Feather Mani

Hello all Gabbz here....

I know it's been too long since my last post and for that I am sorry. I've just been too lazy and not really inspired but I tried something new and I just had to share it wall you all.

Kourtney was the one that actually told me that she wanted to buy feathers for a manicure she wanted to try. So she went to Hobby Lobby(craft store) and purchased a pack a feathers for herself and because she's an awesome friend, she bought one for me too :)

She did the mani and it came out great but hers only lasted a day, if that. Let's just say she was not very happy lol. The feathers were pealing right off that same night when we went to the store. Let's just say she was not very happy with that lol.

We were headed to the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn and I had to figure out what to do with my nails, then it hit me. Now, if you're a fan of Twilight like Kourt and I, then you've read the books and by now have seen the movie. Then you know that there is a very important scene that involves feathers. So of course I had to use the feathers to create a look for the premiere.

I had an idea of how to achieve this look but I logged on to youtube.com and searched for feather manicures and found one. You can click here and skip to 2:46 of the video to watch the tutorial. It's really easy to do but kinda messy. FYI....don't do this with a (ceiling) fan on, feather bits everywhere lol.

Enough chatter, on with the pics....

Here's the package Kourt got, sorry I tore off the label
but you can find these at any craft store.

Sorry forgot to take a pic of my base color that day so I'm using an
existing picture.

I used 2 coats of China Glaze Pink Voltage

Here it is again. I love this color...It's soooo bright

Then with the pink feathers over Shocking Pink

Just for fun, I decided to use the green feathers yesterday. I should of used a lighter color as a base but I was wearing the color below already and wanted to spice it up lol

For the look below I used 2 coats of Zoya Freja. I got this color in one of Zoya's promos. If you don't already have a Zoya account,what are you waiting for, do that NOW!! lol They always run great buy 1 get 1 free or buy 2 get 1 free, etc...etc and the polishes are great.

Freja is a really pretty dark gray, hmm a gunmetal color I should say. If you look closely, you can see it has like super fine teal and silver shimmer in it. I tried to capture that in the pictures, but I failed :(

2 Coats of Zoya Freja w/1 coat Seche Vite

Closer look of Freja w/flash

Then with the green feathers overtop

I will say though, I didn't use Seche Vite to adhere the feathers to the nail, I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails UV Top Coat. After the SH dried, I used like 3 thick coats of Seche Vite. You don't have to use the same top coats I used nor the same amount. I just did 3 because the feathers made my nails feel gritty and I didn't like that. Another thing is that Kourt didn't use Seche Vite to finish the look and hers peeled right off and my pink feather mani lasted a whole week, no chipping nor peeling.

So I hope you liked this look. Let me know what you think in comments below :)

Rawr!!! My Frankenstein inspired manicure!

Hey everyone! Kourt here :) Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I sure am :) The Halloween festivities have already commenced in my world! What about you? What are your plans and costumes for Halloween? I'd love to know! I just love seeing different costumes! This year I am planning to be Hello Kitty!

Anyways I was at Walmart the other day picking some stuff up for my mom and I saw the Halloween Sally Hansen Salon Effects and I was super excited because I've been wanting them for a while now. As luck would have it they had the one I wanted the most AND I had a coupon for it! Score! Whenever I use these I just like to pair them with something else to give it a little bit more pizazz and to make it my own. I ended up getting Hot Wired which is a bright green w/ black design. When I see it I think Frankenstein so I sponged on some Zoya's Raven (a nice black) to the tips of the nail to make it look like Frankenstein's flat top hair.

Now I've used several of the Salon Effects and I've liked some and I've disliked some. This one went on super well and it has held up really well 3 days later! I just like to stare at my nails and it's hard not to because it's super bright haha!!! Now to sponge on the black I just used a simple sponge that you can find in your kitchen. I cut it since you don't need a whole sponge for your nail (at least I hope not haha.) After you cut it all you need to do is paint a portion of it with your polish and then simply sponge it on your nail. It's a really simple technique that even the nail challenged people (me) can do. Once you see the finished product it will look like it took you hours to do the manicure OR it will look like you shelled out a lot of moola to get it done professionally! Either way you will have people impressed!

So enough chitty chat, let's switch over to the pics!!!

Here's everything that you will need. The Salon Effects (obviously), Zoya's Raven, CHI top coat, sponge, nail scissors and an orange stick (which comes w/ the Salon Effects). Now I just started using nail scissors to trim the strips in half so you can use one strip for 2 nails and to trim off any excess on the sides. It's a good money saver because you can use the box of strips more than once.

So here you have the finished product. I love it personally! But I'm just biased :p

So does it look Frankenstein-ish to you? Is this a technique you are planning to try or already have tried??? Comment below to let us know (Hey I rhymed!...on that corny note, I'm out!)

Breast Cancer Awareness Manicure

Hello Lovelies

Today I have two manis to show you for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The first one will be the one I did on my Mom's nails and of course the other will be the one I did on myself.

First let me tell you that I desperately needed a new bottle of Seche Vite Top Coat so my mom and I ventured out to the nearest Sally's to get one. She immediately went towards the Breast Cancer section and saw this set.

This set I believe was $8.99 which was a great deal. The Seche Vite Top coat alone retails for $6.99 or $7.99 w/out using the beauty club card. So for a couple dollars more not only did I get the Dry Fast Top coat, I also got a China Glaze polish in Go Go Pink and a really pretty guardian angel key chain.

China Glaze Go Go Pink is a pretty creme finish, milky pink polish. For my look I used 1 coat of Go Go Pink and it was streaky so, 2 coats would of made it more opaque and not streaky.

