Seize the Sparkle

As mentioned on Wednesday, this week's prompt was TROPICAL... Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats Orly Tropical Pop 2 Coats Orly Ablaze 2 Coats Orly Va Va Voom 1 Coat Orly Hot Tropics (thumbs only) 2 Coats NYC Sweet Candy 1 Coat Essie Good To Go Initially, this is not at all what I had in mind. Thanks to issues with Sweet Candy in yesterday's mani, (which I didn't post because it was so far beyond a failicure) I regrouped last night and came up with the idea of a neon gradient. I also reached for Sweet Candy again, and my mani suffered for it. What is it with that polish and my DNA right now?!? O.o Ahem. Anyway. I tried sponging this gradient, and that just wasn't working thanks to the semi-matte formula on Va Va Voom. It didn't want to cooperate at all with the sponging process. So... I removed everything and started over. Because I love doing that!!! (said no one, ever .) The second time around, I figured I&#

It's Wednesday and I'm wearing pink ... are you? I drew the prompt for this week's Fishbowl Friday... I know it's only week 2, but this is what I LOVE about this whole Fishbowl Friday thing... TROPICAL is probably the furthest thing from my mind when it comes to nails and October! I'm so boots, scarves, and salted caramel at the moment!!! What shall I make from this prompt? You'll have to check back Friday to find out! Tried to get Peanut into the whole boxed Mac N Cheese thing earlier this week, because kids love that stuff, right? Nope. Not my Peanut. I even got the ones shaped like goldfish, thinking it would entice her, and she wanted nothing to do with it. However, I discovered that with a little bit of spaghetti sauce, meatballs, a ton of garlic, and half a ton of ground red pepper... it's actually pretty tasty.  We're not even going to talk about all the things I've been pinning lately... Why is it that as soon as I'm on a N

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats NYC Faithful Fuchsia 1 Coat Sinful Colors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite I don't normally try to wear pink on Wednesdays. Usually, it just happens. In the interest of full disclosure, I took these pictures yesterday, but didn't get around to posting them until today. Fear not, I still have this lovely color on my nubs. I've actually been wearing this mani since SUNDAY! I know... 4 days is SUCH a record for me. On Monday, I managed to pinch a nerve in my neck. But not just any nerve, that especially lovely one that is used for every single movement your neck makes, and then some more!  My Monday night mani was scratched in hopes that it would feel better on Tuesday... ...and. It. Felt. Worse. So... Tuesday night mani was cancelled, too. In its place, a generous helping of Icy Hot was applied to my neck. Once I smelled like quite the odiferous panda snack, I went to bed. It definitely feels bett

I survived one full week! In all honesty, though... the Holiday No Buy   is easy at first. It gets harder the longer you go along! There hasn't been too much tempting me this Fall. That could be a good thing, or it could mean that I'll get pounded with lemmings once all the holiday collections debut! I haven't even added that many polishes to my wishlist in the past week... Essie Pinking About You KBShimmer Kringle All The Way KBShimmer Let's Sleigh Together KBShimmer Mauve on Over OPI Christmas Gone Plaid OPI First Class Desires Serum No 5 Work Hard Play Hard (which sold out really quickly!)  Last week's leftovers have been added to my polish fund... $12.75! My 12 Treats Fund is now at a whopping $17.22 and growing! It's progress and I'll take it!!! Whilst shopping, I got the cutest little shirt for Peanut, and I need a matching tunic, STAT! Or a scarf... I got her some pants, too... because her pants seem to disappear just as readily as

Have I mentioned how much September's 31 Day Challenge inspired me? Not only did it introduce me to a bunch of awesome new bloggers and blogging groups... it really made me think creatively in different ways than what I was used to. It left me wondering... how could I cultivate that creativity after # 31DC2014 was over?! ?  I'm proud to announce my first weekly series......... Fishbowl Friday!!! After scouring various nail art challenges online, I found a TON of prompts! Some were similar to the prompts I had used during # 31DC2014 and some were completely new and different. I even threw in some new ones of my own! There were colors, finishes, styles, techniques, brands, shapes, themes, patterns... sooooooo many prompts! I made a list and I had almost 200 ! That was just waaaaaay to many to incorporate into one challenge though, and I really wanted to do something different ... So I thought to myself... how fun would it be to just pick a prompt out of a container

