Sunday, April 28, 2013

Bad Ass Polish Copper Waters

PR Sample

Hey y'all!  Today I have swatches of Copper Waters by Bad Ass Polish to share with you.

Bad Ass Polish "Copper Waters" over OPI Unforgretably Blue
BadAss Polish Copper Waters


Bad Ass Polish Copper Waters over China Glaze In Awe of Amber
Bad Ass Polish Copper Waters 

Copper Waters is a clear base with copper and blue glitter.  I love it over the blue, that was my favorite way I wore it.  I think it would also be gorgeous over black.  

You can check out BadAss Polish on their website or facebook. 

 Some products in this post were sent for review. 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

China Glaze Hologlam Collection Part 2

PR Samples

Hello!  Today I have the 2nd part of the China Glaze Hologlams swatches that I have. You can see Part 1 HERE

 China Glaze "Sci-Fly By"

China Glaze "Not In This Galaxy"

China Glaze "Astro Hot"

I love these too!  Great formula, went on smooth and opaque in two coats.  Sci-Fly by is my favorite of these, although Astro Hot is a close, close second.  

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

China Glaze Hologlam Collection Swatches~Part 1

PR Samples

Hey y'all!  Today I have three of the new China Glaze Hologlam polishes to share.  These are so pretty.  They're the perfect mix of metallic and holographic.  LOVE!!!  

China Glaze "Strap On Your Moon Boots"

 China Glaze "Don't Be a Luna-Tic"

 China Glaze "Galactic Gray"

 These are really beautiful polishes.  I was hoping for a bit more holo but I do love them regardless.  Galactic Gray and Strap On Your Moon Boots were a bit thick but they are still managable, nothing a little thinner can't fix.  

Strap On Your Moon Boots is my favorite for this set, I love that dark blue color, it's really nice.  

 
The products in this post were sent for review and my honest, unbiased opinion.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Gel Color by OPI Russian Navy with Flower Nail Art.

Hey y'all!  I wanted to share a look I did a few weeks ago using OPI Gel Color in Russian Navy.  I love doing these little swirl roses, they are so simple but so stinking cute. 





I forgot to cap the edges so it shrunk when I cured it but it really wasn't too noticeable unless you were close up. 

I did a coat of Gel Color Russian Navy and cured it then added the flowers in regular polish and then added the gel topcoat and cured it again.  I love this look! 

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week! XOXO

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Bad Ass Polish~Chocolate Covered Cherry~Swatch and Nail Art

PR Sample sent for review

Hey y'all! Today I have a gorgeous new polish to share with you from Bad Ass Polish.  This beauty is "Chocolate Covered Cherry".  This is two coats over one coat of Essie Mink Muffs. 


Chocolate Covered Cherry is a clear base and it packed with pink and bronze micro glitter.  It is super sparkly and it epitomizes a chocolate covered cherry. It's really beautiful. 

You know me, even the most beautiful of polishes needs a little nail art and what would be better to add than a chocolate covered cherry accent nail???  ;) 


It also works amazingly for glitter gradients too.  I used Essie Mink Muffs for the base color here as well.   LOVE!!!! 



You can grab your very own BadAss Polish on Etsy for $11.75 (plus shipping). 

Some products in this post were sent for review.  All opinions are honest and unbiased. 

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Cartoon Nail Art~Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh + Hello Kitty!

Happy Sunday!  Today I wanted to share some nail art I did on one of my classmates a few weeks ago. Kind of a random mash up but first she wanted Mnnie & Pooh bear. 


Then the next day she asked me to add Mickey and Hello Kitty. :)


I had another good week at school.  This week's book lesson was on the history and origins of cosmetics and nail products.  It was an interesting lesson.

Here's a few facts I learned that I found really interesting:

~Cleopatra had the first cosmetics factory erected in 50 B.C..  It was built right by the Dead Sea.
~Cleopatra preferred a rust-red nail hue.
~Queen Nefertiti used a henna paste to stain her nails a deep red.

