Semi Nail Fail

Good morning everyone. :) I hope you're all doing well today! 

Today's post is one that I debated even sharing with you. On Saturday night I decided that I was going to do some nail art with striping tape on Sunday. Since I had preplanned it, I went ahead and painted my bases for the mani. Anytime you work with tape (of any kind) you need to be absolutely sure your base color is 100% dry. If I can I will paint my bases the night before. 

Now when I sat down to plan this mani I didn't have much of an idea in mind, I just knew that I wanted to use 2 of my new OPI's; Funky Dunkey (dark purple) and Planks A Lot (light purple). By the way, Funky Dunkey is the most amazing eggplant purple I've ever seen in my life. The application and formula are a dream... it's saturated but doesn't stain, flows on easily... Just perfect. 

But, I digress. I decided I needed some practice with striping tape so I wanted to do 2 striped nails, and some gradients, and that's about all the plan I came up with. Overall I like the idea of this manicure, but I wasn't really happy with my execution. Some of my fingers ended up smudging and pulling, and it just looked weird to me. I don't know for sure what I did wrong, but that's ok. One thing I will say is that my striping skills are getting better. Striping tape is really hard for me to work with, it's so light and thin and wispy. I have a terrible time with it, it makes me feel like I've got giant gorilla hands when I'm trying to maneuver it. I have all of my striping tapes in a Scotch tape dispenser, and that has helped immensely. Hopefully with a few more tries I'll get it down. Then on my pointer and pinkie I did subtle gradients that went from light to dark. I am getting better at those too! Finally!!!

I only took two pictures of this one before I took it off. I wanted to share it because even though I think it's a fail, I do see my own progress in it. Plus I love it when bloggers post manis that they aren't crazy about, I think it's interesting to see what we all see as a fail or pass. 

The white in this mani is my beloved OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. This is one of the only polishes I've ever gone through an entire bottle of... I currently have 1 and 1/2 bottles, I need another one for backup. It makes me nervous that I'm that low! ll

Oh and just so you know, straight horizontal lines on your thumbs is really hard! You're thumbs aren't straight, or even. They curve... who knew? Ha :) I just didn't realize how much it would affect tape application. 

So what do you all think? Its maybe not a total nail fail, but it's a fail for me. Next time will be better. 

Until next time!

~casey

**All polishes in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use.**

Pretty and Petite

Good morning everyone! Happy Labor Day! Here in the states Labor Day is a holiday on the first Monday in September that is supposed to celebrate the workers of America. So in theory we are all supposed to get the day off to relax, BBQ  whatever we like. But, just like all other holidays in this country, it's mostly just a day off for those of us with office jobs and a ton of extra work for people in retail because everything goes on sale on holidays here. Go 'merica.

Today I have another Pipe Dream Polish for you. I have 8 of these polishes, and I love all of them. They aren't all polishes that I will probably wear much, but the formula and color combos are just so incredible. I love them. 

Today's polish is Pretty and Petite. April describes this polish on her Etsy listing as is made up of various sized holo glitters in purple, blue, and silver in a bright barbie/bubblegum pink base. I LOVE this polish. This is one of my very favorites so far. I'm a sucker for pink, and glittery pink just kills me. There are different shapes and sizes and colors and sparkles. I just can't. It's so pretty and girly and perfect. You can see the glitter through all the layers as usual, and the pink is on point. It's a true pink, not orange or red or coral, it's PINK. :)

Here are some pictures so you can see just how great it is. It does look a little coral-ish in the pictures, but that is just my pasty skin and how it looks in pictures. Trust me, in person this is PINK PINK PINK. 

Daylight, shade

Daylight, shade

Daylight, shade, MACRO!

Light Box

Light Box

Light Box MACRO! (look at the glitters!!!)

Bottle MACRO!!!! :) This one is the most true to life color.

This is 3 thin coats of Pretty and Petite topped with one coat of Glossy Glam.

There are so many different shapes and shades of glitter in there. (to my eye) And there are a lot of holo sparkles in it too. It's a great, girly, polish. If you love sparkles and pink, you need this in your life ASAP! 

Pipe Dream Polish can be purchased in their Etsy store here. 

Let me know what you think! 

Until next time!

~casey

**The polish in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use at a discounted price in exchange for an honest review.**

Fell Into a Sea of Grass

Happy Saturday everyone! Here in the states it is a holiday weekend, which means a 3 day weekend for some of us, including me and my husband. We don't really have any big plans, as usual, because that is the way we like to keep it. We are homebodies through and through. I'm sure I'll paint my nails at least a time or two, and the dog probably needs a bath... but that's about as exciting as it gets. :) 

Today I have another lovely Pipe Dream Polish. I'm sure you're tired of hearing it, but I love these polishes. And this one is no different. April describes this polish as being made up of medium sized royal blue metallic, bright blue matte, and silver glitter in a bright, grass green jelly base. The glitter in this polish is really hard to capture color wise, but trust me, it's pretty. My camera doesn't do the glitter justice. It's not the kind of green I normally wear, but I really love it. The formula is great (as usual), jelly sandwich in a bottle, the glitter flows just like you want it to. There's no placement necessary. The green is bright but not neon, it's jelly enough to see all the layers but creamy enough that you don't see any visible nail line. (one of my biggest pet peeves on my own nails)

I used three thin coats for the photos below and topped it with Glossy Glam to smooth it out and make it shine. One it's own it dried a little matte, and all glitters like this dry a little lumpy. 

