OPI Nail Envy....

I decided to try OPI Nail Envy-Original, to strengthen my nails, they are thin and prone to vertical splits and peeling. I bought it after hearing lots of good things about it on PaA. So after all my Christmas Mani's I decided to pull it out, cut back to nubbins (or short nails) and try it as a base each time I did my nails, which is about every three to four days.

Here's what they looked like in the beginning:

This is about 1.5 weeks in....

And this is just yesterday, about 4 weeks in...

Same about 4 weeks in....

I thought I had another in between picture but I can't find it :(

I have had no breaks, they are much thicker, they are not as brittle when unpolished, I've had two minor minor peel issues, but I buffed them out, and they are fine....

I will trim them soon (filling trim, not cut trim, because I find that it lessens the chance of peelies) and get rid of some of the free edge, and hopefully get rid of the thin transparent tip. In about another month I will have my whole nail bed grown out with Nail Envy.

Have you tried this product, leave me a comment and let me know how it helped your nails (or didn't).

<3 Carrie

PS, don't forget to check out my blog sale, up top under the tabs!

PSS, Check out my friends blog, she is doing a 100 Day Scripture Challenge!



ROTW: Spagetti Bread!!

Yes, I realize I spelled Spagetti wrong, but I like it like that. :)

I found this recipe on Pinterest. ( OMG, right now my kids are watching Spongebob, and it is Soooooo annoying.....A crab has a whale as a daughter....) OK anyway's, I thought this recipe looked so yummy!

One loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed and left to rise, then rolled out for a rectangle pizza dough shape. My dough took about 4 hours to thaw and rise in the oven with the light on.

Cook some noodles up, which ever you prefer-I used the garden delight spagetti. Heat up your sauce, it can be meat sauce or no meat, which ever you prefer. Mix together your spagetti noodles and sauce. place about 4-5 cups worth of this on the middle of your dough, length wise, in the shape of a log. Top with cubed cheese of your liking. In a state of furry (I'll save you from this, because I actually want you to try it *see below) from my quest to tackle to rolling of this dough I forgot to add the cheese (UGH-seriously how could i FORGET the cheese-the BEST part of it!!!) or to take a picture of this step, so I borrowed one:

Picture credit

Slice outward from the spagetti log into the dough toward the edge, like above picture. Then braid the dough 'slices' , starting with first pulling up your ends to the top of your log then braiding. Like below picture:

I went ahead and topped mine with melted butter and some garlic powder, onion powder, and some Italian seasoning. and then baked it at 350 for about a half an hour. Until it looked like this:

Let it cool for just a bit....and slice into that thing:

*Now picture how much better this would look if I had the cheese in it, melting all over the noodles and oozing out the peep holes of the braid!!! Oh how mad was I when I realized I had forgot the cheese!!!!!!! I am going to make this again, and I will NOT forget the cheese...although that furry I mentioned about the dough might keep me from making it again.

I hope you try this, several other PaA girl's have and they loved it....aside from the furry with the dough, lol.

<3 Carrie

Hey there you guys...

Ugh! I am going through a week of depression over here...It really sucks. I usually have better control over it. I haven't felt like painting my nails, or coming up with designs and such....so I have been slacking, I am sorry. I will get better soon, its just a bad week....

I never did show you the rest of my Christmas time Manicure's did I? They aren't captured very well...but they were pretty...

Penguin

Christmas Toes

I was so excited to open it I opened it upside down. lol....

I Eat Mainely Lobster, Color to Diner For, Tanzy

Silly Max...

Drama Queen and her polish she received from Santa

Savvy Deep Amethyst with Motley, Asylum, Twisted, and Flecked.

SOPI Sugar Plum Fairies over Sinful Colors Mint Apple

Tomorrow I will have a recipe for ya, yummy!!!!

<3 Carrie

PS Don't forget to check out my Blog Sale...Top of the page under 'Blog Sale'

BLOG SALE!!!!!

Woohoo! First Blog sale ever!

Ok so first off lets get the cruddy stuff out first, then you can drool over the polishes. LOL

I will ship Internationally, except for Italy, I've heard alot of things about their postal system. I will accept Paypal, gift option only, if you can't use the gift option, then please send enough to cover the fee's.

Shipping Charges

USA: $2.50 for first item, .50 for each additional item.

International: Please contact me for a direct quote.

Flat rate boxes (small) hold 7-8 polishes and are $5.35 for US, and $13.00 for Mexico and Canada, and $17.00 to all other Countries.

I will add tracking/insurance at your request (USA only), you will be charged extra for those, please contact me for prices. Shipping internationally is always a risk when it comes to polish...Ins and tracking is very costly, although you will be given a customs number.

I can not be responsible for lost or damaged items, I'm sorry. I do my absolute best to package your items well. I have done several swaps with no mishaps.

