Fun and Mental Changes

Oh yah... it's been a while folks.  Ever since my niece went into the hospital, I relapsed into a nail biter.  Something I haven't done for MANY years.  Thankfully, a new friend was so wonderful enough to take me to get my nails done.  "Hi there nail art... I missed you old friend!"  And thank you Corrine, I appreciate you new friend!!! So, a while ago I discovered (on my beloved polish blogs) the AWESOME Shatter polish by OPI and immediately snagged me some.  But my nails were in such atrocious condition, I didn't really have the palette to show you how great this is.  NOW I do!  DRUMROLL PLEASE..... Is this AMAZING?!?!  I simply did a Color Club Laser Pink base and allowed to dry completely.  After it was dry, I did ONE COAT of the OPI Shatter about an hour before I went to bed.  It turned out GREAT!!!  I can't wait to do this one again with a yellow base!  I might have to just break down and buy me another...

Alright, this is a long story that I'll sum up right here: I'm giving away one of my bottles of Gun Metal Pink FLASH (also known as My Private Jet by OPI). That will leave me with only two bottles, so it's almost as important as giving one of you a kidney... if I had three kidneys. Ok... so.... one day I posted a blog about my all-time favorite nail polish My Private Jet , after seeing someone else's post of the same polish that didn't look anything near the polish I have. The one I saw was a holo and mine WAS NOT. Mine was an AWESOME gun metal pink! So I posted a question as to why my My Private Jet looked so different. Well, I got some VERY helpful responses from some VERY helpful bloggers informing me that there are MANY versions of this particular polish and that no one had yet heard of MY version. I even got a request from Scandalous over at Scandalously Polished to let her know if I find another one, and I did find another three, so I sent one to her. Now my ...

Pictured here is my all-time favorite polish... and the picture DOES NOT do this polish justice! This polish is actually a charcoal grey polish with tiny pink speckles in it and it's called My Private Jet by OPI. It actually looks like pink gunmetal... I LOVE this polish more than any other. But the other day, while viewing one of my favorite blogs, I notice that someone else's My Private Jet is a holo... WTH!!! First of all, let me just note here that I DO, in fact, have a holo on my nails here. You can clearly see that the Konad image I stamped on my nails (image plate M7) is a holo while the backdrop of My Private Jet is just speckled. BTW, I did the Konadicure with China Glazes OMG... THE most fabulous holo EVER made and PERFECT for Konadicures!!! But this polish is NOT a holo. And while I certainly love my holos (as much as the next polish addict), the My Private Jet that I own IS NOT one of them and I adore this color above all other colors. Now, my dilemma: Which color i...

Yesterday was my final day for the Nail Aid's Ultra Rapid Growth nail treatment that is available at Walmart (STILL NOT AT MINE THOUGH... UGH)! Yep... this one gets many, many high fives!!! This product not only worked as a nail treatment, I will continue to use this product as a base coat. You guys can judge for yourselves as far as the growth goes. Below are the day 0 and day 5 pics.... but that "rubbery" base layer is the "GETCHA" for me! I haven't used anything like this product. My nails feel stronger and the polish goes on sooooo smoothly. As far as using this product as a topcoat... well, if I'm trying to grow my nails out quickly, then ABSOLUTELY I will use it as a topcoat as the directions tell you to do. I couldn't master the top coat application so that I didn't get ANY bubbles though, so as soon as I get my desired length (which for me is NOW) I will be switching back to my beloved Seche Vite (which I did today). The pic at the top s...

Well, today is day three of my Nail Aid Ultra Rapid Growth test and I've gotta say... I see a difference! Do you? It looks and feels like I've gotten quite a bit of length in three days. I love how the product feels when I put it on as a base coat and my last Konadicure lasted every bit of the three days before it was time to remove and reapply... which is better than some nail products out there that AREN'T nail treatment products. There is one thing that I'm noticing when applying the Ultra Nail Growth as a topcoat (per package instructions), I'm noticing air bubbles. There are only a couple of them on very few nails, but they are there. It COULD be simply that I'm applying it too thickly. I've never used this product before and I might need to change up my normal application slightly. I will give that a try on my day 5 mani... I'll let you know. Honestly, I can already tell you that this product is getting some serious high fives from me with or wit...

