Feature Friday

Hey girlies. I'm calling today 'Feature Friday'. I'm thinking of making this a regular thing where I feature a blog or a blog post that caught my interest during the week.


I love reading other blogs, and I'm certainly not ashamed of it! What I also love is give those bloggers some love and helping other readers find those blogs, so I thought this was the perfect thing for me to do. I'm just hoping the bloggers I feature don't mind a little extra traffic. Is it blog etiquette to ask first? If it is, I'm sorry. I'll ask next week, I promise. I just don't want to miss my chance to feature this post today.


That said, I want to feature a post by Manicurator today. It's a splatter nail and it's definitely one of the better, more eye-catching splatters I've seen to date. The colors work so well together. Manicurator also did a wonderful job with her splatter technique. The splatter isn't too crowded and there aren't too many larger splatters. Like she said in her post, they give these nails character. They're a perfect splatter in my opinion.

So, gaze upon this awesomeness. Then go to her blog to see more pictures of these nails and her other manis. Give her a follow or a nice comment on one of her posts, she totally deserves it!! :)

What do you gals think of Feature Friday becoming a regular thing?

These nails are not mine. This is simply a feature post in an attempt to give another blogger some love.

The Dalek Rule This Galaxy

The Dalek Rule This Galaxy

I mentioned on my Facebook page last week that I was doing my first galaxy nail. I also mentioned that I had to put my own spin on them. I left you all in the dark on just what kind of spin. Well, it's a Doctor Who spin. Most of you probably won't recognize the Doctor Who reference, but I hope you enjoy the nails anway. I thought of using the Tardis but I decided to go the road less traveled and do a Dalek ... or maybe just Dalek inspired since it's not a perfect replica.

What galaxy is complete without a Dalek or two? None, I tell you, none! The Dalek nails aren't something just anyone would recognize, but it's a nice in-joke among fans. I'm just curious, how many of you recognized the nail right away or got excited when you read the title?

Some of you may recognize this gold nail from last post's Golden Twilight nails. Not only is the color Bold Gold ... it's the same nail! I took off the Twilight Rays color but kept Bold Gold. It has held up very nicely, hasn't it? I just added the Born Pretty gold nail studs and a few layers of top coat to keep them in place. The nail studs are a great match in color for Bold Gold and make for a near perfect Dalek!

I was utterly terrified of doing galaxy nails after hearing all the horror stories, but I think these turned out really well being my first try and all.

I decided to use a creme black for space but stuck to shimmer polishes for the galaxies. The stars dotted on are a white creme. I also used this white for the galaxy base. The galaxies are made up of shimmer yellow, orange, and peach for the lighter shades and a deep shimmer metallic purple and a shimmer blue for the darker shades. I used a purple glitter, a blue holo glitter, a silver holo glitter, and a simple fine glitter for the stars not dotted on. It was all very shiny and glittery!

I couldn't resist bringing out my blue/white light and seeing what they looked like under that. I think it was one of my better ideas to use only shimmer and glitter polishes.

Image from Alibaba.com

For those looking for simpler solution to using a sponge, whether for galaxy nails or gradients or any other nail where a sponge would come in handy, use an eyeshadow applicator. I found this worked so much better for me than any kind of sponge. Not only did I pick up a pack of 12 (60mm) applicators for cheap at my local dollar store, I had better control while using them. They are made to fit in your hand so they keep a wet mani intact while you do the opposite hand and are small enough to move around your entire nail easily. I can also use and reuse these. For these nails, I only used one side of an applicator! Not even the front and back of one side, just one side.


So, what do you guys think of galaxy nails? I know I will definitely be doing these again! 


Polish Used
LA Colors - Black
Sally Hansen - White On
Pure Ice - Unzip Me
Pure Ice - Twinkle
Revlon - Tangerine
Funky Fingers - Power Chord
China Glaze - Blue Year's Eve
L.A Girl Glitter Addict - Eutopia
Funky Fingers - Flashing Lights
Wet n Wild - Kaleidoscope
LA Colors - Glitter

Golden Twilight

Today's post puts Maybelline New York's new Color Show nail polish in the spotlight. Color Show is part of Maybelline's collection of runway colors. The Color Show collection comes in, get this, 40 new shades!! 30 hot colors and 10 statement pieces. The hot colors are mostly bright, bold neons and deep shimmer filled polishes while the statement pieces encompass crackle like polishes they call shredded, denims, and metallics. These polishes are priced to sell as well. I picked these two up for about $2.97 a bottle. I read somewhere that the top price is likely to be $3.99, but check your local shops to be sure. With the price and multitude of shades you can always have nails like a supermodel.

