This is what happens....

This is what happens when I'm home with my girls, hanging in front of the tv and decide to change my polish. I end up changing my polish ONCE and my toddlers' about 3 times each. They want pink, then they want lilac, then they want pink again with butterflies, or bows *looking for a plate with a bow tiny enough for a 2-yr old's nail bed*, but wait, the pink isn't like my toes' pink... ugh. "Mami, I want lilac again" (meaning purple), "but mami, I want dark lilac" (meaning vampy purple.) Me: "YOU'RE NOT WEARING DARK PURPLE... YOU'RE TWO YEARS OLD! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE????" (followed by crying and temper tantrums)


The outcome:

I painted my nails using China Glaze's Bahamian Escape and used Konad's Special Blue Polish for the stamp, Plate CG04.
(Don't ask what finally ended up on my kids' nails. *frazzled*)

Happy Polishing!

June Hauls - What happened to my ban?

Howdy!

So... I was supposed to be on a self-imposed ban after my hauls in May. It didn't really work out like I planned. I think I may have a problem. LOL! Here are my June hauls. I swear I'm gonna be on a ban after this... I think... 

OPI - Flashbulb Fuchsia, My Private Jet, Meet Me On The Star Ferry

Color Club - Femme Fatale

China Glaze - Tempest

(from TransDesign)

Essie Resort Mini Collection

Playa Del Platinum, Turquoise & Caicos, Splash of Grenadine, Lapis of Luxury

Zoya - Gwin

OPI - Koala Bear-y

(from a local beauty supply store)

OPI - Conquistadorable Color, Aphrodite's Pink Nightie, Ogre-the-Top Blue

(from a local beauty supply store)

E.L.F. - Nude, Hot Pink, Fluorescent Pink, Light Pink, 

Punk Purple, Bubble Gum Pink, White, Pearl, 

Medium Red, Fire Coral, Fair Pink, Fuchsia, Plum, and Coral.

(One person's trash is another person's treasure. My friend's friend was going to throw all of these out because she didn't want them anymore. Knowing I'm a polish freak, she rescued them and brought them to me!)

Zoya - Loredana, Ali, and Dovima

(I got these from my Zoya Exchange. See, when I placed my Zoya Exchange order it was a group order with my friend, sister, and cousin. For some weird reason the order went through twice. So I just ignored the second authorization code and processed my old bottles with one of the two codes. Two weeks ago I got an email from Zoya saying that they would send me that second order if I was having trouble mailing in the old bottles. So a few days later I received that order. So here I am sitting with a lot of doubles. But my sister, friend, and Mari helped me with that. They each took bottles from that extra order. This is what I kept. )

China Glaze - Dorothy Who?, Afterglow, Wireless Holographic Topcoat

Orly - Pink Chocolate

(from TransDesign - Pink Chocolate worries me. The color in the bottle doesn't look anything like the swatch I found online. I'll give it a try though, eventually.)

Happy Polishing!

Blog Awards!

We got blog awards!

But... I am horribly-horrible! We got them so long ago and I haven't posted them up yet.

_____________________________

The lovely FitterTwit from Fun and Mental Changes tagged us with this award back on March 27th! She said such nice things about us! It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that people out there are looking and like what we are doing! Thank you!

We were also tagged with this award by the awesome DailyPolish on April 18th and the adorable Tiana on June 26th.

_____________________________

The lovely PolishedShep from Polished and BPAL had tagged us with the Beautiful Blogger Award on March 25th!

_____________________________

In return, we are to tag blogs we like. So here goes:

Polish Hoarder Disorder

Rainbows & Blues

Prim & Polished

Babbling Brooke

Polish or Perish

Nihrida's Blog

Polish and BPAL

Pimp My Nails

Nails by Asami

Manicured Manatee

Light-boxes, layout, etc.

Hey Ladies!

