Missing!

You guys! I am really SO sad! I know that I haven't blogged since school started, and I seriously miss it and all of you.  College has just taken such a toll on me!  My nails are still there, I'm still buying polish, and I still paint them-but not nearly as much as I was able to before.  Anyways, I just wanted to give y'all an update to let y'all know that I haven't forgotten about my blog! I will be back! Hopefully soon!

 

Love y'all! XOXO

-Victoria

 

I just had to post this little bonus pic. I have already gotten so much crap about it on facebook from my friends, so I thought I would share it with y'all. This was me and my brother when I was about to leave home to move in at college...can you say BABY?! Haha.  

 

 

Did You Know About Didgeridoo?

Hey y'all!  I don't feel right to post about my OPI Germany Collection haul just yet because I don't have all of the pictures I would like and what not.  So I'll hold off on that for now.  Instead, I'm posting about a retired OPI color from the 2007 Australian Collection.  (At least I think that's the right year..I tried doing some good blogger research.)  The color is called Didgeridoo Your Nails?  I don't think I ever would have known about this color if it wasn't for the OPI App that I have on my iPhone.  It is a REALLY awesome app. in the fact that it has a tab that lists the entire collection of OPI!  And I mean EVERY color they've ever released.  And listed next to the name is whether it's retired or not.  So, I scrolled down the list and wrote down every single retired color so that I could later google some and see if I could still purchase them.  I've been able to purchase several retired colors from amazon.com-one of them being Didgeridoo Your Nails?  It is a really pretty pink shimmer and sometimes looks like it has sort of yellow shimmery undertone.  Y'all-I'm so bad at describing polish!  Haha.  My mom is laughing at me just trying to figure out how to explain the color of this one.  So don't hold me to my word!  Plus, you'll probably look at the pictures and be like "This girl does not know what she is talking about."  Haha.  The formula was great and I didn't have any problems with it.  If anything, it was a little runny, so I just put less polish on the brush than I normally did. It covered fine in two coats, but when I woke up this morning I put on a third just because I wanted to see how deep I could get the color.  Here is how it looks:

Sunlight

With flash under artificial light



no flash under artificial light

name shot

with flash, artificial light



in shade with flash

In shade, natural light

So I know that all of these pictures in different lights make this polish look completely different in every aspect.  I'm going to try to start posting just pictures of the polish outside in natural light.  I feel like the color is way more accurate then. 

Have you ever heard of this polish?  How many retired OPI colors do you own?  What is your favorite retired color?  Let me know!

XOXO

Victoria

Abstract Nails

Sorry for my being MIA for the past few days!  I've been busy with last minute college-prep stuff.  Today I have a nail fail for you guys.  Haha.  But instead of calling it a complete fail, I just decided to call them 'abstract'.  What I was trying to accomplish by dragging a straight pin through my nails, didn't really come out as planned.  I used the following colors:

L to R: In My Back Pocket, What's With the Cattitude, Suzi Says Feng Shui, and Fly.

I used In My Back Pocket as a base.  After I applied two coats, and the top coat was still fresh, I dropped drops of the three blue hues.  I then tried to make a design by dragging a straight pin through the colors.  THIS is what happened:

Now, if you're an optimist, you will find SOMETHING to like about this manicure.  And if you're pessimistic (often like myself), you'll say "what in the world..." Haha.  I've seen some really cool pin dragging type of nail art.  I just can't seem to tackle it. 

Anyways, two days ago I got to pick up seven out of the twelve colors from the Germany Collection by OPI! I was soo excited!  So hopefully I'll have that haul post for you guys tomorrow!

Let me know what you think about this manicure!!  Be honest, was it a fail?  I won't be offended-because that's what I think it was!  Have you tried any type of pin-dragging art?

XOXO

Victoria

Grey Ombre with Added Oomph!

Hey y'all.  The weather around here has got me feeling a little bit dreary.  So I thought grey was an appropriate color to wear.  I started out with two coats of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls, which is a very light grey. 

This is a really bad picture because it just looks white, but it's the only one I have. 

I didn't bother taking any other pictures because I knew I would be sponging on top of this.  I then picked up OPI's French Quarter for Your Thoughts which is a dingy dark grey.  Sometimes it looks like it has green undertones.  I blotted that on with my sponge next.  And after that I used Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees for the tips.  I didn't want to go straight up black on the tips because I thought it would be too drastic of a transition.  And I wanted to stick with the more grey side of things.  I topped it all off with OPI's Pirouette My Whistle-a nice sheer glitter (that's the added oomph I talked about in the title of this post).  I think if anything, it's the closest I've ever come to 'galazy' nails.  Hahah. 

