Happy thanksgiving

Here's what I'm wearing today:

China glaze mahogany magic with sinful colors pumpkin spice. Yay!

This is more festive than I thought it would be

Hello! It is currently snowing here and is really cold. I'm staying in today. I'm thankful I have a job that lets me do that!

Last night I did my nails and started with a random Sally Girl Color that I got for like 30-some cents this summer on clearance. It is a really pretty mallard green color with some shimmer in it. But, I couldn't just leave it by itself. I had to add glitter!

Here are the results:

This photo was taken on my porch. See the snow in the background? The glitter topper I used was from 2B bebe - a store in my local mall that sells really nice clothes and accessories. It's like bebe but cheaper. I got a 5-pack of glitter toppers there a few weeks ago for $2.50 because they were running a 50% off clearance sale! Whoot! This is one of the toppers. It is mallard-y green hexes with aqua blue and pink hexes. Very cute. This mani ended up being more Christmasey than I thought it would. I'm probably gonna change this for Thanksgiving. I want to wear my Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice!

I can't stop looking at my fingers!

Ok. I'm kind of obsessed with this glitter bomb of a polish I'm wearing. I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen CSM in Plum Luck and then did 1 coat of Dollish Polish's Sugar Rush. No topcoat. 

Here are the results:

Can you see why I'm distracted by my own nails?! This polish is the definition of a glitter bomb. The glitter is mostly matte, which makes me like it even more!

Even though some of the glitters in this are giant, I had no trouble getting them to lay on the brush. The bristles seemed to grab onto the glitters on its own. I can't wait to try this polish over a lighter color. I bet it would show up even more. I'm seriously in love with this glitter. 

It's true.

I'm on Instagram now!

Follow me on Instagram by going to @dcnails_n_at (click on it for a link)

There's also a link on the top left hand corner of this page.

I just signed up for it this weekend and am loving it. I post a lot more on there than I do on this blog, so if you're on Instagram, I'd love it if you'd join me. Yay!

Koopa Troopa

So, I may have gone on a bit of a nail polish binge this month. I made my first foray into indie polish with purchases from KBShimmer and Dollish Polish. I haven't used the KBShimmer ones yet (although I'm super excited to do so). I did however use Dollish Polish and am SOOOO impressed with the amount of glitter packed into this.

I found "The Koopa King" on clearance at Dollish Polish and could not resist. It's part of her gamer series and came out about a year ago. It was featured in a collection based on Nintendo characters. I wanted them all but decided finally on the Koopa King. It features different size golden yellow matte glitters, red and green hexes and black bar glitter. It also has teeny tiny white glitters (I think they are round?) and holographic diamond glitters. Yeah, that's about as much glitter as I've ever seen in a polish. The glitters are all in a clear base. I chose to put it over Zoya's Channing and I loooove it!

Here it is in all its glory!

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I'm really trying hard not to say this, but...

"Every rose has its thorn..." There, I did it. I have no shame.

But, check this out!

So, It's the middle of November and I have a rose blooming in my flower bed! How pretty is this? I know - nothing to do with nail polish, but I wanted to share it. I am seriously thinking of signing up for Instagram so I can just do photos. Any thoughts?

Also, I for real met Bret Michaels this week (gotta attribute that quote to him, after all). I got to interview him for an article. Yeah, I've hit the big time now! I think I've developed a bit of a post-meeting crush on him. He was so hot (and super nice)! I may have to add him to my list along with Clooney and Liam Neeson!

Chop chop!

Today I have Sally Hansen Insta-dri in Chop Chop Copper. I think this is 3 coats. I used NYC Grand Central Station as a topcoat. This is such a pretty coppery gold color with twinkles of pink and blue/green. I took the blurry shots on purpose to show the twinkle. Yay!

Shimmery!

Today I'm wearing 3 coats of Essie Wicked with one coat of Color Club Snowflakes. 

I think I did something similar to this last year. 

Happy Halloween!

Here's my Halloween manicure

Index finger: color club (the orange from the take wing collection) with a skull stamped with black creme. The rest is black creme with Orly's Monster Mash layered over it. 

Ring is from Target. 

My mom is an enabler

Today I have Lilac Quartz from Avon's Brushed Metals collection. 

I visited my mom this weekend and this little gem was waiting for me! 

