Tequila Sunrise

Ooh, I have a fun manicure toooodaaaayyy!

I bought a few mood polishes from Justice about a month ago.

Justice is a clothing store made just for little girls.

I was pretty skeptical because I heard the Claire's one wasn't any good, and these polishes from Justice are about $6 each! I find that pricey for a kid's polish. I mean, isn't polishes for children made with limited ingredients so it's less toxic? Don't they make them easily peelable to reduce using polish remover? So why would a polish cost THIS much???

Well, regardless, I heard it was good so I bought them during the Memorial Day Sale (40% off everything!) Saving me about 2 bucks and change.

I chose 4 colors and will go back because I hear they're having an Independence Day sale which is 40% off everything again as well! I want.. no wait, NEED to get the rest of the colors.

The ones I currently have are: Berry Pink/Neon Pink, Blue/Neon Blue, Orange/Yellow & Green/Yellow.

I decided to go with Orange/Yellow because I needed something sunshine-y to bring my mood back to happy land. It sort of works! You all know from my previous post, I've been going through a lot and am really depressed.

I just don't want to be down in the dumps anymore.

Changing my nails from the poop brown and adding sunny colors really do help. Even if it's only a little bit.

Because children's polishes chip easily, I use the sandwich method to prevent it from happening.

Sandwiching is where you apply one coat of polish to your nails, then one coat of top coat, another coat of polish and another coat of top coat, being careful to also paint the tips to prevent it from lifting and peeling.

It helps the manicure last longer.

This really reminded me of a Tequila Sunrise and I love summer cocktails.

You know, orange juice and tequila in a highball glass, bright red grenadine carefully poured down the side of the glass and stirred with a swizzle stick to create the effect of the sun rising in the glass?

So tasty and delicious.

I know, I am a drunkard LOL

Mood polish is a color changer using your body temperature. IDK why they call it "mood" polish since it's nothing of the sort. Depending on whether you're hot or cold, the color changes. Orange when cold, yellow when warm. I finally have my nails long enough to get the gradient effect (cool tips, warm nail bed).

This was when I ran my hands under warm water and allowed them to air dry.

I was "OOOHing and AAAAHHing" like a 7 year old at the effect.

I wanted to get all fancy shmancy and take pictures with these horrible hydrangea buds my landlady has outside my living room window. I HATE those damn flowers!

In the sun. Please excuse my haggard looking cuticles. I forgot to put cuticle oil on them before taking the pictures. I'll get this cuticle thing down soon! Gotta buy more stuff especially made for my cuticles.

I DID have a nightmare-ish experience while applying this, as I do with all yellow polishes. It created bald spots and I had the misfortune of doing my nails RIGHT before I walked my son to school. (I am such an idiot) One hand was fully done with the sandwiching, the other needed at least two more coats and by the time I got back home, this sucker smeared right off my base (it REALLY NEEDS TOP COAT SANDWICHING! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)As far as the bald spots go, I noticed the sandwiching helps prevent the bald spots from happening in the first place.



Indoor Flash. Not too bad this polish is! Can't wait to try the others. I think I'll give them all cocktail names LOL The green will be a Crocodile, Blue will be a Blue Hurricane, and pink will be a Shirley Temple.

Cheers!

Song Currently Playing On This Post:Super Junior - Bonamana

Nothing Special..

This week has been trying on my nerves.

I don't know what is going on but every cosmic thing is driving me nuts.

Murphy's Law.. I live by it lately. I was so down and out of it, I really couldn't do my nails to reflect a mood I wasn't in.

I stuck with basics and of course, wouldn't it be hell to apply?

I apologize for the really short post but I'm so sour. I hope I can get out of this funk.

Also, a little rant, why does everyone love OPI's You Don't Know Jacques? It drove me nuts! It kept creating bald spots, it was very runny. Maybe it's just my ill experience with applying polish but it gave me a tough time. And it shows! I didn't bother taking more than one photo of the mess.

