Nail Challenge Collaborative: Animals #4 (Hippos!)

Hey everyone, happy Saturday! I've got my fourth animal-themed look since today is the last day of the month. So, yet again, I made it in just under the wire! :) 

I saved my favorite animal look for last. I found the inspiration on a Google search and I fell in love with the idea...and I think it came out so adorable! Have a look at my hippo nails! :)

The inspiration mani I saw used just one color, but I wanted to add a bit more variety. These remind me of Hungry Hungry Hippos haha! I just love their big googly eyes, they're so cute!

These were actually super easy to do. I forgot to note which colors I used, but I know I used all Sinful Colors, and you really could do any colors. You just need 4 basic colors, a light and dark version of each, and then black and white. I just used the brush that came in the polish bottle, and a dotting tool for the smaller dots. I topped it off with HK Girl. :)

I got a lot of compliments on these! I wore them for several days, I really didn't want to take them off to do my next animal mani lol. I don't have a particular affinity for hippos, but these nails made me like them a lot more!

I have really enjoyed this month's theme, it's been a lot of fun! I think everyone has come up with some awesome ideas, and it's been really cool to see all the creativity.

Don't forget to go and see what everyone else created for this last look, and check back to see next month's theme - Inspired by Fashion!

Thanks for looking! <3
Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Review: Firmoo Glasses!

*Press sample*

Hey everyone! Today I have a non-polish-related post for you today. A while back, I reviewed a fun pair of glasses from Firmoo, and I was recently contacted to do another review. The glasses I received the first time were such great quality, of course I said yes! This time, I wanted to try something a little different, so you will have to let me know what you think! ;)

First thing I noticed was the great packaging that the glasses came in. First they were in this sleeve. It feels very durable and would be great for travel if you have a couple pairs that you switch between.

Inside, I found a little Ziploc bag with a tiny screwdriver for when those screws get loose, (which seems to happen to me all the time with my old glasses!) along with some extra screws and some replacement nose pieces. I thought this was a great extra touch! I like that the screwdriver has a keyring so you never lose it. :)

I received the same great case I got last time. The case is made of a textured, leathery feeling material. It's very sturdy, and I love the map design!

Inside the case, my glasses were folded in this great cleaning cloth. If you're like me, you can never have too many of these! I feel like I'm alway losing them lol. I like that this one is large - I've included the case for scale - and it's super soft.

 And - here is the first look at my glasses in the case. I ordered #OMJ6509(3). They have a titanium frame, which is very different from my usual. I've had thick plastic frames for as long as I can remember. I was thinking I wanted to try something lighter, so I went for a metal frame. What was cool is I could virtually try them on using a photo I uploaded to Firmoo's website, so I was able to pick a frame that I knew would look nice and wouldn't be too big, small, or the wrong shape for my face.

I knew these frames were going to be lighter than what I was used to, but they are honestly so lightweight, it's amazing! And, I feel like I can see more of the world haha. With the thick frames I wore before, I always saw that thick square. With these, it's hardly noticeable that I'm wearing glasses at all! And they're so light, I don't even feel them. It's a really nice change.

And of course, I had to take some selfies! I really love how these looked on. To me, they feel very grown-up and professional. I'm sure I'll always have a pair of plastic frames around cause it's my comfort zone, but I do really like how these look and I feel great in them. I think I might even wear these ones for my wedding day! :)

I am so glad I got the opportunity to work with Firmoo again! It really gave me a chance to try something new, that I may not have ventured to try otherwise, and I'm so happy I did. I love these glasses. They are amazing quality, lightweight, and the anti-glare coating honestly makes me forget I'm wearing glasses. There are SO many styles to choose from on the Firmoo website, and the virtual try on feature makes it simple to choose a frame that fits your face. I know personally, my insurance only covers one pair of glasses a year, and even with my coverage, it's not cheap. And sometimes, you want more than just one pair! Firmoo offers a great experience from the comfort of home and for extremely reasonable prices - and fast shipping!! They also have sunglasses too, which is nice. All you need is your prescription, which you can get from the eye doctor that you visited most recently. It's super easy to fill in the blanks and input your prescription. I will definitely be ordering from Firmoo in the future! I am going to need some prescription sunglasses this summer for sure! :)

Be sure to check out the Firmoo website and shop around, and thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

The products in this post were provided to me in exchange for my review. This review reflects my full and honest opinions of these products. Please see my Disclosure Statement for more information.

