Manicure Monday: Cracked Marble

In this manicure i set out to combine my recent passion for water marbling and my recently rediscovered love of crackle polishes. I haven't used crackle polish in months though when i did my Hulk look i thought China Glaze's Fault Line over Sally Hansen's Limestone would make the perfect matching manicure. With the crakle back on my nails i couldn't help but wonder how it would look with a swirling design beneath the crackle rather than a single color. Though this manicure did not turn out quite like i had pictured i do like how it turned out.

Shout Out Sunday: Konad Nail Art

I'm sure by now most of you have either heard about or seen Konad nail stamping art. This post is mostly for those who haven't. After months of debating on getting this i finally did. Though i am still waiting on a few polishes and the stamp i have already received two polishes and the 21 piece set of Bundle Monster image plates.

Konad Nail Stamping Art:
I've been really excited about Konad ever since i first heard of it. It has the potential to make amazing intricate nail art insanely easy. The idea is that you apply the special polish to an image plate and scrape away the extra polish. Next using the stamping tool pick up the polish from the image plate and press it on the the nail. 



Special Polish:
While you can use regular nail polish it doesn't tend to have the same results. That is why they make a special polish that is designed just for use with the Konad.


 


Bundle Monster image plates:
I feel like i should say these plates are a lot smaller than i expected them to be. While the plate itself is not much smaller than the Konad plates the images are definitely smaller. On the Bundle Monster plates the "full nail" images aren't quite that. While they should fit fine over my nails fine i don't think that it will cover my entire thumb nail. That i can get past that though because out of all the plates there are enough images to match a full nail image to a single image. You can see to the left how the single star matches the stars on the full nail image.
There are also plates like these that allow for an intricate tip rather than a full nail design.

Like i said before i am still waiting on the rest of my polishes and the stamp. I know how this works in theory i'll let you know next week how it actually worked out.

Swatchapalooza Saturday: Sally Hansen Nail Polish

It seems to me that in my nail polish collection the number of Sally Hansen polishes i own outnumber the amount of any other brand by far. I think this is because the brand's quality and price meet in a way that don't make me feel bad for splurging on nail polish while not making me feel like i just wasted my money on bad polish. More often than not it only takes one to two coats for the polish to be opaque and streak free. The only polishes that i have had trouble with were the glitter polishes. Though glitter polishes and i don't tend to get along very well for starters. Anyways, enough of my rambling. I own 23 polishes from Sally Hansen and below are pictures of each polish. Enjoy.

Funky Friday: Dr. Bruce Banner aka The Hulk

Today's look is inspired by you guessed it, (probably from reading the title) the Hulk. Dr. Bruce Banner is a modern day Dr. Jeckyll /Mr. Hyde. Due to an accident where Banner was exposed to large amounts of gamma radiation when Banner is put under a great deal of stress, normally anger induced, he will transform into the human like creature known as the Hulk. Banner's intelligence when paired with the Hulk's seemingly limitless strength, stamina, and healing factor made him a perfect candidate for the Avengers. 

Wore it Wednesday: Pop of Purple

While last week's Wore It Wednesday was all about the neutral shades the next few weeks are going to be all about color. I know i for one used to think that for a nice wearable look it had to be gray or brown. Over the next few weeks i'll be sharing my favorite ways to bring a pop of color to my everyday make up while still keeping it neutral.

Manicure Monday: Ice Queen

I feel like this week's Manicure Monday has a theme, and that would be cold. Just like this winter should be and isn't. Oh well, this wintry manicure is cool enough for me. It is a shimmery icy blue with a coat of silver and blue glitter over it. While i liked how this manicure turned out it was quite difficult to achieve the look i was going for. It was so difficult to apply the glitter polish to the point that i almost felt like pouring the bottle out onto my nails would have been an easier option. If you feel like taking the time to deal with the glitter polish go for it. If not to achieve a similar look i would try using regular glitter instead.

Products Used:
Base Coat: Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle
Blue: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Frozen Solid
Glitter: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Ice Queen
Top Coat: Seche Vite

By the way, i swear next week's manicure will be a bit more complex than one color toped with a glitter polish.

