30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - China Glaze Sky High Top

Since yesterday's post was so late, I figured I'd do today's post early.  :)  Gotta keep 'em guessing.  LOL.

Today, I have for your China Glaze Sky High Top...

This is Sky High Top, a bright, azure blue shimmer, with nail decals from Cina.  This isn't the first time I've used this exact combination in a manicure.  Almost 3 years ago, I used Sky High Top and these daisy decals for this manicure.  Even though that was with my glue-ons and my camera was crap, I still love the look of that manicure.  So when I found a package of these decals tucked in my storage container, I figured I'd give it a re-do for Autism Awareness month (though this time I went a little hog-wild with the decals).

My bottle of Sky High Top must have thinned over the years, because I remember it being a little thicker, but it was pretty thin this go-around.  I had to use 3 coats to reach total opacity.  I then applied one coat of Nubar Diamont and then the decals.  Once they were in place, I then sealed with with 2 coats of Diamont.  Yes, a lot of coats, but it dried quickly.

If you love this one as much as I do (it's still one of my favorites), looks like it's still part of China Glaze's regular line and is readily available.  I got the Cina decals from Sally's, but I also wanted to mention that if you like using nail decals, you may want to check out www.cinapro.com.  They have fantastic prices on their products (you do have to register) and even with shipping (if you buy several), they are cheaper than Sally Beauty.

Thank you so much for reading my "30 Days of Blues" posts.

NOTD: ChG Sky-High Top w/ Cina 3D Daisies decals

EDITED to replace to "no flash" picture with one that didn't make look jaundiced. Still "no flash", though.

Saturday night, I put on a new set of nails and I couldn't for the life of me decide on a color, so I pulled several from my stash and asked my husband to decide. I let him choose from CC Sexsea, OPI Red Like Roses, ChG Sky-High Top, and Misa Forbidden Lust and Lounging by the Pool. An odd lot, I know, but all but Misa FL were new acquisitions, and I was curious to try them. So, I told him my previous mani was a deep blue (OPI DS Fantasy... pics to come soon), but he still picked ChG Sky-High Top. Here are pics:

no flash, artificial light

flash, artificial light

I first saw this color when the collection came out, but it wasn't until I saw it on on Nailz-In-Aus's blog that became instantly smitten with it, and I added it to my VNS order on a whim. Boy howdy, am I happy I did. Sky-High Top is from ChG's Summer 2009 Custom Kicks collection. I own one other polish from this collection, Sneakerhead, and while I've swatched it, it still remains untried. It's still available at e-tailers and eBay sellers, but I'm certain that all Sally's that had this collection had clearanced it out as it's not in the regular line up (pssst, ChG... it should be :P ).

The application process itself was fine. The formula was a little thick, even thicker than normal for ChG. However, as long as you made sure you had a decent amount on your brush, there were no real problems. The wand did slip out of my hand at one point and in my flurry to catch it, I ended up with polish on my table, clothes, and um... forehead. :P Although, that was completely user error and had nothing to do with the polish application. LOL.

As for the end result, all I can say is Ho.Lee.Crap-adoodle. My love for blue polish has recently reached new heights, but this is by far the most balls-out blue I've tried thus far. It's "smack yo mama" blue. ChG describes this color as periwinkle. Um, not so much. IMO, the actual color is more of a cerulean blue, or perhaps an azure blue, or maybe a happy medium between the two, but it's not periwinkle. At any rate, it's really, really pretty and I can't stop looking at it.

The decals are Cina 3D decals in Daisies. I got mine at Sally's for around $3.50-ish a card. However, if you are really into nail art, you may want to try ordering from Cina directly. They are around $1.70 a card at http://www.cinapro.com/. I placed an order with them earlier in the year and while shipping is high (around $10), if you order several decals, it's a much better deal. They have tons of nail art on clearance, too, stuff Sally's still has at regular price. If you love nail art, but hate the hassle of konad (like I used to), you may love these nail decals. I use a pair of long bent tweezers to apply them, and since they are sticky on the back, you just have to apply them and seal with TC. It's super easy.

