kelsealaurel

Fall Fashion 2011: Steam Punk Chic

2011-09-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

I am starting a new series of posts that will focus on fall fashions for 2011, including outfits, makeup, and nails. I have dubbed this entry Steam Punk Chic. If you don't know what steam punk is I highly recommend you google it! It's really fun. To make the idea of steam punk wearable I chose Camel leathers, Deep burgundy shades, and gold accents. to pull it all together I did a very deep smokey red eye and red shimmer nails. Crimson on the face has been seen a lot for fall 2011, so take the plunge and just go for it!

Steam Punk Chic by kelsealaurel featuring belstaff jackets

I used a NYX Jumbo Pencil in French Fries and the Coastal Scents 88 Metal Mania Palette to achieve this look.

Left to Right: Color Club's Slow Jam, Sinful Colors' Mercury Rising, Sinful Colors' Wild at Heart, OPI's Midnight in Moscow, Sally Hansen's Real Royal.

Click to enlarge the direct sun photos, they're so sparkly!

^ Slow Jam

^ Mercury Rising

^ Wild at Heart

^ Midnight in Moscow

^ Real Royal

Each swatch is two coats, no top or base coats.

So what do you think of Steam Punk Chic, and the crimson trend? Will you be trying it out this fall or winter?

Thanks for looking,

Manicure: Pro 10 Incognito and Orly Enchanted Forest

2011-09-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!
September is such a great month. I guess nothing really that special happens during it, but it starts to feel like FALL. Then after that is October (read: Halloween) then November (read: Thanksgiving) and then December (CHRISTMAS!!). The leaves start changing and I get to start wearing tights with every outfit, haha. To get in the mood, I did this manicure:

This is Pro 10's Incognito with Orly Enchanted Forest on my ring finger. Two coats of each.

Orly's EF is truly an amazing polish and if you don't own it, then shame on you!

I really like this Pro 10 color. On the first coat it went on really wine-ey and delicious, and then on the second coat it turned more chocolate-ey. Either way, it looks tasty. In certain lights it still gave off that Merlot feel.

What do you guys think of fall? Do you love the fashion and the color palette as much as I do?

<3kelsea

Nfu Oh 51

2011-07-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

This polish is so amazing. I did one coat of the Milani Neon Purple (which is a jelly) and then two coats of Nfu 51 and it came out like this:

mmmm rainbow deliciousness.

inside

shade

sun.

holy shitballs this polish was worth every penny.

How do you like to wear your Nfu Oh's if you own any? I personally like them all jelly-ish like this. Although the flakies are more pronounced over something dark (like black) you get more depth like this, like glitter floating in grape jelly. And besides, if I just wanted flakies I would use Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure. Which also rocks, btw.

Thanks for looking!

Comparison~ NYC's Lincoln Square Lavender and Park Ave to Essie and $OPI

2011-06-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello hello!

NYC's in a new york minute line is attempting to be hip and trendy. Albeit the polishes are possible dupes for LAST year's trends, but hey, they're trying.

Here I have Lincoln Square Lavender and Essie's Splash of Grenadine:

One is on my index and ring, one is on my middle and pinky. Which do you like better?

As you can probably tell, the middle and pinky polish is just sliiiightly more purple. Also, the application on the middle/pinky polish was very thick... Needs to be thinned.

.....drum roll.....

The middle/pinky polish is Essie's. This could explain why it's so thick: it's a year old.

Although you can tell them apart via their thickness on the nail and the slight purple tinge of the Essie, I wouldn't say you need both. Unless of course you own the Essie and want a backup, in which case save yourself 6 dollars and buy the NYC version =)

(both were three coats)

Next up we have NYC's Park Ave vs. $OPI's Metro Chic. Same thing as before, three coats of each, one is on my index and ring, one is on my middle and pinky.

What do you think? Which is which?

The middle/pinky polish is a tad darker. It also was more opaque in three coats than the index/ring.

.....

The middle/pinky is the $OPI. Did you guess correctly?

I would say again that Metro Chic is a tad thick (it's my friend's favorite color and she uses it every time she comes over). It's been well loved in the year or so I've owned it. I prefer the extra darkness and extra coverage you get from the $OPI. Do I like it 8 dollars more? Dunno. I do appreciate owning both for that reason. So if you want a less nice but less expensive version of Metro Chic, Park Ave is for you.

I do appreciate that more inexpensive brands are attempting to come out with popular colors from the trends set by big companies like Essie and OPI. However, have you seen Sinful Colors' recent collections? They have a pirate themed one that has a lot of the same colors as OPI's Pirates collection, and a couple others I'm blanking on right now. The point is, I thought it was a little shady of them to even knock off the name of the collection, and so soon. Weird!

In other news, I graduated from my Undergraduate studies with a BS in Genetics a couple weeks ago!

My daddy and I!

Brad, me, my brother Gregory, and my Mom.

I'm wearing a BCBG dress if anyone is interested in who it's by! It was one of the best weekends of my life, after lunch and dinner in Davis and Sac, my dad took me wine tasting in Napa for a few days. Amazing!

Thanks for looking, have a great day!

<3Kelsea

FOTD~ Easter Pastels!

2011-04-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I have a makeup look for you today. It's easter, and my birthday, so I thought I'd do something crazy and colorful! Enjoy =)

I used:

Eyes:
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cottage Cheese as base
Coastal Scents 88 matte palette
Physician's formula gel liner
Covergirl Lashblast Fusion
Revlon white Kohl pencil on waterline

Lips:
Viva Glam Gaga lipstick
Some Lipsmakers lipgloss I found on sale at CVS

NOTD~ Sally Hansen's Gray Area(330) french tip!

2011-03-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! my nails are finally long enough to do something I love: colored french tips!!!

This is Sally Hansen's Gray Area and one coat of City Color's Fruit Punch (you in the face). I'm a little disappointed I put the City Color on top, it made Gray Area look really purple. Next time I'll probably stick with just clear on top.

I just painted some nail polish near my tips and then used a flat paint brush and acetone to make the shape after it had dried.

Have a great day!

<3Kelsea

NOTD~ Sinful Colors' Innocent. SPRING!

2011-03-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

This color is definitely going to be a go to for me this spring. It's so fun! Kinda along the lines of OPI's Who The Shrek Are You? But I don't have that to compare.

shade

direct sunlight

flash

lamp light

Not sure why I needed 4 pictures, they are all the same color, and accurate at that. Whatever!!

The formula is a little thick, but I think some thinner will fix that right up. This is two coats.

What do you guys think of this color? As you probably know Sinful Colors are only $1.99 each. They've got some really awesome colors. Hat's off to them!

Just for fun, here's what I wore on my face recently:

This is the WnW trio in Silent Treatment, and viva glam gaga on my lips. I found another fabulous lipgloss that matches this lipstick perfectly, possibly even better than the one I told you guys about in my Accidentally Made For Each Other post. And it was on sale for like 89cents. WIN. I'm wearing a lot of other stuff besides the few products I listed, so if you're curious just ask =)

Happy Friday!!!<3

City Color~ Fruit Punch You In The Face

2011-03-02T11:43:00.000-08:00

I bought another City Color polish because I thought it looked like the new OPI 'sorbets' (nice try OPI, but they're jellies.) However high my hopes, the polish ended up being too sheer, not like the 3 coats to almost opacity of the new OPIs. So here's three coats of what I am calling Fruit Punch (you in the face):

flash

Lamp light

More lamp light

Sorry it was raining that day so no sun pics =(

I liked this color, except the VNL being so prominent. There was no way I was doing 4 coats, and I don't think it would have helped anyway. I might try to do a base coat of something neutral and do a few coats of this over the base and see if I like that better. I don't know.

What do you guys think? Worth 2 bucks?

China Glaze~ Far Out

2011-02-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hello! I've been wearing Far Out for a couple of days now and I just took the pictures so sorry there will be ugly tip wear.

Far Out is one of the first polishes I bought online. I bought it because of this picture of it that Scrangie had. It looks so mauvey and amazing with a gold flash. What I got was this:

blurry flash. Kinda cool with the shimmer

natural light

direct sunlight

While I do appreciate how shimmery it is, it is brown. And the worst kind of brown for my skintone: fake tan brown. Cooler colors look much better on me, and this is just too orangey. Every once in a while in direct sunlight some of that pretty mauve undertone comes out, but most of the time it looks exactly like these pictures. Plus it needs three coats to really look nice. I only did two and my right hand is patchy =(

What do you guys think? Am I being too harsh on poor little Far Out?

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Revlon~ Perplex

2011-02-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

So if you know anything about me you will know that I am super anal and like things to look a certain way. I'm a hypocrite of this statement in the fact that my room is a mess, lol. This pet peeve is extremely true of nail polish bottles. I'm sure many of you have the same issues as I do in that some brands have ugly ass nail polish bottles. It is for this reason that I have never bought a Revlon nail polish. So when Perplex came out, I had an epic battle within myself of whether or not to purchase it, since the color is fabulous and right up my alley, but OH THE BOTTLE! So uggo. I held off buying it so long, it disappeared!!! So when I decided to screw the bottle and that I needed the nail polish, I couldn't find it anywhere!! Until the other day! YES

So without further pointless rambling:

Flash

lamp light

More lamp light

Even thought this one's all blurry I like the bright purple flash!

Sunlight

I decided this polish is Demure Vixen by Essie and Gray Area by Sally Hansen's baby! It has the nice dark gray-ple base of Gray Area but the bright purple shimmer of Demure Vixen, all topped off with that awesome-weird-neutral-color feeling I love.

What do you guys think? Worth the ugly bottle ruining your perfect looking stash?

City Color~ Life Gave Me Lemons

2011-02-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

So I put them on my nails. =)

Hey guys! I'm sure many of you have heard/read/seen Deborah Lippmann's Yellow Brick Road polish Lady Gaga was sporting at the Grammies. Well, I was at Rite Aid yesterday searching for the Wet n Wild Palette in Comfort Zone and I found a nail polish display for a brand I've only recently heard of, City Color. They had some pretty sweet spring colors, but I only picked up the polish I decided to call Life Gave Me Lemons. (So I Put Them on my Nails). As far as I can tell none of their colors have names. There's no sticker on the bottom, so maybe my Rite Aid got a bunch of defective ones? Anyway, this color looks super similar to the promo pics I've been seeing of Yellow Brick Road. And it cost $1.99. I'm down!

Flash

Natural light. Looks way too pastel. (although in direct sunlight it is more pastel)

Natural light and then I played with the levels. That's why my fingers look like sausages! Haha. But yea, this is pretty much color accurate for the polish in unnatural lighting.

Crazy bright!

While the formula was really easy to work with, this polish is super sheer. Three coats and I still have VNL. Ah well. This polish rocks. I'm super happy with it. Go get it, girls!

Have a fabulous day!

