Thursday, January 28, 2010

Skin MD Review

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today I have a little review for ya!

I was sent a sample of Skin MD to try out and review awhile back.


Unfortunately I can't give you a good, first hand experience.  Would you like to know why?  Well, Rob, my husband, took it over!  Lemme back up and give you guys a bit of insight here...

Rob, as many of you know, builds Hot Rods and Drag cars for a living(we own a business doing just that!)
Rob has his hands covered in Carburetor cleaner and other solvents on and off all day.  Combine that with alot of hand washing with very abrasive, oil dissolving soaps, and to say his hands are dry is the understatement of the century!  His hands are so dry and rough that if he puts his hand on my leg in the car, or rubs his hand over my back, I can hear threads getting snagged on his skin!  He has actually made pulls in my pantyhose before.  See, another thing about Rob is that he HATES lotion.  With a passion!  So much so that last winter it took multiple fingers splitting open before pleading with him to put on lotion before bed actually worked.  He absolutely cannot stand the greasy or sticky feeling you get with most lotions.  If I ask him to put lotion on my back, he will, then will promptly go wash his hands!

Ok, back to Skin MD.
After I got it, I tried a bit out on my hands and noticed, WOW!  It just absorbs right in!  No residue, no stickiness, no greasiness, no odd slick feeling.  That night I had Rob put some on my back, cause it gets itchy from dryness in the winter, and as he was rubbing it in he said "what is THIS?!?"   I told him lotion, and he commented that it wasn't like any lotion he'd seen before.  He couldn't get over how it just melted in and didn't leave anything behind!  He promptly put more in his hand and rubbed it in.  Now, here's the kicker...He kept doing it, every morning and every night!  I stopped using it within a few days because I didn't want to use it up on him!  I was so overjoyed that he was actually using it, I couldn't bring myself to use it up.

So yeah, if that isn't a glowing recommendation, I'm not sure what is!  This is especially going to be awesome during the summer, because I LOATH putting lotion on my legs during the summer.  That greasy stickiness you get from other lotions just makes me feel hotter and sweatier, EWWW!  This is gonna ROCK!  I just gotta track it down near me!  The site has GREAT info as well as a tool to help you find who near you sells it!  You can also order straight from their web site.  Click HERE to go read all about the technology behind this product, as well as to find out where you can get a bottle!

That's it for today my wonderful Readers!

I hope you have a Fantastic Day!!!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Royal Treatment.

Good Morning Lovelies!

Before I show you today's mani, I just wanted to make sure everyone knows to go over to Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss and Vote for your Favorite Non-Mani Mani!  Yours Truly entered, but I wont beg for Votes, LOL, Just that you go vote for your favorite!  Click HERE to go straight to the entries!


Now, on to today's mani!

I don't think I have told you all, but my Momma calls me Princess!  It's been my nickname since I was tiny!  I got it because I would never leave my feet where they were supposed to go in the stroller.  I HAD to prop them up on the "lap" bar, for lack of a better word.  So yeah, Princess!  

Now, of course, when I saw there was a Konad plate with a crown, I just HAD to get it.  Oddly though, I hadn't gotten around to using it yet.  As soon as I saw the design, I knew how I wanted to use it.  Sadly when I did this this past weekend, I LOVED the concept, but hated the color I picked out once it was on the nail!  But, I'll show ya anyway!

I started out with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White. 
Then I applied hole reinforcements that you use on notebook paper, halfway over the cuticle edge. 
I then applied 2 coats of China Glaze "Rich & Famous" and peeled off the reinforcements. 
Next I applied 2 coats of China Glaze "glacier" to the white moon area, and 2 coats of Sinful Colors "Pink 4 Ever" to the pink area.
I used Special Polish in Black and M40, and using the smaller end of the stamper, lined up, as best as possible, the crown so it rested above the moon.

"Rich & Famous" is very deceiving.  It looks way lighter in the bottle.
I woulda LOVED this if the pink was either Magenta, or Pastel,
but that slightly coral color does nothing for me. 
Oh well, I'll try it again, I have another idea now too!

Well, my wonderful readers, that's it for today!

I hope you have a fabulous day!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

Monday, January 25, 2010

Lippmann Funky Chunky Review

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today I have a Review for ya!

Lippmann sent me Funky Chunky to review.  They asked what I might wanna take a look at, and I named a few, Funky Chunky being one of them, because it just intrigues me!  Sadly, it's the only one I was sent.

I had the idea that while most think it might not look good after multiple coats( I actually don't mind it a bit like that), maybe it would look good for layering!  I know Deborah Lippmann has commented that she intended this to be worn in a single coat, and while I think we can all agree that might not be the best option, I thought, well, maybe layered over a bright polish?  Let's take a look!

