Fourth of July Manicure

Happy Fourth of July!

The manicure I did for today was definitely a test of patience. Lol.

I have dabbled with nail vinyls once before and didn't have a huge issue, however, this time I was about to give up if the 3rd time I went to use them wasn't going to work.

I couldn't decide what to do for this year's 4th. After scouring Youtube for hours, I finally just did something simple and went with stars and stripes with a dotticure accent nail. Lesson learned, I am not good at dotticures at all. I have a horrible time figuring out placement and I always tend to overdo it. It still came out okay but it's not something I'm very good at.

 For this mani, I  used several polishes. Blue - Bettina with a Zoya holographic layered on top. Red is a Zoy with a drugstore brand "holo" layered on top. White accent is Glitter Gal with OPI layered on top for opaqueness. The white for the stripes is a Sinful Colors striping polish and the white for the stars is the same Glitter Gal polish. The silver holo glitter is China Glaze from the Color Pop collection. (I'll look up the names later.)

Bettina Polishes - Crazy Dog Lady

Hello ya'll! Long time, no see. :) I've been sort of making a small comeback into the nail world but I know I still won't ever have the time to fully delve back in. 

I've been watching a lot of nail videos on Youtube and Instagram and I got inspired to get back into the nail art side of things. I've become a bit of a crazy dog lady so these nails are inspired by that.

Base polish is Bettina's Orchidea, which is a light pastel mint green. The stamp was a fail gradient using Bettina's PepperMint, Aqua, and Indigo. I used the Bundle Monster stamping plate # BM-S160 (link) for the designs and used the double ended glass stamper (link).

The downside to stamping is smearing the design when you don't wait long enough to apply your fast drying top coat. -_- Otherwise I'm really happy with this design. It's the first time I've ever stamped on all my fingers (and actually the first time I've ever really been successful with stamping lol). It's trial and error so just keep on trying!

Sonoma Nail Art — Sincerest Pumpkin Patch

So I guess I hand't realized how long it had been since the last time I posted. >.> My intention was to post a few weeks ago but life and time just flies by and gets in the way!

Today we have an oldie but a goodie in spirit of Halloween coming up. It's Sonoma Nail Art's Sincerest Pumpkin Patch (from 2012, I think). This polish is a glitter packed shimmery green transparent jelly base. There are multiple sizes and colors of glitter - green, silver, orange, red.

I layered this on top of a nice green creme Butter London polish I found at Marshall's because it's basically a one-coater. I wanted to be able to make a couple of layers of Sincerest Pumpkin Patch because it was the real star of this manicure.

Photos were actually taken a couple of days after I did this mani. I loved it and wore it until it cracked off of my nails (I'm a horrible nail care person). 

Anyway, I think I have at least one more Halloween inspired manicure to post before next weekend so I will definitely try to get to that!

Until next time.

♥ nailbrite

Rainbow Honey — The Worst Possible Thing

So I know in my last post, I showed you guys Essie Barefoot in Blue. 

I felt that it was lacking something and I was also kind of dying to try out my new Rainbow Honey polishes. So I layered The Worst Possible Thing on top of it. :) Of course, just as with Barefoot in Blue, these are not entirely color accurate. -_-

The above is 2 thin coats of Rainbow Honey The Worst Possible Thing over Essie Barefoot in Blue.

This is a gorgeous mix of glitter in a periwinkle tinted base. Application was okay. I did find the formula on TWPT to be a little thick, not sure if some thinner would help but I'm sure it would.

You can purchase Rainbow Honey polishes from their website for $10 for full size (15ml) and $5 for mini size (7ml).

Until next time~ :)

Essie — Barefoot in Blue

So we're hunkered down here at my house waiting for this hurricane to pass. Hopefully nothing bad happens in the meantime this post is scheduled to post.  

I got this little gem from Vanessa of Confessions of a Polishaholic a while back. I only just recently managed to find the chance to wear it!

Essie Barefoot in Blue is a LE collab polish with TOMS Shoes for their One Day Without Shoes campaign. 

