Wintry Wonderland Stamping with Born Pretty Store Plates!

*sent for review*

One of my 2015 blog resolutions is to try to get better at stamping. This means I have to try to do it more often. Typically, when I do stamp, I do it once, get super frustrated, and then don't try it again for months. Practice makes perfect with nail art, so I need to try more often! I recently got some new stamping plates from Born Pretty Store,  as well as a new stamper (review coming soon), so this seemed like the perfect time to start. I went with a wintry wonderland theme, since it is snowing (again) today.

*purchased by me*

I used two plates, one with an arctic theme- penguins, snowy mountains, an Eskimo girl, igloo, etc. and one with a variety of snowflakes, with China Glaze Frostbite as my base and Konad white polish for stamping. The penguin on my ring finger is missing his tail and the penguin on my pinky was a bit large for that nail (I misjudged!), but otherwise the images made it onto my nails. I need to work on making them be more crisp and not blurry for sure. My mountains are like impressionist mountains LOL. I think it would help if I were a more patient person... :/

If you are more talented at stamping than I am and like cute penguins and wintry designs, I definitely encourage you to check these plates out. The arctic theme plate with penguins is available here at Born Pretty Store for $.99 and the snowflake plate is $2.99 and is available here at Born Pretty Store.

Pretending It's Spring with 3 Lynnderella Manis!

*Sent for review*

I know you've all heard me complain about the cold weather recently, so I'm not going to do that again. I'm just going to get in a warm state of mind with these beautiful Lynnderella polishes! I can not believe that I didn't own Lynnderella Sweet Bunny Blue Eyes until now! What was I thinking? Sweet Bunny Blue Eyes is a mix of baby blue, aqua, and slightly darker blue glitters and hot pink glitters in a clear base. The base is also packed with teeny blue and hot pink glitters. I am wearing this right now and am so in love with it! Definitely a new favorite Lynn, and so good for spring!

This is one super easy coat of Sweet Bunny Blue Eyes over Barielle Rain in Spain. They are a great pair! Sweet Bunny Blue Eyes is very easy to apply, it just flows effortlessly and goes right where you want it to. Lovely! Sweet Bunny Blue Eyes is a core polish, but I believe it's been discontinued quite recently, so hop on over to lynnderella.com quickly to get it before it's gone!

Lynnderella Seven Swans Swimming is another core polish that I had surprisingly never tried until now! Seven Swans Swimming is an ethereal mix of pastel matte pink, blue, silver, and white glitters in a translucent milkyish shimmered base. Some of the shapes include stars, moons, circles and teeny silver holo stars. The shimmer in this one is magical!

This is one coat of Seven Swans Swimming over Zoya Lillian. I did dab it on, due to the large glitters, and I also moved the larger pieces around a bit until they were arranged the way I wanted them. You don't have to fish around for these glitters, they were readily available!

 Lynnderella Spot the Dot! is a limited edition release chock full of awesome stuff! Awesome #1- cheetah spot glitters! Awesome #2- rainbow iridescent flakies! Awesome #3- My favorite circle glitters in black! Awesome #4- Gorgeous shimmer in the base! The flakies were hard to capture because I didn't have a ton of light to work with, but man they are more prominent, gorgeous and rainbow-y in person!

 You can definitely see the flakies in this shot below, love them!

This is two coats of Spot the Dot! over China Glaze Wanderlust. This was fairly easy to apply, I tried on the first coat to just mostly get the shimmer and flakies to spread out evenly and then I added more large circles and the cheetah spots on the second coat. I can't wait to try this over a really bright neon in the summer!

*sent for review*

All three of these polishes make me so happy! The winter is kind of beating me down lately, so I needed this blast of springy pretties! All three of these are available right now at lynnderella.com, including Spot the Dot! up for auction, ending Thursday night. Seven Swans Swimming and Sweet Bunny Blue Eyes are also available on http://lynnderella.storenvy.com/, if you prefer buying there. Check out lynnderella.lynnderella.blogspot.com for more info and new collections!

OPI 2015 Fall NYFW Wrap Up

I'm a little late with this post, but I do like to share a bit of what happened nail-wise at Fashion Week. Sometimes there are some good ideas to try and I always like to have some different inspiration. So here is a smattering of some of OPI's work at NYFW! All images

On February 13, OPI kicked off the 2015 Fall Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week with BCBGMAXAZRIA held at the Lincoln Center. OPI’s Lead nail artist Miss Pop and the OPI team of nail tech pros provided signature nude matte manicures for the BCBGMAXAZRIA models.

