Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Revlon Balsam Fir - Parfumerie - Scented Nail Polish Collection - Memorial Day Manicure

Happy (Belated) Memorial Day!!!

Today's post is another special one! I decided to honor a Veteran for my Memorial Day manicure. This veteran is someone that is very special to me and my family. Gary Douglas Brewer passed away November 13th of last year after a long, hard fought battle with cancer. Gary was a veteran and an all around awesome guy! He was a highly decorated and could safely be labeled as one of the bravest men I've ever had the privilege of knowing. With (3) tours in Vietnam he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, (2) bronze stars (one with valor, which is awarded for acts of heroism) and two Purple Hearts. To say this man was a hero is an understatement. Details of Gary's heroic acts have been detailed in two books, The Battle of Saigon and 100 Miles of Bad Road (pictured below). I wanted to dedicate this manicure/post to him as a little token of my respect and appreciation. The inspiration for the nail art is the "symbol" or "insignia" for the Staff Sergeant ranking in the Army which was one of the titles Gary held. He ended up retiring as an Air Force Master Sergeant in 1993 after 26 1/2 years of service.

I want to take a minute and say THANK YOU to all veterans young and old, your sacrifices don't go unnoticed or unappreciated. I've always had great respect and honor for our veterans, after meeting my husband, who is a Marine Corp veteran, I learned so much about what our military men and women go through. This knowledge created a whole new level of respect within me.

Please make sure you take a minute out of your life once in a while, not only on Memorial Day or Veteran's Day and let a veteran around you know how much they are appreciated.

Now on to the pics!!


China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky

Revlon - Balsam Fir


Gary Douglas Brewer
11-22-41 - to - 11-13-13






THANK A VETERAN!!!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Essie - Ruffles & Feathers

Two posts in one week?! WHAAAAAT?! I know, I know! I am shocked too LOL So today's post is a special one cause it's ma birthday :) I decided to use one of Essie's new polishes from their Summer 2014 collection. I bought these polishes at CVS a couple of days ago...they were sitting there all pretty next to the new Essie neon collection. For some reason there was one missing from the neon collection and 2 missing from the summer collection. And not like they were all purchased... like there wasn't even a spot for them?! WTF CVS? lol  Anyway - I know I'll be back at CVS soon, so I'm not too worried haha 

For the accent nail I used some little nail decorations that I bought at Claire's (pic at the end of the post) this past weekend. I love them! There are 4 different colors and 4 different shapes in the decorations kit. I decided to use the small mint colored studs since they coordinated well with the green polish. This is actually the first time I've used nail decorations like this.... and I really liked them - they were super easy to use! I just waited for my polish to become a little tacky then stuck them on there with a toothpick. Once I had them placed where I wanted them, I just sealed with Seche Vite!

Now on to the pics!

Essie - Ruffles & Feathers

Essie - Ruffles & Feathers

Essie - Ruffles & Feathers

Essie - Ruffles & Feathers

Claire's Nail Art Decorations Kit

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

OPI - Keeping Suzi At Bay - Habitat for Humanity Women's Build Manicure

Hey Everyone! Today's post is a manicure I did last week. I had participated in my first Habitat for Humanity Women's Build last Thursday and it was AWESOME! Of course I had to do a special manicure for the occasion. If you've never got a chance to participate in a Habitat for Humanity event - DO IT! It's so much fun and very rewarding to have a chance to give back to your community.

For this look I used OPI - Keeping Suzi At Bay for the main base of my manicure and Essie Mojito Madness on my accent nail. For the flower and hammer detail I used Sally Hansen nail art pen in white and I used a dotting tool with the blue for the flower petals. I thought this nail art was fun to do and the Sally Hansen Nail Art pens are amazing! You can create your nail art over and over again, if you mess up you just wipe it off with water and a cotton ball. Once you get your nail art the way you want it... just seal it with a top coat. Which is what I did with this look - I had a hard time getting the hammer to look right but that was okay, I just kept re-doing it until I got it they way I wanted! :)

Now on to the pics!!!

OPI - Keeping Suzi At Bay

OPI - Keeping Suzi At Bay

Essie Mojito Madness

OPI - Keeping Suzi At Bay

Click on the picture below to find out more information about Habitat for Humanity Women's Build!!



Monday, May 12, 2014

Revlon - Ginger Melon - Parfumerie Scented Nail Polish Collection

Hey Everyone :) 
So today's post is of another scented polish that I picked up last weekend. I got this shade and the Lime Basil at CVS. While looking for this Ginger Melon color, which my sister Emily told me about, I noticed that certain stores only have certain shades of this type of polish from Revlon. When first looking for this, I went to Target - they didn't have the Ginger Melon or the Lime Basil.... so I thought that was odd. I figured that every store that carried these polishes would have all the same shades, but.... i guess not! :) 

This shade is so pretty! It's one of my favorite colors this season by far! The only problem I had with this polish was that it was a little on the streaky side. I ended up using 3 coats on ring finger :( I think this color is the perfect summer color and I think it would look great on anyone!

I used Salon Sciences - Starting Over Artificial as my based coat - I picked this up at Sally's a couple weekends ago. My nails have been a little on the weak side lately, I've been slacking on taking my vitamins so they've been suffering a little. I used two coats of the polish on each nail except for the ring finger, which like I said I had to use 3. I finished the look with a coat of Out The Door top coat. If you take a look at the last picture - which I took today in the sun - it is the color in real life. BEAUTIFUL!!

