So Fruity!

Summer is upon us, so it's time for a cocktail... on your nails! These are my festive thumbs--the rest of the nails are a plain pink. The accent thumb isn't too common, but I'm liking it. Don't they call this a texting mani or something like that?

Click here for some more fruity manis!

Review: The Art of Shaving's The Perfect Shave

This post is SO overdue... so much in fact that the picture I had prepared has one of the old watermarks (expect the same with a bunch of LUSH bath bomb posts--my tub is out of commission)! Anyway, I've been wanting to try The Art of Shaving's The Perfect Shave for a while, but wanted to use my samples at the opportune moment. Well, that moment came when I gave myself a terrible case of razor burn on my legs. I tend to sit on my legs (Yes, I know it's bad for my knees!) and when it became too painful to do so because of the razor burn, I figured that the opportune moment to use these samples had presented itself.

This kit is a 3-step process and is very easy to use, yet it's a little time consuming (took me about an hour to shave my legs in my bathroom sink). Did I mention that it's originally for men? I had read about women having good results using it, but I was wondering if the products' scents would be too masculine. They weren't. In fact, the scents were very unisex and pleasant. (EDIT: I just noticed that this product is considered "Unscented", but it does have a scent... I'm assuming they mean "Unscented" in the sense that they didn't add artificial or an additional fragrance, but again, that's just an assumption.)

You start with applying the pre-shave oil, then the shaving cream, then you shave and apply the after-shave balm. All of the products are very thick... So thick in fact, that my sink had a lot of residue left in it. You're supposed to use a single-blade razor and I did not, so my 3-blade razor got a bit clogged. I was able to successfully clean it with hot water later when I was done. Afterwards, my legs looked great! I got a close shave and the skin looked healthy. The after-shave balm lasted a long time as well and held its scent. The next night, my skin was still fairly moisturized (3 showers later). Days later, my skin still felt great. It didn't have that "I'm recovering from a slight trauma!" feeling that my legs tend to have after a normal shaving. I really wish I could buy the after-shave balm on its own, because I'm missing the scent and its lasting power!

SIDE NOTE: Thanks to the New Jersey-ite who used my Zoya Share The Love link! See the right column if you're a new Zoya customer and want to use it, too (I believe you get a sweet coupon also)!

Dotty Ruffian

Sometimes nude nails need a bit of "Hello, this is where the nail starts"!

ADDED: Sorry my posts aren't coming at the usual time--I've scheduled them to post themselves, but for some reason they've stopped!

Earth Day the Beauty Way

I love a lot of things, but my absolute favorite thing is the feeling I get after I send a product to the "great beyond" while at the same time avoiding sending it to the landfill. Therefore, I have a drawer dedicated to recycling where I collect all of my specialty recycle items... aka items that require specialty recycling or items that you can trade in at a certain point to be recycled and *BONUS* get a freebie product! Now, I'd be jazzed to return my empty products to their home store just to be recycled, but who can resist getting something back in exchange for your empties? Here are my top favorite recycle-with-a-bonus offers:

1) MAC Cosmetics' Back To MAC: Collect 6 empty MAC plastic containers (ex. eyeshadows, lip stick tubes, etc.--cardboard boxes, pencils, etc. don't count) and take them to any MAC store to get a free lipstick (I hear Pro stores have the option of getting an eyeshadow or a lipglass instead of lipstick)! No store near you? Visit their website to complete your exchange online. It's super easy to do your Back To MAC exchange at the store--I took in 12 containers, filled out a super brief form, picked out my 2 lipsticks (Cherish and Myth) and was on my way.

2) Kiehl's Recycle & Be Rewarded: Basically, with this program you get a stamp for every full-sized item you return. 3 stamps = free lip balm, 5 stamps = free travel collection product, 10 stamps = free full sized product (up to $65). Bring in 10 items and get all 3 products! They don't count deluxe samples for stamps, but they'll still recycle them for you.

3) Zoya's Earth Day Special: While the previous two offers are good year round, this one has a brief window for participation. If you want to switch over to healthier polishes, exchange your non-Zoya polishes for a discount on new Zoya polishes. They'll properly dispose of your old polishes (did you know that you can't just trash 'em?) when you send them on over to Zoya HQ.

4) Sephora's Origins Earth Day Trade-In Event: Bring in any empty cosmetic product container to a Sephora on April 22, and get receive one of two Origins full-sized moisturizers. See the picture below for details as well as a Sephora online freebie:

"They Call Me Diamondback"

Luxury Comedy fans, here's one for you. This mani is based on Noel Fielding's character, Diamondback, who uses the large amount of googly eyes on his face as percussion in his music.

I didn't have a silver, so I used a baby blue Zoya with Essie's Shine of the Times over it. Then I pressed the googly eyes into the polish while it was still fairly wet so it would be embedded in it. Topped it off with a layer of Seche, which was difficult to get in between the eye spaces.

