The Loch Ness Monster Likes Makeup Too

So, last month I didn't really have very many favorite nail polishes so, instead of writing a blog post about just one polish, I decided to cover both August and September in one post. I've been having a lot of issues with my nails lately; they've been peeling a lot and super brittle. Consequently, I'm trying not to change my polish as often so that I'm not constantly subjecting my nails to the stresses of nail polish remover. Unfortunately, it also means that I wasn't able to try out as many polishes this month as I would have liked to. I did have some favorites though: Mint Candy Apple by Essie - This was really my only favorite nail polish of August. It was such a busy month for me that I didn't really have as much time to play around with different polishes as I would have liked. However, this particular polish really stood out to me. As you can see in the picture, it is a gorgeous blueish green. In some lights, it looks like a Tiffany blue to me. A f...

One of my favorite things to watch on YouTube is empties videos. In case you don't know, an empties video is a video in which beauty YouTubers talk about the products they used up that month and whether or not they would repurchase them. I don't know if it's weird or not, but I really like seeing the products that YouTubers like enough to use up (although, they don't always like the products they use up). Considering the amount of products that beauty YouTubers buy and receive, I think it's really amazing that they use up any products at all. Plus, I always like to see which products people would repurchase. Because I really like watching empties videos, I've decided to do something different this month and write a post about the products I used up this month. Cocoa Butter by The Body Shop ($19.90) - I use up lotions and body butters like they're water. I always have a lotion in my purse and one or two on my night stand. This month, I used up a 6.75 Co...

So, I have a friend who jokingly says that she celebrates her birthday for the entire month of July. August is my birthday month, and even though I don't celebrate for anywhere near a month, I did feel like every day was my birthday this month because the makeup fairy kept visiting my house and blessed me with a fantastic birthday makeup haul! Not only did I get makeup (and nail polish) as birthday presents, I also got the standard Ulta and Sephora birthday gifts, and the Ulta platinum gifts. Plus, I got extra points on my Ulta purchases during my birthday month. Obviously, I am winning with my makeup collection this month; I literally can't imagine anything better. Mint Candy Apple by Essie - One of my friends gave me this product as an early birthday gift a few weeks ago. If you're familiar with Essie polishes, you know that Mint Candy Apple is something of a classic. It's a super pretty mint green, turquoise polish (if that even makes sense). To me, it's alm...

So, I want to try something new and different this month. Instead of doing a post about all the polishes I wore this month (as I've been doing since April), I'm restricting this post to just my favorite polishes of the month. After all, there's not much of a point to talking about polishes I didn't like. Hopefully, this will be a more helpful way of blogging about the month's nail polishes, and it will give you a better idea of the polishes I was truly impressed by. Let me know in the comments if you prefer this format! Anyway, without further ado, here are my favorite nail polishes for July: Virgin Snow by Essie - My first favorite of this month is one of my favorite Essie polishes ever. In fact, it's the only nail polish I own a backup of. (I bought the backup after KathleenLights talked about it because it was a limited edition polish, and everything KathleenLights talks about goes out of stock immediately). Anyway, for me, this polish is the perfect li...

Another month, another fifteen or so manicures to share with you. Silver Dollar by Revlon  and  White On by Sally Hansen - I wrote a whole blog about this manicure , which was inspired by Jon Snow and House Stark from Game of Thrones . In case you don't know, I have a whole series of blogs about manicures inspired by Game of Thrones . I created this particular look using a gradient technique. Silver Dollar and White On Fearlessly Alice by OPI and White On by Sally Hansen - I tried to create a very summer-y, nautical inspired look with this manicure. I started out with two coats of White On by Sally Hansen, which is my go to white polish. Then, I used MoYou London's Sailor #1 stamping plate to stamp a starfish onto my accent nail with Fearlessly Alice by OPI (ignore the fact that it's crooked; stamping is still a work in progress for me). Then, I used my dotting tools to paint polka dots onto my other nails (also with Fearlessly Alice by OPI). White On and F...

Game of Thrones Sword Nails There are a lot of swords in Game of Thrones : Needle, Heartsbane, Longclaw, Ice, Oathkeeper, etc. The Iron Throne itself is said to be forged from the swords of the vanquished enemies of Aegon the Conquerer (which is a creative way to get a new chair, if nothing else). So, for this week's episode of Game of Thrones , I created a sword manicure. This design may look complicated, but it's actually quite simple. All you'll need to produce this manicure is nail polish (preferably silver and black) and a set of dotting tools . To start out, I painted two coats of black polish on four of my nails ( Black Out by Sally Hansen ) and two coats of silver on one of my nails ( Silver Dollar by Revlon ). You could also do the reverse of this (four silver nails and one black nail), which I did on my non dominant hand. Silver Dollar is a basic, metallic silver, and Black Out is a regular, creme black polish. I used these polishes because I had them on h...

Last month, I started a series of blog posts about the nail polish I wear every month. So, if you enjoyed embarking on a nail polish voyage with me last month, climb aboard the nail polish cruise ship with me. Ladybird by Butter London and White Out by Sally Hansen - The first manicure I did this month was based on this tutorial I watched about how to create nail art hearts with dotting tools . As you can see, it worked out alright. I struggled a bit to make the hearts neat and they ended up looking a bit like Micky Mouse ears. Ladybird and White Out Black Out by Sally Hansen , Stardust by Butter London , and Petrol by Butter London - This manicure was inspired by Game of Thrones (which is back for Season 6, yay!). I wrote an entire blog about it , but, basically, I wanted to do something that was dark and vampy and inspired by the Night's Watch in Game of Thrones . Black Out, Stardust, and Petrol Honor by Zoya - I picked this polish up on a whim at Ulta (...

So, last week I wrote a blog about a Game of Thrones inspired nail look and people seemed to like it, so I decided to do a follow up blog with my Game of Thrones nails for this week. This week's nails were inspired by House Targaryen because I love Daenerys Targaryen and she always looks fierce -- even when she's been walking through the dessert for weeks. I created this nail using a very simple gradient technique . Because House Targaryen's colors are black and red, I did a black and red gradient. Before you start, you'll need a wedge shaped makeup application sponge . You can buy bags of these sponges at drug stores or cosmetic stores. They're very cheap. Using scissors, trim a sponge so that the thick end is the size of your largest nail. To start out, I painted a latex barrier around my nails. If you don't know, latex barriers (also known as the peel off stuff) are very useful for messy nail art -- and gradient nails are messy nail art. Yo...

So, I've decided to try a new sort of post this month. Recently, I've been really into nail polish and doing my nails. Actually, I don't think I left the same nail polish on for more than two or three days in a row this month. I wanted to talk about some of the nail looks I did this month, so I took a picture of every manicure I did this month (sans one horrible, glittery, gloopy mess that I couldn't bring myself to photograph) and now I'm going to write about. So, if you're bored by incessant chatter about nail polish, click away. But, honestly, who could possibly be bored by incessant chatter about nail polish. Please excuse my horrific cuticles; I am in desperate need of cuticle oil. Over the Moon by Butter London - This was my first manicure of the month. Obviously, this is a nice, basic warm grey. It's nice and neutral and professional. Plus, it's a Butter London shade, so it's completely and utterly chip proof. Like, you have to try to c...