Nail Art - Hogwarts House Shields

Hello! Today I have some fun nail art for you!

I asked my co-workers for suggestions on a fun, detailed nail art theme. The winner was Harry Potter! I love Harry Potter, so I thought this was a great idea! After some thought, I decided to represent the shields of the Hogwarts Houses.

I'm so thrilled with these! I started with the gold and silver, then used tape to add the color blocks. On my thumb, I freehanded the stripes, then used tape to add the silver lightning bolt.

If you're unfamiliar, these are representations for the Hogwarts Houses - Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff.

I used the following polishes - China Glaze Blonde Bombshell (gold), OPI Don't Mess with OPI (green), Wet n Wild Red Red (red... seriously...), Wet n Wild Steel the Spotlight (silver), Wet n Wild unnamed black creme (... black...), and Essence Walk on Air (blue).

What do you think?

Review - NCLA Nail Wraps

**The following products were provided free for an honest review.**

Hello! Today's post is for some really beautiful nail wraps!

THE PRODUCT:

NCLA nail wraps are nail stickers! I was contacted by Nail Polish Canada to review these wraps which they just started carrying in their store. I chose two incredibly vibrant patterns to review - Wax Print and Jazzi. I can't saw enough good things about the beautiful printing on these wraps. They are super vibrant, colorful, and well printed.

The package comes with two sheets of nail wraps in different sizes as well as a full size nail file with two different grits. The wraps are in a plastic sleeve to help prevent them from drying. Wraps I've used in the past have all been Sally Hansen and very thin. These are much more stickers. They are thicker and a little bit more difficult to lie flat, in my opinion. The nice part about this is that you can pick the sticker up and replace it if it's not perfect the first time.

The back of the package has wonderful instructions and pictures on it, making application very easy to understand. An interesting side note - the instructions recommend you apply a base coat, which I've never seen with nail wraps before.

PLAYING WITH THE PRODUCT:

The first set I decided to test were the Jazzi wraps. I applied these at the beginning of a work week. I have an outdoors job where I wear finger-less gloves. My nails have no protection, so I was interested to see how these held up. Generally, I change my nail polish every day because my polish always chips within 12 hours when I work.

Here are the wraps immediately after application. I had no trouble finding wraps to fit my nails. The application was pretty simple, although I felt the tips looked a little raw after I filed them off. You can also just see where the wraps didn't quite lie flat around the edges of my pointer and ring finger. Overall, though I was really pleased. I added a layer of top coat to make them really shine.



Four days later, my nails looked like this. My pinkie and ring fingers looked almost exactly like day one. I had two chips on my other fingers. Overall, this was really impressive for four days of outside, unprotected work. I also did some yard work (with gloves).

When I removed these, I just peeled them right off. I had a little bit of leftover base coat to remove, but that was it. However, I didn't use base coat on my pointer finger to see how that went. It did not go well. The wrap tore up a bit of my nail at the tip. So definitely wear base coat!!

Next, I decided to try the Wax Print wraps.

These are sooooo cute! I love all the different designs!

Here we are right after application. Well... almost. Originally I had a different design on my middle finger. After about two hours, it had basically peeled right off. So I replaced it with another one.

Here's the weird thing... this is two days later. My pinkie and ring finger are perfect. My middle finger had peeled off half way, so I just pulled it off. My pointer finger was holding on, but the tip was incredibly wrinkled and ready to go at any moment.

Here's the REALLY weird thing... I did nothing in those two days. No work or other hand related items. I'm not sure why the first set lasted really well and the second set failed.

THE VERDICT:

I'm really on the fence with these. The colors and prints are AMAZING, but I couldn't really find consistency with the wear. If you're looking for awesome patterns and you have the patience to apply these really carefully, I think they could be pretty awesome. I still have lots of wraps left over and I do plan to wear them again. No matter what the application issues might be, the wraps themselves are gorgeous.

