100 Follower Giveaway !!!!

wooooooo!

It took me long enough, but I've finally grossed 100 followers! :D

I actually reached this lovely milestone awhile ago,

but have just now been able to afford prizes :)

Anyway, a big THANK YOU to all my followers,

particularly those of you who read my blog and comment often-

make me know this isn't all just being typed to myself!

But real talk, I really appreciate it. I love hearing what you guys have to say and i LOVE seeing the things you guys do, yourselves!

Talk about inspiration :)

Okay,

on to the prizes!

* the whole Color Club Poptastic collection.

I realize this is a little old,

but they're FANTASTIC neons that are vivid and have a great formula.

Plus I know several people have mentioned having a hard time getting ahold of these when neons are all the rave right now.

Next up,

* Wet N Wild's entire Chrome collection!

This was released several months ago,

but it's been a collection that i've had a hard time finding in the States.

i'm a sucker for these and figured they'd be a great giveaway!

Yay!

I really wanted to have some make up prizes also,

but I just can't afford to do so right now :(

Not to worry though, my next giveaway will include the things I couldn't in this one :)

HOW TO ENTER!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

This ends July 20!!
Unfortunately this giveaway is NOT international because I just can't afford the shipping,
BUT i'm going to try my damndest to make my next giveaway open for you guys outside the States! sorry!

Good luck!

4th of July splatter mani AND a little surprise at the end ;)

Happy Friday!!

My June classes are finally OVER,

and I get to relax this next week :D

So stoked.

BUT-

i'm even more stoked about this post!! So much to share with you lovely readers :)

First up, i've heard a lot of people talking about july 4th splatter mani's lately,

and since it's been a long time since i've done one,

 I figured now was a good time to do one!

*left hand

*right hand

Hooray! I LOVE this. Splatter manis are so fun (albeit messy) to do anyway,

but doing July 4th colors made it all the more enjoyable.

Though I taped off my fingers,

clean up was still a PAIN,

and you can see there are definitely places I missed... but it was getting late so I said screw it, haha.

Overall, I totally love it.

Here are the colors I used:

* From L to R: 'Blue Sparrow', 'Kimmy', & 'White on White'

You can see on my left hand some blobs of color,

and that was due to the formula of the blue and red being more runny than the polishes I used last time do a splatter, so I wasn't prepared for how easy they'd drip.

But I still think it turned out okay :)

I hope you guys are ready for more 4th of July stuff,

because I've got THREE indie polishes for the holiday i'll be featuring in the next several days! :)

NOW...

for those of you that made it this far-

I'M HOSTING A GIVEAWAY!

I'm opening it next week,

and this time it will be just me hosting it,

so mailing things out to winner's should be super easy since two schedules don't have to try to mesh.

I'll post a formal post announcing the giveaway soon,

but wanted to let my faithful readers know early! ;)

Hint: It will consist of a certain neon collection AND makeup!!

Thanks for reading!

love you guys!

First Butter London!

Hey guys :)

Excited to show you guys my first ever Butter London polish today!

I grabbed a few of these from Ulta a couple weeks ago,

but i've just now got around to being able to swatch them.

So here we go!

I give you, 'The Black Knight'

I know this polish is nothing new to many of you,

but I've been itching to get my hands on it :)

Woo!

Okay, i know nails look horrid but they had a BAD weekend where they all peeled off/broke,

and the weekended was also rough as crap on my cuticles.

Grabbed some more Burt's Bees cuticle cream today, though :)

Anyway, 'The Black Knight' is a black base with pink, red(?), and blue microglitter.

It's pretty cool, but not as awesome as I was expecting.

For me, formula was almost gloopy (which was a little disappointing for such an expensive polish), and the finish was more gritty than I expected, too.

It IS pretty and shiny, though.

I like it, but not one of my favorites.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for reading!

:)

Early 4th of July look! :)

Helloooooo!

The end of the week is near in sight,

and that means that these hellish classes are almost over!

hoorah!