So I have been getting annoyed with photographing my nails lately. We've had a period of bad weather here in Miami so most of my pictures are not "fresh." I have to keep the bottle and my camera in my purse at all times in case I manage to catch the sun! And then pictures indoors are just horrible. Mari and I tried to make a light-box once (with instructions we found online) and it didn't work well at all. But I've seen so many bloggers with amazing pictures and I'm jealous. (For example: All Lacquered Up, Lacquerized, You've Got Nail, Emerald Sparkled, Polish Hoarder Disorder, Vampy Varnish, Nail Junkie, etc.) More than anything, I'm curious! Therefore, we are calling on all the bloggers out there to educate me (and the rest of us) on your light-boxes! Whatever information you are willing to share is welcomed. Feel free to email us pictures and we'll share them with everyone. (Email: Lissi4NAA(at)gmail(dot)com) Tell us how you made your light-boxes. Any tips and tricks? Or if you've posted about your light-box before, give us a link. My goal is to put together some sort of guide catered to us nail bloggers. So any help would be very much appreciated.

Next up: I changed the layout on the blog. I was bored of the old one and wanted a change. What do you gals think? Like it? Hate it? Too dark? Is anything placed in an uncomfortable spot? Any suggestions? Any problems? I'm open for anything.

And last but not least, I wanted to response to a few comments you gals have left. I figured there is a higher chance of you gals seeing my answers to your questions here rather than me posting them as comments.

@ Sarah (regarding your response to our post) - You can get Nfu-Oh polishes at Fabulous Street. I checked the countries they ship to and Sweden is on the list.

@ Nihrida (regarding your response to our post) - I really am afraid of cleaning out my closet sometimes because I know it's an entire day event. LOL!

@ Brook (regarding your response to our post) - It's not way-too-kind if it's true! LOL! =)

@ Bird of a Feather (regarding your response to our post) - OPI's Nail Envy Strengthener is the only thing I've ever used as a base coat. I think it works great at preventing staining. I highly recommend it!

Thanks for reading! Happy Polishing!

Cute right?.......NOT!

Don't ask what happened here cuz I don't know. This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands and no clear direction. Lissi thinks its adorable... I don't. Stamping FAIL!

I started off with Zoya Jolene, which is a super cute, super bright, super shiny Rose color (that's how my photoshop settings, monitor and color wheel describes it). Then I decided I wanted to stamp that cute leafy pattern from the BM05 plate. I wanted similar yet still different shades overlapping but now it looks like one big leafy mess. I used China Glaze's OMG and Something Sweet and Konad's Special White. Can you tell? Uh, no. *raising eyebrow*

Anyway... tomorrow is another day so stay tuned. :)

Happy Polishing!

KOTD: A Tap Dancing Kitty

Hey Ladies!

I literally have a tap dancing kitty for you today... My niece! It's so weird posting a picture of myself on here. Has anyone else pictured what a blogger looks like based on their nails and online personality? And then laugh when you see a real picture of them because its nothing like what you imagined? Or am I the only weirdo? So I imagine some of you gals seeing my picture and thinking "That is Lissi!?!?! Never would have guessed it." LOL!

So my niece is 4 years old and is in dance classes (ballet and tap). On Sunday (June 20th), she had a dance recital. Her class was dancing tap to the Aristocats song and they were all dressed like cute little kitties!

So I promised her I would do my nails with little kitty cats in her honor... Of course she asked me to do cats on her nails too. I had to promise to do them for her the next day (which I ended up doing them tonight) because she wasn't allowed to have painted nails for the recital. So here is my tribute to my little kitty cat:

I apologize for my horrible looking nails and cuticles. I literally did this manicure (with stamp and all) 20 minutes before I had to leave to the show. So I didn't do a good cleaning up job, no pushing back of the cuticles, and no moisturizing. This was a paint and dash mani!

This is 2 coats of Zoya's "Loredana" from the MatteVelvet collection. This color reminds me of fresh asphalt when its still nice and dark. LOL! Zoya describes it as a medium gunmetal gray packed with silvery shimmer and a velvety matte finish. It's not matte in the pictures because I applied a layer of Seche Vite since I stamped. Application was great and it dried super fast (like most matte polishes do).

For stamping, I used China Glaze's "Millenium." The cats are from Konad's S10 image plate. The little fish skeleton is from Bundle Monster's BM04 image plate. I associate cats with fish. LOL!

Hope you gals like it!

NOTD - Concrete Nails

Hey Ladies!

This is my mani from June 17th! This is 2 coats of Zoya's "Harley!"

