The Crumpets challenge Day One Black and White Nails

I decided to start the year with a nail art challenge.  I miss doing nail art and like I said before I started the blog with intentions of doing nail art.  So our first challenge was a black and white mani.  I  have a special place in my heart for white mani's.  I think done right they are clean and sophisticated of clean and fun.  The mani I did is fun.  I did a different technique on each nail.  I used three colors in this mani.  China Glaze Elephant Walk, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and Wet and Wild Black.



The thumb is white with crackle polish.  The index is black with white polka dots.  The middle has a yin yang sign (so easy to do).  My ring finger I did a brush stroke nail that Kimber from Kimber's Lacquer Corner did in one of her Challenges. (http://www.kimberslacquerkorner.com/2012/11/31-day-challenge-v2-day-30-inspired-by.html).  Finally on the pinky I did a quilted nail.  It just took a little patience, but I loved doing it.

So this is going to be my entry for the challenge.  I truly had fun doing this manicure.  The challenge will last 31 days.  Tomorrow's challenge is silver and my mind is already going in all kinds of creative directions.  I will be posting my favorites, favorite mainstream polishes, favorite indies and posts.

Ciao till later,

Patty

Taking a break and some changes

I am going to be taking a little break.  My husband's health is more important than anything to me right now.  Polish of day is done I won't be doing it any more.  My daughter will be here in a couple of days and I really don't want to be strapped down to feeling the stress of feeling behind.  I also need some feedback on my blog I would like anyone who reads this blog to send me an email at plgreen@yahoo.com if there is something wrong with the comment section on the blog.  I will be around and reading blogs but I need my days and nights for my family right now.  I thought I could do it but I can't and I am not having fun.  I want to go back to the time I had fun.  So, I need a break.  I wish everyone a Merry Xmas, hope you had a great Hanukkah and Happy Ramadan.

Best wishes,
Ciao,
Patty

NOTD

Today, I decided to show my nails I am wearing today.  Last night I was saying a lot of times I wear manicures I have done for my blog and not really what I want at that time.  So, today I decided to wear these nails.  I used Cult nails in Evil Queen, an accent nail in OPI, My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and stamped with black Konad polish using cheeky plate 16.  It was really easy anyone can achieve this look, if you don’t have the colors change them around to suit what you want.  Just make sure to have the accent nail.  You don’t even need to stamp it.  You could use glitter polish or absolutely nothing at all.  I call this a KISS (keep it simple stupid) manicure.  Sometimes an occasion calls for something more elaborate but my plans for today are just to take it easy and take my husband on his first outing out of the hospital.  So this was fast easy but I did put a little love in it.  Hope you like it.

(I love big rings)

So, everybody enjoy your weekend and get ready for X-Mas and thank you Christina for letting me share this with your readers.
Ciao,
Patty

New News to Me

I am getting pretty frustrated with all the lines the nail polish companies are putting out and as a blogger I feel that we have some type of a responsibility to review and let readers know of bargains.  But on the blogger end that can be expensive.  With so many indies coming out it is impossible to keep up and one thing that I have noticed is that there are maybe 8 bloggers that get all the new stuff and nobody else does.  So, how do we little blogs keep up.  I have 180 followers which I am very happy to have but feel they were only gained because of giveaways and that makes me really sad.  I thought blogging would be different.  I see other blogs that started after me and don’t do as many posts and go the extra yard to get what is new and have surpassed me in followers.  Some even get more comments than I get post views.   I try to ignore that and keep on keeping on.  So, today I had a message from a friend on my personal Facebook, when I went to check it there was some nail polish news.  When I started my blog I gave my personal Facebook address and then realized I needed one for my blog.  Still things are sent to Facebook.  Here is one thing I found.  Yes another line from OPI.  I think it is called OZ.  More polish to buy?  I don’t think so.  Not for this blogger.  I just bought the whole Holland collection, more than half of the German, all of the Skyfall and don’t get me wrong I wanted them maybe not the three reds but still, the Mariah Carey line is due out if not out already.   That is just OPI, not to mention all the other brands and indies.  So, here is a picture of Oz, I have no idea if I will buy any of them.