I was so excited with my bit of free time this afternoon that I decided to do an early July 4th look ;) My weekend is super full, so i'm not sure how much time i'll have to devote to my blog. In lieu of that, I decided to post this little baby a little early :)

(excuse my horrible cowlick eyebrow!)

*indoors, with flash

*natural light, no flash

Tada!

I REALLY, really love this! I just love how everything came together and is so bright and festive. I DO wish I could blend these shadows a bit better, but they're matte and require a couple swipes for opacity- which is not something i'm used to having to do. So i'll continue practicing :)

I used:

Sugarpill's 'Tako' on inner eyelid

SP's 'Afterparty' on rest of eyelid

SP's 'Love+' in crease/brow bone

Covergirl's Line Exact liquid eyeliner

Maybelline's Falsies mascara

Anyway...

what do ya think?!

Up and coming additions!

- to my collection (hopefully)!

I've finally finished the most difficult assignments yet,

so I have a little bit of time to blog.

Unfortunately, i haven't had time to do a makeup look yet,

and most of my nails broke/peeled off after a busy weekend so they're not fit to be photographed :(

In light of these unfortunate events,

I WILL update my 'wishlist'- though they're things i'm planning on buying here within the next couple weeks or so and featuring on here :)

So i've really been eyeing some of UD new shadows.

I know a lot of people aren't a fan of them anymore because of how they've changed some of their policies and are now made in China and all that (which sucks, grant you),

but i'm not going to stop buying the brand.

Does that make me a terrible person who hates the environment?

I hope not.

ANYWAY,

here's some of the new shadows i've had my eyes on:

'Asphyxia'

'Loaded'

'Radium'

'Kush'

Have any of you tried these yet?

I'm sure i'll love them just as much as other UD shadows,

but i'm still curious what people think of them :)

ALSO,

i'm sure most of you have noticed the AWESOME additions to their company that Lime Crime has been making lately- namely in the eyeliner and nail polish departments.

Here's what i'm dying to buy now:

!!!!

So awesome.

However, this is going for $74 bucks (before tax/shipping- and that's on SALE)

so I won't be buying the whole collection.

I DO have my eye on the pale blue, pink, white, and orange though :)

Also from LC,

their yummy looking new nail polish line!

This isn't as much as the eyeliners, but the whole collection is still $40... but that's a bit easier to justify spending :x

But regardless, I love the pale blue, green, orange, and purple!

Again, if anyone has these- let me know.

I'm super curious to know what people think of them!

Anyway, hopefully i'll grab these soon...

So stay tuned!

I've definitely got some July 4th makeup looks and nail polish/art coming up in the next week or so,

along with SEVERAL new polishes I still need to swatch,

AND end of June favorites!!

yay!

Thanks for reading, guys!

mini haul & updates!

IT'S FRIDAYYYYY!

Sorry for my lack of blogging this week,

this month has been THE most grueling segment of college yet- either at UT or here.

The courseload is ridiculous,

and much of the coursework is super difficult.

However, i'm doing well & just ONE more week of classes!

yusssss.

Real quickly,

I wanted to show you guys my little mini drugstore haul:

Many of the colors from Color Club's Poptastic collection

2 shades from Essie's new metallic collection!

I wanted all of them,

but could only afford to buy the two at the moment :/

Yay!

Can't wait to swatch these bad boys for you guys.

That being said,

I'm probably going to be MIA for the next week...

just until I can get these classes over with.

Then i'll be back with a vengeance!

I've got SEVERAL polishes to show you,

end of June favorites,

4th of July nail art AND makeup looks,

and HOPEFULLY will be featuring some of Lime Crime's new nail polish and liquid liners!!

Ahhh!

So much! Can't wait.

Thanks for reading everyone,

& have a great weekend!!

Just Spotted the Lizard!

WHEW!

What an exhausting Monday.

Huge biochem/thermodynamics test AND a presentation...

but it's all over with now :)

Today i've got the first of the OPI minis from the Spiderman collection I bought the other day- 'Just Spotted the Lizard!'

(daylight, shade)

This polish is a rich, silky, metallic duochrome of olive green and gold.

Here's 2 coats.

(sunlight)

Here you can see just how awesomely sparkly it is. 