I started out with 5 nice bright polishes:

Thumb- China Glaze "Turned up Turquoise"
Index - China Glaze "China Rogue"
Middle - Sinful Colors "Dream On"
Ring - Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lickety Split Lime"
Pinkie - China Glaze "Millennium"

Now, After 1 Coat of Funky Chunky:


The pinkie looks great, I think, but, where are all the sequins?  My Index didn't get 1!
I think it would look AWESOME like this if 2 things were different. 
1 - More Sequins
and
2 - Less Streaky
But, I'm not a pro applicator like some out there.

Let's try another coat shall we?
 
Again, the pinkie looks pretty good!
But the others, ehhh...
I think the ring finger looks like a dark pickle!


Now, let's see it on it's own:


Pinkie and Ring have 1 coat
Middle and Index have 2 coats
Thumb has 3 coats.


So basically here's my final thought.  Try to get a nice even 1 coat over a metallic, it's quite nice! 
Otherwise, maybe I need to thin it down with some clear to make it alittle less streaky, that way 1 coat over a bright may work. 
I really like the concept of this polish!  I am wondering if they went back and re-formulated this, cause alot of the other swatches I have seen of 2 or 3 coats, the nail was just packed with sequins, and my thumb at 3 coats only had 4 sequins I think.  I  wish I would have gotten other polishes along with this to review, cause I have heard so many great things about Lippmann.  I'll pick up a few one of these days! 

I plan on playing with this more, I just ran out of time the other night.  I'll try a few more tricks and let you guys know how they work out.

So in closing, I think this looks good at 3 coats!  Either do to a re-do with less sequins, or my poor application.  I also think 1 nice even coat looks sweet over a metallic!

Try it out, you may like it!


Have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy


Lippmann sent me this polish, free of charge, in exchange for an HONEST review.

Friday, January 22, 2010

A HUGE Thank You to a Sweet Blogger

Good Morning lovelies!

So...Last week or so, (the days are getting away from me)  I got a sweet package in the mail!  Brooke, aka, The Worlds Sweetest Girl, and my sister from another mister, sent me some fun stuff! 

I am a little late getting this up obviously!  So, Sorry for the delay!

Take a gander at the awesome goodies:

WoooHooo!
This little sweetheart got me a long time lemming...SCRANGIE!!!! 
Combine that with awesome glitter polish, awesome Insta-dri's that ROCK with Konad, yummy lip gloss and my fav scent shower jell and lotion, and I was on cloud 9!
She heard I couldn't take advantage of the Rescue Beauty Lounge sale, so she got me the polish I wanted, isn't she the greatest!

But WAIT, there's more!


Cupcake Ornaments!!!!
I drooled over these when she made them, and she knew how much I liked them and sent me a batch!
How obnoxiously sweet is she?!?!
I am SOOOO having a Candy Christmas tree next year!


But...What's that in the background of these pics....


Cuteness OVERLOAD!!!!
(yes, I cut my head off, makeup after 14 hours isn't pretty)

I've been wanting a retro apron for a while now and this just ROCKS!!!

So yeah, Brooke, girl, You ROCK!  So completely sweet I can't say thank you enough!

Oh, and that apron is SOOOOO making an appearance next time I do a pin-up photo shoot!
It goes PERFECTLY with the rose and skull hair clip I won way back when in EvilAngel's Giveaway!

That's it for today my lovely readers!

If you can bare with me another week, I'll have some good stuff coming your way!  I plan to make the first 2 weeks of February All Valentine's Mani's! 

Have a great day!!!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Thursday, January 21, 2010

All About Powerlifting! (Updated with correct Judging Commands)

Good Morning Lovelies!

Today I thought I'd share with you what exactly powerlifting is!

Alot of people hear powerlifting and immediately think of either Olympic weightlifting or Body Building.  It's very different!

Olympic lifting is made up of two movements, the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch.

Body Building is the sport of building the best, most muscular and symmetrical physique possible.

Powerlifting, well, competitive powerlifting is comprised of 3 lifts.  The Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift.  So when we train, we not only train these three movements, but we also train movements that will help us get better and stronger in the 3 core lifts.  See, most Bodybuilders train with alot of reps at a lighter weight, in an effort to exhaust the muscle and stimulate it to grow to it's full potential (some train heavy, like Ronnie Coleman).  Powerlifters train with much heavier weight and few reps, in an effort to get as strong as possible.

For instance, to help with our Bench, we do close grip bench and skull crushers/nose breakers(they go by both), which strengthens the triceps and helps with the lockout.  The lockout, is the final part of the bench press.  Once you have lowered the weight and are pushing it back up, the triceps kick in to help you get your arm locked out straight.  We also do bent over rows to strengthen our lats, (the muscle that runs along the outside of your ribs, under your arm) as well as multiple shoulder exercises. 


To help with our Squat, we do things like leg presses, leg extensions, and leg curls.  We also do Box Squats, which involve lowering down, as your would in a normal squat, but then sitting on a bench or box, and pausing, then exploding up off the bench or box as quickly as possible.  This is helps avoid getting stuck in the lowest part of the squat with heavier weight. 

