Just Another Mani Monday: Kleancolor Mocha

Hello, my Pretties!

Happy Valentine's Day Eve!

Tonight I have a Valentine's Day nail tutorial, sort of.  Haha.  It's not that great, in other words.

Avon Nail Experts Mineral Strength

STEP 1:
I applied one coat of the Avon Nail Experts Mineral Strength nail treatment as a base coat.  This helps to keep my nails strong and less prone to breakage.

Kleancolor Nail Lacquer in 49 Mocha

STEP 2:
Next, I applied two coats of Kleancolor Nail Lacquer in Mocha.  I just got this nail polish this Saturday and I was dying to try it out.  I will show you what else I got on Saturday in an upcoming post!

SinfulColors Professional Nail Polish in 113 Dream On

STEP 3:
The third step is to use SinfulColors Professional Nail Polish in Dream On and an orange stick to dot on some hot pink spots along the nails.

At this point, I wasn't sure about the color combo.  LOL.  I loved Mocha and I loved Dream On just not sure if the two shades work well together.

Hello Kitty Nail Stickers

STEP 4:
Now, I took my daughter's Hello Kitty nail art stickers and stole a heart.  I could have drawn on my own heart with Dream On but that had the potential of turning ugly and this was much easier.

Ta da!  See how easy that was!

Quick Dry Top Coat

Directions and Ingredients.

STEP 5:
After applying just one coat of the Quick Dry Top Coat, my easy-peasy Valentine's Day mani was complete!

Whatcha think?  Not the best, I know.  I have been running around like a chicken without a head (pretty picture, huh) and so much going on that has bummped my blog to the bottom of my to do list.  For that reason, I am not sure I will have my Valentine's themed makeup looks up in time for the actual holiday.  Sorry!  But I will try!  If not, I will post it after.  But it's not the same, I know.

That is all for now.  I wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day.  Whether you are married, taken, single...it doesn't matter.  Valentine's Day is a day to love, and there is always one person you should LOVE and honor on Valentine's Day and EVERYDAY...YOURSELF!!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ All items mentioned in this post were purchased with my own money. ♥♥

Pink Wednesday: February 8, 2012

Hello, my Pretties!

Today's Pink Wednesday chosen polish was a fail.  Total, utter fail.  But, oh, well.  I shall share it with you anyway.

I had picked Claire's Cosmetics Nail Polish in Cotton Candy.  It is a very cotton candy pink for sure.  I'd say it's also very bubble gum pink.  I can't remember the price I paid for this but I couldn't have been much.  But now I feel like what ever I did pay for it was too much.  It's not good in my opinion.

Claire's Cosmetics Nail Polish
Cotton Candy

First off, I had to take the photos without a flash because the flash was too bright and washing out the polish.  With a flash, the polish looked like a super pale pink, almost white shade.  The true color of the polish is closer to the shade without the flash but brighter.  Seriously, it looks like bubble gum.

I didn't take photos of my nails with one coat on.  It would have been a waste of time.  I didn't even take pictures with two coats on!  This is three coats on my nails!  Unbelievable.

I mean, look at the streakiness!  This is unacceptable.  I don't like to apply more than two coats of nails polish EVER!  Two coats is my limit because that is average for a nail polish.  Maybe, just maybe, if the color is pretty enough and I can see the color payoff improve with every coat, then I will apply a third coat.  This polish did not show improvement with the third coat.  No way was I going to waste my time in applying a fourth!

This is not pretty at all.  You can see little "bald spots" at the top of my nail beds by the cuticles.  The nail polish applied to this patch here seemed to disappear with every stroke of the brush.  I could not get an even application.  And yes, I did let it dry between coats.  No, I did not apply a base coat.  I never do.

Nail art flower shaped rhinestones by Cutie Beauty.

I had planned to do some nail art with these adorable flower shaped rhinestones but after the crappy application of the nail polish, I didn't want to waste the nail art on this piece of work.  Not all the little flowers could save this bad mani.

I am so disappointed.

Sorry, Claire's Cosmetics but this is not OK with me.  I don't bash the entire Claire's Cosmetics line because I do have some eyeshadow palettes by them that I adore.  This nail polish just isn't worth much to me in my opinion.

Sorry for the bad review on this nail polish.  I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings.  I just think that I should share my true feelings about a product and how it worked for me.

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ All items mentioned in this post were purchased by me with my own money.  These are my own thoughts and honest opinions. ♥♥

Buy & Blog: Milani Part 1

Hello, my Pretties!

I have so much to show you in this post!  I did a YouTube video on this already so if you have seen it, you know what I am talking about.  You can check out that video on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/MsPrettyfulGirl.

