Konads and Fauxnads, Oh My...

          Okay, I know it's like 4 am and I need to be in bed because I have work at noon, but I am here instead because I am really excited, because I just got my very first konad stuff!! Eeeee! ^_^; I've been shying away from konad, because it seemed like lots of work to get all those gorgeous designs onto the nail, AND it seemed so expensive. And I'm very clumsy...I didn't think I could do it. I still don't actually. But I was watching videos on youtube about how to konad and it looked so easy and fun! And then I was thinking of all the upcoming holidays that I could celebrate by wearing beautiful and fitting konadicures. I didn't know if I wanted to do only fauxnad or only konad, but then I decided to just do both, because variety is the spice of life. So I started googling, and before I knew it, I was on paypal, pressing "confirm payment". 
           First, I bought a set of five fauxnad plates from an ebay seller for $7.99.  The seller randomizes the plates, so I'm not sure exactly which ones I will be getting, but I did specifically request the Hello Kitty plate because it is so cute! Knowing my luck, the seller won't send me that one, but I'm still going to hope for the best.

        And then I bought some supplies from ocnails.com. I've heard great things about this vendor, plus I wanted to buy from there because it seems more....homey? Idk. Anyway, I bought a plastic scraper (I've seen what those metal ones can do, and I don't have the heart for it), a stamper/scraper set (only because they came together), and plates S09, M20, M66, and M57. I used the coupon code konaddict, and got all those nice things for $24.81. 

Plate S09. The kimono girl is too damn cute. And I love the oriental-looking flowers.

Plate M57, with some designs created by it.

Plate M66, with some designs created by it. I love this one, and I think I'm anticipating it the most. The detail is fabulous and I think it's really unique in that the patterns form a complete picture by themselves, unlike the other plates.

Plate M20, with some designs created by it. I bought this one just for the butterfly and snowflake (flower?).

(I got all these pictures from ocnails.com, please nobody sue me)

     I didn't buy any special polishes because I'm too cheap. But I did find a list of other polishes that work with Konad, and lucky for me, I have some of them already! Plus, Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear is very cheap at Walgreens, and is supposed to work quite nicely with the Konads. So I'm not worried about polish.

    What I am worried about is my own spastic self. What if I can't konad? Lmao!! That would totally be me....the one person in the world who can't konad. smh. Well, it's time for bed, so off I go. I'm just going to pray that when this stuff gets here, Jesus guides my hand and helps me not to make a big old mess out of it all. 

Also I need to sit my behind down and put away my visa card. I'm kind of horrified at how much money I've spent on nail polish just in the past few months. With that money, I'm sure I could have bought two water buffaloes for a starving family in some African nation. I'm going to run to Walgreens on my next payday and pick up some Sally Hansens to use with the konad. Until then, and after that, I'm officially going on a no-buy until June. Someone's going to need to pray for me. (x_x)

NOTD: Nicole by OPI Blues In The Night

           Today, I'm wearing Nicole by OPI Blues in the Night. I tried to steer clear of Nicole by OPI colors because I hated the bottles, but some were on sale at TJ Maxx, 2 for $6.99. You can't beat that with a stick, plus some of the colors stole my little heart away, so I scooped them up. There was some drama at checkout (a clerk thought I had stolen something O_O), but inevitably, I brought my babies home. Depending on the weather (I try to save blackened glitter for sunny days) I should have pictures of the rest. But here's Blues in The Night:

Close look at Blues In The Night. The base is black and the shimmer is ostensibly teal. But in certain lights and if you look close, it does flash purple at times. If you look at the other side of the picture, you can see where the purple shows up in the bottle. 

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash

Bottle shot. The color-changing effect is way more obvious in the bottle (boo!). The shimmer closer to the neck is how it looks most of the time, but the purple and touch of gold at the bottom is what it looks like during those rare flashes. 

  Although I like this color, and had no issues with application, I was so mad! I hate when polishes don't live up to what you see in the bottle. Oh, the deception. ;_;

Bus Blues

          Yes...bus blues. I am sitting on a bus that smells oddly like blueberry muffins, purel, and stale air. The bus driver thinks he's Barry White, and the lady sitting near me thinks that we're friends. I think that I just want to be left alone, because I'm tired. So I decided to open my computer and take advantage of the awesome free internet. I remember when internet first entered my home. I was a little kid, and we had to sneak on the internet at night. My mom never let us use it in the day unless for schoolwork, because the phone wouldn't work at the same time. And it made that horrible dialing noise, that if we were sneaking on at night would wake up my mother and get us all in trouble. And now it's on buses. Astounding. 
         But I'm not writing to talk about bus wi-fi, I'm writing to talk about the OPI Suede Collection. While this collection is old news, the polishes are new to me, and I wanted to write a little something something about them. Of course, I did not purchase the entire collection. As I am fond of saying, I am not big balling like that. But I did pick up and try out the suede versions of Ink and Lincoln Park After Dark, and now I have pictures to share!

This is a close look at Ink Suede. It's blurple with a silver shimmer, in a matte finish. Sorry for the dry cuticles. 

And here it is in natural light, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

This is OPI Ink, with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top. This is natural light with a flash, because there was no sun. 

And this is Lincoln Park After Dark Suede. It's an eggplant with silver shimmer, in a matte finish. 

In natural light, no flash.

In sunlight, no flash. This picture is truest to color..idk what I did with those first two pictures. They're really washed out.

      First and foremost, I love these guys. It was kind of hard to put them on at first, because of how fast they dried, but once I got the hang of  applying them, it was much easier. The polishes are richly pigmented, and were perfectly opaque in one coat. In these pictures, I had to use two coats, to get rid of any bald spots or streaks from where I messed up. But if I did a perfect job on the first coat, that would have been enough. In these pictures, in both cases, I have on one coat of Barielle Growth Activator, and two coats of color. No top coat. I didn't have any trouble with crackling or shrinking either. I just made sure to let everything dry before putting on another coat. 
     I'm also a big fan of the texture on these. When they dry, they take on a velvety, smooth texture. I like to just sit here and run my fingers over my nails when I have these on, because the texture is so pleasing. And the way that they look on the nail is great. The silver shimmer give the colors a certain amount of depth and character that I don't see in other matte polishes. 
    But even though I love them both, only one can really be my favorite. That honor goes to Lincoln Park After Dark. Ink is pretty too, but LPAD really sets my heart to pitter pattering. I just feel like it glows in a way that Ink doesn't. And the shade of purple makes it look so rich and luxurious. 
    I definitely see myself rocking these colors really often. I live in a perpetual rush, so to have polishes that look so good but are so quick and easy to apply are a Godsend. Trust, I will surely be taking full advantage. And although these colors are more fitting for fall and winter, I plan on wearing them through spring and summer, with no shame. 


Unless I can get my hands on the matte version of La Paz-itively Hot.

Denubbification Commences

       I want long nails. 
       I don't want Cheetara nails, but I want them long, and I wanted it yesterday. So when I was in TJ Maxx the other day and saw Barielle's Growth Activator for Natural Nails for only $3.99, I had to have that ish. I'm going to use it as a base coat every time I paint my nails until the whole bottle is gone, however long that takes. Here's my starting point:

That's my left hand.

That's my right hand

Although I'm kind of skeptical about it working, just because I don't really believe in growth aids for hair or nails, I do hope that it proves me wrong. I think long, polished nails on women are so pretty. *o*