NP Fiend

I love nail polish.. and I haaaate it. I hate that I get tip wear so easily--scratching, itching, dishes, showers, etc. I've been trying and trying to figure out how to make my nail polish love not be such a tough love.. and I thiiiiink I may have found a solution ;)

Step 1: Buff your nails (gives more grip!)

Step 2: Use a base coat! I use Essie Protein Base Coat (thanks Catherine!)

Step 3: Use thinner coats of polish (not globs!)

Step 4: WAIT IN BETWEEN COATS!

Step 5: Use a top coat! I use Seche Vite (thanks Diana!) and I use it when the polish is still wet, since SV also speeds up drying time.

In regards to "Love and Friendship" by MAC, I don't think I waited enough between my coats of polish.. and with the formula and my impatience, I was having a hard time getting nice thin coats. I think I may try it again and hopefully have better results!

Anyway, this post will be about NAIL POLISH REMOVAL and my current favorite drugstore nail polish.. SINFUL COLORS - Rich in Heart 811. Oh my gosh, I loove this color.. and I love the price tag even more ($1.99 at CVS?)!

I was perusing through the aisles and I stumbled across the Sinful Colors display (which I honestly have never seen before at a CVS) and remembered that I absolutely ADORED my "Nail Junkie" from them (again, thanks Diana!).. so.. I looked.. some ehh colors.. but hidden.. and.. gasp!

Essie Protein base coat

Two coats Rich in Heart

Seche Vite top coat

Normal hand/nail usage/abuse, result after 4 days! Completely fabulous for me.. ignore the chipping near the cuticles.. that was all me, haha. Anyway, isn't it a pretty color? I was having such a hard time figuring out how to photograph this, and I decided to take a picture in the bathroom.. wha-laa.. it's a very very black looking nail polish with a hint of red from within. Oh I looove these kinds of colors, I definitely have more on my wishlist xD

Anyway, on to the REMOVAL part..

Ta-daaah! After seeing a post by KC (cambo soup) about having a TUB of nail polish.. I decided to peruse around.. and found this at my CVS (obviously, since it's CVS brand).

I'm going to share an embarrassing story.. ok.. so.. when I went to go get this and found it.. I opened the cap.. looked at it.. and SNIFFED IT.. hahahaa. Such a bad mistake! I was super tired.. I don't know why I did it in the first place. But yes, it still does smell like your typical nail polish remover, if anyone's wondering... d'oh -___-

The inside.. it's a sponge.. with 3 slits.. and 3 holes.. you insert your finger inside and twist around (trying to "scrape" your nail onto the sponge, much more effective).

I thought about taking a video.. but you have to have two hands to use it.. well, at least I use two hands (one to hold the container and the other hand.. is.. having the nail polish removed). So I tried to take illustrative pics :P

Ooo the red really comes out here!

Process of the removal! Sorry if I switched fingers, I guess I was twisting too vigorously so my nail ended up being clean by the time I pulled it out to look.. hahaha xD fail~

I tried counting how many twists or how long I left my finger (per nail) in the container.. I twist TWICE per time I count.. and I count in seconds.. so.. I counted for 10 seconds, and twisted 20 times.

I had to leave my thumbs in for a bit longer, since the nail is misshapen (also makes it harder to paint evenly!).. there's lumps on my nail, parallel to my cuticles. My boyfriend makes fun of me for them :( but he has lines/wrinkles going the OTHER way.. hahaha. We're both weird :P

End result... ignore my cuticles as always. Nice, clean nails. Your finger tips may feel a little dry but it's nothing that lotion can't cure.

The tub "before" and "after" removal.. I took off 8 fingers of nail polish (I scratched off 2 in my boredom in class). Not bad.. especially helps using this for glitter, since the sponge doesn't come off in wisps onto my nail like using cotton pads does.

I'm not sure how many "uses" there are.. but.. I know it's worth it for me to go get another one when it "stops working". Maybe I just need to throw out the liquid in there and put in fresh nail polish? I'll let you know.. but I have a feeling it's gonna be a long time before I have to do that, haha, especially since I don't paint my nails ALL that often :)

Hope this helps!

What are your guys' HG methods of removing nail polish?