Now, everyone around me has been kind of giving me funny looks at my blue nails. Everyone except my husband who picked the color and loves blue, and my 14 year old friend, who just happens to be our babysitter. They said it was awesome, so that's good enough for me. :) Also, and I think this is the best opinion out of them all, my 3 year old daughter loves them so much, she cried because she didn't have blue nails with yellow and white stickers

One last thing... you may notice that my nails are longer in this pic than in other past NOTDs. Rather than using my tried and true Nailene Short Active Square nails, I used Kiss Square Tips. Even though they are labelled as Tips, I have no problem applying them as full nails. You may need to file the bottoms just a bit to fit your nail shape, but that's it. Plus, they are really long which allows you to cut them to many different lengths.

Hope you all like this one, it's probably one of my favorite colors in my collection (hmmm... I need to put together a top 10 list), and in fact, this mani is now my profile pic on FB. Now that's love. :)

(finally) NOTD: BB Couture for Nails Dragon's Breath

I'm finally getting a chance to post this. My husband was off for the long weekend and we ran around w/ the kids for days so I haven't had much of a chance to sit down.

I put this on my nails on Monday. I like the color, though it took 3 coats for even-ness. Also, this stuff soaks up TCs. It took me 3 coats of Rush before it was smooth and shiny. The color is so pretty. It reminds me of Zoya Roxy, but it's not bright purple. It's more of a red-based, dark purple with red, blue, silver and purple glitter. The glitter is small, but it doesn't look like micro-glitter to me.

Here are a few pics:

As you can see, I also have NA on my nails. I used Cina Pro Glitter Flowers and Hearts

I had this mani planned as soon as I saw this decal, and I love the way it turned out, but I don't know if I'll get this one again. It was really had to take the decals off the card. I ruined several of the decals. I'd be really ticked if I'd paid $4+ for this.

Also, as you can see, I left my nails longer for this. I'm thinking I like this length better, but who knows... I may cut them shorter next time. I used Nailene and so far, no problems.

Lastly, I received the replacement bottle of Fairy Blood from BB Couture. Such awesome service! Since my other bottle is fine, I may pay it forward and give one of them to my sister.

Pictures of Nail Art and DT Maybelline hauls

As promised, here are pictures and the deets of my DT Maybelline haul and my nail art (which I will now abbreviate as NA) haul.

First the NA... Like I mentioned the other day, I bought tons of NA cards from CinaPro. I was a little bummed because 3 of the cards I ordered were OOS, and of course one of them was the one I was planning on using for my 4th of July NA mani (I was actually planning on doing red, white, and blue skittles). Oh well, I may still do the mani, just change up my plan a bit.

Anyway, here are a couple pics:



From L-R, top to bottom:
- Pearls (not self-stick)
- Violets
- Spring flowers, 2
- Crystals (hearts, diamonds, bars, etc...)
- Glitter flowers and hearts (I plan on doing an awesome NA mani with this and BB Couture Dragon's Breath)
- Swirls
- Crystal feathers
- Christmas 3D*
- Kitties (it was a $0.25... don't judge me. LOL)
- Butterflies, 2 (another BBC mani planned w/ this. Planning on using Kokomo)*
- NA Try Me Kit
- Crystals, 10 gross (they sent me these for free. Did not order them)
- Mylar hearts
- Lace blossoms*
- Novelty shape crystals
- Gold and silver 3D flowers

I got most of these for a song. Like 25 and 30 cents. I paid FP for the ones with *, but that was only $1.79. Much cheaper than Sally's, even with the high shipping charge. Though I did find a seller on eBay that had 25 cards of 3D designs for a CRAZY price. I think it was $6 shipped. I haven't received them yet, but once I do, I'll update.

I used one of the flowrs from the Spring Flowers card on my L thumb


This was my second attempt at NA on this nail. The first one was a bust, so I had to replace the nail and decided to use a Kiss nail to compare it to the Nailene. I'll let you know the results (if any).

Lastly, here's a pic of my Maybelline DT haul.

