New Camera + Christmas!!

I just graduated with a dual bachelors of science in Finance and Economics and for my graduation gift my parents got me an awesome new camera! Since my nails are still growing out and are too short to take pictures of, I thought I'd try out the macro setting on some Christmas ornaments so here they are! These were all taken at night with the lights and the tree lights on and no flash.

Brown sequin and glitter pine cone

 

Gold metallic plated pine cone

Baby booties from my first Christmas

 

An ornament of my mom's from 1978

Silver pine cone ball

Biscuit!

Muffin making a super weird face LOL

Another of Muffin...

And another...

Pointer ornament

Our tree with the gifts and part of McKenzie

I'm super excited about how well these pictures turned out and I'm really excited to start taking nail pictures and start blogging for real again. We had a great Christmas, I hope you all did too!!

Update

Hi everyone! I know I've been super MIA for the last few weeks, I've just had a lot going on with classes ending and graduation coming up. I have also been in kind of a funk and feeling really uninspired after I deleted pictures of like 6 different manis. I will be back soon and hopefully back to posting regularly! Please bear with me!

~Haley :)

pet post!

Well I was going to do a nail post but my pictures were terrible so I decided to post my dogs in stead. First we have McKenzie, shes our old girl and the alpha female. She's usually not one to play but here I got her rolling around in the grass like a pup. The second one is Muffin. Shes our first baby together. She is such a good dog but can be very onery when she doesn't get her way. Last is Biscuit, hes such a sweet little boy and we love him so much! He loves to play and loves to rough house with Muffin.

Halloween Mummy.... fail?

Wow this post is so over due! I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I posted but I guess when life gets in the way you lose track of time. I've been so swamped with work and school but I'm finally back so I'm going to do my best to be more consistent!

For my next Halloween mani I decided to attempt a mummy design. I was going for something more cute and subtle but I think I went too subtle. I used 2 coats of OPI Skull and Gloss Bones then sponged on China Glaze Kalahari Kiss. I used Kalahari Kiss to create the bandage wrapping and added eyes with Sinful Colors Snow Me White and China Glaze Liquid Leather. I think they turned out pretty cute but not exactly how I imagined them. (P.s. please excuse my peeling cuticles. The dry, cold weather is really doing a number on my skin!)

So what do you think of my mummy mani?

Halloween Mani #2- Blood Splatter

I'm just going to start off by saying that I love this mani! Obsessed would probably be a more accurate description but holy cow I could not stop looking at these! They are so creepy and gross but cool at the same time. I used 2 coats of China Glaze Pelican Gray, a really nice light gray cream, then I used 1 coat of Diamond Dry. To do the splatter I used Orly Grave Mistake and splattered it on my nails with a straw. I followed this with 2 coats of Diamond Dry to make everything nice and even. This was the messiest mani I've EVER done but I love it so it was totally worth it!

What do you think of my gross blood splatter mani? Is this something you would rock for Halloween?

China Glaze Cast A Spell

I have decided that October is going to consist of only halloween colored/themed manis. So here to kick it off, we have China Glaze Cast A Spell. It is an awesome black base with green/gold shimmer. I used 2 coats for safe measure but you could probably get away with 1 careful coat. The shimmer in this is a PITA (pain in the ass) to remove... I screwed up one nail on my left hand and ended up with gold shimmer EVERYWHERE when I tried to remove it. Regardless, its a beautiful polish and I feel like I will be reaching for this one a lot this fall/winter. Both of these pictures were taken on the living room floor under a window where there happened to be some awesome natural light (hence the carpet in the background).

I really love this polish.. I wish I had CG Zombie Zest and Its Alive to complete my halloween collection! What's your favorite halloween polish?

My husband and I baby sat for my sister in law this weekend. This is Charlie and he was helping me take pictures in the sun!

More Butter London- Trustafarian!

Another one of the BOGO Butter London's I grabbed was Trustafarian. I can't begin to say how much I love this polish. Its light and elegant but has a beautiful holo in the sun. I was unable to capture that awesome holo, unfortunately. You'll probably notice my nails are different again; I've decided to try growing out my natural nails out again so I'm using fiber glass wraps to keep some strength and length on my nails while they grow out. I'm hoping it will work better than having completely naked nails. Wish me luck!

Do you love this as much as I do?

My first ManGlaze!

I've been lemming some ManGlaze for a while now but for some reason never pulled the trigger. Not too long ago they had a sale so I decided to snag a few.. a few turned in to 6. Ooops!!

