Hot Pink and Black French Tips

Hey everyone :) I wanted to show you the manicure I've been wearing for the past few days. I usually don't do French tips with my natural nail color showing but I have the perfect topcoat for it!

I used those French manicure nail strip guide things and painted two coats of Zoya's Gilda since it's a little bit sheer. Then, I did one coat of CND's Sapphire Sparkle which is a really nice blue/pink shimmer topcoat. The striping part seems difficult to some but it's actually very easy. I used Kiss Nail Art in black and dragged it across the edge of the pink. If I didn't reach the other side of my nail, I just started from the other side and connected the two lines.

I hope you like this look! It was very easy and didn't take much time at all. I also got a lot of nice compliments on it =P

Direct Sunlight

Indoors

Indoors w/ Flash

Valentine's Day Lip Color Swatches (pic heavy!)

Hello readers :) Valentine's Day is coming up and I thought it would be fun to show off some fun lip colors to wear! I especially love reds and pinks for Valentine's Day but lately I've going crazy for purple so I will be showing you some purple-based lipsticks as well!

My lips are incredibly swollen and sore after swatching and taking all of these photos back to back so I especially hope you enjoy this post and can appreciate the pain I went through for it =P

The colors I'm going to show you are:
-Elf Jumbo Gloss Stick in Flirty & Girly
-L'Oreal H.I.P Shine Struck Liquid Lip Color in Arresting
-L'Oreal Colour Riche Caresse Stick in Violet Chiffon
-L'Oreal Infallible Le Gloss 8 Hour Lipgloss in Pink Topaz
-Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Gloss in Plum Luster
-M.A.C in Sequin
-Milani Lip Flash in In A Flash
-Nyx Round Lipstick in Gardenia
-Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Red Velvet
-Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Lollipop
-Morgana Cryptoria in Fire Brick
-Morgana Cryptoria in Fire Brick with Victoria's Secret Dazzleshine Lip Gloss in Hot Pink

I'll post a photo of each and give a brief description about the color and application.

Elf Jumbo Gloss Stick in Flirty & Girly- I was surprised at how much I actually liked this product. It has a very glossy and creamy texture to it and is a nice light-frosty hot pinky salmony color to it. It's a really nice color that will work for most skin tones while not being crazy in your face.

L'Oreal H.I.P Shine Struck Liquid Lip Color in Arresting- I'm not quite sure what happened to this photo! There are some odd streaks in it so please disregard! I didn't notice it until later. I think this product is actually discontinued now that I think about it. The H.I.P line had these very vivid lip glosses at one point and I haven't seen them in a while. This is one of the more purply/magenta colors and has blue undertones to it! It's very pretty in person!

L'Oreal Colour Riche Caresse Stick in Violet Chiffon- This is one of my new favorite lipsticks! It's very creamy, rich, and moisturizing and doesn't dry out my lips at all. This color is really nice because it gives you a subtle pop of purple but it's not overwhelming where someone would be distracted in a negative way. I would best describe this as a gently muted down hot pink with a lavender punch to it.

L'Oreal Infallible Le Gloss 8 Hour Lipgloss in Pink Topaz- This is one of my favorite lipglosses I own. It's very longlasting and delivers a very rich color. I love that it's a bright pink with a subtle purple shimmer. It's lovely for daytime and night in my opinion!

Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Gloss in Plum Luster- I believe this is one of the newer lipglosses that Maybelline came out with. It delivers a really nice color and the gloss itself is smooth and creamy. It smells nice too! I love this color for daytime and nighttime. It's kinda like a salmony raspberry hot pink color (if that makes any sense) and has a nice shimmer to it.

M.A.C in Sequin-  I love this color soooo much! No, it's not your typical Valentine's Day color but this is one of those colors where you can where both day and night and do a more dramatic eye. This lipstick has enough pink in it that isn't too in your face and allows you to do a more funky Valentine's Day inspired eye with bright pinks and reds. I love it because it's more of a vampy frosted color and would flatter many complexions. I will probably do a full face Valentine's Day look with this color sometime this week and post it.

