My sweet friend, Jax, of Craftynail sent me Sand Storm a while back, and I’m so glad she did. I added gold studs for a classy but edgier look. I love it! It made me wish I had some triangle shaped studs though. I’ve added that to my shopping list for the next time I go nail art shopping.

All you need is 2 coats of Sand Storm for full, even coverage. I’ve got 3 coats on here because I wore it by itself for a day, then added another coat when I was ready to add the studs. I did not try this polish with topcoat so I’m not sure how that would look. Cleanup took a little bit of extra effort compared to a regular creme polish but not nearly as much work as glitter.

Well, what do you think? Do you have a favorite nude shade? Do you struggle with nudes like I do?

I hope you have a wonderful day!
Hugs from me to you,
Rachael

The post L.A. Girl Sand Blast in Sand Storm appeared first on The Nailinator.

I decided to take a blogging hiatus as we visited our family and loved ones in Texas. We had an amazing trip filled with much fun, laughter and lots of love. We are back in Cebu now, and have (mostly) gotten over the jet lag. I’ve been unpacking, dusting and cleaning everything! I’m about ready to get back to blogging. I’m going to have to find a new rhythm as we also just started our school year. I am continuing to home school and my boy is starting 1st grade. Fun, fun, fun!

Anywhoooo… While the blog has been on stand-by, I HAVE been posting stuff on my Instagram account. In case you don’t follow me on Instagram, I thought I would share some of the very simple looks I have been sporting the past 3 months. I appreciate you sticking around despite my absence on the blog. I decided to soak up as much family time as possible with those we see so rarely. I have lots of new goodies to share with you as I get back into the swing of things. Lemmings were CRUSHED!

Have a fabulous day and thanks for tuning in!
Hugs,
Rach

Girl Stuff – Wild Berries

L.A. Splash Tailscales

I Love Nail Polish Brand  (ILNP) Molly – So stunning!

Color Club – Harp On It

Nail Ritz Nail art Pens and Pueen Stamping

L.A. Girl Purple Effect

The post I’m back! appeared first on The Nailinator.

All opinions are mine.

Hi!
I don’t celebrate the holiday, but I’ve got a St. Patty’s Day worthy mani to share with you today. I started with one coat of Shisem F610 (Dark Forest Green) which I purchased at Blooming Nail Cebu. I then added 2 coats of China Glaze Winter Holly which my sweet hubby spoiled me with a couple of months go. It is a mixture of gold, green and purple glitter (with a bit of a holo sparkle) suspended in a clear base.

Without topcoat

On it’s own, Winter Holly dries the same way that CG I’m Not Lion does. It’s a grainy or sandy finish. I like polishes like this because you really get two finishes in one. You can choose between the grainy, somewhat matte finish on it’s own, and the super glittery and shiny finish after applying topcoat. I’ve included a few extra shots to show how it looks with top coat.

With one coat of top coat

With two coats of top coat

With 3 coats of top coat and in brighter light. You can see the depth.

I am really happy with this polish. It is so pretty. It was hard to remove in the manner that is typical for a glitter polish. I was kicking myself for not remembering to use my glue base for easy glitter removal. I won’t forget next time (fingers crossed). Also, as you can see, I added some gold studs which I also purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu.

Well, that’s all for me for tonight. I hope you have a great week!
Hugs,
Rach

The post Review of China Glaze Winter Holly – St. Patrick’s Day Worthy Shade appeared first on The Nailinator.

This is two very easy coats of San San Tea Rose. I think this may be the only exception to my severe case of VNLphobia. But I will definitely be more open minded from now on and give a polish a chance to win my heart like Tea Rose did. The accent nail is a full nail water decal I purchased from My Online Shop on Facebook. I added a coat of Tea Rose to make it match the other nails.
The combination of my nail shape, the floral pattern and the dusty pink just screams vintage romance. Don’t you think?

I also added a pearl accent to the accent nail. These are from Blooming Nail Cebu.

San San polishes are available at HBC branches and retail for 37 Philippine Pesos per 12 ml bottle.

