I'm so indecisive!

Bonjour! How is everyone doing?

Here's the deal. I need your help.  I'm trying to decide what my next couple posts should be. So I'm gonna ask what you would want to see. I have some polishes to swatch, I think they're all ones you've probably seen before, or I could try out some nail art designs. What do you think? I have some packages on the way so I will have some haul posts soon. Leave me a comment about what you want to see within the next couple of posts and I will make it happen.

By the way, I think I'm going to start up another nail art contest for June. I've got to work out the details still but keep an eye out for it!!

That's all for now!! Except: YAY! I've passed 70 followers! Thank you so much! You all make me smile!

New e.l.f Nail Polishes Part 5--Last One!

This last e.l.f polish is the main indicator that the brand is trying to go for the current trends. Mint Cream is exactly what you would think it to be! A gorgeous mint green that leans a little towards sea foam green.  Not sure how it stacks up against other mint greens but if you all want a comparison, tell me in the comments and I'll dig up all my mints and swatch it up!

Inside, no flash

Outside, direct sunlight

I really wish you could all smell these!

Mint cream was a thin polish as well. It was opaque in 3 coats.

E.l.f was really consistent in the formula for these polishes. Which is great, you know what your getting! Compared to e.l.f polishes I've purchased previously, these five seem kinda thin. However, they were easy to work with and had great shine without top coats! They dried pretty quickly, but tip wear was apparent after less than a day. Overall, for $1, they're fantastic! I really loved these colors, except Innocent, and recommend trying them out!

*Disclaimer* 

Though I did receive these polishes for free, they were a gift combined with a purchase and therefore considered paid for by myself. I have given my honest opinion and will not receive any compensation for that opinion.

New e.l.f Nail Polishes Part 4

Alright, this color will definitely be used in a comparison post!

Smoky Brown is seems to be a lot like OPI's You Don't Know Jacques. I'll definitely do some comparison swatches and get back to you.  It's a gorgeous brown that looks like milk chocolate on the nails. I seriously think I have dipped my hands in chocolate when wearing colors like this! ;)  Smoky Brown is the perfect professional color but also can be fun to wear! Being so similar to YDKJ is great because if it's a dead on dupe, well it costs a fraction of the price of YDKJ! 

Inside, with flash

Inside, no flash

Outside, sunlight

*Covered my thumb because it had lots of bubbles! First times it's happened. I'm pretty sure it was because of two things: my room was extremely humid and the sun was setting and I needed outdoor pics! Super fast nail painting happened that day! 

Another pic with lilacs..they smell so good!!

Smoky Brown was the only one of the set that gave me application problems, namely bubbles. I applied it quickly and in my room where it was super hot. Even so, none of the other ones bubbled. The formula was the same, kinda thin but not so watery you can't use it. The only difference was that it was opaque in two coats versus three or four. Pictures above are three coats.  I really love the color! Definitely recommend it, simply gorgeous! I will check back in with a comparison soon!

I've saved the color I think most of you will like for last! I'll post Mint Cream tomorrow night! 

Kayla

New e.l.f Nail Polishes Part 3

Click HERE to view Part 1 

or

  HERE for Part 2!

Next stop on our journey through the new e.l.f polishes is Lilac. Lilac is a pastel dusty purple that in the bottle looks like OPI's Done Out in Deco with a tiny bit of Parlez-Vous OPI? mixed in. I knew that I would like the color the moment I saw it. Seasoned GGC followers will recall my love for dusty purples. I can't get enough of them! 

In the bottle, Lilac looks to be a creme but when it was on my nails the consistency and drying reminded me of a jelly. It certainly does not look like a creme on the nails. Though, that is not bad. It actually looks pretty darn good on the nails.

Indirect light, no flash

Look at that shine! (No Top Coat)

This picture is true to color.

Direct Sunlight

Direct Sunlight with some Lilacs!

Indoors, flash

Lilac was a very sheer polish when applying the first coats. These pictures are 4 coats, no top coat. It needed four simply because of its jelly-like consistency, it made thin areas really stand out. Three coats can even it out and look fine but I like to add a security blanket of an extra coat. Smooth application but a little thin, however out of all the polishes this one was the least messy. By far my favorite! 

I know a lot of you like purples, too. How does Lilac compare to your favorites?

