Nail Files: Katie in the Dog House Breakdown

Image Courtesy of TV Guide Network Facebook Page

In the second episode, which was also premiered on August 19th, Katie is still reeling from the Lisa Foot Scrub incident, but wait, there's SO much more!

In The Salon
Seriously Lisa?  When your boss could be sued for your actions, you seriously need to eat your pride and shut your mouth.  But this is reality tv, and she has a camera to listen to her.  Thankfully, the client felt better when she got home so crisis averted.  But Lisa is still all hopped up after Anna changed her schedule "and flavoring her friends" and is now mouthing off... again.  If your boss says you're like sand in your girly bites - well... let's say that's not what you want on your resume.

Meanwhile, Katie has decided to name a Sunday Manager for the hair salon (Joyce) and is met with blank stares.  Granted, it was pretty unexpected but she finally says thank you but the deer in the headlights look made for some awkward tv.  Please don't blow it, but I'm sure you will.  (Great.)

To celebrate her 3rd year of the Painted Nail, and to launch the hair/makeup bar, Katie decides to throw a party and how!  Katie has some crazy ideas but that's what party planners are for (even if they want to take $14,000 of your money).

Celebrity Sighting!
None this week.

In Katie's Life
Sad news, Sugar crossed the Rainbow Bridge in between season 1 and 2, and Katie's other dog Pookie is feeling the loss.  Walter and I are on the same page... let's get rid of the dog entirely.  Katie however, wants to go rescue another dog.  MAJOR props and thank yous for adopting instead of paying a breeder - Katie, you did good there.  While Walter is busy with business, Katie and her BFF Amy of Brown Sugar (nom amazing cookies & cupcakes nom) go and adopt the freakin' dog.  Walter is ticked.

A little foreshadowing - Katie will be working (and judging!) a kid pageant soon, and she's so ridiculously excited.  Somehow, I don't think Toddlers & Tiaras will be wanting to showcase her anytime soon and yet at the same time, I could see Katie having a pageant for dogs.  They are planning to take Katie's smartcar which is currently being wrapped in Painted Nail pretties.  I love smartcars.  I saw my first one in Europe back in 2005 and was obsessed.

Beep beep! The original smart fourtwo in Europe.

The Mish Mash
When Walter said being at the shelter was like being in a Sarah McLachlan commercial, I actually spit out my drink.

While Katie was talking to Anna about Lisa, I noticed two words on her computer... the first was Kowtow and the second was Wattle.  I don't know if Katie is doing a word of the day or what, but I feel more educated now.  Kudos.  And Namaste. 

Nail Files: Foot Scrub Cocktail Breakdown

Image Courtesy of TV Guide Network Facebook Page

She's baaaaaaaack!  Katie Cazorla, owner of the Painted Nail in Sherman Oaks, California, is back for another season of her reality show Nail Files.  And I'm back with your episode breakdown.  (By the way, I know I never did the season finale of last season.  I was in denial that the show might be over so I refused to do a review.  When I heard that season 2 was officially ordered, someone had deleted it from my DVR.  I blame the cat.)

Now, not-really-a-spoiler alert, I got the opportunity to pre-screen this episode before it aired and let me tell you, I was laughing on the couch.  In fact, it was so good, that the fiance even stopped to watch it (and that's saying something, although I've gotten him to watch Teen Mom and Toddlers & Tiaras with me before too!).  Anywho here's what happened on Season 2, Episode 1 titled "Foot Scrub Cocktail."

In The Salon
So Katie decided to hire a brand new staff to help her with the salon.  Did someone call Tabatha?  She also got rid of the boutique she had next door (slight boo from me over here only because I heard she might carry GingerKittyDesigns there), added a hair salon and makeup bar and HELLO - she's working on a new location in Miami, Florida?! Um, time for me to go to Florida again.

By the way, Katie has two Annas now - Anna the Manager and Anna the Assistant.  I'm okay with her calling them AM and AA.  Just saying.

