Sally Hansen Salon Effects in "Tight Rope"

Hello everyone!

I don't think I've posted since the Heat won the NBA finals last week! It was a crazy seven games, but the Heat came out on top. I give serious props to the San Antonio Spurs for being the toughest opponent we had to face through out the entire playoffs. It's great to be a Miamian right now, that's for sure! ;) ... Now, on to some nail stuff!

A few weeks ago while I was at a Walgreens, I stumbled upon a display of some new Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips. There were so many cute designs to choose from. Too bad I was on a budget and could only purchase one at the time, otherwise I would have taken them all home with me. After a few minutes of pondering I finally went with Tight Rope, a vivid contrast between bright blue and purple in a creme-like finish.  Here it is.

You all know how much I love Sally Hansen's Salon Effects, so no need to do the broken record thing here. You can find these and any Sally Hansen products at CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Ulta. How do you like this design? I thought it was a bit too funky for me at first, but loved it once I saw how it looked on the nail! See ya next time :)
                                                                       - Tiff

Nail Fraud "Wild Thing"

Hi guys,

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. How is it already almost July? And how is it already recital time this Saturday? Good thing I've got all this nail stuff to lessen the stress and have something fun for myself to do every once in a while. One of my nail buddies, Destany from Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom, sent me a super sweet package of nail appliques. One of them was "Wild Thing" from Nail Fraud. Here is how they came out on me.

I have used Nail Fraud polish strips once before. Like I mentioned in that post, the design was adorable, but there was something funky about the formulation of them. They bubbled up immediately after I applied a thin coat of top coat. This time around, I decided to try applying gel top coat and curing them with my Sally Hansen mini led lamp. I'm not sure if you could tell from the photos above, but they came out super smooth and shiny. I got so many compliments on them at work the following day, and I couldn't stop staring at my nails wondering why I didn't try this the first go round. I was super happy with them...until I took a nice hot shower that night and noticed that a couple of the strips started to peel afterwards. WTH!!! So after all of that effort and excitement, and the intent of wearing them for at least five days, I got only one day out of them. Such a disappointment, and so unexpected. *Sigh* At least I got to wear them for a whole 24 hours...LOL. I have one more pack of Nail Fraud strips left over, but after that, I'm not sure I'll be putting much money towards getting more. As I mentioned in my previous Nail Fraud post, I am not sure what is going on with the company. Their website is still up, with three or four designs to choose from, and their Facebook page has not had much activity on it. I was desperately on the hunt for their Ethnic print strips, and may possibly still want them if I can find them in a blog sale or what not. Let me know if any of you find them before I do, because I do really love a tribal-looking design. Well, that does it for this post. Thanks to my nail friend Destany for the nail appliques, and look out for more that I got from her soon! :)

                                                                        - Tiff

Pink and Green NOTD

Hi, peeps!

I have a quick Nail-Of-The-Day look for you, using some polishes that have been in my untried group for a while. Some time back, I scored some Illamasqua polishes on sale at Sephora inside of JCP (my very first ones), and this really cute glitter from my favorite clothing store, Urban Outfitters. I wanted to create a nice accent mani using these two, along with Bettina Ortensia, which I have used once before. Here is my mani using these three colors.

Collide (Pink), Ortensia (green), with Scorch (multi-colored glitters in silver shimmer base).

Well, that was definitely a quick post! I'll have some more posts coming up soon. I haven't been posting very consistently lately because the dance studio I teach at is having our end of the year show this Saturday. I am hoping it all goes well...wish us luck! I will be performing with my advanced class also, so it's not just my students who have to bring it! See ya next time!

                                                                      - Tiff

NCLA nail wraps in "Stephanie's Galaxy"

Hello, polish enthusiasts!

I have a super quick post for you today. I have had my eye on the galaxy nail trend that has been going on lately. NCLA teamed up with some celebrity nail stylists to create some beautiful new designs for nail wraps, including the amazing galaxy print "Stephanie's Galaxy". Here is how they turned out on me.

 

Here is how my right hand turned out.

I topped these off with a wet-look, super shiny top coat to make the design pop more...not that it doesn't on its own. Ladies that have curvy nail beds like myself can minimize wrinkles by pulling and stretching the wrap on the sides and upwards towards the end of the nail before filing off the excess in a downward motion. I placed each nail wrap in the right spot near the cuticles first, then pulled, stretched, and smoothed them out until I got it as good as I could get it. I feel like these are fun for a special occasion, and  NCLA has incredibly creative designs that provide instant nail art. These would be absolutely flawless if they were made out of actual nail polish, though. That's just my opinion. You can purchase NCLA products from their website. What do you think about these? I hope I'm not considered to be a cheater for using nail wraps to get the galaxy look! lol. See you next time.

                                                                           - Tiff

OPI Pure Lacquer Appliques in Reptile design

Hello everyone!

I have a very quick post for you today. My baby brother's high school graduation was the other day, and I wanted to do my nails for the occasion. He graduated from South Miami Senior High, and their mascot is the cobra. I looked through my collection of nail polish appliques for another snake skin design. I have been wanting to use my set from OPI in their "Reptile" design for quite a while, so I decided to go ahead and use them for this. I am not sure which reptile the design is supposed to resemble, but it quickly reminded me of snakes, so I went with it...LOL. Here is how they turned out.

I applied the pointer and middle appliques upside down to pick up more of the pink and brown parts of the design.

Me and my brother. Isn't he a cutie? <3

You can find these at Ulta and just about any beauty supplies store that sells OPI products. I haven't seen any new designs from them as of yet, so I am hoping they continue to make more soon. Have you given these a try? What are some of your favorite designs? I'll see you next time :)

                                                                           - Tiff