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Animals #3 (Sloths)

Hi loves, I've got another fun animal look for you today! As soon as I heard that this month's theme would be animals, I knew I had to try my favorite animal - a sloth! 

I don't know when I fell in love with sloths. It was sometime during grad school when my friends and I realized how lazy and sloth-like we were during the weekends after being mega-stressed all week with school. At some point, there was a sloth documentary on Animal Planet and we all fell in love with the sickly baby sloths wearing onesies. It was history from there! I still want a sloth. My dream vacation would be to visit that sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica!

Anyway, here is my sloth mani! :)

This was another mani idea I borrowed from Google image search. It's great for inspiration when you have a vague idea of what you want to do (i.e. animals). I used Essie Yogaga for the base on the first two nails and the sloth body on the pinky. The green is Zoya Josie, the brown on the eyes is China Glaze Mahogany Magic, and the white is Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

I wasn't super thrilled with how this turned out, the nail art I used as inspiration looked much better. I think they're cute, but it's one of those practice makes perfect looks. If I tried it again, I'm convinced my sloth faces would look less derpy haha. It's still cute though! :)

What do you think of this look? I think I could have executed it better but I still love it better because SLOTHS! <3

Be sure to check out everyone else's Week 3 look below!

Thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Animals #2 (Whale!)

Hi everyone! I'm back again with another animal-themed nail art look for you today! I was just browsing around Google for some cute ideas, and I happened upon this adorable whale mani done by The Little Canvas. You can see her original post here!

And, here's my attempt! :)

I used Essie Butler Please for the end two nails, the anchor, and for the water on the accent. The gold glitter is China Glaze I'm Not Lion, and I striped over it using my Stripe Rite striper in white. The sky color is NYC Skyline Blue, and the grey for the whale is Sinful Colors Cool Gray. I used HK Girl topcoat.

I thought the little whale turned out really cute! I love his little grin haha. And Butler Please is such a stunning blue. It's so vibrant!

I thought this was a really fun mani, and I was so glad I saw Alaina's initial look for inspiration! If you don't already, be sure to follow The Little Canvas. Her nail art is amazing!

And, don't forget to check out the other Nail Challenge Collaborative member's looks for this week!

Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Animals #1 (Cats)

Hello everyone! Well, here we are at the end of the month, so you know the drill by now - I've got my Nail Challenge Collaborative looks for you - better late than never, as usual! :)

This month's theme was animals and I was super excited about that! The only problem was narrowing down which 4 animals I wanted to recreate, there were so many ideas floating around in my head. 

I decided to start off this theme with something simple, an animal that is very close to my heart - black cats! I am a proud crazy cat lady and I have a beautiful black kitty named Trixie, so I was excited to recreate her likeness on my nails! :)

I saw a mani like his on a Google search, but it was MUCH more realistic and I wasn't sure I could do that, so I chose to make my little peeking kittens a bit more cartoonish. I think they turned out really cute! I had the hardest time trying to find a color that matched Trixie's eyes, so I ended up going with OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, because even though Trixie's eyes are gold, they have green rings in the middle, so I figured Just Spotted the Lizard was a fun mix of the two!

I painted on the black cat tips over base coated nails, but the accent color I chose almost matched my naked nail color, so you can't tell lol! I used Loreal Doutzen's Nude for the accent, which is one of the polishes I got the other week at Rite Aid on clearance for 1.49! I loved these neutral shades, they're perfect for work.

What do you think of my black cat nails? I thought they were super cute, and reminded me of Trixie every time I looked at them at work! :)

Don't forget to check out the other ladies' animal-inspired looks for Week 1!

Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Pink Skittle with Shimmer Polish Wendy

Hi all! Another quick post for you today. I'm clearing out the vault while I work on upcoming Mentality swatches for you guys. :)

This one was just a fun random mani I came up with on the fly because I wanted to use these new charms I bought for like, a dime on Amazon last year!

