Cult Nails Clairvoyant: The one that got away

So my heart broke earlier this year when Cult Nails, one of my most favorite nail polish companies, announced that Clairvoyant (if the bottle has gold lettering then it's Unicorn Puke) would be discontinued. I had missed the initial restock, but was satisfied to know that two months later it would be restocked and I could get it then. The tragedy occurred right before the restock when they received the news that two of the ingredients that made Clairvoyant what it is were gone....possibly forever. Now, months later, I'm pretty sure everyone has given up on those ingredients ever coming back but Cult Nails has promised they would continue to try to reformulate and, knowing how diligent and wonderful they are, I believe they still are!

However my heart was broken. So rare that bottles barely pop up for sale and when they do it's so far out of my price range I can't get one. Then, THEN! The impossible happened! My polish addiction enabler over at Constantly Redone told me she had bought a bottle for me. She showed up ON MY DOORSTEP holding the prized nail polish. And I was so right to lust after this beauty:

 *SQUEAL* It's a deep blue/purple jelly with the most insanely amazing assortment of flakies packed into it. I layered two coats of it over a coat of Julep Taylor for this stunning manicure that I just couldn't take my eyes off of. Can you blame me??

Look at the depth and life of this polish!

These were all taken on an overcast day and let me tell you! In the sun they are even more dazzling! Can you even imagine?!

It is everything I had hoped for and so much more. I am still in shock and ever so grateful. This was the one polish I yearned and pined for. I am truly loved <3

Striped down in Easter peek-a-boo nail art (HP13)

Brown and yellow seem familiar? Probably because hubby picked those very colors for the last Hubby's Picks o.0. Think he wants Easter or something? Anyhow I started with this rendition and just LOVED how the colors played together:

 How festive and bright is that?! It just screams have a celebration! I went to tape down to make a tape mani with it and when I pulled the tape back up it pulled the glitter and yellow base back up. Oops. So I had to start over.

Ooooh pretty! Base is Love & Beauty multiglitter which took four coats to build up (my nails look acrylic now thanks to that). Stripes from tip to base are Dollish Polish Master Chief, Julep Olivia, and Julep Nessa.

Doing the stripes was surprisingly easy. I really want to do this again in some other colors. I have so many ideas! I definitely recommend a glitter packed base for the bottom layer though. Waiting on four layers to dry is patient work...and I'm not over patient. Until next time....oh yay! The baby just brought me a spider. The joys of being a mommy.

A smorgasborg of nail stuffs...and Hubby's Picks (HP13)

WOW! What a week! Are you read for a nice, big update? Without further ado we head back to last Thursday:

Dollish Polish haul! You can clearly see the names but I have to say this picture DOES NOT do these pretties justice. Random Dancing I got for my girlie over at Constantly Redone....but what she got for me FAR outdid this pretty mini! I'll get to that in a sec. Head over to Saturday:

The Dirty Dash is a muddy, 5k obstacle course and I HAD to do a manicure for it! It was AMAZING!!! Beer chug right smack dab in the center of the course and some of the craziest looking costumes you have ever seen. I can't wait to do it again next year!! By the way those "pants" I'm wearing are actually capris. I freaking kid you not!!

After that night I headed over to my girlie's house (Constantly Redone) and she tells me she has a surprise for me.

I kid you not - that is the sacred Cult Nails Clairvoyant!! *SQUEALS* I STILL can't believe it!!! I keep going to the cupboard and looking at it. I have wanted this since release last year, but waited till the shipment where they got the news it would no longer be made. It now belongs to me...you can bet there will be an upcoming post on this beauty <3 Fast forward to today and we see that my guest post over at Trailerhood Chic is live!!!! Be sure to check it out - I seriously LOVE her blog.

Now, last but certainly NOT least, is hubby's picks:

From left to right we have Dollish Polish Master Chief, Julep Olivia, Julep Nessa, and Love & Beauty multiglitter.

WHEW that was a TON of stuff, but I haven't posted this week so I felt bad. It's been a really crazy week and I'm injured from the 5k and reinjured myself yesterday so everything has just been on hold. I have more fun things to show you but I know you can probably only take so much awesome in one post ;)

Well hello other yellow I own...figures you'd turn up in Hubby's Picks (HP12)

I own precisely two yellows. You've seen one in many nail arts since it's nice and pigmented and just a good, medium all purpose yellow. This one I forgot about. It was the first yellow I owned and it was a, "I'm a new addict who has to have some of every color in her collection" purchase. Lesson learned.

 

Just as a refresher the choices this week. An array of interesting for sure *narrowed eyes*

This is what I pulled off...and I somehow like this yellow suddenly although it takes FOUR coats to full opacity. SHEESH!

