Not Much Of A St. Patrick's Mani-But I Tried

Last week, I was parked near the beach and wanted some fun nails to wear. I chose these Zebra print French tip nails from my shoebox-o-goodies.

These nails are from the Broadway Fashion Express line, called "Scandalous." Ha! Love it!

They are medium length but really long on me. I jabbed a couple ends into things accidentally, and man, did that hurt!

The nail bed is beige but with the pink gel nail glue underneath, they have a pink tint.

 I added 2 coats of Confetti Dreamdate on the nail beds.

Dreamdate (3rd from left)

Well, these were fun for about 4 days and then I got bored. 

So I clipped off the zebra tips and got this look...

And this is a really pretty look for the office. 

Eventually, I wanted to try some bold color. 

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Fairy Teal." (One coat)

This is one coat of Spoiled "Trust Fund Baby". The multiglitter is so pretty in the bottle. 

The brush and formula are a nightmare though.
The brush loses bristles, and the glitter glumps on the brush.

Here is 2 coats and was so difficult to capture on camera.

Now I'm ready for a St Patrick's Day party...mostly.

Have a good weekend everyone, and thanks for reading my blog post!

Kiss Everlasting Pearl French Tip Real Short Length Nails Review

I was so excited when I found these at CVS!

I could not find these in the real short length before. So when I saw them, I had to snatch them right up! Of course, getting $3 ECBs back from CVS was nice too.

These pearl French tips come in medium size as well. The Real Short Length number is 55360/EF09. The kit comes with pink gel nail glue, a cuticle stick, and emery board. I used the nail glue in the kit.

The nail base is opaque, not clear. so that with the pink gel nail glue under it, 

my short nail edge is not so visible in natural light.

I really like the "real short length," and square tips. The pearl tips have a shimmer to them. 

The difference with Everlasting French Pearl is that Pearl is not a bright white compared to their other Everlasting French full cover nails. The Pearl has a more subtle look to it.***

 As you can see, the "real short length" still pops up over my fingers' edges. 

If you have long nail beds, you might want to choose medium length.

3 of my favorite things:

1. Journal
2. Starbucks travel mug (got free refills all during the month of January!)
3. A new pack of Kiss nails

I never thought we'd be going into our 3rd month (THREE!) of hotel living. And that buying a place to live would be so difficult. The stories I could tell you...
It's these familiar things that give me comfort.

Have you tried Kiss nails with pearl French tips? Do you like them more, less or equal to the white French tips?

 

***Quoted from "What I learned at the Kiss Nails Webinar."

Broadway Nails Fashion Express "Paparazzi"

I've got something exciting happening tomorrow. Can't talk about it yet. I wanted my nails to look special though, so I pulled these out of my shoe box.

These are Broadway Nails Fashion Express "Paparazzi" design. they are medium length. Cost is between $3.99-$4.49 for 24 nails in 12 sizes.

The alternative French tip design is white with taupe gradient sections and silver glitter accents. I was going to cut them shorter, but once I got them on, and saw how pretty the design is, I couldn't do it.

I had minimal air bubbles using Nailene Professional Pink Gel Glue. 

There's a little air dot on my thumb, which are always my problem fingernails.

Well, they are long on me, but they are fabulous!

Thanks for stopping by!

Broadway Fashion Express Alternative French Tip Nails

These are side-swipe alternative french tip nails.

They are Broadway Fashion Express nails.  

Medium length with a leaf motif on a light grey background.

Looking for these online, I see that Flash is now the name of the colorfully accented full cover nails with a black base in the Broadway Fashion Express line. It looks like this design in no longer offered.  I bought these, oh, probably 2 years ago. When I was packing to move, I cut the package apart and put it and the nails into a snack zip bag, and brought them along in the car.

These are long on me but sometimes I just want that option.  After I applied the nail to my natural nail, I put a little bit of glue behind my nail, into the well of my finger, to fill in the gap where I could see through the nail, because my real nail is so short. 

I used Nailene pink gel glue because the Fashion Express nails don't come with glue.

They cost between $3.99-$4.49. Since there are 24 nails in the package, I should have enough for one more manicure. A very inexpensive alternative to salon nails.

Even though these are dressier nails, I'm wearing them with my olive colored shirt today. 

I think they look good with this color.

Have you seen this nail style for sale anywhere?

Nailene So Natural Everyday French Review

I was just trying to research and joggle my mind into remembering when and how I got these. I'm thinking they were sent to me by Nailene from a question I answered online. I received them around the time we were packing to move, and tossed them into my kit.

First of all, I have to say I really love these nails! 

• They have "comfort flex technology" which means they comform easier to my flat nail beds. The back of the package states: "Perfect fit every time! Our So Natural nails are made with exclusive Comfort Flex technology designed to fit most nail types. So comfortable, you won't even know they're on!" These nails feel substantial and strong but the base feels comfortable on my nail beds.

•  The pink gel nail glue is really pink.  It's actually darker than shown. And it's has a more gel like consistency. When I applied it to my nail and to the artificial nail, it did not run all over. I had very little clean up. The pink is more evident in this photo...

