{ " Sally Hansen Mega Shine Top Coat " }

Image from Google

So, in my search for a new top coat that was not Seche Vite Dry Fast, which is my absolute favorite, I picked up the Sally Hansen Mega Shine Extended Wear Top Coat at CVS.

I found this top coat at CVS for $7.29. I had read about it a little bit online, and there were mixed reviews. I decided to try it out for myself... and well, I wasn't impressed.

The package tells you to apply a thick layer of this to completely dry nails. WAIT A SECOND. I thought this was a fast drying top coat? Well, evidently it's fast drying once you've applied it to your nails. So, I waited for my nails to dry completely, and then applied a thick coat. This top coat is supposed to be completely dry in only a minute. I did wrap my nails with it as well, to keep shrinking to a minimum. Well... I waited more than a minute, and tapped my nails together to find they were still quite tacky. I didn't really have anymore time to sit around, so I figured I would just be careful. Before I knew it after about 10 minutes of letting them dry, they were still tacky and several nails had dents in them. Not happy with that, seeing as I took about 20 minutes to paint my nails to begin with. I also noticed that the tips started to shrink, and though I wrapped the tips, the polish pulled back and I could see that the very tips of my nails were bare. I went to a party on New Years Even night, after I painted my nails, and by the time I came home my a few of my nails had little chips on them. They were not really shiny anymore either. Which was disappointing seeing as the top coat is called "Mega Shine". I love when my nails are shiny. I have a matte top coat, and I never use it, because it bugs me when my nails aren't shiny. Plus, the bottle is totally impractical. It is silver, so you have absolutely no way of seeing how much product is left in the bottle. Sure, it's pretty, but it's also pretty silly.

I'm honestly going to give this two stars. It was shiny at first, which was nice... and maybe it would work if you had an extra 15 minutes to sit and let your nails dry, but I don't!

Unfortunately I'm going to be returning this... I really don't see any sense in keeping it. I wanted a fast drying top coat, not a topcoat that dried in over 15 minutes, and still dented easily. Seche Vite definitely out stands this, so I'll just stick to using that. It's cheaper anyways!

Question!
Have any of you tried "quick dry drops"? I see them from Sally Hansen, but I'm a little bit wary of them... I'd rather use a quick dry topcoat I think! 

I hope this review was helpful for someone!
Live in the moment,

{ " Nail Art - Week Two " }

Everyone have a good laugh right now, because I'm not going to be able to keep this at one nail design a week... It's going to have to be Part One, and Part Two, because I normally paint my nails twice every week.

Please don't mind the little heart on the side of my hand. I was doodling earlier, and it would not come off!

So I did my nails this evening, whilst multitasking, and I decided to do this kind of holiday look. 

It reminds me of the holidays at least! Purple is a celebratory color, isn't it? Eh, I don't know!

Polish used:

- COVERGIRL Outlast Stay Brilliant - Grapevine 310 (Purple)

- SHANY Cosmetics Nail Art Polish - 10 (Black)

- SHANY Cosmetics Nail Art Polish - 11 (Silver Glitter)

- Out the Door Top Coat

I applied two coats of the purple, and let them dry before using the black nail art polish (which has a striping brush) to draw small lines starting almost halfway down my nail, applying a very light amount of pressure to the tip. I varied the length of the lines, and made a couple of them a little bit curved. I let that layer dry for quite a while, before brushing over the black lines with the silver glitter. I put a little bit between the black lines as well. I really love how it came out. Before I put the glitter polish on, my nails looked incomplete. As soon as I added the glitter I knew they were finished! I slapped on my topcoat, and there we have it. 

Hopefully I'll be able to find a good base and top coat soon, so I can keep my manicure for more than one or two days. I have found that wearing rubber gloves while washing the dishes helps prevent chips a little bit. But, it's kind of a pain in the bum! 

Anyways, hope you all liked this week's manicure. :) There will probably be another one up before the end of the week! 

Enjoy your week everyone! Happy New Year! 

{ " nail art - week one " }

I ended up getting an awesome set of nail striper polishes from Shany Cosmetics, for Christmas.
It contains 24 colors, ranging from a neon pink, sparkles, reds, blues, pretty much everything in between. The colors are absolutely gorgeous, and I was so excited to use them.

So, today I decided to try out a simple nail design, and it actually came out pretty decent!
I am disappointed with my index finger on my left hand, because the middle line came out so thick, but like I said, the manicure came out pretty decent.

I was inspired by a manicure by MissJenFABULOUS on YouTube (third manicure in this video - link). She used two neon colors, and then did the black stripe down the middle, and three stripes on either side of the stripe. After I did my first nail I decided that I actually liked it with the lines on one side, rather than both.

I absolutely love the color combination that I chose. I didn't initially think I liked the colors together, and I decided to try it. I never would have put these colors together, but now I'm so glad I did!

