better together & daydream surprise

this is 2 coats of contrary polish - better together and 1 coat of enchanted polish daydream surprise.  1 coat of seche vite was used, then the next day i added a coat of butter london's matte topcoat.  i'm really liking the whole matte-glitter thing.

pear-butt wally is enjoying some snow watching today.

pretty serious - galaxy invader

this is 3 thin coats of polish with 1 coat of seche vite.

this seriously glows in person.  there is a purple shift in different light, but the blue fleckies are the most noticeable with this polish.  i absolutely love this.

this was purchased from llarowe.

again, ignore the pinky...stupid dry cuticle.

layla - the butterfly effect

this is 2 coats of the butterfly effect over 1 coat of cult nails - nevermore.  1 coat of poshe topcoat.

i probably could have done 3 coats of this on it's own, but i like it over black.

please ignore the cuticle on my pinky...my hands have been so dry.  i actually just bought the stuff today to  make my own nail oil, so we'll see how that turns out.  it came out to about the same as a huge bottle of solar oil, but you can make like 3 times as much.


anyhow, on to the pictures:

pahlish - this new sun

here's another new pahlish i was able to get from the etsy store. 

i thought this one was going to be more sheer than it was.  this is only 2 thin coats, they applied perfectly.  no base color used.    i used 1 coat of poshe over the top. 

my camera isn't picking up the tiny flakies in this one.  they are there.  excuse the random glitter from my last manicure, they didn't want to come off.

pahlish - heart of man

this is 3 thin coats of heart of man, it's a gorgeous jelly packed with glitter.  no base color used.  i used 1 coat of gelous and a coat of poshe over the top, it's glass smooth and really shiny in person.

purchased from pahlish's etsy shop.  shipping was extremely fast.

nails are still nubs, but they're finally starting to not feel as short if that makes sense lol.

i do have another couple of recent manicures that i have shot pictures of, i just haven't felt like spending time to upload them with my nails being so short :(  i'll get around to them this week probably.

anyhow, here's this awesome polish.

opi - window lavender

i've had this on for a few days, so excuse any tipwear in the photos.

i used opi uh-oh roll down the window as my base, picked this up at ulta, it was on clearance.  i'm not sure which collection it was from.

1 coat of pink yet lavender was then added.  this is from the mariah carey collection they just released.  not a fan of her music but, that doesn't matter, i liked the color :P

1 coat of gelous and a coat of poshe were used for my topcoats.

blaaah, nubbins.  going to not let them grow out as long as they were in my last blog post.  it seems like they break when they get around that length. 

espresso toffee

ha, this is my 100th post.   wheeee!

i made this for an 'iron chef' competition at work.  the secret ingredient was coffee.  i figured the other teams would go for the obvious...cake or  brownies...so i wanted to try something different.  i originally went with truffles with kahlua.  they were good, but i need to not use as much bittersweet chocolate as the recipe i found called for next time i make them.  they were suuuuuper rich. 

the feedback i got on it was great.  i'll definitely be making this one quite often.

ingredients:

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold water
• 10 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, sifted to remove all lumps
• 1 tablespoon finely ground espresso, or powdered instant espresso
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces dark chocolate, tempered
• 6 ounces toasted almonds,  (about 1 cup)  i used sliced, but any should be fine 

first thing to do is line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  i found this cool stuff at target that had parchment on one side, foil on the other.  it held up quite well.

 

 

next thing is measure all of the ingredients out.  once the toffee hits the right temperature you need to move fast to avoid over cooking it, so having the salt, soda and espresso ready to go is a must.

in a large heavy saucepan combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup, and water.

turn the temp on the stove up to medium and let this come to a boil.  once it starts to boil place your candy thermometer in the mix.  let this go until it hits 300 degrees.  i stirred a few times while waiting for this to come up to temperature.

add the baking soda, salt and espresso and stir fast to incorporate.  i used finely ground espresso beans instead of powder, since that's what i had on hand.

spread this mixture out over the lined pan and allow to cool for about an hour.

temper your chocolate and spread this over the cooled toffee.   i used sliced almonds and pressed them gently into the warm chocolate.  let this cool for a few hours before cutting into squares.

this smells amazing as it's cooking.  

i found this originally here.