Nail Essentials Updated

Hey Guys!
I totally just realized today that I have been blogging for a whole year! So in order to celebrate, I thought I would redo one of my first blog posts ever: my nail essentials.  If you want to take a look at the original post, click here.  The things I use to take care of my nails have changed since then, and I think it would be good to update my post about them.

 First off, the products I use to keep my hands moisturized.  For my cuticles I use the Smith's Rosebud Salve.  I got mine at Sephora, but I'm pretty sure you can get at least a similar product at Bath and Body Works.  You can use this on other dry areas such as your lips and elbows and such, but I just use it for my cuticles.  This is a nice creamy product that moisturizes my cuticles like a dream.  It can get a little sticky, so apply it before my lotion.  The lotion I use is L'Occitane Creme Mains hand cream.  I like that it keeps my hands moisturized without being greasy.  The only caveat: it kinda smells like bug spray.  I can get over that though :) In late October when it began getting cold where I go to college, my hands got super dry, and my cuticles freaked out! I was getting hangnails left and right.  These products helped me get my hands back to normal.

 The nail polish remover I have been using is the CVS regular polish remover.  I like this one in particular because it seems to take off my nail polish more quickly.  Plus the smell is not as bad as most of the remover I have used.  I never go to fancy with my nail polish remover because I am just not willing to pay the money for the OPI or Zoya ones.  The cheap drugstore ones seem to work just fine for me. 

 Now, on to base coat.  I have been using the Sally Hansen Salon Manicure base coat.  I have mainly been using this one because I ran out of my OPI one and needed a new base coat, so I got this one in a pinch.  It works pretty well.  I like the smooth base it gives, however it seems to peel a little more than the OPI.

 For top coat I have been using Sally Hansen Insta-dri anti chip top coat.  I like this because it drys quickly while still giving a shiny finish to the nails.  It's also a lot cheaper than the Seche Vite top coat. 

I have found that for nail clippers, straight clippers are the way to go.  I am not positive what brand these are, but I love them! I have noticed that curved nail clippers tend to cut my nails too short.  The straight ones just give me more control.

One thing that I don't have a picture of that I use in my nail care is a glass file.  I don't have a picture because I recently broke mine.  That's what happens when you drop a glass file on tile dorm floor.  Anyway, I find that a glass file makes my nails peel less than a normal emery board.

I hope this was informational for you, and happy one year blogiversary (close enough anyway)!  Have a top notch Tuesday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Long Time Coming Holiday Nails!

Hey Everyone!
Today's post is going to be about a look that I did a while back with two of the polishes from Essie's holiday collection.  I planned on posting this earlier, but time got away from me.  Anyway, I hope you like it!

For the base color I used Essie Leading Lady. This is a glittery, dark red color.  For the side argyle-type triangles, I used Essie Beyond Cozy.  This is a very solid silvery glitter.  To get this style I cut triangles out of scotch tape and placed them on the top and bottom of my nails.  Then I painted Beyond Cozy on the sides of my nails.  Then I removed the tape.  Some of them I had to fix afterwards.  Finally I finished with one coat of top coat (I'm not positive which top coat I used though).  I hope y'all enjoyed, and I hope you'll try it out yourself!  Have a terrific Tuesday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

OPI Skyfall Swatches

Hey There!
So today's post is swatches of the polishes I got from the OPI Skyfall Holiday collection.  I only have two, but my roommate got a couple more, so maybe I can borrow hers when I get back to school.  Anyway, lets get on to the swatches!

 The first polish is Goldeneye.  This is a warm golden color.  The consistency of this polish is really interesting.  It is kind of flaky, yet goes on pretty solid.  It takes a good two coats to get a solid color, but when a solid color is achieved it has a really nice metallic effect. 

This polish is Tomorrow Never Dies.  I have been eying this one for months and just got it recently.  It is a blue-purple color with a little bit of a sheen.  This may just be one of my new favorite polishes.  You could probably get away with using just one coat, but I used two just to make it a little more solid. 

Overall I love both of these colors.  I would definitely recommend both of them.  When I get back to school I will swatch the ones my roommate got.  I hope y'all enjoyed, and I hope you have a great day!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Christmas Nails

Hello There!
So today I decided to share with you the two nail designs I did for Christmas! I love just about any holiday that has theme colors because I can do things like this.  I hope this gets you back into the Christmas spirit :)

 This nail design is the more complicated of the two.  For the base color I used Essie Clutch Me if you Can Zoya Frida on the ring finger.  I like Clutch Me if you Can rather than a stark red because it looks better on my skin tone.  Reds usually tend to wash me out, so I tend to go for a darker, more burgundy shade.  For the tips I used OPI Goldeneye from the James Bond collection.  This one is a little thin and flaky, so it took two coats to get the tips solid.  For the stripes I used my Kiss nail art polish in gold.  I topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta-dri top coat.

For this look I started with a base of OPI Care to Danse.  I always use sheer polishes like this one for french manicures.  I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Honeymoon Red for the tips.  This is the exception to my no red rule.  For the glitter fade I used OPI Getting Miss Piggy With It.  This made a great glitter fade, oddly enough.  I thought the red would look weird on my nails, but it actually looked fantastic.  So there's my holiday nail fun!  I hope you enjoyed it, and have a wonderful week!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Today's Mani

Hey Everybody!
It's good to be back!  Today I am just doing a quick post on my nail of the day (NOTD).  I found this combo and thought it looked gorgeous, so I thought I would share it with you!

I started with Sally Hansen complete manicure base coat.  Then for a base color I applied two coats of OPI India Mood for Love.  This is a beautiful pink creme formula.  It only takes two coats to get solid.  The glitter I used is OPI Excuse Moi! from the Muppet collection.  It's a fine multicolored glitter with a red/pink base.  This is the kind of glitter that I hate to use on it's own because 1) it's a pain in the butt to take off, and 2) the red/pink base stains my nails.  However by putting a color base underneath it I avoid the staining problem.  I topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta-dri topcoat, which I will be doing a review on very soon.  I hope y'all enjoyed this post, and have a marvelous Monday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Update 1/6/2013 (so cool to put a new year!)

Hey Y'all!
Once again, I have been slacking big time.  I have officially completed my first semester of college! I think it was a great start to my college career.  The last few months have been pretty stressful, what with finals week,traveling back home, and other such doings.  I thought I would update you a bit on my life.  I am at my home right now, and will be for a few more weeks.  My Christmas was fantastic.  I love getting to spend time with my family. Now that I don't live at home, I am beginning to appreciate the people in my life who love me most.  Anyway, I should have some more time to blog while I'm home.  I might do a post about my two Christmas nail art looks plus some other things i think you will enjoy.  So there's a little summary of how my life's been lately.  I hope y'all enjoyed reading a little about me, and i hope to post again soon!
~ Mary Elizabeth
PS here are some pictures of stuff that's been going on lately!

House of Heroes opening at a Relient K concert in Nashville

Relient K

Lights at Opry Land in Nashville

Me and my sister on Christmas Eve

Me and Molly (that cute kitty)

Me and my friend Maggie