Walgreens SALE

All of Walgreen's nail polish is on sale!  Whether it's .69 a bottle or bogo for under $5!!  I spent a total of $14 this morning and ended up with 18 bottles!!

--B

Vitamins

I must confess that I am blessed with long hard nails naturally.  I come from a long line of women who have had absolutely no problems growing out and maintaining beautiful nails.  Growing up, I would sit at my Grandmother's kitchen table and watch as she applied her perfect manicure.  She never really did any colors.  It usually was just a nude mani but watching her always intrigued me on how she always had those beautiful nails, especially working as a nurse for the VA for 30 years.

As a child, I never had long nails.  I was a tom boy.  I played baseball in the summer and cheered/danced in the fall until I got into high school.  When I got into high school, I started letting them grow out until I got into Color Guard.  I had to keep them short so that I could keep a grip on my pole and riffles.  Can't really toss around a six foot pole and catch it without stabbing yourself in the palms!!  (Insert bad band camp jokes here.)

I ended up cutting my hair off one hot summer day due to believing the weight of my hair was causing migraines (proved to be a passed on migraine issue from generations of migraine sufferers in my family.).  It was almost to my waist and ended up cutting it into a bob type of style.  A HUGE change.  Since then, my hair hasn't grown much more than to the middle of my back before I cut it off again.  Now, I'm in the process of letting it grow out again.  It's a long and tedious process.

What does this have to do with nails, you ask.  Well, I spent hours searching the internet for quick ways to grow my hair out again and I came across a forum talking about vitamins.  I searched hundreds of sites and forums about these so called "Hair, Skin, & Nails" vitamins.  After finding all the information I could actually find, I decided to give it a shot.  These are the ones I ended up buying.  They are about $6 a bottle.

I started taking them in February when I "chopped" my hair off again, regretfully.  I also had the top of my hair bleached and the bottom dyed a dark brown.  I just finished my first bottle (240) yesterday.  My bangs are well to the tip of my nose now when they were cut about 2 1/2 - 3 inches ABOVE my eyebrows.  My roots have come out from the bleach blonde hair about the same amount.  The back of my hair went from a couple inches above my shoulders to right at the middle of my shoulder blades.

That's only THREE months.  My hair doesn't even grow that much in half a year, really.  I've also noticed that my hair isn't falling out like it was.  When I would shower, I would have strands of hair falling out every time I touched my hair.  Not so much now!

Again, what does this have to do with nails?

My nails now grow twice as fast as they did and are harder than they ever have been.  I rarely have to deal with my nails breaking.  They usually only break now when they get too long and I catch them on something, like a car door handle that snaps them down to the skin...Ouch!

I bought my second bottle yesterday and will continue to use these vitamins!  I do suggest that you take only one in the morning with a FULL bottle of water and two at night on a full stomach.  I was taking two in the morning and one at night and always ended up sick in the morning.  I'm sure thought if you eat breakfast it wouldn't affect you the way it did me.

And a little perk of these vitamins for me was the fact that I had psoriasis on my wrists, feet, knees, and the backs of my hands and legs but it seems to have gone away for the most part.  I had tried everything from creams to prescriptions to make it go away and it never did.  Maybe, just maybe, these vitamins helped!!

**Keep an eye out tomorrow for a new polish review!!

--B

Maybelline Color Show Street Art Review

Out of bordem, I have done my nails twice today.  If you read the last post, you know that I cut my nails down last night.  Why?  Well, they were hurting and causing problems with typing.  Anyway, the second mani I did today was Maybelline's Color Show Street Art Blue Beats (42).

I decided to do my tips with Sally Hansen Black Heart (880), Pure Ice Scream (278CP), and Maybelline's Color Show Street Art Blue Beats (42).  Blue Beats is a clear polish with black and blue specks.  Pretty cool if I say so myself!  I bought several different variations of Color Show and plan on reviewing each of them!

I applied Sally Hansen's Black Heart (880) to each of my tips leaving the middle nail to be fully painted in Pure Ice's Scream (278CP).  Each took only two coats and dried quickly.  I love Pure Ice's Scream.  It seems to just pop!

