Polish Swap with Laura at Mice in the Kitchen

 

 

I love polish swaps.  It's always a surprise in a package and so exciting- you never know what the other person picked out for you! Due to loooooving swaps, I joined the LaLa Lists and Lipgloss and Crayons nail polish swap. 

 

 

I was paired up with Laura from Mice in the Kitchen (such a cute name!).  We weren't provided with much information and I wanted to make sure I got Laura polishes that she would like so I quickly emailed her.  After a few emails back and forth I was ready to go shopping!

 

 

Just a few days after I sent Laura's package out, I received hers.  I was sooooo excited to open it!

 

 

 

Spencer was super excited too. (pardon the creepy yellow eyes :))

 

 

Look at those beauties! All three of these were original to my stash and amazing with their own right.  Sally Hansen's are good for stamping and I know that gold is going to be my go to for that!

 

I decided to try the Lustre Shine (a new collection that Salley recently released).  Let me tell you, this color was fantastic.  Three easy coats and great coverage. 

 

Plus, it's such a unique color in my stash.  I have NOTHING like this at all!  The pictures don't do it justice but take a look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you again Laura! I will enjoy theses lovelies and proudly display them with the rest of their sisters in my mountain of polish.

 

Anyone else join a holiday swap and get amazing new beauties?

 

 

<3 Krystan



Swap from Aylin

Back in May, I saw a post on someone's blog (sorry I can't remember who) about a limited edition Essence collection.  Now me, I'm a huge Disney fan.  When I say Disney, what I really mean is Disney Princess'.  I looooove Disney Princess'! When I was in college, my friends knew how much I loved Disney Princess' and they got me all this silly little girl stuff like a princess bingo game, a small princess tent, stickers.  Silly things but I made me laugh.  Back to the polish...Essence was coming out with a Snow White Collection...and I had to have it! I mean seriously, 4 full size polishes (one a apple red and the other 3 glitter toppers) and 7 mini's (each named after one of the seven dwarfs)- so cute!

 

Unfortunately, Essence wasn't going to be releasing this limited edition collection anytime soon in the United States. So, I scoured Ebay, posted on LiveJournal, and begged just about anyone I could find to help me get this collection.  Then, I say a post on one of the mini polishes on a blog I follow: Posh Nail Art. Aylin was amazing enough to send me the WHOLE collection! Including the nail file and the stickers! And then, she included 4 other polishes!!! Goodness, I was so excited and extremely grateful. I was able to track down some of her lemmings and help her out too. 

 

I have only used one of the mini's so far but have no fear, I will feature them all at one point.

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much again Aylin!

 

 

Have you gotten to kill any lemmings through a swap? Have a favorite swap buddy?

 

 

<3 Krystan

CG Riveting

 

I know I have been gone for awhile.  Life got in the way of things. But hey, let's get back to it shall we?

 

 

I wasn't a fan of The Hunger Games until I went to see the first movie.  After that, I couldn't put the books down.  So exciting! I kept thinking about what Katniss would be doing. 

 

 

This leads me to Riveting.  Which is exactly what it is!

 

 

 

 

 

Such an amazing fire orange.  I love the gold flecks in it too!

 

 

Beautiful though it was, I wanted more.  So I added Cirque's French Roast. 

 

I won French Roast from a giveaway run by The Polished Perfectionist a few months ago.

 

 

 

This ended up being an amazing combo! French Roast is a brown glitter with slightly larger, and darker browns mixed it.  It really did look like tiny coffee grounds (and I love me some coffee).

 

 

 

 

Have you tried any Cirque polishes yet? The new collection looks amazing!

 

 

<3 Krystan

 

Nail Swap!

 

Join us at Lalalists for a Nail Polish Swap!

 

I looooove me some swaps!

 

 

 

Check it out:

 

www.lalalists.com

 

 

 

Set in Lacquer HUGE giveaway!

You're killing me smalls!

 

 

I am impressed with these giant giveaways!

