Stash Swatch Initiative: Milani Jewel FX Lavender

Hello!

Milani Jewel FX Lavender. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today, I have another simple glitter to show you. This one is from Milani's Jewel FX Line and is called Lavender.

Lavender has two sizes of lavender-colored hex glitters in a clear base.

Milani Jewel FX Lavender. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one swiped on coat of Lavender over yesterday's Sally Hansen I Lilac You swatch plus one coat of NYC In a New York Minute topcoat. Unlike Tuesday's glitter polish, Essie Set in Stones, I found this one had an excess of the clear base. I let some of the base drain back into the bottle before applying this, and I found that with this little trick, it applied easily.

Milani Jewel FX Lavender, matte. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I've had this one for quite some time, but I think I bought it at CVS.

Milani Jewel FX Lavender. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Milani Cupid's Touch

Hello!

Today I have Milani Cupid's Touch swatched up for you!

Milani Cupid's Touch. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Cupid's Touch is my ideal Radiant Orchid shade. It's exactly what I was expecting when I read about this year's Pantone Color of the Year nomination. That being said, my pictures turned out a bit more vibrant and more pink than this is in person. It is a more soft and muted shade.

Milani Cupid's Touch. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today started with Sinful Colors Base Coat, one coat of Cupid's Touch, and one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. This has an excellent formula, and I was able to get away with one careful coat of this beauty.

Milani Cupid's Touch. Indoors, natural light, no flash.

I purchased my bottle at K-mart.

Milani Cupid's Touch. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Milani Jewel FX Fuchsia

Hello!

Milani Jewel FX Fuchsia, layered. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today's polish is Milani Jewel FX in Fuchsia.

Milani Jewel FX Fuchsia, layered. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Jewel FX Fuchsia is simply medium and tiny shiny, fuchsia, hex glitter in a clear base. I wasn't in love with Zoya Normani from yesterday, but adding this topper made the whole thing look lovely!

Milani Jewel FX Fuchsia, layered. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Jewel FX Fuchsia plus one coat of Gelous and one of NYC In a New York Minute over yesterday's Zoya Normani swatch. Formula is good here -- great glitter coverage and easy application. I did use the dabbing method to spread the glitter out evenly, but you could easily swipe this on for a more random look.

Milani Jewel FX Fuchsia, layered, matte. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I purchased this bottle quite awhile ago. I'm fairly certain I found it at CVS, where I saw it still for sale recently.

Milani Jewel FX Fuchsia, layered. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Milani Jewel FX Gold

Hello!

A polish I've had unswatched since the beginning! This is Milani Jewel FX in Gold.

Milani Jewel FX Gold. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Jewel FX Gold is a simple glitter topper in clear base. It is loaded up with super shiny, gold hex glitters.

Milani Jewel FX Gold over Zoya Savita. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one dabbed coat of Jewel FX Gold and one coat of Gelous plus NYC In a New York Minute over yesterday's Zoya Savita swatch. My bottle has gotten a bit thick and sticky with age, so I had some issues with the glitter wanting to clump up. Even so, I think this glitter might be a bit challenging to apply from a fresh bottle because there is so much of it packed in there!

Milani Jewel FX Gold over Zoya Savita. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I've found that this is a great staple or basic polish to have and have reached for it often to use for nail art. I found this bottle at CVS, where I think it was still in stock last time I noticed. The Jewel FX collection has several colors to choose from as well, so happy shopping!

Milani Jewel FX Gold over Zoya Savita. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Milani Digital

Hello~!

Milani Digital. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

A quick post today to show you Milani Digital, part of their 3D Holographic line.

Milani Digital. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Digital is a jelly-like pink based polish with large, holographic particles that produce a scattered holographic effect in the sun.

Milani Digital. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are a base coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardener, two coats of Digital, and one coat of Seche Vite on all my fingers but the middle and pointer fingers, which do not have topcoat. I was experimenting -- trying to see if topcoat has any effect on the holo. I don't see any difference in these photos. No issues with formula. This was opaque in two coats.

Milani Digital. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

The squishy pink base of this polish is very pretty and easy to wear. The added rainbow effect of the holographic shimmer is gorgeous. I found this bottle quite awhile ago at CVS, but I don't recall seeing them recently.

