Saturday, November 27, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving/Black Friday!

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving and Black Friday this year.  We played it pretty mellow here cause it was FREEZING!  And there was SNOW on the ground!  It's melted now, and all kitties are accounted for and warm. =0)

Anyway, I just wanted to show you guys what you're missing over here.  I made my WORLD FAMOUS POTATOES!  My BF ate TONS of them the first night and we almost finished them last night and again had some for breakfast this morning.  Luckily I have enough ingredients to make another round! He's already begging for more! 

Here's what it turned out like:

You KNOW you want some....

Sorry you missed this!
So, our Thanksgiving was a good one.  Safe and warm at home with the BF and all the kitties.  What more could I ask for?  ;0)

Want the recipe for this yummo Potatoes Au Gratin dish?
Here goes:

Get yourself an 8x8 pan
grease the bottom with buttah
cut up a couple potatoes (after you remove skins of course)- if you have a mandolin, USE IT! I do!  ;0)
   -They need to be thin-ish slices to cook all the way
Cut up an onion also into thin-ish slices
*In the bottom of the pan, lay down a layer of potato slices, then onion pieces.
Sprinkle garlic powder and pepper over that layer
Then cut up some buttah and place little patties over the layer evenly-for extra yummo factor.
Then sprinkle in some cheese (sharp cheddah is our fav)*
Rince and repeat the part between * and *
When you get to the top, before you sprinkle on the last layer of cheese: Pour in a mixture of 3 or 4 eggs mixed with milk to the 1cup line in a measuring cup.  You can add some more pepper in there and/or a LITTLE bit of nutmeg if you want.
THEN add the last layer of cheese and cover with tin foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 mins.
Then take off the tin foil so you can get that crust on the cheese...
Turn the oven up to 400 degrees and let that baby cook another 10-15 minutes.

Watch it tho!  And take it out when it looks like the lovely dish above.

Just a little disclaimer: 
I am not a cook!  I probably never will be. . . I try sometimes, but more often than not, I fail!  haha...
However, I can bake like nobody's business!  And I count this dish as a baking dish.  I mean, really?  It's super easy and really hard to fudge up.  So try it!  But if it sucks, don't blame me for it!   XD

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Cosmetic Arts Silver Belles is holographic! (With Comparisons)


OK. Someone on MUA said they found a new brand of polish at their Fred Meyer.  Which happened to be a location very close to my house.  While I didn't trek out to the one she was referring to, I did happen to stop by my Fred Meyer for milk and butter (you know, the essentials!) and wandered over to the polish setction.

I have to say, the Fred Meyer closest to my house is AWESOME about Limited Edition polish.  They always get things in before anyone else, and this was no exception.  I found the Cosmetic Arts Nail Polish display along with the LE (although I hear they may become part of the core line) Milani Gems Polishes.  And of course, there were the LA Girls Rockstar as well as their Metallic Polishes.  On the other side were the Holiday Milani Polishes I blogged about already (gold and silver holos).  Not to mention the pink breast cancer awareness OPI polish display.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Fred Meyer, I love you!  You are on the front lines of my polish obsession.  And for that, I thank you.  ;0)

OK.  I'm done gushing now.  Onto the goods!

One of the colors that stood out to me the most was the "Silver Belle" color.  It did indeed look like just another silver foil/sparkle/shimmer/metallic, etc.  However, when I took a whif of the actual polish, I could tell it was holographic!  Does that make me crazy?  That I can sniff out a holo polish with my nose?  You all know what I'm talking about, don't you?  OMG smells like it, and GOSH smells like it.  There's a certain, I-don't-know-what that silver holographic polishes have. Anyway, I brought it home and I was right!

It's not like OMG.  It's not like GOSH. It's probably more like the Kaleidoscope line by China Glaze, although I don't have any of those, yet.  It's a more of a scattered holo and not the linear type.  You'll see what I mean.

Looks like silver here, but it's a scattered rainbow in bright light!

