What do you use to remove polish?

One of my least favorite part of a manicure is removing polish. I wish I could snap my fingers or something and the polish is off and ready for the next color. Yeah...that's not going to happen.

I've tried a couple of removers from different brands and it's always the same thing; I have to twist and turn and scrub my little cotton ball on my fingers for what seems like forever. Imagine my happiness when I used Zoya's Remove+. That has got to be hands down, the best polish remover I have ever tried. No harsh scent, removes polish like a charm. Literally, I just used one cotton ball to remove polish from all ten fingers. What?!

Then there's the bottle design...it's genius! That flip top has helped me many times when I wanted to remove polish from one finger without messing up another one. This is also the only polish remover that hasn't dried out my nails and skin after using it. It's amazing and it still works that way after lots of swatching too.

So here's my dilemma, I'm almost at the bottom of my bottle. I wont be getting to order anymore soon. It's 10 bucks + shipping and handling but its worth every penny. Only thing is my pennies wont be making that order soon. Until then I'm looking for a remover that I can find in-store. What do you guys suggest? Anything that you just love?

-Lachelle

Blue French Manicure

Indoor + Flash (above)

Outdoor + No Flash

This is the same thing I did in my Black French Manicure post, except for now I have blue tips. When I got off work I was really wanting to do a blue manicure for some reason. I had the perfect blue in mind; Nicole No Limits. Just my luck, I couldn't find it. Oh well, I had OPI Blue My Mind near so I decided to do only my tips with it. I wanted the deep, dark almost black blue of No Limits but since I was using this lighter blue, I didn't want to paint my whole nail. Still a gorgeous blue nonetheless.

This was fast and simple. Just one coat of Essie Pinking Up the Pieces, two coats of OPI Blue My Mind, Stripe Rite silver for the line and Seche Vite for the topcoat.

Wait...typing all that made it seem not so simple.
But I promise it was.
-Lachelle

Zoya Valentine

This shade feels like Christmas on my nails. Something about the shimmer and maybe the fact that I don't like red polish. Anyway, it just has a holiday feel. Zoya's website describes this as a romantic bright red metallic with duochrome pink shimmer. I cant just wear a plain red mani; so here is the before picture, 2 coats and no topcoat:

Indoor + Flash

I'm loving my silver Stripe Rite polish, but the pink one not so much. I don't like the way it dries but that's another story. So just to spice up my nails, I added a...well I don't know what to call it, but there's some silver swooshy things in the right corner of my nails. It helped me to feel better about the red. This is with Zoya Armor topcoat.

Both pictures are Indoor + Flash

Pre-cleanup nails. I like the end result but I don't think they will be staying long.

-Lachelle

A Little Bad News

Hello to anyone who reads my blog,

Thanks for stopping by! I have a little dilemma on my hands. I've stated that I'm a newbie to this polish addict thing and a college student. Well, these two things don't exactly mix well for my budget. :-) Bottom line...I have bills to pay on my part-time job budget and buying polish over food...no bueno. LOL. I think I have shown you most of my polish collection so far, but I will have to start posting less frequently. I wont abandon the blog completely, I promise. Believe me I don't want to. Blogging is sort of therapeutic...
I'm trying to look on the bright side; I graduate next May but then its on to grad school. However, I do believe I will have a full time job. So then I can support my habit more!

Once again, thanks for your support and wonderfully nice comments!
-Lachelle

China Glaze Shocking Pink

Outdoor + Flash
Indoor + Flash

What took me so long to get that Seche Vite?! The shine is amazing! I think the reason was because I got one of those "trial sized" bottles from Trade Secret that was gooey and sticky. I was like is that what the fuss is all about?! However, the new bottle I got from Sallys is like butter! And it dries soooo fast!

I've been waiting to get my hands on Shocking Pink ever since I saw it in some YouTube videos. I did my nails and feet with this color and I was at work and this lady walks by and says" Wow, that's really bright! It really says summer" Another time my nails were noticed was at home; this is actually a funny story to me. I was blow drying my hair when all of a sudden I smell something burning. I run into the living room where one of my roommates is sleep and the other runs out of her room. Whats burning? Turns out the dishwasher is smoking because some plastic Tupperware dropped to the bottom and was burning during the steam cycle. While the smoke is coming out of the dishwasher, my roommate is like, "Wow your nails look so manicured! Did you do those yourself?" I was like "Yeah, I did!" Meanwhile my boyfriend is standing by, shaking his head "You guys are talking about nails and the dishwasher is about to catch on fire!" It was funny. Hey, we're just three girls...