Then there was a disturbing post on the Cult nail blog.  Effective Jan 1, 2013 all nail polish will be $12.00 instead of ten with some polishes being as high as $15.00.  So, what do you think about those prices bloggers who pay for their polish???  Maybe I am just going to stop buying polish altogether.  See, I did a poll on my blog and people voted that they wanted to see more swatches.  So, that is what I have been trying to give you but I feel very sad when I get no comments and no new followers.  With prices going up,  I might just do nail art with some occasional swatching.  Some might not like the ads I do for Latina Bloggers but they pay me a little to do them and I love doing them.  So, with the end of the year coming I have to set some goals and even though I have had my new year that is a spiritual one.  My calendar new year I set achievement goals because if I don’t then I just go round in circles and life is way too short for that. 
So that is all for now

Ciao, bellas,
Patty

My OPI Picks for OPI’s Mariah Carey Collection

Within a few days we will be seeing the Mariah Carey OPI collection in stores.  Here is a preview of the ones I chose and why I did not buy the whole collection. The reason I did not buy the whole collection was because I did not like the whole collection and if you read my blog yesterday you saw the three new collections coming from Zoya, OPI and Deborah Lippman (which I did already preorder)  Plus there is the Circus collection from China Glaze that I haven’t even posted even though I bought eight of those and two of the transitions.  Then, there is the Butter London collection.  OMG.  My head is spinning right now.  I really try to buy only what I like and I like so much.  FedEX came today and my husband was there.  As I open the boxes with glee, he laughs, coughs and says I have a $3.50 coupon for Ulta for you. I did finally get all the Wizard of Oz collection from China Glaze but then.  Well just read the next post.  This month I swore to myself I was not going to buy a lot of polish and I don’t think I did but it is one here, then two there and before I know it holy crap.  I am actually photographing what comes in this month to visually see it and show it to you all.  Well, back to the collection.

This is the Butterfly Effect.  I felt I had to have it just because it is a neutral and I love neutrals.  It is a peachy neutral with a shimmer.  I liked it but I might give it to my daughter.









This is the one I really like.  It is called Sprung.  It is a light bronze and just looks really something that is going to look great on the beach.  I can’t wait to wear it.  Actually I got embossing powder from the Born Pretty Store and I am dying to wear it because I haven’t really done a manicure I wanted to wear it a while.  I’ve been swatching so much from lost time.  Right now I am doing a manicure I want to wear plus it hasn’t been cold and now I am thinking of doing the embossing powder because it is cold in Houston finally and this might be our last cold spell.  Crap I am going to change my nails.  I can wear red anytime.  Oh, boy off track again but does that happen to you.  You end up wearing something that you just wanted to post and then you just wear it till the next day.











Ok, this is the Impossible.  Weird name but I feel like this is OPI’s attempt to compete with the indie market.  You can feel and see the sand granules in this polish.  It is fun to wear that is about it.







Here is a close-up.



Here is with top coat.  Hate it!   Looks like I chilled jello on my nails and I love jello but not that much.


This is Give me your number.  Now this one is really sandy and gritty and glittery.  Love it.  I wore it overnight and all day today the only thing is don’t forget you are wearing it and lick your fingers because it does taste salty.
T







Ok, there are four other polishes left in the collection one is a a plum color and I don’t know how many plum nail polishes I have.  Then there is a glittery pink.  Indies cover that area so I didn’t go there.  The purple sand was a toss up and I got it because I flipped a coin and picked heads for blue.  But you know something if you get to flip a coin always call heads.  For some reason for me it is always heads.  In college I took statistics and it was kind of proven that for some reason heads shows up more than tails we all had to pull out a coin and flip it.  It did not matter what type of coin it was 85% of our class flipped a coin 100 times and it was 60/40.  We were pretty amazed.  So always pick heads.  Then there is this brown sand one and I like brown polishes but not this one.  I had already read a couple of reviews stating it was really gritty so I stayed away from this one.  
So, if you are going to buy something from this line make sure you like it I believe they will be more expensive and talking about that leads me to my next post which might be a bit of a tirade.
Ciao for now,
Patty

Polish Day 69 Cult Nails Flushed

This is one of the new colors from the Behind Closed Doors Collection.  It is a gorgeous Blurple sometimes blue sometimes purple.  It went on beautifully with no streaks.  This is two coats with a top coat.   There are four other colors in the series










AS you can see This is a pretty color for any age.  I did this when my nails were short and that is what makes me see it on a younger child also.  I am pretty lucky that my nails for some reason grow really fast and they do not break and attribute the not breaking to Lush’s Lemony Flutter.  I just can’t get my cuticles as smooth as I would like. 

