Merry Christmas!

Yes, finally a free moment in my life to sit down and work on my YouTube channel and my blog!  As an update for you all, I actually won the Juicy Couture Nail Art Contest hosted by skyecolispeedo.   Hurray!  I'm so excited to see what I won.  I'm supposed to get Luxurious Bourghese Nail Lacquer Kit.  I checked it out on Google, and it's pretty pricey!  So I definitely will have to see how it is, and maybe do a mini-review.  =)  How fitting it is that my Juicy Couture inspired nails won a contest & my blog is called Juicy Nails & Makeup, right?  Lol, yes...I'm a dork.  

Anyhoo, so some of the latest stuff with me.  Of course, I have my latest swag!  Christmas present from my mom:  Juicy Couture Purse!  I LOVE it...it's like the perfect size...although it gets pretty heavy cuz I stuff it to death.  But still, it's awesome...doesn't my mom have great taste?  She got these for a really good deal @ the Juicy Couture outlet in State Line.  I think the original price is like almost $200, but she got it for $90.  Pretty awesome right?

I also got most of my stuff from the Holiday Gift Wrap in Vegas (from both MGM & Ceasar's).  I have my nifty new camera (the purse is taken with it...and isn't the quality amazing?  At least compared to my last camera!) and my Monster Beats by Dre headphones.  The sound quality is frickin awesome!!!!  I just love to listen to music with these!  Yes, I know..I have that dorky sticker on my camera still.  Just FYI, I've already taken it off.  The camera looks sooo much nicer without it!

The only thing that hasn't come in yet, is my new iPod Nano with video camera.  I ordered a purple one...and I should be getting it hopefully tomorrow or Monday.  These holidays kinda tweak the shipping schedule!  Totally can't wait for it to get here, so I can use my new headphones w/ it!

Now onto the beauty stuff!  I got this Kat Von D perfume solid ring.  It came with a little thing of Saint and one of Sinner.  I'm actually not that fond of Sinner...but I think it's growing on me, lol.  But I absolutely love Saint!  It's a nice light floral-ish smell.  And this ring is sooo cute, and totally her style.

I believe this is exclusive to Sephora, but I know people on eBay are selling it too.  I got this for $30 (+ tax), and I use it all the time.  Some people are getting it just for the ring, and some people don't like the ring, but like the solid.  I LOVE both!

I got a bunch of Essie nail polishes from Beauty Headquarters.  I'll just list them from left to right, top to bottom: Queen of Hearts (from the Judith Ripka collection, it's supposed to have real diamond dust in it!), Cherry Pop, Status Symbol, Tennis Corset, Secret Affair, Happily Ever After, Curtain Call, Ridge Filler, Apricot Cuticle Oil, and Matte About You (a matte top coat).

I actually haven't had a chance to try too many things out.  I used Cherry Pop as part of a holiday French Mani I did (will post pics soon!), and I have a swatch for Curtain Call.  The Ridge Filler Base Coat was pretty cool...I got a tiny bottle for just $1.  I think it works pretty well was a ridge filler, but I think I'll only use this if I'm covering the entire nail with an opaque polish.  Alone, the ridge filler has a nude tone to it, and I don't really like that part of it.  But, like I said, it actually does fill in ridges, so it's something I'll have to keep in mind.  I also have used the cuticle oil...it smells sooo good!  I keep it at work and just apply it once a day during a break or lunch.  I have noticed a difference in my nails since I started using a cuticle oil daily.  They feel stronger and don't curl in as much (yes, I'm bad...I don't drink water so my nails are all thirsty and curly in like crazy!).  Maybe another month or so of this and my nails will start looking fantastic (I hope!), lol.

And last, but not least...I got the Zoya polishes I ordered on Black Friday!  It actually came in two shipments, because some of the polishes were backordered.  I waited till everything came in so I could take a picture of it all together.

In the left picture, I have: Astra (which I love...but it's kinda hard to remove!), Midori, Veruschka (a matte polish), Suvi, Envy, Irene, and Tangy.  In the right picture, I have the holiday gift set which includes the nail polish remover, base coat, top coat, and drying drops.  As much as I love green (with a name like Emerald, how could I not? Lol), I didn't just randomly decide to buy 6 green nail polishes from a brand I've never tried before!  On Black Friday, if you had a coupon code, you could get these 6 lovely green colors for free w/ any order!  So I ordered Astra and the holiday gift set.  I figured I'd try Zoya properly, with its own base coat, top coat, and everything to see if it really lasts as long as they say.

I've only tried Astra, and I think it wears pretty nicely.  I don't recall how long it stayed nice and unchipped, though.  I'll have to try again and really test it out soon.

So yup, I had an awesome Christmas, and I hope all of you did too!  I think this blog is long enough with all the swatches and nail art, so I'm going to do that in the next one!