**** Be sure to enter my Favorite Things Birthday Give Away by clicking: HERE ! Huh! So, I had to remove the nail polish that I was wearing yesterday to apply the Nail Aid Ultra Rapid Growth to test, and since the directions say that you can apply one coat followed by color.... OF COURSE I had to do another Konadacure!!! And since I won't be wearing this longer than 3 days (also per directions), I thought it would be fun to do a Halloween theme.... you all KNOW how much I ADORE Halloween (in April???)!!! And these are super fun. So here's how: 1 basecoat of Nail Aid's New Ultra Rapid Growth (available at your local Walmart VERY soon) 2 coats of Orly's Mirror Mirror Konad for the web is found on IP S6 and done with Konad's White Special Polish Konad for the spider is found on IP M1 and done with Konad's Black Special Polish 1 topcoat of Nail Aid's New Ultra Rapid Growth This is the FIRST time that I've ever used this product. So far I LOVE it. Now I...

Ok... here we go! Here are the pix for the goodies that one lucky follower is going to win on May 7th!!! So exciting!!! To enter the drawing, click on this link: HERE . I will be posting the results of my test run with the Nail Aid Ultra Rapid Growth next week. I put 2 coats on tonight and will follow up with a coat every night for three days and then I'll remove it and start over. I'm supposed to have longer stronger nails in 5 days... we'll see!!! Honestly, with the AWESOME experiences I've already had with Nail Aid's products, I'm pretty confident that this will do everything it says it'll do. But to make sure, I took before pics. The Ultra Rapid Grow and the Maximum Iron Hardener (also by Nail Aid) are both new products that are available at Walmart. The lucky winner on May 7th gets a bottle of each! :) Two items in the prize haul didn't make it into the pics: the Seche Vite Topcoat and the Soaptopia Double Bubble 2-Soap Gift Box. The Seche Vite hasn...

So I'm reading Breaking Dawn on the Kindle (love it***) that I got for my birthday and AS ALWAYS when reading the Bella-Edward-Jacob saga, I feel compelled to dip into the black nail polish. Seriously... I have such a goth girl inside underneath all those freckles and pink skin!!! But I don't want to just pull a full-on black mani with it being Easter and all, so I "spring'd" it up with a GORGEOUS dusty pink chrome by Creative called Strawberry Smoothie. I think I was able to "bunny" this one up quite nicely in spite of the black!!! So, HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!! I used the Northern Lights glitter topcoat to give this one even more of a festive sparkle for the holiday and of course, nothing shows off it's awesomeness like a blurry action shot! Check it out (click on the picture to enlarge it... trust me, the enlarged picture RAWKS!). The black was done with Konad's special polish with image plates M71 and M19. *** And yes, I had a little drama wit...

I am SOOOO freakin excited!!! This month is my birthday month and next week I will be kicking off ANOTHER give-away. That's right, I'm stretchin, but I get to give away the presents which is a birthday gift all its own! And this one is SOOOO worth it because it's all my favorite stuff! Check out the prize haul: So far I have a Konad Coraline Nail Stamping Set generously donated by OC Nail Art along with one of my NEWEST favorite Konad image plates, #M63. Truth be told, they are all my favorites... but don't tell my husband!!! ;) Whoops! I got side-tracked... ON TOP OF THAT, I also have a collection of fragrance oils that I love to add to my bath water. ON TOP OF THAT, I have A TON of Nail Aid products that was another generous donation by Nail Aid . Not only did they donate EVERY ONE of my favorite nail treatments, they also donated two products that are newly available at Walmart that I haven't even tried yet... that's like 7 different Nail Aid products!!! Oh,...

So, last week I started my garden (my second one ever!). I found out the hard way that working in the dirt wreaks havoc on natural nails. I am gardening with gloves on this year, but there are just some things (planting seeds and pulling weeds) that are impossible to do with gloves on. This year I made a commitment (wow, really?!? Isn't that a little dramatic? Nah!) to protect my nails until the garden is up and running. I searched last year, long after it was too late , for something to protect my nails and THIS YEAR I think I found it. Thanx to a new friend of mine, who also happens to be a nail technician, I've discovered OPI's Axxium. It is a soak-off sealer for gel nails that MAGICALLY works on polish without puckering or cracking the color below. And let me tell you, I have been through enough gel "polishes", sealers, etc. that ruined the hard work below them to believe that REAL gel topcoats that would work over regular nail polish were probably not in exis...