For Deadlift, we also do leg curls and stiff leg deadlifts to really work the hamstrings and glutes.  


Wanna see what the lifts look like?

I thought you might!

So last night, during our bench workout, I had Rob film a set for ya!  Then I did a quick set of squats and a set of deadlifts for you too. I didn't warm up prior to the squat and deadlift though, so excuse the light weight I am using.

First up, the Bench:


That was 155lbs, just so ya know :)


Next is Squat:

Sadly this was only 95lbs.
I hurt my hip a while back, and it still doesn't like me to squat.  Combine that with me just walking up to the bar and doing it on camera with no warm-up, and you get a sloppy looking squat, but there ya go!  



Lastly, the Deadlift:

And alittle HI to you guys!
This was 135lbs.
You can tell that I was worn out at this point, cause I shoulda started with my hips lower!

The goal is to compete.  And I plan to!  Dieting down to get to where I want to be, and the weight class I want to compete in, and the resulting lowered calories, hurt my strength.  It's just that my body gets worn out faster due to less fuel to work with.  So once I am to my goal, and I can get my calories back up to maintenance, we will pick out a competition.
Rob is a veteran competitor and holds Regional, State and US records in Powerlifting!  Can you tell I'm proud?

A competition is set up like this...
Competitors are split into groups, by weight class, experience and age.  Yes, there are senior citizens who compete!
The goal is to lift the heaviest weight possible, and you get 3 attempts for each lift.  You should set your first attempt at a weight that will be challenging, but yet, will be a lift you will get.  You can increase your weight with each attempt.
There are three judges who watch each attempt, and each judge awards you either a white light, meaning "good lift" or a red lift meaning "bad lift".  You have to get 2 white lights in order for the lift to be considered a good lift.  Even if you are able to lift the weight, and only get 1 light, then it is not a good lift. There are rules for each lift, and the judges are watching to make sure these rules are not broken.  There are alot, so I wont bore you with the details( bench press: the head, shoulders and butt must remain in contact with the bench, and feet must stay flat on the floor, etc etc.....) but 1 rule, for instance, is that once you start back up with the weigh in any lift, the bar must continue to move upward, it cannot travel back down.  So if you get stuck, you cant lower the bar a fraction of an inch and try to push again, that would result in a bad lift.  The goal is to succeed at every attempt AND get 3 white lights for each attempt.  This is actually pretty rare, since each judge can see or think they have seen anything really.  Depth on squat causes alot of red lights for people, as you have to lower the crease of your hip, past parallel to the top of your knee.  So if you drew a line from the top of your knee, to the crease of your hip, the hip end has to go below parallel of the knee end.
One judge sits in front of you, while the others sit on either side.  The head judge will tell you to begin, and you begin your lift. 
For the bench, you are allowed a lift-off from a helper.  Once the weigh is unracked, you must hold it, with arms locked and weight under control.  Then, some PL organizations give a verbal "start" command.  The weight is lowered and paused on the chest.  Some federations then give the "Press" command, others require you to pause sufficiently yourself.  Once arms are locked out, all federations give the "Rack" command.     
 For Deadlift once  the bar is loaded you are given the verbal "bar is loaded" command.  You then have a time frame to set up and begin your lift.  Once you are standing erect/locked out,  you get the verbal "down" command.  You must control the weight to the ground and cannot simply drop it like Olympic lifters.
For squat, once you are set up, you remove the weight from the rack and set-up with knees and hips locked.  You then get the verbal "Squat" command, and begin the lift.  You must break parallel and raise back up to a locked-out position.  You then get the "Rack" command.  You must attempt to rack your own weight, if you cannot do it, you will receive help, however you must attempt to rack it on your own. 

I know I'm rambling and boring you!  So I'll stop there!

I hope I answered some questions for you all!
Let me know if I have not or if I have raised any!

Hope you all have a great day!

{{{HUGS}}}

Christy



Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Quick Note

Hey guys!

Just wanted to apologize that I have nothing cool to show you today!  Last night we worked on the books for our business and I didn't get anything lined up to show you! 

I feel bad cause I know I keep apologizing and yet, I still have nothing to show you!

I will tomorrow, Promise!!!

Hang in there with me, while I get this craziness behind me, and I'll be back to posting as usual!

Thanks guys!
Have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Pretty Polish and Good News!

Long time, no see my lovelies!!!

I'm sorry I've been so absent!

With all this year-end book-keeping stuff going on with both the business I work for and the business Rob and I own, I've been alittle busy, to say the vary least!  Tack on a major billing system change over at the business I work for and I am now mildly insane!

Because of my crumbling Acrylic, and no time for a repair, I've been, sadly, polish free!
That is why I haven't had much to show you!  This will change I  promise!!!

Also...A few of you, and "L" in particular, have asked what exactly powerlifting is.  I will show you and explain how it is different than Olympic weightlifting and Body building, on either Thursday or Friday this week!  I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you girl!!!


