The Haul That Wasn't Supposed To Be...

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today I have a haul from a couple of weekends ago, I headed over to the U.S again and picked up some goodies :) ... The only problem is that I had given up buying polish for Lent. *Sigh* I tried my best and it was actually a day before Lent ended, so technically it's not that bad... right?!

Anyways I went to the usually places I always list when I cross the boarder, but also got a chance to check out Rite Aid and K-mart of all places! lol. Kee, if your reading this I looked all up and down Buffalo looking for Sally Hansen's Purple Gala for you but I couldn't find it! I will let you know when I do though ;)

Anyways, onward to the haul! First from Sally's. You all must know about the promo Sally has had for the month of April, buy any 2 polishes get 1 free. Ulta was also having this promo which I almost took part in, but you had to buy 3 polishes from the same brand in order to get one free... pretty crappy right.

First I have Orly, Green Apple

Orly, Terracotta

Orly, Crush

I don't recall ever shopping in a K-mart before but I didn't think it to be anything special. Boy am I glad I checked it out, I will definitely be returning next time! Where I live it's hard to find Milani polishes, the only place that sells it is the Superstore and they always have the same 10 colours, no new collections. Take a look at what I found:

Milani, Rad Purple

Milani, Fresh Teal

Milani, 1 Coat Glitter in Gold Glitz

Milani, 1 Coat Glitter in Silver Dazzle

Not only did I find polishes I thought I would never own, but they were all buy one get one half off, not too bad :) I also spotted Revlon's limited edition Black with Envy. Not really my shade so I left it. I do encourage you to check out a K-mart if there is one close by, almost all cosmetics were buy one get on half off. I never hear any other bloggers talk about K-mart so maybe I was just lucky this time?

Next is Wal-Mart, here I picked up Pure Ice, Twinkle. I think It will fulfill my lemming of NOX's Citrus... for now lol. It's a pretty pink-coral with gold shimmer.

At the Dollar Tree I didn't find any polish I liked, but I did find some nice hand cream :) Udderly Smooth lol so cheesy!

Big Lots had some polish, but again, nothing I really needed, so I got some foot lotion instead :)

I also got a "diamond dust" nail file, and...

...the cutest, largest lip smackers lip balm I have ever owned! look how cute!

It looks regular size in the photos, but let me assure you that it is wider and thicker then my thumb! Think the size of a small glue stick lol. It's great for my big lips :)

So that is all for now. I think I may be going to the States again within a months time, so wish me luck for next time lol. I have a P.O box in the Sates, so I make my first order of Zoya polishes with their polish exchange and got my new BM plates sent to that address as well. I probably wont get a chance to pick them up until late next month, but I will just have to be patient.

What do you guys think of my haul? What is your favorite?

Mani Refresh With Fauxnad

Hello ladies,

Today I have another mani refresh with my fauxnad Konad plates I talked about yesterday from the Born Pretty Store. As you can see these stamp great, I also used plate m78 for my easter mani look here. This was the first mani I did with them, I literally ripped them out of their packaging and started stamping once I got them!

So far I have only had one issue with 1 stamp transferring, the group of flowers from plate m77. I tried regular white polish that I use occasionally for stamping and nothing. I used chrome polish... nothing. I finally tried the Konad special polish and got a bit, but not all of the design. I think the image was not engraved enough to fully transfer which is a shame :( Maybe this was a defective plate? I will try again though and let you know what happens.

Most colour accurate photo

Anyways back to the mani, this was the franken I showed you last week, I used a Sally Hansen Chrome (Amber) to stamp. I know I'm showing the refresh super late but I really wanted to get in my easter mani before it became irrelevant. In fact, my next couple post will be of looks I sported last week lol it's going to be a little backwards this week, but I doubt you'll notice. I actually chopped my nails down in my Easter mani, got a break and cut them down.

overexposed to show detail

For some reason after the trim, most of my nails chipped and needed to be reshaped, I chose a bit of a squoval/oval shape now (You can see this in my mattified Easter nails from yesterdays post. Once I grow them out a bit I think I'll file them back square.

My New Nail Art Plates!!

Hello ladies,

Today I wanted to share with you my latest purchase from the Born Pretty Store. While I was searching their site a couple of weeks ago I came across some new fauxnad image plates, which are almost exact duplicates for some Konad plates. The best part about these plates is the price, and lucky for you the price has been reduced since I purchased them!! So if you want them, I'd pick them up soon before they are all gone. Right now each plate is only $1.55, awesome, right?! Also just yesterday I noticed that they added a 16 plate grouping for under $17 and free shipping as always. It seems like they keep updating everyday, they even have stamping polish for sale here.

Below are the ones I purchased originally, I already put in a second order last Monday when I realized they went on sale. To go directly to the product shown below on the site, just click the image.

Below are photos I personally took of the plates I ordered to show you get exactly what is posted from their online photos.

Don't they look super close if not identical to the Konad ones? These are the images I just made a second order for:

Can't wait to get these new ones :) What do you ladies think, will you be purchasing any of these?

One last note before I finish my post today, I got a comment the other day from a lovely reader, JQ of Frippry Digits suggesting my Easter mani would look good mattified, so I did it! It had crossed my mind too, but ran out of time before Easter to do it. I thought what the hell, I'll wear it mattified for one day. Soooo LOVE THIS LOOK! Very Cadbury mini eggs :)

Konad Easter Mani

Hello ladies,

Today I have the continuation from yesterdays mani which is what I wore for Easter :)

I'll keep this short an sweet, I used a "Konad" design pattern to tile the multicoloured nails together and I really like the outcome! I was kind of worried that the skittles look was a little too young for me, but with the same design on each finger it really pulls the look together.

