OPI Teenage Dream & Small Rant

Ahahahaha!!! (maniacal laugh, folks) I’m typing this blog out in Word because my stupid cable modem has died!! Living in Alaska sometimes SUCKS because there is basically a MONOPOLY here when it relates to high-speed internet. If I could change providers, I would in a New York minute! That, and they over charge by a ton! If you live in the lower 48 (Alaska talk for the Continental US), count yourself as being lucky. At least we are able to do our own troubleshooting. (Both hubby and I have degrees in IT.) In fact, after my hubby was done troubleshooting, we called the company, and they are like… uh, yeah… sounds like you need a new modem. Duh and WTH?! This makes modem #3. Oh well, at least I’m making the attempt to keep up with blogging! On to the polish…

Blurry in order to see the glittery-ness!

Never, ever, ever in a million years would I think I would LOVE this color. Alas, OPI’s Teenage Dream has totally exceeded in expectations. I am not a lover of pink nail polishes; at least not on my skin tone. Teenage Dream though is the perfect pink shade for me and it has such beautiful glitters!!! I only have a mini bottle of it, but I may need to try to track down a regular sized bottle for my collection! I only used 2 coats, but could have afforded to use 3, but it’s late, I’m tired, and I plan on throwing on OPI’s black shatter on it tomorrow evening. I’ll post some pics of those when I get them.

Thanks everyone for taking a peek and letting me vent for a moment!


Product mentioned was purchased by ME! :)

Beginning Knitting 101 and Friendship

Quick note: at the time I am typing this out… my stupid cable modem box is sitting near the door to be taken in and replaced. This will probably be posted after my knitting class.  By then, at least I’ll have working internet! Yay!!!



No, I’m not going to do a tutorial on how to knit, but I do have a beginning knitting class that I will be attending for the first time ever tonight. I am very excited!!! My current skills are very basic. I can knit, and I can purl. That’s it. If I mess up and miss a stitch, I have no clue how to fix it. I can knit a scarf, and I’ve found instructions that I’m able to follow from a magazine on how to make wristlets. The true reason I am taking this class though is to spend time with an old friend of mine who I rarely get to see. We spoke about taking a knitting class several years ago when we found out we both had an interest in learning! This has yet to happen. Now this friend of mine and I… We are fortunate if we are able to see each other twice in a year, and that does make me sad. As working mothers, we both find it difficult to find time that coincides in order to spend a bit of time together.


I have much to learn in my lifetime, and find that I know nothing more and more every day. The world has so much more to teach me, but I feel fortunate to have learned one thing… albeit the hard way. Life without friends who are supportive and love you for who you are is a hard life not just for you, but for those closest to you (kids, spouses, etc…). For me, my girlfriends are an integral part of my life… those who help me to keep my sanity. Without them, I would be miserable. And with them, I have chosen to be honest about me and my life and they still love me.


I was not always this way. I never lied to my friends, but I failed to let my girlfriends know who I really was when I became an “adult”. Everything was hidden nicely away if it wasn’t “good”. Everyone believed that my first marriage and my life at the time was perfect. So after 11 years of marriage, when I announced that I was leaving my husband at the time… it was a shock to everyone who knew me. Please don’t get me wrong… there is so much more to the story of my first marriage, and so much more to the story of not being true to myself or to my friends, but then this post would be incredibly long. I doubt that this would be of interest!!! 


It is still very difficult for me with 2 active school age children, a FT career that I am still new to the profession, a husband who also has a FT career and obtaining his graduates degree full time, and aging parents who depend on me and my family to find time to spend with my friends. But I have learned to work very hard to keep my friendships alive, renew old friendships, be true to them, and more importantly learn to be true to myself. Although this may take time away from my family, it gives them a wife/mother/daughter who is able to stay focused on their needs as well because I am happy.


Many people often send and receive those e-mails about true friendships between girlfriends. Although I do not forward these on normally (Being a former IT person, it makes me cringe to think about all of the malware that the e-mail could carry and get infected into my own computer), but I do appreciate them. It serves as a reminder, at least for me, that friends, especially girlfriends, are an integral part of my sanity.


So tonight, after a very long week of work, homework, basketball, etc… I will go home, grab my knitting needles and head to my first ever Beginning Knitting 101 class to sit and enjoy a company of a friend sitting beside me, grab some coffee afterwards at the nearest Starbucks, and appreciate the fact that I have people in my life that I can truly call my friend.

