My Ardene Suprise Bags

Hello everyone! Today I want to show you the awesome surprise bags I got from Ardene.  I usually pick up a couple surprise bags when I'm in Ardene because they are only $5 for 2 bags and you can get some cool things super cheap.  The Ardene surprise bags are a lot better than then they use to be, I remember buying them when I was 16, and they were full of plastic headbands and scrunchies. I was not impressed, so I didn't buy them again until recently when we got an Ardene in Banff.
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I do usually feel them up beforehand to avoid plastic headbands because I definitely don't wear them, and I felt this one bag today, and it was super heavy, and there was a nail polish in it! Ardene nail polish is $3 each if you buy two, so with that one polish, the price of the bag was already covered. You could not imagine my surprise when I saw the color!

And now you are probably like come on, why is it so special? It is because I was going to buy a Revlon color that was the same (and Revlon polish is always a disaster on me because it bubbles so bad) a few hours earlier and I decided against it, because I did not want to spend $6.50 on a polish that bubbles. And here this polish is, exact same color as the one I wanted to buy, and I know it won't bubble. Also I got 11 other items, and am still below the price that that one Revlon was!
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Here is the rest of my loot!

This is bag 1.

Well I thought I straightened out the items before the picture but I guess not. That metal necklace is heavy! I still got some headbands but they are okay. I really like both of the earrings.

Bag 2.

Bag 2 is okay. All of the items fit with a theme, you know except for the neon pink jelly bracelets haha! Both the silver colored earrings are made in the USA so that's cool. The gold colored pair is obnoxiously heavy for earrings. I could not make the headband look not ridiculous on me. It looks like it would be nice for a flower girl at a wedding, or a bride. Or someone with black hair. 
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What do you think of Ardene surprise bags if you have bought them? If not, what is your favorite item? My favorite out of everything would have to be the polish and the 2 earring sets in bag 1.

Happy nails!☺


 ♥ ❤ ❥ , Samantha

Julep Vera With Pretty&Polished Hearts&Daggers

Hello! Today I have to show you Julep Vera, it is a gorgeous coffee with cream (and maybe sugar?) color that I got in my Julep June Mystery Box. Is anyone else so so excited for the July Julep box? I know I am! I can't wait to get the America the beautiful color, I had to add it on because my bonus polish is the Canada one.

This is 3 coats, it was a little less opaque than it looked. I added a coat of Pretty&Polished Hearts&Daggers as an accent nail. I like it, it is actually my first black/white glitter polish.

Here is a close up of my accent nail:

Hearts&Daggers is a unique glitter polish, and it looks really good over this color. The spots on this polish that look like bubbles are actually fine clear iridescent sparkles. This polish also has Large hexagons and bar glitter in black and white, black medium hexagons, and smaller white hexagons. And of course, the red hearts that make up the "hearts" portion, and the black diamonds that are the daggers.

I am loving dusty greyish colors lately so you probably will see a few more interesting ones soon!
You can get Pretty&Polished on Etsy and now Llarowe, although I am not sure when that will be. Your best bet to find out when polishes from Chelsea are for sale is to like Pretty&Polished on Facebook.

What do you think about this pretty brown? Take it or leave it? Let me know!

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

My Holographic Nail Polishes!

I have a lot of collection pictures taken already, but it keeps getting bigger. I figured I would show you my holographic section of the pictures today. Who doesn't love holographic polishes? Nothing like having a rainbow on your fingers to stare at!

This is them in their bin. I really want a Helmer, but live no where near Ikea so I keep most of the polishes in bins with lids, or lidless organizing containers. The China Glaze boxes contain The Hunger Games collection. The other box of it is in my main room, which is where I have a big box with the polishes that are new or that I really like. I keep them there so they are easily accessible.

Please leave a comment if you are curious as to what any of these are!

Here they are! I also have the following that missed the picture: China Glaze TMI, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Purple Diamond (I would very highly recommend this polish, it is one of my all time favorites) OPI Crim-sun and OPI What's Dune. I think that's all of them!

China Glaze TMI (not my picture)

Purple Diamond is so gorgeous, click here for google search of it. I think it was released in the early 2000's, you would be crazy to miss out on this one. Cassie Cosmetics on Ebay is the only place you can still get it.


I would love to have some of the Glitter Gal holographics, but I do not have any yet. I think my next big polish purchase will be the set of Catherine Arley Holographics. So many pretties!
Here is a picture of my Crim-Sun:

 And I also have my 2 holographic polishes from Pretty&Polished, Black Swan and Martian Salad.

What are your favorite holographic polishes?