Lisa.  Oh Lisa.  You get your own paragraph.  Lisa is a Class C... for Crazy.  Not only does she constantly want to be the center of attention, but the girl doesn't understand that vegan and organic DOES NOT MEAN EDIBLE.  So yes, she feeds a client some foot scrub, and duh, the client gets sick.  When we had dinner with Katie, we told her we wanted a margarita minus foot scrub.  I thought Katie was going to throw nail polish at us.  ^_^  Lisa looks like she's going to be a bundle of trouble this season, so she may have her own subtitle in my breakdowns.  However, Anna the Manager should have jumped off her chair and said "OH HELL NO, we don't feed the clients foot scrub."

Celebrity Sighting!
This week's celeb was Marissa Jaret Winokur from Hairspray.  She's almost 40 (yes, 40!) but she looks absolutely amazing.  Although I have to say, I do not have nail polish on my 5 year old son but hey, rock on Marissa.  (In case you missed Marissa being pregnant, you didn't really.  They had a surrogate and Zev Isaac was born in July 2008.)

In Katie's Life
I had no idea that she had been with Walter for 7 years, but I hope that one day I get to meet him - you can see the love he has for her!  The ASCAP awards were the center of Katie's episode, and while she may not know exactly what it stands for, she knows it writes his checks and she'll let him Ascap that ass later.  (Thanks Katie, you always were punny.)

As with many photographed celebrities, Katie needs a new dress for the event and after a ridiculous "dress" fitting with a definitely now-unemployed stylist named Sam, Katie finds the perfect dress from Sassy.  At least my closed captioning thinks his name was Sassy.  I feel like Katie was calling him Sessy though.  Either way, they go, and it's a grand time.  Well, Walter may have some cold feet for the red carpet but Katie's a professional - she can lead the way.  

The Mish Mash 
Looks like this is going to be a crazy season - from the expansion, to the staff, Katie's life, and as I told you before, there's going to be a whole new Painted Nail coming from bottle designs to colors!

Layla & The Bloggers: A Cocktail Party

Tonight's posting is more for fun.  While at Cosmoprof North America, the lovely ladies behind Layla Cosmetics threw a cocktail party for this awesome group of bloggers who attended.

We met up at the eyecandy sound lounge at Mandalay Bay, drank, shared stories, and got to see the new Layla goodies coming up for the rest of 2012 (and heard some secrets of things to come as well!)

Many many many thanks to the ladies of Layla Cosmetics, LUXCON, and Y! PR for the opportunity to relax and get to know each other!  Now it's time for just some fun loving pictures!

Our amazing hosts - Babila and Tatiana from Layla Cosmetics

More beautiful hosts - April from Y! PR and Paula from LUXCON

Claudia from Chromatic Misadventures, Gia from Bottles & Bottles of Polish & Connie from LUXCON

Lindsey from Neverland Nail Blog & Yasmin from Zadidoll 

Maria from Cult Nails, Claudia and Kimberly from Libby's Pink Vanity

Ria from Ria Loves Pawlish, Shelley from Polarbelle and Destany from Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom

This is how we roll.

Kelly and Drew from SparkleCore

Stephanie from Aquaheart, Bren from OMG! Bren and Alyson from The Gloss Menagerie

Ria, Shelley, Sinead from Self Tanning Queen, Destany, Carly, Babila, Colleen from Y! PR (front), Romy from RomyRaves, Lindsey and Yasmin

Judy from BeautyJudy, Destany, Carly from Lacquered Lover and the ladies behind Ninja Polish

Kimberly, Maria, Yasmin, Bren, Claudia, & Gia

Alyson, Shelley, Ria, Lindsey, Kelly & Drew

Please click to enlarge - photo courtesy of SparkleCore

So yes, there are pictures of me, I promise.

You have no idea how much I've missed Judy from BeautyJudy.  Like, if we lived anywhere near each other, she'd have to kick me out of her house because I just want to talk to her for hours.  She's been a rock for me, someone I can vent to, cry with, be angry with, gossip about polish.  She's the sister I always wanted.  And I had no idea she was making that face in the second picture.  Rock on Judy.

