Holo Storm

First off... I hope everyone is safe from Superstorm Sandy. Here in WA, we have some flooding but it's nothing compared to that. I just hope it doesn't get windy here and cause trees to topple over or a mudslide. 

I was so excited today when I checked the mail. I was just about to paint my nails and found the Art of Beauty box at the door. I have a hard time resisting holo polishes so I had to buy this one when I saw it.

The Halloween Challenge: Influenced By A Scary Movie

This is my late entry for a mani influenced by a movie. I totally forgot this was meant for Saturday. My Bad! I thought I would use the movie Saw as my movie of choice. I have been trying to watch scary Halloween movies all month but I haven't watched any of the Saw movies yet. I own all of them but I'm pretty sure I won't watch all of them. 

Fall Into Autumn Challenge! 9 - Autumn ombre/gradient

This week's challenge was to do an autumn ombre/gradient mani. I decided to do a pretty gradient. Now I tried to use different fall colors. I think that some colors get skipped over because many of us think of reds and oranges. I was stuck between plums and olive greens. I went with the greens because green is my favorite color and I had the perfect green glitter. 

Sparkling Saturday - Save the tatas!

Here is my breast cancer awareness mani. I hadn't posted one yet and the month is almost over. I gotta say it's nice to do something not Halloween related. The theme for today is halloween but I can also post my favorite mani of the week so I made this one just for that purpose. I am bummed that my ring finger was painted up nice and then it really tore all the way down to the skin. It is not happy right now. Hopefully it will be good enough to still use for my mani pics.

The Halloween Challenge: Blood-Gore-Splatter

Today's mani is all about blood, gore, and splatter. Now I already did a blood splatter earlier in the challenge so I decided to do something a bit gory. When it comes to horror movies, I find myself watching the sick and twisted ones... ie Hostel 1 & 2. Hostel 3 was a bit disappointing. Anyways, back to the mani at hand...

October Beauty Army box

For some reason I absolutely love these sample subscriptions. Beauty Army is a pretty good one as far as I can tell. It costs $12 a month. Once you take your profile quiz, you get to choose 6 products out of the selection given. If you don't like the selection, retake the test. Too easy! 

I added the link below for those interested. 

https://beautyarmy.com/account/registration/?referral_id=0e0c9264897170c8416ac7f49fd091e9

The Halloween Challenge: Pumpkins

So I actually did the mani on time but got busy and forgot to post it. This was supposed to be posted yesterday. The theme for yesterday was pumpkins. Luckily,  I was feeling good enough to do my original pumpkin look (I did a pumpkin mani a few weeks ago when I was battling a kidney stone). I think it turned out great.

The Twist n Flip bun by TBD

Here is another cute hairstyle from The Beauty Department. I am excited to have the option of doing these since my hair is getting longer. I like sporting messy buns and this looks easy and cute enough to throw in the mix. Anyways, here are the directions for this cute hairstyle... 

photo/post/graphic design: Kristin Ess

One of my all time favorite hairstyles for a wedding or for red carpet is the most super simple chic chignon (say that 3 times fast!). In this tutorial we show future brides and bridesmaids alike how to keep their hair out of the way while maintaining a timeless, classic look for any event. This is one of those updos that really allows you to focus on the dress, accessories and overall beauty instead of being a major focal point. Let’s get started!

1. Start with all of your hair in a ponytail. I like to place the pony at the occipital bone (that bone you can feel in the back of your head).
2. Next, slide the ponytail holder down about an inch or 2 and split it down the center as you see in photo #2.
3. Flip the ponytail up and feed it through the split, grabbing it with your fingers from underneath and pulling it through.
4. Now give the ponytail a gentle tug so it tightens back up.
5. Your ponytail should look like this. There should be a slight separation where you’ll be tucking hair later in step 7.
6. Use a comb to tease the ponytail. You can tease as little or as much as you want. The more you tease, the bigger your bun will be. The less you tease, the tighter the bun will be. Once your done teasing the hair, smooth the outside of it gently by using a smoothing brush.
7. Wrap the ponytail around one hand and tuck the tail of the ponytail into the hole you created when you twisted the hair.
8. Once you’ve tucked the excess, start pinning the bun in place. Gently pull it apart to make it fuller. The teased hair acts like stuffing, so you can spread it out carefully for a little more volume! If you hairspray as you go, you won’t have to worry about it falling out so much. Use the larger bobbypins to start securing the bun and then use the smaller ones around the edges. For updos like this it’s crucial to have a strong holding hairspray, but one that doesn’t get sticky or look wet. My all time favorite hairspray for doing updos is THIS ONE ! It’s called SuperHold and it’s like liquid bobby pins! It’s got amazing hold and it stays dry. Once you have it all in place, give it a good spray all over and lay down any unwanted fly-aways.

A fuller bun + a tighter bun can both look great for different reasons. For example– I would do a bigger bun for a wedding and maybe a tighter bun if I’m going to a work meeting. Also consider head size– for a smaller head, don’t overwhelm the silhouette by making a huge bun because it could make your head look even smaller. Use a hand mirror to check on your proportions from different angles as you go.


http://thebeautydepartment.com/2012/09/the-twist-flip-bun/

Fall Into Autumn Challenge! 8 - Halloween

Here is my halloween mai fir the FIA challenge. I couldn't decide between monsters or basic "Happy Halloween" nails. Obviously I went for monsters. Cute ones!

Zoya LE 18K Gold set

I received my Zoya 18K gold polish set a couple days ago. I am excited to use it. I had attempted to make a polish like this one but failed. The polish base pulled color from the flakes and made it a blue base. I was bummed at the time but now I have this set, I'm happy.

The set came with Zoya Purity which is a white polish, Zoya Raven which is black, and Zoya Glitz (the 18K gold flake polish). It also came with a small bottle of polish remover.

Here is my first mani using it. I really like it. 

Remember EVERYONE WINS with "Share the Love!" When you click on the picture below and set up a new online account, a coupon for a FREE Bottle of Zoya Nail Polish will automatically be placed in your account and can be used immediately on your current order. If you use this coupon and add 2 more polishes to your order, you get free shipping too! The coupon will appear in the "My Coupons/ Promos" section of your "My Account" Page.

You get 100 Share the "Love Points" added to your account when the following three things happen:

• A person who clicks on you link creates an online account
• That account places any online order 
• That order ships and is successfully invoiced and charged

I use my points towards shipping because you spend 75 points on free shipping and 200 points for a free polish with a $10 purchase. Shipping costs about $6.75 and a bottle of Zoya polish is $8.00. Think about it!