As far as I know, this is the first time my name or any part of my body has been in a national magazine, so I had to share. My hand/name is in the May issue of LHJ. A couple months ago I got an email from someone at LHJ asking if they could use one of my photos in a column, and of course I said "totally." Very cool. Nothing huge, just a pic of my hand wearing Esse Mesmerize and a little blurb where I said that to me it's a very nautical feeling color. Plus my name. I didn't recognize all the other names, except for Michele Mismas of All Lacquered Up. It's on page 48 if you've got the issue :)

Click to see the pics...

I did a little nail art inspired by the fletching on arrows. The little things at the back end of the arrow that stabilizes and improves the aerodynamics of the arrow in flight. I've been really into tribal sorts of things recently, and arrows are sort of an extension of that fascination for me right now. I added an ikat nail and also a Swarovski element to one of the "arrow shaft" nails for some interest.

Products used:

• Essie Go Overboard, Greenport
• OPI Skull & Glossbones
• Orly Luxe
• Seche Retain as base coat
• Seche Vite topcoat

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Essie Shine of the Times - $8 most drugstores

I have seen Essie Shine of the Times in just about every drugstore and big box store I've visited in the last month or so, so I know it's relatively easy to find at this point. I had been seeing it everywhere on the internet and decided I didn't need it because I have Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, a bunch of Nfu-Ohs, the Finger Paints flakies, and more random flakies and honestly don't use them often, but SotT really impossible to resist in the end because when I finally gave up and just picked the polish up in my hands to examine it, I realized it was different than all the others I mentioned above. The shards of mylar are more finely milled, which does a couple things; 1) there is more variation in color because since these are light reactive to a point, the larger the shard, the less color in the area the shard takes up (therefore the smaller the shard, the more shards per area equaling more color!), 2) the surface appears, and is to a certain extent textured rather than just a bit of interesting color being randomly scattered over the surface making the finish look irregular and sort of gross. So overall, SotT is better than a lot of flakies. SH Hidden Treasure had, to this point, been my favorite overall in the mylar glitter category as it had somewhat small particles and was very dense on application. SotT is the new point to which the bar has been raised, y'all. woot! The only weird thing is that there are some random plummy purple colored specks in the polish. You'll see what I mean below.

I love mylar over dark colors, but because this is so dense and makes such a neat textured looking surface, I decided to use a light, delicate color under it for once; China Glaze White on White.

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Essie Armed & Ready - $8 at drugstores

I randomly found A&R at Target the other day, and I was super happy. I'd been looking forward to finding it. I'd also anticipated an army green, but what I got was a deep warm grey with bronze shimmer. Gorgeous nonetheless, but definitely a bit different than I was expecting. I asked my hubby what color he thought it was... He came up with "grey-greenish" while we were sitting in the car in traffic, so in indirect sunlight. Yeah in some lights it has a whisper, a mere suggestion, of green, but mostly it's grey. The bronze shimmer is hidden in most lights, but it does pop out nicely in bright light, so it's a nice bonus. In low light, the base is really nice and creamy and really looked nice next to my beigey skin. It applies VERY nicely, two coats is more than enough. You know what it really reminds me of as far as finish? Chanel Paradoxal! It's creamy, dark, dusky and has the hidden shimmer. It's a grey Paradoxal!

Well my first week of Nail Tech school is over, hence the lack of posting this week, and I'm pooped. I'm off on Sundays and Mondays so I'm looking forward to resting the next day or so. It's been incredibly fun so far, but I'm still tired. I'm looking forward to really getting used to my new schedule.

Because I'm now a beauty student, I can officially go into CosmoProf and I just feel like jumping for joy because of that. I've never even been in one, and for the last few years, every time I saw a CosmoProf I'd look at the door as if it were my nemesis and knew somewhere in my mind that one day I'd be walking through it, legit, with my own license. Well, right now it's just my student permit, but it's no less exciting. I went in today and got a ton of China Glaze polishes I'd been wanting including some Halloween ones! (!!!) and OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle which I wanted for the name but it's actually really pretty, too. I also got some hair stuff and I seriously want to go back ASAP for more. I could have stayed there all day... le sigh.

Anyway, this is my manicure right now. I used Essie Knockout Pout, Color Club Twiggie and Wet n Wild White On to colorblock the nails and then applied dots of contrasting color on each block and then made it into leopard with a Migi Nail Art Pen. It's topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

Click for another photo...