GET THIS LOOK:
 First, apply OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.
Second, paint two coats of OPI Nail Lacquer in Samoan Sand, and then add one coat of OPI Rapid Dry Quick-Dry Top Coat. Allow a few minutes for the polish to set.
Last, apply OPI Matte Top Coat to the entire nail.

OPI brought floral to New York Fashion Week with Rachel Antonoff at Lincoln Center with OPI’s lead nail artist Miss Pop and the OPI team of nail techs.

GET THIS LOOK:
First, apply OPI Natural Base Coat.
Second paint two coats of OPI Malaga Wine.
Then apply OPI Alpine Snow doing three short strokes on the base of your nail one to left one to the right one to the center.
Next, go over the Alpine Snow strokes with peachy sheer OPI Hopelessly in Love.
Using a dotter or other end of a brush dipped in OPI Blue My Mind, place a dot to create the flower center at the base of the nail.
Using the OPI detail brush dipped in OPI Blue My Mind, paint little wisps around the rim of the dot to finish the flower.
Last, apply OPI Top Coat to the entire nail.

OPI rocked New York Fashion Week with Marissa Webb at Milk Studios with OPI’s lead nail artist Miss Pop and the OPI team of nail techs. They created a matte navy nail look with a strip of negative space that was bold and strong with a feminine touch.

GET THIS LOOK:
Start by applying OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.
Leave a sliver of negative space up the center of the nail using striping tape for cars or blue painting tape.
Apply two coats of OPI Nail Lacquer in Light My Sapphire. Allow a few minutes for the polish to set.
 Smooth with OPI Top Coat. It’s important to add a regular top coat under the Matte Top Coat so it's more even with no bumps.
Finish with OPI Matte Top Coat, to add texture to the color and take the shine out.

To match the sheer elegance of Reem Acra’s runway of beautifully colored champagne gowns, bejeweled covered dresses, and stunning embroidered coverings, OPI prepared a shimmery gold lacquer blend for the sponsored manicure look.

To create the iridescent gold look, Lead OPI nail artist Miss Pop combined OPI lacquer shades Cosmo-not Tonight Honey and Up Front and Personal. Miss Pop and the team of OPI nail techs blended the two shades by overlaying one shade over the other.

GET THIS LOOK:
First, apply OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.
Painting nail by nail, paint one coat of rose gold OPI Cosmo-not Tonight Honey.
Next, go over the Cosmo-not Tonight Honey (before it dries to create the blend) with one coat of the gold sheer shade Up Front and Personal
Mixing these two colors creates a custom blend.
Last, apply OPI Top Coat to the entire nail.

Luster Premium White Pro Light Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Sallie D., the winner of my Luster Premium White Pro Light kit giveaway! Your prize will be on the way shortly!

Stay tuned for my next giveaway, starting this weekend!

CrowsToes Heartshaped Box of Horse S*#t!

 *purchased by me*

I wore my Valentine's Day mani of SinfulColors GoGo Girl and Love Sprinkles for several days last week. It wore like iron and I was too busy to remove it, so it stayed on maybe a bit longer than I had intended. When I finally took it off, I needed an anti-Valentine's mani for a few days LOL. CrowsToes Heartshaped Box of Horse S*#t! is from the ValenCrows 2013 collection. It was kind of a funny anti-Valentine's collection, with other great names like "Umm, No... He Went to the Pawn Shop". Heartshaped Box of Horse S*#t! is a mix of copper hex glitters and chocolate brown squares, with a nice smattering of smaller red and fuchsia glitters in a clear base.

This is two coats of Heartshaped Box of Horse S*#t! over Zoya Louise. I am really into wearing things matte right now, so I topped it with the OPI Matte Top Coat. The glitter was nice and easy to apply. It had a great consistency too, not too thick or gloopy.

Although the ValenCrows collection is from two years ago, a couple of the polishes are still available on www.llarowe.com, including Heartshaped Box of Horse S*#t!.

Zoya Spring 2015 Delight Collection Swatches!!