 

 

Don't miss out, enter now:

 

 

http://www.setinlacquer.com/2012/11/set-in-lacquer-and-cosmetic-sanctuary.html?showComment=1352133219409#c7748656848893379111

 

 

 

 



 

 

Amazing giveaway from

 

Polished Criminails

 

 

like epic proportions big

 

check it out:

 

 

http://www.polishedcriminails.com/2012/11/polished-criminails-2000-followers-1.html?showComment=1352131152101#c6967377025532743363

Crapppp

I'm pretty sure it seems like I dropped the ball, it rolled, fell off the face of the planet, and I followed it...or maybe it's just that I had too high of expectations for myself during October. 

 

I throughly enjoyed my short time blogging and I have much more to share with you guys so I'm coming back!  Thankfully, now that October is almost over I have a chance to stop and take a breath. 

 

Planning a wine tasting, having a new bf, searching for a house, work, and all my other obligations left my nails bare and my mind foggy.  Maybe 3 posts a week is more reasonible...at least until I get my priorities straightened out...and the new bf knows polish is high on that list :)

 

For the time being, enjoy some pics of the new family dog: Rory! While she can never replace Tanner (who we lost in August), we know that life with her will bring joy each and every day.

Zoya Rory

Today I have for you a pretty unique pink shimmer/metallic in my stash.  This one is Rory by Zoya.  Of course, many of us know that a Zoya is virtually flawless in it's application and Rory was no different. 

 

I'm not sure if it's my camera or my skin tone or the polish but this seemed to photograph different in each pic.

 

Take a look...

 

 

 

It seemed to range from a bubblegum pink to a baby pink for me

 

Either way, it's a very lovely polish and like I said I don't have another like it in my stash.

 

It's only the 5th of October and already the duties are piling up.  My mom's breast cancer support group has a wine tasting coming up in 2 weeks and we are already running around like crazy to make sure things are done, some girls in the group hung pink ribbons on local business' to "Paint the Town Pink" (I hung 2 at my office :-)  ), and this afternoon I got 4 pink highlights in my hair in honor of the month.  Pink everywhere and I love it but all the work is exhausting too.

 

Do you guys do anything special for October?

 

 

<3 Krystan

 

I'll take ya to the Candy Shop...

...I'll let you lick the lollipop. Go ahead girl and don't you stop.  Keep going til you hit the spot.

 

As soon as I pulled this polish out to swatch, the 50 Cent "Candy Shop" song was stuck in my head. 

 

I am in love with this polish.  I know it's a knock off of the Deborah Lippmann by the same name but I don't have the budget for Deb so I duped it out. 

 

Candy shop is a candy colored pink with multi colored, multi sized glitters. 

 



 

Candy Shop lived up to it's name.  The glitters look like sprinkles and I just wanted to eat ma fingers!  Course that might have been cause I had my period...don't judge me :)

Look at that color! This was only 2 coats without any undies or topcoat.

 



 

Sparkle and Shine girls, Sparkle and Shine.

 

 

What's your favorite dupe?  Tried Candy Shop yet?

 

 

<3  Krystan



My Heart's in the Right Place

 

Ok, this is me trying to get creative.  I got the idea from Sarah at Chalkboard Nails.  Check it out here: Star Stencil Tutorial

 

 

For the base I used Orly Cotton Candy which is a light, creamy, babyish, pink.  It took 3 coats for Cotton Candy to become opaque and even then it was still splotchy in places. 

 

 

 

After Cotton Candy dried, I punched a heart shaped hole out of some masking tape.  Then I used Plumroll Please from Nicole by OPI to paint over the heart.  It didn't exactly work out too well for me but I did some touch up with a dotting tool.

After I fixed the heart, I figured since I had the dotting tool out already I might as well continue with embellishments.  So, I added the dots around the outside and tip of the nail.

 



 

 

I actually really liked how this turned out.  There was a good contrast between Cotton Candy and Plumroll Please. 

 

 

 

 

What do you think of this?  Ever try the whole punch with tape?

