Essie Gradient Glitter Sunday

Well, this weekend is over...back to the daily grind tomorrow. That's ok...I have a vacation coming up in 2 weeks! Yay. My first paid vacation in almost 3 years! Well, I will  make this short and sweet. I always do my nails for work on Monday. I'm waiting to get my stud nail art from Cult Nails tomorrow, so I wasn't planning on doing anything but just one color, but I couldn't help myself. I have been looking on tumblr and the web this weekend and have seen so many cool ideas I had to try something simple but with a lil sompin-sompin...

This is what I used:

Essie Splash of Grenadine, NOPI Fabulous is My Middle Name, and Nina Pro Glamrock. This Essie color is one of my favortist colors and I've used probably half the bottle. I used the NOPI glitter because it's thinner and has rectangle strips mixed in with smaller different colors of glitter. I've had the Glamrock for a while and used it on Addie. It's a thick black and silver glitter. You only need one good coat of this sucker to get a full application.

 It started to rain just as I went outside to take my pictures, so I ended up getting stuck under our shed with not much light. Well, I used Seche Clear basecoat, 2 coats of Essie, then I used a thin coat of the NOPI almost up to the tip. I then used a thin coat of Glamrock and right after used another thin coat of NOPI to sprad the glitter around and kind of mix it together. I really like the strips of glitter and was my fav part of this mani. I then decided to top it off with a rhinestone and 2 thick coats of Seche Vite...voile!

Well, I wish everyone a wonderful fantabulous week! As promised, I will leave you all with a lil somthing:

Hello Spring...I've Missed You! Fun with Revlon Pink Lingerie

This weather is awful! We were in a tornado warning for a while this afternoon and it's at 100% rain all day today and tomorrow. Boo. Well, Happy Tuesday to all! I had a great weekend shopping for some decor for my house and new addition to our hamster cage so she can have more room to play. I'll be getting a puppy in a couple of weeks! I'm so excited!!!

I think I have finally began to fix my lighting or lack thereof issue I've been talking about.  I have bought 2 of those cheap student bendable lamps and put them side by side then change the setting on my DSLR that makes my pictures look much better. I still have some more playing around until I can finally have an actual light box, but until then, I will continue to play around with different kinds of light. These were taken inside, at night, with both lamps and a flash.

SO...onto the polish. I went shopping for some polish this past weekend and found quite a stash of spring beauties. I was really looking for CG Hunger Games Collection- which I found! (after 3 Sally's stores) But I wanted a spring, pastel look.  Well, I was checking out the Nailasaurus blog and saw this AWESOME look she created that you can see here.  So, giving credit where credit is due, I did just what she did to create this simple yet stylish look.

I started out with my Stuck On You basecoat by CC, then I used 2 coats of Revlon Pink Lingerie. I'm not a pink wearer, but this color is awesome. It's bright but still considered a pastel, so it's both spring and summer. It goes great with darker skin tones. 

 Then I used NOPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie on my tips and kind of did a gradient thing and used 2 coats on the very tip. Lastly I used 2 coats of Seche Vite. I got a lot of compliments on this look and would love to use some other colors with this same idea. Then I want to reverse it and have a half moon look with a solid color and glitter at the bottom.

Addison's Nicole by OPI Glitter Nails

Well, I have passed on the gene of love for polish to my daughter lol! Since I am keeping my polish in her room for now all she does is look at it and want me to paint her nails, so I created this look for her today.  I didn't do her cuticles or fix any mistakes I made, so it's a "rough draft" look.

She's so much fun photographing! So, first I used 1 think coat of Wet 'N Wild black, then 2 coats of Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie from Kardashian Kolors and topped it off with Seche Vite top coat, which she thought smelled so good ha! She picked this combo out herself, and I know from now on I will be doing her nails as well as my own!

The original "sassmaster"! My Addie, who will be 9 in February

Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie from Kardashian Kolors

M.A.C. Deep Sea vs. Nicole by OPI Khloe Had a Little Lam-lam

So, I ordered my first M.A.C polish and was SO excited to get it in last night.  Upon first look I immediately thought of Nicole by OPI Khloe Had a Little Lam-lam from the Kardashian Kolors. I thought I would do a little comparison...now I'm just depressed.  This deep teal is my favorite color of all times, so I'm still happy to have these colors, just wish I hadn't spent as much money as I did.

Here's the colors from online:

nordstrom.com

amazon.com

 Here they are side by side:

I was thinking, "This can't be right." So, I decided to wear them side by side.  I used 3 coats of each, taking pictures of each coat as I went.  The weather today is gloomy and depressing and had trouble getting a good picture with lack of light, but did my best.  I found that they are similar in price, yet Nicole by OPI is a few dollars less and available in stores like Wal-Mart and Walgreens- much more convenient.  It took me 5 days to get my M.A.C. through FedEx, so needless to say I was disappointed at my results.

 

I absolutely CANNOT tell the difference!

 Even closeup the difference is impossible to see. I even had to make a note to myself which brand I put on which finger. I wasn't planning on this and wish I had chosen a different color from M.A.C. To add to all of my sadness, it's my opinion that Nicole by OPI is a better polish- it went on smoother, the brush was bigger, and it was easier on the wallet (although the link that I included from Amazon on the Nicole polish was selling it for $20, but I got it at Wal-Mart for $11.)  With all this being said, I almost wish I hadn't done the comparison.

Swatchin' Away Today- My First!

Ok, so here is my first swatch. I wanted to wait until I got some of my neater newer polishes in, but I couldn't wait any longer so here the Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor My Empire...My Rules.  I am having issues taking good pictures- you can so see my reflection in the nails ha! Plus my cuticles look terrible, but it's all I got right now.  I am determined to get better at this at this! I love this color and brand because it only took one coat...so thick and shiny!

This paint job has been on for a couple of days so it's not as shiny and I apologize about that. Please don't judge me! I'm new at this, but totally loving every minute of it! I got some new polishes to day and can't wait to start swatching them!!