Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! Today is one of my favorite holidays, right behind Christmas which holds the slot as my top favorite. I wish I had more time to do an awesome gory mani design for the day, but I still did something cute. And lazy. :P A while back, I bought a set of Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Spun for You. Its a cute spider web design. I never got a chance to wear them and I certainly couldn't let them go to waste, so I wore them for Halloween.



This was my first experience using any nail strips at all. They were super easy to use and I loved having zero drying time. I did put a top coat on, but it dried in less than a minute, almost instantly. I was able to cut the strips in half and only use one of the two packs inside the box. Now I have some for next year. :)   

I would definitely recommend these strips if anyone is thinking about trying them out. I took my time and was super careful, yet it still only took me twenty minutes. And that time includes filing my nails and prep. Plus they are so pretty! Its especially worth it if you can cut them in half. I paid $8.50 for this set at Walmart. So its like getting a gorgeous mani (that will last several days) for $4.25.

On to other things, I know I haven't been keeping up with my blog so well lately, but that is about to change. I'm joining a few other bloggers and diving into the challenge pool. Taylor from Nailed to the T came up with 30 Days of Untrieds. So starting tomorrow (Nov 1), I will doing that. I hope everyone will be happy to see some of my untouched polishes. I'm hoping to post everyday, but I know I will miss one here and there. So I figured when I miss a day, I could make it up with using two untrieds on one mani. I'll also have a post with all my new polishes. I cannot stop buying!

Do not forget to enter my 50 Follower Giveaway. It ends Friday, November 4th. You will have the chance to win six polishes, polish remover pads, and a piece of jewelry handmade by me.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Mummy Nails

This design is a bit of nail fail but its still worth sharing, I think. Maybe someone will be inspired to do it better. I followed this tutorial online. Hers are cute!




As I'm sure everyone has figured out by now, I'm a big fan of accent nails. You can see it smudged a little. I apparently didn't wait long enough for the eyes to dry before adding my top coat. For this I used Maybelline Show Me the Honey, Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Black on Black. I love Show Me the Honey. Its a pretty muted gold. I'm not sure you can find it in stores, but I've seen bottles floating around Ebay. Mine is several years old. I had to use some thinner on it before even painting my nails.

I wish this would have turned out cuter for Halloween nails, but at least I rediscovered how much I love this gold polish.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Massive Haul - Shopping & Nail Mail

I have a lot of new polishes to show y'all today! I have not posted about my new ones in a week and a half. One wouldn't think I'd accumulate so many in that span of time, but I guess I really am an addict. Prepare for picture overload!


I did not think it was so much until I was collecting it all together last night to take pictures. And these are not all. I got another package in the mail today that you will see at the bottom. These are from a couple of shopping trips and several packages of nail mail.


These are from small purchases made in the store. You might recognize the far left and right from my giveaway. They were so beautiful that I picked up one for me and one for my giveaway. From left to right: Essence Choose Me!, Salon Perfect Cracked Rose, Sally Hansen Hardener, and Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada.


I ordered this from Forever21.com when they had a promotion for free shipping on orders over $10. From left to right: Love & Beauty Black Knight, Glitter Plum, Indie Rock Glitter, and Forever 21 Lavender Rose Petal.



I got all of these from Alaina, that I know from PAA on Facebook. I ordered OPI Mad as a Hatter and the rest are extras she was nice enough to include. From left to right: Bubble White (a nail whitener), Finger Paints Easel Come Easel Go, Psychedelic Sunshine, OPI Mad as a Hatter, Sally Hansen Ice Queen, and OPI Pedicure.


These are the Morticia's Nails collection from Essie. I got these from HSN for only $10. I could not resist. From left to right: Essie Midnight Tango, Bone Chilling, and Blood Curdling.



These are my first stamping plates ever! I'm so excited. They are the 21 piece set from Bundle Monster, along with a Konad Stamping set I got off Ebay. I am so excited to start stamping!


These are my very first Barielle polishes! Elle's Spell and Decadence.


These two are sets I got from Burlington. Not anything too exciting. But they are pretty. The top set are all shimmers and a top coat. The bottom are all fruit scented. The bottles remind me of Sally Hansen Diamond Strength. None of them have names. So I gave them names, very simple ones. The top got named Pink Shimmer, Green Shimmer, Purple Shimmer, Champagne Shimmer, and Cream Shimmer (plus the top coat). The bottom I named after their scents. Wild Berry, Cucumber Melon, Vanilla Sugar, Passion Fruit, Strawberry Kiwi, and Raspberry Lime.


During my Burlington trip, I also picked up e.l.f. The Brights Trio collection. It includes Hot Pink, Fire Coral, and Fuchsia.


