The perfect Surprise Gift: A manicure

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 Hello ladies! I know that this manicure is a little unusual; I hope that it tells you a story about gifts, which is the theme for Nail Polish Canada's holiday challenge this week. I was trying to think about what the perfect Christmas gift would be for me this year and then I realized that there was nothing that I really wanted. However, to me, the perfect gift is born out of someone realizing what I want before I do, keeping it secret (while saying, "You are going to love this!"), wrapping it beautifully and then when Christmas morning arrives, seeing that beautiful wrapping paper scattered all over the floor, and being filled with gratefulness (and giving hugs and kisses).

a-England Ophelia for my aunt

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I know that November is nearly over, but if you didn't know, it is pancreatic cancer awareness month. Pancreatic cancer affects over 40,000 people a year and unfortunately at this time, there is less than a 10% five year survival rate. It is wonderful that so many strides are being made in the fights against other cancers. Now is the time to be even stronger in our fight against pancreatic cancer. Check out the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network for more.

In 2006, my aunt, one of the most vibrant, unique people I have ever known was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She fought the cancer for only a few short months before it took her life.

Winter is upon us: Zoya Raven nail art

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Hello lovelies! I have another nail art challenge today. I wanted to try out this technique for quite some time. It is SUPER easy and I think it looks nice. To me, it looks like a snowy night in the mountains.

So, here's what I did. I painted my nails with 2 thin coats of Zoya Raven. It is a pure black with a slight shimmer and a wonderful, smooth formula. I then used the thin nail art brush to quickly swipe Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl in sloppy stripes from just above the base of my nail to the tip. I then did the same thing with Zoya Purity, but began the stripes from about half way up my nail to the tip. The next layer was a franken that I made, kind of a shimmery China Glaze For Audrey from about 3/4up my nail to the tip. And finally, I used China Glaze Man Hunt at the very top of my nails. I lightly striped the entire white and blue section with Pure Ice Beware and then painted over the very tip with Wet n Wild Fergie New Year's Kiss.

This close-up gives you a better ideaof exactly what I did.

None of my pictures show off the amazing bar glitters on the nail, but they are visible. But look at this picture above and all the colors in the bottle. I get flashes of it on my nails and it is so much fun!

You all know how I love good nail art contest, so this is my entry in Nail Polish Canada's snow challenge. If you like this manicure, you can vote for it under "other" and if not, you should still go check out all the other amazing manicures. . . Really, that is the reason that I join most nail art contests, just to be in the company of other wonderful nail art.

So, what would you do for the snow nail art challenge?


Have a great weekend!
~Alexis

Fast Track and Turned Up Turquoise Gradient

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Hello again. I hope that everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful holiday and that everyone else is having a great Friday. Here's another quick behind schedule manicure. I wore this manicure near the end of summer and I loved it.

I wore two coats of China Glaze Fast Track on each nail. It is a pale tan polish with absolutely gorgeous gold glass flecks throughout. I almost did not buy this polish when the Captiol Colours Collection was out and realized that I needed it. I had to call around to several Sally Beauty Supply shops to get my bottle and I am so glad I did. I sponged over Fast Track with a blend of Fast Track and China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise on all nails except my ring finger. On my ring finger I used China Glaze I'm Not Lion and Turned Up Turquoise. I love the accent nail's unbelievable sparkliness. I'm Not Lion is fantastic and I'm not lying! . . . C'mon, I had not choice; I had to recycle that joke.

Blurry for emphasis on sparkles

This manicure makes me miss summer. Look at how well lit my pictures are; you can really see all the little fuzzy hairs stuck to my hand (sorry about that; I don't know where that all came from). Now, I never get enough sunlight to take my manicure pictures. I just built a light box to help with my winter manicure photos, but I still need to get lighting figured out . . . A light box is pretty useless without a good source of light.

See what others are wearing right now at the Nail Files. What are you wearing on your nails this week?

Keep polishing.
~Alexis

Beauty Blogger Headquarters: In the Beginning

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After seeing Angela at Hairspray and High Heels mention Beauty Blogger Headquarters, I wanted to know more. Since I began blogging, I had been hoping to make connections with other bloggers and this seems like a great way to build some friendships with fellow bloggers. Many other blogger networks required me to have been blogging for over a year, make at least four posts a week, etc, not very welcoming to newer blogger or very convenient for a woman whose schedule is as jam-packed as mine is. After visiting the site, it seems like a wonderful way to get inspired by other great beauty bloggers. I'm very excited about this!

