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?

My first attempt at nail art!

I have never done nail art in my life. Ever. I thought it might be fun to try, so I did. I suppose I did an alright job. I used a regular thin paint brush for the snowflake. This is also my first time doing an accent nail.

Black: Wet N Wild 424A
Silver: L.A. Colors Live



My cuticles are still disgusting and the light box is still being tweaked. All of my nails could really use a good filing but they're too short to try right now.







The black works in ONE COAT (but I used two for photos and applied the second way too thick). This polish was recommended to me and I'm so glad I picked it up. The silver is a really pretty silver foil which would probably work well for stamping, but it gets a lot of bald spots when used in a normal fashion and requires a lot of coats because of it.

I know I apologize for bad photos a lot lately, but the lighting inconsistencies in these...ugh. I could probably fix a lot of them if I had/knew how to use Photo Shop, but I don't (to both). I have a crappy photo editing program that doesn't do a whole lot of anything besides resizing. I drew a weird dark line around a finger in one of these because the lights blew the photo out all weird, but that's as fancy as I get. It's pretty pathetic, since I used to be a professional photographer. I really need a better camera and a better photo editing program. Maybe from Santa?

CQ - Mystical

I woke up today to over 1,000 views (not counting my own)! This may not sound like a lot, but I never thought anyone would read this blog so it is very exciting to me. Thank you all for reading.

Light box #2 is better than my first attempt, but it still needs work. I'm going to replace the bulbs with a different type tonight and see if that helps. Luckily, the photos I took of today's polish are color accurate on the nail!



CQ Mystical is a very pretty purple with a pinkish tint. I really like the color, so it's a shame that the formula is horrible. It took a ridiculous amount of time to dry (read: 20+ minutes per coat) and was extremely sheer. These photos show 4 coats.



You can see how this polish drags and dents even with a crazy amount of drying time. Mystical was a total disappointment.

Sorry about my terrible cuticles! I'm hoping to deal with them when my husband comes home for dinner tonight.

Confetti - Purple Pizzazz

I wasn't kidding when I told you guys that my nails are completely gone now. I'm using Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle and I will be taking daily photos to see if it works. Hopefully with this new product (and daily prenatal vitamins) my nails will be back on track soon. I'm going to do some work on my cuticles tonight, too. They're getting to be pretty gross again. :(



Today I threw on Confetti Purple Pizzazz to show you. When I say "threw on" I mean slapped on as quickly as I could while my baby was asleep. Please forgive the horrible application! It's a pretty lilac with an almost foil-like finish.



I really like the way this looks, even though it's very very sheer (photos show three coats) and takes quite a while to dry. I think it would be nice on toes during the spring.