Breast Cancer Awareness Manicure

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! I know its not quite October yet, but Ulta started their Donate with a Kiss yesterday. And I needed a manicure for the occasion. 

I used OPI Strawberry Margarita, Color Club Blushing Rose, and stamping plate BM-321. The plate makes it easy to create awareness manicures in every color.

Diamond Candles Giveaway Winner

Drum roll please... :P

Skye Kiloh you are my Diamond Candles Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who checked out my review and entered. I have so many new posts in the works, as well as a Barielle giveaway for sometime next month.

Barielle Well Fall Sweepstakes

I have an awesome giveaway to share with you!

A total of eleven winners! Ten winners will receive a set of Barielle products worth nearly $100. They are amazing items! Two Fall packs of Barielle shades (Nude & Naughty and Sophisticated Lady), Nail Rebuilding Protein Base, Nail Strengthening Cream, and No Chip Speed Dry Topcoat. One grand prize winner will receive the set, plus a Cole Haan tote bag. Barielle always has amazing prizes!

The sweepstakes starts runs from September 12, 2013 through June 30, 2013. You must reside in the United States and be over thirteen years of age to enter. Remember to "like" their Facebook page and click here.

Diamond Candles Review

I'm a girly girly at heart. Obviously, I love nail polish. But I also love hair, makeup, jewelry, candles, art, decor... basically anything feminine. So when I was approached about reviewing a Diamond Candle, I jumped at the chance. I had been staring at them for weeks.

When my candle arrived, I could smell the deliciousness from the moment I opened the box. It was safely nestled to ensure it arrived intact.

The candle is enormous at 21 ounces and the outside is precious. Each scent has a different label. Gingerbread Latte has a cute little gingerbread man taking a dip in a nice warm latte.

Diamond Candles are a unique product. Each candle comes with a ring hidden inside. The ring is worth between $10 and $5,000. You can either burn your candle and wait for the surprise, or dig ahead and fish it out yourself. You can see where my ring is positioned within the candle.

Their candles are all natural soy from US soy beans. Definitely a good option is you love all natural products.

I wish I could send the smell of this candle throw the computer! It is amazing! Diamond Candles describes it as "Ever wondered what it would be like to sit in a hot tub of overpriced fancy latte coffee drinks? This sweet gingerbread and coffee-inspired indulgence will make you want to grab your keys and drive on down to the local coffee shop." It really does smell like what I imagined when I read this. The smell fills the whole room. Its even lovely when not lit. 

How beautiful is this ring?! I am unsure how much is it worth, but regardless, it is a gorgeous ring. The sizes vary. I would guess this is about a size seven. Its a little tight on my left ring finger which measures seven point five.

Overall, Diamond Candles are well worth purchasing. You get an amazing all natural soy candle to bring wonderful scents into your home. Plus the bonus of a surprise ring inside. I was honestly skeptical about purchasing a candle online since you cannot smell it beforehand, but all my doubts have melted away.

Each candle retails for $24.95 at Diamond Candles.

If you are interested in trying a Diamond Candle, check out my giveaway.

Diamond Candle Giveaway

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! I had this giveaway up before, but I think Blogger ate it. The post isn't there anymore and it got zero entries, so... I'm going to assume Blogger ate it.

Diamond Candles and I are giving away a beautiful candle to one lucky person! Their candles are amazing! Seriously. I'll have a review up on my own personal candle later today.

Diamond Candles are all natural soy candles with a little surprise inside. Within each candle hides a beautiful ring. The rings are valued between $10 and $5,000. They literally combined three of my favorite things all in one. Candles, surprises, and jewelry.

The candles come in a variety of scents and retail for $24.95 each. I'll link my review once its up. Now on to the fun part. All you have to do is fill in the entries below and you could win a Diamond Candle of your choice.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can follow my blog via GFC or Bloglovin', just leave the info within the entry. Good luck!

Where I have been this year

This year has been tough. We buried my grandma on New Years Day. That was incredibly hard for all of us. We were very close, and I miss her everyday. I could not seem to get back into life. Things I loved lost my interest. I was lost.

Not too long after that, we had to put our nine year old dog DeeDee to sleep. Her organs were shutting down and letting her go was the best thing for her. Pets are like family. It was heartbreaking to watch her slowly slip away.

The year seemed to get better for a small amount of time. My brother got married; I started dating. But 2013 was not done throwing curve balls. In late August, my aunt contacted my dad. My aunt is not a nice person. She put my grandma in a nursing home far from us and would not allow us contact. She had power of attorney, so it was within her ability to do so. On the phone she told my dad that his mother passed away last month. Sadly, it was true. After some searching online, he found the obituary. My grandmother, my last living grandparent, had passed. I didn't get to attend her funeral or have a proper goodbye. My aunt denied us that. As you can imagine, I've been deeply grieving. This year has been hard on me and the rest of my family.