Ok, now that all that's done, back to our regularly scheduled post!
First, the Good News...
I'm not sure if any of you watch Speed Channel or have heard of a show called Pinks All-Out, but regardless of if you have or not, I'd like to announce that we will be competing on a filming of the show, on June 4th and 5th, with BOTH the 1963 Ford Galaxie that I built the motor for, and our 1964 Ford Fairlane!  How exciting is that!?!?!  I'll be sure to let you all know when the show airs, just in case you get the chance to spot me on TV!!!

Ok, now the polish!  Remember that Pretty Shiny Things Mani I did a while back?  Well I wore that all week!  I love that mani!  After I took it off, I figured it might be a nice change of pace to do a simply clean 1 color mani!  So I pulled out a color I hadn't tried yet!  A color I have thanks to my awesome husband Rob.  See, Rob has this ability to look at polishes and grab a color and say "you should get this!" and have it be a color at 1-I would have looked over and not noticed, and 2-winds up looking amazing with my skin tone!  It's a gift I guess!
Mom has a similar ability with clothes for me!  I can walk into a store and find NOTHING, she can immediately walk into the same store and find a cart full of stuff that all looks great on me!  It's a gift!

ANYWAY...Rob picked this polish out this past summer when we were out of town.  And WOW is it nice!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Pronto Purple, 2 coats, in different lighting:

 

If you click to open them up bigger, you can barely make out the pretty pinkish and blue sparkles!

Sorry again for the lack of posts, hopefully I'll have something to show you gus tomorrow!

Have a great day!!!

{{{HUGS}}}
Christy 

Friday, January 15, 2010

Blue Zebra or Na'Vi skin?

Good Morning Lovelies!

First of all I want to thank you all for all the fabulous ideas and help you gave me yesterday!  I will write them all down and start filing requests tomorrow!  In the meantime, for those requesting looks from certain plate numbers...Until I get them all done, remember that toward the bottom of this page on the right hand side you can click on the plate number and see the looks I have previously done using those plates!  But I will sit down and brain storm new things to show you using them!!!


Today's mani is inspired by...yup, you guessed it, Avatar!
I know I know I'm stuck on Avatar!

I started with 2 coats of my Bikini Bottom Franken I did using Dr Frankenpolish's Recipe I found HERE.
Then I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Brisk Blue"(Thank you Brooke!!!) and M57 for the stripes!



 Sorry for the blurry pic!  It's the only one that was decent.  I took this one and forgot to take more once I was home under better light, then my nails started falling apart, as you read about yesterday!!
This pic is a touch on the green side, but not by much.  The setting sun messed with the color!

That's all for today!  I'll see ya guys Monday!

Hope you have a FABULOUS weekend!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Answers and Questions

Good Morning Lovelies!

Did my title confuse you since it seems backwards?

First I wanna answer some questions I have gotten recently!

- I was asked what the name of the polish was that I used HERE.  The Rose Chrome color was Pure Ice "Outrageous"

- I was also asked where one might be able to purchase that kick-butt Pretty Shiny Things Kit from Art Club...the only place I was able to fine it was at Victoria Nail Supply, Click HERE to go straight to Art Clubs kits!

Ok, I thought there were more but I'm drawing a blank...If you asked a question and I haven't responded, feel free to call me out in the comments section, LOL!


Now for the question portion...
2 things...

1 - twice now I have had issues applying my acylics and I hope someone can help me.  (I've tred searching for the answer and cant find it)  I applied my acrylic and once it was dry and hardened I noticed it was cloudy and almost looked foamy.  The first time this happened it was cold when I applied them and figured that was the culprit.  Saturday I applied fresh acrylic and it did it again.  It's very fragile as well and is chipping off in chunks and not sticking to the tips I have down, and yes I prepped them very well.  Any ideas???


2 - I'm not sure why; maybe not feeling so hot, maybe lack of sleep, maybe lack of free time, maybe all three; but recently I've been in a bit of a rut, creatively.  I don't even have the desire to mess with them, GRRR.  Makeup wise, I'm the same way!  I have a mani I am currently sporting that you'll see tomorrow, even though it's banged up now(I'll explain tomorrow), and have another idea, thanks to a lovely and talented individual, who thought outside of the box, so I'm copying her!  LOL

But yeah, I'm kinda at a loss, So....here is where I'd like your help!

I would like everyone (who wants to) to leave a request in the comments section as to what you'd like to see me do next!  It can be makeup or nails.  Makeup wise I only ask that you request color combos or styles, not particular products, since I am cheap and don't have any MAC Urban Decay etc.

Nail wise it can be anything!  In case you want something Konad-centric, I'll list the plate numbers I own:
M19
M20
M31
M32
M36
M39
M40
M45
M51
M56
M57
M59
M61
M62
M63
M64
M65
M70
M73
S06

And Fauxnad plates
K01
K04
K06
( think those are the ones I have, I cant remember and the pic I have handy is small!)



