Tinkerbell 10K & My Pirate Fairy Zarina Mani!

Good afternoon dears!  If you are an avid follower of my Instagram or Facebook page you know that I spent last weekend in Disneyland to participate in the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend.  I was lucky enough to find a bib for the 10K late in the game as everything was sold out.  I was very happy to get into the race again this year and had an absolute blast!  I even had a pretty great race time!  6.2 miles in 57:20.  It's a very crowded race so it's quite difficult to PR (personal record) in a Disney race and this was my second fastest run recorded on my RunKeeper app.  Pretty good even though I had to weave and zig zag though other runners for the first 2 miles.  Anywho, yes I was tired, yes my legs were a bit sore (more uphills than I expected) but I walked away wishing I had signed up for the 1/2 or even the Pixie Dust Challenge - both the 10K and the 1/2 totaling 19.3 miles.  Next time!  Until then here's my costume, nails and pictures from race day!  

I decided to dress up as Pirate Fairy Zarina from The Pirate Fairy movie.  

Here's my "flat" Zarina costume.  

And here's my mani with my daughters Zarina doll. 

I remembered to get a few pictures of my all mani while in the park.  I was actually in line for California Screamin with my middle child.  I love how my nails turned out, even thought my Jolly Roger pirate skull is off center.

I used a-England Dragon (green), a-england Holy Grail (gold), Sheswai Honeyfox (red), KBShimmer Sun & Games (gold glitter) and basic black and white polishes for the art.  

I had to get up at 3:30am to get to the race in time.  It was dark and cold and I was so tired. It's hard to get a good night's rest when you know you have something to do early the next day.  I think the excitement kept me awake.

Pre-race selfie.  See, still dark out.  Thankfully the adrenaline was already going so I wasn't as cold at this point.  

Race time!  

Announcers wishing us all a great race.  

Super blurry shot of running down Main Street.  The castle is in the background.  Sorry, I was running, best I could do.  LOL.  I actually didn't stop for any pictures with characters or photo op spots.  I was focused on finishing with a descent time.

Another blurry run-by pic of Lightning McQueen & Mater in Radiator Springs.  Running through the parks is the best part of the race. I'm glad they were at the end of the race this time instead of the beginning.  Helped push me through to the finish line.  

I ran backwards to get this pic of me coming up to the 6 mile marker!  Yeah, kind of dangerous as there was a big box that I easily could have tripped over.  Thank goodness I didn't!  

Another blurry running pic - this is the finish line!  They announce names as you are approaching the finish line.  And there are characters lined up to high five you!  

I stopped RunKeeper a bit after crossing the finish line so it show's my time a little off.  But I wanted to share the course!  

DONE!  Got my Gatorade, banana and MEDAL!  

Feeling pretty accomplished at this point!  

One more picture showing off my medal.  

And my #runmani.  I use this hashtag on my Instagram page to share my mani's when I go running.  I thought it would be fun to share this one holding the medal instead of my usual post holding my water bottle.  

Treated myself to beignets and coffee from Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Express.  I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear I ate them all.  And I was even hungry again almost right after.  Well that was my journey through the Tinkerbell 10K!  Hope you enjoyed it!

My Personal Top 10 Mainstream Polishes of 2014

Good morning lovelies!  I'm back with 1 more Top 10 post for you - but this time it features the mainstream brands that I tried out.  Much like that last post, featuring my favorite indie polishes for 2014 (you can see that post HERE), I will provide pictures and links to the original posts so you can read up on the individual polishes if you so desire!  Thank you for a a fabulous year full of gorgeous polish 2014!  I hope that 2015 has exciting things in store for us polish fanatics!  So lets get started!
*please click on links to original posts for disclosures*
10. Jessica SoHo In Love.  What a gorgeous, pastel pink-nude creme this is!  It was the perfect palate cleanser and a perfectly girly shade.  I hope to try plenty more polish from Jessica Cosmetics this coming year.  Original post HERE.  