Done on a nailboard... with bonus stripey nail!

Swatch: Justice For Girls Pink Crackle

Got this as an Easter prezzie from some "Peeps" (thank you--they know who they are!)! I had no clue Justice had a nail polish line so I didn't know what to expect when I put it on. It's a fairly sheer, metallic/frosty pink, but the sheerness works in it's favor because the different levels of opacity when painted on give it visual depth. It crackles fairly quickly and there wasn't a lot of that striping/streaking that some bad crackles do. Paired with blue, this crackle gives off a superhero-y vibe that I love!

The Nerdist Pod-mani

Iiiiiiittttttt'sssss a mani! Iiittt'ss a tribute! It's a mani, it's a tribute, it's a manute? Okay, so that's not as catchy as the Quemment song but I tried, okay?

If you are not aware of The Nerdist, either as a person, industry, podcast, or "way", you've been left behind! Click the links and educate your sheltered self!

This is my tribute to the podcast cover art (Hi Chris, Jonah, and Matt!)... and as you can see, mimicking a font by hand (with a brush) is hard, you guys. I randomly picked 11 as the podcast number which happened to be Eugene Mirman's and God's Pottery's episode. As I recall, that episode was hilarious.

Enjoy your burrito!

Watercolor Nails

Finally, an innovative new nail art application technique that doesn't require searching stores for some bizarre tool or impossible accessory! Aren't these extremely Easter-appropriate, albeit late? And check out those super-ridiculous close-ups! Wowza! See the link below for the easiest and most nail polish efficient tutorial ever.

Original Mani & Tutorial Found Here!

(And for all of you who are like, "I don't have that ultra-professional brush that that lady uses in the video and I can't afford one because this economy has left me poor and I just HAVE to have this look!", I just used an old lip gloss brush that I knew I'd never use again. Easy peasy.)

New Things! Snazzy Things! Announcement Things!

First of all, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to my new readers and followers! It's crazy to think that you guys are actually taking minutes of your life to read my ramblings, so, I thank you all!

Second, the blog has a new look! The color scheme is still the same, but it's just jazzier overall. Hope you like!

Third, new watermarks are going to be used starting in the next post. I used to have a single watermark over my images but recently I discovered that some people were cropping my images to eliminate the watermark and then using that cropped picture on their own sites. Shady, right? C'mon people, I recognize my stubby little fingers when I see them so don't pull stunts like that!

I'm all for sharing content on the internet, so if you want to share something of mine please include a source link (for this blog, that'd be a link to the post that the image was found in...click the title of the post to get the link). Also, please comment with where you've shared my image so I can see what others are saying! Both of these things help me improve this blog because it shows me what you guys, the readers, want or don't want to see.

Welp, that's all for now! Make sure to comment if you have a question... or a comment!

Glamour's Animal Print

Glamour has declared animal prints to be one of the hottest prints of summer:

Scan from The Illustrated Nail

What an easy way to be trendy (well, in the UK at least)! Here it is recreated with black crackle over OPI's Bling Dynasty:

Share The Love--Zoya Style!

Zoya has a new rewards program called Share The Love, which to me, seems like an easy way to earn some good Karma/universe points with your first Zoya order. Basically, if you're making your first Zoya order and don't yet have an account, click the link below and make an account, then (I think) without closing your browser window, place your Zoya order. Easy peasy... and you'll be helping my blog by helping this broke blogger get some Zoya!

Here's the link to click and create/order with:

https://www.artofbeauty.com/rd/0103A696

And I know it's a long shot, but if you do use the link above, I thank you from the cockles of my heart! Now, back to blogging!

EDIT: A huge THANK YOU to the person who got me 100 points!

If I get to 1000 points I can get a Beach or Surf Collection sampler (with 2000 I can get both!), which duh, I will totes swatch for you guys... but only in the month of April, so if you were wanting to buy from Zoya, now's the time!

EDIT TAKE TWO: You get a $5 coupon free bottle of polish to use on your first order if you set up an account with my link above! Go here for official details.

The Ricky Gervais Show

If you have not seen The Ricky Gervais Show on HBO, you're seriously missing out. It stars the cartoon versions (but original voices) of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and "the round-headed buffoon known as Karl Pilkington".

Karl is an interesting individual. He's an idiot, but sometimes he speaks with poignant clarity. He's almost the human embodiment of the saying "from the mouths of babes". You have to experience Karl to understand Karl.

They're out of their sitting order, I know, but my nails are very short so the real estate was allocated to those who needed it. Here's my golden tip for someone attempting nail art like this: Correct with your base color ex. If you screw up a black line, use the tan base color to cover up the black. Karl's face probably has about 2 more bad faces buried under tan polish underneath his current face.

All images belong to HBO, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, & Karl Pilkington