Getting back into nail art: My Fourth of July Manicure!

Hello loves!! Happy 4th of July! I hope you are having a great holiday weekend if you are celebrating and if your not celebrating I hope you are having a lovely weekend!

So this past week I was in the mood to finally do some nail art, and had even more ambition to do a 4th of July manicure!

I have done any type of nail art in a very looonnnnggg time. So long that I have even forgot how to do a proper dotticure. Hopefully this manicure will inspire me to get back into doing some nail art in the future.

For this design all I knew was I wanted to have my thumb,fore finger, and middle finger, have red and white stripes and my ring and pinkie fingers to be blue with silver stars.

I suck at free hand striping, (even when I was doing nail art more frequently) so I instantly went for some chevron guides I had from a kit I bought at CVS a while back when I wanted to buy some guides for a french manicure I was doing.

So I painted the first three fingers with Wet 'n' Wild's Wild Shine polish in white. I used two coats to make it nice and opaque and even,  I don't think these have names just numbers, but I'm sure you all know the one I am talking about. I then used Julie G's polish in Cabana Boy, which is one of the best blue polishes I own, on my ring and pinkie fingers. It is literally a one coater, but I always go in for a second coat just out of habit.

After letting these colors dry for a good long while, I carefully placed my chevron guides and took China Glaze's Cranberry Splash to make the red stripes. Now Cranberry Splash is not the first red I would of picked, but I realized I actually don't have a red creme polish. If anyone has any recommendation's I would appreciate it greatly!

After successfully creating my chevrons and cleaning up I wanted to place some silver stars I had on my nails but they didn't sit right and looked bad ( at least to me), so I took them off and replaced it with some dots in Celeb City by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.

I'm not a huge fan on how the silver dots came out, I like I said I completely for got how to do placement for them!


I am really happy with it overall though. It was a lot of fun getting back into some nail art, and seeing the idea I had in my head actually translate to my nails!

And here is a complementary 'claw' hand photo so you can see all of the manicure.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and finally seeing some nail art up in here!!
Have a great day guys! I'll talk to you soon!
<3 Nicole

Throwback Thursday: My First blog post!!

Oh man is this post going to be cringe worthy on so many levels!

Good morning lovelies! I hope you are all doing well and are gearing up for the weekend! As you read this post I will be at work patiently waiting for the clock to strike 5:30pm so I can get out and have a nice day off on Friday. Unfortunately with my job I have to work at least one weekend day but on occasions I get a whole weekend off and when I do its is GLORIOUS!

Today I thought I would take you back in time four years and show you my very first blog post. The whole reason I started my blog was that I enjoyed reading nail polish blogs at the time and my collection was steadily growing. I wasn't as heavily into makeup as I am now so that's where my blog name came from. They were my nails and my polish and there you go.

I remember the name of the first post and it was an introduction post about myself, so really I guess I'm taking you back to the second post on the blog but its the first one I showed of a manicure!

I called it Springtime Crackle. Crackle was huge four years, I remember desperately wanting to get my hands on it, thank goodness we had just had a Sally's Beauty open up in the next town over!

So... brace yourselves... if its too bad... look away...

Wet 'n' Wild Mind Your Own Bismuth

Hi lovelies! I hope you all are well!

Today's polish is definitely a throwback polish! This polish came out in spring of 2012 and was apart of the Chrome Collection from Wet 'n' Wild. It was a limited edition collection and I can't believe I only snagged one of these and then never posted about it!

I have to say for my defense that it was still early in my blogging days and I was not very vigalant about post all the time.

Lets take a look at this oldie but goodie.

The name is really cute to start with, Mind Your Own Bismuth. I do remember that these polishes had city realated names.

Since this polish is going on two years old its a little on the thick side. If my memory serves me correctly it wasn't this thick when I purchased so obviously age has gotten to it.

I used three coats plus top coat in my photos. Although I could of gotten away with two.

I haven't used this for stamping yet but I'm curious to see since its thicker now if it would work. This polish back in 2012 was $3.99 and judging by the size of this polish it was not full size so I can't believe I paid four bucks for it.