My photos are so not color accurate, as this kept photographing way more purple than this polish is in person. It's still gorgeous though.

This is 2 coats of Barefoot in Blue. I used this in a layering combination which I will have for you in a couple of days! So I wasn't as concerned with streakiness as I normally would be. If I were worried, 3 thin coats would be perfect for this polish.

As I mentioned before, this was a Limited Edition polish and only so many were sent to fans.

Until next time~ :)

Nail'd It — Dragon Scales

What is this? A second post?! Yeah, I know. Things have been crazy so that's why I've only been having one post a week. Between work, my social life, and my mom having major surgery a couple of weeks ago, things have been crazy.  It's starting to get a little better but getting back into the swing of doing swatches or just having the time to take pictures of my manis has been really limited.

The past couple of months I have been really bad with buying polish. I keep seeing all these awesome indie brands being featured on blogs and of course have to take advantage of them, because you never know when they're going to blow up or disappear.

So when Amy from I'm Feeling Nail-venturous posted about Nail'd It polishes, I just FELL in love and bought a few of the ones that jumped out at me.  This is the first of the three that I ended up buying.

Dragon Scales is a multi colored mix of matte glitter in a clear base. It's fantastic!

This is 1 coat of Dragon Scales layered over 2-3 thin coats of Bettina Orchidea. I absolutely love this combination. I honestly think this is one of my favorite manicures ever. Wear on this was fantastic. The formula on Dragon Scales is really great, the glitter was easy to go on and there wasn't any pushing or globbing it on at all.

As much as the indie glitter polish scene is starting to get a bit old for me, I'm definitely going to keep an eye on Nail'd It's polishes.

You can purchase them from her Etsy store for $8.50 ea for a full 15ml bottle.

Until next time~ :)

Jessica — Summer Lovin'

Short and sweet today.

Jessica Summer Lovin' is a pastel peachy pink creme. Formula was really good on this. I picked this up at Marshall's in a box of 5-6 polishes for like $5.99. An awesome steal if you ask me!

This was 3 coats of Summer Lovin'. This is a great nude shade if your skintone isn't to the reddish side like mine is. I loved this polish but didn't think it looked that great on me. It pulled all of my red tones and made them even worse than they normally are. Lol. I would definitely use this for undies for some of those unruly glitters I love so much though.

Until next time~ :)

CrowsToes — Cheshire

Today I have something that's really exciting for me to share with you guys today!

CrowsToes is another indie brand that makes some fantastic glitter polishes. When I saw a few of their polishes reviewed on some other blogs, I fell in love with them! So finally when I saw that Llarowe had stocked them, I had to jump on that. Unfortunately I only managed to get 1 out of the 3 that I really want, but small victories, eh?

"Cheshire is a combination of purple, magenta, & chartreuse glitters in a clear base, combined with a little crazy cat magic just for good measure. :)"

Alice in Wonderland is one of my all time favorite stories, so I was just over the top when I saw this polish.

(Please ignore my nubby pointer finger, I broke my nail at work. -_-)

Look at that sparkle! And them giant glitters in there! I didn't realize they were in there and had no problem getting them on the brush and on the nail.

This is 2 coats of CrowsToes Cheshire on top of OPI Road House Blues. I did have to use a bit of the dabbing method because there is SO MUCH glitter in this bottle, but otherwise application was really easy. I did use 2 coats of Gelous and 1 coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all down.

Now I really must get my hands on Absolum — your potions master!

You can purchase CrowsToes at OverallBeauty.com, Llarowe, and her BigCartel shop.

Until next time~ :)

Zoya — Sooki

Another post for you guys!

Today I have Zoya Sooki. This is a vibrant cherry red creme. I don't normally ever wear red polish but I wore this for the premiere of True Blood a few weeks ago. I was originally going to try a watermarble, but I ended up not having time to do one.

Sooki is kind of jelly-like so I needed 3-4 coats for full opacity. 3 coats would have done it, but I could still see a little bit of VNL so I went with 4 coats. This is a great formula and went on super smooth.

