Vacation Haul!

So today I am going to show you what I bought while I was gone. Nothing too exotic and crazy! :)

First is my purchase from Sally's during the extra 50% off clearance sale. I got Seche Rebuild and Finger Paints Flip Flop Fuchsia for, ready for this? A whopping $3.38! Woot woot! Love sales!

This is China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and OPI My Pointe Exactly. China Glaze Kalahari Kiss is really the only one from the new On Safari collection that I had to have. The others are pretty but I needed this one! And OPI My Pointe Exactly is one that I have been wanting for a while too. A grey jelly! Yes please! :)

Yep! Two of the new plates from Essence! Loving the starburst on the first one and check out the owl on the second one! *so happy* :)

And yep again! The other two plates from Essence! Mushrooms and PacMan! *squee!* These are from the lovely Malinka from Nails by Malinka. She was so awesome to get these for me! It's so fun to meet people in polish groups that can help get you your lemmings from half-way across the world! Thank you so much Malinka! :)

Woot woot! Dollish Polish It's A Me Mario! This lovely polish comes from a swap with the lovely Elizabeth from Nailpolish is My Crack. She is such an amazing lady! Thank you so much! I love it!

Macro bottle shot of It's A Me Mario. Blue and red hex glitter with some stars! :)

And finally, this pretty fun package!

Red Carpet Lacquer Ruh Roh! and Zoinks! Emma from Manicurity showed me Ruh Roh! because she knows I am on the look out for brown glitter! :) And I love this one! So unique! And then I couldn't pass up Zoinks! because it's green and brown, uh my favorite colors!

 

Macro bottle shot of Ruh Roh!

 

Just a quick swatch of Red Carpet Lacquer Ruh Roh! on an index card to show you the colors! Brown and black! Super duper fun! Love it!

Macro bottle shot of Zoinks! So special! :)

Just a quick swatch of Red Carpet Lacquer Zoinks! on an index card to show you the colors! Yummy brown and green! Lurve it! :)

*************** More recent haul that I decided to add on! :) **************************

Got these at Sally's. Orly Spazmatic, Orly Can't Be Tamed, and Finger Paints Fall of Surprises!

 

Macro bottle shot of Orly Spazmatic.

 

Macro bottle shot of Orly Can't Be Tamed.

 

Macro bottle shot of Finger Paints Fall of Surprises!

Some clearance polishes from Ulta:  OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window (really similar to another one I have but oh well! I've been wanting this polish! Haha!) and China Glaze Make Some Noise

Sorry for the horrible lighting, but this pretty polish is A England Tristam!!!! Oh yes! I got it in my monthly swap group from LizMarie! Thank you thank you so much!

 

Macro bottle shot of A England Tristam. So purdy!

And these three pretties I got with Copious credits! Spectraflaire Top Coats in 14, 20, and 35!

Back shot of the Spectraflaire Top Coats: 14, 20, and 35

Have you tried Copious? Sign up using the link below to get $10 of Copious credits (new user)! Super fun and easy! :)

http://copious.com/invites/500b49748451e073ed0137e7

Click this link for an additional $10 credit! (click on it and then click the image it brings up!)  :)
  
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=ar5964jab&v=001ip99edeIjlYOS7SGgIf4Cg9MIBPSPXxCSA_SMtBnMWAXIkA4ykVz26Pg3jQCingCcocpSUDTmAwklIVBhqW1Z74Dym_aVNcDDCWmUTXu_BhwqZjebYcoHapLRlN36uaPrvXiW4m-hHA69Wqz9cFqtagEcH-Fo8pwTwdmSgPNWKHuaFPHxRIh7uac3zcOOL5m

So? Any of you have any fun hauls lately?

Wednesday Reads - Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Today's book is Princess Academy by Shannon Hale.

This is a cute story about a girl, Miri, who lives in a quarry town high on the mountain. All she wants to do is to work in the quarry like everyone else but her father will not let her.

One day a visitor from the lowlands comes and tells the town that it has been divined that the prince's bride-to-be will come from this town. And since there are no ladies or princesses there an academy must be formed and all girls must attend.

At the academy Miri finds herself in competition with the other girls to be princess. She has inner turmoil as to whether or not she really wants to marry a prince if she is chosen!

But not all is safe, and danger soon finds it's way to the academy and Miri must find a way to protect those she has come to know.

This is a very quick read (read it in a day). But I enjoyed it. It is a bit on the younger end of juvenile fiction. In some places I found myself wanting more character development or wondering why a character would say that. But none of these things ever really bothered me too bad because I still finished it! And liked it!