This polish however will stay in my stash and I'll try to make a mental note to use it before it goes to polish heaven.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I'll see you in the next one.
<3 Nicole

Valentines inspired polish options!

Good Morning guys!! Guess what? Its snowing...AGAIN!! I swear we loose the snow then it comes back ten fold.

Did you know that Valentines Day is only 9 days away? I don't particularly like Valentines day, I just never have, maybe its because I haven't had a proper valentine, but you know, I am my own darn valentine! Plus who can pass up 75% off candy the next day?

But what I don't mind is  sporting a Valentines day manicure on the day. So in case you needed to know of some polishes that were V-day inspired, or just looking for new color to wear, or even in need of some inspiration, I have complied some options.

Lets take a look!!

The first polish I have to show you is OPI Charged Up Cherry, its a bright pink/fuchsia polish that isn't that sickly sweet light pink everyone associates with Valentines Day, its kind of on the darker spectrum.

Next up we have my absolute favorite red polish of all time, China Glaze Cranberry Splash. I know this came out in a Christmas Collection but it does scream love and romance to me! 

How about a polish that's name is as sweet as the polish looks, here is Queen Cupcake from Funky Fingers. I don't believe that you can get this polish anymore, but I would say use it as inspiration to find a color just like maybe?

If you want a polish that is the big 3 free and from a company that is pretty awesome, check out Zoya's Flora!

In this photo from 2012 I have it paired with a glitter that is also great for Valentines Day! Its called You Glitter Be Good To Me, from OPI! If you don't have this glitter or can't get to then OPI's Excuse Moi from the Muppet's Collection is another pink glitter that is awesome.

Here is another winner from OPI; Love is a Racket from the Serena Williams Collection.

Here I used it in a french manicure design from two years ago. Its a amazingly beautiful glass fleck polish. You can't tell here which is also when you can tell that my camera sucked. Anyhow this makes me want to wear it for this Valentines Day... We'll see! I also love the little white hearts I stamped on! (That was one of my first attempts at stamping ever!)

Lastly we have one last red polish. This one you know from one of my recent post. Its Wet 'n' Wild's Heatwave.

Now that we have normal polish choices covered, I also chose two texture polishes that are very much appropriate for the big love holiday!

From the Julie G. Frosted Gumdrop Collection we have Hot Cinnamon and Crushed Candy!

These will add just a bit more sparkle to your holiday! Plus the names I think are just adorable for this time of the year!!


Wow! That was a mouthful! I hope you guys enjoyed this post and maybe it did give you some inspiration for colors or polishes to use if you own them! I will talk to you all soon!
<3 Nicole

Wet 'n' Wild Meglast Nail Polish in Undercover

Hi guys!! Happy Wednesday! I hope the beginning of your week has gone well and that the latter half towards the weekend goes faster so we can all relax.

School is in full swing now with it being week two and all and so far everything seems manageable so far. Which is a nice turn from last semester. I think the only class that might get me is my Business Ethics class, its an online course and the teacher likes to assign a lot of questions.

I can't believe that its going to be February by the weekend! Its insane how fast the year is going, although I don't want it to go by too fast, but I'm sure as heck ready for some warm temperatures.

Today's polish is one last Wet 'n' Wild before I dive into maybe some Valentines Day appropriate colors and maybe a nail art post too!

This polish is one of the pretty creme colors that is apart of the Megalast line and it is called Undercover. Its a pink/mauve color that reminds me of roses for some odd reason.

All I think when I see it are those shirts that have the rose floral patterns.

    This polish went on smooth with two coats to reach opacity.

As you can see by the amount of light you have how this polish looks. The top photo wasn't taken in the best light and it comes off a really dark dusty mauve/pink. With more light like in the photo above its has more of a happy dusty pink color.

However, I didn't think this polish went well with my skin tone. In real life it just seem off to me. I wound up giving this color to my mom. Her skin tone is slightly more tan than I am ( I have a pale olive complexion) and once she put this on I knew I made the right choice of giving it to her.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I will talk to you all soon with some Valentines Day appropriate colors!

<3 Nicole

Wet 'n' Wild: On a Trip.