Wet n' Wild 409D Shameless

I felt kind of bored and lonely so I decided to do a mani (so far only on my left hand, hahaha--does anyone else get lazy when it comes to painting their dominant hand??) with one of the MANY prizes I received from winning Katie's giveaway (girlabouttown88)--she was SO generous! I came back from my vaca wondering what this HUGE package was that was sitting in the kitchen. Thank you thank you thank you :) x33 I'm glad you like my photography! ^__^

Anyway, on to the swatch~

Wet n' Wild 409D (she's real fine my 409 lalalaa) "Shameless"

This is two coats + 1 coat of Seche Vite top coat

This picture is a more true representation of the actual nail polish color.. it's this weird.. blue-lavender. I sort of want to say it's periwinkle xD since it's what I imagine periwinkle to be but I know periwinkle's actually a much deeper color (since I just googled it to make sure.. LOL).

And this picture (obviously much warmer) is a more true color representation of the pink shimmer.. definitely a medium-leaning-towards-hot-pink pink.

Of course you can't really SEE the shimmer when it's small, so click to enlarge! I apologize for the state of my cuticles and my messy application.. I even had to Photoshop a bit just because it was SO bad. It's funny that you don't notice things until AFTER you take the picture. D'OH!

Side note:

And you can see that I'm working on my squoval shape.. it was MORE squoval looking before I filed my nails, but I can't seem to stand having long nails anymore! This is now my comfortable length--probably because somewhere subconsciously I know that my nails are more likely to chip and peel at longer lengths. Boo.

Texture?

Very streaky and sort of.. globby. It'll probably be better if I thin it out, but I don't really have anything to thin out polish with since I'm not that big of a nail freak yet xD though my collection is definitely growing! I thought I was grabbing enough polish but every time, I had to redip my brush.

In contrast, when I was applying Seche Vite, I ended up grabbing too much.. and I was using the same "dipping" technique (not that there's really a technique huh? hahaha).

Though after it dried, the streaks seemed to go away.

Is it opaque?

I face my nails to my desk lamp (finger pads towards the lamp and nails facing me), I can still see streaks. But, in any other sort of light, it looks opaque.

Is it worth it?

In my collection, yes, since I don't have any other colors that are like this. I think I have a NuSkin color that's more of a pearly white with a pink sheen.. but, that's at home, two hours away. I'm definitely going to have to look into a nail polish thinner before I readily grab this for my next mani though. Definitely a pretty spring color on a budget!

What do you guys think?

NOTD and ULTA

tried out the fabulous looking "gradation nail" after seeing MIUMIU'S tutorial.. and did really well on 2/5 nails. LOL! good enough for me. now let's try not to ruin this by.. say.. the time i go to sleep. and YES, i have FAT NAILS :(

looks pretty good, methinks!

bloooooob..

good vs bad nail.

good nail in the middle!

also based on a suggestion from MAYAARI, i looked at ULTA.COM and decided to buy me some mascaras :) it was BOGOF! checked CVS and LONGS DRUGS.. it was definitely more expensive, even w/ the $5 s&h from ulta (closest one is in oxnard.. aka 40 minutes away). 

temptalia recommended maybelline "full n' soft" (got 2x)

beth recommended maybelline "great lash" (got 2x)

temptalia also recommended covergirl "lash exact" (got 2x)

plus $3.50 off a $10 purchase.. total was $24.53! eee :)

looking forward to (packages):

- business cards (by friday?)

- DSK jewelry! (to be shipped on monday)

- ULTA? probably next week. 

- geisha contest prize? i'm not sure if she received my mailing addy :| hmmm.. 

170. cold :|

yes.. from all this glorious heat (or at least it was warm enough to just wear a cardigan.. or just a shirt).. winter decided to strike today. i decided part of the reason why i didn't wake up until 2:30 today was because i didn't want to get out of my warm blankets. why? FOG. all day! well.. maybe not FOG persay.. but definitely COLD. OVERCAST. GREY. BLEH!

