27 Mar

CND Vinylux Midnight Swim Nebula Nail Art

Hi Dolls!

Today I’m sharing my latest Nebula (or Galaxy) art. This is one of my favorite looks to sport on my nails. Aren’t they pretty? Sometimes I think I’ll try something fancy with crazy colors and mix it up, but I always end up just liking it like this with pretty purple nebulae.

CND Midnight Swim with Galaxy/Nebula Nail art

Back in November when I swatched CND Midnight Swim, I knew I wanted use it as the base for my next Nebula nail art look. It’s such a pretty deep blue, and I was excited to test its durability with nail art over it! While the base color is CND Midnight Swim, all the purples, blues and glitter were done using  several Girlstuff polishes and a makeup sponge torn into small pieces. Check out my tutorial for nebula nails here. It takes a lot of sponging, but it is really easy to do. I added some stars using white polish and a small dotting tool. The criss-crossed stars were done using a teensy tiny brush that I cut into just a few strands.

I’ve been wearing this for 8 full days now, and I’ve got to say, I am SO impressed! Just look at this side by side of Day 1 and Day 8!

CND Midnight Swim 8-Day Wear Comparison

Can you believe it? I like this brand even more the second time around! This polish is out of this world! I would definitely recommend these CND Vinylux Weekly polishes for their long wear time. Check out my full review here.

You can get your own CND products by contacting CND Philippines on Facebook, Instagram  or Twitter.

Have a stellar day!
Hugs,
Rach

25 Mar

Oh My Goodness! Jellybean Nails Using OMG Nail Strips!

Hi gals!

I appreciate you sticking around despite it being quiet around here lately. Unfortunately, I’ve been having some personal health issues in addition to keeping up with my regular mommy/wife duties and the blog always takes a back seat to real life. I’m sure you understand, but I thank you just the same for your patience. Y’all rock!

I’ve got a review for you today of a super fun product sent to me by OMG Nail Strips. They make a wide variety of nail strip designs that make for some quick and easy nail art, even if you are just a beginner!

I picked out two designs to try out and today I’m showing you the Jelly Bean design. Even though I don’t like to eat jellybeans, I do think they are so cute and colorful and a very fun idea for nail art! Perfect for a spring mani. Check out how great these look! I got lots of compliments on them.

OMG Nail Strips - Jellybean

But are they as easy to use as they boast on their site? Yes! They were so easy and quick to apply! Keep in mind that there are different types of nail strips and decals on the market so it’s important to know what you are working with and follow the instructions for each type. I really appreciate that they have a video tutorial on their website which left me feeling confident when I applied these.

Before I started, I pushed back my cuticles and swiped some polish remover on my nail surface to make sure to remove any oil or residue that might prevent the strips from sticking well to the nail. I also used some scissors and cut the sheet of nail strips into individual strips. There are 14 strips total per pack.

OMG Nail Strip Application

1. After selecting the correct size for my nail, I removed the clear plastic coating on top of the strip and then removed the strip from the stiff paper backing. I centered the strip to my cuticle line and sides of my nail. The underside of the strip is sticky so it is very easy to position it on the nail. It stays put while you work on cutting it down to size, but it’s not so sticky that, if you place it off-center, you can’t pull it off and reposition. It is also sturdy enough that it didn’t tear or stretch when I had to reposition.

2. After I positioned the strip, I was surprised to see how much of the strip was left hanging over the end of my nail. I have long nails, y’all. So these strips would still work on REALLY REALLY long nails. At this point, I used my finger to smooth out any bubbles under the strip. I used my rubber ended cuticle pusher to make sure the edges of the strip were stuck down well.

3. I snipped off the excess overhang of the nail strip with scissors, and since my nails are so skinny, I used my nippers to snip where the strip was a little bit too big for my nail on the sides. If you look closely at the picture, you can see what I did.

4. I used my finger to fold the strip over the free edge of my nail. It was a little tricky at first since my nails are almond shaped and not flat. But I just made sure to press along the edge and to tuck the over-hang under my nail.

5. See the excess tucked up under the tip of my nail?

6. Using a fine grit nail file, I filed along the edge of my nail until the excess came off. I did my best to hold the file parallel with my nail to keep the strip in tact on the tip of my nail. After I was finished, I topped it off with my favorite quick-dry topcoat from Girlstuff.

The packaging says that these last up to 10 days. I wore them for 8 days before I needed a change, but the strips weren’t peeling up around the edges at all. They did have some tip wear but not much considering they endured 8 days on my nails.

Application only took 15 minutes or so (not counting nail prep time). This really is a quick way to get some fine looking nails.

OMG Nail Strips in Jellybean

If you want to get your hands nails on some of these OMG Nail Strips, then pop over to their site and take a look. They have everything from skulls, hearts, flowers, feathers, and animal prints. These are $7.99 each or, for a better deal, you can pick 5 designs for $25 with free shipping on any orders. They even have new LED Nail Decals that have an LED that lights up with the NFC fields given off by some phones. How cool is that? Check those out here.

Have you ever tried these nail strips before? What do you think? I really like them, and I know I’ll enjoy showing off the other design I picked out soon. Thank you OMG Nail Strips for sending these to me. They sure were fun to wear!

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to make someone smile!