This color is the reason why you should never trust the bottle. Bottles lie! I thought I wasn't going to like this color based on how it looked in the bottle. But I think it looks totally different on the nail. I just had to get used to it. I'm very pale so light colors scare me just because I feel like they don't stand out on me. But now I love this color. It was a perfect balance: Not too subtle but enough color to stand out!

Zoya describes this as a light concrete gray base with subtle flecks of silver, gold and copper shimmer. They aren't kidding when they say the shimmer is subtle. You can see it more in the sunlight. The concrete description of the base color is 100% accurate to me.

Application was great. You would think this type of color would take a lot of coats for a full and even look. Shockingly, it only took 2 coats for perfect coverage.

Hope you gals like it! My goal is to finish trying out all the Zoya's I got with my exchange. I still have plenty more to use!

Happy Polishing!

I won a giveaway!

Hey Ladies!

I was going through my pictures and organizing those of my recent hauls when I realized I haven't posted this yet. Vampy Varnish hosted a giveaway for OPI's Mini Shrek Collection. Needless to say, I was shocked when I received an email from her letting me know that I won. How exciting! I have been wanting to try these out but kept debating whether or not to purchase them.

(L to R)

What's with the Cattitude?

Fiercely Fiona

Rumple's Wiggin

Who The Shrek Are You?

And like the dork that I am... I was excited because these are my first ever mini OPI bottles. It's funny because my mother saw the picture above and said it was deceiving because they didn't look so mini there. LOL!

I can't wait to try these out now! Now I just need to go see the movie. LOL!

Happy Polishing!

A Naked Nail... And A Dry Finger!

Hey Ladies!

I just realized how the title of the post can be slightly... disturbing! But that is exactly what you are going to get: A naked nail and a dry finger! Quick! Cover your eyes!!!

Again, I am reaching out to all the knowledgeable ladies out there in hopes of solving another nail problem...

The skin around the nail of my ring finger started to get insanely dry over a month ago. The skin is constantly peeling and very sensitive. (Totally random: I got a paper cut over that spot last week and thought I was going to die. It was the most painful thing EVER!) It has also spread to the cuticle! See how the cuticle isn't even attached (kind of) on the right side.

Can you see what I'm talking about in the pictures? I tried my best to capture it.

Yes, I use 100% acetone when I remove my polish. However, this has happened to me twice before I got into nail polish and before I used acetone as often as I do now. And it's always been the same finger. But don't ask me what I did back then to make this go away because I have no idea. LOL! Over the past month I've made a conscious effort to get my finger back to normal. I have applied extra Lush Lemony Flutter on that area every night when I use it on my cuticles. I have been using SkinMD's lotion all throughout the day and apply extra lotion on that spot. I wash my hands IMMEDIATELY after using acetone on that finger.

I have seen no improvements. I don't know what to do anymore. Any suggestions? Ideas? Tips? Or feel free to just comment and tell me how ugly my naked nail is and that it shouldn't work at a nail strip-club...

KOTD: PHD's Analogous Challenge

Hey Ladies!

I am about to spam you with pictures from my June 16th mani. This mani was in response to Polish Hoarder Disorder's Analogous Challenge for the week. I felt "blah" about it once it was done. Remember, I was still sick and medicated when I did this. LOL! So please forgive me for my failed attempt.

It started off with 2 coats of China Glaze's "Solar Power." This yellow makes me think of a taxi more than it does of the sun. Maybe that is why it's described as "taxi cab yellow."

Then I stamped the fishnet image from M57 using China Glaze's "Tree Hugger" which is a green apple type of green with a bit of shimmer. I should have stamped using a darker green color. I didn't mean for it to be so... subtle.

Then I stamped the butterflies from M36 using OPI's "No Room For The Blues" which is a nice sky blue color.

I was disappointed with the outcome. I wish I would have chosen darker colors for the stamped images. I feel that they are so subtle that you can't really tell its blue and green. Or maybe the tone of the yellow was too much. I don't know. Better luck next time.

Fly, Fly Butterflies....

