Intermediate Hiatus: Best Nail Crap of 2010!

I am SO SORRY! As many of you know I have a Spinal Cord Injury and Connective tissue disease so I am often under the weather and even typing or staring at a white computer screen is painful.

SO if I am gone for a while without blogging, I apologize!

I have lately been rocking the French Manicure almost exclusively. But here are my Best buys of 2010.

My Manicures have been the following changed every three days:

Base: Instant Artificials by Salon Sciences available at Sally Beauty Supply.

Note: This is by far one of the BEST strengthening, quick drying, and non peeling bases for my thin, ridge riddled, peel prone nails. I use only one coat (it gets thick at the bottom of the bottle) and it provides a great base layer and my nails have gotten less stained from nail enamel.

Anchoring layer: CND Stickey By Creative Nail Design.

Note: I have tried Sally, Orly, Borghese, OPI, and other "Bonding/Anchoring" bases and found this one not only actually works the best but it doesn't get thick and difficult to use when you get to the dregs of the bottle. I have had one bottle and used it for 7 months and change my nail color FREQUENTLY and still have 1/8 bottle left. It is GREAT.

Top Coat: INM Out the Door Fast dry Top Coat. Available from Sally Beauty Supply.

Note: I tried Poshe, Seche Vite, Sally Mega Shine, Sally Insta-dry,and Opi RapiDry Top Coat and Borghese Presto. But I found that even though they dried fast the shrinkage was majorly ticking me off and tip wear was TERRIBLE! Plus the price was almost double that of a single small bottle of INM Out the door. I even went so far as to try Nubar Diamont Seal and Shine my friend had and was not impressed enough to pay the same amount of money for a .5 oz bottle when I could get a 2.5 oz bottle of INM for the same price.




Note: Sally French Tip Manicure Pen I have shakey hands. I tried to do my tips with an off white french manicure color by Orly but needed three passes and 5 minutes drying time. I am not that patient, nor do I have that steady of hands. So when I saw this I thought "Eureka!" I patiently tried it out and it works out great! One caveat I do have to mention is that unless you layer a a few coats of top coat on your tips you will have to do touch ups in 2 days because this white does chip unless you use a stickey base coat.

I actually change my nail color every three days anyways to clean, file and inspect my fingers (I am strange) but to the people who want 10 days of coverage be ready to use a stickey base, a good top coat and do touch ups and seal your edges well.

Still for 6 dollars and I have used mine for almost 7 months, its great.

Best Staying power colors of 2010:

I was expecting that when I got my expensive OPI, MAC, and Nicole polishes that I would be blown away by their staying power. I was expecting that because cheap polishes like Maybeline, Revlon, and a few 1.99 Sally polishes has given me some terrible chipped, blotchy manicures.

So imagine my surprise when I found The best polishes in application, drying time, coverage turned out not to be the pricey brands!


LA Colors Color Craze: These polishes are Big 3 free and I found them by accident in a dollar store. I got the bright polishes and took them home. They are the smoothest application, quick drying, longest wearing and brightest colors. I looked online to check out non dollar store prices and they are still only around 3-4 bucks a bottle! I was Seriously surprised and pleased by these. So much that I ended up buying and sending bottles of polish to friends in California, Texas, and Canada.

Misa Nail Lacquer: This is a polish that my friend the nail tech who goes "Ghost hunting" and "product shopping" with me swears by. He is the one who told me if he saw me using Sinful Colors again he was going to cut of my thumbs (He says they turn your nails yellow) Misa is Big three free, huge is Korea, and the laquer is a 2 polish full coverage beauty that comes in a huge array of colors and cost about 5 bucks a pop. It is Super long wearing (I wore red on my hands while making two birthday cakes and cupcakes and went to a party that evening didn't have a chip for two more days). Have to give it props. It can be a little wonky finding all its colors, a lot of nail salons have it and will sell bottles of color, but you have to ask, and also they will let you try it out on a piece of paper, but I bring a plastic nail wheel.

And my final favorite manicure aids for 2010?

Hydrogen peroxide and a q-tip for whitening your natural nail tips.

Sugar and warm water for a natural hand scrub.

