Mint Candy Owl?

I wasn't quite sure what to title this post...anyway, here's something I added to my Mint Candy Apple manicure:

I love making these little owls! They're actually quite easy to do; all I use is a toothpick (and nail polish, obviously). I'm off to school now - I hope you all have a great day!

Essie Mint Candy Apple

TA DAAAAA!!!

So THIS is what Miss Bun sent me all the way from Hong Kong! I love it, I love it, I love it, thank you! I've wanted Mint Candy Apple for over a year, and I can't believe I finally got it for free just because someone was generous enough to offer to send it to me with nothing in return (though I offered to). Miss Bun, you are amazing! Unfortunately, I am not so amazing, and forgot to take a picture in artificial light...and now I'm in the middle of removing my fake nails. Eurgh.

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sun

I actually think these two pictures give a pretty good idea of what Mint Candy Apple looks like. In some lights, it looks more minty green, and in some lights, it looks more minty blue. However, it looks absolutely gorgeous ALL of the time, and I was not disappointed at all. Again, thank you Miss Bun!

Giveaway Winner!

There were 28 entries in my giveaway, and I used Random.org to choose a number...and it chose 20, Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes! Congratulations! I will be emailing you for your mailing address shortly.

Midnight Mission Matte

Very quick post today...I've got to get back to my precalculus homework. Math homework on the first day of school; this year is off to a great start! Or not. Really, though, my day was actually quite nice and went by very fast. I was in a hurry this morning, but wanted to change it up, so I added Essie Matte About You to China Glaze Midnight Mission. Sorry about the chips.

Oh, you want to know what that green furry thing is? Well, it's my new Hong Kong-ese keychain-slash-ball of cuteness, and it came to me with from someone special with something very very special...and you'll just have to wait and see what that something was! :)

China Glaze Midnight Mission

I absolutely love Midnight Mission. Love, love, love. It's a dark navy blue packed with silver glitter, and it's classy, yet fresh, and absolutely gorgeous. Please ignore the dent in the polish on my index finger. :)

outdoors, sunlight

inside, artificial light

I did take several pictures in the shade, but for some reason they all made the polish look really green, which it's not, so I didn't include any of those. These, however, are pretty color accurate, especially the first.

Application was great with Midnight Mission, and it was quite opaque - I could have gone with one coat, but I did two for more depth. I really, really love this color (if you hadn't picked up on that yet), and the finish reminds me of China Glaze Watermelon Rind, another polish I love, so I'll probably be wearing that one next. Until then, I hope you're all having a great week!

100+ Followers! (and giveaway extension)

So I look away for about 18 hours, and all of a sudden I have 105 followers! Yippee! I am very amazed and grateful to all of my followers. Thank you!

Due to various factors, I've decided to extend the giveaway deadline to August 21 (this Saturday) at midnight in the last possible time zone - if it's August 21 somewhere, you may enter.

I hope to have a post on China Glaze Midnight Mission up tonight, but it may not happen. I don't have my camera with me at the moment, and my school's open house is tonight. If it doesn't appear tonight, though, you WILL see Midnight Mission tomorrow! Again, thank you all so much for following and commenting and generally being awesome!

China Glaze Riveter Rouge

Last week, I finally managed to get my hands on two of the polishes from the China Glaze's fall collection, Vintage Vixen! While I still don't have any money, my mom was very gracious and bought me Riveter Rouge and Midnight Mission. Today, I decided on wearing Riveter Rouge - and while I'm still wearing the Nailene nails* from yesterday (with the design filed off), I cut and filed them down a bit because I just can't stand having my nails that long. It makes me feel like I can't do anything. :) Anyway, on to the polish! This was two easy coats with top coat, and I added a sticker* from Nailene Bedazzle pack.

inside, artificial light

outside, shade

outside, sun

I love this polish! It's a gorgeous rusty red with red and gold microglitter, and applies very easily, becoming opaque in two thin coats. The most accurate of my photos is the last, but they all look fairly close to what the polish looks like in various lighting. I also have a soft spot for Riveter Rouge because I've always loved Rosie the Riveter, and I can definitely see this being a "vintage" polish. Now I'm wishing it was fall, but if it was I wouldn't have these pictures to show you:

These are from a big pot of petunias outside my house. I love petunias and just thought I'd share them with you. Have a great Monday!

