If you liked it....

then you shoulda put a ring on it! and Ryan did :P It's not an engagement ring or anything crazy like that, but just a small gift to show me how much he does care about me, and a promise to each other that we'll always be best friends.
As for my mani- I FINALLY used my Glee nail foils from Sephora that I got almost a year ago. They weren't the easiest things to put on. In fact they drove me insane! They wouldn't rip off at the ends the way the Sally Hansen nail polish strips do, so I physically had to cut and file each of these down and that took forever especially since they are foil.
Once on my nails the ends were incredible sharp and I felt like I couldn't touch my face or scratch myself for fear of getting a scratch or a cut haha! I mean they looked AMAZING and i got a ton of compliments on my mani!
They are definitely beautiful, and they lasted me 3 days before I couldn't take it any more and pulled them all off. They probably could have gone another day or two, so their lasting time was impressive to me since their packaging said they would only last a day or two.
Here are my left overs, for a view of the packaging...I completely forgot to take before and during pictures for this mani sadly :(

BIG BIG BIG ZOYA SALE!

Just sayin, Zoya just announced on their blog, a great new sale they are having TODAY to celebrate spring!! BUY 3 GET 3 FREE! Super easy!

step 1) go to Zoya.com, pick out ANY 6 colors, add them to your bag!

Step 2) put in promo code SPRING3 at check out

Step 3) get 3 free polishes and be excited!

Here are all the colors I picked out! Ryan really loves when I wear pink nail polish, so naturally I stocked up on some with this fantastic sale!

Thanks so much Zoya!

Since you've been gone..

It's funny how life has a way of showing us that every exit is an entrance to something else. I went from trying to learn how to breathe again without Josh, to having a really happy life. Once I started letting people into my life who truly loved and cared about me, amazing things started to happen for me. I feel like I have a TON to catch everyone up on!! First things first, I WON A GOLDEN BOX FROM JULEP!!!! more on that later, because it is really a post in its own haha! But look at all my goodies that I won :) ^^^
Secondly, I started dating my best friend, Ryan. I introduced him a little bit in my previous blog post. Him and I have been best friends for what feels like forever. He has always been there for me through thick and thin without question or hesitation. It was difficult for me to let him into my closed off world after everything that happened with Josh, but I thought, you know what, forget Josh, move on and be happy..And that's just what I did, and you know what? I could not be more happy then where I am right now in my life. Letting Ryan is has got to be the best thing that I have ever done for myself. The picture above is of us on our latest trip to Miami this past weekend, we had a blast!
And, to get in the mood for Miami, naturally I had to paint my nails in the most awesome neon pink I could find. My local Bed, Bath and Beyond started carrying small Color Club polishes and I am THRILLED about that!! I picked up a few recently, and this one is Jackie O. I used three coats to make this polish super thick and amazing. I topped it off with a coat of SV. I absolutely adore this color, and the best part is, it didnt chip at all! AT ALL. And I did some crazy things in South Beach! Verdict: I love this color! and Color Club remains my top top top nail polish choice. Hands down.
Look at how it glows!!!!
Lastly, while in Miami Ryan made it one of our missions to get me new nail polish that I haven't seen before, or that I couldn't get closer to where we live. We wandered into American Apparel, and I found these three beauties!!! I loveeee them!!! I can't wait to swatch them for you guys :) of course, Ryan bought me all three because he's the best!!

That's all I have for you guys on my short short recap of whats been going on. In my absence I did do a ton of manis and I will post all about them soon!! Missed you all!

Changing your stripes

On Saturday I felt like pampering myself, and considered going to get my nails done at a salon...then I remember that I'm cheap, so I decided against going out and paying to have them painted lol. I *finally* got my new and long waited for bottle of Color Club "Wild at Heart" purple holographic polish and OH MY GOD it is drop dead gorgeous!!!!
I painted two coats of Wild At Heart on to my nails, and oooohed and ahhhhed over it for about 5 minutes, then I felt like stamping again! Something I haven't done in awhile because quite frankly I have been so worn out from work and my personal life to even want to attempt to stamp my nails haha! So using my Julep polish (can't remember the name right now I'll edit when i get home) I stamped the zebra stripes over my shiny holographic nails. Then topped my mani off with a coat of SV as always.
LOOK AT ALL THE RAINBOWS! just look at this nail polish! If you don't own it, I highly suggest investing the $7 in a bottle off of ebay or amazon! Do it for me :D
These two polishes complimented each other perfectly in my opinion. I am really happy with this mani.

In other sad news, one of my classroom fish died over the weekend, I tried to get rid of it without my kiddos noticing, but of course, our Pet Patrol worker of the week ran up to me in a panic no more than 3 minutes after entering the class hyperventilating the words "MS L!! WHERES THE OTHER FISH?! I ONLY COUNTED 8! WHAT HAPPENED!" :/ kids are too observant these days! I guess tonight I go invest in my fish for my classroom haha

Shattered

I was looking back through my blog at old memories and I became a little reminiscent inside. I thought back to all the time and effort I put into specific manis for special occasions and it made me a little sad to know that those times are gone, and all that remains are the memories. It's like the end of a sad movie I guess. I suppose it is time that I stop re-reading that old chapter in my life and move on...ANYWAY, so I brought out my Butter London polishes once again, and painted my nails in 2 coats of Queen Vic.
Then, I used OPI black shatter, and topped my mani with two coats of SV for shine.
I adore this combination.

