Nails Inc. Edinburgh GIVEAWAY!!! U.S. ONLY

Sorry international readers... I need to find out more information on shipping nail polish internationally before I open a giveaway to you... I'm scared. If someone has had good or bad experiences shipping internationally you should email me about it Drama(dot)Ocelot(at)gmail.com... help me to not be afraid... or justify my fears.

Onto the POLISH!!!

So this is probably not the newest polish, but I got super excited because I hadn't seen it in any of my Sephoras until last week. I have been waiting for this feather stuff!
I decided it was also time for a giveaway, because any of you who actually read my book length posts deserve a medal... or free stuffs. I am going to try to do a little giveaway like this once every couple of months, because its really easy to just buy two of a lacquer and it will give me an incentive to stay current with trends. I never really buy the newest latest and greatest... Im usually just hunting for stuff that I like, and then I jump on the bandwagon later and act like "OMG look what I finally found out is great!" its kind of lame when you think about, try not to think about it.

So I didnt know what underwear to use with this...
I tried sans underwear

This is two to three coats of Edinburgh... I say two to three because it was two with some retouching on both the first and second coat... by the way, this is a lumpy polish...

Then tried American Apparel T-Shirt (my favorite white undies), Essie Haute as Hello (one of my favorite peachy colors that kind of matched the orange bar glitters), Ciate Cream Soda (a nice neutral light gray), Kleancolor Lake Mist (the only powdery blue shade I have... mental note: go buy a cream powder blue polish), and Orly Chocolate Martini (because I thought "Hey, why not try an intense coppery color... why not?"). Before and After

So I hate the way it looks over the copper, I like the how the orange and blue glitter pops over the white, and the glitter seems to fade over the orange and blue polish...

This is what I ended up going with!

I thought the glitter looked really nice against the gray... and I wouldve used an orange stamp but it didnt show up very well...
I think I like this polish best on its own, especially since thats when it looks the most like feathers. It does layer up pretty quickly but the only drawback is how lumpy it gets.

So what do you think? Want to win a bottle? Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

By the way, I had to chop off all my nails because remember my last post where I talked about buffing my nails down? Yeah, well apparently you shouldnt peel your splitting nails then buff them until they are paper thin and then go partake in strenuous hand labor... apparently.

})i({ -Amy

Ninja Polish Ambrosia

K, No time for banter

BLAMSKIES!!!

I really put some effort into this mani... 

Where to start my tales??? 

So I have a real problem with splitting... It was getting better when I wore gloves to sleep with moisturizer and cuticle oil every night, not cured but better... but I stopped doing that when I had to go back east and havent started up again. Then it got a little better when I wore Orly's Nailtrition but it says not to use it consecutively for more than two weeks... and THEN theres my other little problem. 

I see that little bit of lacquer covered nail lifting off the rest of the nail and I CANT HELP MYSELF, I have to peel it back slowly and a little at a time... It is so satisfying. Like squeezing a big blackhead you didnt know you had but catch site of in the mirror during your makeup routine, so big it looks like a mole. Yeah this is just like that for me. I cant help myself!

SO I peel the damn thing back and then paint my nails again and it leaves this unsightly ridge and it looks horrible and then just causes the next peel when it grows out.  YUCK circle of never ending manicure ruination.

So this time I used one of those nail buffer things... you know? The ones from the dudes at the mall who catch you and molest your hand with that huge nail file looking thing with four sides? All to leave you with that one shiney nail? NO? I guess nail polish addicts dont get subjected to this because we're always wearing polish... but back when i didnt wear polish my naked nails were molested in this fashion all the time... those damn sales cart people.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT

I buffed the crap out of all my split nails.... all of my nails really, even the non split ones, I smoothed down the edges where new splits were occuring and I buffed out all the ridges on my nails. HOPEFULLY this will prevent some splitting in the future FINGERS ARE CROSSED! But more importantly this occured to me to be the best way to treat my nails before I use chrome polish or others that show the shit out of ridges. And you all had to read through that crap to get that little gem of advice damn it! HAHAHA! 

Anyways, I went through all that work so I figured I might as well clean up my cuticles and then after I was done painting, clean up some of the mess in the beds of my nails and TADA! I think these might be the best my nails have ever looked for you!

Onto the polish:

So I really like this color, I decided I needed to put on something special after all that hard work and this was the winner! Thank You, Cynthia! 

It went on super smooth but a bit sheer. This is three coats of slightly thick shimmery perfection. It reminds me of Takko Lacquer, both in color and consistency  It has a slightly orange color in the shimmer but also some yellow and even green (in certain lights). It is so rich and glowey, it looks like wildfire on my nails! I am LOVING it!

What do you think? Anyone ever use one of these nail buffers? Am I just late in the game? WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME!!!!? Anyone have any suggestions how to stop the damn splitting??? 