You can pick this up at Zoya's website or in retail stores for $8.

Until next time~ :)

F4 Polish ­— Mint Chocolate Chip

Long time no post...


Life has been hectic. I have been battling my nails the last couple of weeks. I had so many breaks and just when I thought my pointer on my swatching hand was growing out, it broke again. -_- So I just got annoyed and chopped them down again. So I'm hoping in the next week or so they grow out enough again so I can start swatching again. My fingers look so short without my long (for me) nails.


Anyway, here is a polish from before my nail tragedies happened. F4 Polish is another great indie brand. I placed a pretty big order with them a couple of weeks back and was so excited when I got them all in! 


Mint Chocolate Chip is just that - a minty green creme base with brown micro-glitter. It looks just like the ice cream.

Application was great. 3 thin coats (+ topcoat of Seche Vite) and I had full coverage. This dried pretty fast so I didn't have any problems and the wear was fantastic. I wore it for about 4 days with just a little tip wear. 


You can purchase F4 Polish from their Etsy shop. Their polish runs $8.00 a bottle for full sized and the shop is run by three sisters so the turnaround is really fast. Definitely check them out!


Until next time~ :)

Essie — Tart Deco

Quick (late!) post for you guys today!

I went to a wedding last night and of course did everything so last minute. I actually ended up polishing my nails at the beginning of the reception. *facepalm* Lol. It was super boring and I hate to say that considering it was a good friend of mine's wedding but it's the truth!

I got this Essie color to match the dress I wore. I was trying to find something cheaper but this caught my eye and nothing else would do it for me.

Essie Tart Deco is a vibrant peachy coral creme. This dried a little darker than the bottle showed and was a lot brighter on the nail than I was expecting.

This is two flawless coats of Tart Deco with a top coat of Seche Vite.

My application is not so great but pretty damn good considering I did this sitting on a chair against the wall in horrible dim lighting. Lol. My other hand is not so great. I'm thinking I'm going to remove it and repaint it or just do a third coat to try to even out my mistakes.

I didn't think I'd like this color on me but it actually looks really good. It makes me look super tan too. Hehe. I think I'll be going for this one for some future pedicures. :)

Don't forget about my giveaway! It ends in a few days!

Until next time~ :)

Small Haul Post!

I keep telling myself I'm going to go on a no buy but I always end up breaking that promise. OTL. At least this time it wasn't too major of a haul....

Also! It's about time but I'll be having a giveaway starting tomorrow! That's right! Check back here around 9am CDT for your chance to win! :D

First up are a few Candy Lacquer polishes! I love her labels like whoa! They're so freakin' adorable!

L-R: Sea Nymph, Cracked Ice, Block Party

All that beautiful glitter. Mmm.

Next up is Enchanted Polish! Now I only bought one because they are a bit pricey at $12 a bottle, but for holographics and how unique these colours are, I'll definitely be buying another or few more soon! :D

Enchanted Polish Dragon Spit

 HSN was having a super clearance on some Deborah Lippmann sets so I had to buy some! You can't beat $9.95 for two DL polishes! That is a steal.

L-R: Footloose, Almost Paradise, Let's Hear It For The Boy, Dancing In The Sheets

And lastly, I had been wanting to get my  hands on some Kleancolor polishes for a LONG time now but the only site (their site) had them for almost $3.50 a bottle. Well when Laura from Polish All the Nails posted that she got 20 Kleancolors from a better site, I had to find out where! And so I made my order for all the Chunky Holos they had to offer plus a few others. Lol. You can pick them up from BeautyJoint.com for $1.75 ea! Their turnaround was super fast too!

L-R: Chunky Holo Candy, Poppy, Fuchsia, Scarlet

L-R: Chunky Holo Clover, Teal, Bluebell, Purple, Black

L-R: My Rightful Throne, Holo Green, Holo Blue, Holo Chrome

And that's all! I do have a couple of polishes coming my way from The Hungry Asian and All That Glitters, but that's all I've bought recently! I'm going to try to be good for a while. At least until another indie polish maker restocks shop...

