Hello Friends!!! Don't Forget 500 Followers Giveaway!

Hello! Again, sorry for the hiatus. I just had my acrylic nails taken off (and will NOT be using them again for a while, I just couldn't help myself with the engagement ring!!) and my nails are healing, and ready to be painted beautiful again :) For the last week and change, my nails have been growing out and looked disastrous. Therefore I didn't see it necessary to blog the ickiness that acrylics created. Having them removed was an extremely painful procedure, too! Ouch!! I thought they'd pull my nails right off with them. Luckily, that was not the case.

Moving forward, we are just 75 followers shy of our 500 followers Halfway There mini-giveaway. To refresh your memory, this giveaway is a celebration that we've made it half-way to a thousand. And we strive to keep our followers happy and coming back for more!

Once we reach that 500 mark, it will also launch our 1000 followers MEGA giveaway, which will entail many awesome polishes from 3 of our writers. Myself, Erika, and Renee - which means you will also win a prize with polishes from Japan exclusively!!! We've been prepping for this one for a while now, and are so excited to be able to show you (very soon!) whats in store for that giveaway.

More polish soon, promise :-)

Blast from the past!

Hey, remember when stores like Old Navy and The Gap sold make up and nail polish? I do! But I mean they weren't anything to write home about(or even blog about!) but I recently spent a few days in the Catskills with the family I nanny for and we visited the mall that isnt that far from where they have a house. Of course I had to go into Old navy because 1. they have really cute graphic tees and 2. I spotted nail polish by the register!

I could not believe my eyes when I saw the display with nail polish. Yes, the colors were not exactly unique. But I did buy two just to see how they were. I bought a creme and a shimmer.

The red is a shimmer polish with hints of gold in it. I love red so I knew I had to get a red polish. The other one that I bought was a color that shockingly I do not own. I have teals, but very light ones. This was a medium almost dark teal. Now the application. The brush is small, but not to shabby. The color went on like a dream. And dried very fast! About 5 minutes including my seche vite topcoat.

Hey, is that a green flower? Why yes it is.

I am going to put the red color on my toe nails, because what is summer without red toe nails. Now if I only had none scary feet! Ahh a girl can dream;)

Overall, I rate this polish a B+ for color and appication and an A for price. Each bottle cost 3.50$ Next time I hip up Old Navy, I will def. be picking up more colors since I know they are worth the price. But back to work for now,
Tata!

Hi everyone!

I got the Pirates of the Caribbean Silver Shatter about a month ago, and I've been dying to swatch it ever since. I was waiting to get another OPI color to swatch it over so I could add it to my Flickr OPI album.

Speaking of Flickr, has anyone noticed how weird it's been acting lately? Since the other day it is giving me hell when I try to post pics, one time it says it doesn't go through, and another it says it went through but I don't see anything.. (so if this gets double posted.. you'll know why.)

Anyway, so I found a drug store that has some OPI polishes CHEAP, (and they were running out) so I grabbed Chicago Champagne Toast while the getting was good so I could swatch it with the Silver Shatter.

First, a swatch of Chicago Champagne Toast:

It's a really pretty metallic mauvey-pink. It looks great on it's own, but I was dying to swatch the shatter polish. Now the mani:

As always, thanks for looking!!

My two new nail polish Addicts:)

Yes, it's me. Your fair weather nail polish friend;)

I have been pretty busy lately so I apologize for the lack of postage! Who knew that having a full time job and going to school part time would make you boring? I for one did not! I kid, though.

I bring just one manicure for you, and it's funny because its the same color that Julie posted right down below, the periwinkle one. It's a gorgeous creamy blu-iesh purple, but it chipped so fast! Even with Seche. China Glaze, you are letting me down!

I also have managed to make two more people obsessed with nail polish, the two little girls I nanny for:

 That's gina, do not let the sweet smile fool you. She is a handful! But she asks me everyday to polish her nails. If you look very very closely at the picture, you can see she is wearing "Back to the Fuschia" by Wet n Wild.

And here is Nicole on the side of Gina. She is my
little helper, always helping me clean up or telling her sister too. But once again, told let the scrunchy face fool you, she's a real handful too! You can't see her nails but she is wearing one of the Insta-Dri Nail polishes called "Lovely Lilac" By Sally Hansen.
So two new nail polish addicts to add to the universe!
And to anyone who is wondering, yes I did get mom's permission to post pics. Also If anyone is a fan of the movie Eat Pray Love, Gina played the baby at the end.

Okay, here is my manicure from last week, its the same periwinkle that Julie used. But with a dusting of fairy dust by CG.. (Word play, aha!)

 Mind the smudging, I always seem to do this when I take a picture with my camera. Anyway, it's getting late and well I'm lazy. Ta ta for now!