Here's the comparison shot. L-R: SB, Gosh Holographic, SB, China Glaze OMG

Cosmetic Arts Silver Belle

Overall, this polish is awesome!  It's so pretty, it dries SUPER FAST like all of these types of holographics do, and it is sooooo much easier to remove than a glitter polish since it's smooth.

The formula on this one was great. It went on like buttah and I didn't have any problems with dragging or bald spots.  I'm pretty sure this would ROCK for making frankens! ;0)

The ONLY small complaint I can think of is that the brush on the one I got is kinda wonky.  It wants to have fly-aways, but if I tell it who's boss, it will cooperate OK.

Hope you guys are able to find these! There were other colors that I KNOW are going to be exciting for you girls!  I have one more to show you (for now) from this line so STAY TUNED!  XD

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Chocolate Zebra (ChG Ingrid + FYI Konad)

I love China Glaze Ingrid.  I really love it.  It's brown, but it's almost taup-ey. It's NOT a red based brown. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
I just like this kind better!  ;0)
Well, what do you think?
See how it's kind of a neutral brown?

Look at that golden shimmer!

Ingrid is definitely my favorite brown polish!
So, yeah. I started out with Ingrid. 
Then, as happends to me all too often, I got bored.

Shortly thereafter, this happened:

China Glaze Ingrid and China Glaze FYI from the OMG collection.

I LOVE FYI!  It's a pretty neutral holo polish and it was my first Dusty find!
So there you have it.  I may even get bored of this accent nail thing and go all the way with the zebra stripey goodness.  We'll see. 

For now, anyway, I'm in love with my Chocolate Zebra nails!  Waddya think?

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Etsy Inspired Snow Leopard Konad Mani

For this look, I was inspired by a set of fake nails I saw on Etsy.  Click here to check them out!

I loved that they were matte instead of shiny and I loved that they used one of my favorite color combinations, blue and grey.  So, of course, I had to try this look out for myself! 

Good thing I had the right Konad plate on hand (m57)!

Here's what I did:

Snow Leopard mani inspired by Etsy nails

Topped with Essie Matte About You!
I LOVE this look!  I opted not to do the accent nail like the Etsy seller did.  She painted the ring fingers the opposite way and used a blue base with grey accent dots. (Honestly, I just forgot to do it. haha!)

OK. First, I did my usual Nail Magic treatment coat.  Then, 2 coats of China Glaze's Strong Adhesion Base Coat.  Then I did 2 coats of China Glaze Recycle for the base.  Topped that off with Konad Special Polish in Black for the leopard print using the m57 image plate.  And finally, the baby blue polish was a franken I made by mixing China Glaze Flyin' High with a bunch of white.   I added those dots with a toothpick dipped in polish.  Et, voila!

Mais, non.  That's when I ran into trouble.  I tried to put a coat of Out The Door on top of it to get everything to dry faster, and this happened:

Holy streaking polish, Batman!  That's one stripey pinkie!
Yeah, the OTD topcoad did not play nice with the Konad Special Black polish.  I'm sure it was totally dry, but it still smeared like a mother.  So....

I had to resort to using my goopy bottle of Seche Vite. If you apply it carefully in a glob and just push the glob around without touching the brush to the polish underneath, it doesn't streak (usually). 

After I waited for that to dry, I applied the Essie Matte About You and all was well in the world of polish for me!  ;0)

One more shot- you can't really see the streaking from normal range, anyway.

Yeah, you bad.
Lemme know what you think...and as always,

Love and nail polish, ladies!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Milani 3D Holographic Gold and Silver Swatches

So, I saw these the other day at Fred Meyer and thought I'd like to know what they look like on.  Then I thought you might want to see, too! XD

Here's the silver one. These are labeled as "Milani 3D Holographic." And they are holographic, but it's more of a rainbow glitter all over type than the OMG collection linear holos. Voila:

Milani 3D Holographic (#509)

A little burry so you can see sparkle!

I like the silver one a lot.  It's pretty and silvery and sparkly.  What's not to love?!  I'm less of a gold type girl, but I swatched the gold anyway so you could see.


