Lost City Of... Atlantis?

Nothing To Disclose

Hello, lovelies!  We are in the second half of the hot hot hot week!  Not many words today, just a couple pictures.  I recently found my bottle of China Glaze Atlantis and thought I'd post a couple pictures.  Take a look!

My bottle is old.  It is thick.  It stinks.  It's half empty.  But I love it!  It's such a pretty polish.  :)  It was one of the first ones I ever bought at Sally Beauty!  I'm sad it isn't core anymore.  

Thanks for stopping in! 

 

LAYLA Magneffects

Hi everyone!  Quick question: Are you sick of my magnetic posts yet?  No?  GOOD!  I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon!  BEST TREND EVER!  That being said, I have a different brand today.  LAYLA. 

Layla is an Italian company that boasts claims such as being the first nail polish company in Italy and one of the innovators behind magnetic polishes.  Or, at least distributing them to the masses in the rest of the world.  While they have branched out into other trends, they are certainly most known for this one.  (Note: I did NOT use a top coat with these.  I also didn't use a base, since the bottle stated that no base is needed and they won't stain.  I wanted to test that out!) 

Turquoise Wave

This here is the real "no stain" test.  I didn't have it on very long, but it didn't show any sign of staining.  Which, as you all know, isn't very common with turquoise polishes!  It applied much like other magnetic polishes.  Thick, but workable.  You only really need one coat if you are feeling thrifty!  This is two, though.  It's just gorgeous! 

Golden Bronze

Golden Bronze is absolutely gorgeous!  I couldn't capture it properly.  If you do it just right, you can get a third color to pop out in the middle of the darker strips. I included two pictures, hoping you could see it!  It's like a tiger's eye. This shade truly reminds me of a stone!  

I didn't think I needed to take a picture of the magnet.  It is in the lid, which is a little awkward to get used to.  You kind of have to be creative so you don't get it on the inside of your hand.  It doesn't take long to get used to, though.  The thing that is different with this magnet is that you can actually see where the line is.  The lid is embossed with it so you can tell where and how you are positioning it.  It really makes it easy to get consistent patterns without much error.  That is a huge deal for me!  I can't line stamps up to save my life and I'm sure if I couldn't actually see the magnet placement, I wouldn't be able to do this either.  

Layla currently distributes 12 shades to the US.  On the Italian site there are 24, but I don't know if those are only going to be available overseas of if they will eventually make it here.  I can't read Italian!  ;)  Magneffects retail for $15.50 each, but include the magnet in the price so it's not as bad as it could be.  They are sold several places online including amazon.com, zappos.com, aveyou.com and drugstore.com.  

I really like these and the remaining colors are going on my wish list.  I'm hoping this trend doesn't fizzle out too soon!  What do you think of it??  Thanks for reading! 

*Products provided for consideration.  All opinions are my own.*

Come On Let Me See Your Peaco-co-cock!

Hi everyone!  I've been really busy lately, and I've been seeing an upswing in views and comments... I love it!  THANK YOU so much!  I'm glad to see you all back! :)  Today I just have a simple mani I wore last week.  I used Icing Pretty As A Peacock that Erika sent me for my birthday.

I don't wear plain colors very often, so I put Color Club Sugar Plum Yum on top!  So pretty, and smells SO GOOD!  

Aren't they pretty together?  I am so so happy that I picked those glitters up!  Do you like it?  

Thanks for looking! 

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month: Teal Toes: Giveaway

Hi everyone!  Today I have a special post, and I'm a little behind.  I meant to post this in the morning, like I usually do, but I fell asleep super early last night and didn't get my nails painted... Then some stuff came up with family tonight.  I'm just now getting around to it.  I'm sorry.  This might all be old news by then!  Oh, and forgive my hands.  They are stained from walnuts.  My "city boy" cousin has never seen one before, so he didn't know what was inside the fuzzy green thing and I had to show him. :)

If any of you haven't heard by now, September has been officially designated as Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.  Keeping in tradition of other awareness groups, the color chosen for OC month is teal. President Obama has declared September 2 as "Wear Teal" day.  As bloggers, we all decided to paint out toes/fingernails with the official Teal Toes polish to commemorate the first official wear teal day.

Teal Toes is a foundation that was created to spread awareness of ovarian cancer.  Their mission is simple: Use a conversation starter (in this case, painting your toenails teal) to begin dialog about the symptoms of cancer.  Simple.  When someone asks you about the colors on your toes, you tell them about it.  They even have cards to hand out with the symptoms outlined on the back to make it even easier.  For information about the foundation and symptoms/stats/more information please visit: http://www.tealtoes.org/welcome.

Diamond Cosmetics contacted Teal Toes about being a partner, and will now donate $0.25 of every bottle of their new color "Don't Teal My Heart Away" to oc research.  Given that fact, Diamond Cosmetics has kind of become the official Teal Toes polish for bloggers.  I happen to have some as well.  :)  Since I don't want to show my toes, and I thought I wouldn't be going anywhere today, I painted my fingernails.  I just did the Don't Teal My Heart Away, with a coat of Essence Edward on the accent nails.  I got a beautiful mani from it.

I am disappointed that the mani's amazingness didn't translate on camera.  You'll just have to trust me though.  As for the tip wear, not sure where it came from!  You can't see it irl!  

So, to help raise awareness, I am giving away three bottles of Diamond Cosmetics Don't Teal My Heart Away.  

Anyone in the world can enter, all you need to do is leave a comment telling me what your favorite cause is.  What do you donate to the most?  What is most dear to your heart?  I will pick a winner Tuesday morning.  

Thanks for looking!  I can't wait to read all your responses :)  Have a great weekend! 

FOTM: Wet N Wild Teal of Fortune

Hi everyone!  How's your weekend going?  

I love that I decided to do these finish features.  I can take swatch photos all at once (which is turning out to be a necessity.. no sun in Iowa this summer!) and load the pictures so they'll be waiting for me as a draft.  Turns out, this is a GREAT idea because I've kind of been super busy lately!  Yesterday I went to the water park with my friend and her two kids and had an AMAZING time.  I haven't been swimming in years.  Which is kind of bad because I forgot all of the breathing techniques that used to be second nature to me.  Sad face.  But I had a blast!  I was even a big girl and went on the drop slide.  BIG step for me.  I HATE heights and falling!  lol  It was amazing.  I am so tired and so burnt and didn't have time to repaint my nails after the chlorine destroyed them.... so this is why I'm thankful that I started this post weeks ago :)  Does anyone have any tips for swimming and keeping nail polish on?  By the end of the day every nail had popped off, and even my pedicure (which usually lasts MONTHS if I let it) was chipped!  HELP! 

Enough of that.  Here are some pictures of this gorgeous beauty!

Very similar to Zoya Charla. Don't you think??

haha I have such ugly VNL!  lol

I'm in love with this polish (I bet you've never heard me say that! LOL).  I'm not really sure how to describe it.  It's a darker teal with goldish and blueish type specks in it.  If I'm not clear, and it doesn't appear that I am, it looks like Zoya Charla.  I'm not sure if they are exact dupes, but they are VERY close.  I'll have to do a comparison sometime.  Downfall of this polish?  Besides being sheer, like all jellies, it STAINED.  I was afraid to swatch it!  I had swatched on my thumb when I bought it and my cuticles were blue for a week.  So bad!  Ugh.  I hate when great polishes are ruined by staining.  Boo.

Anyway, any tips you have about pools and nails?  Anything you want to see in the coming weeks?  I love hearing from you guys!  Thanks so much for looking! 

Listening to: Animal (Glee Version) - Neon Trees (Glee Cast)
Habits, 2010