Happy New Year

Oh, yeah.  I remember them.  New Year has always been one of my favorite holidays.  No religious affiliations.  Everybody used to drink like fish and we got dressed up and ready for a long night.  That was many years ago.  So, I am reminiscing about what our New Year’s used to be like.  My brother in law, most eligible bachelor in town, always had the party that was the place to be.  He would go all out.  No joke.  He would hire a bartender.  Caterers.  My ex’s family was from Mexico so there was always mariachi’s and the best local band.  It was great by 12 everyone was really happy but at 2 minutes to 12 my sister and I always disappeared.  We would always go for the bathroom.  We were the two sisters with the long hair and the hosts special guests.  So, everyone was really nice to us, sometimes too nice.  At 12:00 there would always be some drunk older man trying to kiss us and wish us a happy new year only happened once.  We got wise the next years and would hide in the bathroom.  We would sit there and give each other a hug and wish each other a happy new year.  It was a ritual.  Once my brother in law’s parties ran their course and we started to go out we kept the tradition of hiding in the bathroom.  Every year we talk about those parties.  So, what do we do now.  Get together, eat chili, and watch movies.  Those were good times and something we will always remember and make new year’s special for us no matter where we are.   So, today I did a manicure that I would have worn to one of those parties.  All dressed up with black polish and the beautiful XX from Cirque the glitters sparkle like crystal.  This polish is so beautiful.  I totally love it.  It does remind me a little of Lynderella’s Shape Shifter which I also have but this one has more color to it and just makes it more fun and isn’t as expensive it cost about $12.00 a bottle and you can get Cirque polishes at their website.

Have a Happy New Year and I will be here next year.

Ciao bella,

Patty

The Most Overexposed Polish

If you haven’t seen this polish you have been asleep or under a rock.  It seems like this polish is all over the place.  Just check out Pinterest.  So, you must wonder why am I posting it?  Because it is just the beginning of a five polish love affair with Crows Toes.  This is called Indian Summer.  I kind of remember a song in the seventies talking about indian summer and I think the Doors also had a song called Indian Summer.   So, yes. I bought five more.  Where have I been that I have not noticed this brand?  I wore it and everyone I came in contact with was in awe. It is a beautiful shade of magenta, purple and blue.  I did end up stamping it but forgot to take pictures because some other polish has come in.  I am kicking myself in the tush.  Boy this was the month to buy polish.   Talking about that I bought a VHF Essie and I can’t find it.  Thank God the vendor had two more bottles.  I’ve looked everywhere even in Goldie’s poop not there. Oh, well the other bottle should be here this week and I will put it somewhere only I know and write it in my secret document where I keep all my passwords.  I am constantly forgetting my passwords but I found out that my sleep medication causes short term memory loss.  So, I’ll be switching to another one.  Back to this polish.  I know I said I wasn’t going to be that review blogger and post things that you can see else where but I have five more so I want to show them all and how to combine with stamping.  I am in a very creative state right now.  I have been really working on my novella and every night I have been looking at other blogs and wondering why after almost two years I have only 260 followers.  I debated should I quit and I thought. Nah, I have too much polish and time on my hands and like I have said before I do limit polish I would take from vendors.  So, I might be slow but I am going to be here.  Maybe three times a week.  Maybe seven.  I don’t know but as long as I have nails to paint,  I’ll keep blogging and I am very thankful for my 260 followers because it’s not about the numbers for me it’s about the polish.  And being able to write posts that are silly or serious and if one person reads it and laughs I am ok.  A big reason for this blog is that I don’t get to see my granddaughter much.  One never knows when your time will come and I want her to have this so she can know me.    It will always be a piece of me she will have that no one can take away. 
Enjoy these pics.  It was so easy to get the duochrome when photographing it is not even funny.  I saw someone who had matted it and it looked beautiful.  So, could this be the best polish of the year?  I don’t know but it is close.
















