Natural Nails #2

My Nail Journey 

(pic heavy)

When I started this blog my nails were peeling, very short, yellow, and my cuticles were rough. Here's a reminder of where I starters at.

I'm still working on my cuticles but the yellow is growing out (I bought some stuff for that but haven't had a chance to use it yet). My nails are actually growing out for the first time ever! I'm currently seeing how long I can grow out my ring finger. It tends to be the strongest nail. Keep reading for my products ;)

I used...

 

Left Hand - Right Hand

Nailtiques has a habit of peeling off when I have 3+ layers over it but works really well to stop peeling nails. When Nail Tek peels it takes some of the nail with it and I noticed peeling on my left hand when it stopped on my right hand. To further my test I switched hands and then my right nails started to peel with Nail Tek over them. So overall I like Nailtiques better. These are roughly the same price at Ulta, around $10-12.

  

I haven't had a chance to use this over the past few weeks as I've been extremely busy but I like it. I don't know if I was using it correctly though. I noticed some of the pics online of applying it and that's not how I did it! :) I will start using this again soon, and hopefully the right way, but I won't be trimming my cuticles this time to see how it goes. Since I stopped using it my cuticles are getting harder, not just at the top of my nail but along the sides as well. $5

 

I got this to help my cuticles my noticed my nails started growing faster too! I apply this in between painting my nails. I haven't been diligent about this lately. $20 (Yikes!)

 

I've used this before but purchased it so long ago that I threw it away and bought a new one. I don't really notice it's affects but the other day I had applied it to my left hand but didn't have a chance to apply it to my right hand. About 20min or so later I looked down at my nails and noticed that my left cuticles were much happier than my right! I try to apply this once a day but often forget. $6

That's it for now- I'll have another post about the yellowing product once I get a chance to use it.

#7 Glitter Tips

 April Showers Bring May Flowers 

hosted by: Polished Prisms

OK so this turned out to be one of my all time favorites and I didn't want to take it off!

OPI Polishes:

Care to Danse?

Don't Touch my Tutu

Pirouette My Whistle

Accent: Crown Me Already

I know it doesn't look like I used the lilac polish on all my fingers but really I did. Here's what is so awesome, besides the fact that my nails are long enough to do this. I was helping a lady and she complimented my nails and asked where I got them done. I told her I did them myself and she asked if I was a nail tech! She is a nail tech herself and thought I had my nails professionally done! How cool is that! I've come a long way in the last couple months and if feels sooo good! Now if I can de-yellow my nails!

I'm sure the rest of the challengers are way ahead of me. Thank goodness it's not a race :)

Hannah from Polished Prisms

Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More!
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish 
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Karine at Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Amanda from Counting Down to Bliss
Kayono from Neues vom Kellerkind
Sarah from All This Polish
April from Munia's Nails
Sharra from The Blahg
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails

#6 Ombre

 April Showers Bring May Flowers 

hosted by: Polished Prisms

I've been wanting to do one of these ever since I saw a pic of them on interest. As this is a challenge I wanted to do something a little extra so I added polka dots. (I know, you are probably getting tired of me doing polka dots but I seriously love them!). I tried to go with the old cartoons/ newspaper print where everything is bunches of colored dots. Anyway, here it is!

This is the story of my life. I have a talent for messing up my nails and it happened a bit before I was able to take the pic. And I was doing so well too! Unfortunately I didn't have anything with me to try to remedy the problem so I just had to take pics of my sad nails. :( I had fun doing them though!

As for the rest of the lovely ASBMF ladies...

Hannah from Polished Prisms

Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More!
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish 
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Karine at Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Amanda from Counting Down to Bliss
Kayono from Neues vom Kellerkind
Sarah from All This Polish
April from Munia's Nails
Sharra from The Blahg
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails

#4 April Showers

 April Showers Bring May Flowers 

hosted by: Polished Prisms

This was really easy for me. When I think of storms and polish NOPI It's Not Me It's Blue comes to mind and everything else just fell into place. :)

I used 2 coats of Blue then, wiping the excess of the brush, dabbed the half moon on so it looks like clouds. I finished it off with the small glitter to look like rain (or in my part of the country, hail). And there is my April Showers mani! I'm happy with this one too. One thing I like about doing challenges is I create manis I might never have thought of and use polishes I wouldn't normally use. And this makes me happy!