It is so pretty. It's a lilac-y silver color with a decent amount of texture. In the sun, this really shines. The formula on this was really easy to work with and it dried super quickly. I did not use a topcoat as I wanted the texture to be seen in all its glory!

Photos!

Clever name

Today I'm wearing Maybelline Color Show nail stickers in Metal Prisms. I think they could have come up with a more clever name, but that's just my opinion. 

I got these at Big Lots for $1. I think these stickers retail for about $7 or so. I have never tried "stickers" before. I've only tried the real nail polish strips. 

The first thing I noticed was the smell was very plasticky, unlike polish strips, which smell like, well, polish. In fact, the ingredients are adhesive type ingredients. 

I'm interested to see how these wear. 

Absolutely Afflorable!

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. I have been really busy - I know, excuses, excuses!

I actually had this on my nails a couple of weeks ago - I'm so behind on taking photos of my nails and stuff. This is Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Afflorable. I picked this up at Big Lots for $1. It lasted super long - for me anyway- it was about a week or so. For me, anything that lasts longer than a day or two is awesome because I tend to have peelie nails. I really liked this and got several comments (even one from my boss - who is awesome!)

On to the photos:

No flash

Flash

I know it's not Groundhog Day, but...

We are having our annual Outer Circle Groundhog Club picnic tomorrow. It's something the club does to get together and have a good time and raise money and supplies for the local humane society. So, I did special nails for the picnic.  I think they came out ok, but I'm a perfectionist, so I think they could be better. 

If you're curious about the club itself, we have a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/theoutercirclegroundhogclub 

Fuzzy nails!

Helloooo! Today I'm rocking fuzzy nails! This is Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat in All Yarned Up. I hate that the name of this polish ends in a prepositional phrase, but I do like the polish itself.

For the photos below I used 3 (I think) coats of the fuzzy over Sally Hansen CSM's Iced Coffee. Not sure I needed the base color, but I like it.

All Yarned Up is made of teeny bar glitter that is matte in a clear base. The colors of the glitter are orange, blue and yellow. I know some folks have a love/hate relationship with bar glitter, but personally I love it. This went on amazingly well over my base color. You get a good amount of glitter on the brush with minimal effort. I did use a topcoat just to keep those little fuzzies at bay.

At first I tried using the fuzzy over orange and yellow, but you couldn't see the orange or yellow glitter, which is why I went with a neutral base. I'm really happy with the results of this mani! Yay!

China Glaze Hologram in Don't be a Luna-tic

I'm wearing China Glaze's Don't be a Luna-tic on my nails today. I am so in love with holographic colors. This is from the Hologram collection released this past spring. It is so pretty in natural sunlight. Not sure if my photos did it justice or not. I don't think so, even though, I took lots of them. They are all taken outside in the sunshine. 

 

I used 3 coats and no topcoat for this manicure.

Does anyone else have an obsession with holographic colors? 

Scattered and Tattered

Today I am wearing China Glaze's Scattered and Tattered layered over Orly's Decades of Dysfunction. 

Scattered and Tattered is a crazy mix-up of a bunch of different types of glitter including black and copper glitters of various sizes and black bar glitter. I first put this on my toes and then decided I'd do my fingers, too. I think it's super fun! I want to layer it over other colors, too. Any suggestions on what colors this would look good with?

Click to enlarge the pics if you want! I used one coat of the Scattered and Tattered over 2 coats of Decades of Dysfunction. 

Check out those big hex glitters on my thumb! 

Happy day after the 4th

I went to a family picnic yesterday for the 4th and one of my most stylish family members had a manicure that rivaled mine. 

Check if out:

It's an American flag!!! How cool is that?! Hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday!!

4th of July Mani and my never-before-seen right hand!

Happy Fourth of July (tomorrow). I know a lot of folks probably have long(ish) weekends. Kudos to those of you who don't have to work today, tomorrow or Friday! I had to work today - covering the grand opening of a new supermarket. Free jelly bean and coffee samples = a happy me. Although, I do believe one of the jelly beans in my package was pickle-flavored which was not yummy. The bubblegum flavored one was interesting. I didn't want to eat it. It felt weird to swallow something that tasted like bubblegum when I've had years of training not to do so. Anyways, on to the nails!