Milani Lip Flash in In A Flash- Love love love. All I have to say about this one. This is probably one of my favorite purply pink lipglosses. It's a gloss stick that has a really nice texture to it and has a really vivid color. It's a bright, borderline neon pink with this amazing blue/purple glitter. It's a very fun one to wear and would look nice with a simpler eye.

Nyx Round Lipstick in Gardenia- This is one of those lipstick that I actually forgot I had! I went through my stash when I was looking for colors and I came across this one! It's a very nice poppy red with a very subtle frosty sheen to it. This is another one that many people could pull off.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Red Velvet- The Revlon Lip Butter line is one of my favorites. The texture is so amazingly balmy and creamy and they have a nice range of colors to choose from. This is a more sheer red and would work best for those who don't prefer to wear a crazy bold red lip.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Lollipop- Ohhh yes please.... This is probably my go-to hot pink lipstick. I keep this one in my purse in case of emergencies =P Like I said about Red Velvet, it's very balmy and creamy. This one is definitely brighter and more opaque though. It's really nice hot pink with a subtle blue shimmer. So beautiful!

Morgana Cryptoria in Fire Brick- This is definitely my favorite red lipstick ever. This is the kind of red that makes me not want to buy another red lol. It had this thick, pigmented, almost matte, metallic finish to it and sticks to your lips like you wouldn't believe. I like more vampy red like this one so it works perfectly for me. I reviewed this in the past so you can check out my post by clicking here.

Fire Brick with Victoria's Secret Dazzleshine Lip Gloss in Hot Pink- I decided to get a little creative and top off Fire Brick with this amazing hot pink glittery gloss I got from Victoria's Secret. I unfortunately wasn't able to take a good photo of the gloss but I will link you over to Miss Natty's post where I found out about this gloss so you can take a better look at it. For me, I think this color combination takes the cake! I would only wear this for someone very special though =P

WHEW!! That was a crazy long post! I really hope you enjoyed it. This week, I plan on putting together at least a couple full face looks for Valentine's Day and I will use these lip colors as well. Did any of the colors catch your eye? Do you already own any of these and are there any you are drooling over by any chance? =P

I'd also love to hear if anyone has anything really fun planned for Valentine's Day. I unfortunately don't have "that special someone" to spend it with but I plan on doing something fun with my friends! Enjoy your week, and happy early Valentine's Day!

First Attempt on Galaxy Nail Art

Hello everyone! I finally decided to give it a go and tried a nail art design that looked like a galaxy in outer space. I used a tutorial by MissJenFABULOUS from PolishAndPearls and used this tutorial she posted on youtube.

It was actually very fun and easy to do! It consisted of sponging on colors over black and putting a couple types of glitter topcoat over it. Before I did the design on myself, I picked out some colors I liked from myself and tested it over the black to make sure it delivered the effect I was looking for. I noticed it's best to use opaque colors, either with a creme finish or with little to no shimmer.

Here's what I used:

Liquid Leather by China Glaze (black)
Splish Splash by China Glaze (shimmery blue)
Pelican Grey by China Glaze(light grey)
Pink Shock by Maybelline (pink with subtle blue shimmer)
Northern Lights (glitter topcoat)
Techno by China Glaze (chunky glitter)

Aaaaaaand this is what I ended up with!

I really loved how it turned out. It definitely looks best when the colors are applied in different parts of the nail. This would definitely look nice with some green and orange in it so I might be attempting that in the future. Also, after I get some practice, I think it would be awesome to throw some spiral galaxies on it as well. I tried that at first and it was an utter fail -___-

Have you tried doing galaxy nails before? I would love to see some of the designs you've tried or came up with :)

Maybelline Color Whisper Pin Up Peach Swatch and Review!