*This product was provided to me by the manufacturer for review. However, this has not influenced and will never influence my review(s) - I will always say what I truly think about a product.

Nailene Couture Nails in Safari

I got these nails in my to-review package from Revlon and Nailene some time ago, but I was waiting to try them until I had a week where I would be too busy to paint my nails because I didn't want to put them on and take them off again a day or two later like I did with the Revlon nails. However, I realized earlier today that when I got tired of the design, I could simply file off the design and paint them like my regular nails, so that's what I'm going to do. Here's a picture:

I did a lot better this time in that I didn't get quite as much glue all over my fingers, but I did get just as much bubbling...I'm not sure how to get prevent that, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. These particular nails are medium length and square shaped. I like the length, but I prefer a rounder shape and will probably file them when I file the design off. I really like the zebra print design, though - it's one of those designs that I would love to be able to do myself. It was easy to find the right size nails for my fingers and to apply them straight, and I think they look fairly natural aside from all the bubbling.

Now on to some blog-related manners...I'll be starting school this Thursday. Unfortunately, this means I probably won't be able to post every single day anymore, and I will be doing significantly less commenting on other blogs - I'll have homework, volunteering, extracurriculars, and college applications (which I should have already started) to attend to. However, I will still be posting several times a week, and occasionally I may even post every day of a week - it will all depend on how busy I am in a given week. Also, you'll probably be seeing more layering manis, which I hope you don't mind. :) Anyway, that's all for today! Have a great rest of the weekend!

*This product was provided to me by the manufacturer for review. However, this has not influenced and will never influence my review(s) - I will always say what I truly think about a product.

Domestic Goddess In the Spotlight

Very brief post again tonight...sorry, everyone, but I've been away from the house more than I expected today and actually got back when I was planning to go to bed. Obviously that didn't work out. Today I added Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear In the Spotlight glitter top coat over yesterday's $OPI matte mani. Aside from anything else, I like this layering combination because the names fit together really well. :)

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, cloudy

The sun was just not on my side today, so no sunlight pics, but I think you get the idea - In the Spotlight is a very straightforward holo silver bar glitter. The pictures are color accurate. Until tomorrow, when I will hopefully have time to do a "proper" post!

Blogs of the Week

I completely and entirely forgot to do this last week. Oops. Anyway, here are some new and new-to-me nail and nail-related blogs that I enjoy and would recommend:

Clever and Colorful
Lorraine Nails
Pazurkowy pamietnik (I can't understand Polish, but I like to look at the pictures!)
Addicted to Nail Polish
Ali's Nail News
Portrait of Mai
Nailgirl's Niche
Pure Polish
Caviar Dreams on a Cheese and Cracker Budget
Colors and Paws
Blushing Noir
Nail Scrapbook
theVEROblog
Yesterday's Nail

Enjoy!

Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess Matte

I have another very quick, one-picture post for you today...no proper excuse though - I just didn't take pictures until the sun went down. Oops.

This was three coats and, as you can see, I didn't do any cleanup today. I'm lazy, what can I say? Like most matte polishes, Domestic Goddess Matte shows application mistakes very, very well. However, it's a very pretty color, and one that I occasionally like to apply top coat over. Additionally, it photographs very accurately, especially for a purple - the photograph above is spot-on. 

Sweet Friends

Thank you to Stephanie of Imperfectly Painted and Freshie of Polish Freshie for giving me this great award!

The Rules:

1. Post who gave you this award

2. State 10 things you like

3. Give this award to 10 other bloggers and notify them with a comment

10 Things I Like:

-nail polish

-books - I am a huge, huge book nerd. I love books.

-my mom

-my friends

-my three cats and one dog

-traveling - I've been to Poland and Germany on a choir trip, and I love to travel within the U.S. as well

-Harry Potter...I am a HUGE Harry Potter nerd

-John and Hank Green, a.k.a. the Vlogbrothers. I told you I was a nerd. :)

-literature, history, writing, language...nerd.

-I'm going to copy Steph on this and say air conditioning. I am addicted to air conditioning.

My Tags:

The Original Swedish Blonde

Polishious

Addicted To All Things Pretty

Know Thy Nail Polish

Phoebe's Polished Phalanges

War Paint

A Polish Problem

Ali's Nail News

ANOTHER Bottle of Polish?!

