I wanted to share some of the products I use for hand & nail care. I took the photos with my Galaxy S3 and while they may not be perfect quality, they do the job. All items were purchased by myself.




My Mom gave me my original Revlon nail file years ago in my early teens and I didn't need to buy a new one until about 5 years ago. They pretty much last forever. I've tried all sorts of nail files and I always come back to this one. Plus I love the sharp tip for cleaning out underneath your nails. It looks like they've changed the handle and the name since I last bought one, but they are still selling them. Revlon 34510 File.

The Sally Hansen nail clippers, my husband just gave me this past December. They have a neat plastic guard on them that prevents your nail clippings from flying all over the place, lol! Plus they are super sharp. They are called the Sally Hansen Clip n' Catch.


What nail & hand care items do you use?

I wanted to blog about an issue I've been having with my Kindle Fire HDX 8.9". My HDX will periodically drop the wifi connection, (but still show it's connected with a perfect signal). Webpages won't load, Apps will say I have a connection problem and to check my wifi. It's completely frustrating because for a few hours it will behave, I can surf the net just fine. But then it will start acting up dropping the signal every few minutes (even though it's still showing it's connected to a perfect signal). I have to manually turn the wifi off/on to reset the antenna. Or switch airplane mode on/off. Which gets old real fast when it does it 5-6 times in a row!

I know it wasn't our home router causing the issue, because the same issue would happen when I used my T-mobile 4G internet through tethering and when I used public wifi hotspots. The HDX would just drop the signal while I was in the middle of looking at webpages. (Just to be sure, a few times I did restart our home router but that didn't resolve the issue).

This has actually been going on for a few months now. It started off as a minor annoyance and I guess I was hoping it would somehow be resolved through a system update. Doing a hard reset, (holding the power button for 20 seconds, then restarting the device) did not help. Restoring the device back to factory settings did not help either, and that was the last resort because it wipes out all your files. I did that last night, and today it was still having the same issue.

I finally got fed up and called Amazon tonight, but the CSR I got had a very hard to understand accent and I don't think either of us was understanding the other. So after I hung up I jumped on the Amazon.com Help page and started a chat session with another CSR. I thought maybe they would understand the problem more if they could see it in writing. After some troubleshooting, they are sending me a replacement device that should be here Monday and I have to send back my defective one.

I think maybe the internal antenna is defective, after doing a search on the Kindle Forums, I've found a few others are having the same exact issue. I really hope the replacement they send resolves the issue or I'm not going to be very happy. I had no issues at all when I owned the Kindle Fire HD, it's only the HDX that I'm now having issues with.

EDITED TO ADD: Replacement Kindle HDX just arrived this afternoon (1/12/14). So hopefully this one doesn't have the same issues. We'll see. Thank goodness for warranties.

✯ PR Samples Mentioned ✯

I picked up the other two Painted Polish nail polishes I've been wanting. There was a New Year's sale so I ordered Effie & District 12 this time. Last time I ordered 'Girl on Fire' and 'Kiss me Teal Midnight'. (Effie, District 12 and Girl on Fire are all from Painted Polishes Hunger Games inspired collection).

Effie is just gorgeous. It's an aqua green cream with little matte holographic circles and glitter. The glitter is pink, green, blue, orange. It's reminds me of springtime. I did 3 coats with a seche vite topcoat and then I also tried a matte topcoat with NYC Matte About You. (press sample). I think I like Effie even more when it's matte!


District 12 is a black jelly polish with holographic circle and diamond glitter. The holo circles make me think of planets in outer space. I also did 3 coats of this and placed some of the glitter's strategically with the brush. I did two coats of Seche Vite to give it that glossy jelly look. I also tried a matte topcoat, but I like District 12 better when it's glossy.


Which polish do you like? Effie or District 12? Shiny or matte?

P.S. I updated my disclosure page with explanations for the terms used at the top of some of my blog posts. I wanted to make sure it was easy for my readers to understand. You can find the new explanations on the disclosure page underneath the current policy.

I picked this polish up a few months ago but I haven't really worn it until now. Nubar, Rockin' The Garden. It's a pretty slate blue with green/blue shimmer. The formula is a bit sheer so I needed 3 coats to make it opaque. I used two different stamping plates. Winstonia Store 2nd gen plate W212 for the dandelion fluff and MoYou London Kitty 11 for the bird. Topped off with one coat of Seche Vite.


