Hey everyone. Just wanted to do a super quick post. I just got an e-mail from wowsocool.com informing me that KonadUSA (the distributor) has asked them to stop all their coupon codes since they have gotten complaints from other retailers. Jessica, my contact, said she would give it a day or so to make any adjustments so if you wanted to order some Konad plates or polishes at 30% off, here is your last chance. My code (and all others) expires 3/5/10.

Use code frmheadtotoe for an extra 30% off your order. This includes everything except for their "Build Your Own Kit" set which is already very discounted. Orders over $20 have free shipping within the US and Canada and they do ship internationally also.

As I've noted previously in my side bar, I never got anything from wowsocool.com, only the pride of being able to share this discount with my readers. It's a site that I really loved and had great experiences ordering from since they are the quickest shippers and most reliable Konad retailers I've found online. I hope some of you can order before all discount codes are gone from all konad retailers. :(

I'll actually be ordering some more plates myself. Look at how freakin cute this new one is! I love the bear at 45 degrees to the right. Is he sqatting? Laying down? I don't even know but he looks hilarious.

I also picked up the Sponge Nail Art kit since it looks interesting and an easy way to do gradient nails.
I also grabbed the 2-sided Konad stamper since I think it will be easier to see darker stamps on the green side versus the red of the original small Konad stamper.
And I ordered an extra plastic scraper since I find it MUCH easier to work with than the metal ones they come with. They don't scratch up the plates and hey, always gotta have a spare back-up right? :P


Hubby promised to (attempt) painting my nails tonight so I'll give him plenty of time to practice. Base coat, polish, then top coat honey! 2-3 thin layers! Apply Seche Vite right after the laquer is polished before it's totally dry! He'll be a pro yet. ;D

Click here for old nail posts for inspiration!

So these last few days have been pretty strange. I must have been feeling really stressed out because I keep waking up 4 or 5 times throughout the night, often from nightmares. It's probably because my husband just went through surgery on his toes (ouch!) yesterday morning. He is the one who should be feeling crazy but I really, physically, am. Does this happen to any of you guys? When you are so close to someone that when they are suffering you feel their pain too? I actually woke up crying from a dream at one point last night and I haven't even cried in a long time! >_<

I've also recently been dealing with some photo-stealing issues, to the point where a company cropped out my watermark and then put their own watermark over my picture to use for selling a product. Needless to say, it hurts to feel used that way. I put a lot of hard work into my blog entries and photos and for someone to remove my own identity and claim it as their own like that... One part of me wants to warn everyone not to do business with them but another part of me just wants them to sincerely apologize. They still claim to have done nothing wrong. T.T

I know I usually don't post anything negative on my blog, so I'm really sorry for bringing the tone down here! I will try to cheer up the mood with some photos and news about nails.

First of all, I did finally try my Del Sol color-changing polish in Surfer Girl. I'm glad to say that the color change was noticeable and did happen, but it sadly isn't the most flattering shade of orange on my tan skin. It would be so cute on someone fairer than me! I think I'll put it up for sale. Please let me know if you'd be interested. :)

Suuuuuuuuper cute pale pink before the color change.


Pale orange is a little too close to my skintone. :(



I also happened to win the Zoya Colorlock System from Zoya's Twitter giveaway not long ago, and I was super excited to try it out. I'll probably go more in-depth into the whole kit later, but I did a quickie test with Seche Vite vs. Zoya Colorlock using Zoya's Zara polish.

Here is Seche Vite after application. I used Seche Clear base coat, Zara, then Seche Vite top coat. Smooth and shiny, and dries crazy fast which I need to prevent dents! Seche does tend to be goopy and thick during application so you do need to learn how to apply it right.


Here is Zoya's Colorlock system. Sticky base coat on 2 fingers and Get Even on the last 3, then Zara, then topped with Armor. You can already see that Colorlock is a shade darker than Seche Vite and not as glossy. It also took much longer to set, but it was thinner and easier to apply than Seche Vite.


