New Year, New Nails

Essie Mint Candy Apple and OPI Glitzerland

Sponged glitzerland and some gold glitter on the tips. Topped of with Seche Vite.

Boo!

Just a quick post with a couple snaps of two Halloween inspired manis I did this month. Both used a dotting tool. Are you doing any holiday themed nail designs this month?

Nebula Nails

I'm taking an astronomy class this semester, and it inspired me to take on this look.

Base is black sinful colors, sponged some white over it, and added some OPI oh cabana boy and about every glittery dark bluish polish I own. Added a layer of fine glitter on top, and Seche Vite top coat.

iOS 7: New features with pictures

Apple's iOS 7 dropped today, so I figured a lot of people will be wondering, what all changed?
Here's a light post on the most obvious changes.

Before and after update:



What siri looks like now. Her voice has some changes. A little more human, but some words sound wrong when she speaks too.

 

Unlimited folder capacity now. Swipe between screens within folders. Newstand can now go in a folder, which is great news for me. I don't use this app, and though I still can't remove it, not having it staring me in the face all the time is a nice addition to iOS7.

 

 The camera app. Now takes photo in a square size if you want. Haven't tried HDR outside yet, doesn't do much in low light though.

 

 Game Center has a new look now. When you double tap the home button to close apps, you swipe up on them instead of holding until the x appears. You can preview the app's screen before opening it.

 

 You no longer swipe to the side for spotlight search. Now you swipe down anywhere on the screen to pull it up.

 

 The new notifications screen. Pull down from the time as usual, but it covers the whole screen now.

 

iTunes radio. Apple's answer to Pandora. Not sure how much better it works, but the add to wishlist feature seems interesting. You can turn explicit lyric songs on or off, and choose between hit songs, variety, or discovery on each station.

 

Any other changes you find noteworthy? How do you like the update? Let me know in the comments.

New Shoes: Nike Free Run ID 3.0 / 5.0 hybrid.

I have been eyeing these shoes for quite a while, but have been pondering back on forth on what color scheme to go with. I knew I liked the atomic pink and the arctic green, but executing those colors in a graceful manner was eluding me. I recently came across a post on sneakersmadame.com with a hybrid using the upper from the 5.0 with the sole of the 3.0 using the exact colors I was trying so hard to make work. These puppies are now on their way to me in 4 weeks (which is what Nike's website says is how long they will need to custom make them.) Of course, now I will need to find nail polish that matches my new kicks.

Sinful Colors: Nail Art

While browsing the local Dollar Tree, I found some new stripers I haven't tried before. My favorite stripers are the square bottle ones from Sally beauty, but at $5 a pop, a cheaper alternative is certainly welcome. I picked up three colors: Pretty Cool, Simple But Fun, and Me First.

Pretty Cool:
This is fairly opaque, but rather runny. Leaving the lid off for a while, letting it dry out, may improve the formula a bit.

Simple But Fun:
A pretty grass green, less pigmented than pretty cool, but still opaque. Yet again runny, drying out may or may not help with that.

Me First:
Very yellow in the bottle, but extremely sheer and watery on the nail. I would avoid this one, it just doesn't seem too workable.

China Glaze: Flip Flop Fantasy and Luxe and Lush

Thick formula, almost a one coater but has some bald spots so I did two. Luxe picks plenty of glitter up on the brush, very happy with that. It gives a nice gold flash on top of flip flop fantasy. This combo actually makes my pale skin look tan. It is VERY bright, almost appearing black light reactive. (I haven't seen it with a black light, but now I am tempted.) FLip flop fantasy does dry a little matte. I used seche vite on top.

China Glaze: Immortal

The application of this was rather nice. The first thin coat provided decent coverage, and applied smoothly. It is a medium-dark gray base, with lots of micro glitter giving a rainbow effect that leans towards purple in the right lighting. Rather happy with it, as I don't have many grays in my collection. This is two coats of China Glaze Immortal, with Seche Vite top coat.

Essie: Mint Candy Apple

I initially wasn't going to purchase this, because I already own Essie Turquoise and Caicos. After seeing other swatches and since my bottle of t&c is 3/4 empty, I changed my mind, and I'm glad I did. Mint candy apple is a thicker and creamier formula. It leans more blue than t&c (which is more of a true turquoise with more green tones). It is a bright fun color that i will probably coordinate with many summer outfits. This is two coats with seche vite.

China Glaze: Unpredictable

Application is thick, but a little streaky. Not uncommon with a duochrome. There are flashes of purple-blue-green-yellow, with mostly green showing in bad/too bright lighting. Some tip wear within 24 hours. Very pretty, but probably not a color I'd go to for prolonged wear. This is two coats with seche vite.

Unique Bottles

Going through some things, I came across this old bottle of polish from when I was a child. It says "Fing'rs Camarillo, CA Pattent Pending Flicker/.40 FL. OZ/12ML" on the label. The polish inside was beyond saving so I put some acetone in and cleaned it up. Not sure what to do with it, might use it to for a franken. I wish more companies would come out with unique bottles like this.

Do you ever buy a polish for the packaging alone?

While we're on the topic of cats, here's a video of my cat painting. I downloaded the app "Paint for Cats" on the iPad mini. It's $1.99 in the app store.

China Glaze: Man Hunt

One of the China Glaze nail polishes I picked up from Sally Beauty yesterday. It's a very vibrant, yet still a bit dark, blue. Application was very smooth. This is definitely going to be a go to blue for me. This is two coats topped with Seche Vite. Pictures taken outdoors on a cloudy day.

Haul: Sally Beauty

I stopped by Sally Beauty today to check out what's new and see what was on sale. Happened across their clearance rack and my eyes lit up. Lots of beauties followed me home.

From left to right:


Haute Metal
Harvest Moon
Foie Gras
Man Hunt
Immortal
Agro
Unpredictable
Cast a Spell

The best part? They were all under $2, and one was even less than 50 cents! I walked out with 8 polishes and some cuticle cleanup supplies for under $17.

State of My Nails

So 3 months after I have stopped my biting habit, this is where my nails are at. No polish today because I stayed the night at a friend's place. (This is why I am using my e-cigarette liquid for the photo.) I have had a few chips, breaks, and some filing down for shape, but I consider this some nice growth. I am pretty proud of myself. I have been a habitual biter for nearly my whole life. It wasn't until I started blogging that I really had success with kicking the habit. I really want to have nice photos for my readers to look at, so that gives me motivation. Thank you for reading, it really means a lot to me!

What's on my ipad mini?