Mint Mani For Talia Joy

Today's post is going to be a little different. It's not really about the nail polish. It's about a member of the Beauty/Makeup/Nail Blogging community that passed away this week. Many of you may already know who Talia is and may be rocking your mint manis today. If not, let me fill you in a little about Talia and how she touched my heart. 

Talia was a successful YouTuber who was battling cancer at the young age of 13. She was a very talented makeup artist who said that makeup was her wig. She was an upbeat, positive, and happy kid despite her trials. She inspired many including me. Being a person with chronic pain, I tend to get depressed and sometimes angry about the things I am missing out on in life. Let me be very clear, I'm not comparing what I'm going through with my health with someone who has cancer. When I stumbled across her channel, I was immediately sucked in by her adorable personality. Then I started thinking about how I need to work on being more positive and go for the things I want despite what is going on with my body. In the words of Miss Talia Joy, I decided to "just keep swimming"and with a smile on my face. 

The last picture Talia posted of her nails was of a mint colored mani. The nail art community decided to honor her by wearing mint manis today (technically yesterday). I posted my mani on Instagram and Facebook and am just now getting to my actual blog. *doh*

This picture is from my iphone and before I put on cuticle oil. When I went to take pictures with my camera, I bumped my nails and found out that they were not yet completely dry. My mani was ruined and I am so glad I took this picture with my phone. Phew!

Zoya Wednesday, Essie Sign of the Times, Cult Nails Wax That, and heart rhinestone from KISS and Nail Art Society. 

I hope we will continue to remember Talia and her amazing attitude. 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page!

-Mira

*Some products in this post were provided for review. 

Nail Mail and Haul May - July 2013

It's time for another nail mail/haul post for the last few months. These are the polishes I have acquired lately and have not done a post on yet. I'm not going to tell you much more than the name of the polish today. I'll give more details when I show you the swatches! 

Anything you're dying to see swatches of? Let me know in the comment section at the end of this post. Alright, here we go!!

Chick - Hipster Chick 

 

 Left to right: CrowsToes Gomez, Shoot the Butterfly, and Cheshire

Cult Nail's Dance All Night Collection

 Left to right: Cult Nails Faded, Love at First Sight, Nakizzle's Shizzle, Dance All Night, Walk of Shame, and Wax That (top coat)

Missing from photo - Center of Attention 

 Different Dimension - Wish You Were Here

 

Left to right: Emily de Molly No Love Lost and Cosmic Forces

 Left to right: Essie The Girls Are Out and Naughty Nautical 

Jindie Nails Dream in Color

 Left to right: Lumina Lacquer Young Americans and 1000 Julys

 

Left to right: Lynnderella A Party of a Dress and Golden Rules

 Left to right: Lynnderella A Party of a Dress and Golden Rules

Left to right: Nerd Lacquer Event Horizon, I Think You Call Me Sexy, Cyance Friction, and The Quantum Bluniverse

 Left to right: Nerd Lacquer Pinin' For The Fjords and Gotterdammerung

Left to right: OPI Minnie Style and Magazine Cover Mouse (Liquid Sand)

 OPI Minnie Style

 Left to right: Picture Polish Paradise and Mallard

Picture Polish Paradise 

 

Picture Polish Mallard

 Super Black Drunk Dial

Super Black HBIC

There ya go! I have more on the way so I have a lot of swatching to do. =)

Do you have any of these?

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page.

-Mira

KKCenterHK - Silver Star Nail Art Studs

I was recently contacted by an online store called, KKCenterHK to review a couple of products. I snooped around on their site and agreed. The first thing I chose was a bag of silver star studs (say that fast three times). I love using studs for nail art because they are so easy to use and take very little effort to apply. Yet they can add so much to a manicure. Works for me!

For my mani, I used a new to me brand called Super Black Lacquer. The polish is called HBIC. I have no idea what that stands for but I love the polish! I will do a separate review on the polish soon. After that dried, I added a coat of Seche Vite and placed the studs on my nails. Then I applied another coat of top coat to make sure they stayed in place. I wore this mani for a few days and only lost one star on the last day. The stars don't lay down completely flat so I must have snagged it on something. The next time I use them, I will wear two coats of top coat over the stars to make sure they are completely sealed on my nail. 

The stars  I got are 4mm and come in a little bag like this (you get around 50). They cost $4.23 + shipping. You can find them, here.

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page!

-Mira

*Products in this post were provided for review.

Born Pretty Store - Gold Nail Art Stickers

Yesterday, I showed you a mani I did using an adorable nail art bow from Born Pretty Store. I explained that there are different designs you can choose from that one item number. I also said that I made the mistake of not picking my pattern for the next item I had to show you. Be so careful when purchasing an item that has different options. If you don't choose, something random will come to your mailbox. I unfortunately made that mistake with this item. I wanted pattern #1 but ended up getting pattern #3. Now, this is a product review so I did not pay for this item. It was my fault for not reading carefully and not specifying what I wanted. I chose not to exchange the stickers and to work with what I got. I think it would be easier if each pattern had it's own item number but I should have payed closer attention. The moral of the story? Don't order online when you haven't had your caffeine yet (or something like that). Moving on. 

 For this mani, I used Zoya Jem and gold nail art stickers from Born Pretty Store. You can find these stickers (and others), here. I applied the stickers after my polish was completely dry and then applied two thick coats of Seche Vite to get a smooth surface. 

You get one sheet of the stickers in your order. As you can see, I had already started using them when the picture was taken. They arrived in a plastic package completely flat and undamaged. 

