Thursday, August 30, 2012

Adventures in color samples...

Got a load of new colors this week:). Can't wait to try them all. Also heading to Orlando to hit Disney, will be hitting the outlet malls on Saturday so hope to scoop up some more new colors.

Saturday my Essie Matte about you will be at the local beauty supply, every shop is sold out or doesn't carry it but they found one bottle at their other location and the manager is going to pick it up tomorrow for me:)! Can't wait have a lot of ideas.

Also hit eBay, ordered a few indie polishes, a five piece set of nail dotting tools, nail tape, nail brushes, and some holo silver top coat to give that holographic look to my other polishes. I figure why buy a bunch of matte and holo polishes when I can just use a top coat:). Save me money plus I love making my own creations.

Tonight my oldest daughter wanted to paint her nails. I got some Essie polishes for 2.99 and 3.99 at Marshall's so she tried out the Brazilian orange color. I also got my mini sampler polishes I won from serum no 5 so tried a couple colors on each nail and china glaze lubu heels, which I love:)!

I also got a bottle of Out the Door top coat cause I have been told it works good so I used that as the top coat. I have seche but it usually shrinks and then is super thick so scratches easily. My other favorite is Sally Hansen insta dry clear top coat. I use Poshe too which is very good also when it comes to a quick dry. The out the door dried super fast, which is my top priority then it is very nice shine and finish. Let's see how long it lasts cause my daughter plays basketball, cheers and takes art class, her nails chip easy.

Here are some photos when I get to my laptop I will label each one to let you know the colors and combos I used. Right now using my phone hard to label photos.

Enjoy and can't wait to share my finds from Orlando and I have some cakes, cupcakes and Oreo Mickey pops I made that I will be posting on my baking blog. Tomorrow will be in the Magic Kingdom with Mickey and friends to celebrate my baby girls birthday! Have a great weekend an happy shopping and blogging:)

Add caption
Meli
Out the Door, Top coat for nails.
2 Coats of Essie Bralziliant
A little yellow nail sparkle dust
one coat of Out the Door, dried super fast
2 coats of Zoya, Paloma
One coat of black and white Serum No 5
1 coat of Zoya, Paloma
Topped with Out the door

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Cinderella influenced polish for Disney

Going to Disney for my baby girl's 5th birthday been dying to use julep polish cause I have never used. Went with the gorgeous blue, Claire then wanted to give that shimmer that I think of with Cinderella a peach/pink fairy looking dust:) Used Deborah Lippmann Oh the Pretty things.

Forgot to use lotion or cuticle oil so still need to clean the polish mess I made so please excuse just wanted to post before I get busy packing and forget.

Did two coats of Julep Claire, then one coat of Deborah Lippmann polish then topped with Sally Hansen insta dry top coat. Love it:)! Photos don't capture the beauty of this color combo I tried now need to go clean the cuticles and see if I get better photos.

Have some amazing nail mail coming ordered a lot of new colors, indie polishes, won a mini indie set from serum no 5 and got new top coat to try that a friend recommended to me:).

I have to say I love the julep colors verdict is out need to see how long they last:). The color is rich the formula is creamy goes on super smooth. No complaints as of now. I will update. My jelly I did last night peeled don't k ow if I didn't let the coats dry long enough between coats, or if from to many layers or if it's the polish. My daughter has the color on her toes is lasting. I removed it and tried the Zoya Frida jelly didn't care for the color on me, it's a weird green blue almost looks like algae lol. It peeled too so either I had a bad night or I need to try some different techniques lol.

Happy shopping and painting, tomorrow going to use my gift cards from birthday so will be posting some deals and finds I'm sure lol.

Meli

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Jelly sandwich manicure

Today I was home with my little one who is sick again:(. Going to school made her get the horrible cold again just this time it seems worse. Hopefully she will heal quick cause her birthday is this Sunday.

I decided cause a girlfriend of mine did a jelly sandwich on her nails and sent me photos so I have been wanting to do this, did a sample on fake nail this weekend but had free polish so was waiting. I used china glaze ride the waves a beautiful bright blue. I applied a base coat, then two thin coats of ride the wives. Then I made my own middle coat. Wanted something with glitter and small hex flakes then some small sparkles so I used my dollar tree stars, small hexs and then disco ball silver glitter coat. Waited forever for that to dry.