Romy from Romy Raves.  I really didn't get to talk to Romy much which is a dang shame because she is freaking fantastic.  I really hope to cross paths with her again because she was amazingly awesome.

(Same goes for Sinead who I got to share a cab with and it was probably the most hilarious cab ride I've ever taken.  PS: I want a "Put It Back Together" fund too.)

This is Brianna from Makeup Minutes.  She came up to me in the Press Room and introduced herself and I was so intrigued by her look and her presence that we exchanged business cards and I invited her to our party.  Do go check out her blog - she has some great posts going on.  Plus she has a fantastic middle name even if she does spell it with 2 L's.  (Michele for LIFE yo.)

Okay, so you may be asking what's up with my lashes.  Long story short, they are Ardell Wild Lashes and are actually feathers.  I'll write more about them later, I promise.

Photo Courtesy of @Ardell_Lashes

Salon-de-Lis, Kingsville, Texas

Image courtesy of Salon-de-Lis Facebook Page

I was once told that living in South Texas and being into beauty was an oxymoron... that we were 10 years behind the trends.  I wouldn't say 10 years, but it does seem like we do tend to fall behind in what's going on in the world of beauty and fashion.  I had heard of Salon-de-Lis from my Mom originally, when her hairstylist moved to this location, and then I physically visited the location during their ribbon cutting for the Chamber of Commerce.  When I first went by, the nail room was in the front, with the normal China Glaze and OPI in the room, but because they were busy with the ribbon cutting, no one could really tell me what nail services were offered.

Fast forward a few months, and while I was reading my Facebook feed, I saw that Salon-de-Lis was now offering Shellac by CND!  I immediately jumped to make an appointment for a pedicure due to my upcoming Las Vegas trip and I knew that I didn't want to have my toe polish flake off or chip while out of state at a beauty convention.  I was able to sign up straight from their Facebook Page (bonus!) which leads to the website Vagaro - a web based appointment calendar.

I received a phone call a few days later asking to reschedule my appointment.  The woman who was going to perform my services was no longer available on that day, and in the end, it worked out better for me to move the appointment.  The owner, Lisa, offered to even come in early to the salon so I could get in and out in time for my flight, which was a nice gesture.  At this point, I had not spilled that I was a nail blogger, but she saw we had mutual Facebook friends and remembered my blog through other conversations I had with said mutual contacts.

I went into the salon a few days early to see (a) if Salon-de-Lis offered the entire Shellac process and (b) what colors she had available.  I had printed off some color combinations from the CND website because I knew I wanted to layer my colors.  The polish room had moved to another part of the salon since the last time I had been there, and the new room had a neat display of all their polishes.  I asked to see the Shellac set up and was pleased to see the official CND lamp, Shellac polishes, base and top coats.  I narrowed my choices down to 3 possibles, and was set to return the following Saturday.  Turns out, I didn't even need my printouts because Lisa had the same printouts available in her salon, with the colors that she offers already pre-marked.

On Saturday (July 21), I was running a bit late (if you saw my Instagram, you'll see I packed in 16 minutes, nervewracking!), so I called to let them know I was about 15 minutes behind.  I arrived and was offered a drink (I chose water), and was seated in a nice plush salon chair with a pull out drawer for the pedicures.  I didn't need a pedicure, just my nail lacquer removed and the Shellac applied, and since Lisa now knew I was a nail blogger and understood Shellac, she asked if 2 shadows (new hires) could watch.  I didn't mind at all, so the duo came in to observe.  (It was actually a brother & sister that just graduated from cosmetology school and were still new to nails.)

Lisa is very adamant about using the entire Shellac system from start to beginning and not short changing the client by mixing and matching products or systems.  I chose to put on one coat of Purple Purple and one coat of Moonlight & Roses which resulted in a nice lilac shade.  Lisa took care to make sure no gel was on the cuticle area during the pedicure, my foot was relaxed during the UV lamp, and that she wrapped the tips (which is difficult on toes but not impossible!).