The green polish is Orly "Cochella Dweller", and the coppery color (which is much more reddish toned than shown in the photo) is Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant "Timeless Rubies". The striping polish I used is by Shany Cosmetics and is number 17 from their Nail Art Set 1 - Beautiful Variety (but, of course any black or charcoal striping polish would work).

I painted one side of each nail with two coats of the green, then painted the other half with the copper color. I then simply painted a line down the middle with the striper, and lightly painted three shorter slightly angled lines on the side with the copper. I also varied the side of the nail I put each color on, but you could do the same on all nails.  I then finished out with my Out the Door fast drying top coat after a few minutes.

I am looking for a new basecoat, so I haven't been using one lately. Does anyone know of any decent basecoats? I was looking into the CND Stickey basecoat, but I can't figure out if you can buy it in any stores. I'm going to take a ride out to Sally Beauty soon, so I'm hoping I can find a decent basecoat there.

Well, that's all for now! I'm hoping to post a new nail art photo each week, but we'll see what happens. I also got some amazing nail stamping plates, so I've been playing around, and practicing with those as well.

Thanks for reading!
Live in the moment,

{ " Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polish - Under Your Spell " }

Happy December everyone!


I have probably six of the Wet n Wild Megalast nail polishes, and I absolutely love them.
So last week when I was in CVS I spied a gorgeous duo-chrome burgundy red color. I was super excited about it, because it is a gorgeous color for fall and winter.

Let me start off by saying I love the brushes on these polishes. I can't even stress that enough. The brushes are absolutely wonderful. I love how I can go over my nail in one even sweep, and not have to worry about it building up from having to go over it several times.

I have always loved the Megalast polishes because of their opacity, and gorgeous colors. They don't have too many colors, but the color range they have is decent.

This picture makes this polish look extremely brown, but in the bottle it looks more on the deep red side. 

I applied the first coat and it came off super light, and a little streaky. It's not opaque in the least on the first coat. That could have been the fact that I apply my nail polish in very thin coats, but I think it's just the polish. The other Megalast polishes I have tried have been opaque in even the first coat. 

Here is pictures of the first coat, then the second coat. 

As you can see, the first coat is like an olive green, and brown. I was super nervous when I saw that color... I was totally put off, and was even tempted to take the polish off. The second coat then revealed the real color, which is indeed a reddish, burgundy, brown. I am quite pleased with the color, though the second coat is still streaky in some places. I could probably pull off a third coat, but I didn't feel like waiting for it to dry. 

Overall I like this polish, it's not amazing, but it's pretty. I'll probably pair it with some gold glitter, or even red glitter sometime. 

I'll be reviewing another polish from Wet n Wild, from the Fergie line soon, so look out for that! 

Enjoy the little things!

{ " Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish " }

**I did decide to return this product, as it was not worth the amount of money spent, in my opinion.***

CLICK HERE TO SEE FIRST IMPRESSION

So, it has been three days since I put on my gel nails, and I am super pleased with the results. 

I know, three days is nothing, but be aware that I would already have reapplied regular nail polish. So, this is exciting to me! There are absolutely no chips, and no tip wear.This is going to take some getting used to, because I am used to just changing my nail polish color when I feel like having a new color on! I have read online that you can use regular nail polish with the gel base and top coat though. Hopefully that actually works, because their selection of colors is very limited at the time. Hopefully they come out with new colors sometime soon. But, until then I'll try it out with regular nail polish. It is supposed to last longer than regular nail polish (with a normal base & top coat), but not quite as long as the gel polish. So, we'll see what happens! 

Color: Troublemaker 

Of course the application is not perfect, but it was my first time doing the gel nails, so it was a little different than regular polish.

*** I did go to CVS and return everything I had bought the other day, because Walmart was having a much better deal on the kit with the full sized LED lamp. I was very pleased, because CVS refunded me more than $10.00 more than they should have. I got the money back from the coupon I used too. So I got the money from the coupon on a money card for CVS, but that means I can go buy another color of gel polish with that money. It was a little strange, but pretty awesome nonetheless. ***

I will do a 5 day update as well, and as many updates as I can until I have to remove the gel!

{ " Sally Hansen Gel Polish - First Impression " }

**I did decide to return this product, as it was not worth the amount of money spent, in my opinion.***

I made a dash into CVS today to pick up the Sally Hansen gel manicure kit! I had a 25% coupon for my entire purchase, which was the only reason I even looked into buying this kit.

I read review on it, and on most websites it has almost a 5 star review, which is excellent! I did not get the huge kit with the larger LED light. I actually bought several things separately, because it was cheaper. I ended up getting the InstaGel Strips kit (that came with lacquer strips, the gel top coat, and a little tiny LED light), the gel base coat, and a gel polish. It ended up being quite a bit cheaper than if I had bought the $70 kit.