 

 

<3 Krystan





Revlon...I wanna be "Popular"

Hmmmm, today I have another lovely pink for you. 

 

This is Revlon Popular (or Starry Pink depending on which bottom you grabbed).

 

Popular is a light, jelly pink filled with medium and small silver hex glitters.  Layering for this was amazing.  The medium hexes "sunk" and were just slightly covered by the like pink.  Good combo Revlon!

 

I wish I was tan for when I wear light pinks.  Sometimes they wash me our and I can't do them justice.

 

This was 3 coats with no underwear or topcoat.  I know there is a VNL but with certain polishes I kinda like it.  For some reason I think with light colored jelly polishes it's ok to see VNLs. 

 

And yes, I do need to work on my clean up skills.

 

 

What do you guys think?  Have you noticed a difference between Popular and Starry Night?  Feel girly in this one?

 

 

 

<3  Krystan

 

Why I choose pink....or maybe why it choose me

        Some people might think that loving pink means your a girly girl, a snob, a sorority girl but that's now how it's been for my family.  Where I come from pink means strength, it means fighting for another day, and it means hope for the future. 

       Maybe I should start at the beginning.  Before my mother was even imagined, my great grandmother died of Breast Cancer in the early 1930s.  She had 2 young boys who would grow up and start their own adventures.  Now let's fast forward to 1987, just a few short months before I was born, my (on all accounts) amazing, vivacious, spirited, strong aunt lost her battle with Breast Cancer at the age of 32.  She left behind an orphaned daughter who's life was just beginning to know the pain of loss (we'll be coming back to that blue eyed little girl).  I never had the pleasure to meet my Aunt Dean in person but I have always felt as if we have a strong connection that spans across this life and the next. 

       My mother had several lumpectomy's through the years and I remember the scares and the toll it took on us all mentally every time she found a lump in her breast.  To say that my family has since the death of Aunt Dean felt strongly about Breast Cancer Awareness is an understatement. But it really, truly hit us hard when Brandi (remember that beautiful blue eyed girl), my cousin, was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at the age of 26.  I was only a freshman in high school but I remember the feeling of having the wind knocked out of your chest and asking "Why us God?  Why again?"

       I remember the trips to Maryland after Brandi came home from having a double mastectomy, the tears in her eyes from the pain, the Christmas she came home and shaved off the remainder of her hair, the depression she went through, and the struggle we all felt as she battled this horrible disease.  Brandi is a fighter and she just celebrated her 10th Cancerversary. 

       That wasn't the end for us though.  After Brandi's diagnosis, the family and her doctor's talked her into seeing a Genetic Counselor to see if there was a genetic link between her cancer and her mothers.  Well, there was and it's called BRCA1.  Being a carrier of this gene means you have an 85% chance of developing Breast Cancer and a 45% chance of developing ovarian cancer.  In 2005, my mother made the decision to have a prophylactic mastectomy due to being BRCA1 positive.  This was an extreme struggle for her and she had to fight her doctors to have the surgery.  She was trying to prevent cancer and found out during her pre-surgery testing that she did in fact have a lump that was Stage 0 cancer.  My mother did not have to undergo radiation treatments or chemo (due to a mistake made by her surgeon when he misread test results and told her she had a much lesser aggressive cancer than what she did actually have).  I was a junior in high school at the time and I took several days off school to go to the hospital with my mom and help when she got home.  I helped her changed bandages, emptied her drains, and cried with her.  The reconstructive surgery was painful and long.  They inserted "bags" into her chest cavity under the muscles and slowly filled them to help stretch the muscles and make room for implants.  Due to them taking all breast tissue, they even had to tattoo nipples back on for her.  I know the process was just as damaging to my mother mentally as it was physically.  She was a large breasted woman and even with the largest size of implants she still wears prosthetics to convince herself that she is still a woman. 

