Epic Polish Haul Day...Budget Style!!

I'm off work on Mondays, which frees me up to shop, and that seems to be a bad thing for my wallet.    Today, I was going to restrain myself.  Somewhat ;-)

So I had to stop by the Dollar Tree to see what they had.  Turns out, they had quite a bit:

I got the Insta-Dri's for stamping, and the NYC's are 2 per package, so $.50 each!  So, 15 polishes for $13...I was happy! 

Then I stopped at the mall.  While there, I ducked into Hot Topic and snagged a couple of Black Heart polishes in their awesome skull bottles!  I admit I really wanted them just for the bottles, but the colors are actually pretty spectacular, too!  Glow-in-the-Dark pale blue and a gorgeous dark puple with blue shimmer.  These were my priciest polishes of the day at $5 each and NOT on sale, but I also got a War Paint matte top coat for $1, so it evens out ;-).

I popped into Claire's, cuz they were having a BOGO 1/2 off, and I got 2 "mood" polishes.  Not sure if they work, but sure sounds fun...$7.50 for the pair!

I also hit Forever 21 and for $3 got a Love & Beauty multi-bar glitter that looks like pastel southwest colors to me...very unique! 

Then finally onto Ulta (I had a coupon).  In the clearance bin I scored a China Glaze "Broken Hearted" for $2 and OPI "Navy Shatter" for $3. 

Lastly, I stopped into a cheap shoe store, and saw some $2 NYX polishes, so I got 2.  One is full of little stars!

Super-fun haul of 10 polishes for $30.50!

When I got home, my Windestine order was waiting

Star Bright, Spica, Jeweled Sand, Hydrangea, Sweetener, Star Light.  As you can tell, I'm a sucker for star glitter.  I kept taking the cap off the Star Light to see how easily I could get those cute little stars out, and every time, there was at least one on the brush.  YAY for no fishing!  I love Windestine's polishes, and Freda is an absolute sweetie!  She pro-actively contacted me to let me know that there are zinc mixing balls in these polishes, and offered a refund.  I don't see any issues in my bottles, though, so I declined.  But she still sent me stainless balls, so I just need to change the balls out (using a magnet to get them out of the bottle), and VOILA, problem solved!  You can check out her shop HERE...she's got her stainless mixing balls now, and has a new collection in the works!

A truly epic polish day that didn't break the bank!

My Very First Zoyas!!

I've heard so much about Zoya, and how wonderful it is, that I had to check it out.  When I first visited their page, I was not disappointed!  After drooling over the TONS of colors, I then realized that each polish was $8, which is out of my price range for non-Indi polishes.  But I saw that they had periodic specials, so I put colors in my cart, but didn't buy...yet. 

Then, Zoya had their Earth Day promotion, where you get 50% off polishes, and you send back non-earth friendly non-Zoya polishes for them to dispose of properly.  Like I said, they have TONS of gorgeous and unique colors, but I managed to whittle it down to these (for now):

 no flash

with flash

Yes, those are Summer collection ones in the front...I'm weak in the face of all of those bloggers posting about them!  And, YES, they are as gorgeous as they all say they are!  Some of these polishes have super-pretty shimmer in them, but I think the cremes are just as lovely!  I can't wait to try them...I see a water marble in the future! 

After seeing the color spoon of the Summer collection in person, I'm convinced I must get them ALL!  I'm also wanting to try the 2 oz of their polish remover I got too...So, I'll definitely be watching for the next Zoya special offer. 

I believe my next mani is supposed to be green.  Hmmmm....

Indie Nail Mail

I still have my dark flower mani, so today I will show you what came in the mail:

This is from a great new-to-me Independent Shop on Etsy called "Darling Diva Polish".  These came individually wrapped in bubblewrap and tissue, so they were like little presents!

Little presents of lovely nail bling!!  These are "Xanadu", "Divalicious", and "Grand Dragon".  Sorry I couldn't get a good pic of the glitters, but they are amazing!  YAY!

Look at the fantastic holo in "Divalicious"!   This pic is closer to the actual raspberry-ish color it really is.  Super-gorgeousness!!  I'm so glad I found another fantastic indie polish maker!

And I also got a couple of much-coveted polishes from "Whimsical Ideas by Pam".  Here are Kismet's Pajamas, and the infamous Peanut Butter & Jelly:

These are as amazing as everyone says they are!  I want to put these on NOW, but I'm going to stay true to Plasma's 21 Ways to Play.  I'm so glad I splurged and got these, though - I was really debating because of the price, but they are sooo totally worth it.  I love that Kismet's PJ's are named for her cat...I don't know why that charms me so much!

These packages were awesome!  And I'm still waiting for orders from 3 other Indie polish peeps, my first order from Cult Nails, and the Spring Mystery Box from Julep.  I am so glad there are so many wonderful polish options for us fanatics!  :-)

Plasma Plays in 21 Ways: "5. Go Dark"

I have a bunch of dark colors that I haven't yet used, so had to go through a few before I settled on one.  But I was also thinking ahead to #6 in the Plasma Speedo's "Plasma Plays in 21 Ways", which is to stamp a metallic color over the dark mani.   I've got some metallic purples & pink, so I colored my nails with this:

This is a polish I picked up at Forever 21, and sadly, it has no name. But it is a beautiful dark black with subtle purple shimmer and I had full coverage after 2 coats.  Sorry the shimmer is hard to see in the pic, even in sunlight, but it's there in person.  I've been very happy with these Love & Beauty polishes so far!

