Palm Desert?

This last weekend I went to visit my grandma out in the desert hoping to escape the rain.  Well, it rained there too. Yay.  When I was leaving, I noticed that there was alot of snow on the mountains which looked a little out of place considering the surrounding area is desert. Anyways, I thought I would take some pictures to share.

 

  

  

 

valentines day nails day 4

I took a picture of this mani after it was about 3 days old so there is some tip wear.  Please excuse that. 

 

I'm not going to take the time to name all the colors used for the hearts.  And for the record, I was trying to make candy heart.  Obviously that didnt work out to well for me there as my art skills are seriously lacking.  Surprisingly, my right hand looked better than my left hand...i'm right handed.  

 

The base color used for this is Wet N Wild white cream.  I am not very pleased with this.  It was only a dollar so I know I shouldnt expect much.  It was streaky and generally hard to work with.  I had to apply 3 coats to get it to the opacity you see here.  Does anyone have any recommendations for a not streaky white cream? Please share if you do.  

One of these days I will get around to photographing my general nail care routine.  Maybe someday soon.

Disclaimer: I purchased everything shown here...well my mom might have bought the hiliter :P

Valentines day nails day 3

 

This is a mani from last year also.  The base is Misa Hot People Like You.  I absolutely love this polish.  I've worn it about 5 times! Yes, I know that this doesn't sound like very many times to most of you but its quite a bit for someone with over 150 nail polishes.  Man that sounds like a big number...and i just gave away a bunch.  Well anyways, Misa has one of my favorite formulas.  It applies like a dream, so smooth and never streaky.  You cant tell from the picture(which sucks..i'm sorry)  but it is a neon.   Its such a gorgeous hot pink.  The stripe is Zoya Trixie.  I only have 3 Zoyas but i really like the ones I have.  The formula is really nice.  These polishes are Big3free which means they have less chemicals, which I like.  Trixie is a metallic silver.  Its super opaque, you could probably get away with 1 coat!

Well here is another not so great picture for your viewing pleasure. 

Disclaimer: I bought all this stuff with my own money

Valentines day nails day 2

This is actually quite an old picture. Its from last valentines day. 

 

I was channeling the valentines day candy corns.  The whitish color is Essie ballet slippers, which I swapped away because it was soo streaky.   The pink is OPI elephantastic pink which is such a gorgeous midtoned pink cream.  OPI colors seem to always be winners for me.  The red is Essie E! live from the red carpet which I reviewed in my first valentines day nails post. 

I actually really liked this mani up until the point where I showed my boyfriend who promptly said "those dont look like candy corns at all...they are upside down." Gee...thanks.  Thats what I get for asking a guy about my nailpolish.  In fact the only polish he has ever said that he liked was a blue duochrome claires which is quite ironic considering he claims to only like reds and pinks.  

If you are doing any valentines inspired manicures, please share in the comments! 

Disclaimer: I bought all this stuff with my own money

Ciao Becca!

I don't know if you heard but softsurroundings.com is/was(not sure what is left) having a sale on various makeup brands including Becca and Paul and Joe.  I have always heard such good things about Becca so I decided to place a small order.  My initial order included the pressed shimmer powder in princess, cheek and lip stain in watermelon, something I had been wanting for a while, and calypso bronzer.  I got an order confirmation email and then 2 days later received 2 emails saying that both princess and watermelon were out of stock.  They offered $10 off coupons but i was still quite upset.  Why would you send me a confirmation email if the items are oos??  Well anyways, I preceeded to use up the coupons buy making 2 orders, doeskin demi matte eyeshadow and chinchilla demi matte eyeshadow.

Here are the boxes they came in.  I dont have pictures of chinchilla yet because i just got it. Pictures will be coming soon.

 

This is Calypso bronzer.  It is quite dark with subtle shimmer which I like alot.  I am acne prone and excessive shimmer just highlights whatever breakouts I have at that moment.  The texture is nice and it isnt muddy or orange on me.  However, I do think it is a little bit dark for me as my skin tone stands right now.  I am pretty pale from winter but I imagine that it will work well for me in the summer as my skin color changes quite a bit with the seasons. 

This little puff came with the bronzer.  I think its rather useless.  I certainly do not apply bronzer with a puff.  I prefer a larger fluffy brush. 

This is demi matte eyeshadow in doeskin.  Its a nice nudish beige color.  It has subtle shimmer but its definitely not overpowering.  I would recommend this in conjunction with a frosty shadow to tone it down or on its own with brown liner for a job interview.  

Disclaimer: I bought all this with my own money

Valentines day nails day 1

Well, obviously I am a little upset over the turnout of todays festivities.  For those of you who haven't heard, the groundhog saw his shadow...6 more weeks of winter. 

On a happier note, it is less than 2 weeks away from valentines day. Or maybe thats a sadder note for some, sorry if you are one of those. To get into the spirit I decided to post some valentines inspired NOTDs(nails of the day). 

This is Essie E! live from the red carpet.  It is a beautiful red cream with a little bit of jelly quality to it.  This is 3 coats.  The polish was really smooth, top notch quality.  I also added a little heart sticker to the ring finger which i bought at sallys beauty supply. 

Do you plan on painting your nails something special for V-day?

Disclaimer: I bought everything mentioned in this with my own money...woo

Half Moon Mani

This is actually an old one.  I did it back in the summer when I was bored because I was off of school, didn't get the class I needed in summer school(stupid economy), and couldn't get a job(at which I repeat, stupid economy).
I decided to give this a try since they are "all the rage now".  The "moon" part is Color Club Coastal Creme.  I really love color club's polishes.  They are relatively cheap, very pigmented and really nice to apply.  I applied that color all over my nail and let it dry completely.  It is very important to let it dry completely because you use a french tip guide to make the shape and it will pull off polish if it isnt dry.  You apply a french tip guide so that the top part of the guide will be the end of the moon part of the nail.  I then applied Orly Monroe's Red.  This is a gorgeous pinky red, very retro as the name suggests.  Again, its also super pigmented and smooth to apply.  However, I do not find that this is constant with all Orlys.  Some are quite streaky.  Anyways, you let that color dry completely before removing the tip guide. That color must be completely dry and it will bleed into the other color as you can see happened to me :(
O well, I was still rather satisfied with the results as this was my first attempt at the half moon mani.

As tomorrow is groundhog day, I decided to share that I would very much like for the groundhog not to see his shadow...bring on spring!!  Do you want the groundhog to see his shadow or are you dying for spring like me? Let me know!

Disclaimer: I bought all of this with my own money..woo