})i({ -Amy

Ahem... Sorry for my absence

Yeah... So I have been doing my own thing recently. Still feeling a bit blue but went to look at apartments yesterday and finally feeling like I am getting over this freaking cough! YIPPEE!!! I went to the outlet mall yesterday with a girl from work and we did a bit of retail therapy... then she told me that she will be having another baby!!! I dont want to judge or anything (who am I kidding? I am a Judgey McJudgerton!) but she just went through bankruptcy, they had to move out of their apartment into a TINY TEENY WEENY one to save some money... and all along they were planning to have a baby. I just think that maybe they should have thought this one through... I'm also wickedly jealous, le sigh. I have baby fever SO bad! Everyone I know has children, I dont have a single girlfriend who doenst have kids... and i would love some bebies some day. Thats one of the reasons I am leaving the boyfriend; he doesnt want kids ever, but thats not what he told me when we first met. I am 27 this May and I just want to live a life where there is potential for me to have kids. I will never have them if i cant financially support myself PERIOD. BUT in an ideal world I will meet a good guy, date him for at least a year if not two before we marry, be married for about a year having selfish fun before we have kids, and have kids before I am an old lady! That doesnt leave much time, and things never go according to plan. What am I going to do? Well it hasnt been my nails, I'll tell you that! I did my best friend's nails about a week ago, they came out super cute but my phone camera is pretty crap!

Thats China Glaze Liquid Leather on thumb and pinkie, Calvin Klein Tutu on the pointer, Nails Inc Leather Effect Noho on the middle and Jade Holografico Mystic Gold on the ring. There is some foil on the thumb, a gold skull and crossbones sticker on the pointer, some studs on the middle, a mustache sticker on the ring, and SOPI 18kt topcoat on the pinkie.

On the right hand middle finger I did a small Hex Nail Charm (I am obsessed with these lately, go buy them here!) that says Bitch! How cute? Right???

I got special nail mail the other day and it was a SUPER pick me up!!! That is Ninja Polish Ambrosia, I cant wait to paint my nails with it... it looks so squishy and shimmery!

I have been toying with the idea of painting falsies for a while... I dont need to wait for a friend to have some free time for a free mani, I can do them at my leisure and I can do WHATEVER design I want... unfortunately this one looks like crap. I should have stuck with the Rocky Mountain sunset and not tried to fade in a galaxy nail... it looks terrible and there isnt enough room on the nail for it all. But that being said, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the bottom half that I didnt butcher! You can catch a bit of the pinkish shimmer in the clouds, Thats SpaRitual Its Raining Men, which I should do a mani with sometime... maybe.

These were my St. Patties nails... I did these after MANY MANY attempts at a water marble shamrock like mucking_fusser on instagram... DAMN HER AND HER GLORIOUS WATER MARBLES!!!!!!!!!! ... bitch... not really, but im in a hater mood today.

 SO these were my practice water marble a week before St Patricks... and I thought I was all bad ass because I made a heart... I cant really do the marbling .. i suck at it and its messy, and it ruined my Cutex Twist and Scrub Sponge... which I LOVE for removing messes and mostly glitter. Go buy one of these. DO IT!

And I may have shown you this already, but this is Sephora + Pantone Universe in Evergreen... This is another long story for you: I love digging through the clearance bins at Sephora and a while back I found Kat Von D's Mad Max.. I really wanted it but all they had was the tester left. So I asked the woman if I could buy the tester. I told her I would pay full price for it and that I really wanted it and pretty please and all that crap... but she said no, Sephora cannot sell their testers and then she ran away from my crazy... Speed up to a couple weeks ago and Im in a different Sephora digging through the clearance bins... then i spot the Pantone Jewel Lacquer set and all the pretty colors and I find a tester for the Evergreen and a Tester for the Parachute Purple but no product for them!!!! NOOOOOO! So I did a bad thing and slipped both testers into different boxes... because they were all in completely enclosed boxes, and I bought the testers under a different guise. EEK! I was sweating and thinking "God I hope they dont open those boxes and see that I am essentially stealing their testers!" But I was successful in my endeavor and I bought two awesome Pantone polishes!!! ... and I hardly feel bad about it anymore... hardly... just a bit. I'D DO IT AGAIN THOUGH!!!!


SO! Thank you for reading my novel today! I have one last thing to ask of you: Since I have not been posting lately I was thinking maybe I should do some guest posts! Maybe? I have never done this... but was thinking that maybe someone might want to show off their nails... maybe that someone has a blog, maybe they dont! Maybe they just want to help me fill my space? I think guest posting is probably more appealing for more popular blogs... But lets put it this way: Youd be my best friend? Id let you use my crayons at recess? What can I say to get some of you to volunteer some of your time and do some posts for me? If you want to... send pictures and basically a blog post to my email: drama(dot)ocelot(at)gmail.com
Yeah?
Maybe?
DO IT!!!

Otherwise, who knows? Maybe I'll start feeling back to normal and do my own posts again... I have enough freaking nail polish that I havent tried out yet... jeez. Lol

})i({ -Amy

NOPI Kim-pleatly In Love and Lush Laquer Clowning Around

UGGGHH! I am super sick today, on the plus side it was already one of my many days off of work (I get like 3, the store doesnt have enough hours for me to work... its really sad). This is the FIRST Nicole by OPI that I have ever bought... It was in the clearance bin at Ulta and it is the shade of pink I have been keeping an eye out for.