Eucerin Healing Ointment on cuticles (Hands and feet knuckles) at night (I use it on my lips and eyelids too)

Hope that this update finds you all in the holidaze spirit.

XOXO

KJ

The difference between think and feel

I am a fiery person. I believe myself to be intelligent however there are a few triggers that when deployed open wide the flood gates that are my emotions and suddenly my mind is over run.

Animals, children, and the elderly. Basically anyone who is a vulnerable person or who takes great time and care of vulnerable persons who is under attack will activate my defense mechanisms faster than you can say "Houston we have a problem"

Yesterday I was lying in bed reading an article about Fran Lebowitz. An author and speaker whom I admire. She was speaking about how no one takes time to appreciate quality anymore, and no one shows courtesy or gratitude.

More importantly she said young writers and speakers will speak at great length to anyone who will listen about how they feel.

To put it simply it is what separated her from other authors and speakers, she didn't write how she felt, because she didn't want to know how we felt, she wanted to know what we thought, so she wrote what she thought.

It is what separated her as a great thinker.

In this time when everyone is in a mad rush to purchase the perfect gift. When it seems the entire focus of the holiday season has been completely lost to consumerism, it seems to this author the perfect time to think about quality and what truly matters.

I am grateful to continue to have a roof over my head, that my family is settles in their new lives. I am happy that my partner enjoys the colleagues at his job and that it pays enough, even if we have to scrape to get by.

I am excited to meet the newest family member due any day now and wonder if it will be a boy or a girl.

As for feelings? Well I feel a lot of things, but those are my own.

I know that this season only feels dreary for me because of my lack of employment. I am fully aware that any gifts we buy will be purchased with my partners money and none of my own.

With every twist of my brain I can't see any way around it, and I try to come at this point logically. In the end all I can come away with is that it is logical for one to feel beholden even if the circumstances are beyond their control.

So I will pick out all the gifts,decorate the house, budget for the new year, wrap everything up, and sign all the cards from the both of us and create a house bursting with holiday spirit.

This is our favorite holiday despite circumstances beyond our control. Its right we should shake as much happiness from it as we can.

I'm not quite dead yet...

I am here, I am healed from surgery. I am still painting my nails like a fiend.

Right now I have on China Glaze discontinued "Wild Mink" on mah mitts. It is my favorite salmon-y pink.

I also have been doing some mad physical therapy at the local YMCA.

I am swimming twice a week and doing weights and cardio three times a week.

Needless to say I come home exhausted and the animals are like "Do you have a job, or another family?"

Suddenly not having 24/7 beck and call mommy has made them appreciate me more. Especially in the dinner, laundry, and potty department.

I on the other hand have muscles in use I had forgotten I had. And they hurt, often, and a lot too.

And this cold slimy Syracuse weather is just BEGGING for me to take a fall down our slippery ass front steps from hell.

I predict I will be falling down the front steps at least once this winer because of or in spite of the dog or the steps being slippery.

KJ

666 give away on Scandelously Polished!

Ange is having an evil give away to celebrate having 700 friends reading her blog!

And to celebrate she is giving stuff away!

To enter you need to follow her via Google friend connect.

Her Blog is here: http://scandalouslypolished.blogspot.com/

She is QUEEN of Frankens so I would check it out anyway.

XOXO peeps.

KJ

Saturday Gun and Knives show!

The Nails:



I got some tactical knives for Chris and got to see some beautiful knives from a friend of mine Phil Adams:





I also helped my boy Baxter get a scope for his gun and then got to see a really neat decolletage knife:



Had I more money I may have picked it up.

It was a smorgasbord of guns for Baxter and Knives for me, we were there for HOURS.



The next day was the Westcott Street Cultural Fair, so I wore my Yay Prop 8 nails:



I was having a great time until Baxter called me and told me he'd found a tortoise in rough shape that some one had abandoned in an apartment he managed.

Knowing that I knew my way around reptiles and amphibians he asked if I would take it and get it healthy.

I took it, little did I know that my ex- abused, ex-fighting dog Kayne Micheal would adopt it and decide that it was "his" tortoise.







Sigh.

