Pink Wednesday - A Motherly Water Marble

Hi there!

While you read this I am off galavanting in NYC. Sigh =] Or still asleep.

For this week's pink Wednesday, I actually have a pink. Yesterday you saw my sister's graduation water marble, and today I'm going to show you how I did my mom's nails.

My mom showed me a magenta-colored top that she was wearing for my sister's graduation, and OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries was a near-perfect match, so first I painted all of her nails with that. Then I practically had to beg her to let me water marble them...she said she didn't want me to mess them up =P I chose to do a relatively simple design on her because she didn't want her nails as crazy as mine and my sister's.

This is a really simple way to try a water marble if you're a little scared. I only did her thumbs and ring fingers, and they made a really nice accent to her manicure, if I do say so myself =P The accent nails are marbled with Ate Berries in the Canaries and Pamplona Purple (I could have used a clear polish instead of ABITC because her nails were already painted with that color, but I didn't have a clear polish handy). My mom really liked it! =]

This is entitled, "Jan, my arms don't bend that way!!"

I made these pictures extra large so I hope you can see the design. It's pretty subtle but she got a lot of compliments on it =] Every design came out perfect though, so any imperfections you see are the fault of my photography. Maybe next time we'll go bolder...

So what do you think? Does this make you less scared to try a marble? =]

Have a great Wednesday! Thanks for reading!
Janna

More Water Marbling, Family Style

Hello!

How is everyone doing today? I just wanted to preface this post by saying that I'll be spending Tuesday night to Wednesday night in New York City! It's the first time I'm going without being on a field trip!

Also, I'll be picking my giveaway winner on Thursday when I return. I cannot wait! Thank you for your patience! =]

So my last post was about my MAC Hint Of Sapphire water marble. The day before I did that water marble, I did my sister's nails and some of my mother's nails in a water marble design as well. Today, I'm going to show you my sister's design.

This was an extra special design because my sister graduated high school on Monday, and I did this design for her on Sunday night. So congrats to her!

For her marble, I used Color Club Age of Aquarius, China Glaze Spontaneous, OPI Ink, and Orly It's Up to Blue. It was a pretty combination =] Take a look! EDIT: Forgot to mention I topped them with Cover Girl City Lights, a holo topper.

left.


right.

What do you think? Have I inspired you to try a water marble yet? =] To all my new followers, look HERE to see how to do it!

Thank you for reading!

Janna

MAC Hint of Sapphire-Inspired Water Marble

Hi everybody!

I'm bursting with excitement right now to share this manicure! It's been in my head for weeks and I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

If you keep up with cosmetics, you may already know that MAC's summer collection, due out in July, is called Semi-Precious and will feature mineralize blushes, mineralize skin finishes, cream sheen glasses, and other products. What really caught my attention, however, was the mineralize eyeshadows. (Check out beautezine.com's post of the full press release of the Semi-Precious collection from MAC.)

Now, I don't know too much about MAC and the only MAC products I have were a gift, so I'm not going to pretend I know the difference between a creamsheen glass and a lustreglass (if you know, please share!), but these eyeshadows look just plain gorgeous in the pan. I mean, how could you stand to use them?! The colors swirl together beautifully and compliment each other to a T, and there are some really unique color combinations in this collection.

So when I saw the press release for the Semi-Precious collection on several beauty blogs and I saw the eyeshadows, I was reminded of watermarbled designs for nails. The eyeshadow that stuck out the most to me was Hint of Sapphire. Here's a look:

Image Credit:  beautezine.com.

Seriously beautiful. These things are truly a work of art. So I let my creativity flow and set out to create a water marble that utilized the colors in this particular eyeshadow. MAC describes Hint of Sapphire as a "melange of pink, violet, teal, copper, blue." Respectively, I used Zoya Perrie (even though Zoya describes Perrie as purple), China Glaze Spontaneous, Color Club Age of Aquarius (on loan from my sister), Pure Ice Iced Copper, and Sally Hansen Blue It. The combination is awesome! Take a look =]

Left Hand

Right Hand

Left

Right

My favorite nails:

Left Index

Left Pinky.

Right Ring

Before you can say it, I did go overboard on the pictures. I wanted to do this manicure justice and I think I did =] And pardon my shoddy cleanup job.

The contrast of all these colors really pops on my nails, and in my opinion the copper just makes this look. And, if you're wondering how I did this, click HERE for my tutorial on how to water marble!

