31 Day Challenge, Day 3! CG Happy Go Lucky + Nail Art!

So Day 3 = yellows!  Horray!  However, since yellow is my favorite color, there wasn't a yellow in my collection that I hadn't used before, so I thought I'd have to spice it up a bit!

I've been wanting to do yellow and white polka dots for a while, so I figured this would be the perfect time for it.

I started off with three coats of China Glaze Happy Go Lucky and added some polka dots with one of my dotting tools in China Glaze White on White.  I didn't take too much time on the dots so they're not all perfectly the same size, but I don't care too much...surprisingly, actually, since most of the time I'm pretty anal about that kind of stuff.  But here it is:

I like this mani because it's so happy!  If it was a paler yellow it'd remind me of Easter eggs...

So what I've been doing for a while is using a normal top coat (such as OPI) along with these cuticle oil/drying drops from Beauty Secrets instead of a quick dry top coat such as Seche Vite:

They're normally great...they dry your mani quickly along with moisturizing your cuticles, but if you're trying to do nail art it's kind of a hassle because you have to rinse off the oil in between your coats if you want a top coat in between your base and your art. 

BUT I decided for this mani I was going to bust out my Seche Vite and give it another try.  I stopped using it because I was tired of the shrinkage and the crusties on the sides of my nail...I cleaned up again with acetone after applying the SV to stop the buildup but I still got a noticeable amount of shrinkage.  Does anyone know why this happens and how to stop it?  I think next time I'll try Posche again.

How are you guys doing with this challenge??  Whats your fav yellow??!

<3 Whitney

31 Day Challenge, Day 2! Sinful Colors Cloud 9

Okay, so contrary to popular belief (most likely from my lack of posting), I DID do Day 2 of this challenge ON Day 2, howeverrr I just didn't get around to posting it since I couldn't take pictures at night!

And thennnnn I didn't post the next day 'cause I'm lazy....

SO here it is finally, Day 2!  Oranges!

I gave The Boyfriend a choice of three oranges I hadn't tried from my collection and he chose Sinful Colors Cloud 9:

It wasn't ultra bright out when I took these, but you can still see that even with three coats there's quite a bit of visible nail line.  Meh.  I liked the consistency of the polish, it goes on great and cleans up decently well, but it just wasn't opaque enough for me.  I almost painted white under it but on a whim I thought I'd see how it went without it.  It doesn't matter too much, though, 'cause I lost a bit of my tan and this bright transparent orange just looked strange on my hands.  Have any of you guys tried this polish?  I think I'll definitely keep it in the collection, I'll just try and remind myself to put something under it!

OH And I said I'd let you know how it went with the no chip 10-day Sally Hansen polish from my Day 1 post...it did NOT go well.  The same day I painted my nails I closed my hand in the freezer door and chipped a tiny piece off my thumb and pointer fingers and it went all downhill from there.  A huge chunk came off at work the next morning and by lunchtime it all came peeling off in sheets.  It might've had something to do with the base and top coat I used, because I know with Zoya you can only use certain base coats or it chips easily...but I don't know!  This combo I use works with other polishes, but whatev. 

Welllllllll I've already got my Day 3 polish done since I did it TODAY, so hopefully I can keep kind of better on track with this!

Anyone else still doing this challenge??

31 Day Challenge, Day 1! Sally Hansen 10 Day No Chip Polish in Resilient Red!

So. I've decided to try this 31 Day Nail Polish Challenge that so many people are doing right now.  With how often I've been updating, this challenge may seem silly.  BUT I'm going to do it my way and do the challenge regardless if I am able to update every day.  I'll finish it eventually :)

I'm also going to be switching some stuff around here soon...won't be huge I don't think, but I do want to get back into blogging and I'm trying to re-organize my life and priorities so we'll see what happens.

Here is the 31 day challenge list in case you haven't already seen it!

SO onto Day 1: Red!