Today Chris came home with a piece of italian marble, a metal lamp, a full spectrum lamp, and a huge underbed storage container. The Tortoise now takes up an entire coffee table.

Today I have my Barbie nails, and tonight I have to have naked nails and toes because I have surgery in the morning :(



Well. Thats my update. There will be more n a week. I am going to be going into surgery I need to go do my pre surgical B.S.

KJ

OK I am not a slacker REALLY!

I have been fighting some depression and getting ready to have surgery on my low back.

However today I actually got off my keister and actually wrote a review of my Fynnirae haul on Associated Content http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/499923/kj_callaway.html

Keep peeking for it to get published!

I also picked up some new Sinful colors polishes and am going to review them.

However I have to say what is up with Sinful Colors pulling Daddy's Girl (my FAVE purple) and then re-releasing it for a Halloween color?!)

This nail freak is unsure that screams Halloween about purple.

*shrug*

I have had so many freaking manicures that I have not uploaded....

Lets see....Here is a white polish that for the life of me I can't remember what it was called...



So yeah. I have more but I have to upload from my camera.

I've been kwazi-useless. Well time for puppy-chabra and me to get a snack.

We leave you with this picture:



Don't hate us 'case we beautiful

KJ

Quickie post- Ciate worst customer service.

I have been recieveing this e-mail for TWO months.

Hello Guest,

We have noticed you still not complete processing your order on www.ciate.co.uk.
Just to inform you this order will be cancelled automatically in two days unless its fully processed.
If you are still interested in making a purchase then please click on http://www.ciate.co.uk/customer/account/login/ and visit your order history once you have logged in.

We look forward to your purchase.

Lots of Love,
The Team at Ciaté

Notice canceled is spelled wrong.

I was going to purchase from them until the shipping and handling charges came up, as well as reading reviews from other nail bloggers about Ciate wear (or lack there of) and drying time.

For the money I think that I will keep to my native land for now.

More nail updates soon, my google account was compromised and I was ill again, but I have been a busy little bee!!!

KJ

Fyrinnae Makeup review, edit: Best Customer Service!

So my Fyrinnae makeup came while I was down with the sickness.

I managed to do swatches of the gloss and eye shadows, as well as a full look using the bronzer and sunkissed finishing powder.

So without further ado lets get started:

Here is the swatches:



Left to right: Acidic Cherry Lip Gloss, Candy Coated Eye Shadow, Kamikaze Eye Shadow, and Delvian Eye Shadow.

Here is a look using the Sunkissed Finishing Powder, The Medium Bronzer, the Candy Coated Eye Shadow, and the Acidic Cherry Lip Gloss.



So on to the review!

I am a long time MAC fanatic. I still have much love for MAC but I have to say for 5.90 a pop these loose shadows pack a WHOLLOP amount of pigment! And bonus? They are VEGAN.

So to prep my lids for Fyrinnae I used my normal primer of a NYC mineral concealer patted on my lids and then applied "Candy Coated". This shadow stayed true and vibrant for 6 hours of humid sweaty schlepping around with no AC and the windows down in my crappy car.

Which I cannot say for my MAC eye makeup.

I was looking too, no creasing in the brow line, no flaking off, the color seemed true and vibrant until I took it off with a chamois cloth and diluted baby wash. I also have to say much to my delight and surprise that the Fyrinnae eye shadows not only came off in one or two swipes, but they left no staining!

Again, something that I can't say for some of my other bright eye shadows.

The finishing powder looked really white when I got it and at first made me a little nervous. But I am glad I used it anyway. It blended in easily with my Kabuki brush and gave my skin a pearl like sheen without looking "powdery" or "ghostly" I used the bronzer like a blush and it warmed me just enough to look "healthy" but not like I put on bronzer.

Which in my opinion is what a bronzer should do.

I have eczema and was unsure if these formulas would irritate my skin, but I wore then two days without any itching, rashes or problems. Color me impressed.

Now for the one product I am not so thrilled with.

The Acidic Cherry Lip Gloss.

Perhaps I should have chosen Blood Stains instead. Perhaps I am a lip gloss snob. But I am not impressed with the Lipgloss from Fyrinnae.

