Can't win 'em all.

I was way over my head with this idea. Not only do I not own any real nail art supplies, but I have a limited amount of time to work since my husband can only entertain my daughter for so long. Everything is chunky, smudged, dented, and fugs. This was supposed to be a reindeer and some kind of candy cane-esque striping, but I think it looks like a melting mouse and a kindergarten art project.

Gold: Wet N Wild Goldmine
White: CG Snow
Brown: CG Goin' My Way?
Red: CG Ruby Pumps
Black: Wet N Wild 424A



The "stripey" nail's cuticle is nice and flooded. I need to learn cleanup.



Ho! Ho! Ho! Tacky Christmas!



Dent brought to you by my daughter's thumb.



Yes, that's a cat hair stuck to the polish on the right. Ugh.


Parts of the skin around my nails are pretty much callouses right now. I've dealt with some of the cuticle issues, but I don't know how to fix this. You can see it really well in the closeup of the stripes. It's really gross. The skin keeps peeling down to the edges of the nails and causing hang-nails on almost every finger. Does anyone know how to fix this?

L.A. Colors - Wave Length

In sunlight through my daughter's window.

Wave Length is a yellow/gold polish with some shimmer. These photos show four coats, and as you can see there is still some VNL. Unless a polish is made of rainbows and sunshine, I draw the line at four coats. Any more than that is a bit excessive. Each coat dried pretty slowly and showed some brush strokes, but at least it didn't drag.


In sunlight through my daughter's window.

This color could be pretty on a lot of skin tones, but I don't think it works on mine. My husband picked this up for me at Dollar Tree as a surprise last week, so it only cost us $1.00. I'm not heartbroken.

Now, I know these pictures aren't the best. I'm really sorry that I could not get outside to take them. I do have an excuse, however.


You will feel my wrath soon enough, foul beasts.

These little jerks have infested the doorway to the deck where I normally take photos of my nails for this blog. I have no idea how long they've been there, since I usually don't look up when I'm heading out to take pictures, but when I saw them yesterday I freaked out. I got bit by a spider on my arm a few months ago and it was not fun at all. We had no idea where it happened, since we never saw a spider in our apartment, but I guess they're just sneaky. My husband is supposed to be figuring out a way to de-spider the doorway when he gets home from work, so hopefully posts with better photos will resume tomorrow.

Sally Hansen - Rockstar Pink

I have not painted my fingernails in almost two years. The last time I did, I thought you were just supposed to slap it on. I'd get it all over my fingers and it would look like I let a four year old paint them until I jumped in the shower and the paint came off of my skin. This was my first attempt to paint my nails without making a gigantic mess. I think it turned out pretty well!


This is how it looks in natural light on a beautiful day!

I love this polish. It was really easy to put on and only needed two coats to be totally opaque. This was the fastest drying polish I've ever used. I don't know all the descriptions for polish types yet, but I know this one has a TON of glitter. There's blue, red, purple, and some teeny tiny gold flecks in here. It's pretty in the sun and inside.


See how pretty this glitter is?

I'm not sure how the wear is because I just put it on last night. A lot of the reviews I read online say that some girls' bottles of Rockstar Pink were goopy and thick. Mine was this way right when I opened it, but after rolling it between my hands for a little bit (read: maybe a minute) it was fine. I did have to roll it a few times during application, but I don't mind doing that when the end result it shiny glittery goodness. Another common complaint was removal, but I think all glitters are a pain to remove.

ETA (11/14): This is a first. I have used glitter polishes many times throughout my 23 years, and I HAVE NEVER HAD A POLISH JUST REFUSE TO COME OFF BEFORE. I spent over 30 minutes trying to get this stuff off after I got a big chip on my thumb, and it wouldn't remove. It took almost an hour of constant rubbing with a cotton ball and remover to get my nails clean, and I'm still covered in glitter 12 hours later.

Pretty color, not worth the removal time. :(

New Polishes!

Since I've gotten into nail blogs I've realized that my collection is AMAZINGLY SMALL. Every time I go out now I make a point to go to any store I can find that sells polish to see if they have anything interesting.



I've picked these two up over the past couple of days. The one on the left is CQ brand Mystical, and the right is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Rockstar Pink (I have this one on now). I only have access to WalMart and drugstores in the podunk town that I live in, so most of the polishes I have are less than fancy. I'm going to have to get out to Sally's more often to see what kind of stuff I can pick up there.

ANYWAY! I filed my nails the other night and noticed that they were kind of grossly uneven. They're now even, but a lot shorter. I don't mind, though, since now I can grow them and out just try to maintain the evenness I have going on.

The plan is to get some pictures of Rockstar Pink up tomorrow. I've got a few things to say about this polish, so stay tuned!