Neutral Floral Stamping

Hello ladies! It's been such a long time since I've done any stamping so I decided to revisit one of my favorite designs for today's mani. My base color was OPI Samoan Sand -- an awesome nude jelly very close to my skin tone. The stamping was done using Sally Hansen White On with Bundle Monster plate BM-221.

Not much else to report today other than it is absolutely beautiful outside! Go and enjoy the weather everyone. Hope you all have a fabulous Monday and thanks for reading! <3

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To a New Year

Hi everyone. I did not forget about this blog :). I've just been preoccupied with life. Yes, life happens. This will not make up for my absence but it will show you that I have not been neglecting my nails (pinky swear). Remember when my nails were this long?

Zoya Sooki

Well like I said, life happens! Family, friends, new jobs, new responsibilities, new nails! Now I normally don't do nail spam on my blog but I've been keeping a few mani photos on hand during my hiatus so here they are. It's mini spam but hey, at least it's something :D. Looks like it was back to basics, guys...

Revlon Pink Lingerie

Kleancolor Bikini Green

Sally Hansen Purple Potion

Sinful Colors Last Chance

Sinful Colors Last Chance + Salon Perfect Glam Glitter

(Merry Xmas!)

Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris

Wet n Wild Cougar Attack

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Glitter Confetti Franken

Instagram-ed (sure, why not?)

OPI My Very First Knockwurst... instagram-ed again!

(Nice and clean... very apropos for a fresh start)

Here's to the end of 2012. May 2013 be a year full of new celebrations, accomplishments, and milestones to look forward to. I hope you guys are having a fun and safe NYE celebration tonight surrounded by good food, good drinks, and most importantly, good people! And of course, as always, thank you again for your continued support. Let's cheers to a new beginning. xoxo Jamie <3

The Bay Bridge at night. Where I was on the last day of 2012 (source)

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A Reverse Glitter & Flakie Gradient

A quick post today. I like this one. I like this one a lot.

Base color was Sally Hansen Navy Baby, a blackened blue shimmer -- one coat of pure perfection. The gradient was done using Island Girl Island Volcano and Pure Ice Heart Breaker. Love.

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Diagonal Stripes: OPI Ogre the Top Blue + Sally Hansen White On

Hi people! So I decided to experiment a little bit more with a striped scotch tape mani today. The colors I used for my main nails was OPI Ogre the Top Blue from the Shrek Collection and my accent nail had a base of Sally Hansen White On. Instead of straight vertical stripes, I did a diagonal pattern just to see how it would turn out. I didn't want to do too much so I only did an accent nail for experimentation purposes. =P

It almost reminds me of a sailor pattern. 

 This gives me future mani ideas hahah...

 

Left: indoors, Middle: shade, Right: sunlight

Ogre the Top Blue is actually a pretty bright blue creme that was opaque in one solid coat - I did 2 though hahah. I would say it leans towards a turquoise. Really pretty and perfect for bright sunny weather. The stripes I did were actually pretty easy to do. The only trick was to get them spaced properly and also because my nails do have a pretty high C curve, I had to make sure the tape pieces were lying flat. Overall though, good stuff! Happy Friday everyone - I hope you all have a great weekend to look forward to!

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White Glitter Layering

Hi all. So I've been meaning to do some type of layering mani but I never had the time (or patience) to do one until recently. I couldn't really decide on what I wanted to do but since I haven't worn any white colors lately I tried to use up some of my white polishes.

Whites I used: Sally Hansen White On, China Glaze 

White on White, Zoya Lucy, LA Colors Silver Glitter

Shade

Sun

So first I put on one thick layer of Sally Hansen White On. This color had a nice opaque finish which helped with concealing any visible nail line. Next, I used one thin layer of China Glaze White on White to fill in any gaps and to also give the white a "softer" appearance along with being a little bit more "milk/jelly" looking. I applied 2 coats of the silver glitter on top of that because it was somewhat sparse. Then, I put one good coat of Zoya Lucy on top of everything. To seal it all off, I put on one thin layer of a shiny top coat. It looked preeeettty thick when I first applied everything but once it dried it had a much better looking finish.  Overall, I'm happy with the results so hopefully my future layering experiments will turn out well, too! Hope you guys are having a wonderful weekend! =)

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Sally Hansen Gray by Gray

As some of you may know, Sally Hansen has a line called "Complete Salon Makeover" notoriously known for its humongous wide set brushes. While it may seem like a convenience, it can cause problems for those who have smaller nail beds. Especially when polishing corners while trying to avoid cuticle flooding. So, you might wanna proceed with caution during application. As for the polish itself, this is a beautiful dark teal/navy/gray/blue (?? ... so hard to pinpoint the exact color) creme that is completely opaque in one coat. I did two coats just for good measure. This time around, I applied Sally Hansen Quick Dry Top Coat (in the red bottle) to see if I would prefer it over Seche Vite but honestly, it's a no go for me. It didn't give it quite a glossy finish nor did it dry anywhere near as quick as SV. Also, I found that even after my polish was dry, I still had little nicks and visible "scratches" on my nails. I'm reverting back to my old love SV until I find a better replacement... and I don't think that'll be any time soon...

Sun

 Shade

Indoors

Can you see the streakyness in the bottle? I tried mixing this 

up quite a bit but the streaks still remained. This may show up 

on your nails. Not a big deal to me but may be for some...

Left: indoors, Middle: shade, Right: sunlight

There you have it, lovelies. I am up waaaaay too late for a "Thursday" night but I felt the need to fulfill my blogger duties.  Time to head off to bed now. Gnite everyone!

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Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Limited Edition Fall 2011 Swatches (2 of 2)

So here is the second set of the new Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fall 2011 line. You can read about the first set here. These are the cooler tones from the collection. Like the other colors, all the ones shown here have a really nice metallic looking finish and even have some hints of duochrome when looked at in the right light. They're gorgeous, no doubt about it. The first picture, again, is the entire collection for reference.

L to R: Emerald Express, Teal-y Fast, Grape Escape, Presto Pewter

 Sun

 Shade

Indoors

Top row: Sun, Middle row: Shade, Bottom row: Indoors

So like the previous colors, these apply well in 2 coats, the purple might even be a one coat wonder if you can work your magic with the brush correctly. The first color, Emerald Express borders on 3 coats but it's all just a matter of how thick you apply your polishes. As mentioned earlier, these are currently on sale at Walgreens in a B1G1 50% off sale till Saturday, August 6, 2011. Get them while you can because they are a limited edition set.  I haven't seen all these colors swatched yet so I hope this helps some of you out there =).

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