The color looked pretty, but it was difficult to get on evenly, smelled strongly, was extremely tacky and difficult to work with, and once I applied it, even after using the tried and trusted apply, blot, reapply method, came off within an hour.

It also left my lips feeling dry and despite the promise of non transfer was sticky and when I kissed my fiance goodbye he said "Eww your lip gloss is sticky and stinky!"

As I said, perhaps I would have been better off with Blood Stains. I told the lovely staff at Fyrinnae the trouble I had with their lip gloss and was almost within the hour of posting my review sent an e-mail offering an appology and offering to send me Blood Stains or Okinawa Beauty with my order that I had placed to I could see if another lip gloss was more to my fancy.

What DIVINE customer service! Does anyone actually perform customer service anymore? Well apparently Fyrinnae does and they also care about what their customer think of their products.

Which to this writer and reviewer means quite a lot.

On to the Eye Shadows and insert the Squeal of delight!

The Eye Shadows I loved so much I just ordered two more and a sample of Pixie Epoxy from their Website which is here: www.Fyrinnae.com


I highly suggest you load up on some samples on eye shadows, bronzer, and finishing powders! They are vegan and well made and work wonderfully. I honestly cannot stop playing with them and have already informed Mr. Rogue that I WILL be purchasing three full size pots once I figure out which colors best suit me.

The question is, can I narrow it down to three?

Next post- Salon Science Instant Artificials Review and CG Spontaneous!

XOX

KJ

Holy Giveaway Batman! Polish-Aholic Big 300!

http://www.thepolishaholic.com/2010/09/300-follower-giveaway.html

One of my FAVE bloggers Polish-Aholic (yeah I was late in the game finding her gimme a break I'm a newbie!)

Has 300 followers and is having a give-away to celebrate her big 3-0-0!

Go over and check out her website to see the deets, her tweets, and check out her facebook page.

But you got to be in it to win it.

Peace.

KJ

Just a quickie post

I am alive and just got my Fyrinnae order yesterday! *swoon*

Even though I had the throat plague and a fever from hades I managed to swatch all three eye makeup samples, Lip Gloss, the Bronzer and Sun kissed Finishing powder I had to have.

Thank you to Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss for fueling the addiction.

I will post pictures tomorrow.

One thing also I am going to post now is a tutorial that saved my nail. I broke my first nail. Split the sucker sideways. Right into the meat of the nail!

So I went online, looked up nail repair and watched this tutorial:



I bought brush on nail glue,got an organic unbleached cotton tea bag (from old tea I didn't like) Salon Science Instant Artificials.

Then I applied two coats of China Glaze "Spontaneaous" and you can't tell where the patch is.

neat.

KJ

Polish Haul and Flakies Mani!

My splendiferous Fiance decided that I could go on a shopping trip.

So he got me a pair of new ankle boots for Fall

Nail Polish:

My ebay win-



My H&M Polishes-



My Claires Moods Polish-



And my Mani using the H&M Blue Sky Polish with the SH Hidden Treasure Polish-





Look at those foil like shimmers!!! I can't stop looking.

I have swatched everything all my fave colors.

Swatches laters.

KJ

My Nail Wists

So, I have been getting bored of my manicures.

I've even created a color chart of all the possible color combos of manicures that I can do and I just look at them and sigh.

48 color combos I have worked out with my measly stash and I am still at a creative stand still.

Right now I am wearing Revlon Minted with China Glaze Fairy Dust on my Mani and Maybeline Purple Aluminum with China glaze Fairy Dust on my Pedi.





Both are my favorite colors.

They make me happy, but I need inspiration.

I need LA Colors Nails Art Deco Polish.

I found them for 1.50 an a nail site but I CANNOT be buying anything when I am jobless.

Chris just let me buy makeup and bid on a limited HTF polish on e-bay.

No more polish this month.

(I went a LITTLE high on bidding for my lemming)

I really want to try:

Nfu-oh Holo

Nfu- of Flakies

Mood Polish

Gradient Manicures

Konad Stamping with Bundle Monster Plates

With surgury coming up I can't get a job for at least another 2 months.

GRRRR! At least I will have one thing fixed. Off to go buy a printer cartridge.