Of course, I was curious as to how this turned out. Most people raved about how easy it was, how fast, and how long it stayed on. So far I've seen how easy it is. It really is just like applying nail polish, as long as you remember which coat you did last! Obviously since I just did it about five minutes ago I don't know about the staying power yet. As far as I read it stays on up to two weeks with no chips! That information came from reviews too, not just product claims. The color went on smoothly and was opaque in two coats, but I can imagine that would vary with colors. I chose a darker color called "Troublemaker" which is a dark purple color. It is exactly the same color as shown on the box when cured. I am very pleased with the color, and as I said the application was smooth. My thumb nails are very short right now, which made it hard to seal off the ends without getting the gel polish on my fingertips. Thankfully that is easily cleaned off.

On my pinky finger on my left hand (the first finger I did) I got a bit on the side of my finger, and didn't notice. I did not clean that off, and now I think it will probably peel off a little sooner. The only reason it should peel off is if you get the polish on your skin, allowing it to lift up and then peel off the nail. So, hopefully the rest stay on well, because I was extremely careful with my other nails.

The curing time is 30 seconds for four layers on each nail. So about two minutes a nail. Which makes it about 20 minutes all together for your complete manicure. The little LED light is actually timed too, so you don't even have to time it yourself, which is very exciting!

So far I have noticed that my nails are not shiny. They are almost matte. They have a slight shine to them, but not a "mirror like shine" in the least! I don't know if that is, because I used the top coat from the InstaGel Strips kit, or what. But, I wanted them to be shiny like the product claims. Anyways, I'm hoping they'll just magically turn shiny when I'm not looking. ;)

After you cure the nail it is very tacky, so you need to wipe the nail with 99% isopropyl alcohol to take the tacky feeling away. It does take the tackiness away, but it also takes the shine away. After you wipe the nail they are completely hard, and you can tap them together, tap them on other things, and you won't get any smudges or dents. You just have to make sure you "cleanse" them afterwards, or you'll have a sticky, tacky mess!

I am hoping they last quite a while, without having to be reapplied. If they do not last more than 5 days I am returning the whole kit. I know that sounds horrible, but I am not going to pay for something that doesn't work!

So yes, that is my first impression of the product! So far, so good, besides the fact that they are not shiny.
I will keep updates on how long they last, and if they start to become shiny!

Thanks for reading!

{ " Cutex Advanced Revival Nail Polish Remover " }

Manicure Monday #3

I was in need of a nail polish remover, and I was set on getting 100% acetone like I normally do. I understand that 100% acetone is a killer on your nails, but I make sure to moisturize them and such after using it. Since there was no 100% acetone at Walmart, I decided to try something new. I needed polish remover anyways, so why not? I picked this one up by Cutex which looked promising. It was a little more expensive than the regular polish remover ($2.39 compared to $0.99 for a small bottle of pure acetone), but this is the "advanced revival" solution. My nails are pretty brittle to begin with, which is probably partially from using the 100% acetone for all this time. Reading the bottle of this nail polish remover I figured it would probably just be like any other, and it would remove my nail polish, then that would be it.

Well. I was wrong.
At first it seems like any other nail polish remover, smells like it too. Then, after it dries on the nails (and fingers in my case...) it smells amazing. It contains flaxseed oil, black currant oil, and apricot kernel oil, along with the acetone. Which is the reason it doesn't make your hands feel dry, dry out your nails, and dries smelling amazing. It removed the polish quickly, just as well as 100% acetone. So far I am very pleased with this product, and I will probably purchase it again when I run out. The fact that it smells good, and doesn't leave my hands feeling extremely dry is awesome! I even had Nicolas smell my fingers after I was done. ;)

I encourage anyone who does their nails often to try this polish remover. It's the bomb!

Enjoying the little things, like nail polish remover,

{ " October 2013 - Julep Maven Box " }

Manicure Monday #2

I received my Julep Maven box today in the mail (how fitting seeing as it's "Manicure Monday"), and was thrilled, like the other two times I got the boxes. I love opening up the box, and seeing how pretty the packaging is, and trying the brand new polishes. The only thing I don't like is the price tag. 

These colors are gorgeous, and will be absolutely awesome for the fall and winter. I am so excited about these, because I don't have any colors like them. Unlike my previous box when I received a color that was almost exactly the same as another one I had, and one polish that was so out of place with the set. So, I was very pleased with these, and I think I will get a lot of use out of them. The silver polish literally looks like someone melted down silver and poured it into a nail polish bottle. It's absolutely incredible! Oh, and this box came with candy corn, which Abigail and Truman were more than happy to gobble down. 

Sadly, after this box I will be done with my Julep Maven boxes for quite a while. I would have been done with them sooner, except for the fact that I did not get the email that allowed me to refuse the box for this month. I will be calling Julep in the next week to cancel my subscription completely, that way I'm not paying the crazy amount for this nail polish each month. While it is so much fun to be surprised each month by the polishes in the box... it is far too much money to spend on three polishes in my opinion. 

Oh, and don't you love the new setting for my photos? I decided since the weather was so nice I would change it up a bit and take some photos outside! 

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather everyone!