New e.l.f Nail Polishes Part 2

Click HERE to view Part 1!

Welcome to Part 2 of the e.l.f series! Today's featured polish is Innocent. 

In the bottle, Innocent looks like a nude polish that has a slight hint of pink in it. You can definitely tell right away that it's going to be a sheer. It's the kind of color I would tend to stay away from just because sheers are a hassle.  

I started out swatching on just my thumb to find out if I wanted to do a full on manicure. After two thin coats I just decided to do a full mani. I wish I hadn't.

Remember when 'mannequin hands' was big? I hated it then, and I hate it now. Innocent has proven to be way to close to my mannequin hands! Yuck! I'm sure someone with darker skin, even just a tan, could pull Innocent off, but I can't. I took one picture and quickly took it off. 

Ick. Definitely not my color.

As far as application goes, it applied just fine. Same consistency as Desert Haze, a little thin but not bad. This was about 4 coats, I think. After the second one I stopped caring because it looked terrible. 

New e.l.f Nail Polishes Part 1

Hi everyone!


This week is going to be a series! Whoo, lots of posts! Yay!


I recently received an email from e.l.f, with a code for their 5 new nail polish colors free with a $20 order. Uh, done. :) I got the package in the mail on Friday. And I'm so excited to show you guys their new colors! (Plus two bonus polishes I bought to get to $20! :D) I was sad to find that I couldn't share the code because it's already expired! I'm a bad blogger for not checking that earlier! Next time, I'm posting the code right away!


The colors are all very "trendy", and include a mint green, lilac, dusty brown, gray-taupe, and a soft pink.  Clearly, e.l.f is trying to hit all the favorites. I'm not hating them for it! The colors are gorgeous in the bottle...but do they impress on the nails? Here's a sneak peek at what you'll see this week.

All this week I will do a post dedicated to each polish and give you the info on them. At the end of the week, I'll let you know how I feel overall. 


First up? Desert Haze.


Desert Haze looked gray in the email and on the website so I was a little disappointed when I got it and it was more of a nude/taupe.  I swatched it anyways, fully believing it would look awful and I would hate it. I don't hate it. In fact I love it. It's quite gorgeous. Desert Haze is definitely a color you could wear to work and people would comment on the gorgeous, unique color. In my opinion, it's chic and classy. 


Desert Haze is the perfect name for this polish, when you look at it you are reminded of sand and the slight hint of gray brings on the haze. I love the name! I want to be the person who names polishes...but then of course we'd get some strangely named polishes. ;)

Indirect sunlight

Direct sunlight

Desert Haze applied smoothly, though it may be slightly thin but no major cuticle pooling.  It starts out slightly sheer but is completely opaque with 3 coats. I had tip wear the next day but I did work 8 hours and it was rough on my nails. I would say that it would last longer under different circumstances.  For $1, it would be worth the buy!  I would recommend getting it! Super gorgeous!

Kayla

P.S. Funny story! On Friday, I was answering the phones at work when a woman called to speak to someone in cosmetics.  Well, no one would pick up the call so I thought, "Hey, I know a thing or two about cosmetics! I'll take the call from way back in the fitting room. haha"  What was the woman looking for?  Hidden Treasure. It was hard not to giggle at the irony. I had to unfortunately inform her that we only carry the core Sally Hansen line. I desperately wanted to ask her if she blogs. haha I'm a dork. She sounded disappointed and hung up before I could tell her where I got my HT. I hope she found it! There aren't many places to find it here. *Gasp* What if I got the only two bottles in all of Fargo....nah. That would be crazy though! 

Breathing Room and Blankets

Good evening/morning/afternoon/whenever you're reading this :)

I'm in a spectacular mood today! I finished my last final of the semester and I feel like I can just relax and unwind! It feels like I can breathe, like I held my breath the whole semester! Now it's three months of relaxing...well when I'm not at work that is!

In case you're wondering, I did really well on the final! Yay! I needed to do well, my grade depended on it! I kind of slacked off in that class...whoops! But I definitely made up for it! Just checked my grade and it is fabulous! :) So happy!!!

I have a NOTD for you! It's a french manicure but with untraditional colors. I started with just ChG For Audrey on my nails but I felt like it needed something more.

