Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous And Mad As A Hatter Birthday Mani

 Hi girls, today was my birthday so I had to wear my favorite polish ever, Mad As A Hatter. To conserve it and make it last a few days I use a solid color under it. Back when I first got it I used black but after I picked up Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous last year I layer it with that now. 

 Lucene-Tainly Look Marvelous is a dark gun metal grey with a great formula and is opaque in two coats. 

 I am sure every one knows Mad As A Hatter so not much to say there.

 I also think I have finally frankened MAAH as well, excited! I will be back soon with more Halloween tutorials, too! 

Halloween/Fall Pumpkins Tutorial

 I had to do pumpkins, they aren't really Halloween so much, more just for fall I guess but I really like them anyways. These are very easy, taking only about twenty minutes for me to do.

 If you would like to see the tutorial for this design keep reading.

China Glaze It's Alive

 It's Alive is a blackened green with different sized green glitter from the Haunting Halloween Collection this year. I already know this will be on of my favorite polishes ever. Green, glitter and is opaque in two coats, how can I not love it? You will need a good top coat because this on is very gritty, other than that I adore it. I could see myself wearing this anytime of the year. 

 What do you think of glitters like this, love them or hate them?
 I also noticed yesterday that I passed 100 followers and just wanted to say thank you guys! 

Sweet Ghosts for Halloween

 For Halloween these ghost aren't that scary but I love them. They are too adorable to not and they are unbelievable easy. I love the one on my ring finger, he looks like he is chasing someone. If I were being chased by him I don't think I would run for long. I would probably turn around and hug him to death, if you could hug a ghost to death that is.

 If you would like to see the tutorial for this design keep reading.

Japanese OPI

 Hey guys, I just wanted to share what I got yesterday, Japanese OPI! Three are from the 2007 Yokohama collection and the other is from the Sweet Pink collection. Left to right are Pink Cupcake, Yokohama Twilight, Baby Blue and Cherry Blossom. I am so excited to finally have these and I can't wait to wear them!

 The next Halloween tutorial should be up later or early tomorrow!

Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window

 The last shade I picked up from the Touring America collection, Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window, is an olive green. It dried slightly darker on the nail that it appeared in the bottle. I love this one but I had hoped it was a bit lighter like I had seen in early swatch photos, still it is a gorgeous green. 

 I had no problems with application, it was opaque in two coats. 

 I have been loving green lately so I want to know what is you favorite color right now?

Black And Yellow Ruffian Spooky Houses

 Continuing with my Halloween nail designs I have a ruffian with spooky houses. I meant to have this up yesterday but it took longer than I expected to edit through the pictures. Anyways, I wanted to keep thing simple for now and work my way up to harder designs closer to Halloween.

 If you would like to see the tutorial for this keep reading!

Zom-Body To Love

 Perfect for Halloween! Zom-Body To Love is a sheer slime green. I did three coats for my pictures but I would layer this over something instead of wearing it alone. It does glow, not for long and it isn't super bright but it's there. 

 It is not as bright as the picture here. This was after holding my nails directly in front of a light for about twenty seconds so I could pick it up on camera. 

 Do you have a glow in the dark polish or will you be picking one up?

Suzi Takes The Wheel

 Suzi Takes The Wheel is a beautiful grey, it does have a green tint to it but not as much as it seems in other pictures I have seen. Like A-Taupe The Space Needle, this one was a bit watery but was opaque in two coats. 

 Next up, more Halloween designs!

Halloween Spiders And Webs Tutorial

 It has been a long day. I didn't get much sleep last night and have been exhausted all day. We had a few earthquakes last night that kept us up. I am always worried that our two large fish tanks will fall over or the light hanging above one will drop and kill the fish, which would make me sad, so every time I get out of bed and stand guard next to them. 

 Anyways, on a lighter note Halloween won out on my poll so I will be showing mostly Halloween themed nail art until the end of October. To start off I wanted a tutorial for something very simple that could easily be done, spiders and webs.

 If you would like to know how to do this design keep reading for the tutorial!

Gargantuan Green Grape

 Gargantuan Green Grape, try saying that ten times fast, is a very light lime shade. I love the color on this one but the formula is horrible! It is a black label OPI but I have a few other that are and they are no where as bad as this one. It took three coats, that were sheer, watery and thin, and could have used a third but I didn't bother because I don't plan to wear it alone for long.

 Halloween nail art coming up soon! 

A-Taupe The Space Needle

 This brown also leans green on me in different lighting. When I first saw it in the bottle it didn't look very appealing but now that I have worn it I love it. It's a very weird color, one I like. Sometimes it is a brown sometimes it turns a greenish shade. Very hard for me to capture on camera but it is there. 

 The swatches I have seen around of this one looked to be lighter but for me the photo below is the most accurate color it appears to me. It was a bit watery but opaque in two coats. Maybe I got a weird bottle? Either way, I still like it! 

 What do you think of the green and brown earth tones? Is brown a color polish you would wear?

Sally Salon Effects Day 10

 After ten days the Salon Effects were still holding up well. I am sure this would last me a few more days but I just couldn't take it any longer! You can see I added Zom-body To Love on my ring finger the other night just to have something slightly different. 

 I opened the pack of extras I had taped up but they were dry, hard and didn't stick anymore, bummer. I will have to try a different way or sealing them or do a matching mani/pedi at the same time. 

 Overall, I am pleased with these but will probably save them for special occasions like vacation or times when I know I wont have much time to do my nails. I would probably buy them more often if the extras could be saved easier and used later. If you have shorter nails like I do you could possibly get a full mani and pedi out of one box which is what I will likely be doing with the other sets I have. 