Milani 3D Holographic (#510)

Again slightly blurry for maximum sparkle effect.



The formula on these is pretty good.  This was 2 coats on the gold and 3 on the silver.  The silver one is a little more sheer.  The gold is holo glitter in a gold base where as the silver is just the glitter suspended in a clear base.

Anyway, these are very pretty!  I didn't get to see them in full sunlight (it's very dreary 'round these parts this time of year), but I'm sure the bling-fest will be ON!

I still prefer the OMG type linear holo to this kind, but these kind of polishes definitely have their place.  I think for the holidays thses colors are pretty spot on and awesome.  Go get 'em!  The only other polish in the Milani Holiday display that I saw was a neon red shade.  Um, yeah. Me plus red equals no go.  Let's just leave it at that.  Shall we?  ;0)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Patchwork Nails Mani

So, my friends at MUA have inspired me once again.  I finally tried a patchwork mani.  Here's the original tutorial.

I tried it with tape like she suggests (even Scotch brand!) but it didn't work out so great. I had some polish slip under the edges so the lines didn't look perfectly straight.  I used OPI Ski Teal We Drop, and China Glaze Flyin' High and Recycle.

I thought it looked OK, but I knew I could do better...

If you know me at all, you know that fudged lines just won't do for me.  I HAD to re-do this mani and do it right!

So I tried again.  This time, Mr. Lacquerish let me use his airbrushing supplies. Something called "Frisket." It's for masking off areas you don't want the airbrush paint to get to.  Seemed prefect for my application and it WAS!

Check it out:

This time worked a LOT better!

 I used OPI Suzy Skis in the Pyrenees, OPI Suzy Says Feng Shui, OPI Lucern-tainly Look Marvelous (for the ring finger accent only) and China Glaze Awaken.


My ring finger has OPI Lucertainly Look Marvelous instead of the blue (accent nail).
I think I like this version better anyway.  Also of note, the first time I used Seche Vite as my topcoat. My bottle is getting near 1/3 of the way gone and is pretty goopy at the moment as a result. It was kind of hard to work with and made this mani very thick when done.

The second time around I used Out The Door top coat.  It's similar to Seche in that it's a quick dry.  It doesn't dry quite as fast, but it's much thinner than the goopy mess that is my Seche Vite right now.
I think it worked a lot better in the end, although I did need to wait a bit longer between colors for it do try completely.

So, waddya think, guys?  Have you seen the patchwork mani's popping up, yet?  What would be your favorite color combo?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I broke a Nail, not a Heel with China Glaze Lubu Heels

OK. So, I am not a person who is easy on her hands. In fact, I clean out 8 litter boxes a day.  Plus vacuuming.  Yeah, I know...

So, I'm not surprised when I break a nail.  But it still sucks.  =0P

This time it was my thumb on my LEFT hand.  My LEFT hand?  Really?  Honest to god.  How a person who is right-handed breaks a THUMB nail on her LEFT hand is beyond me.

It's all good, though. I fixed it right up using the Tea Bag Method.  If you have never seen it done before, check out the video.  It's an awesome way to keep the lengh of your nails so you don't have to cut them all down to nubbins!  I used 2 layers of tea bag and glue in order to feel secure with the repair.

Now she's good as new!  =0)

After that whole debacle I was ready for some color, people!

I chose China Glaze Lubu Heels. It is a vampy dark color (again almost black) with red glitter!  Very vampire / Halloweenie. Well, check it out for yourself:

WHERE TO BUY LYNNDERELLA POLISH

Ok guys. I get SO MANY EMAILS AND COMMENTS asking me where to get Lynnderella polishes. And I totally understand why! But it's gotten so overwhelming to answer you all individually. I don't have time! lol

Lynn has her own blog (and blogsales) here.

And Llarowe sells her stuff here.

So go forth and buy tons of it! And make sure to tell 'em I sent ya!
Thanks for understanding! Lacquerish =0)