I felt myself very lucky to find these polishes in stores already. My town is usually the last to receive new products. With this in mind I immediately grabbed Twilight Rays and Bold Gold. Twilight Rays is a black polish filled with a gold glittery shimmer. I found the gold glitters nearly disappeared into the black with three coats of polish. Even in sunlight they didn't really pop like I thought they would. Nice to be sure, but not what I was expecting.

Bold Gold is a shade I have been looking for for what seems like forever. I've tried handfuls of gold polishes looking for this exact shade and texture. I'm ecstatic to finally own this color after so long. Bold Gold is a gorgeous yellow gold metallic. It has a very fine shimmer effect to it that doesn't overpower the delicate color like some other polishes. This is a perfect gold in my opinion! While Twilight Rays left me slightly disappointed, Bold Gold really stepped up.


I will say I had some major trouble getting Bold Gold to stay on my nails while painting them. The brush kept swiping the polish right off. The polish itself looked to be separating, oddly enough. When it was swiped off it left behind a watery oil with no color. I had to start over after my first attempt. I have reason to believe the polish was reacting to my base coat since I used a different base coat on my second attempt and things went smoother. There were still a few problems but no separation. A second coat of Bold Gold took care of that.


That said, Bold Gold stayed on my nails for about a week. I'm sure it would have lasted longer if I hadn't removed it myself. It had absolutely no chips and not even any wear on the tips when I took it off last night. Amazing!

Here is a close up of Twilight Rays. You can see the shimmer is actually a combination of tiny flecks of micro glitters and larger, yet still very small, hexagonal glitters.

And here is a close up of Bold Gold. You can see the shimmer really well here.

No matter what you think of the two colors I picked out of this collection you should definitely check it out for yourselves. With so many shades to be found in this collection you're sure to find a color created just for you.

French Hearts

I've given myself something of a challenge. I want to see how many ways I can spice up a simple French manicure. I will keep the standard French white as a base for these manis as an added challenge.

You've seen the standard French manicure in Mother's Day post, 'The Mommy Mess', and you've seen the Mother's Day design I created over those nails. Now, I bring you French Hearts. :)

I used my new Born Pretty image plate m56 for this design. I adore this image plate. It's a plate full of tip stamps. It's the same plate that contained the bow from my 'All Wrapped Up' nails

I only had one problem with stamping this design. I didn't push enough near the tip of my index nail and lost the hearts from the very tips. You can see that I went back and tried adding them. Well, I didn't line them up well enough and overlapped them slightly. I like to think I'm getting better though. The other nails are almost perfect!! Yay!

I used OPI Alpine Snow and Bubble Bath as the base again. The hearts are done with Wet n Wild's 'I Red a Good Book'.

How Many Can you Bold?

I've seen this floating around the blogger community lately and decided to try my hand at it. I'm just happy it doesn't require much typing since I'm in the middle of working on the nails for one of next week's posts—so excited about this design. Until then, enjoy what I managed to bold and then try it yourself. :)


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band 
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland 
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis 
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb 
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (in a friendly game and it was total luck. I can still miss more than I actually hit.)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (I was too young to remember it very well)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing 
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (Can't wait for vacation this year so I can do this again)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie 
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (Does this count if the business was an epic failure?)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (He's sitting on my dresser right now)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt 
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle 
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book 
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox 
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo (I have 2 of them and plan to get many more)
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (I've been stung by many a bee but the most memorable was definitely the one I stepped on. OUCH!)

A Parliament of Owls

Hello girlies! I don't know about you but I've been seeing owl nails everywhere. Sometimes just colorful owls like SuPa Nails Oh Oh Owls! Sometimes not so colorful like JawsOfKita-LoveHim's Owl Nails. There's also those with one owl like cutepolish's Cute Nail Art tutorial. Or those with designs that incorporate all nails like Chalkboard Nails Valentine's Owl Nail Art or Unhas da *micktuti*'s owl nails.

With all these awesome owl nails I wanted to try some of my own. I saw this design on Pinterest first and just had to recreate it. It's originally from Chalkboard Nails and was then recreated by Let them have Polish as part of a challenge—inspired by a tutorial.