If you are interested in an item please email me at candcnails@gmail.com , please list the items you want, if you want ins/tracking, and your address. Payment is expected within 24 hours of your request to purchase, or those items will be relisted.

Once an item is no longer avail, I will cross out its name. Usage is marked with a line on bottle shots. Unless otherwise stated, polishes are brand new.

Please email me if you have any questions...and my prices are negotiable :)
EDIT: I'm willing to swap also, If you have anything on my wishlist!!!!

Thanks, and Happy Shopping.

Finger Paints Flakies, Full set, Asylum-Twisted-Motley-Flecked-Flashy (not in that order in picture), ***X2  ONE SET LEFT , $40 each set, will sell alone for $8 a peice if no one is interested in the full set.  ***Birthday coupon NOT used and drove way out of my way to pick these up

Finger Paints Flakie Twisted ***X2, $8 each.

***Birthday coupon NOT used and drove way out of my way to pick these up

Revlon Whimsical ***X2, $6 each,

Sally Hansen Diamond Glass Slipper, Flakie, $5

Hard Candy Beetle $7 (swatched one hand)

 Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Lapis Amethyst $5 (swatched one nail), Sally Hansen Nail Prisms South Sea Pearl $5 (swatched one nail)

Pumpkin Flakie $4 (one hand swatched), Essie Glass Slippers $5 (one hand swatched), Zoya Yara $9 (one full mani), China Glaze White Cap $5 (one nail swatch)

Revlon Carbonite $3, Orly Andrgynie $6, Wet N Wild Cost is No Issue $5, Wet N Wild Back Alley Deals $5

OPI (black label) That's an "EL" of a Color, bottle neck broke transfered to this bottle, $5

NYC No Name $.50, NYC Uptown $1, NYC Big Apple Red Creme $.50, NYC No Name $.50

Wet N Wild Gold Lame Frost $1, Wet N Wild Gotcha $1.50. These next two are mystries, The peachy one has a label on the bottom that has the name Cheri  and the numbers ZP247-Thats a Zoya Label, but when Googled the colors don't match. I don't know if maybe this is a very old Zoya or what... no price yet-still researching/make offer , and then the last one is a no name also a sheer white with a shimmer, very pretty no price yet/make offer

Artmatic No Name $1, A Perfect 10 Grapevine $1, Sally Hansen Tropical Orchid Frost $2, Sally Hansen Wheathered Mauve Frost $1

Estee Lauder Rosa Rosa $5, Sunset No Name, $1, Couleurs Magnolia $5

Layering Glitters...

So while laying in bed trying to go to sleep, my mind goes a mile a minute usually with things I have to do in coming days, or things I need to do....just silly things mainly. Last night I added polish to the list of things that run through my head at night.....LOL.

I thought how cool would it be to layer two different glitters that share a tinted base color. So I was scanning my memory of my stash, and landed on Revlon's Faucets of Fuchsia and Wet N Wild's Behind Closed Doors. They both had the Deep Grey/Black Base, and both had large Hex pieces and small glitters. I applied my base coat, I have been using OPI's Nail Envy-Original. I will have a post later on that, I have been taking weekly pictures of the progress. I have noticed a huge difference in the strength of my nails, they haven't cracked, or broke, or peeled in two weeks! That is amazing!!!

I used Revlon's FOF first, then Wet N Wild's BCD next, then I polished from the middle of my nail to the tip with the FOF, and then used BCD on the whole nail again. If I had used 'underwear' (that means using a dark color like black under the glitter), I wouldn't have had to use as many coats for full coverage. 

I like it, I am almost considering dumping a bit of each into and empty bottle.....

Have a good weekend!

<3 Carrie

Monday's Mani

Over on Facebook I belong to a group called Polish-aholics Anonymous. When I put their logo on my page, I didn't know there was a group for it. I've been a member since summer....Or around that time...

Krissi, the group owner, started Monday Mani .... we vote on a challenge as a group the Mon before and then post a picture of our interpretation the following Monday. This weeks challenge was 'Crackle'. Alot of us weren't to thrilled with the idea. Boring, over that, old news, blah blah blah....

I took a bottle of it out and thought Hmm...what to do, what to do. Got my art brushes out and started to play around, and came up with this:

I used OPI A-taupe the Space Needle and China Glaze Crushed Candy.
Only one picture this time. I fixed my light box...I still need to learn how to photograph with it, as my close ups come out grainy...weird.

Hope you enjoy my design.

<3 Carrie

The Weekend

Usually weekends are for resting and relaxation, right? Not when you have children. Its loud, rambunctious, and just plain nuts. I wish my kids would learn to sleep in, they get up at 7 AM, with no fail, sometimes earlier. So tiring. Grocery shopping, errands....yard work....Oh to be single again.