After a ridiculously long time of wearing the same polish, I took these photos almost 2 weeks after application. Obviously, this was an impressive run. Seche was on my non-dominant hand so I expected it to hold up well, and it didn't disappoint. Nail growth shows more than anything, and moderate tip wear.


Here is the shocking result of Colorlock. The large dents I got shortly after application, but the rest appeared throughout the time I wore the polish. After 13 days, my polish was nearly matte! It looks like there are a bunch of tiny cuts all over my nail. I'm used to Zoya having very good quality products so this was rather disappointing. Granted, this was my dominant hand and had more wear than the left but I still prefer my topcoats to stay shiny throughout wear.



Overall, both systems work well to lengthen the wear of polish but for now I will stick to Seche products to keep my shiny addiction satiated.

Like I said, I will go more in-depth to Colorlock later, but I will say in its defense that Remove+ is the BEST polish remover I have ever used.

And finally, I have my current polish and Konad to share with you. I haven't done a konadicure in what seems like forever and after doing a few dark polishes, I thought the pearly OPI Who Needs A Prince? would be perfect. It's the coolest polish. Semi-sheer pale pink with fine, red opalescent shimmer. I like my polishes pretty opaque and this was fine at 3 coats but I did 4 to get this milky shade.


I thought a holo would look fantastic Konaded on top, but Extravagance wasn't opaque enough to show the shimmer.


So I ended up dabbing on streaks of China Glaze's How About A Tumble on top of the konad here and there, which did the trick quite nicely. Here is my final konadicure.



Speaking of Konad, I am totally honored to share with you guys my very first coupon code! The website I buy all of my Konad supplies is now offering the code frmheadtotoe for a huge 30% off your total purchase at http://www.wowsocool.com. This only excludes the "Build Your Own Kits" which are already steeply discounted. Not only that, but you receive FREE SHIPPING on orders over $20 after the discount!

I just think this is so cool because they are -the- best website for Konad out there, period. In my experience, I've never seen better customer service. They literally ship out your order asap, I'm talking sometimes the same day you order. Crazy! (And no, I am not receiving any $, product, or discount for this, they are just my favorite and I've ordered from them many times! ^^) I highly recommend buying the Konad Special Polish in black and white since they work the best for stamping.

Okay, I'm going to try to get some good sleep tonight. Wish me luck for sleeping through the night!

xoxo

Hello all! I wanted to do another nail update since it feels like I haven't done one in a while. For some reason, it seems that my nail choices have already been very much suited for Fall. Being in the "real world" (aka, anytime post college graduation) makes it seem like there is no back-to-school season anymore but maybe subconsciously I still want the feeling of it back. Frankly, Summer left far too quickly in my conscious opinion!

Anyway, here are my lying nails. They say, "Come ye turtlenecks! Come ye dark and complex colors!" And I simply comply.

I do want to mention that all of these colors, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE, are not done any justice by my photography. There is just no possible way to capture the depth these polishes have in real life. I swear I tried though!

Starting off, one of my omg-gorgeous lemming polishes, OPI DS Extravagance. I won't even lie. It makes me actually sad how much this picture doesn't do it justice. I might have to wear it again just to take a sunlight photo of it cause it is so beautiful in real life.



Next is a little konadicure I did featuring the awesome m57 plate with a fishnet pattern. I was channeling a little rockstar that day and what better than hot pink fishnet and black tips? The pink polish had gold shimmer that doesn't show at in the pics but it was very cute in person.




I wanted to also try out another magnetic polish and I guess the edgy nail feeling hadn't left so I went with the gorgeous Silver L'Oreal Star Magnet polish, which has this amazing navy shimmer that appears in the magnetized starburst. Totally cool. I always get tons of compliments when I wear these.



Super close up to show the shimmer



Now, here is my husband's favorite Zoya that I own, Posh. It's one of the trendy matte polishes that have been so popular this season and I think Zoya does it better than anyone. I was even happier with this in person since it is so CLASSY. I stared at my nails a lot with this on. (cue artistic photo since I happened to be wearing a red dress that day)



And finally, my hands-down favorite Zoya and the same polish that I have been wearing for a record 13 days, Roxy. Seriously, this must have been some kind of fluke. 1 coat of seche clear, 3 of Roxy, 2 of seche vite to smooth out the glitters. Half a month of wear? I am having to change my polish now due to nail growth, not chipping! Normally I would've gotten bored with a single color before this too, but Roxy is just too amazing and again, these photos do it absolutely no justice. None of these show the hot pink glittery, flashy goodness that is Roxy.