I'd like to do another watermarble based on one of the other shadows from this collection, but I'm not sure which one. I was leaning toward another multi-colored one, but do you have a preference? Let me know!

Swatches of this collection are starting to circulate, so tell me, are you getting anything from the Semi-Precious collection? Any eyeshadows? If you are, would you actually use them? =P What do you think of this manicure?

Thanks to Jessica of beautezine.com for letting me use her picture of Hint of Sapphire! =]


Thanks so much for reading!

Janna

Brief Post - Giveaway Closed!

Just wanted to post quickly to let everyone know that my Long Overdue Giveaway has closed. I ended up with 43 entrants, which is great! Thank you everybody for entering! I'm in the process of validating entries.

I also wanted to let you know that if you left me a question on my giveaway form, I sent you an email answering your questions. Thanks for having trust in my opinions! Don't delete these emails as spam =P and if you left a question and I didn't email you, drop me a comment.

Finally, as promised, everyone that entered my giveaway will be featured on my blogroll. This was my way to kind of ease into having a blogroll so it wasn't such a massive undertaking. No worries though, if you didn't enter and want to be on my blogroll, drop me an email!

My water marble post is coming up tonight! (Technically tomorrow morning.) I think you're all really going to like it.

Thanks so much!

Janna<3

Almost-Pink Wednesday - China Glaze Señorita Bonita

Hellooo there!

Today I'm showing you an almost-pink, China Glaze Señorita Bonita. I love the name, the color, and the formula. This is a very warm toned purple or purple toned pink or berry if you like. Let's just say it's purple to make sure that I'm not stretching it and trying to make it pink for Wednesday ;] Although it has gorgeous pink glass flecks. Take a look!

Woah, blurry. I'm sorry =\

The formula on this was awesome. I was able to create a near-perfect curve near my cuticle and leave the perfect gap. This is definitely one of those polishes that you fall in love with when you put the first stroke on your nail...I was in love at one, two, and three coats. Shown here is three with Out the Door topcoat. I only grabbed this and one other from the Island Escape Collection: Electric Pineapple.

Do you own this "pretty lady" or any others from the Island Escape collection? Please let me know!

Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget that there less than one day left to enter my Long Overdue Giveaway!!!

Janna

Thank You!

Hey everybody =] All 200 of you!

I am floored. I even print screened a shot of my dashboard! I just wanted to take the time to write a post dedicated to you, all of the readers, without a mani or anything else to get in the way. You guys are AWESOME! Every comment on this blog, tweet or retweet on my twitter page, and entry in my giveaway makes me smile! I have 33 entries and I'm so excited! So again, thanks for reading about my millions of haul posts, manicure posts, and swatches (or even just skimming through and looking at pictures ;]) And feel free to post a comment on this post telling me a little bit about yourself and your blog if you have one.

That's it for right now! My awesome water marble post will be up and running tomorrow night.

<3, Janna

Haulage Part IV - I Have a Problem

The above statement is absolutely true.

I think every nail or beauty addict has a moment (or multiple moments) when they sit back and say, "I'm crazy for having this much _______." The blank, of course, is filled in with makeup, lipgloss, or in my case, nail polish. Please let me know if you have these moments!

ANYWAY. Last Saturday, I found my first "dusty," which in the nail world, to my understanding, is a beauty shop that isn't too popular, where you can find products that have long since been discontinued. Let me know if you have another definition! Besides the dusty, I also visited Ross and five below. Get ready for some more longwindedness.

First up on the left is an unnamed Cosmetic Arts polish, a really pretty very-neon pink that I got at Ross.
The rest of the polishes in the picture were purchased when I struck gold at five below, if I do say so myself. I found THREEEE bottles of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Night Lights, a charcoal scattered holographic jelly. One of these will be given away, either included in my current giveaway, or part of a separate one. (Let me know if you have a preference!) The other mini bottle most of you probably recognize; it's one of the LE Wet n Wild polishes called Prancer. This little guy had some nail fanatics going crazy back around Christmastime, and I'm shocked that I found a bottle at five below.

This picture is Part I of the dusty. These two polishes were on clearance! To the left, Essie Funky Limelight and to the right, OPI Friar, Friar Pants on Fire, which is black-label. (One of my first salon manis was with a red OPI with gold shimmer, and even though I don't think this was the polish - maybe Sweet as Annie-thing - it still fulfills a hole in my collection.)

