Let's start at the very beginning...

Hi everyone!  *waves while trying not to look sheepish*

I hope all of you are doing well.  This has been a crazy fall here in my real life, so I sincerely apologize for the lack of posting.  We went on vacation right after my last post, and then we all came down with a horrible chest cold that I am still battling today (I think we keep passing it around, but I think it's coming to an end... thank goodness).  Then my grandmother passed away at the beginning of November and now my daddy is in the hospital and will be having bypass surgery within the next few days.  *sigh*

Needless to say, my mind and heart really haven't been in blogging.  Plus, my "to review" box is getting getting fuller and fuller which has a tendency to shut me down, rather than lighting a fire under my slacker ass.  Plus, I had chopped my nails down to nubs a few weeks ago and they had just got back to the point where it wasn't a pain in the ass to paint them.  My plan was to get back to blogging soon and then I did a total dumbass thing and nicked my nail while trying to clip them.

So I figured I could either neglect this blog for another 2-3 weeks and get even further behind, or I could use it to see if I could take my nails from the short, misshapen, raggedy messes they are, to healthy nails within the next few weeks.  As a thank you for helping to promote their Facebook contest, Barielle sent me a package including several nail treatments, so I figured this was a good time to try them out.

Here is a picture I took about 15 minutes ago.

You can see the nick in my ring finger nail.  You can also see my raggedy ass cuticles.  LOL.  So, over the next few weeks, I'm going to try and repair my nails and cuticles and I'm showing you all the process. 

I used the nail cream last night before bed and today, I used the protein.  I will be sure to keep you updated on my progress.  

Products were sent to me by Barielle

Barielle Surf's Up

It's no secret that I love fall weather.  I'm a grumpy hermit in summer, and when fall comes along, I am so happy.  I also love fall nail polish colors, and I have been gravitating towards then since the weather turned hotter than the surface of the sun.  But, I am also beach-bound in less than a month (Cocoa Beach, FL... here I come) and I've been obsessing over our trip, so when I saw this beautiful ocean blue from Barielle, I knew immediately what was going on my nails for today's post.  

This is Barielle Surf's Up...

Surf's Up is an AMAZING, deep, cyan blue creme.  I reminded me of my other favorite cyan or cerulian blue, Zoya Robyn, but it's actually deeper and more saturated than Robyn, so you could own both with no worry of dupes.  It also leans a tad more teal than other cyan blues I've seen. 

I think I literally gasped when I pulled it out of the box, and it didn't disappoint at all on my nails.  The formula is fantastic.  I did use 3 coats, but it was opaque at two.  I simply applied 3 because it was so nice, I didn't want to stop.  LOL.  :P

Fair warning, though, this will give you smurf fingers when you remove it, and I did see a bit of staining, so you'll want to wear basecoat (I didn't) and even double up if you are prone to staining.   Also, because it's so pigmented, it does dry a bit matte.  I used one coat of Barielle No Chip Speed Dry to bring back the shine.

Basically, Barielle hit it out of the park with Surf's Up.  I love everything about it, and if you love blues, you really need this one.  It's fantastic.  

Barielle Surf's Up is available from Barielle.com and, as always, Barielle polishes are buy one get one half.  Though, you can pick up the entire Some Like it Hot collection for only $25.  

Products used in this post were provided for review.