China glaze crackle

So by now everyone has heard about these crackle polishes, if not where have you been?  I finally got myself some from China Glaze, Black Mesh and Crushed Candy.  Unfortunately they were the only ones at the site, the rest were sold out.  I'll have to get the rest soon though - these things are so fun!  Not only do they look great and are really easy to use but it's just plain fun.too.

Left - Crushed Candy crackle on top of For Audrey, M - Crushed Candy crackle over white, R - For Audrey

More photos after the jump ...

MIA or Hiatus?

 My computer was fixed thanks to my cousin's hubby and I've had it for awhile now, since August?   But I joined Beauty school shortly after and life just got too hectic.     That probably seems weird, go to Beauty school for nails, and ignore your blog regarding nails.     Mostly this was due to the fact that I stopped working on mani's for awhile.    It makes it difficult to spend time on a nice mani if you know you're just going to ruin it the next day while filing/cleaning someone else's nails or have to wash your hands 10 times a day.    Having tip wear and chips the day after spending an hour on a mani is painful, I doubt any woman would disagree!

My China Glaze collection, minus 2.

As I'm getting closer to graduating I've begun taking photos of my work for my portfolio and realized that a brilliant idea would have been to chronicle my work in school in a blog dedicated to what I was studying.    I'm a belated genius.  Unfortunately with (hopefully) about a month left it's too late for that, however I can at least work on getting back to my original idea.    Spend time making fun and enjoyable nails and sharing them with others.

My Sally Hansen collection.

I've recently purchased a set of MASH nail art plates and quite a bit of China Glaze polishes that I'll likely be reviewing/posting about in the upcoming days.    After going into excessive freak out mode at the arrival of my new polishes a friend of mine asked me if I knew how many polishes I owned.   Naturally I had no idea, but I was up to the challenge to find out, and take photos.   Years of collecting of course, these are the ones that have made it this long and are still useable.

My random misfits, minus 1 or 2.

Is it possible to start a New Year's Resolution in June?  If so, mine for this year will be to become more active in helping to spread my joy when it comes to nails, nail polish, make-up and art in general.  

~ Amber              

MIA

It seems that I have computer issues more often than not.  My laptop has decided to die on me.   I tried chatting with some friends on Skype the other day and my fan was just going berserk insano.  After turning the comp off and trying to cool the laptop down nothing seemed to help.  I think the fan actually might be a little off anyhow so that didn't help matters.  After I think the second time trying to restart my computer it decided not to turn on at all.  It keeps requesting I do a system check, and then BSOD's on me. :(  I'll be sending it off shortly to my cousin's hubby to check out, hopefully it's a relatively easy fix.  Until then I only have access to my mother's computer which is painfully slow, doesn't have an art program and doesn't allow you to download images from an SD card.  Without the ability to plug my SD card directly into the comp I can't even upload photos since I can't begin to remember where the camera cable is.  Ugh.  

My nails have actually been doing really well.  With this new cuticle oil I'm using, a new hand lotion and taking a multi-vitamin my nails are growing so well! **   I've never had ALL my nails this long and healthy in, ever.  *knocks on wood*  Hopefully I can get everything back up and running before something happens to them so I can show them off.  I feel like all my effort on nice mani's are going to waste without being able to share them, lol.   I'd like to have photos when I get back, but unfortunately my card is full and I've nowhere to download the photos to so I can't even delete old ones.  I'll try to pick and choose a few to delete so I can at least get a decent shot of my newly long nails.

** I can't remember the exact names of these right now, but I'll do a proper post later with the brands.  The cuticle oil was a Sally Hansen product - not sure which, hand lotion was Bodycology in Buttercream Hand Lotion, and the multi-vitamins were One-A-Day Women's, not sure exactly the name. 

NotD and Claire's makeup review

I was inspired by some nail art I saw while googling for polish and felt like I needed to try out my striping polishes I bought in February.   The base pink is one of my favorite pink polishes and unfortunately came with a random Christmas set I got many years ago so unknown brand and name.   The striping polishes as well had no name, but came from Claire's.   I had such a hard time doing the wiggles on my left hand I didn't even try the ones on my right, haha.

I'm still working on my cuticles, please excuse.  Claire's eyeshadow mini-review after the jump.

Susie's 500 person giveaway

http://susies1955.blogspot.com/2010/06/please-enter-my-giveaway-o.html

The lovely lady at Susie's Home and Hobbies blog is having a fantastic giveaway with a lot of really nice stuff, go join her blog and help get her to 500 followers!  She posts a lot of really cute manis, frequently using konad/fauxnad stamps so check her out!