I am so happy with this color. I think its my new favorite pink. Yeah, I know. I say that a lot.

-Lachelle

Orly Strip Down

Outdoor + No Flash (above)
Indoor + Flash

Okay, I know I'm partial to pink, but please believe me when I say that I love this color. I got this at Sally's this past weekend for $2.99. I didn't think much of it in the bottle; actually I'm ashamed to say I just got it because it was a good deal. Turns out this is a gorgeous shade. Only my 2nd Orly but this one gives me hope. I was starting not to like Orlys, not because of the application or anything but because they never had any colors I liked. One thing that is definitely a winner in my book about Orly is their rubber, easy to grip handles.

This is three coats + topcoat. I also got some Seche Vite ( yes!) on that trip to Sally's but that's not the topcoat I used here. I believe it is Zoya Armour.

-Lachelle

Nic's Sticks Form One Lime

Indoor + Flash (above)
Outdoor + No Flash

Okay, this wasn't the green I expected. I don't know why, but I don't like the shimmer. I wanted a green creme for my first green polish. Oh well. Anyway, this is the 2nd Nic's Stick I've tried and I've gotten used to the brush. I actually kind of like it now. This is three coats + topcoat.

I wanted to wear this to one of my friends graduation since our colors are green and white, but this was a little too green. Maybe to a football game...

-Lachelle

Storage System...sort of

For my birthday my parents gave me money to buy one of those plastic drawer storage sets. I was all too happy to run to Wal-Mart that I jumped in the car the minute they told me. Except that it hadn't been transferred to my bank yet. Ooops.

So the next day, Friday my actual birthday, I went to Target and got it for cheaper than I expected. It was about 13 dollars. However, I still need some kind of way to organize my polishes within the actual drawers. For now it goes a little something like this:

1st drawer: Base coats, Top coats, nail files, buffers, cuticle oil, fingernail clippers, nail polish remover, nail art stickers, Stripe Rite polishes.

2nd: Nail polish. I tried to organize it by color but they all slide around so this is a work in a progress.

3rd: Okay I kind of cheated with this drawer, but its my jewelry. I'm tired of finding it all around my room or not finding it when I need/want to wear it.

So, I feel a lot better about my storage and my room thanks me for less clutter.

-Lachelle

Sinful Colors Purple Diamond

Outdoor+ No Flash (above)
Indoor + Flash

Here is an early birthday present I got from my boss today! I got some other purple themed stuff along with it but I decided to test this out first. It's a beautiful purple shimmer, and it's pretty sheer. This is three coats + topcoat. I love the name of this polish, Purple Diamond...that's what it looks like in the bottle. :-) I also got some nail art stickers by Kiss which I will post later.

Hope you're having a great evening!

-Lachelle

Black French Manicure

Indoor + Flash

Indoor + Flash

Outdoor + No Flash

The sun is shining, I finally got Stripe Rite polishes....all is right with the world. I'm in a really good mood. Did I mention I've been wanting some Stripe Rite polishes for a while now? I got two; a silver and a hot pink. A funny thing happened though when I finally got my hands on them. I drew a blank! All the designs I had dreamed of were out the window. What to do? So I tried something simple, besides I didn't know if I would be good at drawing or not.

I started with one coat of Essie Pinking Up the Pieces because I love that sheer pink as a base for all my French manicures. Then I did one coat of Sally Hansen Black Out on the tips. I used my silver stripe rite polish to go just under the black tips. Pretty easy I must say. I'm so happy with the results! I finished it off with Orly Sec N Dry topcoat.

Click the pictures to enlarge, I tried to capture all the glittery goodness. It was hard. I find myself when I'm outside, turning my hand and nails to reflect the glitter. :-)

Hmm...the possibilities with this Stripe Rite!