Shout Out Sunday: Water Marbling

 Today's Shout Out Sunday is all about a popular nail painting technique. Water Marbling. I had tried this technique for myself after seeing a couple tutorials on youtube. Unfortunately, despite using the same nail polishes in the tutorial i could not figure it out. I tried a few times after that, achieving the same results. I gave up the technique all together thinking that it wasn't for me. Then a few nights ago i was doing my friend Jackie's nails and after a few failed attempts at a creative manicure she decided she wanted me to give water marbling another go. I was hesitant at first but figured we'd already tried and failed twice, what harm could another shot do. It actually worked this time. I was so excited i couldn't wait to go home and try it out on my own nails.

Swatchapalooza Saturday: 66 Lip Color Palette Review

Sorry this review is long over due. I think once i realized this product was more of a bust than anything i lost my motivation to get my swatches and review done. But here it finally is, better late than never i guess. I went ahead and put together a slide show of my swatch pictures and posted that below. I have also posted links to the swatches of each row if you prefer just the pictures.

Swatchapalooza Saturday: 66 Lip Color Palette Part 7

 Row Six

 

While i liked this row at first glance being full of reds, neutrals, and browns after swatching my opinion did a 180. There are a few colors in this row i like though overall i don't feel like most of these colors are for me.

Swatchapalooza Saturday: 66 Lip Color Palette Part 6

Row 5

 As strange as it sounds i was really excited about this row just because of the blues. I know they aren't really meant to be worn on their own but that wouldn't stop me. While the first three are super sheer the other three seem to be trying to be opaque without really hitting the mark.

Funky Friday: Iron Man

So between the Avengers movie not coming out for another few months and finding myself in need of a theme for my Funky Friday Series i felt i was left with no other option. For the next few weeks i will be doing Avenger inspired make up  looks and tutorials starting with, for no particular reason, Iron Man. This genius playboy billionaire is often seen sporting a red and yellow suit of technologically advanced armor. From that armor i drew my inspiration. For right now all i have are pictures but i'm trying to upload a tutorial to youtube as i type. I'll be posting that as soon as i can.  Got the tutorial up and running. Enjoy :)

Wore It Wednesday: Naked

Well look at me keeping to a schedule like i said i would. So i have some rather exciting news, well i find it exciting. I've put my first real make up tutorial on youtube. As exciting as that is i do have some bad news about that. I didn't realize till after i had uploaded the video how horrible the quality was or that there was a glitch at the end. I'm working on fixing the glitch and reformatting the video so that the quality is better but in the mean time this version will have to do. It still does the trick i think i'm just a bit of a perfectionist. Well, enjoy. Scratch that, i redid the video in a higher quality than before. Enjoy.

Manicure Monday: Pretty in Pink

In addition to slacking on my blog i was also neglecting my nails this past month. Apart from some Incoco Nail Polish Strips i wore for the holidays my nails were looking pretty shabby. When i was finally ready to get my butt in gear i found myself looking for something to get me out of my bare nail funk without being to complex. Between work and the bug that has been going around i have been way to tired for any complex nail art. This manicure hit the spot. It is super girly and the glitter really takes the look up a notch with out any added effort.

Shout Out Sunday: DIY Nail Polish Rack

While my nail polish collection is still manageable i've been looking for a cheap way to display it. Up until now i have been keeping them in a bag. Didnt take much space and it was out of the way but having to dig through it to find the right polish was so annoying. When browsing the forums on Beaultylish i found this tutorial by nguerriero19 for a really cute do it yourself nail polish wall rack. This shelf is so easy to make and it is super cheap.

New Year for Mint Chocobo

So my resolution this year was to become a more dedicated blogger. Sure over the past few months i have put a lot of time and effort into my blog but i feel like i could be doing more. Well, maybe not necessarily more but rather better. Before i posted randomly. Seemingly random content on random days. I have finally created a schedule and my goal is to stick to it.

Christmas Haul

Better late than never right? Sorry about disappearing off the face of the planet. Between work and the holidays i have had little time for blogging. Well there is one other thing that had been taking up a lot of my time to but that is a surprise. Here is just a haul post of all my Christmas goodies. I'll post a short review of each here but i'll be posting proper reviews and swatches later. Also i'll warn you now this post is going to be rather long. I didn't realize till after i was nearly finished just how many beauty related products i got this year.