Yep, the give away deadline is today. It's open to my followers only (the greatest people in the world), so if you're not a follower, you're gonna wanna be one! :) Then click on THIS LINK and go to the give-away announcement to leave a comment. Tonight at 11:59 p.m. I will have random.org pick a number and will announce the winner. Good luck to everyone! :) In the meantime... here's some sexy Konadicure goodness. I ADORE those vampie colors! China glaze hit a home run with VII. It's a drop dead gorgeous vampie purplish-brown wine color. This color is IT! Then, to add a little romance to that sexy, I added those flowers with the amazing holo of China Glaze's TTYL from their OMG collection (I love those colors). Yah, I'm wearing this one OUT!!! It's so beautiful. The Konad image disc I used was M20. I have really fallen in love with China Glaze... now, if they could JUST make those brushes larger! *** Base coat is one coat of Nail Aid's Pink Growth Th...

So, as some of you may or may not know, Fun And Mental Changes is having a give away! We are days away from announcing a winner... March 27th is the deadline for entries and I will post the winner at 11:59 (PST) p.m. on March 27th. The prize is OPI's Mad as a Hatter and Absolutely Alice in honor of the Alice In Wonderland opening this month. These colors are VERY hard to find (trust me on that one) and because of that, I expected a ton of entries. But as it stands right now, there's only 8 entries, so there are GREAT ODDS of winning right now. To enter, simply become a follower (if you aren't already) and click HERE to leave a comment on the post titled Calling All Lacquer Heads! But in the spirit of give aways.... OF COURSE I've entered a couple myself, and want to share where you too can find some more "prize hauls"!!! Nail Addicts Anonymous ... giving away a HUGE polish haul!!! Konadomania ... giving away a mish mosh of GREAT products + a $25 gift code to ...

These are my 2010 St. Patty's nails. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that holographic green of China Glaze's L8R G8R. I topped it with a simple Konad Celtic-ish image from image plate M80 in Konad's special green polish. This turned out GORGEOUS! Can you believe that I found this China Glaze halo for $3.50 last year... now THAT'S lucky! It's kinda fitting to be using it on a day like today! :)

Spring Break 2010 and the girls get together for some play time and power mani's! And these Konadicures ROCKED! I'll show each of them and let you know how it was done. For more info on the konad images pictured, check out OC Nail Art and tell Kathleen that FitterTwit sent ya! :) Be sure to click on all the pics to enlarge. I'd also like to say a special thanx to Megan, Gabby, Delaney and Jordyn for being SUPER models for today's post! Ladies... Girl's Day was AWESOME!!! FLOWER POWER What could be MORE IN than neon pink with black beaded flowers? Jordyn says "Nothing!" as she's sportin these totally rad flowers on Color Club's Pink Lust. The image is from Konad image plate M69 done in Konad's black special polish and then topped with Northern Lights holo topcoat. Dazzling Dahling! :) ELECTRIC YOUTH Delaney diggs this green holo polish by China Glaze. L8R G8R was the perfect backdrop for those sweet flowers that seem to POP off those nails. Thi...

There's currently only three entries in this month's OPI Alice In Wonderland Polish Giveaway!!! Huge chance of winning here! And it's super easy to enter... simply leave a comment on the post at THIS link. The contest is open to my blog followers only (the coolest people in the world!!!), so if you're not a follower, be sure to become one before leaving a comment. So Easy! Click the link to get all the details! In the meantime, here's a little mani that helped me burn the midnight oil last night... yah , my sleep patterns are still a little off. But it was worth it, and I'll be back in line by next week. This Fauxnadicure was really hard to photograph!!! I can't seem to get a picture that shows how beautiful it turned out!!! So, all my pics were taken outside... and even then they aren't as magnificent as in real life. But they do kinda show how pretty they are, so here we go! :) I used Color Club's Stuck On You as a basecoat , 2 coats of OPI...