Milani Digital. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

"This is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge: Gradient

Hello again!! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Can't wait for the next one, yes? :P

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today's nail art challenge prompt is "Gradient"! Yay! I love doing gradients. Well, ever since I read the tutorial by Sammy over at the Nailasaurus, I love doing gradients!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

For this look I started out with a base of Milani White Out. I then layered Orly Orange Crush over that. Orange Crush is a sheer, yellow-orange jelly. I topped all of that with a quick coat of Seche Vite to dry it faster. Once it was dry, I used a make-up sponge with some more Orange Crush and China Glaze Riveting. I love how this turned out--the light orange at the top and then fade to the darker and shimmery Riveting. Take a look at it in the sun:

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

After this was all dry, I used BM-13 and Konad Special Polish in black to stamp the spiders and their webs. I topped it all with a coat of NYC's In a New York Minute Fast Dry topcoat. My thumb came out the best.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Orange and black are classic Halloween colors, and I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

See what the others did for this one below!




More soon!! ^_^

"This is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge: Inspired by Ghosts

Hello again!!

All indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today's nail art challenge prompt is "Ghosts". I had several ideas this for this from simple stamping (Turns out I don't have a stamping plate with a ghost on it! Sadface.) to Pac-Man Ghosts (yes, nerd, I know, but I'm going to have to do that one someday. It just didn't feel like a Halloween theme enough to me to do it now.). My plan was to try a few things out and see how it went. After the water marble fail last week, I wanted to make sure this week's manis were win. I ended up loving my first attempt. Here it is!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Super simple, but cute, I think. This is two coats of Milani White Out topped with one coat of Revlon Spooky Skull and some Seche Vite. Spooky Skull is new, according to the sticker on the bottle, and it is a sheer white crelly (halfway between a creme and a jelly!) with white shimmer. Once that was good and dry, I used the end of an unbent bobby pin to fill in for the dotting tools I do not own yet. I used Konad Special polish in black to dot on the eyes and mouths. I then used the pointy end of an orange-wood stick dipped in some more Milani White Out to add pupils. They were so cute and perfect, I skipped on the topcoat because I would have been devastated had I smeared them.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I'm not quite ready to wear Halloween manis, so I did take this off later in the day. This is definitely one I'll try again once it gets closer to the end of the month because I did love it so.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

If I can get this Inlinkz thing to work, you should be able to check out the other participants below!


 



More soon!! ^_^

Copy Cat: Jelly Sandwich - Nails of the Week

Hello there.

First off, I want to be up front about this: this mani was not my idea.

Have you heard about Pinterest? Are you using it yet? It is awesome, so if you don't know what it is, go check it out (I'll gladly send a Pinterest invite out to anyone who wants one--just shoot me an email). Sometime last fall, I discovered Pinterest and that's how my addiction to nail polish started. I saw a photo of a mani just like this there back in January. It intrigued me, so I followed the link and discovered nail polish blogging. It's taken me six months to work my way down the list of "Mani's to Try" to get to this one, but here it is: 


Sunlight.

The inspiration for this week's manicure came from Cristina over at Let Them Have Polish. I'd link to her, but I'm not sure what the etiquette is for doing that... is there a Blogger 101 course I can take? I think I need that. Anyway, I don't want to be discourteous and make the link if that's not okay, but I do want to give credit where credit is due. I saw this on her blog first! Google exists, I'm sure you can find your way over there if you don't follow already (she's awesome; I love reading her posts!). 



Sunlight.

This is three coats of Zoya Coraline from the Birchbox Blogger Trio, which is excessive for this mani, I admit, but I stopped there and took swatch photos (so look for a post with that on it's own soon!). One smooshed around coat of Milani Jewel FX in Gold. Topped with another two coats of Coraline. This was super shiny, but I did top the whole thing off with a coat of Seche Vite to help dry it all.

Wear time on this has been great. I put this on Sunday night, and it is still looking good this Friday morning with some barely noticeable tip wear. I wasn't sure it would last this long because Zoya Kate, Coraline's pink sister, showed a lot of tip wear after just two days when I wore it on it's own.

I'm excited to see the new Zoya Gloss collection. I love these Birchbox jellies from Zoya, so I am thrilled to see them come out with more. I'll have to swatch the rest of the Birchbox trio soon--you don't want to miss out on it. It's limited edition and can be purchased at Birchbox.com for $22 with free shipping! The Milani Jewel FX I found at CVS. 

More soon! ^_^