Summer Challenge: Swimsuits & Ocean

Catch Up Post!

I'm posting two together to catch up so I've done them all. I'm being lazy with one but I just can't fit in another mani in 2.5hours. I have to be up early for my first day at orientation. I know, back to the real world. One month off is more than enough, right?

Summer Challenge: Swimsuits

Summer Challenge: Swimsuits

Summer Challenge: Favorite Mani

Summer Challenge coming to a close...

Hey everyone, look who is on time today! Today is the last day of the Summer Challenge. Sniff. I don't want it to be over!!

Here's what I got for ya! Do you recognize the mani?

Summer Challenge: Recreate Favorite Mani

Summer Challenge: Favorite Water Animal

Catch up time!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I'm late with this one, but here it is anyway! Trying to catch up, but I'm not sure I'll have it done in time to include in the Inlinkz widget. Boo.

I really had no idea what to do for today, I had high hopes for a sea-horse but it was way too complicated and I'm feeling lazy. I was googling images for water animals when I googled Starfish and Spongebob came up.

Favorite Water ... Animals?

Summer Challenge: Favorite Underwater Animal/Spongebob Nail Art

Enchanted Polish Swatches & Review

I was able to get some Enchanted Polishes from llarowe.com during a Scratch N Dent sale. If you have never heard of that sale, more on that later. Back to the point, I scored four Enchanted Polishes and I'm totally smitten with them. You have seen them as colorful beach umbrellas or under some stamping.

Disclaimer

I feel I should preface this post with a little info before I both excite and titillate you with these photos. Enchanted Polish polishes are all considered Limited Edition (per her old Etsy page) so I've linked where you can buy them (active at the time of publication) but I cannot guarantee they will be there when you check. I agree with her statement on her Etsy page, if you like it, don't let it get away!

Urban Decay Eye Shadow Comparisons

I have some Urban Decay eye shadow comparisons for you today. I depotted my Urban Decay eye shadows in some magnetic palettes and when I was picking and choosing what shadows to keep in certain palettes, I found some shadows that are super similar. Probably not a big deal, but if you really want a shadow from one palette, it'd be nice to know if you have one that's similar!

Stuff & Some new Milani lip glosses

Milani Glitzy Glamour Glosses - Summer 2012

See! It's not all boring. I have lip gloss for you! I've seen some swatches of the new Milani Glitzy Glamour Glosses going around and I thought two of them (CVS exclusives) were pretty enough to buy! I thought I'd share them with you because (1) you know I love me some Milani and (2) I love putting large pictures of my kisser on the internet for your viewing pleasure.

Here is what Milani says about them ...

A full-color liquid gloss that provides spectacular, shiny color that lasts. The formula feels smooth and silky, not sticky or tacky. The shimmer-shine colors dazzle lips with hyper-perle effects for the ultimate in glam-shine lips!

Week 23: Ombre

Ombre

Ombre nails have been such a big deal recently and I'm so sad I'm late to the party! These were quite fun and easy to do and visually interesting. It's fun to try and pick colors to use to create the ombre effect or to mix them yourself!

Here we have Week 23 of the 52 Week Challenge:

Week 23: Ombre

Born Pretty Stamping Plate in M60 - Images & Review

Today I've got I received the Nail Art Stamping Plate in M60. I couldn't get a good picture of it without my face with my pink camera reflecting back, so we'll just use the Born Pretty store image ...

Summer Challenge: Favorite Beach Memory

Favorite Beach Memory

Hello there! Guess what? I'm back with our Summer Challenge. Surprised? No? OK then moving on.

Today's challenge is "Favorite Beach Memory," which is different than Favorite Summer Memory. I should've used that other post as my beach memory since we were at the beach, but it's ok, because I have another that happened at the beach. Incidently, both happened at the SAME beach. 'Twas a great vacation.

Summer Challenge: Favorite Beach Memory

Wet N Wild Megalast Break The Ice

Does white polish say summer to you? Or white out? I think it screams summer. Beside all the bright and neon polishes, there is something calm and serene about a plain white polish. It makes me think of cool cotton shirts and white capris. It also makes me think about pina coladas in coconuts. =)

Wet N Wild's Megalast in Break the Ice is a beautiful white polish with silver shimmer. Can a color be be described as graceful? I have a friend who believes there are certain colors you wear on your toes (brights or glitters) and certain colors you wear on your hands (nude cremes and soft shimmers). She approves this one for hands and for work!