OPI Happy Anniversary + Cala Nail Decoration

I've worn OPI Happy Anniversary plus Cala Nail Decoration 3-D Nail Art stickers for the past couple of days.

I really am loving Happy Anniversary. My mother grabbed this one for me when she was picking up beauty supplies for her business just because she thought it was pretty. She was right! It took 3 coats to build the coverage, but it was sooooooo worth it!!!

Also, can you see the sparkly in the nail stickers? I picked these up along with some green and white clover stickers that are by Cala as well when I was at Fred Meyers. I really like them, and yes, they are a bit on the 3-D side. I used 3 coats of SV to obtain a smooth surface on the nail, but it still didn't give me a "flat" surface. Did that make sense?! It's late... forgive me folks.

I took this off earlier this evening, and I gotta tell you... I think I should have used the foil method to get all the layers of SV off and even the stickers. Ah well. Honestly, I'm not into nail stickers much... prefer the nail stamps because of the ease of removal. These were fun though because my hand drawn hearts SUCK!

One more thing I HAVE TO MENTION! When I went to Freddy's to look around for makeup and nail stuff, my 10 yo son went with me to keep me company. After about 20 minutes, I apologized to him for taking so long. He tells me, "No problem mom... take your time, really I don't mind!" HE'S AS SWEET AS HIS DADDY!!! I'm such a lucky woman. :)

Thanks for checking this out!!! Have a great one! :)

All items mentioned in this post were purchased by ME unless specified differently. :)

China Glaze Tron 3D Fantasy + Random nail pic

I know I showed this all to you in this post on the nail swatch wheel, but I thought it might be better showcased with these pictures instead.



China Glaze Tron 3D Fantasy



Um, can anyone tell me how to get blogger to rotate the pictures? Or is the only way to do it is by using an image editing software? I'd be soooo very grateful if someone can tell me! :)

The picture below was one of those that I did quite a looooooong time ago. Before I ever thought that I'd have a blog to post it on. Forgive me for not remembering what I used, but I thought I'd share anyways.



Thanks everyone for letting me share!

All items in this post were purchased by ME! :)

My (very early) birthday gift!

If you recall from an older post that my mom went to Vegas for a week for a little slot machine action + get-away-from-the-damn-cold-I've-got-stupid-cabin-fever time.

She brought back some gifts as always for my kids and me (hubby got cash to buy whatever he wants, and is thrilled!). Yes, my mom is very generous, and I am very grateful!

She brought back a couple of things for me, but in this post, I am only showing what I got as a very early birthday gift. (My birthday isn't until March.)

The box!

The bag inside the box.

My new necklace... the Pisces sign.

Can you see the black eyes?



Sigh... I wish I was better at taking pictures.

So, I know the chances of my mother ever reading my blog are almost nil, but THANK YOU MOM!!! I was so very excited to receive this gift! When I wore it, my 10-year old son thought it was a dragon, and my 8-year old daughter though it was the dollar sign. Hehe... Then they got closer and looked and it and was like... WHY FISH?!?! They are half Korean, and understand the Chinese Zodiac signs, but no clue about the Western astrological signs. Ah well.

To be honest, I've never heard of Forever Silver before, but did take a look at their website here. I did see their store at Mandalay Bay, but never walked in before. I may have to the next time I visit Vegas. I've never been much of an accessory type of girl, but I've been inspired by so many bloggers, that now I want to be!

I'm also a little surprised my mom chose to buy me this. She usually finds me trinkets of elephants (with their trunks up for good luck) since that seems to be my animal of choice. I love this piece of jewelry, and know it will always have a special place in my heart. :)

Thanks for letting me share everyone!

OPI My Private Jet (non-holo version)

OPI My Private Jet original holo version, how I covet thee!!! Still no luck though in finding it. However, I did get my hands on a later version of MPJ, and I have to admit... it's still sooooo PURTY! My one complaint... the pics below are showing tipwear after only 1 day of wear. Only 1!!! :( Ah well. It ended up coming off after these pictures anyways because I had meetings up on the "C" floor the next day, and I didn't want to risk offending anyone with non-traditional polish.

On to the pictures!! Please ignore the seriously dry hands. Alaska is cold and dry!

Thanks for looking, everyone!

All polishes mentioned in this post were purchased by ME! :)

Unknown NP + Dice!

My love of nail polish and nail art blossomed about August 2009, and since then I believe I've accumulated over 300 nail polishes. Sigh... I've probably worn about 200 of those approximately, and I rarely took any pictures at all. I regret it. And when I did take any, I never bothered to write down which polishes went with which pictures! ARGH! Oh well. Here is one of those "unknowns" that I had lying around in my hard drive with a stamp of dice!