So help me out!
Lemme know what you wanna see.  My hope is that it gets the creative juices flowing!

Thanks Guys!

Have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy


P.S.   I want THIS, like, yesterday!!! seriously, go look at this thing, scroll all the way down and look at the designs!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

That's it! It's official, Blogger Hates Me!!!

I have had increasing problems the past few weeks with blogger not updating with my new post.  It shows if you actually go to my blog, but if I'm in your blogroll, or you follow me in a reader, it doesn't show up!  This started out as a random occurrence, now though every time I post, I have to go back multiple times over the course of the morning and hit "post now" until it finally shows up!  Seriously Blogger, why don't you want people to know I've posted!?!?!  But it's not just me!  I've seen it happen to a few of you guys as well!  Brooke, it happened to you today!  I saw your post when I went to your website earlier, but it just showed up in my list while I was at lunch!

Now...NOW....it has eaten my follow list!  In my dashboard, all of the blogs I followed...GONE!  They were just there, I refreshed to see if anyone had posted before I clocked back in for lunch, and, "wait.....what just happened....THEY'RE GONE!!!!"


AHHHHHH

Now oddly, they still show up on my blog, for now, so I quickly printed out that list and will have to go back now and we follow.  But the worst part is I have added probably 2 dozen blogs since I updated the list that shows up to you guys!  GRRRRRR

SO!  if your reading this and have a blog, please post a link in the comments section!  I don't wanna miss anyone!



****UPDATE****
YAY!  they've returned! but still post ur links if you dont see yourself in my list to the right!  I know I'm missing alot of you!  I wanna follow you all!



Thanks guys!

Pink and Black Eye Look

Good Morning Lovelies!

I planned to have polish pics to show you today, but sadly I kinda flaked out and forgot to transfer them to my thumb drive last night!  So I looked to see what I hadn't shown you yet, and found this makeup look I did a while back.  It's odd, I look so pale in the pics!  Odd lighting I guess!

For this look I used my Coastal Scents Ultra Shimmer Palette, for the pink and white.  I used the black from an E.L.F. smoky eye quad.

Just like every other time I use color, I started with a base of NYX Jumbo eye stick in Milk, after applying my base, UDPP.

I then applied a nice bright magenta pink to the lid and outer 3/4 of the lower lid.
Then I added black to the crease and blended upward.
I applied black liner to the outer 2/3 of my upper lid, making it thick at the corner and tapering off to nothing toward the inside.  I did the same for the lower lid, then went over than with a thin pencil brush dipped in black shadow to smoke it out a bit.
Then, as always, I tightlined and added liner to my water lines and set it with black shadow.
Lastly I used a pencil brush to add a white shadow to the tear duct area and blended that into the pink on the upper and lower lids.  This also was used for the highlight just under my brow.
Add mascara and done!

 
LOL, I look crosseyed!



Apparently I didn't take a full face shot, sorry!


This worked out wonderfully....I also wanted to let everyone know about a contest going on over at AllYouDesire!  It's a Pink Giveaway!  Go HERE to enter!  Fab prizes!!!


That's all for today my dears!

Hope you have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Random Color Club Polishes Review

Good Morning Lovelies!

Sorry I have been M.I.A.

Friday I was so slammed busy I could barely remember to breathe.  Then I started not feeling well over the weekend and only worked half a day yesterday, cause I felt crap-tastic!
I still feel like I'm running on empty, despite getting decent sleep last night.  I considered taking the day off since I have taken all of 6 or 7 sick days in the almost 6 years I've been with the company I work for, but I have so much to do, I just can't afford a day at home, sleeping.  That and I felt like a wimp, since Rob didn't feel like he got any sleep either, and was going in to work an 8 hour shift, on concrete, floors, running around like a chicken with his head cut off, like usual.  I mean really, I get to sit in a chair all day!  If he can work, I think I can manage!

Ok, back on target Christy!

Today I have some random polishes that Color Club sent me for review!  It's like they read my mind!  These are all very "me" polishes!  Let's take a look shall we!

Pictures are in no particular order.

Catwalk Queen

Indoor lighting


Flash



Natural Lighting (beside window)

The Flash picture is the more color accurate of all the pics.  It's what I would consider a "Wine-Purple"
Really beautiful color!  This is 3 coats I believe, but was done a few weeks ago, so can't remember for sure.

Electronica

Natural Lighting (beside window)

It's really a shame I only had 1 mediocure picture of this!  I tried to get more pics, but this one and a super blurry one were the only ones where it didn't come out looking straight blue.  It's tied as my favorite of the bunch.  This color is RIDICULOUS!   It's a Blurple, with Magenta and Blue shimmer bits....SOOO PRETTY!
I think this was 3 coats as well! 

