Pokemon Challenge: Ground Type

 Hey everyone! I am so, so late with this one so I'll make this short and sweet. I've been working a lot and I've been exhausted and just unmotivated in general. But I finally got this mani done! This week's theme in the Pokemon Challenge was Ground Type. I chose to paint Cubone and Marowak.

I was pretty happy with how these turned out! Cubone turned out better than Marowak, though. I used Nina Ultra Pro Beige-a-Vu for the base on most of the nails, and Sinful Colors Sweet Tooth for the two accents' background. I mixed two colors for the bodies (Wet n Wild Private Viewing and SC Unicorn), which is why they turned out different colors - oops! I used black and white striping brushes for everything else. Two coats of HK Girl topcoat.

Thanks for looking, and I'd love it if you let me know what you think! And be sure to check out everyone else's Ground nails! :)

Let it Snow Challenge: Day 15 - Longing for Summer

Good morning! I hope you are all doing well on this beautiful Sunday! I'm just super excited because I see SUN and it's going to be in the 50's in Ohio today. :)

So, how fitting that this week's theme is Longing for Summer! I totally am - I love summer! I wanted to do something using the dried flowers I got from Born Pretty Store, and something bright and fun to represent summer. 

I used Sation - Chatty Catty as a base (I don't really understand the name...). It's a lovely neon coral creme that dried to almost a matte finish. This is the second polish I've tried from Sation and my experiences were night and day. The first one I used was a navy blue that was watery, thin, and stained horribly. This one was a dream! Application was smooth and easy, and it was opaque in 2 coats. Then, I applied my topcoat (HK Girl) and went nail by nail applying a flower while it was still wet. I very lightly pushed down the edges of the flowers using the back end of my tweezers.

I was not at all happy with how my thumb turned out, which is why you get more pictures of just the four nails. I tried overlapping some of the bigger dried flower pieces, and they refused to lay flat and just fought me. Any tricks for working with these types of the dried flowers?? I'm open to suggestions haha! I just love how the other four nails turned out, I wish I could figure out those big ones!

As always, thanks for looking, and I'd love to hear your thoughts below! <3
Kelly

Jindie Nails - Tried & True

Hi guys! Today I have a swatch post for you from a couple weeks back, which I believe was the last time I did a full mani! When I had a couple breaks, I decided to paint my nails with a pretty color to leave one for a while when I was trying to grow them back out. I had no intentions of getting photos due to the length, I just wanted a pretty color to wear to work, etc. However! Once I got this on, it yelled at me, "I'm too gorgeous not to share!" So, I took several photos of Tried and True made by the amazing Jen of Jindie Nails! Check it out :)

Surprise, surprise, right?? A white crelly! Haha, I've come to realize they are my obsession. I layered this one over Milani White on the Spot, and I used 2 coats of Tried and True. I think 2 coats over white are best for conserving polish and showing depth with the glitters.

This next one was in direct sunlight. I really liked how certain colors of the glitter really popped when shown in the sun!

This is definitely one of my favorite Jindie Nails polishes by far. It's kind of similar to Burrrberry, which was my favorite of the Winter Chic collex, so this comes as no surprise to me! What do you think of this one? Do you share my obsession with white crellies? I'd love to hear below <3

Kelly

Lasers!

Hello lovelies! Today in Ohio, most everyone is snowed in and everything is closed down...yet I will still be going to work! Unfortunately for me, shelters don't close - ever - so we don't get snow days. So, I'm up and moving, getting ready for work, and I thought I'd post a mani from my Drafts folder. This one has just been waiting patiently to get shown off. Lately, this winter weather has been really bringing me down, so this mani is perfect for lifting my spirits! I used bright neons and a holographic accent to create lasers! :)

For this mani, I used all polishes sent to me by my wonderful friend Sharra of The Blahg! Sharra and I did a swap, and she sent me a TON of polishes from Essence and GOSH, that we don't have here. Here's the first step of the mani I came up with.

This is Essence L.O.L. and GOSH Holographic Hero. Holy cow, the holo in this is strong. These pictures weren't even taken in sunlight!! (Because there wasn't any)

Then, I used striping tape to create "laser" patterns and painted over the green with Essence Let's Get Lost. I LOVE how it turned out!!

