Pahlish Toxic and Timeless

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Hello darlings. This is my very first Pahlish nail polish. Toxic and Timeless is packed to the brim with glitter. This is the result of me wiping as much polish as I could from the brush before application. I still ended up with tons of glitter on each nail.

Enchanted Polish Austin Powers

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under direct indoor light

Hello dearies! A dream came true when I was able to snag a bottle of Enchanted Polish Austin Powers on Black Friday from llarowe. Reality sometimes is a bit disappointing after such a wonderful dream, but this nail polish is never a disappointment. Forgive me, but I couldn't help putting tons of pictures of this polish; I even removed a bunch and couldn't bring myself to remove any more.

a-England Dragon Swatched

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Hello, lovelies! Since I first saw a-england Dragon, I knew that I had to have it one day. I finally gave on to the temptation and I am so glad I did. A-england polishes apply so smoothly and are so very pretty! Dragon is a gorgeous, murky green with a beautiful holographic finish.

China Glaze Smoke and Ashes with a jelly sandwich

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Howdy. When "The Hunger Games" was released on video, my girlfriends and I had a viewing party. Of course, I had to wear one of the Capitol Colours and as you may or may not recall, when I went to see the movie at the theater, I wore Riveting (my favorite nail polish). So, this time, I wore District 12 on my nails instead. I love this polish. The pictures don't do it justice. They don't show all the blue and green glass flecks in the polish. Because the polish is so very dark, it is a little unforgiving of a less than perfect application and to me, it seemed to chip a little bit faster than my other China Glaze polishes. I still like it a lot though.

I decided that I wanted to use some of my other new polishes on this manicure too, so I topped my ring fingers with a coat of China Glaze Glitter Crackle in Jade-d, then a coat of Orly Glam FX Mermaid Tale and finally used two coats of Nfu Oh Jelly Syrup JS-01. If I were to do it over again though, I would only have added one coat of the Nfu Oh Jelly Syrup. I liked it, but wanted the glitter to show through a bit better.

I forgot to mention last time that I was the lucky winner of Holly and Polish's China Glaze On Safari collection giveaway. I wore one of the glitters, "I'm Not Lion" as an accent in another manicure (I just hate trying to remove an entire glitter manicure, but I love glitter polishes). What are your thoughts on glitter accent nails, like 'em or do you like a more uniform looking set of nails?

Got to go. Happy polishing.
~Alexis

Lex Cosmetics Cayman Cabana

Pin It Hey lovelies. My work has gone into full swing and I have been working late a lot more. Sorry that I haven't posted as often as I promised. Today, I want to quickly show you a mani from last month. This was the only picture I took of Cayman Cabana, but it was six days into the manicure and still looks decent considering how long it was on my nails. It is a great summer color, a kind of seafoam green/blue. It applied like a dream too. I've never been to the Cayman Islands, but this color makes me want to visit.

I really enjoy the Lex Cosmetics polishes that I tried so far. I still want to get around to wearing and showing you all "Lucky in Love." With fall coming on, it will soon be the perfect time to paint on that dark eggplant purple. Do you have any Lex Cosmetics nail polishes? What is your favorite shade?

My little girl turned 5 this week and I wore a special manicure just for her. I hope to show it to you before the end of the week.

Take care.

~Alexis

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

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

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

Lex Cosmetics Tuileries with Stamping

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Lex Cosmetics Tuileries was part of my Mother's Day gift that I just got around to trying. I wore it to my friend's wedding and it looked elegant, just a little flashy, and super feminine. I really loved this polish even without the stamping, but I had been planning this manicure for weeks, so it was stamped.

It was also the first time that I used this particular stamping plate. To me, the grooves in this plate seemed the perfect depth. I loved the vining floral. I used Sinful Colors Folly which is a really excellent polish for stamping. Please forgive my really messy picture. I meant to take another picture once my hands were all cleaned up, but I completely forgot.

So, here is my chippy manicure, seven days later. I actually started to see the polish starting to pull up and wanting to peel on day three. I used Seche Vite topcoat, thinking that maybe if I tried it again, I would change my mind about it and love it. I still don't love it, but it was super shiny. As is always the case for me though, it began to pull the nail polish away from the nail, shrinking. I think that is why I experienced such bad chipping.


What do you think of Tuileries? Did the stamping work?

Have a great week!

~Alexis

China Glaze Surfin' for Boys

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Hi. I feel like I'm neglecting my readers, so I wanted to give you a quick post, just so you know that I haven't abandoned you.

Surfin' for Boys is unbelievable. When I first painted my nails, it was late evening and the lighting in my house is a bit dim, so I thought it wasn't that bright. I went into the office the next morning and it was like small hazard cones on my finger tips. Super bright! I felt a little self conscious wearing such a bright color at work, however it is an incredibly fun summer color. I was so busy that I never took a picture of my nails until day 4, but as you can see, it really only shows some tip wear. I was thrilled with how the polish held up and could have worn it for several more days.

Do you love the neon polishes? Do you try to avoid super vivid or bright nail polish at work?

Remember, there are only a few more days to enter my giveaway. You could win a bottle of China Glaze Surfin' for Boys among other things!

Take care.
~Alexis

Julep Audrey: the Perfect Princess Pink

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 Hello, darling readers. Wow! I have been so busy this week. I have a small list of planned blog posts, but haven't even had a chance to write them up or think about things I'd like to discuss with you after those posts. I've been enjoying the new job, but now there really are too few hours in the day.

