CND Gold Chrome

Hey polish lovers! I am showing you a polish from CND today. I wasn't too familair with the brand before I received this to review, but here are a few basics: 

- CND has 50 creme colors ranging from sheer to dark.

-They also have a line of "Effects" that can be layered to transform creme polishes.

- 3 Free formula

-Fast dry formula

There was nothing I didn't like about this polish! This is Gold Chrome. I don't know of the chrome effect translates in these pictures or not, but it looks amazing in person. It has kind of a soft look to it if that makes any sense. My two favorite parts of this polish: 1) The fact that it was ONE coat!! 2) How fast it dried! This is by far the fastest drying polish I have tried. It makes a mani quick and easy. Love it!

 How many of you keep some form of nail art inspiration in one place from ideas you have gathered from blogs and such? This nail art design is comes from some of my inspiration! I saw a very similar design to the one below as an entry in the Bundle Monster Nail Art contest they hosted a while back. I don't know exactly who it belongs to, but if it's you or you happen to know, please tell me so I can give credit! :)

I had some bad streaking due to the horrible brush that my topcoat has. Beware of cheap topcoat! 

So what do you think of this polish? CND polish retails for $9/bottle and it is available at CND.com. I will be showing you some CND Effects soon so be on the lookout for that! <3

*This polish was sent to me for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Swatches/Review from Sally Hansen's LE Fall 2011 Collection

Good morning! Is everyone having a great Saturday? I have  3 Sally Hansen Fall 2011 Insta Dri polishes for you guys today and let me just say...they are so gorgeous and the formula is like butter. The brush is pretty wide, and takes some adjustment but it really aides in better application. I hope to get my hands on the whole collection soon! I would have bought the whole thing yesterday if it weren't for this little thing called a budget! 

The first up is Emerald Express. The closest thing I have to this is Zoya Charla, but even those aren't really the same at all. Brushstrokes show up in pictures, but not in person. This is 2 coats, but the second is barely needed. I love the subtle shimmer in this polish! This one is similar, if not a dupe for, SpaRitual's new fall color Rhythm of Life which made me very happy because that collection is on my wishlist and the Insta Dri is half the price!

Next is Ruby Rush...the color practically GLOWS on the nail! This was a bit hard to capture, but I think you get the jist. This is a perfect fall color.  As with Emerald Express, very close to being one coat! Not much else to say, but LOVE!!

This is a very unique color, Bronze Ablaze. This color has multiple personalities...in some lighting it's almost brown, others an olive green and sometimes it's a true bronze. I think this color is amazing and with the shimmer  it's perfect! I think this is VERY similar to, but not an exact dupe for Chanel's new fall color Peridot. The similarities between the two show more in my sunlight pics. Chanel's color has more of a green flash to it.

I have this color as a full mani, so Dustin did a little stamping. Using Konad Black and Konad plate M25.

Bronze Ablaze in sunlight:

And here is how they stamp! Overall pretty good, but definitely more subtle over black. I think I will utilize them in my nail art though.

Since this is LE, I don't know how long these will last...so run, don't walk to your nearest drugstore and pick em up! They are definitely as good as any high end brand for less money! What do you guys think?

OPI Nice Stems Collection

Good afternoon polish lovers! I bought the OPI Nice Stems! collection after deciding that I NEEDED it! haha After seeing swatches multiple times I couldn't say no. OPI seems to do that...I'm not impressed at first and then it grows on me. 

I got the mini collection to save on cost a little. These are my first OPI minis and they really are teeny tiny! Here's the cute packaging:

And here are the colors. I wanted to use them all because I couldn't decide on just one!

They are all 2 coats and the application is pretty good. The only one that was a little finicky is Play the Peonies. I had bubbling issues, but I am blaming that on my basecoat.

I hardly ever use flowers in my nail art, but with a flower inspired collection- how could I not?! :)

The super tiny bottles are so hard to hold for pics!

I bought this at Trade Secret, but by now it's on Ebay and you might get a steal of a deal there! <3

Layered Stamping w/ Zoya Tamsen

Hey ladies! Hope you are all doing well... life sure is crazy sometimes. Thanks for being apart of the blogging world and giving me a little escape each day :)

I really like this design I am about to show ya'll. It goes to show that the possibilites with stamping are endless and all it takes is some creativity! I say that because I have done a lot with zebra print in the past, so it's fun to make something new out of something old!

I used Zoya Tamsen and Sinful Colors Snow Me White as the base. Tamsen is a rich tomato red and practically perfect in one coat. We used the same colors for the stamping as well.

And here's the funky zebra design! I like the faded look of the flowers with the zebra print. I chose a silver metallic LA Colors polish from the dollar store to dot the middle of the flowers. 

Hope you liked this design and don't forget to check out the new Nail Care Q&A tab I added. Feel free to submit any questions you want answered! :)

Milani Gold Glitz

Hi! Feels like I haven't posted in forever, even though it's only been 3 days! haha

Here is Milani Gold Glitz, one of their One Coat glitters, for you today. My husband picked this one up for me while I was out of town, and I was happy he did! This polish was good in 2 coats and had a very smooth, easy application. This isn't an in your face color, but still very unique because of the coppery red glitter pieces.

