Stuck With Bargain Bin on a Budget?

Greetings, folks!

You're on a budget. Spending $10 to $20 for a single bottle of polish just isn't feasible. Does that mean that you're stuck with bargain bin leftovers? 

Absolutely not. 

First off, drugstore polish makers have really upped their game. Wet 'n' Wild, L.A. Colors, Pure Ice, and Sinful Colors are all polishes that you can find for less than two dollars. Between these four brands, you can find pretty much anything your heart desires (even holo!). L.A. Colors doesn't always have the best formula, but the other three are pretty safe bets. Sinful Colors has put out... what... 7 new collections this year? And Pure Ice has some amazing formulas--"Show Stopper", for example, is a two coat yellow polish. Not even OPI has mastered that yet. Not to mention Pure Ice's glitters are amazeballs.

(There's also Sally Hansen polishes for less than $3, but I'm still mad at them.)

(Yes, I can hold one hell of a grudge.)

There's also the option of buying in bulk. This is a larger investment up front, but worth it in the long run. Nabi Cosmetics (found on Amazon and Ebay) runs great deals where you can choose a bunch of polishes for a discounted price. Several years ago I purchased a set of 20 polishes for $24.00, putting each polish at $1.20 a piece. Last time I looked (last November) their polishes were even cheaper. I also bought the Seche Vite Pro Kit from head2toebeauty.com for $18.75. This kit is 4.5 ounces--the equivalent of 9 bottles. That puts each bottle at only $2.08. You can't get that deal at Sally Beauty Supply!

Another thing to look for is sales. Oftentimes Sally Beauty Supply will have "buy two get one free" sales on their polish. Zoya is also great for sales... last year their Black Friday Sale was 70% their entire site! That meant Zoya polishes for only $3 a bottle! 

Online e-tailers are also an option. These include sites such as the aforementioned head2toebeauty, 88beauty, transdesign, and holler. 

And of course it never hurts to peruse someone's destash. There's always a destash happening! Right now there are at least three that I know of: Phoebe Moon's, Alli Evette's, and Stacey's (formerly Polished Ways on YouTube). I believe Jessika and Juanita will be destashing soon as well. You can simply Google "nail polish destash" and find all sorts of goodies for great prices. Sometimes you can even snag indie brands for super cheap. 

More Walmart Stuffs!

Good evening folks!

So... I was naughty again. I bought more nail stuff. 

I saw NailStamp4Fun's video on the new Pueen Nail Stamp Starter Kit a couple of weeks ago. I figured, well, I need to grab some batteries for my son's toys, so I'll just pop into Walmart and take a peek at it. 

"Take a peek" turned into a mini-haul:

As you can see, I did go ahead and pick up the Pueen set for $9.98. I'll be reviewing this and comparing it to BMC products after I've had a bit of time to play with it. 

Hanging right next to the starter kit was a very interesting Pueen stamping plate called "Fairytale Lovers 01" for $3.88. This plate is gorgeous. There's not a single image on this plate I don't like. I'm not in love with the hearts image, but I do still like it. Every other image on this plate is stunning, breathtaking, awe-inspiring! Or should I say mani-inspiring? I cannot wait to play with this! 

And of course, since I was wandering through the nail stuff, I had to take a gander at some polish. Pure Ice didn't have anything that I needed, Sally Hansen is still on my shit list, Color Club hasn't yet made it to my Walmart, and Sinful Colors was nowhere to be found. However, Wet 'n' Wild had a couple of colors worth notice. One was a gorgeous sky blue that I cannot remember the name of--but I put her back, since I have soooo many blues already. But this garnet burgundy beauty I just had to bring home with me. Her name is "Burgundy Frost" and she cost me a mere $0.93. Don't let her name fool you, though. She is not at all a frost finish. She's a lovely luster with an easy two-coat formula. 

All in all, a pretty good haul for only $15!

Budget-Friendly Feature -- Wet 'n' Wild Ready to Propose

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!

Today I'll be featuring Wet 'n' Wild "Ready to Propose". This is a lovely gold polish that I purchased at Walgreens for $0.99. 