L to R- My Boyfriend Scales Walls, French Quarter for Your Thoughts, Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees, and Pirouette My Whistle.  Plus the CD that I use to dab my polish off of.

What do you guys think?  It's actually gotten quite a few hits on facebook.  Exciting!  Do you rather ombre with bright colors or neutrals?  Or does it matter?  Have you tried sponging before?

XOXO

Victoria

P.S.  Here is a bonus picture of the dreadful removal of my 'feel good' manicure!  Damn you, cute chunky glitter! It probably would have  been easier with the foil method but I was too lazy to get the foil!



I'm Flattered!

I'm very flattered to have been nominated for the Liebster Award by Elizabeth over at Not Too Polished.  This award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers.  This is a great way to (hopefully) be able to expand your blogging horizons and gain some recognition. 
 

 

Rules are:

1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.

2. They must also answer the 11 questions the "tagger" has set for them.

3. They must create 11 more questions to ask the bloggers they have decided to tag.

4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.

5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.

6. No tag backs.

My 11 Things

1. My favorite food is Crawfish Corn Soup.  YUM!

2. I actually love to accessorize, so I love all accessories-not just the nail polish accessory!

3. I have two brothers and a sweet yellow lab.

4. All eighteen years of my existence, I have lived in Southern Louisiana. 

5. I love it here, but wouldn't mind moving away one day.  Preferably to Tennessee-or any place with cooler weather.  Which is pretty much EVERY other state.  Haha.  Just kidding. 

6. I have lots and lots of first cousins and even more extended family.  Whom I love.

7. My favorite movie is Fly Away Home.

8. I graduated high school in May and college starts next week!!

9. I slacked off blogging for a while because I had gotten too busy, but I'm so glad I got back to it!  I love sharing my collection with y'all and also love to see everyone's brilliant ideas!  You guys never cease to amaze me!

10. OPI is the brand that I own the most of.   

11. I've had psoriasis since 1st grade. 

Not Too Polished's Questions for Me

1. What is your favorite color combination and/or graphic pattern?

-I don't really have a favorite color combo.  I generally just like anything bright.  But my favorite 'pattern' per say is just polka dots! 

2. What is your biggest, guiltiest pleasure?

-It's hard to admit, but I LOVE The Sims 2.  I could play for hours.  I don't know why I like it so much, because it's not like I play any other type of video games.  Just The Sims 2.

3. If you could be any mythical creature, what would it be and why?

-I actually had to google a list of mythical creatures to be able to answer this because I'm not really into this kind of stuff.  But I saw Medusa on the list!  And my mom used to call me that when I was having wild hair days.  Haha.  But turning men into stone with just a gaze doesn't sound half bad.  Haha. 

4. What (or who!) got you into blogging?

-Well, I got into such a habit of googling polishes before I bought them, and I would click on all of these links that took me to such awesome blogs with such good inspiration.  I would get caught up just clicking 'older posts' because I loved reading people's feedback.  And I thought to myself "I could do this."  And here I am today :) The one blog in particular that I remember going back to time after time was Lovely In Lacquer.  Abby really knows her stuff!  I loved reading her reviews and looking at her pictures.  I couldn't answer this question without giving her some credit for my start in the world of blogging.

5. Do you have any huge "geek" franchises? (As in: my top 5 from the 11 things about me.)

-Nope, I don't think so!

6. What are your fave indie/mainstream polish brands?

-I love OPI and China Glaze.  OPI's brush is really what puts it at the top of the list. 

7. What is your favorite candy?

-I love chocolate covered cookie dough.  Which is really, really horrible for you and I would not suggest it because you'll get addicted!

8. What is your favorite type of polish? (ex. crackle, magnetic, holo, matte glitter, etc.)

-Holo is always gorgeous.  I would say glitter except it is such a PITA to remove.  Hehe.  I am SO over the crackle.  And I haven't tried magnetic yet.

9. Where is your "happy place"? Either physical or mental.

-My happy place would be physical.  And that is physically anywhere where my family is.  I'm very family oriented and I don't know what I would do without all of relatives!