Hugs,
Rach

13 Feb

#Mynailsandmydress and Cebu Bloggers Society Turns 7

Hi gals,

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Any big plans this weekend? I’ve got a couple of things happening but more on that later. Today I’ve done some nails based on some details from a dress of mine. I don’t always match my nails to my clothes. But when I do it is awesome!

MJXXVI Stamping

For this look I started with my go-to pigmented-but-a-pain-to-apply-white (Yeah, I need to find a white I actually love). Then I stamped using Girlstuff Blues an awesome design from the MJXXVI plate sent to me by My Online Shop. As I expected, this plate stamped beautifully. I love that we have high-quality plates available locally. Meann also sells the squishy white stamper that will make stamping a dream.

My nails and my dres

I bought a gorgeous party dress this week at a little boutique here in Cebu called Best Finds Thriftshop.  I plan on wearing this dress to a Valentine’s dinner tomorrow night. We have some games planned and a potluck dinner. There will be baby sitting, so no interruptions. Yay!cbsi7

I’m also going to a blogger get together on Sunday night. The Cebu Bloggers Society is celebrating it’s 7th founding anniversary, and they have invited members to get together to celebrate. I just recently joined the Cebu Bloggers Society. I don’t get to go to many events because  what I actually blog about is very limited, but I’m still proud to be a member of a group of bloggers dedicated to making our city and our world a better place both from behind the computer or as we go about our daily lives. I love how bloggers across the board can, in their own ways, promote local companies and brands and especially come together and use social media to inspire people to be better and to help in times of crisis.  I look forward to meeting all the new faces. The Cebu City Marriot Hotel is graciously providing a venue for the bloggers of Cebu to come together and get to know one another better. I’m looking forward to it!

No matter what you are up to this weekend, I hope you have a lovely time doing it. Make someone smile!

Hugs,
Rach

10 Feb

Barbie’s Ultimate Valentine’s Date Night Nails (Featuring Girlstuff I Love You)

Hey ladies!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and, while I’m not a sucker for the commercial side of the holiday, I do enjoy seeing the heart decorations, and I like to make my hubby a little something sweet to eat and maybe an extra nice dinner at home. He has hinted at a fun surprise in the works for me this year so I’m excited about that. I know there IS polish involved, so I am sure I’ll be pleased.

Do you like the title of this post? What I’m sharing with you tonight has to be the girliest of all the girly manicures my digits have ever sported! I can totally see Barbie showing these off at a Valentine’s date night with Ken. I have received a ton of compliments on these nails. They are very fun to wear.

Girlstuff I Love You

I started with two coats of Girlstuff Pink Lemonade, which is a hot pink creme from their Summer 2014 collection. It is a vibrant, eye catching color on its own. I added one coat of I ♥ U from their Confetti Collection. This is a perfect glitter topper for Valentine’s Day or any time you want something sweet and girly. The hearts took a bit of work to fish out, but it wasn’t difficult and the payoff with the rest of the glitter mix was great with just one coat. The hearts are small enough that they don’t stick out awkwardly on my very curved nails. I always hate it when I put glitter shapes on my nails and they stick out oddly and tempt me to pick them off my nails. One coat of Girlstuff Fast Dry Top Coat (more on this amazing new product later) and I was good to go. I have been sporting these for 5 days now and they still look fabulous. I love when polish wears well despite my daily chores and such.

Here is my swatch of Girl Stuff Pink Lemonade on its own. So pretty!

Girlstuff Pink Lemonade Swatch

Girlstuff is a cruelty free brand, and their polishes are all 5 free and safe for little ones and pregnant women as well. Check out their Website or find them on Facebook to find out how to get your own.

I hope you have a great week and that you get to make someone smile today. You are fabulous!

Hugs,
Rach

28 Jan

Girlstuff Chestnut and MJ XXVIII Stamping

Hey gals,

Sorry for being so quiet around here lately. I blame it on a wedding in the family and some related festivities, my son’s birthday party, lovely hormones, having my nose stuck in a book, homeschooling my kids, and just being busy with real life in general. You all know how it goes.

While I have been too busy to blog, I haven’t been too busy for doing my nails. Recently I’ve enjoyed wearing some of my favorites and simply polishing nails for several friends.

Girlstuff Chestnut with MJ XXVIII stamping

Today, I’m sharing a stamped design using MJ XXVIII which is available from My Online Shop. Meann was kind enough to send me a couple of the new MJ stamping plates to test out along with some gold and silver stamping polish. Yay! Every single plate I have from MyOnline Shop stamps beautifully and this one is no exception. I’ve included a couple of macro shots near the end of this post because it’s my blog and I can do stuff like that if I want to. Ha!

MJ Stamping Plates

My base is two coats of Girlstuff Chestnut. My sweet hubby surprised me with this pretty over the holidays, and I am happy to show it off now. I think it fits in with Marsala—the “color of the year”—don’t you?

Girlstuff Chestnut

I used two coats for this and had no issues with application or removal. The formula was great and it was quick drying like all Girlstuff Polishes.

MJ XXVIII Stamping Macro

Look at the detail in this stamping! I used the bottom right of the larger sections of etching on the MJ XXVIII as it reminded me of henna designs, and I liked the idea of gold over Chestnut. It’s quite pretty if I do say so myself.

Macro Shot of MJ XXVIII Stamping

Well, that is all I have to share for today. I hope you are all having a lovely week so far. Keep smiling!

Hugs,
Rach

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