Caviar Dreams on a Cheese and Cracker Budget

And if you want to do this and I didn't tag you, by all means go ahead!

Rimmel Black Satin

Very very quick post today, as I'm already supposed to be on my way. Today I'm visiting Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University (SLU), which I'm really looking forward to. I wanted to wear a black creme after a recent post from Polish Police, so I grabbed Rimmel Black Satin. This is two coats with top coat.

shade, natural light (at my hotel window)

Please excuse my dry fingers; travel is not kind to them. Have a great day!

Embers

I had high school registration this morning and then I'll be packing for college visits tomorrow, so I didn't have much time to do my nails this morning. So, I decided to top OPI Red My Fortune Cookie, which I wore yesterday, with Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and Essie Matte About You. I'm quite happy with the results, and I think it has a great smoldering look to it (hence the title of this post).

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I absolutely love this combination! I am beginning to have some tipwear today, as you can see, but I think that may be partly due to applying so many more coats of polish than usual...shrinkage much?

In other news, last night I had the pleasure of receiving a lovely little package from Inga of The Original Swedish Blonde! She had a giveaway for a bracelet she made a while back, and I was lucky enough to win it - when I emailed Inga to tell her I'd received the bracelet and that she would be seeing it on here, she replied that she was glad I liked it, but that it wasn't "Inga's accessories blog." However, I love the bracelet so much that I want to show it off anyway! :)

the adorable bag she sent it in, with a TOSB keychain and little clip-on thingy

the bracelet spread out on my desk

the bracelet on me!

Isn't it great? I'm wearing it right now, and I love the little jingling sound it makes when I type...boy am I silly. :) I hope you all have a great day, and thanks for reading! I hope to be able to post tomorrow, but if you don't see anything don't worry; I will be very busy!

OPI Red My Fortune Cookie

I really felt like wearing a nice, bright red today, so of course I reached for OPI Red My Fortune Cookie. Though it's a little sheer and still has slight VNL after three coats, it's one of my favorite reds.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sun

Gorgeous! I really don't have much to say about this color except that I love it. :) It's a bright, classy, cheerful red, and will definitely be one of my go-to polishes for debate tournaments this year.

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui + China Glaze Golden Enchantment

Today I painted my nails with OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui, then used Golden Enchantment to create a gradient mani. If you're interested, the tutorial I found is here. Unfortunately, I was in a rush to get to my high school and help one of my teachers clean out her room, so I didn't have time to do any clean-up, and then I chipped my nails while cleaning. Anyway, I hope you can get the general idea.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

For some reason, I could not get my camera to capture the color of Suzi Says Feng Shui. It's a darker, more dusty blue than it appears here. This was my first gradient mani, and I was reasonably pleased. The only problem was that the multiple coats of Golden Enchantment made my polish quite thick at the tips and got pushed back, causing a small gap at the tips. However, I liked the effect the gradient created and I will definitely be trying this again.

Sally Hansen Laser

Sally Hansen Laser is a deep blue glass-flecked shimmer with purple duochrome. When I applied the first coat, it looked very sheer, but I got a good opacity with three coats. However, I had a heck of a time getting the purple to show on camera - most of the pictures I took made Laser look like a simple, bright blue. For some reason, the picture that shows the purple the best is also the blurriest...oh well.

indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, shade

I did take a picture in the sun, but it's not color-accurate at all, so I'm not including it. However, none of these pictures are truly accurate. The polish in real life is more like royal purple and royal blue - the shade is closest to that shown in the second picture. It's absolutely gorgeous, and if you like blurples at all, definitely get your hands on Laser.

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

I was absolutely thrilled the other night when I found one lone bottle of Hidden Treasure in a Complete Salon Manicure display. Naturally, I went mad layering it over various colors, and I ended up doing fifteen different combinations.

First, I went for the neutrals. From thumb to pinkie, this picture shows Hidden Treasure on its own (excuse my stained nails...I didn't use base coat the other day and I am kicking myself for it), then over L.A. Colors Antique Rose, A Perfect 10 Talk Dirty, an unnamed Charlotte Russe polish, and Sally Girl white. For some reason I couldn't capture the effect of Hidden Treasure at all on those last two fingers...the flakies are subtle in real life, but you CAN see them. I promise. My favorite combo from these four is probably Hidden Treasure + Talk Dirty, though I also loved it over Antique Rose.