What do you think of this mani? I felt like it was super fun and the perfect cure for the blah winter weather!! I'd love to hear your thoughts below <3

Kelly

Model City Polish: Spring Collection

Guys. OMG guys. I can't contain my excitement today - I am finally ready to show you some more amazing polishes from Model City!! I don't know about you all, but I am extremely tired of winter and equally tired of wearing wintery polishes and manis on my nails. Enter Nina, the fabulous creator of Model City Polish, who read my mind and released 5 beautiful PASTEL holos for spring!! These polishes felt like exactly what I needed lately, something bright and shiny to lift me out of the winter blues. The only problem was waiting for a day where the sun came out in Ohio so I could get pictures! (Sorry about the cat hair on the bottle haha!)

Model City Polish: Spring Collection

L to R: Anti Establish Mint, I Lilac What You Did There, Orange You Just Peachy, Blue Me Away, and Pretty in Pink

To save time, I'll talk about the formula first, since it was pretty much the same for all. The formula is pretty sheer, so I used 3 coats to get full opacity and be sure there was no VNL. I noticed that the holographic effect is stronger when you don't use topcoat, but with Anti Establish Mint and Orange You Just Peachy, which were the first two I swatched, I didn't know that yet so those two are shown with 1 coat of Poshe. No issues with formula at all, all polishes applied smoothly and easily, with an average dry time. All photos were taken in natural, direct sunlight.

First up is Anti Establish Mint. It's a lovely light mint green holo. This is 3 coats with topcoat.

Next is I Lilac What You Did There (I just love these names)! It's a soft pastel lavender holo. 3 coats, no topcoat.

From the moment I saw it on Nina's site, I knew I was going to love Orange You Just Peachy. Orange is my favorite color, and it's just such an interesting shade - I loved it! So, I kinda had a hard time narrowing down photos, haha! This one is a nude-toned creamy sherbet-y orange holo! I'm not great a descriptions, so just look - this is 3 coats with Poshe topcoat.

Next is Blue Me Away, a beautiful baby blue holo. 3 coats without topcoat.

Lastly, and the one with the strongest holo in my opinion, Pretty in Pink! It's a soft berry-toned pink holo. 3 coats without topcoat.

I also did a quick skittle with all 5 colors after I swatched each one individually - it felt very festive and springy!

This collection is truly wonderful! The perfect cure for the Winter Blues. I mean, who doesn't love holos? But it's not every day that you see PASTEL holos. Nina is truly an artist and her prices are super reasonable on top of that. She's also got great customer service, and she usually throws in candy with your order! This time I got a Jolly Rancher lollipop, which got devoured almost immediately haha...
Model City Polishes retail for $8 for a full size, and $4 for a mini size. Make sure you favorite her Etsy shop and follow her on Facebook to keep up to date on restocks and new shades!!

Model City Polish on Etsy
Model City Polish on Facebook

I'd love to hear your thoughts below! <3
Kelly

These products were provided for review. This does not affect my opinion of the products, and the above review is a reflection of my honest thoughts and opinions. For more information, please see my Disclosure Statement.

Pokemon Challenge: Electric Type

Hi again! Sorry to spam you with posts tonight, but I had to catch up on Challenge posts for the week! This week's Pokemon theme was Electric type, and I chose to paint Electabuzz!

My index finger smudged a bit when I added topcoat, so I tried to go back in with the yellow and cover it up, but it didn't really work lol. The polishes I used are: Sally Hansen Lightening, a black nail art striper from Cherimoya, and the background on my middle finger is Orly Decades of Dysfunction. I topped with 2 coats of HK Girl.

I really liked this mani! If I took off the Electabuzz accent, I would totally wear a look like this just for fun, it's like tiger stripes! I got a lot of compliments on it last night at work :) You gotta love getting asked if your nails are "those strip things"! What do you think of these?
Don't forget to check out everyone else's nails for Electric week! <3
Kelly

Let it Snow Challenge: Day 14 - Winter Blues

Hey guys, I'm super behind on posts, so this will be a quick one. For the Winter Blues theme, I wanted to do some subtle stamping. I have to admit, I'm not too happy with this one! The stamping ended up being more subtle than I wanted and the blue polish I used flooded a bit and stained my cuticles like crazy! Anyway, here's what I came up with for Winter Blues.

I used my Bundle Monster plates to do this look (not sure which number at the moment, sorry!) because I thought it looked like ice. I used Sally Hansen Blue-By, and Co-Bolt Blue. Topped off with 1 coat of HK Girl.

What do you think of this mani? Do you have a case of the Winter Blues?? I definitely do - hurry up spring!
Kelly