Sally Hansen #GetMagnetic contest!

Who here loves contests? I know I do, and this one has me bouncing!

Sally Hansen is giving away $1,000!

You probably know by now that Sally Hansen is one of my favorite brands. Treatments, polishes, tools... they do it all with quality and style. However, this contest just makes me love them all over again!

As you can see from the infographic I made, it's super easy to enter. Just register on the Sally Hansen Facebook App, visit the Instagram app and snap a photo of your gorgeous nail art and add #GetMagnetic in the caption, then show the love for your favorite nail art photos on the Sally Hansen facebook app!

This contest runs until September 17, 2012, so you've got plenty of time to enter. But don't put it off... you don't want to miss this opportunity!

Since this is showcasing their magnetic polish, why not learn a bit more about it? Did you know Sally Hansen now has eight gorgeous shades of magnetic polish in stores now? It's true- they retail for $9.99 each, and come in luscious shades: Ionic Indigo, Red-y Response, Kinetic Copper, Silver Elements, Golden Conduct, Electric Emerald, Graphite Gravity, and Polar Purple. I don't know about you, but I'm dying to try these!

Which color interests you most? Are you over the magnetic trend, or are you still itching to find your favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know what's on your mind!

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure- On eBay!

Hello my lovelies! Just a quick post to let you know I've got a bottle of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Hidden Treasure on eBay for $6 as I write this right now. I was hoping to be able to post a video here as well, but I guess this is better than nothing.

I've also got some photos from my personal bottle up as well!  Check them out, and if you're interested in owning your own bottle of this gorgeous polish, head over to my listing.

When you apply Hidden Treasure over a dark polish like black,
navy blue, or hunter green, the flakes come alive, flashing shades
of red, orange, green, yellow, and more. It's magical!

Hidden Treasure over lighter colors tends to bring out softer shades
in the flakes, like pinks, icy blues, and golds.

Clearly, I absolutely adore Hidden Treasure over black. There are no words
to describe how happy I feel when I see these flakes on!

Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure is long gone from the stores, as it was a limited edition release last year. It's a dupe for Gosh Rainbow, and closely resembles the Nfu-Oh flake polishes, or so I've heard. This is definitely a special polish, so if you want to own it, you need to act fast. It's not always available!

Til next time!

This polish was NOT provided by the manufacturer for review.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Animal Print Week: Pink Leopard Print-ish

Wheee! I can't believe I missed Monday, but I was having technical difficulties. Whatever... I'm here today with a fun animal print-inspired nail design that I hope you love as much as I do! It's super easy, too, and I couldn't help but call it Glitterlicious

I have to admit, it's not exactly leopard print. I showed it to a good friend who wasn't sure exactly what animal would have this design, but who cares, right? It's hot pink and cool blue, and it's perfect for summer!

This design starts, like all the others, with a coat of your favorite base coat. This makes sure your art lasts longer than your favorite sitcoms. I've been using Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator, and my nails have been growing like mad! They're seemingly stronger than ever, and they're growing longer than I think I've ever had them! YAY!

After that, you simply paint your nails in whatever color you choose for your background color. I chose a bright hot pink. Two coats should do it, but of course it varies based on which polish you choose.  Then comes the fun part!

To add the splotches, I used Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen in Blue. This way I didn't have to worry about controlling a brush- I just doodled in vague spots from memory. I probably should have looked at a picture of leopard print, but you know what? This is inspired by... I can do it any way I want to! :D

One tip to remember- be sure your background color is completely dry before you try and use the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens. Otherwise, they just don't work, and that's no fun at all!

Once my splotches were dry, I decided I wanted a bit more color. I dug around in my nail art box til I found my Kiss Nail Artist Paint in Soft Purple. This was just the ticket! I used the thin artist brush to just brush a thin line of color right under the bottom sides of each little blob. I thought of it as if each blob were a 3d shape and I were shining a light from the base of the nail, and everywhere that light would hit I put a touch of purple.  Easy- remember, you can't really mess it up. Even if you do, it's just nail polish!

