08 Jul

CND Pink Bikini with Glittery Tips

Hello ladies!

I’m sorry that it’s been so quiet around here this past month. Between being out of town for a while, finishing up the school year with the kids, needing a break afterwards, taking care of other responsibilities, and enjoying motherhood and life in general, it’s been hard to find the motivation to sit and blog. I have been doing my nails, though, so I have some things to share with you soon.

I’ve got a short and sweet post for you tonight. I started with CND Pink Bikini. I’ve told you before how I love the formula of the Vinylux polishes. This one gave me some issues at first. I think it was because there was some dried polish at the neck of the bottle. I cleaned up the neck and then it worked out well enough. So pretty and fun to wear! The weather has been so gloomy and rainy here in Cebu and a pop of color is just what I needed!

CND Vinylux Pink Bikini Swatch

I sponged some Ocean Green (Sinful Colors) on the tips of my nails. I grabbed Ocean Green while I was in Texas last year and I really love it paired with this pink. It is iridescent and so pretty.

Pink Bikini by CND with Glittery tips

I’ve always loved glittery tips and it really is one of the easiest ways to spice up a mani. All you need is a makeup sponge and some glittery polish. Just put some glitter on a bit of the makeup sponge and start dabbing. You can’t really go wrong.

These sparkly nails are my entry for Day 7 – Glittery! of the OMD3 Challenge hosted  by Brijit from Brijits Digits, Jacqui from Craftynail, Jemma from Eeeek! Nail Polish!, and Lindsay from Nail That Accent!. Check out the other pretty glittery nail art below

I hope you are having a great week and that you make someone smile today!

Hugs,
Rach

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25 May

Bloggers’ Elite Summer Collection ft. Pueen Love Elements

Hello again!

How was your weekend? Mine was quite busy and stressful, but it was a good one overall! I was looking for the song “Swinging on a star” by Bing Crosby and scored an album on iTunes for $3.99 for 100 Bing Crosby songs! I’m listening to it as I type this. I LOVE oldies! Especially Doris Day, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, and the like.

Anyhooo… y’all came here for the nails! I won’t disappoint! I just published my review and swatches of the new Bloggers’ Elite Summer Collection from Girlstuff this past weekend. Please do check out the post if you haven’t already. I thought I would share the easy stamped nail art I wore with each one. I used my Pueen stamping plates from their Love Elements Collection which I bought a couple of years ago.

 

Topaz Horizon ft. Pueen 38

Girlstuff Topaz Horizon With Stamping Pueen 38

With Topaz Horizon, I decided to use plate 38 from the Love Elements collection and a dark purple polish which worked very well. I love the finished look!

 

Struttingonsunshine ft. Pueen 43

Girlstuff Strutting on Sunshine with stamping Pueen 43

I picked a dark pink polish to stamp an image from plate 43 onto Struttingonsunshine. The image stamped well, but I had issues with the polish streaking when I went to add topcoat. I even floated the brush across the design, so I guess the pink polish just didn’t want to stick to SOS. Still pretty and eye catching!

 

AskMeWhats ft. Pueen 29

Girlstuff AskMeWhats with stamping Pueen 29

With AskMeWhats, I stamped this cute bow design using Pueen 29 and a dark blue polish of mine. Then I added some yellow dots to make the design pop! I like how it turned out.

Go Jackie Go ft. Pueen 46

Girlstuff Go Jackie Go with accent nail Pueen 46

I wanted something whimsical for an accent nail with Go Jackie Go. This is what I came up with using Pueen 46. I dabbed a bit of iridescent glitter at the base of my nail. Then I stamped this image over it. Then with a dotting tool, I added some gold dots for a final touch. It turned out so pretty!

I had fun coming up with a complimentary stamped look for each of these colors. I haven’t had as much time for hand painted designs lately, but one can still be creative with stamping, and though simple, it definitely takes your nail polish to another level. Mr. Nailinator has been bugging me to try my hand at another insanely time-consuming design, and I’ve been toying with the idea. Maybe next week after the kids and I close out the school year.

Here is hoping the Monday blues don’t get you down. Always remember that coffee is your friend! Have a good one!
Hugs,
Rach

23 May

Girlstuff Bloggers’ Elite Summer Collection Swatches & Review

Hello loves!

I’m back with a fun summer collection to share with you. This summer heat has really been getting me down lately, but there is nothing like some bright and cheery colors on my nails for a great pick me up! Girlstuff Forever recently released their Bloggers’ Elite Summer Collection—a four-color collection each named after a popular Philippine beauty blog. Y’all know I love Girlstuff polishes, so when I got these in the mail I was super excited! Thanks again, Girlstuff!

Let’s get right to it shall we? All of these photos were taken in my light-box. Each of these has a great, quick-drying formula. If you’d like to check out the blogs each polish is named after, just follow the link in each section below.

Topaz Horizon

Girlstuff Topaz Horizon Swatch

Topaz Horizon is a perfect pastel yellow creme with just a touch of green. I was surprised at how much I loved this one since I don’t typically like yellow polish for my nails. But this one is very pretty! This is two coats on most nails. I had to put a third coat on a couple of nails.

