The Body Shop and Ulta Haul

I'm on winter break with literally nothing to give myself a time schedule, so I've been staying up until two or three in the morning and waking up at noon. I hate doing that, so today I decided to go shopping to give myself an excuse to wake up at a decent hour. I went to Ross, hoping to score some Color Club polishes. I actually got there a few minutes before they unlocked the doors, which was nice because as many of you know, Ross can be hell. Unfotunately, they didn't have much nail polish, and the only "real" brand stuff I saw were a couple of Wet n' Wild sets which were badly separated and a Nailtek base coat. I passed on those and went to the Body Shop, which has a special today (which is also available online on their website) where you could buy a bag for $5 and get half off everything you could fit inside it. The bag is just a paper gift bag, but $2 from every bag goes to stop sex trafficking. I'm a sucker for things that benefit a good cause, so I had to go check it out.

Left to right, top to bottom:
Spiced Vanilla Body Butter, originally $10 but reduced to $5 w/ bag purchase
DeoDry Dry-Effect Deodorant Cool & Zesty Stick, on sale for $4, reduced to $2 w/ bag purchase
Watermelon Body Lotion, part of their $3 originals, but reduced to $1.50 w/ bag purchase
Spiced Vanilla Lip Balm, on sale for $3, but reduced to $1.50 w/ bag purchase
Mini Cocoa Butter Body Scrub, originally $8, reduced to $4 w/ bag purchase
I've never used anything from the Body Shop, but the watermelon scented lotion smells amazing. I might do more in-depth reviews as I use these products. I really like the fact that the Body Shop uses recycled plastic, natural ingredients from communities and are so into saving the Earth.

On my way out of the shopping center, I of course had to stop at Ulta because I had a $3.50 off $10 coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket.

I've gotten pretty good at buying just over ten dollars, so I only picked up three items this time around.
Left to right:
Sally Hansen VitaSurge Strength Gel, which I can't even find on their website. $5.99
Essie Berry Hard, clearance for 3.99 (I also cannot find this on their site)
OPI AvoJuice Skin Quencher in Winter Huckleberry, clearance for $0.99

I'm very excited about the VitaSurge, as I've never seen it before. I don't have "weak" nails, but they do tend to bend easily as they grow out. Hopefully this will let me have longer nails before they get too weak to be practical.

Ombre

I was extremely bored last night, so after I got home from a Walgreens run, I decided to test out the ombre nail trend. I had a hard time finding colors that worked, since I have no experience frankening. I realized I had a lot of the right shades of a color, but the different finishes were not cooperating. Wouldn't it be weird if some of the nails were glitter, some were shimmer and some were creme? I thought so, so I was stuck with a blue gradation, which turned out quite well.

I used one coat of Orly Nail Armor base coat on all of the nails. For the thumb, I used three coats of China Glaze White on White. For the index finger, I used three coats of China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le. The middle finger is two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue. The ring finger, which looks more navy blue than black in real life, is two coats of Orly La Playa. The pinkie is two coats of Maybelline Onyx Rush, my favorite black creme. Then I topped everything with a coat of Seche Vite.

So far, I'm loving this mani and have had almost no chips, which is amazing since I have been "thrift storing" literally all day. It is definitely interesting, but I'm probably going to redo my nails tomorrow out of boredom.


A side note about Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue, which I finally found during the aforementioned Walgreens run. I had been searching for the perfect color to go under Confetti Party Palace Blue, which I cannot find a picture of on the internet but is basically is a dupe of Sinful Colors 831 Hottie. (stock photo from Sinful Colors website seen below) I tried for weeks to find the blue that Confetti PPB looks like in the bottle. Then I saw SHX PB on the Ulta website. And could not believe how perfect it was. And how unattainable. I refuse to pay six dollar shipping for a three dollar bottle of nail polish, so I searched every store I could find that stocks Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Polishes and had no luck. Then, last night, in fit of boredom I went to Walgreens with my mom just to pass the time and BOOM! I found it! I was so happy! It is the perfect polish, too. It is nearly perfect in one coat and is the most beautiful color.

Welcome plus the pictures I've taken so far...

Hi future readers/followers! My name is Amanda and I'm pretty much obsessed with nail polish and make up. I've bought way too many products in the last few months, so I figured I should do something with them. Hence, this blog.

When I post pictures of my manicures, I'll try to post links to the specific products I used (all of which were purchased by me with my own money) from the store from which I purchased them. For example, if I buy something from a brick-and-mortar Sally Beauty Supply or SallyBeauty.com, I will post a link to the product on the Sally Beauty site. Sometimes this won't be possible, or I won't remember where I got something, but I'll try my best. In the cases where I can't remember/find the link for the correct store/whatever, I'll try to at least find a link.

Let's start with the manicure I did to go with my Halloween costume, which was a DEVO girl. You know, like Whip It. Google it.

 I used Orly Goth on my index, middle and pinkie fingers. On my ring finger, I have a base of China Glaze Platinum Silver with a blue energy dome painted with China Glaze Frostbite, which stunk to high Heaven, using a nail art brush I bought in a multi-pack.

 I was quite proud of this manicure, as it was the first actual "nail art" I had ever attempted to do freehand. Plus, it was DEVO-themed and therefore awesome.

On an unrelated note, this was the view from the stairs right next to my room the night I did that manicure. Beautiful, huh?  Sorry about the slight blur, I'm really bad at taking pictures.

Next, I'll show you a almost-French that turned out pretty ugly, if you ask me. I was trying to do a sponge gradient, I think, but it did not work out the way I planned.

I used China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise (Neon) as the base with Orly La Playa (which I can't find a link to, but I saw it in Ulta yesterday on clearance for 2.99) sponged on the tips.  I really like these colors together, but I sponged on a little too much for it to be a French manicure. This was before I got nail guide stickers, haha.

For the next mani, I tried to use those metallic star stickers you can find in every school supply aisle in every store in America as a stencil. It turned out goopy and gross looking in real life. In my defense, however, it was two in the morning when I finished this, so I probably was not in my right mind. (Sorry about the blurry cell phone picture)

I used Orly Lunar Eclipse (which I bought at Sally Beauty, but is not listed on their site any longer) as the base, with too many coats of China Glaze White on White on top of the stickers. Yeah. It did not work and I believe I took this off the next morning.

Now, for one of my cleanest manis, I present my first successful French manicure. The normal nude and white combo is a little boring for my taste, as I tend to go for loud colors and wild glitters, but the combo of these two colors was good enough for me.

This was OPI Princesses Rule! (which I got at Ulta) with Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Burgundy Flirt for the tips. I used those nifty Nailene Perfect Tips French Polish Guides that I finally found at WalMart after searching for them for a few weeks. They are SO easy to use, even for me, and I can barely paint my nails without getting polish all over my fingers.

I'm going to end this post with a picture of some nail art I did on my toes. I've noticed that some people have a strong aversion to feet pictures, so I figured I should leave this one to the end. 

I used Orly Rock-On Red as the base, then sponged on China Glaze White on White, followed by Ulta Envy. I then "seeded" the watermelon with Maybelline Express Finish Onyx Rush, which is the best black pretty much ever. It applies like a dream and dries quickly. 

With that, I bid you adieu.