The Eye Cream That Became a Face Serum #ValentiaTrueEyeGlowCream

Press Sample.  All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

Happy New Year!  I don't know about you, but I'm kinda glad all the hoopla of the holidays is over.  Don't get me wrong - I love seeing all the holiday lights, and getting and giving presents, and seeing my family and friends.  But, it's also a stressful time.  Traveling takes a toll on me, all the rich holiday foods mean I'll have a breakout or two, and I don't sleep as well or as much, so my eyes are carrying around as much baggage as I am. Well, they would have been, if I hadn't been using my new Valentia True Glow Eye Cream!

Scarred for Life? Maybe not, with Body Merry Stretch Marks and Scars Defense Cream #bodymerry

Product provided for review.  All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

Having been around this worldy block a few times, my skin isn't as pristine as it once was.  I have some stretch marks and scars that I was tired of seeing, so when I got the opportunity to try out Body Merry's Stretch Marks & Scars Defense Cream, I figured it was worth a try.

#WeekOfLoveChallenge - Sticky Roses

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's challenge for the Week of Lurve is roses.  I like roses.  I even have a yellow rose tattoo.

I can not paint a decent rose to save my life.

So, when a friend gave me some rose nail art decals for my birthday, I knew I was saved from humiliation for this challenge!

I started with Zoya Marley, a delicate lilac-leaning pink.  So much like the neutrals coming out this season, really.

I then put some drops of Zoya Yana and Lexi on my palette, and dipped a piece of crumpled cling wrap into them and then dabbed it on my nail to create this marbled effect.  It's about the closest to a water marble I can get!

I used the rose nail decals over the marble. 

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but a rose decal is infinitely neater than my botched attempts to paint them.

When I got back into nails this time around, my first foray into art was these kinds of stickers.  I don't use them as much now, but I still have a soft spot for them.  I really love almost any kind of applique' - stickers, water decals, studs, and rhinestones - you name it.

Bottle shot:  Zoya Marley, Yana, and Lexi.

Do you use decals and stickers in your nail art?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday Stamping - Turquoise Stone Saran Wrap

Hello, Fireflies!

I'm super-excited to show you this mani.  It was so easy and fun, and I love the way it turned out.  When have you ever heard me say that about a stamped mani?

Yeah, maybe never?

This one starts out with two gorgeous blues:  Layla Softtouch 10, a mermaid-type blue with gold shimmer, and Cover Girl Blue Hawaiian, a light blue creme.

Some of you may have noticed that I alternated the colors.  Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back! I only did that because I wasn't sure if I wanted to dab light blue over dark, or dark over light.

Here's what I discovered:  I preferred using the Layla darker base and dabbing the light blue over it, for two reasons.  One, I liked the darker edge where I didn't dab much, and two, dabbing the Layla meant that I got gold shimmer over my finger, and it's harder to clean up.  Word to the wise.

I have this Jumbo Cheeky plate that has no identifiers on it.  I took this squiggly line stamp and black and stamped over the saran wrap mani.

Then, I took a teeny-tiny brush and some Maybelline Bold Gold and dabbed in some of the larger gold chunks you sometimes see running along the veins in turquoise.

I think one of my fave things about this mani is that you can still see some of the gold shimmer, which gives it a really cool natural stone look.

This was way easier than trying to watermarble for me.  I have some OPI Black Spotted, and I might try to achieve the effect that way, too, instead of the plastic wrap (which, incidentally, I used a piece of a plastic grocery bag, and it was much better for me.)

Bottle shot:  Layla Softtouch effect #10, Cover Girl Blue Hawaiian, Finger Paints Black Expressionism, and Maybelline Bold Gold.

Have you tried any versions of the turquoise stone mani yet?  Which one do you like?

Butter London (Monday) Blues

Butter London has had some great sales lately, with BOGO at Ulta, and then a Buy-Two-Get-One at both Macy's and Ulta.  I'm waiting for them to go on sale at the Butter London website, so I can get the online exclusives!

In the meantime, I thought I'd show you some of the pretties I've picked up lately, and some nail art I did with them.

This is Artful Dodger, a beautiful aqua creme.  This was one of THE colors this summer, and I must own a baker's dozen blues like this.  I can't get enough!  

I like how it almost looks like a jelly, Caribbean blue in some lights, and like a creme in others.

And, here's the sad (blue) Monday part.  I tried to do a saran wrap mani with BL Royal Navy.. I had seen someone mention using the blue cover from a stamping plate for the saran wrap, so I tried it.

Kids, don't try this at home!  It was too stiff, and it pulled off too much color in some places, and not enough in others.  If this were done in red, it would look like a Dexter mani! lol.

 
Here's a happier blue mani - Victoriana.  This is one of my fave BL polishes.  It's got a great texture - almost a glitter, almost a scattered holo.. I don't know what it is, but it applies great and looks fabulous.

I decided to try and fake a laser tape mani by striping over it with BL Bluey and Artful Dodger.  

 

Even though it's not a perfect laser, I like how this turned out - and Bluey has a foil-like effect that looks great in nail art.

A laser mani is awesome, but this was a lot quicker - and I only needed a striping brush.  What do you think of a faux laser mani?