Hey readers! As an effort to get back into blogging, my goal is to update my blog every day. I have already came up with a list of things I want to blog about in the near future so we'll see how this goes :)

Today, I'm going to show you a lipstick called Pin Up Peach from the Color Whisper line by Maybelline. First of all, I thought the packaging was adorable. Each lipstick had a translucent bright color container and had a shiny silver label. It reminded me of Victoria's Secret for some reason!

I really loved the texture of this lipstick. It's very creamy, balmy and moisturizing. The color itself is buildable and decently pigmented as well. It also has a very nice scent to it. I would best describe it as a light peachy/fruity smell with maybe a hint of vanilla.

The color, Pin Up Peach is something that I thought would be most flattering to my skin tone and I would also be able to add a fun pop of color. I would describe it as a pinky peachy color with a slight hint of shimmer. I love it, I think it would look great on many skin tones.

Now, I'm going to show you an enlarged swatch on my lips, how the color looks in the container, and the packaging. The lipstick swatch was taken in daylight with flash. The picture of the product in the container was taken with no flash.

What do you think? Do you like the color? If anyone has photos of other colors they're tried, I would love to see them. I definitely plan on buying more :)

Neon Plaid Nails

Hello readers. I'm going to show you my current manicure that I've been wearing since this past weekend. In honor of the Scottish Festival in Santa Cruz County, I wanted to do my nails plaid like I did last year (click here to see last year's mani).

Since it's summertime and I felt like doing something fun, I ended up doing bright neon colors that were inspired by Nailside's Neon Plaid manicure seen here. Rather than using tape like she did, I used a striping brush to do all the designs.

Here are the colors I used in order of application:
White- Alpine Snow by China Glaze
Pink shimmer topcoat- Femme Fatale by Color Club
Yellow- Glowstick by Orly
Lime green- In The Limelight by China Glaze
Pink- Oh Cabana Boy! by Orly
Orange- Melt Your Popsicle by Orly
Darker lime green- Turned Up Turquoise by China Glaze
Finally topped off with Seche Vite

Now for some photos :) I hope you like it! My eyes are literally burning from staring at these photos for the past 15min :P

Nail Polish Jewelry DIY

Hello readers :) Today I'm going to show you something a but different but is still related to nail polish. I was bored one night browsing YouTube and I came across this video. It's a video that shows you how to make your jewelry look brand new and unique by repainting it with nail polish. It's a really great tutorial and it's ideal to do on old cheap jewelry that you never wear.

I was bored that evening I watched the video and decided to repaint my old, ugly earrings that I never wear. I pulled out these hideous cheap-looking teal flower earrings that I only wore once and wanted to make them pretty.

Here's how I did it:

3 coats (or until it was almost completely opaque) of La Paz-Itively Hot Pink by OPI (matte)

In the video, she starts off layering with white to make the colors pop but I decided that a matte polish would have the same effect.

2 coats of Gilda by Zoya for some hot pink shimmer

1-2 coats of Twisted by Fingerpaints (flakes)

1 coat of Seche Vite QD topcoat to seal it in

And now for the before and after photos.....

What do you think? If anyone ends up trying this, I would love to see your before and after photos :)

Pink-orange-yellow gradient w/ zebra stripes

Hello readers! Today I'm  showing you my new favorite manicure! Of course I say that almost every week but this one truly is killer! For this look, I used the following:

OPI Natural Basecoat
Pink- Gilda by Zoya
Orange- Rica by Zoya
Yellow- Lighthouse by China Glaze
Seche Vite QD Topcoat
Konad M57
Liquid Leather by China Glaze

First I used the Natural Basecoat and topped it off with three layers of Lighthouse. Then I put a coat of Seche Vite to make it dry fast so I can sponge on the gradient without ruining the yellow. When that was ready to go, I sponged on Rica about 2/3 of the way down from the tip and let that dry. It dried quickly since it was such a thin coat. After that, I sponged on Gilda and blended it in about 1/3 of the way down from the tip. I put a little extra pink at the tips to make it pop a bit more.

When I was done with the gradient, I put on another coat of Seche Vite so it would be completely dry for the stamping. I obviously used the zebra print design on Konad M57 and stamped away with that. I topped it off with another coat of Seche Vita and...... Ta da!! :)

Now for some photos!