AskMeWhats

Girlstuff AskMeWhats Swatch

AskMeWhats is a pinkish purple (or is it purplish pink) creme. This girly color is definitely the most work-safe color of the bunch. Two coats are all that is needed for full opacity.

Struttingonsunshine

Girlstuff Strutting on Sunshine Swatch

Struttingonsunshine is a very bright robin’s egg blue creme. This is a stand out color and very fun to wear! This one was opaque in two coats.

Go Jackie Go

Girlstuff Go Jackie Go Swatch

I’ve saved my personal favorite for last. Go Jackie Go is a green chartreuse creme which is very flattering on my skin tone. I usually go for dark greens because I can’t pull off lighter greens. But this one is lovely! GJG took 2 coats for opacity, and I was sad when it was time to take it off. Even my sister, The Bookworm, borrowed this one to wear when she saw it.

bloggerselite

Photo Credit: Girlstuff Forever Facebook Page

Overall, I love this collection! These 4 new shades have the great quick-dry and self-leveling formula I have come to expect from Girlstuff. I believe, between Topaz Horizon, AskMeWhats, Struttingonsunshine, and Go Jackie Go, there is something for everyone with this quartet of colors.

These sell for Php120 at Girlstuff kiosks. You can also check out their website and contact them about having polishes shipped to you. You can also check them out on Facebook and follow them on Instagram @girlstufforever.

What do you think of this collection? Which is your favorite? I’ll be sharing some nail art using them very soon. I hope you have had a great week and that your weekend is full of smiles, laughs and pretty colors!

Hugs,
Rach

29 Apr

Useful Tools: Tilted Nail Polish Bottle Holder

Hello lacquered ladies!

Today I’m going to tell you about a super cool little tool that I have in my nail art stash. I bought this tilted nail polish bottle holder. from Born Pretty Store a while back, and it has come in quite handy, so I thought I would share it with you in case you wanted to get your hands on one too.

It’s flexible enough to hold several different shaped bottles in. China Glaze might give you a problem because the base of the bottle is so wide, but all the other imported and local brands that I own fit fairly well. A big plus is that it can hold skinny little bottles. Those little tubes of polish that come in nail art pen sets are so hard to hold while you polish your nails with them. This little gadget solves that problem.

Titled Nail Polish Bottle Holder

The downside to this design is that it doesn’t tilt the bottle as far as I would like. When the bottle is about half full (See my optimistic view on that?) you are going to need more of an angle to get the product near to the neck for easy dipping. But you can set the edge of the bottle holder on a thin book or coaster, and it will tilt a bit more and still feel pretty sturdy.

Tilted Nail Polish Bottle Holder with small and large bottles

I also love to use this to hold my bottle of nail glue. Nail glue usually comes in small, lightweight plastic bottles that tip over easily. When glue spills into the threads it makes the cap stick and hard to open. I used to need a pair of locking pliers to open my nail glue after a few uses. This bottle holder keeps it upright, and I don’t have any problems with spillage and sticking anymore.

This particular tilted nail polish bottle holder costs $2.46 from Born Pretty Store and is totally worth the small price. I would definitely suggest getting your hands on one if you are searching for something like this. BPS gave me a coupon code to share so that you can get 10% off your entire order from their store.

Born Pretty Store Coupon 10% Off Code, TEAW10

I hope you found this post useful. Have a great day and don’t forget to make someone smile!

Hugs,
Rach

20 Apr

Chic Pastel Collection Skittles


Hello lovely ladies!

I wanted to pop in and show you not one but TWO skittle manis I’ve done using the Chic Pastel Collection by Chic Centre. My husband purchased these for me for part of his Valentine’s Day nail polish bouquet. ♥

Each of these shades is a lovely creamy pastel that doesn’t go on streaky at all. I would even describe them as crellies because they were a bit jelly-like but still pretty opaque. The only one that I found needed 3 coats was Daisy Wazy (yellow). The collection consists of these 5 shades:
Sweet Pea – Purple
Hula Hoop – Green
Daisy Wazy – Yellow
Baby Doll – Pink
Marionette – Blue (on thumb not pictured)

Chic Pastel Collection Skittles

I loved these and the fact that the colors fit together perfectly for a look that just screams romance and spring time! I added one coat of L.A. Girl 3D Silver because…well because WHY NOT? Amiright?

Chic Pastel Collection with holo

I sported these with my gorgeous, pastel, vintage dress that I bought from Best Finds Thrift Shop.  (They get a shout out because I am such a happy customer.)

Chic Pastels and my dress

I also want to show you the skittles that I did for the Shutterbug. We added some gorgeous stamping using my awesome MJ XXVIII stamping plate from My Online Shop.

Photo Feb 22, 9 33 55 PM

The stamping is in white, so it is subtle (especially over the yellow), but it is oh so pretty!

What do you think about this collection? I usually shy away from yellows and greens, but I can pull off a pastel yellow and pastel green. I love these colors! Oh and here’s a shot of the bouquet my husband made for me on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine's 2015 Nail Polish Bouquet

Have a great week! I hope that you get some coffee and some chocolate to help you cope with the fact that it is Monday. Ugh! Keep smiling anyway!

Hugs,
Rach

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