Reviews and Swatches: Sinful Colors - Ocean Side

The week is over and you've slaved away at school or work or home all week long. Time to sit down, relax and paint your nails! Yep, It's Friday, and time for another Budget-Friendly Friday review!

This week, I'm taking a look at another Sinful Colors polish, this time a beautiful nearly-teal blue by the name of Ocean Side

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #8 - Cute - Doraemon Nail Art

Let me introduce you to Doraemon. Doraemon (ドラえもん) is a character beloved by generations of Japanese children and a Japanese cultural icon. He's a time-traveling, earless robot cat and the main character for the manga and anime series of the same name. He has a fourth-dimensional pocket on his stomach and possesses a door that can take you anywhere. He loves dorayaki and has all kinds of adventures with fifth-grader Nobita.

He's also star of the nail art I decided to do for this week's FingerFood Theme Buffet challenge.

Reviews and Swatches: Julep - Cassie

Back at the end of December, I picked up a ton of Julep nail polishes for really cheap in the company's warehouse sale. (I've also become a Maven since then, but will most likely be cancelling my account soon)

Most of the polishes that I got were parts of sets. I wanted some of the colors in each set, but each one had a few that I could have passed on. I think this polish, Cassie, was one of those that I didn't care much about. It's just been sitting in my drawer, untried. Despite the fact that this polish wasn't really to my tastes, I decided to give it a try anyways!

Reviews and Swatches: Love, Angeline - Strawberry Fields

Yep, it's Monday. Time for another trip into the Indie Spotlight, where I try out indie nail polishes from amazing polish makers from right here in our nail community.

Last week, I took a look at Card Trick by Love, Angeline. This was a great polish, and while I normally wouldn't do two similar polishes two weeks in a row, I wanted to try this one, Strawberry Fields. Well, there's also the fact that I only have a limited supply of indie polishes to work with at the moment.

Plus, with all of the miserable weather this winter, my nails needed the spring vibe that this polish gives off

NOTD: Blue Birds

I have a whole bunch of untried polishes in my steadily-growing collection that I have been meaning to try out. Since I was in the mood to wear blue (even though it has a tendency to stain) I grabbed two polishes and put together this blue bird look.

Not only did I get to wear a polish that may be have become one of my favorite blues EVER, but I also got the chance to try out the MoYou London plates that had JUST come in the mail!

Reviews and Swatches: Sinful Colors - Bali Mist

Maybe you have plans for the weekend. Maybe it's the end of the month and rent is due. Maybe your electric bill was way higher than you expected. The truth is that sometimes, we just need a budget-friendly polish in our lives. Every Friday, I plan on reviewing polishes that you can buy in any pharmacy or big box store for only a few dollar.

The first polish that I'm going to look at is Bali Mist from Sinful Colors. Sadly, this isn't the best polish that I could have chosen for the first week of this series. I could have very well titled this post "Disappointment in a Bottle" or "Oh What a difference a Base Makes"

Reviews and Swatches: Julep - Rooney

 February's Julep Maven box was filled polishes in a variety of textures and finishes. As a nail art and nail polish aficionado, I'm usually drawn to "It Girl," the polish-only option. This month's selection included a copper glitter (Diamond Theory), a dark army green creme (Roc Solid) and a deep purple stardust textured polish (Glam Roc). All subscribers were also given Love, the glitter polish on my ring finger in these photos.

This month, I also opted to add on the polish I'm reviewing today. I didn't have any brown polishes in my collection, so I decided to give Rooney a try.

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #7 - Abstract

 Welcome to the seventh installment of Finger Food's Theme Buffet. The challenge theme for this week was "Abstract," which leaves us nail artists with all kinds of avenues to explore.

Some people made their own abstract works of art or abstract designs. Others recreated famous paintings by abstract artists like Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.

 I was one of those that decided to recreate an abstract painting. In my case, I chose one of the Homage to the Square series of paintings by Josef Albers.

NOTD: Tri Polilsh Tuesday - Pink, Grey and Brown Chevrons

Last month, when I asked everyone about what other challenges they recommend I join, Sam @ Fingerfoods suggested The Crumpet's Tri-Polish Challenge.