The actual stamp plate I used I will discuss tomorrow. I stumbled across these a couple of weeks ago and as soon as I got them in the mail I just had to use them!

More on the secret plates tomorrow :)

Pastel Skittles

Hello ladies,

Today I have a very spring mani to share with you today. I have never really done the "skittle" look on my nails other than one time I can recall as a teenager. Even then it wasn't quite right, I only owned a few polishes and it was hard to find the right polish and finish that worked well together.

Now that my polish collection has fully expanded, I have many polishes to choose from which I can group together to use for one mani. For my spring skittle mani I used the following polishes from pinky to thumb:


Color Club's Take Me To Your Chateau, a very light pastel blue.

American Apparel's Office, a very light pastel green.

American Apparel's L'esprit, a medium toned pastel purple.

American Apparel's Summer Peach, a very light pastel orange.

China Glaze's Lemon Fizz, a light yet bright pastel yellow.

All of these polishes applied wonderfully with the exception of Lemon Fizz. I have always had application issues with this polish. Once I added thinner application became easier. Other than the China Glaze polish I have never worn any of these polishes before, although I was very happy with them :) If applied carfully I could have gotten away with only one coat, but I chose to go with two.

I love the way this turned out, after applying this I went for a walk with my brother to pick up a PS3 game and got a compliment from the cashier :)

This was just the base for my Easter mani which I will show you tomorrow. What do you ladies think of the skittle look? I really enjoyed the pastels because I feel it as a softer take on the usually bright skittle I have seen in the past.

Name that Nars Franken!

Hello ladies,

Today I have an update on the franken I posted about here in early February. Looking back at the photos when it was still a work in progress, shows me how far away I was from getting anywhere close to Nars' Zulu!

Anyways, the franken I made was for a dupe of Nars Zulu, and although it is not identical, I think is was pretty close. I can't seem to come up with a name for it, any ideas or names you think that would work, I'd like to hear :) Please leave your comments below.

If I could get this formula a little bit more jelly and an easier consistency to work with, I would probably like it more. That being said, the formula was kind of goopy but provided great coverage in 2 coats.

I love the coverage and glossy finish!

Depending on your lighting source, this colour may appear darker, meaning right at the edge of black, or lighter, still deep forest green. I prefer the darker shade, and I definitely got some comments on it when I wore it.

I still think it need a little work, a little bit more black and clear... maybe even some more yellow, these photos make it look more blue based. What do you ladies think?

Also, I won't be posting again untill to Monday, so to all who celebrate, have a great Easter :)

Your Last Day...

Hey Ladies,

Just wanted to remind you to give your last votes to your favorites today for the Bundle Monsters nail art contest.

If you haven't already checked out my design, below is what I submitted, you may remember this mani from late November of last year.

For this look I used a base of black polish with 1-2 coats of Color Club's Wild and Willing. I finished off the mani with the swirly circle design from BM plate 19, which I double stamped to fill each nail completely with the design.

What do you think? To vote for my nail art entry and others, please visit the site and vote while you still can. I was literally flipped through all the submissions lastnight and so much hard work has been put in to these designs, so much inspiration for future nail art ideas. Good luck to all who entered :)

Thanks for all the support to those who have been voting. Also a HUGE thanks to my family for being very supportive and voting , can't wait to see the results tomorrow!

The Disappearing Flowers...

Hey ladies,

Today I have a mani refresh with the lovely Sally Hansen Purple Gala I showed you last week. I used another one of my BM plates, BM16. The actual design is a repetitive flower pattern with the stamp colour being the main background, the base colour peeks out through the flower. I hope I am making sense lol, this is hard to describe.

I decided to stamp with an Ardene polish, Grape Times, this is is a deep purple jelly. It is super pigmented so it was great to stamp with. Since it is a jelly, the base polish added a bit of depth when applied on the base.

This was super hard to photograph but I tried my best, I recommend clicking to enlarge the photos for a closer look. The pattern came out pretty subtle, but I liked it that way :) I think the pattern looked best when in indirect lighting or indoors. In direct sunlight (or with the flash of my camera) the pattern seemed to disappear. You can kind of see this in my photos, the way the light will catch some of the design but fades away in the curve of the nail.

I had fun with this mani, and although I couldn't stamp the whole design on the nail (due to length), you couldn't really tell due the suitableness of the pattern :)

One last thing before I go... one of the last reminders, I promise :) Please vote for your favorite nail designs through the Bundle Monster nail art contest. This ends tomorrow so I won't be bugging you much anymore. To check out my entry, click here. dissipear

Thanks to all of those who have been voting up until now and continue to vote, it is very much appreciated :)

My Collection of Bundle Monster Manis - Part 2

Hey Ladies,

Late post today, I'm at home, in bed, under the covers with a cold, It's icky and I don't really feel like posting today so I decided to put up part 2 of my BM nail art collection.

Please remember to check out the contest Bundle Monster is having and vote for your favorite nail art designs. To see which design I chose to submit, click here. You are allowed to vote 1 time every 24 hours for however many designs you like, so be sure to show the nail community your love :) Including today, there are only 3 days left to vote.

That's enough for me today, hope I'm not bugging you with the BM contest promo, but the prize is too awesome not to want! Below are my BM designs as promised, have a great day :)