How do you feel about VNL? Are you getting in the mood for some romantic nail art for Valentine’s Day? I’m looking forward to some extra girly looks in the coming days.

Have a fabulous day!
Rach

The post San San Tea Rose Reinvention appeared first on The Nailinator.

First up is Trance which is what I would describe as a purple foil. It is VERY shiny and oh so pretty! Those of you who have been around a while know by now that I have a special place in my heart for purple polish.

I used 2 coats here. The formula was a bit thick but easy to handle. Clean up was very easy and I wore it all day without top coat and had no wear on my tips. Two thumbs up from me.

I actually put off buying this one because I thought it was too similar to Amethyst by Chic which can be seen here. They are actually quite different. While Amethyst has glitter bits and dries to a semi-matte sort of textured finish, Trance is a foil with a shiny and smooth finish.

Next up we have Moonlight which I would describe as blue and purple shimmery duochrome glitter in a black jelly base. I’ve used two coats over Trance here because I already had it on and I wanted to make sure I had no VNL. After applying it, I think I could have gotten away without the base.

Isn’t it pretty? I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. I had not seen this shade before and I was surprised by it. I haven’t had much experience with duochromes and multichromes. I think this would be a duochrome but I also noted gold tones in certain lighting. I could not photograph it though. If you have any tips on photographing these types of polishes, I would love to hear them.

After applying topcoat (which bubbled a bit because it had been raining for almost 2 weeks straight) I added a little Swarovski crystal accent. I purchased these from Blooming Nail Cebu.

Which is your pick of the two? Both of these Caronia polishes are available in department stores, grocery stores and pharmacies in the Philippines. These shades come in 8ml bottles for approximately 34.75 Philippine Pesos.

What do you think of my review post? I’m still getting the hang of describing polishes for you. I would love to hear your feed back or any suggestions of what other info to include. Please leave a comment. I hope you have a great weekend!

Hugs,
Rach

The post Review of Caronia Trance and Moonlight appeared first on The Nailinator.

I finally did it! I have been wanting to try a different nail shape for such a long time. It has taken me months to work up the courage to take the plunge and file away, but I finally did it! When I initially finished filing these I had them pointier than this, but I wasn’t quite ready for that yet so I filed the points down a bit. These are definitely an easier transition point. Tadaaaaaa!

Check out my new polish rack on the left! Mr. Nailinator was so sweet to make me another one since the one he made me in February was all filled up and even my overflow baskets were overflowing and cramping my style. As soon as he mounted it on the wall I filled it up and only had room for 2 more bottles. I bought my sister-in-law two polishes for Christmas, and she had them both already, so I let her trade them out for two polishes from my back up stash. I didn’t own either of the colors I picked for her so now my polish racks are completely full! Yikes! Believe it or not, those two are the only polishes I acquired for Christmas. I think I fit the category now where my friends and family don’t buy me polish because they don’t know if I already have a color or not.

Did you get any polishes for Christmas? I would love to hear what your favorite gift was that you received or gave to someone. I love getting little gifts, but I also love giving gifts.

I hope you have a blessed day.
Rach

The post Caronia Tea Rose Christmas Nails (and My New Nail Shape) appeared first on The Nailinator.

I hope you had a wonderful day filled with much love and laughter and that you got to spend it with people that you love. We enjoyed a Skype date with my hubby’s folks in Texas and we enjoyed a lovely lunch with my parents and siblings here in Cebu. Among other yummy things, we had some awesome mashed potatoes for lunch. Mr. Nailinator found this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. The secret ingredient? Cream cheese! Best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten!

Sometimes a girl needs some nail art that is easy and super speedy. This was just that. I applied my polish ahead of time (I’ll talk more about the polish in a bit) and had planned on doing a lovely free handed design, but due to time constraints (seriously, I’ve got two very active kids and a household to run) I chose to use the Hot016 Christmas themed water decals (should have taken a picture) that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu a while back. It doesn’t really get much easier than water decals, gals. The Blooming Nail decals are great quality. They are so easy to work with. They have vibrant images, and they are thick enough that I was able to use my tweezers to position them, mumble under my breath at my lousy attempt at centering the design, and reposition it several times. Then I applied topcoat to seal it and smooth it out. I forgot to make sure the decal was completely dry before I placed it on my ring finger, thus you can see I experienced a bit of bubbling. Hopefully the next time I do decals I won’t forget that step and they will all be smooth.

