Mini Review/Nail Routine

I love to do my nails and I actually started doing my own manicures almost a year ago. I used to go to the nail salon to get manicures and acrylic nails but I decided to stop going not only save money but to let my nails breath and recover from the damage the acrylic nails would do. Actually I can't even remember the last time I had acrylic nails on. I believe it is crucial to always apply some sort of base coat before applying the nail color to prevent your nails from yellowing. It can also help your polish to adhere better and last longer especially if you apply a top coat. Now I don't do this as much as I used to but I would also use cuticle creams/removers/oils (depending on what I felt like using) just to make my manicure look a bit more neat and pretty :]

Here is a list of products I have used and which ones I continue to use:

For the cuticles:
Orly's CUTIQUE: a cuticle and stain remover. I actually really like this product and it does remove dead cuticles pretty easily and softens cuticles for an easy removal. You have to be very careful when using this product to avoid getting it in your eyes because the warning label says you could actually go blind. 

ESSIE Apricot Cuticle Oil: I like this product because it softens the cuticles for easy removal but also nourishes your nails. I would apply this to my cuticles whenever I felt that they were dry and would apply it around my nail bed and massage it all over the cuticle area and nails.

Base Coats:
China Glaze First & Last: A good base coat although it doesn't really do anything for me. Its not my favorite but I also don't hate it. I would not recommend this as a top coat if you are looking for something that is fast drying.

Nail Tek Ridge-Filling Base Coat Foundation II: This is my absolute favorite because it does what it claims to do, at least for me. I love it because it fills in those annoying ridges (horizontal or vertical lines on your nails) your nails may have and improves your nails if they were ever damaged. It also strengthens your nails and prevents them from peeling.

 
Orly BONDER: This is a good base coat if your looking for something to help your polish adhere better. Its and "ok" product that I use from time to time but again its not my favorite. After you apply it and it dries, it has almost like a rubber feel to it which I think is suppose to help the polish stick better. Although I have heard people say that it can make your nails yellow but I haven't really noticed.

Beauty Secrets Base Coat: It claims to be a moisturizing base coat and I actually like it but don't use it as often as I used to.

Top Coats:
China Glaze First & Last: Like I said not a good top coat because it does not dry fast enough.

Seche Vite: Ok, when I first heard about this top coat and actually tried it out, I was amazed. I could literally do my nails before I went to bed and I would not wake up with any sheet marks on my nails. It could be applied to wet polished nails and dry within minutes. Its an incredibly fast drying top coat that smells pretty bad but I couldn't live without it, until now. Recently two bottles have broke on me. One I dropped so it was my bad but the other broke after it bumped into another polish and the top broke off. After a few uses it tends to thicken up so polish thinner is needed and sometimes it tends to shrink after applied which is not good. But yeah your experiences could be the exact opposite fro mine.

inm Out The Door: This is currently my favorite fast drying top coat. There is a trick to this top coat though. You kind of have to let your polish dry a bit before applying and wait a good twenty minutes to be safe from any possible accidents. Bit

China Glaze Matte Magic: It basically makes the glossy texture of your polish into a matte texture almost rubber like. Matte nails tend to chip faster than regular polished nail.

That was a really long post! I hope you found this helpful :] You can buy most of these at Sally Beauty Supply or CVS stores.

NPOTD: China Glaze BFF

This is what is on my nails today... I think it's pretty cool because I love all things shiny, glittery, and distracting. It's China Glaze's BFF from the OMG! collection and its a micro-particle holographic polish. Out of the 12 polishes that are in this collection I only have about three sooo I need the other 9! Haha.. no. I'm trying to cut back on polish because I have a ton that I have not even worn so buying more polish is unacceptable for me at this point. I think that my next post will be a review on top coats that I have recently tried out which is only like 4 so yeah.. until next time :]

NPOTD: China Glaze Ruby Pumps!

Hello! On Sunday my wonderful boyfriend bought me another polish to add to my collection :] Well he actually bought me two but this is what's currently on my nails. Isn't he sweet!? I love him sooo much!..but not as much as a brand new 0.5 fl. oz. bottle of nail polish filled with tons of glittery goodness!! lol. Just kidding ;p Um.. sooo I decided to do a video post rather than a picture post to show how much the polish sparkles. This is only two coats topped of with some Seche Vite but I'm sure that if I would have added a third coat of polish it would have been even more amazing! Well thanks for stopping by :)

URBAN DECAY!!! haul and review

So I made my first purchase from the Urban Decay website because I have been itching to get my hands on some of their eyeshadows. Originally I was thinking about the NAKED palette but figured I could get that some other time since I believe that it is not a limited edition palette (correct me if I am wrong). I already have the original eyeshadow Primer Potion but when they paired their new EDEN eyeshadow primer potion with their AMMO palette... I had to get it! I mean DUH! for $39? Sounds pretty good to me....

Now on to what I think about these two products....

THEY SUCK! haha yeah right! I love Urban Decay. The shadows are amazing! If I had to choose one I wouldn't be able to because I like them all. There are so many looks you can create with this palette and it makes a great gift ;] The shadows are extremely pigmented with or without a primer and are not chalky whatsoever! However, some of the shadows have glitter bits and pieces so watch out for fallout and be sure to give your brush a little tap to get rid of the excess.. the primer is very creamy and has a yellow tint to it. Personally I would wear the primer alone on my lid with some shadow on the inner and outer lid but whatever floats your boat.

So below is my lame attempt at photographing some swatches of these shadows.. there is not swatch for the primer because every picture I took looked washed out..

I also purchased three of their LOOSE PIGMENT shadows because they were each $5 from what I believe the $20 that they originally sell for.

 

Even though I did not swatch the pigments, I have a few opinions about them. First of all I am waiting to purchase some sort of mixing medium or MAC's fix + to see their true beauty. Second, the packaging really sucks! As soon as I unscrewed the little bottles or whatever you want to call them, some of the product fell out, so I wasn't too happy about that of course. Well that is pretty much it. You can purchase these items on the UD website or at Sephora stores and its online store.

Need to Improve this BLOG pronto!!!!

SOOOO... my blog is currently under construction. How long? I dunno : ( I have soo many ideas for posts and reviews but I have a camera that blows! UGH.. I need a new camera ASAP... I also have a YouTube channel but it's just the same as this blog.. empty and lonely! Well on to my next post!