Friday, 14 January 2011

Why my husband rocks!!!

Just a quick post, to show you all what I walked into last night after work. As I walk through the door, I'm greeted by my 2 dogs, Rolo, a Chihuahua, that currently resembles a tick, teeny tiny head, but fatty body, lol, and Gramps, our newly adopted 16 year old mix. Then a few more steps in I see my husband, with a very big satisfied grin on his face. With him you never know. Well as I put my purse down, I see a white blob out of the corner of my eye. Well...................this is what it was
My ever so sweet hubby, "built" me a polish rack!!!!! LOLOLOL, out of Styrofoam, and even placed a few in there, so I would get the effect. All I could do was smile, and shake my head.

Multi Colored Checkered Mani...

Yep another checkered mani, lol. I wanted to use my Sally Hansen Prism Turquoise Opal again. Man, I cannot get enough of this polish! Just sooo many colors in one polish. Since these have been discontinued for years, I got mine, and a few other Prisms off of eBay, at a very decent price. Then one of my BFF/neighbors, Meghan, stopped over while I was in process of this, and suggested the OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Matte, for the squares. Even though I've used it a bunch lately, I agreed, and she was totally right!!! Then later on I decided to add a top coat, for shine!
You can find the tutorial here, that I did.



Here is Turquoise Opal over black. See.....so many colors!





Here is where I added the Lincoln Park After Dark Matte for the squares. Ignore the dent in my middle finger, lol. Not quit sure how that happened. Grrrrrr





Now with the top coat! I love SV, it evens everything out!





This pic is when I tried it out with the flash on my camera. I loved this pic!

Dear Readers...


Dear Readers,

Lately it's been commented on that I have posted less often than I used to, as well as that I've posted a few press releases lately. I'll get to both of those points in this open letter, post, whatever you want to call it.

Lately it's become an epidemic of sorts on nail and beauty blogs (not just mine) where readers are expecting instant swatches, reviews, and essentially for us to inquire 'How high?' when asked by our readers to 'Jump!'. I can only speak for myself when I say this, but while blogging is a very important portion of my life, it is NOT my life. I have friends and loved ones, as well as other hobbies, responsibilities, desires, and jobs that comprise my life as well. While I do have ads, which generate minimal amounts of income (not even close to enough to cover costs of maintaining the blog, purchasing all my polishes and tools, etc), I DO NOT make money from this blog. It is NOT my job, nor do I wish for it to feel that way. I blog about nail art and nail polish because I enjoy it. It's something that I'm interested in and passionate about...but it's not the sole reason for my existence.

If you read my posts, I'm sure you've heard my mention of another job. THIS is why I haven't been posting as much as I used to. I now work approximately 65-70 hours a week. For instance, of the 48 hours that comprised Tuesday and Wednesday, over 30 of them were spent working. When one works from 8 am to 11, 11:30, 1 am, what have you, it doesn't leave much (or ANY) time for nail blogging on those days. I honestly have time to eat, sleep (about 5 hrs?), and shower before I have to leave again to head for work. After days like that, on the days where I have only my 8-5:30 hours, I come home and have little energy to devote to things I don't have time for on other days, things like laundry, housework, errands, and nail blogging. Truth be told- I put most of my free time and energy into blogging right now, leaving other things on the back burner. For those of you that have commented, emailed, etc., I hope you understand this, and cut me some slack, as I wish that I could post more often, but just can't.

In regards to my posting of press releases:

I, from time to time, and from certain companies, receive press releases on new products, new color collections, etc, and I WILL post them. This blog was designed not solely as a place for weird and quirky nail art, inspiration, and curiosity, but also as an information source. I LIKE being able to read about collections before they come out, so I can plan what I want to get, and allocate money in my budget to purchase those items. In response to comments pertaining to the desire to hear my thoughts on a collection instead of a cookie cutter press release, I can only say that that was my plan, but I post my comments about a collection when I actually swatch and review them, when I actually have them in my possession, which I don't when I post the press releases, hence the designation in the title of 'PREVIEW'.

I beg that you don't think of this as whining, it's a simple statement because I'm unable to respond to every email, comment, or tweet that I receive about the above topics. I LOVE you guys, I respect your comments, encourage them, etc., but wanted to make you aware of where I stand on the subject of my nail art blog. I will continue to post as often as I can, with designs to make you laugh, groan, think, or even smile, and hopefully you'll continue to stop by, enjoy, leave your comments, whatever you want to do here at 'The Daily Nail'. If you choose not to stay, I'm sad to lose your company and insight, but it's your prerogative, and I can't stop you from going.

I hope you understand!

XOXO

Melissa
(the weirdo redhead with the goofy nails)

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Pizza! Pizza!


