Backlog: Winter Nails

I am slowly getting through my backlog of pictures to post... These were my nails from Christmas! I worked hard on that snowflake! Would have been easier with a striper, no doubt...

Navy blue tips: Love & Beauty Navy
Silver: Wet 'n Wild
Glitter: NYC Colors Starry Silver Glitter
Snowflake: Sally Hansen (from a french manicure set)
Teal glitter: Nails Inc. Fitzroy Square 3D Glitter

NotW: Dolly Valentine ♥

Tsubasa-inspired nails! Basically copied hers besides the index nail, which is something simple I came up with on my own. Yay 3D roses and rhinestones ♥

Base: Butter London Knees Up

Polka dots: E.L.F. white

Bow: Wet 'n Wild black

Rose: eBay

Rhinestones: Love & Beauty (Forever 21)

I made truffles/chocolate things this year as well but totally forgot to take pictures...so hopefully I'll remember to ask my boyfriend to take some for me so I can post them up, ahaha. I'm quite proud of the white chocolate ones!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

NotW: Year in Review

Happy New Year, everyone!!

For my NYE mani, I spontaneously decided to make my theme "a year in review" and have a blue and silver mani that incorporates the biggest trends (to me) from 2011, and also some random bling! :)

From left to right, there's: shatter polish, galaxy nails (my first try!), Nails Inc. 3D glitter nails, random silver nail, random glitter bling nail, random glitter bling nail #2, water marbling (another first for me!), another random bling/shatter nail, Nails Inc. magnetic polish, and, finally, another bling nail with my favoriteeee topcoat of this/last year (Flurry It Up by Sephora O.P.I.).

Yay being able to go to Sephora today to use their sample magnetic nail polish, since I don't personally own any. Sadpanda. :(

Here's some closeups!

Hope you all enjoyed! :)

Nails of the Week: S-s-s-starry Eyed!

Sorry for the cell phone picture; I have to run to advisement soon! So, super quick post before I leave. I'll fill in more details after I get home tonight. Lame title too, I know.

Very simple nails this time. I just really wanted to use the stars!

Nails of the Week: Underwater Mermaid

Base color: Sephora by O.P.I. Mermaid to Order (2 coats)

On ring finger: Sephora by O.P.I. Flurry Up Top Coat (1 coat)

On pointer finger: Rhinestone from XXI's Love & Beauty set :]

I almost forgot (how could I?!) that the reason I bought Mermaid to Order and the Flurry Up top coat together was to use them together!! I loooove how the Flurry Up top coat looks over Mermaid to Order, as if they were made for each other. ♥ ♥ I love how sparkly my nails are for the week, and I just hope my rhinestones don't fall off! I know I'm not the most gentle with my nails. Titled as "underwater mermaid" because the colors and sparkles truly remind me of sparkling, bubbling, and clean sea water, with sparkles reflecting off of the scales of tropical fish...or mermaid fins! Love love love.

How is everyone doing? I've been getting into gyaru, or gal style so much recently. I've been posting some of my makeup looks on my Tumblr. Just click on my "pictures" link in the side to see them, haha. I have to warn you though, my latest picture is not very....feminine or graceful or poise or WHATEVER at all. I feel bad for neglecting this blog... Will definitely post more in the near future, as I have a giant backlog of hauls!!! Yay!

Happy Valentine's Day ♥ NoTW

Did two manicures for Valentine's Day because my friend was kind enough to let me do her nails as well ♥

On my nails:

Base - Sephora by O.P.I. Dear Diary

Tips - E.L.F. white

Hearts - Butter London Knees Up

Rhinestones - Love & Beauty (Forever 21)

On my friend's nails:

Base - Sephora by O.P.I. Handpicked for Me

Flowers - Butter London Knees Up/Sally Hansen Diamond Strength #22 Sheer Bliss

Hearts - E.L.F. white

I finally got the chance to use the rhinestones from XXI Love & Beauty! They're cute. The heart got all messed up though...

Somehow, I did a better job on the heart on my right hand. Go figure, right-handed person does better with left, haha.

My friend's nails!!!! She said she might have an interview near future so I tried to keep it simple.

I actually really like the thumb nails~ I'll be doing dots more often!

I also made a bunch (read: 34) chocolate truffles for Valentine's Day in honor of my beloved~ I'll be posting pictures of those next time. :) They are currently still hardening/being stored in the fridge.

XXI Love & Beauty Nail Polish Swatch - Gold

I went to Hollywood/Highland today and, even though I walked in with the intention of buying some form of clothing, I walked out of Forever 21 with a bottle of nail polish and a nail jewels set to bling out my nails. I thought I would swatch the nail polish. :) It's a very nice orange color that doesn't stand out too much because the actual color is so light. I was most attracted to the sparkles in the polish. This is 2 coats with no base or top coat.

To rate this color... (kind of making this up..maybe I'll have a better scale for the future if I decide to swatch more varnishes)

Color - 3/5 - Soft and pretty, but not as vibrant as it looks in the bottle even with 2 coats. Maybe 3-4 would do the trick.

Formula - 2/5 - Thin enough to apply easily and quickly, but not thick enough for a good color.

Smoothness - 1/5 - I can feel every bump from the glitter. They will probably chip off easily.

Price - 5/5 - Can't go wrong for price with a fairly large/average size bottle for $2.80!

Overall - 3/5 - It's a nice color, but not one that I love and would wear all the time. Bumpiness is weird for me since I prefer very smooth polishes.

I'll post my recent Sephora hauls soon too~ Look forward to 3 hauls coming up, haha! Just today I bought $40 worth of purely O.P.I. Oh me oh my.

What is your favorite Love & Beauty varnish color?