I have a tendency to prefer my gold polishes a bit more on the yellow side, but I have to say that this is probably my favorite gold that I own. It definitely leans more brown than yellow, but it's not that murky kind of brown that you can find in some golds (Sally Hansen "Golden-I", for example). 

The formula on "Ready to Propose" is phenomenal. It glides on smooth, isn't too runny, and is opaque in two easy coats. It's also great for stamping and water marbling. It does have a tendency to show a wee bit of brush strokes, though, so if that's something you abhor... this may not be the best option for you. I, of course, don't mind brush strokes at all, as I've mentioned before. 

The only downside to this polish isn't so much about the polish itself, but the entire line in general. I always have an issue with the Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shines not letting go of their brushes. You know... when you go to open your bottle and the cap comes off but the brush is still stuck in the bottle? Argh! I know this can happen with any brand, but it sure seems to happen a lot more often with the Wild Shines. And you know what I find a bit humorous? I have some Wet 'n' Wild polishes that are about 20 years old (no joke! still use 'em!) that very rarely have the brush-sticky issue. 

So, is "Ready to Propose" worth the $0.99 I paid for it? Absolutely. I mean, you really can't go wrong with something that cost you less than a dollar. And this is such a pretty color, with a great formula, that works with all types of nail art. I highly recommend! 

Larger Haul from Walmart.com

Good evening ladies and gents!

Today I'll be going over some goodies that I purchased from Walmart.com. I'll give you a forewarning, though... this post will have a bit of ranting in it.

So my mom came to me one evening and said that she wanted to place an order online, but needed $5 worth of more stuff to get the free shipping. "Want some polish?" she asked. Well now, you know, and I know, and she knew that was a silly question.

Of course I do! So I managed to narrow the gobs of bottles down to 3 to hit that $5 mark for her.

But then I ran into a problem. I realized that I only had two spaces left in my wall rack! OH NOES! 

So what did I do to solve the problem? 

... I bought another rack. And some more polishes to fill it. 


Yes, addiction has me in its clutches.

Including the three that Mom got with her order, I ended up getting 11 polishes--it was supposed to be 12, but apparently one was on backorder so Walmart refunded me for that one.

First on the left is Pure Ice "Moonlight", which was $1.98. Here begins the rant. Online, it looked to be a deep blue with silver shimmer. It is in fact a muddy grey/brown with purple shimmer. That shimmer doesn't even show up on the nail. Thus, you're left with... mud, basically. This polish was the biggest disappointment of the bunch. I didn't even think Pure Ice could make a bad polish, but this one proved me wrong. I don't like it one bit. I'll use it, somehow, someway, because I paid for it... but I won't enjoy it.

Second comes L.A. Colors "Dimple". This is just a basic pumpkin orange creme. It's a teeeensy bit streaky on the second coat, but I think with careful application it can work. Certainly worth the $0.98.

Third up is Pure Ice "Eskimo Kisses". This looked pure white online, which would make sense given the name. It's actually a holo glitter in a slightly blue tinted base. While pretty, the base isn't tinted enough to change any base color other than white. So if you already have Pure Ice "Don't You Wish", don't bother buying this one. They're exactly the same except for that tinted base.

Next up comes Sinful Colors "Mint Apple". Online? Mint creme. In reality? Very dark mint with tons of gold shimmer. Cute, but not what I really wanted. Was it worth $1.98? Eh, sure. I'll use it.

Fifth in line comes the second biggest disappointment. I paid $2.49 for Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Royal Rage". Online it looked to be an in-your-face neon royal blue. Nope. It's a dull blue with an awful crelly formula. This one's a three-coater--there's no way to hide the streakiness on that second coat. Still, it is a blue, so it'll get used.

In the middle of the pack we have Wet 'n' Wild "Casting Call", which was $0.98. This one was actually a pleasant surprise. I thought this would be much more pink, but it turns out it's actually more of a terra cotta color. I'm in love with it! The formula is great, too. Bonus: it water marbles like a champ.

The seventh polish was a roller coaster. Online, Pure Ice "Chrome on Over" (which was only $1.55 instead of the usual $1.98 Pure Ice price, for some reason) looked to be a gunmetal color. I was upset when I received it and discovered it's more of a purple. But then I swatched it, and ohhhh my goodness. GORGEOUS! This baby is my favorite of the bunch. Oh, and she's a one coater! 

