surprise!

we've made it suuuuper duper close to 100 blog followers, so i wanted to reward all of my awesome followers/facebook fans that i decided to put up a giveaway!

up for grabs are one brand new bottle of candy shop by claire's, a dupe for the deborah lippmann polish of the same name. the wet 'n' wild polish also has some purple circle glitters in it that didn't pick up in the photo. also brand new and never used!

fill out the rafflecopter widget and good luck :D!

rainbow fish nails!

i know i'm a bit younger than most of the polish bloggers i have encountered, but i feel like everyone has seen the rainbow fish books. they were some of my favorite to read as a youngin' - i've liked shiny, sparkly things my whole life!

i received this polish from nailventerous a few weeks after i placed my original order - my bottle of "peacock gone wild" was a little wonky [but still perfectly usable and gorgeous!] she sent it out for free, isn't that so sweet? great customer service!
for these photos i put two coats of "rainbow fish" over two coats of "kristen" by zoya. i LOVE the results!

i think it looks EXACTLY like the fish in the books!

also, another shot of my kitty. if you're a friend on facebook, you know i've been having some problems with him lately - i've had to take him to the vet twice this past week. waaay too much money and a whole bunch of stress later, he's on his way to recovery. thanks so much to everyone who kept him in their thoughts!

if you use this link to set up a zoya account, you can get one bottle of polish for FREE! then if you add two more bottles to your cart, your shipping is free :]. so that's three bottles of long-lasting, vegan polish for 16 bucks!

if you're interested in nailventerous polishes, i suggest liking her on facebook to find out when she is going to restock her etsy shop!

essie "ole caliente" + cult nails "captivated".

just a quick post for you all this evening. i did this mani last night right before my kitty got ill and had to be taken to the emergency vet, so they are NOT super great. but i thought the combo was really awesome and i wanted to share with you all :D. i have swatched ole caliente before, you can see that post here. but this is my first cult nails polish - i bought this and two others when they had their five dollar sale a few weeks ago!

two coats of OC with one coat of captivated. for some reason it makes me think of salsa...

so pretty! i love this combo and can't wait to try out my other cult nails polishes. you can buy them here!

pretty and polished - "jawbreaker".

i am loving all the white polishes with intense glitters that have been coming out lately. jawbreaker seems to be the most popular; selling out mere moments after p&p restocks. i was quick enough to snag one the last time she opened, and i'm so glad i did! anyway, the polish is obviously based on the candy of the same name:

do you see the resemblance? there's lots of red, blue, and yellow glitters!

this is three coats of jawbreaker. two coats was most definitely enough, but i liked applying it so much that i put on a third :D.

so pretty!

what do you think? do you like it? pretty & polished has an etsy store, but i recommend following her on facebook so you can find out when she's restocking!

365 days of color - "funfetti".

i am really really happy to be able to review this polish. sanaz of 365 days of color is just a really great lady, and has been working hard on these polishes for a while. anyway, enough of my blabber and on to the polish!

first, the name. it's named after the funfetti cake mix by pillsbury. if you've never had funfetti cake, i am going to need you to close your browser, drive to your nearest grocery store, pick up a box and all the other things like eggs, make the cake, and then eat it. okay, you got that down? you eat the cake? good. next time, make the cookie recipe on the side of the box. funfetti cookies made me a lot of friends in high school, i used to bring them in every few weeks!

now to the funfetti polish...

see how similar it is?! how delicious it looks?!

this is three coats of funfetti. LOOK AT ALL THAT GLITTER.

close up of my thumb. holy glitter, batman.

consensus: i freaking love this polish. the formula is great and super unique. when she starts making full sized bottles i will most certainly be buying one! EVERYONE BUY THIS POLISH NOW. but seriously, follow 365 days of color on facebook to get the inside scoop about ordering her polishes :].

gradient mani ft essie's "she's picture perfect" and "no more film", plus zoya's "mimi"

i think gradient manicures always look really cool and seemed relatively easy, so i figured i'd give it a shot. i was impressed! it's hard for me to make things look "natural" or "messy" 'cause i am a very ordered person in everyday life, so some nails turned out a little less gradual and a little more...stripey. regardless, i like the finished product and think it looks rad!

the polishes are lined up the way i did them on my nails. first was two coats of "she's picture perfect", then after that dried i dabbed on some mimi, then after that dried, "no more film" was last!

this is the makeup sponge i used to dab on the polish. most tutorials say to use the big triangle ones, BUT i didn't have any and didn't want to waste one of the round ones i use to actually apply makeup, so i took this [the connection between four round ones, if that makes sense!] and used it. it worked really well, though it was a little small.

ta-da! pretty neat. 

once this blogs gets to 100 followers [only 24 away!] i will be hosting another giveaway. so spread the word and follow :D!

dun dun dun...water marbling!

i see other bloggers post pictures of their beautiful water marbles all the time. after months and months, i decided i finally needed to take the plunge and do it. i watched a video and read a blog post by the fabulous cosmetic sanctuary and set to work. the colors i used are: niecy by julep, and yummy and tobey by zoya. my base color was "you just wait" by sinful colors.

i hesitate to call this bad, since it was my first time. i think the swirls are pretty rad! i feel my main mistake was using such a sheer color for the base. i feel if i had used something more substantial, it would have ended up popping more and looking a lot cooler. still, i only did my swatching hand and will take it off before easter lunch tomorrow.

for everyone thinking about marbling - i think you should do it! it's time consuming, yeah, but the results are worth it!