The stickers are sturdy and easy to use. I just lifted up a strip and cut the amount of pieces I needed from it. The adhesive is strong but not so strong that you can't rearrange the sticker on your nail if needed. I did use top coat on top of the sticker to make sure it stayed in place and to get a smooth surface.

Although it wasn't the pattern I wanted, I think I made it work. It's not my favorite mani but it's not my least favorite either. I'm sure there are a lot of creative things you can do with these but I had nail blogger's block. Is that a thing? Let's say it is. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

You can purchase these stickers for $2.98 (free shipping), here. Make sure you specify which pattern you'd like. If you'd like an extra 10% off, use the coupon code below.

Which pattern is your favorite? 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page.

-Mira

*Products in this post were provided for review.

Born Pretty - Plastic Bows

I had so much fun with my family last week, I forgot to blog! I'm going to babble about my life for a bit so skip down if you just want to just know about the nails. I won't take it personally I promise. =)

***

My husband had a four day weekend which is very rare (he's a workaholic). We had fun hanging out at the house. He has been asking me to play an online game with him for a while and I finally caved. It's called Rift if you're into that sort of thing (it's free). I'm not a gamer but have played them in the past so I gave it a try. We have been playing together every night after dinner which is usually when I blog (while we watch tv). It's actually pretty fun and totally nerdy but I'm ok with that. I just need to blog earlier in the day now. 

As for family, we celebrated the 4th with his family on the 3rd and with my family on the 4th. It just happened that way so I got to hang out with everyone. I went to see World War Z with my hubby and I actually liked it. I'm not into zombie movies but I'm into Brad Pitt so I went and I was pleasantly surprised. Sitting through movies is really hard on my body and it usually takes a day to get back to my normal pain after I dare have any fun. Stupid body. 

***

I thought I'd stop neglecting my blog and get a post in tonight. I've had this in my queue for a while now. So long in fact that I can't remember which Zoya I'm wearing and it's really really bothering me. I really think it's Zoya Mickey but it's hard to tell. What do you think it is? 

On top of the mystery Zoya is two thin coats of Lynnderella Connect the Dots and Seche Vite top coat. Then with a dot of nail glue, I added the adorable bow from Born Pretty Store which is what I'm going to review in this post! 

Let's talk about the cute bow shall we?

The bows are from Born Pretty Store, here. There are several different patterns that are attached to this item. If you just add it to your cart without picking which pattern you want, you will get something you may not want. I did that very thing with the next item I will be reviewing and I was bummed. 

In the product description, it say that these are stickers. They are not. At least this pattern isn't. They are made out of hard plastic and are not flexible. I like that they aren't stickers, they are a lot sturdier than I expected. I used nail glue to apply it and it didn't go anywhere. I'm slightly amused with how much I love these because I'm not a pink fan (I might be converting).

Now I know that these aren't practical and that's ok! I wore it for a day and then I popped it off and put it back in it's container. Reusable is good. If you snag it, it will most likely just pop off. If you lose one, there are more! 

You get nine bows for $2.69 which is a great deal in my humble opinion. Use my coupon code for an extra 10% off! Oh, and did I mention that shipping is free? Sweet.

So, I've gotta know...would you rock a big bow on your nails? 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page.

-Mira

*Products in this post were provided for review. 

Born Pretty - Silver Nail Stickers

Hello! This week I have three items from Born Pretty Store to show you. Today, I have a mani I did using silver nail stickers and Zoya Ibiza.

Here is the mani, now let's check out the stickers. 

Please forgive this horrible picture. I spilled a few drops of Zoya Ibiza on the sticker sheet before taking photos. Note to self, take photos before the mani. There are better pictures of the stickers on Born Pretty's website, here. They come in one large clear sheet on top of a white piece of cardboard in a clear package. I tore off the top label in my excitement. I really failed on photographing the product here. ;)

Here is a section of the stickers up close. They are easy to peel off of the clear backing but they are on the fragile side. I would use tweezers to apply them, I ripped a few with my fingers. Several designs come in sets with different sizes for your nails. In the pictures, it is obvious I'm wearing stickers. You can see the border of the sticker in the pictures but in person, you can't really tell.

There is a texture to the sticker, they aren't flat which is nice. It gives the manicure extra dimension this way. I used two coats of Seche Vite top coat to smooth out the surface of my nails. 

I'm pretty sure the design I used is intended to be used for a half moon mani. I preferred them on my tips so that's what I did. I think they look elegant with Zoya Ibiza. 

What do you think? Would you wear nail stickers? I personally really love them and can't wait to use them again! If you would like to order these (or anything else) from Born Pretty Store, you can get 10% off with the following coupon code. You can find the stickers here. You can see all of the designs that come with this sheet on that link. 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page!

-Mira

*Products in this post were provided for review. 

CrowsToes Milquetoast

I'm back once again with the last CrowsToes polish in my stash. Today I have CrowsToes Milquetoast to show you. I'm going to make this post pretty quick but don't worry, I have more posts on their way. 

Milquetoast is a white based polish with copper hex glitter in various sizes. It's a pretty polish, I just don't like how white based polishes look with my skin tone. Hello, lobster hands! If you love polishes that have a white base, you'll love this one. The formula was fabulous, it went on smoothly without any problems. I only needed two coats and used one coat of Seche Vite top coat. 

You can purchase CrowsToes from: 

Llarowe

Overall Beauty

Shop Eclecticco

Femme Fatale

Norway Nails

Here are my other CrowsToes posts:

Absolum Your Potions Master

Green Thumb of Doom

The Pleiades Collection (part 1)

The Pleiades Collection (part 2)

Season of the Witch

Tequila Sunrise

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page!

-Mira

*Products in this post were provided for review.