Catch-up nails and the glue method

Hi guys! Sorry for the brief absence this week, I had training at work and horrible morning hours :( Due to the training I wasn't at my desk which means no art :(

Last week I did do a quickie mani of black and pink acrylic tips, the pics are terrible and I didn't get any good ones. I'll show a pic anyhow though :) 

Just a quickie mani that I did Halloween night before I got off of work. I made it matte using NYC Matte About You (for the first time!). It didn't last too long though lol. I took it off Sunday night and put on China Glaze's Nova over WnW Black. I used the glue method, since I didn't want to scrub glitter off but did want it to last all week through training. Yeah, not so much lol. It all came off the next day which is why there are no pics :( But here's some pics of the glue process:

I just poured regular school glue into an old nail polish bottle (NutraNails Quick Dry Top Coat) that I cleaned out. It works alright (there are lots of tutorials out there already). One note is that if you try to use polish remover it does not take the glue off, just the polish. And it doesn't last very long. I figure it's good for swatches or when I'm working the next day so I can redo them. 

If you want to see what China Glaze's Nova looks like I also have it on my toes which you can see here. Other wise that's it for this post, I have a new mani to show you all too!
As always, thanks for stopping by :)

Holo sparkleness!

I did my toes at work yesterday and thought I'd share :)

Zoya Trixie

One coat of Zoya Trixie (which is incredibly fantastic and somehow unused til now) and a couple coats of China Glaze Nova. I wish I could have gotten better pics for you guys but I'm still learning my new camera and it absolutely hates this pedi :( 

IDK why but sometimes when I upload pics they get messed up :(
My new ring from Sneak Peeq! Love it!

That's it for these toes, maybe I'll eventually be able to get a better pic! 
As always, thanks for stopping by :)

Guest Nails: Tiffani

I did my friend Tiffani's nails :) I haven't really felt like doing mine but I had fun doing hers. 

No Flash

With Flash

I used China Glaze Limbo Bimbo and Art Deco art polishes in white, black, silver and silver glitter. I'm pretty happy with the way they came out, particularly the right hand. I generally don't try to do abstract stripes lol. Just a quick post today, I'm gonna do my nails soon, I swear!
As always, thanks for stopping by :)

Guest Post: Pinked Polish

Today we have a guest post from Melissa over at Pinked Polish! 

Hi Dolls:) This is Melissa from Pinked Polish, if you haven't checked out my blog you should!!! I have some really great things coming up in the near future!!!! I am super excited to be doing the guest post as it is my very first one:) I wanted to try something totally new for you guys, so I decided on gradient with a stamp. Well my hubby chose the colors for this beauty, and says if he ever gets that '71 chevelle ss he is gonna paint it this blue, China Glaze "Frostbite". I ♥ this color, it is the perfect Pepsi blue!!!!

 The green he chose is China Glaze "Cha Cha Cha" and it is equally noteworthy!!!! 

I then stamped Cheeky plate CH16 in Silver on all my nails :) 

All followed with a coat of SV (Seche Vite). Hope you guys like!!!! And a Special THANKS to Lena for letting me Guest post!!!!

I totally love it Melissa! Thanks so much for sharing with us! 

Copious Hauls

By request from the Facebook page I decided to show you all  the stuff I have gotten from Copious! You can see my original post about Copious right here. If you haven't signed up yet for a Copious account and you live in the US you totally should! Click this link right now and sign up with Facebook. You need the friends to get the credits :) 
Basically you get $10 for signing up with my link and once you complete a purchase (you have the item in your hot little hands and hit the complete button on Copious) I get $5 credit for bringing you there. So we all win right? But you can invite friends too and get more credits for more free stuff! Anywho onto the goodies!
Kleancolors:

The minis were to my understanding supposed to be regular size but I have given up complaining lol. So they are Metallic Fuschia and Metallic Sapphire. Then from left to right: Metallic Aqua, Metallic Pink and Chuky Holo Teal. 
Julep Melissa:

Pure Ice Rio:

Zoya Tallulah:

China Glaze Luxe and Lush (my first flakie!):

Milani Cyberspace (my first Milani):

My super cute ring that wants to turn me green:

And a group shot:

Somehow I totally missed getting my Sally Hansen Gem Crush Bejeweled in there as well as getting a shot of it by itself today :( Supa sad face :( But you can see it here with some of its friends :) You can also see more pics of the ring in this post that I did specifically for it and the mani inspired by it :) Yay for jewelry inspiration!!! 
Have you joined Copious yet? What the heck are you waiting for?! All of this stuff cost me pennies! If you have joined and have already gotten your gooodies, what did you get?
As always, thanks for stopping by :) 

Try It On Tuesday: Blue Water Marble

Today is Try It On Tuesday and quite a few of us nail bloggers participate. I tried last week but my polish just wouldn't cooperate lol. Luckily I got something workable this week :) So the first one I'll show you is a fail. I did my pinkie, ring finger and middle last night and they came out good but when I tried to do my thumb and index finger it just didn't want to work well at all.