<3Kelsea

OPI~ Brand New Skates

2011-02-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I realized I wasn't enjoying the amount of work I was putting into my blog after I couldn't blog (due to my smashed finger) for a while. I then realized this was because my blog seems a tad pointless; I don't do the new collections when they first come out, and I don't have a great camera to capture these polishes correctly. I'm attempting to formulate a way that my blog can become more cutting edge that's within my budget. In the mean time, I hope you will enjoy some pictures of my manicure today: OPI's Brand New Skates from the Toyland Collection. I found this little gem at Rite Aid, and just had to have it

flash

indoors

flash. See the flakies and glitter??

natural light

sunlight

I was super stoked to see this in the sunlight, and was a little disappointed. The pink and green glitter it has in it show up in artificial light best, and the polish mostly just looks charcoal in the sunlight. Oh well!

This is three coats, and as you can see it's still a little sheer. Oh well, I like it regardless =)

Have a great day!

<3Kelsea

Accidentally Made For Each Other~ Lips Part 1

2011-01-29T16:53:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I've been noticing lately that I'll pick up a lipstick in the store, and then look for it's corresponding gloss in the same brand, and there isn't one. How irritating! I find this to be even more true with lip liners. So I thought I'd show you some fantastic combinations I have found between brands that look like they are supposed to go together in order to take the guess work out of finding things that match!

Nude:

Revlon's Nude Attitude (001) Matte Lipstick and NYC's Liquid Lipshine in Brighton Beach Peach (575)

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a big fan of the erased lips nude look, and this is a great choice for pale people like me to get that look:

Bubblegum Pink:

MAC's Viva Glam Gaga with Maybelline's Shine Sensational Lipgloss in Sweet Indulgence (30)

This is a great combination. the Viva Glam Gaga lipstick can be worn is so many ways, since it's a lustre. This means it's more sheer and lipgloss like than opaque on the first swipe, but it can be built up to a crazy barbiedoll pink color. If you don't want that crazy color you don't need this gloss, but if you do other pink glosses won't cut it because most of them are peach-leaning, while this gloss is blue-leaning. Observe:

I love it! Candy lips! And I mean that quite literally, since the Sweet Indulgences lipgloss smells like frosting! MM!

Purple:

Jordana's Easy Liner for lips in Silver Lilac (weird name: no shimmer), Revlon's Lipstick in Berry Haute (660), and NYC's Extreme Lip Glider Lip Gloss in Wild Orchid (015-02). I think the lipgloss might be limited edition? Not sure on that one

I've been searching for the perfect purple lip for ages now. I found the Revlon lipstick and didn't think twice about grabbing that sucker. It was perfect! After that I was searching for good lipgloss/lipliner combos. I tried a lot of things, most of which failed. I didn't want to dampen the crazy purpleness of the lipstick, and all my lipglosses seemed to do so since they're mostly all pink or berry.

Swatched on my arm:

None of the lipsticks have shimmer to them, they just look like they do in the top picture because of the flash.

Hope you enjoyed! I have more combinations, which will be posted in a part two soon =)

Have a great day!

<3Kelsea

My poor poor fingernail!

2010-11-29T18:32:00.000-08:00

Hey friends!!! Holy moly do I have a story for you! I moved in early September and ALL of my nails broke, so I was waiting for them to grow back... well....

School started in September. The very first day of school I was running a few minutes late (of course) and ran out to my parking lot to get on my bike. I wanted some music, and my Ipod was in my car. I walked my bike over to my car, unlocked it, balanced my bike on my leg, got my Ipod, and slammed the car door shut. WITH MY LEFT INDEX FINGERNAIL IN THE DOOR. I frantically screamed and tried to yank my finger out of the door. I had to shuffle some stuff around, balance my bike, reach over and re-open the door to get my poor finger out. It hurt like a bitch, but I rode to class anyway. About 30 seconds into lecture I wanted to cry my finger was throbbing so bad. I looked down at my nicely manicured finger and my cuticle was BLACK. I left class and went to the doctor. I had to get a hole burned through my nail to let the blood out from the blood blister I gave myself.

Now, I have heard from many, many people (including doctors) that this doesn't hurt at all. However, my doctor must not have known what he was doing because IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST PAINFUL THINGS I'VE EVER FELT HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. I think it was because it took 20 seconds instead of 3 seconds, and that he did it really really close to my cuticle, which made that burn, too. Now I have a hole in my nail, and it is super wiggly and will fall off soon. FML! No nail blogging for me since then. But my nails have grown back nicely other than that.... So maybe I'll start again =)

Stephanie from Short n Chic informed me today that I've been named a "Top Manicure & Pedicure Blog" by CosmetologySchool.org. How awesome!!!

CosmetologySchool.org

I have no idea how I made it onto this list, but I am grateful and honored! Go check out shortnchic if you haven't (which you probably have) because she does some great stuff.

Thanks for everything! Hope to be showing off my nails again soon!

~Kelsea

Tucker says hi!

Two for one! Wet N Wild Craze's Gray's Anatomy and OPI Shim-merry Chic

2010-08-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

Two swatches for you today!

I'm going to Catalina Island with my friend this weekend, so you would think I would want some crazy bright colors on my nails, right? Well, instead I decided to put on Shim-merry Chic over a layer of Wet N Wild's Black Creme, to try to dupe $OPI 212. I think it came out pretty much perfect, if not even more awesome than what I was trying to dupe.

Natural light

Flash

Sun

Shim-Merry Chic turned a little more olive-y, which I love. It's vampy, it's sparkly, it's mesmerizing. It would look a lot better if my nails weren't all peely, which is why my nail polish looks all uneven, especially towards the tips. Sorry about that. Just trust me when I say that this is a great must try combo.

I also wore Wet N Wild's Gray's Anatomy from the Craze collection. I was so excited to buy it. However, after putting it on, I was sad.

Now, I'm sure a lot of you are digging this. I, however, think it leans too blue in real life. I do not like light frosty blues. I think they are yucky. This looked far too "ice blue" in the shade for me to enjoy. I'm trying to fix it, but it's not right just yet. My first fraken try ever. I'm scared! Haha.

If you want a great silver foil, stick with Hot Topic's silver foil. I know I will! =)

I just watched Shutter Island for the 3rd time. I swear, it gets better every time. I think I have all the intricacies down now. If you haven't seen it, do so!!!! Leo is so.... MMM.

<3Kelsea

NOTD~ Essie's Knockout Pout

2010-08-02T01:02:00.000-07:00

Hello interweb land! How are my readers? I would just like to remind you how much it means to me that you guys follow/read my blog! It makes me all fuzzy inside =)

Today I have pictures of Essie's Knockout Pout, which was swapped to me by the lovely Steph from Short n Chic. I was excited to have a classic neon pink on my fingers for summer, but good lord the application was a bitch. Serious cuticle drag, and three coats later it still looked uneven. Oh well, I'm the only person that notices these things of the people I interact with, but showing you guys the ugly photos makes me sad lol.

Of course this is super washed out. It's making it look more peach and less neon than it actually is. It is a very barbie neon straight pink. Doesn't lean either orange or purple, I don't think. I like the way it looks in low light, like it's glowing. You can kinda see on my ring fingers how its a tad patchy at the top. I wasn't even hurrying or anything. The formula was just sticky.

Hope you guys have a great week!!!

<3Kelsea

113th Post for my 113 Followers =) NOTD's

2010-07-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hey! How've you all been?? I just got back a few days ago from my vacation to my dad's house and San Diego, and both went well. It was relaxing and fun. Now I am back to the old grind of work, but what else is new??

I know this isn't a food blog, but I had the most delicious salad last night and would like to share the recipe with you guys. If you don't care just skip down! It was a peach and feta balsamic vinaigrette salad and it was fantastic. Of course you don't have to use all the ingredients I did, just do what you like! I put:
Spring mix
A peach, cut up
Shaved carrot
Shaved radish
Orange cherry tomatoes
Cucumber
Red onion
Candied walnuts and died pomegranate (I bought them together in a bag, how convenient!)
Feta cheese

For the dressing:
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
dash of salt
dash of sugar
ground pepper, to taste
about a teaspoon of dijon mustard

MMM!!! The sweetness of the peach, pomegranate and candied walnuts goes great with the bitter radish, spicy onion, and salty feta. So good.

ANYWAY

I'm sorry I haven't been posting my NOTD's lately. I'm a terrible friend! Haha.

I have pictures of Rimmel's Crushed Pearl, OPI's Dazzled by Gold, and BB Couture's Opposites attract. I also wore a couple other colors, but they chipped so quickly I couldn't get photos. LAME!

Let me just say that I bought this nail polish (along with steel gray which is on my toes right now) because I needed cash back. However, I accidently used my credit card instead of my debit card, so it didn't let me get any cash back. I'm dumb.

I picked up this nail polish and was like OOOoooOoooo. I knew I needed it even though it looked like a frost and I knew it would be a sheer pain in the ass. Actually, I could have gotten away with two thick coats, but I did three anyway (weird, right?). As soon as I finished putting it on I was in love. It has this FANTASTIC red shimmer that makes it redish pinky in most lights. It glows. For the life of me I could not capture this shimmer on film. Not even a little. Trust me, there is a ridiculously awesome red flash to this polish. You need it.

Oh Dazzled for Gold. How I love you. This is a foil. It takes three coats, but it's totally worth it. It has different shades of gold glitter in it, making it extremely dynamic and bright. It some lights it looks like it's molten. I call this, as well as my Hot Topic Silver Foil, my ROBOT NAILS. I absolutely love it.

BB Couture's Opposites Attract. Holy mother of god I love this polish. When I first got it I had no idea how to apply glass fleck, and has a seriously rough time with it. The application turned me off to the polish for a while. However, now that I actually semi know what I'm doing, I can handle the grittiness. This polish is absolutely fantastic. It has that black glitter that I absolutely love BB Couture for using, and the glass fleck makes for a truly unique and awesome medium gray. Plus I just love all those weird colors we've been having lately: gray, puke green, tan, khaki, brown, purplegraybrown, you name it. This is an amazing polish.

Also, on my vacation I went to the SD Zoo:

Oh hai, I didn't see you there. I are a Polar Bear.

SO COOL

I also got to go to the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

That's me and my daddy outside the Castle! I love my dad... I'm such a daddy's girl! =D

If you don't know what the Magic Castle is, it's a private club for magicians and their friends/family. There is a ritzy restaurant, about 5 different bars that sell insanely expensive drinks, and about 5 different stages that put on magic shows all night. You walk around, look at the crazy magic posters on the walls, request a song to be played by Irma the piano playing ghost, drink cocktails and watch magic shows all night. It is epic fun. You can see a deck of cards in my hand, that's because I got to be the magicians assistant for one show, and he gave me the deck of cards he'd been using all night as a souvenir! SCORE!

Anyway, enough rambling. If you made it though the whole post, I thank you. If not, I hope you enjoyed the swatches! Until next time!