In this ring picture the color is so different but this shows you the duality of this polish.  LOVE!!!!
Ciao for now,
Patty

Morgan Taylor Polishes

Thank goodness for blogs and Nail It! magazine.  Through there I found Morgan Taylor nail polishes and found I could buy them on eBay.  When I saw this one I just fell in love pictures do it no justice because of the micro glitters on it which just don’t show up on pictures.  If you are getting a little burnt out on some mainstream polishes and are looking for something new, you have to try these polishes.  This one is so perfect especially if you love to stamp because it just gives you this great background.  This polish reminds me of an OPI or China Glaze.  I haven’t done a lot of investigating into this polish as to where to buy it other than eBay and what company is responsible for making it but I just love these polishes.  This particular polish is called Scene Queen.  It is a very light grey almost white with micro glitters like I said before.  I paid about $7.00 for this polish. 

This polish is like a dream.  The formula was perfect.  I had no problems with it and it lasts like a dream.  I have been buying a couple here and there.  If you want to try something new you can check out their website at Morgan Taylor Polishes.  You can buy them  there but they are cheaper on eBay.

So are you looking for a new mainstream polish?  This may be it.

Ciao bellas,

Patty

Special Editorial. What will we see in 2014?

Today, I do have two new posts but want to take a minute to talk about the new year because 2013 just totally sucked on every level.  We've seen some major changes in the direction that nail polish is going in.  One big thing is the indie revolution but how are they going to survive when mainstream lines are creating polish to rival them and I really hate to say this at a much lower price.  How will indies survive?  I think they might be surviving only in the blogger world.  I went to Sally's the other day and was talking to a girl who worked there.  She was admiring my polish.  I started telling her about the indie market.  She said she knew about Etsy, Llarowe and ninja polish.  She said first the polish was expensive and anything she saw there she could make herself.  It really got me to thinking I had done a post on how to create a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Cleopatra in New York and recently gave away an expensive polish knowing all I had to do was mix this with this and create the same polish.  But at the same time there are many that are not easily reproduced.  Like I would not know how to reproduce a duo chrome but some mainstream companies do.  So, it will be interesting to see what happens there.
On a personal note I know my posts have dropped by at least 50%.  The reason, some has been medical and some has been I am not doing the posts I want to do.  I don't want to do a bunch of reviews and have not gotten in over my head accepting polish from vendors.  Doing that will surely be my demise.  I like nail art and that's just what you are going to see much more of in 2014.  There are plenty of bloggers who do reviews.  We don't need another one.  I will do it occasionally but it really isn't my thing.  So, I hope this helps give me and you a picture of what this blog will look like in 2014.  I will be doing best of posts this week.
Ciao for now,
Patty

Giveaways

There are so many giveaways right now and I am taking advantage of as many as I can.  So sometimes they want you to write a blog post.  I figure I will just put them all here.

1. http://happyinholospolish.blogspot.com/2013/11/super-mega-holiday-giveaway-50-prizes.html
This giveaway is a multitude of polishes.

Mish Mash Stamping

This is an extremely late post but I wanted to get it in.  My husband always asks me what is the inspiration for my stamping choices and I said just from patterns that I see.  So this stamping inspiration came from a shirt I wore last week sometime.  It was really easy.  I used China Glaze For Audrey for my base color then I used a coat of Seche Vite.  I always use a coat of Seche Vite to ensure my nails are dry and if I make a slight mistake I can erase it immediately.  Now, I heard a tip that you can use a lint cleaner to take off a bad stamping but have never used it.  If anyone has used this I would love to know whether or not it really works.   Then used my DRK 1 plate.  There is a image of leaves and one with leaves and flowers.  I did not want a flat looking green leaf since that is not what the leaves on the shirt looked like so I used Konad green, yellow and a mid green color and used a toothpick to mix it around somewhat then lightly scraped and stamped and it gave me the leaf look.  Then on the pinkie and ring I used an image I used the same technique and then magenta and purple on the purple and magenta flowers of the image scraped quickly and lightly and came up with perfect image.  I find that when you are wanting to stamp images with different colors it is best to use Konad polishes because they do not smear as much.

