What's the Rage about Orly's Rage?

Ok I know the title is punny, but I find it appropriate.  I have seen so much talk on the internet beauty community about Orly's nail polish in Rage.  It is one of the "hot" colors for spring and summer.  This polish actually came out in Spring 2010 with their Foil FX collection.  This was sort of Orly's answer to the Minx manicure.  There were three polishes, gold, silver, and rose gold, all with a foil metallic finish.  I think Rage has stayed so popular because it is a rose gold, which is way more difficult to come across than gold or silver.  I personally favor rose gold over the other two even in jewelry, so I had to check this one out myself.

Below I swatched the polish between a true gold and silver foil polish.  From bottom to top: Julep Sienna (gold), Orly Rage (rose gold), and L.A. Colors Color Craze in Live (silver).  I wanted you to see a better idea of how it really is a rose gold.

The nice thing about rose gold polish is that it really is appropriate for any season, and it complements so many different skin tones.  This polish is one that pictures do no justice to.  When you see it in person, it just glows, especially in sunlight.  It almost makes you look a little more tan, even if you are fair like me!  It is very opaque even in one coat, but I always do two because I'm like that.  Above, each polish is two coats on the nail wheel. 

I hope you get to check this polish out.  I buy my Orly at Sally's Beauty Supply, but it can be found at most drugstores now. 

Thanks for reading!

Magnetic Nail Polish

Have you seen or tried the fairly recent trend of magnetic nail polish?  If you aren't familiar with it, the polish has small magnetic particles in it, so that when a special magnet is held over wet polish, it creates designs.  Well, it always intrigued me when looking at swatches online, but for a while it was pretty hard to come by.  Now, several companies have them in the states, as well as more affordable versions than before.  I have two different brands, and probably the only two I will have, Julep and Claire's Magnetix polish.  The swatch I have today is for the Julep brand polish, which I received in my Julep maven box this month.  The name is Kylie, and it is a pretty plum purple on its own, but has silver magnetic particles when used with a magnet.

Overall, I am pleased with the look of the polish.  It is exactly what I expected, but I feel like I am already over it. One problem I had with the Julep brand polish though, is that the magnet it comes with is terrible and does not work.  I used my Claire's polish magnet with the Julep polish and it worked just fine. 

The effect on the nails does look much cooler in person, as opposed to pictures.  If you are looking for a magnetic polish, you can get several brands now at the drugstore.  Check out your local Sally's Beauty Supply for a China Glaze or Fingerpaints one, or I know I have seen a new brand at Rite-Aid.  Application is very simple, and easy to do.  Just make sure you follow directions and you'll get the results you want!

Hope you enjoyed and at least get to try this trend out yourself!

**Strawberry Nail Art Tutorial**

I wanted something fun for this warmer weather, and so I thought I would share this strawberry nail tutorial with you.  It's pretty basic, simple, and great for short nails. Hope you enjoy!

Step 1: Paint all nails red (I used Essie's Really Red, my all time favorite red polish)

Step 2: Paint a green tip on your nail.  It doesn't have to be perfect, because the edge will be covered up in the next step anyway. (I used Sinful Colors in Innocent, an opaque lime green)

Step 3: Using a small paintbrush, nail art brush, or even the very edge of the nail polish brush, create small vees at the edge where the green meets red. Again, this doesn't have to be perfect, because strawberry leaves are not perfect! I did them in varying lengths as well.

Step 4: Either using the same paintbrush, or even a toothpick this time, make small dots using a yellow polish (white works also) for the seeds. You don't really want them perfectly round, so you don't have to be so precise here either. (I used China Glaze Lemon Fizz as the yellow)

Step 5: After everything is dry to the touch, paint a clear topcoat over your nails.  You want to make sure everything is already dry or you will smear your design, as I did on some of my nails. Oops! I used Revlon's Quick Dry Top Coat, a new favorite of mine.

Now you're good to go for summer and I hope you enjoyed!

OPI's Kiss Me On My Tulips

I have a swatch for you today from OPI's Holland Collection.  This particular color is called Kiss Me On My Tulips!  I know OPI names can be corny, but I like that because, well...I'm corny! I have a few more colors from the collection that I will be swatching later as well.

This color is a hot pink creme.  That seems pretty ordinary to say, and while the color is not that unique, the application is fantastic.  I haven't worn regular hot pink nail polish in a long time and most of mine have now become a little gunky.  I tried this on on though and remembered why I used to wear hot pink polish all the time!  It is so pretty, and the formula was so cooperative that this could have be worn with just one coat of polish.  It was opaque, there was no streaking, it dried quickly, and it wasn't too thick or too runny.  I have the mini OPI bottle of this, and these bottles have a very tiny brush, so sometimes application can be a little more difficult than with their full size pro-wide brush.  However, this was not a problem, so I can just imagine that between the great formula and a full size brush, it would be even more flawless.  If you are looking for a great hot pink shade for the summer, I really recommend checking this one out!

Feelin' A Summer Manicure!

After painting my daughter's toes a neon color yesterday I decided I needed some summery neon nails myself.  I used the same polish as I did for my daughter, China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy!  This was from their poolside collection about 2 years ago I believe.  I then went for a bathing suit inspired idea on my ring finger, and while my nails do remind me of a bathing suit, I think they also remind me of the 80's! Either way, it is bright and summery :-) At least my nails are bright even if it is gloomy outside.