When I finished with the purple, I realized it still wasn't ready. I knew what I needed: GLITTER! I grabbed my superfine glitter in royal blue, tapped out a small bit into a plastic cup, and poured just a bit of clear nail polish on top of it. A bit of mixing, and it was perfect! I dabbed this custom glitter polish over the blue splotches, loving the way the glitter caught the light and made the whole design pop!

After that, it just needed a coat of Seche Vite and it was done! I love the finished result, and I'm seriously tempted to do this on my own nails now! (This was on a false nail, or I'd show you a whole set of them!) Check out the animation below for the how-to!

So, what do you think? Can you see yourself wearing this design? If so, let me know in the comments! I'd love to see what you come up with!

Til next time!

Some products may have been provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Simple Fun Nail Art: LSU Nails!

Hi guys! This is just a super quick post to share a look I did over the weekend. It was so fun and so easy I wanted to share! It's perfect for any sporting events you may want to attend, or just for the fun of it!

I'm from south Louisiana, so of course LSU pride is thick. We're brought up to know purple and gold before we know our own names, almost! While I was digging through my polish box trying to figure out something to wear, it hit me- purple and gold!

I used Maybelline Express Finish Matte Gold as my base color, because it's one of my absolute favorite golds. Also, it's one of my only golds... I need to remedy that! Then I added a layer of Sally Hansen's new Crackle Overcoat in Vintage Violet. I love this one because it's got a gorgeous blue shimmer in it.

These polishes did a pretty good job of showing Tiger Pride, imho! They were lots of fun and they made me want to spend some time on campus at LSU, maybe lunch on one of the indian mounds or just tossing the frisbee at the student union. Talk about fond memories...

One thing I love about this look is that it's not polish dependent. You can use any color pair you like, and with crackle polishes being so popular you can find lots of them! I even found some crackle polishes at Walgreens last week for $5 each! There was a great selection of colors too, from metallic gold and silver to basic black and white to fun colors like orange and green! All in all, I think there were 8 or 10 colors total. It's definitely worth a look!

So tell me, are you enjoying the crackle trend? I wasn't that interested in it at first, but it definitely seems to be growing on me. I'm dying to find a way to incorporate it into more elaborate nail art! Maybe this weekend I'll get a few minutes to work on it... :D

Til next time!

Crackle polish was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Glitter Gal 3D Holographic Purple and an Update

I have a new obsession. I'm waiting for my Sally Hansen Salon Effect Nail Polish Strips to reach a point where they absolutely have to be removed, either because they've chipped or because they've simply grown out too far. So far, we're at day 15 and I have a tiny bit of tipwear on my right index finger, although I have to look at it up close to notice it.

Unfortunately, that makes for a very boring blog. I can't exactly show you guys another photo of the same nails, with the same polish, just a fraction of a smidge farther out on my nail thanks to new growth. (Although this gives me an idea for the next set I wear!) I think you guys would be even more bored to tears than I am with this manicure.

So, in the interest of keeping people awake, I've decided to show some things I've had sitting in the archive, waiting to be posted about. One of those things is an utterly fabulous polish from Glitter Gal. For those of you who aren't familiar with Glitter Gal, they're a wonderful Australian cosmetics company that do an absolutely gorgeous line of holographic polishes, as well as lots of other goodies that I'm dying to get my fingers on.

I've had this polish for a little while now, and I've worn it a couple of times but had problems getting photos of it. Even now, the best photo I have of it simply doesn't capture the beauty of the holo in this one. But it comes pretty close... This polish is absolutely gorgeous.

What you can't see in this photo is the amount of holographic beauty this baby shows. I even decided I would do a video to try and show you how wonderfully it flashes in the sun... except that you actually need sunlight to do that. It was a gorgeous sunny day, too, so I grabbed my husband and said, "Quick, let's take video of my nails!"

We rushed outside and got set up, only to see a giant cloud bank roll in. We stayed out for half an hour, getting brief flashes of sun that would disappear before we got a chance to video anything. Finally as we were giving up the clouds parted and I managed the brief video below. If you look closely, you can see the light disappear at the end of it!