Next is Pure Ice "Dollface", which was actually true to color. She's a lovely light peach creme. I put this in a water marble with "Casting Call" and it turned out great!

Then there's Pure Ice "Teal Appeal". I had seen this one in stores for quite a while and always thought about snagging it, so I finally did. She's a little closer to navy than teal, in my opinion. There's really not a whole lot of green in there. Still a great creme polish for the price, though, and I'm glad I picked her up.

The tenth polish is Wet 'n' Wild "Who is Ultra Violet?". This is a lot more pink than it looked online, but it's still a very nice purple creme. I was very bummed when it didn't work with the next polish in a water marble. I'll have to experiment some more to see if it cooperates with other polishes. 

Last but definitely not least we have Pure Ice "Sweet Serenity". This is a lovely light lavender creme (that I am wearing right now!). She's almost opaque in one coat, but I did get a patch here and there. I do tend to be a bit heavy-handed though, so those of you who aren't so aggressive might be able to get this polish opaque in one coat. That's pretty impressive for such a light colored polish. Absolutely worth every cent of the $1.98 that I paid. 

Stamping with "Splash!"

Greetings folks!

Today I'll be doing a quick run-through of this stamped mani:



For my base coat I used Pure Ice "Bottom Line" ($1.97 @ Walmart). 

I then applied Wet 'n' Wild "Black Creme" as my base color ($0.99 @ Walgreens).

The stamping plate I used was Bundle Monster's XL-02 ($3.20 per plate @ Walmart.com). I used the jumbo clear stamper that I got from Born Pretty Store for $2.99. 

Then I broke out my Pure Ice "Splash!". Now, I honestly didn't think this would stamp, as it's a very sheer, very shimmery polish. But boy, was I wrong! It stamped like a dream. I would suggest using some kind of protective barrier, though--liquid latex, tape, etc. The shimmer did not want to let go of my skin!

As usual, I topped off the mani with Seche Vite ($2.08 @ head2toebeauty.com).

The overall look is very subtle, but when the light hits that gorgeous blue shimmer... I just heaved a dreamy sigh... it flares to life. 

It just goes to show that it never hurts to try anything and everything. Even if you think it's not going to work, it may surprise you and end up becoming a stunning manicure!

Gifted Goodies

Good afternoon folks!

Today I'll be sharing with you some of the goodies I received over the holidays. But before I do that, I'd like to give some quick updates on some of the products I've already talked about.

First up, we have a couple of Wet 'n' Wild polishes: "Be More Pacific" and "Ready to Propose". Both of these are stainers. I wasn't terribly surprised about "Be More Pacific", as greens, blues, and dark reds do have a tendency to stain--especially in the lower budget brands. But I was rather shocked that the gold stained. It turned my fingernails brown! Honestly, though, staining isn't a major issue to me; my nails are always painted anyway.

As for the Born Pretty Store stuff, the stamper works beautifully. I love it. But the stamping polishes are garbage. They not only stink to high hell, the white doesn't even work at all! The black is okay, but not very pigmented. The nail studs that I purchased are okay, but the special shapes (hearts, stars, etc.) are too big to lay flat on my nails. However, I have very narrow nails with a very strong c-curve, so this might not be an issue for most people. 

I've also figured out how to get the Nicole Diary stamping plates to work (mostly). I was so used to working with the BMC XL plates that I was scraping and pressing my stamper too hard on the smaller, less deep images of the ND plates. It's still going to take some practice, but I think I can get all the images to pick up now.

Remember when I said that Jess warned about China Glaze "Combat Blue-ts" drying super fast? She wasn't kidding. You can get away with three strokes... maybe four if you're quick, but that's all the wiggle room you have. If you try to manipulate it too much, you'll end up picking up the polish you already laid down. Still, it's a stunning color, and the matte look is awesome, so I feel that it's well worth it.


Alright, let's get into the new stuff, shall we?

So, I know I said I was on a "no buy" for a while, but there were a couple opportunities I just couldn't pass up. 

The first was Zoya's Black Friday sale. Uhmmmm HELLO! Zoya for $3 a bottle?! How could I not take advantage of that? 

