Valentines NOTD

Wow, 2 days without posting - I feel strangely guilty lol. Been busy, been kidnapped by my friend to go out when I was just about to do my nails, so I didn't get around to this until this morning instead of last night.

China Glaze Romantique Joy Konaded with CG Admire & plate m59 - I'm really pleased with how it turned out. On a side note, taking off Jaded Blues beforehand was a HUGE pain in the ass. It was worse that a glitter for some reason.

Single Chick Saturday is still in effect even though it's Valentines Day - I'm headed out shortly to go make the most of being unattached, but tomorrow I will post up what I was going to yesterday before my plans were changed for me: my Misa haul.

Yes, I know it's mid-Feb now & the promotion was in January, but I placed my order literally the last day of the month & then didn't actually put through my payment until like the 5th. They shipped out on the 6th & showed up on my doorstep on the 13th (so much for Friday the 13th being bad, btw, mine was awesome).

I'm SOOOO happy with them & I haven't even worn them yet, but they're just so gorgeous. I can't wait to show them off! Until then, thanks for reading.

~Colette.

The Little Box of Tricks

So, after I saw Brooke posting on some nail maintenance products she'd recently purchased, it got me to thinking that some of the products I use I don't see talked about anywhere else, & I really like them. So I thought I'd do a post on my little box of tricks.

I have a bigger box of tricks that holds stuff like rhinestones & sparkly top coats, but this is the stuff that I basically use all the time, and I'll give a quick run through of my routine.

To start, I guess this group would be considered maintenance, basically a bunch of product that conditions the nail & really did work well when I was using it religiously:

The brand is ProStrong, from left to right the Calcium Nail Supplement, Fluoride Nail Strengthener, Nail Moisturizer, and (what's basically a cuticle balm) Over-Nite Intensive Moisture Barrier. This stuff is intended for daily use, and I'll admit, coming out of a period of semi-neglecting my nails, I haven't been very good at making the few extra minutes to apply them, and I notice the difference compared to when I do.

On to actually prepping my nails for polish. I have a couple brands of remover, mostly generic, one that is supposed to moisturize & a bottle of 100% acetone that I use for cleaning my Konad plates. Then this stuff:

Buffing block, glass file, and what is referred to in it's actual packaging as a "nail implement" that I use for my cuticles. The file in the picture is actually the one I bought to be my "spare" for $1 at Big Lots & I ended up liking it better than my original (more expensive) file.

So, once the naked nails are all pretty, it's time to start painting:

ProStrong again, ProActivator, which kind of cleans any residual oil & helps the first coat to stick to the nail, which is the Instant Nail Builder, which is followed by the Finishing Sealer. The Nail Builder is pretty thick, helps keep my weak nails from breaking & does a good job on any leftover ridges also.

Insert polish of choice here. 2 or 3 or however many coats you need/want. That, 99% of the time (after cleanup with an orange stick & if necessary remover) will be followed by Konad:

That's my little dish I fill with remover, and I use Q-tips to clean the plates. All this is happening on top of a paper towel, scrape the excess polish right off onto the paper towel & the q-tip is plenty to clean up the residue. If I'm using a small to medium-sized design I usually only use 2-3 q-tips.

Then, of course:

The Seche Vite. My favorite thing, lol, that's allowing me to maintain a better mani. I bought my mom a bottle for a present, and also my friend, and they are equally impressed.

So, that's how I get down for my manicures. Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD & My Great New (Dorky) Idea

It was really kind of hard to part with Ruby Pumps. I got so many compliments & nice reactions & I was loving looking at it whever I needed a smile. But I didn't want to wait for it to start chipping (as I usually do) & I had something really great to replace it with that I've been looking forward to using since I found it at a Dollar Tree.

It was hard to resist posting even more pics, and none of these do it justice. Maybelline Express Finish Jaded Blues. Teal/Green/Gold sparkly awesome duo-chrome-ness. Yummy.

Then, I had an idea, kind of out of the blue, kind of dorky, & decided to give it a try. I used my scanner on my hand and this is what I got:

Not the quality of my camera, but it picked up the colors surprisingly well. I think it's actually closest to what I see when I just look down at my hand. I'll definitely try this technique again, and may be getting a better quality scanner soon.

This mani will last me until I do my nails for Valentines Day. I'm currently debating exactly how cutesy I want to go ... I have quite a few heart-themed Konad stamps that don't exactly get heavy usage the rest of the year & of course plenty of red & pink polish. Decisions, decisions.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

China Glaze Ruby Pumps vs. Maybelline Red Comet

EDIT: Thanks to wixbetty for catching me calling Ruby Pumps by the wrong name (Ruby Slippers). I've fixed it throughout the post.

So, another comparison - and BETTER this time, I have 2 nails of each color lol. Looking for reds to borrow my friend for Valentine's Day, I came across the Maybelline & thought I'd do some swatching when I started to take off my CG. In the bottle, these 2 are pretty close:


And on the nail (apologies for the lazy cleanup). Red Comet is on my index & ring finger Ruby Pumps on ring & pinkie:

Looks like a pretty good dupe to me! Although I think Ruby Pumps has just a tad more glitter & there are some slight differences in the formula. Ruby Pumps was only I think 3 coats, where the Red Comet took 5 coats to look this good. Also, Red Comet was a little smoother, it only took 1 layer of top coat where Ruby Pumps needed 2 to be smooth & not gritty.

I'll be taking this off & doing a "real" mani this evening, but probably won't post up pics of the new NOTD until tomorrow. So, until then, thanks for reading!

~Colette

Friday's Haul & MNLL

This particular haul is from a Big Lots. Almost all of these are sheer, except for the last 2. I haven't worn a french manicure in a while, but I think they will be fun to use the next time I do.

The first two are Wet n Wild Mega Last: Hawaiian Orchid & Sheer Sparkling Pink. The rest are Revlon. Color Bean Sheer: Starlight, Bright Sky, Night Light, Lavender Light, Glow Rosy, Beam of Pink, Sunstruck, Flash of Fuschia. & Color Illusion: Steel Magic & Pink Crystal.

Then, yesterday over at my friend's house, I found several things that My Nais Look Like. Of course, nothing was actually as glittery as the Ruby Pumps, but I got the color pretty close on a couple of these. Apologies a couple of them are a little out of focus, but I didn't want to be totally a totally rude guest, and this is all about the color anyway.

Abover is my friend's cell phone; below is her friend's cell phone.

And the last pic was a candle holder of hers. She likes red, I probably could have found a few more things MNLL, but I thought 3 was enough.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette