Giveaway Over at The Mercurial Magpie!

Wow, I've been gone for a while. I'm away at school, so blogging has been on the back burner for quite some time. I do, however, still enter giveaways other bloggers have going on!

This giveaway is going on RIGHT NOW! Hurry up and get your entries in!

Wet 'N' Wild Fergie Miami Spirit

Hi again! I hope you've all had a nice weekend!

Today I have another swatch, this time of Wet 'N' Wild Fergie Miami Spirit.

I have two other Fergie polishes, both glitters, and I don't really like them. But this I was pleasantly surprised with.

The formula was easy to work with, although I'm not a fan of the super-wide brush this came with. My swatch is 2-3 coats (I can't remember!) and it dries with a naturally matte finish.

Below are photos with one coat of Seche Vite.

Below you can see the difference between the two finishes.

I'm not really sure which one I like better because I like them both!

This green is a pretty shade, but wouldn't have been as likely to make it into my stash if it didn't look like this in the bottle:

Sorry, crappy cell phone pic, but that was the only way I could capture how this polish looks under dim artificial light. Oddly, this polish shifted between those two colors depending on which type of light I was in. I must say I like the turquoise looking shade more than the green, but who could deny a good green in their stash?

That's all I got today! Thanks for lookin'!

Born Pretty Blue Holo Nail Polish

Hello again!

I just recently received my order from the Born Pretty Store in the mail and wanted to show you the holo polish I bought! It's the first true holo polish I've tried, and it's pretty awesome!

I've always been jealous if the rainbow-like glitter packed in holo polishes like this, and it really is pretty. Especially in the sun!

The formula for this was really easy to work with, although a tad thin. My swatch is three coats.

Soooo pretty! That's all for now! Thanks for looking :)

Summer Water Marble!

Heyyyyya!

Today I have the second water marble I've ever done. You can see my first water marble here. :)

I should really do these more often because I'd be so much better at it if I practiced more. The whole process is just so time consuming, so they're really a once-in-a-while thing for me. Anyway, here's my latest water marble masterpiece!

The peach is Salon Perfect Bellini, the coral/pink is Zoya Elodie, the purple is Zoya Perrie, and the white base is Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

My pinky nail bubbled on me a little, so I used a toothpick to dot in some more peach. It didn't turn out too bad actually.

I had a hard time getting my polishes to spread over the water, otherwise I would have made some more interesting swirls on my nails. Although the polishes were purchased fairly recently, they just wouldn't spread more than about 6 rings. Elodie was really thin so it needed extra drops of polish to actually appear, and the other two were too thick. Blast this finicky nail polish!

Even though this was a hassle, I'm really happy with my results! I hope you are too :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Pure(TM) Nail Oil 4-Day Review

Hi again!

Today I'd like to show you my experience with Pure Nail Oil. I had originally read Kimber's review on Kimber's Lacquer Corner, and it left me thinking "I need to try that!" Her nails and cuticles have made a complete transformation, and she absolutely swears by this stuff!

Pure Nail Oil is made in small batches by a woman named Ana at NailCareHQ.com. There are many different product sizes/packages to choose from, but because I was starting out for the first time, I purchased the starter kit. The starter kit comes with a 15mL bottle as well as a pen and retails for $22.

The kit also comes with a small instruction sheet on how to complete the 3-Day "Go Naked" Challenge. I attempted this challenge over the past weekend and have seen an improvement in my own nail and cuticle health.

Below is the photo on day one before applying any oil.

I have a bad habit of pushing my cuticles way back constantly, so that natural seal the skin fold makes to protect the nail isn't intact. You can see that my cuticles are lifted from my nail plate on the first three fingers in the above photo. You can also see a little bit of skin poking off the cuticles of my pointer and middle fingers. I also had a small scab on the thumb on my left hand (not pictured) before starting the challenge. Also not pictured are the small hard hangnail-like appendages my fingernails tend to get on the sidewalls.

Above is a photo of my nails after one full day of oiling. The small amount of poking skin on my pointer and middle fingers is gone, and my cuticles actually look like they've started to lay down more on my nail plate. I had not pushed back my cuticles at all for at least a full 24 hours at this point.

The above photo was taken after three full days of oiling my cuticles and nails. There isn't a huge difference between this photo and the photo taken after one full day of oiling, but I have noticed that I don't need to oil as frequently, and my nails and cuticles hold the moisture much longer than with any other cuticle oil I've tried. My cuticles continue to try to restore their protective seal, as I haven't pushed back my cuticles in three days at this point. The scab on my thumb (not pictured) is completely gone, and the small hangnail-like things by my sidewalls (also not pictured) are much softer and don't snag on things nearly as much anymore.