I ordered a massive collection of Wet n Wild cosmetics from Walgreens.com. All WnW was 50% off, plus I had a coupon for 20% off, and you get free shipping on all orders over $25. So for just a little less than $27, I got 36 cosmetic items, including 29 bottles of polish. In the top picture, you can see the makeup I ordered, but the closeups are just for the polishes. All of these are WnW Fast Dry. From left to right: The Wonder Yellows, SaGreena the Teenage Witch, Buffy the Violet Slayer, Teal or No Teal, The Gold and the Beautiful, Blue Wants to be a Millionaire, How I Met Your Magenta, Hannah Pinktana, Everybody Loves Redmond, FuchsiaRama, and Teal of Fortune. Not all of the bottles show up color accurate at all, but it was hard to get so many to show up well. 


More from my Walgreens haul. From left to right: Tropicalia, Candy-licious, and Red Tape.


Still more of my Walgreens haul. From left to right: Wild Card, Eggplant Frost, Night Prowl, Burgundy Frost, Jezebel, Sparked, Red Red, Kaleidoscope (two of these), and Hallucinate.


Last but not least, from my almost never ending Walgreens haul. From left to right: Tickled Pink, Lady Luck, Blue Moon, Lavender Creme, and Caribbean Frost.



These last two are from Bee from Bee Polished. She included some fun stuff in the envelope. Upon opening I noticed feathers. You can see there were feathers, shredded paper, and sequins, along with Razzles. I love Razzles! The two polishes she sent me where Wet n Wild Tangled in my Web and Correction Tape, both from this years On the Prowl collection.

Its a lot of polish! I'll be swatching all of my new colors on my nail wheels soon, so if anyone wants to see a swatch of any of these colors (or any from my stash), let me know. :)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Green for Depression Awareness

Sorry I am so late posting this mani. I did it Monday night, but was exhausted so I decided it could wait until Tuesday. But I had a clumsy moment that morning with ended painfully, so I was in no mood to blog by the time a full day of work was over. But I am posting it now. And who says a Monday mani has to be posted on Monday?

October is Depression Awareness Month. This is something very important to me considering its something both my mother and I have dealt with most of our lives. More people should be aware of the effects depression has on a person.

I went with something subtle. Shimmer, polka dots, and a green awareness ribbon. Sorry for only having one picture. The rest were useless.


I painted Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet on all of my fingers. Then on my thumbs and middle fingers, I added a coat of Body Luxuries Green Shimmer. That's not actually the name of this polish. The set has no names. I also did the dots on my index and pinky fingers in this polish. Then I painted a ribbon with Sinful Colors San Francisco.

I like the way this turned out. The ribbon just pops since the other colors are lighter.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

50 Follower Giveaway - Closed

I reached 50 followers last weekend and decided I wanted to do a giveaway. I'm not doing it for any reason other than to thank the wonderful people who follow me and have been so nice welcoming me into the polish blogging community. Y'all are amazing!

I don't have anything ultra special, but I picked colors I thought were perfect for Fall and the coming Winter months.




From left to right we have: L.A. Colors Peach Scented Nail Polish Remover Pads, Essence Date with the Night, Choose Me!, Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada, Sinful Colors San Francisco, Sugar Sugar, and Ciao Bella!.

I know we all have other passions besides nail polish and since one of mine is jewelry making, I thought I'd include a piece of jewelry with my giveaway as well. I tried to choose a variety of pieces. If you win, you will get your choice of one of pieces below.


Top: Rose Bead Earrings, Autumn Leaves Earrings, and Blue Flower Earrings. Bottom: Bright Turquoise Stone Bracelet, Beautifully Translucent Earrings, and Shell Bracelet. (You can click to make the picture larger.)

If you want additional info about the jewelry or to ask a question about the giveaway, you can email me at followtheyellowpolishroad@live.com.

Please fill out the form below for a chance to win! This giveaway is only open to US residents. Sorry :( . Please only fill out the form once per person. Multiple entries will be deleted. You must be a follower to enter, whether new or old. You will automatically receive one entry for filling out the form. You can also receive additional entries by sharing this giveaway or by liking Follow the Yellow Polish Road on Facebook. There will be a maximum of four entries. The giveaway will end on Friday November 4th. The winner will be announced on or before November 6th. The winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Good luck! And I hope everyone has fun participating! :)

Thank you all so much!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Funky Fingers Sand and Stilettos

I got my very first Funky Fingers yesterday. I was so excited to try it. So tonight, I sat down to do just that. It is amazing! Sand and Stilettos is packed full of holo glitter. Basically a glitter bomb. It was opaque in two coats and has so much bling.





The first and third are blurred a little so you can see all the colors. The last is with a flash. I am in love with this polish! Its has so much sparkle! I have never had so much glitter on my fingers before.

I also got some more nail mail today and made a trip to Sally's Beauty Supply. My mother wanted the hand scrub that came with my Julep Maven Intro Box and since it was cheaper to order the box instead of the scrub, she became a Maven. I got the rest of the goodies though since she's not into polish at all. I received Olivia, Miranda, and Essential Cuticle Oil. I smiled when I saw the cuticle oil. I got their nail therapy base coat in my intro box, so getting the cuticle was a lovely surprise. I used it before my Funky Fingers mani and it is amazing.

