class tomorrow so I tried to get this mani done earlier than usual. I'm a night owl, so I always end up being up too late despite my best efforts. Oh well.

ontoooo the goooods! For today's mani I thought I'd do more sponging. I started with one coat of my only decent base coat, called Seal the Deal from Bath and Body Works. I've had it forever and a day, and just haven't gone to buy a better one yet. I'd love to hear about your favorite base coats in the comments! :) 

Then I used one coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac. I love this color. It's a soft pastel purple with a fantastic one coat formula that dries very quickly. For about $2.5o a bottle, it's perfect all around! You can see it underneath the sponging here. Sorry, forgot a pic of it alone =/ Then I sponged on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear- Blue Me Away!, Zoya - Ali (the pretty hot pink), OPI - Mermaid's Tears, which is the barely visible pale green, and Sinful Colors  - Snow Me White. I used torn off bits of cosmetic sponges. They're so squishy!

the hot mess I ended up with after sponging. I just used the back of one of my stamping plates and put a drop of each polish as I went along. 

Then I topped with a coat of SV, and when that was dry, I stamped SHANY plate m76, pictured below, with Kleancolor Metallic Black.  Then another coat of SV, and voila!

indoor light 

up close!

L-R: SH- Blue Me Away!, SH- Lacey Lilac, OPI- Mermaid's Tears, Zoya- Ali, and SC- Snow Me White

Konad Stamper in the fleshhh. Er, plastic. I love this thing. $2.99 on amazon.com.

Not really sure what that design is.. Sorta looks like someone dragged through it with a needle. Oh well, it's fun!

Hope you liked today's mani! I'd love to hear what you think. For my second time sponging, I don't think it's too bad! And my cuticles are much better than they used to be, thanks to Burts Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, and SH cuticle oil, and lots of patience. 

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day :)

Rachael 

Puuuurrrple

Hello hello! I had such a wonderful day today. Spent the whole day with my sweet Brian. He didn't even mind driving me across town so I could rummage through another Ulta's clearance rack. I picked up a few more polishes... oops...

Today we actually counted my stash. I have 127, without topcoats or treatments. I had no idea I had that many. And 12 of them came home with me today! Yay! Granted, three were Essence Color N Gos and three were from Brian, so I really didn't spend too much. It's so tough to stay budgeted! I'm sure many of you can relate. I work in retail and go to school full time, so I really have to be careful where my dollars end up.

1 coat of Kleancolor IT Purple, no topcoat

Anyway, on to the NOTD. I wanted to do a color I hadn't posted yet, so purple it is. I poked around in my stash and Kleancolor IT Purple made an impression, so that's what we have! Here it is with flash, indoor lighting.

How beautiful is it? So shimmery and lovely. And only one coat!

this one is a perfectly color accurate.

Then I stamped with China Glaze Magical, from the Romantique collection. I found it today and knew it had to come home with me. Stamped beautifully, though my ring finger looks like half is missing. Weird camera effect! haha. I used Konad plate m73 and my Konad stamper, but not the scraper. I prefer used gift cards so they don't scratch the plates. 

Then I used a coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry, but I must have applied it too early because it dragged the base color through the stamp and lost a lot of the effect. After it had dried I just re stamped, and I like the result. It's kind of 3D if you look really closely. 

Here's the inspiration for the title! This is my sweet Siamese, Lily. She's a few years old, and soft and silky like a mink. I adopted her from a shelter when she was 11 weeks old. Best purchase I ever made, polishes included!!

Lily, lazing around

I wonder if this tastes good...

What do you think? What are your latest buys and from where?

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. :)