After a day I couldn't stare at poopy plain brown nails any longer so I added some nail art I got from Walgreens a long time ago by Kiss.

I know it's not the best but what else can a girl do when it's just one of those days?

Song Currently Playing On This Post:

112 - Cupid

Galaxy Sin.. A Gradient.

I surely did call this mani "Galaxy Sin" LOL

Well, mainly because I'm Sin, and my nails have that starry night gradient which is surprisingly easy to do. I cannot post photos of the actually process because I never intended on doing tutorials but I got so many compliments and requests to do a tutorial, that I must oblige when I do this mani again. (which will be VERY SOON because this design had me staring at my nails all the time!

Quite obviously a gradient is when a darker color fades into a lighter one, and vice versa.

I wanted to go with a purple galaxy and the idea was AMAZING in my mind. However, I've been so determined on collecting polishes, I neglected the fact that I barely have any cremes -__- (you don't NEED cremes but how odd would it look to go from a creme to a shimmer? I guess the way I'm explaining it doesn't sound entirely too bad, but trust me I think you guys understand a little. If not, show me I'm wrong! I'd love to see photos of some awesome gradient manicures ).

I used quite a few colors and before you think it weighed the nail down, it totally didn't!

I should list everything but I assume a photo would be best to go with it LOL

All photos are linkable to enlarge it. By all means, enlarge the photos for details.

Left to Right:

Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Delphinium

Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in No Hard Feelings

FingerPaints' Hue Rang?

Orly's in Charged Up

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out
and a Cosmetic wedge, yes, a cosmetic wedge.

I painted my nails with the lightest color first; Delphinium.
I then cut the wedge to apply my polish, and brush the polish straight onto the wedge. Starting from the tips of my nails, I patted on No Hard Feelings (not all the way to the end of my nail of course, You have to be able to see the lighter color.)
The harder you press, the darker the color, so press lightly.
I then followed the same methods I used with No Hard Feelings using Hue Rang? and Charged up.
And the tips I used Black Out and you gotta be careful with the black, you don't want to put too much so just pat it onto a paper towel after you brush it on your wedge, THEN pat it onto your tips.

Go over the darkers with a little of the lighters and blend it in by patting only of course.

I didn't take a photo but I forgot the glitter I used for my tips to mimic a shimmery galaxy was Sinful Colors - I Miss You, a very pretty magenta/purple chunky glitter. I'll add the photos of the other polishes I missed later, I promise.

After all the colors have been patted on I applied Out The Door's Northern Lights (a clear top coat with very, very, very fine holographic glitter, it's lovely and reminds me of stars!) You can find it at Sally's for around $5. Lastly, Seche Vite, because I COULD NOT sit and wait for it to dry. Which it actually dried a lotttttt faster than I thought!! I was literally out the door within 10 minutes. Granted they weren't fully dry but they weren't dentable.
On to the picture hoaring! **WARNING** tons of photos of both my left and right hand. I couldn't decide which to use. Which is usually always the case with me.

I saved the super duper close up for last.. I mean seriously.. THIS is a closeup, click on it, I dare you LOL

Song Currently Playing On This Post:
Backstreet Boys - All I Have To Give

Legally Lacquered Giveaway!

Legally Lacquered, another great nail diva, is having a giveaway in honor of 150 followers!

A hard to acquire bottle of Nfu-Oh #61 !! Be sure to head over to her blog: Legally Lacquered, to follow and enter to win!

I wish I had some awesome photos to show of this magical polish (but alas, Google will have to do for you guys. I do not feel like getting in trouble for using copyrighted photos LOL). HOLOGRAPHIC at it's finest! much more brilliant than OPI AND China Glaze OMG combined. Yes it is that serious!!
The funniest part is I made her 150th follower. I don't know why I feel like that's such an honor but I know how hard it is to get followers and people who actually appreciate your hard work. So much luck to her blog success ! If I had a bottle of champagne, I'd pop the bottle now in celebration!
I could just be in the seriously geeky mood but HEY! Giveaways are what we have to be happy about right?

