Glittering Stripes

Today we have more glitter...you know how much I love glitter! Not only, do we have a glitter manicure for today - we have a Stripey glitter manicure. This is my first attempt at using nail tape to create a look and I think it turned out pretty well. However, I will definitely have to do more practicing with it before I am ready to use solid colors in my stripes. The glitter was definitely more forgiving than solids would be.

This mani was created with OPI's Sparrow Me The Drama, a dusty rose pink, layered with Wet N' Wild Hallucinate, an iridescent glitter that sparkles in a rainbow of colors. Using striping tape is definitely a bit more time-consuming and difficult than I anticipated, but I think that with practice it will get easier. The trick that took me a few go-rounds to figure out...it is REALLY important to pull off the tape before the polish dries. If you wait too long some of the polish that you want to leave behind will pull up with the tape. This was really fun to sport around town so I challenge you to give stripes a try!

My DIY Polish Rack and Collection

As a polish hoarder, you can imagine that I have accumulated quite a collection over the years. In fact, at my last count I had 210 polishes... not including various topcoats and duplicate bottles of some of my favorites (not to mention a few bottles that are probably mysteriously stashed around my room). As my collection grew, the need for a reasonable storage solution became more and more imperative. At it's beginning my collection found it's home in a shoe box, they were upgraded to a larger hat box from there, and then to multiple drawers in one of those plastic chests of drawers you buy at Target. The problem that I had with all of these is that the polishes always just ended up in a big pile that made it very difficult to ever find the color that I was looking for and, over the years, there was more than one broken bottle incident.

Now I had seen a bunch of tutorials online for making your own polish shelf with foam board etc, but these things always looked so rickety that I can't believe that any of them lasted for very long. Therefore, I decided to just go for it and attempt to make my own polish display shelf out of a much more durable material... wood. I simply picked up some pre-cut hobby boards from Lowe's and with some nails, a hammer, and a bit of craft paint, came up with something that I am proud to hang on my wall and display my polishes.
 

This picture was taken on the day that I made it. As you can see, I have already filled it to the brim! Actually, there were a few polishes that didn't even make it up on the wall. So, alas, I guess it is time to build another. This is actually hung in a corner between the wall and the door to my closet, so my plan is to build another, identical one, and hang it on the other side of the corner.

This project was very cheap and I think that anyone could really do it. I already had the nails, hammer, and paint so all I had to do was buy the wood, which ended up being just about $20. Now, I went to Home Depot first, and just for the wood it was going to be closer to $40, so I definitely recommend hitting up your local Lowe's instead. Also, try to make sure that your boards are relatively equal in length. Even though they are sold as pre-measured and cut pieces I found that not all were created equal and it makes it a bit more challenging to fit the pieces in when some are slightly longer or shorter than others.

Also, make sure that you carefully measure out where your horizontal boards should go and do your best to stick to it. A few of my shelves ended up a bit crooked and they are definitely not all the same height, creating a situation where some of the taller bottles won't fit on just any shelf - very annoying.  I used L-shaped brackets to hang it on my wall - 2 on the top shelf and two on the bottom. Although, I think that on the next one I will put the brackets closer to edges as they caused the shelf to buckle slightly. I haven't found that this has caused any trouble with stability, it just doesn't look quite as perfect as my perfectionist self would like.

Anyway, I hope that this inspires some of you to get your polish in order and if there are any questions about  how I went about this just comment and I will do my best to answer!

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish - Soft and Gentle Swatches

My tried and true Porcelain Pink mineralize skinfinish finally bit the dust last week. I had been scraping at the bottom of the pan for a couple of weeks trying to get every last bit of it, but I finally had to face that I just needed to buck up and go buy another. Unfortunately, MAC has nothing on the market currently that really compares with Porcelain Pink in any way. In fact, they don't seem to have anything out that has a pink base at all! So, I ended up pick up this Soft and Gentle, a more bronzy tan than I am used to, but I think it is rather appropriate for summer.

