NOTD: Dragon Scale Nails

After seeing this tutorial on Rebecca Likes Nails, I decided I wanted to give the whole gradient manicure thing a try. I really wish I had thought to take pictures of the process but alas, I wasn't that forward thinking. Oh well...


I used 2 coats of Essie Smooth Sailing for the base. Then for the gradient effect, I used OPI Dating a Royal and Essie Licorice. I did this kind of backwards... I sponged on the black first using a makeup applicator sponge and then I blended with the blue using the same sponge tip. After that, I used one coat of SecheVite to smooth everything out and on top of that, I did one coat of China Glaze Matte Magic. Once all of that was dry, I got out my new Bundle Monster plates (yay!) and used the snake skin looking pattern on plate BM215 with Sonia Kashuk Smoke and Mirrors. Here is my final result...


I think this one came out really cool (way better than the previous Avon nightmare!) and I want to try it with a different color scheme now too. I was thinking an olive green to black fade with gold snake skin would look amazing!

And one last thing, I named these my Dragon Scales Nails because they remind me of the cover on the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini. (Yes, I'm a nerd. Don't judge me. lol)


I hope you guys liked this one and as always, thanks for reading!

- Kim

NOTD: What. The. Eff. Avon?

Welp... this is one of those manicures where I had an idea that seemed really awesome in my head but when I went to put it on, it just kind of sucked. The amusing part is that I REALLY hated it but I got a ton of compliments on it today from random people. I guess it was because it's so freaking bright, everyone noticed how they were painted, lol.


I tried two of the Avon polishes I just got last week (Sunshine and Mambo Melon) and as much as I wanted to love these, I can't. They honestly have to be two of the worst polishes I've used in a very long time. The formula on both was very thick and goopy and it went on so streaky. I swear, it was a battle trying to get it to go where I wanted. It was literally like trying to spread grape jelly on toast with a spoon... I eventually got it spread out but it was a pain in the ass to do it. In addition to the formula, the brushes are sooo wonky. The post and the cap are squared but the bristles seemed to be rounded which made holding the brush awkward. I'd have to swipe the excess off one way and then readjust my hand to paint. The Mambo Melon gets an extra strike against it because I had to trim some of the bristles... they were short and broken in places and sticking out to the sides.

I'm just really, really disappointed. I'm hoping the yellow will be salvageable as stamping polish later on but I don't know. I'll let y'all know how that goes when I get there.

Now as for the design itself, I just wanted to do a simple two tone look with a curved line diagonally across my nail. I painted my entire nail in Sunshine first.

Three (yes, 3) coats of Sunshine.

I let that dry for a bit and then I used a liner brush to freehand the curved line as a guide. Then I used the regular polish brush just to fill it in.

See the streaky-ness? This is with two coats of Mambo Melon.

This is where I planned on stopping but I wasn't feeling it so I just used some of my Kiss Nail Artist polishes to add an abstract swooshy design. (The last set of these I bought came with these little gem sticker thingies so I put one of those on there too.)

So bottom line, Avon broke my polish loving heart with these. I still have the Mink color to try but after this mani, I'm not sure if I ever will.

So what do you guys think? Is this just a fluke or are Avon polishes like this in general?

Thanks for reading!
- Kim

NOTD: Glittery Taupe Drawer French Mani

I tried the Pure Ice polishes I got in my latest haul for this mani. The base is Top Drawer and the glitter is Spit Fire.


These are my first Pure Ice polishes and I'd say they're pretty decent for the low price point. (I paid $1.99 each for these two.) The Taupe Drawer gets good coverage, goes on smooth, and dries pretty quickly. The only thing I didn't like about the application is size of the brush... it's fairly small but that's a personal preference thing. For example, I ♥ the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri brushes but a lot of people complain that they're too big.

I really liked the colors of these in the bottle and they look awesome side by side, like they were made for each other. Once I got the polish on though, the Taupe Drawer seemed to wash me out a little bit... it has a purplish gray look to it. It's okay but not my fave. Now the glitter on the other hand, looked a lot different on my nails than it did in the bottle. It's very purplish but once out of the bottle, that's gone and there is a lot of silver, blue, and green.... still cool, but not what I expected.


I wore this mani for two days and I ended up with quite a bit of chipping by the second day. I also noticed that it peeled off in sizable pieces so before I took it off, I tried peeling back a bit and I was able to peel off almost all of the polish on my pinky nail in one piece... kind of weird.

So, I would say this is a good polish for someone who changes their polish frequently. If you're looking for longer lasting wear, I'd shy away from these and go with a higher quality brand.

Thanks for reading!
-Kim

NOTD: Taupe Drawer and Spit Fire

Drugstore Haul and Some Avon

As I was on the way to a baby shower on Saturday, I realized I didn't have a card for the mom-to-be. I stopped at a Walgreens to get one and I took a peek at the nail polish. I should know better... I ended up walking out with all of these. lol.

Here are some closer pictures of each:

From left to right, Sinful Colors in Neon Melon, Dream On, and Frenzy.

Essie Smooth Sailing and Licorice.

Pure Ice in Taupe Drawer and Spit Fire.

In addition to my drugstore haul, I also got some polishes that came in from Avon on Thursday . I haven't bought any nail polish from them in about 7 or 8 years but I remember I liked them a lot. The bottles were different back then so I'm interested to see if they're the same as before or if the formulas have changed with the bottles.

From left to right, SpeedDry Mink, Nailwear Pro Sunshine, and SpeedDry Mambo Melon.

I'm really looking forward to trying out all of these and I'm seeing some great color combos here. I've been brainstorming some ideas and can't wait to share them with you all. :o)

Thanks for reading!
- Kim

NOTD: Nubar Reclaim

I kept this one super simple since I was in a rush when I did it. I mean, I didn't even use a base coat. I did two coats of Nubar Reclaim and a coat of SecheVite on top.

Artificial Light.

Camera Flash.

Artificial light.

Artificial light.

Natural light - with cloudy skies. :o(

This is my first Nubar polish, ever. I've determined I need more... lots more.

The formula is amazing and practically perfect... it's thin and smooth without being too runny or goopy so it goes where it needs to with little effort. On top of that, you get total coverage in two coats. I'm also well into my second day of wear and still no chips and that's even after doing a load of dishes sans gloves. Super easy and awesome.

Green is my all-time favorite color to begin with but this is such a lovely hue. It amazes me how Reclaim can be such a grassy green yet have this rainbow of color running through it at the same time. So, it's official... I ♥love♥ this color!

So what about you? Is green a do or don't on your nails?

Thanks for reading!
-Kim

NOTD: The Matte IS Magic

I was going to completely change my mani tonight but while I was browsing through my polish stash, I came across my bottle of China Glaze Matte Magic. On a whim, I painted it on my thumbnail just to see what the Nfu OH 49 would look like mattified... and WOW! The pictures don't do justice but it makes the transitions in the colors stand out even more. I actually liked it better! So I painted the rest and decided to wear it for another day. :o)