This is the look I came up with yesterday while spending a quiet afternoon at home after cleaning, doing some work and catching up with my Tivo. My toddlers were away so I had more ME time. Isn't that always the case? If I attempt to do my nails WHILE they're home, they end up wanting 3 polish changes each. If that's now at the ages of 2 and 3, can you imagine when they're teenagers???? I used Orly's Gumdrop as a base (love that color), and Color Club's Gossip Column and China Glaze's Millennium to stamp a few butterflies. I used the fauxnad CG-04 plate.

I think it came out kinda cute... hope you ladies like it.

Happy Polishing!!!!

NOTD - Anaka, Alegra's Twin!

Hey Ladies!

This is my mani from June 13th. I'm almost caught up with all my pictures and posts!

This is 2 coats of Zoya's "Anaka" from the Truth Collection. Zoya describes this as a vibrant purple-toned deep fuchsia-pink with reflective hot pink shimmer and gold microglitter. Sometimes it looks almost reddish. Either way, it's gorgeous and looks a lot like "Alegra" to me without that hectic-glitter-removal. Maybe I'll have the time to do a comparison one day.

Hope you gals like it! I'll be back with more later!

Happy Polishing!

NOTD - Fatal Dragons... Round 3

Hey Ladies!

This will be a quick post since this manicure (from June 12th) is the same as my last one with just a minor change. 

I present to you Color Club's "Femme Fatale" over China Glaze's "Flying Dragon."

This is just 1 coat of "Femme Fatale" with 1 coat of Seche Vite over it. "Femme Fatale" is an awesome clear base with pinkish/purplish shimmer. It's a great thing to have if you want to spice up a mani and don't feel like stamping... which is what happened with me. Again, you can notice the shimmer while indoors but its the sunlight that really makes it look amazing. Love it!

Hope you gals are enjoying Father's Day!

Happy polishing!

NOTD - Dragons Are Flying... Round 2

Hey Ladies!

First things first: Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers in your lives!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I was sick for 2-3 days. I got so sick and tired of being home and in bed. So I was out of my room and out of the front door the moment I got better! I needed some fresh air.

Maria beat me with this color since I've been backed up with posting. But because I already had the pictures taken you'll just have to see China Glaze's "Flying Dragon" again. LOL! This is my manicure from June 10th. This polish is from the Ink collection. "Flying Dragon" is a deep dark purple with small red and blue glitter. I took a picture with the side of the bottle so you could see the amount of glitter it has. I also tried my best to capture the glitter on my nails. The 2 coats applied perfectly. The polish is very dark when you are indoors. But the glitter really pops when in the sunlight. I love this color. 

Hope you gals like it!

Happy Polishing!

Babbling Brooke's 2-Year Celebration

Hey Ladies!

Babbling Brooke is an amazing blogger and is celebrating 2 years of blogging. If you have never seen her blog, I invite you out from under the rock and kindly demand that you go see it. (Click Here!) I have been a follower for a while and she is amazing. I follow 150+ different blogs through RSS Feed. I usually check all my blogs for updates daily. However, if I don't have time to check them all her blog is one of the few on my "Must Check First" list. It's easy to see from her posts that she is passionate about her blogs and her followers. She is celebrating her 2 years of blogging and sharing her passion with all of her followers. Check out her celebration giveaway... It's insane!

PRIZES:

Ten Nicole by OPI polishes, sponsored by Nicole by OPI 

Play Fair, I've Got the Power, Respect the World, One Voice, Positive Energy, Show You Care,  Girl Talk, Do Good..Feel Good, Deeply in Love, You're An Angel

Nine China Glaze polishes, sponsored by China Glaze 

For Audrey, Shocking Pink, Recycle, Rich & Famous, Ruby Pumps, Salsa, Fast Forward Top Coat, Strong Adhesion Base Coat, Ridge Filling Base Coat

Ten Seche Nail Treatments, sponsored by Seche 

2 Bottles of Seche Vite, 2 Seche Rebuilds, Seche Recondition, Seche Retain

Four OPI Summer Flutter polishes, sponsored by OPI 

Wing It!, Flower-to-Flower, Catch Me in Your Net, Flit A Bit

Three Zoya polishes, sponsored by Zoya 

Winner selects three polishes

Juice Beauty To Go Facial Set, sponsored by Juice Beauty 

Starfish Bangle, sponsored by A. Tierney 

Eleven Kiss/Broadway Nails Products, sponsored by Kiss Nails 

Eight Nailene Nails Products, sponsored by Nailene 

Coach Signature Mini Skinny Pouch (purchased from Coach Outlet)