-Lachelle

Nicole by OPI Show You Care

Indoor + No Flash (above)

Indoor + Flash

Indoor + Flash

Today's NOTD is messy but I was watching the Mavericks game yesterday! I was so caught up, we're still in the playoffs. Anyway, this is from the Walgreens finds I got on Saturday. I love this deep purple color. Kind of reminds me of Eiffel for This Color, but not as dark. With the flash you can see the color and isn't it gorgeous? I love this color but it doesn't excite me as much as tomorrow's mani. I finally got some Stripe Rite polish from Sally's and I'm so excited! I consider it an early birthday present to me. Or at least one of them :-)

Nic's Sticks Text Me

Indoor + Flash (above)
Indoor + No Flash

Indoor + Flash

Okay, I have no idea why they decided to name this Text Me. I mean what about this says "text me"? I had my reservations about this polish; I've read other bloggers reviews about the humongous brush with the crazy bristles and I was ready to take on the challenge. I'm glad I did because I the end results! I love this color as well...I'm going to look for something like this in bottle form, any suggestions?

Okay, on the polish review. Painting with this brush was weird at first; I felt like there wasn't any polish on the brush and kept clicking the top so more would come out. Well it must have been hidden at times because sometimes I got a blob of polish and then other times, barely nothing. The color on the stick is actually pretty accurate to the color inside. Also after I completed my manicure I was left wondering how much polish I actually had left, they should add a little window or something.

The polish dried to the touch fairly quick, but I wanted make sure I would disturb the 1st coat of polish while trying to do the 2nd coat. Well I think I waited fairly enough time, about 7 minutes, but I still managed to get brush strokes on some nails. Today is my second day wearing it and I have really bad tip wear only on my right hand. Hmmm....but I'm right handed so maybe that's it?

All flaws considered, I actually liked Nic's Sticks and would try them again. I think it's a great concept and I can actually take this with me without worrying about it spilling. Plus, I loved the color, even got compliments on it!

This three coats + topcoat

-Lachelle

Walgreens Finds

Happy Saturday all!

Weekends are a time to sleep in late for a lot of people; myself included, since I get up at 6:30am most mornings. However, sleeping late on Saturday for me is about 8:00 or 9:00 am, unless I had a fun Friday night ;-). This weekend I decided get my butt up at 7:30 and get the necessary errands out of the way. It's dark and cloudy here with a good chance of rain. Not exactly fun weather. On my 2nd stop, I went to TJ Maxx and it looked like they were closed. Geez, what time do they open, it's almost 10!

So I went to a nearby Walgreens while I waited for them to open and I scored these polishes! On clearance! Yes!!! I love that feeling.
These were $2.14 apiece. They are Nicole by OPI L to R: No Limits and Show You Care
They look dark,almost black in the bottle but you can see the colors here because of the flash.

These were $1.79 apiece. I've always wanted to try Nic's Sticks, even before my polish obsession. So I was one happy camper when I saw that big clearance sticker on these. Left to right these are : Form One Lime and Text Me.

I will be posting pics of my manicures with these this week. After leaving Walgreens, I also found my mother the cutest outfit for Mother's Day. All this before noon! I feel accomplished, lol. Everyone check should out their nearest Walgreens. I mean there were clearance stickers everywhere! I might have to check out the on my side of town too...
Have a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day!

-Lachelle

China Glaze Grape Juice

Indoor + Flash

Indoor + No Flash

Happy Friday!

One week to go until this semester is done! Okay, I'm in a good mood. I think I'm the last person on earth (or it just feels that way) to get my hands on one of CG's Summer Days polishes. I went to Sally's recently and finally got their Beauty Club card that gets you discounts on everything in the store. My first purchase using the card was of course, nail polish. I wanted Strawberry Fields badly being that pink is my first love and all, but Sallys has to be difficult and be sold out of that color. So my next favorite color was there and I got Grape Juice for $4.49.

I was so excited to get my hands on this. Application was great and the polish went on smoothly. I've never tried China Glaze before and I had heard about long drying times. In my opinion this wasn't super fast drying but it wasn't forever and a day; I would say average. Also the color is gorgeous! The silver glitter is amazing and I love the way this purple looks on my nails. Kinda makes me thirsty. :-) Anyway, it's official, China Glaze has a fan in me.

This is three coats + topcoat.

-Lachelle

NYC Chinatown

Indoor + Flash

Outdoor + Flash

Oh how I love this color...I don't know why I've been waiting so long to wear it. I bought this because I was going through a dark blue phase. The darker the better...so I could not be happier when I saw this in Walgreens. It's so shimmery in the bottle I couldn't wait to wear it. In the picture with flash you can see that shimmer, but in other lighting settings it looks like a smooth, deliciously dark creme. Hmm...either way this polish is a winner for me. Plus you can get it for about 2 dollars.