In case you didn't know, CVS was having a 75% off sale on Milani items that are being discontinued.  I have never tried Milani before so this was the perfect time to get me some.  I had been working all week and never made it out to CVS so every night I'd come home to my sweet-tart and complain to him how all my Twitter friends were getting tons of Milani stuff at CVS for really cheap and that I really, really, really wanted some too!

So, after an unusually rough day at work, I was in a really bad mood.  But when my sweet-tart got home from visiting with his dad, he told me he had a surprise for me.  I turned around and he had a big bag of candy in his hands.  Eh, not my favorite candy but candy nonetheless.  So, I grabbed the bag and OMG it was makeup!  Milani makeup!!  Woo hoo!!!

It was a surprise to me that he went out there and did this for me.  He is a sweetheart all the way through.

Enough chit chat.  Let's get to the pictures!

Earlier that day he texted me the text message above.  I had replied with, "Don't worry about it.  I'll go later after work."  It was cute to me that he even bothered to ask.

All my goodies.  75% off at CVS.

And here is a group shot of all my wonderful little goodies.  The only thing that was missing was a blue eyeshadow, one of the singles.

Milani Eyeshadow Runway Eyes
Paid $1.75 each
Saved $5.24 each
Regular price $6.99

I thought these were so pretty!  So sparkly!

#04 Coffee Shop

#06 Royalty

#07 Leaf Green

#09 Caribbean Sea

#10 Blue Lagoon

Swatches.

I was happy with these swatches.  I have yet to use them on my eyes so I do hope that they will work just as well.  Instructions on the package says that these shadows are usable wet or dry.  I have never used a shadow wet so it will be fun to see these applied wet.

Milani 3D Glitzy  Glamour Gloss
Paid $1.75
Saved $5.24
Regular price $6.99

#44 In Vogue

This color is hott!  I love this magenta glossy base with those hot pink glitters.

Milani Infinite Liquid Eyeliner
Paid $1.75
Saved $5.24
Regular price $6.99

#03 Eternal

Product claims to wear for 24 hours, be waterproof, smudge and smear proof, and color intense.  The color is intense!  Such a bright lime green shade!  My sweet-tart knows I love bright eyes.

Milani dual ended pencil sharpener.
Paid $1.49
Saved $4.50
Regular price $5.99

And he got me this because he got me a bunch of eyeliners.  The thin and the thick kind.  He thinks of everything!

Milani Color Brilliance Eye Pencil
Paid $1.25
Saved $3.24
Regular price $4.49

Swatches.
#02 Aqua
#03 Green
#04 Purple

Milani Black Magic Liner & Eye Glimmer
Paid $1.87
Saved $5.62
Regular price $7.49

I love all my Milani goodies for the exception of these.  You will see why when you see the swatches below.  And such a shame too.  I was really anxious to try these out.

Swatches.
Top to Bottom: (L-R) #01 Blackened Sterling/Sterling Magic
#02 Blackened Blue/Blue Magic
#03 Blackened Green/Green Magic
#04 Blackened Teal/Teal Magic
#06 Blackened Gold/Gold Magic

As you can see, the glimmer side is useless.  There is no "magic"!  I was so disappointed.  I can't even tell you how disappointed.  I did love the Sterling Magic.  That was what I expected all the others to be like.  They weren't.  Now I am broken hearted.  I had high hopes for these.

Milani Runway Eyes Fashion Shadows
Paid $2.25
Saved $6.74
Regular price $8.99

#02 Fashionista Pinks

Fashionista Pinks swatches.

These swatched a lot lighter than I had hoped for but they are still very pretty.

#06 Beauty in Blues

Beauty in Blues swatches.

In the swatches, it is very hard to tell the difference in the top 3 shades.  In the pan, the top shade is more of a pearly white.  The second is more of a pearly white-white.  The third shade is pearly white with a tinge of blue.

#08 Catwalk

Catwalk swatches.

This is my favorite of the palettes!  I guess because it has the most variety of shades.  All the shades are so very pretty.

#09 Trendsetter

Trendsetter swatches.

Even though green shadows are not my favorite, I do have to admit that these are nice.  Surprisingly nice.

And we have finally reached the end.  Whew!  I don't know about you but I am exhausted.  And did you notice that the title says "part 1"?  Hint hint.

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ All items mentioned in this post were bought by my sweet-tart with his own money.  Total price he paid for everything including taxes was $38.80.  Total items purchased were 20.  Total amount saved was $107.46.  What a deal! ♥♥

Just Another Mani Monday: Zoya Adina

Hello, my Pretties!

Happy Day After Super Bowl!