Almost, but nooop, still too dark and it doesn't quite show the jelly quality.


This shows the color best, but doesn't show the glitter. :(


This shows the density and depth of the glitter.


And here are my nails yesterday, day 12. The proof is in the pudding. Crazy nail growth, a bit of tip wear, but no chips. CRAZY.



Oh, and having taken Roxy off, I will say it was unpleasant to remove, even with using felt. Dang glitters.

Now I just applied Zara, with the left hand using Seche Clear base coat and Seche Vite top coat and the right hand using my new Zoya Color-lock system that I won from Zoya's Twitter contest. We'll see how they compare, but I can already tell that Seche has tinted the color of the polish lighter a shade. HMMMMM....

Anyway, the real review + pics of that will be coming soon. Now I need to go finish my packing for a weekend road trip to South Dakota for the Lifelight Festival/Concert. Anyone gonna be there? If you see me, say hi! I'll be the one stalking Family Force 5. :D

PS- One more reminder, don't forget to enter the Mineral Magic Cosmetics Giveaway!

I haven't posted nails in what feels like forever which means that I have been really behind! I just can't help it. I get bored with my nails looking the same way for too long, and I have to put my polish collection to good use, right?

Seriously, I bought so many this year that I don't even have a desire to buy any more right now until I have at least tried wearing all of the polishes I've hauled. It'll probably last me a while!

This'll be short and sweet. The swatches tell more than anything I can say to describe it, so here are a ton of nail pics.

OPI Princess Rule!
Love this so, so much. Way more sparkly in real life.


Essie Who's She Red
Tried out a half-moon mani like Dita Von Teese. Ironically found this pic after I did the mani! Very retro-chic.



Did a friend's nails using For Audrey and China Glaze Passion for konading. I love how metallic polish looks konaded over creme polish.


Here is my attempt at recreating the Japanese OPI Designer Series Divine polish that I fell in love with after seeing it at the nailphile.

The Nailphile's pics




My try using China Glaze How About A Tumble over OPI Your Royal Shyness. The sparkly particles aren't quite as large, but I was really happy with the result. Crazy holo in the sun! Couldn't stop staring at my nails with this on.




And I decided it needed a little zebra Konading. This cheap black Rimmel polish works surprisingly well with Konad.


OPI Breathe Life.
Part of the proceeds go to Lung Cancer Research. My pics don't show, but this polish is incredible. Glowy, semi-transparent (but not annoyingly so) and slightly duochrome. Really surprised me how much I loved this. It's a light bluish-green, pearly shade in light, and has a violet-blue look in the shade. So cool!



And finally, my current nails. Orly Goth.
Again, my photos do no justice to the sparkles. It looks like stars in the sky, with different-sized silver particles.

Hubs: "Are you wearing emo nails on purpose?"
Me: "It's not emo. It has SPARKLES!"
Hubs: "It's still emo."




Oh, men and their ignorance to fashion nails. Am I right ladies? Black is not emo, sparkles are not childish, and nude is not a real nail color, even if it is people's "natural" nail color. Don't get me wrong, I love my reds and pinks, but variety is the spice of life! And I like my nails spicy. :)

In the comments, name and describe your favorite nail polish. I want to know why you love it so much. Surely it's not just me who loves being distracted by my nails!

I have chosen the winners of the Revlon nails giveaway. Congratulations to Lulu and Caroline :]! I hope you enjoy these! For everyone else who missed out this time, no worries, I have lots of fun giveaways coming up very soon.

I wanted to catch up on a few nail-related items. I have a couple of recent konadicures and nail swatches, my Revlon nails removal experience that I've had lately, and a very cool special magnetic polish from Europe, but it's not all going to fit in one post. So part I today and part II tomorrow. :) Anyway, on with the swatches.