NOTD~ Zoya's Demi with SH Hidden Treasure

2010-07-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hey! Long time no talk! Today's post is actually from a while ago, but I was so excited to post Demure Vixen that I posted that one first! I sent Zoya Demi to Stephanie from Short n' Chic, but before I did I selfishly swatched it one more time. Sorry, Steph!!! A couple days later I recieved Hidden Treasure by Sally Hansen from Stephanie because I won her Haiku contest! WOO. I put it on my nails right away. It is even more awesome than I could have imagined. PICTURES

Zoya Demi

HIDDEN TREASUUUREEE

Oooo. Sorry Demi is chipped underneath. I was too excited/lazy to redo the base

One coat people! So many flakes!

Rainbow =)

You need this polish. Trust.

Essie's Demure Vixen: Possibly my new favorite polish of all time.

2010-06-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

Stephanie of Short n' Chic is amazing, if you didn't already know. She sent me a mini bottle of Demure Vixen, Knockout Pout, and A huge bottle of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure! What a nice lady! Thanks girl! She knew when she bought Demure Vixen that I would love it, and I knew I needed it when I saw her swatch. I might have to buy the full bottle though, because this sucker takes three thick coats to look the way it should, and that tiny bottle cannot quench my Demure Vixen thirst that has been brought forth in me since I put it on my nails yesterday. I LOVE IT.

Warning: Lots of pictures. I had a hard time capturing this polish.

Sometimes it looks like a taupey putty color, which is the base

But then sometimes it looks more lavender because of the pink and blue shimmer!

Sometimes there is a bright purple flash

Sometimes it's almost "mannequin hands"-esque.

Other times it looks cooler than my skintone

The shimmer/flash is what really makes this polish stand out as a neutral.

I'm in love.

I hope you guys enjoyed my walk-through of Demure Vixen! Anyone have it and love it as much as I do? Anyone dislike it? I need 8 bottles. OH LAWD!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Color Club's With Abandon

2010-06-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hey! Long time no post! I just finished my finals two weeks ago, and I have been busy with work and Father's day and the like since then! I have a couple of backlogged swatches to show you, though. I wore this a few days ago, Color Club's With Abandon. This is one of the polishes that got me into NP in the first place. I didn't even realize when I first got it what a special color it is! Rewearing it has really allowed me to appreciate how great it is. Anyway, swatches!

Inside, with flash

Inside, no flash

Outside, direct sunlight

Outside, shade

Outside, Natural light

Make this one bigger. It's awesome.

This one too! (flash)

With Abandon is a black base that's kind of sheer, after two coats it was still a tad blotchy in the sun, that has brownish gold flakes and glitter in pink, purple, blue, and possibly other colors such as orange or gold. It's crazy amazing. No one would mistake this for a black creme, but people who don't appreciate nail polish would probably not find this all that awesome. We, however, can appreciate its beauty!! haha =)

I really want to see more colors like this. What if the base was, well, any other kind of jelly? How about purple, or teal, or gray? CMON nail polish companies, get creative! Really I just want more flaky polishes lol.

I've been realizing more and more what a shame it is that spring and summer colors tend to be cremes and neons while fall and winter tends to have more shimmer and sparkle. Because I think neons look best in low lighting, and shimmers look best in direct sunlight. Sigh. I might just have to break some rules and wear all my fall polishes now =)

Time for me to go to work, but I'm sorry I've been such a slacker lately! I'm gonna try to be better about my consistency! Have a great day<3

NOTD~ Essence's Break Through

2010-06-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hey! Long time no talk! I've been super busy with school, work, and curling lately so I haven't been keeping up on taking photos of my nails. I have a great polish for you today though, Essence's Break Through. It's a super awesome red leaning purple (purpley magenta?) color that is great for this season.

Shade

Natural sunlight

Flash

These photos make it lean a tad purple. The natural sunlight pictures is the most color accurate. This was perfect in two coats. Fantastic formula. And it was only a DOLLA! =D

Here's a couple pictures of me curling. I was in a competition this past weekend in Hollywood. It was SO much fun. My team didn't go too far in the tournament, but we did really well considering our skill level compared to the other teams there.

We were the rockstars. =) (for the record I'm second from the right)

My team and I on a tour at the disney studios (I'm wearing the white dress for people who don't know what I look like!)

These two (above and below) are pictures of me skipping, which is the person who does the actual strategy of the game

Have a fantastic day everyone! It's my last day of school before the quarter is over. Finals are next week! Ahh!

Essie's Resort Collection: Swatches and Review

2010-05-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Essie,
Thank you for this collection. You have truly outdone yourself, and for that I am grateful. Keep up the great work.
Love,
Kelsea.

If you don't have this collection yet, go get it. YOU NEED IT.

I bought the mini bottles, but I kinda want bigger one's of a couple. They're that good.

If I had been smart, which I wasn't, I would have lined them up in order with the box.

Playa De Platinum, Splash Of Grenadine, Lapis of Luxury, and Turquoise & Caicos.

First I wore Playa De Platinum. Had to. It's amazing! This is definitely a new favorite of mine, and possibly my favorite of the collection? I don't know. It's tied between this and Splash of Grenadine.

It's very very similar to Chinchilly, pictured left, but a couple shades lighter. I obviously need both haha.

Splash Of Grenadine is my other favorite. Why am I holding a Milani bottle? Dunno.

Splash of Grenadine is a tad darker than either of these pictures show. It's a fantastic purple-y pink that is super unique, and fantastic. I don't have anything else like it.

Turquoise & Caicos. A very pretty minty light... well... turquoise.

Here it is next to China Glaze's For Audrey. Very similar, but For Audrey is a tad more blue.

Last but not least Lapis of Luxury. A beautiful cornflower blue. So flattering.

Here it is next to China Glaze's Secret Periwinkle. Lapis of Luxury is a shade or so lighter.

So I guess I wouldn't consider any of these colors unique. However, these colors are fantastic for spring, and look soo flattering on. They all needed three coats, although I only did two on most of them to be honest. They have that 'creme but looks kinda like a jelly because it's so sheer' look that I have really come to love. Even I have to admit these are worth the extra effort. I love them!

I hope everyone is well, and thanks for reading!

~Kelsea

6 New Nail Polishes from American Apparel~ Sneak Peak

2010-05-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! Today I received an email from someone at AA telling me they are coming out with 6 new polishes for the summer:

Top Coat, "Malibu Green", "L'Esprit", "Summer Peach", "California Trooper", "Butter"

I personally don't see a need for a top coat, but I think the email stated people asked for one.

I really like all these colors. Malibu Green reminds me of Jade is the New Black. L'Esprit reminds me of Essie's Sag Harbor, but without the shimmer. Summer Peach and Butter remind me of a polish they already have, Palm Springs, although they both look a tad lighter here. California Trooper looks like another of their's called Mouse to me, or maybe Playa De Platinum by Essie. I would like to see how these compare. I'm not sure whether or not any of these are unique, but they do seem like great colors that I would totally wear.

What do you guys think of AA polishes? What about these new colors? Interested in any? Anyone already order any? Let me know! =D

BTW they're $6 each on their website. Kinda hefty but I really love their color choices so it may be worth it.

~Kelsea

P.S. AA I'm totally cool with you sending me these for further review =P

MISIKKO CONTEST WINNER: Sontalia

2010-05-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!! It's May 1st! Which means that the Misikko contest is over! I tallied up the entires and used random.org to generate the winner!

Sontalia won! Congratulations! =D

I will be having another contest pretty soon, so don't give up hope. The next contest will actually involve nail polish haha

I have sent Sontalia an email. If I don't hear back from her by May 7th I will pick another winner. Have a lovely day, all!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Wet N Wild's Morbid

2010-04-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll!! =)

How are you guys? I'm pretty good. Enjoying being 21. It's so strange to me. I know a lot of people that read this blog are older than me, but I feel very old considering the fact that I still feel 12. I think it's because when I was little I'd say about 90% of my day was spent fantasizing about my future, but in that future I was 16 or 18. Never 21. And now that it's here (and 16 and 18 are things of the past) it's very confusing. The fantasy that I've spent thousands and thousands of hours thinking about is already behind me! Weird. Anyway, I'm wearing Morbid by Wet N Wild today and I LOVE it.

It's a vampy dark blackened greenish blueish shimmer. I thought on the nail it looked like a dark green with green leaning teal shimmer, but now looking at the pictures and the bottle it might be a black with green/teal shimmer.

This is two coats

Sorry my cuticles are pretty haggard.

I really love all the Wet N Wild Craze's I've tried: Morbid, Shield, and Rustic

The thing I don't like is the bottle. It looks cute, yes, but it is irritating to apply with. The top is HUGE, but short.

Anyone else tried this collection? I find it comical that they are still putting "New" stickers on the bottles, even though this collection has been out for well over 6 months.

Have a great day!!! =D

~Kelsea

It's My Party!

2010-04-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

And I'll cry if I want to. But I don't want to. So no worries.

I'm 21 today! Hurray MEEE

Finally an adult. Feels weird. Really weird.

I decided to paint my nails with Ruby Pumps by China Glaze to celebrate! WOO.

So pretty. I want to say the base is a jelly, but I'm not sure. It's a red glitter in a red base fantastic orgy of awesomeness.

GLITTER MADNESS

The weird thing about these pictures is that it makes the red look orange based. It's not. It's close to a medium red, but is definitely on the pinker side. Which, as you may know, I like. Also, I'm not really a fan of red on my body. Unless it's on my lips or feet, and sometimes nails. I honestly can't think of the last time I wore red besides nail polish or lips or heels. I own like one shirt that's red that sits in the back of my closet collecting dust. Oh well!

Yesterday for my bday eve I decided to buy myself a few presents:

Wet N Wild Broken Hearted, Blazed, and Morbid

I love Broken Hearted because it looks like those dusty mauves I'm super into.

I'm excited for Blazed because it looks fantastic on Stephanie.

And Morbid... It just looks baller.

Blackened greenblue shimmer. Drool.

Also, I didn't make a post about this because by the time I had enough free time to take pictures and post them, it had already chipped:

Denim Creme. Looked cool, but chipped pretty bad.

Also, on another note, I would like to show you the beautiful necklace my Mom bought me for my 21st:

So pretty! =)

Thanks Mom! Totally me!

Has anyone seen this Loreal stand? I didn't really pay much attention to the makeup (I have enough drugstore makeup to open my own CVS), but the nail polishes are AWESOME. There's three, and they have a very Essie's Sag Harbor feel. Ocean Breeze is missing from this particular stand but it's a standard sky medium blue creme (which is meh for me). The other two, High Tide and Water's Edge look fantastic. I really like the bluegray one. WANT. There was no price, but I assume around 4-6? Not sure.

Also saw this. Neon french. In purple and pink. I'm totally down for neon french. My only problem is that the nail seems to be completely clear... Wouldn't that show the glue and your nail beneath? NOT CUTE. I can just do that myself anyway (if my nails ever get longer, that is) for FREE.

Finally, mismatch neon french. I wonder if you made this one bigger by clicking on it you could see what they looked like? They're neon french tips with a line of glitter separating the tip from the nail in orange, lime, pink, and purple. I'm not huge on the "skittle nail" trend, but these are a cool idea. My problem, again, is that the nail seems to be clear. I find that so weird!