The pictures below are three coats without top coat. The polish is sheer and can possibly be built to opacity with enough coats, but I like a little skin tone showing through to make it a little off white which makes the shimmer stand out a little more.

Wet N Wild Megalast Break the Ice

Summer Challenge: Sea Shells

Sea Shells

She sells sea shells by the sea shore. That's what I automatically think about when I hear "sea shells." Is that weird?

I went in a different direction today - 3D nail art.

Summer Challenge: Sea Shells

Summer Challenge: Tropical Drinks

**Summer Challenge Update!! Please Read!!**

Well, please read if you are participating. If not, then carry on. =)

Theodora and I were chatting the other day about "July 31-Recreate your favorite manicure" and we thought it would be fun to recreate your favorite manicure done by someone else. So please, if you're reading this, recreate your favorite manicure of the challenge by another person! It should be easy at the end, just scroll through the Inlinkz widget!

Tropical Drinks

Mmmm tropical drinks. Perhaps my favorite part of summer. I love all the cool refreshing cocktails with perhaps a splash of something a bit ... stronger. Today's Summer Challenge is Tropical Drinks, and I had a hard time choosing which one I liked best to recreate!

So I did a couple. These are in no particular order (or even particular drinks, except for the pina colada - those taste best when in a coconut shell) but I was trying to convey the fun of tropical drinks with the fun glasses and colors.

Summer Challenge: Tropical Drinks

Week 29: "Rockstar" Mani

Rockstar mani

Here we are with Week 29 of the 52 Week Challenge. This week's theme is "Rockstar" mani, which honestly, I had to google to find out what that meant. From what I gathered, it's an all glitter manicure.

What better polish to use for a Rockstar mani than Rockstar Pink!

Summer Challenge: Favorite Summer Memory

Favorite Summer Memory

Hiya beautiful, I'm back with our Summer Challenge. Today's challenge is "Favorite Summer Memory." I really had to think hard on this one. You know how it goes, the more you try to think of something, the harder it is to remember.

Here's a hint to my favorite summer memory: "Shark! Shark! ... Dolphin! Dolphin!"

Summer Challenge: Favorite Summer Memory

Summer Challenge: Beach

Beach

Hiya beautiful, I'm back with our Summer Challenge. Today's challenge is "Beach." I decided to go with something a little sillier today.

Summer Challenge: Beach Nail Art

Winners!

The winners have been chosen and verified. Congratulations to the winners!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to Emma, Lulu, and Jeralee. I've emailed them the gift certificates to llarowe.com.

I want to thank Leah Ann yet again for her generosity and I hope if you didn't win, you'll still check out her shop. She's got some amazing polishes on there, and I know I have a list going of what I want to order!!

Essie LuxEffects Stroke of Brilliance

Have you seen the new Essie LuxEffects polish? I found it at Walgreen's in the LuxEffects display. I would've walked right by it if I hadn't heard about it since there was no sign or label stating it was new. C'mon Essie, you should know better!

Essie Stroke of Brilliance is a periwinkle blue glitter in a clear base. Nice addition to the collection. I love that it's not completely blue or purple, but somewhere in between. It's dense so one coat (below) covers beautifully.

Summer Challenge: Ice Cream

Summer Challenge

Hiya beautiful, I'm back with our Summer Challenge. Today's challenge is "Ice Cream." So truth be told, I had no idea what to do for this one. I thought of ice cream cones, dishes with ice cream, and nothing really jumped at me. So I went a little more abstract today, hope that's ok!

Summer Challenge: Ice Cream

The Penguin Makeup Challenge

The Penguin Makeup Challenge

Hiya gawgeous! I've got some exciting news today! Alexis from -xoxoalexisleigh and Mimi from MakeupWithdrawal and I are having a makeup challenge starting August 1!!

Everyone is doing nail art challenges it seems, so why not spice it up a little and do a makeup challenge? We decided to do a little beauty experiment - and we want YOU to join in! It'll be a series of three makeup looks, each posted a week apart (on Wednesdays!), with the themes shown in the banner.