XOXO Pics later I promise... heres to hold ya.

"But I don't want to wear the horsey thing!"



"A little PRIVACY while I eat your plants?!"



le SIGH

Products that my eczema loves

So having had eczema since I was a baby I have always looked for the perfect face cleanser, lotion, and means to keep clean and have a bubble bath without breaking out in a rash.

I wish that Galderma, Proctor and Gamble, and Johnson and Johnson would stop animal testing all together.

However it seems that there are laws that "require" any topical treatment that is considered medicinal to be tested on animals first.

Since those three companies, especially Galderma being the leader in products for people like me with severe skin conditions, products are almost all medicinal, it would be illegal for them to discontinue animal testing.

What bullcrap.

I finally find Cleanser, Face potion, and a bubbly bath that I can use and all of them are tested on animals.




This face wash is a person with eczema and combo skins dream. It foams slightly, has little or no scent, doesn't sting, takes off stubborn makeup, and won't leave your skin feeling like you just walked in from a sand storm. The pump bottle top makes it easy to use in the shower or at the sink and it was gentle enough that I could use it twice a day if I got really greasy sweating at night without stripping my skin.



I am 33 now. I don't have wrinkles yet but I am getting discoloration, uneven skin, and noticing my skin isn't as supple as it was. So I had been experimenting with moisturizers. Holy Jeebus there are a lot of them out there but finding one without dyes or fragrance that also brightened the skin and didn't cost 80 dollers? Forget about it.

Until I was talking to another friend of mine with severe facial dermatitis. She said the local drugstore was having a buy one get one 50% off and to go get Oil of Olay Regenerist 7.

Skeptical but impressed with how great her skin looked I went, bought a bottle (27.99 normally)

I have used it for three months and notice my skin is softer, no more rash, even skin tone, my old scars are faded, my pores are smaller. I really like this stuff and my Nana used to give me samples of her Lancome, Estee Lauder, and Clinique to use as a kid and that stuff NEVER worked on me!



This is one of my favorite things. My softly bubbling non girly part irritating bubble bath. It washes all my body without drying it out, and unlike the Dove "fragrance free" body wash it really doesn't have much of a fragrance. No dyes, and it doesn't feel like I am washing in lotion, I come out of the shower or bath feeling clean and soft.

Another great thing is that it works well with essential oils. I can easily add a few drops of Lavender and have a relaxing soak, or shower before I drift off to sleep. Or put some Sage on a poof and wake up before I go to a party. This is a real workhorse that is gentle enough for baby, but strong enough for this dirty girl.

My trifecta of happy itch free skin after almost 33 years of looking and trying everything else.

As you may notice I linked to the companies disclosures on Animal Testing and most seem to be trying to do away with animal testing, I don't understand the animal testing for pet food. I have protested that, wrote letters about it and will continue to do so.

Also animals anatomy is so much different than ours I really don't understand what exactly they are testing. Just because a dog is sensitive to vicks vapo rub, doesn't mean it is going to make me sick. Dogs also naturally have Salmonella in their digestive tracts and can eat raw meat and it makes them HEALTHIER.

I eat raw meat, I get sick and die from an intestinal parasite.

Bottom line will I use these products? Cetaphil and Oil of Olay? Yes. I have not found ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING that works nearly as well to help my poor face.

Body wash I am going to try some of the cruelty free baby wash lines. I hear California Baby was really good.

And as always, if I find a replacement and its good, you will be the first to know.

KJ

Vroom-Vroom! Frankenpolish

So I have made a new frankenpolish. Named after the manicure I used for its debut.

I went to a friends birthday recently and all the ladies had awesome manicures and pedicures (as did I but I does mah own nailz)

One Miss Tiffany had an awesome gray polish on her toes and when I asked her what it was got a "I dunno, got it at my weekly pedi"

Hrm...

So went home and having had the bottle of white polish from LA Colors (Energy Source) a drab white out color) I took it, doctored it with ink black from Sally Xtreme wear until I got a gunmetal gray.

Then thinking I needed a little something and having a longtime LOVE affair for 70's muscle cars I put a shiny black racing stripe down the side.