There were only 2 downsides.  The first was that I was the first Shellac pedicure, and so her pedicure chair was not set up properly for Shellac.  In order to make me comfortable, she would polish one foot, then hold the lamp on the foot rest while I placed my foot inside.  While that cured, we'd small talk until the light went off, then she'd polish the other foot and hold the lamp during that foot's curing.  It made the procedure last longer only because instead of being able to polish one foot while the other was in the lamp, she was making sure my foot was comfortable.

The other downside was that when it came time to remove the sticky layer, she used 91% isopropyl alcohol instead of 99%.  While it removed the sticky layer and kept the shine, I knew it wasn't "right".  Salon-de-Lis is still working on getting their CND Certified certification and being added to the CND website - all in good time.  Edit: I talked to CND and they said that 91% IPA is 'okay' but the 99% IPA is the professional grade and makes the nail the glossiest post-service and is what is recommended for the Shellac procedure.

The best part of my Shellac pedicure?  As soon as it was done, and I mean the second it was done, I put on my shoes.  Yep, just slipped them on.  No need to wait for anything - just put them on.  I went to the reception area where another woman was waiting and asked what I had done (because my nails were bare) and I said "Oh, I had a Shellac pedicure."  She was freaking out that I was wearing shoes.  NO smudging, nothing.

I paid $30 for my pedicure which is now almost 2 weeks old and you can't tell one bit.  It's still extremely shiny, no chipping, and the grow out is nearly non-existent.  My toe nails grow much slower than my finger nails so I figure I'll get easily another 2 weeks out of this pedicure before having to go again, and I definitely will go again.  I'm not sure how much a spa pedicure with Shellac would cost, but I'll be finding out.

I don't have current pictures of my pedicure because I'm not fond of feet to begin with but I did take this one picture (no filter) for Instagram, so please don't look if toes aren't your thing.  This was taken on the day of the Shellac pedicure, after putting on and taking my shoes off.

Salon-de-Lis is located at 506 E. Kleberg in Kingsville, Texas.  Their phone number is (361) 592-5472 or you can book an appointment via their Facebook Page

Studio One, Portland, Maine

As you can see above (and I mentioned earlier!) I got engaged on 19 June 2012.  It was short and sweet - he took me to the restaurant where we had our first date, pulled out the box, asked me to marry him.  :]  We were traveling to Maine, his home state, at the end of June, and I really wanted to get a Shellac manicure for the week long trip that would end with his family reunion.

I originally was going to a place near my town to have it done, but due to family circumstances, I had to cancel and pray for a place in Maine to get Shellac done.  I checked the CND Salon Locator and found Studio One, in Old Port, Portland, Maine.  It was about a 30 minute drive from where we were staying, so I convinced the fiance to go and we could check out some cool architecture.

I decided not to make an appointment and instead to just "walk in" and see what kind of service I could get. To my delight, they had an opening in 45 minutes, so we headed downstairs to Anthony's to eat (which was amazing, by the way).

The salon itself is very open and inviting while still maintaining a professional vibe.  The magazines available are current (which you don't really think about but when you're at an appointment early, it makes a difference!), and they offered me a water, but I declined since I had just eaten lunch.

Now, I cannot for the life of me find the business card from my manicurist, so I do apologize that I am not mentioning her by name.  

Studio One offers other gel services too, such as Young Nails, but I was pleased to see that for the Shellac services, all the CND products were being used.  Mixing and matching products can result in flawed results for the client.

Because I had just recently had a manicure, I didn't need my nails trimmed or shaped, and I chose to put on Hollywood, a pretty red, with a top coat of Mother of Pearl, a light holographic scattered glitter, much like China Glaze Fairy Dust.

I ended up spilling that I was a nail blogger, so my manicurist did not explain the entire process to me but I really loved that she had it down to an art on her side.  She would have one hand in the UV lamp while the other was being polished, and then she would move the lamp over for me so I didn't have to twist my wrists or cross my arms to get to the lamp.  It was a relaxing hour that ended with a soft hand scrub with a CND spa scrub.