9. China Glaze Stop That Train.  Here's one of those polishes that is just so me I couldn't take it!  The rest-red orange color was fabulous.  The shimmery finish was to die for.  I know China Glaze will have loads of interesting and beautiful polish for 2015 and I look forward to seeing exactly what it will all look like!  Original post HERE.  

8. Sheswai Lacquer Yowza.  I am not even sure if this polish was released in 2014, but since I tried it out this year it made the cut!  This is such a gorgeous, shimmery purple.  And the formula.  Swoon!  Sheswai has their formula down to a perfect science - buttery, creamy, opaque!  I know Sheswai mostly does cremes, a couple shimmers.  I hope they release a plethora of new shades in 2015!  Original post HERE.    

7. OPI Comet in the Sky.  I'll admit that I wasn't too impressed with the Gwen Stefani Holiday 2014 Collection.  Then I saw Comet in the Sky.  Jaw hit the ground - no joke.  OPI totally channeled the indie brands with this iridescent and black glitter bomb.  It's FANTASTIC!  I wore it over a deep navy blue shade and it was perfect galaxy on my nails.  OPI is another brand that I know won't disappoint in 2015 - I have already seen a few collection floating around the Facebook groups and I can't wait to see them in real life.  Original post HERE. 

6. Color Club The Uptown.  I'll admit I've never been much of a flakie fan.  Then The Uptown came out and I happened across it in a beauty supply store.  I bought it.  I loved it.  Now I am beyond happy that I did get it because for some reason Color Club changed their formula and The Uptown looks nothing like this lovely flakie polish!  Color Club always does a great job of putting out interesting and unique collections full of glitters, shimmer, textures, toppers.  I can't wait to see what they have in store for us in 2015.  Original post HERE.  

5. Orly Pink Crystal.  This was actually not a polish that Orly ever released.  This was a one off that polish fans were finding across the states in Marshall's and TJ Maxx stores.  Man we went nuts over these texture polishes.  One look at Pink Crystal and it's easy to see why we all spend time looking for this (and it's peach counterpart Just Peachy!).  This was a nice bright, perfect for spring and summer pinky-red texture that I think should have been release in mass quantity.  But oh well, maybe 2015 will bring more Orly textures for us to love.  Original post HERE.  

  

4. Dior Aventure.  This is one of the gel-like colors that Dior released in the late Spring.  I'm a little (ok HUGE) fan of the Dior formula so I was excited to try these.  They didn't disappoint.  Aventure applied just like the regular Diors but had so much more shine and gloss.  I'd be a happy camper to see more polishes like this line from Dior.  I'd also be happy to see some more greens and oranges too!  Original post HERE.  

3. Rescue Beauty Lounge Oliveto.  Alright - I am not sure this could really be considered a mainstream brand but it surely isn't an indie.  I guess it sits somewhere in the middle but it's going in this post so I'm just going to have to deal with my in-betweener polish selection.  What I love about this polish isn't just the color or name, it's the way Ji makes you feel like you are in Italy, taking in the sights though her inspiration.  RBL is a brand that paints a lovely picture behind the polish as well as your nails.  I hope 2015 brings us more inspired collections much like this from the Italian Summer Collection.  Original post HERE.  

2. Zoya Posh.  This is a re-release from a year or two back.  I can't say no to a red.  Let alone a matte red.  This is a real beauty and it looks amazing in it's intended matte state as well as with topcoat.  It's like getting 2 polishes for the price of 1!  I would love to see more MatteVelvets from Zoya in 2015! Original post HERE.  

1. Barielle Hawaiian Sunset.  I don't think this one even needs an explanation.  Look at it.  Bright orange.  Heavy gold shimmer.  Jen Jen Jen!  Actually I went into this list with a completely different order so when it started pouring out of my head I surprised myself.  But then I look at this picture and the post and I just knew this was my favorite mainstream of the year.  I only started wearing Barielle about halfway through 2014 but I was consistently impressed with the formula and quality of their polish.  2015 should be a promising year for Barielle and I can't wait to see what their collections have in store for us!  Original post HERE.  