*Gorgeous*

I could not figure out what to add to it. Then I got a little chilly, so I grabbed my blanket, which has a blue in it that matches For Audrey! It's a blue and brown fleece blanket with a damask pattern on it. Beautiful pattern, gorgeous color combo! That settled it, I had to add some brown! I decided to keep it simple and test out my new Seche French Guides.

My Seche French Guides hanging out with ChG For Audrey and Pro10 #53-Incognito(won in giveaway from Brooke!).

The color combo looked just as great on my nails! Love it! 

The blanket has definitely faded over the years but it once was a bright and beautiful as my NOTD.

Hope you liked it! 

I'm hoping to receive a package this weekend that will include some new nail polishes to swatch and review! Keep an eye out for that within the next week or so!

Kayla

Hidden Treasure Swatches (FINALLY)

Happy Mothers' Day to those of my followers that are moms! I hope your kids spoiled you rotten, today!

I know this post has been put off for some time now. Ridiculous! Let's just get into it!

The night I bought HT I decided to fill a nail wheel with different colors and cover them in the sweet deliciousness that is HT. This is the result:

Inside, no flash.

A lot of the darker colors look the same, but they aren't. There's a black, chocolate brown, dark blue, and a dark plum.

Flash made things go blah. :(

See? Not as pretty. LAME.

This was taken a different day and in a different room. The bathroom, where I found the lighting made HT light up on my nails! So gorgeous! 

This was in the "shade" or rather in the shower behind the curtain. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it looked! 

I threw some Matte Magic over one to see how it looked. 

The whole wheel just glows! I love how it looks different on each color! It takes on the color/softness of the base color so well. And over reds, FIRE! So amazing.

Turned the wheel for a better look at the darker colors.

Here's my first mani with HT, I lost the better quality photo when my photos were deleted. But you still get the idea. It's the same orange/peach as on the wheel.

This was after I removed the swatches from the nail wheel, and the sun happened to show up for a little bit. I chose 5 colors to quickly swatch HT over. SH Wet Cement, Rimmel Black Satin, the coral is either Finger Paints Drawn To This Shade or CND Poppyfield (Hmmm, very close to each other...must do a comparison), OPI Jade Is The New Black, OPI Done Out In Deco, and HT on its own.

Better Pic. Polish on the far left is a franken I did. It was supposed to be a clear polish with holo and black glitter but it was so thick I had to thin it out and the black glitter became silver and the polish is now a sheer black jelly. I then added some HT to the mix. You can kind of see it...perhaps I should add more...

Well, those were my swatches. Overall, Hidden Treasure is definitely worth the hype. In just one coat it looks fabulous and you can't go wrong with what color you put it over. It shows up on most polishes. It does pop more on dark colors, but pastels are given an opalescent look that can't be beat! For those who can't afford Nfu Oh flakie polishes, HT is a great substitute.  It'll hold me off until I finally break down and pay for a Nfu Oh. 

I have to win the lottery first. 

If anyone is having trouble finding it, let me know. I'll see if I can track down a bottle for you and maybe we could do a swap or something. 

Stay glamourous, Geeks! 

Kayla

Healthy Computer!

Hello Lovelies!

My computer is virus-free! Yay!! It has been for a couple days but I haven't been able to sit down at it much since then. I'm finally caught up in the blog world and I've got some time to post!

I've recently decided that I'm going to start an excel spreadsheet of my polishes and then also get some nail wheels and organize by color to help me pick out which polish to wear! It feels good to organize! Hopefully I can keep everything organized, I tend to get lazy or forget about it. Once I get all my stuff organized I'll share it with you, though it may be slightly boring. Haha.

I've packaged up the winners' prizes and will get them shipped out on Monday! All I have to say is: Have fun with all the bubble wrap I used! I went bubble wrap crazy! :P I also packaged up the polish I'm sending for the Zoya exchange...they may hate me for all the bubble wrap I send them! haha

Anyone else doing the Zoya exchange? Which polishes did you select? I have about 26 I really really really want. I think I might narrow it down. Seems a bit...excessive?  I'm really excited to send it in though! I don't own any Zoya polish! And I somehow gapped last year and forgot to do it! Lame!

Random story time! It's not a happy story, so don't read it if you don't like sad stories!