Also, you can see the holo better if you watch at 720 HD. For some reason, the compression on this video sucked out all the gorgeous rainbow goodness, which made me sad. Still, the internet is pretty darned amazing, so I won't complain too much.



EDIT: And now, an additional video to show the holo in the bottle! Hopefully this one will show it a bit better...



Glitter Gal has over 70 colors to choose from, including 15 holographic polishes. They range in price from $11.95 to $14.95 and they take PayPal for those of us who don't live in Australia! I'm already planning my next order!

Polish was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Are Magic.

I've been sitting looking at the blank screen for a while now, and I just cannot think of the best way to phrase this. I keep writing things and deleting them, because about all I can come up with is, "These things are magic and they NEVER LET GO! Go buy them!"

I know, I know, marketing says they'll stay on for 10 days. They never do, right? Or maybe they do, but they're chipped and lifting and you're pulling your hair out, just wanting to take the damn things off already. But this time, I am having none of those problems.

Maybe it's my super nails, maybe it's my process. I used cuticle remover before I put these on, and then scrubbed my nails well. Before I put them on, I went over my nails again with nail polish remover just to make sure there were no oils on them, and I made sure to rub the polish strips down well after I applied them.

The result? It's day 12 and my nails are still perfect, except for new growth. I'm going to have to remove them from sheer boredom soon!! I haven't been taking it easy on these, either: I've been crafting, sewing, beading... all the usual things that will destroy my manicure. The results speak for themselves.

The best part is that because my nails are fairly short, I was able to get all my nails done with one pouch of strips, so I still have another manicure's wear out of these! So far, that's almost a month for one little box of strips!! I'm absolutely gobsmacked.

Creme colors, shimmers, glitters and designs... it's amazing the looks you can get with this simple little packet. I just can't say enough good about them. I'm actually bored with this design, but I want to see how long it will last! Let's see... will they stay on til my nails fall off? :D

Til next time...

Product was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Oops, I forgot to post... *blush*

I know, I know, I'm horrible. I thought I'd posted the winner of my giveaway! Instead, I hadn't, and hadn't even updated the blog! I'm a terrible blog mommy. I've had an interesting week, let's just leave it at that, shall we?

However, I want to give a GREAT BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Lisa Mc! She's won the kick-butt prize package so generously provided by Kiss & Broadway Nails, and I'm hoping she has as much fun with the goodies as I have!

Also, I have a great story to share. I guest-lecture in the Photoshop Basics class at the local community college every semester. This time, I'd gone in to help with the class while they worked on their final projects, as usual, and as I was helping one student, she interrupted me apologetically.

Turns out, she loved the way my nails were done, and she recognized them as the Sally Hansen Salon Effect nail polish strips. She had to tell me that she loved my nails, and that as soon as class let out, she was going to WalMart to buy a pack of the set I'm wearing! It seems that she and all of her friends absolutely love these, because they're easy, gorgeous, and stay on forever!!

I'd wondered about that, but it's true. I put this set on the afternoon of April 29 as an experiment to see how long they'd wear. As of May 7 they aren't even showing tipwear, and I only put topcoat on them once! I am showing new growth at the base of my nails, but other than that, these still look brand new. I've even been crafting with them, and that usually destroys my manicure!

So, just for the sake of thoroughness, I'm going to keep these on until they need to be changed. I'm not going to change them simply because of growth, because that's just too easy. I want to see how long these babies will stay on my nails! In the meantime, I'm going to be doing a comparison of the various types of full-nail sticker/polish tabs that I can get my hands on. This should be fun! Stick around, once I get it all organized it's going to be pretty informative!

Til next time...

This awesome giveaway was sponsored by Kiss & Broadway Nails. Show 'em some love!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Blast from the Past...I'm in the mood for a bit of Heaven!

I love this polish, it totally helps cheer me up! I
need a backup of it!!

Have you ever had one of those days when you're just moody as heck for no real reason¹, and every time someone speaks to you, you either want to scream at them or curl up and cry? Yea, me too, only mine seems to be one of those weeks. Very frustrating!

