China Glaze: Ruby Pumps

Back in the early 2000's my cousin Chrissy & I were shopping at Ulta. I came across China Glaze Ruby Pumps. This gorgeous sparkly red polish. I had never heard of the brand China Glaze. I didn't buy much nail polish back then, because I bit my nails and I would only paint my toes red or hot pink in the summer. By the time I got into nail polish in late 2010, Ruby Pumps had long ago dried up... :-(

I finally got around to buying another bottle of Ruby Pumps on eBay. I'm so glad to be able to own this polish again, and I'm happy China Glaze still makes it. It's a gorgeous bright red, with red glitter that almost glows. I used two coats and one coat of Seche Vite topcoat.

Here's a comparison of Ruby Pumps & Zoya Sarah. Ruby Pumps is a darker red with bigger pieces of glitter. Zoya Sarah leans toward a blue based red with smaller glitter.

 

Sneak Peek: L.A. Girl

✯ PR Sample ✯

I'm still a zombie here getting over this illness and am writing this from bed on my Kindle Fire. I haven't painted my nails in a week now! I wanted to share a sneak peek though at at the awesome L.A. Girl polishes that Vanessa from L.A. Girl Cosmetics sent me for review. I am looking forward to sharing them with you all soon! You can find L.A. Girl polishes for sale at Rite Aid. :-)

Valentine's Day Nails: Design 3

It's another Friday and I've got another Valentine's Day manicure to share. I used Zoya Miranda this time and blinged out my ring finger with rhinestone's from Sally Hansen's nail art line. It's something a little different than I would normally do. If I had glitter I would have too since the rhinestones are a little larger. I stamped with Winstonia Store 2nd Gen plate W207 with Konad Special White polish.

♥ Valentine's Day Nails ♥

• Design 1

• Design 2

Super Sick...

I've been really really sick since last Saturday night, sicker than I've ever felt.  I've missed a week of work and ended up in the ER yesterday morning. They ran blood tests, gave me a chest xray and IV because I was dehydrated. The ER thinks it's either strep (they didn't get my throat culture back) or influenza. They sent me home with antibiotics. I've pretty much missed a week of my life because I've just been sleeping nonstop, drinking lot's of gatorade. I haven't really been online at all. I've had blog posts scheduled, but forgive me if I haven't replied to comments yet. Still resting up so I can hopefully get back to work on Monday.

Zoya: Dahlia, Mira, Sarah

My cousin surprised me with a belated Christmas gift the other day. 3 Zoya's from the latest promo sale. She sent me Dahlia, Mira, Sarah all colors I've been wanting. :-)

Dahlia is so pretty! It's a black and silver texture polish. I love the Zoya Pixiedusts, they are my favorite texture polishes. I only needed two coats.

Mira a bright purple cream. It reminds me a bit of China Glaze Spontaneous, one of my other favorite purples. I only needed 2 coats and 1 coat of Seche Vite. I stamped the Hummingbird with Winstonia Store 2nd Gen stamp plate W202

Zoya Sarah is a pretty metallic red. It reminds me of China Glaze Ruby Pumps. (We'll see if they're similar in an upcoming post). The formula was good, I only needed 2 coats and topcoat. The stamp is from MoYou London Kitty 11.

I also got a new larger squishy stamper on eBay. I've been using a smaller pink stamper from Winstonia Store. I love how good the images transfer with the squishy stamper!

Don't forget to enter the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Giveaway.

Ends 2/14/14. Open Internationally!

 

Indigo Bananas

I've been wanting to order from Indigo Bananas for awhile but there's so many pretty colors to choose from I always have a hard time deciding what to put in my cart. I finally decided on Maui and We Are The Music Makers. (mini size). I also ordered some cuticle balm in lemon scent after reading The Mercurial Magpies review.

I've been using the cuticle balm A LOT. Especially with this cold dry winter weather. The lemon scent is very light. I think I'd like to try peppermint scent next time. It's very moisturizing and dries with powdery feel instead of greasy like most balms.

Maui is a blue and purple duo chrome. It dries with a gritty finish so I used Seche Vite topcoat. I only needed two coats, really nice formula!

Blue is the prominent color in Maui.

I layered two coats of We Are The Music Makers over black polish, plus topcoat. We Are The Music Makers has color shifting glitter, you'll see green, teal, blue, purple, etc.