       By the time I was packing up to go to college I had thought long and hard about getting the genetic testing done.  Since my mother was positive, there was a 50% chance she passed the gene to each of us children.  After I made my college choice, I choose the facility where I would be tested.  After a few hours of counseling, they did a blood test that would be sent away to the lab in Utah.  The results would come back in 3-4 weeks.  I won't lie, that was one of the hardest times of my life.  I had ups and downs, I went through periods of being convinced I had the gene to being absolutely certain I didn't.  Finally, after 3 long weeks, my results were in.  I'm negative for BRCA1.  Instead of having an 85% chance of getting BC, I had the same chance as any other woman walking down the street. 

       I felt safe again...or at least I did until 2008.  You see, my mother had 4 siblings.  One of which was already lost to Breast Cancer.  Due to the high occurrence of the gene in our family and to see where it originated (even though we were pretty sure), my grandfather was tested.  He was in fact a carrier of the gene and had passed it down to at least 2 of his 5 children.  In 2006, my Aunt Tracy had her genetic testing done.  She kept the testing and the results quiet for a long time fearing that because she was negative, she would be looked at differently.  That all changed when in 2008, Aunt Tracy was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. 

       Now all of the doctors we have ever been to will tell you that Aunt Tracy's BC was a freak accident.  I, for one, don't believe a word of it.  The little voice inside my head was back and with it came a vengeance.  If Aunt Tracy was negative and still got BC, that means I still can too.  I strongly urged my grandfather to go back to the genetic counselor and discuss having a full genetic work up.  You see, while all of this was going on in my family, BRCA2 was discovered.  Finally, at my insistence and the insistence of my genetic counselor, my grandfather went back for a full genetic screen.  They told us that my grandfather is not a carrier of the BRCA2 gene. 

       Different members of the family have been tested and so far we don't have any more positives....however, both my brother and one of my cousins have found lumps in their breasts after testing negative for BRCA1.  I'm 24.  I have seen 2 Genetic Counselors (both at different hospitals) and 2 Breast Care Specialists.  Every doctor I have seen urges me NOT to get a mammogram or ultrasound.  They tell me that at my age, being exposed to the radiation from a mammogram once a year will put me at higher risk of getting BC.  This of course does nothing to ease my mind.  I feel as if there is this huge weight sitting on my chest (yes, that was a joke!).  Every 6 months I return to my PCP for a full breast exam (cold hands and all) but I'm tired of feeling like I need to look over my shoulder for cancer constantly.

       So you see, after having 5 woman in our family diagnosed with Breast Cancer, my family does just about everything they can to comfort those diagnosed and prevent anyone else from having to face this.  My mother and a dear friend started a breast cancer awareness/support group a few years back called Central Pennsylvania Pink Connection.  They are miracle workers for those affected with BC in our area.  And I guess this leads me to my blog.  I love nail polish, I always have and when my collection started to grow and I started to follow nail bloggers, I got the idea to start my own nail blog and have it feature Pink for the whole month of October.  I hope you enjoy and I hope you understand the importance of doing self breast exams monthly. 

       Pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude....one of hope, one of strength, one of spirit

 

 

 

 

 

<3 Krystan



Galinda by Lacquer Convention

Hi girlies!  Today I have for you an amazing pink from Yvonne at Lacquer Convention. 

Yvonne describes Galinda as: 

A cute and girly polish is a sheer pink base swimming with pale blue, holographic purple and pink multi-sized glitter. The base is a milky jelly instead of clear, lending to a more subtle look than your average glitter.

 

This was 2 coats of Galinda with OPI I think in Pink as underwear.



 

I love this color.  It makes me feel so girly and soft.  I wore it for a day and kept starring at it.  Another win from Lacquer Convention.

 

 

What do you think of this color? Is it one that would be unique to your stash?

 

 

 

<3 Krystan



And for October, this blog will be all about Pink too!

 

 

 

Stay tooned!

 

 

 

<3 Krystan 

Coming Soon...

 

 

Coming Soon...

 

Starting October 1st, 2012

 

 

 

At Your Fingertips

 

 

just another blog about loving life and the nail polish in it