I'm taking a new medication for my fibro, and unfortunately it's got a list of side effects that's pretty unnerving: simple ones like blurred vision, dry mouth, weight gain, and drowsiness; and more upsetting ones like back and forth eye movements, chest pain, fainting, loss of coordination, memory loss, speech changes, twitching, and worst of all- "new or worsening mental or mood changes (eg, depression, agitation, anxiety, panic attacks, aggressiveness, impulsiveness, irritability, hostility, exaggerated feeling of well-being, restlessness, inability to sit still)."²

Now, normally I wouldn't be too concerned about this. There's just one little thing... I took another drug that's very similar to this one and ended up having extremely bad "mood changes." I won't go into it, but let's just say the doctor got me off of it really quickly after we explained what happened. Knowing that, my doctor and I discussed whether I should even try this drug, and we're in the process of slowly building up to a theraputic dosage of this drug. Right now, I'm taking the dose they'd give an unwell 80 year old woman. My doctor said that I won't notice positive results yet, but hopefully if I do react badly, it won't be nearly as bad as before.

Unfortunately (it seems I'm saying that a lot in this entry... ah well...) my doctor left the clinic two months ago. My last visit was with the nurse practitioner (whom I absolutely adore), and Monday I'll get to meet my new doctor. I'm a bit anxious about this, bu I'm optimistic, and if it doesn't go well, I still have options. I'm just afraid I won't be taking this medicine any longer, and I really was hoping it would work well for me.

That's a heck of a long introduction to explain why I'm in the mood for happy things!! However, between overdoing it on our little vacation the last couple of weekends and this new medicine, I'm one grumpy camper. I'm working very hard not to snap at the people around me and not to be a total pain in the butt. To help with this, I'm finding myself doing little things to cheer myself up.

For example, I am writing this blog wearing my pink penguin pajamas, with the absolutely adorable patch on the shirt that has a sweet little penguin dressed in a lime green scarf and hat and absolutely covered in green microglitter! The glitter doesn't even come off, it's mixed into a clearcoat, so it's not scratchy or anything! I love these PJs more than I should, probably, considering I'm a thirty-something mom!

Also, I've been experimenting with nail colors. I've been a bad blogger and not taken photos, but you'll have to forgive me. With the fibro acting up, I've had a hard time carrying the camera, much less dealing with Photoshop. You'll have to make do with photos from the archive and vivid descriptions, sorry!

Two days ago I painted my nails again. I was in the mood to experiment, so I started with Sally Hansen Salon Reddy to Mingle. It's a sheerish red with a very slight shimmer that's really intense, and slightly on the warm side. Absolutely gorgeous, and one coat did all I needed. I decided I wanted to warm it up even more, so I added a coat of Sinful Colors Let's Meet, a sheer shimmery yellow that I absolutely adore. Between the two, my nails were a very nice slightly streaky orange that I really liked. I wanted to up the sparkle factor, though, so I added a coat of Revlon Glimmer Gloss in Grapefruit Glimmer.

The final result was a gorgeous reddish-orange with super sparkle. I don't think I could have gotten any more sparkle without adding glitter! I liked the way the color was built up of sheer colors, because it wasn't that flat opaque look you sometimes get. There's nothing wrong with that, but this was interesting, and you should know by now how much I like interesting!!

Today has been a busy day, and I managed to twist my knee while I was out and about. I'm icing it now, and I decided I wanted a bit more ... more. So, I dug deep into the polish vault and dug out one of my all-time favorites- Ruby, by Heaven Nail Lacquer. I started with a base of Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff Nail Coor in Red Forever Creme. This polish is super-old, I don't even remember when I bought it! However, it's still a fantastic polish, and one coat is all I need. I topped that with two coats of Ruby, and oh my goodness, does this sparkle. This is definitely doing the trick, although I've got all sorts of other ideas now for glitter polishes.

And of course, I topped them off both times with Seche Vite. I'm starting to twitch, because I'm almost out! Looks like I really need to get those Etsy listings up! C'mon brain, you can do it!!