It dried quick, but then again on the label it does say Quick Dry Nail Polish. It's opaque, this is 2 coats + topcoat. Doesn't chip fast on me either. I wore this during a busy week full of studying for tests and I just didn't have time to change my polish. This held up for 3 days with minimal tip wear. I don't know if it could last longer...I have polish ADD.

-Lachelle

Zoya Creamy

Indoor + Flash

Outdoor + No Flash

This color is BRIGHT! It's like having a traffic light on your nails! It's something I 1)rarely do unless I'm feeling crazy and 2) I could only pull off with my new short nails. Other nail bloggers have swatched yellows this week on their long, fabulous nails but I personally could not pull it off. Yellows are notorious for being a hot streaky mess to apply. This one is not exceptional but then again I have no other yellow polish to compare it to. This was going to be my last venture into yellow nail polish but then I haven't done a pale, pastel yellow so I'll keep hope alive.

This two coats + topcoat.

-Lachelle

Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl

First off look at the color in the bottle, this is with flash so it looks almost blue:

I saw this beauty at Walgreens and I had to have it! They were 2 for $3 so how could I resist? I mean if you saw this sitting on the shelf, it would have to go home with you too! Without flash the bottle color is a dark purple with light purple glitter in it. I thought it was going to be really opaque but it was really sheer with the first coat. No worries, it's buildable if you can deal with that sort of thing. This is three coats + topcoat. Application was not a problem, went on smooth and glossy. Cant stop staring at the glitter...it really is a great polish. On to the pictures!

Indoor + Flash

Indoor + No Flash (Below)

Zoya Richelle

Indoor + Flash

Indoor + No Flash

I like the name of this polish, it's close to my name. :-) However, I hardly ever wear this polish. I think this is the 2nd time ever. I got it during the Zoya polish exchange and I did my research on it too. If you call research looking up swatches on other nail blogs...

Unfortunately my "research" could not stop my disappointment.

Zoya calls this a "metallic royal gold with gilded sparkle highlights and a foil finish." Wow, that sound gorgeous. Whoever writes these descriptions is good. Great polish in the bottle but somehow it gets lost in translation on the nail. I don't think it looks good on me. With the flash, it sparkles and its beautiful but without flash it kind of looks weird against my skin tone. Like a golden-olive color?

The formula is a dream though. Very opaque and glides across the nail like butter. This is two coats + Zoya's Armor topcoat.

-Lachelle

Essie Hard to Get

Indoor + No Flash (Above)

Indoor + Flash

This is from Essie's Spring 08 collection called In the Mood. It's a mini! Either that or my hand is gigantic! I got this in a 4 pack with 3 other polishes from that collection, they were on clearance at Ulta for 4 dollars I think. I love this pink so much, I think I may have to get it in a full size! Besides, the tiny brush is a pain in the butt! Having said that, I took these picture pre-cleanup. That small brush really sucks! Since it's a light pink from Essie I really expected it to be sheer but it's pretty opaque. I did 3 coats anyway +topcoat.

It's such a girly pink, it's right up my alley!

Here's to the start of a great week!

-Lachelle

Orly Passion Fruit (Revisited)

Outdoor + No Flash

Indoor + No Flash

(Just a foreword, I'm revisiting my Orly Passion Fruit post because it deserves better quality pictures...I first mentioned this in OPI My Private Jet post)

Oh, Orly Passion Fruit, how you tricked me. I picked this up at Sallys Beauty Supply when they were having a BOGO (buy one get one free) on Orly nail polishes and I was having a really hard time picking my free polish. Is it just my Sallys, or is there not a good collection of ORLY's in store versus online? Well having said that, I stood at the display for at least 30 minutes searching for something worth my time. I spotted Passion Fruit and was convinced it was the one for me. Hot pink? You don't have to say another word, I'll take it.

However, this polish looks ORANGE on me. (I know it photographs kind of pink) In the store, it looked like a dangerously loud pink and I couldn't wait to blind people with my hot pink nails. That is not that case. This polish is also not as opaque as I thought it would be...I can still see my nail lines with 3 coats. The bright side to this is that I found out that Orly topcoat + matte neon polish is just about one of the glossiest manicures I've ever had. I like their bottle design though, the rubber grip on the brush comes in handy. Plus, it dried very quickly....so I guess I came out even.

Does anyone else have Orly Passion Fruit and it looks orange on them?

Happy Friday!

-Lachelle