All ManGlaze polish is matte and has awesome formula. Dry time was pretty awesome too. I love how these polishes all look great matte or with top coat added. First I have Fuggen Ugly which is dark grey and has a super pretty shimmer when you add topcoat! I used 2 coats for good measure but you really only need 1 coat if you can get it even. I had an issue with brush strokes but the second coat evened it out pretty well. As an accent nail I used 2 coats of ILF (I'll let you figure that one out... hint: MILF without the M). I had the same brush stroke issue but the second coat evened it out. If you're a skilled matte-polish-applicator you could probably get it in 1 coat.

ILF with black label

Fuggen Ugly with super cool label graphics.

Do you have any ManGlaze polish? How do you feel about matte polish?

Butter London All Hail The Queen

Hey everyone! I hope you had an awesome weekend! My husband took this whole week off so we've just been spending time together which has been really nice. Tomorrow its back to school for me :(

Anyway, here's another one of my Butter London BOGO scores. All Hail the Queen is just beautiful! If you don't have it, get it. Its a nice nude color with lots of pretty and subtle holo sparkle. Unlike my last BL mani, I was really happy with the formula on AHTQ. It was super easy to apply and dry time was normal. It was surprisingly opaque for how light of a color it is, if I remember correctly I only needed 2 coats and even 1 coat was pretty close to opaque. I'm sure with some careful application you could get away with 1 coat. I followed with 2 coats of diamond dry and an accent nail of OPI DS Extravagance which is a BEAUTIFUL purple with borderline holo shimmer. I loved this combo, it was subtle with the right amount of color and shimmer. So pretty...

How do you feel about the bright accent nail? What about AHTQ, awesome right??

Butter London No More Waity, Katie!

Here's that post I was talking about last week.. so much for that...

Of course I took advantage of the Butter London BOGO and got 6 colors that I had been lemming over! The first one I tried was No More Waity, Katie and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. The color is beautiful in the bottle, grey base with lavender glitter.. just gorgeous! Unfortunately, the formula was less than perfect and with each coat it got thicker and streakier. Blah! After 3 coats I was able to get it basically smoothed out and opaque. 3 coats of Diamond Dry and it was smooth as glass!! I  have had good luck with my other Butter London polishes so I'm hoping this was just a fluke...

Did you take advantage of the Butter London BOGO? What's your favorite BL?

OPI DS Classic with stamping

I know I have been totally MIA lately but I really am trying to get back on the wagon! I actually have another post ready to go for tomorrow, shocking right?? Anyway.. I've been eying DS Classic at Ulta for a while but it wasn't sold. Their lighting is terrible and it just looking kind of BLAH but then I looked up some swatches and decided I had to have it! It just so happened to go on sale when I went back to get it, YAY! I used 2 coats with 1 coat of Diamond Dry then added the stamp using CG Mahogany Magic and another coat of diamond dry. I love how subtle and classy it looked inside then had that great scattered holo outside. I'm such a sucker for holo polish but lately I've been gravitating more towards the scattered or very subtle polishes so this was a real winner for me.

OPI DS Classic taken in the sun

With stamping taken inside under artificial light

So, what do you think of my combo?

Louboutin Nail FAIL

I know, I know, I've been MIA for a while. I apologize, I've been super busy.

Anyway, you know those Louboutin manicures that you're seeing everywhere? Well I decided to give it a try. Let me just say it was a total FAIL! The black part turned out fine, minus the bubbles in the top coat, but the red is a different story. I didn't pick a bright enough red or an opaque enough red and to top it all off it was a pain to clean up. My recommendation: don't do it. In a last ditch effort to salvage this manicure I added some silver studs to the ring and pinkie finger. Unfortunately the top coat created some major problems for me in the form of bubbles everywhere. You live and learn, and I have learned not to ever try this again.

I took this picture with a Betsy Johnson bag that had gold studs all over it. The manicure totally reminded me of it so I just had to include it.