So, that's my day, and my nails for the next few days. Let's hope my mood improves, so I don't have to tell my new doctor on Monday that this medicine is making me do all sorts of awful things. Cross your fingers for me, ok?

¹ I don't even get PMS anymore, so I can't blame that!

² Side effects copied from http://www.drugs.com

³ This was well before my polish obsession, back when I didn't know how to properly clean up my nails, or how to use cuticle remover. And I wondered why I had trouble keeping my polish on!

Trying new medication sucks. I don't recommend it.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects- The Coolest Thing to Hit Drugstores Since Penicillin!

Oh. My. Dogs in heaven. I saw the COOLEST thing tonight... Wait. Let me back up.

My husband and I go walking every day. Sometimes we go during daylight hours, sometimes we go at night. But every day we walk, and we often walk at WalMart, because it's large, it's climate-controlled, and I get a buggy to hold on to while I'm walking if I need it, and if I get too fibro'd out I can get a scooter to scoot my way back to the car. While we're there, I look at goodies that interest me.

Tonight we were walking and I found a big Sally Hansen display in the middle of the walkway. I stopped to look, but the polishes didn't really interest me all that much. But my husband had meandered to the other side of the display, where he said, "Oh my. Laynie, honey... you need to see this. You're really going to like this."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but generally if he says that, he's right. He knows me very well. So I walked around to the other side of the display, where I immediately got so excited I lost all ability to speak coherently.

What did I find that was so darned exciting? Lovelies, I found the most exciting thing I've seen in drugstore cosmetics that I've seen in AGES. I found the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips.

Do you see this? Do you see how utterly stupendous these are? Look at those patterns- there are pretty normal neutral colors, there are fluorescent colors, there are glitters, there are glorious patterns the likes of which I've only seen with MINX. The photo above is only a small sampling of the section I saw tonight!

I saw pink camouflage, multicolored multi-size glitter, denim, lace, fishnet... too many to list here! I am absolutely DYING to try these, seriously. I cannot WAIT!! They sell for $8.50 at WalMart. I'm not sure of the price at other locations.

What do you think of these? Are you interested in trying them out?

Tiger Stripes- They're Fun When You Throw In A Gradient!

Let's be honest- animal prints are fun. They're especially fun for nail art, but they can seem a bit flat-looking sometimes. I decided I was going to try to do a tiger print with a bit of depth to it!

I started out with my standard base coat, then two coats of Love My Nails Hot Tamale. This is a gorgeous orange that's absolutely loaded with shimmer. I wanted a bit more, though, so I mixed it with a bit of white polish. Oddly enough, it turned pink! I wish I'd gotten pictures of that stage, but I wasn't thinking. Instead, I added some Sinful Colors Let's Meet (Yellow) to warm that pink up to a pale orange again.

Once I had a pale orange I was happy with, I sponged it lightly over the center high part of my nails. It ended up being a sort-of blended pale stripe down the centers. It still seemed too white/pink for me, so I ended up painting a coat of Let's Meet over my nails to make everything work together. At this point, it was late and I seriously needed sleep, so I added a coat of Seche Vite and let it dry for a bit, then went to sleep.

The next morning, I had to go run some errands, and didn't realize until I was already out of the house that I had odd nails that I hadn't even cleaned up edges on! Thankfully, I don't think anyone noticed. If they did, they probably thought I was insane! My nails looked weird! But that's ok... if they got a giggle, then maybe their day got a little brighter. I'm ok with that!

So, once I got home, I pulled out my Sally Hansen Nail Art pens, choosing the black for the tiger stripes. It was a simple matter to draw on stripes, and my biggest challenge was not drawing too many stripes! I added another coat of Seche Vite, then looked at them. They were pretty, but something was missing...

My basic rule of thumb is this: when in doubt, add glitter! In this case, it worked splendidly! Instead of brushing glitter over the entire nail, though, I wanted to enhance the light parts of the nail. I ended up using a very thin nail art brush to paint the glitter polish onto the appropriate areas.