*sent for review*

Only 29 days to go until spring here! This is the time of year in New England when we all start counting the days til warmer weather arrives and we can walk out of our homes without a down parka, gloves, scarf, snow boots, and sometimes 2 pairs of pants. Fortunately for me, I got a little taste of spring today when I swatched the Zoya Delight collection! This "delightful" collection of three cremes and three metallic shimmers is like a warm breeze on the first real spring day. I started off with Zoya Lillian, a soft pale blue creme. Lillian has some touches of green undertones to it, so it's not a straight baby blue. It's nice and pastel and always in fashion for spring! Zoya describes Lillian as a "faded aquamarine".

This is three coats of Lillian. It was nicely opaque in two coats, so no problems there, but I found it a little streak-prone. I did the third coat to even it out, but I still had some streaking. I may not have waited for the coats to dry fully and that always helps with these pale pastel cremes.

Zoya Leslie is a pastel orchid lavender with a beautiful blue-green shimmer. That shimmer really sets Leslie apart from other pinky lavender polishes. It was really hard to capture the turquoise color of the shimmer on camera, but you can see it in person in brighter lighting. In dim lighting, it looks like shimmer, but you don't catch the beautiful blue-green hue.

This is just two coats of Leslie. It was pretty sheer after the first coat, so I was pleasantly surprised when the second coat made it fully opaque. The formula was great and easy to apply!

Zoya Daisy is a beautiful lemon yellow with the same eye-catching turquoise shimmer that is in Leslie. This is so pretty! I love yellow polish and I don't think I own anything quite like Daisy. Like Leslie, the shimmer is more obviously turquoise in person, but it's not super obvious. It's not like a duochrome type shimmer, more like a soft wash. Zoya calls Daisy a "refreshing lemon merengue yellow with a turquoise metallic flash". Their descriptions very often make me hungry LOL!

This is three coats of Daisy. It was pretty opaque and not streaky in two coats, but I felt the third brought out the shimmer more. The shimmer in this really helps it apply smoothly and effortlessly. Great formula!

Zoya Eden is your perfect reliable pink creme for spring. Zoya aptly describes it as "classic spring flower pink". It's the kind of good old standby flattering bright pink (but not neon) that will always be in style for spring and summer.

This is two super easy coats. I think this is maybe one of Zoya's best cremes lately, it practically applied itself!

I have been looking for a polish like Zoya Tiana for a couple of spring seasons now. It seems to me that many mint cremes lean too blue. I have been looking for more of a pale green spearmint creme and it looks like I've found it! Tiana is a very pastel green creme with more of a yellowy undertone than blue. It's kind of stark and mod looking and I love that! Zoya calls it a "palette-cleansing pistachio gelato green". Yum, now I want pistachio gelato! I think that palette-cleansing feeling comes from the starkness of this polish. I am so looking forward to wearing this beauty when the weather gets a little warmer!

This is three coats of Tiana. It was opaque in two, but I did the third to smooth it out a bit. I didn't have a huge problem with streaking, but I did wait until each coat was fully dry before applying the next one. Polishes that are this pastel very often have a tendency to streak a little.

The lovely Zoya Rayne is a clear sky blue with the pretty blue-green shimmer found in Leslie and Daisy. I am really glad Zoya did a blue with this turquoise shimmer, it really is something special in person! You would think the color of the shimmer would get lost in the already blue polish, but it doesn't, it pops out nicely. This polish makes me want to go swimming and have picnics and run through the sprinkler (all bad ideas right now, as the high temp today is 20 degrees!).

This is three coats of Rayne. It was easy to apply and pretty much opaque in two coats, but I thought the shimmer popped more with the addition of a third coat.

*sent for review*

Overall, I think Zoya knocked this one out of the park. All six of these are perfect colors for spring and some are very unique, even in my large collection! My two top favorites are Daisy and Tiana, but I wouldn't want to give up Rayne either. I will definitely be using some of these in a future post with some nail art because they are just too pretty to only show you once. Plus, maybe if I keep wearing them, spring will magically appear in Connecticut!

The Zoya Delight collection is available now at zoya.com.

Happy Valentine's Day with Two LE Lynnderellas!

*sent for review*

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! What are your plans for the day? Dinner with that special someone or Netflix and ice cream with your special cat? LOL! Whatever your plans are, I have two really beautiful Valentine's Day limited edition Lynnderellas for you to see today. First up is Lynnderella Reddy for Love. Reddy for Love is a mix of red and gold glitters in a heavily gold shimmered base. The gold shimmer in this is stunning! There are large holo gold hearts, red stars and diamonds and all kinds of other goodies.

