Flower bomb

I received these items in exchange for an honest review. 

Today I finally have a manicure to share with you, yay! It's been much too long, but you know - every time I try to do a manicure it just seems like I start it and then it gets ruined before I can finish it off. But that's what happens when you use your hands for work a lot, I suppose.

I started today's manicure with two coats of LA Colors Gel in What's Up? This is my first time using the Gel line and I'm pretty happy with the results. It applied very smoothly, dried without any real issues and lasted about 3 days before I noticed any chipping. For me, that's a good deal. What's Up? looks to be sort of a salmon color by the bottle lid, and it's a bit more.. I want to say pink? by the bottle color. The actual color is a much different color all together, more of a bright orange. So unfortunately it's not even close to the color I was expecting so that kind of stinks but at least the quality of polish makes up for it.

I then applied this absolutely gorgeous chameleon glitter from Born Pretty Store. I just used a brush to apply it, then covered with matte top coat from Chrome Girl. Unfortunately after I applied the top coat, the glitter sunk into my polish! Urgh! So I will have to play around with this glitter some more. That's OK, I still have a few more product reviews from Born Pretty Store to do in the mean time so I will give it another shot. I kind of think maybe next time I will double up on the glitter or maybe apply it over regular top coat? I'm not sure but I'll have to experiment.

Be advised, this glitter is tiny so you will get glitter every which where. This glitter is why the phrase "glitter bomb" exists. It's absolutely beautiful and the perfect solution to creating a flakie look alike manicure, without the actual flakie polish. I love how it looks, just hope I can get better results with my next application. Trial and error and all.

See? That is totally NOT salmon color. Oh well. I'm glad I was able to show you at least some of the sparkle in this photo. Obviously the matte top coat dulled it down some what as well, but... it shouldn't have dulled it this much!

This glitter is currently on sale from BPS at$2.39 for 2mL and it is available in 5 different colors. I received number 02, which is kind of a green hue. You can get it here from Born Pretty Store, and shipping is always free worldwide - no minimum purchase.

I topped off this manicure with some glitter from Jior Couture The Voodoo You Do, on every other nail. Then I used these water decals from Born Pretty Store to get more of a flower glitter bomb feel.

I'm not really sure about the design of these decals, as it feels odd having these splotches of black which make me think of explosions next to flowers, but I think I did a fun design with it.

The decals worked well, up until I applied the top coat. I normally don't have any issues with the decals I've gotten from Born Pretty Store so I really didn't give it much thought before applying my top coat. Unfortunately, some of the decals did begin to melt just a little bit. The one on the tip of my ring finger, left hand actually starting coming off and kind of melted in half a bit so I had to place it back and it fortunately turned out well. The flowers seemed to be the pieces which melted the easiest, perhaps because their lines are thinner.

Regardless of the few problems I had, I was happy with this manicure and I think it turned out pretty cute.

These decals are also on sale for $1.55 for one sheet and you can get them here from Born Pretty Store.

You can also use my coupon code QTX31 to get 10% off your purchase from Born Pretty Store. I do believe this applies to normally priced items only, however.

They have some new nail art supplies in stock which look absolutely amazing, especially the glitters! I can't wait to try more :)

Kahuna pocket blanket

I received this item in exchange for an honest review. 

I'm back! Yes I realize it's been forever and a day since I posted last. My husband started working third shift again so I've needed some time to get adjusted to that schedule once again. Plus a handful of small emergencies - have I mentioned this has been the worst year?

So here I am back with an oddball review but I have a ton of stuff lined up so I will definitely be busy. Oh yeah and I finally started making my family genealogy Web sites so I've been busy with that too. I'm excited to be working on that project as well. It's good to keep busy. Wouldn't you know it, I started writing this and our Internet service went down - for at least 5 hours! Comcast service has been really awful this past month or so. Of course, as soon as I started typing this it dropped off again. Urgh.

Anyway today I have the Kahuna pocket blanket for review. I had planned on going down to the beach to review this but third shift and a tree on our truck kind of changed those plans. 

Blurb

KAHUNA POCKET BLANKET keeps you clean and dry. Whether you're at the beach, in the park or on the road, our ultra-compact outdoor blanket will be your new favourite companion. Designed with portability in mind, this ultra mini blanket is the perfect ground sheet for all occasions. 

The Biggest Small Blanket You've Ever Seen... 
Made of 100% waterproof nylon, our lightweight blanket provides 44x64 inches of space for you to spread out and stay sand free, clean and dry. Weighing less than half a pound and folding up to the size of a deck of cards, our travel blanket is ideal for all outdoor occasions. Use it for yoga or sun tanning, as a beach mat (sand free beach blanket), a picnic blanket waterproof camping tarp, a camping mat, beach sheet, travel blanket, or ground tarp at concerts and festivals. It's a handy all-around park blanket. 

Additional features include water repellent, puncture resistant, ripstop nylon construction, weighted corners for windy days, an integrated stuff sack, and nylon loops for securing it to the ground or hanging it as a sun shade. 

THE PERFECT TRAVEL COMPANION 
At less than half a pound and small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, packing this pocket size blanket for your next vacation is a no-brainer! Take the KAHUNA pocket beach and picnic blanket with you wherever you go so you'll be able to enjoy the outdoors and ALWAYS stay clean and dry! 

Review

I've been looking for a nice blanket to use outdoors for awhile now. I really like the pocket blanket because it is very light and small enough that I could carry it around in my backpack or even a larger purse. The material is very thin - but I tested it to ensure it does not easily rip. It comes attached to a little bag which you use to fold up the blanket and store it in, which makes storage a bit easy, and I like that it has the velco strap to keep the bag shut. I was worried about being able to fold this back up and getting it to fit into the little bag but I was able to do so with very little effort and messily stuffing it back in. No problem there. 

(This is how it looks after I took it out of the bag, then folded it back up. Easy!)

The size is nice - I would say one larger adult could fit very comfortably stretched out or two adults could sit on this with legs crossed. It would make a nice blanket for kids. It has weights at the corners which help hold it down against the wind, which I really like. As the description states, it does also have loops so you can steak it down if necessary but I didn't need to do that.

This blanket comes in three different colors, so you do have a couple of options. There's blue, grey and red. I chose the grey which I was surprised because the bag is blue. In my picture you can see it's actually grey and blue. I tried getting a photo of my cat on the blanket for comparison but he decided to be camera shy.

I will definitely be keeping this blanket handy for last minute excursions. 

 

This blanket is $19.89 on Amazon. It is eligible for free shipping on order $49 on up.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E1CVJ3Y