So things have taken a back seat to my feelings. I've neglected my blog. I'm going to make a serious effect to get back into the swing of posting. I think it will help. I've got a pile of things to review and so many new polishes to share.

Take a Peek at My Storage With Me

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! I've been slacking on my posting again. 2013 has not been the kindest year. There have been good things. But those good things are also time consuming. So here we are...

I have been meaning to do this post for months. I'm always curious about peoples storage, so why not share my own? I recently added some new pieces and did a little rearranging, so it seemed like the perfect time for pictures. First off, let me start by saying "ignore the mess". I'm not a neat freak. More like organized chaos queen, so there is a lot of junk going on by my storage.

Behold the tower of polish! LOL... I have six melmers. Yes, six. If you aren't savvy with the polish community lingo, melmer is not the real name. We call them melmers because they are similar to a helmer from Ikea, and can be found at Michaels. Take the M from Michaels and add it to part of helmer. :)  Depending on where you get them, they are called different things. Hobby Lobby sells JetMax 3-Drawer Storage Cubes. Mine are from Michaels and is a Recollections Drawer Cube. They are all the exact same thing (as far as I know), except the drawer pulls vary from brand to brand. Mine have filing cabinet type pulls.

As you can see, I have three drawers stacked on top of each other. They are designed to stack. Three is as high as I've ever gone. The front of the drawers are covered with scrapbook paper (from Michaels), which was placed on with modge podge. I recently bought two of the cubes you see here and did not have the energy the get the scrapbook paper on after assembling. So I left them blank and rearranged the drawers. I like the break of white.

On top of the cubes, I have my little Recollections Desktop Carousel (from Michaels), a decorative "Paris" box, and a bag.

A closeup of my carousel. I have so much stored in this thing. Suspension base, bottles, rhinestones, nail polish pens, toe separators, nail art brushes, my giant 4 ounce bottle of Seche Vite, my nail wheels, and much much more. It spins for easy access to everything. How fun?!

The "Paris" box is from Hobby Lobby and stores all of my backup polishes. Yes, I need an entire box for them. I love anything French themed. Blame it on my Louisianian heart. The bag on top of the box is my manicure bag. It has practically everything I need to do my nails. I pull what I need from my drawers and put it in a specific pocket of the bag then go to wherever I'm doing my nails. The bag contains a lot. Polish thinner, cotton balls, q-tips, cuticle oil, base coats, top coats, cuticle remover, stamper, scraper, nail clippers, lotion, polish remover, and a whole bunch more. Now to take a peek inside the drawers...

An example of two drawers for you guys. I do not fill my drawers to full capacity. I used to and I hated rearranging every time I got a new polish. So now I leave space for new addictions. The top picture shows a drawer lined with basic no slip drawer liner. I need to replace it. It ruins the labels on the bottom of polish. Makes them all weird and oily. In the second picture, you can see my new lining. Fleece. Easily accessible for purchase and keeps the bottles from moving around.

As you can see, my drawers are not full. So I do not have six melmers full of polish. I have five semi full of polish, with space for new polishes. One is for supplies.

Oh, and for the curious people: I know I would be staring on these pictures wondering what all the stuff in the background was. I'm curious like that. You can see my Renoir print, faux gumball machine, wire jewelry mannequin, basket, boxes, and fleur de lis rug.

Wow... I think that basically covers everything. If there is anything else you would like to see, let me know. :)

Mint Manis for Talia Joy (featuring Funky Fingers Mrs. Mint)

Tuesday July 16, 2013 the beauty blogging realm (and ultimately the world) lost a very talented young woman. Talia Joy Castellano was only 13 years old and battled two forms of cancer over half of her lifetime. She accomplished so much and inspired so many people in her short life. Its always sad when anyone is taken too soon, but especially at her age.

Her last Instagram manicure was a mint polish, thus Mint Manis for Talia was born. Today many of the people she reached are wearing mint manicures in her honor, including myself.

For my mint mani, I chose Funky Fingers Mrs. Mint, a mint green creme filled with subtle gold shimmer. Mint with a little something extra (just like Talia).

She will be dearly missed. In her life she accomplished so much. Her family and friends plan to see all of her dreams fulfilled.

Talia's Youtube Channel and Instagram can be found here.

