The Lazy 15 Mani #11 - Fireworks/Bonfire Night

Helllloooooo Monday! I've got a good feeling about this week, how about you? My husbands birthday was yesterday and for a few weeks he is 9 years older than me - tee-hee! Then my oldest daughter's bday is on Wednesday and she is going to be 6! Then my bday is Dec 11th and then Christmas, whew! It's a crazy time for us with all of that and Thanksgiving as well. Neither my husband nor I get birthday or Christmas presents this year as we got ourselves iPhones and that was not cheap! :)

 

This was kind of a crazy mani and I used a ton of different polishes as well as my new nail art brushes I ordered from ebay - yay! It took a month to receive them from China but they finally got here safe and sound as well as some glequins, yay! Okay, without further ado, here is the mani! I'll list the polishes after the pics because there's so many! :)

Here's the list!! Lancome Noir, Revlon Royal, OPI Alpine Snow, Bettina Art Deco Yellow and Glamour Flame. LA Colors Sassy Sparkle and a teal glitter (no label). Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pronto Purple, Pure Ice French Kiss, Sinful Colors Dream On, Nicole by OPI A Million Sparkles, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City. 8 of those were in my untrieds so yay for that! :)  See you all on Wednesday!

The Lazy 15 Mani #4 - Water Marble

This was easily one of my favorite challenges on the list, I really love water marbles! I'm not an expert by any means, I think this is only the third one I've done but I think they are so fun! For this one I wanted to try to do something that I've never done before and I started by painting each nail a different color of glitter and then I marbled over the top with black and clear polish.

 

I do NOT recommend this if you're just starting out marbling as it was quite frustrating! I had to try out about 6 different top coats before I found one that worked well in the water and didn't dry too fast but I managed it! I actually had to dip my index finger twice because the first time there was only a tiny bit of the black on the nail.

 

I think it turned out pretty sweet, don't you?

 

The polishes I used were:

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails - Black Heart

Wet 'n Wild Wild Shine - Clear Nail Protector

Finger Paints - Purple Palette

Finger Paints - Laugh My Art Off

China Glaze - Glistening Snow

Sephora by OPI - G-listen To Your Heart

Orly - Royal Navy

 

I was pretty proud that I used 4 untrieds on this mani, woo-hoo! Please be sure to check out the other wonderful artist in the Lazy 15 and have a fabulous weekend!!!

 



My First Watermarble!

So, I've been wanting to do a water marble for a long time but to be honest, it's managed to intimidate me up until now! It was this big pink elephant in the room that nobody talked about but it still loomed! Okay, so I'm being dramatic! Just so I didn't disappoint myself, I started this project expecting this to be a learning experience but a complete fail as well. Imagine my surprise when it tuned out!! I did still make mistakes and had a few redos but if I can do this then you shouldn't be afraid to give it a try!

I used all China Glaze polishes and I highly recommend them for water marbling!! I painted a base coat of Traffic Jam which is quickly becoming one of my favorite polishes - its great for stamping too! Then for the marble I also used Man Hunt and Custom Kicks which has a gorgeous shimmer to it! One of the coolest things was that where Man Hunt and Traffic Jam met I ended up with purple!! Here are the pics!

What do you think? My thumb is my favorite! I also have a couple of tips for you that I learned the hard way:

* Marble your dominant hand first because once you marble your non-dominant hand you won't want to chance screwing it up marbling the other!

* Be patient and let the first hand dry COMPLETELY before starting on the second hand. It may take a little longer but it's still faster than redoing the nails you messed up by being impatient!

*Use very light strokes when drawing the designs in the polish! Just barely touch the surface of the polish or you will drag it all over and make a mess!

*Don't be afraid to redo a finger if it didn't turn out the way you want it!

Okay, I'm done for now! Have you done a water marble? What was your experience? Do you have any tips to share? If you haven't done one what's stopping you?

Huge Weekly Haul!

Oh Lord, I hope my mother doesn't read this post! She would die if she saw how much stuff I got this week! Honestly, I'm not even 100% sure if this is all of it, I may have missed a couple of polishes I got at the store! Don't worry, I don't plan on making this a regular habit so there's no need to call an interventionist! Without further ado, here is a shot of all of my nail swag - details to follow after!

Okay kids - on the top row here is butter LONDON Black Knight. Then comes Julep in Gayle, Olivia and Donna. Next is Lancome in Rose Boudoir and Midnight Rose. Finally my first Pomegranate polishes in Fiery and Princess of Persia!

In this fine row is China Glaze in Man Hunt, Below Deck, Joy and 108 Degrees. Then it's my little Essie in Overboard and Color Club in By Design and finally OPI Dutch'ya Just Love OPI? Then a sweet little 7-surfaced file that I love!

I also got some Pure Ice at the store, colors are Magic, Jaguar, Purple Reign and Electric! Then I also got my first set of dotting tools from Mash - yayyyy!

 

Here are my new 2012 Mash plates - soooo psyched about these and my OPI Alpine Snow!

Whew! That is a lot of stuff! My wallet is in some serious pain but my fingers are seriously happy! Also, in order to validate my purchases and make myself feel a little better I would like to know, what is the most you've spent in a month on polish and accessories? Come on - 'fess up!!

If you want to see something swatched or have any questions, just let me know in the comments! :)

Lancome Rose Boudoir Swatch and Review

Hello sweetpeas! I had the best nail mail day yesterday and got all kinds of new polishes that I've never tried! It was really hard for me to choose so Aneela from Rise and Shine Beauty suggested I try the Lancome Rose Boudoir and that solved that! :)

I was instantly in love with this polish. I've always loved Lancome's cosmetics but this was my first time trying their polish - it certainly didn't disappoint! It applied like a dream and was smooth and even on the first coat. I used to coats for more opacity. You can still see a VNL in the photos but I really didn't care! This polish was a gorgeous pink/red creamy shade and it was so beautiful! I normally only spend half this amount on polish but this stuff was so worth it! :) Ignore the bubbles, those are due to my really thick top coat - I need to go shopping for a new one!

This shot was taken in the shade, the color ended up being darker than I imagined but I really love it!

 

This was indirect sunlight which brightens the color up a little and brings out the pink!

 

This polish gets a 9 from me. The only thing that would make it a 10 was if it could reach full opacity in 1 coat! What do you guys thing, would you wear this? Oh, and here are pics of my haul from yesterday and I still have more coming! :o