Nail Art: Valentine's Day

Happy belated Valentine's Day!  In celebration, I sported an ombre mani with glitter tips.  Awesomely over the top, just like the holiday itself.

Review: Sally Hansen Petal Pusher

Bought this as part of my little holiday haul while at home in Chicago; at the time I was mainly after the topcoat (which turned out not to be a topcoat at all, just a clear polish), figuring I could just bust this out for work every once in awhile.  I never thought that plain, flesh-colored nails would appeal to me so much, but I already can't wait to wear this color again!

Julep Maven January Box

I took the Julep Maven style quiz a few months back, and submitted my e-mail address when requested.  After looking around the site, I decided not to participate in the program.  But I received a promo code a few weeks ago to receive the January box for one cent.  I understand their logic, as it gets me into their system and, if I forget to skip a month, I get charged.  But I figured I might as well try it out; for only a penny, who could resist?  Here's what was inside:

Review: Zoya Izzy

This is the color that I traded a friend of mine for my Zoya Dove, and I'm happy to report that we're both quite pleased with the switch!  Gray nails are just not my thing, but this?  This is the most brilliant shocking pink I own, hands-down.  It's gorgeous.

Nail Art: Gold Tips

So here's the mani I teased in my last post.  I'm loving it so much!  This was my first time doing tips - I honestly just did it because I was bored, and there was a roll of scotch tape and a bottle of polish in the vicinity.  But I really ended up liking the color combo - that's Essie Fiji as the base, and Orly Rage on the tips.  Plus Rage is a duochrome, so sometimes it ends up looking like this:

Which works equally well with the base color.  This is making me very excited to wear Rage on its own!

Next up: Zoya Izzy.  Finally!

Holiday Haul

Holiday haul!

Belated Holiday Nails

We're now firmly out of the holiday season, but I'm still playing catch-up.  While I immensely enjoyed my time at home, eating home-cooked meals and baking cookies and catching up with old friends, it put somewhat of a damper on the trip when I arrived in Chicago, unpacked my bag, and discovered that my laptop absolutely refuses to turn on.  This is extremely frustrating given that basically my entire life is on that thing, including Chromatic Consumption content.  Luckily I still have a desktop that performs...well, adequately at best, but it's better than nothing.  So, before they become even more irrelevant than they already are a week into January, here were my Christmas nails!

Colors used: Ulta 14 Carat, Milani Jewel FX Gold, e.l.f. Light Red, Color Club Art Club White

Cheesy and over-the-top for sure, but oh god I loved it.  I got numerous compliments, even with the smearing and uneven lines - first time using a striper brush.  But I really liked it, so much easier than taping off my nails like I had been originally planning.  I think that's still the easiest for thicker stripes, but for little ones like this a striper is the way to go.  Plus it made it easier to have some variety, so not every nail looked the same.  This was my left hand, which is my dominant hand; the ones on my right hand looked a bit more uniform.

Review: Zoya Dove

This isn't even going to be a full review.  I received this color as part of a 2-part set that came free with any polish purchase back in the summer.  At the time, I got blinded by the notion of free polish for free polish's sake; even then I didn't like gray.  And after a brief trial run just to be sure, I'm now positive:  gray polish is not my style.  I wore this for about 2 days before I wanted it gone.

This color does have a slight blue undertone, but it's still too gray for me.  Maybe if it had some more blue, or purple, I'd be into it.  However, it does work well when paired with its Fashion Week mate, Zoya Caitlin:

As you can see, I haven't quite gotten the hang of doing the half-moon mani freehand.  But the colors do go together quite nicely.  However, that's not quite enough to convince me to keep this polish, so I actually traded it with a friend, for Zoya Izzy from her November Birchbox.  Look for that review coming up next!

December Birchbox

Looks like I got my November Birchbox review up just in time, because my December box arrived this morning!  Good timing, too - I'm about to go home for Christmas in a few days, I'm so glad it came before I left!

November Birchbox: Final Review

This month has been so hectic, I scarcely noticed it was over before I was getting an e-mail about my December box being shipped!  Where does the time go??

Review: Sinful Colors Sharons Heart

I've had this polish since college - I bought it along with the color Silly Alix in the same brand, which is similar but lighter.  After trying both briefly, I had come to the conclusion over the years that Sharons Heart (as printed on the label, no apostrophe) was the ugly stepsister to my beloved Silly Alix.  And while Silly Alix is indeed still my favorite of the two, I've gained a new appreciation for Sharons Heart.

Review: Zoya Noel

A very pretty blue - I like this color a lot!  Too bad it didn't last very long on my nails.

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November Birchbox

(I don't know why this didn't go up two weeks ago when I posted it, but better late than never, I suppose.)

November Birchbox is here, and just as wonderful as I was hoping for!  I saw someone on a blog get this exact box and was hoping for the same one; turns out that's what I got!  And I unlocked the Bauble Bar bracelet for earning BirchBox points back in September/October!  So happy.

This month's theme is "Getting Gifty"; gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season.

Pink and Black

I've wanted to do this mani for ages now!!  I know crackle is supposedly passe; hell black and pink is passe.  Don't care!  Love it!  Half the nails are black with pink crackle (Skin Food & Pure Ice), half pink with black crackle (Skin Food & Claire's).  And yes, I know my pinky got messed up, but it wasn't worth re-doing since I only got to wear it for 2 days.  Totally worth it, however!

Next up: This week's work-safe mani, Sinful Colors Sharons Heart.

October Birchbox: Final Review

November Birchoxes are on their way (AND I THINK THERE'S NAIL POLISH IN IT!!), so it's time to review last month's products.  This was an excellent box.

Review: Essie Fiji

Loving this color!  Have to say though, it now feels odd not to hide my pinky at work!

Essie Fiji review will be up most likely tomorrow, but in the meantime I had to share this gorgeous necklace I just bought!!  I've seen it and considered buying it several times, but tonight with the combination of my holiday discount and a gift card given to me by a generous friend, it was free!  Sparkly, long chain, and neutral color that will go with basically everything.  I don't wear a lot of jewelery, but I can't wait to don this stunner!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Colors used: OPI Alpine Snow, Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Sun Kissed and Mellow Yellow

Promised you a treat, didn't I? :)

I've received so many compliments in the 2 days I've been wearing these, from men and women alike.  And the best part is that they're so simple!  I painted the entire nail white, then covered the bottom half with yellow, just eyeballing it.  After giving that ample time to dry, I taped off the top and bottom portion of my nails with scotch tape and added the orange stripe across the middle.  And voila!  They're not razor-edge perfect if you inspect them close-up, but I'm okay with that; not many people are going to be inspecting my nails close-up besides myself anyway.

Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween, however you chose to celebrate it.  Tomorrow it's back to the grind, but this mani has been worth it for the mere 48 hours I was able to wear it.

Coming up next: Essie Fiji

Review: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure First Kiss

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been drooling over this color for quite some time.  At the end of the day it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, but I'm still glad I made the purchase for the wear time alone.  For reference, I usually take pictures on the 3rd day or so of my mani, and by then I'm having to twist my fingers into awkward positions to hide the chips.  I'm okay with this, though - I usually buy cheaper brands of polish, and I'm not very careful with my nails.  These pictures were taken on the 5th day, and even after an afternoon of scraping my nails against concrete doing chalk art with kids at work, I still only had 2 small chips and some minor tip wear.  I think if I had added an additional layer of topcoat halfway through wearing the mani I would have fared even better.  So that alone makes me hold the Complete Salon Manicure line in very high regard; next time I'm itching for a new color I know where to look.  In fact, there was a baby blue that caught my eye last time....