Groove Thang

Natural Lighting (beside window)


Flash


Indoor lighting

Groove Thang is an awesome color!  Sadly though it does look black under dimmer indoor lighting.  But if that flash pic is any indication of what it would look like in the sun, WOAH!  Look out shimmer! 
Again, I'm not 100% but this was either 2 or 3 coats.


Killer Curves


Natural Lighting (beside window)


Indoor Lighting

Killer Curves...GREAT name!  This color was the one I was most disappointed with!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the color itself, but it required 4 coats to be even and not streaky, Something I've never encountered with Color Club, so I wonder if I got a defective bottle or something.  I meant to snap a pic of it at 1 coat, such a gorgeous berry-wine color!  But seriously, super pretty.  Pic is of 3 coats, cause I got lazy!


Revvvoltuion


Indoor (halogen) Lighting



Natural Lighting (beside window)

Ahhhhh, Revvvolution!  A long LONG time lemming satisfied!   I actually asked for this color as a gift when it came out, and Rob got me all the other I asked for but this!  It was sold out!  So I was squealing like a kid when I opened the package and saw it!  It's even better in real life!  PERFECTION!  2 coats!

Rule Breaker

Sun!

Rule Breaker...Oh how I love thee!  This polish is seriously amazing!  In the bottle i thought "hmm...pretty"  but on the nail, look out!  It's gorgeous!  and no, I don't remember how many coats, but my best guess is 2 or 3.  I remember 1 coaters and over 3 coaters!


Yes, sadly that is the only one I was able to swatch in the sun!  This thing called the sun has been in hiding for so long it's sad, and when it does show its lovely beautiful face, it tends to be when I am at work, or so busy with something I cant drop everything and go swatch!

I finally got tired of waiting for it to show up on the weekend so I could swatch these, and just did it with the bright cloudy sky I had to work with!  I'm Sorry!  I'll try to re-swatch these for ya at a later, more sunny date!

As I said, I got these from the company, for free, for review, but you can get them at any number of online e-tailers like head2toebeauty.com or 8ty8beauty.com.


That's it for today ladies!

Hope you have a great day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Thursday, January 7, 2010

I'm A Big Dork!

Yeah, I totally had some swatches to show you of some Color Club polishes that I received to review, but guess what I did?  I walked out of the house with morning without the polish names!  YAY for early senility!

So, sadly, I got nothing for ya!

I didn't even do my nails last night!  I got home and fixed a cup of coffee and took some ibuprofen to try to get rid of the massive headache I was fighting, and once I was settled I realized, I kinda felt like crap!  So I went and laid on the couch beside Rob and the next thing I know he's waking me up telling me to go to bed!

So poo, nothing to show you!

But I figure I gotta share something cute since you took the time to read all this nonsense I just typed!

So I figured I show you a picture I think is adorable!

You have all heard me talk about my mother-in-law and how awesome she was and how much we miss her.  You've also heard me talk about how much she loved her Grandog Macy! 
So here's one of my absolute FAV pics of her!


This is an old pic, way "B.C."(before Christy) as we put it!  
It was Macy's Birthday, and Grandmaw was getting birthday kisses!

Sorry I failed you all today!
Hope your day is Wonderful!

{{{Hugs}}}
Christy

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Avatar Inspired Eye Look

Good Morning Lovelies!

The Saturday after Christmas, me and Rob went to see Avatar.
If you havn't seen it, run...now...and go see it!

Honestly, this was the best movie I have ever seen!
I spent those almost 3 hours with my mouth hanging open!
It was breathtakingly beautiful! 
I coulda gone back in and watched it all over the second it let out!

On the way home all these beautiful images were still rattling around in my brain and I had an eye look pop into my head.  It was a rather creative look, and sadly since we were going to be out running around to a few stores, I didn't do it exactly like in my head.  Since we live in a sorta small town, surrounded by farm land, I tend to get some interesting reactions when I look anything beyond slightly different, and I just didn't feel like dealing with the looks, so I toned it down.  I may redo it this week and replicate my original idea. I still liked this so I thought I'd share it with you anyway.

First I will show you my inspiration:

 

The second image is straight from the movie, and those were the colors I worked off of.
Not sure why the movie posters have them so much darker blue and less aqua, but both are stunning.

Here are the colors I chose to use:



I applied Primer to my lids and then added a layer of NYX Jumbo eye pencil in Milk, to whiten up my lid and make the shadow colors pop more!

Bid Tickle went on my lid, up to the crease.
Then I applied Cool It to my crease, as well as lower lashline, and outer 2/3 of my upper lash line.  I winged this out as well, for a bit of a nod to the stripes the Na'Vi people had.

Then I applied black eyeliner to my upper and lower waterlines.
And added Mascara.

Then since they had those awesome glowy freckles, I mixed some iridescent glitter with eye lash glue and dotted it between my eyebrow and hairline.

Before I show you these pictures, I will say this...for some reason the shadow looks splotchy on my lid on some places.  It did not look like this is person.  Very very odd.
Ok, on to the pics!