Prior to this sale, I didn't own--nor had I even tried--any Zoya polishes. So when the chance arose to snag some for so cheap, I was all over it. I wanted to see what the hype was about! I didn't go too crazy, though. Originally I had 9 polishes in my cart, but I reigned myself in and only ended up buying four. These beauties are "Ember", "Tangy", "Elisa", and "Katherine". 






"Ember" is so amazingly luscious. When I first received it, I was worried. I thought, Oh hell, this looks a lot more orange than it did on my monitor. But then I swatched it. I am so in love! I know this sounds crazy, but if I ever run out of her, I might actually pay the full $10 for another bottle. She's a bright orangy-red with an amazing luster--damn near chrome-like. "Tangy" is a funky, fun green shade unlike anything I had in my collection. "Elisa" is a gorgeous crimson red. I'm not normally a fan of reds, but this Zoya is amazing. "Katherine" is a deep purple jelly. I wanted a jelly because I'd like to try pond manicures and jelly sandwiches. I've never worked with jellies before, so I was a little surprised at how streaky it is. However, I'm still excited to work with it. All of these polishes just glide on like butter. The hype for Zoya is well deserved!

Another deal I wanted to take advantage of was the $5 off coupon from Sally Beauty Supply. I was given this coupon when I went in to grab some acetone and nail wheels. You could get $5 off any purchase of $5 or more. So I figured I would grab China Glaze "Tis the Sea-Sun" from their recent Seas and Greetings holiday collection. Surprisingly, I didn't have any corals in my collection, so this was a great addition. Between the coupon and my Beauty Club Card, I paid $1.49 for the polish. 




Now on to the presents! My dad did a great job picking out some polish for me--so good, in fact, I can't help but wonder if he had help from his wife... hee!  He sent me the 12-piece Kleancolor metallics collection. Now, in reviews I've seen online, the original collection that was released two years ago had a "Metallic Black". Whether it was a packing error or whether they've replaced that original black I'm not sure, but in its place I received "Golden Nightmare" which is a black with gold micro-glitter. The other colors in this collection are white, orange, red, pink, mango, yellow, green, sapphire, purple, fuschia, and aqua. 


These colors are soooooo gorgeous. I'm in love with the entire collection. A lot of these are one-coaters. The white does take two, but... it's white. That's to be expected. They're amazing on their own, but folks... if you slap a glossy top coat on 'em... they come alive!  I've heard that Kleancolor polishes work great for stamping, too. I can tell you, though, that the white and the "Golden Nightmare" do not work. I think they have too much shimmer/micro-glitter. The price point is great, too. You can get this whole set on Amazon for $11.99, which puts each polish at only a dollar!

Unfortunately, there are some downsides. These polishes do stink a bit. And... they bleed. I'm not sure what it is, but once you put a top coat on these bad boys they will melt right before your eyes. If you're doing a plain mani, this is a boon. But if you're trying to do nail art, it's definitely a bane, as can be seen in this photo of a recent mani. I thought perhaps I hadn't let it dry long enough, but that proved not to be the case. I let the other nails dry overnight, and the next morning made sure to float my top coat. Yet I got the same result. I sat there and watched in horror as it bled more and more as the top coat dried. 

Still, for the price and the color payoff, I think these polishes are great.




I asked my mom for Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" for Christmas, but as per usual, she took it 18 steps further and got me all these goodies!


The first item was a package of plate sleeves from Bundle Monster that hold various shapes and sizes, along with a pouch that can hold my stampers, scrapers, and other stamping supplies. These are sturdy sleeves with metal ringlets--they'll hold up for a while! The only downside is that they're not completely clear, so it's a wee bit hard to see the images through the plastic.

She also got me a 25-piece round plate set from Bundle Monster (plates 301-325) and a 25-piece round plate set from Pueen (plates 01-25). It's taken me a bit of practice to get used to these plates, as I had the same heavy-handed issue that I did with the Nicole Diarys. But both sets have some awesome images. I'm excited to use them! 

Instead of the Sinful Colors polish I asked for, Mom got me the Bundle Monster duo of "BAM! White" and "Straight Up Black" stamping polishes. Both work great. "BAM! White" is very opaque! I highly recommend! 