The ONLY complaint that I have was that at the end of my Shellac manicure, instead of using 99% isopropyl alcohol to remove the "sticky layer" that sits on top of the nail after the top coat has cured, she used pure acetone.  I literally drew my hands back in horror and said "What is that" after smelling acetone, and she assured me that she did this with all her Shellac manicures.  

This is not what CND has said to use.  CND has explicitly said that only 99% isopropyl alcohol should be used to remove the "sticky layer."  Acetone is used to break down Shellac through the microtunnels that is created by the Shellac coats.  Needless to say, I allowed her to wipe my nails with the acetone, and as a result, my nails felt rubbery until the day I removed said Shellac.  She also did not apply Solar Oil after my manicure, but I asked for some anyway, and she provided it from her desk.  (I was not offered a mini bottle to take home.)

I paid $30 for my Shellac services on 26 June.

Freshly Shellac-ed!

Other than the "rubbery" feeling, I was very pleased with my Shellac manicure from this location and if I was in the area again, I'd come back.  I would, however, stop her from using acetone this time on my finished nails.

I removed my Shellac on my own on 10 July 2012 without any issues.  CND does not recommend for the client to remove her Shellac on her own to maintain the integrity of the nail.  

Shellac - 10 days later! 

I had zero lifting, splitting, tip wear, or any other problems after my 14 days... I just wanted a nail polish change.  :]

Edit: I had the original dates wrong. I wore this polish for 14 days, not just 10.

Shellac Day 14

Left Hand - Day 14

Right Hand - Day 14

Gelish: An Experience

UPDATE!

This has been a popular post for me, but turns out - I really didn't know what I was doing with Gelish. I've since written other postings about different colors and an updated experience here.

At the end of May, I went in for my routine manicure.  Despite being able to paint my own nails (and normally, do a decent job of it!), I'm horrible at keeping my cuticles healthy and my nail shape consistent.  For that, I go to a manicurist/nail technician in my home town.  She has been doing nails for over 20 years, I went to school with her kids, she's a super sweet woman, and oddly enough, she lives just down the street from me.  During this visit, she asked me if I wanted to try Gelish, free of charge, in addition to my normal natural manicure.  I was slightly hesitant because I am fond of another company's product, but I figured for blogging reasons, it would be good to try Gelish.

Unfortunately for both of us, we ended up doing a lot of talking during my manicure, and ended up putting a few too many coats of polish on.  It was supposed to be one coat of base coat, 3 coats of Sheek White (for opacity) and then a top coat.  I think we got at least 2 coats of top coat on there and maybe an extra coat of Sheek White on at least one hand.  We were also distracted by another salon employee who was gabbing with us at the same time.  Originally, my manicurist wanted to just do French white tips but I am not a French kind of girl, and convinced her to go with the entire nail.  I figured I could really test the way polish applies over Gelish and maybe get to wear some awesome neons in the process!

You may be able to tell a bit on my pinkie finger, that some of the gel got on my cuticle area.  Once wet, it caused the gel to lift from the nail, but not enough to catch anything under it.  I also had this problem on my index finger where some gel got on the side cuticle.  To avoid this, make sure that before you cure the nails under the UV lamp, you wipe away any gel that has gotten onto the cuticles or else it will harden and potentially risk staying power of the manicure.

As soon as I got home, I started playing with colors.  I found that my holographic polishes refused to adhere to the glossy top of the Gelish manicure, and glitter, while fun, did not want to come off the nail with non-acetone polish remover.  You cannot use acetone polish remover or else risk removing the Gelish itself.

I ended up settling for OPI DS Extravagance which I picked up in Ulta one day as a lucky find.

By Day 5, I was getting quite bored of my manicure but wasn't quite ready to take it off yet.  As you can see, the white has slightly yellowed, and you can see the failed attempts of my glitter removal from Day 1 on the middle finger.