 

10. Which holiday do you most look forward to, and why?

-Christmas!  And no..it's not because of the presents!  Which by the way triggered something I want to say-once I started working and making my own money, I seriously LOVE giving gifts.  When I was little I couldn't relate.  It was all about get, get, get.  But now some of my favorite times are watching my relatives open what I got them.  But the main reason I love Christmas is because it normally invovles big family get-togethers, cold weather, hot chocolate, good food, Christmas lights, and everything else that is merry :)

 

11. What other hobbies do you have, other than polish?

-Online shopping(terrible habit), cooking, playing with my dog, listening to music, reading, and collecting anything with an owl printed on it.  I've also come to like exercising.  And by no means am I saying I love to workout, or I do it all the time or anything (even though I should).  It's more like this: It takes me a while to decide whether or not I even want to exercise that particular day.  Then I have to decide what time of day.  Next, re-question myself on whether I really feel like exercising.  Generally, the answer is no, I don't FEEL like exercising but I HAVE to make myself do it.  Then I have to read some inspiring workout quotes off of Pinterest.  Next I get in my workout gear, including my iPhone music playlist, headphones, and water bottle.  And THEN I start exercising.  It's not until it's all said and done with that I'm like "Hmm..that wasn't that bad after all.  I feel much better about myself now."  Sorry about that rant!!

 

 

My Questions to Y'all

 

1.  What is your favorite polish in the whole world?

2.  What is your favorite piece of advice someone has ever given you/you have given someone?

3.  What is your favorite reality TV show?

4.  Who inspires you?  It can be anybody, not just someone famous.

5.  If you could create your own polish line, what would it be called? 

6.  What is your favorite food?

7.  Why did you start blogging?

8.  Where do you buy the majority of your nail polish?

9.  How many bottles of polish in your collection?

10.  Have you ever been to New Orleans or would you consider touring?

11.  Do you prefer long nails or short nails?  Fake or real? 

 

If you guys are reading this right now, then I sincerely THANK YOU for sticking with this long post!  Thanks for being so interested in what I have to say :)  Now, onto who I've chosen.  I'm going to omit step #5 in the directions up top.  I'm not going to notify the people I choose.  Some of them follow me but some do not.  All I'm asking is that YOU check their pages out!  And follow them too :) 

 

Here you are, in no particular order:

 

1.  All The Pretty Polish

2. Danni and Chels

3. The Little Canvas

4. Em's Big Nail Obsession

5. Chic and Shiny

6. Ria Loves Pawlish

7. Let There Be Lacquer

8. Tin Roof Nails

9. Bandie Cat

10. Addicted To OPI-yum

11. Obsession Lacquer

 

And I am going to include just one more! A bonus :) Haha.  One of my favorite bloggers, Olivia from Livy Lu Lu.  She has 201 followers-that's two over the amount you're supposed to have to be nominated for this award.  But I'll cut her some slack.  Haha.

 

Anyways, if by now you're STILL with  me, you're the BEST!  This literally took me forever to do but I enjoyed every minute of it.  I'm really happy to be able to put these blogs "out there" so they can start gaining some well-deserved recognition.  I am still surprised when I log on and see that I have gained a follower here and a follower there.  It really means a lot.  We all know how much effort is put into these blogs, so go check these 'newbies' out! 

 

P.S.  I apologize if there are any spelling or grammar errors.  I am failing to go back and re-read everything!  Forgive me!

 

XOXO

Victoria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Feel Good" Polish

So..do y'all ever wear a polish or make a great polish combo, and whenever you look at the color on your nails it just makes you feel good?  Well that's what this post is about today!  I didn't realize that the polish combo I was planning to put on was going to distract me so much during the day...but it has managed to!  I started with a base of two coats of China Glaze's Surfin' for Boys which I just purchased at Ulta.  It applied like a dream!  I love the formulas on all of the 2012 Summer Neons by China Glaze.  Anyways...after I applied SFB, I wandered over to my polish racks to search for something I could enhance the manicure with.  I didn't really feel like doing any sort of design, so I resorted back to the good ole' 'glitter on top' mani.  I picked up my most recent polish purchase from F21-a multi colored CHUNKY glitter.  I say CHUNKY because these babies are huge!  That's why I love them.  So much of the color just pops on your nails.  As with most glitter polishes I had to put in a little extra work to get the chunks of glitter to lay where I wanted them to..but it all worked out. I topped it off with my top coat and some polish drops and they were good to go.  Pictures?