How long have you been blogging?

My first post, "Fresh Paint," was published on March 1, 2012. So I've been a beauty blogger for almost 9 months.

What/who inspired you to start blogging?

I am a nail polish FREAK and most of the people around me are not. I enjoyed reading other nail blogs and would post comments and questions, but a lot of times my questions remained unanswered. I also thought it might be interesting to see a blog that showed how well different polishes stood up to wear and tear. I was between jobs for the first time in a decade when I began and I wanted a way to use some of that time. I fell in love with blogging and have tried to make time for it now that I'm back at work.

Did you tell your family and friends about your blog? If so, what was their reaction? Are they supportive or "in the dark" about your blogging?

I have mentioned it to some of my family, but like I said, my friends are not as into nail polish as I am. I do sometimes tell them a little about my manis when we get
together though. I have one friend who has tried and failed with nail stamping. I offered to help her out, show some of the basic tricks, but we haven't gotten together to work on that.

What goals or dreams did you have for your blog when you started? Have you accomplished them?

Of course I want to write a blog that people want to read. I want them to see their blog feed and say, "Oh yay, there's a new post on Mangling my Manicure!" I wanted to communicate with other polish enthusiasts, hear their suggestions and comments. I also hoped to photograph my manicures well and inspire other nail art lovers. I just built a light box, so I hope that will help with my pictures. I was incredibly flattered when someone created a stamped manicure that they claimed was inspired by one of my manicures.

If you could give your beginner-blogger-self one tip of advice, what would it be?

Don't write a blog about how long you can make a manicure last. Most people don't care about that and don't particularly care to see my super chippy polish and I start getting bored with that mani before its scheduled removal time, but feel obligated to keep it.

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being a blogger?

I love it when I share a tip or an awesome product that my readers hadn't known before. My least favorite thing is that I write most of my posts on my kindle fire and the kindle isn't completely cooperative. OT, it also doesn't play well with disqus, so I cant comment on some of my favorite blogs. Grrr.

What does your blog name mean? How did you decide on it?

I wanted to share some of the other things that I enjoy in life too, like cooking, baking, knitting, spinning yarn, and gardening. These other joys in life sometimes do a number on my my nails, mangling my manicure.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Well, that answers all the questions. I hope to hook up with other bloggers and introduce other bloggers through guest posts and also maybe do some "twin manicures" with other bloggers. Doesn't that sound like fun?!

Take care, friends.
~Alexis

Cult Nails Bitten with Stamping

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Hello, ladies. Look at how delicious this nail polish is! Cult Nails Bitten, from the Behind Closed Doors collection is like a sparkling raspberry syrup poured all over my fingers. It looks slick and somewhat liquid on my nails. It is everything that I love about China Glaze Riveting, but dark reddish pink with fuchsia flickers instead of flame orange with gold flecks.

Bitten applied smooth and even in 2 easy coats. I love to decorate my manicures with stamping, but this polish looked beautiful without any adornment, so I decided to just add a small flower. Zoya Raven worked really well as a stamping polish.

I used Born Pretty Store plate m77 for the little daisies.

One word of warning: Bitten is a very frisky nail polish and while it is a beautiful color to wear on any occasion, just looking at it may make the wearer feel more bold than usual. It is very fun!

Here are a couple more views. Do you want to get Bitten too? What is your favorite shade from the Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors collection?

Thanks for reading!
~Alexis

Cult Nails Disciplined Glitter Sandwich

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Hello everyone! I hope that you all are about to start a wonderful weekend. I figured there is no better way to start the weekend than with an exciting manicure. I allowed myself a big splurge last week, purchasing the Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors collection within moments of its release for sale on Thursday evening. I couldn't wait to set my eyes on these polishes. Then, I woke up on Wednesday morning, walked downstairs, and saw a small box sitting by the door inside my house. The package had been delivered on Tuesday, but my husband forgot to tell me! If he wasn't such a wonderful man, I would have been quite upset that he made my little polish beauties sit inside that box overnight. Sometimes he doesn't understand my passion for nail polish.

As I was driving home from work on Wednesday evening, I was mapping this manicure in my mind, pale pink as the base, bright multicolor glitter for the filling and then Cult Nails Disciplined to keep the whole manicure in line.