It's mostly gold in direct sunlight like this.

You may also notice (aside from my horrid cuticles) that my ring finger is chipped :(

I hadn't had this polish on 6 hours (& I went to sleep as soon as it dried) before it chipped.

However, most of my other fingers didn't do that... so all in all, it's probably not a huge problem with this polish.

That being said, I was reallllly surprised at how much I liked this!

I thought it looked interesting in the bottle, but certainly not something that I'd like.

In the end, though, the luscious quality of the polish totally won me over... not to mention how it sparkles in the sunlight! Totally blinding!

Another perk is that this stuff dried super quickly; I never even added any SV.

I like that I don't have another polish in my collection remotely like this, as well.

Do any of you have 'Just Spotted the Lizard!' ?

What are your thoughts?

ALSO,

yesterday was one of the rare days where I went a little matchy-matchy with my makeup and outfit :x So I figured I'd show you!

I know they say NOT to match eyeshadow to outfits,

but I don't care. I love the colors in my top,

and this 'fiery' eye is a favorite of mine to do :)

So yes, I wore this out in public!

I always get compliments on it, too :D

Sat. night party look!

Happy Saturday!

Unfortunately, i'll be spending my Sat. night slaving away in the library,

creating 36 lesson plans/activities and planning a 30 min lesson to teach.

fml.

Anyway,

for those of you going out- this look is for you!

I saw this look on Pinterest the other day,

so it's by no means my own creation.

I HAVE modified it a bit, though.

* fluorescent light

Sorry this is grainy, but it really shows the sparkle of the gold.

I used:

Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

Urban Decay's 'Midnight Cowgirl' as base

UD's 'Midnight Cowboy' glitter eyeliner over base shadow

UD's 'Ransom' on brow bone/crease

Too Faced's Lasgasm Mascara

So I thought the colors and placement was the interesting part of this look.

I normally don't wear my shadows so much on the browbone.

I've heard of people using UD's glittere eyeliner all over the eyelid instantly of just using it as an eyeliner, so that was what I attempted here. Even with giving it ample time to dry,

you can still tell there was some creasing.

ALSO- weird fact- it burned the crap out of my eyelids.

When I initially tried this look, I didn't use the base shadow, so I attributed the burning to the eyeliner being directly on my eyelid. 

I used a base shadow today, but it STILL burnt which was pretty odd... it went away gradually, though :/

Anyway,

there's that.

I'm feeling indifferent to it.

What do you guys think?

ULTA haul!

Hellooooo.

So I was in Hallmark today browsing around,

and it JUST SO HAPPENS to also be in the same shopping center as ULTA :O

So of course I had to drop in and peruse a bit.

And buy stuff :)

Here's what I picked up:

Some minis from OPI's new Spiderman collection!

I'm not into the movie at all,

but some of these polishes look pretty neat.

My first BL's !

Urban Decay's 24/7 Eyeliner pencils in 'Graffiti' and 'Woodstock'.

I've got several other of these liners,

but no way to sharpen them- so I also got UD's Grind House sharpener :)

What do you guys think of my new additions?

Do any of you have these?

Let me know!

:D

Not Sure What to Name this Look...

Hey everyone.

I just did the 'worlds fastest' 4 minute workout and I want to die.

It's almost too much to use my fingers to type :x

Perhaps going straight to that after not working out in a long time wasn't the best choice...

ANYWAY,

I have a new look for you tonight!

It's super bright and happy,

but it kind of came to me on a whim & I have no idea what to name it :/

We did biochemistry in class today and my brain (not to mention my body) is just too fried to think!

So here's what I came up with:

(prior to eyeliner here^)

I used:

Too Faced's Eyeshadow Insurance

ULTA's 'metallic white' on inner corners

ULTA's 'metallic yellow' on middle of lid

Sugarpill's 'Buttercupcake' on middle of lid

Urban Decay's 'Graffiti' on outer corners

UD's 'Half Truth' in crease

UD's 'Fishnet' on brow bone

UD's 'Ransom' 24/7 pencil on waterline

Too Faced's Lashgasm Mascara

Covergirl's Line Exact Liquid Eyeliner

So perhaps since I was working with 3 different finishes of shadow,

it was a bit hard to blend and doesn't look as fluid as I'd like :/

It could also be because I just need more practice using these shadows together... :p

Regardless, i really love the color combo.