Hey guys happy Friday!! I hope you all are well!

Sorry about the break in post. School crept up on me  and it was a mad dash to get myself organized and ready for this past Tuesday!

However school has started and it seems like the course work will be heavy but I will have lots of free time to do it and blog so hopefully I will get myself on a schedule of Monday-Wednseday-Friday thing. There are so many things I want to blog about!!

Today's post is a really pretty nail polish that is from Wet 'n' Wild's Meglast Line, I got it in that gift set my mom got me for Christmas.

Its called On a Trip and its a pretty purple creme polish. When I first started getting into nail polishes purple was the one color I loved the most and most of my collection was purple. However I branched out to other colors but purple never gets old.

This polish is vibrant and definitely a purple I didn't have in my collection. It only takes two coats to be opaque. The formula is about average, not to thin where it gets everywhere and not thick. But if this is like any of the other Wet 'n' Wild polish I have, the longer this sits it will get thicker. But in the end though it will make a good stamping polish.

This polish will be one to wear as the weather gets warmer!

One thing I love about these Megalast Polishes is that with top coat they just get so shiny and pretty.

Wet 'n' Wild is available at most Drugstores accross the U.S.! I always get mine from either Rite Aid or Walgreens!

Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Nail Color: Heat Wave.

Good morning guys!!!

Today's post is of a nail polish that I received for Christmas! My mom is very hesitant when it comes to buying me any makeup or nail polish because she thinks that she will either A: get me something I already own, or B: get me something I won't like. So I told her this past Christmas that I would love anything she picks out, and that trust me there are a lot of make up and nail polishes I don't own yet.

So she picked out this really awesome Wet 'n' Wild gift set that had 10 mini Megalast colors inside. Five of the best and three limited edition colors. I will have swatches of all the colors from the set on the blog in the coming month!

Today begins the first one its called Heat Wave. Who doesn't love a red nail polish? I know I do. This one is kind of a crelly type, where its a creme color but has a jelly like finish. I say this because after three coats I could still see VNL.

But that doesn't take away from beauty that is this polish.

I think at some point I want to attempt to do a jelly sandwich with this. It reminds me a lot of Ruby Ruby from Sinful Colors which I have used for a jelly sandwich but its a tad more dark than Heat Wave. 

Like I said above three coats of this polish and I could still see my nail line on my middle finger. But what I love even more is how shiny this polish got with the addition of top coat. I used Orly's Sec 'n' Dry in these photos.

Out of the set of ten minis I think that I will definitely pick up the full size of this polish. That's what I love about mini polishes so much, you get to try a color and if you like it you can go and get the full size! If you want any of the Meglast Colors all you need to do is find in your town wherever Wet 'n' Wild is so, although its probably at most drugstores and get some of these colors! I think they only run $1.99!

I can't wait to show you guys more of the minis in this set! Mom sure did pick out an amazing gift! Love you mom!

Till tomorrow <3 Nicole

Free For All Beauty Fridays! May Favorites!

* I have nothing to disclose, everything but the Simple Skin Care Protecting Light Moisturizer was purchased by me with my own money. The Simple Skin Care Protecting Light Moisturizer was a free sample I signed up for via the internet.*

Be prepared for a long post with lots of pictures! Trust me though its worth it!

Ok any girl who is obsessed with beauty products, makeup, nail polish, etc., and if they watch YouTube videos then its a safe bet that some of them have watched favorites videos. I know I love watching them from all my favorite beauty YouTubers.

So since I don't do the whole YouTube thing, ( yet, I want to start trying, and I am getting a pretty decent camera for my birthday so I might just start.) I thought that I would start doing favorites post for Free For All Beauty Fridays! 

And yes this post is going up Saturday night because yesterday I had technical difficulties with posting!

So on to my May Favorites!

First up is eye shadow. I have two drugstore palettes that  are super affordable and great for wearing to work or even going out with the girls, or your guy.

Wet 'n' Wild makes some of the most affordable make up in the drugstore, I have used many of their polishes and never really touched the make up but I'm so glad I finally have tested the waters. the "Comfort Zone" Palette is one of WnW eight pan palettes that will run you about $4.99 at your local drugstore.

