Leaving today!

So I haven't been around much because I've been busy panicking and packing. On Christmas morning local time, I will get to Beijing! Wee! Uhhh and SCARY! Pretty sure culture shock is going to be crazy. I leave in 3 hours. I actually had a couple posts I wanted to get done, but completely fell behind due to oversleeping and have no time left. At least I'll have a couple ready when I get back!

Also, when I get back GIVEAWAY TIME. Of course I have so few followers that I will have to have some sort of "reblogging" required. If it gets up to around 50, this giveaway will be huge and awesome :) I'll be doing it through tumblr too - the more exposure the better! Most of the giveaway will probably be crazy awesome stuff I find in China, if that comes up short, though, I'll make up for it with some equally awesome products from here.

Back to packing! I will so miss reading everyone's blogs while I'm gone :( I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

The beauty that is Chunky Holo Black

I'm convinced that over any color Kleancolor's Chunky Holo Black would be instant nail art. It's also incredibly easy to apply which is always a plus for newbies like myself. I threw it over Color Mates - Cabernet which came in a cheap set I found at Big Lots. I gotta say, I was against the crappy gift sets after a few bad experiences, but now I realize they do usually at least make really good bases for awesome glitters, flakies, or other awesome color enhancing polishes. Here are the pictures, which as always do not do any sort of justice to the manicure itself :(

No idea why it looks so lumpy in some of these photos.. it was quite smooth :)

And that's that! Cabernet is actually a really awesome color on its own. I wish I had taken a few photos. The application was poor though so it might not have been very impressive anyway. If anyone has any manicure suggestions for before I leave I can try to fit them in! I should be gone within the week! Ahhh! So crazy!

Thanks for reading!

Drugstore Sparkle!

Jordana is a drugstore brand (found mine at K-Mart) that is awesomely enough big 3 free! Woo! For this manicure I used Purple Glam, a truly purply purple. It was so purple in fact that the purpliness covered up some of the nice glittery bits as I layered. Although, I am super glad to have a very opaque glitter! To make up for some of the glitter covered by this stunning purple, I added two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - In the Spot Light. Everything turned out much better than expected. I really though In the Spot Light was going to be a nightmare to work with. Turns out, it's quite simple! WAY easier than the Deborah Lippmann or even Nubar hex glitters. Looks like it'd be hectic, but it's not! Here is Purple Glam on its own

My nasty (burns with polish remover OUCH) cut is rather visible here. It's healing nicely, at least.

After In the Spot Light

In the Spot Light was definitely the perfect compliment to Purple Glam!

In personal news: Working furiously to get as many blog posts done as possible before I go just to have some content before I start a giveaway. I plan on just grabbing stuff in China and making a giveaway of it! Good idea? Bad idea? I'd of course be wary of fake OPI as I have been warned often, but I'll be with an awesome lady there who probably wouldn't let me buy crap! Anyway, I hope that works out. 

Thanks for reading!

Mismatched Blobness

So I had two colors I wanted to try out: China Glaze - Westside Warrior and Kleancolor - Black Hole. I figured I'd do some simple dotting, but this turned sorta weird. First let me say that I really love both of these polishes and the application for both was really quite amazing and easy to work with. This was my first experience with both brands. China Glaze is probably going to become my favorite brand. I know it's early to say that, but they really won me over just with Westside Warrior. Their matte top coat is actually top notch as well. If I had tape I'd be doing that Yves Saint Laurent manicure everyone is raving about. Soon...soon...

Anyway, here's a shot of just the base colors. I fear the lighting diminishes their beauty, but let's hope not!

Seriously gorgeous. 

I really cannot say enough awesome things about China Glaze's application, but I think anyone reading this already knows how great it is! 

So then came the awesome weird dotting experiment...

Yeah it turned out oddly. Let's never talk of this again...

NOTE about commenting: I don't know how other bloggers are able to directly reply to comments but apparently I cannot. I promise I read all comments and usually respond. Not sure if it notifies the user of that or not... hmmm... Anyway, if you asked a question or commented, chances are I have responded to you. 

Thanks for reading!

Peacock Feathers

Let me tell you about this awesome nail art striper from Sinful Colors called Flower Girl. It's just amazing. It's what almost all of the gold in this design is done with. I was also surprised at how easy the brush was to work with. Usually I fight stripers or nail art brushes in general. I have been doing a LOT of fighting with brushes, but this one just seemed to work like a dream. Perhaps it sensed I needed to do a successful design after all of my failures or else I'd give up on the nail art world forever. Whatever the case, Flower Girl is the reason this design turned out so well.