I can't remember all of what I bought now, but you got thousands of little rhinestones, stickers and little nail art accents and they were selling for 10 cents per lot. I also got a TON of striping tape during that sale. It was awesome! I chose a fun bright pink, I believe it was Sally Hansen Fast Fuchsia, and then I added an accent of Shimmer Polish Wendy, which is my favorite Shimmer! As you can see, I smudged the label with some acetone lol. Oh well!

While my topcoat was still wet, I stuck in some various nail art accents and then let it dry. This wasn't the most practical mani, because I'm sure the stars would catch on things and pop off, but it did last me for an afternoon before I took it off to swatch something else haha. I thought it was a fun look! Could be a date night or a party mani. :)

Wendy seriously never ceases to amaze me! I love all the different colors, and the sparkle in the sun is to die for.

Do you have a favorite Shimmer? I'd love to hear below! <3

Kelly

Loreal: Sexy in Sequins and Too Dimensional

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I've been settling into my new job and haven't had a ton of extra time for posting. After this coming week, I'll be into my new schedule and will start developing a routine and hopefully my blogging schedule will get better.

Today I've got some swatches to share with you! These are from Loreal's textured collection, which I think is really a stunning collection. I love all the polishes I've tried of these. :) First up is Sexy in Sequins. Here is 2 coats without topcoat to show the textured look.

And here I've added a coat of a thick topcoat like Seche Vite to show the stunning depth of this polish when it's glossy! :)

Next up today is Too Dimensional. Here I've shown 2 coats sans topcoat to show off the gorgeous textured sparkle!

And here it is with topcoat. I love how squishy it looks! :)

I really like these two, and the others I've tried from the collection. I can't wait to try the rest! :)

Thanks for looking! <3
Kelly

Valentine's Day Challenge: Love and Kisses

Hi everyone, Happy Valentine's Day!! I'm almost out of time today so I have to make this quick. Tonight I have the final nail art look for the Valentine's Day Challenge to share with you. Today's theme is Love and Kisses. I really liked how this look turned out. :)

I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff and then stamped using various plates. I used Sally Hansen Presto Pink for the index finger, Zoya Sooki for the middle, and Sally Hansen Sonic Bloom on the pinky. The accent nail is topped with Sinful Colors Love Sprinkles! :)

I loved how the different designs stood apart from each other but also mesh together as well. A perfect representation of the holiday, in my opinion! :)

Love Sprinkles is a really great polish, too - it's the first one I've seen Sinful come out with that had heart glitters, and it's really soft and feminine! Very pretty :)

I hope you all enjoyed the looks I've done for this challenge, I've had a lot of fun with it and hope to participate in more challenges in the future. Now, one last time - be sure to have a look at what the other girls came up with for today. I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!! <3

Thanks for looking! <3
Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine's Day Challenge: Roses

Hi everyone, happy Wednesday! Today was my second day of my new job, and I am LOVING it! I'm so happy and in a great mood, even though while I'm training, I'm on first shift hours and am struggling with that haha.

Today, I've got the next nail art look for the Valentine's Day Challenge! The theme is Roses.

I started out with a Valentine's colored gradient - pink to red. I used Zoya Dot, Sinful Colors Pink Forever, and Zoya Sooki. I added a coat of HK Girl topcoat before stamping using Sinful Colors Black on Black, and a variety of plates, including MoYou Mother Nature for the outside two nails. I can't recall the middle two at the moment, but I know one is Bundle Monster.

I tried a new technique at stamping this time, after reading something online. Instead of rolling the stamp over my nail, I pushed my nail straight down into the stamp. I did get a fuller image transfer, but I don't like the way the polish spread out and is patchy in places. I think I'll go back to rolling :)

I loved how this gradient looked! I think the black stamped images over it came out really striking. I love the variety of all the different roses. I loved them all, so I just decided, why choose just one? :)

Overall, I thought this was a really fun and cute look for this day's theme! And, it was super easy. :)

Be sure to check out the other ladies' looks at the links below. Thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine's Day Challenge: Red Passion

Hey everyone! I'm running a bit late today with my post, but I am here with the next installment in the Valentine's Day challenge. Today's theme is Red Passion! :)