I took an unintentional break from all the blogs I read during August and it seems like I missed out on some very important nail polish news. I knew nothing about these peel off basecoats and by a fluke, found an old blog post about it earlier this week. I had been avoiding my glittery polishes for all this time for no reason! I always knew that there should be some manicure uses for Elmer's glue, but I had no idea that it would be my basecoat.

I started this manicure with two layers of thinned Elmer's glue, two coats of Sinful Colors Easy Going, a dabbed on coat of Milani Gems, and two coats of Cult Nails Disciplined. I know that I made a joke about Disciplined keeping the manicure "in line" before, but it really did. The bright colors of Milani Gems on top of the pale, petal pink of Easy Going was very brash and looked a little immature. Once covered with the soft, sheerness of Disciplined, the glitter looked pretty and pastel. Disciplined was like a grey, shimmering, chiffon gown covering the manicure and I loved it.

This manicure lasted two days, but probably could have gone three, maybe even four if I was really careful and took super fast showers. The peel off basecoat is not designed for long wear, but easy removal. And easy it was! It took less than two minutes to peel off each finger, with no stray bits of polish to struggle with. One thing that I did notice while wearing the peel off basecoat was that if an edge was starting to come free, I could just dampen it a little, hold it down for a couple of moments and it would re-adhere to the nail.

I am so happy about the Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors Collection. I am wearing Bitten on my nails right now and it makes me swoon. All of the colors in this collection make me a little weak in the knees and I hope to post more about them soon.

Also, Elmer's glue as a basecoat! This is such a happy day! I try not to use nail polish remover more than once a week so that I don't dry out my nails too much. Now, I can switch up my polish so much more often. I still like to wear spectacular colors for longer than a few days, but once in a while I get a little fickle, so this will feed my fickleness. And I will definitely want to wear Disciplined on its own for more than two days very soon. It is so lovely.

What do you think of Cult Nails Disciplined as a jelly sandwich? How often do you change your polish?

Once again, I'm joining the Nail Files. I've missed out on seeing all the great manicures and polish lust. I can't wait to catch up a little. Go check it out yourself!

Have a great weekend.
~Alexis

Pink Pseudo-marble Birthday Nails

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Hi friends. Just like my last post, this is an older mani. This was my birthday manicure. I absolutely love the look of water marbles, but have failed miserably in every attempt. I asked a water marble pro for her input on my problems, but she never got back to me with any suggestions. So, before I tell you about my birthday manicure, may I ask for your help? Every time that I try a water marble, my first drop of polish spreads well,but all of my subsequent drops refuse to spread and just pile up in the center of the cup. I have used every possible temperature of water, tap water, filtered water, and spring water; I have also experimented with many different polishes. The results are the same each time:  I spend over three hours trying to get just one fingernail to even the tiniest bit like a water marble and then give up, with the room reeking of nail polish and on the verge of tears. Does anyone have some advice or know why my bullseye never spreads? Thank you for you help if you can give it and your sympathy, if you don't know what I am doing wrong.

On to more successful polishing. These pictures were both taken after six days, so pretty good wear time on this manicure. Like I said before, I love the look of water marbles and have no success in creating them, so I bought a nail stamping plate with a faux water marble stamp. For this manicure, I wore three coats of China Glaze Summer Rain stamped with a marbled image in Nina Ultra Pro Hawaiian Flower (which is a spectacular stamping nail polish; I made a list of my best stamping polishes and it rated near the very top). I really loved this girly manicure and the fact that it actually looked like I had a water marbling success to some degree.

What are your favorite polishes for stamping or nail art in general? What are the best polishes for water marbles, in your opinion?

Take care, ladies.
~Alexis

Winnie the Pooh birthday nails

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This is a manicure from about a little more than two months ago. I wanted to give my daughter a gift of one of her favorite characters on my nails for her 5th birthday. She hasn't enjoyed getting her own nails painted lately, because she wants to play all the time and not sit for the 10 minutes needed for a manicure. So, these are my nails, painted for her. I hadn't cleaned up my cuticles yet when I took the pictures, so sorry about the mess. Isn't Pooh adorable?! He is stamped on my nails using Wet n Wild Black. I also love this yellow polish: Sinful Colors Lets Meet. It is the boldest yellow that I actually like and the glass fleck shimmer is lovely. It didn't yellow my nails the way that Sinful Colors Unicorn did. I was wary of all yellow polish for a while after Unicorn made my nails look a chain smoker's stained nails. Yuck! . . . But, like I said, Lets Meet is a beauty. Here it is unadorned by Pooh.