Outdoors, indirect sunlight

Outdoors, direct sunlight. So shimmery!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a nice Valentine's day :)

In honor of today, I did a really cute manicure that I saw on Polished Love Affair's blog. Looking at them side by side, mine turned out very different from hers. I think I ended up using more coats of Sapphire Sparkle and a brighter pink for the tips. I think both look great though!

Here's how I did it!

Base- OPI Natural Base Coat + 2 coats of Sapphire Sparkle by CND

Hot Pink Tips- 1 coat La Paz-itively Hot Matte by OPI

Heart Tip Design- Konad M73

Heart Stamp Color- Alpine Snow by OPI.

Silver Glitter- Kiss Nail Art Striper

Topcoat- 1 more coat of Sapphire Sparkle by CND + Seche Vite


I really love Sapphire Sparkle. It's a really pretty blue/purple/pink shimmer and looks good over everything. Also, using a matte polish if you plan on stamping is great since it dries very quickly and makes the process less painful =P

I hope you like this look!

Pink Glitter Zebra Print Nails

Hello readers :-) I think I just found my new favorite manicure... I did 2 coats of Teenage Dream and sponged on Excuse Moi! on the tips. Luckily these polishes dried very quickly so the entire look in about an hour! This is also the first time I think my konad pattern turned out perfectly without any mistakes. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and it describes me in a nutshell :) Enjoy!

Light pink glitter = Teenage Dream by OPI
Hot Pink Glitter = Excuse Moi! by OPI
Black = Liquid Leather by China Glaze
Zebra pattern = Konad M57

Holo-y Flaky Goodness!

Hello everyone! I hope you're all enjoying your holiday weekend! Today, I'm going to show you a look I did with three polishes from my recent haul: Pandora by Zoya, Twisted by Fingerpaints, and Hefesto by HITS. I'll start off with a preview of the look I created, photos of each polish and a brief description of each, and then some more photos of the look! I also have a video posted at the bottom so you get an idea of how it looks in person.

Check out all that flaky goodness! This is a picture in the shade. In the sun, you get a beautiful holo rainbow effect.

This is Pandora. It's a really pretty mauved light pink and the formula works like a dream. Two coats gives you full opacity.

This is Twisted.... very nice flaky polish! It has flashes of orange, yellow green, blue, and pink! I used 2 coats in this look.

This beauty is Hefesto.... amazing holo topcoat. You can apply a thin coat and end up with a strong holo effect over any color. I only used one coat. You can only get this at Llarowe to my knowledge.

Now... onto the look! It is unbelievably stunning in person and these photos DO NOT do it justice at all! I also added a video at the bottom for you to get an idea of how it looks. In the sun, you get a very strong rainbow effect from Hefesto and get random flaky flashes. In the shade, you don't see the holo effect but you see a lot of flakiness. Now, for the photos!

In the sun

In the sun

In the sun

Not the greatest photo but this is a decent representation of how the flakiness shows in the shade. In person, the color is a pearly, mauved, light pink.

And here's the video! Enjoy!

Lazy 4th of July Manicure =P

Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a good 4th of July so far! I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet but all I know is BBQ and fireworks are in order!

Sooo for the past few days, I have been wearing a really nice manicure... 3 coats of OPI's hot pink matte and one coat of OPI's I Lily Love You. It is such a gorgeous color combo. I honestly could not get myself to take it off. For today, I wanted to do some stripes and more stars and fireworks on my nails and of course use red, white, and blue, but I couldn't get myself to take the pink off =P

I REALLY wanted to do some kind of 4h of July manicure so this morning, about 2 minutes after I opened my eyes, I got to work and started painting on firework designs. I used my silver nail art polish by Kiss Nail Artist Paint and the blue is Eyes Like Sapphires by China Glaze. The star sequins are Silver Star by Klean Color.

