Once Upon a Polish Queen of Hearts

Hello loves, how's your week been? It's Friday! I have absolutely nothing planned, except maybe a shower and I might be threatened into putting away a stack of laundry. I live a wild life.

Today's super belated (I'm sosorrysosorry) post features a polish I'm super in love with. These pictures are a few months old, but I'm actually glad I've waited to post. Now I can let you know how the glitters have lasted in their suspension base over time!

Once Upon a Polish Queen of Hearts is a mix of tiny white glitter, little gold and black hex glitter, large white hex glitter and black and red hearts.

From L-R: one coat of QoH over Wet n Wild Black Creme, two coats of QoH over Sinful Colors White on White, one coat of QoH over China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, and one coat of QoH over Zoya America.

I used two coats over white to sorta demonstrate that one coat really looks best! I did have to use a bit of the dabbing method but I didn't have to fish for hearts, which was awesome. This polish is so much fun. I'm a huge Disney fan, if you haven't noticed, and I think this sums ol' Queenie up so well.

To wear as a whole mani I used Queen of Hearts over China Glaze Kalahari Kiss. I friggin love this weird taupe-yellow-whatever color. It's the perfect neutral to make those gold glitters stand out!

Of course my Seche bubbled a little, so annoying.

Anyway, what do you guys think?? This polish has been on my shelf for months with no curling glitters, no bleeding glitters, and only a slight difference in thickness from when I first received it. It's really a gorgeous, unique polish with so much character.

Here's a picture of Her Highness for your viewing pleasure :)

Fabulous!

Once Upon a Polish can be found at Kimberly's Etsy shop. Queen of Hearts retails for $8.50 for 15 mL  (.5 oz) and is available right now, so don't miss out!

<3 Rachael

ALIENS!

Helllooooo! Last Sunday my family hosted an Alien movie marathon. Not those lame alien movies, either- the legit Sigourney Weaver Alien quadrilogy. (Don't I sound smart? The dudes at our local Nerds R Us store taught me that word)

SO, here's a picture of the alien who noms on pretty much everyone for four glorious movies.

pretty, ain't she?

and here's Ellen Ripley (Sig Weav. I love her.)

BADASS

So naturally I needed alien nails for the occasion. Of course my aliens turned out much scarier than the ones from the movies, so beware...

AHHHH. FRIGHTENING TINY GREEN TEDDY BEARS.

So, the alien attempt kinda failed. But I did like the shooting star and the tiny Mars. Pinky is supposed to be the deep, dark space Ripley floated through before crash landing... ah, you just need to watch the movies.

Base: Wet n Wild Black Creme

Index: Sally Hansen Golden-I and Celeb City, striper brush

Middle: Stars- China Glaze OMG. Dots- Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Mars- China Glaze Papaya Punch with Zoya Tanzy on top. Top coat- China Glaze Fairy Dust.

Ring: Alien- Base of Snow Me White for opacity andEssie Pretty Edgy on top. 

Pinky: ChG Fairy Dust

What do you think? Isn't he a cute teddy-alien? :)

Have a wonderful day!

Essence Dress For a Moment

Hello there! How is everyone?? Today's mani is simple, as far as nail art goes, but I'm pretty proud of it. I lost my striper brush, so some dinky paintbrushes are going to have to do. The base color is Essence Color & Go - Dress for a Moment. The black and white dots were done with the tips of kebab skewers (cheap dotting tools!) in Sinful Colors - Snow Me White and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out.  The stripe and swirlies are China Glaze - Urban Night. 

Simple! Just a dotted french. Really diggin' it, though, so this will prolly come back in other colors.

top coat of Seche Vite.

Pics make all the flaws stand out big time. I think it's kinda cute! What do you think??

ALSO, don't forget to enter my 50 followers giveaway!!!!! 

Have a great night :)

-Rachael 

Nail Mail!!!

Hey again! Here's my first swap pic like I promised. I swapped with Amanda from Fashion Footing. She's super nice, and her blog is great! She included a really sweet note and a little extra. So exciting to have done my first swap. Hope she likes what I got her! :)

L-R: Pixel Polish- Oh Wee! Color Club- Foil Me Once, Essie- Shine of the Times, and Sinful Colors- Winterberry

I have been lemming the Foiled Collection for a long time, and so I was so excited that she threw that in as a surprise! I looove Shine of the Times and just never picked it up. As soon as I put it on I wondered why I waited! It's gorgeous! The Pixel Polish is my first, and it's adorable. Super pretty sparkle, too. Ohh and the Sinful... I love purple, and Winterberry is the dustiest most lovely shade. So. Excited.

Thanks so much Amanda!! 

Have a wonderful day everyone :) 

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 

Meehhh

Hey lovelies. Today's post is going to be totally lame. Just warning you.

I'm sick =/ So.annoying. Stomach flu from my dad, who was kind enough to share. sdj;aJD;ska

I have a Valentine's Day mani on right now, but I haven't had the energy to bother with pics yet, so those will come tomorrow. I'm not sure I like it very much anyway. 

First I wanted to share this awful experience I had today while going on a quick dusty hunt. I took my little brother to work and on the way home I passed a nail salon that I see all the time. I got a manicure done there several years ago for prom, and I was unimpressed so I never went back. NOW I remember why! I must remind you that I am very new to the art of the dusty hunt, and perhaps I didn't follow proper etiquette but who the hell cares! I went in, and no one was in there but two women watching TV. They literally glared at me when I came in. I'm pretty bubbly and nice even when I don't feel good, but I was greeted coldly. I asked if they sold any polishes, and they both said "No" rudely and dismissively, so I scurried away. Usually I'll fight the good fight but today I wasn't up to it. 