F4 Mint Chocolate Chip

I'm still here! A week behind, but I swear I'm still here. I've been a busy little bee. Work (aka insanity lately), family, and my new budding relationship. Yep, dating. :) I've had a lot on my mind blog wise, which I'll cover at the end.

Today I have F4 Mint Chocolate Chip to share with you. I'm a sucker for anything mint chocolate. Its my favorite flavor ice cream. So when I saw this polish, I had to have it! It looks as good as mint chocolate chip ice cream tastes. That's really saying something! Mint Chocolate Chip is a mint green creme filled with brown micro glitter. The creme is just sheer enough to see the glitter of the coat beneath, giving it amazing depth. The application was great.

F4 polishes are sold in their Etsy store and retail for $8 (15ml).

Edit: What blogger forgot the stuff she was going to cover at the end? This one. I've had so many ideas circling around in my head. Should I do weekly stuff? Like Nail Art Wednesday or something like that. A couple of weekly installments. Also, should I attempt vlogging? The thought of being on camera scares me. But it could be fun. Maybe I'll post a test video and see how it goes.

I really want to do things other than nail polish too. But right now, I'm leaving my blog nail related. I'm going to post all other stuff on my Instagram. Makeup, jewelry, and such. Hopefully I can get better at makeup shots. So far, mine suck. So please tell me what you want to see! Tell me here, or on one of my many social sites. Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram. Plus there's Youtube and Pinterest (but I suppose those aren't great places to tell me something, just wanted to throw them in.) And as always, there's email.

Bright Skittles

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! Most of the pictures you will see over the next week or so are old-ish. This particular manicure is from February. Poor thing is happy to see the light of day. Or at least the light of the blogosphere.

These bright skittles were fun and easy to do. From thumb to pinky: Cosmetic Arts Limelight, Zoya Pippa, Color Club Poptastic, Ulta Blue Streak, and Julep Anne. Each is two coats. The little design on my ring finger is an Essence French Glam Nail Stickers. Each sheet has several designs.

Colorful Leopard Print

I'm back! If you want to know why I was gone, see this post. Its too much to summarize again. Oh my goodness, I missed you guys so much! To all of those who stuck with me during my absence, thank you! To those who left, I hope you come back soon. And to those who are new, welcome!

So many of the upcoming posts are old-ish manicures. However, this one is brand new. I hit the blogs for inspiration and ended up wanting to recreate this gorgeous leopard print by Chalkboard Nails. For mine, I used Zoya Pippa, Essence Let's Get Lost, and Sally Hansen Black Out. Leopard print is an easy design, even for the nail art challenged. I love it!

I'm trying out a new watermark technique. Let me know what you think.

Barielle Nail It Sweepstakes

I have another Barielle giveaway to share with you. Yes, another!

A total of eleven winners! Ten winners will receive a set of Barielle products worth nearly $100. They are amazing items! Two Summer packs of Barielle shades (Summer Brights and Brilliant Colors), Nail Rebuilding Protein Base, Nail Strengthening Cream, and No Chip Speed Dry Topcoat. One grand prize winner will receive the set, plus a DKNY blue leather handbag. How amazing is that?!

The sweepstakes starts runs from June 10, 2013 through June 30, 2013. You must reside in the United States and be over thirteen years of age to enter. Remember to "like" their Facebook page and click here (computer) or here (mobile phone) to enter.

Barielle Brilliant Colors Collection

I have an awesome Summer collection to share with you today! Normally, I swatch each color separately; however, when I saw this one, I knew I had to do them all together. They just screamed skittles.

The Barielle Brilliant Colors Collections consists of five creme shades perfect for all the Summer days to come.

Barielle Smarty Pants Pink is a bubblegum pink creme. Literally the perfect bubblegum pink. Not too bright, not too pastel. The formula is perfection and opaque in two coats.

Barielle Straight A Coral is a red toned coral creme. I love corals for Spring and Summer! The formula on this one was just as great as the last.

Barielle High Marks Purple is a grape purple creme. Describing the formula will get redundant. I can tell you right now, they were all amazing. High Marks Purple looks a little uneven on my nail, but that is my fault.

Barielle Magna Cum Laude Turquoise is a bright aqua creme. Puts me in the mood for a fun day of playing in the water.

Last, but definitely not least, we have Barielle Head of the Class Green, a seafoam green creme. I cannot say enough how much I love this collection. I wore it for days on my fingers. So many people randomly questioned what polish I had on my nails. It was a big hit!

This collection retails for $8 individually, $25 for the whole set at Barielle.

