Liebster Blog Award

Rules 

- Copy and paste the award on your blog.

- Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

- Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Thank you to Tyne at Lovebeangirl for nominating me for this award! This award is for up and coming nail bloggers, people who have less than 200 followers. Such a lovely award!
I love Tyne's blog. She is super sweet and thoughtful, she responds to every single one of the comments that her readers leave! If I had received this award from someone else, she would have been one of the first nominated!


Interestingly enough, my current favorite blogs are smaller blogs with less than 200 followers. I chose 6 blogs to share instead of 5 :)


Polish and Pigments- Not your typical swatch/review blog. MK is so detailed and organized with lists of products for frankening and how they performed. A gem for the franken community. 


Karla's Nail Design- Karla shows us that you can find a silver lining in the darkest cloud. Going through some tough times she found solace in nail polish and nail art. It became her passion and now she is studying to be a nail technician. She was so talented before her formal training, so I can only imagine how promising her future career will be! 

Lil Smug Pug- 2 of my favorite things EVER are nail polish (DUH!) and pugs. Well one day I randomly typed "pugs nail polish" in Google and I found this blog. Anyone who swatches nail polish with a PUG in the background is just simply amazing. Every time I go to her blog I smile. Too cute. I want to make friends with her and her pug.

Je T'aime Lacquer- I recently found her blog and I am digging her nail art. How cool is her Halloween "buried alive/clawed out of the grave" manicure? Super cool!!

Men and Nail Polish- Jim is a regular guy who happens to like nail polish. He believes nail polish should be for everyone, and I agree. 

EyeGraffiti- Ok so this isn't a nail blog like the rest, but Phlox and Azure do some wild makeup looks!! In addition to creative colorful eye looks, there are some funky cool lip looks as well. Red-yellow-green gradient lips? Whoa!


3 other blogs that I currently like but wouldn't qualify for this award:


More Nail Polish- An Aussie mom with a passion for frankening. But not just any normal frankening. Spectraflair and color shifting pigments! LOVE. Also, some really good swatches of drool worthy Ozotics. Which I will have to settle for just the pics as they are very expensive to ship to the USA. Oh well! 


LoodieLoodieLoodie- She has the most gorgeous nails! Super curved and a nice shape and length. She is very informative on nail care and has a great sense of humor!


My Nail Graffiti- Amber and her artist husband team up to make some awesome nail art and frankens! If you like what you see you can buy them too. They also are selling XL and XXL nail plates. I definitely have to get some!!

Uh oh. I'm on a rant.

Uh oh. I think someone just pissed off a lot of bloggers. Hannah Lee from Nailsmag. Check out the article here. And the "apology" here.

I have yet to meet a nail technician who is as passionate about nails as I am.

Yes, they do it for a living and have expertise on things that I am not licensed or trained to do. No, they are not always up on the latest nail trends. I once asked for a leopard print design and I got a crazy look. Really?? Leopard print? Any nail art blogger worth their salt could do that with their eyes closed!

The very few times a year I get my nails professionally done, I pretty much always bring my own polish. Why? Because I'm bored with the usual selection of Essie sheers and pinks and a few outdated OPIs. And guess what? Nearly every time I get complimented on the "unique" color I bring. Also I introduced OPI Black Shatter to my local nail salon last winter/spring. I had it on my nails when I came in for a wax and the OWNER loved it. She took down the name and bought it for her salon. But anyone who reads nail blogs knew about OPI Shatter for months before it was available to the public.

Once I discovered nail blogs my interest in nails grew exponentially. I always had a fascination with nail polish but reading blogs really opened my eyes to a whole new world of color, design, products, and style. I now know how to take better care of my nails, not because of a nail tech but because of the blogs I read. I am not a professional blogger, nor am I a consistent blogger, but my friends ask me for color advice and tips and tricks. When someone asks me about something I don't know, I don't pretend to know. I am not a professional... yet? LOL. I am considering getting into the field. And you know what? If I did, I would still read blogs and take inspiration from them. Because if you care enough to spend your free time seeking out products, swatching, taking photographs, reviewing, and writing... you must really love it. When you are passionate about something you want to know as much as you can about the subject.

I understand that the article was written with the intended audience to be nail professionals. But why the harsh words toward nail bloggers? Calling us polish junkies looking for free handouts? Most bloggers buy their own products and review/promote. Nail techs have the license and training, but bloggers do more for companies because we advertise for free for them.  Maybe the nail industry needs to step up their game a little bit. If there was a TRENDY, clean, local salon with a better selection of polish, I would probably get my nails done professionally more often. Perhaps the problem lies within the consumer. Do people accept these tired trends of harsh square shaped french tipped acrylics/polish with a frosty 90's finish because that is all they are offered? Or is it because this is what most people like? I feel like if certain salons promoted new trends, it would bring some excitement and possibly more business.

I want to thank all the nail bloggers out there. Keep doing what you are doing! I am so glad I have discovered a community of people from around the world who share my hobby. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and pictures. You all are awesome! <3

Lynnderella

If you are a fan of frankening and/or beautiful unique glitters check out Lynnderella. If you haven't already heard of this franken master, do yourself a favor and Google image search her and her glorious masterpieces.
You can now buy her creations at the above link. $12 per bottle and minimum of 5 bottles.
My personal favorite is "Connect the Dots"! 