Natural light

With flash

Under lamp light

Flash

Natural light

What do y'all think?  Am I crazy or have y'all also experienced those "feel good" manicures?  Do you own any glitters similar to the above Forever 21 one?  What's your favorite Forever 21 polish?  Let me know what y'all think!

XOXO

Victoria

My Super Fast First Experience at Ulta!

Sorry for the bad lighting.  This is no flash, artificial light. 

So, if you guys didn't know, I was out of town for the past several days.  And while I was out of town...I was able to shop at an Ulta for the very first time! Lucky me!  It is the second nearest Ulta to me (at about one hour away), the closest Ulta to me is about forty-five minutes away.  Unfortunately I was never able to get to either of these Ulta's until now!  It was our last stop during our full day of errands so I had to browse/shop like lightening.  I didn't even get to look at anything else in the store.  NOTHING!  Not even the normal, drugstore-type polish aisle they have.  I darted back to the OPI section.  I was almost convulsing at all the OPI, China Glaze, Essie, and Zoya.  YES, ZOYA, which I've never been able to see or touch in person until it comes in the mail..when I order it..online!  So that was a huge surprise for me!  I snagged up a few China Glaze from the Summer Neons 2012 collection that I had wanted to pick up at Sally's but they didn't have.  There weren't any On Safari displays, which I was kind of disappointed about.  However, hiding on the bottom shelf was a box of mixed up China Glaze polishes-where I found Smoke and Ashes.  And then I browsed the OPI's for the longest time.  There were several Spiderman displays, and I think I have two from the collection, but I picked up My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  Which, from seeing pictures of the collection, I thought was just a white.  And before I saw this polish in person, thought to myself, "why do you need another plain ole' white?"  Well..let me tell you, this was not just a plain ole' white.  This was a very interesting grey-white.  I love it!  And I will do a comparison post soon.   I saw that there was a Zoya Beach & Surf display, but I previously ordered all of the ones I wanted online.  But on the shelf I found Zoya's Robyn, which has been on my wishlist for quite some time now.  I couldn't pass it up!  Underneath all of the Zoya colors was several different bottles of Zoya's Remove +!  I'd also been wanting to try this out, but could never bring myself to order the big flipper online.  So for like four bucks I bought a perfect travel size bottle...enough for me to test it and see if I like it.  Lastly I ended up in front of the clearance section.  The first thing I picked up was a horrible China Glaze color that looked like a mix between puke and baby poop-of course I had to have it!  I knew I didn't have anything like it in my collection, and that on the right skin tone, it might look fabulous!  Plus, the fact that it was marked down was a plus.  (The color is Trendsetter, by the way.)  I also found a nice deep fall/winter color by OPI called William Tell Me About OPI.  With fall approaching and a clearance sticker on the bottle, I figured why not? 

Sorry for such a long story of how I obtained the following haul...are you ready for the pictures now?  Again, sorry for the bad lighting-making none of the bottle colors accurate!

Remove + and Robyn

L to R-Smoke and Ashes, Trendsetter, Hang Ten Toes, Splish Splash, and Surfin' for Boys

L to R- William Tell Me About OPI and My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Oh, and the following day we stopped in at Target and I hurriedly (that is a word, I swear) looked over the clearance section.  I decided on a Nicole by OPI called Rich in Spirit.  It's a nice silvery blue metallic.  And the fact that it was marked down about four bucks didn't hurt either! 

So that's all folks.  Hope you enjoyed it!  Do you own any of these colors?  Any favorites from this haul post?  Is there anyone who has never been in an Ulta before?  Let me know, because I love to hear everyone's opinions and stories!

XOXO

Victoria

Add-On Art

Hey guys!  I've been seeing this design on Pinterest for quite some time now and actually found a step-by-step chart on how to make it happen!  It is really simple and doesn't require any seperate brushes or tools.  The only thing I didn't like about my design is that the color that looks red, was actually pink.  I guess that's my fault for not realizing that pink was going to show up red on the lime green polish...which is China Glaze's I'm With The Lifeguard. 

For this design you use three colors total.  A base color, and two additional colors.  This polish chart is from Lucy's Stash. 

It's an awesome little step-by-step.  And as you can see, pretty simple. 

I added on to my 'I'm With The Lifeguard' manicure after a couple days.  I used China Glaze's Rose Among Thorns and Flying Dragon as my additional colors.  And voila! 

I plan on testing this design out with different colors and on all of my fingers. 

What do y'all think?  Have y'all tried the fishtail design yet?  Favorite color combo?  Let me know!