I was just looking for another excuse to wear neons, and did this design which incorporates really simple elements like dots and stripes, along with just a touch of Konad stamping. I painted my nails white and then with the different China Glaze and Essie neons I painted strokes on different areas of each nail, then lined the edges of the color with a black striper polish. Within the remaining empty areas, I randomly added stripes going in different directions and dots, and on a couple I used a Konad stamper for the houndstooth. It's not perfect by any means when viewed close up, but I think it looks pretty cool at a normal distance. It wasn't too awfully time consuming and I think it's a great look for the horribly hot weather we've been having!

Click for more photos and to see the products used!

Hey everyone! I know it's been such a long time and you're probably tired of hearing these things from bloggers coming back from an unexpected hiatus that lasts months, but there it is. I know that while I've been gone, people have still been visiting and I really hope that the content amassed over the last couple years has been helpful. Even though my immediate plans for the blog are to resume posting, it probably won't be daily like before. Not yet, anyway. I really miss sharing my thoughts and pictures with you guys and the contact we used to have. I love hearing from everyone, and I miss it. I've still been reading tons of nail blogs on a regular basis, so I've been able to maintain a small link to the nail blogosphere, but I'm ready to take an active part again. I hope that you guys will join me, and stop in and see me from time to time:)

Click here to see the photos!

Hey guys, before I talk about this manicure I wanted to put up a little note about the blog sale: with the exception of three packages that I have to send tomorrow, all packages should be out. If you haven't received your package yet and want to contact me for the status of your package, please do so. Between the zillion emails back and forth I've got for this sale and the crazy busy post office and my mind-numbing list of things to do before Christmas, I want to make sure I'm not forgetting anything.

On to the manicure... I hear you through the computer. You are probably bored of bright multi-colored manicures, let alone leopard here on this site, but I did this manicure earlier in the week and it's all I've got to share right now since I've been so busy lately. I used several of my favorite bright colors that I use often to do this multi mani.

Thumb: China Glaze Four Leaf Clover with China Glaze Something Sweet dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Index: OPI Who THe Shrek Are You? with China GLaze Flyin' High dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Middle: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue with Nubar Baby Pink dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Index: China Glaze Four Leaf Clover and Nubar Baby Pink with OPI Shrek and SH Pacific Blue dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Pinky: Color Club Puccilicious with Essie Shorty Pants dots, Migi Nail Art Pen

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Hey guys, I'm back from the ether. I've been MIA a lot lately because it seems like a lot of stuff is going on. I'm trying to get Christmas shopping under control and decorating, and to top it off I've had a string of seasonal colds that just pile one on the other and I've been dead tired and lazy. Hopefully it's almost over and I can share lots of fun manicures and products with you through the holidays. Today I'm showing you a manicure I did last week, (and that I'm still wearing... I'm so lazy lately) that I really liked. It's inspired by Wah Nails, which is one of my favorite sources for inspiration. It's a play on this pointy-nailed tribal-type manicure, but my nails are obviously squared and I added my favorite leopard. It looks badass on the pointy nails, and on me it's sort of manifested itself as a chevron French manicure.

I used Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, Wet n Wild Black Magic and Migi Nail Art Pen in Black on all nails, then for the colored stripe I used Color Club Puccilicious for the thumb, Essie Shorty Pants for the index fingers, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue for the middles, China Glaze Pool Party for the ring fingers, and for the pinkies I used Essie Pretty Edgy.

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Essie Smokin' Hot  - $8 at essie.com

Part of Essie's Winter 2010 collection, Smokin' Hot is a deep eggplant-tinged grey that is part of that dark and dusky family of colors that is so on-trend right now. It applies pretty well; only slightly sheer. Two coats made it opaque enough to my naked eye to make me happy. It wore exceptionally well, which is usually a big concern for me with Essie polishes. I wore this for three days without a chip under a coat of Seche Vite. The color is pretty unique with a couple exceptions. It is a creme, but it is quite similar to Chanel Paradoxal as far as the base color. I've included a few comparison photos of that after the jump. The color is really rich and neutral, making it a perfect choice for just about any skin tone or depth. I think it's a big winner.

NEWS!! : My blog sale will be up hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow, maybe tonight, depending on how things go. It's for the nail polish portion. I know I told a few of you I was hoping to do it last month but I've been so busy and I figure if I want to get it done before it gets too close to Christmas, I'd better do it now. I've got the photos taken and edited, and all I have to do is post it. Look for a post here to tell you it's up, and then the link will be found at the top right of the link bar at the top of the page.

Click for more photos...