<3 Carrie

BlogHer Book Club, Why Women Need Fat

First let me tell you, Why Women Need Fat, was VERY hard for me to get through. This type of book does not appeal to me at all, BUT the first page hooked me in (for a little while at least) because I could relate to it. I am a mom who is struggling to lose the baby weight on regular diets. The first thing to strike me as "Wow" was when they said, Diets are making us fat! Really? Yes! Because you generally gain all the weight you lost plus some back when you stop 'dieting'.

The book goes on to tell you about how our ancestors ate natural foods, like butter, and how healthy they were and as time progressed how we became more overweight as a society, trying to eat the 'healthier' foods, like Omega fats and unsaturated fats like vegetable oil. As a nation we were 'tricked' into eating the 'healthier' foods that we're actually making us fat instead. The book compares American weights and other weights such as Italian's, and how they are thinner than us and eat fattier foods than us. The book compares between different shaped woman and how their diets differ. It also links the Omega 3's and Omega 6's to the increase in our American cultures weight.

The Authors talk about waist to hip ratio and how men are drawn to the lower ratios, small waist large hip. They write about how woman store their fat in their hips for future babies, and how GAINING weight after our first baby is beneficial to our future children. Another wow from me!

The book was talking about how births differ and how a baby's head is so big nowadays, and how more women need C-sections to complete the birth process. It related a story about an ape giving birth and how it was so easy for her she stood up from a sleep, and reached down and took the baby out and soon it was playing.
I'm taking this directly from the book now:" The change in the pelvis came first, beginning about 6 million years ago when some pioneering apes first started walking upright."
That quote was from evolution believing minds, not God fearing men. Just my view on that....Had to point it out. I'm slightly less intrigued at this point, only because of my religion. They related the change in our hip shape to those of apes, evolution of man. Hmmmm.

The size of a woman's waist predicts the size of her unborn children. Small waist = small baby, where as big waist = big baby. Some of the statements and facts in this book are mind boggling. As I read it I was appalled at some and transfixed by others.

Eating better foods-natural foods, promotes a healthy weight rather than dieting.

The last part of the book told you what to eat and how to find your natural weight and body shape.



***One last thing, I was kind of put off by all the playmates references.

Before I even picked up this book, I had switched to REAL butter instead of fake 'Country Crock' like substitutes. Yesterday at the market I was more conscious at what I put in my shopping cart, I noticed more veggies and fruit and less of the more convenient items, like freezer meals. So it has affected the way I shop a little. I always knew that diets didn't work for me and that a change in the 'way of life' is the way I needed to go. This book supports that feeling.


<3 Carrie

Disclaimer Statements: Photos in this post are not mine and we're found on the Internet. This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

A Drama Queen's 'Do'!

Hey there! Today I have for a cute hairstyle for little girls, or tweens or really any age, just take it up a notch for adults and maybe angle the parts. I was searching Pinterest and came upon a photo, and tried it out....I used to do these turn under's with my hair all the time as a kid. I forget the real name for them, if anyone knows, leave me a comment letting me know. I did this Monday morning before school.
EDIT:
THANK YOU Kristen! The correct name for this is: Tospy Tail!

What do you think? Like it? I did, and she did also.

I'm working on getting a Blog Sale/Swap page. Hopefully it'll be up by next week.

Tomorrow's blog post will be a book review make sure and come back!

<3 Carrie

15 Week Challenge......Part One, Week Twelve

Hey girls...

Remember me telling you I was skipping week 11 because I had done dots lately and just didn't feel like? I also mentioned that I had done some of my cousin's daughter's nails on Christmas, and they just happen to be Polka Dots.

So here are those, sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures, I had forgotten my camera, and had to use Husbands cell phone.

Top is Hannah's Silver with red/green glitter snowman, and bottom is Jordan with Black Diamond and dots with some of the prisms colors.

This is Aliya, she had a dark blue with a shimmer blue on top.

This is Chloe, had Prism Diamond as a base, and a pink a maroon i forget the names of as dots.

Thank you girls! I enjoyed painting them as much as you enjoyed letting me. The only one I don't have a photo of is Keira's, they had left before I thought about it. She was who I had brought my supplies along for, she is four I think. She asked her mommy if her nail polish cousin could do her nail, LOL! So Sweet!

Ok so onto this weeks Challenge. Stripes. I almost chucked the out the window because of the candy canes from this post, but decided to go ahead and do it.

I used NYC Skin Tight Denim as a base, it was .25 cent CVS clearance purchase!
For the stripes:
Pinky: Zoya Phoebe
Ring: Finger Paints Winter Sky
Middle: Essence Bella
Index: NYC Empire State Blue
Thumb: NYC Cashmere Creme

I just used very little polish with the brush they came with... I like it.

See ya next time!

<3 Carrie