There is a sequel that comes out next month called Palace of Stone. I am looking forward to it! :)

Have any of you read Princess Academy? Did you enjoy it?

Teal Tuesdays - Braided Mani

So we usually have options to vote on for the theme for Tuesdays. And the braided/fishtail/herringbone mani was an option. And I actually voted for it! Why did I do that? I don't even really like this trend! Don't get me wrong, sometimes it can be really pretty, but it isn't me! At all. But I voted for it because then if it won it would force me to actually try it. Well, as you can see, it won, and I tried it. I don't think I failed miserably, but I've seen prettier. :)

There you have it. Not horrible for a first try on something I wasn't super excited for. The layers or whatever they are called aren't even but oh well, I'm not really even either! :) And this is the only photo out of like 30 that I took. It was off and on cloudy but also, for some odd reason it didn't want to photograph. Kept being blurry. So, extra large photo is what you get today! :)

I love the colors together though. The base is OPI Fly. I used OPI Planks A Lot and OPI Skull & Glossbones. Yep, it's a good ol' OPI braided mani! Woot! :)

***EDIT***

I totally forgot to show where I got the know-how on doing this trend! (I have no idea how I could forget that!) I found a wonderful picture tutorial from Lucy's Stash. (please click the link or the image to be sent to her site!)

What about you? Is there a trend that you don't really like? And have you attempted that said trend or do you stay far away from it?

Teal Tuesdays was started because teal is unloved and needed its own day of celebration!
Teal is a medium to dark bluish green color of low saturation; a dark cyan.
Open to interpretation, anything green with a hint of blue or blue with a hint of green is welcome here!
Aqua, Turquoise,Tiffany Blue, etc etc...all are welcome - we do not discriminate!

Click the Teal Tuesdays logo on this post or in my sidebar to be taken to the facebook page!

Some of the other blogs participating are:
Caitlin's Creative Corner
Cherries Sweets
Colorsplash Nails
Elyssian Beauty
Fancy Phalanges 
The Frenzied Polisher
Gaga for Nails
Gnarly Gnails
Geeky Owl
The Lacquered Libra
Mandy's Polish
Nails Beautiqued
Nail Polish Lane
No Holos!
Once Upon a Polish
Persistently Glittery
Polished Art
Simple-and-Beautiful
Subtletyisoverrated

Monkey See Monkey Do Mondays: Striping Tape Plaid

 

Monkey See Monkey Do Mondays are where we re-create manis from different blogs or pictures we have "pinned" on Pinterest, and link back to the original blogger!

Today I decided to put on my big girl undies and try a striping tape mani! For some reason tape manis of any kind scare me! >_<

Here is the original that I decided to attempt. This is from The Polished Squirrel, a cute blog that you all should follow! (please click on the image or the blog title to be sent to her site!) I love the colors she chose! So fun! And the design, I thought to myself, I can do that too! (hopefully!)

I love how mine turned out! Yes, there is a little boo-boo on the pointer finger but I still lurve it! :) I used China Glaze Kalahari Kiss as the base with OPI You Don't Know Jacques Suede as the over-color (is that the word I'm looking for?). I love how it looks all warm and comfy like a fall sweater! :) Oh and this suede rocked as an over-color(?), perfect application and opaqueness! :)

Here is a photo to show you China Glaze Kalahari Kiss on it's own. This color is so unique in my collection! It's gorgeous! Like a straw/khaki color!

Would you like to join Monkey See Monkey Do Mondays? Click the image below or the one on my side bar.

Don't forget to check out the other ladies doing Monkey See Monkey Do Mondays!

Amber Did It!
Angelina's Nails & More 
A Polish Addiction
Beaching Nails
Bee Polished
Cherry Sweets
The Clockwise Nail Polish 
The Crumpet
The Cute-icle Chronicles
Dressed Up Digits
Drugstore Junkie
Enigmatic Rambles
Erin's Beauty Bumbles
Esta Cerrada la Drogueria
Fancy Phalanges
Fanning the Fumes
Follow The Yellow Polish Road
Geeky Owl
Gnarly Gnails
Gorgeois
Jens Painted Tips
Kawaiinize Your World
Lacquer or Leave Her
Lacquered Libra
LeSamowen: Life, Love, and Nail Polish
Little Fairy
Macabre Manicures
The Manicured Monkey
Manicurity
Maquiclub Girl
The (mis)Adventures of a Wanna Be Martha
My Wet Nails
Nails and Vanities
Nail Tales
Nail Wish
Nailpolish is My Crack 
Never Naked Nails
Our Painted World
PishPosh and Polish
Pointless Cafe
Polish Crazed
Polish Lover
Polish My Mind 
Rin's Nail Files
Secretary's Nail Art
Susy In Color
Sweet Sugar
Tales of Knit and Nails
Toxic Vanity

Thank Goodness, Indie Friday - Cult Nails Power Thief

 

Welcome to this week's episode of TGIF: Thank Goodness, Indy Indie Friday!  Today I am featuring a little Cult Nails polish called Power Thief from the Super Powers Collection.