 Would you wear these for vacation or would you rather take your own polish or go bare?

What I Wont Be Wearing Today

 I don't usually do hauls but the Salon Effects are still hanging around so I thought I would show you what my latest order for was, you know, the stuff I wont be wearing until the skulls chip.

 Mostly they are ones that I have wanted but just haven't picked up. Two of them are replacements, Alpine snow because I was scraping the bottom of the bottle and Stranger Tides because I swapped that one away. I also bought Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window but somehow it didn't make it in my box but a new one is already on the way. 

 I already tried out Zom-body To Love on my toes, it glows but not for very long, it fades fairly quick although it is still nice and I love it. They also sent a sample of Lemon-Brite cuticle remover and nail brightener, has anyone tried this before?

 What new polish have you bought recently? I would love to know!

Sally Salon Effects Day 6

 Six days now and no chips, not even tip wear. At first I thought, go ahead put them on and see how long they take to start chipping. They can't last long, right? They will start to chip after a few days of wear but no, they are determined to stay and taunt me now. 

 See, I wanted these to chip soon so I could say, ha, they don't last and I wouldn't be tempted to buy any more of them and I could go back to regular nail polish. Since I ordered new polish last week and thought the Salon Effects wouldn't hold up, that I would be taking this off when they arrived I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. 

 Well, new polish is here and the Salon Effects refuse to budge! I have not been as kind to them as my regular polish manis, putting them through much abuse and they refuse to back down. I swear, I have been TRYING to get these to chip!

 Now, I usually wear my mani for at least a few days to around a week but this is the time that I start to get bored and want to change it.  If they stay on much longer these skulls are going to be cramping my style. I don't know if I will be able to hold out until they chip. 

 Have you had a manicure last so long with out chipping you can't stand it anymore and have to take it off? Ever had one you didn't want to take off?

Salon Effects Update

 After three full days these are holding up well. I put them on Saturday and it is now Tuesday, I don't count the first day. They show no signs of wear so far. I did put top coat on late Saturday and then again Sunday but nothing since. 

 Other than not being as shiny as they were the first day they are perfect. The test continues. 

Sally Salon Effects Numbskull And Wear Test

 As soon as I got these the other day I had to try one out. I picked the skull and crossbones design since it was my least favorite and I wouldn't be too upset if I ruined it. Now that I have it on I like this design more than I though I would. 

 I have to say though, I had no real issues with these. I was imagining this to be a huge disaster but is was actually fine. It took about half an hour but I did pick sizes and trim them so I can get another full mani or pedi out of it hopefully. If I had not been doing that it probably would have taken around fifteen or less. 

 The only problem I had was not picking a large enough size to cover my nail as you can see on my pinky, which was totally my fault. I had no issues with bubbles or wrinkles but I did use a pair of tweezers to handle the strips and pull the edges down on the sides and tip a bit. Picture is with no base coat no top coat.

 Out of the sixteen strips in the box I have eight full strips plus a few halves left over!

 After I was finished, I took my remaining strips and put them back in the packaging, then placed duck tape over the back to see if they will keep to use again. 

 Overall, for the price and possibly being able to get two uses, it isn't bad. I didn't have to wait for anything to dry, that was great! If they last several days, I would buy these again.
 I put these on Saturday afternoon so I will be back over the next few days to report how they are holding up and open up my resealed package and let you guys know if they are still usable.
 Have you used polish stripes like these? How did it turn out?

Plaid With Tutorial

 It's been a long time since I have done any nail art. I just haven't been motivated I guess. Since plaid nails have been on my list for a while I tried it out the other day and took pictures along the way so I could do a mini tutorial. 

 The base is Going Bananas that I already had on because it got smudged bad when I put new top coat over it and I really didn't want to take it off.

 I mixed a teal blue in acrylic paint for the first stripes. I did a wide stripe across near the cuticle and a thin stripe near the tip, then a thin stripe going down.

 Next was white, one stripe going down on the opposite side of the blue and one across beside the wide blue near the cuticle. 

 Last I added black, two stripes going down and one across.

 Top coat was last. I really like the plaid look. It was simple and looks much better in person. As you can see my stripes are no where near perfect. It doesn't matter though because to the normal eye, not pictures zoomed in, you don't notice much. 

 Obviously, there are many ways to do plaid. This is just the way I did it to give you a basic idea. I want to try this in black and pink next. 

 Have you tried plaid nails yet? Is there a design you would like to see a tutorial for?

Is It Halloween yet?

 Look what I got my hands on! The Sally Salon effects for Halloween. My sweet guy surprised me with these, I am excited to try them. 

 Over the years Sally and I have not gotten along well. Back in the day, sure, we were close but realizing that polishing my nails everyday was not going to work for me, she had to go. Now that we are older I hope we can get along.

 I am most excited to try the green barbed wire, Hot Wired. I don't know why I am excited about these because the designs are pretty simple and I feel like I could easily do them myself but for others that don't feel up to doing it themselves this would be perfect. I must like the idea of not having to wait for all my paint to dry? Plus, it claims to last "Up to 10 days". We will see how long it lasts, Sally, we will see. 

 Have you tried any of the polish strips, how did it work out for you?

H&M Going Bananas

 Going Bananas is a soft baby yellow with a touch of yellow and green shimmer in it. I adore this polish, very much, I need a full size bottle. I have never actually worn yellow polish before this one because I didn't think it would go well with me but I have to say I love it. 

 Like all yellows, application wasn't great but it did cover nicely in three coats. 

 Have you ever not tried a polish for any reason?