Valentine's Nails: Design 2

Every Friday until Valentine's Day I will be featuring a different Valentine's Day design! Today I used Sally Hansen Triple Shine in Vanity Flare and stamped with Essence Hello Marshmallow & Konad Special White Polish. I used Winstonia Store 1st Gen W102.

♥ Valentine's Day Nails ♥

• Design 1

Don't forget to enter the giveaway! Ends: 2/14/14

 

RIP: Dance Legend Sully

Well... I never had this happen... I went to do my nails today for the work week, was unscrewing the cap on my Dance Legend Sully when the bottle split in half... my hands were completely covered in polish and I had to scrub with cotton balls and acetone.

Sigh... I haven't even owned it that long, and I never even got to wear it properly. I only swatched it on 4 fingers. There must have been some dried polish around the lid that made it tough to open and when I twisted the cap the bottle split. I suppose it had a hairline fracture in it from shipping when I ordered it from Llarowe.

RIP Sully... until Llarowe restocks you again someday, if I'm lucky enough to get another bottle... Dance Legend is a Russian brand & Llarowe only gets limited stock, and I'm not paying $19 for a bottle on eBay coming from Russia, when it may get confiscated by customs or get damaged during the long distance. So unless anyone has one lying around that they want to send me, lol. :-p I'll be waiting awhile. Blah....

 

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Giveaway!

✯ PR Samples Mentioned ✯

I have a giveaway to share with you all today! And... it's open Internationally!

Last month Sally Hansen sent me some of their polishes to review. Included was the Salon Effect strips. I was sent three different designs to review. They generously sent duplicates of the designs and today I'm sharing them with one lucky winner! I'm also throwing in a limited edition Halloween design that I purchased myself awhile ago.

(To share this giveaway image on Instagram, right click & save). 

The Prizes Are:

The Bold Rush

Mane Event

Sweet Marble Floret

Spun For You

Sally Hansen Salon Effects are real nail polish strips that you apply. They last up to 10 days. (If you use a clear topcoat you can get almost 2 weeks wear out of them).

(See my review of Sally Hansen Salon Effects here.)

The only mandatory entry is your email address. There are lot's of ways to gain more entries. The contest is open internationally, though you must be 18 or have a parent's permission to enter. I am not responsible for lost or damaged prize packages.

Rafflecopter Entry Form:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This contest will run until February 14th, 2014, 12:00am EST.

P.S. If you're having trouble entering by Rafflecoptor Form, click here to email me your answers and I will input them into the form myself.

Please make sure you're sharing the image below on Instagram for the extra entry! ;-)

(To share this giveaway image on Instagram, right click & save). 

Valentine's Day Nails: Design 1

Every Friday up until Valentine's Day, I'm going to feature a different Valentine's Day design. Today is Orly Miss Conduct with Winstonia Store plates 1st Gen W102 & 2nd Gen W207. One coat of Seche Vite topcoat. They are so sparkly in person! ♥

♥ Come back next Friday for another Valentine's Nail Art design! ♥

 

Sally Hansen: Complete Salon Manicure

✯ PR Sample ✯

Today I have some Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure colors that were sent to me for review by Influenster. I was sent three different colors: Red My Lips, Pat on the Black and Jaded. I own a lot of different Sally Hansen nail polishes but this is the first time I've tried the Complete Salon Manicure line.

Red My Lips is a gorgeous bright red color. Formula was just right. Not too thin and not too thick. For real life you could get away with just two coats. Under the bright lights in my lightbox I needed 3 coats. You don't really need a topcoat because it's glossy on it's on, but because I stamped I used HK Girl Fast Dry topcoat and stamped with Winstonia Store 2nd Gen plate W207.

Pat on the Black is a deep dark purple color. I don't own any purples this color. Another great formula. You could definitely do two coats and be opaque, but for pictures I did 3 coats, plus HK Girl Fast Dry topcoat. I stamped with Winstonia Store 2nd Gen plate W203.

Jaded is pretty aqua green color that reminds me of China Glaze For Audrey. I did not like the formula on this one. It was way too thin. I needed 4 thin coats to get it opaque. I tried doing thicker coats but it would just bubble on me. You have to be careful because as I was applying coats, the coat underneath would drag and streak. HK Girl Fast Dry topcoat and Winstonia Store 2nd Gen plate W201.

In each Complete Salon Manicure bottle you get:

• Base Coat

• Strengthener

• Growth Treatment

• Color

• Top Coat

• Chip-Resistant

• Gel Shine

Have you tried any of the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes? What did you think of them?