Disclosure: The products in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Catching You Up

First I want to apologize for my lack of posting this year. It has been an insane year. I promise not to bore you will all the details. But I do want to kind of sum things up and explain why I've been MIA as of late.

This year started off with my grandma's death and funeral. Obviously that was a rather depressing time for me, and my nails and blog were not at the forefront of my mind. I am still dealing with that and trying to put myself in a happier state of mind. She would not have wanted me to be sad. But instead to enjoy life and be happy. Around that time, I also dealt with a large dose of friendship drama. That ordeal was very hard for me. I will not go into detail, but it really did some emotional damage.

Around the time I started to find myself in a happier state of mind, one of our dogs passed away. She was nine years old. It was a difficult time. Her health had been deteriorating for awhile. Then she suddenly stopped eating and would barely drink water. We took her to the vet, and discovered her kidneys and liver had shut down. The best thing for her was to let her go.

All of that sadness just temporarily overcame my love of doing my nails and sharing with you. Its been really hard to overcome. Things have been getting better. I got promoted at work. One of my older brother's just got married Friday. My new sister-in-law is so sweet and fun. I also gained a niece as well. She has a baby from a previous relationship, who will turn one in a few days.

Its been a rollercoaster ride. Other things have happened along the way, but those are the biggest points to touch on.

Tonight I am going to type up posts for what little nail photos I have right now. While I have been painting my nails occasionally, I have not taken shots of all of them. I'm also going to work on a polish haul post. I asked on Facebook and Twitter if y'all wanted me to bring back haul posts. The answer was unanimous. I've done a good bit of shopping lately, so I plan to have one big post up this week so show all of my recent buys (within the last two weeks or so).

While I was MIA, I also started using my Instagram account. I have almost all of my old manicures on there. You can also see some random photos on there as well. I am @ashleyftypr (http://instagram.com/ashleyftypr). Also, if you check out the sidebar here, you can see I updated my social sites. There are now icons for each one.

So, yea... I think that about sums up everything. Except one last thing. I started my blog to share my nails and express myself. But I do want all of you to be happy too. So what would you like to see? Comment here, hit me up on one of my social sites, or email me.

Thank you for sticking around and I hope you enjoy everything to come!

Multi Blogger Giveaway!

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! I have something awesome to share with you. Several bloggers (including myself) are participating in a 30 prize giveaway. How awesome is that?!

Lots of amazing prizes to win! So don't miss out! Personally, I am putting up two prizes. The first is a set of Barielle products. Barielle Pink Flip-Flops, Nail Rebuilding Protein, Nail Strengther Cream, and No Chip Speed Dry Topcoat. And the second prize is your choice of two polishes from Ulta. They can be anything from brands like Essence, Revlon, or Sally Hansen; up to brands like OPI, Butter London, or Deborah Lippmann. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Barielle Tips to Toes Sweepstakes

Barielle has the best giveaways! Seriously.

A total of eleven winners! Ten winners will receive a Spa Kit of Barielle products worth over $100. They are some amazing products! One five pack of Barielle shades, Nail Rebuilding Protein, Nail Strengthening Cream, No Chip Speed Dry Topcoat, Total Foot Care Cream, and Professional Protective Hand Cream. One grand prize winner will receive the spa kit, plus a Michael Kors wallet.

The sweepstakes starts runs from May 6, 2013 at 12pm EST through May 27, 2013 at 12pm EST. You must reside in the United States and be over thirteen years of age to enter. Remember to "like" their Facebook page and click here (computer) or here (mobile phone) to enter.

I own over three dozen Barielle polishes, plus several nail treatments. I do not have one bad thing to say about them. So trust me, you'll love them.

OPI Honey Ryder and Pussy Galore

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! I have a couple of swatches, plus a cute little fruit to share with you.

OPI Honey Ryder and Pussy Galore along with a cute fruit fimo cane slice. I was not a fan of the first round of the OPI Liquid Sands, but I LOVE the OPI Bond Girls. I bought the whole collection. I never buy an entire OPI collection. I am addicted to pairing them in combinations like this. They are delightful textured. Just enough to be fun, not so much that it catches on things. Two coats to be opaque. Make sure you let them dry between each coat to achieve the best textured look and feel.

And how cute is the fimo cane slice next to the pink?! I was skeptical about wearing them, but putting it on the side of my nail helps it lay flat. This cute little fruit is pre-sliced from Born Pretty Store. It came in a set with other fruit slices. They are very wearable for everyday manicures if you place them right.

The OPI Bond Girls Collection retails for $9 individually at Ulta, Dillard's, JCPenney and other professional salons. The fruit fimo canes come in twelve different designs with ten slices each. The set (Item ID: 4999) retails for $1.79 on Born Pretty Store. They have a ton of other fun nail art related items as well. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.