I wasn't sure exactly how to make this theme translate onto the nails, so I just reached for the first polish that came to mind when I thought of Red Passion, and went from there! This is what I came up with. :) 

I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps and then did some subtle/abstract black stamping with one of my Vivid Lacquer plates. In the process, I realized I did not have a full size bottle of Ruby Pumps! I swore I did! I guess I only have the little mini one I got from Sally's one Christmas. I am going to have to fix that soon, though for all the fuss people make about it, it was a little sheer. Regardless, still gorgeous and SO sparkly - perfect for Red Passion! I topped it all off with HK Girl (obviously).

When taking photos, it was driving me nuts that the glare on the nails was obscuring the stamping. I had intended the stamping to be somewhat subtle and faint, but not totally indiscernible! So, I had an idea - matte it! :) I went in with Butter London's matte topcoat and absolutely LOVED the result. :)

Even though it didn't help the stamping design show up much clearer, I love the look of this matted! It seems very appropriate for red passion haha ;)

Before I matted this, I also tried snapping one shot with flash to help the stamping show up a bit better.

I really liked how this look turned out. Even though nothing came to mind right away when I thought of red passion, I think along the way, this mani really turned into something I felt was very fitting for the theme. I find that sometimes, with nail art, you just have to start working with no real plan for where it's going and just see where it takes you! I think it definitely worked this time. :)

As always, check out the other ladies work for today's theme, and thanks for stopping by! <3

Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine's Day Challenge: Glitter Hearts

Hi everyone! I've got my next look for the Valentine's Day Challenge to show you today. This has been really fun so far! I'm enjoying pushing myself and trying new things. :)

That being said, I'm pretty disappointed with this look haha! I had this awesome idea in my head for today's theme, Glitter Hearts, and it just did not translate well on the nails. I wish I had some heart shaped nail vinyls or something, but this is what I came up with using the tools I had on hand. :)

I knew I wanted to use textured polishes in this mani, because even topcoated, textures make the most eye-popping glitters I think! So, I reached for some of my Zoya Pixie Dusts in shades reminiscent of Valentines Day. I used, from left to right, Cosmo, Lux, Arlo, and Arianna. I topped those off with Gelous and then HK Girl. Once that was dry, I cut some makeshift heart decals out of some old nail stickers (that did not work well at all haha) and painted over it with Sinful Colors Black on Black, and then peeled off the decals. I added another coat of HK Girl to seal it all in.

I attemped this first by freehanding the hearts using a striper, and it was a mess! So I removed it all and started from scratch. When my decals didn't work as well as I'd wanted, I was NOT going to start all over again haha, so this is my final look. I do wish it had turned out a bit smoother, but its not the worst! I still love how pretty the glitters look peeking through the black layer! :)

Though it wasn't perfect, I do love how those Pixie Dusts sparkle and shine! I'm so sad they are going away, though I do agree that the newer Pixie Dusts have a kind of weird formula. They're not that textured and not very matte. When they were like Cosmo and Lux, they were stunning! I would have loved more of those! :)

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to have a look at what the other girls created! <3

Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Valentine's Day Challenge - Soft Pink

Hi guys! I've got my Day 2 look for the Valentine's Day Challenge just in time! I have had a terrible migraine for the past few days and could not do anything except sleeping and whining in a very dark bedroom haha! Today I broke down and went to the doctor's, got two very painful shots in quite an awkward location, and am feeling just about functional again. So, I quickly put my Day 2 look together and got the photos edited just in time - phew!

This day's theme is Soft Pink. I knew I wanted to do something with stamping, and this is what I ended up with! :)

I started with a base of China Glaze Go Go Pink, which was the first polish that came to mind when I thought of "soft pink." I stamped using Bundle Monster plate 317 and Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. Then I added two coats of OPI Let's Do Anything We Want for an accent. I love this mani!

I really think this look came out looking very soft, perfect for this theme and perfect for Valentine's Day! And, it took me all of 10 minutes to finish it - super simple! I used HK Girl to top it off. :)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this mani! And, as always, be sure to check out the other ladies creations for today's theme! :)

Thanks for reading! <3
Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up