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     I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I spent mine alternating between cleaning the house and binge watching the latest episodes of Pretty Little Liars on Netflix. I'll let you decide which one I did more of. But now it's back to the daily grind and I'm already looking forward to next weekend. I have a feeling it's going to be a long week! To help shake off my Monday Blues I've got 3 Thermal polishes releasing today from Paint it Pretty Polish.

   This is another one of my picture heavy posts so let's get some particulars out of the way first. Each polish is shown as 2 coats plus a top coat and photographed in my light box using daylight bulbs. During my swatching session, my hands were unusually warm which made capturing each polish in the truly cold state a bit tricky. But this fact should also help to let you know how effective the color shift is in these polishes. 

Butterfly Wings

     Color: a pale blue polish with pink iridescent shimmer when warm shifting to a pale purple when cold.

     Application: The first coat applied sheer but builds up nicely on the 2nd coat. You can see a slight VNL after 2 coats. A 3rd coat should take care of that if VNL bothers you.

     Finish: Dries to a shimmery smooth glossy  finish

Butterfly Wings in a cold state

Butterfly Wings in a Warm State

     I really like how both colors in this polish are light and delicate. I think it would be perfect to wear to a gender reveal party or baby shower where the sex of the baby is unknown. Or just when you want something feminine on your nails that's not pink.

Zebra Stripes

     Color: White creme nail polish when warm that shifts to a charcoal gray creme polish when cold. 

     Application: The first coat applied a tad streaky and thin with everything evening out nicely after 2 coats. I did struggle a bit with the application on a personal level that shouldn't affect anyone else unless they are painting Zebra Stripes onto warm hands. Also using the Orly ridge filling base coat which so happens to dry to the same shade of white as Zebra Stripes can cause the same issue. The transition of this polish is so quick that it shifted to white as soon as it touched my nails and almost seemed to disappear. That was amusing and frustrating at the same time because it made it almost impossible to see where I had applied the polish. 

     Finish: Dries to a smooth glossy creme finish

Zebra Stripes in a warm state

     One of the things I love about Zebra Stripes is that the color change is so dramatic and fits the name perfectly. Because of the quick color shift, it was impossible for me to get a full 4 finger shot of Zebra Stripes in its cold state. I'd remove my hand from the bowl of ice water I had sitting next to my light box and before I could pick up the bottle the white color appeared at my cuticles. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the plain white colored anils but I think this would look fantastic with some gray stamping that almost matched the charcoal color of the cold state of Zebra Stripes.

Mermaid Tails

     Color: Deep pink nail polish with scattered blue and fuschia glitter when warm that shifts to a rich purple when cold. 

     Application: Smooth even application that was just a tad sheer on the first coat. Full opacity was reached after 2 coats. 

     Finish: Dries to a glossy smooth finish. I was surprised to find that the glitters provided zero texture in this polish. 

Mermaid Tails in a cold state

Mermaid Tails in a warm state

     Just like Zebra Stripes, Mermaid Tails wanted to transition almost instantly into its warm state. Thankfully it was slightly slower than Zebra Stripes so I was able to capture an almost 100% cold state in my photos. Out of the 3 polishes, I can see myself wearing Mermaid Tails the most. I like the distinct color shift and looking at this polish just makes me happy. 

     These polishes and many others can be purchased at https://www.etsy.com/shop/paintitprettypolish for $7.54 a bottle. And don't forget to check them out on Facebook to keep up with the latest news on releases. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!

*Nothing to Disclose*

      Hi Everyone and Happy Wednesday. It feels great to be back blogging, although I'm not sure how consistently I'll be able to get posts up since I am still in the process of moving into my new house. It's an amazing 101-year-old farm house with tall windows, thick baseboards and original intricately carved door hardware. But the best part is there is a room for me to dedicate to a polish room. I can't wait to get it all setup and have everything organized. I'm thinking that I might dedicate a set of posts to it. What do you think, would you like to see how I transform a beige colored office into my own personal polish heaven? Let me know in the comments.

     Before I get to all that, I should probably share a post with all of you. And I thought a double stamped manicure would be the way to go. One that featured roses of course because we all know that I love floral manicures.

     

     It's a simple manicure but one that I really like. It's also a manicure that helped me discover that you can use stamping polish just like regular polish but with fewer coats.  For this look, I used Hit the Bottle Psycho pink as my main color and to stamp the rose image from Winstonia plate W-04 a plate I've used several times over the years.

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     For some reason in the middle of March, I got the wild hair to try doing builder gel nails on myself. March 15th to be exact. For the life of me I can not remember why I wanted to do this but at the time I thought it was the best idea ever and had to do it right away. Now let's not forget I am not a licensed nail tech and have no formal training.  I just watched a few YouTube videos and made my sad attempt. And as a side note: Just because you see it done on YouTube does not mean you should try it at home. Consider that my little PSA for the day.

     Also,  I need to add that while I am an affiliate for Bliss Kiss nail products their affiliate program is on hold until further notice as of April 28th, 2017. I will not make a commission off of any sales during this time but wanted to add the affiliate link to my post in the event that the program gets reinstated.

    I have to say I was pretty proud of myself for doing a semi-decent job but regretted putting them on almost immediately. I felt like I had flippers on the ends of my fingers and I just knew that my natural nails would be trashed once I took them off. Which I decided to do about 2 weeks later on March 31st.

     Ouch!!!! I knew my nails would not be in good shape after removal but what I saw made me want to cry. Just look at that mess, not to mention they were thin and brittle too. How was I supposed to be able to blog about nail polish when my nails looked like this!

     After staring at my nails for 20 minutes, on the verge of tears, the entire time inspiration struck. I could do a thorough testing of my simply pure cuticle oil. After all if Simply Pure couldn't save this hot mess nothing could.

    I decided that I'd had the gel nails for two weeks so I would test for two weeks. I applied the oil in the morning before work and at night before going to bed. The only other products I applied to my hands during testing was some St. Ives Lotion. I tend to use hand sanitizer at least a dozen times a day at work and my hands tend to suffer from it. I did try to only apply the lotion to my actual hands and not rub it in around my cuticles like I normally would, but old habits are hard to break.

     After 2 weeks (April 14th) these are my results. Now keep in mind that I didn't do anything but apply the oil. There was no cuticle removal, nail painting or filing. And I'll warn you if you're expecting a miracle that's not exactly what happened, but I think you'll still be impressed with the results.