Born Pretty Store - Dried Flowers Review

Hi everyone! This is the last post I will ever write while at my job here in the mall. My kiosk is closing! This is where I do so much of my blogging! It's going to be weird not sitting in this mall for hours a day on my computer. I guess I'll have to find a real job with actual work! Not looking forward to that.

So as I waste one more day here, I will give you another Born Pretty Store review!

Born Pretty was generous enough to send me another item to review, and this time I got these cool dried flowers!

You can purchase these flowers here for $7.08, free shipping worldwide, and don't forget you can get 10% off everything with my code "RCJ61" - the code is good until December 31st!

You get 12 types of flowers, they come in sets of 6, neatly packaged in plastic pots inside a plastic wrapper.

Look at all the pretty, tiny flowers!

The tops screw on and off the containers, very easy to open and close.

You can reuse the containers when you use all the flowers! I used one to put my tiny Chanel logos in:

(They came from eBay.) You could put anything inside them. I like that you can reuse them!

There are many small flowers like these pretty yellow ones.

And there are also larger ones like these blue ones.

Above is how they compare to a fimo flower.

I wonder who has the patience to pick these tiny flowers! I love that you can tell they are real.

I decided to show you two looks using these flowers - one appropriate for fall and one for summer!
First I'll show you my favorite, the fall look.

For this look I used two of the white flowers, with Zoya - Neeka.

To apply one of these flowers, you should apply some clear polish to the nail, and gently lay the flower onto your nail.

And with a toothpick, dotting tool, or other small tool, very gently press the petals down into the topcoat so they aren't sticking off.

The edges will lay down easily because the flowers are very thin and delicate.

How pretty is that? For some reason I keep imagining these used on brides or bridesmaids! Haha! You could match the flowers at a wedding with nail flowers!

I recommend not putting quick-dry topcoat on top of the flowers.
I added a coat of Seche Vite to see what would happen and it did not react well with the flowers.

Without topcoat, they would be easy to tear, so you'd need to be careful with them if you want to wear them for long periods of time.

I love the contrast of the deep base with the white flowers!
Now I'll show you the summer look I did.

I started with 3 coats of OPI - OPI On Collins Ave.

This is a very bright reddish-orange from the South Beach collection. The second picture of this color looks more accurate.

Then I added flowers!

Summery!

Again, the contrast of the flower looks great with the polish!

I put a clear Wet N Wild topcoat on these flowers and it seemed to damage the flowers less. But I still prefer the look of them without topcoat.

These flowers make for such interesting and unique nail art! I would totally recommend them if you're looking for some new nail art supplies to add to your stash.
I'm already planning how I'll wear the pretty turquoise flowers!

Have you guys got anything great from Born Pretty lately?

sephora hello kitty liquid nail art - pink sprinkles

Hello everyone! Before I start today's post I just want to give a little mention to the fact that I now have over 1500 followers! I just want to say thanks to each and every one of you. I totally appreciate all your lovin' and comments and love watching my follower number grow because it means I get to share my passion with more and more people.
This blog is such a main focus in my life right now - and I couldn't do it without you guys! So thank you!

By the way - there are two weeks left until my birthday, which means 2 more weeks to enter my Gosh Holographic giveaway! Click here to enter if you haven't already.

Today I'm showing you my second Hello Kitty for Sephora polish.

I decided that my first one was lonely and needed a friend. A sparkly friend.
I picked the pink one up at Sephora in Buffalo for $9.50 I believe. In Canada they are $13. You can also find them on eBay for close to retail price.
You can see my swatches of Purple Sprinkles here.

Hello Kitty Liquid Nail Art - Pink Sprinkles is different from Purple Sprinkles in that it would never be opaque on its own. It looks like the base is quite pink in the bottle, but putting some on white paper proves that the base is virtually clear:

Aren't the colors of the iridescent glitter awesome? I love it!

So because it is nearly clear, I chose to layer this over another pink polish. Gotta keep with the pink theme.

This is Pure Ice - Strip Tease which is another of the polishes from my vacation haul. This was from Walmart and only cost around $1. I would have bought a ton of these just because they were so cheap but they didn't have many colors left in the display.
This was the only one that stood out to me because of the pretty shimmer!

This one starts a bit sheer but covers well after 3 coats.

Now for the cuteness!

I don't think you understand how much I love these bottles. I want the other 6 colors from the line just to have a whole family of kitties on my shelf, but they're too expensive to get them all.

This is 2 thin coats of Pink Sprinkles. The base is a bit runny, so you need to apply thin coats or it will totally flood your cuticles.
Because the base is thin, it is a bit hard to get a lot of glitter on your brush.
I think after I use it a few times and it thickens up it will be more satisfying.

Pretty kitty.