 The first three colors on the left hand side of the palette are the colors I have been reaching for ever since I purchased this palette. The fourth color on the left to the last four on the right are colors I don't always use but have tested the waters with by playing with them n my own home. The very last shade is unique to this palette as it is a duo chrome shade that flashes a rusty brick color to an amazing green. One of the best things about this palette is that the shadows are labeled as to where they should go on your eye, and on the reverse side of the palette there are little guides to help you. The pigmentation of these are also amazing a little goes a very long way.

The second drugstore eye shadow I have is a quad from Maybelline. Its from their Eye studio line. These quads will run you a little more than the Wet 'n' Wild palettes but the color pay off is pretty nice and the color ranges are also good too.

Once again this quad has the ' wear to work' colors, not bright or stand out-ish. I don't really like to wear bright colors unless its on my lips and even then I don't wear too many. I purchased this quad off the recommendation from my absolute favorite YouTuber Emilynoel83. If you don't know who she is I suggest you do if you love all things beauty. She is amazing! She gives great reviews and great how-to videos! This quad was featured in her Color Lovers video featuring rose gold make up products!

The pigmentation on these is about the same for the WNW palette,  its small and thin which makes it great for travel and will be finding its way into my make up bag when we go to Florida in two weeks.

Next in makeup, I think I have become obsessed with concealer, I currently have three concealers I use to help conceal my imperfections and under eye circles. This is the newest of the three and currently my favorite.

I chose the Cover Girl-Olay Simply Ageless Concealer not because Ellen endorses it, or the fact that it was on clearance for half off, but for the fact that I have always wanted to try it and don't own many Cover Girl products. I'll be the first to admit Cover Girl is not my most favorite brand of drugstore make up. I have used one of their 'Clean' Foundations in the past but I didn't like it and so hence didn't give anything else a try. This concealer though is amazing!

I am the shade #215 Light/Medium. This concealer is great for under your eyes to conceal those not so flattering dark circles. It comes in a little pot which isn't too hygienic, having to dip your finger in each time but since I am the only one who uses this I don't mind. This concealer is swirled with Olay's Regenerist serum, so it helps with fine lines and doesn't sink into your fine lines either. That is something I noticed, this doesn't sink in to what I call my smile lines under my eyes and they are pretty deep, I have had them since I was a kid.

Next I have a blush that I can't believe I love wearing. When I first started getting into make up I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this bright color.

This is the Revlon Photoready Cream Blush in # 200 Flushed.

 My Camera makes the blush slightly brighter than it actually is. Its not really that florescent. It is pretty bright however. A little swirl on my finger gives me the perfect blushed look. Since the color is a bright pink/fuchsia you have to be light handed otherwise you will look like  a clown or a doll.  This blush is more on the higher priced spectrum at $9.99 I was hesitant on buying it.
Every time I walked past it in Wal-Mart it called out to me and I would pick it up and put it down, then finally one night while just out for some 'me' time I took the plunge and bought it, and I'm so glad I did.

Finally on the makeup front I have a lipstick that I think I have worn everyday since I bought it at CVS. This is the Milani Color Statement Lipstick in #26 Nude Crème.

This lipstick is a-mazing! It is the perfect nude color. It is a pink nude but basically its my lip color but a tad lighter and better. The formula is smooth and goes on nicely, it is a bit drying so I do use a lip balm underneath just so the lipstick doesn't settle into the lines on my lips. I definitely plan on investing in some more color from their collection!

The last four favorites are skin care related and one perfume. So lets get started.

First up is the Simple Skin Care Eye Makeup Remover.

I want to say that this makeup remover is like the famous Bio-derma. Its probably the best eye makeup remover I have found next to baby wipes. You can't tell from the bottle shot but I have already used half the bottle up and will be needing to repurchase it. All I do is moisten a cotton pad, hold it on my eye for ten seconds and swipe away all the makeup on my eye. Its even safe to use on my lashes and my lower lash line. It has Pro-Vitamin B5 to help soothe the skin, restore it and soften. Its oil free which so if you have oily skin this won't make you look like an oil field. The fact that all Simple products have no perfumes or dyes is just one of the benefits, I know in the past using certain makeup wipes my skin actually breaks out if things are too heavily scented. Its fairly affordable at about $7 a bottle. I got mine at Walgreens and it seems to be the only place I will be able to get it, none of the other drugstores carry it.