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Color Club Sheer Disguise with Utopia's Polish Blue Lagoon

So today I'm wearing Color Club Sheer Disguise with Utopia's Polish Blue Lagoon over it, I got the Color Club Alter Ego collection-Reveal Your Mystery set (released Spring 2011) at Winners, and I was really stoked because I got it for $15 for all 7! It was weird though because none of them are labeled. I'm not sure if the clear one is a top coat, it really doesn't dry fast so I might just throw some matte neon glitter in it, that would be perfect. It is also unlabeled.

My set didn't come with the Alter Ego packaging insert or that white polish on the end. Shrug! All the colors are so pretty because they all have that dusty greyish tone to them.

Sheer Disguise is a weird name for a not sheer, blue color. It however is a pretty nice color, I would describe it as light grey with a hint of dark blue thrown it. This is 2 coats.

Blue Lagoon is a glitter with blue and white matte glitter, it has large and small blue squares, blue bars, large and small white squares. It also has large pearly white hexagons and smaller white hexagons, with a sprinkling of holographic glitter, they are appearing up as random  colors on the nail. 
I did a gradient, adding one coat, and then a second coat at the very tip. I sealed it with 1 coat of Seche Vite, the base was Witchcraft Nail Repair.(Or something like that.)


Here is a macro of my thumb nail:

This was a pretty sweet combo, and a refreshing change from all the bright colors I have been wearing lately. I love getting nail polish at Winners, you can score some good deals! You can get Utopia's Polish here. This one isn't currently in stock, but there are others worth checking out!

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Try it on Tuesdays, Featuring the Color Coral!

Hello ladies! Today is Try it on Tuesdays, which was started by Jillian of Jilltastic Nail Design last Tuesday, the idea for Try it on Tuesdays is that you try on a polish that you own, but haven't worn yet. To check out a list of all the bloggers participating, click here. And to see what I came up with last week, click here!

Just a reminder before I show you what I've cooked up, I am having a Summer Giveaway that ends July 8th, so be sure to get your name in the Rafflecopter for a chance to win!

Today I tried on Ardene ACO Light Coral, 3 coats topped with 1 coat of Coral Reef by Utopia's Polish, and 1 of Seche Vite. I chose this to wear because I am really loving coral lately! I bought 2 coral dresses, a purse with coral, and a coral shirt recently. I would have to say that coral is my favorite color right now, other than cyan, which is a solid favorite for me.
And of course red, yellow and blue because they make all the colors!

Coral Reef is full of large bronze hexagons (which are slightly curling, whoops), smaller hex glitter in fuchsia and gold. Gold and white bar glitter, small holographic hexagons, and fine fuchsia glitter. Oh and that one piece of blue square glitter that managed to get on my middle finger! Haha.

Sorry for blurry! My camera was doing so well for a while there too.

This polish is really pretty with the copper hexagons, but I do have a few very minor bumps in the road, one being that the copper hexagons are starting to curl. This could be fixed by a double coat of Seche Vite, but I never really double coat Seche Vite because I don't want polish shrinkage.

**Edit July 7th** Virginia has let me know that she has switched to a smaller size of copper glitter for this polish, and that she has no issues with the new glitter curling.

 My second point is that (I believe it is the gold bar glitter) is shedding these little pieces that look like eyelashes. You can see this on my pinky finger on the top picture. It isn't really noticable though,but I was still getting at least one per finger.
 My last point, but least point is that the base is so very slightly tinted orange. Very hard to notice, so I wouldn't really worry about this.Other than the above, this is a great layering polish, and you could probably get it fully opaque with 3 coats.

I am also loving the Ardene ACO polishes right now, they have some unique colors that would be perfect to round out any nail polish collection.

Thanks for checking out my Try it on Tuesday, be sure to leave me a comment on my previous post about which indie polish you'd like me to wear next!

Happy nails!  (and Tuesdays!)☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Polish Hauls from Pretty&Polished and Utopia's Polish

So I got these polishes a couple weeks back and just haven't managed to post them up yet. Some of them have been swatched already, and I will link to those posts under the pictures.

 So here we have the first batch of Utopia's Polish that I got, from left to right. I have Blue Lagoon, Carnival, Summer Breeze, Coral Reef and Sea Dragon. These were Virginia's Summer collection polishes, plus Hollywood Diamonds, which is in the next picture. (She gave me it as a freebie, which was so awesome!)
Click here for swatches of Carnival. I am currently wearing Coral Reef today, it might be up tomorrow or Wednesday. The rest of them are still unworn, but hopefully soon!

This is my next order from Utopia's Polish, the nail wheel nail closest to the left is 2 coats of Carnival, the rest are as per bottle. So from left to right, I have Dragon Heart, Coat of Many Colors, Hollywood Diamonds, Green Eggs & Hearts, Lovely Peacock, and Peach Fun.
You can see Coat of Many Colors here. Click for Green Eggs & Hearts. Click here for Lovely Peacock.