She also got Bundle Monster's "Poli-Peel", which is a liquid latex barrier. I haven't tried this yet, but I'm betting it's a lot better than the crap I got from China. Especially since said crap is now completely dried out and unusable. Pbbt. 


That's all I have for you today! Now that the holidays are over hopefully I can catch up on some of the manis I've done. 

Have a fantabulous day!

Foolish Raindrop FAIL!!

Greetings folks!

Today we'll be talking about how horribly I botched this mani:



Yep, that's one hell of an epic nail fail, there. I was trying to be awesome like Cristine, but obviously it didn't work. 

I started off with "Bridge the Ridge" base coat ($5.49). I then applied one coat of Sinful Colors "Kryptonite" ($1.99). 

...Then I heard my son stirring in the next room. Awwwww crap. Figures he'd decide to take a power nap instead of a two-hour nap. I hurried and slapped another coat of "Kryptonite" on my nails and topped it with Seche Vite ($2.08) so I could resume the mommy role.

Without matte top coat

I ended up wearing that alone for a day, and I really enjoyed it. But of course, it wasn't the final look I was going for, so the next day I used a makeup sponge to add Sinful Colors "Kalypso" ($1.99) to the base of my nails to create a gradient. I did use some liquid latex around the nails to help with clean up. Here's the thing, though: the liquid latex I have is something I bought for two bucks from China. It's crap. I wouldn't recommend it. I would warn you what not to buy, but I have no idea what the name of it is; it has no markings on the bottle whatsoever. I should have taken advantage of BundleMonster's cyber monday deals and snagged some Poli-Peel... but... I'm on a no-buy. Sigh.

With matte top coat

Next came a coat of Wet 'n' Wild matte top coat ($0.99). And there, my friends, is where I should have stopped. This looked great! But no... No, I had to go and ruin the whole damn thing. 


Maybe if I had used a thinner top coat, or even just a regular clear polish, it wouldn't have turned out so awful. But I'm an idiot and decided to use Seche Vite for my raindrops for maximum shine. Unfortunately it ended up being more akin to maximum blobbage. 

Oh well, I suppose I can't vomit out awesomeness all the time.

Hundred Dollar Birthday Haul

I know, I know... I said I was going to do a "BornPretty Bitchfest" post next, but I decided against it. Why? Because we all have enough negativity in our lives, and me going on a 400 word rant doesn't help the situation. And now I'm extra glad I didn't, because BPS actually came through at the very last second!

So let's get on with the haul! So... technically I spent a bit more than $100, but $16 of that was shipping. I snagged some great deals, though!


First off we'll start with the three items I ordered from Born Pretty Store. I did pay the extra $3 for tracking (which didn't work) so in total my order came to $12.87. 

The first item was a 3-piece stamping set--jumbo clear stamper, scraper, and lid--for $2.99. That's a steal! I really wanted a lid because keeping cat hair off my stampers is almost impossible. I haven't yet tested the stamper out, but it feels nice and squishy and semi-sticky. The scraper is pretty small and incredibly stiff, so I probably won't use that. 

The next item I ordered was some studs for $4.89 (they're now on sale for $2.99... go figure). It's a mix of silver and gold studs in varying shapes and sizes. There are approximately 200 pieces in this little tiny wheel. What I like about them is that they lay fairly flat--they don't stick up crazy high on the nail like my rhinestones do. Working in the food industry, the last thing I want is something snagging on my nail decor and it ends up in someone's dinner. 

(I do wear gloves when I'm around food but still... you can never be too careful.)

The last thing I got from BPS was a set of black and white stamping polishes for $1.99. I wasn't really looking for black, but I needed a good opaque white and they had this set of 5ml bottles, so I figured what the hell. I haven't tested these yet either...

Hey, gimme a break. I just got this stuff TODAY.  ON MY BIRTHDAY.  That was a close one, Born Pretty... verrrrry close. I ordered on October 11th... 


Next up we have the three L.A. Colors polishes that I picked up from Family Dollar for $1 a piece. 



The first is called "Sunkissed" and it's... it's... phenomenal. It's a burnt orange with tons of gold shimmer. 