Cupcake Sprinkles

I surely did jump on the glitter sandwich bandwagon.

Now, I don't know who came up with this first but I've seen it floating around a few blogs and decided to try it for myself! It reminds me so much of sprinkles on a cupcake or ice cream. A lot of people compare it to Deborah Lippmann's Glitter In The Air and I honestly don't own that polish yet so I wouldn't know, but I HAVE seen photos and I'd have to slightly agree.

Sandwiching glitters between sheer layers of polish creates that same murky, or should I say, muted glitter in a jelly base(?) without having to pay $18 for a bottle of nail polish.

It helps to use sheer polish because more opaque colors would just cover up the glitter rather than letting it show through.

I ALMOST made a mjor mistake. I wanted pink nails to wear to my son's Kindergarten graduation and I didn't want it to be a baby pink. I wanted a darker pink and I found that in a bottle of Sinful Color's Soulmate.

It would have been a truly awesome color if I had known ahead of time before painting my nails that it was basically opaque in ONE coat.

I literally sat there staring at my nails for a good ten minutes wondering what I should do now.

If I started the glitter sandwich process using Soulmate, it would not look the way it should.

That's when I grabbed Fingerpaints Rose Patina, which is a sheer rose with gold shimmer.

It was the closest I could get to Soulmate. Still not the same shade whatsoever but good enough!
For the glitter, I used Wet N Wild's Party of Five Glitters. I heard it's comparable to DL's Happy Birthday, but I don't have that one either LOL soon I will dish for that polish. SOON!

I know, a bottle of Ibuprofen? LOL it was the only thing I had closest to hold at that time to take a photo hahaha.

I finally got off my lazy butt to grab the bottle! You will notice that the lighting in my apartment varies. So the photos aren't exactly fair. This photo shows the gold shimmer in the Rose Patina. But the pink is actually much more pink than these photos. Not so "orangey".

Don't forget to enlarge these photos for details. All my photos are clickable!

I enjoyed this manicure immensely. I will definitely do this again but with a more pastel color.

Here's that orangey tone I spoke of previously. It drives me nuts.

Just a closeup of the "sprinkles" I'm getting a little better with the steady hand! I had practically NO cleanup here!! I think that's triumph. Hopefully I can get this technique down on the vampy colors hehe

Thanks for reading!

Song Currently Playing On This Post:
Afrojack Feat. Eva Simons - Take Over Control

Guest Nails ~Mama Sparkles~

I haven't decided if I want to do guest nails every week or whenever I see nails that I love!

I always get permission of course.

These beautiful nails belong to my absolutely wonderful friend Mama Sparkles.

She used Confetti Belle of the Ball which is a beautiful lavender creme, under Sinful Colors Frenzy, A GORGEOUS pink, purple, teal glitter. One of my favorite fine glitters.

A more accurate photo of the colors.



Song currently playing on this post:

Maze Feat. Frankie Beverly - Before I Let Go

Get Over Here!!!!

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!!

I have finally gotten into the groove of updating this blog and I am finally giving you all what I promised. Scorpion inspired Mortal Kombat mani. Now I was torn on how I would actually DO this. I used this render art as inspiration:

See the lines on his costume? I couldn't decide between that as inspiration or the scorpion's tail (not the tail.. but the tip that strikes.. I don't know what it's called off the top of my head and don't really feel like using Google to find out LOL)

The polish I used for the designs are:

Sinful Colors Secret Admirer

Milani 3D Holographic in 3D

L.A. Colors Art Deco in Gold Glitter

I then used tape to do the design. I free handed the gold glitter and it friggin shows! LOL

The Sinful Colors Black has muted silver sparkles in it to give it a textured look. I didn't want to use plain black because I noticed that Scorpion's outfit is like a charcoal color. I don't have charcoal (yet!) so I went with this. I think it was a good choice!

I went with this style to reflect the scorpion tail. It's called a Chevron tip. I couldn't decide which photos to use so I decided to use them all LOL I'm getting a tiny bit better at applying my polish!