Sounds fiddly, doesn't it? Oh yea. You could say that. First I painted on a layer of Love My Nails Dazzling (my go-to glitter of choice). It was pretty, but it wasn't enough. So, I pulled out my Sinful Colors Call You Later. This stuff is seriously gorgeous, a mix of gold and copper glitters in multiple sizes that absolutely sings on the nail. It turned out to be the absolute perfect addition, and once I was finished with the glitters I couldn't help but smile.
 

Once I got those applied I added one more coat of Seche Vite. (I hope you aren't counting, but basically, that's a lot.) Believe it or not, it dried fairly quickly and was super smooth even with all the glitter. I did a quick cleanup with my acetone & paintbrush and then I wasn't ashamed to leave the house anymore!

Even my husband seemed amused by this manicure. I showed him my nails and he said, "Awww, you're a kitty!" It made me smile.
Normally he just sort of shrugs and says, "Ew, stinky." To get a positive reaction makes me happy!

So tell me, what do you think about animal prints. Do you like them? Do you love them even more in rainbow colors? Are you a purist who thinks animal prints belong only on the animals who wear them? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen was provided by the company for evaluation.

Borghese Has Me Going Dotty!

It's funny... for years I wanted to wear nail polish, but my nails just wouldn't cooperate. I would spend ages trying to polish them, making sure they looked as nice as I could make them. Of course, that generally involved painting on who-knows-how-many layers of polish, fussing while they tried to dry, then complaining because I got them dented or smeared. Also, cleanup was SO high tech- I would dip a cotton swab in nail polish remover and try to clean up the polish I got all over my fingers. Obviously, this would destroy the manicure, and I would generally get so frustrated I'd say something really rude, really loudly, then remove the whole thing in a fit of annoyance.

On the rare occasion I managed to get my nails painted and dried nicely, something strange would happen. Within a few hours, the polish would lift off my nails in a single sheet.  Sometimes a corner or a section in the very center would still be stuck down, but most of the time I would end up with a duplicate of my nail. It absolutely infuriated me, seeing all the women I went to school with who had absolutely amazing nails while mine were so frustrating. I tried everything I knew to get polish to stick, and absolutely nothing helped. I'd go through this cycle every 6 months or so, and so I ended up with quite the collection of partly-used bottles of polish.

I decided to pull out one of those bottles for this manicure- a bottle of Borghese Roma Scarlet C so old that I don't even know where I got it! If I'm not mistaken I picked this up back in 2001 because it matched my car's paint job: deep bright red with golden shimmer. Of course, I could be wrong. It could have been any time, since most of the polishes I have pre-obsession were red with shimmer. What can I say, I like red! Anyway, back to the nail polish...

I had big plans for this manicure. I pulled everything out- base coat, top coat, stickers, etc. I was going to use some  red, black, and silver decals (unfortunately, I have NO IDEA where these came from!), and it was going to be glorious! I painted my nails, spent an absolute agonizing amount of time cleaning up the edges since red is such a difficult color to clean up, then pulled out the decals, pulled one off to lay on top of my fingernail and realized...

It wouldn't show up. The red is so intense that the black and red sort of faded into it, leaving me with nothing that really showed on my nails. GRR! I decided to pull out the nail art pens and doodle, but wound up with a design I couldn't replicate on my right hand, so I cleaned THAT off (thank goodness for water-based paint!!) and then decided to go with a standard mani I've done before.

I went dotty.

I chose my Sally Hansen Nail Art pens in black and silver, wanting to keep it fairly simple. I think I failed on that, since it ended up being a very busy design, but it was still fun and I think it was cute. It also has a different look than the last set of dots I did similar to this. So it's hardly a great work of art, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm happy with it.

Finally!

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens were provided by the company's PR firm for evaluation.

Using Nail Stencils With Nail Art Pens? Why Not!

Having such a lovely metallic polish on my fingers is fun, but I get bored so easily. As I was looking through my polishes trying to figure out what to do to make things more interesting, I realize that I had some stencils that came with my Kiss Nail Artist Nail Paints that I'd never really used. I wondered if they could be used with nail art pens. I decided to experiment.

