Reeses Pieces Nails!

The theme for Nail Art Ideas Linkup this week is TREATS AND SWEETS.  This time of year I think of trick or treating- and aaaahhh those lovely little bite-size candy bars and single-serving packs of candy!!  When I was a kid I remember dumping out all my halloween candy on the floor and I’d gauge how successful the night was based on how many chocolate and peanut butter treats I had.  If I had 6 or more full-size peanut butter cups then I hit the motherload!!!  Throw a bunch of mini snickers on top of that and I’m in heaven.  Chocolate and peanut butter- I LOVE YOU.

Well, since I love PB so much I felt inspired to do some Reese’s Pieces nails!  Check me out!

My cream-colored nails were easy to do- I made some some simple dots with a large dotting tool- hopefully the dots look like little Reese’s Pieces!  I also wanted to spell out the word REESE’S.  But I thought it would be hard to paint directly on my nails so I painted the word on a plastic baggy instead and made my own peel-off DIY decals.   Here’s an example of how I’ve done DIY decals in the past: Hunger Games Mockingjay Nails.  The word REESE’S came out kind of long and a bit too-stretched out to fit on one nail, so I had to snip the word into three segments.  This allowed me to span the word across three of my nails.  If you apply a decal like this on top of tacky or still-wet nail polish then it will stick pretty well.  Unfortunately I got some bubbles at the end when I applied my seche topcoat.  But it still looks cool and I guess the bubbles aren’t too noticeable.

Here’s a list of what I used

base coat ♥ Sally Hansen Maximum Growth

off-white ♥ Fresh Paint Coconut

bright orange ♥ Zoya Paz

light orange ♥ AVON Orange Creamsicle

bright yellow ♥ Sinful Colors Pull Over

light yellow ♥ Butter London Cheeky Chops

brown ♥ Sinful Colors Nirvana

top coat ♥ Seche Vite

I also had to add this cute prop to my photo.  Reese’s Pieces were one of E.T.’s fave snacks in the movie, right?  Well, check out my authentic E.T. movie stickers from 1982!  It’s hard to believe that I held on to these for 31 years!  I’m only 36 right now so I’ve been in possession of these stickers most of my life.  Crazy, right?  Here’s a little movie trivia for you- I just read that the movie production company wanted E.T. to eat M&M’s instead, but the Mars brand turned them down on the free product placement.  Their second choice was Hershey’s… who said YES, of course.  That’s why E.T. was always munching on Hershey’s Reese’s Pieces.  Apparently, Reese’s Pieces sales skyrocketed after the movie was released!  Who woulda thought an alien would persuade us to eat more candy like that?

I hope you like my Reese’s Pieces nails!!  Feel free to create your own TREATS AND SWEETS mani, or try out any of the other October NAIL themes!  The links are open all month:

Breast Cancer Awareness :

Autumn Trees :

Things That Go Bump in the Night :

Treats and Sweets :

Hallow E’en :

Nail Art Ideas Linkup (NAIL)- Sand Theme

Today I’m sharing my SAND-inspired manicure for our Nail Art Ideas Linkup for August.  Sand makes me think of my beige bottle of Zoya Pixie Dust called Godiva.  The textured finish really reminds me of beaches so this was a great choice for this theme.  To jazz up my Godiva I paired it with some NCLA Nail Wraps called Ally En Vogue..  These wraps were provided to me by Nail Polish Canada and I reviewed another set of them back in May- Jazzy Nail Wraps.  I painted 6 of my nails with Godiva and covered the other 4 in the NCLA wraps.  Here’s a better shot of the wraps…

I’m enjoying wearing Godiva while on my vacay- it’s holding up better than my other polishes were.  Much less chips.  The nail wraps didn’t last that long, they started peeling rather quickly, but I like the look of them….I have no idea why the pic below keeps showing up sideways…. but I have plans to go see our friend Amanda in WA and I don’t have time to fiddle with the photo editor!  lol

If you’d like to join in on Nail Art Ideas Linkup here’s the info!

N.A.I.L. Theme 3 – Sand :

Jazzi NCLA Nail Wraps from NailPolishCanada!

I’m so excited to finally share these nails wraps from www.NailPolishCanada.com!  This design is called Jazzi and they’re made by NCLA.  Aren’t they super bright and fun?  I have been wearing them for 3 days straight.. and for a nail girl like me – that feels like a really long time!  So let’s get to the review!

WHAT YOU GET:

•  44 nail wraps – enough for two manicures and probably some toes or accent nails (and if you trim the remaining wraps with scissors you can get even more manis out of it)
•  a nail file
•  instruction sheet- with tips & tricks from the pros on the reverse side

HOW IT WORKS:

I like that this product recommends a base coat before applying the wraps.  I always try to protect my nails- so this was a thumbs up for me.