Two OPI Polishes, One Sally Hansen polish, One Diamond Cosmetics polish

Healthy Hands & Nail Lotion, Q Tips, Ponds Face Cleansing Cloths

PRIZES NOT PICTURED:

Three BB Couture Nail Polishes, sponsored by Overall Beauty 

Five Overall Beauty Mineral Shadows, sponsored by Overall Beauty

Overall Beauty Blush, Mascara, and Etsy pouch, sponsored by Overall Beauty

One customized notepad from Mommy Pads & More, sponsored by Mommy Pads 

Custom selected gift set of Evil Shades Mineral Cosmetics, sponsored by Evil Shades 

The giveaway will be end on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 11:00 PM.

So check it out!

O.M.G. It's my New FAVORITE Purple!!!!!

I have a thing for purple... love it! So many shades... lilac, lavender, plum... but this? This is super fantabulous and cool. It's been around the block with you gals for quite some time now but I just can't get over how lovely it is. I'm talking about China Glaze's Flying Dragon. woof. It's b.u.tiful. I decided to go back to my love of stamping for a while because I don't have the energy needed to remove glitter polishes every few days (that stuff can be draining).

I decided to use the star pattern from Bundle Monster's 05 plate with some China Glaze Millenium. Head's up! Dallas Cowboys fans out there: Come the 2010 season, this is the plate to use with your blue polish of choice. Anyway, it's my new favorite mani. Alas... should be getting my Zoya Exchange shipment any day now so I'm gonna make the sacrifice and change my look yet again. *whiping brow*

Hope you like the look! Happy Polishing!

KOTD: I Want Candy!

Hello! 

This is a quick post to show you gals my manicure from June 8th. I'm sick now and want to crawl back into bed, medicate, and just watch Alice in Wonderland.

"What Do U Think" is an orange/peach creme by Essence. Not bad for .99 cents. It's hard to capture the color accurately. I tried. I would say the closest to accurate are my index and pinky fingernails on the top right picture. LOL! This took 3 coats.

Then I stamped the hearts from M59 using China Glaze's "Flying Dragon" on my thumb and ring fingers.

This is one of my least favorite manicures. I wasn't crazy about it. But it's alright. At least I knocked out another polish from my untried stash. LOL! I don't know if I'm not convinced with the color of the polish, the stamp, or the color of the stamp. Meh!

I'll probably come back after and post again after watching Alice in Wonderland. I'm obsessed with that movie. Both the cartoon and the new one.

Anyways...

Happy Polishing!

NOTD - Charla

Hey! Good Morning!

This is the first Zoya I used from my Zoya Polish Exchange. This is from June 6th.

This is "Charla" by Zoya... This color is insane and I can't imagine describing it in less than 3 words... It's a mermaid/ocean color that is blue/green with some gold shimmer. Its weird because sometimes it looks more blue and sometimes more green. It's a freak of nature type of color... It took 3 or 4 (I can't remember how many) coats to get a nice solid look. It started off a little see-thru so I just kept laying on coats until there was no VNL. However, the application was great.

I love this color. I couldn't help but stare at it. It's hypnotizing.

I'm almost caught up! I'll be back with more pictures later today or first thing tomorrow!

Happy Polishing!

P.S. - I'd like to take this time to say thank you to all our fellow bloggers for all the comments we've received over the last week. I've missed you all! It's just hard to reply to every single one. But don't think I haven't seen them!

In Stereo - Game

I saw this game on Nihrida's Blog and decided to join the fun!
So, here are the rules of the game:
1) Put your MP3 player library on shuffle.
2) For each question press the next button to get your answer.
3) You must write that song's name down - no matter how silly it sounds.

So here we go:

*If someone says ''is this okay'' you say?
Can't Believe (by Staind)

*How would you describe yourself?
Light My Way (by Audioslave)

*What do you like in a girl/guy?
Pretty Toes (By Nelly) - This is so random! I don't like toes! LOL!