 ~During the Shang Dynasty around 1600 BC, the Chinese Aristocrats rubbed tinted gum arabic, gelatin, beeswax and egg whites on their nails to turn them crimson or black.
~Throughout the Chou Dynasty (1100 BC), gold and silver nails were strictly reserved for royal family members and anyone else caught wearing them was faced with a punishment of death.
~During the Golden Age of Greece, the Greek women used white lead powder on their faces and ground cinnabar (a red mineral that is a source of mercury o.O) on their lips and cheeks.  Ouch! 
~In 1908 Max Factor began manufacturing and selling make up to movie stars that wouldn't cake up or crack.
 ~1910 Flowery Manicure Products made the very first emery board that was very much like what we use today.
~In 1932 Charles Revson introduced the first mass-market nail polishes.  He was inspired by paint that was used in the auto industry.
~In the 60's actual nail clippings were used to add length to your nails using model airplane glue and thin strips of cotton.  Nail techs created "nail banks" that consisted of nail clippings donated by clients.  Thats pretty gross, I'm just sayin' lol
~In the 70's the first monomer and polymer (acrylics) nail services were offered.
~Also in the 70's, the French Manicure was invented by a man named Jeff Pink.
~In 1998 Creative Nail Design (CND) introduced the first spa pedicure system to the professional beauty industry.

I made a 104% on my test...yay me!  This was really an interesting lesson though. 

Well, thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your little history lesson lol  XOXO 

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Wedding Nails using OPI Gel Polish

Hey y'all!  My title was probably a little misleading, these are not MY wedding nails haha.  They are done on my nails but not for my wedding.  I've been married for about 13 years but if I were getting married I would love these to be my wedding nails.  These beauties were done by one of my sweet classmates, Kandie.  She is very talented and I love when she does my nails for me.  This french mani was done using OPI gel Alpine snow. 




I am seriously loving the gel polishes.  Don't get me wrong, we know I love my regular polish but in this job gel is going to be my bff!  Working on other people's hands makes it hard to keep a nice polish on myself so gel is perfect.  And I love how elegant and sweet this french manicure is, she did a great job, don't you think? 


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Nail Art Gallery Magazine!!!

I didn't plan to do another post until later on this week but I'm just too excited and had to share. If you haven't heard yet, Nails Magazine now has a free bi-monthly digital nail magazine.  The April/May edition came out today and guess what....I'M IN IT!!!!  Ahhhh!  I'm just a little excited if you can't tell lol. 

I am on page 32, you can view the entire magazine HERE.  I recognized several names in this one.  Here's a screen shot of my page:


I'm Amber Dunson by the way, the Grumpy Carebear nails are mine.  You can view the original blog post HERE.  I was emailed back in December and they asked if I wanted to be in the magazine and of course my answer was "Yes!".  You don't say no to that, I'm just sayin'. lol  I immediately bought a subscription to Nails Magazine because I thought I'd be in the print version but this is just as awesome! It's SO exciting! 

Thanks for listening to me brag for a second ;)  Have a great day!  XOXO   




Monday, April 1, 2013

OPI Can't Let Go and Get Your Number

Hey, hey, hey!  I can't believe I haven't posted since March 17th.  I'm such a slacker lately, I know. Actually, I'm really just a blogging slacker, I've been pretty busy.   Last week I was on spring break and we took a family vacation to the beach for 6 days.  We had a great vacation, it was awesome to get away from real life and just relax.  My kids had never been to the ocean before and the LOVED every minute of it.  It was only like 65 degrees the whole time we were there but it was sunny and we still played in the water.  I even came home with a nice red sunburn. o.O  How I can be adamant about putting sunscreen on my kids and not remember to put it on MYSELF I'll never know.  I guarantee I won't forget again.  It's been about a week since I got burned and I still can't wear a bra with straps haha. We still had a lot of fun even though I was pretty miserable the last couple of days.  It was so much fun seeing my kids play in the sand and the ocean.  We will definitely be making a trip to the beach again when we can.

This week it's back to reality.   I'm almost half way through my nail course and I'm already starting to get a couple of job prospects that I'm super excited about.  Louisiana is different than a lot of states, they don't require any kind of apprenticeship, you can go straight into the workforce once you get your license.  But we are required more hours than those states that require an apprenticeship, we pretty much get that training in school instead of a salon. I should be done mid-July and take my state boards late July or early August.  It's so nerve wracking but so exciting!

Anyhoo, in the spirit of my vacation I thought today I'd show you some OPI liquid sands that I got a few weeks ago.  These were my first purchase from Armstrong McCalls.  Being a student (and licensed shortly) definitely has it's perks as far discounts go.  Knowing I'll never pay $9 to $12 again for OPI makes me giddy.   lol

This is OPI Can't Let Go paired with Get Your Number. 




I was really surprised by how much I liked these textured polishes.  I have not been impressed by swatches online and thought I wouldn't like the texture on but I was wrong.  I LOVE it!  What do you think about Liquid Sands and other textured polishes like this? 

P.S.  I also finally got my big OPI Nail Tech kit at school last week.  I have been thinking about doing a video showing all the goodies I got would that be something you would interested in seeing?