 

I pulled out my nail art box and started to experiment. I find my box lid makes a great surface to test on, and cleans up easily with a bit of tape. I painted a layer of Wet nWild Shield onto the box, let it dry, then pulled out my Sally Hansen Nail Art pens. I tried silver first, but then realized that silver on gold is basically invisible. I decided not to share the photos of that one... you can use your imagination, it'll be more helpful than the pics!

But I had more luck with the black pen. It went quickly, and I made sure I colored from the stencil into the nail, instead of from my nail out onto the stencil. That way, it didn't force any polish under potentially unsecured edges. Once I pulled up the stencil, I was left with a lovely design! It was time to move on to my nails...

I went with a single design on my ring fingers, just for fun. I was actually surprised at just how easy it was, and just how cute it turned out! Seriously, this was simple!! All I needed to do was add a layer of Seche Vite over it and I was done! However, this design would look adorable with rhinestone accents... I just didn't think to add any at the time!

Keep in mind that if you're using the Sally Hansen nail art pens that they're water soluble and definitely need a topcoat. If you leave them without it, they'll wash off or flake off, which isn't what you want!

Also, make sure that your nail art has dried with the pens or they will smear like crazy into your topcoat. Once they're dry they're fine, as long as you use alight touch with the topcoat. Once that's dry, they're all sealed in and ready to go!

So remember, the next time you pick up some Kiss Nail Artist Nail Paints to hold on to the stencils, because you can use them with any polishes you like!

Kiss products and Sally Hansen products were provided by the companies for evaluation.

Aiee, Poor Caribbean...

Oh dear. You ever do something pretty, and then just keep on going and destroy it? Yea, that's what I did here. The Caribbean Frost was pretty, but I got bored. Really bored. This is what happens.

See, first I grabbed my stamping kit. I have it all in a cute little bag that Kellie G. sent me. (If it wasn't for her, I'd still be stuck with the same single plate I had.) I dug through all the plates and decided to go with M78. It's a really cute pattern that I've wanted to use more than once, but never got around to using. Since I just got those gorgeous Maybelline Aluminum polishes, I decided to see how they'd stamp on this lovely shade of teal.

It was... pretty. It was fairly sheer, though. I wanted more! I then decided to fill in the cheetah spots with black and white. That was AWFUL!! Thankfully, the Sally Hansen Nail Art pens are water-based, and I could remove them without any damage to the stamp. It was really not something worth saving,unfortunately.

Then I decided to try the silver and gold. They were... better? I don't know. I'm not fond of this look, but I decided to keep it on for whatever reason. A coat of Seche Vite made it durable and shiny, and dried quickly as usual.

Oh, you may be wondering about the naproxen sodium in the photo. I've managed to damage my knee somehow, so I'm taking these around the clock to help with inflammation. I was amused at that bottle being closest to hand. I know, I have a weird sense of humor.

All in all, I don't think this is a horrible look. I just don't have long enough nails to make the best use of the pattern, and it ended up looking sort of disorganized. But it was the first time I used a whole-nail stamp and it turned out nicely. Also, I learned a lot about stamping and design. So overall, it was a great learning experience, right? :D

What would you consider one of your more educational nail polish experiences? Have you done a nail art design that just made you want to take it off and start over? Tell me about it in the comments! And coming up tomorrow, I got a special surprise in the mail that I get to share with you! See you then!

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens were provided by their PR company for evaluation.

Pretty Cuticles- how do you get them? With Sally Hansen products!

I am still sick today, so please be patient. I'll get the tutorial up as soon as I can, but for now you get to read about cuticle cream. It's still good stuff!

Cuticles- something I never thought about (except when they were torn or bleeding) until I started blogging. The best I could say about them is that they were cuticles, and they gave me strong nails. But pretty? Hardly.

Then I started seeing pictures on blogs of people with gorgeous cuticles, and I wondered how I could get mine to look like those. Then I got a package in the mail from Sally Hansen with both gel cuticle remover and cuticle massage cream. After using them for a few weeks, I'm seeing a remarkable change in my cuticles!