*How do you feel today?
My Way (by Limp Bizkit)

*What is your life's purpose?
VooDoo People (by Prodigy)

*What is your motto?
Robocop (by Kanye West)

*What do your friends think of you?
Fantasy (by Timbaland)

*What do your parents think of you?
Still On My Brain (by Justin Timberlake)

*What do you think about very often?
Down With The Sickness (by Disturbed)

*What do you think of the person you like?
Don't Lie (by Black Eyed Peas) - Ha!

*What is your life story?
This Ain't Sex (by Usher) - WTH?

*What do you want to be when you grow up?
Miss Independent (by Ne-Yo) - Great timing for that song!

*What do you think when you see the person you like?
Suffocate (by J Holiday)

*What will you dance to at your wedding?
Blurry (by Puddle of Mudd)

*What will they play at your funeral?
The Reason (by Hoobastank)

*What is your hobby/interest?
Superstar (by Saliva)

*What is your biggest fear?
Cleaning Out My Closet (by Eminem) - Oh Eminem! Good timing!

*What is your biggest secret?
Never Alone (by Barlow Girl)

*What do you think of your friends?
The Dairy of Jane (by Breaking Benjamin)

*What will you post this as?
In Stereo (by Fort Minor)

Hope you enjoyed my random music collection... LOL!

KOTD: I Want Candy!

Hey! This will be a quick post.

So this is my manicure from June 3rd. This is Color Club's "Electro Candy."

"Electro Candy" is a neon pink with some blue shimmer. The shimmer is much more visible, as always, when in the sun. I can't remember if this is 3 or 4 coats. But I know it took a few to cover the VNL. It's hard to capture the brightness of this color. But trust me, it's pretty bright! My sister says it can stop traffic... LOL! Application was great and even. As a typical neon, it dried a little matte. But topcoat made it shiny right away.

Then I stamped the black butterfly using the fauxnad image plate (CG-04) sent to me by Maespiritu of Art of Nail. (Again, thank you so much!) I stamped using Konad's Special Black polish.

Hope you gals like it. I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Belated Birthday Gift!

Hey Ladies!

Today I want to share with you a belated Birthday gift that arrived in the mail for me recently! I received this from the wonderful Maespiritu of Art of Nail!

A little history: Back in February/March Maespiritu posted pictures of a few fauxnad image plates she had. Maria and I immediately fell in love with the plate you see above. All those butterflies were adorable! We had recently discovered "fauxnads" but didn't know where to purchase them. So we emailed her about it. I later post a few manicures I had done for my birthday. Surprisingly, Maespiritu contacted me and offered to mail me the butterfly image plate. I was so excited!

Some time had passed and I got so busy with life that I completely forgot about it. Then I recently come home and my mom says: "You got a package from the Philippines." I was like: "What? But I haven't ordered anything recently!" So I open the package as eager as a child on christmas morning. It made me so happy to see an adorable birthday card from Maespiritu! With the card she included the famous butterfly image plate and 2 sheets of nail stickers! This really was an awesome belated birthday gift!

Maespiritu: Thank you so much! This was so nice and thoughtful of you! Like I have always said, this nail blogger community is full of wonderful ladies. And you are definitely one of them! I know I am a stranger to you and you didn't have to go out of your way for me. But it is very much appreciated!

I will be posting pictures of a mani I did using this plate either later today or tomorrow! So be sure to check back!

Happy Polishing!

I won a giveaway!

Hey Ladies!

I'm happy to post that I won a giveaway hosted by Evil Angel from Black Nail Polish & Lipgloss. I received the goodies while I was in my missing phase. And now I finally get to post this up.

I was able to pick 10 of my favorite stencil/designs from SmArt Nails. It only took a while to receive them because SmArt Nails isn't in the US. But based on what I've seen from other bloggers, it was well worth the wait. These stencils seem really easy to use. I haven't used them yet but I'll post pictures as soon as I do! I can't wait to try them out!

Thank you sooooooo much Evil Angel for hosting that giveaway! You are awesome!

Happy Polishing!

NOTD - Baby Blue Goodness!

Hey Ladies!