The second is a pink! I don't know why but I've been gravitating towards pinks lately. Maybe my hormones are still messed up from becoming a mommy, who knows. But this lovely polish is called "Pink Sizzle" and oooooh does it sizzle. 

The third is called "Dazzle" and it is very similar in color to "Pink Sizzle" but it has lots of luscious silver shimmer.





Another thing I purchased was a "big ticket" item. This baby cost me just under $30, but I did get free shipping. Since my polish and nail art supplies were beginning to spill over the lovely shelves that my mom built for me, I decided I'd get a bonafied nail polish rack. Tada!

I got this rack on ebay. I've calculated that she holds about 102 polishes. Unfortunately I didn't count how many I had before I ordered her. Including the birthday polishes I got, I have 130.

Now, for a polish collector, 130 bottles is chump change. For me, however, it's quite a lot. Therefore I'm now on a "no buy" until after Christmas (at least!). Gotta save up my monies to spoil my little boy for his first Christmas! 

Anyway, I've got my favorites in the rack and a few in my "boo box". Doesn't it look spiffy? And now I have room on my shelves for all my nail art supplies! Yay! What's that? Why yes, my favorite color is blue! 



Next in my haul I made an order from Nabi. Nabi has a shop on ebay, which is where I purchased mine, as well as on Amazon. These are all-around great polishes, but they do have one downside: they do tend to get pretty thick after a while and unfortunately polish thinner can't always save them. Nabi does have a wide range of colors, though, and they're inexpensive. In fact, the more you buy, the more you save. A couple of years ago I bought a lot of 20 polishes for $24 (iirc). She's got a deal now on ebay where you can get 20 colors of your choice for $20 and some change. I went for a much smaller lot this time and purchased three of Nabi's "Metallic" polishes for $6.36 with free shipping. That puts each polish at $2.12.

The first one I got was "Metallic New Gold". I've been looking for a really yellow gold for a while, and I thought this would hit the spot. Unfortunately, it's got more shimmer than base. At two coats, it's not quite opaque (as can be seen in the swatch). I'm hoping three coats will get me there, but I haven't tried it yet. It is definitely the color I wanted, though.

The second polish is "Metallic Champagne". This is another pink, and although it's quite a bit darker than I expected, I really do like it.

The third Nabi is "Metallic White". I wasn't sure what to expect from this. How could a white be metallic? But it does indeed have a metallic--almost frosty--finish. I was amazed at how opaque this was at one coat, but did two on the swatch anyway. It does show brush strokes a bit, but that doesn't really bother me all that much.





I also decided to give head2toebeauty a try, since I had heard Phoebe talk about the site a lot on her YouTube channel. Fair warning though: their shipping is not cheap! I paid $12.97 for shipping, bringing my grand total at the e-store to $52.16. But it was so worth it!

Why was it so worth it? Seche Vite, my friends. Seche Vite. They have a "professional kit" that includes a regular .5 oz bottle, as well as a 4 oz refill bottle. That's equivalent to nine bottles of Seche Vite... for the jaw-droppingly low price of $18.75!!!

WHAT!?!?!?

Yep! Seche Vite for TWO DOLLARS AND EIGHT CENTS PER BOTTLE!! Even if you tag on the shipping cost for my whole order, that makes each bottle only $3.52. That's less than half the price Sally Beauty Supply charges. Score!!

I also snagged a polish corrector pen for 99 cents. I'm not so keen on this just yet. Don't get me wrong--it works well. However, it's very stiff and it hurts my skin. Maybe after a while it will soften up a bit? I hope so, because in the meantime I'd rather just use my angle brush for cleanup.

I got that liquid pump for $5.95, hoping to put acetone in it. The description for it said it could hold "polish removers" and didn't say anything about not putting acetone in it like the other pumps did. Sadly, when I got it, there was a note inside that said "DO NOT USE ACETONE". Well... fack. So now it's holding my cuticle oil. It's also incredibly noisy to pump. I hate to say it, but I would definitely not recommend this particular pump.

And of course, I purchased some polish. China Glaze for $3.25? Color Club for $3.50? Yes please!

The first swatch is Color Club "Winter White". And yes, it is very similar to Nabi "Metallic White". This is a frosty finish, though, and has a bit more of a silver tone to it. As with most frosts, it does show brush strokes a smidge. Again, though, I don't mind.

