Forgetful Friday: Revlon "Haunted", Hit Polish "Portals", China Glaze "For Audrey", & OPI "Alpine Snow"

First EVER "Forgetful Friday!"

For the first time, I am introducing "Forgetful Friday." 

This is a new segment of the blog, that will post past manicures of which I have forgotten 

that I had created and photographed. I am very forgetful at times, and this just seems like a fun thing to do, especially since I have so many manicures, shoe, & purse pictures that I have regrettably forgotten about. OOPSIE!

I figured for this first segment, I will also choose a manicure that I haven't ever done before (and most likely since! LOL). Tonight, I have for you my very first gradient manicure! My nails had broken and filed down to little nubs at this point, as it usually happens every other month since I continue to tear boxes open with my nails and do heavy cleaning without gloves. Oh well...that's just how I roll! lol

Introducing...

OPI "Alpine Snow" & China Glaze "For Audrey"as my interchanging Base Coats.

Revlon "Haunted" as my Contrast Gradient Color.

Hit Polish "Portals" as my Glitter Topper.

     Hit Polish "Portals"              OPI "Alpine Snow"

 

Revlon "Haunted"

                                           

Beginning with my base coats, I put on 2 coats each of 

OPI "Alpine Snow" & China Glaze "For Audrey."

Sorry for the ashy-ass skin. The acetone is a killer, as ya'll already know!

I was so excited to finally do a gradient polish that I went WAAAY overboard. Can you tell?! LOL

Now, I've realized that I could've done a better gradient, 

had I used BOTH Haunted & Alpine Snow TOGETHER on the sponge at the same time, instead of as an after-thought. 

DERRR...! Oh well...better luck next time for me!

Originally, I wanted to use Hit Polish "Portals" as a glitter topper for only two of my digits, 

and then do a gradient with Revlon "Haunted" on the other 3 fingers. However, this manicure didn't seem sufficiently complete, so I added "Portals" to the rest of the nails. 

 SO GORGEOUS,

NO FLASH NECESSARY!!!

OMG...LOVE THE CLOSE-UPS!!!

FLASH!

   

 Well...that should wrap it up! 

You girls know I LOVE pictures and hate to self-edit on this blog! 

I just want to see MOOORE! 

Gimme Gimme More, Gimme More, Gimme Gimme More!

Til Next Time...

Love Always,

Jess

D&R Apothecary: HIT POLISH "February Thanks"

Hey, Hey Stunners!

I have a very simple mani for you today. My nails have been growing nicely again, after being so beat up this summer, and then they started to tear up again. Back to my Nail Tek treatments. So in the meantime, for today, I've got Hit Polish, a division of D&R Apothecary, "February Thanks". This is a polish made especially for this company's customers for the month of February 2013 to say, thanks for your patronage. 

I love Indie Brands. They are so damn thoughtful!

By

HIT POLISH

February's Thanks

is a simple, but super cute glitter polish. It is a clear polish, with pink hearts, an metallic hot pink & purple shards, squares, & small bars. The polish is filled with opal iridescent micro-glitters, that look pink outdoors, and bright baby blue indoors. It's just adorable! 

Here's two coats with dabbing-placement of glitters!

I'm wearing two coats of Sally Hansen's "Hard As Nails", a plain, clear polish with hardeners in it. I used February's Thanks as an accent nail. Ya'll know how much I LOVE glitter, but today is just one accent nail, because my ring-finger seems to be the strongest of all my nails right now. My left thumb finger has a deep tear from the side, but 

I can't bring myself to cut down the nail--it's at a perfect height! Oh, damn it!

Thanks for checking in...MUCH LOVE!!!

Summer Nail Polish Hauls: Urban Outfitters Nail Polish, Julie G "Frosted Gumdrops" Collection & More Colors

While I Worked HARD this Summer,

I was both gifted & bought for Myself

A Few Colorful Treats for the Summer...

The BF treated me to some lovely polishes...

from Rite Aid, two Julie G nail polishes: 

Mermaid's Tale, which is defiantly HAUTE!!!

Dance in the Dark, a beautifully deep blurple duochrome, mostly deep purple on the nail.

from Urban Outfitters:

Clockwise form l-r: Blue Velvet, Mystic, Girrl Like You, and Flip Flop.

The formula on these were smooth, a little thick (but nothing a little polish thinner can't help!). Drying time, is average, not any longer than most brands.  These are my first Urban Outfitter polishes, 

but I must say: the Quality Is There! And I love that they are full size, 0.5 fl oz bottles! And at $5 a bottle, money well spent! 

Thanks papabear!!! 

That said, these Urban outfitters polishes I have are all definitely dupes for other brands. Off hand:

1. UO "Blue Velvet" is a whole lot like SinfulShine "Most Sinful". 
2. UO "Mystic" is a gorgeous red/pink/orange/yellow/green flakie in blue jelly. It's definitely a dupe for Deborah Lippman "Ray of Light." 
3. UO "Girrl Like You" is a dupe for OPI "Mermaid Tears" and Zoya "Bevin." 
4. UO "Flip Flop" is a dupe for China Glaze "Aquadelic," which is EXCELLENT for me, seeing that I broke my CG Aquadelic bottle a few months ago. It fell right out of my hands, and broke at the neck, spraying a stunning aqua blue all over my yellow comforter and light-colored pajama pants. Oh, well! I'm just glad I have a replacement for it, until I actually remember to pick up another CG bottle.