Vroom-Vroom Gray Franken Polish is born!





I think this manicure is hawt.





KJ

Simple Flashy French

Went to a birthday party and after I made these Double Dark Chocolate "Brooklyn Blackout Cupcakes" and Classic Yellow Cake with Ganache Frosting mah nails was RUINED!

SO I needed a fast manicure that was pretty.

Enter simple french.

But how to pretty it up for a party?

Well after my friend har-har ING at me for not understanding what a Stripe-er was (I kept saying "What would a stripper have to do with nails?"

I went to the local beauty barn where Stripe-ers were on sale 2 for 1!

Needless I bought a silver and a glittery black.

So this Manicure was born:





Obligatory Brooklyn Blackout Cupcake (with chocolate pudding injection) food porn pic:



Happy Birthday Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Ganache:



Sad dog who didn't get to taste ANYTHING!



KJ

LA Color Craze w/ Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

Look at those flakies! I keep staring at my nails. I am not a cool colors fan but this is defiantly going into my rotation.



Up close Macro shot of the Flake-y goodness.




This is a Sinful Colors polish that was actually quite thick and had variations in glitter size that surprised me!

I have had a few Sinful Color polishes that I have been unhappy with. But using them as top coats I have found they are beautiful.

And I finally broke down and bid on a bottle of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure on ebay. Damn you nail polish blogs for showing me all those pretty pictures of Hidden Treasure beautifully perverting your nail polish!

Now I haz to have it.

In other news my dog got a new bed! Now my beloved Kayne Micheal has an inflatable Orthopedic Air Mattress by Precision Kennels, ironically for his Precision Kennel.

The cats like it so much and it was so cheap (Yay clearance!) I may go back and buy a smaller one for them.

Action shots:

First I had to share this sad shot of Kayne Micheal hiding in the bathroom during a thunder storm. He gets so scared and upset that we have to dope him with benadryl.

You see the drool right? Poor baby!



And him with his new bed, which I woke up this morning to find him sleeping UNDERNEATH...?! Doofy dog!



Well Papa is home so time to make the donuts.

KJ

Teal and Silver Manicure

So I have been REALLY trying to get my cuticles to not look jacked.

I have been using cuticle oil EVERY night. I use hand cream EVERY night. I wear gloves when I do dishes.

So why do my nails look jacked?!

Seriously?!

On the other hand I love this manicure. It reminds me of my favorite casserole dish with the silver inlay.

Classic.

Its Nina Pro Nails "In a Tiff" and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in silver.



Can I just say that I do NOT like the Sally Hansen nail art pens?

They drag, smudge and lift color. I think I am going to just go get a thin brush and use that instead. Seriously DO NOT LIKE.

See my jacked nails? Any advice on those?



More Nails soon!

KJ

Battle of the Fast Dry Top Coats: "Seche Vite" vs. "INM Out the door"

So I was a late nail bloomer.

I always did my Nana's nails, but a life that revolved around constant working out, Martial Arts, playing guitar, and piano did not bode well for having pretty nails.

Now that a disease has caused me to have less fine motor skills and makes guitar playing too painful and weight training and martial arts impossible I started to let myself grow my nails out.

I have amassed what I think is a great base of colors to start me mixing and matching and hopefully having some pretty nails.

But the long asked question I had was, how to keep my manicure fresh?

My Nana used the long stand by Hard as Nails "Hard as Wraps" by Sally Hansen in the round bottle. she was the super patient woman who would put on her base coat and color, let it dry while she watched her nightly shows, then put her Hard as Nails "Hard as Wraps" on before bed and sleep with her arms crossed across her chest like a vampire corpse.

Only to rise with a lovely long lived manicure.

I was never that patient.

So I bought my Hard as Wraps to use as a top coat when I did my french manicures but still looked for the dream top coat.

Enter the debate. First came Mega Shine top coat by Sally Hansen. But I found that it puckered around the edges and pulled at the nail enamel!

I read from many reviewers that this was to be expected. Then I noticed that within a few weeks my bottle began to get really thick in consistency and hard to get the product out.

I had enough by then and gave the bottle to a friend of mine who said she wanted it.