It's bright and happy and great for summer, I feel like

:)

I'm hoping to have another installation in my Serendipity series soon,

so stay tuned for that!

Thanks for reading, ya'll!

99 things

Hey guys :)

I had a migraine earlier and took my med, which really makes me feel blah.

So I didn't have the energy to do a nail or makeup look today,

but I still wanted to blog.

SO, I saw this little survey thing on Kaki's blog the other day

and figured now would be a good time to do it.

I like to do these things every now and then,

& love to read what other people write when they do them.

We all have more to our lives than what we put on our blogs, after all!

(or some of us do :P)

1. Started your own blog - yep, have that crossed off the list. obvi.
2. Slept under the stars - yep
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity -yeah, most recently last Christmas when I passed the people ringing the bells outside of Walmart. All I had on me was a $20 that I was going to use to buy stuff in the store, but I put the whole bill in and felt great about it :)
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain - yep, Mt. Zeus in Greece!
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - recital in high school :/
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm - who hasn't?
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (is nail painting an art? haha I taught myself piano)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables -yep, and also have an herb garden right now :)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight - back in the good old days
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill- again, who hasn't. though I haven't done it in a long time. You don't get sick days off when you're a parent!
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb - and it was SO CUTE.
26. Gone skinny dipping - ;)27. Run a Marathon - not yet, but i'm running the Color Run Nashville 5k in October!
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - of course
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise - to Cozumel!
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing- yep, all over the country.40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt - we stayed at the Inn RIGHT beside it when we visited Yellowstone. was the neatest place ever
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight- my favorite time to be on the beach
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling- the latter
52. Kissed in the rain - cliche, but its happened
53. Played in the mud - rugby, of all things!
54. Gone to a drive-in theater - yep, though not in a couple years. they're so fun
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies- back in my old Brownie days!62. Gone whale watching- in Maine- it was AMAZING
63. Got flowers for no reason - thanks, mom :)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial -yep
71. Eaten Caviar- yes, on sushi, if that counts?72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square- loved it, and miss it!74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - my big leg bone when I was 8
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper 
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox - yeah, though I only had 3 bumps, wtf
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo - my name in Cherokee :)
94. Had a baby- CHECK! :)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone - well we do live in the 21st century
99. Been stung by a bee

I got 34! Not too shabby, I reckon.

Still have a lot of things in my life I'd like to do, though.

Anyway,

if any of you end up doing this,

leave me the link as a comment because I'd love to read it! 

:)

How About a Flirtini?

Happy Monday!

-.-

Barf.

Though at least it's over.

:)

So I have another indie for you today.

I've noticed that for like the past several weeks,

and manis ive done have used pink nail polish... totally unintentional.

I used to HATE pink- and look at me now :p

Anyway, tonight's polish IS another pink,

but it's worth it.

I give you GlitterDaze's 'Flirtini' !

Here's 2 coats over Zoya's 'Kylie'.

'Flirtini' is a medium pink base with pink microglitter, tiny yellow & blue circular glitter, & pink and white bar glitter! Application was actually a dream. I really figured it would be gritty and gloopy like a lot of other glitters, but this applied wonderfully and dried much smoother than I anticipated (though I still used a coat of SV to top it off).

The base color reminds me a lot of Lush Lacquer's 'Spring Fling', but other than that I found the two polishes to be quite different :P

I seem to gravitate towards more neutral toned pinks as some of my 'go-to' polishes,

and I foresee this one definitely becoming one of them.

Any of you have this?

Thanks for reading!

look inspired by ombre mani!

Happy Saturday!

I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend :)

I've got another makeup look for you tonight,

this time inspired by the colors used in my ombre nails the other day.

I loved the color combo so much that I though i'd try my hand at replicating it.

So what do you think?