Liebster Award

I was lucky to be nominated for the Liebster Award by Patty from Patty and Goldies Day Off and I couldn't be more thrilled. This award is given to new bloggers with less than 200 followers and here are the rules:

1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves
2. They must also answer the 11 questions the 'Tagger' has set for them
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told
6. There are no tag backs

Here are 11 random things about me:

1. I am obsessed with owls. I don't know why, I just am
2. I love watching TV and discovering new shows to watch. My recent find is Breaking Bad and I'm so obsessed with how bad ass this show is!
3. Lynnderella's Ruby Red Ruby is the polish that got my obsession started, even though I don't own any Lynns.
4. I will be graduating in December with two bachelors degrees; economics and finance
5. My dogs are my children and I love them more than anything.
6. Even though I'm from San Diego, I actually like Reno and the snow
7. I hate doing laundry
8. I really want to own a dog rescue, most specifically for pit bulls and the "bully" breeds
9. I paint my nails at least 3-4 times a week but I rarely ever paint my toes
10. I work at a tanning salon doing spray tans
11. I love country music

My questions from Patty:

1. What made you start blogging? Well, I was really into nail polish and nail art and I had a ton of blogs that I read so I decided to start blogging as well
2. Whats kinds of things do you do to make blog successful? I dont know, really. I post links on facebook and post my pictures with my link on instagram and twitter. I joined a polish group on facebook but thats about it.
3. What would make you stop blogging? I guess if I just "got over it" I would stop. At this point I dont see anything that would make me start. Even though life gets in the way sometimes, I enjoy it and it gives me a good creative outlet.
4. What inspires you? Anything and everything. If I see a combination of colors I like or a cool design online I will try to incorporate it into my mani. Sometimes I just sit down and start painting and something random will come out of it.
5. What is your favorite nail polish? My indies for sure are my favorites. As far as which one... hmm... I think right now its probably Pretty & Polished Phoenix, but it changes often.
6. Do you view blogging as a "competitive sport" or a creative outlet? I view it more as a creative outlet. I'm really not a creative person but nail polish and blogging allows me to express the tiny amount of creativity I do have.
7. What is the best way to get followers? I'd say social media, groups, etc.
8. What keeps you going when you feel defeated? My husband for one, he's awesome when I'm feeling like the world is against me. Also just my determination to keep on trekking and to be successful.
9. How do you organize your blog? I wouldn't say I have much organization, I just mess with the layout until it looks good and thats about it. As far as my posts, I usually talk about what I did then follow with pictures. I try to keep the wordiness to a minimum but sometimes that doesn't happen LOL
10. Where do you keep your nail station? It used to be the dining room table but now we've converted one of our spare bedrooms to my "girl cave". I've got a glass top desk that I use for painting my nails and I have a 3 drawer melmer for my polish. I have a bunch of plastic drawer organizers that I use to organize my nail art stuff and tools.
11. What is more important to you, pageviews or followers and why? I thought about this for a while and I think pageviews because you can have a ton of followers but if they aren't reading your blog, whats the point? For me its not all about how many pageviews or followers I have, I do this because I enjoy it and I want to share that with everyone.

Questions for my 11 bloggers:

1. What is your favorite polish in your stash?
2. Whats your number one lemming?
3. What is your favorite blog to read?
4. Why did you start blogging?
5. What is your favorite design so far?
6. What do you like to do on your spare time?
7. How big is your stash?
8. What is your favorite polish brand or indie polish maker?
9. What do your friends and family think of your blog?
10. Zombie Apocalypse, which 5 polishes do you take with you?
11. Do you have any pets?

My 9 (I searched for 2 more and couldn't find any with less than 200 followers, sorry!) tagged bloggers:

1. This is the last nail polish
2. ooh la la polish
3. Polished Pirate
4. The Clock Wise Nail Polish
5. Starlight Radiance
6. For the Love of Beauty by Lara
7. Artistic Shadows
8. Mei Mei's Signatures
9. Pretty Kitty Claws

Nite Owl

Hi everyone! I know I've been MIA for a while, I finished up my summer school class last week, took the GMAT on Saturday and spent a few days in Bakersfield with my best friend. I'm back now and trying to get back into the swing of things. Next week my final semester starts YAY! Anyway, on to what we're all here for.. the nails!

I have been seeing lots of awesome owl nail art recently and I'm pretty much obsessed with owls so I knew this was something I just had to do! I ordered Orly Nite Owl and Fowl Play on Amazon and decided this would be the perfect time to attempt some owl art. I used 2 coats of Orly Nite Owl, which by itself is a pretty awesome color! I added dots in China Glaze Mahogany Magic and used Kalahari Kiss, Liquid Leather, Peachy Keen and Mahogany Magic for the owl details. I'm pretty proud of this design and I think it turned out pretty well.

What do you think of animal nail art? How do you think I did with my first Owl nail art?