I won't even bother warning people with "pic heavy" because it should just be known that when I do my nails I take 800 pictures and can't ever decide which are best. As it stands I'm still learning how to take pictures of my nails. I've never been a good photographer, I just seemed to get lucky with landscape shots and what not. Hey if the scenery is beautiful it's hard to take a bad picture. In the case of nails though, I'm sort of doing everything half assed because I have very poor lighting and no real stable place for picture taking. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this manicure, it was inspired by a picture I always see floating about. If anyone knows the original artist, please let me know!  

And of course these are 100x better than mine haha

Thanks for reading!

Another stamping semi-fail

I really liked this zig zag pattern. I'd like it much better over some awesome neons, but I worked with what I had and came up with a white and black zig zag that needed a lot of touching up that I was too tired to do at the time. I did however fix one of the major errors by adding two heart-shaped rhinestones, pink and red. I feel like this has the potential to be a great manicure with a little practice on my end! It's super hard to get straight designs with stamping, or maybe it's just me.

Flash! 

Black stamping polish is a PAIN to clean up on the cuticles. Seriously need pure acetone to do it. I plan on making my own polish remover at some point. 

Cuticle report: These pictures don't show it, but my cuticles are coming along nicely. They were jagged and rough a few weeks ago, but with constant moisture and lots of attention, I am finally pretty proud of my hands. Hopefully some future photos will actually showcase what I mean. 

Thanks for reading!

Holy crap I was tagged for an award!

The wonderful and talonted (see what I did there?) GretalRabbit has tagged me with these awesome blog awards:

 

I must say seven random things about myself in accordance with these awards! So.. uhh yeah I'm no good at these either GretalRabbit! Haha here goes:

1. I am left-handed but often feel I do better job applying nail polish with my right hand.

2. I am currently away from home and miss it very much. Especially my kitties. I swear I hear them sometimes... O.o

3. I just recently started feeling better about myself after spending a long time feeling rather craptastic. 

4. I am obsessed with pens and all things stationary. I could shop in the office supply section for hours. 

5. I REALLY like to moisturize. 

6. I have started 100s (maybe not 100s but definitely over 50) of journals in my life and never finished one. 

7. I'm about to inherit an entire new half of a family from China and it's INSANE. Haha I'll probably blog more about that soon. 

Before I tag people, I must recommend everyone follow GretalRabbit! She has lovely nails and also mouth watering food adventures! Mmmmmm vanilla fudge...

I tag (I don't have many people that follow me, but these people truly deserve it!)

Nevorpurify

NailedIt

CosmeticProof

LittleRedLoves

DrinkCitra

KK Nails

I'd tag Ashesela but I know you already did it :)

If anyone has already done this, feel free to skip, just wanted you ladies to know you do great work!!

Thanks for reading!

And Across the Universe we go!

Dammit Deborah Lippmann, why must your polishes be both amazing and expensive?! I questioned whether it would be appropriate to get the Essence color that is just a dupe for Across the Universe, but I'm glad I asked for the actual version as it is just a freakin' delight, truly. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible photographer so most of my photos came out kind of wonky. Here's what the actual polish looks like (cropped from one of the better pictures I took)

HOW GORGEOUS IS THAT?!

I layered it over a crappy teal I got from a gift set on sale at Ross. I have learned my lesson. While some of these crappy gift sets are good for layering, they'd never be able to be worn on their own. I think the pictures might have looked better if I had used a dark blue to begin with as a base color. Also, this stuff is a BITCH to clean up if you get any around your cuticles. Well, I don't use pure acetone. If I did it would probably be easier. Anyway, here are the rest of the pictures:

As I said, I'm really disappointed in the photos, but I couldn't be happier with the polish. It's really worth the money. Thanks for reading!

HOLY SHIT NUBAR 2010 AMIRITE?!

Well of course I'm right, I'm just the last one in the loop. If you are like me and you doubted it would be worth the money, it is. I'm cheap, I admit it. I didn't even buy myself this one, but if I had known how beautiful it was I would have picked up a bottle or 7 myself. I put it over Color Club Blue-topia which looks like this:

This was my first Color Club experience, and I must say I was very pleased! I grabbed the Boho set that was on sale at Ross, and I've been very anxious to try them all! This is the perfect dark blue. Very creamy and darkly elegant! This is two coats, but some of the pictures I took suggest I should have done 3. I usually do super thin coats, it's just how I roll. In person it looks opaque after two. And now, many pictures of Nubar 2010 layered over!

LOOK AT THAT GREEN!

I just liked this picture. 

With flash

Obviously I can't say enough good things about Nubar 2010. It's just fantastic. I can't wait to see it in the daylight. Should I matte it up?! I don't know! Ah! I'm also taking a lot of photos because I traded in my previous digital camera for a Canon Power Shot, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it! I think it takes great photos! Very color accurate. Macro function for the win!

Thanks for reading!