On Friday morning, I was sitting at my computer desk checking some email and had my back to my window. All of a sudden I hear a huge THUD!!! on my window. Now, my first reaction was, "Who the hell is throwing stuff at my window?!?!" I get up to look outside and realize it was a bird that hit my window. Poor thing hit the window so hard that he left some feathers stuck to the window. Unfortunately, he did not survive the impact. I stood there for a good 10-20 minutes hoping he would suddenly pop up and fly away.  He didn't. I felt terrible, he was a beautiful bird. I'm not sure what kind but he had gorgeous yellow markings.

This morning, I heard another thud. Do you know how fast I jumped out of bed to make sure it wasn't another bird? My heart was racing.

It was just my dad getting something down from the wall in the garage. Thank goodness.


Alright, tomorrow: HIDDEN TREASURE POST!!!

Kayla

Contest Winners!!!

Finally, after so much trouble with voting, we're here! Announcing the winners!!! YAY!!!

Let's just get  into it:

2nd Place Winner:

This winner was chosen through majority vote, by you! Or rather, those of you that voted! ;)

ThRiSzHa!!!

Congrats!!! You should have received an email from me! Please check it and then reply with your mailing info! 

1st Place Winner:

This winner was chosen by me based on Inspiration to Look execution. I based it on the interpretation of the photo that they came up with and then how well they took that interpretation and presented it with their look. 

Mae!!!!!

I chose Mae because her inspiration was so in depth and she provided an excellent explanation. Her design was very dream like and represented every aspect she mentioned in her interpretation! We were given great insight into her thought process and that was the whole purpose of the contest! 

Congrats, Mae! I have emailed you, check it out and send me your mailing info!

I want to say thank you to everyone who participated--whether it was through submitting an entry or just voting! Even though there were a few complications, I feel like it was a success and I can't wait to do more fun things with everyone in the future! 

Kayla

Voting Ends and Computer Viruses

Hey lovelies!

Well, I hope everyone who wanted to vote for the contest did so because I took down the poll today. I will announce the winners later on today or early tomorrow.  Only half of you voted! I guess some didn't care? Oh well.

Now the bad news, well it starts with good news: I recovered the pictures.

But, my computer has a virus. And so I cannot post them. I'm using my dad's computer right now. And he doesn't want his swamped with photos, I'm sure. Plus the pics are saved on my computer.  Ugh. I was up til 3am trying to fix it and finally gave up. I will have to work on it some more later. I'm not walking away from this fight a loser, I will kick the virus' butt! haha

Sorry about the delay in photos, makes me so mad to keep you guys waiting like this.  You are so sweet and understanding!

Much love,

Kayla

I've had a set back....

I know the promises of Hidden Treasure pictures may have had some of you on the edge of your seat...

I don't know how I did it, pure talent I'm assuming, but I managed to delete the pictures while transferring them to my computer.

The talent I possess is astonishing, I know, but with that talent for deleting important files I need comes a great ability to recover said files.

Recovery program installation has commenced and hopefully I can provide pictures soon!

Fooled!

Hello!

So this morning I woke up and there was SUN! Lots of glorious sunshine coming through my window. It was glorious.

Unfortunately it is already gone. Where did it go!?!? And why, oh why, does it feel like fooling and tricking everyone! Not cool, Sun, so not cool.

I will still try and post some kind of a picture of Hidden Treasure later today! Keep an eye out!

And for those of you still looking for it, don't give up! You'll get it somehow! I'll have to see if there are more at my Walgreen's and then maybe I can help get it to some of you!

Praying for more sunshine...

Kayla

MIA

Hello!

How was your weekend?

Mine? Eh. Not the best. I worked, and then I worked. And I worked. Oh, yeah it also rained. It's still kind of blah out. :( Sad weekend for taking nail pictures.

I'm hoping that my day off tomorrow will correlate with nice weather. *crosses fingers*  I think it's supposed to still be icky. I will still post some nail pics tomorrow though. Because I discovered that Hidden Treasure has a beautiful rainbow effect that comes alive in the shower. Now, I won't take the pics while taking a shower..that would be awkward to say the least, but I'll use the lighting in the bathroom to replicate the effect. So stay tuned, I won't be MIA for much longer!!

Love, peace, and nail polish...and makeup...I should stop this could go on for a while,
Kayla