Here's where things get funky! This is my right hand. I was inspired by the lines on Scorpion's vest. I alternated where the colors are in this, to give a funky look to it. My boyfriend liked the mani, of course, I'm a tougher critic and thought that I could have done way better.

Just a different lighting. No flash. Not fantastic but I think it looks alright.

And there you have it. My Mortal Kombat inspired mani. I'm thinking of doing the same with Kitana ! What do you think? hehe

Could you imagine? frosty blue/silver with black corset lacing? INSPIRATIONS!

Thanks for reading everyone! Next post I will do, Guest nails of the day! I'm going to start featuring my beautiful friends and their nails on my blog! Stay tuned.

XOXO

Song Currently Playing On This Post:

Stone Temple Pilots - Creep

Hello, Hello, Kitty!

Hi everyone!

Okay, as I told you all in my previous post, I've been slacking off pretty badly lately updating my blog. I HAVE been doing my nails though, so worry not, I promised to share my journey with all of you, and I plan to make that a reality. I WILL NOT FALTER! *hee hee*

I may as well explain a little of what has been going on with me.

I've been having some issues with my relationship, on top of having issues with the relationship with my son's father. The two put together while being on a new *hormone* birth control, has me feeling like my mind & heart is in a blender.

The stress is so incredibly overwhelming and sometimes I just cannot deal. I break down a lot.

I was diagnosed with manic depression as a teen and I'm afraid it is something I never got over.

Manic depression is what the docs call, bi-polar disorder, depending on the level one person is at, it's either severe, or mild. I'd love to believe I have mild bi-polar but who knows.

I can be up one second and totally down about nothing the next. Trust me, it's truly debilitating.

Most times, I feel so worthless and can barely move.

I guess I don't work well under pressure.

I'm trying to work through it and find solace and comfort in my obsession (NAILS!) LOL

I miss my boyfriend and I wish he would understand the amount of stress I'm under and the pain I feel.

Well.. bright side because there IS ALWAYS a bright side to all situations. I have two new old manicures to share. My Mortal Kombat inspired mani that I've been promising for like, 2 weeks LOL and one that was a surprise, thrown into the mix of it all..

HELLO KITTY!

Now, please remember, I haven't even tested the waters with hand drawn nail art or Konad, or bundle stamping thingie monster stamp. -__-

I'm only referring to Sephora's featured Hello Kitty polish!

They have several lovely colors. My boyfriend surprised me one day and bought me 2.

Minty & Banana Cream. I mean, really, I only wanted them for the bottles! The colors are so common.

The brush is very short (I cannot stand mini brushes and mini polishes) and the formula of the polish is streaky. I will give it the benefit of the doubt though, because I am very inexperienced with polish. It might have just been my terrible technique. (remember, I'm not doing reviews, just perfecting my steady hand!)

Also, bear in mind that I was indoors and this damn color was so hard to capture! It's a very MINT green. Not teal, or blueish, or aqua as the photos show.

I tried to get all fancy shmancy by using a matte top coat over it, Essie's Matte About You, to be exact.

Then I tried to get extra fancy by adding shimmery tips. *sigh* it envisioned better in my mind than it turned out on my fingernails.

The super cute HK heads hehe, I love them

This is BEFORE I applied the matte top coat.

Essie's Matte About You! (just showing the bottle in case anybody is interested in purchasing it. It works great!)

My failed attempt to capture the sparkles in the tips, for which I used Jesse's Girl Firefly

This was a "better" attempt at showing the tips' potential in a no flash photo.

Outdoors, in the sunlight, FAIL!

Last but not least. The bottle of Jesse's Girl Firefly so I could show you what would NOT show up on my nails in photos. It's great, I recommend this polish! So shimmery and beautiful and wait until you see it over black!

It goes without saying, that I, Roxy, needs to finally make my lightbox.
Maybe next week?

Thanks for reading!

Song Currently Playing On This Post:
Pro Nails - Kid Sister