The other Color Club is "Grand Dame" from... the English Garden Collection, I believe. You guys... these are my first Color Club polishes and I can now see what all the fuss is about. I think I'm in love. Grand Dame went on so smooth! It's easily the best polish I've ever worked with. It's a beautiful deep silver. I don't think this is a duo-chrome, but it sure does pick up colors around it. It's almost mirror-like.

Next we have China Glaze "Jolly Holly" from a holiday collection a couple years back. I've been seeking a nice forest green, and this one is lovely! 

The second China Glaze is probably my favorite polish in this whole entire haul. When I saw Jess swatch this in her review of the Rebel Collection I just knew it had to be mine. I present to you "Combat Blue-ts". It is a gorgeous matte blue with the slightest blue shimmer. Gah, I'm drooling just looking at it. See? I must be hormonal with all these pinks and mattes and whatnot. Jess did warn that it dries super fast, so you shouldn't manipulate it too much. I didn't have any trouble with the swatch, but then... a nail wheel is much easier a canvas than real nails.

They also sent me a free 100/100 grit nail file. I'll probably never use it, but it was a nice gesture. If you haven't yet checked out head2toebeauty, I'd say give it a go. I'd certainly buy from them again.

I also snagged six polishes from Walgreens. Know how much I paid for all six? $2.42 including tax. That's 40 cents per polish!

...But I totally cheated and used my rewards points for $5 off. Go me!

The first one is Sinful Shine "Kryptonite" from the Kylie Signature Collection. This was on sale for $1.49. It's an absolutely stunning teal with green and blue shimmer. It's a little thin, so depending on your application you may need three coats. I did two for the swatch.

The second is Sinful Shine "Kalypso", also from the Signature Collection, and also on sale for $1.49. Did I mention blue is my favorite color? This one is breathtaking. It's a luscious cobalt blue with blue shimmer. There are two coats on the swatch, but again you may need three if you tend to apply thinner coats.

The third--oh, look, another blue!--is Sinful Colors "Midnight Blue" which was marked down to 99 cents. This color lives up to its name. I'm already picturing the starry night manicure that I could do with this beauty.

On to number four: Wet 'n' Wild "Grape Minds Think Alike". All of the Wet 'n' Wilds were 99 cents. This one doesn't remind me of grapes at all. It's much more berry-like in color, which is precisely what I wanted. This could potentially be a one-coater, but I used two for the swatch.

Number five is Wet 'n' Wild "Ready to Propose". This is a nice, simple gold. It's a hair or two lighter than Sally Hansen "Golden-I". I bought this because I really want a good gold for water marbling, and I think the Nabi I purchased isn't going to work. 

The last polish is Wet 'n' Wild "Sparked". I've been eyeballing this for a while now, but I tend to shy away from glitters. I finally decided to snatch it up and I'm glad I did. This is a very dense (though not quite "Studette" dense) pink and silver glitter. I believe the base is a very light pink, but don't quote me on that. The swatch is two coats, and I think it could easily be opaque if you used the sponging method.

And that concludes my hundred dollar haul. But wait! Wanna see what my mommy got for me? Yes, I'm now 38 years old and my mom still spoils me rotten. 

I don't have any prices on this stuff, 'cause, y'know... that'd be rude to ask. But I wanted to share all the fabulous goodies I got for my birthday!

First up, because my Born Pretty tracking said that my package was still in Asia, my mom got me a BundleMonster double-sided clear stamper (with caps!). I've already tried this puppy out, and I love it. The only (minor) negative is that in order to see through it, you have to take out the end that you're not using. I worry that that may shorten the life of the head. Otherwise, though, it stamps like a dream. It also came with two card-scrapers, which I have discovered I like better than the standard scrapers.

She also got me two more pump bottles that are much quieter and that are safe for acetone! Yay! Now I just have to figure out what I'll put in the second bottle. 

The last nail-related item she got me was a set of five stamping plates from Nicole Diary. Regrettably, they're not the best. They're very thin. So far I haven't had much luck picking up the images even with stamping polish. I'm hoping the Born Pretty stamper is sticky enough to help. There are some cute images on the plates that I'd really like to make use of!