So, that is my entry for this week’s challenge.  I can’t wait to see the rest of the girls’ offerings.
Ciao,
Patty

Contrary Polish

I have found a new line that I really love but since my posts have been far and few in between I haven’t  posted anything about this beautiful polish.  There is nothing all glittery about them they are just polishes that have great shine, long wear, and shimmers that you just don’t find in other polishes.  I have bought about six of them and a couple of months ago did post about one that I was wearing very often.  This one is so pretty the camera only catches a little of it’s beauty.  This a polish I wore out to dinner and my husband just reached for my hands and sat there admiring them.  I think we might have things wrong in thinking that pink polish is attractive to a man.  Yes, once you are married or dating but when you are trying to find that right guy maybe we should be wearing blues because so many men love the color blue.  I wish we could do an experiment on that have two girls one wearing pink and one wearing pink who can get more phone numbers from guys in a bar.  Hmm.  That sounds like a good Friday night  fun night activity.  Now, I am really intrigued.  Oh, well off a tangent.  This polish dries fast and has the most beautiful red shimmer.  The formula is near perfect.  It is smooth and does not go on streaky at all.  It is one of those polishes we buy that has just the qualities we want.  No undies needed, no smashing glitters,  it is just a down home great polish.  No problems at all.

This is 18th and Vine from the No Place Like Home Collection.  I  got this from Llarowe.  It cost $11.00 a bottle.

Ciao bellas,

Patty

Deborah Lippman Shake Your Moneymaker

When I see Deborah Lippmann polish,   I always get excited but lately her collections have been a little blah.  So when I saw this I thought I had to have them all.  When I got this one I thought oh no it is like OPI’s green glitter Fresh Frog From Bel-Aire.  But when I looked at them the OPI version has silver glitter and this one had gold.  Yeah, a reason to keep it.  This is one coat over Ciate Stiletto.  I had been wearing Stilleto for 2 days so I just freshened it up with this and it was only one coat.  When it was pretty dry I just smashed it into my nails so I just used one coat of Seche Vite without it having any lumps.  I am pretty happy with this polish and am glad I was able to keep it. 

I got this at Ulta.  It cost $19.00 a bottle.

Ciao,

Patty

I Am Still Here

Yes, I am still here.  Like is say life happens.  So many things have gone on and still are but are slowing down and now I can get to what I really love doing blogging.  So, even though I don’t like X-Mas I do love candy canes.  Peppermint candy is always in my purse.  So when I saw this polish I had to have it.  I got it from Ninja Polish for I think it is $12.00 a bottle.  It is perfect for these days of X-Mas and even for Valentine’s Day.  I put light coat of red polish which was OPI’s The Spy Who Loved Me.  Then two coats of the floam.  I still really love floam.  I think I have most of them and could not tell you which is my favorite.  So, check out the pictures.

So, maybe you can put this on your X-Mas list.  Nine days till X-Mas and what really freaks me out is 16 days till the end of the year.  So, wow.  There is a lot to wrap up.

You all have a good night.

Ciao,

Patty

KB Shimmer Two of My Top Picks

This year’s blogger and regular release of KB Shimmer has to be the most fascinating one of the season.  There is just something there for everyone.  I bought three bottles I think the rest were too X-Massy and I really don’t do that.  The new ones that are new for Christy’s line were the new standouts that are getting really good.  I am talking about the duo chromatic.  They have gotten good reviews and I really can’t wait to try them

This is  one is Snow Much Fun and created by Victoria from the Manicurator.  This is a light blue jelly sparkles with light blue holo glitter, white glitters in several sizes and finishes,a sprinkling of micro holographic glitter and white snow flake glitter.  I used on coat of OPI’s Cant Find my  Czech book and then two coats of the actual polish.  It dried fast and I had no problems with it.

This one is Will Yule Marry me created by Chelsea from The Nail Network.   I love this polish because of the glitters I really think the clear glitters actually make the rest of the “landscape” wet.  It is really cool and I love it.   This is another polish that can be worn year around.