Here is my continuing attempt to catch up! This is my manicure from May 30th.

I finally stopped hiding in a corner of my room while mumbling "my precious" as I pet this Nfu-Oh bottle while I rock myself back and forth over and over again. Creepy right? LOL! It was time to use it and pop that new-polish-cherry!

Let me just start off by saying that I have only ever seen 2 or 3 baby blueish holo's... But NONE compare to Nfu-Oh's "65." NONE! This color is gorgeous. It is pure insanity when it is in the sun. Look at how it shines like crazy!

This color is officially my #1 favorite of all time... And good thing I love it so much because application is a nightmare! If it weren't for the fact that Nfu-Oh isn't cheap and the color is gorgeous, I would have thrown the bottle out of the window! If I didn't get the application even then I had to leave it that way because going over an area twice with the brush would just remove all the polish completely! I felt like the polish was playing an evil game with me. So applying center-side-side was no good because any overlapping areas would end up with no polish at all. And then the 2nd coat would remove almost all of the polish. Waiting for the prior coat to dry before applying the next didn't really help much. I would still pull off the paint underneath. I found myself having to apply an excessive amount of polish with each coat and then laying my hands flat so it could even out. Or I would have to apply a bead of polish on the bald spots. In the end, the war between my nails and this polish resulted in a shockingly even look.

So I guess we can say this was 3 coats. LOL!

Either way, the end result is worth the torture!

Random question: Has anyone stamped with this color? I tried to for another mani and it did the weirdest thing. I would try to pick up the image with the stamp off the plate and would just get an outline of it. LOL! I tried several times and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. So I think this polish is just not stampable. Anyone have different results?

Happy Polishing!

NOTD - I'm Having A Fling w/ H&M

Hey Ladies!

As promised, here is my mani from May 27th. I was out by the pool when I took these pictures so that might be why my cuticles look so nasty and dry (or at least worse than usual)... They were getting a tan too in this insanely intense Miami sun... It's been in the 90's here. And it's so humid. You walk outside and are sweating after just 1 minute. Literally! I miss the cool weather so much! Being cold is easy to fix because you can just bundle up. But being hot isn't so easy to fix. You can't strip in public and eventually have to venture out of the house and A/C. LOL!

This is H&M's "Just A Fling" from my swap with Colour Victim. Because these were taken awhile ago (and because I have horrible memory) I can't remember if this was 2 or 3 coats. Either way, I apply coats until there is no more VNL. This is a pretty violet/purple color with very light shimmer.

Please ignore my tip-pull. This is what I was talking about in my earlier post.

I might post another mani later tonight! If not, I'll post tomorrow for sure. I have to catch up!

Happy Polishing!

KOTD: Boy, Where Are My Flowers?

Hey Ladies!

Here is another mani I had done while I was partially missing.

So a while back Maria got me China Glaze's "Towel Boy Toy" as a surprise gift. But then I hit final exams and didn't see her so it took a while to get this beauty in my possession. And I was finally able to use this bad boy.

Behold, 3 coats of "Towel Boy Toy!"

Application was great. I just needed 3 coats to get good coverage and avoid VNL. But who cares! It's gorgeous! Because it is a neon, it dries quickly and matte. But once you put topcoat... Beauty!

Then I stamped those funky flowers from M57 using Konad's Special White polish.

I was actually sad when this mani chipped. Don't be surprised if I use this color again soon. There is just something about it that draws your eyes straight to it. And in the sun... *drools* It has this gorgeous shimmer!

Definitely one of my new favorites!

P.S. - I corrected my last post. That wasn't post number 100. Blogger was playing a prank on me and was counting a non-published post (which I have since deleted). So....

THIS IS OUR 100TH POST! Woo Hoo! I never thought we would get to 100 posts. This is awesome. Blogging has turned out to be more fun than I originally expected. It just sucks that life can get in the way sometimes.

I will be posting more tomorrow! Imagine, I'm only by my mani from May 25th. I still have 7 more to go!

Happy Polishing!

KOTD: In Memory of My Windshield

Hey Addicts!