Worth the Risque

Finally used my new Color Club Worth the Risque. Its another perfect linear holographic nail polish. I used two coats and topped it with a nice coat of SV. At least the rainbows in this polish can distract me from thinking about a certain someone.
While I may not be happy with my current life circumstances I am happy with this mani. That's a start right?

Wish Upon A Star

I realized today that I have wayyyyy too many blues and purples in my nail polish collection. I can't seem to get away from them! These colors have tended to be my "go to colors" recently. Besides my mani, I have some fun exciting news to share, scroll to the bottom to read all about it!

Today I did my mani using part of my color club Starry Temptress collection, Other Worldly. I've never used this polish before, but this collection hasn't let me down yet!
Other Worldly is a beautiful neo blue with holographic sparkle throughout it. I used two coats for this mani, and I feel as if I could have opted for a third coat. It's a beautiful rich blue and I am a big fan :) I topped it with a coat of Starry Temptress which is a PHENOMENAL glitter top coat. This is my absolute favorite glitter TC to go to! It sparkles and shines and gets SO MUCH glitter onto your nails in one brush. Then of course, I coated this mani with 2 coats of SV for the awesome glass finish.
the dynamic duo. :)

My Alias

When I got home, a package of nail polishes I had ordered from 88 had arrived, in there was my bottle of color club Alias (pictured above). I looked at my bottle for a long time, and identified with its shifting colors. Just as the colors shifted in the light so did I. The only problem is, I am not a duo chrome nail polish meant to be different in different light. I am a person, an individual and I am made to be an individual, to love and be loved.
I painted my names with 3 coats of Alias, topped with a thin coat of SV. Something calming happened when I applied this polish, the shifting on the colors was so much less evident when it was on then in the bottle. Normally this would have peeved me as the shifting colors is the appeal of this polish, but after identifying with it and recognizing the changes in me that I wanted to make, seeing the polish used, and out of its hard case, not changing any more, in a strange way gave me hope. I can and will get better.
Feeling so naked today, and taking a good hard look at me gave me the idea to go out and do something nice for myself to show me that I love me to do the opposite of what my mind has told my heart for so long. So I went to Ulta and picked up the Naked 2 pallette. I love it!
And here is the newest polishes to my slowly growing collection. Sometimes you need to step outside and remind yourself of who you are and who you need to be. I did that today.

I'm feeling like the color purple

In my class at school, I teach the kids to tell me how they are feeling by identifying with a color. So if they are feeling angry, or mad they tell me they are feeling red, if they are happy normally they say they are feeling yellow or blue. I'm feeling a bit purple. How would I describe feeling purple? I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed but happy and strong. I've been super busy planning all sorts of Valentines activities for my kiddos in school, our theme for Valentines Day is "I mustache you to be my valentine" above is a sample picture of me wearing one of our class mustaches :) Anyway, on to the mani!
For Christmas, my awesome friend Nia bought me a TON of nail polishes and my first Rimmel polish! I was happily surprised at how awesome the formula for this polish is! It is a nice thick formula and the brush coats your nail super evenly. I used two coats of Wild Orchid for this mani, but I definitely could have gotten away with just one coat! This polish definitely one of my top favorites....and because I get bored easily, I first topped my mani with a thin swipe of one of my Nicole Justin Bieber mini polishes (which i sadly don't have a name for) and I thought it looked darling.

Then I was out shopping with my mom today and at Walgreens I stumbled upon TWO left over polishes for Wet n' Wild's Ice Baby collection!!! I was really excited *squee* I scooped them both up and added a splash of "Believe me, it's real!" onto my ring fingers. Topped with a thick coat of SV for shine :)
"Believe me it's real" is an awesome small blue glitter with larger purple glitter scattered throughout it. I absolutely LOVE the Ice Baby collection and wish I would have boughten them all when they first came out in October :( but at least I have 3 from the collection!

Sometimes Life Happens

Spring Cleaning. After.
Before: yucky!
I made the decision to clean my room and clean up my life, and find myself, and happiness again. It started with my nail polish collection, because my nail polish has always brought me happiness and joy. I dumped it out and with the help of my dear friend Nia, we went to work organizing my polishes by color.
Getting my polishes organized was such a relief to me. Being able to look at my collection in all its glory I find strangely satisfying haha! And of course, I had to get a mani in with my newest installment of Julep Polishes:
In my February maven package (my first maven package I received in about 3 months, I had been putting my account on hold because I just wasn't passionate about nail painting anymore) I received two gorgeous colors: Glenn (red) and Oscar (Gold sparkle). I like how regal this mani turned out :)

Thanks for staying with me through that drawn out production.

Day 1: Red Nails

YAY! for the start of the 31 day Nail Challenge! Day 1 is red nails, now I didn't know what to do, I'm not really a "red" person, so I thought i would try a new nail technique. I used my SV base coat and painted two coats on my nails, then using the color club top coat, I painted a thick coat over the base coats and promptly shook red glitter all over my nails! I used Recollections ultra fine glitter in Cherry. :)
It was a bit of a messy process, so much extra glitter haha but i loved how glittery and sparkley this mani is!! Although, without a coat over the glitter, it liked to wipe off, and putting a top coat over it didn't work out too well...
But for the time, I really enjoyed this mani and it's a technique that I would definitely use again for a special occasion :)