I also got some rhinestones from an Ebay seller from China. Same one as before. I ordered another set of 3mm and two sets of 2mm ones. I love them!




From top to bottom the bottles are Essential Cuticle Oil, Miranda, and Olivia. I also took an up close of the 2mm rhinestones, since I've already posted about the 3mm ones.

At Sally's Beauty Supply, I grabbed the biggest bottle of acetone I've ever seen and some polish thinner. If you need any polish remover, Beauty Secrets has all their 32 ounce polish remover on sale for $4.99.




Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Cracked Silver Over Amethyst Atelier & Nail Mail

My attempt at a Halloween design was an epic fail (maybe tonight just wasn't my night for art), so I started over and went simple. Salon Perfect Cracked Silver on top of Finger Paints Amethyst Atelier. I love this color combination. Indoors Amethyst Atelier sometimes appears black, but I assure you, sunlight makes the purple shine through. However, I work during pretty much all sunny hours, so a picture is not available right now of this gorgeous purple basking in sunlight.




The last picture is with a flash and the purple is not color accurate, but I know on some screen resolutions the polish appears black, so I wanted to show that it is indeed purple. Amethyst Atelier is a lovely dark grape color.

Today, I got some lovely polishes from Sarah that I met over PAA on Facebook. I have been anxiously awaiting them. Literally bounced at the mailbox when I saw them.



This is my very first Funky Fingers! I am super excited to give it a try. This one is Sand and Stilettos. A gorgeous holo. I am unsure if this is actually a holo or just crammed with holo glitter, but either way, it looks amazing in the bottle. Also, Funky Fingers bottle shape is so cute and unique!



The name of this polish definitely fits. Essence Hello Holo. As before, I'm wavering between holo and holo glitter (especially since its labeled as a 'topper'), but I'll know when I swatch it.



Last but not least is NOX Twilight Disco Darling. Another holo. I went a little crazy. I am unsure what Disco has to do with Twilight, but I guess they can name it whatever they want. My silver, holo, and Twilight loving heart could not pass this baby up.

All three appear to have some similarities at first, but trust me, they are all different enough to warrant owning more than just one. I cannot wait to try them out, especially Sand and Stilettos & Disco Darling. The swatches I've seen online are just gorgeous!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Breast Cancer Awareness & New Polish

I have so much to talk about! First of all, its Monday. Which means PAA's Monday Nail Art Challenge. This week was Breast Cancer Awareness. I'm already big into raising awareness so the theme was perfect, and gave me a chance to use my new pink ribbon nail tattoos.





On all of my fingers except for my ring finger, I used two coats of No6 Pretty Young Thing. I love this polish and color so much, but I do not think you can find them anymore. I've searched high and low. If you find any, definitely pick it up; its worth owning. On my ring fingers, I used two coats of Love My Nails Innocent Pink then placed on one pink ribbon tattoo per nail. The ribbons were a little difficult to get on, they wanted to stick to the plastic covering instead of the paper, but I managed. 

I also still have my toes pink for breast cancer awareness. As I did before, I promise not to torture you with my toes. I have a swatch on my nail wheel of the polishes my toes have. A coat of a Bon Bons pink with Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter on top.


I cannot seem to stop buying polish lately, so I have some new ones to show (that do not include the collection coming by mail).




Top from left to right: Salon Perfect Cracked Silver, Sally Hansen Plum Power, Revlon Blue Mosaic, and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. Bottom from left to right: Pure Ice Iced Merlot, Sally Hansen Cherry Smash, and Pure Ice Cheatin.

The pictures are very color accurate for all except for the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears. Plum Power is a deeper purple and very much plum. Pacific Blue reminds of the Cornflower blue crayon from Crayola.

I know everyone has probably seen Blue Mosaic a million times along with its two glitter companions from this Fall's Revlon collection. But its so pretty, its worth another look. I snagged a Facets of Fuchsia awhile back, but this polish was no where to be found until today. I just love the green glitter thrown in the blue. Makes it a unique polish.


When I saw the Salon Perfect Cracked Silver, I was a little hesitant. I had never heard of Salon Perfect before, but I could not pass up a three dollar crackle. Once I got home, I googled them and realized I had heard of SP, but did not make the connection because they mainly sell false eyelashes. I could not find a thing online about their crackles. But I was optimistic. So I got out my nail wheel and swatched. I layered it over Sinful Colors Black on Black and No6 Party Punch. It looks so much better over dark colors, in my opinion. Even limiting it to wear over darker shades, its still a steal for only three dollars. If anyone is interested, I found mine at Walmart. They had several colors of crackles, along with the silver.



Two more bits of news, then I promise my long post is over. :) I reached 50 followers today. YAY! To thank you all for reading, commenting, and following, I will be putting together a giveaway this weekend. I hope it'll be something everyone can enjoy!

My last bit of news is that I wanted to share my happiness over winning part of Shadow Nail Art's 1 Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway. I'm very excited. I love giveaways, even when I don't win. Its so nice to see how giving this community of bloggers is. To host giveaways for their follows.