 
 
 
 


That's it for today my wonderful readers!

I hope you all have a fantastic day!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Art Club Pretty Shiny Things Review

Good Morning Lovelies!

First I just want to say a big thank you for all the truly sweet comments on yesterdays post!  You guys are just the greatest!  I really hope that the post didn't come off as me fishing for compliments because that was not my intent! 

Ok, on to today's post.

Art Club sent me the Pretty Shiny Things Nail Art Kit to review.  The following is my honest opinion of the product.

Alrighty ladies, lets start by taking a look and what we have here!

So Many Fun Things!!!
I LOVE that they have ideas right there on the front!  It makes you wanna just dive in and get to work!
I also think the packaging is particularly pretty!


Lets take a peek inside, shall we!!!

3 Metalic striper colors
2 sheets of Decals
2 containers of Large "Stones"
1 container of 6 different "Stones"
And an Idea Book!


The possibilities are endless with this kit!  I LOVE Metallics!
What do I say about this kit other than you NEED this in your life?!?!

STRIPERS:
These babies are so nice and smooth.  One of my major complaints with other stripers is that they can get clumpy and that they can start drying before your done applying them, which results in the color skipping.  NOT with these my dears!  The only thing is that you gotta keep an eye on that wand!  I was so ingrained in what I was painting that I didn't notice that I had a drip coming off the wand.  Luckily I caught it, cause I had on my favorite jeans, and that's where it woulda landed.  This of course is no fault of the striper, simply me not wiping enough excess off!

DECALS:
I love these!!!  I need like a bazillion more sheets!  These things stick so nicely, once you place them they stay, and don't slide around!  You can re-position though, just grab them back up with the tweezers!  The gold dots on the silver designs and the silver dots on the gold designs are slightly raised, but are smooth, like tiny, flat bubbles, so no fear of them catching on anything!  If I HAD to think up a negative I'd have to say that I would like for there to be Silver and Gold decals that were just Silver and just Gold, with no accents of the opposing color. 

STONES:
These aren't rhinestones per say, I just don't know what else to call them! 
The larger ones in the two individual containers are surprisingly flat!  I was very impressed!  This size applied nicely by just placing a dot of topcoat where I wanted to place it and then picking up the stone with tweezers and setting it on.  Just be sure to press it down with the tweezers to make sure its stuck on nicely!
The other container has 6 different stones. 
-Gold Rhinestone shape
-Silver Rhinestone shape
-Copper Rhinestone shape
-Gold elongated football shape (LOL, no idea what this shape is called)
-Silver elongated football shape
-Silver Stars
 At first I was bummed that the stars didn't come in Gold, but I discovered they are very easily painted with the included stripers, as you can see I did for the star on my Christmas tree.
The Football shape and the stars apply nicely with tweezers, but I discovered a trick to the Rhinestone shape!
If you pull the cotton off the end of a Q-tip, you will find it has a depression at the end of the stick!  Tap this to your tongue for a bit of moisture, and it picks up the stones perfectly!  The top of the stone actually sits up inside the stick!

My camera wouldn't focus enough to capture the indent, sorry!

My only complaint is that I wish the Rhinestone shape ones were as flat as the larger stones in the other containers. 
Here are some ideas I came up with, along with a huge fail and how I fixed it.  Everything you see was done using the things that came in this kit with 3 exceptions! 
Those exceptions are...
-Any Black you see is Wet and Wild "Black Creme", except for the "lacing" which is a Black Stripe Rite.
-Silver Nail was done with China Glaze "Millennium" because I'm a dork and didn't realize 'til later that I coulda used the CG brush and just dipped it in the Silver striper that was included.
-Leopard was stamped using Konad M57 and Konad Special Polish in Black.

On to the Pics!!!


Sorry the silver striper on my middle nail doesn't show well in this pic, it does in reality!
The Thumb is a fail.  But it wasn't at first.
Lemme explain:
I did this mani Friday night.  It all looked PERFECT! And I was in love with that thumb!  Saturday, I was nervously nibbling on my thumb while watching "Angels and Demons" (great movie btw!) and lost the 3 stones at the tip.  I reapplied the next morning and added another coat of top coat.  DO NOT DO THIS!  Thick topcoat HATES these stones.  It catches and builds up on the cuticle side and doesn't apply right on the other side.  Then since it's so thick it bubbles like CRAZY when it dries.  GRRR.
I was so disappointed I redid this last night after we benched and came up with a WAY better method!

Apply 1 coat Wet and Wild "Black Creme"
Apply 1 coat top coat.
Pick up stones, dip in nail glue and place on nail, making sure it gets pressed down firmly!
and look at my thumb now!
No top coat!


I LOVE this!
No bubbling (the light spots you see is reflection)and those stones ain't BUDGING!
I screwed up the first line and had to redo, and practically had to chisel off the stones, which to me is a huge plus, since I'm hard on my nails.  I know without a doubt this will last 'til I change my mani in a few days!