On to the other lovely ladies :)

Hannah from Polished Prisms
Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More!
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish 
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Karine at Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Amanda from Counting Down to Bliss
Kayono from Neues vom Kellerkind
Sarah from All This Polish
April from Munia's Nails
Sharra from The Blahg
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails

#3 Glitter Sami

 April Showers Bring May Flowers 

hosted by: Polished Prisms

I cannot express how incredibly happy this mani makes me! I bought the orange in an OPI duo pack that had pretty nail clippers in it ;) I didn't realize it was a jelly until I tried it one day and I was excited to see that I had at least 1 jelly. I also have a really bad habit of impulse buying and the berry just went on clearance and even though I have a LOT in this color family I bought it anyway. I did not however have any jellies in this family so I got home and went to check it out and was excited that now I have 2 jellies! And just in time for this challenge too! Yay!

The orange looks the same as in the bottle but the berry looks darker in the bottle and more red rather than purple. My thumb is also orange. I've been having some frustrating manis lately but this mani makes me so happy and I can't stop looking at my nails!

Ok- for the other bloggers - not sure if this is all of them or not!
Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More!
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish 
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Karine at Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Amanda from Counting Down to Bliss
Kayono from Neues vom Kellerkind
Sarah from All This Polish
April from Munia's Nails
Sharra from The Blahg
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails

#2 Ladybugs!

Ok so I'm really far behind but my nail polish keeps peeling off thanks to my new Yellow Buster which I don't think is really working anyway. I Digress, this is the second challenge for...

 April Showers Bring May Flowers 

hosted by: Polished Prisms

I was really excited about this, however...

I tried doing a half moon so I painted a layer of black then tried red over it... Bad Idea! The red showed black through it so I had to do two layers. Unfortunately I was in such a hurry I didn't get a pic of the sparkly red. I love the green accent nail but trying to do the lady bugs proved very frustrating. Learning Process, right? :) 

Polishes

Black: Sinful Colors - Black on Black

Red Layer 1: OPI - Red Hot Ayers Rock

Red Layer 2: OPI - Love is a Racket

Light Green: Zoya - Mitzi

Dark Green: OPI - Don't Mess With OPI

The Other Challenge Ladies!

Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More!
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish 
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Karine at Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Amanda from Counting Down to Bliss
Kayono from Neues vom Kellerkind
Sarah from All This Polish
April from Munia's Nails
Sharra from The Blahg
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails

Versatile Blogger!

OMG! Imagine my surprise and delight when I read a comment that Outer Glow nominated my for the versatile blogger award! Woot! OK so I've seen awards posted on other peoples blogs and not sure how all this works but according to Outer Glow here are the rules...

1. Nominate 10 fellow bloggers who are new to blogging

2. Let them know you have nominated them

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself 

4. Thank the bloggers who have nominated you in your post

5. Add the versatile blogger picture to your post!

 I'm not really sure if they are new but here are my nominated Bloggers:
A Plethora of Nails
Neverland Nail Blog
A Little Polish
Talon-ted but Tawdry
Nearly Natural Nails

And 7 Random facts!
1) I freaking love color
2) I'm a Dance Teacher and also work at an electronics store
3) I have an MA in Choreography
4) I love chick flicks and SciFi
5) I dislike giving random facts because I can never think of anything
6) I'm easily distracted
7) I'm easy amused


And I'm only nominating a few instead of 10 - These awards feel more like those email that say forward or you'll have bad luck for 7 years. It does feel pretty cool to be nominated though :)

#1 Spring Pastels

OK Here goes my next challenge. Still wondering why I decided to this, and then I look at the manis and get excited so here goes nothing! Side Note: The first challenge I did I lost interest after the third mani. Sadly, I tend to lose interest quickly on stuff. Not sure how I'm managing to even keep this blog going considering I don't have a great blog track record. Anyway, I digress.