I started with the Sally Hansen Gel Cuticle Remover. This stuff is sweet. Goes on easily and removes gobs of ick. I was absolutely stunned at how much nicer my nails looked once I'd used this!  So much of the dry, icky parts were gone, and what was left was so much prettier!

Then it was time to moisturize. I started using the Sally Hansen Cuticle Massage Cream, cautiously. I'm incredibly sensitive to smell, so any creams that go on my hands have the potential to give me a massive migraine headache, complete with temporary blindness in one eye, vomiting, and wishing for death. Even smells I like can do this, so you can see why I 'm careful about smelly things!

Thankfully, this cream is lightly scented and very pleasant, without causing any negative issues for me like asthma or migraines. Instead, I get a lovely hint of light, clean, with a hint of fruitiness? (Yes, I've got the open container just under my nose and I'm sniffing as I write. It's as strange-looking as it sounds, and I'm glad no one is here with a camera to take a picture of it!)

It's odd, because this cream absorbs so completely that it doesn't really seem that moisturizing. My cuticles don't seem dry, exactly, but they don't seem any more moist than usual. And yet they're smoother, healthier than I've seen them in years. I have to assume it's because of the cream I've been applying 3-4 times daily. It feels so wonderful to massage in, too, so it's not like I'm having to do something unpleasant. It's like a tiny 2 minute break that soothes me, and reminds me of nice things. Add in healthy-looking cuticles? I'm SO there!

So there you go, how I healed my cuticles in 2 weeks. They're looking so much nicer now that I can't wait to see what they look like in 2 more weeks! What do you use for your cuticles? What have you found that works for you?

Products were provided by Sally Hansen PR for evaluation.
See my disclosure statement for more information. 

Nail Art Take Two- A Simple Design Using Sinful Colors Dream On

Yesterday I showed a very simple nail art design using Sinful Colors' Dream On, a warm fluorescent purple polish. Because I paired it with silver, the overall effect was very cool-toned. However, by swapping the silver for gold I can make the same polish look warm and rich. It's fun!

Just like yesterday, I used my base coat and then two coats of Dream On. But instead of silver, I wanted to try a warmer look. I grabbed a gold Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen, thinking it would complement the purple nicely. (That's color theory for you... but that's a completely new topic all together!)

I'd learned something about these pens yesterday. They don't contain traditional nail polish, which makes using them a bit different. The key to using these is to let the base polish dry thoroughly- if they're tacky at all, the pens won't slide over the polish. Instead, they catch and basically put dots and dents into the polish, which is the opposite of what I was going for. However, once the base polish is dry, they slide across the nail leaving a beautiful line of solid color.

I drew a diagonal line across my nails from one corner of my free edge to the opposite "corner" at my cuticle. That alone took a bit of effort, since I was working with my left hand! But patience is key, and I was able to sketch out a basically-straight line eventually. I then slowly filled in each bottom half, leaving a solid gold portion on each nail. The pen did get kind of dry periodically, but I would press the nib into the pen again (like when you first start using it) to get the paint flowing again.

Because of the way the gold goes on it gets a dimensional look, almost like gold leaf. It's absolutely gorgeous. At that point, I thought about several options- stamping on top, maybe drawing flowers on the purple side. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked the simplicity of the purple and the gold together. I finally decided to add three dots of gold in the far purple corner as a simple accent. This way there was something to connect the two visually, but not enough to totally overwhelm the design. A coat of topcoat and this look was done!

As you can see, this is a very simple look that completely changed the overall tone of the Dream On. With the gold, it seems warmer, richer. It was a lot of fun to hold my hands side by side and compare the looks, too! I had to put the two side-by-side so that you could compare them as well... isn't the difference cool?

So, what do you think? Do you prefer the wintery silver accents or the summery gold? Do you think you'll be experimenting with color combinations in the future? If you do, leave me a comment, I'd love to see what you do!

Nail art pens were provided by PR for evaluation.
See my disclosure statement for more information.