China Glaze- Astro Hot

I want to begin by saying, I apologize for all the time you're going to waste with this information... Do you play Candy Crush on your iPhone or iPad? Hate waiting for your friends to send you lives? Here's a trick...when you run out of lives, change the date on your phone to a day ahead, switch back to the game, then change the date back to today's date. There you have it, infinite lives. I don't know if it will work on other devices as I've only tried it on these two. At times I wish no one would have told me this. Although it did help me pass level 65 in only about half a day, which according to my sister, is kind of a big deal. I'm now struggling through level 133.

Down to business...for my birthday, I got a few of the Hologlams. They're such pretty colors, but I do wish the holo was stronger, like the Color Clubs. Those are incredible. Though in the sun, or lightbox like these pictures, the holo looks great. This is 2 coats of Astro Hot.

This is such a great color! I should have taken a picture out of the lightbox so you could see it without all the holo goodness. It's still really pretty.

August SquareHue Box

The Endless Summer Collection

I got this month's box super quick. I mean like, August 2nd kinda quick. It was great! I don't really know what I was expecting, but I was surprised when I saw the colors. I saw a gradient someone did with these, and it completely made sense. These are perfect for a summer sunset. That's on my to-do list for this week so you can see what I mean.

The first color in the box is Bikini Beach. A very bright, golden yellow creme. As always, their cremes are super shiny. The formula was a little sheer, kind of a pain...this is 3 coats, no topcoat.

Next up is Scorched Summer. It's more of a burnt orange color. This picture doesn't seem quite right to me, it's a little more red than it appears in real life. I couldn't get a photo that looked right. Look at that shine! It's so shiny you can almost make out my reflection in it! This was super opaque, I could have easily gotten away with one coat, but I used 2 here, again, no topcoat.

Last, and my absolute favorite from this collection, we have Surf Gypsy. The first glitter I've gotten from SquareHue! It's a gorgeous cranberry color packed with holo glitter. Unfortunately, I swatched these at night after my kids went to bed, so I didn't get a picture of this in the sun. You can see a bit of the holo though. It's super pretty. I'm sure this will be a go-to this fall. This is also 2 coats, no topcoat.

The September box is called The Serengeti Collection. Check out squarehue.com to sign up!

Braided

So I finally did it. I took the plunge. I download Candy Crush. I probably shouldn't have, but at 3am when I couldn't sleep, I needed something to do! And now I'm hooked. And stuck. On level 34. I've heard about the dreaded level 65 and am not looking forward to it.

On to today's look...I have lots of braided nails on my Pinterest board. I love how they look. I've always wanted to try it, but like I always say, just never got around to it. I got so many amazing new polishes for my birthday, I really need to work my way through them! So I used 3 of my new ones for this look.

I started with 2 coats of Essie- In the Cab-ana on all but my ring finger. This color is amazing! The formula was perfect, I could have easily gotten away with one coat. On my ring finger I did 2 coats of OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I've been lemming that color for a loooong time, and finally got it :) For the braid part, I used those two colors along with Essie- Bobbing for Baubles. It looks pretty black in these pictures, but it's such a gorgeous dark gray. I love it.

I thought my braid actually turned out better on my right hand (weird since I'm right handed!) So I threw in a close up of that one as well.

Have you done braided nails? I thought doing it just as an accent would be easier, but after playing a round of Candy Crush in between each swipe to wait for it to dry, my phone died and I realized if I had done them all braided, by the time I got to my 10th nail, the 1st would be dry and it probably would have been quicker in the end. Talk about a run-on sentence!

Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil™

I've been following the Simple Nail Art Tips Facebook page for months now. I read pretty much everything that Ana posts, and I feel like I've really learned a lot, but I still hadn't tried her nail oil. I've seen so many amazing before and after photos from people using her oil from 3 days to several weeks. It really seemed to make such a difference! A few weeks ago, she dropped the price of the nail oil pen to just $4.99, and I guess that was the push I needed to take the plunge. I decided to give her "Get Naked Challenge" a try.

I ordered the pen from Amazon and the shipping was very fast. After I placed my order, I was disappointed to realize that I had selected the fragrance free oil. I was so anxious to see how wonderful it smelled since everyone raved about it. When I got the package, Ana had included little samples of all 3 scents! That was so exciting for me and an awesome touch. The summer scent smells incredible!

To be honest, I didn't think I would see much of a difference. I change my polish 3-4 times a week, I use cuticle oil every time I polish, and I use Lush Lemony Flutter, or Burt's Bees Cuticle Balm every night before bed. I felt like I took pretty good care of my nails/cuticles beforehand, so I wasn't sure if this would do that much. I was pretty shocked when I first put it on, unlike other oils I've used, it didn't bead up on top of my nails, it soaked in really fast!

Below is my before and after pictures from the 3 day hydration treatment. My cuticles and all the skin around my nails was so much more moisturized and my nails just look healthier. So far, I'm loving it and plan to continue using it for sure! You can tell from the pictures how much of the pen has been used after the 3 days, so I'll need more very soon. Apparently my nails were a lot more thirsty than I thought!

You can get Bliss Kiss Pure Nail Oil™ on Amazon here or straight from Ana's shop here. If you follow her page on Facebook, she does giveaways 3 days a week, and posts tons of great information. I just learned this last week the difference in the cuticle and eponychium. I had never even heard of eponychium before! It's all very interesting and informative :)