I apologize soooo much for falling off the face of the planet for a bit. But trust me, I've had my reasons. And here is one of them:

This is what happens when your poor car is viciously attacked by a palm tree frond. Palms trees are the tree of choice in Miami. I think its because of a palm trees high resistance to hurricane winds and our tropical weather. Either way, I've never seen one do this kind of damage! It's common for the frond to fall off the tree when its dry. But you usually just see them on the ground beside the tree and its no big deal. I went to Best Buy to buy a birthday gift and was inside the store for just 5 minutes... Literally! I knew exactly what I was going to purchase so I was in the store for what felt like nothing. I walk back outside and find my windshield smashed. Then I see the frond on the hood of my car. I was parked in front of a bush so the frond wasn't able to finish sliding off my hood. I was so angry. I had a Liar Liar movie moment and yelled at the frond. (For those of you that have seen the movie: it's the scene where his car is towed and he is yelling about the scratch on the car and taking it up the tailpipe.) I was like: "Are you serious!?!?! Are you f*cking serious!?!?!?" There wasn't anyone near me but I wouldn't be surprised if someone heard me in the parking lot and thought I was crazy. There was glass EVERYWHERE inside my car. All over the dash, the seats, the floor, etc. I was so angry. I had to call my insurance and have my car towed home. Luckily, my windshield was replaced within 2 days but I'm still dealing with the damage to the rest of my car. The hood and bumper is scratched, the dash is scratched, there is glass inside my radio, and the headliner next to the windshield is cut. Luckily my insurance will be paying for the repairs. Then they get to chase Best Buy's insurance for reimbursement of their expenses and my deductible. What a mission!

So... I made my mani in memory of my windshield and of this situation. I didn't have an image plate with a palm tree so I went with the next best thing... leaves!

This is 2 coats of FingerPaints "Sketch N Etch." I stamped using my new Bundle Monster plate BM19 in "Millennium" by China Glaze. I love these plates. But I'm officially sad at the fact that the full nail images are too narrow for my nails. The image couldn't cover my entire nail. I did the best that I could at stamping again over the missing area. You can kinda tell in the pictures. The "extra" stamp is on the left side. But at the end of the day the plates were still worth it for such a cheap price.

So, moral of the story: Don't park under palm trees!

Nail Blogger Crisis!

Nail Bloggers of the world... UNITE!

I am suffering from a frustrating dilemma... Tip-pull ! ! ! Insane amounts of tip-pull. Within hours of a fresh manicure, I'll have tip-pull already starting on my nails. Most of my upcoming pictures (which I'll be posting over the next few days) were taken the day after changing my polish and you can already see a perfect paint-less line on the tip. This tip-pull is driving me crazy. This didn't happen before and I haven't really changed my polish routine.

At first I thought it was because my Seche Vite topcoat was getting low and thick from having the bottle open over time. So I bought thinner. I added the thinner and my topcoat was no longer a goopy mess. That didn't solve the tip-pull problem.

Then I thought it might be because my bottle was getting old. So I refilled with new topcoat... That didn't solve the tip-pull problem.

Then I thought that it might be because I was using too many coats of polish. I only apply however many coats are necessary to avoid VNL. But I've noticed that the tip-pull happens regardless of whether I have 2, 3, 4, or 5 coats of polish on.

Then I saw a blogger post about painting the edge of the nail in order to help make your polish last longer. I did that last night when I changed my polish. I thought that was working. It didn't. If anything, it took about 4-5 hours longer before tip-pull started to happen.

I don't know what to do. My usual routine is:
OPI Chip Skip
OPI Nail Envy Hardener (1 coat)
Nail Polish (however many coats necessary)
Clean the polish off the edges and cuticles.
Seche Vite Topcoat (1 coat. If I stamped, 2 coats - one before the stamp and one after.)

My next experiment will be to apply the topcoat and THEN clean the edges. Maybe the polish is drying too much while I clean and then the topcoat makes it shrink even more. Although, this never happened before.

Is it possible that I'm putting too much topcoat within that 1 coat? 

In the meantime, do any of you wise polish lovers have any advice? Any suggestions? Any tips? Anyone suffering from the same frustrations? Has anyone been able to conquer this annoying pest that is tip-pull?

I am begging the Polish Gods for some guidance! LOL!