 

✯ PR Samples Mentioned ✯

When I saw Winstonia Store 2nd generation plate W208 it made me think of the "Zoya Fairies" who help create all the gorgeous Zoya nail polish colors. So of course I had to use a Zoya nail polish to help create this look.

I used two coats of Zoya Rue (press sample) from the Naturel's collection. Then one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (perfect for fairy nails right?) I stamped with Konad special white polish and used 1 coat of Seche Vite topcoat.

✯ Press Samples Mentioned ✯

I couldn't resist playing with my new Winstonia Store 2nd generation stamp plates tonight. When I saw plate W218, the windmills immediately reminded me of my Mom in Law. She loves collecting anything with windmills. So I decided to do Dutch windmill china nails.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White. Then I stamped with Cult Nails in Wack Slacks, then 1 coat of Seche Vite topcoat before I used the NYC Matte About You topcoat (press sample). I smudged the one flower stamp a little, but I still love how they turned out.



P.S. I got an OttLite! There's a been a lot of discussion about them in the Hobby Polish Bloggers group I am a member of on Facebook. The Mercurial Magpie posted a coupon code for this OttLite at Jo-Ann's so I had to order one. Can't beat that sale price either?!

I finally got Dance Legend Chameleon: Sully (096) in the latest Llarowe restock. It's been on my wishlist for awhile now. :-)

The other colors in the Chameleon collection look a little too similar to some of the ILNP ultra chromes I already own, but Sully has more aqua green and purple. It's gorgeous. The formula is a bit sheer, so I put two coats over a coat of black polish. Depending on the light shift you see aqua, blue, green, purple, pink. Aqua and purple are most prominent.


Guess what else arrived today... my Winstonia Store 2nd generation stamp plates! Whoo hoo! I can't wait to play with these. Winstonia was my first set of stamping plates, so I'm really happy they've come out with a 2nd generation. So many new designs to play with!


*All items were purchased by myself. 

✯ Press Release ✯

✯ Press Samples Mentioned ✯

I'm not much of a sports person and not really a football person... but my family is. So, since I'm also a Philadelphian and the Eagles have a big game tonight I decided to do some football themed nails.

I started with two coats of NYC Color in Precious Peacock (press sample) over one coat of black polish. Then I stamped with Konad special white polish and Winstonia Store stamp plate W103. I applied one coat of Seche Vite topcoat before using the NYC Matte About You topcoat (press sample), so I wouldn't smear the design.

✯ PR Sample ✯

Happy 2014! Today I have some Sally Hansen Salon Effects to share. These were sent to me for review. When I first started getting into nail polish in 2010 I was addicted to the salon effect nail strips. Mainly because you get instant gratification with nail art without all the mess that comes with doing it yourself.


Sally Hansen salon effects are real nail polish strips that last up to 10 days. You can remove them with regular nail polish remover. They are available in 24 designs and you can find them at mass retailers and grocery/drug stores. They usually retail for around $7.99, but I've seen them for as low as $5.00 at Five Below.

Salon Effects are perfect if you don't like changing your polish often or if you have a special event to attend and want to have some nail art on your nails without all the work.


In each Salon Effects kit you get 16 nail polish strips in various sizes, plus a nail file, orange stick and directions. You pick out the nail strips that fit each finger best. You don't have to worry too much about messing up because if you align it wrong, just peel up the strip and try again.

Once you align the strip, press it down with a firm rolling motion on your nail until it's completely covered. You use the included file to file off the excess around your nail tip. Use the orange stick to press down the strip around your cuticle and nail sides (use the flat side), doing this step helps the strips last longer.

If you've never applied the strips before it will probably take you a good 30+ minutes to do both hands. Once you get the hang of it you can do both hands in 10-15 minutes.


Apply 1-2 coats of clear topcoat once you're done applying the strips. This step isn't necessary, but it will help the strips last much longer. It may be body chemistry, but I've gotten almost 2 weeks of wear out of the Salon Effects by using a clear coat. There will be some tip wear, chipping and growth after 1 week, but you can stretch out the wear time by using a topcoat.