After a long drying period I applied a no even coat of ride the waves and let dry again. Topped off with clear coat then there it is my jelly sandwich. Look forward to doing more like this and interested to see how long before the sparkles and hexs peel off cause being a mom of two I am always chopping my nails doing lots of interesting tasks lol.

Here are my photos. I am hopefully going to Disney this weekend and have some cute ideas using my Cinderella looking julep blue with a pink shimmer over top. My princess manicure. Stay tuned. Also want to do a post on birthday freebies with links to the sites cause I got lots of free food, beauty products and coupons for my birthday yesterday. What girl doesn't love free goodies:). Yay:) Have a great evening and enjoy the photos please excuse my cuticles been cleaning all day and didn't have time to clean them up:(.

Meli

Tropical storm boredom nail samples

Here in south Florida it is storming. Great timing cause my birthday is tomorrow and would have loved to do something this weekend but have decided that birthdays are not what they use to be:(.

I wanted to try out a couple new polishes I got this week but painted my nails Friday so didn't want to remove them yet so decided to use some fake stick on nails my daughter had a try some out.

I tried the china glaze stone cold matte with silver flecks and I love this polish decided to do a animal print stamp in a glossy semi shimmer black but didn't want to stick.

Then I tried another matte polish I have by Cynthia Rowley that I got at TJ Maxx for 2.00 the color is not listed on the bottle anywhere. Love the color then I applied some blue glitter polish by pure ice that belongs to my daughter for another photo or look.

Next up was my china glaze deals from Sally's this week for .75. Started with two costs of Ride the Waves then applied a thick coat of the Luxe and Lush which is a jelly with large iridescent flakes and smaller flakes in same color, took one photo that way then went ahead and added one more coat of the Ride the Waves to give the jelly sandwich effect. Keep in mind since I was just sampling these didn't use base coat or top coat on any. Ten the fake nail was a light French color when I started.

The julep polishes! I been wanting to see if these were worth the money they charge for these. I mentioned in a earlier post that I got the box for a penny. I figured this was the time to sample these polishes since I am on a tight budget after back to school and with my little one's birthday coming. The colors I sampled is the blue which I love it is a light blue almost turquoise I love blue polish:). The name is Claire and it is my favorite. I think this may be one of my new favorite colors. The polish glided on so nice and was full opacity in one coat almost. I did two just cause the French under it was peakin through. It is shiny with no top coat and the polish is very creamy.

Next up was the purple with shimmer which was the color I thought would be my favorite cause purple is my favorite color then blue. I like the color very shiny and pretty but a lot like another color I have. The quality of the polish is pretty good. Better then china glaze but have had better for less money. The purple color is Morgan. Again I did not use a base or top coat so what you see is just two coats of the polish.

Last julep was the yellow, I am not a big yellow fan. Being blonde red and yellow are suppose to be my colors that look best but I just don't like the color much. This color is pastel and actually very soft and pretty. Great spring color. Being such a pale color expected it to go on and need multiple coats but had good coverage with one coat and two was perfect. Again creamy and shiny great look to it. The color name is Blake. I look forward to using all these on my nails and playing with some stamps, water marbling or other nail art techniques.

Hope you enjoyed my review and please if you have any of these colors or have used them please share with me I love to hear from others:). Also if anyone knows the name of the Cynthia Rowley polish let me know please always like to know the name of the polish.

Happy blogging,

Meli

Adventures in nail polish

This week I am going to attempt to make my own custom polish color. I got some amazing glitter, hex shaped flakes and more at dollar tree then I have a list of what I need to make the color. I can't wait to try then share the recipe and color with you. I am beyond inspired by these indie polish companies out there:).

Also I am excited to announce yesterday on my birthday I won a mini sampler of the Serum no 5 on a Facebook contest. Yay. I finally get to try some indie polish to review on my blog can't wait. As soon as they come I will post photos;) stay tuned

Meli

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Attention indie polish companies...

Attention all indie polish companies I am really dying to try and review all these amazing new indie nail polishes on the scene now. I am a fan of several on my Facebook page and really want to get a chance to try some and review them. I plan to order a couple as soon as I have some extra cash. Was super excited cause KBShimmer had a contest on fb and I thought I had won but it was a different Melissa S.

