Need help!

Hi my lovelies! I meant to ask you if you would be willing to help me find OPI DS Glamour. I can't find it unless it's for extortionate prices on EBay. If anyone has one, knows someone who has one, and they're willing to set up a swap, please let me know...the swap'll be a good'n, I promise!

Anyway, night night my lovelies! xoxoxoxo

Another crazy week's gone by...

Oh. My. God. What the hell is going on with the land and the weather? I live on the east coast of the United States my lovelies. Virginia. Can't think of a prettier, more unassuming, safer place to live than here, right? Hah!

I'm not in the city...no worries about gangs or major crime. I don't live on the west coast, no worries about gangs or major crime (didn't I just say that??? I have a real sense of deja vu, lmao!)....no worries about earthquakes, right? Wrong! That's exactly what happened last week, and that was just the beginning!

So I'm standing in Walmart, choosing my food, and the ground starts shaking, the building is shaking, stuff falls off shelves, employees yelling for "everybody out!" people are screaming, and I'm standing there thinking..."wtf? It's only a little earthquake!" After all was said and done it was fine. it was a 5.9 on the richter scale, I had some tidying up to do when I got home, not to mention a freaked out cat to find, but other than that, nada. We had the aftershocks for a few days, each progressively less than the original quake, other than that, it was a change from the norm. What fun!

Come Saturday, aaaaaaand along comes Irene. Hurricane Irene that is! She was only a fresh breeze (well, being British, maybe that's a very typical British understatement!) and some rain. Guess what? Dominion, our electric company couldn't even keep the power on! We lost power for about 16 hours. My husband said to me all it takes to lose power here (and this is sooooo true) is for someone to pee on an electrical outlet. That's it then, the whole damn grid is down! I spent time in AFRICA years ago. You know what and where that is...(this to any Dominion employees who may be reading). It's a third world continent. Do you know, that the AFRICAN countries I visited kept their power on BETTER than the good old US of A! And get this: whilst I was over there, there were Coups going on against the government!!! Shootings, murders, riots, mass killings, war! BUT (and this is the real kicker) we had electricity, and it stayed on! Yes! Can you believe it! LMAO!

Hello my lovelys!

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post. My internet company in their infinite wisdom decided to penalize us for a month for 'over-usage'. We're about 10 days into this punishment, and we have a month, so we've still got about 3 weeks to go. Nice, huh? And here's the kicker; we still have to pay for this months usage, the same amount as always. Bloody internet. The worst of it is they quote this 'fair usage act' at you, like it's a government law. I researched it, and there's no such thing, it's what the internet companies use so they can get as many people as possible, basically, it's sheer greed. So for the next few weeks, my posts are going to be very limited, I apologise.

Anyway, this post is about my holographic nail polish. I thought I'd go through them slowly with you. Holographic nail polish has got to be my favourite kind, and I think I've got over 40 of them, love them!!! This first post contains my Catherine Arley's and China Glaze OMG collection. I don't have the complete collection of either, Some of my Catherine Arley's I swapped, and  the ChG's I've slowly been collecting, I have six of them so far. I have a couple of pics to show you, the Catherine Arley's, The ChG's, and the nail wheel of the swatches.

First up, my Catherine Arleys, left to right:
667, 669, 672, 677, 675, 804, 666, 673, 674, 803

Next up the ChG's, left to right:
BFF, TMI, TTYL, QT, LOL and 2NITE

Last up we have the swatches, starting at #1:
667, 669, 672, 677, 675, 804, 666, 673, 674, 803, BFF, TMI, TTYL, QT, LOL and 2NITE.

I hope you enjoy these pics. As always, I'm sorry abouthe crappy quality, it's not the implement it's the user. The camera is wonderful! See you all soon, and again I'm sorry that it's been so long. xoxoxo

My storage

Hello my lovelies! I hope your week is proving to be a good one. Today's post is about my storage solutions. Now, what I have is pretty good, but it's far from ideal. In an ideal world, I'd have my own nail polish room with n/p shelves most of the way around the room. There'd be a comfy chair in the corner, with a portable soaking/spa tub for pedicures, and a nice comfy footstool for me to sit on. On the other side of the room I want a built-in for all of my accessories, tools, paints etc, and a really nice desk where I can work on a customer (don't forget, my dream is to be a nail tech!) or I can work on myself. Like I said though, that's in an ideal world, and I'm quite a long way from that, lol! What I do have is a really nice tool box that opens out (Steve bought me this for my birthday), I also have a fishing tackle box, an arts and crafts container, and 6 large plastic totes, and 3 miniature plastic totes. Sounds like a lot, huh? Well, that's because I have an absolute crapload of stuff!