Pretty & Polished Phoenix

I hope to get back to regular posts soon! I'm going on the last week of summer school and I'll be taking the GMAT on the 18th so life will be back to normal after that LOL

I recently got 3 Pretty & Polished colors: Jawbreaker, Phoenix, and Sand Art. Today I'll be showing you Phoenix, a unique mixture of matte yellow glitters, red glitters and large red hex glitters. I used 2-ish coats over 2 coats of Essie Braziliant, a lovely shimmer orange, perfect for summer, and 2 coats of Seche Vite! I love the way Phoenix looks over orange and nearly every swatch I've seen of it has orange as the undies. Application was a breeze, but I did have to fish a little for the larger red hexes but thats to be expected with the larger glitters. Wear is also really great, I've had this on for 3 days with no chips or anything.

What do you think of Phoenix?? I can't stop staring at my hands!

Versatile Blogger Awar

Apparently I can't spell but I dont want to mess up my link for everyone I tagged so I guess it'll stay!

I was so shocked to have received this award from Jackie at Jamegackie. I was so surprised that anyone found my little corner of the Internet and decided they liked my blog enough to give me an award! Thank you so much Jackie! Here are the rules:

• Nominate 12 fellow bloggers that are relatively new to blogging
• Let them know you have nominated them
• Share 7 random facts about yourself
• Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you by linking to their blog
• Add the Versatile Blogger Award to your post

Seven Random Facts:

I am the biggest procrastinator ever!

I change my nails every few days but I hardly ever do my toes

I can be shy around new people

I am studying Economics and Finance at the University of Nevada

I love sushi but I HATE fish

I've been to France twice! I'd love to go back again though!

My 12 Nominations:

I made these nominations based on time blogging, not the number of followers. I considered 1 year or less relatively new! Please take a look at these awesome blogs! (These are in no particular order)

1. Kelsiesnailfiles
2. Prettypolishplease
3. Horcruxnails
4. Pattyandgoldiesdayoff
5. Thechaddabox
6. Polishandsuch
7. Lacquerorleaveher
8. Noholos
9. Glitterandgild
10. Liesllovesprettythings
11. Beautyblogbyali
12. Ifeelpolished

Thanks again to Jackie!! 

Purr-Fect Plum Leopard

Sorry I have been MIA! I've had a hard time finding a lot of time to sit down and write up a post with school, my parents in town and lots of failed mani attempts! Here's one good one for you... China Glaze Purr-Fect Plum, 2 perfect coats, with leopard spots done in China Glaze Elephant Walk and Finger Paints Black Expressionism. This wore like iron for 3 days before I even took pics, look almost no tip wear! I had done this mani before with China Glaze Exotic Encounters as my base and I forgot to take pics :(

 All pictures were taken at night under artificial light. 

Program Change!

I was going to post the last of my indie stash but I know none of you really care about that, right? Instead I'm going to show you Candeo Colors Orchid. As you probably know, I've been trying to grow out my natural nails for almost 2 months now and after lots of frustrations I've decided to bring back the gels. My nails grow SO slow and every time I got some length they would just split or tear down to the quick and I'm getting so tired of not being able to do my nails the way I want to so this really seemed like the best option for me at this time. I really applaud all the ladies out there who can grow your natural nails and I envy you. 5 years of gels and 20+ years of biting my nails probably really killed it for me :(

Anyway, on to the polish. I've been eyeing Candeo for a while now and I finally caught a restock and grabbed Orchid and Poison Frog. Orchid is a vivid purple magenta jelly base with lots of holo hexes and micro glitters. Its so pretty in the bottle and on the nail and isn't like anything I've seen from other indie sellers. I used 3 coats with 2 coats of diamond dry just to get it nice and smooth. Application was great and it built up nicely. Its still a little on the sheer side but if you wanted it more opaque you could add a 4th coat.

What do you think of this color? Would you like to see the rest of my stash? I'd like to hear what you have to say :)

Stash Post Part 2

Here's part 2 of my indie stash! Sorry its taken so long, I've been busy with summer school! Also, pardon the dust on some of the bottles, I have them on display instead of in my "melmer" but I didn't realize they had gotten that dusty till I was editing these.

Dandy Nails Wingless and You Set My Soul Alight

Utopia's Polish Square Pants and KelBel Cosmetics Hologram

Candy Lacquer Blue Rodeo and Gold Nuggets

Lush Lacquer Fuzzy Peaches and Sea Breeze

Daring Digits Batman, Strawberry & Strings, and Ice Age

Whimsical Ideas by Pam Kismets Pajamas and Peanut Butter & Jelly

I hope to have part 3 done tomorrow and the last part of my indies in a few days!