I have one more but was not satisfied wit the pictures so I will be redoing that one.  That one is my absolute favorite.  There are three others that look interesting that I might order but we will see.   I think two of them end up being part of the permanent line.

So, did you buy any from KB Shimmer.  Which is your favorite?

Ciao for Now,

Patty

99 Luffballons

I will be honest for a couple of seasons now Deborah Lippman has failed to impress me with anything but this season.  Holy enchilada.  I ended up getting quit a few polishes and two mini sets.  The Wicked which I already did review and Space Oddity.  I need to work on that one because there is a small problem.  Then there were the silks.  Beautiful also.  I got two of those and then some random ones.  This one is just really one of my favorites.  It is just happy and reminds me of Candy Shop.   They are just fun.   One thing I have noticed with most Lippmann's is that when they are brand new they are always very thick and this one was no different.  I did have to put a few drops of thinner in it just to make it easier to work with but other than that there were no problems.  Fast dry time and smooth application.  Price:  $19.00.  I got this at Sephora.  I think it was a Sephora exclusive.  Another thing I really like about this is that it is not a Fall/Winter polish, you can literally wear it anytime.   That was one of the reasons I didn’t feel too bad paying the price.  So, check out the swatches and let me know what you think.

So, what do you think about it?  Do you think it is worth the price or not?

Ciao for now bellas,

Patty

Cirque Vesuvius

I have managed to acquire quite a few Cirque nail polishes.  I have worn a couple of them and really loved them all but this one was special I didn’t want to take it off and I did wear it for about five days.  It wore so well I just love this polish.  The formula was great.  It dried fast.  I wasn’t real opaque so I did use three coats but I didn’t care because it was just so darn pretty.  This is definitely one of my new favorite indies and I got two glitter toppers that were beautiful.  I will post them this week I need to crop them.  I wish I had someone to do the cropping for me and all I had to worry about was writing the posts.  I used to post a lot more but going back and looking at what I was posting well, let’s just say I wish I could have some redos.

You can buy Cirque polishes at their website Cirque Nail Polish.  This particular polish was on the high end costing $15.00 but some are $13.00.  I do want to say the shipping is not high and you get your polishes really fast.  I think the turnaround time is about 3-4 days which I really liked.

Ciao for now,

Patty

Editorial.........Stop the Madness!

I just wanted to write about some thoughts I had that have turned into a positive experience.   I suffer from cystic acne.  Early in this blog, I wrote about it.   About two weeks ago, I started ti have a breakout.  I decided to change my skin care products but who was going to be telling me what to use?  The lady behind the Clinique counter? What's her training?  Does she really know what my skin needs?  No!  She is just going to sell me their three step program and that has never worked on my skin.  So, I put all my skincare products and my makeup bases in a bag and headed to the dermatologist, who one is not trying to send me a load of makeup and is really going to treat my problem.  She gave me samples of a a creme, which I think is great because you never know with those things.  It did irritate my skin so she called in some clindagel, which had worked in the past a low dose antibiotic.  Total cost: $62.00.  I think I would have spent a lot more money if I had just gone to the makeup counter.  I did ask what cleanser to use and she said that the Neutogena was fine. Then I asked what makeup was good, she basically told me all makeup can cause a breakout.  She recommended that when I use makeup. Take it off as soon as possible and just use a thin layer of the clindagel.  So, now I am on a quest for a different makeup.  I've been using Clinique but I've gotten some samples of some other ones and I think I found what I want.  I'll let you know

Ciao,
Patty

Mish Mash Challenge Grey

Grey is a nice color but in nature it just seems to mean rain is coming or is here. So, I tried to spruce up this manicure I used Nars Storm for the pinkie, middle and pointer finger with Lynderella’s Connect the Dots.  Then I did two fishtail/braided accent nails.  I just used a lighter grey and white.  This was simple and a design you can use with any color. 

So, that is my manicure for this challenge.  Let’s see what the other girls did.