If you're interested in trying these out, you can check out all of the available designs on Nail Polish Canada here.

**The products featured in this post were provided free for an honest review.**

Twinsie Tuesday - TT Revisted!

Hello! It's Twinsie Tuesday!! Today's theme is to recreate a theme we loved in the fast. I chose to redo the Saran Wrap theme! I love this nail art technique.

I started with a base of Sinful Colors Fusion Neon, a crazy bright neon pink! Then I used Saran Wrap to dab on Sinful Colors Black on Black.

Make sure to check out what themes grabbed my Twinsie's attention this week!

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Traci at DrinkCitra

Saturday Haul

Hello! Saturday I decided to do some shopping around and I came away with a tidy haul.

I discovered a new polish location! Five Below is a dollar store where everything is $5 or less. It's aptly named. The point is, they carry three brands I don't have access to elsewhere: Funky Fingers, Ruby Wing, and Fresh Paint. The Funky Fingers and Fresh Paint polishes are 3 for $5!

Funky Fingers and Ruby Wing are both made by the same company that makes Color Club. The Funky Fingers in particular are often rebottles of Color Club polishes, so I was careful to try and pick colors that seemed unique to me.

Fresh Paint is listed as being produced by Five Below, Inc, but the bottles are identical to Color Club bottles. So I suspect there's a link there as well.

 Funky Fingers: Mrs. Mint, Riot, Pink Pixels, Sand & Stilettos, and Venom

Ruby Wing: Green Peace and Summer Love 

Fresh Paint: Honeydew, Alex's Lemonade (scented!), Alchemy, and Hydrangea 

Next, I stopped by DSW. They carry a brand called Anise. These polishes have wonderful formulas in all the ones I've tried, but the colors in each collection are usually pretty standard. I still couldn't resist these two gorgeous glass flecks.

 Anise: Sea Siren and Frill Seeker

Finally, I had to check out CVS and Walgreens. I didn't find much at the W, but CVS was having a sale on Sally Hansen products - Buy $10, get $5 in rewards. The sale was labeled as 1 per household, but it rang through over and over again on my same CVS rewards card. I was able to get $5 back on two polishes at a time and saved a total of $20! So I took complete advantage of that to snag the entire new line of Sally Hansen Sugar Coat polishes! I looooove texture polishes! I also picked up one Wet n Wild polish from the new Hot Rocks collection.

Sally Hansen (top): Sour Apple, Cherry Drop, Lick-O-Rich

Sally Hansen (bottom): Razzleberry, Bubble Plum, Sugar Fix, Cotton Candies, and Sweetie

Wet n Wild: Penny For Your Thoughts

There you have it! Did you do any shopping this weekend?

Zoya Press Release - White Haute Nails!

White nails come in and out of fashion every year, it seems. But it can be hard to get a clean, even look. This morning, Zoya dropped this information in my inbox and I thought it had some great tips for white polish application!

White Haute Nails
Are you dreaming of this graphic looking nail for yourself? The secret is in the application. 

With a perfect white nail polish, Zoya Purity, in hand we reached out to celebrity, editorial manicurist Sunshine Outing for her insider application secrets.

To start, Outing prefers a perfectly smooth surface created by using a ridge filling base coat with a milk base such as, Zoya Get Even… “Let it dry completely” before starting your color application. 

When it comes to white or pastel full coverage color, the biggest secret is to be patient and not to “go back in and overwork it”. Start with a thin first coat and don’t worry about streaks, “just get it on”. 

The second coat should be slightly thicker and cover the entire nail. Once the second coat is on, if any streaks or imperfections are showing, a “very, very thin” final layer of polish can be added. 

Allow color to briefly dry and then follow immediately with a protective top coat. The top coat will not only apply a glossy finish but also assist in bonding the layers of nail polish together for that professionally manicured nail look.

After the initial application, Outing recommends a lightly applied daily dose of topcoat for chip-free, glossy perfection.