The polish I used as my base is Chic Shadow Crystal (PHP 34.75/US$ 0.78). It is one of the 5 shades in their Grainy Collection. The polishes in their Grainy Collection dry to what I would describe as a slightly textured semi-matte finish. This is two thin coats of Shadow Crystal over one coat of San San Cloudy Gray. I think Shadow Crystal would need 4 coats for it to be opaque on it’s own so I decided to use undies again. I really love this polish. It dries fast and I love the finish and the little sparkles. It reminds me again of glistening snow except with a grayish silvery tint. I received several compliments when I wore the polish on it’s own. If you look closely at the pictures with the decals, you will see that there is no visible tip wear. I had already been wearing it without topcoat for 2 full days when I added the decals so it wears quite well also. Cleanup was very easy for me. A few sparklies were left behind, but they came off easily when I washed my hands. This is another perfect holiday shade in my opinion.

I’m still getting used to doing actual reviews on polishes. I would really appreciate if you would tell me if there is any lacking information in this review that you would like me to include in future review posts. Or feel free to tell me what I did right.

Mr. Nailinator convinced me to take the plunge and file my nails to a sort of pointy almond shape so the next time we meet I will be sporting a different look. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback so I hope you all love them too.

I’m singing off for bed now. Again, I hope you had/are having a very merry Christmas. May God bless you and yours.

Hugs,
Rachael

The post Review of Chic Shadow Crystal and Blooming Nail Cebu Water Decals appeared first on The Nailinator.

Let’s get straight into it, shall we? I used one medium coat of Color Club Harp On It as my base and then I just started adding silver holo glitter pieces that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu. I used an orange wood stick to apply the glitter and used clear coat when the polish got too dry for the glitter pieces to stick. I topped it off with 2 coats of topcoat. Don’t look too closely at my placement or you will notice my mistakes. I didn’t even notice them until I saw the pictures. I guess I was just blinded by holo rainbows from Harp On It. Anyway, just enjoy all the sparklies!

It took a bit of time to finish all 10 nails but it was a very easy look to achieve. Just add glitter! It is soooo sparkly and fun to wear. I think it is perfect for a party or perhaps to welcome the New Year. I thought I would only want to wear it a while because it is so flashy but it is growing on me. I wore these to the Best Cebu Blog Awards night on Saturday. I didn’t win in my category but all the winners are very deserving. I still feel like a winner and am honored to have been nominated and to have made it as a finalist. The organizers of the event did a great job and I had a great time. It was fun to meet more bloggers from Cebu. Thank you to everyone who voted for me and who have made this a great first year so far. Y’all rock!

Have a great week!

The post Holy Holo Glitter Placement Nails appeared first on The Nailinator.

I mentioned in my last post that we were hunkering down for super typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda as it is locally called. Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere, you have heard about the catastrophic damage that the storm has left in its wake. Those of us in Cebu City were spared the brunt of the storm but many, many others in this beautiful country were not and they are suffering unimaginably. Thousands have lost their homes. Many are literally starving and suffering dehydration as relief goods are difficult to deliver through blocked roads. Clearing roads of fallen trees and buildings and other debris takes much time and there are many people in many places that need help badly! Many people have been evacuated to Cebu City and Manila and now the government is scrambling to find housing and daily sustenance for the thousands of people with nothing left! The casualty count is getting higher and bustling cities are now in ruins. It is absolutely heart breaking.

Needless to say, with all this going on, I find it hard to bring myself to do my nails. But I decided to do these to honor the strength of the Filipino people and to raise awareness of the situation here.