These pics were taken in May 2010 right before my family and I headed out to Vegas for a week. Hence the dice!!! I honestly can't even recall if this was a Konad stamp or a Bundle Monster stamp. I'll have to figure that part out when I'm not so exhausted. 

Unfortunately, lady luck was not with me on that trip, but it was still a BLAST!!! As always!!

And below... is my Flicker. He's such a big baby. 

On another note... I noticed I have 5 followers!! Woohoooooo!!! Ok, actually only 4 because my hubby is 1 of those. I know 5 is NOTHING compared to everyone else, but the fact that 4 people out there are willing to read my rambling?!?! Kinda scary. ;) All I can say is THANK YOU!!! :) 

Until we meet again! Stay warm & happy everyone!

All items mentioned in this post were purchased by ME! :)

Konad-licious is having a HUGE giveaway! Go and enter!!!



Konad-licious' Huge 1,000 Follower Giveaway!

 

Weeeee!!! Konad-licious is celebrating over 1000 followers! A great blog that I definitely encourage folks to stop by at and take a look-see!


So, what are you waiting for? Grab some coffee, head on over to her blog, enter the giveaway, and read through some of her older posts. You won't be sorry!

Until next time!

Spa Ritual Primitive and Zoya Becca

So I have 2 new colors for you today! Ok, not "new" as in out on the market new, but one has been sitting my untrieds for awhile, and the other I just received as part of Zoya's 3 Free FB promotion.

The first one is Spa Ritual's Primitive:

Ain't it sooooo purty!!! It has this deep dark fuchsia like color in the bottle. When viewed under intense lighting, you can see a bit of a slight purplish duo-chrome factor to it! It is a cross between a creme and a shimmer, I guess you could say. I could be totally wrong in my description! The application was ok, and the above pics are 2 coats topped with SV. I am extremely pale, and this color looks great on me! I'm sure in sunlight this nail polish would wow me, but alas... it is Alaska here, and we are lucky to have 7 hours of daylight right now... all while I'm at work. :(

I'd definitely recommend picking SR Primitive up if you don't have it already. I have a few other Spa Rituals to my collection, and I'll be honest when I say I am very happy with all of them!

The next polish is Zoya's Becca:

Zoya's Becca is a very gorgeous lime green shimmer. I love Zoya for their colors, their Remove Plus, and best of all ... the BRUSH!!! I have itty bitty nails, and the using their nail polish brush is so wonderful. I, however, did have issues with the fact that the above pictures are 3 coats and there is still VNL. If you don't mind VNL, then no biggie.

And back to the paleness of my skin... this was a bad color for me as you can see from the pics. Ah well... It will however stay in my collection most likely because I think it would be a wonderful color to use as a gradient effect for nail art. You can purchase Zoya products at www.zoya.com.

Also, I decided to do some nail art on Becca using purple dots on the corner of my nails. BAD IDEA! It looked like I had the plague on my hands. I forgot to take pictures of that before removing it. Boo.

What do you think of these 2 colors? Do you own them? Do you want them?

Until we meet again!!! :)

My mom's Vegas nails!!!



My mom's VEGAS winter 2011 nails

 I'd say about twice a year my mom takes a small vacation for herself, and she always goes to Vegas. She rarely lets me do her nails because she is a hairdresser, and messing with all those lovely chemicals and having her hands soaking wet most of the day - they just don't last long on her.

Yet, before her trips, she lets me deck out her nails with some polish and Konading, and she always makes sure that I do something that will bring her luck at the slot machines! So, this time she chose the color Oh How Street It Is! by China Glaze. I topped it off with SV, placed a dimond image from a Bundle Monster plate using China Glaze's Millennium, used China Glaze's Fairy Dust to add some pizzaz, and finished it off with one more coat of SV.

What do you guys think? Would you call this a "lucky" manicure? :)

All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me.

Ulta Salon Formula Devious

Ulta Salon Formula Devious

So, last year in March I was fortunate enough to visit Beaverton, OR for work, and was able to stop into my first Ulta EVER! Here in Alaska we are not fortunate to have a place that cool. :( Anywho... I was like a kid in the candy store, and picked up a few Ulta polishes.

Here's the weird thing... it's taken me almost an entire year later to actually try one of them!!! What is wrong with me?!?! Actually, I asked my hubby to pick a color for me out of my untrieds, and he's the one who actually chose it. Good job hubby!!!