I wore this beauty over Essie Lollipop. This is just one coat of Reddy for Love over two coats of Lollipop. It was easy to apply, I only positioned the hearts a bit. I did not have to fish for the hearts at all, both of those just came out by themselves. I actually didn't want to take this mani off, it was so pretty! And I usually don't like to wear red!

Lynnderella Le Sigh is kind of on the opposite spectrum of Valentine's Day polishes, it's a soft and delicate mix of glitter. Le Sigh has white circle glitter, small almost periwinkle blue glitters, pink glitters (including large pink flowers, circles and diamonds), some lavender glitters and a few red glitters too. The base is clear with flecks of silver shimmer. You can see the flecks really well in the picture below.

For this look, I did two coats of OPI Care to Danse?, two coats of Le Sigh, and one coat of Care to Danse? to top it off. Le Sigh was easy to apply. I did find I had to wipe off the brush maybe a little more than usual or SO much glitter came off onto my nails! But that's always better than not enough haha!

 *sent for review*

Lynnderella Reddy to Love and Le Sigh are available on lynnderella.com and might pop up on lynnderella.storenvy.com. For news about the latest Lynnderella collections, visit lynnderella-lynnderella.blogspot.com.

Also, have you seen Lynnderella's new adorable stickers (below)? Instead of tape to hold the bubble wrap on to the polishes, Paul uses these cute stickers! I keep saving them, although I don't have anywhere good to put them.  

Get Noticeably Whiter Teeth Before Your Valentine's Day Date Tomorrow with Luster Premium White Pro Light and Win a Pro Light Set!

 *Sent for review*

Think you can't get noticeably whiter teeth before your Valentine's Day date tomorrow night? Wrong!! I just started using the Luster Premium White Pro Light Teeth Whitening System yesterday morning and already have visibly whiter teeth! This whitening kit contains an Accelerator Mouth Rinse, Super Whitener Gel and an Activating Whitening Light. You simply swish the mouth rinse around your teeth for 15 seconds, apply the whitening gel, and hold the light about 1 inch from your teeth for 2 minutes. The light has a timer that beeps after 2 minutes, so you don't even have to keep track of the time.

I really like this particular treatment, because you can fit the whitening sessions in around your own schedule. It takes 10 2 minute treatments to see a noticeable difference. I was in a hurry, so I did them over a 24 hour period. You can even do several of them back to back to speed up the process. Luster Premium White says you can do up to 20 treatments total and you can do them all in an hour or space them out over 7 days. The instruction booklet that is included provides you with some examples of how you can space out the treatments over a week, 5 days, 2 days or just one hour. The kit also contains this handy shade guide so you can really see your results. I think I started at somewhere between a 9 and 10. My teeth were still pretty white (despite countless cups of coffee!!) from doing the regular Luster Premium White treatment in December.

I take pretty terrible pictures of my own face, but here is my before shot. This was taken yesterday morning, before any treatments. My teeth are definitely not bad, but they are far from the movie star blinding white I'd really like (again, countless cups of coffee! LOL).

These are my results after 10 Luster Premium White Pro Light treatments. I am pretty psyched about these results, to be honest! I can definitely see a difference in the whiteness of my teeth, and they are also so shiny and bright. In just about 24 hours, I think I improved the look of my smile a lot. I am wearing the same Fresh Sugar lip balm in these pictures, I realize in the second one it looks shinier and more tinted, but I think the lighting is different. Sorry about that, I tried to keep it consistent and take the picture in the same location. I am going to continue on and do all 20 treatments to see how white I can really go, and I will update this post when I complete them. I have ZERO sensitivity with this system and I can't tell you how painful whitening strips are when I try to use those. I don't know how this system manages whiten without the pain and extreme sensitivity, but I am really happy about it!

*sent for review*

I am excited to say that I have a Luster Premium White Pro Light kit to give away to one lucky reader! This giveaway is open to all readers. Please use the Rafflecopter widget below or the direct link here to enter. The giveaway will end Saturday, February 21 at midnight EST. If you want to whiten your teeth without the pain and agony of whitestrips, definitely enter this giveaway and give Luster Premium White Pro Light a try!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, Luster Premium White is having a giveaway on Instagram. If you use the hash tag #datenightwhite, you can win a $100 Visa gift card and a Pro Light set! Luster Premium White products are available at drugstores and Target stores near you! For more information, please visit lusterpremiumwhite.com.