These nails were inspired by the Philippine flag. I used two coats of Caronia Tea Rose (red) and then added San San Blue Sapphire to half the nail. I added gold studs I bought at Blooming Nail Cebu. These “flag nails” could have been more detailed as I could have added stars and the sun you see in the picture of the Philippine flag (below). But, I have been busy doing other things that mean more to me and I don’t have the heart to spend much time on my nails at all lately. I hope you can still see how it is inspired by the flag. One day I will do another design inspired by our flag.

Photo Credit: Mike Gonzalez

The nail art community is jam packed with AWESOME people. Seriously, you gals have hearts of gold and I feel like I can ask you to please PLEASE consider donating some money via any organization you feel comfortable with. You can donate through the Philippine Red Cross, UNICEF or another  big organization like that. You can also donate through many smaller organizations that are doing wonderful work and are effectively and QUICKLY helping people. May I suggest the non-profit organization Lilia’s Place? I know Doug and Lisa, who run this organization, personally. They are a great couple who have huge hearts for helping others. They gave up their comfortable lives and jobs in the US and left all their family behind and have been working with street families in Cebu City for over 4 years. Now they are working to help those affected by the typhoon as well. I can assure you that they will use your money immediately to purchase relief goods and take them to those in need. Just yesterday they brought a truckload up north of Cebu and provided food and water to a village of 300 families that hadn’t had a bite to eat in 4 days (pictures on their FB page)! Can you even imagine?!? Please consider sending some money through them if you would like to fund a smaller relief effort. If you choose to donate, please include a note that the funds are for typhoon relief.

I want to assure you that every dollar counts! Just one US dollar can buy 3 pounds of rice or 3 cans of sardines or 4 liters of drinking water. Do you think you could have PB&J or ramen for dinner just once this week or drink water instead of soda or  hold of on a polish lemming for a while and send a couple (or a couple hundred) dollars to help get some food to someone in dire need? Please?

If you are in the Philippines and want to help by volunteering but don’t know where to start, please contact me via email (rdrobins84@gmail.com) and I will do my best to find a place in your area where you can help in some way.

I don’t know how often I will be able to post in the next few weeks as my priorities right now are spending my free time volunteering packing relief goods. But I will be back and I hope you will stick around. Please pray for this country as we mourn and try to pick up the pieces and help those hardest hit as much as we can. Thank you for reading all this. I’m sorry for such a heavy post but I hope you will understand.
Hugs to you all!
Rach

The post Philippine Flag Nail Art (and a plea from my heart) appeared first on The Nailinator.

I’m sorry I haven’t posted much this week. Everyone has been extremely busy around these here parts and that leaves little time for my nails. It’s a sad story I know. But it’s all for a good cause and I did actually get to do my nails a couple of times. I went with simple but pretty looks. I just haven’t had the time to sit down and get them up on the blog. This next week promises to be a bit less hectic so hopefully I’ll be back to my old routine. (Fingers and toes crossed!)

I started off with two coats of San San Red Gleam. I don’t really get why they named it Red Gleam since it really looks just like the shade in the picture. More like Dark Pink Gleam. Ha! Anyway, I was kind of dissapointed in the formula for Red Gleam . It applied easily enough and I had high hopes for it’s opacity. But even with this being a dark color that passed the “brush test”, I still had a few thin spots after the second coat. It’s only really noticeable in certain lighting. I went ahead and stuck with two coats as I topped it off with two coats of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple which was easy as pie to apply. Come to think of it, I have made my fair share of pies and it was actually MUCH easier than pie. Just sayin’!

As you can see, for a finishing touch I added a bow to the accent nail. I’m still not too crazy about 3D nail art so the bow will have to grow on me a bit. But my 4 year old loves it. According to him, “The one without the bow is not good at all. But the bow is great!” So we’re going to go with the recommendation of my 4 year old… this time.

What do you think? This was so easy to photograph and It’s very pretty and shiny.

By the way, my joint giveaway with Blooming Nail Cebu ends in 12 hours. If you haven’t joined yet, you really need to. Just look at all these goodies up for grabs. And it’s open internationally! Good luck! I can’t wait to see who wins!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple over San San Red Gleam appeared first on The Nailinator.