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

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?

Welcome Home!!

Today I signed the papers for my very own apartment!!!! I am really excited about this! It is an adorable one bedroom place with the "luxury" package. I can't wait to hit up ikea :P Here is a fun holographic mani. I used the ah-may-zing Color Club Fashion Addict, in 3 coats, because lets face it, i love this polish!!
Using my BM plates I added cute floating feathers. I felt the feathers were appropriate since I am feeling free as a bird now that I have my very own home. I used Sinfuls Black on Black for the stamping and of course topped my mani with a coat of SV.

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.

Sweet Sunday Moments

It's been one heck of a rainy weekend here, and Josh worked again today, so I had a lot of time to stay inside and get some work done for my classroom, and of course...on my nails! I was looking through my nail polish collection wondering if I should paint my nails before seeing Josh tonight and I decided that I should just do it! I've been using a lot of bland fall colors recently and I needed something bright and cheery for such a rainy day. I busted out my Color Club Starry Temptress boxed set that I got at Ross a while ago but never used. I chose to use Space Case-and I love the color!
It's a really pale neon pink, think bubble yum gum color. This is the only color in the collection that also has a soft shimmer of iridescent shimmer to accompany the holographic sparkle. I used 3 coats of Space Case, two coats was really sufficient but I wanted to make the color pop, so I added a third coat. The polish dried in a weird almost matte finish and the glitter is not too noticeable, which made me a bit sad to see...
but thats when I added the AMAZING Starry Temptress topcoat!! And boy oh boy does this sparkle polish really get the dazzle on there. I have never used a glitter polish that actually PUTS glitter on your nail. In one swipe of the brush my entire nail would be covered in a perfect coat of glitter.
I finished off the mani with a coat of SV to give it that signature glassy shine that I love!

I've had a lot of time the past few days to reflect on some things, like my relationship with Josh. And the quote above describes how I feel about my relationship perfectly. I got to visit him today at the fire station for a few hours. We sat and talked to the other firefighters and medic for a bit, and I couldn't help but stare at him. Not in a weird creepy stalker type of way, but looking at him is mesmerizing to me. I just love him, so much.

So after I saw Josh, I met up with a dear friend of mine, Heather, at Applebees and we girl chatted for a few hours! It was a ton of fun, and always is with her. She's a super good friend of mine...and the best part is, I totally got her into nail polish!! haha! she just bought her first OPI polish, I'm so proud I could cry <3

Hot off the Press! Newspaper Mani

Josh picked up a shift at work yesterday, which gave me some unexpected time to myself..so what did I do?? Searched youtube for fun nail polish videos! One of my favorite nail enthusiasts to watch is Cute Polish. She does the most amazing, cute and quirky nail designs :) I've seen the news paper mani done before, but after watching a quick video on it, I decided to give it a shot!
I used one of my unnamed Color Club minis from a set that I picked up at ross a little while ago. I wish this color had a name because it is such a sweet gray/lavender. It was pretty sheer so I had to apply 3 coats to get it to a nice opaque finish. I made the mistake of putting a thin coat of SV on it before I started to apply the newspaper. Doing this caused the news paper print to transfer really lightly :( I know for next time to not apply a top coat before doing the transfer! I finished off the mani with a coat of SV to protect the news print from rubbing off.
This picture captured the color of the polish super well. It's a great fall color, and one that I would use again some time soon! :)
ALSO! some exciting news! My new nail plates arrived yesterday from Born Pretty!!! I received 16 image plates!! ahhh so excited!!

All Your Life inspired Mani

One of my favorite things about Josh is his Southern charm. I'm not exactly sure why, but he always makes me feel "free" like the American dream type free. Did that make any sense? haha, I'm not sure! Anyway, he started to get me into country music, and to ease into the the transition, I started to listen to one of the more pop country bands that I liked the most, the Band Perry. Their music video for the song "All Your Life" always inspires me to be creative.
When I was listening to it this morning I knew that I had to create a mani based off of it. I used my *brand* new Color Club Love 'Em Leave 'Em holographic polish. I LOVE IT! I used two coats of it, and one coat would have been enough! It's the perfect amount of sparkle, and the perfect shade of country tan. I topped it off with a thin coat of SV for the glassy shine.
Just look at all the holographic sparkle in the sun light!! LOOK AT IT! ^^^
In all, this is probably my new favorite go-to color for fall. I love the simplicity, yet girl-yness of the polish. Color Club is definitely my top polish company at the moment :)

Polish Swap & OMG IT'S HOLOGRAPHIC!

So! Yesterday, I got to have the most perfect morning with my good friend & fellow polish addict Karen! (she also has a polish blog right HERE) We met up at Starbucks to enjoy the first warm drink of the fall season together :) and that's where the magic happened and we traded our polishes!
These are the beautiful polishes that Karen swapped with me: (left to right) Orly Pixie Dust, OPI A-Rose at Dawn..Broke By Noon, Zoya Tallulah, OPI I'm India Mood for Lovin, and Finger Paints Go Van Gough! I absolutely LOVE all these colors and can't wait to use them!!
After Starbucks, Karen and I headed over to Ulta and then Bed Bath and Beyond to get a little polish shopping in. Ulta is having super great deals right now on polishes plus they have a $5 off coupon!! Above is Karen at BB&B picking out some new Sinful Colors polishes!! We had a blast together lol, especially when I spotted two of the coveted Color Club holographic polishes, to which I shouted "it's holographic? IT'S HOLOGRAPHIC!" and promptly scooped them up!
I scored Color Clubs two holographic polishes Love em & Leave em, and Fashion Addict!!
Ulta was having a clearance sale on their old style polishes and I scored this beauty for $2! Ulta salon polish in Set The Nude
On my way to check out I spotted these in a new Essence display for their new @holographic.com collection. So I scooped up 2 of the 3 polish colors in: Gagalectric, and Prism@tic White. They look promising, I can't wait to give them a try :)
And last of my haul is 3 new Sally Hansen Xtreme wear polishes (since they were buy 2 get 1 free at Ulta) in Bubblegum Pink, Grey Area, and Ivy League!