So basically yeah, if you like metallics, RUN, don't walk, and get this kit! 


That's it for today my wonderful readers!
I'll be showing you a makeup look I did Saturday, tomorrow, even though the pics don't do it justice!

Have a Fantastic Day!!!

{{{HUGS}}}
Christy

Monday, January 4, 2010

New Years Resolutions

Good Afternoon Lovelies!

Sorry this is so late!  I've been so swamped I never even took a lunch.  I'm now taking a 15 mintue break just so I can post something for ya!

First of all, my hair color didn't come out as planned, the color (which will remain a secret for now) came out way too dark and you cant tell what tint it has.  This will hopefully be remedied by this weekend!  As soon as it is, you will see it, PROMISE!!!


Ok, on to today's post!

I meant to post this on Jan 1st since I know so many people make Resolutions to lose weight.
I just wanted to give you alittle encouragement cause I know how it can be!

For years I tried to lose weight,not only because I had terrible self esteem but also because I wanted to do things I couldn't and to be comfortable doing things and not constantly pulling at my clothes making sure they weren't stuck in a roll or something.  I tried not eating(not good btw, great way to wreck your metabolism), I tried every diet known to man.  Vegetarian, low fat, slim fast, protein shakes only, etc etc, nothing worked well.  We were spending 2 to 3 hours in the gym 5 days a week lifting a TON of weigh!  I even ate cleanly too!  Lots of lean protein, lots of fruit and veggies, whole grains, the whole nine yards.  It got to a point that I was sick of busting my butt in the gym and being crazy strong, but not looking the part!  I wanted the muscle I has worked so hard to put on to show!  To me, muscular sculpted arms and thick muscular legs on a girl are very sexy!  And I had that!  But it was hiding under all this fat!  I finally started doing research on t-nation.com, an online community of powerlifters, body builders and athletes (professional and average joes)alike.  I discovered that I fall into a category of those who are Carb Sensitive.  My body basically doesn't know what to do with Carbs, so it stores them!  After a bunch of research I set out to start the Anabolic diet.  This diet was written by Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale, has 2 versions, The Metabolic Diet and The Anabolic Diet.  The Metabolic diet is for those who work out simply to be healthy.  The Anabolic Diet is for those who train to do a sport and want to not only retain alot of muscle but also add muscle.  The best part of this diet is that you get a carb-up once a week!  This, to me, has meant everything!  Rather than watch Rob have icecream and think "I can't eat that anymore!"  I know that while I may not be able to have it now, I can have it on Saturday!  And that does wonders for your sanity!  I highly suggest you look into it, It has changed my life!

I would like to address a few things that I have learned and that I hear alot, that frustrate me.
-You cannot out train a bad diet!  Diet is at least 75% of the battle.
-Have a cheat day!  Regardless of your diet, weather low carb, low fat or whatever, give yourself a day off, or at least a meal off.  Not only will this keep you sane, but it will also boost your metabolism!
-Don't forget the protein!  Protein makes your metabolism burn hotter and longer!  Try to eat .5grams of protein for every pound of body weight, or if your train, make that 1 gram per pound of body weight.
-Try to avoid Soy!  I know it's everywhere, but if you do some research you will see it's not all it's cracked up to be!  It actually acts like a Estrogen in your body, which is why guys should avoid it like the plague!
-Lift weights!  Don't just do cardio!  If you lift weights your body will continue to burn calories even after you stop!  I PROMISE if you lift you will not look like the She-male profession female body builder!  I like to think I'm proof of that!
-You cannot spot reduce!  It's impossible to lose weight in just one area!  Sorry, I too wish this wasn't true, but it is :(
-You can't crunch your way to flat abs!  It takes a combo of strengthening AND fat loss to have a nice flat belly.  (One of these days I'll lose enough to have a flat belly!)
-Start small!  Don't run out and starts some crazy diet!  Start by just eating cleaner!  Lean Protein, Veggies, Fruits, Whole Grains only!  (Quinoa is AMAZING)
-Eat Protein with every meal
And Lastly...
-Little known fact...Your body responds better to carbs in the morning and fats at night!  Eat accordingly!

If you can't tell, I absolutely LOVE nutrition!  It's another passion of mine!  Me and Rob make a great team this way cause people will come to us for advise and he can make up a lifting plan for them and I can do their nutrition plan!

I figure I'll leave you with some pictures I'm proud of.

Progress:

Summer 2007                             Late Spring 2009
Rob took these mid pressdown



Summer 2008                               Late Spring 2009
Taken mid pulldown by Rob, again.

Yeah, he likes taking pics of me while we are lifting!  LOL


If you have any questions at all, leave a comment and I'll respond!

Well that's all for today!

Sorry if I bored you to tears!

Have a great day!!!

{{{Hugs}}}

Christy