Whew! Ruffian is RIGHT! After a night of tossing and turning, I woke up feeling quite the "Ruffian", but that's not where this post comes from. But SINCE I brought it up.... Let me tell you about my night! A friend of mine has a daughter who is getting ready to deliver her first child. I am so emotionally invested in this delivery, I can't see straight! I WISH I could articulate exactly why. Love for my friend? Definitely... But this is also going A LOT deeper for me. And I am truly blessed to be allowed to share in this HUGE waiting game for this newborn to make his entrance into the world. So with all this waiting and excitement and NOT SLEEPING, a " Ruffian " manicure is JUST what the doctor (not the obstetrician) ordered. Not only did this little mani kill some time during this long wait, but it went a LONG way to making me feel pretty good and distracting my mind!!! I mean, a person can only cry so much (yah, I bawled like a baby when they hooked her u...

With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner (March 17th), I thought I'd share a little mani and a little story to inspire everyone. Check out "items used" at the end of this post for stuff to do this "Konadicure". But first the story.... So where the heck does this shamrock business and wearin green come from for St. Patrick's Day? Well, this is what Holidays.net has to say: During the St. Patrick's Day season, shamrocks are everywhere from storefront displays to classroom bulletin boards. Even people's lapels sport the green three leaf clover. As the unofficial state flower of Ireland, the shamrock is the most prolific symbol of the Irish holiday. Legend teaches that the first shamrock was a sacred plant discovered by the Druids of Ireland. These Celtic pagans revered the shamrock for its triad leaf formation, as three was a mystical number in their religion. In the 5th century, Saint Patrick is said to have used the shamrock to teach the do...

Today's the day!!! Disney's Alice In Wonderland Opens today!!! In honor of the big day... check out my sparklies!!! The color of glitter polish that's featured here is called Absolutely Alice. It's one of the new polishes from OPI's Alice In Wonderland collection and is also one of the gorgeous polishes that I am giving away this month. All you have to do is become a follower of this blog (if you're not already) and go to this link and leave a comment on that contest announcement post. Super easy. The contest is open to all US residents however, along with the AWESOME Alice In Wonderland polishes is a free Manicure from Zolton's in Chandler, AZ. So that part of the prize might be a "little" harder to use living outside of Arizona. But hey, free polish is free polish and these polishes are AMAZING. A couple of notes I want to make about this polish here, it is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous in real life, however, I could not seem to get a pic that did this p...

It's give away time again in honor of the opening of Disney's Alice In Wonderland next week. And, while I WON'T jump the gun and say that this is ONLY for Arizona (Greater Phoenix Metro) residents, the prize includes a free manicure at Zolton's Salon & Day Spa in the posh Fulton Ranch Community in Chandler, AZ. So not living here makes that part of the prize kind of difficult, but.... Along with the manicure, I'm also giving away 2 new colors from OPI's new Alice in Wonderland collection. I should say, I'm giving away THE BEST colors from the collection: Mad As A Hatter (pictured... please ignore my cuticles) and Absolutely Alice. Both are AMAZING glitter polishes and super hard to find so it would make sense if EVERYONE wanted to enter this one. All you have to do is become one of my blog followers and post a nice comment to this blog post. It's that simple! The lucky winner will be announced *March 27th. Stay tuned for my review of Disney's A...

Here's a little sumin, sumin in honor of hump day (yay!)... here's a little nail candy for you! All I have to say about this is WOW! OBVIOUSLY this is Konad stamp. I used this very stamp here , but this color combination really, uh... pops? It was really fun, but I'm not convinced I can pull it off in public. I wore this to my gym and my Konadicure certainly drew attention. As soon as I got home, I took it off. It is soooo too bright for my taste. BUT if you are the type of person who LOVES bright polish, then this one is definitely for you! LOL! I used Color Club Yelloh with Konad special polish in green and Konad plate #M65. As always, you can get 20% off all Konad products at http://store.ocnailart.com/ using discount code "MENTAL" with free shipping on all orders over $20. I hope you have fun with this one... I did (very, very briefly! hahahaha)!