I got my stamping inspiration/idea from The Lacquerologist's "Springy Flowers" mani.  It's sooo cute, but I'll be doing it in a kinda bizzarro way, since her's are on a white base and mine will be on black.  I hope it works out!

In other news, on my way home from dropping off the boys at school, I HAD to stop at CVS to see what they had:

My aqua-ish little haul.  I know they all look the same, but they're not!  L-R: Spoiled's "First Class Only", "Use Protection", "Deeper Dive", "Good Karma", and "The Parking Meteor Expired" - you have to see the little purple/teal flecks in this in person!  These are all beautiful and totally remind me of SCUBA diving in the Mexican Caribbean.  Ahhh, que nice!

And I'm totally blaming The Crumpet & her friggin' awesome Blue Mosaic mani for my recent acquisitions!  I loved her mani so much, I was instantly jealous of the range of teals she had.  So, now I've got my own! :-P

OK, so #4 here is only going to last till tonight.  I've got to puruse my stamping plates now...

Idears to use my newly-grown polish stash

I think I'm on polish over-load.  I've got so many new, gorgeous polishes that I can't decide what to put on next.  And there are so many options for techniques to apply said polishes, that I'm finding I'm falling into "paralysis by analysis".  So, enter this life-saving post: PlasmaSpeedo: Plasma Plays in 21 Ways

So, I'm totally on-board with this!  I'll start today with "1. Rock a Nude Shade".   Sounds like a plan.

I got my camera to work, so here are my newest additions:

Lacquistry's "Oh Yes I Did", "Donald Trump's Iguana", "Cotton Candy", "Paean of the Bells", "A Friggin' Circus", and "Winter No. 1".  As you know from my previous post, I've already broken into "Paean of the Bells"!  Super-fantastic glittery beauty!  LOVE me some Lacquistry!

And with flash!  Sparkly!

Here are my Pretty & Polished goodies:

I got "Jawbreaker"!  Happy Dance!!  And the little guy is "Amazing Technicolor Top Coat", which is all the glitters left over from her polish-mixing thrown into a One-Of-A-Kind little top coat...re-using & recycling always makes me happy! ;-)

And on the way home from breakfast, I had Hubby to stop at Walgreens so I could see what I could see.  And I saw these:

How pretty!  The pink is "Pink Forever" and the gold is "This Is It".  I love the bonus little rose!

OK, so that's it for now.  I've got to start soaking my glittered toes & fingers in acetone...:-)

Recruits!

So my 7-year old son likes to "help" me with my polish.  He picks colors, drips polish into the water for marbling, and reviews new nail art designs on You-Tube with me.  He's expressed several times about how unfair it is that boys cannot wear nail polish.  I made some non-committal response, and he would continue to help without further comment.

Well, he finally broke down and asked if I would paint his nails too.  Sure, why not?  He picked the colors & the design.  When he saw that I held a polish bottle for my pics, he wanted to also...I love my little guy!

And my friend Deanna came over, so of course I had to show her my polish stuff, and she just had to try out my nail stamping...

Before she left, she placed an online order for a basic Konad set :-)

Anyway, I decided to try the sponging technique and was going for a peacock-y theme.  Whaddaya think?

I need lots of practice with the sponging.  In real life, it's more purple, and it has flakies in it, so it's purtier.  I'm not excited about it, though, so I predict this mani will not last long on the nails.

And finally, here's some nail mail I got yesterday:

I got my Essie "Barefoot in Blue" from TOMS in honor of their One Day Without Shoes campaign!  It's a gorgeous pale purpley blue.  It reminded me quite a bit of one of my favorite China Glaze shades, "Secret Peri-Wink-le", so I got it out for a little side-by-side comparison.  Hmmmm. 

Lovely glitter polishes from KB Shimmer.  I found yet another awesome Etsy indie seller!  And I got super-smelly (in a good way!) handmade soap from her too!  Check it out: KB Shimmer's Etsy Shop

And this is my China Glaze haul from Sally's online $3 sale.

That's it for now!

Well Hello There!

So I've been bitten by the polish bug.  Bad.  Like, bad in a bad way.  It happened last month in February.  I innocently viewed a treasury on Etsy, and there happened to be a nail polish featured in it.  A gorgeous, eye-popping, glittery creation that I had no idea could even exist.  And it was HAND-CRAFTED!  OMG, I didn't know people could make nail polish!  So I clicked on it to view the seller's shop, just to get more info.  And I was hopelessly lost from that moment on...

That shop was Lacquistry.  And I bought 6 of her polishes.  At once.  And this was before I knew what a hot commodity these works of art are, or I might have bought more!

That's Silver Holo Shredded, Autumn Flurries, Lake Placid on Acid, Prom Dress, 24k Shredded, and Teppes.   And I just ordered 6 more when she recently opened her shop for a bit a couple of weeks ago.  Of course, I'll share my haul with you when it gets here.  Promise not to hate me! ;-)

So, I'm starting this blog because my friends and family think I'm crazy.  I know you all understand, though.

So, here's what my nails look like right now:

Yes, that is Dollish Polish's coveted Putting on the Ritzzz.  I told you.  Bad.

As much as I love this design, and how happy that little bit of awesome black and white glitter makes me, I'm already thinking of my next mani...Magnetic?  Flakies?  Glitter?  Water Marble?  Gradient?  Konad Stamping?  All of the Above? 

You do all understand...right?