ANYwhosers.. 

i'm getting towards the end of my period but i randomly got moody today. was it the weather? i dunno. i wanted to go out to dinner, bryant was ehh.. at 6, we both decided we weren't hungry. checked again 6:45, he wasn't hungry. 7:30 he still wasn't hungry. then i got upset.. because.. i was getting hungry, for one. and he's ALWAYS hungry! just by being a GUY, he's constantly hungry, constantly wanting something or eating something. and today.. today he wasn't hungry? i dunno, i just got really upset. grabbed the blanket, huddled up on the couch, listening to the sounds of him playing SIM CITY, not even wondering where i was or anything (at least he didn't come check up on me). then, as you know (at least i do), when i get sad.. i thought of all the other things that made/make me sad, which didn't help at all. blah! and eventually around 8:30 he walked in and asked if i still wanted to go 'cause he was hungry. i had gotten uh.. a little teary (damn mood swings!) so i was acting weird for awhile.. but eventually got over it.. mostly when he was trying to stuff an end piece into his mouth (we went to go get sushi). i have a video of it :) hahaha. definitely made me laugh. plus i ate so i wasn't hungry-cranky.. and he was being cute, trying to figure out why i was acting so weird.

darn that boy, making me smile :)

in the photographic life of sarah? this product shot i did today. hopefully needless to say, ©sarah sakamoto, all rights reserved, dammit! well.. shot it awhile ago.. took a few new shots today and re-retouched it today. bryant's giorgio armani shoes.. 

my UD stuff :) "baked" and "chains". pretty pretty~

someone still needs to teach me how to take a FLASH pic of a swatch.. -__-

ah, yes. a lovely story.. i was rolling around in bed, tired but not able to fall asleep.. and i have NO IDEA what i did.. but all of the sudden i hear a decently loud CRACK and my finger started to hurt. what the fack? so i roll over, turn on the lamp and.. my nail had torn halfway off D: UGH! so i had to cut it SUPER short.. 

*my nails are NORMALLY at this length. 

so i decided to cut ALL of my nails that short. well. slightly longer but still very short for me :| and i do not like it at allllll.. but it'll be good for me i guess :| i have a problem with picking at scabs or just scratching in general (that's why i have so many scars) so hopefully this will help. definitely not going to do this again.. hate the feeling. never had my nails this short! not even when i was playing piano or violin. PLUS my nails are as long (or as short) as bryant's.. and.. that's just weird. he's just lazy and refuses to clip them when i tell him because.. he hates being told what to do (get a haircut, cut your nails, do the dishes, transfer money, etc). ai ya ya.. 

my horrible point-and-shoot shots of my UD MU. 

top is "chains" and bottom is "baked" + NYX "copper"

both have NYX "black" and MAC "shroom" if you're wondering.

i wish it showed up as more of a green :| maybe i didn't layer it on enough.

i'm turning into gooollllddd... or something. nah, i just think my white balance is off. extreme tungsten light doesn't help either~

also did my eye MU (typed EMU.. and laughed) in 5min (or less?) using "baked" and "gunmetal" w/ NYX "black" and MAC "shroom".. but when i got all moody, it came off :| go figure. 

been looking up a few vids on youtube to see if i can find a better way to put on MU.. think i found a way or two. we'll see though. i still like my 5min method best~ using a big brush (my FAV brush of all time.. UD's blender brush) put base color (shroom) all over.. then put on whatever shade you want (gunmetal).. then using an angled brush, put on black. use large brush to put on highlight (shroom) and inner eye corner shade (baked).. and.. done!

ah yes! remember me talking about a girl named KELLI? yupp. here she is!

her personality's basically like the first shot.. very cute, sweet, wholesome, innocent. that one is way too.. high school portrait ish though :| gonna reshoot it i think (she asked me to come in and help her with strobe lights). decent lighting. teacher really liked the second one though.. but.. i think i might reshoot it too. gonna see if i can edit it first (both pics) 'cause she had the hardest time not laughing when i was shooting this pose.. hahha. it is pretty funny, considering it's not much like her personality at all. might shoot some more while i'm teaching her about the lights. 

ugh, silverfish in the bathroom while i was taking a poo! (LOL)

ugh, portfolio! what am i gonna do?? :(

ugh, shooting at 7am tomorrow!

ugh, returning equipment before going to ventura tomorrow! (maybe we can extend)

ugh, being in ventura by 9am!

ugh, makeup finance class!

ugh, tomorrow being our 1year 1month anni.. with little/no free time! :(

i have more to write but this entry's pretty long. gonna go brainstorm for port~