And the challenge is...

April Showers Bring May Flowers 

hosted by: Polished Prisms

I created a pastel mani (the dotted easter eggs) right about the time this challenge commenced but didn't know about it yet. I debated whether to back track or create another pastel mani and decided to start fresh as I felt like it was kinda cheating otherwise. I'm soooooo glad I did! I finally did a sponge mani and it was so easy and fun! Yay!

I started with Yellow on Ring and Thumb and Silver on index, middle, and pinky and then sponged purple and pink on all of them. 

Side note: if any of you have followed anything about my quest so make my nails better (I swear I will have another post with reviews of what I'm using, one of these days) I started this blog with ugly peeling nails and the nails are getting better but my cuticles are rigged and need some more help. Unfortunately I don't have time to do the cuticle remover more than about once a week. I try to use Burt's Bees Lemon Cuticle Cream every day but that doesn't always happen. Anyways, my question for you all is- Any suggestions for making my cuticles prettier? I trim them- is that bad?

OK peeps! Until next time :) 

Other April Showers Bring May Flowers Bloggers

Amanda from Mandy's Polish
Heidi from DIY Polish & More!
Katee from A Girl and Her Polish 
Charlotte from Charlotte's Nails
Tess from Football and Fingernails
Karine at Karinea0a
Victoria from Manicurator
Ashley from One Nail To Another
Dani from Rustic Comfort
Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue
Amanda from Counting Down to Bliss
Kayono from Neues vom Kellerkind
Sarah from All This Polish
April from Munia's Nails
Sharra from The Blahg
Jess from Nearly Natural Nails

Yikes!

No idea when my last post was. Ugh! This is a stressful time of year and I really don't have time to paint nails much less blog about. Oh well! ;) At least I got my taxes done today. OK this is a really quick one today because I'm on the run! So- I painted my nails based on my dress for Easter and my original idea did not work out at all so I tried a different one...

Sun

Shade

I have no talent taking pics of my nails. I am trying to show the holo but it didn't work out very well. I think maybe its scattered instead of linear. Also, speaking of no time for nails- by the time I have time to take pics my polish is already wearing off. C'est la vie. 

Polishes: OPI

DS Extravagance 

Ring Finger: Meep-Meep-Meep and Super Bass Shatter

I thought I would do a dyed Easter Egg inspired mani- its kind of a fail but oh well. Took it off within an hour of finishing. Here we have Ulta Peach Parfait, OPI Fiercely Fiona, Mermaids Tears, It's All Grape to Me, and Pink Friday, and White Shatter. I put various glitters over each nail and I think that's when I decided I really didn't like it. 

I started a new challenge (why did I do that!?) so that will be my next post sometime in the future. :)
OK Bye.

Easter Eggs!

I am so in love with my dotting tool! I found Mermaid's Tears on the clearance shelf (yay me!) and have wanted to wear it ever since. I also found NOPI My Lifesaver somewhere along the way and at first I thought it was the same as Mermaid's Tears. I tested a drop on a piece of plastic and was very happy to find they were not at all the same! So here is my Easter pastel mani.

I used Mermaid's Tears as my base and the dots on the yellow nail. My Lifesaver was used for the dots over Mermaid's Tears. I'm super happy with this mani and I love the subtly of the index and pinky nails! This mani seems to be lasting really well and I don't want to take it off but I have to so I can do the mani I'm planning to wear with my dress on Easter Sunday.

Can I just say that I love my Mac! I drag my photos from iPhoto to Preview to add writing and it auto saves them back in iPhoto! Woot! I like having the polish titles right on the polish photo :) Less Mess!

Best Wishes,
CR xoxo

OPI: NYCB Petites

I've been really exited about this collection. I was a bit sad that they were sheer shades as I have stained nails. I've seen a lot of blog posts about them and decided to buy the Petites collection to see what I thought. I have 3 coats of each, except 4 for 'Care to Danse?' to help show its color. I also added Passion to my index finger to show a neutral. I wasn't sure about the purple but with 1 or 2 coats it looks very natural and brightens the nails. I shall buy this in the full bottle size. :)