Alright, this long ass post is finally done! Next up? Delectable Diamonds!

Dabbling in Dots

Greetings folks,

Today we'll be discussing this here dotticure mani:



I'm not 100% certain where I got the inspiration for this, but it was probably in one of Jenny's "Easy Nail Art For Beginners" videos.

I started with Pure Ice "Bottom Line" base coat ($1.97 at Walmart). I then put down two coats of Wet 'n' Wild "Be More Pacific" (97 to 99 cents at any drugstore).

I then used my largest dotting tool and some Nina Ultra Pro "Ink-ling" ($4.19 at Sally Beauty Supply with card--I always buy them when they're B2G1, bringing the price of each to $2.79) to lay down one or two dark grey dots on each nail. I repeated this step with some Wet 'n' Wild "French White Creme". Flipping the dotting tool over, I made smaller dots randomly around the large ones. Going back in with "Ink-ling", I placed small dots inside the large white dots. I used "Be More Pacific" to put small dots inside the dark grey dots.

I got my dotting tools for Christmas last year, so for me they were free. Woot!  However, I think I've heard Jenny mention that you can get some on Amazon for a dollar. Even if you do end up having to pay more for them, dotting tools are well worth the investment because you can do innumerable designs with them.

Materials used: Pure Ice "Bottom Line" base coat, Wet 'n' Wild
"Be More Pacific" and "French White Creme", Nina Ultra
Pro "Ink-ling", Seche Vite, dotting tool

Finally, I finished off the mani with Seche Vite ($7.99 at Sally's).

Next up? Born Pretty Bitchfest!

Striped and Sassy and Halloween Horrors

Good evening folks. 

Just as a head's up, I might be a little discombobulated today. Little Devin had his six-month checkup and vaccinations today, plus Mommy nearly cut off the tip of his finger trying to trim his nails... so he hasn't been in the best of moods. If I leave any important info out, just let me know in the comments and I'll try to fix it.

Anyhoo! I have a bit of catching up to do, so I'm going to plunk two manis in one post.

First up we have this simple look that I created with striping tape:

For my base coat I used Bridge the Ridge ($5.49 at Sally Beauty Supply). I then applied two coats of China Glaze "Frostbite" ($3.25 at Sally Beauty Supply, B1G1). I love this color so much that I actually wore it alone for a day. 

I then applied some striping tape that I purchased at Sally's. I got 10 rolls of varying colors for $8.99, putting each roll at ninety cents. 

This was only my second time playing with striping tape, so I didn't go too crazy. I chose a simple geometric pattern, and then painted China Glaze "Icicle" ($3.25) over the top. I removed the tape while the polish was still wet to keep the lines nice and clean. 

Materials used: Bridge the Ridge base coat, China Glaze
"Frostbite"and "Icicle", Seche Vite, striping tape

For my top coat I used Seche Vite ($7.99). And... you guys.... I've been watching a lot of Phoebe's videos lately and she mentions Head2ToeBeauty quite a bit, so I decided to check it out. I found such a steal on Seche Vite! I'll talk about that a bit more in an upcoming birthday haul post. 







Next up we have my Halloween mani. I'll be honest... this was awful. I logged it as a NailFail.

Since I had only slapped this on Sunday evening, I knew I wouldn't be wearing it long so I applied Sally Hansen "BIG peel off base coat" ($5.49 at Walmart). 

I then laid down one coat of Nabi "Neon Orange" ($1.20 on ebay). Again, I'll go over the Nabi polish brand in the upcoming haul post. 

I then used a makeup sponge to dab on three thin layers of the "Neon Orange" and Wet 'n' Wild "Black Creme" (97 cents at Walmart) to create a horrifyingly sloppy gradient.

Materials used: Sally Hansen "BIG
peel off base coat", Wet n Wild "Black
Creme", Nabi "Neon Orange", Seche Vite,
skull decals

The stickers I used came from a huge lot of decals that I got years ago for $4. And when I say huge, I mean I won't be able to use all of them even if I applied some every week for the next ten years. If I recall correctly, I got them from China on ebay.

I topped the monstrosity off with Seche Vite, 


Next up? I have no idea! I still have the half-peeled Halloween horror on my hands...