XOXO

Victoria

First Attempt: Sponging!

Hey y'all!  So I know I said I would blog while I was away but I didn't really hold up that end of my deal!  Haha.  I'm still out of town but have a little break to show you one of my lastest FAVORITE manicures!  After finally buying the right kind of sponges for 'sponging', I was able to get the correct result.  I basically just sponged over my base of Essie's Boxer Shorts.  I didn't exactly want the colors to blend smoothly into each other, but I still wanted colors in sort of the same family.  I went with purple/blue/green.  The colors I used were Zoya's Wednesday, OPI's Gargantuan Green Grape, and OPI's Need Sunglasses.  As you will be able to tell in the pictures, or rather, you won't be able to tell in the pictures, Gargantuan Green Grape blended too much into Wednesday.  And also, Need Sunglasses turned green on top of Wednesday.  Which turned out better than I thought it would! 

These are the supplies I used.  I used a CD for dropping the polish on, and a sponge from the end of one of those wooden painting sponge brush thingies.  Haha.  Sorry for that sucky description!

Without flash

Under lamp, no flash

No flash

Under fluorescent lighting

Thumb!  Fluorescent lighting.

Close up-fluorescent lighting.

In the last three pictures, you may be able to tell that my thumb & ring finger look a bit more sparkly than my other fingers.  That's because I sponged over the whole nail with Milani's blue holo polish named Cyberspace.  I actually really liked it!  I think it added more depth. 

Let me know what you guys think!  Have you tryed sponging yet?  What's your favorite color combo? 

XOXO

Victoria

P.S.-I had my FIRST ULTA EXPERIENCE!!!! There isn't one near where I live so I was thrilled to get to go!  I almost had a heart attack.  But you'll be pleased to know that when I get home I'll have an ULTA haul post!  Yaaay!!

Boxer Shorts by Essie

Sorry guys!  Quick post tonight.  I'm packing to go out of town for a few days.  I still plan on posting though while out of town. 

Tonight I have Boxer Shorts from Essie's new Yoga collection.  (I'm not exactly sure what the collection is called, but I don't have time to look it up right now.)  I would definitely call this a periwinkle.  The formula is great and my nails were covered in just two coats.  The color is not extremely accurate in my pictures, and you may see it different on your computer screen, too.  So just trust me when I say it is a periwinkle.  Haha.  It may look either more purple, or more blue, but it's pretty much a great mix of both. 

Natural light

Natural light

Flash

What do y'all think?  Do you own any of the polishes from the Yoga collection?  Would you rock this polish?  Do you think you have a similar color in your collection?  As always--let me know!

XOXO

Victoria

First Attempt: Tie Dye Nails

Hey y'all!  I was really interested in trying to 'tie-dye' my nails.  I know how to do water marbling, but I saw many of you doing a 'drag' method.  This is when you put the different colors of polish in a row on your nail and then start at the base color and drag the polish into one another using a toothpick, needle, etc.  This LOOKED easier, but for me it wasn't all that easy.  However, I didn't use a toothpick or needle.  I used the end of some kind of nail tool-which was probably too thick and the main reason why the design didn't come out exactly how I wanted it.  I WILL be trying this again though! 

I grabbed four different color polishes from my rack.  I didn't want the typical rainbow tie-dye, so I went with more of a pastel-y type.  I used (from L to R) Zoya's Shelby, Wednesday, and Arizona and Essie's Boxer Shorts. 

So what I did was paint (really quickly) vertical stripes of these four colors right next to each other.  Also, you have to leave the coats kind of thick or else the polish won't drag nicely into each other.  I then started from one of the colors on the end and with my tool, drug lines going different directions.  Sorry if I'm confusing anyone-it's really difficult to explain!  My problem is that I don't have a very light hand so I was actually digging the polish off of my nail instead of blending the colors together.  Haha.  I also learned that I probably should have done a base coat of white or another color. 

It came out looking like this:

Natural light

You can see where in major spots on my ring finger, the polish has been completely lifted from my nail.  Whoops!

With flash-again you can see big bald spots on my ring and pointer fingers.

Close up of my pinky.  My first nail to do, and best looking one in my opinion.  Haha.

So what do y'all think?  Do you have any advice for me for future tie-dye nails?  Do you like this color combination?  Have you ever tried a design like this before?  If you have any specific questions about instruction, leave it in a comment and I'll try to re-explain as best I can!

XOXO

Victoria