Until next time, my lovelies~ :)

Bettina — Sand Blast

Here's the base to the post I posted yesterday.

Bettina Sand Blast is a part of their Jeans collection. This is a light grey creme. 

Below under artificial light, no flash.

Application was good. I used two medium coats and at first I thought I'd need a third, but the second coat leveled itself out. This is a bit on the thick side but it's not hard to work with and nothing a little thinner can't fix.

This is such a great neutral color. It made my nails look SOOO much longer than they actually are. Lol. I wore this for close to 5 days and have just some tip wear. It wore really well. :)

Until next time~ :)

Essie — Navigate Her

Today I have an oldie, but still a goodie. Well it's not that old.

Essie Navigate Her from the Navigate Her Spring 2012 collection.

Navigate Her is an avocado green creme. Formula on this was a bit thin and runny but it really wasn't hard to work with. Below is 1 thin coat and 1 thick-ish coat of Navigate Her, so 2 coats total with a top coat of NYC; all taken outdoors.

Ignore the mess on my ring finger, please. I didn't even realize that I had polish on my finger until after I took these. Lol.

I don't LOVE it like I thought I would, but I don't hate it either. These colors don't look very good on me but I still wear them anyway. Hehe.

Essie Navigate Her can be found at many retailers such as CVS, Walgreens, Target, etc. and they retail for $8 USD each.

Until next time~ :)

Whimsical Ideas by Pam — Seuss

Hello hello! Today I have another fantastic indie polish from Whimsical Ideas by Pam!

Seuss is a semi-sheer blue base with blue small and micro-glitter, small red hex glitter, and larger silver hex glitter. It is an awesome interpretation of Dr. Seuss and really reminds me of Thing 1 and Thing 2!

This is 2 coats of Seuss on top of Bettina Vintage. It can probably be layered on it's own but I wanted to layer it in case it was super sheer. I could have probably worn this with 3 coats on its own though!

I wore this for 3 days with just a little tip wear and one chip where a glitter was sticking out o my top coat and chipped a bit off my nail, but other than that, wear was really good!

You can purchase Whimsical Ideas polishes from Pam's Facebook page. Her polishes are $10 USD each and you just shoot her an email with the polishes you want and she'll invoice you and ship them out!

Until next time~ :)

Nerd Lacquer — Don't Blink

"Don't Blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't Blink. Good Luck." 

Ooooh Doctor Who! And the perfect polish to go with this episode! Blink is one of my favorite episodes and I'm sure it is for several other people! Watch out, the Weeping Angels are out to get you. :P

Nerd Lacquer is an indie polish brand who brings all the wonders of time and space into some amazing nail polish.

Don't Blink is a "stone grey creme with silver and charcoal glitter, silver microglitter, and big silver hex glitter." It's a part of the OI, SPACEMAN Series.

I had to show you guys this polish today before all my queued posts because I was just too excited about it! Lol.

This is 2 coats of Don't Blink layered over 1 thin coat of China Glaze Pelican Grey. The formula on Don't Blink was great. I didn't have to dig around for glitter and it went on and dried smooth. I topped it off with a thin coat of Seche Vite and was good to go!

I had been dying to get my hands on this polish for a while now and I lucked out when Amanda opened her shop up several weeks ago. I got this one and a set of three from the Mad Man With A Box Series. Those others will be posted soon-ish! :)

You can purchase Nerd Lacquer polishes from Amanda's Etsy store, Harlow & Co, Ninja Polish, ThinkGeek and they retail for about $10 USD each for a full sized bottle. At least you can buy them when her store is open and when things are actually in stock. Lol.

Until next time~ :D

Nostalgic Lacquer — Blane

Hey guys! I have another lovely polish from Nostalgic Lacquer for you today. It's the second of the three from the Bizarre Teenage Love Triangle.