Then I went online and read everyone raving about "Seche Vite"

If there is one thing to know about me its that if EVERYONE is telling you to use something, I am bound and determined to resist.

SO I went to my local beauty supply store where my friend the nail tech worked next door and asked her what she used. She pulled out a JUG and I mean a HUGE bottle of "INM Out the door" Fast dry top coat.

I Immediately went next door and bought it.

I loved it. It dried in seconds, provided a chip free shiny finish, I had the bottle for 2 months before it started to get a little thick. My nail tech friend told me to clean the bottle neck with Nail Polish remover and put a few drops of thinner in the bottle and it would be good as new.

I noticed no puckering, and I could reapply a coat every three days to extend a really fantastic manicure.

On my birthday my fiance gave me 40.00 to spend on whatever I wanted at the Beauty Supply store.

I was just about to pick up my trusty bottle of "INM Out the door" when I noticed they were offering "Seche Vite" for the same price.

So in the name of science I picked up the bottle and decided I would do a comparison.

First thing I noticed "Seche Vite" is thick right out of the bottle. So I am concerned that it is going to get thicker the longer I have it.

It went on easily enough and smoothed out over my nail polish. It gave a really glassy shine too!

I actually got a lot of compliments on my birthday manicure.

But one thing I have noticed is that "Seche Vite" tends to pucker my polish and pull it away from my tips.

I am careful to pull polish almost over and under my tips to kind of protect them and the "Seche Vite" seemed to almost pull the polish in.

For Shine I agree it is fantastic. And I took a beating on my birthday nails and was amazed they woke up in suck great condition. But the puckering at the tips raises an eyebrow since the regular price is more than "INM Out the Door"

I am going to do a left had vs Right hand challenge later this week.

But do you use Seche Vite or INM? Which one do you like better?

KJ

Laquerized- Nail polish give away!

So, one of the nail blogs I follow besides Miss 80 Millions, The Daily Nail, Vampy Varnish, The Polish Addict, All you Desire, and Pink Sith.....

Yeah...its becoming a problem LOL

But ANYWHOO! Laquuerized is giving away KIKO German Nail Polishes if you are a follower on her blog (I am!) and comment and leave your e-mail addy (I did!)

I'm a rather huge fan of German cosmetics and so here is hoping one of us wins huh?

Here is the link

Good Luck!

KJ

Birthday Haul

My honey was VERY generous.

I got a 15% off coupon, plus a 5 dollar off coupon, plus a birthday discount from my friend who is a nail tech and said he would meet me at Sally Beauty and buy my stuff for me with his Cosmeticians license.

I was completely geeked out.

SO I gots THESE:



And then I decided I needed THESE:



And a bottle of Seche Vite to try and a ginormous bottle of Nail Polish remover.

I am kinda impressed with Seche Vite. It goes on thick but really smooths out any mistakes and really makes your manicure look nice. BUT, it is SO THICK. It is going to be gel before I am halfway done with it and that drives me NUTS.

My friend said the way you keep it fresh is by cleaning the top of the container so that it closes and forms a good seal. If it gets crusty and can't close the water will evaporate.

I am still a fan of INM Out the Door but I am going to do a side by side comparison to see which top coat works better.

SO without further ado. Here are Birthday Mani/Pedi Pics!

Birthday Mani- Sally Xtreme Wear Black out with China Glaze Lubu Heels, 2 Coats Seche Vite TC:





Birthday Pedi- Frankenpolish "Raising Kayne" with China Glaze Fairy Dust, 2 coats Seche Vite TC:



It went PERFECT with my Turquoise and peach beaded sandals that I was wearing with my jeans, black suit jacket and slinky t-shirt.

All my buddies who were with me were like "Wow! we all look like slobs!" Bax was like "Well I'm wearing shoes, so theres that." I was very proud he wore shoes and shorts for me.

No underwear though. Which he announced to everyone. Which is probably why we wee surrounded by hoe parade on and off through the night. Much to Bax, Lil Joe, Beretta
and I's amusement Bai tried to hit on every single scary looking, inappropriately dressed, drunken barfly that flitted over to our corner of the patio.

