Cult Nails Extravaganza Part 1

As I mentioned awhile ago, Cult Nails sent me some products to use to create nail art designs for their website. Obviously I was floored and also honored, but I was also a little shocked when the products came. I had a really hard time creating designs with only a sheer pink polish and a glitter (and of course a buttload of rhinestones!). But, I love that there was a challenge! Definitely made me think outside of my comfort zone. In the end, though, I feel I pulled it off and was able to do these gorgeous products some justice ^.^

The sheer pink I referred to is Enticing. It is a very lovely and delicate creamy, but slightly shimmery, light pink. It's almost frosty, but not in a way that has a silver tone to it or anything. It applies easily and dries fairly quickly. I needed 5 coats (I do pretty thin coats, to be fair) for full opacity. (Thought: This would be a great polish for layering!!)

Without further rambling, the first installment of my submitted (and apparently approved!) designs...

That glitter in the last two photos is Captivated. I included the second photo because the color is more accurate in that one. Not so for Enticing, it photographed much better outside. 

Captivated is an awesome coral/orange/yellow glitter that's actually very smooth. I usually expect to apply two or more layers of top coat depending on what glitter it is, but this smoothed out nicely with just one coat of  Wicked Fast (which Cult Nails also generously included). Wicked Fast is also fantastic for sealing on rhinestones. Not sure how long it holds them there (reapply every day for maximum wear!) since I didn't keep them on very long each time, but it doesn't cause the horrible gloopyness over rhinestones that some topcoats do. 

And now... DIAMONDS! Diamonds everywhere!

A special thanks to Cult Nails for providing their amazing products. They didn't ask me to review them, I'm just sharing my thoughts. 

Stay tuned for part 2 and thanks for reading! :)

100TH POST!!! CELEBRATE WITH GLITTER!!!

I like to go three days without posting, then post three times in one day. It's apparently how I roll. Not intentionally, though. It's an accidental roll. ANYWAY, YAY 100TH POST!! To celebrate, I busted out Techno by China Glaze. I hadn't tried it yet, and this seemed like a good opportunity. First, watch this video. 

The system is down

YAY STRONGBAD!

After you're done laughing, look at these pictures of Techno over Grecian Sun by Sinful Colors!

I definitely recommend enlarging these. I just couldn't get the glitter to photograph as well as I assume it could. It's SO AWESOME. Seriously, if you don't own Techno, and you love glitter, I feel sorry for you. It catches light and literally looks like diamonds sparkling all over your nails! *sigh*

Thanks for reading :)

Zoya - Neeka

I had a naked left hand and decided to try out a polish I had been really excited to get but for some reason never tried, Neeka by Zoya. While it's very gorgeous, this polish is not really what I expected. I expected a bit lighter, more shimmery shade. Neeka is still beautiful though, so who cares? I hope my grotesque left hand doesn't deter you from loving this polish! I had no idea it would be so hard to photograph my left hand accurately. I haven't done it much before, I guess. So these photos don't really do the polish justice... but trust me, it's a must-have if you love purple!

So if this is my left hand - what's on my right?? Stay tuned! Err..logged on? Thanks for reading :)

Oooh a personal entry!

Once again I am moving back east to Pennsylvania! My flight is scheduled for the 17th. I hate flying SO MUCH. I have flown approximately 12,000 miles over the past year. NOT COOL. When I say I'm scared, I mean I shake and cry while boarding. I won't get into too many details, but hopefully this time it will be rather permanent. Or at least for the foreseeable future. Nothing wrong with California, I just have some things to do in PA. I'd like to think this is a start of a good thing, but there are other sad circumstances that prevent that from being entirely true. One good thing, I will most likely be starting some nail tech schoolin' here in the next year. Woot! It's weird, I never would have thought that I'd be going to any sort of beauty-type school. Not that there's anything wrong with that sort of thing, I have just wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Perhaps that's where this will lead me, though, into being a course instructor myself. Who knows!

I'm also coming up on my 100th post, which is sort of sad considering I've had this blog almost a year now :( On the 100th post eve, I vow to change that once I am situated in Pennsylvania. Truthfully, sometimes I do things on my nails and just don't feel confident enough to post them. I should, though, because learning is what it's all about!

I'll be posting nail-related things later, I just wanted to get that out. Thanks for reading :)

Less than an hour left on this awesome giveaway!

Varnished Valkyrie is having a giveaway!

You want to win this, right? I really freakin' do. Click here to enter! Or don't, because I really want to win this!

Chinese stampings

My dad's lady is Chinese, and I wanted to do some nails for her specifically. I busted out the bundle monster plates and some gem stones to create this design. Sadly, I don't remember some of the colors I used, but from what I can tell, Winter Berry by China Glaze is the base and an old gold that literally doesn't have a name or a brand (I call it Closet Gold because I found it in a closet).

I think the top coat I used, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, is the cause of the weird look on the rhinestones. I recently found out that Wicked Fast does not look weird over rhinestones at all. Yay! Also, yes there is totally a kitty hair stuck to my finger. Try as I might, it's almost impossible to avoid this. 

Winter Berry is probably my favorite red. I don't own that many straight reds, but this color really is beautiful. What do you all think?

Thanks for reading! :)