This is the second part of my old Pretty&Polished Order, you can see the first part here. This one got here almost a week later which was odd. From left to right are Black Swan (so pretty!), Martian Salad, and Soldier's Liberty. The last 2 swatches to the right are 2 coats of Soldier's Liberty, and 1 coat over black. You can see Martian Salad here.

So here we have Fiesta from Amy's Nail Boutique, it is a glitter with all matte colors of the rainbow, and it is super gorgeous. Amy is super nice and so so helpful, so I would definitely recommend checking her shop out. Then we have Pretty&Polished Jawbreaker, Tart, Sand Art, and Hearts and Daggers.  The only one I have swatched so far is Sand Art.

What do you think of all of these? Are there any you want to see first? Let me know! Tomorrow is Try It On Tuesday, so be sure to come back tomorrow and see what I've tried on!

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

My Illamasqua Load Franken dupe, plus my take on the promo nails for the collection.

So I have been wanting the Illamasqua- Load nail polish for a while now, and I figured it wouldn't be too hard to franken one, it's just a creamy off-white. And it was pretty easy. I used a 6ml empty bottle I had, filled it 1/4 full of clear ( I would use less clear next time, it was a bit streaky.)

 Added another 1/4 of shimmery white, and filled it almost full of white. There isn't any shimmer in Load, but i wanted to add my own touch. It doesn't show up on the nails at all, but it adds a bit of texture. I added about 10 drops or so of China Glaze- Lemon Fizz for the yellow part of the color, and here you have it:

This is Scrangie's picture for color comparison. Also it makes my pictures look dreadful haha.

 These pictures are 4 coats of my dupe, I should have added less clear. I had to cut my nails a bit because one broke 2 weeks ago, so i just put a gel nail on, and then the one next to it broke yesterday and I was like ugh I should probably just cut them.

And here is the nail art from this promo picture that inspired my copied nail art, minus the pointy tips for me.

And here it is matte, looking super cool:

I used China Glaze Matte Magic to top it off. The black I used was Maybelline Color Show- Onyx Rush, one coat, the top heart accent painted with a small brush.
Sorry for the totally dreadful pictures today, work in progress!

What do you think of this ruffian style manicure? I would love to do something like this with gold, and purple as the main color. Do you ever franken a polish you can't get?

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Coat of Many Colors by Utopia's Polish over Sally Hansen Bubble Gum

Today I have for you Coat of Many Colors by Utopia's Polish over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Bubble Gum. Bubble Gum is a great bubble gum colored pink creme, with slight metallic pigment, which makes it really unique. It is not a frost finish at all, don't worry! This manicure was super fun and summery with the rainbow metallic glitter of all sizes over top. Click on photos for full size.

These pictures are 2 coats of Bubble Gum. The color is pretty easy to deal with and is slightly thick, nothing that makes it problematic though. This is a color I would wear again and again. Now here it is below with only one coat of Coat of Many Colors by Utopia's Polish over top.

This polish has all the glitter for sure! Large hexagons in purple, orange, teal, and red. Medium hexagons in red, lime green, orange, blue, and purple. The smallest hexagons are red, blue, pink, holographic and green. The last but not least glitter is a neat greyish sky blue matte glitter.
Application was good and there was no real digging for glitter, you just stick the brush in and it's covered.

It reminds me of cotton candy, roller-coasters and carnivals! These polishes together really are a fun combination, and Virginia never skimps on the glitter! This polish is not currently in stock in the Utopia's Polish Etsy store, but she does have a lot of other fun ones to check out. Full size bottles are $9.00 and mini bottles (5ml ) are $4.50.

Do you have any indie polishes? Which are your favorite? If you haven't take a look on Etsy yet and feel like spending some money, I suggest you take a look! *wink*

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Pretty& Polished Martian Salad

Today I have Martian Salad by Pretty& Polished to show you. Don't you love the name of this polish? It reminds me of lime Jello with a can of fruit salad thrown in. Mmm Jello haha.

Martian Salad is a pretty subtle, lighter grass green holographic polish. It is pretty in indoor light, but you don't really notice the holographic part that much until you are in a brighter place, like outside on a sunny day. I have the most exciting pictures for you first, they are 3 coats and camera flash was used.

 And below I have the more indoor accurate pictures.

So as you can see, the holo is almost undetectable. It is a really fine holo powder though.
You can get this from Pretty& Polished on Etsy, it is $5.00 for 7ml or $8.50 for 15ml. It is not currently in stock, Chelsea has sales that usually sell out pretty quick.

Chelsea just had a sale yesterday, but you can check her Facebook page where she always announces when she will open shop.

What do you think of green nail polish? I am not a big fan of the darker greens yet, but I love pastel green like I was wearing yesterday. I love all pastel and creme colors, definitely high up on my favorites list (other than holographic.) What are your favorite nail polish finishes?