Next is The Simple Skin Care Protecting Light Moisturizer. I got this after signing up to receive a full size sample via the blog Vampy Varnish, she had done a review on it and had a link that offered the full size product to the first 500 people who signed up.

This moisturizer is pretty awesome, it light weight absorbs into the skin quickly without leaving you feeling sticky or gunky. It has SPF 15 which isn't super high but enough to protect you if you going to be running around doing errands. Put on a regular sunscreen if you are going to be at the beach all day in the sun that has a high SPF. I know that Simple doesn't add perfumes or dye to their products but there is a slight sunscreen smell to this, its not horrible I actually like that kind of smell. I use this under my daily makeup (which already has SPF in it) and my makeup goes on smoother. I'm pretty sure you can find this in the local drugstore for around $9.99.


The final skincare product I'm loving for the month of May is the Clean & Clear Morning Burst Skin Brightening Facial Cleanser.

I have used Clean & Clear products since I was teenager and started having pimple issues. It seems so long ago, actually  I haven't been a teen in 7 years (seems forever right? Kidding!) Anyway I picked this up because I wanted a cleanser that was just to make me feel clean, I didn't need anything that had anti aging, or blemish control because I have products for those problems already. I wanted something to just make me feel clean in the morning.

This lathers really well even with only one pump. I also like the fact that the pump locks so you don't accidently hit it in the bathroom and waste product. The smell is very pleasant its lemon and papaya, it also has caffeine in it to help wake your skin up! It is slightly drying but that's okay and it leaves my skin brighter and  matte. It also helps control the oil on my face. You can find this in drugstores for about $5.97, I got mine at Wal-Mart.

Finally the last favorite I have for you is a perfume that I'm glad I found. I absolutely love the Victoria Secret PINK body mist. My most used one is Fresh and Clean. It smells like a boys' perfume but for girls. I have had friends tell me it smells like Dolce and Gabbana. So when I was in Five Below last month I always check out their body sprays since they always do their own versions of the high end perfumes.

This is called BE Cool & Clean.

This tiny little flat bottle is great for travel, I have two of these and one of them is in my purse at all times just in case I need to freshen up. Its just about a half ounce of liquid so it probably won't last long but it was only $2 so you get what you pay for. But this perfume smells exactly like my favorite Victoria's Secret scent. So when in comparison its worth it to me. It smells so clean and crisp and I love that kind of smell when I am going to be at work or just not in the mood for a fruit-y scent. 

So that s it for my favorites of May! I hope you enjoyed and sorry this post was so long! But if you did get through it than Thank you for reading it!

Until next time! Nicole

Countdown to spring!

Hey fellow polish lovers!

Today I bring you a Spring inspired splatter manicure. I feel like I always talk about the weather when I do a blog post, mostly its complaining about how horrible the weather is but today its about how spring is making its way in to New York!

Even with the crazy ass weather we have had where it snows for a day then is gone the next becaue it gets warm out I am super excited that spring is 10 days away! I've already got some spring/summer dresses out and ready to be worn when the snow melts and the weather starts to stay steady in the temperatures.

So for this manicure I started off with a base of China Glaze light as air. Wanting to add some bright colors to it grabbed some straws and some spring colors and went to work,.

The colors I used are Orly: Its not me. It's you. Pure Ice: Twinkle. Wet 'n' Wild: I Need A Refreshmint.

I'm still kind of new to the whole splatter manicure, I have only done one other which was back at Halloween time last year.

To add just a bit more of sparkle, I used this unlabled L.A, Girl Rockstar polish that Adri, from Morie's Nail Art sent me! It is a dupe for China Glaze Fairy Dust but its done with gold holo glitter.

Thats it for this post! I hope you enjoyed and I'll talk to you all soon!
<3 Nicole