By Day 13, I still had pretty decent coverage - no real lifting and no tip wear, so I decided to go all out and finally wear my bottle of Floam by Nail Venturous, knowing that when it was time to remove this matte glitter, everything must go.

Just one day later, I was ready to get this off.  I felt like I had done my two weeks, and yes, Gelish had lived up to my standard of gel polish.  Now time for removal.

My manicurist had NOT told me how to remove Gelish, probably thinking I'd come in to have the gels removed by her.  Instead, I took a cotton ball, soaked it in acetone, placed it on my nail, wrapped my finger in foil, and waited 5 minutes.  When I pulled the foil off, most of the Floam had been removed but none of the Gelish.

I rewrapped with a new cotton ball and foil and this time waited 15 minutes.  When I pulled off the foil, I had most of the Gelish off, and I used an orange stick to scrape off the rest.

One down, 9 to go?

I let this nail soak for 30 minutes and when I pulled off my foil, I had all this flaky white mess to deal with.

In total, it took me four hours to remove my Gelish, and my nails felt like trash.  What did I do wrong?!

Well, you are supposed to lightly file the tops of your nails to "break the seal" with Gelish.  In not "breaking the seal", my Gelish couldn't get the acetone down into its layers to break apart the gel.  This small tip was something that led to much frustration and broken orange sticks.  

Ladies (and gentlemen!) if you are going to get a gel manicure, regardless of brand, ask your manicurist/nail technician what the proper removal process is!  Some brands, such as Gelish, require a "breaking of the seal" to remove!

Lesson learned!

Will I try Gelish again?  Currently no, only because I have another brand that I prefer, and a local salon that carries it.  I do like all the colors that Gelish offers, but I do not have the need for a gel manicure, since I change my polish so often.  The good thing about gel polish for me, is that it allows my nails to be protected as I grow them out.  

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by my manicurist for testing consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Howdy!

Well, June kind of slip past me.  Sorry I've been quiet the past couple of weeks - work has kept me busy, oh and...

I got engaged on 19 June!  Of COURSE when I actually got proposed to, I had naked nails, haha.  My above polish is CND Shellac "Hollywood" with "Mother of Pearl" but more on that later.

Cosmoprof North America Las Vegas is just 3 weeks away so that's my next big thing to prepare for!  I just spent a week in Maine with my fiancé's family (haha, that word is kind of awesome), and I've been up for 17 straight hours and have many more to go before I can go to sleep (work first thing in the morning!) but I have many things to show you too!  Thanks for sticking around!

Nail Files "Let's Do the Oscars!" Breakdown

Image courtesy of TVGuide

While cleaning of my desk (long overdue), I found my breakdown of the episode "Let's Do The Oscars" originally airing on July 26, 2011.  You'll read it, right?  :]


Deam McDermott is supposed to drop by.  I don't know who that is right now (edit: I googled.  Hello hottie).


So Sundance didn't go well for Katie, but now she's going to try for the Oscars!  While I understand branding, I also want to side with Walter that sometimes spending a lot for the potential of a big turnout, may not be worth it.


Oh poor Nichole - you're doing too much!  I hope she works out - I love her hair too much.


I know Katie sounds bad at this point, but again BRANDING!  Speaking of, this blogger needs to write about her bottle of Painted Nail -cough-.


Omg - Foreshadowing the Spring collection?!  I don't know if the collection that is coming out is the one she is talking about since I don't know when this episode was taped.  (Edit: No, it's her 2011 Collection.)


Walter loves to clean?  This man is amazing.  So is that Shark vacuum.  I use Rainbow, personally.


Dang, so Katie wants to hire a receptionist, but not demote Nichole which makes everyone happy.


After commercial break, Katie finally is able to break up with her publicist.  She writes her final check and is done.  (Girl, you need someone like Y!)  Katie calls Walter and pulls up her contract and she was OVERpaying... Walter demands a stop payment for the check, which she does.


OH!  You're Tori Spelling's husband!  And uh, he also had some Girl Scout cookies - nom.