Granted, you have my very handsome guy friends all talking bikes, travel, music, and bloody movies and somehow girls always seem to flock like moths to a naked bulb.

It was highly amusing to watch Bai speaking Russian and trying to pick up several Ukrainian women who were so thin I could actually see their ribs and hip bones.

Bax kept shuddering whenever she leaned over whispering to the rest of us "I can see her spine! someone give her some chicken stat!"

Lil Joe and I decided that every girl duo in the bar had a hot girl and a fat friend, or a hot girl and a grenade ( a friend who is not as attractive as you ad therefore makes you feel better about yourself or makes you look better in comparison)

He and I decided that I am the fat chick AND the hot girl, he is the thin chick AND the grenade.

We told Bax our thoughts and he reached over and cupped Joe's chest and said "You definitely ain't the hot chick, your titties ain't big enough"

I snorted gin out my nose.

I love my guy friends. Real drinks, interesting conversation, real jokes, I can look at pretty girls with them and laugh until gin comes out nose and not worry about whether I look pretty.

Happy Birthday indeed.

KJ

LA Color Craze Swatches

So I broke down and swatched!

I was having some serious questions about Magnetic Energy so I broke down and swatched it.

Let me just say the bright pink bottle did NOT match the neon orange with gold frost that it turned into. I still can't decide if I like this or not. I think it may be great for someone with darker skin or who LOVES bright color.



Next is a swatch of all the colors that I got for myself (Excluding High Voltage which I am not going to keep)

Left to Right

Magnetic Energy, Static Electricity, Transformer, High Voltage



And my thumb a PRETTY purple that I love: Nuclear Energy



I honestly love Nuclear Energy, Transformer, Static Electricity, and Atomic

I think Rain is going to love her colors she picked out!

I still have two bottles of Magnetic Energy, one bottle of Shock, one of Static Electricity, and one of High Voltage (the one that looks like White out, but shiny)

I did not swatch Shock, its unopened. If you are interested but want me to swatch it I will.

KJ

Atomic Manicure from the dollar store, learning my lesson about yellow nails

So I was hoping to score some Maybeline Nail enamel when I saw a few bottles of LA Colors Color Craze. Not knowing anything about the product but really digging the in your face brightness of the turquoise shade of "Atomic" I snagged a bottle and thought "hey for a buck if I hate it who cares?"

I went home and booted up the trusty laptop and found this site. Needless to say I was shocked and a little thrilled to find out my dollar store find was a cruelty free, toluene and formaldehyde free product!

So further enthused I waited until my current manicure at the time (China Glaze Strawberry Fields) gave up the ghost and then go my arsenal together and set to do my manicure.

Because this is a somewhat darker enamel I always start my manicure with a good coat of Orly Orlon Base coat.



I have not found any other base coat that I like better for the price. I use this to set up a barrier between my nails and the color because I noticed my nails yellowing a bit.

Next I apply Creative Nail Design "Stickey" Anchoring base coat. Yeah, yeah, I know two base coats. Here is the thing though, I noticed that using the CND Stickey alone did NOT help to stop yellowing. Also I read reviews of CND Stickey and several people said that while it is great for making your color stay longer it is not good at stopping the yellowing of the nail.



So I consulted a friend of mine who is a nail technician at a Spa in Palm Springs and asked her opinion. She said she alternates between light and dark polishes, uses a regular base coat and the CND Stickey basecoat, and gives her nails a good scrub with baking soda and peroxide paste followed by a soak in a bowl of water with a denture tablet. She does this every other time she changes her polish (so once a week) and says her nails are not yellow in the slightest.

Since I have been following her advice I noticed that my nails are much whiter and I can barely see any yellow at all.

At one point they were getting pretty gross.


See the yellow on the side of the nail peeking out from even underneath? ewww.




After two treatments, and a light buffing, the yellow is SERIOUSLY on the outs.



Today before I did my nails. The basecoats, treatments, and care paid off!



My pretty "Atomic" nails in the sun. I love this color! I cannot believe it was a dollar!

So, lesson learned about base coats, nail care,and enamel ingredients. I learned a lot by taking a risk on a tiny bottle of pretty blue nail enamel and it paid off.