A couple hours later, as I was thinking of the SIX holographic China Glazes they had on their polish rack, I realized I hadn't asked if they sold their used polishes. Dumb, I should have asked. Curiosity piqued, so I called and said "Hi, I came by earlier and I forgot to ask if you sell your used polishes. I saw a few I'd be very happy to purchase from you, if possible." Sweet as friggin honey. 

hold on to your bonnet. this is what she said to me. 

"I remember you. Let me make something clear.. this is a SALON, not a convenience store. I don't sell any polishes here. Didn't I already tell you that?" WHOA Tacky Tina, I was just asking! Sheesh! Stunned, I said, "Yes, but I was asking about used ones. I'm a collector and I was just looking for a particular color." Bitch McBitchenstein says "Listen. You can go to Sally's. I don't have anything for you." She was so snotty and hateful for absolutely no reason. Firstly, if 7-11 carried ChG OMG do you think I'd be traipsing into LE Nails to have a tussle with Tina? Probably friggin not. 

So I got attitude, a stomach bug, and no OMG. :( Sigh. 

To keep up with the general theme, here's my first ever stamping mani. I used Sinful Colors White on White and Kleancolor Metallic Black. It's so icky. And chipped. And I was so friggin proud. Wore it for about five days. /Lame

and here's my second stamping mani.  I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Essie Mesmerize. Again, I was so proud. It was like a newborn child. 

haha! pitiful. anyway, thanks for reading :) you all make me smile. hope everyone is having a wonderful day. :) 

A dream is a wish your heart makes...

...when you're faaast asleeeep... OMGCINDERELLA

Here's the dish.

I have a stomach bug. Couldn't go to class today, couldn't do much of anything. So. Annoying. I was going stir crazy, and when that happens... I shop. I finally had to leave the house and there's a Walgreens riiiight down the street, so that's where I ended up. Okay moooviingooon, I found a new Sinful Colors display. Well, it was more like a few little rows of polishes pretending to be a display. Here's a bad cell phone pic.

Correction: REALLY bad cell phone pic. There was a rude lady eyeballing my Cinderellas and she was about to get a smackdown, so it's a little blurred. Okay, don't remember the names... But we have a pretty medium green, a nice shimmery medium blue, CINDERELLA, a light peachy pink, a lovely medium purple I forgot to get, a pale shimmer, hot shimmery pink called Bikini I think, a pale pale pink, and a color that looks exactly like Bikini but is really not, and yet another potential Zoya Charla dupe, maybe called Starry? OMG long winded. 

Disney's Cinderella, in her beautiful sparkly dress that I always envied when I was a kid... and maybe still do, whatever... 

I grabbed two Cinderellas and might get the last one. I only need one, so I'm considering putting the other in a giveaway soon, unless someone wants to swap :) I haven't done one yet and I'd absolutely love to. Hint hint! 

Sinful Colors Cinderella is a beautiful pale blue with pink glass flecks that shift to gold at the right angle. Of course my camera sucks and refused to capture the shimmer. It also made this polish look gritty, and after three coats it's pretty damn smooth, so ignore that. In all these pics do not do this polish justice. It is absolutely beautiful. I can feel a Disney-inspired mani coming on...

here's a little fun fact about me. I've been to Disneyworld every year since I was two. My grandfather took me, and he passed away a few years ago. He was 82 the last time he took us to Florida and there were still some rides he would get on with enthusiasm. I miss him very much, and all things Disney remind me of him and help me cope. I'm thinking of a tattoo of the castle... maybe. :)

So, when I saw Cinderella, I had to have her! :)

three coats, no topcoat, florescent lighting 

"We have to help Cinderelly!"

<3

I apologize for the awful pictures. You can see the pink glass fleck a little better in my thumb in that last pic. 

SO, yay Disney, and YAY Sinful Colors, because this polish is a definite win. It isn't like anything I have in my stash. 

oh, and just for fun...

                      seriously Jaq and Gus Gus, get cuter. Ohhh but you can't. /presh

EDIT: I originally posted this with shittastical pictures and couldn't live with myself, so I retook some and I think these are better. I apologize if you saw the bad ones! *hangs head in shame*

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 

Zoya Charla

Hey everyone! Today's mani is very simple. These are some of the first pictures I've taken of my manis and I hope they aren't too obnoxious. These were taken with my phone. My camera is charging, so other pics will be done properly, with different lighting and angles. Learning curve, haha. Please ignore my dry cuticles! They're a work in progress, too.

Anyway, this is Zoya Charla, two coats. She's a beautiful metallic blue that flashes green in certain lighting, and especially in the bottle. Zoya describes her as "a tropical blue sparkling metallic." I think that sums it up perfectly! There are quite a few dupes of this color. One off the top of my head is Essence Choose Me! I can't get over the endless sparkle that gives this mani such great depth. Coverage was a bit troublesome, dragging especially. I ended up with some bald patches that very well may have been entirely my fault. I'm new at this, after all! Anyway, there was very little cuticle flooding and I had great control of the brush. I am rather crazy about Zoya's formula. I'm going to attribute the problems here to user error.

I stamped my ring fingers with BM plate 01 in Sinful Colors Snow Me White and topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite . I love that little swirly design. It's very elegant and did just enough for me to feel that this manicure was unique. The Seche is definitely causing some shrinkage, which I've heard happens often with Zoya. I need a good top coat to use when SV isn't the best. Any suggestions?

First mani post... done! So excited about all of this. I think I'll post pics of this week's haul later tonight. Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone is having a great day.

Rachael