..................................................

At Rite Aid, I bought most of Julie G's Frosted Gumdrops collection...

I'm thinking I have to get the last piece, Crushed Candy, a deep lilac purple. 

I didn't think t would look good on me, but now I totally want my set to be complete. 

Hell, I can ROCK purple!

From left to right: Blueberry Fizz, Rock Candy, Hot Cinnamon, Sugar Rush & Tangerine Dream.

Formula is SO on point with these colors!!! Practically one-coaters. I do two just to amplify the "textured" nature of the polish & deepen the color. I only wish these bottles were at a full-size of 0.5 fl oz. This only comes in 0.325fl oz bottle. But they are Cute as Hell!!!

To me, Sugar Rush is an *ALMOST* dupe for OPI's Liquid Sand in Jinx. But Jinx is SO damn stunning, with it's beautiful color shifting that even this dupe, can't quite make it to the OPI Jinx level.

Livin' & Lovin' Hard, ya'll.

Keep Ya Heads Up, Lovies!!!

Always,

JESS

Water Marbling!

Trying to figure out what to post...suuucks!

Since having my phone stolen, I had NADA to post about. 

I've been trying to fill up my new phone with lots of imagery for ya'll. 

Polish, purses, shoes...OH MY!!! 

Finally, I'm Back & Ready to Attack. 

Sorry I'm so corny. You see, I can't make jokes, but "Corny"... I can do that well.

Let me tell you first what happened to me today. On my way to studio, I stopped in Williamsburg to get a falafel sandwich from this spot I recently started going to. I get to studio, I'm feeling all nestled and ready to eat so I can be productive, so I keep biting into my, what looks like a delicious, falafel sandwich. 

And guess what the hell I just found out? 

I'm eating a falafel sandwich that is 

MISSING ANY HINT of FALAFEL!!!

What the Hell?!!?

I feel so fucking cheated. I can't even describe how let down I am right this minute. 

I have all the extra sauce I wanted, all the radishes, onions, pickles, hummus...EVERYTHING! Everything but what the sandwich is named for: FALAFEl! Where the hell is my main item?

I'm pretty friggin pissed. Of course, I can't go back and say something so I can get me falafel-on. 

The place is over 30 minutes away. Damn it. 

Damn you, Falafel Devil! Damn you!!!

Anywayyyzzzz.....

So I'm sitting here,  not sure what to start with, and now I realize, 

"Hey, I had a cool polish date with my BF earlier this spring. Why not share with my girls out there?!" I mean, right?! 

Ok, so this is my VERY FIRST Water Marble EVERRRRRR!!!

Please me kind...it's my first time. 

LOL That line can NEVER get Old. 

My sweet, sweet papabear and I decided one night, back in March, to paint my nails. He wanted to pick out the colors and have fun with me. So I proposed we try water marbling, as I had never done it before, it would be TOO awesome to get him to do it. He said YES immediately! Hmmm...ok. LOL That took NO effort. I wonder...

We pulled out a bunch of my polishes, all creams, and some A-England holographs. For all the marbles, we used various combinations of China Glaze, Color Club, Essie, Julep, A-England, and Butter London. First, we watched a couple YouTube videos, then we began.

Our first attempt...came out really well. The design was simple, but it came out great. How the hell do you get the water bubbles off the nail bed with out ruining the water-marble? The bubbles dry and leave spots in the design. SUCKS! Anyone have any advice for me, please?! 

Papabear did this one. He pretty much made all the water marbles. He was so excited, as was I. We had a MAJOR blast while bonding and acting the fool. He was getting kinda hard on himself a few times, because we weren't getting pretty pieces, the water was all wrong (took us a looong time to figure that out! LOL), and he was being an annoying perfectionist. But in the end, what the heck! It's all GOOD, Baba-babay!!!

This design was SO BEAUTIFUL! I plunged my finger in the water, hoping I got a nice placement. As I pulled my finger out, I realized, I had forgotten to clean up the pigment on the water's surface. Silly girl. It dragged right over our pretty decal. DAMN. I tried to clean it up (see below), but obviously it wasn't working. You really have to practice the craft of water-marbling to really do it flawlessly. 

Above, papabear is already getting onto the next water-marble while I'm trying to clean up this finger. Speedy Gonzalez! Then we learned, you can't let it sit too long. So that one was scratched from the photo album! And so did the one below. We gotta learn to move faster or slow down the pace at which we move on to each nail.

This one was sweeeet!!! 

 Rasta-Child 

Papabear was helping me take off the tape we used as borders, 

so as not to get the polish all over my fingers. We learned that one the hard way! 

Quickly learning the better ways to pull out of the container when I've gotten the pattern on the nail bed. 

Still have a lot to learn about aiming properly.

Double Dipping Time!!!

 This pattern was SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Getting better at cleaning up my nail beds after getting the image down! YAY!

We totally fudged up the last few fingers. We were getting restless and annoyed. It was like 2am or something. That's how I roll...2am manicures all the Way, Every Day! Used to be the only time I was able to get a mani done--while everyone else was asleep.

The FINAL Results!

Not TOO Shabby! 

I wore this crazy, hot-mess manicure for quite a few days! 

I was OWNING it!!!

#Shameless

I think this week I will try it again. 

I'd forgotten how much fun this is.

See You Next Time!!!

*MUAH*