One more thing to mention today:

Today, my friend Whitney (AKA the cutest girl on the planet) posted about my franken, Rebecca Likes Cupcakes!
Whitney is a photographer so there are some amazing photos, as you would expect!
Check out her post here.
:)

my friends like nails... again

Hi guys! I'm running a bit short on things to post so today I'm going to have a swatch marathon!
But before I get to that, I'm going to show you some nails I have recently done on friends!

First up is my friend Steph.

Steph's favorite color is yellow so I used my favorite yellow polish, Color Club Almost Famous.
I stamped the star image from BM21 with Wet N Wild Black Creme, and then added a coat of Color Club Starry Temptress to make it all pretty and glittery!
These nails were awesome and summery - I should do them on myself before the summer is over!

Now for my friend Emma's nails. I've shown you some nails I did for her before, here.
This time, she wanted pink and blue flowers on a gray background, so I started to freehand them... but then I hated them and covered them with big purple dots.

They turned out sorta psychedelic and they actually looked rad! Happy accident.
(The background is China Glaze Recycle and the dots are Orly Frolic, the pink and blue are mixed shades.)

On her other hand, I decided to stamp some roses and they turned out awesome!

Again, sorta psychedlic! They remind me of pop art and Warhol! So I love them!
The color combo is awesome, it's two Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes, Brisk Blue and Presto Pink and the rose image from BM14.

Now, time for me to start swatching! Hopefully I can get a lot of polishes swatched and do some nail art! Have a lovely day, and I'll see you tomorrow with something new! :)

Zoya - Neeka (and cookie-stuffed cookies?!)

Hi guys! Today I have a polish/baking post for you once again! I know it's been a while and quite a few of you have mentioned wanting to see more baking adventures in my posts, so today you're getting one!
Polish first, cookies after.

This is Zoya - Neeka from the Mirrors collection and it is just pure gorgeous. I wasn't planning on buying any of these colors (because not only did they not impress me, I didn't expect to find them in Toronto.)
But then at Trade Secret in the Eaton Center, I saw this pretty bottle and she came home with me. (But I paid too much for her! $9.99+tax!)

Excuse the tipwear in the photos, I put this on at work yesterday and then I was a bit too rough with them before they were fully dried, I guess.

The formula of this polish is fantastic. Almost perfect in one coat, but you need 2 to even it out. Easy to control and I didn't even need to clean up because application was that easy.

What is up with all these "exotic" names Zoya is using? Just make a polish called Rebecca, already!

Neeka is a deep purple-toned gray with gold flake-like shimmer, as well as pretty purple shimmer!

I'm not big on really dark colors, but this one is absolutely stunning!
Stupid Zoya, winning me over with pretty polishes despite their bad international customer service!

Bonus picture:

iPhone captures Neeka nicely! Plus a pretty OPI accent nail of Parlez-Vous OPI? and Yule Love This Silver!


Now the yummy part...
I found this recipe a long time ago and was dying to try it. An Oreo baked inside a chocolate chip cookie? Are you kidding me? Eating more than one of these babies could probably put you in a diabetic coma, but that is besides the point.

Obviously, there was no way I was making these alone because of the aforementioned potential diabetic coma... Along comes my friend Vicki! (Hi, Vicki!)
You see, Vicki is a trained chef/baker, and I knew she would be down for making these ridiculously-sized cookies. (I offered to paint her nails too, you know, show off my talents as she shows me hers, but she can't wear polish because it is a hazard in the kitchen where she works! Boo!)

In hindsight, we were a little too generous with the cookie-covering...

We only got 6 cookies onto the cookie sheet.
Covering the sides was a bit difficult, and that is what made the cookies giant. After baking we discussed that perhaps you don't need to cover the sides so much, because the blob on the top would probably spread out and melt down the sides during baking.

Massive. And delicious.
See the raised blobs in the middles? Those are the Oreos. That gives you an idea of just how big these are. There was a good inch or more of cookie-barrier around the Oreo. So really this is like eating 3 cookies in one. Truly, 4 cookies including the Oreo I guess...

We didn't use the cookie recipe in the post because there were comments saying it was bland, but the one we did use ended up being a bit too soft, we think. A thicker dough would probably make it easier to cover the cookies without being too generous.

So. Yummy.
We made them last night, and I discovered today that the cookies taste much better once they are cooled and the Oreo has had time to set and harden a bit. When they're hot, the flavors all kinda mix together and it is just overwhelmingly sweet.
But when they're cool, you can totally taste the 2 different cookies, and they're great.
I brought one to work today as my lunch. One cookie for lunch, they're that big.

There you have it. Cookie-stuffed cookies. I wonder what else you could bake inside a cookie...

lippmann franken-dupe! (and mini haul!)

Good morning all!

Today I'm going to show you something I did a few weeks ago.
When the promotional images came out for Deborah Lippman's Candy Shop (the pink polish with rainbow glitter) I thought to myself, "Hey! That looks like a pink Rebecca Likes Cupcakes!" (RLC now comes with more glitter, I'll have to r-eswatch!)
And many other people mentioned the same thing to me!
So it's official. She duped me. :P

So guess what? I decided to dupe her back.