Review of China Glaze - Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection

Around 6 months later and I've finally reviewed these things.   I've reviewed plenty of things faster than this collection.  I think the fact that many of them were colors I wouldn't normally wear (red, blue, yellow) and the fact that they were glitters and I knew removal would be a pain.     Feel free to ignore my horrible cuticles :p

China Glaze's Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection, full of colors that represent the awesome of the Wizard of Oz movie.   All of the colors are heavily glittered though with a single layer of a top coat makes the mani smooth.

The collection includes Dorothy Who? (blue), Ruby Pumps (red), C-C-Courage (purple), Good Witch? (pink), Cowardly Lyin' (yellow), The Ten Man (silver/gray), and the honorary Emerald Sparkle (green, which actually isn't part of the collection but came out right after the re-release and is appropriate.  Rumor is that the company didn't release a green with the collection because they'd just released Emerald Sparkle with the Christmas 2009 collection).

Review of individual polishes after the jump.

PolishSis Giveaway

Recently started following a great blog who is having a giveaway, PolishSis  http://polishsis.blogspot.com/

A lilac, a rich deep purple, a lime green, AND essence goodies? Count me in!   I actually don't own any of these brands, nor have I ever even used any but they are definitely all ones that I'll look into finding even if I don't win.  Though given I only have $3 in my bank account right now winning would be so much more splendid, lol.   They've already been added to my wishlist. 

This giveaway ends tomorrow! June 20th

NotD & China Glaze - Dorothy Who? Review

I never got around to showing my NotD off from last week which I really liked so here it is. 

I love the simple look of french tips and it's a nice way to get away with 'nude' nails without actually being nude, bonus!   Here I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in White Tip, a wonderfully thick white obviously used for french tips.  With Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Nourishing Nail Color as the fill/top coat.   Generally for most of my base coats I use the Maximum Growth Daily Nail Growth Program which I got as a set with the Nourishing nail color.   One of these days I'll have to experiment with how well it works exactly, but for the most part I really love this stuff and to me it seems like it's working.   I guess that's all that matters, just a little bit of faith!

Today's NotD goes to the opposite and more extreme with China Glaze in Dorothy Who? from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection with black tips done using a black Sharpie paint pen and a quick top coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat.   I have to admit that I'm not a fan of blues in general but I got this when I bought the set and thought that if I own it I should probably try it.   The application was a bit tricky but more-so because it has tons of glitter in it and I don't frequently use glitter polishes.  It only took two coats to be completely opaque and once I had the gritty first coat down the second coat when on so much smoother and better.   I have to say that though I still am not a fan of blues in general this one was really a gorgeous vibrant color.  It matches nothing I ever will wear but that's okay :)

The path

Yesterday I went in and applied at the Beauty College, signed up for both nail technician and esthetics.   I need to be accepted before I can actually start taking classes, but they said a few girls were graduating soon so I should be good. ^^ The night before I realized that I can't very well apply to be a nail technician without at least doing my nails.   Though they are looking horribly short I still needed something. 

M.I.A

last published on Jan 31, 2010

Wow, has it really been that long?  I suppose it has to be since that is what my page says.   Coincidentally this is the same day I started volunteering again at a website I frequent and about a week before we really got to work planning my friend's wedding.   It makes sense since the wedding had consumed my life after this point that my hobbies would suffer.   But enough of that now! 

Starting tomorrow, June 7, 2010 I'm going to be taking the first steps to applying to a local beauty college to get certified as a nail technician.   It's something I've thought about doing in the past but for one reason or another I put it off.   Last night the mother of a little girl I babysit sometimes asked me whey I didn't get into it after seeing some of my nails on Facebook.   We talked about it a little and I mentioned that I actually was interested in it, but that I just hadn't been motivated to look into it.   She brought up the local beauty college and how it seemed like it was fairly easy to get into to do.  The selling point however was her mentioning that at her daughter's salon they actually have an area for a nail technician, but don't have anyone to do nails.  I was sold.  I know her daughter and have actually been into the shop, which was just a blast.    It didn't just pique my interest, I'm consumed by the idea now.   Naturally this occurs on a weekend when I'm unable to actually call around and get the information!

I'm excited, perhaps in the near future I can learn to do one of my favorite hobbies better and get paid for it.   Win, win.