Sorry for the super long post! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I'm off to clean my apartment in anticipation of my party guests later. I wish all of you could come to my party!!! That would be SO fun =)

~Kelsea

Summer Fashion~ Reviving Old Pieces into New Outfits!

2010-04-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

Hello! I would like to share with you a couple of tricks I used in order rewear some old clothes I had in my closet. By wearing old clothes with new accessories, you can save money and still look cute! Also, everything comes back into fashion eventually so that's nice.

This is a skirt I bought in like 2006 or something? It's really cute because it's thin faded navyish gray and light gray stripes, with off white lace at the bottom. Very now. But a below the knee skirt on me? Not so much. The wide band at the top is just wide enough to cover my boobs, but I have to wear a belt to cover the line/make it actually fit like a dress. Not that I'm complaining, I wear belts like this all the time anyway. I sewed on a couple straps that I tied in the back like a halter and VOILA!

With vest to shape and hide seam instead of belt. I bought this tan corduroy vest in like 2006 from walmart. IT'S STILL GOOD!

This is my favorite. I bought this corduroy blazer in like 2005 or 2006? Not sure. Super glad I did, though. The only things new in this entire outfit are the belt and shoes, totaling a NEW cost of only about $30. Hurray!

Here is another skirt, which I purchased in 2007 from H&M. It is also supposed to be worn at the hips, and hits around the knee. On top I'm wearing a Banana Republic shirt I found at a thrift store for like $5. Steal. I'm also wearing a belt from Urban Outfitters I got on sale for around $10, and today I am wearing this outfit with Target tights and shoes, for a total NEW cost of around $35-$40. GO ME.

With Urban Outfitters cardigan, about $12. So many ways to wear it!!! =D

Anyone else like to rewear old stuff in new ways to save money? I think these turned out pretty great.

Thanks for reading!

~Kelsea

Kelsea's Top 10 Favorite Nail Polishes (ok top 30, geeze.)

2010-04-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hello All! Today I am doing a post of my top 10 nail polishes I've ever owned and tried. Now, this is a complete lie, because I am showing you 30 nail polishes. Yea. I couldn't pick just 10. But I do have 10 "groups", and I'll pick a favorite and an "if I could only keep one" from each group. K GO!

Here they all are!

In no particular order:

OPI's At Your Quebec & Call.

Didn't need a group for this one. This is an amazing polish. Army green shimmer. Needs three coats. Original swatch here.

Slow Jam by Color Club.

You can see my swatch here. Trust me, it's so much more than a wine red. It's got gold shimmer, and looks like it's on fire. Love.

Flakies.

This is OPI's Merry Midnight, Nfu-Oh's 51, and OPI's Shim-merry Chic. I have swatches in my blog but don't feel like making links haha. I know this is a cop-out since all three are so different, but Oh Well. My favorite has to be 51 because of it's diversity (aka layering), and is the only one I would keep if I could only have one (sorry Merry Midnight! Still love you!)

Grunge.

This is such a cop out! Haha. I suck.

OPI's "Sheer" Your Toys!, $OPI's Metro Chic, American Apparel's Mouse, Orly's Prince Charming, and Essie's Chinchilly. My favorite has to be Chinchilly because it's so weird, but if I could only keep one it would be Metro Chic because it's more wearable. These are all cremes except SYT, which has shimmer.

Mints.

BB Couture's Laguna Lagoon, Maybelline's Minty, and China Glaze's For Audrey. I consider For Audrey a bluish mint, but oh well, I threw it in my faves anyway. Haha. If I could only keep one it would have to be Minty, which is also my favorite.

Foils.

Hot Topic (no name), OPI's Dazzled by Gold, Hard Candy's Mr. Wrong, and Wet n Wild's Shield.

Haha, yea these aren't even the same color! I was going for finish on this one. I started with just Dazzled by Gold, but then I remembered Hot Topic's silver foil, which is AMAZING, and had to be in the top. Then I just said what the hell and let the other two be here.

They are all amazing and I recommend them all, but Hot Topic takes the cake on both favorite and must keep.

Juicy Berry.

Zoya's Demi and OPI's Pamplona Purple.

I'm about 90% sure these are dupes, or at least close enough that you don't need both. However, top 29 sounded dumb, so here we are. I'd keep OPI's just because I like the brush and formula better.

Holos.

I. Fucking. Love. Holos.

Color Club's Revvvolution, Wild at Heart, Fashion Addict, and Love 'Em Leave 'Em.

Wild at Heart is my favorite and the one I'd keep. Definitely.

Dusty Rose.

Sinful Colors' Vacation Time, American Apparel's Rose Bowl, NYX Girls' Flash, and OPI's Baguette Me Not.

I love these kinds of colors!! I think, besides the fact that they are gorgeous, it's because Flash was one of the first nail polishes I bought for myself with my own money. Hurray me!

I think my favorite is still Flash, and I'd probably keep that one. I like the color and it has sentimental value for me! =)

Light dusty purples.

Icing's Lily, OPI's Done Out In Deco, and Essie's Island Hopping.

Wow, I don't know what made me even think these could be a group. I guess it's because I was desperate to show both Done Out In Deco AND Island Hopping and still be only at 10?

Anyway, I love these colors. I could wear them back and forth forever. Making it very difficult to choose a favorite! Island Hopping, both favorite and keep. Sorry Lily and DOID! By the way, you can see my dupe comparison for those here.

FAVORITE VERDICT:

Of all of those favorites and keeps, I'd have to say that my favorite nail polish I own is Color Club's Wild At Heart, but the one I'd keep if I could only have one nail polish (oh the horror!) is Essie's Island Hopping. It needs three coats which sucks, but it looks SO GOOD on me, it's between purple and pink, it's a creme, and it's appropriate almost all the time. I love it. Thanks, Essie!

I'm sure my "top 10" will change as I procure more nail polish, but as of now I own about 150 or so nail polishes, and these are my favorites. Thanks for reading the whole thing, if you did!

~Kelsea

100th Post! NOTD~ Essie's Island Hopping- One of the best NP's ever.

2010-04-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

Long-ass title!

(When anyone ever says ___-ass ___, I always change the hyphen to the other word to make myself laugh. For example. Long-ass title becomes long ass-title. Funny? No? Ok cool.)

Anyway, this is my 100th post as a nail blogger! Woo hoo! ::Dances::

Today I am wearing Essie's Island Hopping. I bought Essie's Island Hopping and Essie's Chinchilly at the same time and they are two of my favorite nail polishes I've ever tried. Seriously. They are three coaters, but I don't even care. The fact that they need three coats gives them that almost jelly but not quite cause it's a creme feel that I love. Also the colors are just fabulous.

You only get to see these three nails today. Sorry.

With flash.

It's not pink, it's not purple, its dusty/greyish. It looks like foggy flowers. Like the indie 80's. Maybe that's why I like colors like this. It's 80's as fuck and it's not vibrant, the way all movies looked back then. =D

Here is a picture of the last time I wore this polish, in December! I love that ring!

Here is a picture of Essie's Chinchilly, another serious favorite of mine

While I was looking at my hands all day, I thought "this is definitely one of my top 10 favies." But then I got to thinking, I probably say that about 20 nail polishes. So the real question is, what are my actual top 10 favies??? I don't know! I think I should do a post on this......

Here, for your enjoyment, is what I wore on my eyes today:

I like the way it turned out. I'm not a big colored eyeshadow wearer, but I like the bit of lavender. Also, I love purple and grey together. Actually, those are my two favorite colors. What do you know? haha.

I hope you guys had a lovely day. It's almost midterm round one out here in Davis, so I'm about to have little to no fun.

However, this weekend is picnic day, which is the biggest day of the year in Davis! Hurray!

Also, I've been taking curling lessons (yea, the game that's similar to shuffleboard on ice) for a few weeks now and I'm totally hooked. I frikken love that game! =D

Don't forget to enter my contest!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Zoya's Joy

2010-04-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Oh hi!

Yesterday I was a very unhappy camper, and my Orly's Enchanted Forest looked like a hot mess. So I grabbed Zoya Joy, mumbled to myself about how I didn't want to wear pink because it was too girly and I felt all emo, and went to put it on. Why I chose Joy when I could have just work something dark and angry? I'm not sure. I also put it on very sloppily and didn't do any clean up because I was so pissed haha. I still have tantrums sometimes.

Regardless, I really like Zoya Joy, and next time I put it on I will be more careful to do a good job, because it really is a nice polish. The formula was kind of iffy, but not terrible. I used two coats:

My pointer finger on my left hand and my middle finger on my right hand are both nubbins right now. I'm still getting breaks, but not as many as before I started using Essie's Millionails.

It's a pretty medium pink, maybe even a tad blue, but the gold shimmer makes it seem like an orange leaning pink.

Close up of the shimmer. Gorgeous!

Life I said before, if I had worked a little harder it could look a lot better. It was a tad brush stroke-y, but it's minimal. Anyone have Zoya Joy? What do you think of it?

I hope everyone is having a nice Tuesday. I'm off to write an essay!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Orly's Enchanted Forest and Contest

2010-04-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone! You can enter my contest here!

Today I am wearing Orly's Enchanted Forest. This polish has been sitting in my unworn pile for a really embarrassingly long time. But now it is on my nails and I'm pretty happy with it! I was nervous it would be too "almost black", which I am really into for shimmers and glitters, but not so much cremes, but this one isn't too dark to tell (in regular lighting) that it's actually green. Observe:

Strangely it looks kinda banged up already, but I assure you it's just the macro setting on my camera.

Natural sunlight

This was two easy coats. Cleanup was a tad irritating because it's so dark and pigmented, but that's ok. It's totally worth any extra work because it looks awesome.

Hope you guys enjoyed. Any suggestions on what I should buy off 8ty8beauty.com?

Have a great weekend/Easter! I'm going to my friend Alison's Mom's house for Easter dinner. Hurray!

~Kelsea

CONTEST and Review: Hana Flat Iron from Misikko.com

2010-04-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

STAY TUNED FOR THE END: CONTEST

Hello everyone! I have a special post for you today! The owner of Misikko.com asked me to do a review of their Hana Professional Flat Iron 1" - Pink Edition. (He's also letting me do a giveaway with the same product, which I think is a fantastic idea, and so will you after you read my review!)

So I got the flat iron about 2 weeks ago. I have been using it every day since to make sure I really know how well it works. Here is a picture of said iron:

Pink! Cute. It was smaller than I was expecting.

Here it is compared to the Chi I have been using (and loving) for 4 years.

You can see the straighteners are the same length.

It's hard to tell in this photo, and even in real life the differences in size. You can see the chi lays a little taller, and that the sides are a little thicker. You can feel the difference when you hold it. Since I've been holding the same straightener every day for the past 4 years I can definitely feel the difference. It took me a few days to get used to but now I'm a pro.

The temp dial goes up to 450. I started it around 350, but ended up just turning it up all the way. I like to get shit done fast and well, and my hair is extremely thick and frizzy. 450 degrees gets the job done nicely.