Merry Christmas and a Festive Mani!

Good morning and Merry Christmas!  My family woke up bright and early to start opening presents.  The kids have already played with most of their new toys and now are settling down to build Lego play sets.  I made a fun breakfast of eggs and rainbow sprinkle pancakes.  They turned out cute and were super yummy!  Of course I made enough to feed an army, oops.  Anywho, I wanted to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.  Hope your day is full of laughter and love and memories that you will always cherish.  I'll be heading off to my parents house soon but not before I take a minute to share my Christmas mani.  I found this idea on pinterest, looks like it was created by @iloveyou432 (maybe that's an instagram or twitter name?).  Well I took the idea and made it my own - hope you like it!

*nothing to disclose*

I used 8 polishes to create this mani so I will provide the main website link for each brand instead listing out all the social media links.  I did a different design on each finger and love how happy they all turned out!  It's like a party on my nails!  Here's my party lineup - Gingerbread Man, Snowman, Santa, Christmas Tree and Snowflake.  

Thumb: CND Midnight Sapphire, Sally Hansen OMGhost

Index: Zoya Nyssa, Sally Hansen OMGhost & Sheswai Honeyfox

Middle: Sally Hansen OMGhost, Sheswai Honeyfox, Barielle Irish Eyes, Sinful Colors Black on Black

Ring: Sheswai Honeyfox, Sally Hansen OMGhost, Sinful Colors Black on Black, OPI Love Angel Music Baby

Pinky: Zoya Noot, Barielle Irish Eyes, OPI Love Angel Music Baby, Sheswai Honeyfox, CND Midnight Sapphire, loose star glitter 

Christmas Presents Mani

Good morning and Merry Christmas Eve!  Hopefully you are on your way to spend time with your family!  I am going to be doing just that shortly, but I need to rub the sleepies out and get in a quick run.  Before I go I wanted to share another (possibly final) Christmas themed mani with you.  I took the present mani and modified it a bit because I didn't have any bow decals.  I went with gold rimmed rhinestones because I thought they were fancy and looked like a gift wrapped package from a very high end retailer.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

*nothing to disclose*

FUN Lacquer: Shop, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Sheswai Lacquer: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

OPI: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

I started with 2 coats of Sheswai Honeyfox, a perfectly creamy and smooth flowing red creme.  This was seriously amazing!  Sheswai really has their amazing formula down pat and I really want to get through my untried Sheswai now!  I used a striping brush and OPI Love Angel Music Baby to create the "gift wrap" cross on my index and ring nails.  This is such a pretty gold polish.  The satin finish is lovely, but sadly I had to use topcoat and lose that effect.  I also used Love Angel Music Baby on my pinky - 2 coats.  My thumb and middle nails are sporting FUN Lacquer Million Dollar Dream (H) and WOW - what a completely amazing and blingy holo micro glitter!  Formula and application of Million Dollar Dream (H) were both fantastic.  I placed the rhinestones on and topcoated up and viola!  

Summer of Untrieds Day 10: Purple

Good morning again!  I'm staying strong and posting another polish for the Summer of Untrieds challenge.  I'll be honest - this is alot of work.  But I am happy to slash through untrieds in my stash.  The theme for Day 10 is Purple.  Well I have loads of purple polish, which is odd for a self proclaimed purple non-lover.  I just think it's a color that doesn't look fabulous on me like it does on other nails/skin tones.  Anyways, if you want to share your untried purple mani feel free to use #summerofuntrieds on your Facebook and Instagram post. 

I was quick to jump on a $3 sale for Sheswai polish.  I am totally turning into a Sheswai fangirl.  All the ones I have tried have had amazing formulas and dreamy application.  Yowza, my purple polish, is no different.  Both the formula and application were aces.  And I really do like this shimmery grape-magenta polish.  I used 3 coats of Yowza and 1 layer of topcoat.  

 *indoor lighting*