Chez Sparkle (both locations) has been partying it up, celebrating the birth of this little Peanut for the past 10 days! In honor of my little birthday girl, (and because a Peanut post is waaaaaaay overdue) here's 10 things about this little sparklegirl right now... 1. She's got Birthday FEVER and it's probably totally all my fault. I'm not alone, but I'll take most of the blame. She's singing Happy Birthday, craving Birthday Cake, (who doesn't?!?) and wants to blow candles out All. The. Time. It's cool that this time around, she really gets what's going on. 2. Icing. Forget the cake. The icing is really what this little girl is ALL about!     3. There's a budding baker in there! She totally helped my sister with the icing... ...I was showering during "decorating" time, so I have no idea just how much icing was consumed, and I probably don't want to know. But I swear... these were the best cupcakes I'

Materials Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulShine Prosecco 1 Coat Color Club Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite 1 Day of Wear Bundlemonster Plate BM-414 Bundlemonster Plate BM-416 Bundlemonster Plate BM-418 Sinful Colors Black on Black 2 Coats NYC Sweet Candy 1 Coat Essie Good To Go 4th time stamping and I'm in LOVE. My decision to purchase the entire 2013 "Create Your Own" Collection from Bundlemonster was based largely on plate BM-418. I had to have it, and it wasn't available on its own. It needed to bring along 25 friends? Suuuuure... why not? The more the merrier, right?!? Thing is, without ordering the entire collection, I'm not sure that I would've purchased BM-416 OR BM-414. And look how well they all play together? I didn't have issues with any of these plates, and I'm still using the stamper I got in my Fing'rs set from the World O' Wally. I am using a plastic gift card as my scraper, but

Every now and then, a nail polish comes along that captures the attention of the blogosphere. It's not even necessarily relegated to just nail blogs. Beauty and fashion bloggers alike sometimes jump in on the craze too. For Fall 2014... that polish is Prosecco by Sinful Shine. Behold! (hey, I haven't said that in a while...!) Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulShine Prosecco 1 Coat Color Club Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite So, I know you're wondering... what's so special about Prosecco? Is it the slightly purple leaning, grayish, tan? The super-fine shimmer that packs mainly gold but also flashes copper and green? Combine those and add in the fact that this shade is so flattering to a wide variety of skintones, and we've got a winner, winner, chicken dinner! When it comes to application, Prosecco is sheer, but builds nicely. I used 3 coats for my swatches, and I probably should've used a 4th. Also, my Seche Vite

Is anyone else in total denial that October is more than halfway over? Like, when did that happen? Just me?!? Okay, then... moving on! So...... what's been going on at Chez Sparkle you ask? Weeeell... Continuing on with things I'm totally in denial about... Peanut turns 2 on Monday. Two? Wasn't she just, like... born? I know I've said it before, but who gave her permission to actually grow up and get bigger? She's mommy's baby and I totally have her trained to say that!  her "look happy" face There was a party last weekend with Mr. Sparkle's family and this weekend it's a party avec moi familia. We do birthdays right around here, which means it's at least a week long affair. Peanut definitely approves of this tradition... in it for the "happy day" cake In nail news... I'm seriously in love with this manicure. It has totally reaffirmed my need for China Glaze Isle See You Later, and perhaps definitely the en

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats Bonita Starry Night Sally Hansen Archipela-Glow Spoiled Champagne Siren Sally Hansen Archipela-Glow 2 Coats Color Club Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite Originally, I wasn't planning on doing such an involved manicure last night. It just happened to turn out that way. After I painted on the first coat of Starry Night, I realized how pretty it would look with a glitter gradient on my tips. Starry Night could probably be a one coater for some. I painted on my 2nd coat to be sure everything was even, and then realized I hadn't wrapped my tips. Oops! So, I added coat #3 and moved on to the glitter gradient. After sponging on one coat of Archipela-Glow followed by Champagne Siren, I realized I probably should've started with the latter! Another coat of Archipela-Glow helped the gold glitter in Champagne Siren blend a little better with the teal in Archipela-Glow and Starry Night. I'm pretty happy