Fault Line Crackle

I forgot to mention that before I removed Nubar Verde the other night, I did try China Glaze Fault Line over it. Now I have heard MANY say that it doesn't crackle as good as the rest of the China Glaze, but I didn't really experience much of a difference.  Here it is with no top coat.

and now with SV on top

WARNING - Nekkid pictures ahead (of stained nails, lol)

Morning! Remember how I told you all that Nubar Verde was not very nice to me or my nails. Well I just wanted to show you guys how I semi fixed it. As you can see, I kind of already fixed my pointer, before I decided to take pics, and share with you all. You can still see the icky staining on the others. I hope I don't gross you guys out, lol.

Well using my square purple buffing block, I lightly buffed my nails, and most of the stains out. Now I don't recommend this if your nails are thin or weak, but mine are fairly strong, so just a tad light buffing, doesn't really damage them.

Teenage Dream's Back !!

Teenage Dream is back! Going at $15 $12 each.

Limited pieces only. Hurry get yours now!

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Nubar Verde....It's magical!!

Well I finally own a Nubar. While searching eBay for some new polishes, I came across this. So I did what I always do, and googled imaged my heart out looking at swatches, and decided to get it. OMG, thank god I did, it's such a different color that's sooo pretty. I can't even describe the color, it's way to complex. I'll let the pictures say it all.

Oh but I will say, since my lazy butt didn't put a base on, it stained like crazy, grrrr. Well I'll show you how I semi fixed that tomorrow. Okay, onto the mani.

Olive You, Leopard!

I love weird leopard print color combinations, and this one is no exception. Its colors remind me of green olives with the pimentos in them, sitting in the jar waiting to accompany some poor schmuck's gin. 

I can't take credit for this color combination, to be honest, I saw a rug that had the pattern, and I adored it (I wish I had bought it!) so I snapped a picture knowing that it would find its way onto my nails at some point.  I love the 'gradient' (ok not so much a gradient as a color change) from the tip of the nail to the cuticle edge.  The color of the orange shows up really red in the pictures, but its more of a burnt orangey red in real life. I think someone needs to develop one of them so I don't have to mix it. (think Essie Alligator purse, but more orange than red)

Anyway, on to the nails- for now all I have are pictures from the iPhone, because my camera is MIA right now. Hopefully I find it tonight, so I can take a picture of them with a real camera before they get destroyed by acetone. :)  

I used American Apparel California Trooper> as a base, with American Apparel MacArthur Park for the green, and a mix of Essie Alligator Purse and China Glaze Life Preserver for the orange. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

St. Patty Patchwork

Okay, so I'll take a break from the Crackles *sigh* lol. Well since St. Patricks Day is coming up, isn't it, and I have a brand new St. Patty's Day polish from Five Below, I figured I should do a green Patchwork mani. For this I used OPI Gargantuan Green Grape, Funky Fingers Erin & Sinful Black on Black.

I started with 3 coats of Gargantuan Green Grape, 3, yep you heard right 3 freaking coats, man I forgot how much of a PITA this was. Oh well.

Then I taped them off, and added the Funky Fingers Erin. Such a pretty sparkly green, which I can say, I don't own anything like it. I then added a coat of SV.

For my final color, I added my fave go to black from Sinful. and another coat of SV

 I am loving this soooo much!!!! If you are looking for a How-To on this, I have one posted up above in my 'Tutorials' tab.

New Creations !

Today marked the last day of training for us at HQ. For those who don't know yet, my full time job is actually a preschool educator with MindChamps. Many customers often ask, "Why do you do such different things?! Teaching and nails don't link at all!" Well, we all have passion and interests. For me, teaching young children has always been my passion while doing nail art is my new found interest! (: Anyway back to the topic! We actually had 2 colleagues from Indonesia as MindChamps is opening a preschool in Indonesia. As a farewell gift for them, I did their nails free! In return, they promised me free lodging and food when I fly over. (:

Indrie gave me a challenge! I asked her what design would she like to have. She thought through the night and sms-ed saying that she wants a blue base with a pink jellyfish! I was so distracted in night class and instead of paying attention to human resource management, I started thinking about how to paint a jellyfish! It turned out better than expected and I was happy! I felt that it looked really different from the usual flowers and polka dots. It's not very clear from the picture, but there's green seaweed at the tip of the nails with the jellyfish, fish and bubbles. Looks so cute! The other fingers were just the seaweed and the fish. It's a new addition to my collection. (:

Rahil opted for butterflies. Something that I've never done before either. I felt that I didn't do sucha good job. But Rahil was amazed and fascinated. She was so happy with her nails that she was looking at them every 1/2 hour. Hahhaha. I'm glad that she really like her nails! And she was telling me that her daughter in Indonesia will be so excited to see her nails. This is the similarity between teaching and doing manicures. It's a joy just to be able to bring joy to others. (:

My New Barry M's with...yep more Crackle!!