A bit more drama with this PR company.  Again, it's hard to discern exactly what happened over the many days (months) but bottom line: follow your contract and make your client happy!


The next breakdown will be the finale which has been sitting on my DVR this whole time.  I didn't want to watch it in case there wasn't a season 2, but there will be so I can watch now!  :]  (Don't try to understand my logic - I don't half the time.)

Overall Beauty Sneak Peek

PolishGalore is on Instagram!

Today, I had an awesome mail day.  I normally wait for my mail lady like a kid on Christmas Day, but since I knew I had this package coming from Overall Beauty, I was REALLY excited when she pulled up to my house today.  I originally placed an order on 5 January for Glitter Gal Light As A Feather (original 0.3 fl oz bottle/$14), a-england Lady of the Lake and Tristam ($12/each), and then from Kim at Overall Beauty Minerals, I wanted to try her Road to Nowhere Collection samples ($12) and Your Majesty sample ($1.50).


Overall Beauty Minerals is her own brand of eye shadows.  Currently, she is reformatting her greens/purples/blues to make them all natural so some items you see above are no longer available.  Her colors are pure mineral pigment and no fillers.  Overall Beauty Minerals are animal cruelty free.


Like I said, I originally orders the Road to Nowhere Collection which was Going Nowhere, Road Rage, Deadend Street, 100 Miles To Go, Wrong Turn, Yeah I'm Lost, Area 51 and Last Exit.  When I ordered them, Area 51 (a glittery green/grey from the picture) was no longer available.

Photo courtesy of Overall Beauty

Additionally, Your Majesty is no longer available but she was able to include it in my order.  This is a beautiful shimmery lavender purple that has a bit of a light blue tint to it.  Brooke from Blushing Noir has an amazing post here of her swatches.


Now, I cannot speak about Overall Beauty's shipping because I ordered KNOWING that my order wouldn't be shipped immediately, which is why there was such a long time between my order date and ship date.  However, when the order was shipped, it arrived with all items in heavy bubble wrap (to prevent breaking or spilling), then sealed in a bubble envelope and THEN sealed in a flat rate envelope.  Because my order was over $50 USD, I did have free shipping.  (For the record, Kim offered to ship my eye shadows immediately and then ship the nail polishes to me when they arrived at no extra cost to me, but I told her I could wait for everything.)


Now, I know you see extra colors up there in my eye shadows.  Because I ordered the Road to Nowhere collection, Kim added a brand new color called Polished, a silver that is in the same vein as RtN, and also With A Twist, a lavender that is now being offered since Your Majesty has been discontinued.  She also sneaked in Mermaid's Hair (a light green) which I'm excited to check out.  I was super impressed to see that each one is sealed in plastic with a perforated tab so you know that no product has leaked out or been used before.


I will be swatching these over primer when I get some sun outside so you can see what they look like.  I've been obsessed with pigments for awhile and now I feel like if I blog about them, I can justify the fact that I have so many of them.  Seriously, it's sicking sometimes...


Overall Beauty [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter] sells their own line of mineral makeup as well as many other brands to include a-england, BB Couture, Ozotic, piCture pOlish, Cult Nails, Dazzle Dry, Glitter Gal 3D, and much more!

Nail Files "Jersey Shore Up In The Painted Nail" Breakdown

I'm a bit behind in finishing my breakdowns of season 1 of Nail Files... after meeting Katie in July at Cosmoprof, I felt like my life was complete.  Okay, not complete - I still need to get a pedicure down at the Painted Nail... but still!  


So after a sleepless night, I decided to clear out my DVR queue and realized I still had 4 episodes of this awesome wonderful show!  There has been zero word from TV Guide if or when a season 2 would air, so I'm not sure what's going on there.  Time to beat on the Facebook Wall of TV Guide Network!!!


In this episode, we had so much happening.  First, the girls from the Jersey Shore dropped in.  Considering that their reality shows are produced by the same SallyAnn Salsano, I'm not very surprised.  The Jersey girls hold nothing back from sex tips using Jolly Ranchers to toe licking (equally ew).