 

I love me some brown polish! And I love me some Power Thief! This is a stunning warm brown with silver flecks/shimmer through out! Above is two coats.

Look at that! Stunning! This applied like a dream without any problems at all! I have nothing bad to say about this polish, it's fantastic! :) Such a perfect fall color! Can't wait to try it with different glitters and other fall colors!

This is to show you what one coat looks like. As you can see it is almost opaque in one coat! Yes! You can see some thinner areas on my ring and pinkie finger. Not too shabby huh!

Bottle shot of Cult Nails Power Thief.

Macro bottle shot of Cult Nails Power Thief. Look and the color and flecks/shimmer! Love!

Don't forget to check out the Cult Nails shop here and Facebook page here.

As you can tell, I'm back from vacation!! It's great to be back! Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things! What is that old adage: two weeks to make or break a habit? And I've been gone 2 1/2 weeks! Yikes! :)

Hope you all have had a great summer so far! :)

Guest Post by Ruby's Nails

Good Morning Owlets!

Today's guest post is by Ruby's Nails! She does some adorably awesome nail art and stamping!

Thank you so much Ruby's Nails! :)

Don't forget to check out her blog after reading this post!

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I'm so excited that Kirsten is letting me do a guest post on her blog. And it's my first guest post ever!

I decided to do something fun for everyone today, and I hope you like it!  Gradients seem to be super popular lately, and I decided to spice it up by adding some stamping. This look ended up being fun, yet could probably also work in an office setting.

I started with a base of Essie Brooch the Subject. It needed 2 coats. I'd say this color is as close to mannequin hands as I'll ever get!

Then I sponged on Essie Little Brown Dress using the gradient method from Sammy of The Nailasaurus

Finally, I stamped using Bundle Monster plate BM 203 and Barry M Gold Foil (an AMAZING polish for stamping). Finally I added topcoat and cleaned up all the mess!

Guest Post by PishPosh and Polish

Good Morning Owlets!

Today's guest post is by Kerrie over at PishPosh and Polish! (I love her blog name!) She does some great color combos and layering as well as nail art! Oh and I added her blog name to the photos. I wanted to make sure she got the awesome credit! :)

Thank you so much Kerrie! :)

Don't forget to check out her blog over after reading this post!

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Hello lovvies, while the lovely Kirsten is away she asked if I would like to do a guest post. Naturally I just jumped at the chance. Kirsten is such a sweet lady and has a fantastic eye for nail art, therefore I decided I wasn't even going to attempt nail art in her omnipresent presence. However one thing I will say for her is that she doesn't have enough pink on her blog. So I decided I was going to share with you a new beauty I have found. My new all time favourite pink. (Kirsten you don't have to thank me I have just single-handely saved your blog :P)

 

Anyway here it is for you. I know isn't it just eye-poppingly bright? And boy is this the definition of pink. This manicure consists of one coat of Yes Love shade K029 which is a European brand of polish I received in a swap last week. It is a fluorescent highlighter pink. Then I added one coat of KB Shimmers Shattered Hearts. Shattered Hearts applies like a dream a perfect neon cream, maybe half a shade lighter than the Yes Love polish. Suspended within are loads of Black hex's bars, shreds and hearts. I am a big sucker for shaped glitter polishes. What I love about this polish is the fact that you don't have to fish for the glitter and hearts. Even my OPI's require fishing so this is a major feat. You can see my the fact I have 4 hearts just here. Also because of the consistency of the base some glitter particles seemed submerged in the polish (think a jelly sandwich) while other remained sitting on top. 

One coat of Seche Vite and this manicure was perfectly smooth, even the hearts had no sticking up edges to snag. You can purchase over at http://www.kbshimmer.com/ I know I need the rest of her neon collection!

 

What do you think about this polish? Do you own any polishes from KB Shimmer? Do you like shaped glitter?

 

Anyway, thanks again to my wonderful host for giving me the opportunity of blogging here, Kirsten your blog is amazing! If you like what you saw here feel free to pop over to my blog at : http://pishposhandpolish.blogspot.co.uk/

Love Kerrie