Here is the design Dustin came up with. This is Konad plate M78. Stamped with Konad Black. You can't go wrong with animal print when it comes to nail art. It always looks good! :)

Hope you like it! Also, be sure to check out my giveaway tab if you haven't already...I am always adding new giveaways! :)

4th of July Mani

Hi ladies! I hope everyone from the USA is having a fun holiday weekend. We had family come to our neck of the woods so we didn't have to go anywhere! haha Normally that would bother me since I love to travel, but since I'm not feeling 100%, I didn't care this year! haha 

I am taking a break from the Born Pretty reviews since it's a holiday weekend! So this post is dedicated to my sweet husband. I kept him up last night to help me with my nails and he was really tired. And nothing seemed to be working out that we tried and I was getting all perfectionist on him ( I think being a part of the blogging world has done that to me!!). So this is the end product and while I can't say I absolutely love it, I don't hate it either. So give my husband a nice pat on the back for being awesome (and patient!!). :)

Colors used- Sinful Colors White on White with one thin coat of Zoya Luna on top.  Red Art Deco striping polish, and Konad Blue make up the design. Konad plate M 45 for the stars. 

Hope you like it! 

Born Pretty Review Series: Nail Art Items & Polish

Hello again! More Born Pretty for you today. I am showing you the half pearls, some polish and a stamping plate. Since this is a review, I wanted to show you the actual products. At the end of this post, I will show you what I did with them all!

These are the half pearls. I really like these. They stay on nicely with a dot of nail glue and a topcoat. The only thing that was kind of annoying is that there is a lot of static in the wheel so some of the pearls stick to the top. I tried to capture that in this picture, but I'm not sure if you can tell. It's annoying because when you go to turn the lid, some of them pop out and into other sections. If you don't care about the colors staying together, then I guess it's not a big deal! The other thing is that I wish that there was a different color in each section instead of having repeats. These are $3.55.

Here is stamping plate M59. Identical to Konad's M59 and works just as well and half the price @ $2.99! I love the bows!!

Normally, I wouldn't take a picture of a polish bottle on it's own, but I think this bottle wins the prize for weirdest shape! It's totally flat on one side and the rest is curved. Not sure if you can tell from this pic! But I love love love this polish!! Swatches below!

I am so in love with this polish! I didn't really know what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised. This formula is made of micro shimmer/glitter. From a distance it almost looks like a foil. But at the same time it gives the look of a full coverage glitter without the thick grittiness. I haven't been able to stop looking at my hands since I put this on! There a tons of colors to choose from like this formula and I pretty much want them ALL! haha It took 3 thin coats to be opaque. This one's name is Shiny Violet and is $ 4.74 a bottle.

Finally, this is how Dustin and I put all these items together. The bow is stamped with Konad Purple. I love this look!!

Although this pic isn't really true to color, it shows the design a little more clearly.

You made it through my super long post! Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying the Born Pretty products!

Stamping plate, polish, and pearls sent to me for review by Born Pretty.

Milani Blue Flash

Hey everyone! I feel like it's been forever since I last posted, and I miss you guys! :) As most of you know I traveled to my parent's house this week so I can get some help with my baby while I have mono. So these past fews days have been filled with recovery and getting her adjusted to all her new surroundings.

I mentioned on my Facebook page yesterday that I am still sorting through the results for my giveaway. I really really really wanted to announce the winner ASAP, but given my circumstances right now it will take longer than anticipated. Just know I haven't forgotten about it!

Ok now with all that housekeeping out of the way, on the the nails! I am disappointed in the pics I got, that's why there aren't many. I previously showed you Silver Dazzle from Milani's One Coat Glitters, and this is Blue Flash. It's more gritty than Silver Dazzle, and you can definitely see that here. 

And sadly, here is the only decent picture of the final result. This mani desperately needed Seche Vite on top to combat the grittiness of this glitter, but mine has gotten too thick to use. :( I could barely stand wearing this mani for very long because of that! This is Konad plate M78 stamped with Konad White. Zoya Ali was used to fill in the dots with a dotting tool.

I apologize for not posting more, but I still love you guys and hope you stick with me! :)

China Glaze Sexagon + Mini Tutorial

Hi lovelies! I am trying to stay resilient through this mono by keeping up with my nails...it lifts my spirits a little bit. :)

Dustin found Sexagon from China Glaze's Kaleidoscope collection on Ebay. It was used, but it showed up in the mail barely used! Moral of the story: Give used polishes a chance! :) 

This polish was good in 5 coats because the formula is SUPER thin. Dustin had the idea to layer it over Color Club Worth the Risque in order to save this precious polish, and I don't think it affected the overall appearance of Sexagon. (I had done one hand with just Sexagon to compare.)

Dustin calls this the "psychedelic" stamp design. It's Bundle Monster plate M221 stamped with Konad Black and Pink. I am including some pics at the end of this post on how to stamp with multiple colors at a time.

So Dustin thought this was a self explanatory thing, but I know there are lots of newbies out there so I figured why not? Here is how to stamp with multiple colors at once:

Put dots of stamping polish on your design. Place the dots in the general area that you want the scraper to place each color when you actually scrape the polish across the image.

 

 This is what you'll get:

 As always, you have to be quick with stamping polishes since they dry really fast. This is just an example of how you could place the different colors on a stamp. Be creative! :)

I hope this helps someone out there and it wasn't too mundane! 

I mentioned that I am sick and I will be going to live with my parents for a few weeks while I try to recover and so they can help with my baby. That way my husband will be able to focus on school! We are going to still prepare some things for you before we part ways though...but even so, if there's a lack of posting you know why! Until next time! <3