Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Halloween Drip Nails

Hi! I was in Tampa with my boyfriend this past weekend to stay with our friends that live there! They threw a halloween party and it was a nice little weekend getaway, plus we hadn't seen them in a while! Today I'm going to show you the nails I did for the occasion!

I wanted it to kind of look like dripping blood. I started with two coats of Cult Nails Evil Queen and then I used a black striping polish to do the drips.

This didn't go with my costume (I was a flag football player) I just decided I wanted something fun and different.

Here's my right hand.
 
On a different note, I hope all of you that live in the states that are getting hit hard by hurricane Sandy are staying safe! I'm sending good vibes your way!!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Orly Right Amount of Evil with OPI and Cult Nails

Back when I bought Lightmare, I also picked up Orly Right Amount of Evil!
 
 
For this mani I did three coats of OPI Nicole Alert! on all my nails except for my ring finger. My ring finger is one coat of Cult Nails Nevermore. Then I did one coat of Orly Right Amount of Evil on top of each nail.

Right Amount of Evil is holographic hex and fine bar glitter all packed in an orangey clear base that has tons of orangey pink shimmer lol did I lose you there? Yea, it's kind of a lot to describe in one polish.

The only thing I'm disappointed by is that I was under the impression that the hex glitter was orange. But it's just the illusion of the bottle. All in all, though, I really like this glitter polish and what can I say, I'm a sucker for themes!


Friday, October 19, 2012

Piggy Polish Lightmare

Bleh. I've been sick with a sinus infection since Tuesday and luckily I got some medicine from the doctor so I am hoping for a speedy recovery! But, that's the reason I've been really absent on my blog and I didn't do my nails for a whole week...they looked terrible before I did them today!
 
I'm finally breaking out my halloween polishes! And hopefully I have some free time this week to do some halloween nail art as well!
 
Piggy Polish Lightmare. Two THICK coats. This is an opaque glitter polish that has dark gunmetal grey glitter and specks of orange glitter that is spread evenly throughout the polish.

I'm in love with this polish for halloween! The only thing I would change about it is the thickness of it. I tried to thin it out a bunch, but nothing helped. Oh well...the final look of the polish outweighs the application issues.

I picked this polish up a few months ago at Ulta for around $8

Friday, October 12, 2012

Zoya FeiFei

 During one of Zoya's sales a month or so ago my good friend, Steph from Imperfectly Painted, offered to get me a polish! We frequently swap polish, so we always have each other's backs when it comes to polish hunting and such! Anyways, I asked if she'd snag FeiFei for me! I got it from her a few weeks ago, and I'm happy to say that I'm in love!
 
Zoya FeiFei. I used three thin coats.
In my opinion, FeiFei is a little hard to describe. It's any icy blue polish with intense gold shimmer, but it also has some pink/purple subtle shimmer that likes to make an appearance every so often.

This polish really looks 100 times better in person!

This polish is pretty much the prettier sister of Zoya Crystal and the distant cousin of Zoya Noel!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

DIY: honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg face mask

We're doing it a little differently here on PLB today! I have a cool face mask recipe that I found on Pinterest to show you! If you have been following me on Pinterest, you'll notice I've been pinning DIY stuff non-stop lately...I seriously can't get enough!

Anyways, last week when I found this, I went to the website where it originated from so that I could get the recipe and learn more about what it does before I tried it myself. The website that it came from is http://www.collegefashion.net and here's a direct link to the face mask info. on their site. This is what it claims to do (words taken directly from the website):

"This DIY mask, made of nutmeg, honey, and cinnamon, is calming and soothing for stressed-out skin – in addition, it smells absolutely amazing!
The secret? Nutmeg and honey act as natural anti-inflammatories, which can reduce swelling and redness in skin. They’re also great for soothing acne scars and preventing infection. In addition, the nutmeg and cinnamon also work to exfoliate your skin when you wash this mask off."

After I read that, I was sold; I had to try it. Not to mention, I actually happened to have all three ingredients in my house at the time, so that was definitely a bonus!

Here's what the recipe calls for (also taken directly from the site posted above):

"mix 2 tablespoons of honey with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg"

After it's all mixed, the website says the consistency should be like a thick paste. Well, the first time I made the mask and followed the recipe exactly, the consistency of my mask was not that thick at all. In fact, it kept dripping down my face and onto my chest lol! Some even got into my mouth, which was ok, becuase it actually tasted good!

When I made the mask again today, I added only one tablespoon of honey and that made the consistency perfect. I really think it has to do with the type of honey that you are using, because I know if you buy local organic honey it is way thicker than store bought honey like the one I used. So I would say you can use your own judgement on how much honey to add!