So I was totally craving a pizza tonight, and Little Caesar's Hot N Ready was offered up. While I enjoy Little Caesar's for what it is, a utility pizza (meaning it gets the job done, but isn't huge on awesome), I was craving more of the tasty variety, like Grimaldi's, or something else equally delicious. However, Grimaldi's doesn't make for good nail art (and I'm not sure Little Caesars does either, but you get it anyway) :-D Anyway. Wanna know the crazy thing? I didn't even eat pizza. :) (not so crazy, I'm aware.) To the nails!!



I used MAC Vestral White as a base, with CND Electric Orange for the the orange, and American Apparel Hassid for the black. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Ok, now that that is posted, I need to get back to watching Brad Meltzer's DECODED and freaking out about the apocalypse instead of what I SHOULD be doing...sleeping.

Some New Wet n' Wild swatches....

My hubby asked me to stop at our local Walgreens for some random stuff for the house, and I of course agreed! I had heard about these new Wet n' Wild polishes, and was really hoping they had them, since no where else did. Annnnddd.....THEY DID! Now there are like 7, 8, 9, total, I don't remember, but these are the only ones I grabbed.

Party of Five Glitters (ahhhhh I used to love that show) - yet another big multi glitter similar to Lippmanns Happy Birthday or the Milani Gems. I have the other 2 as well, and I have to say, I prefer this out of all 3! I layered it over black here.



SaGreena the Teenage Witch (these names kill me, lol, literally)



Teal of Fortune, yep cause this polish world needed another Charla dupe, what is this like number 4? I'm not sure why I bought this, lol, I think I own all the dupes *hangs head*



Oh, I MUST say, that just like all the other Charla dupes, this stained terribly!!! And I only had it on for like 15 minutes!!!! LOLOLOL, I just love this pic
Okay moving on, Hannah Pinktana, yep you read right, these names are sooo cheesy! This is actually a holo, but since I was inside, it was very hard to capture. It is fairly sheer, so I layered it over black, and love it!



Essence Magnetic Metallics Polish Swatches!!!!

WHOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!! So some of you may remember about a giveaway I posted about, that The Laquerista was holding. The giveaway was for the set of Essence Metallic Magnetic polishes. Well.......I WON!!! YAY, and they arrived yesterday. Of course I had to swatch them all, and share with you guys. I have heard that the magnet it came with didn't work well, but I had no issues. I absolutely love these!! They were all one coat. Here is a group shot with and w/out flash.

L-R
Iron Goddess, Copper Rulez, Steel Me, Nothing Else Metals


and here is the magnet and how-to booklet it came with

This is Steel Me, and my 2nd fave of the bunch!




This was my FAVE of them all, Copper Rulez. Do you see the gold sparkles in it?!?!? So pretty





Nothing Else Metals



and finally Iron Goddess



















I have wanted to try magnetic polishes ever since I heard about L'Oreal Star Magnet polishes, but I was never able to get my hands on any. I was beyond thrilled to learn I had won these. Have you guys tried any Magnetic polishes before? What do you think of them?

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Poshe base + top bundle promotion!

Hey all !!

There's a special bundle promotion for poshe base coat and top coat!

Non-yellowing
Strengthens nails
Promotes hardness
Fast drying
Can be used for pregnant & breastfeeding mothers
Each pair is going at $35
(u.p. base coat at $22 & top at $16!!)
Hurry get yours now !!!

While stocks last !!!

Color Club Alter Ego PREVIEW!



Alter Ego!

Color Club lets you create high-fashion looks for every identity with Alter Ego, their latest collection of diverse, long-lasting lacquers!

Alter Ego’s consists of 12 shades! Go incognito with our opaque shades or rendezvous in full view with our sheers of Alter Ego ‘LIGHTS’ and ‘DARKS’!




Alter Ego’s ‘Reveal Your Mystery Collection’ 7 piece salon pack includes Get a Clue, Revealed, Incognito, Secret Rendezvous, Sheer Disguise, and Give Me a Hint shades plus Milky White Base Coat. Their ‘Keep It Undercover Collection’ 7 piece salon pack includes Alter Ego, Secret Agent, Total Mystery, Alias, Ulterior Motive and Masquerading plus Vivid Top Coat.

For more information call Color Club at 800-221-8080, email support@cosmeticgroup.com or visit us online at www.cosmeticgroup.com

Lippman Across the Universe Funky French..

Of course I had to do a mani with my new Lippmann!! So for this I used Across the Universe. I started out doing a full mani, and when I was done, I wanted to do another funky french with it, but I didn't want matte tips again, so I did this, and made Across the Universe the tips :P I LOVE it, I felt like I had gems on my tips!


Here is 2 coats of Across the Universe on its own



And of course, the final mani :P