HOOT!

First of all, can I just say: I got myself the newest NP release from MAC, In The Buff, and it is so weird! It is one of the weirdest colors I have. It is one of those "ugly pretty" shades I can't get enough of.

When I read the very first description of MAC's summer collection, I was very excited to see this because in the description it said "avocado" and so I expected a green. This is not green! It is a sand colored nude with lots of olive tone. It may match some peoples' skin to be a true nude, but it is definitely not my skin tone so I can appreciate it as a color. It looks like a brown paper bag sometimes, and sometimes more nude, and sometimes very murky olive. Strange but cool.

Anyhoot, back to the point of my post! I have recently become a huge fan of anything to do with owls. Without telling too long a story, a friend and I got these necklaces with owl pendants and call them "friendship owls" and it has made me really like anything with owls. So I figured that meant it was going to have to be on my nails somehow. I think I pulled it off>>>

If you like the owl and would like to try my hand-painted art, you are in luck! I decided to take pics as I went along so that you could have a tutorial!

Here is what I used. LA Colors Art Deco stripers in white and black, L'Oreal - Sizzling Tangerine, Barielle - A Bouquet for Ava, Seche Vite and a dotting tool. The colors you choose are not important, but you should choose well pigmented shades so that you don't have to go over the same spot several times. You will also need at least one striper polish.

1) Using one of the regular polishes you choose, make a ovalish shape in the middle of your nail, a bit below center so you leave space for the head. This will be the owl's body. Let it dry.

2) Using another color make two circles at the top of the blob you made in Step 1 and then pull them up to make an upside-down heart. I just used the nail polish brush to make these circles, but you could also use a dotting tool and a larger drop of polish if you prefer. Let it dry.

3) Using your nail art striper, make the owl's puffy feather "hairdo" on top of his head pulling the striper brush from outer to an inner point just below the tip of the "heart" we made in Step 2. Make several passes until you feel that it's puffy enough! Next, take the brush and just under the "heart" inbetween the two circles, make a little diamond shape to create his beak.

4) Using white polish and a dotting tool, make two dots for the whites of the owl's eyes. Let that dry.

5) Using black polish and the dotting tool, make a smaller dot in the center of both white dots.

6) Getting out the striper again, make two slightly curved lines on either side of the body to make wings. I made a couple passes on each side so they were a bit thicker than just a line. Then make two bunches of three little lines on the bottom of the body for his talons.

7) To finish him off, add some dots to the body with the dotting tool and whatever shades you'd like.

8) Finish off with a coat of Seche Vite, or whatever thick self-leveling top-coat you choose so that your finished owl is level and not lumpy/blobby looking.

What do you think?!
:c)

Claire's Mood Polish Swatches

Hello again! I have the coolest s*** to show you today! I have had so much fun with these new polishes that since Saturday, I have already worn all of them. I can't get enough. They are mood changing polishes from Claire's which are essentially just polishes that change with temperature. They have a "hot" color and a "cold" color.

Claire's Mood - Daring/Innocent, Happy/Earthy, Calm/Wild

Daring/Innocent - This is gray when cool and turns to a yellowish, beige cream when warm. I can imagine the hot color would be difficult to pull off and isn't necessarily "pretty" but I do still like it!

Happy/Earthy - This is a bright, grass green when cool and super bright, nearly neon, slightly green-yellow when hot. The times it was green were strange sometimes. In some lights it looked like a dusty green, like RBL - Diddy Mow. It wasn't like it looked darker in some lights because there wasn't the same amount of light; it was seriously like it was a completely different color all together. Weird. I don't think I have experienced anything like that before. I got these in the mail and when I opened them up in regular incandescent lighting I thought it was a dusty, gray green. Until I put it on and saw it in good light! Then it was like, "BAM! IN YO FACE!

Calm/Wild - This is a medium purple with silver shimmer when cold and bright pink with silver shimmer when hot. Very pretty either way! This baby is packed with shimmer!

The formula on these was very good. I did 2 coats with Daring/Innocent and Calm/Wild but had to pull out three for Happy/Earthy.

EDIT: I forgot to mention: these do not dry shiny. They dry rather flat/matte. All of my swatches have topcoat.

Before I tried these I was under the assumption that they would always look two-toned where the nail bed would be the warm color and the tips would be the cold color but I was wrong. They did look like that a lot, but they also just stayed the cold color a lot, probably because I generally have cold hands. And the weather is still on the cool side. I'm sure in the summer when it's sweltering, I will see the hot color more often. They change very easily regardless. It's a lot of fun. You're sitting on the couch will some wine all cuddled up with the dog and your man so they are warm. Then you go to the fridge to get a snack and then they are cold. You reach into the oven to get your chicken nuggets, they get warm. Then you wash a dish, they go to cold. Then you wash another dish now that the water warmed up, they are warm. You let the dog out, they are cold. You take a shower, they are warm. You run around doing your post shower activities, they get cold. You blow dry your hair, they get warm (you intentionally shoot the dryer at your nails for fun and let your man do it too!) There is no end with these things!! They are sooooo fun!

I like these so much better than the solar changers. The solar changers are fun too, don't get me wrong, but they're only fun if you have sun. You don't need sun to play with these and there are so many changes from moment to moment. I especially like washing my hands in public and then using the hand dryers and seeing people doing double takes of my nails. "Wait! They were just a different color...weren't they?" So much fun.

I must say that I don't think the wear on this is too impressive. I only wore Daring/Innocent for about half a day before I wanted to try out the next one so I didn't notice any wear with that one but I wore Happy/Earthy from Saturday night to last night (Monday) so that was about 48 hours, but I started to see some major chippage by the middle of the day yesterday. Not all the chips actually even chipped. Some spots were just lifting and getting ready to chip. But regardless, it should be said because I don't usually find any polish chippy, ever. It did make it over 24 hours though and I am currently wearing Calm/Wild and did it last night and it's flawless. We shall see. I don't really care because it is worth it!!

At one point I was gawking at them to the BF and I said "I wish all polish did this". Can you imagine it? Even he found them amusing. We were sitting on the couch together and I was holding a mug of tea. He looked at my hand and was like "Look at your nails! Now look at the level in your cup!" The mug was filled about half way and the fingers on the lower half of the mug where there was still hot tea were the warm color and the fingers higher up were the cool color. Everyone loves these!

What do you think? Have them? Want them? Love them? Hate them?
:c)

PS - These are available at Claire's stores now!

NOTD: Del Sol - True Love

HI GUYS! I hope you are having a great day! This is my Nail of The Day. It is nice and sunny so I thought it would be appropriate! (Hope I can sneak out to the beach... I have my bathing suit in my bag!!) This is Del Sol - True Love with two coats of LA Girls - Purple Glitter on top. Indoors True Love is a sweet, sugary nude, and outside it is a lovely lilac. And either look looks great with the purple glitter! It isn't a very bold, in your face glitter. The color is soft but I think that makes it perfect for this mani.

Here is a bonus puppy pic I took over the weekend. It's my Cash playing with my boyfriend's parents' dog, Molly. They just love to play together. I was so proud at the action shot I got! Enjoy and have a fabulous summer day! (unless the weather sux where you are. In that case, have a fabulous inside day!)