Okay guys, this is where the problem-having realization started to sink in. Since I study Spanish in school, I have been lemming OPI's Spain collection. The lemming definitely intensified since I'll be studying abroad in Spain next month! This dusty had EIGHT out of the 12 polishes from the collection, just sitting there in the original display rack. I was about to ask to take home the empty rack! Yes, they're all extremely similar and I wish the collection had more variation among the colors. For some reason, Can You Tapas This? was sitting in the clearance section, and the OPIs at this store were $7.50 each, which is a whole dollar cheaper than at Ulta, so in the long term I'm saving money...right?
The ones they had are (I'm gonna try to name these in order) Barefoot in Barcelona, Bullish on OPI, Can You Tapas This?, Pink Flamenco, No Spain No Gain, Here Today. . .Aragon Tomorrow, Pamplona Purple (love), and Manicurist of Seville. And my justification was that I never ever have to buy another berry shade of polish again. The other four are obviously HIGH on my (unofficial) lemming list.

EDIT 6/18: I just purchased Ate Berries in the Canaries, Give Me Moor!, and Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees. And just added Conquistadorable Color to my cart on Amazon =]

Needless to say, I'll be frequenting that dusty to check out what they crazily put on clearance. Also because they sell every brand of nail polish for a full dollar cheaper than I've found them elsewhere.

Do you have a go-to dusty? Have you ever . . . lemmed?. . . a whole collection, be it for the name or the colors? Do you have a polish problem, too? DO I HAVE ONE?!

Let me know in the comments! And as always, thanks for reading! Enter my Long Overdue Giveaway!

<3, Janna

Haulage Part III - A Harmless Trip to Ulta

Yes, ANOTHER haul post. I'm a lunatic. I hope you guys don't mind them because there are probably at least two more to come.

Anyway, I had a coupon and my level one award to cash in, so I went to Ulta. Here's what I snagged:

My level one reward: Ulta Celebutante. Rich, purple cream. My sister actually bought this polish first because it's really close to OPI Funkey Dunkey, and I got my own bottle because it was free and nothing else was calling my name. Current pedicure and only two coats were needed for opacity, FYI. Love it!

And here are some other things that magically made it into my basket somehow.....

Top row: Ulta Toe-tally Matte set, with (LtoR) High Shine Top Coat, Sunbathing Beauty, Beach Bum, Surfer Girl, and Bananarama, Ulta What a Maroon, which is a red jelly that was on clearance, and my first butterLONDON, All Hail the Queen, a taupe subtly-holo polish.
And underneath is the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean mini set, with Skull and Glossbones, Planks a Lot, Sparrow Me the Drama, and Stranger Tides. I had a 20% off coupon that I used on this. And I got the last one in the display!

I hope you are enjoying my installment of haul posts! I'll post my current mani, ChG Señorita Bonita, and after I remove this I'm going to try my hand at another water marble. Check out my past water marbles HERE to get inspired!

That's it for now. Thanks for reading!

Janna

Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Sun Kissed

Hellooo!

Here's a quick picture of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Sun Kissed. This was a birthday gift from my boyfriend that I talked about in one of my last haul posts. It's a really pretty orange cream. Not neon at all, but pretty bright. I really liked this one on me =] Sorry for the crappy picture, but this one's definitely awesome in real life. It bubbled a tiny bit but only because I applied three coats in a hurry along with Seche Vite and OPI topcoat, with a fan on. Pretty much a recipe for disaster.

Keeping it short for tonight, but more goodness to come tomorrow! Also, PLEASE don't forget to enter my Long Overdue Giveaway that ends the 23rd!


Janna

Haulage Part II - While I Was at School

Hellooo!

Here's another haul for you....do you like reading about hauls? I definitely do!

First up is the 6 polishes I got from the Zoya Polish Exchange! Two of them aren't pictured; I'll explain below!



Left to right: Savita, Rica, Breezi, and Perrie. How amazing are the frosted bottles?!

The two that aren't pictured are Isla, shown HERE, and Zoya Erin, which I gifted to a friend with the same name =] Rica looks a little orange-y in this photo, sorry about that, but I assure you it's a gorgeous coral. And it's much brighter than I thought it'd be so I'm happy! Savita, I've wanted forever because I love purples, Breezi just seemed like a good polish to have even though I wasn't specifically drawn to it (am I the only one who shops like that? Please say no! =P), and Perrie seems like my perfect warm-toned lilac.


Up next is China Glaze 2NITE. I bought this on a whim kind of, from Medusa's Threads, which is a shop run by April of Concrete and Nail Polish. I'll never have any other OMGs, so I figured I might as well grab one while I can. It's still on the site, though admittedly the price has been raised a bit. Still probably cheaper than you would pay if you bought it from a seller on eBay.