Overall, I'm really impressed with this nail oil. My nails haven't been this long-- ever! I haven't used a strengthening base coat in at least 4 days, and my nails are maintaining their strength. I definitely recommend this oil above any other cuticle/nail treatment. Go buy some here now! And if you don't believe me, be sure to check out Ana's personal story here. It's unbelievable the benefits and improvements this oil provides in the long run!

That's all for today :) See you next time!

Color Club Warhol

Hola!

Today I just have a simple little swatch. I purchased some Color Club polishes a few weeks back (and made a color block manicure here) and fell in love with Color Club Warhol.

Warhol is a jelly (I think?) hot pink neon shade that just screams summer! My swatch is two easy coats. You can see some VNL but it really wasn't as noticeable in person, so two coats satisfied me.

The formula was pleasantly thicker than the other Color Club polishes I bought in the bunch. Warhol dries semi-matte naturally, so my swatches are shown with one coat of Seche Vite.

My camera gets wiggy with neons, so the photo above is the most color accurate.

Normally, I'm not a huge pink fan, but if it's bold and bright enough (such as this), it's one of the few exceptions.

That's all for today! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Glam Cheetah Nails!

Heyyyylo!

Today I have some glam cheetah print nails to show you! They were modeled after my bathing suit which contains blue, green, and purple under black zebra print. I originally planned on trying to sponge all of the colors on and stamp zebra print on top, but because of time limitations I settled for cheetah spots using those colors. I added the silver to glam it up a little bit!

I used OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue (blue), Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Purple Pulse (purple), Pure Ice Twisted (green), Rimmel 60 Seconds Precious Metal (silver), and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart (black).

My base coat was two coats of Nail Tek II with no base color. The above three photos are before topcoat. The below photos are after one coat of Seche Vite.

I really enjoyed wearing this design and got compliments on it, as well!

That's all for now! Thanks for looking! :)

Hard Candy Gummy Green

Hola!

Just a little swatchin' today!

I have my first Hard Candy purchase ever! I usually don't shop at WalMart for nail polish, so I had no clue Hard Candy was sold there! I found this baby, and man I struck gold. Whoop!

Enter Hard Candy Gummy Green.

Gummy Green contains small black and silver glitters in a minty green base. The pigment in the base is kind of sheer, so my swatch is three coats. The general formula of this was fantastic. It wasn't sticky or goopy or hard to apply at all.

I love this so much. I love me a good glitter in a colored base.

This is worth $4. I'll be going back to WalMart for more in the future! :)

That's all for now. Thanks for looking :)

Teardrop Flower Nail Art

Hiiiii!

I did a little accent nail art the other day based on my cell phone case. It's purple with teardrops and flowers etched on the back. Here's a photo of it:

I began with a base of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Lilac You, and the design was done using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Purple Pulse and a medium length striper brush and a small dotting tool.

Then I decided to add some glitter to the non-accent nails. I used Sally Hansen HD Color DVD. I used two coats of DVD.

Then I decided this design would look better matte, so I applied one coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy.

So what do you think? Matte or glossy? I'm loving them both, but I like the matte better.

Sorry for the pic spam! I hope you like this design as much as I do!

Thanks for looking! :)

Different Dimension Light it Up Blue

Hellooooo!

Today I have Different Dimension Light it Up Blue glow in the dark nail polish to show you!

First I have Light it Up Blue alone, with no base color underneath.

My swatch is two coats. The glitter distributed evenly over the nail, but the formula was very thick and kind of sticky.

Below you can see two coats of Light it Up Blue over two coats of Finger Paints Tiffany Imposter.

Unfortunately, I don't have any "in the dark" photos because I just couldn't get the right setting on my camera. If you're interested in seeing glow photos, head on over to Chalkboard Nails. You can see beautiful swatches of not only this polish, but other Different Dimension polishes.

I really love this polish, even if it is thick and sticky. The glow in the dark effect is really cool and the glitter is really pretty in the light, too.

If you'd like to purchase this polish, it can also be found on Llarowe's website for $12.00. Last I checked, it's sold out, but it's worth the wait. Different Dimension also has an Etsy shop.

That's it for today! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Color Club Color Block

Hi again!

Today I have a color blocking manicure I wore a few days ago using four Color Club polishes I bought off Llarowe's website.

This is what I began with: my pinky and thumb have Color Club Lava Lamp, my ring finger is wearing Color Club Warhol, the lime green on my middle nail is Color Club Feelin' Groovy, and my index finger has Color Club Psychedelic Scene.

My camera just couldn't handle the neon-ness of all of these colors, so I understand if you need to shield your eyes from the brightness :P

I wasn't a total fan of this manicure, but I love all of the neon colors, and I'm really glad I got them!

That's all for now! Thanks for looking!