1) Tool box. This contains my htfs and holo's in the top along with some accessories in the lid. Middle shelf contains more np's plus top coats, french mani np's, rhinestone glue, base coat, etc. Bottom shelf contains more np's, some small containers with striping paint and np's in, nail polish removers, cotton wool and quick dry spray.

2) Fishing tackle box. This box contains stuff like my rhinestones, fimocane, 3D acrylic flowers, dried flowers, striping tape, paint brushes, dotting tools, false nails....you get my drift.

3) Containers 1 & 2. Ok, the one on the left contains, Wild n Crazy, Confetti and Pure Ice. The one on the right contains all of my nail art pens.

4) All 3 plastic containers on the left contain my striping np's. The bag on the right has my regular decals, all my water decals, nippers, nail files, scissors, and refills for Orly rubberizing bonder and Seche Vite.

5) On the left is my China Glaze, Forsythe, Essie, Nina Ultra Pro, Zoya and Milani. To the right is all OPI. At the top are the regular OPI's and HTF's. On the bottom are all of my DS's.

6) Last pic! On the left are my luxury brands. Chanel, Dior, Cult Nails, Koh, Estessimo, Clarins, BB Couture, Ozotic Pro, RBL, etc.....On the right is the box containing all my Sally Hansen's, and all my Sinful Colours.

Even though it's not ideal, I haven't even shown you everything because it's so scattered. For the most part I find it easy to find things, because I always put stuff back as soon as I'm done with it, and everything has a place, which is always in the same spot. I hope you've found this post enlightening, as to what I do with all my stuff, if you have any quesrions please feel free to ask me! I'll see you all soon ly lovelies, you take care now. xoxoxoxo

Oh my, I've just had a fabulous experience!

Hello darlings! A few years ago I joined a swap site called Makeup Alley or MUA, but I never actually swapped anything on it up until a few months ago. Not so long ago I had the amazing good fortune to 'meet' a wonderful lady (and a fellow blogger I hasten to add,) by the name of Kimberly. If you're not familiar with Kimberly's blog then I highly recommend you get acquanted with it. It's fabulous! The address is: http://allthingsnails.blogspot.com/
So anyway, Kimberly and I happened to come across each other on MUA, and what do you know? We both discovered that the other had much coveted items, so we arranged a swap! I was so excited when I discovered what Kimberly had to offer. Whilst I don't want to toot my own horn, I think that she was pretty excited too. After much bartering and bargaining, we finally decided on a swap that was mutually beneficial for the both of us, and left us both drooling at the mouths to get at the others goodies. Once I've done here, I'm going to leave you all with some serious eye candy, but first, let's tell you all the nitty gritty.

From me, Kimberly got: 
Catherine Arley's 801 & 802
Chanel - Black Pearl
ChG - Hologram
OPI - Glacier Bay Blues
Clarins 220

From Kimberly I got:      
Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Fuschia
Maybelline Colorama - Sonic Sunset
Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure
Dare To Wear - Love Potion
ChG - LOL
OPI - Blue Moon Lagoon

Now, I'm pretty sure that all my fellow np addicts out there will totally appreciate the beauty of the wonderful np's that were traded between us, and that you're eager to get to the eye candy. So instead of trying to explain a gorgeous np in that lacksadaisical fashion of mine, I'm going to leave the descriptions to 'pictures only!' I wish my nails would hurry up and grow out so I can wear these beauties! Now, feast your eyes....

New week...

Time seems to fly by so fast these days, seems that way to me at least. It doesn't seem like yesterday that I met Steve (my husband) and we got married. In actual fact over 11 years have gone by! Back then he'd only been in the Marine Corps 5 years, he was a Sergeant, and he was 31. Now he's been in 16 years, he's a Gunnery Sergeant, and he's just turned 43! I remember I was so worried that the immigration services wouldn't think I was good enough, and wouldn't allow me to stay in the US. I had a fair few sleepless nights, I can tell you that, lol! When I went for my interview, I was a nervous wreck! I needn't have been, they approved my green card then and there. All that worry for nothing! Talking about green cards, I need to find out when mine is up for renewal.