Soft and Gentle is a bit more glittery than I am used to, but it is not so much that I feel gaudy or like I couldn't wear it to the office. In fact, in addition to brushing it along my cheekbones and up around my eyes (think a "C" shape around the hollow of your eye) the added shimmer in this makes it perfect to do double duty as an eye shadow! In these pictures I have swatched it with no primer on the left, on top of a shimmer primer in the middle, and a matte primer on the right. As you can see, it makes a very pretty, shimmery eye shadow. 

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These are a pretty penny, weighing in at $29 a pop, but in my opinion they are worth every cent. They give

you the most gorgeous glow and, with use everyday, my last one lasted almost a year. If you are lucky you can also occasionally find these at the Cosmetics Company Outlets at a discounted price. Anyway, I just love these, they are so silky smooth and versatile... I wish I could afford to pick up more colors :)

Summer Polka-dots

Nothing quite says fun and flirty like polka-dots and, when done in great summer colors like these, what is not to love?! These polka-dots are created with a base of Essie's California Coral spotted with Haute as Hello, two of my favorite summer colors from Essie.

What colors would you do the good ol' polka with?

Wet N' Wild - Pink and Orange

In general, I tend to like the salon brand polishes better than drug store brands. However, whenever I walk into a CVS or a Walgreens I almost always walk out with at least one bottle of  polish, whether it be Wet N' Wild, Sinful Colors, or Sally Hansen. There is just something about those prices that I can't resist! A perfect example are these two Wet N' Wild polishes that I picked up recently. If I remember correctly, these were $0.97 each. Less than a dollar?? Yes, please. 

These two great spring colors are Tickled Pink and Sunny Side Up. Very appropriate names, I think! They are both great on their own but I love the combo of the pink and orange together. Hope you enjoyed!

Ebay Nail Art Haul

So, I did a little shopping on Ebay a couple of weeks ago and picked up a bunch of nail art tools on the cheap! I definitely recommend checking out Ebay for nail products, just be sure that if you are looking for actual polish that you check out the reviews to ensure that the seller is reputable - it sucks to end up with ripoff brand polish! Check out what I got!

I picked up a pack of dotting tools with all different sized tips, a ton of fimo sticks, 25 stencil plates that work with the Konad stamping kit (although these are not Konad brand), a wheel of metallic embellishments, and a 12 pack of metallic nail tape. I am really excited to try out some new nail art techniques and I will keep you updated on my experimentation!

China Glaze - Atlantis

I am back in The Bay after a nice relaxing week in So Cal! Even though we didn't get the gorgeous beach weather that I was hoping for, it was nice to get some quality time with the BF and my family. We did get a couple of nice sunny days and whenever I know I am going to be outside in the sun I like to showcase a neon or a glitter. This time I went for China Glaze - Atlantis, a gorgeous blue-green holo glitter.

Later in the week, I layered Atlantis over China Glaze - Frostbite for a little different look. These pictures really don't do this combo justice as I was using my phone for these pics. The glitter in Atlantis is waayyy more sparkly than my phone was able to capture in this lighting and the holo effect of the glitter still stood out  even in a more sheer application like this.

What polish do you like to wear for a day out in the sunshine?

Rainbows and Gloom in Southern California

The BF and I are down in Southern California for a little mini vacation this week! We have been in San Diego for the last few days and will be up in Orange County visiting my family for the rest of the week. As a So Cal girl born and raised, I always love being back in my home sweet home and was very exciting for a gorgeous week of sunshine at the beach. Unfortunately, we have only had one sunny day and the weather man says that the rest of our time here isn't going to so hot either :( We may not have have beach weather, but after today, at least I have Rainbows.....

A trip to the Rainbow Outlet in San Clemente is a must for a flip-flop year round kinda girl like me. Don't get me wrong, I love my shoes, but Rainbows are my go to casual choice. I have actually worn through the leather on my last pair of the original tan color, so naturally, I picked up one pair as a replacement, and then I just had to get a pair of these grey ones. I have never strayed from the tried-and-true tan before so I am very excited about these! You know what they say about rainbows....