So, yeah, the Super Bowl was last night.  Did you all watch?  I did.  Well, on and off.  Who were you rooting for?  I was saying, "Go GIANTS!" all night!  I'm not a sports authority at all.  I was watching the game because we were invited to my sister's house and there was tons of pizza and soda so I had to go!  Yay!!

If you're asking why I chose the Giants, this is my system.  First, I always root for the team from Texas (which in this case would be the Cowboys) but since there was no Texas team, I then root for the team with the cutest quarterback.  Manning or Brady??  I think they are both cute.  So, moving on to the next step in my method.  Who has the nicer looking uniform?  In this case it would have been the Patriots.  BUT...but since everyone in the house was rooting for the Patriots, then comes the last and final decision maker.  CHOOSE THE TEAM THAT EVERYONE IS AGAINST.  Haha.  And viola!  My team for the night was the Giants and they WON!!  Boo-ya!

So, anyhow, during the game, my sisters and I were polishing our nails.  I took my small collection of Zoya nail polishes.  Yes, all five of them.  My sisters had never tired Zoya but have only heard me rave about them.  We all chose different colors which I think suited us to a T.

My older sister chose Alegra, my younger sister chose Faye and I picked Adina.  Oh, Adina, how I love you.

Zoya Professional Lacquer in Adina

This nail polish is available from the Zoya website for $8.00.  I received this one for free, I just paid shipping with a promo code they were offering.

Color Description:
"Zoya Nail Polish in Adina can be best described as: Violet metallic multichrome.  A frosty hint of green and magenta creates a unique look."
♥ Description taken from Zoya.com ♥

Details:
Color Family: Purples
Color Finish: Metallic Duo-Chrome Finish
Color Intensity: 4 (1=Sheer - 5=Opaque)
Color Tone: Cool & Warm
Original Collection: Reverie
♥ Details taken from Zoya.com ♥

To see Adina's page on the Zoya website click HERE.

I cannot tell you how much I love this color.  I love the sheer uniqueness of it.  I love how in certain lights and angles, the polish looks purple and then you shift and it's green.  So gorgeous!

All photos show two coats of Adina.  I did not do snap shots of Adina with one coat simply because I forgot.  But you're not missing much.  It is quite sheer with one coat.  Definitely needs two!

I have one other nail polish from the Zoya Reverie Collection and that would be Reece.  I chose Reece because of my daughter's middle name (but we spell it Reese) but it turned out to be a beautiful polish too.  It's a girlie pink rose color with a gold duochrome.  I want more of the polishes in the Reverie Collection.  I plan on getting Happi next!  To see the rest of the Reverie Collection, click HERE.

So, don't you all think this polish is simply wonderful?  I think you do!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

Pink Wednesday: February 1, 2012

Hello, my Pretties!

Happy February!  Yay, it's almost Valentine's Day and this Pink Wednesday polish is the perfect polish for that lovely day!

I got this nail polish for FREE from the ZOYA website as a promotion they were having.  You pick out 2 nail polishes of your choice and just pay shipping.  Each nail polish is regularly $8.00 and shipping is $6.95 so you can see how this was a deal I just had to take advantage of.

Zoya Professional Lacquer

On Zoya.com, Faye is described as:
"A bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones flooded with bright gold sparkle.  A unique gilded shade that will work in any season."

The following characteristics are from the Zoya website:
Family: Mauves, Purple
Finish: Metallic
Intensity: 4 (1=sheer - 5=Opaque)
Tone: Warm & Cool
Original Collection: Sunshine

This link takes you straight to the Faye page on the Zoya website:
http://zoya.com/content/38/item/Zoya/nail-polish-zoya-nail-polish-Faye-ZP551.html.

One coat.

As you can see, one application is still very sheer.  But you can see the potential in this polish right off the bat!

Two coats.

Two coats is a vast improvement!  It is almost completely opaque.  Almost!  The color is lovely.  You can see the golden shimmers all through out the mauve base.

Three coats.

And I think three coats is perfection.  Full opaqueness.  This color is stunning.  My love of the moment!  I didn't mind doing three coats of this polish.  I usually hate doing more than two with any polish but this polish seemed to dry faster than usual.  Waiting time in between coats was minimal.

Over all, I adore this polish.  It is everything I love.  It's pink.  It's sparkles.  It's perfect for any season.  It's a win all around!

Stay tuned for my other free Zoya nail polish which I will be showcasing in my Just Another Manic Monday post next week!

Luv & Luk,
--L.

♥♥ I received this product for free with a promotion code.  I paid the shipping costs.  These are my own thoughts and opinions.  ♥♥