I am a total noob at applying nail wraps and I got a few wrinkles with these Jazzi wraps.  I imagine that these would be easier to apply on short nails.  My nails are very long at the moment so I had a lot of surface area to try to cover!  Luckily my boo boos weren’t too noticeable in real life.

Here’s a quick vid from NCLA that explains how to apply them:

WEARABILITY:

After 24 hrs I had a few edges lift up so I applied some more basecoat underneath, and some more topcoat on top.  This worked just fine to re-adhere the wraps and freshen up my mani.

Below are pictures at day 1 and day 3.  Not much difference at all!  It wasn’t until the end of day 3 that a few bits of wrap lifted off on my dominant hand- almost like a small chip on the tip of my nail.  I probably could have put on another topcoat to extend the wear… but I really wanted to test out the removal of these wraps.  You know how it is- when your nails start to peel you sometimes get this uncontrollable urge to peel it all off LOL!

REMOVAL:

If you dig under one corner of your nail wrap- the whole sticker should peel right off.  It was a lot easier than I expected.  It seems like the basecoat peeled off along with the wrap too because my nails were matte and bare afterwards.  There were a couple of bumpy ridges on my ring and pinky finger… but I was able to buff them out.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Applying the nail wraps wasn’t as easy breezy as shown in the video… I struggled with finding the right size for my nails, or sometimes I stuck them on crooked.  But as long as you didn’t press them down too hard you should be able to lift them off and try again.  I did that several times.  They seemed to last ok… 3 days for me.  But ladies with shorter nails may see more wear-time as their tips don’t take as much of a beating throughout the day.  I’d recommend re-applying a topcoat every day to help extend the wear.

I had a couple application issues- but even with the wrinkles my nails came out really pretty!  This design is so eye-catching.  I got a lot of compliments on them. They were fun to wear too- something different than regular old nail polish.   They’re great for a special occasion… or just for something fun to try!

These NCLA nail wraps were provided by Nail Polish Canada for my honest review.  If you’re interested in seeing the other ncla designs you can check ’em out here: Nail Polish Canada website.

Ruffian Manicure

Day 13 of the Nail Challenge is Ruffian !  I freakin love Ruffian manis!    I also love that it makes me wanna speak with a Jamaican accent.  Not sure why… maybe because it reminds me of the word Ragamuffin which makes me think of Reggae music and stuff IDK?  RRRUFFIAN MON! 

This mani was pretty simple- here’s what I did:  I started with a black base of Ebony Hates Chris by wet n wild.  Then I taped my nails off with some french manicure nail guide stickers and applied my contrasting 2nd polish called Sweet Pea Dream by AVON.  I peeled the nail guide stickers off slowly to reveal the ruffian.  A topcoat smoothed it all out and bam-  a sexy ruffian!

Even though the technique is pretty simple- I actually did this mani over the course of two days.  See, I’ll admit that I’m very impatient when it comes to waiting for nails to dry.  When I start painting, I wanna paint all the way through to the end without stopping.  And since I planned to do my ruffian with tape, that means that my black base needs to be completely dry before I apply the nail guide stickers.  The thought of waiting for my black to dry and hoping I don’t mess up my tape job due to still-tacky paint causes me undue stress.  So to avoid all the anxiety and sitting around waiting….I painted my nails black, slapped some quick-drying seche vite on top and called it a day.  I rocked the black nail polish by itself for a day and got some compliments on it so that’s cool!  The next day I applied my nail guide stickers and then painted my 2nd color to finish my ruffian.  This process worked well for me since it eliminated the risk of screwing up my tape job and it allowed me to wear two different manis over the course of two days.  Win, win!

This look is so fresh- it’s like a rebellious french mani!  Classy and wild all at the same time.  I’m in love.

Easy Valentine’s Day Nails

I had the idea to put regular stickers on my nails since it sounded like a super-easy way to get a cute effect for Valentine’s Day.  So I started rummaging through my sticker box (poke fun if you want, but I love my sticker box)!  It’s the same one I’ve had since I was a kid and I’ve amassed quite a collection.  My faves include my original E.T. stickers from when the movie first came out… and my cute Rainbow Brite stickers from the 80’s!  I have a lot of heart stickers too so I decided on these red foil hearts.  Then I picked a girly pink polish and started painting!

I used 3 coats of Sephora by OPI I’m Wired and then placed the sticker on my ring finger.  I didn’t know if the Seche Vite topcoat would bead up on the foil sticker or not- so I used a thin coat of Orly Bonder on my ring finger to create a nice sticky surface on top of the heart. Then I applied my Seche to lock it all down.

These Valentine’s Day themed nails are so quick and easy!  You could put more stickers on if you want, but after I placed the one down I felt like it would be enough.  <I’ve noticed that if I’ve ever ignored my instincts in the past… that I’ve gone on to muff up the manicure.>  So always trust your gut and have some fun with your stickers!