I was unsure how hot Chi's get, so I looked around, saw answers anywhere from 350-450, but a website selling them very factually told me 370. I would say I'd believe them, but DAMN my chi gets hot. I don't know about 370. Misikko also sells Chi hair straighteners, if you are dying for a Chi.

The one "downfall" of this straightener:

This straightener, like the Chi, has a red light come on when you turn it on, and that red light starts flickering when it's supposed to be as hot as it can get. My Chi takes about 45 seconds. This straightener takes about 10 seconds. However, I don't believe it. When I start using it after 10 seconds, yes, it is effing hot and it will burn your skin. But it doesn't straighten my hair as well or feel as smoldering as it does later. I would say it probably takes about 45 seconds as well to get hot enough for ME to use. I don't know about someone who would want the dial at 300 or something, but for me, I wait. That's fine with me though, a minute wait is not a big deal to me.

On a similar note, I left it on for about 20 minutes one time, and DAMN was it hot. In a good way, for me at least. The outside part got a little hot as well, but so does the Chi so it was not a problem for me.

Some of you may not know this, but straight irons are my FAVORITE way to curl hair. Yes. You read right. Here are some pictures of what I've done to my hair using this straightening iron:

Super straight with a little flip at the ends, my go to hairstyle for the past 6 years.

Wavy, a new favorite of mine

Curly, when I want to look nice. That's my friend Mark, on the left!

If you were unaware of the curling thing, all you have to do is clamp your hair in the straightener at the top, and then angle and rotate the straightener, and then simply pull it through like you were straightening it. It takes a few tries, so don't give up if you suck at first. If you want the curls away from your face, have the straightener lower towards the back of your head and higher towards your face and rotate away from your face, and the opposite for inside curls. (did that make sense?)

If you want a video tutorial on curling hair with a straightening iron, I have one here. I am using a Chi 1 inch.

So anyway, if you have read all of this post so far I congratulate you! But now, let's get to the point.

I like this straightener. Very much so. I have tried many straighteners in my day, and this is as close as I've seen to a Chi, which I believe is the Jesus of straighteners. It's pink, it's small and slender, it gets really hot, and ultimately gets the job done. My hair is difficult to straighten, and this thing does it. I am very happy to have it, thank you so much Misikko!

The straightener can be purchased here, if anyone is interested. They also have a bunch of other necessities, including Chi Flat Irons, Professional Hair Dryers, and the like.

However, before you decide to drop the big bucks on one of these babies, hear this: Misikko has offered to let me put on a contest to allow one of my readers to win the same 1" pink Hana straightener I've been babbling about for the last hour! Awesome, no?

CONTEST:

This contest is only open to people who live in US and Canada (sorry!) because of their shipping restrictions.

Rules!

Leave a comment on this post. You must be a follower of my blog to enter. If you want to tell me something else and NOT enter this contest, please comment on another post or email me directly at kelsealaurel@aol.com (so please only comment on this post if you want to enter!)

In your post, include your name, your email, and how you follow me (1 entry). Also, add links to your extra entries, if there are any. At the end of the post, please put "Total entries: ___" That would help me a lot!!!

Extra Entries:

1. Follow Misikko on Twitter (1 extra entry)

http://www.twitter.com/misikko

2. Blog about the giveaway on a personal website. (1 extra entry)

3. Join Misikko Newsletter by clicking on the link on their website that says "Sign me up for exclusive deals & offers" (3 extra entries!)

The contest will end April 30th. Please have your entires in before then! Good luck =)

~Kelsea

NOTD~ ChG Grape Pop and Nfu-Oh 51 and Blog Tag!

2010-03-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! How are you guys!? I'm about to go to work and school, but before I got I thought I would share with you what's on my nails today! It looks frikken awesome!

One and a half coats of Grape Pop. Yea you read right. I was actually disappointed with the formula.

This is pretty color accurate.

MMMmmm

With flash. This isn't color accurate, obviously, but it does get brighter like this under certain lighting, namely fluorescent lighting.

I kinda like this picture because there's light and shadow in the same pic! Awesome!

Sorry I didn't get a great picture of the flakes... They are hard for me to capture for some reason!

The lovely Duckalicious tagged me for a blog award! Thanks girl!

It says to write ten things that make you happy, and then tag 10 bloggers that make you happy. I'm not going to tag other blogs simply because I've already been tagged on this one, but I will list a quick 10 things that make me happy!

1. My cat

2. Colors

3. Weddings

4. Music

5. My car/driving my car

6. Food

7. My friends and my Dad

8. My blog and blog friends/followers

9. Squirrels

10. Fashion and makeup

Hurray!

Thanks again Duckie =)

~Kelsea

P.S. I'm going to make an 8ty8beauty haul soon for the items for my giveaway. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to get for the winner? Or what to get for myself? Thanks!! =D

NOTD~ Prince Charming by Orly

2010-03-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hello there!!! =) Today I am wearing Prince Charming by Orly. I hear it is an almost dupe for You Don't Know Jacques by OPI, but I don't own that one, so I wouldn't know. But I do really like Prince Charming, I'm super glad I picked it up. It was one plus one really thick coat, so two for me, but probably needs three with anyone else. Haha, like I said, I'm lazy!

Strangely this non-flash picture is the least color accurate.

I love this nail polish. It looks like milk chocolate, or chocolate milk, or both. Haha. Looks delish. I want to eat my nails!

I also painted my toes last night with Maybelline's Minty. I really really like it! It needed three coats on my big toes, and the brush sucked, but it was totally worth it. I know and you know my feet are ugly by now, but I will show you this just for the color:

Haha! I was cropping it to try to make it look not awful, and this is how it turned out.

I would also like to show you what I wore today, because I thought it was cute!:

Red Orange lips: Maybelline Color Sensational's Coral Crush

My eyeshadows were from the 88 Coastal Scents Warm Palette. Love that Palette.

Yellow tights, navy bag and stripes on my shirt, and red lips? Hurray for primary colors!

I know you all wanted to see some of my shoes in the background! Haha! (aka I forgot to close the closet)

Not sure where the tights are from, but the shoes are from Target, skirt from Walmart, shirt from H&M, cardigan from Walmart, bag is super old, but probably from Walmart too.

Hope you enjoyed! Have a lovely day!

NOTD~ Sinful Colors' Vacation Time

2010-03-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

Today I went to Laguna Beach to have lunch with my grandma. After that my Dad and I went to our favorite mexican restaurant, El Abajeno in LA. MMM!

Yesterday I bought Sinful Colors Vacation Time, which is very fitting since I am, in fact, on vacation. It's my first ever Sinful Colors! Yay! Then today I bought a Milani Neon, in Rad Purple. It's a jelly, people. You need it! It was the last one of its kind on the stand. Score. Stephanie has a great swatch and review of it, you should check that out if you haven't yet. I also bought Healthy Hoof cuticle cream, because my cuticles frikken suck, man. I've also bought a bunch of clothes, but I think I'll just wait until I do some outfit of the days to show you what I got =)

Anyway, pictures!

My goodies.

Vacation Time, indeed. My left hand is finally fixed enough to make an appearance online!

I love this nail polish. My nails practically painted themselves. Two easy coats. Amazing. This nail polish was worth every cent. (199 cents, to be exact)

I truly love dusty pinks. I think they are my favorite for my nails, which is pretty safe to say considering I have 4 different dusty pinks now. This, American Apparel's Rose Bowl, OPI's Baguette Me Not, and NYX Girl's uhh... Something. I can't remember the name. I'll need to do a comparison. Hurray!

Dusty pinks are so The Breakfast Club. Anyone seen it? Claire (Molly Ringwald) is wearing a dusty pink on her nails, to match her dusty pink top. I love the 80's! =D

Speaking of the 80's:

Saw this car on the freeway today! Haha. The license plate says Rubix Qb. SO funny!

This car is nice. Yes. BUT! Kelly Cutrone was the person driving it!!!! I was waving wildly at her SO excited and she waved back!! HURRAY! What a great day =)

I leave to go back to Davis tomorrow. I'm excited to be back. I love Davis. It's such a sweet town. Plus I miss my friends, and my cat. Lol.

I'm gonna go eat angel food cake with strawberries and cool whip now =D Have a great day!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Color Club's Magic Attraction

2010-03-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hey! How's everyone doing? The weather here is fantastic, so that makes me happy. I went and hit some balls at the driving range with my dad today, and then we went to lunch. Then I saw She's Out Of My League with a friend (it was pretty funny) and then saw my dad's friend's new kittens (pictures later) got a new phone, ate dinner, and watch the Bourne Identity. Pretty good, but not as good as I was expecting. Oh well! Yesterday I painted my nails with Magic Attraction by Color Club.

Yea.... I decided not to do any cleanup. Around the top cuticle there was no need, and I figured it would come off my side cuticles... which it did.

So Magic Attraction looks pale pink in most lights, but it is actually silver glitter, silver holographic glitter, and red glitter, as far as I can tell.

Pretty.

With flash

So of course, today I decided that this crazy glitter was a little too flashy for my outfit. So I matted it. Kind of regretting it a little now, looking back on these pictures.

Looks kind of like pebbles or something. Kind of cool, but not as pretty.

This was three coats. It needed three coats. I really like this polish. Holographic glitter=awesome.

Kitty pictures!

Sorry they're so blurry. I didn't want to use the flash because I thought it might scare them. There were two kittens, both leopard like this. SO CUTE. They're bengals. I WANT 8.

Thank you to Brooke of Babbling Brooke for giving me Magic Attraction! =)

The new phone I got today is called the LG Glance. It's a pretty basic phone, but I'm ok with that. All I do is call, text, and take pictures, anyway. I like that it's gold, though. And all the buttons work, unlike my last phone! Haha.

Have a great day/night/week/whatever,

Kelsea

NOTD from Babbling Brooke's Giveaway Prize! (ChG For Audrey)

2010-03-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I won Babbling Brooke's giveaway from a while back. Well the mail is slow and it came during my finals week. Therefore, I am posting this now. I am now on spring break, and sitting in my Dad's living room. I am wearing China Glaze For Audrey right now, and am about to change it. But before I do, let me show you a couple pictures of my winnings!

Holy Moly! Q-Tip travel pack, hand lotion, nail files for days, nail glue, fake nails, nail art stickers, and polish! SCORE

All the Nail polishes. 2 Maybellines, a Sally Hansen, 3 Pro's, 2 ChG, and 1 Color Club!

SO PRETTY~ Ruby Pumps, For Audrey, and Magic Attraction

Super fun fake nails. Omg I love the skull ones.

Thank you SO much Brooke! =D Totally made my day!

Tucker approves.

For Audrey!