• The length is SHORT and very comfortable to wear.  I put a little bit of glue on my natural nail, then some glue on the bottom half of the fake nail bed.  Even though there are no tabs and they are slick, I didn't have any gluing disasters because the glue stays mostly in place. Also, they're plastic cuticle stick is my new glue clean up stick of choice.

If you would like to try these nails, the number is: 

77360 

SHORT

Pink

Have you tried these Nailene So Natural nails?

Vanity Fair Hollywood Cover Inspired Nails

I bought the latest Vanity Fair mag the other day. I just love the Hollywood fold out cover editions. The nails and polish are inspired by this beautiful cover.

I started off with Fing'rs California girl short length nails with black and floral design tips.

The length of these nails are so natural looking and comfortable. However, I'm all thumbs when it comes to applying them. They are so short and I can't grab them and put them on without getting air bubbles. Ugh! But I love the length and design so I came up with a solution. More on that in a moment.

As I said above, I got inspired by the Vanity Fair Hollywood edition magazine cover.  The actresses and their dresses are just gorgeous. I love the 1940's feel to the design of the dresses and cover. Rooney Mara's black bob is striking with her pale pink dress. And that's what gave me inspiration when I was faced with 8 fingers of air bubbles.

I took Confetti Dreamdate and added a layer over the nail beds, avoiding the floral design. Then with Wet n Wild Hallucinate, I covered the floral designs, avoiding the black tips as much as possible. By doing this the air bubbles are much less noticeable.

What do you think of my nails? Don't you just love the cover design? Where do you find inspiration?

French Tips with a Twist

 I always feel better when my nails look pretty.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this feeling. Am I?

Nothing much new has happened since my last post. We're still looking for a home to buy. Still living in hotels. And I'm still biting my nails because of all the stress.

I wore these nails, probably when I first bought them and before I starting blogging.

I can't find them in my blog post list.

Before we left our old home and started on this adventure, I consolidated my fake nails collection. 

You can read about here. "Click Here"

These Broadway Color Changing Nails are a really cute idea. I believe when I wore them before, they didn't change color in the sun. I had put a clear top coat over them and thought maybe that had affected their ability to change.

Now these are at least 2 years old, and I don't know if they're change color.

I'll let you know tomorrow.
UPDATE: They did not change color today, out in the sun. Bummer.

Without Flash

I chose these to put on tonight because the black swirly design on the white french tips. 

Their length is short.

I think they look natural and cover my nubbins, which makes me happy.

What do you think of my french tips with a twist?

Essie Da Bush and CVS Nail Polish Remover Pads Review

As I type, the rest of my family sleeps. The internet in this hotel is very slow tonight. I'm not sure I'll be able to get my two pictures uploaded. At least the 5 or 6 women who played twister above our heads last night are gone...or out for the evening. 

Today I used these  nail polish remover pads to get the daisies off my nails. It took 2 pads. Each pad is thick, slightly nubby, and soaked with nail polish remover. $4.19 for 10 pads. The box claims that one pad can get polish off of 10 nails. Maybe so, but I had probably 4 or 5 layers with all nail polish to paint the daisies, plus that was back in August so the polish was really old.  However, the pads did get the polish layers off, and I was able to paint them today.

This is 3 coats of Essie Da Bush. It's a light mossy green. At first, I didn't think I'd like it too much, but it's grown on my now. The first coat is really streaky but the next coat evens it out. The 3rd coat completes the smooth look. I thought this was similar to Essie Sew Psyched but *click here* I see that one is a really dark moss.

I bought this in a minis set at TJ Maxx a couple days ago. Not really crazy about the mini brush that comes with mini bottles.

What do you think of Da Bush? Do you own it? Do you like it? Do tiny nail polish brushes bother you?

Ok. Crossing fingers this will upload. If you see it, that means I was successful. Take care and see you soon!

Today, I'm wearing nails I painted back in August. *Click Here*

They're based on Robin Moses Nail Art.

I brought these nails along with many of the other nails I own in the car when we moved.  I used Kiss Everlasting Real Short Length. They are the ones that look like gel nails. #5424B/EFS01

Here's a pic

 

 The old box had "Salon UV Gel Effect" but now it doesn't 

so I have to go by the numbers to get the pink gel nail base.

I put the ones I have in this empty Kiss blank nails box.

Yesterday, I went to TJ Maxx and even though I don't need any more nail polish I succumbed and bought this:

Your Hut or Mine, Fair Game, Da Bush, Lion Around

Da Bush, and Lion Around

Your Hut or Mine, and Fair Game

Probably strange to show the bottles without swatching the colors. 

I'll get to that one day...once we're out of this hotel and settled.

I've been so stressed by this move, and buying a home, I've reverted back to stripping the bark off my nails. They're just sub-nubs now.  I'm carrying a matching set of black luggage under my eyes.  We're hoping the ordeal will be over soon. My husband and I are just wrecked.

But when I put on some nails, ahhh...I feel so much better. This length is really comfortable for me, and gives me a feeling a being pulled together. Does that make sense?

(Also, the glue on nails keep my hands out of my mouth. :x)

I want to say thank you and welcome to my new subscribers!

Time to go make lunch. Take care and I'll see you soon!