Ciao,
Patty

Polish of Day 68. Essence Grey-t To Be Here

Here is another great little polish from Essence.  It looks a lot like  the Lancôme one I showed in an earlier post.  They might be dupes but the formulas are definitely different.  This polish has a wash of pink and in the right light you can see some sparkle of the pink.  That is probably why it isn’t a dupe for the Lancôme Gris Angora. 


One thing I love about these polishes are the brushes.  Look at how they are pretty thick and shaped rounded.






Again this polish can be found at Ulta for the affordable price of $1.99.

Ciao bellas,
Patty

Bojo Chic

I heard that Klean Kolors metallic were great for stamping so I ordered about six of them.  I ordered them from Beauty Joint and the first time I ordered there the shipping was very reasonable and each polish was only $1.75 so I place a pretty big order.  I expected the same thing this time but I found that the shipping price had almost doubled but I still got around six polishes for $20.00.  Now, there are two beauty supplies close to where I live that sell Klean Kolors for $4.00 a bottle but honestly I can’t stand the owners they are just so rude and downright mean.  So, I don’t want to go there.  So, I bit the dust and ordered from Beauty Joint.  Now as you can see the stamping is good and pretty clear the only problem is that since the polish is thin when you scrape it a lot of polish comes off so it gets messy.  I used a lot of different colors in this design so of course I did make a mess but stamping with one color is a lot cleaner.  
So, I call it Bojo Chic because it does look Bojo and I did ha something like this in mind.  I want to do it again because I really did not get to wear this.  I used the metallic yellow as a base.   So, I want to change the colors around a little.  I used my DRK-C plate which I absolutely love.  The bundle monster set 3 has a really good pattern a that looks like it would make a cute bojo pattern also.  Just check your plates and you will find something. 











So, have some fun in crating something like this .  I love stamping it just so  much fun.
Ciao,
Patty

Polish of Day 67 butter London Aston

This is Butter London Aston.  November was a heavy Butter London month.  There were specials all over the place and I did go a little wild.  This color is so pretty because it is so feminine.  I love the pink undertones.  The picture on the site makes it look very different from what it really is.  I was expecting more of a brown tone but was pleasantly surprised to see this beautiful color.  I was swatching that day and of course it came right off after taken the pictures.  Needleless to say I was very pleased.












Did you find any good deals during November on butter London?  If you did, did you buy more than you should have?  I did and I still have more on my wishlist.
Ciao,
Patty

Zoya Spring 2013

Zoya Lovely Spring 2013 Collection Preview!

Zoya Lovely

Beauty is a lovely state of mind

Lovely, just LOVELY!

Spring is awash in six soft and lovely new Zoya shades including three dewy metallics and three fresh blooms of cream. Poetic in nature, this collection is sure to capture the beauty of the season like no other....

ZOYA LOVELY – SPRING 2013

Piaf (ZP652) - Fresh Forsythia Yellow Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Fashion Designer Zang Toi)

GeiGei (ZP651) - Blushing Cherry Blossom Pink Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).

Julie (ZP650) - Soft Wisteria Purple Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).

Blu (ZP653) - Lucky Hyacinth Blue Cream - Full Coverage

Neely (ZP655) - Earliest Spring Green Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13).

Jacqueline (ZP654) - Perfect Magnolia Nude Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13)

Shipping January 01, 2013

Ultra long-wearing, nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Zoya Lovely $8 (US)

Follow the Zoya Nail Polish and Treatments Blog and stay tuned on Twitter (@Zoyanailpolish) and Facebook for release date updates.



Do you see anything you have to have from this collection?
Ciao,
Patty



 

Hashtags: #ZoyaLovely and #nailpolish.