I couldn't have chosen a worse time to do this design though. It was very hot and humid; the kind of heat that nail polish doesn't dry well in. I also had very little time to do my nails before I had to start getting ready for my niece's dance recital. I thought I could do it though. How hard could they be? Well, I'll admit they weren't that hard. I didn't think out the color choices very well. I mostly just reached into my nail drawer and grabbed the closest colors.

The base colors worked well together but once I started lightening it for the chest, dotting on the chest spots, and adding the beak everything just kind of blended together.

The spots and beak look nearly perfect on the mint and purple, shows up slightly less on the pink and red, but really just blends completely on the orange. If I had more time I'm sure I would have tested each color on paper before using them, but I was in a rush.

How much of a rush you ask? So much of a rush that I didn't realize I had scraped the eye off my thumb owl and dented the tip of the middle finger owl until I was in the car and far away from my nail supplies. I told my nieces that the orange owl was evil and attacked the pink owl. *giggle* I'm so mean. :)

I'm actually pretty proud of how well my right hand turned out all told. I'm right handed but through much practice I've gotten my left hand able to do much of the fine detail work. Still, it's never as good as doing nail art with my right hand. However, besides the googly eyes on the red owl I think everything came together very well.


For those who are wondering ... a groups of owls is called a parliament, hence the title. Yeah ... I had to look it up too. ;)


Polish Used

• Revlon - Base Coat
• Wet n Wild - I Red a Good Book
• Wet n Wild - I Need a Refresh-Mint
• Wet n Wild - Club Havana
• Wet n Wild - Bite the Bullet
• Wet n Wild - Tropicalia
• Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
• Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed
• LA Colors - Black
• LA Colors - White

Moo MiniCards Review

This post has been a long time coming. I always seem to have more pressing posts though, but not this time! This is a product review of some custom business cards I bought last month from Moo. Always be on the lookout for Moo sales. I ordered these the moment I got the email saying they were selling their 100 custom business card sets to 500 of their customers for only the shipping cost. That's only $5.00!!

This is the pack my cards arrived in. All 100 of them! It's a really nice case, just about crush proof. However, I found it too big to carry around with me, so be sure to either have a business card holder on hand or purchase one with your Moo order. I already had one on hand.

The bottom of the case tag contains information about the company. Personally, I think that's pretty cool, but that's just me. Another thing I think is cool? The Moo case is free with Business Cards and MiniCards. It is recyclable and made from recycled pulp.

Here is the inside of the Moo case. You get your first look at the cards themselves. The cards are matte laminate so they have only a faintly reflective quality. This means, even on the brightest day, if you hand out your business card the recipient will certainly be able to see it! They are also made from paper product sourced from sustainable forests. I went with Moo's Classic Paper but there is also the option to order your cards on Moo's Green Paper. Green Paper is ecofriendly, 100% recycled paper. It's something to think about if you decide to order.

I ordered the first business card through Moo's free Business Card sample pack last November. I got 10 standard Business Cards with Moo's Printfinity. This is simply Moo's way of saying you can choose a different image for each of your business cards at no extra cost. What other business card company will print 100 different images on 100 business cards? The second card in the picture is one of my new MiniCards. You can see the size difference immediately. The MiniCard is about half the height of the standard card and slightly less wide.

These cards also have a customizable back. Use this to put your name, your number, your email, your blog, anything you could possibly want your business cards to say. Moo also allows you to change font, font color, and the background color.


I found the MiniCards absolutely adorable. However, they are slightly unwieldy. I found I had trouble sorting through them to find a specific card to hand out. They catch slightly on each other and you can't get your fingers positioned just right on their smaller surface to scan through them quickly.


Another con for the MiniCards is that they are a bit more grainy looking than the standard Business Cards. Still, this might be my new camera causing the image graininess. The classic Business Cards I ordered had images from my older, better model camera while the images on the MiniCards were taken with an emergency camera purchased when I dropped and broke my old camera at the beach. I found no difference between the photos on the computer but that may not translate as well to print.


Still, Moo is now offering a free sample pack of all their products. Again, this includes free shipping. You don't get to choose the images like I did for my Business Cards. These are pre-printed Moo products. They include a sample of their Business Cards, MiniCards, Postcards, Stickers, and Labels. If you are looking for a company to purchase from I would definitely order Moo's free sample pack and check out the great quality of their products before making any decisions.