Jelly Gradient

My nails are still stained but I bought Develop 10 Nail Whitening Scrub today. Hopefully that will help. Since my nails now NEED to be covered, I decided to play around and try something I have never tried before. I used Deborah Lippmann "Yellow Brick Road" and OPI "Guy meets Gal-Veston".
It reminds me of those rainbow ice pops. Very summer. :)

HELP! Nail Drama :(

Last Thursday I put on Milani Fresh Teal with OPI Silver Shatter over it. I used Seche Vite, and for some reason it yellowed the polish, but it actually worked out better. It looked like a nice jade with a gold-ish silver-sh crackle pattern. I was in a hurry and carelessly did not use a base coat.

I kept it on all weekend and today I decided I needed a change. As I began to remove the polish I noticed it was leaving a blue-green stain behind. I then switched to 100% acetone polish remover, but still no luck.
It has been about 4 months since I had my UV gel fiasco (see this post) and the damage is almost fully grown out. But now my nails are stained blue. :( :( :(

Any suggestions? Do I treat then like yellowed nails? I never had my nails this stained before!

Deborah Lippmann "Yellow Brick Road"

I saw Lady Gaga wearing this color at the Grammys this year. I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about it in real life. A yellow jelly? Hmmm.

Once I tried it on, I realized it is extremely sheer. It took 4 to 5 coats to the opacity that I wanted.

Overall I GUESS I like this color. I think it would look better on a darker skin tone. It is very unique and trendy. Not something I would yearn for in a few years or even next season. It reminds me of egg yolk. How appropriate for Gaga when she came out of the egg!

My yellow collection! (I think there are more, but these are my favs)

And speaking of yellow, my boyfriend brought these to me today because he knows how much I love yellow lately and to cheer me up because I'm sick (just a slight cold).  Earlier today he hinted by saying that I should paint my nails yellow lol :D

**Note- "Yellow Brick Road" is available in my Blog Sale/Trade section!!!**

**Note- This product was bought by me and not sent to me for review.**

China Glaze Crackle Metals

UPDATE: I haven't been painting my nails very often during the last few months. In January I got UV Gel nails applied, and silly me, I thought it was the nice easy on your nails soak off color gel. Boy was I wrong. I had them on for bout 2 weeks and loved them, but I picked up playing the violin again and had to cut my nails short. When I went to the salon to have them removed I was shocked when the nail tech took out one of those drill files to remove the gel... and most of the surface of my nail bed. Needless to say I was traumatized for a few weeks, until I got used to my new ultra short paper thin scuffed up visible pink nail surface peeling nails. I have still painted my nails from time to time, but they are nowhere near how they used to be. The good news is that the damage is ALMOST done growing out but it will be sometime in the summer until they are back 100%. 

Today I ordered China Glaze Crackle "Broken Hearted" from Sally Beauty Supply. I have "Lightening Bolt" and "Crushed Candy", but I am dreaming of a nice yellow (IMO, the "It" color of summer 2011) with some pink crackle layered over it.

While on my search I came across this information. China Glaze is releasing a metallic crackle line!! I know OPI is releasing a few more shatter colors, but only one metallic (silver, which comes out in May). I wonder how the formula is going t be on these. I heard some complaints about China Glaze "Fault Line", which was a purple with a metallic sheen. A few people said that it might have been due to the metallic finish. I guess only time will tell for these ones! 

I am super excited for the gold and aqua ones!

Tarnished Gold - Gold Metal Crackle

Cracked Medallion - Bronze Metal Crackle 

Platinum Pieces - Silver Metal Crackle 

Latticed Lilac - Lavender Metal Crackle 

Haute Metal - Pale Pink Metal Crackle 

Oxidized Aqua - Aquamarine Metal Crackle 

Pictures and info courtesy of:

http://poshnail.blogspot.com/2011/04/china-glaze-crackle-metals-preview.html

Five Year Old Makeup Guru!

I love this girl! So cute! I want her to review some sparkly pink nail polishes! :)

Cosmic Confetti Cake

A franken made with 1/2 Essie "Nude Beach" and 1/2 Ulta "Starstruck". I added a top coat of Starstruck because I wanted more of a holo glitter finish.

OPI "Pirates Of The Caribbean"

I'm very excited for the "Silver Shatter" and "Stranger Tides"!

**The above picture courtesy of Claire from www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk**

Check out some swatches here:

http://thebeautybite.blogspot.com/2011/02/opi-pirates-of-caribean-on-stranger.html

OPI "Femme De Cirque"

For the sheer polish lovers:

"So Many Clowns...So Little Time" - a pale cream with a hint of pink

"In The Spot Light Pink" - a soft candy pink

"I Juggle Men" - a very sheer translucent white with blue duochrome-y micro glitter

"Step Right Up" - a sheer pink

White and Silver Shatter by OPI!

I'm kicking myself for not running to Ulta on January 24th when they told me the Katy Perry Collection and Black Shatter would be in stock. I have since gotten 2 of the colors I wanted, "Not Like The Movies" (I love it!) and "Last Friday Night"(I'm a little disappointed). But I'm still drooling over "Black Shatter". At first I thought I could live without it. But as I organize my polish collection, I am finding all these colors that I feel would just go GREAT with the shatter effect. I finally caved into the desire. I'm looking online to buy "Black Shatter" right now as I post this. :)

I came across some interesting information. OPI will be releasing a white and a silver shatter polish in April! I am aware that China Glaze is releasing a Crackle Glaze collection, but I hadn't heard about these follow up Shatter colors from OPI.

The White Shatter will be paired with another color in a Serena Williams Grand Slam collection. Check out that awesome gold color! I love white and gold polish combos! :)

*Edit*- The gold polish is called "Spark De Triomphe", a cool toned dense gold glitter with sparse larger glitter mixed in.

What do you think? Do you like the return of the shatter/crackle polish trend?