I think this is going to be a lot of fun and it'll be interesting to see what people come up with! It's always fun to see how people interpret themes/challenges into nail art, so let's see what you can do with makeup! We've already got a few bloggers on board, but the more the better! So please consider joining in the fun, we'd love to have you.

No excuses

1. I'm not any good with makeup. Who cares? We just want to have some fun!
2. I don't know how to use Inlinkz. It's super easy. You'll get the code the night before and you just cut and paste it into your post. Then the day of, add your link with the tool (it takes two minutes, promise!). Supa easy!!
3. I don't have time. I'm way too busy. That, I can understand. And if that's true, then cool, hope things slow down for you. But it's one look, posted a week apart, for three weeks. So maybe you can find it in your heart, and busy schedule, to sit down and play with some makeup for a little bit and see what you come up with? You don't have to spend three hours on it. Or even two hours. But you could if you wanna! 
4. I don't want to show my face on the internet. Then just show PART of your face. Just your eyes or lips or cheeks or ears. Whatever. I understand privacy is an issue these days, but don't let that stop your fun. Interpret the themes on your cheeks or lips, or just your eyes! No pressure here to show your whole face, it'd be fun, but not necessary. Just show us a little skin and some makeup!!
5. I don't want to look like a fool. We're not rockstars here people, we just like to play with makeup. And what's the best way to get inspired, to see other people take the same word/theme and do something completely different and you think "Hey, I never thought of that before! Totally cool!" THAT'S why we're doing this challenge.

C'mon, you know you wanna

This is open to ANYONE who wants to participate, just email one of us so we can send you the Inlinkz code to include in your post each week.


If you have any questions or concerns, PLEASE feel free to email any of us. We want this to be a success so please let us know if you have any reservations or concerns.

Summer Challenge: Favorite Summer Color

Update

I'm actually still in town because of flash flooding so my moving has been pushed back a few days. AND it turns out we're moving ourselves because the bid from the movers kept getting higher and higher and was getting out of hand. I'm concerned about my nails now with all that packing and handling those boxes. I'm gonna keep a little bottle of lotion on hand to keep my skin moist and I'll likely have to cut down my nails. Ahh well I was going to have to do that anyway when I start my new job next month.

Summer Challenge: Favorite Summer Color

I know I'm a self-proclaimed non-pink girl, but hot pink is my favorite during the summer. Before I really got into nail polish last winter, I wore a color like this ALL. SUMMER. LONG. My friend told me hot pink looks good against white skin, so when we did a pedi, I picked a hot pink and loved it. I bought a Sally Hansen one (which I can't find, ugh I hate moving!) and I used it nonstop. Even a friend of mine was like, pick another color already.

This is a color I haven't used before but it looks awesome. It's got a shimmer and a purple duochrome. I swear, I still don't get the different types of polishes. It's a hot pink that shines purple in some lights. Is that a shimmer? Or a duochrome? Or is that iridescent? Is it iridescent only if it's a clear/white polish? Can it be a shimmer duochrome? I dunno. Someone explain it to me. =)

Finger Paints Color Inside The Lines

June Empties

I can't believe June is over, and we're almost halfway done with July. My hubby is in charge of all the moving biznaz so my only part of it is having to pack my overnight bag and a few other necessities! Ya'll will be glad to know that my nail polish and makeup is priority so it's going in the car with me and it'll be accessible once we're in our new place so I can stay on top of things!

June Goodbye's

June Goodbye's: Bath & Shower 

Wen Cleansing Conditioner in Sweet Almond Mint. Love this stuff. I've sang its praises before, so I won't again. Verdict: Will repurchase, as soon as my stash is gone.

L'Oreal Vive Pro for Damaged/Dry Hair. This was actually left at my place over a year ago by a friend and I've had it in my guest bathroom since then. I just used it up to get rid of some stuff. Decent stuff but weighs my hair down. Verdict: Won't purchase.

Lush Dragon's Egg Bath Bomb & Butterball Bath Bomb. Love these! They make your water pretty colors and generally have glitter so the water shimmers when you move. Great things. I have a few more to use before I move so I will be enjoying a few more of these. Caution: Dragon's Egg will make your water look like dirty urine. Just saying. Verdict: Def buy again!!