And just for kicks, here is what I was wearing for the past few days :)

Happy 4th everyone! Don't drink and drive! =P

OPI DS Extravagance

Hey everyone! Sorry about not updating in a while. My "off week" finally ended but now I'm just being lazy lol. I really don't have too much to say or show.... but here is the mani I've been wearing the past week. This is 2 coats of OPI DS Extravagance. It's a really pretty purply raspberry color with a slight holo effect. It doesn't looks like much in the shade but it shimmers like crazy in the sun.

Also, look forward to a more artsy fartsy mani this weekend! I'm gonna have a little fun with color :) That's all for today!

Purple, Blue, and Silver Glitter Gradient!

Hey everyone :D So I finally took off that plain-jane look and put on something really funky! I finally attempted a glitter gradient! I've always wanted to try it and I finally got the right kinds of glitter nail polish. Here's the look I came up with :-)

It is soooo dang sparkly and eye-catching in the light! I seriously can't stop looking at it! Here are the materials I used:

Base coat- Orly Top 2 Bottom

Navy blue base- Midnight Blue by Rimmel

Fuchsia glitter- Bubbly Bombshell by Orly

Pink/purple/blue glitter- Rockstar Pink by Sally Hansen

Silver/purple/blue chunky glitter- Starry Silver Glitter by NYC

Seche Vite Topcoat

I first applied my base coat and then put one coat of Midnight Blue so I wouldn't have to do so many layers of glitter. Then, I put one coat of Bubbly Bombshell completely covering the blue. On the top half of my nail (tip), I used Rockstar Pink.

Then I used two coats of Starry Silver Glitter on the very tip and aimed more of the chunky glitter on it. To make the colors blend better, I wiped the majority of the glitter off the brush and lightly dabbed over the other colors so little silver glitters came off.

To finish it off, I used 2 coats of Seche Vite :-) Here is a closeup of the look to your right. You can click on it for a larger image.

Now for some more photos!

Angel Wings

Hey everyone! It's been a few days since I've had a chance to update. I've had a very busy few days considering it's the end of the semester and all my term papers and finals are due. I also had an interview for a law office assistant position yesterday so I REALLY hope I got it!

So before my interview, I still had my lime green manicure and I thought I should probably tone it down and not care them with my nails haha! I did something more neutral which is wayyy out of my comfort zone but it ended up looking pretty nice :)

This is Sally Hansen's Angel Wings from the Complete Salon Manicure Collection. It's really pretty! It's kinda an off-white and has a subtle pink shimmer to it. To make it a little more interesting, I added some Konad to it! Just ignore my middle finger! I didn't get the Konad on the tip D; The white that I used is Alpine Snow by OPI. I love how this turned out but at the same time, I can't wait to take it off and put on something more funky LOL.

Beauty UK Day To Night Eyeshadow Swatches + EOTD's

Hey there :) I finally received my my Beauty UK Day To Night Eyeshadow palette! I ordered it from eBay and it shipped from the UK! I saw a post about this palette on someone's blog and decided I needed the hot pink of it. Here's a picture of the palette.

White- shimmery shear white, best used for highlighting
Peach- shimmery peach, works really well for blending
Light green- really pretty shimmery night green
Blue- matte bright blue, not completely opaque
Light pink- matte light pink
Black- matte opaque black, good for eyeliner or a deep crease
Brown- very rich shimmery brown
Plum- beautiful shade of shimmery plum, possibly my favorite!
Violet- deep, matte violet
Hot pink- highly pigmented and matte, the reason I bought the palette

And for the swatches.... I used a liner brush to apply these.

The top row is definitely more translucent while the bottom row is more opaque. All of these colors are amazing, blend well, and last a long time! I tried a couple of looks for fun today!

Here's my daytime look! I used the peach on the lid and the plum in the crease.

And now for the fun part! I've been dying to try a nighttime smoky hot pink look! I used hot pink on the lid, plum in the crease, black to extend the crease, and peach to blend in the black and add highlight. Please ignore my eyebrows! I have no idea what happened to them =P