Anyway, I'm sorry! I shouldn't be reminiscing on here, should I? This is a nail blog, lol! I only have one pic for you today, and it's a pic of nail art. Again. This one was quick and easy, but it looks cute. I tell you all, I can't wait for the day when my nails have all grown out and I can show you pics of NOTD with my natural nails, rather than those bloody sticks ons!

Anyway my darlings, I'm going to call it quits for the day. You all have a wonderful evening, and I'll be back to chat with you all again soon. Loads of love. xoxo

More nail art for my lovelies to enjoy!

Hello lovelies! How's everything going with all of you? Everyone doing ok? I do hope so. Everything's going well here, same as always. I think I mentioned before I have my husbands 43rd birthday coming up this Sunday, so we're having a get-together. A few beers, a cook out on the grill, some salad, some Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, yum! Of course I'm hoping that everyone will be more concerned about their weight so they won't touch the cheesecake. More creamy, yummy goodness for me!

Anyway, on to the fun stuff. I've been do absolutely loads of nail art, so consequently I have a load of it to show you! I painted another Union Jack, and this one looks so much better than the first one I did. Obviously I must be doing something right if my nail art is getting better, I'm so pleased with how it's coming along. I mean, I still have a long way to go, but I've come a long way too. And I'm enjoying doing it so much! The next step would be to see if I can paint it on my nails once they're back to their normal health. I don't think I'll be able to do that though, how I wish I was ambidexterous!

Please drop me a comment or two. Tell me what you like and what you don't like. Tell me where I could have done something better, changed the colour, painted better lines. I need to hear constructive criticism! Anyway darlings, on to the pics:

Hope you've enjoyed the nail art eye candy, like I said, please leave me comments and advice! Thank you!

NOTD - Estessimo TINS The Jupiter

Hello my lovelies! Do I have a gorgeous colour for you all today! It was one of the polishes that came in the box of that gorgeous raok from my friend last week. The only problem is is the weather is bad outside, and I have too have the lights on inside, therefore the true colour isn't reflected in the photo's at all. Such a shame, because it's a real stunner! The brand is Estessimo TINS The Jupiter. There isn't a name on the other bottle of it either. Anyway, this one is a stunning bronze glitter, with holographic glitter particles in it too. Simply gorgeous! Here's some pics for you all, and again, I'm sorry about the poor quality.

The third pic down is closest to the real colour, but even that doesn't begin to do it justice, and none of them seem to show the holo glitter. Ah well, I lament both the bad weather, and my dreadful photo taking skills! See you next time!

Hi my lovelies! Hope your week is enjoyable!

As for me, well, I have my husbands 43rd birthday coming up at the end of the week, and I'm trying (trying being the operative word!) to throw hima little get together. Problem is we left it a bit too late to start arranging things, and most people already have other plans for the weekend. Oh, well! You live and learn! He deserves a nice birthday, he works his butt off day in, day out, week in, week out, and he deserves to be pampereds for once in his life, so keep your fingers crossed that I can try and pull something together for him.

So today my lovelies, I decided to do a colour wheel. I've done mostly fuschia's, a few reds, and a few others thrown into the mix. Starting at the top middle, here's the list. I'd love to hear your ideas on these colours, how you would wear them, would you do any nail art on them, or incorporating the colours into the nail art. Here's the list:

1) OPI DS Extravagence
2) Orly Close Your Eyes
3) Sally Hansen Brilliant
4) Orly Razzle
5) Orly Get A Grip
6)Orly Fantasea
7) ChG Reggae To Riches
8) OPI Deva Of Geneva
9) Essie It's Genius
10) Essie Wrapped In Rubies
11) OPI Overexposed In South Beach
12) Essie Scarlett O'Hara
13) Sally H. Posh Plum
14) Sally H. Royal Romance
15) Clarins 227(Every time I see this colour it grows a little more on me)
16) Color Club Alias
17) Perfect Purple/Black duochrome
18) Perfect Green/black duochrome

I lookforward to hearing your advice and your input. As you can see, I like bright comourful, cheerful things! Hope to hear from some of you soon. Have a good night my lovelies, get some rest, and have a great day at work tomorrow!