For the ring finger I just used Essie's Blanc (a basic white) as a base color and then did the striping with some L.A. Color's Nail Art polishes. 

So, if you're feeling a little longing for bright summer days, pull out some crazy nail polish and bring it to yourself early!

Lisa Frank Inspired Manicure

 I was playing around with some colors and thought it kind of reminded me of Lisa Frank stuff that I used to have in grade school.  So I show the different steps above in the order you do them for this manicure. Basically pick a few colors that you like together and keep layering them on top of each other, starting each one out a little further up the nail.  It doesn't have to be perfect and even, and really you don't want it to because it adds to the look.  After all of your colors are layered and completely dry, put a coat of a shatter nail polish over top.  If you don't have a shatter polish, you can use a little nail art brush to make little lines with nail polish that have the same effect.  The shatter polish is just a much quicker way to get that look!  The products used are listed below:

China Glaze Kinetic Candy (blue)
China Glaze Lemon Fizz (yellow)
Essie Infatuation (pink)
Sinful Colors Let's Talk (purple)
China Glaze Lightning Bolt (white shatter)

This look also looks great with neon colors underneath and black shatter over the top!  You can also layer the colors a little less "symmetrical" than I did and it can create a sort of tie dyed look.  Thanks for viewing!

Awesome K-Mart Clearance

If you like Sally Hansen nail products, run to your K-Mart right now and check for clearance!  I passed by the beauty department on my way to the register and noticed some clear tote like bins sitting on a shelf and there were nail polishes in them with clearance stickers, so of course I stopped to look.  They were all Sally Hansen products for super cheap!  I got the following items for a great deal:

Insta-Dry in Teal-y Fast: Originally $4.99 on clearance $1.23
Diamond Strength Nail Color in Pink Proposal and Rose Amore: Originally $4.69 on clearance $1.17
Salon Effects Nail Strips in Squeezed, Groove, Violet Night, and Red-y for Trouble: Originally $9.49 and on clearance (WAIT FOR IT)  for .80, that's right, just eighty cents!
Broadway Nail Dress Stickers: Originally $5.49 on clearance $1.37

I was most excited about the nail strips because I've heard people rave about them, but come on, $9 to get one manicure out of them?  I would rather put that toward a regular manicure at the salon.  I will gladly try them out for eighty cents though :-) I am super happy about my find and hope you can find some great deals at your local store!

Spring/Summer Manicure

So since the weather has been decent for a few days, I was starting to get into that spring/summer mood.  I decided I needed a brighter manicure.  I went searching through my stash to find a good pink since hot pink is always a good go to color.  I decided on Revlon's Pink Freeze.  It is a hot pink frost, which I typically stay away from, but this particular one is a good formula.  I then decided to throw on some Claire's nail polish in Candy Shop on top of Pink Freeze for the ring finger and thumb.  This polish is an exact dupe for the heavily sought after (and expensive) Deborah Lippman Candy Shop nail polish.  I was gonna leave it at that, but decided to play around with my nail stamping kit.  I used Pure Ice polish in Silver Mercedes to stamp with, and threw some little white dots onto the middle of the flowers.  I think the silver on top of a metallic pink was a little hard to see, so I'm gonna try the silver over a darker color next.  But the manicure is definitely bright and happy like I wanted!

Also on a side note, my cuticles are a hot mess, since I have insanely dry skin always....and if anyone has a recommendation for a great cuticle cream or oil I'd love to know.  I'd like to find one that really works and could use some ideas!

Enjoy and have a bright happy day :-)

My Charm Bracelet

So I have always loved charm bracelets because I think they are a fun way to create a personalized piece of jewelry. It's also nice because other people can contribute to that piece and it makes it mean more! My parents started a Brighton charm bracelet for me about 3 years ago when I graduated college and it is finally finished after this birthday!



So this is the finished product with a mix of beads and charms from my parents, my in-laws, and my husband. I'm really excited that this one is full, and now I can start working on my other one which I'll show below:














This charm is so stinking cute! It was their Box of Chocolates Charm that my husband got me for Valentine's Day. I didn't think there would be a better thing than a box of actual chocolates, but jewelry chocolates might be it. The charm opens up as seen on the right to reveal little enameled chocolates :-) So cute!

I think these are a great idea to get someone as a gift as well as for yourself. If you go to http://www.brighton.com/ you can play around on their "charm builder" and build your own bracelet! I warn you though, it can get very addicting!

Today's Manicure

I've been gone from here for so long and decided it's time I get this thing properly going! So I am starting back today with my current manicure. I have so much nail polish that I have decided to start "shopping my stash" and using polishes that are just sitting in there all lonely :-( I do my nails at least every other day, if not every day....I know that is sad, but it's my thing!

Sinful Colors Winterberry, Julep Sienna, OPI Rainbow Connection

So I apologize for my nails being super short and unattractive, but I just took some gel nails off, and my nails are screwed up at the moment so I cut them all down. On my nails I am wearing Nail Magic as a base coat, then three coats of Sinful Colors Winterberry (the purple one) on all nails except the ring finger. On my accent nail I have two coats of Julep Sienna (gold) and topped it with a coat of OPI's Rainbow Connection (glitter) from the Muppet's Collection. I personally like the accent nail since it gives me a chance to use more than one of my polishes, but I know it's not everyone's thing! I finished everything off with a coat of Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat to seal the deal :-)

Hope you enjoy!