For the month of October, my Mom's job has Pink Friday's for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They are all encouraged to wear pink to show support and because she didn't have a pink shirt to wear she asked me to do her nails for the occasion.

For Mom's look I used Seche Plus fortified strengthener as a base coat,
Go Go Pink, Zoya Aareej, Orchid lacquer in Bedazzled!
and Seche Vite Top Coat

I also used a 18/0 Loew-Cornell 7650 Spotter Brush that I got
at Michael's to draw with

Here is the mani I did on her nails...

2 coats of Go Go Pink and Aareej for the french tip.
Used the Spotter brush to draw the Pink Ribbon
on accent nail also with Aarej. Then I topped it all off
with a coat of Bedazzled! and Seche Vite

At my job, we have Pink Wednesday's but I apparently didn't read the memo and missed it last week but I still wanted to show my support. So I decided to do a water marble mani. You can click here to see my previous post on a water marble mani.

For my look I used Seche Plus, China Glaze Go Go Pink & Limbo Bimbo,
Orchid Bedazzled! Seche Vite Top Coat and
The Spotter Brush

Here's 1 coat of Go Go Pink Under Seche Plus

For the water marble I used Go Go Pink
and Limbo Bimbo

(yes the index finger above and below look
different because I dinged it really bad :( and had to redo it)

Then I topped it off with 1 coat
of Bedazzled!

Then I decided I wanted to have the Pink Ribbon on an accent nail
so I took off the water marble on the ring finger
and used 2 coats of Go Go Pink instead

Using the spotter brush I drew on the Ribbon with Limbo Bimbo

And Lastly topped accent nail with Bedazzled! and
1 coat of Seche Vite over all nails.

So what do you think? I know this was a long and picture heavy post, but it's to show support for a great cause. I think I might do 1 or 2 more Breast Cancer Awareness looks especially since my mom's already asking me what I'm going to do for her nails this week lol.

I just want to dedicate this look and any future Breast Cancer Awarness looks I do this month to my Tia Rosy and my Mom's co-worker and friend Mona who are both Breast Cancer survivors <3 And of course to all the women (and some men) who have lost the battle to breast cancer, who are still fighting strong and to all that have survived.

Kourt wanted to add a dedication to E!'s Guiliana Rancik who found out this week she is in stage 1 of breast cancer. Not only has she had to battle miscarraiges and trouble conceiving a child w/ her husband, now she has to battle The Big C. Our thoughts and prayers are with you! Also just a dedication to my Grandmother who lost her battle w/ breast cancer in 1995. I love you always Grandma Georgia!

The Rachel Zoe Project

Hey everyone! Kourt here :) So tonight was the start of the new season of The Rachel Zoe Project and let me tell you I am very excited! I love everything about Rachel Zoe and if I had a dream job it would be hers (or just to be her assistant would be amazing to me.) I'm all about dressing people and since I am limited to what I can wear due to my Spina Bifida, I like to live vicariously through other people (just ask my friend Amy LOL.)

If you aren't familiar with Rachel Zoe she is a stylist to the stars. She dresses people like Cameron Diaz, Anne Hathaway, Molly Sims and the list could go on and on. If you watch her show you'll notice she has a few catch phrases like "I'd die" or my favorite "That's B-A-N-A-N-A-S" LOL So using that catch phrase I decided to do a mani that would honor her famous saying. Let me just say I've been sick all day with a migraine so I just did the mani on a nail wheel so I wouldn't make my migraine worse.

I used China Glaze base coat, Zoya Raven, Sally Hansen Lightening, Kiss nail art pen, finished off with CHI top coat.

So again I am not feeling well and my hands were shakey so I did my best (Insert Dane Cook "I did my best" skit here.)

So do any of you watch The Rachel Zoe Project? I love it and I'm excited to see Rachel Zoe become a mommy :) You can watch The Rachel Zoe Project Tuesdays on Bravo 10/9c. So I'm going to leave you with a video of my girl Rachel Zoe :)

Zoya Fall 2011 Smoke & Mirrors Press Release

Hey guys it's Gabbz...

Please enjoy the following press release from Zoya:

(Click on pic to get a better look)

fall 2011 nail color

smoke and mirrors

...beautiful illusions

Zoya Nail Polish presents 12 enticing and mysterious new colors for fall 2011.

Zoya Smoke Collection

Jana (ZP564) - smoky mauve quartz cream

Petra (ZP565) - smoky eggplant mauve cream

Codie (ZP566) - smoky brown taupe cream

Anja (ZP567) - smoky palatinate purple cream

Cynthia (ZP568) - smoky Prussian blue cream

Dree (ZP569) - smoky camouflage green cream

Zoya Mirrors Collection

Nimue (ZP570) - smoky rich thistle metallic

Marina (ZP571) - smoky steel blue metallic

Tao (ZP572) - smoky slate gray metallic

Yara (ZP573) - sparkly olive green metallic

Neeka (ZP574) - sparkly amethyst purple metallic

Jem (ZP575) - sparkly fandango pink metallic

Zoya is the new color of fashion... The new Zoya smoke & mirrors colors were designed for and inspired by top fashion designers and beauty icons.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya smoke & mirrors as well as over 300 other high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for beautiful women so we name them after beautiful women.

smoke & mirrors by Zoya - available July 15, 2011 (USA)

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl. oz. bottle (US)

So what do you think of the collection? As for me, the one that cought my eye was Jana. What colors will you be getting?