Waiting for the PERFECT time to wear this one. A jewel in my collection for sure.


Finally, a Sally's haul. Well, this is actually 2 (maybe more) hauls in one.

Top Row: China Glaze Lightning Bolt, Cracked Concrete, Broken Hearted, Fault Link, and Black Mesh. (Not pictured is Crushed Candy. I wore it and misplaced it!)
Bottom Row: Orly Royal Velvet, China Glaze Señorita Bonita, ChG Electric Pineapple, ChG Frostbite, and a Sally's Girl polish in Periwinkle. Not pictured is Flip Flop Fantasy...I obviously have a problem locating polishes. My apologies!

My Sally's got the crackles back in stock after the initial sellout little by little. Black Mesh was the first purchase, along with Flip Flop Fantasy and Frostbite, since they were running the buy 2 get 1. Then they had the white, gray, pink, and teal, and the buy 2 get one was still on, so at that time I also picked up (or my mom did) Señorita Bonita and Electric Pineapple. (I was on the phone with my mom to pick out the polishes, and Sally's had justtt gotten in the Island Escapes. Like, the saleswoman opened the box for my mom, and was extremely impressed that I rattled off the polishes that I wanted on the phone before my mom could describe them. =P) Sally's held the purple crackle for us when it came in, so I have the complete crackle collection! =]

Oh, and I bought Orly Royal Velvet way before the crackles. So pretty.

Sorry for the long-winded post! I like to write a little background on the polishes, why I picked them, and the deals going on when I purchased them. What good are just pictures? You may disagree lol.

Thank you so much for reading, and PLEASE don't forget to enter my Long Overdue Giveaway!

Janna

Haulage Part I - Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello again!

My 20th birthday was April 23rd and I just wanted to show you what I bought or received on that day. Onto the pictures!!



These lovelies were a thoughtful gift from my boyfriend.



From left to right these polishes are Orly Rose-Colored Glasses, Orly It's Up To Blue, Orly Rose Radiance, Sally Hansen Extreme Wear in Sunkissed (wearing now), SH Extreme Wear in Blue It, and Ulta Under the Sea Mini Set, which I'd been DYING to get, and I didn't even tell him. The polishes in the set are Tip the Scales, A Tail of Two Cities, Mermaid in Heaven, and Don't Be Shellfish.

Next I hit up Sephora and I got my free Beauty Insider birthday gift and bought a discounted polish. After that, I was headed to Ulta, where the polishes were buy 2, get one free.



To the left is philosophy's Happy Birthday, Beautiful! shampoo, shower gel & bubble bath, which is vanilla birthday cake scented. This was my free birthday gift, and it's a 6 oz. bottle, which I thought was really nice for a free gift! The polish is Sephora by OPI Rumba Romance. The two OPIs I got at Ulta are San Tan-tonio and Señorita Rose-alita. The 3rd polish I got was Big Hair. . .Big Nails, but I gave this to one of my close friends who has big curly hair. Lol.

Finally, I bought myself a very special birthday present at Nordstrom. . .I've never even been inside a Nordstrom before I don't think. I'm sure you can guess what I bought!







The saleswoman said they just got this in! MINI Deborah Lippmanns. From left to right: Bad Romance, Happy Birthday, Across the Universe. In love! I paid $30 for this if anyone is interested.

All in all, my birthday was amazing and I want to thank everyone who was a part of it! And thank YOU so much for reading!

Janna

Some Shameless Self-Promotion and Zoya Isla

Hello!

Okay, first the shamelessness and then the mani. Over at More Nail Polish blog, a contest is going on where each of the participants entered a franken, and now it's up to the blog's followers to vote on a winner! Go check out the gallery of participants! There are some awesome frankens, and if you'd like to help me out, I'm lucky #7, Frankenberry. On the site you can read a description and the recipe I used. If anyone's interested in more pictures, let me know, but I submitted the only perfectly-color-accurate one to the contest =] To vote, you must be a follow of More Nail Polish and fill out the form. Vote #7! =D Here's the link.



Now onto Isla! This is a deep red shimmer from Zoya, and as soon as I saw Scrangie's swatch, I fell in love. This color is amazing in person and I tried my hardest to capture it in photos! Here it goes:








After a couple of days I fauxnaded it with a Mash plate using Design-a-Nail polish in Voodoo. I loved this and got so many compliments!









Thank you for reading!

Janna