Take that, Lippmann! You're not getting my $18!
I know I'm not the first to show a franken like this, but I did think of it immediately upon seeing the promo images, so I'm posting it too!

It's super cute! And super easy to make! I just added several pink polishes into my slightly-used bottle of Milani Gems until I got the color I wanted.
(I wish I had saved half the bottle to make the black version of this! But I didn't think ahead. I just ran with my idea.)

As cute and fun as it is, I don't think I'll be wearing it again... It's just too hard to get off.


Now for my mini-haul! I'm really excited about this so I'm showing you.

Last night I was going around to a few drug stores looking for some specific polishes (which I did not find) but I did manage to find lots more things...

At Lawton's Drugs, they recently began carrying products from Nail Art Diva. They are marketed to only work with the stamping machine, but really, they can be used just like Konad plates. They didn't actually sell the machine there, so no one bought any. I discovered them a while ago, but the prices were cray-cray.
They've gone on sale a few times, and I bought some then, but oh boy, I was not expecting the sale I found last night.

Every single piece in this pile was 99¢.
Regularly, this amount of things would be around $130 and tax if you were buying it full price.
I got everything you see there - 10 stamping polishes and 3 plates - for $4.47 total.
The cashier who rang me in for some reason only rang in 4 items (and thanked me for actually buying some of it to get it off their hands.)
So not only was the sale crazy, but I benefited from a dumb cashier. I can't believe the deal I got.
It still excites me!
I might have to go back and get another pack or two...

Lawton's also has most of their OPI on sale for $4.99, as well as some other random clearance.
I picked up a Skull and Glossbones (I love it so much, the mini I have is not going to be enough.)
I got Revlon's Black With Envy (Chanel-dupe) for $2.75.
As I was looking through non-sale OPI I stumbled upon something HTF (hard to find.)
Yule Love This Silver! Sweet lord, I was excited. When I went to the cash, the guy saw that the Glossbones was on sale so he rang them both in for $4.99. Awesome. 2 great cashiers in one night.

So that was my lovely mini-haul. Very excited for my new (cheap) pretties!

Misa - Dirty, Sexy, Money - swatch and DUPE!

Hello lovers! How is your day going?
My day was going crappy but now it has turned around because I stumbled over to the drug store on my break at work and found myself Sinful Colors Pink Ocean. And upon returning from my break, I got a message from my polish bestie Whitney that she bought me a surprise birthday present! (Her blog is not a strictly polish blog, but I will warn you, it is the cutest darn blog you will ever lay your eyes on. Ever.)
So that totally made my day! And now I can't wait to get it!

Today I'm going to show you another polish I got on vacation. This is one that I bought at Trade Secret in Canada for $7.99 .

Misa - Dirty, Sexy, Money. This was a lemming of mine and I was so happy to find it in the Misa display. I wanted a few more Misa's but the selection wasn't amazing, nothing jumped out at me besides this one.

The formula was amazing, and it was really easy to apply. It covered great in 2 coats.
The color is awesome, quite unique, and when I bought it I knew I had nothing at home like it.
...But I neglected to think about what other polishes I had in the hotel room.

On the first day of my trip I bought Sephora by OPI - Ocean Love Potion. And I clearly remember thinking about the possible dupes I could have, and decided I didn't have any.
Days later I did the same thing with Dirty, Sexy, Money, but obviously my brain had not yet cataloged my new Sephora into my stash.

Almost identical. If you look really close you can see that the Misa is just a TINY bit darker.
Formula-wise, the Sephora was thinner than the Misa, but still just a 2-coater, and still easy to work with.

Clearly, you don't need both of these polishes. (And my lucky friend Caroline is going to be getting the $OPI! She let me compare them before I send it off to her! Thanks Caroline!)

If you're looking for a color like this, the Misa is a few dollars cheaper so I would recommend that one, based on price alone!


P.S.
My nails are looking hilarious right now. I've been sort of busy lately and haven't had the time to sit down and do my nails.
And yesterday I got some new polishes which I tried on one nail each... And today I tested a new crackle in a store... This is my left hand:

I'm the worst nail blogger ever right now! Haha!
Thumb: Zoya Zara with neon yellow Layla crackle over it. ($14.99 for one crackle polish! No thanks! But the formula was good.)
Index: CND Urban Oasis & Teal Sparkle ($11 for the set)
Middle: Zoya Zara with a coat of OPI What's Dune? I am in LOVE with What's Dune. My friend Marcy sent it to me. Thanks Marcy!
Ring: OPI - Parlez-vous OPI? ($4 on clearance!)
Pinky: OPI - Friar Friar Pants On Fire (Also $4 on clearance!)

I'm totally slacking. I apologize! For my own sanity, I'll be changing my nails tonight. And hopefully I'll get some swatching in!

Have a lovely day everyone!