It completely unintentionally matched my dress! =)

I was excited to get ChG For Audrey because it is supposed to be Tiffany Blue (although I have heard it is a tad off), but wasn't sure if the color would be 'for me.' But then I put it on and instantly fell in love with it. It was a little thick, so I thinned it, but the formula was basically fine. I did two coats and that was perfectly enough, and I absolutely love love love the color now. It's my new favorite blue, actually. I don't usually like lighter blues, but this was so creamy and shiny and dusty. I love it. It's not a bright crazy blue. It is a little on the green side, but not enough to be teal. I love the dusty-ness. It's a perfect spring color. I'm super happy I own it! YAY!

I'm gonna paint my nails, and then go off to the mall and then go to dinner with some old friends. I'll have my new NOTD up sometime soon =)

~Kelsea

I caved. Essence~ What Do You Think?

2010-03-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

I hate this polish name. It's awful. "What Do You Think?"??? Seriously? However, it is an amazing color, applies well (needs three coats, I of course only did two) and is a dollar. Oh, did I mention it's a Chanel Orange Fizz dupe? Uhh... Yea. It is.

Stephanie from Short n Chic has a great review and comparison. I do not own Chanel Orange Fizz, so I couldn't compare the two.

Tucker approves of this polish.

I'm sorry my cuticles and nails are still so terrible. Millionails seems to be helping a little. Maybe I have a nail infection? I don't know. But that would really suck.

While I was coloring my children's coloring book with my 64 box of crayola crayons (yea, I still do that sometimes.... I'm 20. I know.) I realized that this polish looked a lot like the crayon called "melon". And since I had not been able to capture it's light orange with a touch of pinky coral color (all my pictures came out too orange) I decided to take a few more with the crayon to try and pick up the color better:

AHHH My cuticles! =(

Well. I tried. I guess you can tell a little better that it's not just straight orange... Right? RIGHT!? dammit.

I went to lunch with my x-boyfriend-turned-best-friend today. We had sushi, at one of our favorite places! I've known Colin for almost 3 years now, and he is seriously the best. One of the nicest men I've ever met.

I took a picture of him while I was climbing into his car. Turned out pretty well. Look at that beard! You can't see the whole thing, but I designed and drew that rose and revolver tattoo on his inner left biceps. It's from his favorite series of books, The Dark Tower by Stephen King.

I love that my art is on him forever! =)

Another picture of Colin and I. This was 6 months or so ago. We were dressed up to go out to eat. We like to dress up and pretend we're rich. He's super fun, and I mean CMON, LOOK AT THAT BEARD! Haha.

That's all from me today. I've been studying for finals lately (which begin on Tuesday). Although today for dinner my roommate Alison, her boyfriend and I all went to her Mom's house for St. Patrick's Day dinner, which consisted of corned beef and cabbage, irish soda bread, potatoes, and other irish deliciousness. MMM! Delish.

~Kelsea

P.S. To the people who just started following my blog, WELCOME! And thanks =)

Giveaway

2010-03-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

I think I will do a giveaway when I reach 150 followers. I have 67 right now. Thank you guys! You're the best. You have no idea how happy it makes me when I get a new follower or a comment on a post. =)

Hopefully I'll get there soon, because I'm not gonna order new stuff for myself from 8ty8beauty until I order stuff for my contest. And I want my stuff NOOWW! Haha.

So, please follow my blog so that I can give some stuff away! Thanks,

~Kelsea

P.S. Millionails seems to FINALLY be starting to work. I haven't broken a nail since I stopped wearing nail polish (almost two weeks now). I'm going to resume painting my nails every other day or so after spring break, so two weeks from today. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things!!! Hurray!

Tucker says HI.

Haulin' Ass!

2010-03-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

MMMM haul!

I had a very difficult midterm in Biology 104 (cellular biology) this morning and to forget my sorrows I went to Sacramento to go shopping! Hurray! All in all I spent around $150. But I got a TON of stuff!

Nordstrom Rack:

My first pair of Steve Maddens =D =D =D Marked down from $139 to $32. SCORE.

Urban Outfitters:

My birthday day dress? From Urban Outfitters. Sale=$20!

Tights. I've always wanted tights with the seams down the back! YAY. And a belt on sale for $10!

Forever 21:

Oh yes. The double finger ring.

KA-CAW!

BOOM. I WIN, Stephanie! Haha

His head sticks out really far! Weird to wear lol. BTW he needs a name. Any ideas?

Ulta:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance, three lipglosses, a lipliner, and brow powder. The lip gloss on the bottom right is a plumper. Tingly!

HURRAY NAIL POLISH!

Sorry Stephanie, I had to get the Chanel dupe. Had to!! And Maybelline Minty! Hurray!

My Dad's birthday present. He loves Alice In Wonderland.

These are so cool. $10 for both from Urban Outfitters

My party dress of my birthday night. I don't know about you guys, but in Davis we take people out on their 21st birthday at midnight. My birthday falls on a Saturday (April 24th), so the Friday night before I'll be hitting up the bars for the first time as a legal 21 year old! Yay!

Cute tutu skirt. The dress looks pretty gross on the hanger, but it's very well fitted and cute on. I love the cream and black combo, and the high waisted skirt look. It was only $3 at Walmart (sorry to those of you who hate Walmart!!!) It's from Miley Cyrus and Max Azria's collection, which I must say, I like. (Guilty, guilty, guilty.)

Thank you for the advice on my fingernails, I appreciate it! I hope to have them functioning properly again soon. Hope you all are having a lovely day =)

~Kelsea

Fed the F&*$ Up.

2010-03-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

So. Right now 3 out of 5 of my left hand nails are broken to the point of hurting (aka past the nail bed), and 2 out of 5 are the same way on my right hand. I am fed up. This is ridiculous. IDK what's happening!!!! WHY ME!?!? Haha. But seriously though, this sucks.

I know I've been stressed out lately but seriously? It even hurts to type because my nails are so short. Stupid.

So I've decided that the next two weeks will be a Essie's millionails only two weeks. I am not going to paint my nails for two weeks! Ahh. Maybe I'll cave. Idk. But I'm going to try to just put on the millionails stuff every day for the next 14 days. We'll see if it helps. If not, I honestly don't know what else to do! I will give you a couple of updates, and as always I'm still reading your guys' blogs, I just probably won't be posting pictures of my nails, because honestly, you don't want to see them. GRR.

Maybe I'll start doing outfit or makeup posts for a while?

Anyway, have a fantastic weekend, and let's all hope this works, because I really don't want to have to get acrylics. I don't see many other options though!

~Kelsea

NOTD and Dupe Comparison~ Icing Lily and OPI Done Out In Deco

2010-03-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today I'm wearing Icing's Lily. I saw it on a few blogs and knew I had to have it. As soon as I bought it, and got it home, I placed it on my desk. Idk why, but only at THAT moment did I have the thought: "Oh fuck, this looks exactly like Done Out In Deco. NOOOO"

It's true, they're fucking close. I mean, so close you don't need both kind of close. It depends on if you like cool or warm toned lilacs. Let me show you:

let me first apologize for my nails and cuticles. I honestly don't know what's happening to them. Maybe it's the weather, or the change in the weather, or this quarter is stressful, or.... I DON"T KNOW.

Can you tell the difference? One is on my index and ring, one is on my middle. Decide which one you like first before you find out which is which. That way, you aren't persuaded by anything else!

...

Did you decide?

...

Bluer=OPI, Redder=Icing

Look at that. Can barely tell. Icing may even be a little more "muted" or "dusty" or.... whatever.

Accentuating the differences with a ridiculous flash. Again, index and ring=Icing's Lily, Middle and Pinkie=OPI Done Out In Deco. Also again, I'm sorry for making you look at such gross nails =(

For some reason my right hand is holding up better than my left. This is all Lily.

Let's see. Lily was a little thicker, DOID a tad thinner (hey, it IS an OPI after all). Both needed only two coats. People on the street would NEVER EVER EVER guess that I had two nail polishes on if I left it like that, but of course, me being OCPD~Obsessive Compulsive PERSONALITY Disorder (Did you know that there's two types of OCD? I don't actually have OCD, but I found the first fact interesting!), I had to paint them all the same thing. (Although, if I recall correctly, I left Maybelline's Khaki and OPI's At Your Quebec & Call both on the same hand. And for the record, yes. It did drive me crazy.)

I like both a lot. If I had to just choose one.... I guess I would choose Lily. But I'm glad I own both. Like a backup. And it'll be an interesting self-experiment to see which I reach for more often.

Anyway, I watched The Departed with, well... everyone, but namely Leonardo Dicaprio. (He HAD to be in, Scorsese directed it. Lol) Good god that man is sexy. MMmmm. Also, am I the only one that thinks Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg look super similar??? I was super confused for the first 5 minutes of the movie when they were together. Haha. This post is super random, and probably pointless, so I'm just gonna shut up now. Goodnight!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Sally Hansen's Real Royal, Skin MD code and Bonus Pics!

2010-02-28T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! How've you been? I've been busy =( Midterms this week killed me!

This weekend I went to a curling lesson with my friend Alison! It was really really fun! We weren't half bad either, we didn't fall once! (A LOT of people fell!) Haha. It was SO cold though!

Anyway, today I'm wearing Sally Hansen's Real Royal. It's not even an "almost black". I'd consider this an "almost not black" aka it's black unless the sun hits it just right and you squint and tilt your head to the left. But I believe this is a super dark dark brown/black with red/golden shimmer? Idk. I painted my nails at night, so hopefully tomorrow there will be sun so I can see what it really looks like.

Two coats. With flash. This cheetah thing is an awesome flask I bought myself for $2 at Icing!

Ok, seriously? What's wrong with my nails. They keep breaking, and breaking, and breaking.

Lol angle a lil off on this one. Oh well!

So I got an email from Skin MD, saying that my readers can have a discount if they buy from Skin MD in the next 30 days

The code is KL

Let me know if you take advantage of the code.

I don't know if anyone is in the market for a new hand lotion. But this one is really awesome. It's kind of on the thin side, so it doesn't leave any greasiness after about 10 seconds of drying time, and I have noticed that my hands don't get as dry as often, and my palms haven't peeled ever since I started using this product. The only thing I can complain about is that it doesn't seem to do anything for my cuticles. Maybe I need something thicker for that area. Also, it doesn't have much of a smell to me, and what it does smell like is not offensive. Overall a great lotion, in my opinion.

I used the NYX Jumbo Pencils I got! Here's a picture for you of what my eye turned out like. I thought it looked super awesome. My guy friend, Colin, said I looked "sleepy" haha. I suppose I did. I was going for those 'bed me' eyes anyway. So... Mission accomplished?

I took a walk on some paths behind my apartment. The weather was AMAZING this weekend!!

Davis has a LOT of farms.

pretty wet grass

Awesome fake pond!

Haha. Sorry for all the pic spam, I just thought the spring pics were so pretty, and I know many of my readers are still having snow-sad times. Cheer up, spring is on the way!!!

Have a lovely week, can't wait to talk to you again!

Tucker (the cat) says hi!!!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ AA Mouse and CherryCulture Haul!!

2010-02-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

Today I'm wearing American Apparel's Mouse, which I won from Polish Freak's contest, along with Rose Bowl and Palm Spring. Yay!!! Thanks again!