After letting my nails fully dry, I applied Maybelline's Color Show Street Art Blue Beats (42) to each tip.  Applying on top of the black made it look as if it was just blue specks on my mani.  I love the contrast.  I applied it on top of the "Scream" made the blue disappear into the base coat and allowed the black specks to shine through.  It applied very easily and dried quickly.  I only did two coats and think that was a bit much.  You may want to only do one coat.  I absolutely love how it turned out and will be wearing this for a few days!  I looks amazing!  Looks like I need to buy more Color Show!

Sally Hansen Black Heart (880) 4/5
Maybelline Color Show Street Art Blue Beats 5/5
Pure Ice Scream (278CP) 5/5

--B

Hard Candy Jubilee (652) Review

I ordered a few tools for my nails and received about 100 tiny rolls of nail tape.  I've never used it and decided that I would give it a try today since I cut down my nails last night.  I wanted to do something different.

This rolls of tape are very tiny and are quite hard to work with if you don't use a pair of tweezers.  Even with the tweezers it was a little bit of a pain because, well, it is tape after all.

I wanted to try out my bottle of Hard Candy Jubilee (652).  In my opinion, it shouldn't be called Jubilee.  It's more of a zombie color!  Yes, I love zombies!  Whether it's COD Zombies or some Walking Dead with the ever so sexy Norman Reedus.  Anyway...

I decided to play around a little bit and do something different.  Typically, I just do my tips but I had cut my nails last night so I really didn't have much to work with.

I did the tips of all of my nails except for my middle finger with the Jubilee.  I had to apply three coats to get the color to my liking.  It is kind of messy being that it has different shapes and sizes in the confetti.  I had to keep brushing to move everything around.  One coat was too light of a green.  Two coats was a pretty greenish color but not dark enough.  The third coat was perfect for me.

It dried rather quickly.  It was under three minutes and it did apply smoothly with the exception of having to keep brushing to move things around.  When all of my nails were dry, I began trying to figure out what I was going to do with the type.  I ended up just doing my middle nail with three pieces going from the cuticle and out at an angle.  I applied Sally Hansen's Black Heart (808) over the top of the nail with the tape to see how it would turn out...  Easily put:  messy.  Sally Hansen's Black Heart (808) is kind of thin but it is the best black polish I have come across.

After a few minutes of dry time, I pulled the tape off to see what it looked like...

I actually liked it.  I should have doubled the tape to make it wider.  All in all, I love Hard Candy's Jubilee and can't wait to try out the other one I bought.

Hard Candy Jubilee 4/5
Sally Hansen Black Heart 4/5

--B

Maybelline Color Show!

Today, I will be doing a review on Maybelline's Color Show.  I have bought several different colors from this line and have finally used two of them.

So, as you see, I'm using Maybelline's Color Show Onyx Rush (430) as a base coat and chose to use Maybelline's Color Show Street Art Green Graffitti (32) to go over it.  The green graffitti has green and black specks in a clear polish.  Looks pretty cool!

I ended up using the Onyx Rush as a base color because on my first attempt without a base color it looked like a huge mess of confusion.  The green and black specks didn't cover up my nail like I wanted it to.

While using the Onyx Rush, I realized how "runny" it was and had to have three  coats applied to make it look just right.  I just cannot seem to find a perfect black yet.  Either they are too runny or too thick.  I was impressed with how quickly the Onyx Rush dried though.  That is a huge perk for me!

The Green Graffitti is a clear polish with green and black specks of various sizes.  It took me only two coats over the Onyx Rush to get it just to where I wanted it.  It dried quickly as well.  It has become one of my favorite polishes to add flare to a plain mani!

To finish off my mani, I always use Nail-Aid's 3 Minute Artificials 11x Gel Top Coat.  I don't have acryllic nails or overlays.  My nails grow quickly naturally and they are usually pretty hard.  Nail-Aid's top coat is by far the best top coat I have ever used.  For me, it's a must have.  My polish does not chip when I have it on.  But the down fall is, my nails grow QUICKLY and within three days of doing my manicure I have to either "fill" the bottom of my nails with more top coat or I remove my polish and do something else.

On a normal week, I do my nails twice.

Rating:
Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush--3/5
Maybelline Color Show Street Art Green Graffitti--5/5

I hope you have enjoyed my review!