Plus it has blue shimmer in it! This is four coats though... makes for some thick nails. But the application is smooth, so there's a plus.

I had to buy Clowning Around after I saw it on Chalkboard Nails post about Hex Charms which I also had to buy some of... Actually this is the last polish I have bought. I am currently on a no buy... I am trying to save my monies so that I can pay off my credit card debt and possibly move out, things have not been going so well with the boyfriend.
I am going through so much crap with my grandmother passing, and then my mother and I getting into quite an argument, all to discover that I may not be very happy in my relationship either. Its been kind of a downer couple of months, my friend says I should go see someone about it, but I am not much of a sharer (this doesnt count because I dont know any of you!) On top of that my friend and I havent been seeing each other at all... I dont even remember the last time I saw her. She has a new boyfriend, who in my opinion isnt much of a winner, and she keeps blowing off our plans to go be with him. So I'm kinda floating here. I missed so much school when my Meme passed that I had to drop the semester because I couldnt keep up, I REALLY have nothing to do... except work. I like work (I guess). ANYWHO...

Enough of that! What do you think of Clowning around? Its pretty cute, it reminds me of something Jindie might put out.
GAHHHH I want some Jindie polish too!!! I have a list of polishes I want to buy as soon as my cards are paid off... but not all at once because that might defeat the purpose.

PLEASE let me live vicariously through you guys, what are some polishes that you have bought recently? Anything super exciting or that you have been lemming?

})i({ -Amy

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Buttercup

I had no idea what I was doing this time around... I dont really even like yellow. (I probably own 4 yellow polishes total.) I went into this thinking I would do some sort of antique flowery thing with my little bee nail charm. But then I was thinking as an accent nail I should do a leaf with the bee on it... then I ended up outlining all of my nails just to see if I could do it. I love outlined nails and this is my first attempt. I think it looks better on pointy nails, but this isnt bad... right?

 hmmm, close up they dont look as good as I thought... But they do look better matted!

Dont they?

Either way, I love outlined nails and dont really like this color. This is three coats, its kinda jelly like but a good polish, at least for consistency and application. I never bought another because this color once stained my nails super bad... yuck I forgot about that, I'm gonna get this stuff off quick.

Have you ever tried outlined nails? Do they look better in a certain color?

})i({ -Amy

Julep Carrie, Hex Nail Jewelry

I got this polish in my Valentines Julep Mystery Box along with a bunch of other pinks and reds. I like this one because it is super girly, which I dont typically do.
With the exception of this manicure:



LOVE IT!!! Im more of a black polish and studs kind of gal, but I really wanted to show off my new Hex Charm (the unicorn). I saw these on Chalkboard Nails blog on Tuesday and immediately went to Hex's Etsy page to buy as many as I could think to use for manicures... 10 to be precise.

Look at how adorable that little unicorn is!!! I love this manicure... I've been into nail art a bit more than usual.
So Julep Carrie is the pink, it went on super smooth, but I did add a bit of thinner as I usually do to Julep polishes. It is two coats for the most part. The white is OF COURSE American Apparel T-Shirt. I used a dotting tool to make the shape of the bow on the thumb then used my Sally Hansen pen in black to outline it and give it shape. The index was done with all LA Colors stripers, I painted the middle with Carrie then used striping tape to box the white background of the frame. Then used a dotting tool and a black striper to make the "frame". I painted the ring finger white then used striping tape to block out the lines then painted Carrie over it and used a black striper to do the bow. I am ashamed of the pinkie... it didnt come out as well as it should have, I got the shakes a bit. But used a dotting tool for that.

The right hand is no where near as fabulous... but it'll do:

Please excuse the lack of clean up, the stubby middle finger and the misshapen index... also the torn up cuticles, DONT JUDGE ME :'(
Well its better than nothing!

Go buy some Hex Charms... DO IT!

})i({ -Amy

Pop Beauty Loud Lime

I love love love green... but its not my favorite polish to buy for whatever reason... it looks decent on me, but i just never buy it. Hmmmmm. So I forced myself to pick this up the other day at Ulta.

This is Loud Lime. I like some of the colors that Pop puts out, they aren't the most unique but I thought this one was different from others I have. It looks like it should glow in the dark, but it doesnt... le sigh

By the way, I hate the way this applied, this is three coats of imperfection all around... yuck, it needed a ridge filler I'm sure, but it was also thick and just uneven all around. Hopefully some thinner will fix this bad boy.
Either way, I have been pretty bored with plain nail polish lately... I have been dying to replicate some images from a tokidoki eye shadow brush box that I got for Christmas... Here we go

HEHE, bullet with an eyepatch and a diamond with a bad attitude!!! TOO CUTE!

I used a grey shimmery The New Black polish for the light grey and China Glaze Recycle for the dark grey on the bullet, and Butter London Diamond Geezer for the Diamond. Then I used my Sally Hansen nail art pen in Black to do all the outlining. Those pens sure make it easy to draw. I like the way they came out! Too back I cant do it on my left hand, oh well!

Have you ever tried Pop Beauty before? What do you think?

})i({ -Amy