From left to right, this is Hidden Treasure over OPI Red My Fortune Cookie, an orange franken of mine, Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta, and Sally Hansen Lightening. My favorite of these is absolutely positively Red My Fortune Cookie. It's my favorite red anyway, but with Hidden Treasure on top it reminds me of one of those huge dragons in a parade...you know what I'm talking about? Hidden Treasure is also pretty subtle on the yellows, though again, not as subtle as in my pictures. And Lightening is NOT that green in real life - I think it looks icky in that picture.

From left to right, this is Zoya Ivanka, China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada, Zoya Roxy, and Sally Hansen DVD. I really, really love all of these combinations, but if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be Hidden Treasure + Roxy.

Left to right: OPI My Private Jet (new version), Orly Prince Charming, and China Glaze For Audrey. Sorry for the dent in For Audrey...I happened to run into a piece of paper just before I took the picture. Oops. I also loved all of these, but my favorite is My Private Jet - the bronze and copper colors in Hidden Treasure complement the bronze flash in My Private Jet very nicely.

I know a lot of people don't like Sally Hansen Insta-Dri brushes. If you're one of those people, you probably won't or don't like the Complete Salon Manicure brushes either, because as far as I can tell they are exactly the same. However, I'm quite fond of those brushes, so I had no trouble with the brush in Hidden Treasure. It applied very nicely, and removed smoothly as well. My only problem with removal is that I ended up with bits and pieces of glitter on my fingers, which you can see in my pictures above if you look closely enough. It wasn't nearly as bad as most regular glitters, though, for which I was grateful.

I really wish I could've gotten another bottle of this beauty...I will still be watching for it, and maybe if I find another one or two or three I'll do a giveaway! If you'd like to see Hidden Treasure over a particular color, let me know in the comments - you can look at the list of polishes I own here on Google Docs.

Four Things

Both Smita of My Nailz and Karen of polish of the day. ish. tagged me yesterday to do a "Friday Four" post. While it's no longer Friday, I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway.

4 things found in my purse

-wallter-iPhond
-keys

-lotion

4 favorite things in my room

-my books

-my nail polish

-my dog/her bed

-my computer

4 things I’ve always wanted to do

-visit England

-read War and Peace

-study abroad

-write a book

4 things I’m currently into

-reading

-painting my nails (obviously)

-baking/cooking

-writing

4 things I bet you didn't know about me

-I am half-Serbian.

-I was accepted to and attended Missouri Scholars Academy as one of 330 top students in the state.

-I love to ride my bike places, but I much prefer going places that do not require riding up hills. :)

-I have a vision deficit that means I can't get a driver's license.

4 songs I can't get out of my head

-Starstruck - Ke$ha

-Not Now But Soon - Imogen Heap

-It Makes a Change - Natalie Merchant

-I Am Not a Robot - Marina & the Diamonds

Rules:

-once tagged you must link the person who tagged you

-tag 4 others

-let the bloggers know they have been tagged

-give 4 answers to each question asked

My tags

-Karen from Frazzle and Aniploish

-Deanne of Lorraine Nails

-Kathleen from Pure Polish

-Miss Bun from Colors and Paws

Thanks again to Smita and Karen! I love their blogs, so if you don't already read them both, definitely check them out.

Orly Old School Orange

Old School Orange is slightly less opaque than Retro Red - I still had faint VNL and a couple bald spots after two coats, so this is three, and the pictures are color accurate.

 indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

Um...if you could just ignore the hangnail on my thumb in that last picture? Yeah. That'd be great. *cringes* Anyway, I like this color a lot. I'm not a huge orange person, though I like the color, but I think this one looks really nice on my nails. Application was very good, as it has been with all the Orly polishes I've tried, and I don't have a dupe for this in my collection. At first I thought maybe Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed might be a match, but it's a shade or two lighter and more yellow. I'm very glad I got Old School Orange, and I can definitely see myself wearing it again!