I picked Sally Hansen 10 Day No Chip polish in Resilient Red!  I wanted an obviously red cream since my nails are so stubby.  Anything glittery I don't like on short nails, so here's what I ended up with...and I'll get back to you on how long this mani lasts without chipping ;)

P.S. I failed miserably with these pictures and I apologize.  This isn't how I wanted to return from another 2 week hiatus, haha.  It was pretty dark outside already and I didn't realize until I just now edited these pictures that the polish looks a little bumpy, but it's just water droplets from when I rinsed my hands! Ugh. Fail!

So this polish went on pretty smooth...I actually enjoyed it for a red.  I used three coats, but two would've been plenty as it was pretty opaque.  It was a bit hard cleaning up, but you'll have that with darker colors usually!

And thennnn I decided to stamp a little daisy with my new stamping plates that I (finally) got from Born Pretty!  And holy moly, I give you ladies who stamp a TON of credit because I just don't have the patience for it.  I probably tried to get it on the stamp like 5 times each hand and then I got it but it's obviously not centered and ugh.  Just a mess.  I've been trying for a few days, too, it just hasn't worked out too well, lol.  Any tips?  And any suggestions on good stamping polishes??!!

I tried to fill it in a bit...didn't work...and then I blurred the picture.  So much fail in this post.

Ohhhhhhhh well.  Day 1 down, 30 to go!  Any of you ladies trying this challenge??

<3 Whitney

I'm finally trying OPI Pirate's Collection.... :)

Sooo a while back in June I won a giveaway from a video blogger...I was supposed to win a silver shatter and the Pirates of the Caribbean mini collection.  SO I avoided buying silver shatter even though I desperately wanted it and only swapped for Mermaid's Tears since it didn't come in the mini collection. 

Howeverrrr after 3 weeks (late June) and no prize in the mail, I e-mailed her making sure she had my address correct (and also 'cause my neighbors at the time were kind of shady...), she said she'd just sent it out the day before.  Welllll on the first of August I moved and still hadn't received my package.  Bummer!

I don't want to sound too snobby about it because I don't know if I was jipped and she never sent it or whether it just got lost in the mail...AND it would've been a PRIZE that I didn't buy, but I'm still kind of bummed 'cause now I can't find silver shatter and I still want it. 

Anywho, I was avoiding trying Mermaid's Tears because I wanted to use it with Silver Shatter, but I picked it randomly on my list of untrieds, soooo here it is!

Indoor lighting

The first three pictures are (obviously) taken outdoors, but it was getting kind of dark so the color looks a bit more teal.  I took one inside to show you guys the dusty green hue it looks like inside.

I used three coats of this polish and it went on nice and smooth.  The formula was nice and great like a normal OPI polish, but I didn't like the color too much with my skin tone.  It grew on my after about a day, but I don't think it's one I'll just randomly use again unless I'm trying to match something I'm wearing, haha.

Overall, I'd still love to try a few others from this collection I never bought such as Planks A Lot and Sparrow Me the Drama, but I'm not going to rush out for them now, hah.  I was a little under enthused about the whole collection...I thought it'd be a bit more...piratey.  But oh well!  A few good colors came out of it and silver shatter :)

You guys done hearing about this collection yet?  Sorry I'm behind the times :)


<3 Whitney

E-nuf is E-nuf!

A while ago I was lucky enough to get quite a few Essie polishes from Traci at the TraceFace Philes! 

One of them was a lovely dark pink/red called E-nuf is E-nuf!  Check it out:

I really like Essie...sometimes the formula is a little thin, but I've had much better luck recently.  Especially with this polish! 

It went on super shiny and smooth in 2-3 coats (sorry, this was about two-three weeks ago, so I can't remember exactly!).  I love 2 coater polishes, but more often than not to get good pictures for the blog I do 3.  I usually don't wear reds like this but it ended up really pretty.   

I probably should've used ridgefiller because you can see the irregularities on my pointer finger nail, but that's okay.  Usually reds stain pretty bad but this one came off easily and didn't turn my skin all red when I was cleaning up!

Overall I'm liking Essie more and more, and it's helpful that they sell them at a lot of places due to my current lack of beauty stores...mainly Ulta.  :/

Welllllll hope you are well, I'm headed back home for a wedding this weekend, so I probably won't have time to update for the weekend, but I'll try and set up a post!

<3 Whitney

Barielle Karma Collection! Triple Post!

