L.A. Girl DIY Nail Kit & Stamping.


After seeing swatches of this kit on Oh Three Oh Four blog, I had to have it. The colors are very me. And the price was right. You get four colors, a nail art brush and some chevron stickers for $3.99. There are actually 4 different kits, with different color combinations. You can find them online here at Cherry Culture, in stores at Rite Aid, or on eBay. I ordered mine from this seller.


 Nude, Brown, Gold Glitter & Aqua.


How Did They Apply?
  • Aqua was thicker but a bit streaky. I needed 3 coats. (It also stained my nails during removal.)
  • Brown was a bit runny, but I only needed 2 coats. 
  • The Gold Glitter is nice and thick, I only needed 2 coats. 
  • Nude was runny and took a bit longer to dry. I needed 3 coats. 

 These are my favorite colors out of the whole kit! The dark rich chocolate brown and the gorgeous gold glitter with holo sparkles in it. I love both of them! This was also my favorite design and one I've been wanting to do for awhile, I just never had the right colors. Winstonia Store stamping plate W113 & I used Maybelline Metallic's in Bold Gold to stamp with. Topcoat of Seche Vite.

The Aqua was hard to capture on camera, it's so bright in person. It was  overcast and rainy here today. I wish the stamping showed up a bit better, it's seashells from Winstonia Store stamping plate W108. I stamped with Maybelline Metallic's in Bold Gold. And a topcoat of Seche Vite.

I stamped with Winstonia Store stamping plate W108 and used Konad Special White Polish for the feathers. The nude is pretty, but I don't like it so much with the gold. The nude also takes the longest to dry, even with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

All in all, I really loved the colors in this DIY kit and price can't be beat. The quality of the polish is not bad either. I'm very happy with my purchase!

If you haven't already. Check out my Complete Nail Polish Collection!

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Cherry: 12/25/11 - 07/29/13

Cherry, one of my dumbo eared girls passed away this past Monday. When I woke up, she had already passed sometime during the night.
 
Cherry & Belle were adopted from Star's Rat Rescue of South Dakota last August. The girls traveled 1,500 miles to reach Philadelphia PA, thanks to a lot of great people that volunteered for the rat train. Cherry & Belle were born in the rescue on Christmas Day 2011.


Both the girls are elderly now, and both had mammary tumors. Cherry had two tumors, the one on her hip was getting quite large. But she was too frail and old to survive a tumor removal surgery. She was getting around okay on their one level cage, until she passed away the other morning.

Belle is now living with Buttercup, Baby Rat, Pumpkin, and Toffee after some intro's this past week. Buttercup was very territorial and that is why the dumbo girls never lived with her before.

♥♥♥ RIP Cherry ♥♥♥
 
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Layla Emerald Divine- Holographic Polish!

These actually turned out just how I wanted them too! I love Layla Hologram (Holographic) polish. They dry so fast and are stunning indoors or in the sunlight. I used Winstonia Store stamping plate W111 for the designs. And Konad Special Black polish. I used Seche Vite fast dry topcoat when I was finished stamping.

Flash:

No Flash:

The Konad special polish is great for stamping, but I hate how it stains the skin around your fingers... I might try a little vaseline around my cuticles next time I stamp, because it's a pain cleaning up the leftover black after I'm done stamping.

And here are two mobile photos I took of the Layla Emerald Divine earlier this week:

 Sun:

Indoors:

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Meet Toffee!

Someone came home with us last night... a pretty little black berkshire girl. Her name is Toffee! She looks to be around 3 months old. She's very curious, playful & loves to explore. Not skittish or nervous at all.

She will be moving in with Buttercup, Baby Rat & Pumpkin soon. Belle & Cherry my two elderly dumbo girls are frail with tumors, so they are living separately from my other girls who can be too energetic and rough at times. 

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P.S. That is Layla Emerald Divine on my nails, I'll be posting about it soon! ;-)
 
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Visiting the Santa Catharina Cargo Ship.

On Tuesday we got to visit my Father in law here in Philadelphia. My Father in law is a ship captain and gets to travel the world. (He goes back home to the Philippines for around 6 months every year). The ship he is on right now is trading between Costa Rica, Columbia and Philadelphia.

So on Tuesday my husband and I drove down to Pier 82 at Coloumbus Blvd, on the Delaware River to meet up with my Father in law. (The last time I saw my Father in law was January 2010, and F.B. hasn't seen his Dad since he came to the USA in 2011).

The ship was docked until the next morning. They were unloading lots and lots of bananas, (that are probably in almost every supermarket in Philadelphia right now.) My Father in law gave us a tour of the ship and we got to visit for about 2 hours. I should have worn my sneakers, instead of flip flops though! Lot's of stairs in the ship!


We needed guest passes to tour the ship.

They were unloading bananas.



Map of the Delaware River

My husband pretending to "drive" the ship.

My Father in law showing us the ships radar.

All of us.

Up on the deck. You could see the sport stadiums, etc in the distance from up there.


Historic ship also down at Pier 82, that Philadelphia is trying to restore. The SS United States.


In my Father in laws office on the ship.


The Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the way home, stuck in traffic on I-95.


My husband got some Pringles from his Dad, from the ships private stash. Lol.

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Keyboard repaired! (Dell Inspiron 1545)


I mentioned the other day how the keyboard went in my laptop. (I have a Dell Inspiron 1545- it's about 3 years old now). It started Friday evening with just N and M not working. I used a dry toothbrush to clean the keyboard lightly, I even popped the keys off to clean underneath the ones that weren't working. Nope, didn't fix my issue. By Sunday it had spread to H, J, Y, U, 6 and 7. Arrgh. I ordered a new keyboard on ebay for $15 and free shipping Friday evening and it arrived today! Talk about fast shipping! (Seller I bought from is: hiparts).

All I had to do was take the battery out, remove 4 screws, pop the front panel off, remove the old keyboard, then pop in the new ribbon and keyboard. Took less than 10 minutes. Whoo hoo for a working keyboard again!

Each computer company has service manuals available online. (You can also just Google your computers make & model plus the search term 'Service Manual'). The service manuals show you step by step with pictures how to repair anything in/on your laptop. I've replaced (In my own laptop, my husbands & cousin's), LCD screens, touch pads, hinges, casing, keyboards, RAM. Much much cheaper than taking it somewhere to be repaired.
 
Dell Inspiron 1545 Service Manual


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Essence & OPI Gradient

Feeling a bit under the weather today. Also... the keyboard in my laptop decided to go... so I am left without N, M, H, J, Y, U, 6 & 7... ordered a new keyboard. (They are not difficult to install. I have a Dell Inspiron 1545. It's about 3 years old now. I've done laptop repairs before). For the meantime, I have to either use my Kindle Fire HD 8.9", or the on-screen keyboard in Windows 7 (under accessibility) to fill in the missing letters when I use my laptop... not fun...

I decided to do a gradient with Essence Hello Marshmallow & OPI You're such a Budapest. I used Konad animal print stamp M57. My stamping wasn't the best, because I was feeling dizzy... I smeared them a little bit. The colors are pretty though!


Right before I stamped my nails. (And my awesome Lush Lemony Flutter cuticle butter!)
 

This is the acetone nail polish remover‬ I use. It's 99 cents from Shop-rite & works better/faster than any I've used before. I only use it once a week to remove my polish. I usually only change my polish every Friday. (Unless it chips really bad during the week).


Look what I found on drugstore.com! Herbal Essences brought back two of their old favorites. I used to use this rose shampoo and conditioner when I was a teenager. It still smells the same! I love it!


I also re-swatched Layla Hologram Ultra Violet. I love Layla Holo's! 



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