I would love to get my hands on some samples. I have a couple friends who work at salons that have never seen or tried these products and any that I get to try that I love I would be sure to pass them on to share with their clients, advertise for you on this blog and my business blog, my Facebook page etc.

Please feel free to contact me at mseptien@yahoo.com if you have a product that you would like reviewed. I love nail polish and try different brands often. I love all colors, jelly polish, glitter, shimmer you name it and I'm very open and honest. Please keep me in mind. Also please anyone who falls upon my blog please share with your friends and help me build my audience looking to get a lot of followers and fellow bloggers. Thank you so much


Meli:)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Home fragrance favorite

I promised a few blogs back when I was writing about perfumes and fragrances I liked that I had a secret for making my home smell so good:). I promised to share. I was walking through aventura mall here one day after a doctors appointment just browsing, cause that mall is so high end I don't buy stuff often. I was passing by a couple stores and the most amazing, sensual smell ever caught my attention. I looked around and only saw clothing stores but spotted on the next level a Body Shop. I love that store but here they don't have them in every mall. I went down to see if that is where the smell was coming from. Sure enough as I got closer it smelled even more amazing and so delicious.

I usually love the vanilla scents and tropical fruit smells for my home. I love fall time cause that is when my favorite of the plug in Warner's febreeze has the best fall scents that take me to places when I was a child living up north.

Back to Body Shop, lol. I walked in and asked the first sales lady I saw what is that amazing smell. She led me to the stand at front of the store with a black soap stone oil burner with a small tea light in it. I was amazed I have these at home but none of my fragrances smelt that rich and that amazing. I have Yankee candle, and many other brand oils this one is the best by far. She explained to me that the scent was satsuma. Write that down remember it! It is heaven:)! Every single person who comes to my home asks me what is that scent, especially if I am burning my oils at the time.

Quick not now I have tried the lotion, shower gel and hand soap, I must warn you none compare the oil. Not even close, closest is the body butter that I swear by for my legs keeps them so soft and the smell is amazing.

I of course bought one of their soap stone burners and I got two bottles of satsuma, then the sales lady told me you only needed three to five drops at a time and that you can mix scents. I also grabbed exotic and strawberry that day. Wow every one of their oils is amazing. So amazing that even my mother inlaw who does not care for me or anything I like ran out and got the same ones.

Since then I found some amazing and comparable soap stone burners for under $3.00 @ Walmart that I actually prefer cause the distance between the oil dish and candle is less so the dish warms faster and longer releasing more scent. You do not need to exceed 3-5 drops cause of you do it won't smell as good or release that deep rich sensual aroma.

I also have joined their frequent shopper club so I get freebies, discounts and more when shopping plus I get email alerts whenever my favorite items go on sale. I also try the new scents they release for holidays and every season. Satsuma, strawberry and exotic I alway have on hand I also love mandarin & tangelo then the vanilla & tonka bean. I wish they had room spray and diffuser oils or candles in the satsuma smell but have never seen them.

I have found the best deal on tea light is at Ikea I get 100 for a few dollars of the unscented. They usually last a few hours if you are looking for a longer lasting I use to sell party lite candles and their tea lights burn forever and when you snuff them out instead d blowing the was dries up and you can keep using them.

There is my scent secret for my home. It's funny cause I use plug ins, potpourri, candles, sprays etc so my house has lots of aroma and yummy smells but every single time I burn that oil it never fails people ask me wow what is that amazing smell!




Tiffany's inspired weekend mani:)

My Tiffany inspired Mani on this hurricane/tropical storm Isaac weekend. I got both these colors earlier this week on sale for $1.50 at Sally's then an additional 50% off red tags so that was .75 cents. I also got a white finger paints polish with long skinny brush which is what I attempted a bow on pointer finger, not so hot lol but hey I tried. That was .49 cents at Sally's. Great sales and deals. This Tiffany inspired polish by China glaze has been a long time favorite I love blue polish colors which if I have posted my collection of polishes pu would see blue is a top for me:). It is called For Audrey and I absolutely love it. I got a lot of polishes this week so I will post some more trials and mani's this week. Let me know of any sales or deals you locate. Also I have been updating my blog from my phone so sorry for any typos or shortness of entries. My kids seem to hog my laptop and my iPad so I never get to use it or it's always dead:(!

Xoxo,

Meli