The colors don't match the nails EXACTLY,

but it's close enough :)

I used:

Sugarpill's 'Flamepoint' on inner eyelids

Sugarpill's 'Dollipop' on middle of lid

Urban Decay's Junkshow' on outer lid

UD's 'Fishnet' & 'Ransom' on crease

Anyway,

what do you guys think?!

Thanks for reading :)

GIVEAWAY WINNER !! :D

HOORAH!

The time has arrived!

GaGa for Nails & I (or rather, rafflecopter) has picked a winner! 

:)

I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone that entered. Neither of us could have asked for a better turnout. I'm so glad it was a giveaway that you guys were excited about! I really appreciate all your support more than you know!!

NOW ON TO THE EXCITING PART :D

and the winner is...

Congratulations, Rebecca W. !!!!!

You've been contacted and will have 48 hours to respond to one of us (my email is: taylorhelana@gmail.com)- otherwise we'll have to pick another winner.

Once again,

thanks so, so much to everyone who participated.

I'm already totally stoked to do another giveaway in honor of reaching 150 followers... but I think i'll wait until I get 200 ;)

So help me get there,

& i'll/we'll do our best to bestow upon your beautiful ladies another giveaway!

They're so much fun :P

Have a good day everyone!

first attempt at a ombre nails! :)

Hey guys!

First order of business,

JUST A FEW MORE HOURS LEFT

to enter my giveaway !

There' still time! So go enter, & good luck :)

Next up,

I finally had a go at an ombre design!

There's definitely still room for improvement, but i'm pretty happy with how it turned out for a first attempt.

*right hand

*left hand

Tada!

Ok, let me just say that clean up was HELLISH.

You can see that by the time I got to the cuticles, I just said screw it.

It was already late & this was good enough for me for now.

O_o

I used CG's 'Purple Panic', 'Pink Voltage', & 'Flip Flop Fantasy'- which are all neons :D

The ombre certainly isn't as fluid as I would like,

but for a first attempt- I really, really like it :)

I used the sponge method here,

& I couldn't believe how SIMPLE it was to do,

and how little time it took me to do it!

That kind of thing is right up my alley :)

What do ya'll think?!

Thanks for reading!

2 indie glitters & your opinion!!

Hola!

I hope you all are having a lovely beginning of the week!

The weather has been really nice here today- almost like Spring again! 

Which is nice, considering we completely skipped that season here in TN...

Anyway,

2 different indie polishes for your lovely viewing pleasure tonight.

This first one is one of the GlitterDaze polishes that I received recently, and I can't decide which base polish (if any) to wear it with :/

SO I NEED YOUR HELP, PLEASE 

:)

Tada!

This is adorable,

but I can't decide which way I like it best.

What do you guys think?!

Whichever one is the most popular is the one i'll use in a post :)

Moving on!

I got another DarlingDivaPolish awhile ago that I just haven't featured yet,

so i'm taking this opportunity to do that now.

Here's DDP's 'Too Schmexxxy'

So this stuff is literally  JAM PACKED with alllllll kinds of holographic glitter. Stars, circles, hexagons, half moons, YOU NAME IT- all of every size, and all in a clear base.

I couldn't decide which base color to use for a mani with this polish,

so I used my handy dandy nail wheel to just show you several options :)

(I swear this won't become a regular thing!)

1 coat of 'Too Schmexxy'

2 coats

From L to R: 

OPI's 'A Grape Fit'

OPI's 'Fly'

ORLY's 'After Party'

The one downside to this polish was that, since there was SO MUCH glitter, I thought it ended up just looking like the bottle threw up on my nails :0 Even with 1 coat, it was just super hard to maneuver the glitter into the right spot, and it just all looks clumpy and bleh :/ 

Perhaps if I'd had a toothpick or something on hand it would have been easier?

I don't know. I was super stoked about this, but it kind of let me down 

:(

However, I LOVE the rest of her stuff, so don't in any way let this deter you from buying from her Etsy shop. This polish, and most of her others, retail for $8.

Any of you have this or have any suggestions?

That's it for tonight!

I promise polish on real nails next post ;)

Thanks for reading!