They did raise a great point though - where else can someone have such a relaxing experience?!  Not just the whole cocktails idea, but just a relaxing spa experience, and especially for the right price.


Walter Time!  I really want to meet him, just because he reminds me a cuddly teddy bear.


Tina.  Tina!  I think Tina has succumbed to Reality Show Syndrome.  She's single-handedly decided to "Save the Salon" from reality show drama.  Um fail!


So - next we had Amy's dog party.  Now, I think Amy is amazing - Katie raved about her baking, many times.  (Hey Katie, glad you enjoyed the funfetti!  I'll keep note of my raincheck for my nails!)  In case you didn't know, Amy has started her own bakery, Brown Sugar Marketplace - you can Like her on Facebook now!


More Tina drama as the episode continues.  I feel so bad for Nichole, the store manager.  She's really stuck in such a crap place.


Now I've never personally witnessed the drama that Tina has self-produced but holy cow.  The fake email, the fake clients... crazy doesn't begin to explain it!


By the way, I absolutely LOVE the rainbow organization of Katie's nubar polishes!


Back to Walter Time and Katie's attempting to bake.  dun dun dun!  Call on Amy!  (If she ever ships her cupcakes, I'm getting a dozen.  I just asked her if her cookies are available... I hope they are because they are extremely affordable.  Let's just say I spent a little over $200 on cookies as thank you gifts and well, my wallet isn't happy!)


Over to the Zoom Room for Austin's birthday party - that's Amy's 8 year old dog by the way.  They have gone all out - red carpet, pictures, podicures (polish), celebrity dogs.  Oh.  And humping dogs, and poo on the floor.  (Sorry friends, but I'm a cat person for sure.)


Back at the salon, cue the dramatic music because Tina has walked in!  This girl wants some serious camera time!  Okay, so it may not be as dramatic as I'm saying.  Reality shows need to show the "best" moments, and by best I mean the ones that you sit on the edge of your seat to watch.  (I have a degree in TV, really, so I feel qualified to say this ^_^).  Katie was pissed though - you can tell.  Oh, and then Tina resigns and gets haughty.  That's pretty real right there.


By the way, Katie does NOT act like she's perfect.  Hanging around her at Cosmoprof for the time that I did, really showed me how down to earth she is.  We even had this awesome little disaster at a restaurant and Katie was cool and calm about it - didn't complain at all (even when they overcharged her because somehow we miscalculated the cash we left behind).


Next week is the Oscars - which I've watched and will have the breakdown coming!

Polish Storage Rack

It's my birthday!  My real one!  I'm 28 years young today.


While I'm out celebrating (heh - more on that later), I wanted to share something I did this past weekend.


I had been looking for a way to store my polish other than "the floor".  If you recall, I have been using spinning acrylic racks but I've outgrown what I have.  Now I have polishes in boxes everywhere.  Until I have them sorted, this is what I have for now.

The boxes are all either nail supplies, press samples or things I've purchased.

Base and top coats, plus 2 kitties!


I bought the rack from Sam's Club for $60 but now it's out of stock for delivery.  It holds up to 700 pounds per shelf, so I figure I'm good.  One of my geeky Facebook friends noted that I have approximately 6 and a half gallons of paint if you combined all my nail polishes together.

Shop for a Cause

I'm a bit late in posting, but don't be late on bidding!

Here's an opportunity to shop for a great cause: the BeautyBloggers.org annual charity auction. 

For the second year in a row, beauty bloggers and brands have joined forces for an online auction benefitting Doctors Without Borders. 

Participants have donated a treasure trove of the best lotions, potions, products, and gadgets. Donated items range from the hottest items from this year’s holiday collections to hard-to-find exclusives and limited edition cult favorites. When the auction ends, winning bidders "pay" by making their donations directly to Doctors Without Borders, through the site’s secure giving page. 

The auction will be live Monday, November 28th through Monday, December 12th.

Here's some awesome nail polish up for bidding!