I love Mouse. It's not a jelly but after two coats it has kind of that soft, see-though feeling. So I left it. (Plus, if you haven't noticed, I HATE doing three coats. lol)

Bonus pic! =D

So my Cherry Culture package was in the mail today!!! WOO HOO. I got three Jumbo Eye Pencils:

Bottom to Top: French Fries, Iced Mocha, and Cottage Cheese.

And three Round Lipsticks:

Honey, Heather, and Castle

Here's a swatch on my hand, with the flash to see the shimmer:

I was disappointed when I opened the package that Castle was a shimmer lipstick. I was hoping for it to be like that Mac creme lilac lipstick that I can't remember the name of right now. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Honey. A yellow based nude with no shimmer. Awesome.

Heather, a mauvy muted pink with no shimmer. Also awesome.

Castle, a lavender lipstick with some shimmer. Still also... you guess it. Awesome.

I had to forgive Castle for having shimmer after I put it on. It still looks cool and edgy. However, that means I still want that one Mac lipstick. Haha. If I can ever remember the name. I think I have it written down somewhere.

The Jumbo Eye Pencils and the Round Lipsticks have crazy-insane pigmentation. I'm super happy with my buys, especially since the eye pencils were $3 each and I think the lipsticks were like $1.50. Can't beat that. I'm wearing Castle right now and it seems to be pretty moisturizing and smooth. Castle took the most "sweeps" to apply, if you will, at about two or three goes per lip. I swear, both other colors were just one swipe, sweep, whatever, per area. CRAZY. Hurray!

Off to study for my Molecular Genetics midterm tomorrow. Boo.

NOTD~ Color Club Wild at Heart (aka my favorite polish. period.)

2010-02-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

I have found my favorite NP of all time. Color Club's Wild at Heart. It is a deep purple holo.

HOLY BALLS DID YOU JUST SAY DEEP PURPLE HOLO?

yep.

mmmmmmlkdjflasdkjfasd

no flash

no flash (my poor nails. they won't stop breaking!!!)

OMG MM!

This was two coats. Easy peasy. Fairly easy cleanup. Beautiful. I am super stoked about this color. I'm going to wear it alllllll spring =)

Please buy it if you haven't done so already.

Also, I did a silver and gray smokey eye with pink lips, and thought I would share how it came out!

Hope you like it! It was super easy. Coastal Scents 88 Warm Palette. I love it. You should also purchase that, if you're into makeup like I am!! =)

Have a fantastic day! Tomorrow's friday! WOO

~Kelsea

NOTD and TOTD~ Icing Manic Monday and AA Rose Bowl

2010-02-15T22:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.formspring.me/kelsealaurel24

If you go to this website you can type in any question anonymously and then I can answer it directly. I know a lot of my friends have these things so I thought I would join. So if you feel like joining in the fun, go sign up and/or ask me a question!!!

Today I put on Icings Manic Monday on my fingers, and American Apparel's Rose Bowl on my toes. I'm super happy with both!!

I will show you a picture of me feet. Be aware. My feet are not cute. K. You've been warned!

with flash. Pretty color accurate

no flash. This leans a lil too green

No flash. This is pretty color accurate too.

FEEEET

Rose Bowl, with flash. Pretty color accurate.

Manic Monday (which is such an awesome name) is a blackened peacock teal creme, which is also kind of on the grayed out side. It's an amazing color. Rose Bowl (which is also an awesome name) is a tanned out dusty pink creme. Both applied nicely in two coats. I am super happy with both of these polishes! Yay. Good choices, me. =)

I hope everyone had a good President's Day! I lounged around, finished writing a paper that's due tomorrow, watched a couple movies (Where the Heart Is and the Holiday, love them both). Jude Law is just so sexy!!!! Everyone agree? Yes? Cool.

~Kelsea

NOTD~ CG Peachy Keen from Up & Away

2010-02-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

Hurray! I'm back! =) I missed you guys. I'm sorry for being so flaky!

Today I'm wearing Peachy Keen from China Glaze's Up & Away Spring 2010 Collection. Yea, it's not spring yet, but OH WELL!

Little baby nubbin nails.

with flash

This is a bright yellow notecard as the background. I tried to make it look more orange like it is in real life. It's still a tad darker. Lame.

A picture of my first coat. Gross. Pretty color accurate, though.

Although this polish was pretty hard to work with, I like the way it turned out. It was getting kinda thick but was still a tad streaky at coat two, but I stopped there because it was late and I didn't want to have to wait forever before I could go to bed! lol.

Yesterday I wore this on my face:

Neutral eyes lips and cheeks with a pop of blue under the eye

I used the H.I.P. Chrome liner. It glides on so smooth and lasts a long time! Woo. I also got it at a dollar store, so it was only a DOLLAH!

My colorful streak is still going strong! Yay!

Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you are having a lovely week and that all your guys' Valentines Days don't suck. I'm too single for words at the moment, but I think my roommate and I are gonna go see that movie Valentine's Day sometime this weekend. Anyone else gonna go see it? Alright, I'm going to go eat a lot of food. =) TTYL!

~Kelsea

Sorry I've been so MIA Lately!!

2010-02-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Wow I've been busy! I was in San Diego from Friday till Monday Night (I wore CG Four Leaf Clover and it did NOT last the whole time) and now I'm wearing You Don't Know Jacques suede and I'm embarrassed and how chippy it is. I literally painted them in two minutes.

The fake nails are off, and my nails look like crap. Three broke off so short they hurt. I'm just a mess! And I had tests all last week so I've been ridiculously busy catching up and getting stuff done. Sorry guys!

I really really miss you all, and promise to get on top of my life soon!!! =)

~Kelsea

NOTD~ OPI's Baguette Me Not

2010-02-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

Today I am still wearing my fake nails (although I had to reglue two so far) and I KNOW that you guys will me terrified with what I'm about to say, but I simply painted two coats of BMN over what I had on the other day, CG High Hopes. (Yes, you read right!!!) haha. haggard. I know.

Why so orange? No Flash. This picture sucks. Why does my camera always do this? GRR

More similar to the actual color, but it's more brown in real life

Not quite this brown, though. Geeze, I could NOT get a good picture. Sorry =(

I don't think painting over my old polish did anything to the color. The color on the nail is a tad darker than the color in the bottle, but that makes sense to me. It's beautiful. I love it. Two easy coats. Although, I slept with it still dentable and woke up with sheet marks lol. I fail.

Hope everyone is doing well! I think these nails will have to go in a couple days.

I bought Essie's Millionails today! So hopefully that will help my serious problem with gross peeling cracking splitting nails!!!

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Fake nails with High Hopes by CG

2010-01-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I bought some fake nails yesterday at target. I had two splits that were wayy up in my nail bed, one on each hand, so I decided to give in and put some fake ones on. I would get fake nails professionally done, but I just don't have the money for that. (Although I suppose if I stopped buying so much clothes and nail polish I probably COULD afford it lol)

Anyway, I bought the Kiss everlasting (and by everlasting they mean "7 day wear") french in medium length for regular nails. If these are medium length I'd be scared to see long, and I apparently need the petite sized ones or something because the smallest one was almost too big for my pinky, and I had a really hard time finding sizes to fit. There were two sizes in the box bigger than the ones that fit my thumbs. Weird! I thought I had normal sized nails. Anyway!

Note: These are not color accurate in any way.

Bottle color is starting in the right direction, but still too orange

Poor High Hopes. It will never be well represented in photographs. lol. I'm so glad I bought this color. I was so nervous because I don't really like red-oranges, and these photos pretty much look straight orange. This must be partially neon. It's SO bright, and its a beautiful "guava" pinky orangey bright juicy color. I can't really describe it other than that! I feel like anyone walking by would describe it as either hot pink or red, not orange. I'm super glad I bought this one. This is two coats. The french tip does show a tiny bit in real life, but not as badly as in these pictures. =)

What I wore today! I looked very indie. And those aren't prescription glasses, I just think they're cute. hehe.

~Kelsea

8ty8beauty Haul

2010-01-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!!! My package from 8ty8beauty came today!!! As I said before, Somoan Sand was sold out/discontinued, so I had to make a quick decision on something else. I picked Baguette Me Not from OPI's France Collection. It's gorgeous, but looks only maybe one shade deeper than AA's Rose Bowl that I got the other day! Dammit! Oh well, they're both beautiful.

The ones I purchased L to R: China Glaze Peachy Keen, High Hopes, Four Leaf Clover, Color Club's Wild at Heart (FINALLY) and OPI's Baguette Me Not. Also pictured on the left is AA's Palm Springs and on the right is AA's Rose Bowl

See? They're literally the same exact color, but BMN is one shade deeper

Also similar, but Peachy Keen is obviously more peach and less "fake tan" colored. No mannequin hands here =(

I finally got Wild at Heart. Thank god. As some of you may know, I ordered it last time, they lost my order, and then it was sold out. Hmm.. Seems to be a running theme with these people.

My untried pile. It hasn't gotten much smaller since I started buying polish in bulk, because every time I use a bunch, I buy a bunch more! Haha, I haven't repeated a polish in like 6 months! (Yes, I am ashamed to admit that Orly's Enchanted Forest is in this pile. I painted it on one nail, but I haven't actually WORN it yet. I fail)

Even though I haven't used my CG's from the Up & Away collection yet, I already know I love them. I've heard the great things about their formula, they look super opaque, and CG is always great. The colors are even more amazing in real life than they have been in pictures. High Hopes especially. I was afraid of it looking too "red-orange" because everyone's camera makes it look that way, but it's not at all. It's a pinky orange almost neon looking bright amazing color from the 80's. All the colors look fantastic. I'm super happy with my purchase this time! The only thing that could have made it better is Somoan Sand =( Oh well.

I can't wait to paint my nails!!!! =D

~Kelsea

Blog Award =)

2010-01-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

Yay! Rebecca from Nails Etc tagged me with this:

How sweet of her!!! =) I'm supposed to mention the name of who tagged me, and pick some blogs I like and tag them!

Stephanie and Betsy from Short 'n Chic

GildedAngel from Naive Nails

Marissa from Marissa Explains It All

KittytoKaren of Polish or Perish

It's so annoying to go look through my blog roll, and decide who my "favorites" are and then click on them and get the link and come back here. Haha. Maybe I'm lazy. Plus I try to look at blogs talking about this award so I don't re-tag everyone. If you would really like to do a tag and don't get tagged often, send me a message or something at kelsealaurel@aol.com and tell me, and I'll tag you next time I get tagged (God knows when that will be, though). I know I don't have too many followers, but hell, everyone likes to get tagged, right? K cool. Have a fantastic day =) I know I will!

~Kelsea

Bonus!

"I can haz pets?"

FAT.

EDIT: HeavenNRJ from Less is More tagged me for this as well. Thank you!!! =) I absolutely love getting tagged, makes me feel so speciallll. Thanks for reading!!