The Winnie the Pooh stamping plates are available from Light in the Box for $1.99. Shipping does take a while, but the stamping plates that I have used work well.

Are there any colors of polish that you just hate wearing? Have you ever found a shade that, to your surprise, you loved?

Have a great day.
~Alexis

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner from Birchbox

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Hello ladies! I mentioned earlier that my friend gifted me a couple of months of luxury from Birchbox as a birthday present. Today, I want to share with you my favorite product from my first box.

I received a full sized Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in my Birchbox and it is fantastic! It is applied with a felt marker type tip and applies so precisely. But, the most amazing thing about this eyeliner is how well it stays in place. I always forget that I have eye makeup on and rub my eyes. This eyeliner stays in place. In fact, when I wash my face in the evening, the eyeliner still looks fresh. To further illustrate this point, take a look at these two pictures. In the first picture, I applied the eyeliner three times, smudged the line on the far right immediately after application, the line in the middle 10 seconds after application, and did not smudge the line on the left. Even 10 seconds after application, this eyeliner is pretty set and within a minute, it is not going anywhere until you force it to leave your face with makeup remover (or what I use, a little bit of coconut oil). This is Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in navy.

In this second picture, I had further abused the eyeliner marks, this time rubbing vigorously with wet fingers.

I love the eyeliner, but navy is not my usual color. Fortunately, the eyeliner is available in six shades! I will definitely purchase it in purple. So, that means this heavenly eyeliner is available in olive, turquoise, black, brown, purple, and navy. It seems like there is is a color for anyone. This eyeliner can be be purchased from Birchbox for $15. 

Do you have an opinion of Eyeko eyeliner? What is your favorite cosmetic product?

Have a great day!

~Alexis

Zoya Gilty Pleasures is back

Pin It It has been back for a little while, but if you, like me didn't know, now you do. Gilty Pleasures is a set of three polishes, Raven (black polish), Purity (white polish), and the star of the trio is Gilty, an 18K gold topcoat. It is available for $35 and to make it even better, if you place an order over $30 this weekend and use the code WKND52Z, you can get a free 8 ounce bottle of Remove+ and free shipping. Check it out fast!

Strawberry and Cream gradient manicure

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Hi there, ladies! I have a treat for you today. Nailed It is one year old and is hosting a nail art contest to celebrate. Do a manicure using only two polishes with no stamping, decals, rhinestones, loose glitter, etc. Pretty easy, huh? The best part is that it is fun too. I LOVE nail art contests, seeing what inspires other polish enthusiasts, trying to do something pretty and creative myself. So much fun!

Anyway, that is what I am showing you today. This is the manicure that I am submitting for the Nailed it contest. I decided to use Revlon ColorStay Buttercup and Jade Seducao Rosa. I thought that the creamy opaque yellow would work wonderfully with the bold holographic pink. I did a gradient manicure to highlight how well the colors can blend, how the holographic effect is muted, somewhat glittery pink when blended with the creme polish and bursts back into radiance as the creme polish fades away.

I began this manicure by painting my thumb and index fingers with two coats of Buttercup and my ring and pinky fingers with one coat of Seducao Rosa. I then dotted my middle fingers with both polishes and blended them together with a nail art brush. I sponged over the basecoats with the two polishes, melding the colors by rocking the makeup sponge. I did three layers of sponged on colors. Lastly, I added dots of both polishes for pops of the pure color against the gradient.

On these grey days of autumn, having such a bright as sunny manicure does my spirit some good. Here is one last picture, a close up. This last picture is in daylight and shows the polish colors the best. Sorry about my dry cuticles and the little fuzzy on my nail; I forgot to moisturize before taking the picture and I always find little hairs in my pictures while editing. So annoying, but I'm getting off track here.

 So, do any of you plan to enter a manicure in the contest? I hope so. I'd love to see what you come up with!

I have a crazy list of old manicures to show you and one of my best friends gifted me a Birchbox subscription for my birthday (yes, she absolutely rocks!), so I want to show you some of the things from that. I fell in love with an eyeliner and can't wait to show you how amazing it is. But til then, enjoy the weekend.


~Alexis