Looks like crap right? Yeah, I thought so too. I ended up taking those two off and re-doing them until they looked decent:

Jen of Jen's Nail Files sent me the fimo slices recently (thanks again Jen you rock!) and the rhinestones I got in a temporary tattoo kit. Sorry for the horrible lack of cleanup but I don't really like this and am thinking hard about taking it off lol. The polishes I used for this Try It On Tuesday mani are: 

WnW- Bijou Blue (used previously)

Fingerpaints- Cerulean Seascape (not used before)

Orly- Blue Collar (not used before)

China Glaze- Sexy In The City (can't remember if I've used it or not lol)

Sinful Colors- Why Not (don't think I've used it before)

Sinful Colors- Love Nails (probably used it before but no idea for sure)

Fingerpaints- Laugh My Art Off (used previously here)

The blue is for AMC Awareness and you can read about that on Jilltastic Design's Blog right here)

As always, thanks for stopping by :)

My Mani Routine

If you read the Exfoliator review you may know that I regularly use one as part of my routine. But here is the whole thing from start to finish :) 

As you can see I added a flower by stamping with China Glaze Carribean Temptaion and  Red Angel plate RA-109
The gold is Art Deco

Step 1: Take off old polish. (I use pure acetone though it's not great for you)


Step 2: Exfoliate with any kind of exfoliater that you like. If you'd like to see what I use click here. 


Step 3: Let dry completely, then file.


Step 4: Moisturize. I use a thick creamy lotion like Dermasil (its only $1.00 at Dollar Tree and works great!)


Step 5: Clean nails. I use rubbing alcohol or Zoya Remove +. You could just go wash your hands but I'd rather just clean the nail and leave the lotion on :)


Step 6: Paint! Basecoat, polish, any art, top coat.


And that's it! I don't use cuticle oil as I decided I hate it and after using it decided I didn't see any difference. I also do absolutely nothing with my cuticles since they seem just fine to me lol. Of course everyone has different opinions on things, some say not to use acetone while others praise it. Some swear by cuticle oil, while I  think its completely unnecessary. Once every couple weeks or so (or if my nails are really stained) I will buff out the ridges I get on the top of my nails as well.


So what do you do?


As always, thanks for stopping by :) 

Toes

So if you weren't hanging around the Facebook page with me last night, I was doin my toes :) I decided to go with China Glaze's Dorothy Who? which I got the last time I went to Sally's. Can I just say I absolutely love love love this polish? Its got everything that appeals to me, blue and glitter. 

I stamped on what looks to me like one of those puffy dandelion things using MASH plate 17 and WnW White Tips. 


I also switched to doin collage type pictures since it saves on room. What do you think? Do you prefer multiple pictures or just the one collage picture?


As always, thanks for stopping by :)

Sally's Haul

So Sally's had an awesome sale this weekend, 50% off all red-tagged clearance. Which I figured was great since I had my birthday coupon $10 or any $20 purchase and a 15% off any $20 purchase. Too bad I found out I couldn't use any coupons with the clearance sale :( But that's ok since there wasn't anything on clearance that I absolutely HAD to have lol. But I did end up using my coupons for some goodies (of course since I can't go in there and NOT get something). So onto my newest pretties :)
First from Dollar Tree:

Glistening Purple, a purple glitter

Then Sally's:

Caribbean Temptation, Lubu Heels and Dorothy Who?

And from the new Dark Shadows Collection:

Mysterious Curse

With Flash

Sorry for the multiple pics of Mysterious Curse but I was trying really hard to capture the prettiness of it. It's like a purple-blue duochrome and is absolutely gorgeous. I also got some necessities:

Cuticle Oil

Well maybe not necessities lol. I usually use the 100% Acetone from Dollar General since its only $1.25 for 10 oz. and usually lasts me a little while but I thought for some reason that the Beauty Secrets was like double so worth the $2.79 price. Alas that was not the case :( But that's ok live and learn and all that lol. 
So a confession here: I've never in my life used cuticle oil. I mean I moisturize and lotion and all that but before I really got into all the nail stuff I hadn't even heard of it lol. Sally's was mostly for hair stuff maybe once in a while a nail polish or 2 lol. Ohhh how I've been converted lol. 
If you haven't liked the Facebook page yet I'm almost always around and you can reach me there, by leaving a comment on here or by email at lenalovesnails@gmail.com. As always, thanks for stopping by :)