L-R: Matte Grape, Matte Sapphire, Blackened Teal (forgot to mention this one yesterday), Khaki Fringe, Twinkle Twinkle, Majestic Mauve. I figured they wouldn't have anything. I just happened to luck out.

NOTD: OPI ElePhantastic Pink and updates

So I finally broke my streak of only using untrieds. I put on Zoya Erika and let me tell you, it sucked. Took 3 coats to reach opacity and after an hour, it was still really soft and I pretty much just wiped it off. I was wanting something pink and I realized after 10 minutes of poking through my stash that I don't have a lot of medium toned pinks. I plan on ordering a few and remedying that problem, though. :P

Anyway, like I said, I tried Erika and hated it, yet I still wanted pink, so I went back to EPP. I can't tell you how much I love her. EPP is a perfect creamy pink. Some people say it's a Barbie pink, but I disagree. It's a touch on the coral side, but the best way I can describe it is warm, creamy pink (which sounds disgusting, but that's what it is). I'm very happy with this NOTD. I wouldn't have been happy with Erika, so I'm glad it was simple to take off (the use of glue-ons limits my "just take it off" option). I also used decals from the Cina 3D Daisy sheet. Love them. Nothing like yellow and white flowers on pink. <3. So cheerful.

I found my digicam, and the battery is charging, so I will hopefully have REAL pics soon. Yay!

I'm also using a different brand of nails. For the first time, I am trying Nailene plain glue-ons. I think I like them more than the Kiss. More flexible and yet stronger all at the same time. Plus, very easy to trim and shape. Plus, the Nailene were $5.69 for 200 nails while Kiss is $4.99 for 100. Better deal all around. I'm sure they'll get d/c'd now. :S

Also my Cina order will be here tomorrow, so it did ship w/o any problem regarding the professional thing. I'll try to get picks of my nail art haul. I also ordered a bunch of 3D nail art sheets from eBay. Here's hoping they don't suck.

Speaking of new things, I got 3 Sinful glitters today at Walgreens. UFO, Hottie, and Opal Glitter. Weirdo checkout lady looked at me funny when I said I didn't plan that they were red, white, and blue, after she'd made a smart ass comment to the effect.

One last thing... I got a new storage chest today. Wal-mart had a 5 drawer Sterlite rolling cart for $16. It has 3 big drawers (2 for polish, one is only maybe 1/4 full and one for removers, lotions, etc...) and 2 smaller drawers (one of the fake nails and other mani supplies and one for nail art and my UV dryer). My husband just looks at it and shakes his head, but it's so much nicer than keeping (cramming) my polish in a Sterlite handled tote and everything else in Sally's bags.

Cina Nail Art

I love nail art. I'm not good at it, but I love it. I've bought striping pens and a konad and nothing has been able to give me the look I want, so I finally resulted to buying press-on nail art. I got a few designs from Sally's, because you know me... one is never enough... if I buy one, why not five. Seriously, I think I have a hoarding problem. Not "Clean House" bad, but it's there.

Anyway, so I bought a few decals and I just got around to putting one on last night. I used Cina 3D Nail Art in Ocean Life and let me tell you, it's just the look I was going for. It's full of seahorses, palm trees, angel fish, and plenty of other little ocean/beach themed goodies. At Sally's, it was $4 or so (I paid full price when I bought it b/c I'd left my Sally's card at home). Considering you can get several applications out of the same card, I think it's a pretty good deal.

However, if you are interested in nail art, you may want to check out www.cinapro.com. They have their full line on their site and if you register, you can order directly from them. I had to register as a professional (there was no option for amatuer or hobbyist), but they do not ask for a license #, so I was able to finish my registration. Once you register, you can see the prices and let me tell you... in the Dollar Deals section, they are awesome. Like $0.30 and $0.25 a card awesome. You do have to place a $10 order and shipping was exhorbant at $9.95, but even so, I got 20 items for $20 and considering they are $3-5 at Sally's, I think it's an awesome deal. I'm set for life on nail art. Until it ships, I'm still a little worried about the "not a professional" thing, but if it doesn't ship, I'll understand. I'll update when it's sent out.