Zoya Sienna is an incredible color. It is SUCH a fantastic spring color and it actually looks good against my skintone! Shock of shocks, I can wear orange! It looks chunky here, but it's just the flecks. It's really smooth, especially with a top coat.


I jazzed it up with a little houndstooth konad pattern in gold. Two pics, cause it's that good.



Here is Essie Chastity. This is a barbie pink cream with a very, very slight lavendar tone that wasn't picked up in the photos. I liked this color plain best.


This was a failed Konadicure, methinks, because it had too much going on. A little too extreme-baby-cutesy-frosty with OPI Pricess Rule! on top to be flattering on my skin.


This is a new favorite polish for me, OPI Hey! Get in Lime! It's a really pretty light green cream polish that has a bit of a jelly finish alone. Formula isn't that great but what pastel cream polish is? Results are worth it. And I LOVED this lace pattern Konad over it. Very vintage-classy!




I had originally tried a dark purple, OPI Who Are You Wearing?, as the dark color but it just wasn't stamping well. If you are looking for a cheap black that is good for Konad, I recommend Rimmel 399 Black Satin. This was a tough, delicate pattern to pick up and it got the job done.

As for the Revlon artificial nails removal, I can't say it was a pleasant experience. You are supposed to soak them in acetone and the nails "melt" away, but I realized it wasn't so easy. I only had drugstore-type Cutex acetone remover (vs beauty salon pure acetone) and it took about an hour to completely remove! Granted, it came up much easier than real acrylic nails, but my finger pads were rather pruney and numb by the end. Make sure you have a towel handy to cover your hands and the small bowl you soak in so the fumes don't make you crazy.

Here is a photo during the process.


AHHH! GROSSS! Nails from the crypt!

Thankfully, the condition of my nails underneath seemed good. I clipped them down again and filed off any remaining plastic bits with a glass file without any more chips than usual.

Like I mentioned before, more nail goodness to come tomorrow!

Hey everyone! If this entry seems at all hyped up, it is because I have just narrowly escaped the frightening grasp of 5 giant honeybees that were on the INSIDE of the window of the very room I am typing in. They were spaced out so that I couldn't swat or contain one without disturbing the others in a mass killing frenzy. I don't know about you guys but I have a totally irrational and inappropriate fear of bees and wasps. I have nightmares about gargantuan ones landing on my neck, trying to kill me. I literally called my dad and had him drive over to my apartment (don't freak, only 1 block away) with some bug-zapping spray while I shouted from the living room.

Dad 5, Bees 0. My dad is a superhero.


ANYWAY, this newfound adrenaline rush has inspired me to share with you my new haircut. As promised, here is the new hair. It was inspired by these two photos:

Korean pop singer Ayumi


Ashley Olsen


I really wanted lots of shorter layers but keeping the length I had the same. My goal is to grow my hair out really crazy long with lots and lots of layers like the adorable Chinese and Japanese models. I have a lot of hair so even thinned out with layers it is still pretty full compared to Ayumi and Ashley but it's okay, I've learned to live with it. :)

Here is my hair right after getting it cut. It has no styling done to it. Still long but a little edgier and a LOT lighter-feeling.




And here is my hair after I curled it for Easter.




With "Japanese curls" style:



I'm pretty happy with it so far. Mainly it feels so much better. The damaged ends were cut off and my hair is soft and shiny. A good haircut indeed. :)

Oh, I also wanted to show you guys my mom's nails. I stayed home from work on Monday because I wasn't feeling well so she came over and I gave her a nice, simple konadicure. I used the rose pattern from GCOCL plate C02 with my favorite Sally Hansen chrome polish in pink pearl over Zoya Paris.



Pretty combination of colors, no? I thought it looked pretty classy. I was going to post SOOOO much more, but this has already been long-winded so maybe next time. I'm once again way backed up on photos and things I need to post so don't be surprised if my hair is at all lengths. :P

Pretty sure I gotta go eat dinner now so until next time~