Revlon - Ginger Melon

Revlon - Ginger Melon

Revlon - Ginger Melon

Revlon - Ginger Melon

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Revlon - Lime Basil - Parfumerie Scented Nail Polish Collection

Hey Hey Hey! It's so beautiful outside I almost can't stay inside long enough to write this post. Here in Indiana right now it's Sunny and 75° :) No complaints here haha

Anyway today's post I have a new polish that I bought over the weekend from CVS. I have a couple of these Revlon Parfumerie polishes and I really like them. The only thing about this Lime Basil one is that it was actually pretty strong as far as the scent when I first painted my nails last night. The smell reminds me of Zest soap lol - is that still around? LOL Am I too old? Anyway... I really like the color and think it's a great "spring green"

The following pics are two coats of Lime Basil and one coat of Out The Door top coat.

Let me know what you think! Do you have any of these "scented" polishes?






Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Essie 2014 Neon Collection - Serial Shopper and Chills & Thrills

Hey Everyone! So I am so excited about today's post :) I finally got my hands on the entire Essie 2014 Neon Collection. I had originally found Too Taboo at Kohl's about 3 weeks ago, but that was the only one they had! So finally after weeks of searching in Target, Walmart, and CVS and not finding a trace of any of them - I finally went back to Kohl's yesterday and they had all of them!! I was so excited and felt so lucky considering they literally had one of each left haha - So of course I swooped them all up and here we are. 

For this look I wanted to do some sort of nail art (as usual) so I went with a leopard print accent nail. I used my "go-to" white base - China Glaze White on White - for the base of each of nails. As most of you probably know this is the best way to get that neon to POP! On each of my fingers I used Serial Shopper which in my opinion is the ultimate "summer" shade and on my thumb I used Chills & Thrills which is a beautiful "blurple" color. For my accent nail I just used a dotting tool and a small art brush for the leopard spots. I sealed everything with my Out The Door Topcoat.

Oh! I forgot to mention, I got a new camera that I'm still trying to figure out but so far I am super psyched about it! I got a new Canon T5i Rebel DSLR camera - this being my first "big girl" camera I am pretty much intimidated ha ha but so far I love it! I am already so stoked about the color accuracy compared to my other Canon.

Enough rambling!! Let me know what you think!


Essie - Chills & Thrills

Essie - Serial Shopper

Essie - Serial Shopper

Essie - Chills & Thrills

Essie - Serial Shopper


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Earth Day Manicure - OPI Don't Mess With OPI

Happy Earth Day! I wanted to do a quick post of my Earth Day manicure....I had a hard time getting a shot without a glare over the accent nail - but you get the point :) I used OPI Don't Mess With OPI for the base and for the "recycle" symbol I used my "go-to" white polish - China Glaze White on White. I created the symbol I just free-handed it with a small paint/art brush I bought from Michael's a while back....

Enjoy the pics! Did you create a special Earth Day mani?  If so comment a link to you pic so I can check it out :)

OPI - Don't Mess With OPI
OPI - Don't Mess With OPI

OPI - Don't Mess With OPI

China Glaze - White on White

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Essie Play Date and Nicole by OPI Roughles Sand in My Shoe - Easter Manicure

Happy Easter Everyone!
This year's Easter manicure I decided to do something simple. Honestly I just came up with it this morning and finished it as my family was arriving for our cookout. I used Essie Play Date for the main part of my manicure and Nicole by OPI Roughles in the shade Sand in My Shoe on my accent nail. I thought both of these colors were really "spring/easter" like. This is the first time I've used the roughles type of polish - I really like it :) I am not sure if I would use it on all my nails or not but I really like the texture and color too! To create my little bunny I used China Glaze White on White and a Sally Hansen nail art striper in black for the eyes. Now on to the pics... I hope everyone had a great weekend and a great Easter :) 

Nicole by OPI - Roughles Collection - Sand in My Shoe

Essie - Play Date

Essie - Play Date

Essie - Play Date



SIDE NOTE** I think I would like to start doing some nail art "how to" videos on YouTube - would anyone be interested in that? Comment below and let me know :)

Friday, April 18, 2014

Sonia Kashuk - Raincheck

Hey Everyone!! Long time no post :) So basically I've been MIA for a while as you can tell considering it's seriously been an entire YEAR since my last post. But what can I say? It is what it is... lol

For this post I've got a really pretty blue polish that I bought from Target last weekend. I swear my sister Emily and my mom and I go to Target every. single. weekend. That is not an exaggeration it is the truth LOL I am sure we aren't the only ones to do that? Anyone? Anyone? LOL Oh well.

Now let's get on to the polish. For this manicure I used Nail Life Nail Revitalizer as my basecoat and two coats of Sonia Kashuk Raincheck and one coat of Out the Door as my top coat. I really love this color - it's a gorgeous blue and this polish was a very nice formula. It was smooth and barely took 2 coats. This is actually only my 10th bottle of Sonia Kashuk polish and I have to say it's my favorite.

So take a look at the pics and let me know what you think! Have you tried any Sonia Kashuk polishes?

Sonia Kashuk - Rain Check
Sonia Kashuk - Rain Check

Sonia Kashuk - Rain Check

Sonia Kashuk - Rain Check

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