Hilarious conversation with my husband....

(Draining tub after using Dragon's Egg Bath Bomb, see above what water looked like)

Husband: Ewww, you must have been dirty! Look how brown that water is!

Me: I wasn't dirty, I dropped a bomb in there.

Husband: OMG you what?

Me: No! Not that kind of bomb! A bath bomb!

Husband walks away.

/end scene

June Goodbye's: Hair

Aussie Catch the Wave. I really like this stuff. It's mousse and leave in conditioner in one product. It's nice for when I'm in a hurry so my hair won't frizz and it's left nice and soft. Great combo product. Verdict: Will buy again!

June Goodbye's: Skincare

Philosophy Microdelivery Mini Peel. Love these pads. They keep my skin nice and soft. I swear I have leather for skin and I have to use an abrasive cleanser every morning to keep it smooth and even. I haven't had luck with regular peels, but these little babies are awesome. They have acids that gently peel your skin on a daily basis, so I use them before bed a few times a week and my skin is softer and smoother. Verdict: Will repurchase.

Cetaphil Gentle Cleansing Bar. Before bed, I like something gentle since most nights I'm putting some type of treatment on my skin before going to sleep, and this is perfect! I got a mini bar to try and I will be moving up to a bigger bar or the liquid version. Great facewash for sensitive skin! Verdict: Will repurchase.

June Goodbye's: Makeup

Kirkland's Daily Facial Wipes. Bought a box of these on Amazon due to recommendations from bloggers/YT'ers as a nightly cleansing/makeup removing ritual. I like these more than I thought I would. They smell great, very moist so one wipe will clean off your entire face of makeup, and the box I purchased came with a 2 packages of 30 and 2 travel packages of 15. I used different packages randomly, and finished off three this month. I bought another version at a local store, but they suck. Verdict: Will buy again, as soon as I've used up my other ones that suck.

Too Faced Primed & Poreless. I got this sample and it went quickly. Smoothed my skin, tinted for better coverage (or can wear alone if your skin is better than mine!), no real scent to it. I have used this before and enjoyed it, but never purchased it, and this sample reminded me I like it, but it wasn't anything grand. Verdict: Meh, won't purchase.

Revlon ColorStay Active. This is so freaking old I don't think they sell this stuff anymore. Used it up, finally. Good coverage but balled up over primers (I guess it had some primer stuff in it so they didn't play well?). Dried on the face quickly so you had to work fast. It did stay on very well considering it went on bare skin with no primer. Verdict: Won't repurchase.

Almay SmartShade Foundation in Light/Medium. Interesting foundation that looks a little gray but gave decent medium coverage. Went a little orange on me, but some foundations tend to oxidize on my oily skin and become orange. Verdict: Won't repurchase.

Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eyeliner in Aubergine. They don't even make this anymore. It was in a dark plum shade, which was nice for my brown eyes. I love dark colored liners, not so stark as black but give a nice color to pop my eyes. Dried out before I could finish it up. Verdict: Can't repurchase, and wouldn't even if I could.

e.l.f. Mineral Face Primer. This I purchased on a whim went I bought a ton of elf products. Feels very slippery but dries down once you apply it. White bottle but clear product. You never know how much you have left. Went fairly quickly. I used one pump, but my makeup stayed better with two pumps on my face. Too greasy for liquid foundation for me, but worked beautifully for mineral foundations. Didn't mind it going quickly since it's very inexpensive compared to other primers. I don't feel I can justify repurchasing it now considering it didn't quite work well for me, but I'll likely look into it again in the winter. Verdict: Won't repurchase now, but maybe later.


That's all I got for ya! Sorry this is so late in the month but I didn't want to flood your readers with posts so I'm trying to space them out.

Speaking of goodbye's, I'm leaving town tomorrow to pick up my dad since he'll be helping us move, so I won't be able to do any more nails or posts until we're settled at our new place. I have posts scheduled while I'm gone, but please forgive me if I'm slow to respond or comment. It's gonna be a busy couple of days for me!!

Summer Challenge: Fruits

Hiya beautiful, I'm back with our Summer Challenge. Today's challenge is "Fruits." I went with a single fruit. I tried to go a little outside the box, but it seems all the fruits have been done. Even kiwi! C'mon, I thought I had ya'll with that one!