Here are the ingredients I used and what the mask looks like
 
Here's the pic I posted on Instagram the first time I tried it. You can see how thin and drippy it looks lol!


You are supposed to leave the mask on for 30 minutes and then wash it off with warm water while gently scrubbing in circular motions to let the cinnamon and nutmeg exfoliate your skin.

I washed mine off over my kitchen sink because it has a garbage disposal. I didn't want to do it in the bathroom sink or shower for fear it might clog the drains.

Now, I've only done this mask twice so far, so I still feel like I need to do it a few more times before I can really conclude if the mask will do what it claims. But, here's how I feel about it at this point in time:

PROS:
-Did not feel tight or stiff on my face like some other masks do
-Smells delicious
-Tastes delicious (if accidentally eaten)
-Once washed off, my face did not feel tight or dried out
-Left my face feeling soft and moisturized (kind of a miracle with my skin)

CONS:
-Kind of messy
-Did not see acne scars diminsh dramatically
-Did not see reduction of inflammation

All in all, I am going to continue to use this mask just because I love how it leaves my skin feeling. It's rare for my face to feel so moisturized that I don't need to put on lotion. I am hoping that the more I use it, the more I'll notice a change in the acne and acne scarring I've been having.

Before you guys try this at home, let me be clear that I am in no way a skin professional. Everything in this post is my opinion, and what works for me, may not work for you! If you have sensitive skin and are nervous about applying this to your entire face, the website suggests that you put the mask on an area of sensitive skin, like the inside of your wrist, to see how you react to the ingredients. Don't try this mask if you feel you may react badly to it!

Whew, that was kind of a lengthy post, but hopefully it was helpful and enjoyable! :)
If you try this mask, I want to know how you liked it!




Tuesday, October 9, 2012

For Winston: paw print nails

Today's nails are dedicated to a very special dog. His name was Winston and he was an English Bulldog. He was my Grandma's dog and he passed away Sunday night. She loved that dog like no other! So, I decided to do somewhat of a tribute in the only way I knew how...nails!
 
Winston was white with brindle coloring, so for the base color of my nails I tried to copy the brindle coloring of his fur.
 
I started with one coat of OPI Suzy Loves Cowboys and then alternated sponging Zoya Dea and Wet n Wild Black Creme until I got the desired effect. To make the paw prints I made dots using my dotting tool and Milani White on the Spot.
 
Even though this is a very sad time for my Gram, Winston lived a good, long (for a bulldog) life and he peacefully passed in his sleep.
 
Here's my favorite picture that I have of Winnie so you can see what he looked like:
 
Fun fact: It took me a good 15 minutes to get this picture because he kept turning around and I kept getting pictures of his butt! He was stubborn like that haha!
 
 

Monday, October 8, 2012

Guest Post for Let Them Have Polish!

Hey guys! Just a quick post to let you know of a guest post that I did....about 2 weeks ago. OOPS! I can't belive I forgot to post about it on here, but I guess better late than never. So yea, Cristina from Let Them Have Polish asked our Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida group to help her out with some guest posts and I volunteered!

You can find my post here. Go check it out! :)

China Glaze Make a Spectacle

Well hello, long time no talk! School got a little overwhelming last week and I honestly took no time to focus on my nails. I've really neglected them lately, and it shows :( If you follow me on instagram, then you know that I cut my nails down some because I couldn't handle them being so long anymore! I kept accidently scratching myself and I was having trouble typing. I really liked the length that I cut them down to, but then something happened...

One day my mani was chipping really bad, so what did I do? Sit in class and peel the crap out of them. Of course doing that made my nails extra peely and weak, that, then led to my pinky breaking so short that it was painful. And now I am to super nubs for nails lol! I'm not that upset because nails grow back. But, they just aren't that pretty right now! You'll see what I mean below.

Base is one coat of Cult Nails Nevermore. Then I added one coat of China Glaze Make a Spectacle.

Make a Spectacle is new from China Glaze for their Halloween collection. It's the only polish I picked up from the collection. I love it! It looks awesome over black; it's got like a green sheen going on...I dig.
 
Again, I'm sorry for the short and sporadic posts. School has gotten a little intense. All of my assignments have been piling into the same weeks and now this week I have a test to study for. So just bear with me :)

Monday, October 1, 2012

Nails Inc. Topping Lane

I have been a very bad blogger lately! I literally have no new posts in my post line up :( BUT, I do have some cool, old pics that I never got around to posting, so for the next few days I'll be posting those. I'm sorry guys, I will hopefully have my blog running normally soon. I also have been really wanting to make another video, but I just haven't had time! Bear with me!
 
 
Nails Inc. Topping Lane. Two coats. This is a pink creme packed with silver, purple and pink glitter. She's a beaut.