The Moody Blues - Secret Per-i-wikle French Mani

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, my tips are growing out and it looks silly, so I really don't have many manis to show off. But I did attempt a blue french yesterday which I thought looked great. I also have a photo I took a few days ago, as I've been all about accent nails to accentuate my newest accessory :) I promise that as soon as I have my nails filled, I will get more creative.

I used Deborah Lippmann's Supermodel (an amazing glossy red) with glitter tips -

 

Cleo enjoyed attempting to munch on my mani.

And here is my very messy french mani.

The Engagement Ring, And A Microglitter/Hexagon French Mani!

My ring is sized and fits and I just had to get some glittery tips to match the bling - wow I am so elated. I can't begin to explain how I feel right now. And it's certainly going to take a LOT of getting used to, as I do not wear jewelry. At all. Nothing. So here is my mani, I did a pale pink base coat, used NYC glitter on the tips, and China Glaze Fairy Dust as a top coat. It's a new take on my old glitter tips mani which I realllly love..but more light and summery. The other was more wintry.

a close up of the ring!

(here it is before I added Fairy Dust on top)

Also thought I'd share a bit of a reallllly blingy mani I did last night but decided to change. It's Clarins 230 with a hexagon glitter on top, I was just experimenting, and I really liked it, but decided it's just a touch too dark for the summer.

Gel look frosty half moon mani

Good afternoon everyone :)

I came up with the idea for this manicure on a whim after I swatched the Tina Rose glitter polish and really wanted to do something with it. I took this one slightly blurry on purpose to show the sparkle. It is so hot now, and I thought I'd make a cool look to help beat the heat ;)

The main color is Tina Rose #316. This is a great glitter polish! It is almost as good as the SUPER sparkly/holographic one that I got back in Japan in 2009 (which is currently missing :( I really need to find it, I would LOVE to swatch it and do a comparison with this one!)
It has both big and fine glitter mixed in, and though not as good as the one I mentioned above I would definitely say this one is the runner up. They also have a gold version of this.. I may go and get it..
.

The white is New York Color French white tip. I used silver bullion to line the half moon circles, and I covered it with several layers of Coffret D'or gel look topcoat. I found a MUCH better gel topcoat (much better gel look with MANY less coats, even only one is good!) which I will swatch and compare to this one later.

Gel look frosty half moon mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

What do you think? :)

Deborah Lippmann NEVER Lets Me Down! Yellow Brick Road Review

I remember just how psyched I was in April when my Nordstrom finally stocked Yellow Brick Road. I ran right over and picked up a bottle. When I got home, I eagerly swatched it...and not just disliked it...I hated it! I chucked it aside and forgot about it. Now, 2 months later, I have (slightly) tanner hands, and my acrylic tips, and decided to give it another go. 3 coats of Yellow Brick Road later, I am completely mesmerized. What was I thinking? At this point, I just need to keep my faith in Deborah Lippmann...because this chicka has a true vision for nail polishes. She is just incredible, and I couldn't be happier with her polishes. The application is a sheer faint yellow at first, and by layer 3 it's perfect, creamy, even, smooth, just perfect.

Then I thought, lets add a little sparkle to this! And I came up with a glitter french utilizing Funky Fingers Golden Coast, a gift from Erika. (thanks Erika!!!)

 

Super light gradient nails

Super light gradient nails, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

This is actually the second person's nails I've done, the first I couldn't really get a good picture (I have one, but it is super dark.)

Yoshi's co-worker wanted her nails done, but since the companies are really strict here she was really limited on what she could choose. Believe it or not, I used 3 polish colors here and one fine glitter!

The base color (yes there actually is one ^^;;) is Hanagoyomi Cape Jasmine (kuchinashi.) I then painted the tips of her nails with two coats of NYC Nail Glossies #213, a gorgeous though super sheer pearly golden pink. Then, to blend the two colors together, I applied Sally Hanson Diamond Strength in Diamonds on the border of the colors and blended before they dried. To add a splash of color and accentuate the gradient, I sprinkled a dark pink fine glitter on the tips, and coated it with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

Koh Blue Universe French Mani - Flakies!

%^&@%!^$*)%&*^!!!! This color is sick!! It is called Blue Universe. It's a deep navy cream base with holographic coral micro glitter, and holographic coral flakies in it. I wish I had done the full nail, but for now I do really like this. It doesn't show up so well here, but the flakies have a pink/coral color to them, and they go really well with the pinkish nude color underneath. Next time I will give Koh a real chance to shine, and paint all my nails with this color. I will definitely be back for more colors by them. I absolutely love this swatch.

I also added an accent nail so you can see a better swatch of Blue Universe.