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Pretty& Polished Sand Art tips over Beautiful Sally Hansen Gentle Blossom

This is what  I'm wearing today,  Pretty& Polished Sand Art tips over Beautiful Sally Hansen Gentle Blossom. Gentle Blossom is so pretty, and it is part of Sally Hansen's Nailgrowth Miracle polish line. It is a shimmery mint pastel color, that I originally decided against, then had to go back and get it the next day.
This was 2 coats. I did the sand art gradient tips by putting down one coat of sand art, and then topping it with another at the tips. Sealed in one coat of Seche Vite.

Close up of the glitter:

Sorry for blurriness!

I love this, it reminds me of Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream, a polish that I want so so bad.
You can get this from Pretty& Polished on Etsy, it is $5.00 for 7ml or $8.50 for 15ml. It is not currently in stock, Chelsea has sales that usually sell out pretty quick, it took me 3 seperate sales just to get this. You have to check out REALLY fast.
Chelsea just had a sale today, but you can check her Facebook page where she always announces when she will open shop.

What do you think of this manicure? I think it's super pretty!

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Julep Natalie and the Winner of the Julep Intro Box Giveaway!

I would like to thank everyone for participating in my Julep Giveaway! I was very excited to have a chance to partner with Julep, and it was awesome that everyone was as excited to enter the giveaway! I am very honored to have you all as Facebook fans and Google Friends, and of course Twitter followers. The winner was Amanda L.- Entry #126. She gets to pick whatever Intro box she likes best!

Today I have  Julep Natalie to show you. I got it in my itsy bitsy mystery box. I won't be ordering one again, although winning a golden box for May probably used up my luck haha. In my mystery box, I got Julep Molly (already have but it's a gorgeous red) Natalie, and Vera. Vera made it all worth it because it is a gorgeous coffee with cream color, and it fits into my "OMG I LOVE BEIGE" love.
I also got a Julep nail file, and the SPF lip balm. I haven't tried the lip balm yet ( I have tons of lip balm) and I also got one in my June box so now I have 2.

2 coats of Natalie.

I put a fimo grapefruit as an accent nail, with a couple coats of NYX- Dreamy Glitter. Natalie is totally the same color as grapefruit pulp.

 
Here's a close up of the accent nail. I love fimo fruit slices, I have a bunch of cake/ dessert ones that I haven't used yet. You can get sliced or unsliced (you slice it yourself with a razor blade) and they are pretty cheap on Ebay. Do you love fruit nails? I do!

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Gorgeous Sally Hansen Insta-Dri- Grape Going!

I have this gorgeous duochrome polish from Sally Hansen to show you today. Seriously, this is so so pretty, and the formula is great. I would highly recommend this polish, it's very nice. It is part of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri line, and it is called Grape Going! Check out these pictures, they are all 2 coats of this polish. Click on the pictures to see them full size.

This polish is a medium purple, but there is so much blue duochrome in it, and it shifts a lot. It most often looks more blue than purple. Check out this bottle shot, I love duochrome bottle shots,  you can really see all the dimensions of the polish.

Do you have this polish? If you don't, I really think you should fix that!Check out my new wishlist on Nail Polish Canada, I want those polishes so bad haha!


Just a reminder that my Julep Intro Box Giveaway is open another day, so be sure to enter!

Happy nails!☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha

Try It On Tuesdays featuring Utopia's Polish Carnival!

So this is my post for the first edition of Try It On Tuesdays, being hosted by Jillian of  Jilltastic Nail Design. The idea of Try It On Tuesdays is to wear a polish that you own, but have not worn yet. I've had Utopia's Polish- Carnival for a couple weeks now and I haven't worn it yet, and this is actually also the first time I have worn a grey nail polish! Haha. It is Wet Cement - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.

2 coats of Wet Cement - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, 1 coat of Carnival and Seche Vite

I got the idea of layering a glitter with so many colors over a grey from Sammy at The Nailasaurus. It is a great idea because there isn't usually grey glitter in rainbows ;)I think a glitter gradient with Carnival would look really cool too. I really love square glitter, so when I saw this polish, I had to have it.

Virginia does not currently have this in stock, but she does have a lot of other interesting polishes to check out. The good thing about Utopia's Polish is no digging for glitter, ever. These polishes are glitter packed! Utopia's polishes retail for $9.00 for 15ml and $4.50 for 5ml.


I hope to add pictures of everyone else participating in Try It On Tuesdays to the bottom of this post.
What do you think of grey nail polish? I'm undecided.


Just a reminder that my Julep Intro Box Giveaway is over in less than 24 hours, so be sure to enter!

Happy nails!  (and Tuesdays!)☺

♥ ❤ ❥ ,  Samantha