Disclaimer:
1. I bought everything product I'm showing by myself (nothing was sent to me for free).
2. No one has paid me or compensated me for this video.
3. I am not affiliated with any of the companies of the products I used.
4. These are my honest opinions.

Swatches & Candy Cane Nails!

Hey everyone...I know, it's been forever!  I've just been super busy with wedding invitations.  I'm really tired, but I wanted to make a quick post so y'all know I'm alive!

To the left, I have essie's Strawberry Shortcake on.
  I think it's a cute spring-like color.

To the right, I have essie's Mint Apple Candy.  I'm actually a little disappointed with this color...it chipped easily, although it looks GREAT. Maybe next time I'll try it with an essie base coat and top coat.  I've used other essie nail polishes with NailTek for a base coat and  Seche Vite for a top coat and those lasted at least a week.  This was a fun, festive color. I'll be trying out the other two soon!

And lastly, I was watching my subscriptions last week, and came across a nail tutorial by easynails.  Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj28EJBJu0o .  Basically, it's a Candy Cane nail design, and let me tell you...she does it way better than me!  Here are some pictures of my first attempt!

As you can see, my lines are crooked, and my green is all over the place.

I've done a set on my mom, and I plan to try these again on myself in the very near future (xmas is next week...so it's gotta be soon!).

So yeah...expect a do over soon! LOL

In the holiday spirit of things, my mom actually got me a baby christmas tree.  (This was after my parents original no to the 5-6 footer I wanted).  So I ran to Kmart and bought a bunch of stuff to decorate it with.  It's kinda overdone, but I don't care...I love it!  It's my first xmas tree in about....15 years?  Maybe less....13 years probably.  Plus, it'll be the first time my parents have been home for xmas in awhile.

So here's a quick shot:

Cute, eh?

There are lights on it, but I'll have to wait to take a pic of that...I couldn't find an extension cord. =(

Expect my latest swag on my next post!  I have quite a few new goodies!

Disclaimer:
1. I bought everything product I'm showing by myself (nothing was sent to me for free).
2. No one has paid me or compensated me for this video.
3. I am not affiliated with any of the companies of the products I used.
4. These are my honest opinions.

Juicy Couture Nails!

Hey Everyone!  I just entered a contest thrown by Skyecolispeedo's Juicy Couture Inspired Nail Art Contest.  I had lots of fun making it, but I'm not sure how practical the look is.  I mean..it's only been 24 hours and I've lost about 4 rhinestones!  (I've replaced them of course, but still...!)

The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfFjpZx5cbc

The video:



Unfortunately I didn't have time to make a live video instead of a slideshow...the placement of the rhinestones might have been something worth recording, but oh well.  Hopefully next time!

My Left hand is the main hand....I am not talented enough to do much with my left hand (onto my right hand), so I kept it simple.
Well...I think they're cute, but I'm biased like that, LOL.

On a side note, I got my 88 palettes from Coastal Scents yesterday!  Soooo excited to try them out...

The top palette is the Ultra-Shimmer palette, and the bottom one is their regular one...mostly matte colors, but a few shimmers.

If you look closely you can see the difference...my mom thought they were the same palette at first, lol.

I wanted the matte one because I hardly have any matte shadows...and the I wanted the shimmer palette because I love wearing shimmer.  They were about $19 each, plus tax and shipping.

They arrived in PERFECT condition...(as you can see, lol), with no broken shadows.  That's one of my biggest fears of ordering eye shadows online!

I still want to do some makeup tutorials, but am feeling a little camera-shy.  I mean come on!  I don't even speak on camera!  I let my text titles do the talking for me!  LOL...

So yeah...I doubt I'll be doing any swatches, unless someone makes a request.  Ooh, that reminds me!  I got my first video request on YouTube!  Someone has asked me to do a video on how I take care of my nails to get them so long...not that I thin mine are particularly long...have you seen Love4Nails's nails???  They're frickin long and sooo healthy looking!  LOL  But yeah, I do have a regiment that I do...and I think it's working out pretty nicely.  I haven't broken another nail since I stopped using Tough Cookie. *Knocks on wood!*  Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze that in this weekend somehow.  Maybe I should bring my camera to Vegas, hahahha.  I'll probably be chilling in the hotel room for a good amount of the evening anyway...

Don't think I'll be gambling, but cross your fingers for me to get all the electronic goodies I want from the big end of the year point shopping thing @ Ceasar's Palace.  I only want 3 things (that I know of!): an iPod Nano with video camera, a new digital camera (mine's breaking =*( ), and a Tiffany's charm bracelet.  I'm not being greedy, am I? LOL

Edit:  I totally forgot about the new FTC laws...so here's my disclaimer(?):

1. I bought everything product I'm showing by myself (nothing was sent to me for free).
2. No one has paid me or compensated me for this video.
3. I am not affiliated with any of the companies of the products I used.
4. These are my honest opinions.