So I received some Barry M polishes in my swap, and I have never used this brand before so I was so excited! I wish these were available in the US, but thanks to a new friend, Suzanne, I have my first 3! The third is the Barry M crackle, and I will be playing with that later on in the week. For this I started with Barry M, Cyan Blue. The formula on this was perfect!

Then I added Barry M, Silver Sea. I love this, it is very sheer, but has such pretty silver glitter bits in it!!

then because I just wanted to play, I added China Glaze Crushed Candy over top, but I didn't add a coat of SV.

Okay I promise to give you all a Crackle break after this, lol. I received my 2nd swap package and it contained some more amazing pretties that I can't wait to share with you all!!

More Crackle fun!

The other night I played a little more with my crackles. Man, I just love this stuff, lol. I also want to apologize for my late responses to comments and emails. I have just been so crazy with work lately. I am getting to them though. At least I have post for you guys, right? lol.  Okay back to the fun. For this I started with L.A. Girls Hot Pink Matte.

Then I used Cracked Concrete again over top.

with a coat of SV on top

 

Then for fun I added China Glaze Crackle Lighting Bolt over top. 

now with SV on top

OPI Shrek Collection

Shrek's back due to popular demand!

Anyone interested ? (:

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Disappointment.

One of my customers smsed me that she received a broken black shatter opi polish. I was shocked to hear that because she opted for registered post and I was definitely very careful with it. I made sure that I bubble-wrapped it. Funny thing was, all other 4 bottles were in perfect condition except for the shatter. And it was in perfect condition when I posted it out to her. I knew very much how upset she was cause she has really been waiting for this and it ended up in disappointment. I called my supplier up and and he was nice enough to source it out for me from salons. You know who you are, big thanks to you. (: I managed to get another bottle for my customer. Though I couldn't give it to her for free cause it was Mr. Postman who wasn't careful, but I let to her at the price I got it for. So I really don't make a profit from this at all.

I'm not typing this down to let my readers have an impression that "wah better don't order from her. later ours break also how?" Not so much of that, but it serves more like a reflection for me. Accidents do happen. Despite me taking the necessary precautions of bubble wrap, writing that its fragile, accidents still happen. I'm glad she was appreciative of my gesture. And I was touched when she said, "I'm not blaming you. You didn't have to source it out for me, but you did." It made me feel very appreciated. And this is how customer service should be - to always deliver the best to my customers.

So to all readers out there, I seek for your understanding that accidents do happen, but no one expected it that way. And when things like that happen, your seller feels equally bad. Seriously. I was very upset and disappointed too when she told me the news. But now that I know I've tried my best to still get the shatter for her, I feel much better. (:

Crackle Craze

So crackle polishes are everywhere now, and I'm thrilled. I know some of you just don't like the effect, and if you don't, you can skip this post and maybe tomorrows, lol. I just love the look. You also know how much I love my Funky Finger polishes, especially their glitters. Since I had finally received my China Glaze Crackles, I had to play, and like I mentioned, tomorrows post might be a few other manis I did with them. For this mani, I used China Glaze Cracked Concrete and Funky Fingers Blitzen, from the 2010 Holiday collection.

I started with 2 coats of Blitzen

Then added Cracked Concrete. This is pre SV

Now with SV

I actually kind of prefer it prior to my top coat. I think the effect and look is really cool!

Price Revision

I've done a price revision on my nail rates. I've made it even cheaper so that it's even more affordable to every lady who seeks pretty nails. Plus, I really want to experience the feeling of doing nail art on different nail beds. Do refer to the navigation at the side for the new prices of manicures and pedicures. (:

Been really busy lately. With work, training, and night classes. That pretty much explains why I haven't been coming up with new designs. Will try to work on it as soon as I can. Found quite a number of nail art tutorials through youtube and I really wanna try doing those designs! Hope I can do it this weekend. (: Stay tuned!

GOSH Holo and an amazing package!

I actually completed my first international swap, and it wasn't so bad, lol. This package came from an amazingly sweet reader, Suzanne. I completely squealed with excitement and kissed every single one when I saw them. My hubby said 'Umm...I didn't even get a kiss when you got home', LOLOLOL. Well come on we have priorities :P I can't wait to play with them all!!!! Man, why can't all polishes be available everywhere, these are amazing!  Well since I knew that Saturday was going to be sunny, I knew I had to try out GOSH Holo. I am seriously in love, and it is now my fave holo!! I literally looked at my nails every 30 seconds.

Here are all the pretties I received

and of course tons of pics of GOSH Holo!!