Ooooh ahhhhh....see how I tied the colors together using Color Club Nouveau Vintage there? (Like a boss).

I'm still getting a handle on my striping brushes. I read on another blog (which escapes memory at the moment!) that laying the brush on the nail and then moving your finger creates a nice, straight line. Only problem is when you are working with cheap, sheer polishes (thanks hubby!).

I have another manicure coming up soon for the 5K I'm running this weekend! Have a great day everyone <3

It's Hubby's Picks time...and a daughter AND son manicure ;)

That's right my son did a manicure! But it's not what you think *giggles* First I did baby girl's nails and anytime I pull out the polish all the kids get excited including both the 7 and 6 year-old boys. I bought my darling little girl Essence You Are Mine and she got some nail stickers from the tooth fairy. She's so good at this though and asked for a pattern and topped off every other nail with Essence Purplicious:

How cute are these?? She won't sit still long enough for clean up and I was lucky to get these shots. She also insisted that I take a picture of her and my hands together:

This inspired the oldest boy to do his nails:

He pulled the stickers of his workbook and made his own nail decals! We stopped painting the nails on the older boys last year since the schools don't allow it, but he's always watching me do my nails and asking if his can be done. Clever kid *proud moment*.

Last but not least is the Hubby's Picks lineup for this week. He went with Wet N' Wild Bite the Bullet, Color Club Nouveau Vintge, Sally Hansen HD mini DVD (I think! They don't put names on minis much to my dismay), and Wet N' Wild Collecting Pollen. Hrmmm....what will I come up with this week.....

Hubby Says: Rainbow Dash

It's been a little while since I did a layers inspired by My Little Pony. After this I only have two more in the series and then I will be beginning a whole new series that I've been planning for quite some time now. For now Rainbow Dash (and probably my favorite pony):

She is kind of a tomboy so I avoided all sparkle. She's fast and she's cool and I just love her!

Base color is Essence Absolutely Blue then I striped on in this order from the tip down: Julep Anne, Julep Jaimie, Wet N' Wild Undercover Graffiti, Zoya Creamy, Wet N' Wild Scratchiti, Wet N' Wild Writings on the Wall. For those of you unfamiliar with this great pony:



Also I have a guest post up over at Geeky Owl. Be sure to check out what I did with two of the Zoya Pinterest minis I got and give her a follow while you're at it - you won't regret it!

Hubby's Picks (HP11)

No creative title this morning mainly because I was up far too late and had to get up far too early. Sad life right? Yeah I get about that much sympathy from the kiddos too. Such is life though and today is going to be a great day at any rate! I prepped mangoes for fruit crush later at our family bbq and, yeah, bbq. PLUS I'm going to go get the kids some GREAT deals on clothes! So without further ado Hubby's Picks:

I haven't done a two-tone manicure in a loooooong time. They look so fun though right? Base is Fashion Bug Cocktail Pink with Orly Sweet Peacock stamped over it. Then tape off and Sally Hansen White On stamped with Julep Molly. Pretty!

But, as usual with red over white, some smearing happened. No matter how hard I try it always happens with red over white.

At any rate I really love it and hubby was impressed (as usual ;) Have a great, summer day! Got anything fun planned??

My guest post at Sassy Lacquer and Hubby's Picks (HP11)

Hey everyone! Had your coffee yet? I haven't :( Saddest thing ever right? Well I did a guest post over at Sassy Lacquer so be sure to jump over to see my neon laser nails: Nifty Neon Laser Nails. I won't spoil it, but it's a really cool manicure and her blog is super cool. Geeky Owl's is up over there too so be sure to check her's out as well.

....and now for Hubby's Picks!

 Front: Sally Hansen White On, Fashion Bug Cocktail Pink, and Julep Molly.
Back: Orly Sweet Peacock.

Oh yeah! Super neat set of colors he picked this time....they were all ones sitting out from recent manicures o.0 That's what I get for not cleaning up. BUT it will be awesome and it will be up on Saturday. Have a great day!!

The winner of my Blogeversary contest is.....

Our Painted World! All the entries were so cute and well executed but this one was the crowd favorite:

Umm how cute is that owl?? So, at this very moment, Sassy Lacquer is looking over the winning entry and we are brainstorming what the custom polish is going to look like. Once I receive that component the collection of Special Effects Essence top coats with the custom polish will be on their way to the winner. Thank you and a special shout out to the other entries:

 No More Nail Biting

Karinea0a

IsaBella's World

Cuti-CLUE-les
All of them were so fun and fantastic - I just LOVE creativity! Thank you to everyone for helping me celebrate one year of blogging....and many more to come ;) Be sure to check out Mommy Does Her Nails on Facebook.