Blane is a sheer pastel purple base packed with navy, purple, and sky blue glitters.  

Unfortunately, unlike Duckie, I did not have a light purple to layer this over so I used OPI Funky Dunkey and it didn't come out the way I'd like for it too. I didn't do a good base coat so my layers of Blane came out looking kind of streaky. That's also the downside of layering a light sheer colour over a dark colour.  I still love this colour and hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on a light purple that will match with Blane's base more in the future but for now this is what I got!

Also because of the darker base the polish itself overall is darker. I still think this is a gorgeous colour and polish. Application was just as lovely as Duckie. I used 2 thin coats over my base and didn't have to fish for glitter. The glitter in Blane is a bit more dense than Duckie.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this! I did a ton of swatching yesterday so I hope to have the next couple of weeks full of posts (at least every other day). I also have my China Glaze Capitol Colors coming in today so I'll be super excited to swatch those!

Until next time~ :)

Valentine's Day Manicure!

Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you celebrate it or not, every day is a day that you should express love to your significant other and/or family and friends. :) I have a little manicure that I did in celebration of this day of love. It didn't come out exactly as I wanted it to but I liked it well enough.

My original intention was to do all my nails with the little hearts wallpaper that rebecca likes nails posted. Unfortunately, I freaked out thinking I'd need to do 5 coats of the light pink Revlon polish and decided to go with China Glaze Strawberry Fields as my main colour. My luck was that Strawberry Fields needed 3 coats too to hide VNL. -_-;;

So I went a little crazy and did some things and didn't like them and then changed them up again. But this was the final result!

It definitely doesn't have as much going on as I wanted it too. I just think they came out too plain.

Honestly, I'll probably just paint them a solid colour tonight before I go out with my boyfriend but for the day before and day of Valentine's Day this worked for me. I just wish my skills for nail art were much better than they actually are. I just have to keep practicing!

All colours used:

Revlon Pink Chiffon

China Glaze Strawberry Fields

A England Princess Tears

Now I know my pictures are not very good this time around. I am quite sad to say that I think after 7 years my beloved DSLR Holmes is finally kicking the bucket. I am having more errors with it than ever after my vacation incident  — a squall came while we were on a cruise and my bag got soaked because it was left outside with the rest of our party while I went to grab food. My camera didn't even seem to get wet at all but ever since it's been acting insane. :(((

I've been trying to save up for a new camera but DSLRs don't come cheap and I definitely want to upgrade to something more prosumer than consumer. Enough camera babbling!

I'm hoping to have another post up this week, but with how crazy things are with Mardi Gras, I'm not sure I will. Thanks for reading!

Until next time~ :)

Essence - Polka Dots

Sorry I haven't posted in forever. I've been quite sick for the last two weeks. I found out I have mono (eeek!) but thankfully I only had a very mild form of it and was able to fight it off without going to the hospital. Now I'm just reeling from the antibiotics I was on during the time since those are making me feel sick now too. :/ I just can't catch a break!

Anyway.... 

Today we have a mani I did last weekend. I was originally going to alternate colours on all fingers but since I wasn't feeling 100% I just did an accent nail. It came out pretty okay. I find that when I do smaller dots my polka dots come out so much better than the bigger ones. I also had a lot of flyaways since my polish was drying really fast and was getting stringy while I was dotting.

Colours used were:
Essence Break Through
Essence Enchanted Fairy


Formula on both of these was very good. Only 2 thin coats were used to full opacity. I thought I'd need more with Enchanted Fairy since it's such a light colour, but nope, just 2 coats.


I then used the number 4 Osaka dotting tool to dot the alternating colour on my fingers. I need to learn to do this better though. Sometimes I do my dots really well and other times I don't. Lol. Practice only makes perfect though!


Anyway, I hope to have more posts coming soon. Just being sick and I have a new job starting up soon which will probably take up a lot of my time, but I will try to at least get 1-2 posts out a week. Lord knows I have enough polish to keep me going for a while!


Until next time~ :)