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Full Sun 

Full Sun

Light Box

Light Box

Light Box Macro

The macro really shows the glitters in all the layers. 

I don't know that this will be a polish that I wear much, but I do love it. I love love LOVE the formula. It's so squishy and bright and effortless. 

Pipe Dream Polish can be purchased from their Esty store here. 

What do you think? Personally I hope April keeps doing what she's doing because she is doing it RIGHT! 

**The polish in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use at a discounted rate in exchange for an honest review.**

Sweet Baby by Donna Cuticle Oil

Happy Friday night everyone! I know, this is a late post... I just realized I hadn't told you all about this stuff and I couldn't wait any longer! 

A couple of weeks ago Donna from Working Girl Nails on Instagram launched a line of cuticle oils called Sweet Baby by Donna. I decided to go with a limited edition scent, Apple Pie Ala Mode. From her Etsy description: Because the smell of essential oils aren't for everyone I am offering some limited edition fragrances. These limited editions are not all natural because they include a scent that is both natural and synthetic. However, they are still vegan and animal friendly, as well as paraben, soy, and nut free. As with any allergy though, you should test a small amount before using a large amount. 

I'll be honest, part of what initially drew me to this oil was Donna herself. I've been following her for a while on Instagram. She's fun, sweet, and posts great manis. So when I saw that she was starting this line I had to check it out. Then I saw that it was cuticle oil in a roller ball bottle. WHY aren't more people making this????? Seriously. It keeps you from using too much oil (a regular occurrence for me) and it's mess/spill free. I had planned to carry this in my purse, but it hasn't made it to my purse yet. I'm afraid I'll forget about it in there, so I've been keeping by my favorite spot at home. I've been really impressed with this stuff. First of all the scent is fantastic, but it's not overwhelming. Which is perfect. I'm sensitive to scents and this doesn't bother me at all. Once it soaks in there is just barely a hint of the scent left. And then there is the formula: the roller ball dispenses just the right amount of oil and it soaks in fast. there is no oily residue left behind, just nice, soft, moisturized skin. 

I don't have any before pictures, honestly I can't tell a huge difference in my cuticles. But, I am a little obsessive about moisturizing my hands and keeping my cuticle and nail area all nice and soft and clean. But I can say that this is my new favorite oil. We are going on vacation next month and I had been worrying about what kind of nail care products to take with us. This will be my cuticle moisturizer for sure! I plan to keep it in my purse and I'll probably use it ever 30 minutes for the whole 13 hour drive. (Hubby isn't letting me drive, and I can't read in the car, what else am I going to do? :) )

Here is a pic with the bottle to show you how nice the packaging is. It came in a box with the fragrance labeled, the bottle is nice and heavy and the roller ball isn't lose. I used the oil about 10 minutes before I took this pic, rubbed it in a little, and as you can see it's soaked in already. (Polish shown is Zoya Hope, I'll be posting more pictures and a review of it sometime in the next week)

Sweet Baby by Donna can be purchased through her Etsy store here. She has several scents to choose some, including some that are made with all natural aromatherapy essential oils. Go check it out! You won't be sorry. Also check out her Instagram! Her manis are fantastic!

I also want to add that Donna had some tracking issues with USPS with my order. She sent me a message through Etsy as soon as she knew and apologized. She was genuinely concerned with me having a good experience and getting the product in a timely manner. I ordered the oil on Sunday and received it on Friday, so even with the glitch I got it really quickly. So customer service gets an A+ from me! 

**The product in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use.**

Zoya Carter

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a good week so far. We're almost to the weekend, and it's a 3 day weekend for some of us. I'm pretty excited. We've got big plans to do nothing, which is our favorite thing to do. I'm sure I'll paint my nails, probably half a dozen times... you know how it is. 

Today I have one of the fall 2013 Zoya PixieDust polishes. I LOVE these textures. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Zoya has the texture down perfect. They've got the sparkle, matte, and texture all balanced out perfectly. 

Zoya describes Carter as royal purple, I think that's pretty accurate. It's really unique, in different lights the base looks like dark purple and sometimes dark blue. The glitter in this is more pink, and it really brightens the whole look. Then there's the sparkle.... ugh. If you are following my Instagram you saw the video I posted of it last night. If you're not following my Instagram, please go check it out and follow me. 

There isn't much to say about Carter, I'll let the polish speak for itself. The light box pictures are the most color accurate to real life, but really it's very hard to capture it's beauty. Sorry, I love taking macro pictures of these textures. 

Light Box

Light Box Macro

Light Box Macro

I took a blurry one just to show the sparkle. I love this stuff.

Natural Light (Shade)

The sun was setting when I went to get dinner so I had to snap a pic, of course.

This is 3 coats of Carter with no top coat. 

What do you think? I have to say, if you like sparkly polish and you like purple, you NEED Carter in your life. 

Zoya polishes can be purchased on their website and in some Ulta stores.

**The polish in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use.**