 

I used L.A. Girls 3D Effects polish in 3D Silver. This is a scattered holographic polish that I got at
Rite Aid. As far as holos go, it was inexpensive. The dots are essie's Russian Roulette (red), Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Hard to Get (white) and Finger Paints Midnight Sleigh Ride (blue). I used a bobby pin for the dots. I should have waited a bit before applying the topcoat because it made some of the color bleed into the white. It's probably only noticeable to me (or to you if you click on the photo and make it bigger, but please don't do that!).

Another shot of my left hand

And - Ta Da! The moment you've been waiting for! My right hand! I'm uber right-handed so I can never hold the camera with my left hand, but I wanted to demonstrate the fact that the white and colors didn't bleed on this hand because I waited a bit longer to apply the topcoat. So there you have it - I really do have two hands! Happy 4th to all my fellow Americans and be safe!!!

Russian roulette

Today I have Essie's Russian roulette. I got this at Big Lots for $1 recently.  This along with a few Essie polishes were sitting on the shelf like they were waiting for me!!

 

I'm usually not much of a red person but since this was so inexpensive I decided to get it. At first I just put it on my toes and I really liked it. These pics are 3 coats of Russian roulette with Orly's Top to Bottom on top. I put a little flower sticker on my index finger just for fun. The formula on this was a bit thin, but very easy to manipulate for a pretty clean application. 

Milky glitter

Today I'm wearing Revlon Whimsical. It is a light blue milky base with blue and light purplish pink hex glitter and smaller silver hexes. This is my first foray into a milky glitter. It is something totally different than anything else I have in my collection

The consistency of this was pretty thin, but the glitter was surprisingly easy to get out of the bottle. I had to use several layers of this polish to get it to how it looks in the photos below. I'm talking 4 or 5 coats, which took a while since the dry time was kind of long. I topped it with Seche Vite just so the darn nails would dry!

Polish drawers reorganized

My stash has gotten bigger, so I needed to re-organize my nail polish drawers. Right now I am barely fitting all of it into 2 dresser drawers. Think I have enough? I didn't count it or anything. Too afraid.

I had previously had my drawers organized by color and that was it. I have changed it up a bit and now have them organized by brand. I think it will make it easier for me to find what I am looking for with it organized by brand.

How do you organize your polish?

Click for larger photos!

Top drawer includes OPI, Butter London, Orly, China Glaze, Nicole by OPI, Sinful Colors and Color Club

The second drawer includes Wet n Wild, Spoiled, Sally Hansen, Pure Ice, Revlon, Avon, NYC,

Finger Paints and a few single brands like LA Girl and Sephora Pantone Universe

I'm not cryin'

Hello! I have Mermaid's Tears by OPI today. I've been wearing it for a couple days and it's been holding up pretty well. I got this a while back at TJ Maxx in a duo with a turquoise crackle. I like this alone and it looked really good with the orange and white dress I wore yesterday. The combo was almost like the new color scheme of my blog!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

OPI Mermaid's Tears, 3 coats with a topcoat after 2 days of wear. 

Blog redesigned

Wow - two posts in two days. Don't get used to anything!

I redesigned the blog today using a free template I found online. I may change it up more often than I have been. I get bored with the same thing as I'm sure most of you do, too.

Happy first day of Summer (tomorrow)!

Salvation Army Haul

Hellooo!! Sorry it's been for frickin' ever since I've posted anything. I  don't know why I haven't - just lazy I guess. I know this blog is primarily about nail polish, but today I have decided to divert from that. It is called Nails N'at - so this falls under the N'at category.

I went to my local Salvation Army "SUPER STORE" yes - super store - today. Wednesdays they have half price on all of their clothing, so I decided to go and see if I could find any summery things and I was successful. As with all thrift store shopping, it can be hit or miss, but this time it was definitely a hit. I was in the store for a while..cough...cough..over an hour maybe.

I ended up getting 3 pairs of capri pants, two dresses and two shirts. All of this was less than $22. I love a deal! One of the dresses was brand new with the tags. Holla! I think I'm set for the summer!

Here's what I scored:

Left: Xhiliration brand dress (Target brand) $2.50; Right: Brand new i.e. dress $7.50 (regular retail $58)

Close-up of the price tag! Love the deal!

Capri pants, Left, Worthington Brand $2.50;  Right, New York and Company $3.00

Left, capri pants, Van Heusen Brand, $2.50, top brand unknown $2.00, Right, top brand unknown $2.00

Close-up of the top. I love the detail on it! So pretty.