When unexpected nail mail shows up with a wish list polish

I am so touched right now. I've never received nail mail out of the blue but a friend of mine in a birthday group I'm in knew I would have to miss out on the Butter London sale and made sure I got a polish...not only that but it was one from my wish list! Butter London Big Smoke *swoon*

The blue it's stamped with is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue. A client paid me with a bloom.com certificate and I just love blue on blue. The hearts are for how stunned and touched I was and am. The timing was just perfect <3

This isn't an overly original color but is now my dark blue of choice. A frosty finish with NO streaks I am so in love with it!

It glows! I am just so blessed and so happy. This is only the second Butter London I own but it makes me hungry for more!

Hubby's Picks: The one with chewed up bubblegum (HP10)

So two tings. One is that I realized I was using HB to name my Hubby's Picks when I should have been using HP. Ooops :) The second is I realized why I don't like Sally Hasen Trust Mauve. It looks like chewed up bublegum that someone stuck on a table and it sat in the sun. Mmmm yum right? Anyhow onto the good stuff:

Layering: Since Zoya Kotori and Wet N' Wild Blue Wants To Be A Billionaire (good grief that name is looooooong) are both sheer blues with micro glitter particles I decided to simply layer them. That looked AMAZING!

 This is slightly blurred so you can see all those deep blue and holographic particles interacting. Next I dotted Sally Hansen Trust Mauve on my nail line - honestly it has a truly fantastic formula. It's pretty sheer painted on it's own but builds beautifully. It just looks like chewed up bubblegum.

Then I tipped it with Wet N' Wild Ready To Pounce. Now Ready To Pounce is a gorgeous and deeply rich purple that glows with depth...and chips nearly instantly. So sad for such an intensely beautiful purple.

All in all not my favorite Hubby's Picks but totally not the worst (remember the spider?). Hope your summer is going great!

Happy 4th of July...and Hubby's Picks!

This manicure actually looked a little different in my head. Not to say it's bad...it's just not what I had imagined and you know how that can be:

Thumb and pinky are based with the Snowman glitter in fine red glitter and topped with Love & Beauty multicolored glitter (thank you guys for being original with your naming conventions). The pointer is a base of NYC Skintight Denim and stamped with my fave white for stamping: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, and the two middle fingers are a base of Sally Hansen White On and striped using tape with Julep January.

So we're on tough times here which is kind of hard sometimes. But I made a million cupcakes for that baby shower so I have tons frozen. You know, sometimes you just need a cupcake:

Ironically all I have is Easter themed sprinkles so yeah...so shimmery and pretty and so Easter like! I make amazing buttercream frosting from scratch and this is my absolute favorite. Lemon buttercream! It, literally, melts in your mouth while exploding on your tongue with the most amazing zest. Mmmmmm - may I recommend it? Heaven <3

Now the moment you've been waiting for *drumroll please* Hubby's Picks!

 Ugh....this time I am stumped because I had gotten that Sally Hansen Maximum Growth in a surprise box I bought on clearance for like 5 bucks and it is UGLY. I had it hidden in a box and he found it! He would >.< It's called Trust Mauve. So from left to right we have: Wet N' Wild Blue Wants to be a Billionaire, Wet N' Wild Ready to Pounce, Sally Hansen Trust Mauve, and Zoya Kotori. Both of those blues are SHEER. Wish me the best with this one cause I'm going to need it BIG time!

Gleefully brilliant and gemlike

I bought Jesse's Girl Glee waaaaayyyy back when I was starting. The polish translates from the bottle to nail so amazingly giving all the depth and color shifts I saw when I bought it. I never really thought about doing an accent nail in a similiar hue but different finish until I accidentally set Glee down next to Butter London Slapper. Oooohhhh...

Bright turquoise to deep blue with micro glass flecks of gold flashing in between the shifts. Heart pounding in happiness. I love to just look at the bottle! The Butter London, however, is a creme/jelly in turquoise and I brought in the glod flashes by stamping in Julep Sienna.

I know it's a lot of photos but capturing the shifts and flashes is something only a series of photos can tell. And boy did it tell <3 Check out The Geeky Owl's post on possible dupes. You may already have something that is spot on similar!

Let's get Layered: Firey purple heaven (PIC HEAVY)

I have three amazing, glowey purple jellys. Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz, Orly Fowl Play, and NfuOh 51. It made me think. What would happen should they be layered....

*SQUEAL* Purple, glowey, firey, colorful flakies. I.DIE. For reference here's bottle shots:

They are all soooo fantastic but then you put them together and WOW!!!

Depth and still squishy. Such goodness! PHOTO SPAM!!!

They all have amazing dry time so this was a pretty easy manicure to do.

If you happen to have these may I recommend this manicure? Cause it's just AWESOME! Have a FANTASTICALLY amazing day <3