Devious is a beautiful, deep, dark, vampy purple creme. Although my pictures make it lean towards blue. Ugh. It really is extremely opaque, and in reality... I could have used 1 coat, but used 2 for sanity's sake. The finish on this polish was very shiny, but I still used SV as a TC because I am IMPATIENT!

I will definitely purchase more Ulta NPs on any future trips if I am lucky. :) If any of you live near an Ulta or at least within driving distance... count yourself very fortunate! :)

Thanks everyone!!!

Change in YouTube?!?!

WTH?!?! Is it me or did the homepage of YouTube change its look, and I'm too stupid to navigate it now!!! Grrrr...

Was it broken before?!?! No. Do I like this new change? No. Is it because it is confusing me too much? Probably.

What do you think?

So many possibilities...

I'm starting to think that my latest obsession might be with blogging... Nahhhh... not possible!

All I know is that I am in the process of seeing how creative I can be with creating a blog. Should be interesting is all I have to say. I have to admit I have this fear though. See, I read a lot of blogs from so many talented women! Most of them are related to nail polishes, but many related to cooking and fashion in general. Anywho... they are all so very smart, witty, and talented with their words and photos, and I fear... Ugh, fear is for wusses right?!?!?

I honestly don't have much more to say, and unfortunately nothing to show you in regards to any nail polishes or nail art. Boo!

I am however smelling something seriously yummy in the house. My hubby just popped in some bacon wrapped shrimp in the oven, and I believe it is finished, so I'm going to hop into the kitchen and STEAL ME SOME!!!

Gots to Post About This Awesome Giveaway!!!

Also Known As is a great blog I've been following for quite some time, and right now... she has an AWESOME giveaway going on! Check out the polishes below, and go to her blog to ENTER!!!

Image from www.kelliegonzo.com

Test

China Glaze Tron Collection Part Deux!

Ok, let's hope the rest of my images upload correctly!!! Here it goes...

Ugh, upside down, but better than nothing...

L-R

Gamer Glam, Electric Magenta, Hyper Haute

L-R

Virtual Violet, High Def, Techno Teal

Well, it's better than nothing. And on my hands right now...

Virtual Violet

So is it worth it? The dry time on these babies = FANTASTIC! Seriously, I did my nails in 20 minutes using 2 coats of polish and Seche Vite as a TC. The first coat on each one of these polishes will create drag if you have a tendency of going over the same spot. The 2nd coat though seems to magically meld it all together.

Have you had a chance to try any of the Tron collection?

TTFN!  

China Glaze Tron Collection polishes were purchased by ME!

China Glaze Tron Collection

I'm so new to this picture taking thing, but here goes a shot at it.


First, I did manage to snatch up the 12th color in the Tron collection that was mistakenly left out of the collection when I requested it. Yay! Was it worth it? Yes, just to say I have it. Is the collection worth it? Hmm... I have heard that CG had aimed to create a collection using Tron that would be similar to the CG OMG collection. Since I don't own any colors of the OMG collection (I didn't start my nail polish hobby until only about 2 years ago), I can't do a full comparison. My understanding is that OMG has lots of linear holo. Tron has a very scattered type of holo. Well, enough of me blabbing... here are my swatches. 6 out of the 12 colors because I cannot figure out how to get blogger to quit uploading the pictures sideways!!! GRR!!

L-R

Hologram, Laser Lime, Mega Bite

L-R

Cyberspace, Digital Dawn, 3D Fantasy

China Glaze Tron Collection was purchased by ME! 

How?!

One thing I have got to say... I truly admire the bloggers that I follow. Several of them post daily at least once, many others post a few times a week! I'm lucky if I post once every 3-6 months! I would love to try to post at least once a week, but I go off and get obsessed about something else. Obviously, my obsession here and now still doesn't quite involve blogging. Sigh...

Thank you to all the bloggers who stick to it, and keep me and the rest of the world happy! :)

On another note... I am still obsessed with nail polish, but it is slowly trying to creep into makeup. I shall resist! At least until I find that magical tree that grows money. I know it's out there!!!

My latest polishes include 11 out of 12 of the China Glaze Tron polishes. I've only worn one, and I was surprised that I fell in love with it! It's such a "work appropriate" color too. Not normally my style.

Oh, and the only reason I didn't get the 12th is because I was supposed to, and the lady packaging them up must have grabbed the WRONG POLISH! GRR.

I'll get some pics posted later. I know - I suck at this blogging thing. It's a good thing no one follows me! LOL!!!