Good morning lovelies!  I hope you all had a GREAT labor day weekend!  It was a 4 day weekend for me, which was definitely needed!

Right when I was moving I got sent three Barielle polishes to review from their Karma Collection released earlier this year!  I did the first two not long after I received them, but I got too busy to do the third until recently and I wanted to post about them all at once!

Barielle Karma Collection

They're all beautiful polishes, but I chose to try: Soul-er Powered, Do Unto Others, and Gotta Have Fate!


First up: Soul-er Powered:

Soul-er Powered is a beautiful shimmery yellow that has just enough frost to make it shine, but not enough to make the formula streaky.  It went on smooth and opaque in three coats and lasted a few days without chipping!  I love yellow--I don't care if it's mid-winter and I'm pale as can be, I still love wearing the color, so there's nothing I don't like about this polish! 


Next up: Do Unto Others:

Do Unto Others is a pretty robins-egg blue/teal that went on shiny and opaque in 3 coats, but I think I could've got away with just 2.  This is a very "spring" color that I liked a lot!  This was the color that I kept putting off doing because I didn't think I could pass off this bright of a color at work, but I actually got compliments on it, so I was very pleased :)


Next up: Gotta Have Fate:

I think this one was my favorite of the three that I tried, but only because I can't resist pinks/peaches ever, hah!  This was the color I was talking about a few posts back that is very similar to CND's Tropic Coral, but I haven't swatched them side by side.  I did like this formula much better than CND--it went on super smooth and shiny in 3 coats, but like Do Unto Others, I think I could get away with just 2, which is great in my book!  I love this color because you can wear it any time of the year with nearly anything.


Overall, I loved all the colors and I'm very surprised I didn't hear more about this collection earlier this summer when it came out!


These were my first Barielle polishes and I can definitely say I'd purchase them in the future!  I might have to get them from their website because I don't have an Ulta around here...anyone else know where to get them?


Hope you enjoyed!


<3 Whitney

Happy Birthday too meeee! + Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe!

Hey! Today is my 24th birthday! Horrayyy!

It's actually not been that exciting, yet haha!  My sweet boyfriend gave me his presents yesterday, which I was super excited about.  He made me a couple personal gifts, which I loved, but he also got me a massage and these toxic waste glasses and chemistry cocktail set:

Hahaha I am a nerd

test tube shots, weee!

Hahahaha.  He knows my nerd taste so well, and I'm glad he supports it :) Love! 

My parents are coming down here to see my new place, so I'm pretty excited--they should be here soon!

I just wanted to share with you my birthday mani!  I recently shopped at Apothica and thought I'd finally try Deborah Lippmann polishes.  They're usually expensive, but I had a giftcard which is the perfect excuse to try expensive things.  Instead of going with their ever popular "Happy Birthday" polish, I thought I'd try Across The Universe.

Unfortunately I've broken many a nail recently, so I've got nubbins, but here are some pics anyway:

Ahhh sooo I liked the polish a lot, but I don't get the hype nor the price tag! 

It went on really great for a glitter--probably because it's in a jelly base!  I think I used about 3.5 coats.  I'm adding the 0.5 because I had some issues cleaning up and needed to touch up a bit.  It actually removed relatively easy when I was cleaning up, too!  Just a few times I removed a whole hex glitter by accident and had to fill the hole back in.  But I'm pretty confident that this won't be too bad of a polish to remove, nor will it stain too bad!

I did use the ORLY Ridge Filler as a base coat, which might've helped.  But overall, I love the mix of hex glitters and normal glitter in the jelly base.  Since it's not pure glitter, it's not such a bitch to handle!  Unfortunately I don't think my pictures do it justice--it just doesn't look as shiny in the pics as it does in person. 

Overall, I like it all right...the dark color makes my nubbins look a little better!  It doesn't match my Ohio State outfit today, but it's all good--it's my birthday and I'll wear what I want to!  Anywho--probably wouldn't spend the money on Deborah Lippmann again, though.  They'd have to impress me much more than this to get me to spend $18 on a polish!

Have a great weekend, guys! You know I am :)

<3 Whitney