So I went with this one.

Fruit Mani

Week 28: Gradient Mani

Here we are with Week 28 of the 52 Week Challenge. This week called for a Gradient. They are all the rage now with the tutorial by Sammy, which I used for this manicure.

Week 28: Gradient Nails

Summer Challenge: Palm Trees

Hiya beautiful, I'm baaaaaaaack with our Summer Challenge. Today's challenge is "Palm Trees." I had this idea in my head for awhile and I'm glad I got to put it into motion. It isn't 100% how I wanted it, but it'll do for now. I may come back and try to redo it again.

July Julep Maven - American Beauty

I love getting my monthly goodies from Julep! It's like my birthday every month. I'm an American Beauty, so I received three polishes and one lip gloss. And some candy. Fireballs - yum!

Summer Challenge: Favorite Summer Song

Ah ma gawd I did it again!! I had this entire post done and I added the inlinkz code and it wiped my post and auto-saved. Grrrrr Blogger, you're starting to irk me!

Here we go again ...

Today is Day 3 (or 5, I'm not sure how we're counting here) of the Summer Challenge, which is Favorite Summer Song. 

I decided to do Kokomo by The Beach Boys, which I wasn't sure how to translate on to nails. I guess that's why they call it a challenge right? I decided to do beach waves (based on this nail design).

Week 27: "4th of July" & Week 24: Flag Mani

BAH! I had this entire post written and then I did something and deleted it and the stupid Auto-save saved it before I could undo it. Don't you hate when that happens? Or am I the only nitwit that has done that?

Anyway.

This week's challenge of the 52 Week Challenge is "4th of July" so I decided to post on the holiday itself. I know, big decision, but I'm confident I made the right one. 

I went with something super simple (and glittery) for today since I'm going out and about and it had to be something very wearable. Deborah Lippmann Footloose and Julep America (post coming soon about my Julep Maven July box!).

Week 27 of 52: 4th of July mani

Summer Challenge: Picnic

Hiya beautiful, I'm back with Day 2 of our Summer Challenge. Today's challenge is "Picnic." To be honest, I had an idea in my head but I couldn't quite get it to work out, so I changed it up a little and went in a completely different direction - cartoon!

I give you - Snoopy Picnic Nail Art!

Milani Baked Blushes Swatches & Review

I'm on a Milani kick and I wanted to show you some blushes I picked up recently. Since I love their lipglosses and eyeshadows so much, here are some baked blushes to add to the mix!

A luxurious powder blush that features a mélange infusion of colors baked on Italian terracotta tiles. Easy to use, sensorial in texture, the nuances of color become extraordinarily luminous. Silky smooth application leaves your face looking healthy and radiant all day. --Milani.com

Milani Baked Blush Rose D'Oro is a gorgeous shimmery medium dark pink with golden understones. Great for medium to dark or olive skin tones. I personally have a lighter skin tone but yellow/cool undertones so it looks lovely. My only concern is the shimmer. It's really shimmery, so on my skin, it makes me look oily and uneven.

Milani Baked Blush Luminoso is a fantastic shade of peach pink with cool undertones great for lighter skinned ladies such as myself. It gives a beautiful natural glow. 

Me Gusta:

• Blend beautifully
• 9 shades available, pretty comprehensive color selection
• Flatter most skin tones
• Large amount of product for the little you need, will last forever!

No Me Gusta:

• Shimmer is a little much for me, but others may love it
• Bulky packaging

Verdict: Will buy again. Love.

Milani Baked Blushes retail for $7.99 for 0.12 oz product. You can buy them wherever Milani is sold or online here. I've got my eye on Dolce Pink which I've heard is awesome!

What is your favorite blush? Any colors you recommend?

Summer Challenge: Bees

Hiya beautiful! Today is the first day of our Summer Challenge! I'm so excited as this is the first challenge I've helped set up, and I'm really excited to be a part of it!

This is an every other day challenge, and hopefully I won't get behind! I will warn you that I am moving this month, so a few of these will be scheduled ahead.

Today's challenge is bees! I've done bees before (here) but I thought I'd do a new twist on them!

Summer Challenge: Bees