~Kelsea

Mannequin Hands Take 2~ American Apparel's Palm Springs

2010-01-27T22:58:00.000-08:00

Even though this color on me looks absolutely terrible because it's far too yellow and makes me look like a lobster, I still love it. It is the weird creepy "why the hell are you wearing THAT color on your NAILS??" color I've been lemming. Haha. Ready?

Had to leave in my dress, such cute fabric!

Oh man. Two coats. It was a little thick so I added some thinner, and that made the application much much better. Yay!

I held my bottle of Malaysian Mist to compare:

Not a stark difference in pictures, but in real life MM is pinker, and more milky/less opaque looking. Palm Springs looks like a bottle of really heavy concealer. Lol.

So, even though I should probably NOT wear this, and Scrangie would probably shit a brick if she saw my "lobster hands", I will continue to wear it. Not quite "mannequin hands" status since it's not a match to my skin tone, but it is awesome. At least I think so! Thanks again, Alia!

Hope everyone is doing well. I had my second midterm today. Glad it's over! =)

~Kelsea

2 NOTD's~ Zoya Irene, Mannequin Hands Fail and ZOMG AA POLISHES

2010-01-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

Super long/exciting post! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been all types of busy!

My first NOTD was Zoya Irene. I was thoroughly disappointed. Kinda brush-stroke-y and just overall not that great. Like a less awesome more green less gold more brush stroke-y version of At Your Quebec & Call by OPI

Like my fuzzies on my index finger in the last two? So cute. Haha.

It wasn't a bad polish in any way. FIne application, two coats, good wear. But IDK... Just... Yawn.

Then we have my attempt at "Mannequin Hands" using OPI's Malaysian Mist:

I mean... yea. In dark lighting, the color works. But in the light its very obvious that it's a peachy pinky jelly. I want a skin colored opaque creme. It's a fine color, but not $8.50 fine. I wanted Somoan Sand, but after I ordered it off 8ty8beauty and they lost my order AGAIN, they told me it's sold out AND discontinued. WELL IT WASN"T A WEEK AGO, DAMMIT! So I ran over to my local beauty supply store, because I saw it there a week ago when I decided to order it off 8ty8beauty, and it was gone. Of course! So I thought this might work, but no. It doesn't give me that creepy look I'm going for (lol)

BUT!!! GET EXCITED!!! I won Alia from Polish Freak's contest for American Apparel polishes. I won three colors, but she didn't tell me which ones. I was obsessing over which ones I wanted and which ones I'd get, and seriously, the girl got me EXACTLY which three I would pick out for myself. HOW DID SHE DO THAT!? Idk. I'm seriously excited if you couldn't tell by the all caps.

Rose Bowl, Mouse, and Palm Springs.

OMGOMGOMGOMG

Look at Palm Springs next to my OPI Malaysian Mist:

This might give me that creepy look I've been yearning after! =)

I jumped around and got all giddy when I opened the package. Thanks Alia!!!!

I cannot wait to try all three of these polishes. You can be damn sure they will be my next three NOTD's haha. Now I just need to see if I can return Malaysian Mist. Can you return polish after you've used it? I only used it once... Hmm....

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. I'm in the midst of midterms right now, but my hardest one is over, so I'm alright with it. I promise I still read all the blogs, I've just been super behind on posts and commenting. School is ridiculous.

Off to study with my less-than-creepy-enough-for-my-weird-tastes nude hands.

~Kelsea

NOTD~ Zoya Demi from the Dare Collection

2010-01-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

Today I have on Zoya Demi from the Dare Collection. It's a beautiful deep juicy berry color. I want to drink my nails. Haha. I bet you never heard that sentence before!! Two easy coats and a little painful (because it's a purple/red creme) cleanup later, this is what I got!

With flash. NOT color accurate.

No flash. Much more color accurate.

No flash. I don't know how this one came out so bright. Hmm. What are you doing, camera?

I like this color because it's berry and kinda of vampish in darker lighting, but not nearly black at all and is still very girly. I like that it's a creme. So smooth and delicious looking! I also have Envy from the same collection, and I think I should do konad with it tomorrow or something! OoOo. Lol.

A better picture of my new peacock hair! ("It's called peacocking. The ladies love it.")

Hope you guys are having a great week. Almost FRIDAY! WOO! Anyone gonna watch the office tonight at 9??? =)

~Kelsea

Ramble! Locavore's wear time, and a few other things

2010-01-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hey how have you guys been!? I've been mostly good.

Locavore has been on my nails for a couple days now and looks almost perfect still. Yay! A little tip wear, but I usually have a serious problem with my glitters (and some other nail polishes, for that matter) just peeling off in huge chucks, but that hasn't happened yet!

Also, I know you guys are probably going to think either I'm crazy for saying this, or that other people are crazy for actually doing this, but I just wanted to tell you that my name is pronounced like Kelsey. I would say that about 60-70% of people I meet that read my name (teachers, staff, bank tellers, etc) say it wrong. WHY!?!? I DON"T KNOW. It's easy. Kel, and sea. like the ocean. Mostly I get Kel-see-uh. WTF THAT"S NOT EVEN A NAME!! haha. Sorry I'm really bitter about it. (Can you tell?) So I just wanted to get that straight! And Laurel is my middle name if anyone was wondering =)

It has been raining to the point of flooding for the past couple days now, and it's not supposed to let up for a couple more days =( I like listening to the rain when I'm inside, but having to venture out into it is such a pain in the ass. I think I have S.A.D.

Also, I have a new blog, http://www.kelseatriesfashion.blogspot.com/ because I love all the modeling and fashion blogs I have looked at and follow, and wanted to try my hand at it. I've always wanted to be a model, I just don't think I have what it takes! But hey, I can pretend to be one!! =) No pressure to check it out, I only have one post at the moment, lol. But if you're interested, I also have a youtube account, www.youtube.com/kelsealaurel where I do makeup tutorials and shit like that. It's pretty fun, I'd say. No pressure on that one either, just wanted to put the links up just in case.

I hope everyone is doing well... I'm getting a cold! NOOOOO =(
~Kelsea

NOTD~ RBL Locavore and Hair Cut/Color

2010-01-18T22:25:00.000-08:00

Hey!! Locavore is like Marti Gras on crack on your nails! =)

with flash

flash

no flash

no flash lamp light

SO AWESOME. For some reason the glitter looks kinda silver in these pictures. Trust me its not. Yellow, teal, and magenta glitter is all it is. Mostly yellow. I'm trying to hold myself off of needing Mad as a Hatter by wearing this, but this polish just makes me want it MOAR because I love ridiculous amounts of glitter!!! RAWR!

Oh, and I got my hair cut and colored today:

I wasn't going for the peacock look, but it turned out like that and I'm glad!!! I got it bleached in that area and cut, and then did the colors myself. They're from Hot Topic, a purple one and a turquoise one. Came out pretty awesome, if you ask me!

Thanks for reading, and hello to my new followers!!! (and my old ones, too!) =) Thank you for following me! I'm just one away from 50! WOO HOO!

~Kelsea

Long Time Lemming Turned Reality~ Metro Chic

2010-01-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

Sephora by OPI's Metro Chic has created such a buzz in the beauty world, and I finally got my hands on it!!! (Or more, I finally broke down and paid $9 for it!)

I'm glad I did though, because it is a must have color for every nail polish lover and every crazy color lover, and I'm both!

My poor middle finger. Flash

No flash

Lamp light

Lamp light but then color adjusted to show true color

What a fantastic color!!! Mushroomy brownish taupe gray with a hint of lilac. I love it. Sephora by OPI has a lot of great grayed out colors that I really want to get my hands on. Why are they so expensiveeee?!?! I did two coats, but it's a little sparse towards the cuticle. Too lazy to do the third coat, though!!

I also bought a new lipgloss, NYC Liquid Lip Shine in 552 Cappuccino

Over Maybelline's Color Sensational "Warm Me Up"

Over Revlon's Matte Lipstick in "Nude Attitude"

Great lipgloss. A little glossy, not too sticky but not too watery, shimmery, smells amazing, semi long lasting. I love these lip glosses! I now have 4, but will probably own the whole line someday. Only $2.99 a piece! =)

Also, I went to a casual party last night with my friend Alison, here are some pictures of my makeup!

with flash

no flash

Revlon's Nude Attitude lipstick with Cappuccino over the top =)

Eye makeup done with the CS 88 Warm Palette, which is my baby and I love it

Alison and I out and about! =)

I hope everyone is have a lovely weekend, and if you don't own Metro Chic yet, I highly recommend you RUN to the nearest Sephora and buy 3 bottles. =) Backup worthy.

~Kelsea

Skin MD Lotion Review and Giveaway

2010-01-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, I was sent a bottle of Skin MD lotion to try out. I have super dry skin, and not much seems to work. Sometimes I get really peely on my face and hands, and it's just not cute (gross). So I decided to give it a try, since it claimed so much about being fantastic blah blah blah. But after using it, I realize that maybe their hype has something behind it. I've been using it for a couple months now, and not even completely consistently like it says to, and I've noticed a difference. At first I didn't want to put it on my face even though it says you can because I didn't want to risk a breakout or adverse reaction, but I eventually caved and did so and I'm super glad because that's where it seems to be the most useful! Anyway, my point is, I like the lotion and they are having a giveaway right now, and since I don't have any extreme before and after pictures, and you'd just be taking me at my word and spending money (which I know I wouldn't do), why not just enter the contest and try it for yourself for free?

http://www.skinmdnatural.com/forms/valentines-giveaway.php

Hopefully this is obvious by my complete and total ramble up there, but I'm not getting paid to tell my opinion here. But why not? Plus I know everyone loves free stuff!!! =) Go check it out!

~Kelsea

EDIT: The contest ends Feb 8th so that it can ship in time for Vday!

Does anyone actually care about OOTDs of FOTDs??

2010-01-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hey, if you don't wanna see outfits or face of the days from me, please let me know (nicely) that you don't give a shit. K thanks!

why can I never get my eyeliner to touch my lashline? FML

CS 88 warm palette

very myspace-esque. But shows how cool my tights are! And my necklace =)

was tired of looking at bad pictures of myself just standing there.

what I wore:

Green v-neck: Pac sun

Cardigan: Gap

Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Black high waisted skirt: Walmart (by Miley Cyrus. Fail.)

Tights: Gap

Cheetah ballet flats: Target

on my face:

Eyes: Coastal Scents 88 Warm Palette, Revlon colorstay eyeliner, Covergirl mascara

Cheeks: Covergirl trio blush

Lips: Maybelline color sensational lipstick in Warm Me Up, and NYC nude gloss over

Bonus lolcat:

I haz the famous.

Lol Tucker is such a model!

My nails are still BB Couture's Dragon's Breath, but the crazy contrast of the green shirt are making my nails look really red instead of magenta, which I don't really like because I don't like to look like christmas. Lol. Oh well! =)

Thanks for reading, I hope I didn't bore you all to death!! Have a lovely evening, I think I'm gonna go to the basketball game tonight against UC Irvine. GO AGGIES!

~Kelsea