How to Paint Your Nails

Inga of The Original Swedish Blonde requested that I post a tutorial on how I paint my nails. I tried to do this both in pictures and in video, and haven't come up with anything that I'm satisfied with. However, I realized (belatedly) that I don't really need to do a tutorial myself, as everything I do is based off another tutorial! I paint my nails following the Lacquerized how-to, which I find very helpful and easy to follow. For Inga and anyone else who might be wondering, I hope that helps!

Hidden Treasure Preview

Before we get to Hidden Treasure, you should go over to AllYouDesire, who's hosting a giveaway of the six polishes in the Cat's Meow half of the China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection! 


Last night when I found Hidden Treasure, I was already wearing Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition in Laser, so I decided to put a layer of Hidden Treasure on top. There will be full posts on both Laser and Hidden Treasure later, but I was so excited to find Hidden Treasure that I thought I'd give you a picture now:

Gorgeousness! Please click to enlarge...it will be worth it, I promise. Look forward to a full HT post later, probably on Saturday.

Orly Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest is a medium-dark forest green polish that came as part of the fall 2009 Once Upon a Time collection. Unlike Happily Ever After, another polish from the collection which I reviewed, there is no hidden shimmer in Enchanted Forest - it's just a plain, albeit pretty, green creme. Application was very good as with all of the Orly polishes I've tried, and I used two coats.

indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Sorry for the poor-quality pictures - the polish was so shiny that I had trouble not getting tons of reflections in my shots. Nevertheless, I do think the color is represented well in these pictures.

I don't have that many forest greens, so the closest thing I have to Enchanted Forest is Sula Paint & Peel Moss, which you can see here. However, Enchanted Forest has more blue in it, while moss is slightly more of a yellow-brown, mossy green (which is appropriate, considering the name). I like both colors, but I slightly prefer the color of Enchanted Forest - I find it is less likely to look black in dim light. However, I'm glad I got them both, and I would definitely recommend Enchanted Forest if you're looking for a non-peeling or more widely available alternative to Moss.

Stay tuned for Hidden Treasure later today!

My First Giveaway! CLOSED

In celebration of 77 followers (because seven is my favorite number), I'm doing my first giveaway on Never Unpolished! The prize is:

Sinful Colors Let's Meet, Sinful Colors Nail Junkie, Sinful Colors Hottie, Wet 'n' Wild Red Tape, and Wet 'n' Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer. I tried to include something for everyone. They're all inexpensive drugstore polishes (after all, I am a high schooler with no job), but they're all colors that I would buy for myself. In fact, I do have my own bottles of Nail Junkie and Hottie, and I've used quite a lot of both of them. The rules of the giveaway are very simple:

1) You must be a resident of the continental US. It really pains me, but I just don't have the money to ship overseas right now. Next giveaway, hopefully.

2) You must be a follower. If you are not logged in to your account when you leave your comment, be sure to tell me what your account name is.

3) Leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

The giveaway will go until the end of August 18, and as long as it is August 18 somewhere on the planet, you may still enter. Good luck, and my apologies again to those outside the continental US! 

P.S. Psst...guess what I found one lonely bottle of while picking up the giveaway prize? My fiercest lemming, Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure! I wish there had been two so I could give one away, but unfortunately not. However, you can look forward to seeing an extra post tomorrow (in addition to the Orly Enchanted Forest post previously planned) showing off the lovely HT.

Orly Retro Red

Retro Red is not red. Nope, it's actually a red-orange coral. However, I do still like the color, and I love the finish. This is two coats, and all three pictures are pretty color-accurate.

 indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I love using matte top coat over glitter and shimmer polishes, but while I like the look of matte cremes, I usually think they make my hands look oily or greasy. However, the satin finish of the Orly Plastix collection gives a semi-matte finish that does not look my hands look oily at all. I really like the satin finish, and I wish there were some kind of satin top coat.

Aside from the finish, I quite like Retro Red. It covers very well and I like the color, though I wish it was actually red. If you don't like the satin finish, a similar color is Sephora by OPI Cover Me in Petals. Here are the two bottles side by side, and then my nails in Retro Red next to the $OPI bottle.

While I haven't swatched these side-by-side, I think they are quite similar, though they look quite a bit different in the bottle (probably due to the frosted glass of the Retro Red bottle). If you have Cover Me in Petals and you're not particularly fond of the satin finish, you probably don't need both. However, I'm glad I have both.