I am going to make the time to tell you a little bit about a great polish, that makes me love sheer even though I am not normally a fan of sheer polish. This is Julep Audrey, which I wanted to love just because it is named Audrey. The first coat, I thought, "Oh, this is way too sheer. I'm not going to like this." The second coat had me changing my mind and by the third coat, I was so happy. To me, it looks like my fingernails are coated in silk taffeta. I think that the glass shimmer in this polish makes it work even though it is very sheer.

On day five I had some pretty heavy chipping, but I was in a pool for quite some time earlier that day. All in all, Julep Audrey held up very well. And it is so lovely. I really did feel like I had a princess manicure that looked elegant on a woman, but would also look pretty on a younger girl's fingers.

Are you a fan of sheer polishes or does a visible nail line drive you bonkers? What do you think of Audrey?

1. Love:  This week marks the 11th anniversary of my first date with my husband. Yes, I'm a sap who still takes a moment to celebrate our first date even though we have a wedding anniversary to celebrate each year now too. I figure that when you love someone, you should take every possible opportunity to celebrate that love.

2. Mod Cloth:  Yeah, I know that I'm really late to the party on this one, but I placed my very first order this week (need some dressier clothes for the office) and all three dresses I bought fit beautifully, which is sometimes a challenge for me. One dress in particular made my husband say, "That dress is almost too adorable to wear."

3. My new favorite drink:  While I still love my pina colada, it is not the most figure friendly beverage. I  recently enjoyed UV grape vodka with club soda. It is a really pretty light purple too and purple always puts me in a better mood.

What Bela looks like now

What Bela looked like when we got her *shudders*

4. My kitty:  I have two cats and the oldest was adopted from the SPCA. Bela had lived in a house with 24 other cats and was skinny, scared, had ear mites, and looked like Falcor from "The Neverending Story," which to me meant not cute. She was hiding in a corner. There was another cat there who was very sweet, loving on my now husband and I. But we knew that the sweet cat would have no problems getting adopted, but that poor, scared, ugly kitty in the corner may not find a home.

We brought her home and she was petrified for about a week, hiding behind the toilet and then one day, she just decided that she'd let us pet her and she loved it. I laughed so hard because in an instant she went from being completely withdrawn to completely affectionate.She wouldn't let us walk near her without running away though. It took about 6 years before she would let us slowly walk by her without running away. And just the other day, she let me pick her up and put her down several times without racing away, almost 8 years after she joined our family! I don't know exactly what happened to her in the 4 years before we found each other, but I am so glad that she seems to now feel completely safe, happy, and loved.

5.  Good books:  I normally read one book at a time, but for some reason I'm reading two right now. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a really fun to read fantasy novel. My little girl insists that I read it to her and she has listened to about half the book, no small feat for an almost 5 year old. I am almost finished reading The Decendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings too. It is a really touching look at how a father deals with the serious injury of his wife and taking over the primary parenting role. The relationships and interactions are at times terribly troubling and at other times they are so lovely.

Have a great weekend!
~Alexis

Earth Day polish swatching and nail art tip

Pin It We polish lovers would be heartbroken to give up our colorful nails. However most nail polish removers contain at least some petroleum based products, so if we can find ways to cut down on the use of nail polish remover a little bit, it would benefit the earth.

One of my favorite nail art tools is a reused cottage cheese or 32oz yogurt container lid. The lids are not accepted by my town's recycling program, so they would end up in a landfill if not reused. They are #2 recyclable, so if I need to use a bit of nail polish remover, the plastic remains intact. I very seldom need to use nail polish remover on the plastic though because it is quite easy to peel dry polish off the plastic.

Reusing these lids is earth friendly in a couple of ways. First, as I mentioned, the lids end up in a landfill if not reused. Secondly, I don't need to paint single use nail art wheels for every swatch I do (I only use the nail art wheel for swatches shared on this blog). I also can easily test out color combinations for nail art without creating a full manicure that might have the wrong shade of base color. I also use a lid under my stamping plates and it dramatically cuts down on post-manicure cleanup.

You can see on my very messy swatching lid that I compared polishes (OPI Designer de Better vs. Sonia Kashuk Golden Ticket) that really don't look much alike, checked polishes for possible layering (Nfu Oh 51 and Max Factor Fantasy Fire over several polishes), and scraped excess nail polish off a stamping plate. You can also see how I created a dry "water" marble on a cottage cheese lid in this post.

In other Earth Day news, I ran in the Envirun 5k race yesterday. It was a cold, rainy morning on Goat Island in Niagara Falls, NY. Even on such a dreary day, I couldn't help but being struck by how amazing it is there. I ran by the rushing white waters of the Niagara River and caught glimpses of the Horseshoe Falls near the end of the race. Living so close to one of the wonders of the world for so much of my life, I sometimes take the beauty of Niagara Falls for granted. I think it is important to remind myself of what I'm trying to preserve on all those days that I don't allow myself the convenience of single serving foods,  or I air dry my hair, or sit in my house during the winter while wrapped up in two sweaters, a blanket, and wearing wool socks on my feet.

Do you have any Earth Day tips to share? Do you find this tip useful? Runners, do you have any tips for me as I begin training for a 10k race this summer?

Have a good day.

~Alexis