Disclosure: The product (fimo cane slices) in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Born Pretty Glitter Nail Art Polish Sticker Review

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! I have a little bit of a mixed review to share with you today.

The picture really starts my review off. You can see that while the stickers are super cute, there are some issues. The designs are adorable and the colors are rich. They are thin, which I liked. I cannot stand the overly thick ones. They usually peel up. However... they chipped at the tip and tore at the cuticle. They did not even last twenty-four hours.

I've never had an issue with Born Pretty Store products, so I was surprised. I looked up other reviews, and people raved about these. Either I got a bad batch, or they just do not agree with me. It happens.

Each sheet comes with twelve wraps in six different sizes. They are sealed tight, and the stickers dry out if not used once opened.

The stickers come in several different designs. They (Item ID: 5270) retail for $5.37 on Born Pretty Store. They have a ton of other fun nail art related items as well. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.

Disclosure: The products in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Born Pretty Mixed Metal Nail Art Roll Foils Review

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! Today I some fun and easy nail art to share with you. Nail Art Roll Foils Glitter Transfer. Gorgeous colors splashed along your nails without the work and cleanup of regular splatters.

Applying these could not be easier. Simply paint your nails with two coats of color. I chose Finger Paints Where Art Renoir?. Dark colors are best. When its almost dry, press a piece of the foil onto the nail shiny side up, rubbing it onto your nail. When you pick it up, some of the foil design should be left on your nails. You can use several different foils on each nail to cover as little or as much as you want. Make sure to topcoat once you are done.

I used two different foils on my nails, both from Born Pretty Store. Numbers 3 and 7 to be specific. A sapphire metallic blue and pink holographic. The colors just pop! And you definitely get your money's worth. This isn't something you use for a couple of manicures, and then its all used up. No, these nail foils can be used for multiple manicures. Each foil comes in a roll that is one inch wide and nearly four feet long. I could not believe how long they were!

These are definitely a must own. Just make sure your polish is nearly dry when you apply the foils. If its too wet, the polish will be pulled up when you remove the foil. Not a good thing to experience, trust me.


The foils come in twenty-seven different colors. The bows (Item ID: 5361) retail for $2.38 on Born Pretty Store. They have a ton of other fun nail art related items as well. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.

Disclosure: The product (bows) in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Barielle Summer Brights Collection & Swatches

I'm back! :) I hope you enjoying the beginning of your week. I am currently under the weather, but trying to persevere through. Today I have Barielle's gorgeous new summer collection to share with you. Summer Brights consists of five fun cremes for the coming warm months.

Barielle Cosmic Kiss is a bright classic pink creme. Basically the perfect Barbie pink. Perfect formula and opaque in two coats.

Barielle Pink Flip-Flops is a soft pink creme. Not quite pastel. It does have a bright punch to it. As with Cosmic Kiss, the formula was perfect and opaque in two easy coats.

Barielle Lemondrops is a bright yellow creme. Who doesn't need a bright yellow in their life for Summer? The formula was great; a little patchy at first, but most yellows are. It evened out nicely and was opaque in two coats.

Barielle Sweet Addiction is a teal creme, leaning much more toward green than blue. It is a great addition to a collection of bright Summer colors. Its bright without being hot or neon. The formula was good and opaque in two coats.

Finally, we have Barielle Blue Capri, a bright blue creme. The formula was great. I did two coats here, which is enough for in person. However, up close in macro, I could have used another coat.

Overall, I am loving the Barielle Summer Brights Collection. Gorgeous cremes, with staple colors that every polish loving person should own. Ranging between good and perfection formulas, opaque in two coats.

This collection officially releases May 1st. It retails for $8 individually, $25 for the whole set at Barielle.

Disclosure: The products in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Sunshine and Bows

I hope you are enjoying what is left of your Tuesday, most likely Wednesday by now. I know I've absent recently, but I'm back and ready to blog.

Today, I have a cute design to share with you featuring some 3D nail bows.

Very 3D nail art. I started with China Glaze Lighthouse then added a full nail design with Essence Stamp Me! Black and stamping plate BM-310. Finally with a little nail glue, I added these cute black bows from the  Born Pretty Store. How cute are these?!

The bows come in twelve different colors with a rhinestone in the middle of each. Each set comes with ten bows. The bows stay on well when applied with nail glue. The bows (Item ID: 1675) retail for $2.38 on Born Pretty Store. They have a ton of other fun nail art related items as well. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.

Disclosure: The product (bows) in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.