China Glaze Rare and Radiant with stamping

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 I know, there are tons of versions of this color, the yellow-green gold with flashes of teal, but until now I didn't own any of them. I am such a sucker for duochromes too. One of my favorite nail polishes is Revlon Khaki Zing which was discontinued many years ago. I will be so sad when that polish is gone. In fact, I might have to do an old school manicure using Khaki Zing one of these days just because it is so fabulous . . . But I am getting off track. Today, I want to show you a different duochrome manicure.

I went for a girls' weekend for a bachelorette party a couple of weeks ago. I wanted a flashy, but still elegant manicure and since I didn't know what I would be wearing, the manicure had to be neutral enough to go with any outfit. Rare and Radiant from the China Glaze Bohemian Collection fit the bill. Application was a breeze. I have been completely smitten with the most recent China Glaze polishes I used just because they were fun to apply, so smooth and even. I really couldn't capture all the beauty of this polish in photos. There were these amazing flashes of blue when the polish was viewed at a sharp angle, but you can see the wonderful metallic look of the polish.

The polish looked beautiful by itself, but I really wanted to try out one of the polishes from my Julep August Maven box too, so I did a floral french tip stamping using Julep Stefani. Stefani worked really well as a stamping polish. In the bottle, Stefani is a dark charcoal grey with loads of gold shimmer. As a stamping polish over the goldish colored Rare and Radiant, only the grey comes through, but it will be quite fetching as a full manicure on it's own with the gold showing too.

What discontinued polishes continue to make your heart skip a beat? Did you get any of the China Glaze Bohemian collection? Which colors from the collection are your favorites?

It has been a long time since I linked up with the Nail Files, but I love it. It is so much fun to see what polishes that others are wearing and loving. Check it out.

Happy polishing.
~Alexis

Shabby Apple Cider

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Happy Tuesday! I know, the last time I did a Tuesday Treat it was a dress and here we go with another dress, but I couldn't resist. This is the dress that I got after winning the Shabby Apple gift certificate earlier this summer. I love it! It is so comfortable and the cut is super flattering. I ordered a pencil skirt last month that is super-sharp and I keep finding more beautiful clothes that I want from Shabby Apple.

I love the purple zipper up the back too!

My girlie wanted to pose too and show off her smiley outfit.

Shabby Apple also donates a portion of the sale proceeds to provide micro-loans to the world's working poor. Pretty cool.

Do you have anything from Shabby Apple? What is your favorite item they carry?

~Alexis

Daisies: my first acrylic nail art

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Let me just say, I always admire those beautiful manicures with acrylic paints, but my admiration has grown tenfold after attempting my own acrylic painted manicure. There are some incredibly talented women out there!

I went simple for my nail art manicure. Simple little daisies on a silver background. I started with two coats of Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and an accent finger that was topped with one coat of Pure Ice Beware. Silver Mercedes is a great, smooth, opaque polish that I can't wait to use for stamping and Beware is a silver micro glitter that is perfect for layering over other polishes.

I used craft acrylic paints that I bought at Hobby Lobby to create the daisies. The really nice thing about using acrylic paints for nail art is that when I made a mistake, I could just swab it off with rubbing alcohol and it didn't damage the polish underneath.

All right, readers, I am sorry that I have been so absent over the past couple of weeks. I have a bunch of manicures that I want to show you over the next couple of weeks and I eventually want to tell you a little bit about my experiment comparing coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil on eyelashes, but I have to keep myself in front of the computer and just type up my thoughts. That takes me a while to do, but I haven't forgotten about it.

Have a great weekend.
~Alexis

Olympics Manicure

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First of all, let me apologize that this post is incredibly short. Unfortunately, I only have my Olympics manicure to share with you. If any of you did your own manicures honoring your country during the Olympics, please feel free to leave a link to a picture of your manicure in a comment, if you would like. I have loved the Olympics, and this year, more than any other Olympics, I have really enjoyed the global Olympics, the athletes from all around the world to cheer on.

I don't have time to completely describe this manicure, but it was one coat of Sonia Kashuk Golden Ticket as the base. I then sponged on Revlon Fearless and Midnight Affair with China Glaze Dorethy Who? I topped the whole manicure with Julep O Canada . . . yeah, I know, but I live about 45 minutes away from the Canadian border, so cut me some slack. :) I hope you like it and enjoy the last two days of the Olympics!

~Alexis

Nfu Oh Jelly Sandwich

Pin It Hello lovelies! Before I get started, I would like to ask you a favor. I am crazy for the Olympics. I love watching the US athletes, but more than that, I love the fact that so many of the world's athletes join together and share their talents and abilities. I know that I have some followers from other countries as well as from the USA. If you have done a manicure honoring your home country during the Olympics, would you consider sending me a photo? I would love to share some of those manicures on here before the closing ceremony. If I receive any pictures, I would make the post on Friday, August 10, so please send pictures by Thursday, August 9. Please just tell me how to credit your photograph. Send to lexissarah (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks so  much. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done!

This manicure was inspired by a beautiful Nfu Oh jelly sandwich by the Swatchaholic. I love how all the layers show through and how using Nfu Oh JS-24 transformed the colors of both the base color and the second layer, a crackle polish.

I started off with  one layer of Orly Gorgeous. I then added a layer of China Glaze Cracked Medallion crackle polish, one coat of Orly Can't Be Tamed from the Glam FX collection. I finished the manicure with two coats of Nfu Oh JS-24. Can you see all those layers?

Seven days later and about typical chipping for me, maybe slightly better than usual. I expected more chipping with so many layers of polish though, so I was pleasantly surprised.

What do you think of jelly sandwich manicures? What has been your favorite part of the London Olympics? I love seeing people winning for the very first time, especially if they weren't favorited to win.

Enjoy the week.
~Alexis

Giveaway Winners!

Pin It Hi everyone. I just wanted to thank any of you who entered the "A Few of My Favorite Things" Giveaway. Perhaps you were already a follower of the blog or perhaps you joined in the hopes of winning a prize. Either way, I hope that you've enjoyed my blog posts and that you can consider the posts as gifts to each and every one of you. :) But there can be only two winners of the "A Few of My Favorite Things" Giveaway and those lucky ladies are:


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Congratulations! Both winners have been contacted and have claimed their prizes.

I have some pictures sitting on my camera that I plan to tell you all about very soon. I did my very first jelly sandwich manicure and it was so much fun, so I'll tell you about that, hopefully on Friday. Until then, enjoy the rest of the week.

~Alexis