Some NOTD; SHXW Red Carpet, Turquoise Gemstone Manicure

Two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet over my SHMNT base coat. If you view this full size you can kind of see some sparkles, but this will not communicate how VERY SPARKLY this polish is. The wear on this is great, and I've heard it's comparable to China Glaze Ruby Pumps. Despite all the sparkles, this has a nice smooth finish.

This is my first real nail art design and I am pleased as punch with it. First is my SHMNT base coat, followed by two coats of this turquoise color I frankened, followed by Seche Vite as a top coat. Then I took a very thin brush, and freehanded on the random designs, first with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, then with Revlon Gold Get 'Em. I have been asked to make a tutorial for this, so that is in the works for this coming week. I'm so excited!

Pretty Dark in Here Collection Recipes

Approximate recipe for shade Salmon
1/2 bottle Sally Hansen Insta Dry Lightening (creme yellow)
1/4 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Crushed (shimmery orange)
1/8 bottle OPI Red Hot Ayers Rock (bright creme red)
1/8 bottle Essie Magnifico (sheer pink with vivid pink shimmer)

Approximate recipe for shade Raspberry
1/2 bottle Essie Magnifico (sheer pink with vivid pink shimmer)
1/2 bottle Sally Hansen Salon Hollywood Starlet (blood red jelly-creme)

Approximate recipe for shade Lilac
1/3 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (creme white)
1/3 bottle Essie Magnifico
1/3 bottle China Glaze Grape Pop (dark purple creme)

Approximate recipe for shade Nuala
1/2 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away! (creme baby blue)
1/3 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (creme white)
remainder Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City (VERY shimmery silver)

Approximate recipe for shade Ocean
1/2 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away!
drops of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
1/2 bottle Nailene Acrylic Strong Protecting Top Coat

Approximate recipe for shade Nymph
1/2 bottle Sally Hansen Insta Dry Lightening
1/4 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away!
1/8 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City
remainder Essie Magnifico

Approximate recipe for shade Army
1/3 bottle Sally Hansen Insta Dry Lightening
1/3 bottle Sally Hansen Insta Dry Night Flight
1/3 bottle Nailene Acrylic Strong Protecting Topcoat

Approximate recipe for shade Dusk
1/3 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Shooting Star (sheer blue w/ multi glitter)
1/3 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away!
1/3 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out

Approximate recipe for shade Pigeon
1/2 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
1/2 bottle Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

NOTD; Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue It

LOVE this color- this is one coat! Still hate my base coat, look at all the bubbles!!! No top coat.

My hair today

Here is my hair as of about ten minutes ago. This is my natural color, with bun waves, so it looks a deal shorter than it really is, I'll try to take a straight photo soon. Thanks to my daughter Ysobel, who took the picture, what a great kid!

NOTD; China Glaze OMG

This is three coats of China Glaze OMG over Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener. No top coat. It was so sunny today this manicure made me very happy all day long!

Hair measurement and amazing news!

No pictures of my nails from today, which was Nicole by OPI Global Beauty, a shimmery turquoise teal, but the manicure had bubbles from the base coat and the photo was blurry so I was just not feeling it.

Last night I measured my hair using the Long Hair Community's standard measurement (from the hairline down the back) and got over 34", only an inch or two from tailbone length. This is a sudden growth spurt, as two weeks ago I was still stalled at 33.75". What's changed in those two weeks? Biotin in 5000mcg daily.

I can see this line of healthiness on my nails coming in. It appears to be a few weeks of growth. I think in a few weeks my nails will be naturally thicker and stronger. I really hope this works out for my nails because I am so sick of my base coat, the Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener. It has done absolute wonders for my nails and their thickness and strength, so I love it, but as a base coat it is so bubbly, so I hate it! I am a perfectionist and for me one bubble is too much, so I am really looking forward to finding less bubbly base coats to play with, and probably a ridge filler too.

My other amazing news is that I found more mini bottles to franken with. I have twelve bottles cleaned out and ready to go, and I have six to return to Dollarama for bottles that haven't dried out. So much frankening to come; I am aflutter!

Some NOTD; funky french lime & 4LC, Revlon Gold Get 'Em

Here are my nails from the other day. The base coat is my Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener. I totally love this stuff! It has made my soft bendy nails thick and strong! I have to apply it almost daily so I am changing my manicure every day or two.

The base color is a lime green franken I created. I know it's pretty, but it is not a nice formula, I consider it a failure, so I am not planning on sharing it with you all. No worries, better formulations will be forthcoming as soon as I can find a supply of empty bottles.

The tips here are China Glaze Four Leaf Clover. Pretty colour, and it goes so well with the lime. I top coated with Oh So Wet!

And here are my nails from today. This is my aforementioned base coat. Then two coats of Revlon Gold Get 'Em. This is a totally gorgeous color, and the formula is absolutely lovely too. Great application with very few visible brush strokes, which is really impressive for something this gleamy! I top coated with Seche Vite.

This is a silver toned gold. It is packed with tiny holo shimmer! You can NOT see it in pictures, but I am constantly staring at my nails trying to catch a glimpse of it.

I only wear my manicures for a day or two, but for today, the wear on this gold color is totally amazing, I highly recommend this polish!

NOTD : China Glaze Grape Pop

Here are my nails from the other day. This is China Glaze Grape Pop. It sure does POP! This was one thick coat over my Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener base coat. I did not use a top coat and I regret it, as I developed a chip the next afternoon which required a whole new manicure! Mental note: next time, TC with ChG GP!

Pretty Dark in Here Collection

I am so excited to share this little 9-color collection with you. I got the bottles from Dollarama, they were filled with that little kid vinyl polish. I dumped out the polish and cleaned out the bottles and brushes using soap and hot water, followed by a good rinse. Then I let the bottles dry completely before moving on to mixing my colors. I intend on sharing the recipes for all of these with you all, but one at a time, so those posts will come in the future. The recipe for 'Salmon' will be at the bottom of this post.

Here are the first three colors shown in direct sunlight.
Salmon is a coral shade balanced nicely between orange and pink, with moderate amounts of both pink and orange shimmer, yet showed no brush lines. Three coats in photo.
Raspberry is a juicy berry jelly with lots of pink shimmer. Shown with three coats.
Lilac is a dusty lavender-lilac creme, shown with three coats.

Here are the next three colors shown in direct sunlight.
Nuala is named for my nickname. It is a bright powder blue with moderate amounts of silver shimmer, yet did not show brush strokes. Shown with two coats.
Ocean is a dark teal jelly with the shiniest finish ever. It has great coverage for a jelly color. Shown with two coats.
Nymph is a teal creme with small amounts of pink and green shimmer, so I named it for baby dragonflies (they live in the water!) Shown with two coats.

Here are the last three colors shown in direct sunlight.
Army is an drab olive green in a moderate mid-tone, which is somewhere between a jelly and a creme. Shown with two coats.
Dusk is opaque almost black teal creme with multi colored and sized glitter. It is a muddy color, and I love looking in and seeing obscured glitter winking up at me. Shown with two coats.
Pigeon is a mid-toned grey creme. Shown with two coats.

Welcome to my new blog!

I'm intending on this being a space that I can post about my hair, nails, and assorted other topics that inspire me. Coming right up will be a post on a 9 color collection I made over this past week, and in the coming week a post about my hair.