I had come across the challenge before and was excited to join in.  My schedule prevented me from doing a tri-polish manicure sooner than this week, but I'm glad that I'm finally giving it a try.

I present to you my first attempt at February's pink, grey and brown theme: Chevrons!

Reviews and Swatches: Love, Angeline - Card Trick

It's Monday, which means it's time for another Indie Spotlight post!

About two weeks ago, I ordered several polishes from  Love, Angeline. I've had my eye on a few of these amazing glitter-filled crellies for a while now. Finally, I caved and treated myself to a couple on my wishlist, and I'm  really glad I did.

Today I'm going to take a look at the first of my purchases: Card Trick <3

NOTD: Lingerie For Your Nails

A few days ago, I got a fresh batch of nail polishes in the mail. Among them were the December 2013 and January 2014 polishes from Enchanted Polish.

Today's nail art features December 2013, a lovely nude holo with hints of pink and gold. While I was swatching the polish , the color reminded me a lot of silk stockings or lingerie, so I just had to throw together some nail art to match.

Liebster Awards

The Liebster Award is not so much an award as it is a way of finding new and small blogs, promoting those that we think deserve recognition and making new friends. As a new blogger, it's a great way of feeling that people are actually listening to my ramblings and that I'm not just posting all of this the Internet void.

I've been nominated twice over the past month - first by Emma of Emma's Space, then by Dawn from Sassy Little Nails. Finally I'm getting around to posting this!

NOTD: Valentine's Day Hearts

After spending hours yesterday shoveling snow, my nails were an absolute disaster: Two broken nails on my right hand and the polish I'd applied the night before a chopped mess.

Seeing as it is Valentine's Day today, I figured why not use one of my favorite nail polishes to do a festive manicure that was a bit more traditional than the one I had posted previously.

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #6 - Hearts

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so all of our blog and Instagram feeds are full of pink and red nail art. Our fingers are full of hearts and "I Love You"s and all manner of Valentine's Day themes goodness.

 This week's subject for Finger Food's theme buffet fits in perfectly for the holiday: hearts!

NOTD - Foil-Wrapped Chocolate

Well, it's been a long week. If you're not aware, the Northeastern US was slammed by ice storms this  past week. The area where I live was particularly bad. There were downed trees and powerlines everywhere.  Between spotty power and being sick, I never did get to put up these photos last week!

So here you go, a simple manicure that wasn't even planned. The results remind me of foil-wrapped chocolates, perfect for this Valentine's Day holiday.

Reviews and Swatches: Salon Perfect - Salsa Dance

This past Christmas Season, before I started this blog, I was standing in the cosmetics aisles of my local Walmart, looking for a good red to use for holiday nail art. As I picked through the aisles of polish - in their usual Walmart disarray - I felt a bit like the Goldilocks of nail polish.  "This red is too purple. This one is two pink. This one is too orange. This one is too burgundy. Ah! This one is JUUUUUUST right!"

So what polish did I pick? Salsa Dance, a bright primary-color red by Salon Perfect.

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #5 - Celebrations: Chinese New Year

 Welcome to week 5 of Finger Food Nails' Theme Buffet! The theme for this week was birthdays and / or celebrations. When I first saw the theme for this week, I had no clue what to do. My birthday was a few weeks ago and I didn't get a chance to do my nails then. I didn't want to make a blatantly birthday design for no reason. And what could I be celebrating in the dead of winter?

Then I realized that this week's theme coincided nicely with the Chinese (or Lunar, if you prefer) New Year! Let's celebrate the year of the horse!

Swatches and Reviews: Butter London - Cream Tea

Have you ever used a product or tried a polish that was so good, but there was one fundamental flaw that prevented it from becoming a favorite or a staple?

Meet Cream Tea, a warm white nail polish from Butter London. She's lovely, isn't she?

Oh, Cream Tea, Cream Tea... how I love you and your color. Your beautiful shine. Your smooth surface. Why then, oh why, must you be such a pain to apply?!?