Stash Swatch Initiative: Pure Ice Sparks Fly

Hello!

Pure Ice Sparks Fly. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today's polish is Sparks Fly from Pure Ice!

Pure Ice Sparks Fly. Indoors, sunlight, no flash.

Sparks Fly is a sparse glitter topper made up of blue microglitter, small copper hexes, and the occasional silver holographic star.

Pure Ice Sparks Fly. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are two coats of Sparks Fly over yesterday's OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby swatch plus topcoat. Application was smooth, and I did not need to dab this on. I did, however, strategically place the stars when I managed to get one, but otherwise this is swiped on like normal polish.

Pure Ice Sparks Fly (matte). Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I purchased my bottle recently from Wal-mart.

Pure Ice Sparks Fly. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Pure Ice Freedom

Hello!

Since I just picked up this polish last week, I thought I'd swatch it right away (not to mention it was my 4th of July weekend manicure!). This way you might have a chance to find it, if you want it. It is Pure Ice Freedom.

Pure Ice Freedom. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Freedom is a heavy mix of red glitter in a clear base. I see small hexes, tiny hexes, and micro-glitter. In addition to all that sparkly red, there are medium sized blue hexes and a few shiny silver stars. How patriotic!

Pure Ice Freedom. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are a base coat of Duri Rejuvacote, one coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardener, one coat of China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots, one coat of Freedom, one coat of Gelous, and one coat of Seche Vite. This polish provided a surprisingly dense glitter coverage with one coat. I did mostly swipe this one on but dabbed it on as well when needed. The stars were reluctant to come out of the bottle, but I think that may be due to just how few there are in there.

Pure Ice Freedom. Indoors, natural light, no flash.

I really liked how this ended up. It could use a few more stars per bottle, since I think those are what made this look so cute. I found my bottle at Wal-mart just a few days ago. It was a very popular release last year, when I couldn't find a bottle. My husband even tried ordering this polish from an online retailer for me last year, but was sent multiple other polishes, a partial refund, and an apology because they ran out! So happy hunting if you missed it last year -- it's baaaack!

Pure Ice Freedom. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Pure Ice Tease

Hi!

I have another aged polish to show you today. This one is Pure Ice Tease. Tease is a sheer pink jelly base loaded with shimmer.

Pure Ice Tease. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are two coats of Tease, plus NYC In a New York Minute over my base coat of Seche Clear. Formula was good, but sheer as expected. Three coats would've been better now that I see the pictures on the big screen, but I usually use this as a topcoat rather than layer it up to opacity on it's own.

Pure Ice Tease. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I'm sure I picked this up at least five years ago from Wal-mart. It's nothing too special, and I'm pretty sure I have similar polishes.

Pure Ice Tease. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Pure Ice It's Complicated

Hello!

I have a fun polish today. This is Pure Ice It's Complicated.

Pure Ice It's Complicated. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

It's Complicated is a glitter topper in a clear base. It is made up of shiny hex glitters in a rainbow of colors and two sizes. I see pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, silver, and lavender glitter.

Pure Ice It's Complicated over Sinful Colors Amethyst. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of It's Complicated over Sinful Colors Amethyst plus one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. This polish has a fine formula. It easily swipes on, and one coat provides plenty of glitter.

Pure Ice It's Complicated over Sinful Colors Amethyst, matte. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This polish was gifted to me, so I'm not sure the source of this particular bottle. Pure Ice is sold at Wal-mart, though. Happy Monday!

Pure Ice It's Complicated over Sinful Colors Amethyst. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Pure Ice I'll Behave

Howdy!

My awesome other half surprised me with this polish, and even though I usually don't like greens, I LOVE this combination. This is Pure Ice I'll Behave over Pure Ice Wild Thing!

Pure Ice I'll Behave. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I'll Behave has tons of metallic green micro-glitter mixed with some small metallic silver hex glitters in a clear base.

Pure Ice I'll Behave. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

For today's swatches, I've layered one coat of I'll Behave plus a coat of NYC In a New York Minute over yesterday's Wild Thing swatch. I did take care to place the silver hexes evenly across my nails, but I had no issues with this. I got good glitter payoff with one coat, and the glitter stayed put and didn't bunch up as I fiddled with the larger hexes.

Pure Ice I'll Behave. Outdoors, natural light (shade), no flash.

This one should be called Slytherin... just sayin' ^_^

Pure Ice I'll Behave. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Pure Ice Wild Thing

Hello!

This polish was a part of my original polish stash. I think I was in high school when I bought this one... eleven years or more ago!? Oofda! This is Wild Thing from Pure Ice.

Pure Ice Wild Thing. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Wild Thing is a bright green creme. I don't think it's crisp enough to be called a lime green, nor do I think it's yellowed enough to be called chartreuse. I think it falls somewhere in between; maybe we can call it acid green?

Pure Ice Wild Thing. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are a base coat of Seche Clear, two coats of Wild Thing, and one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. For a polish this cheap and this old, the formula was surprisingly not bad. The first coat was a bit streaky, but two was all it took to even out. It is nicely pigmented, and easy to handle.

Pure Ice Wild Thing. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

I've never been keen on green nail polish, but I kept this one around. I'm glad I did. It's been a great color for Halloween nail art.

I'm sure I bought this from Wal-mart a decade or so ago. I have no idea if it's still available! This one is ancient in polish years! Hehe!

Pure Ice Wild Thing. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Pure Ice Love

Hello!

Here's one I thought I had posted way back in February... oops! This is Pure Ice Love.

Pure Ice Love. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Love is a light pink creme with barely a hint of shimmer. This has a very vintage feel to it, in my opinion. Maybe it's the pearl-like shimmer?

Pure Ice Love. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Swatches today are a base coat of Seche Clear, two coats of Love, and one coat of Seche Vite. Formula on this was pretty good. It's well-pigmented and almost a one-coater. My application was just a bit streaky, so I needed two coats for even coverage.

Pure Ice Love. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Pure Ice polishes can be found at Wal-mart. Not sure if this one is still around, since I've had this forever, but happy hunting -- the displays are always a mess when I go to look! :p

Pure Ice Love. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

NOTW: Some Grey't Stamping!

Hello again! Happy Friday!!

Here's what I've been wearing this week.

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

The base for this is Essence Grey't To Be Here, which is a fabulous grey creme with pink shimmer. I'd seen it swatched a few places around the internets and was in love. I am so glad I lucked out and found this last time I was in Ulta! I now need to find a back-up because this color is great. Let the hunt begin!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I wanted to play up the pink shimmer, so I used my old, goopy bottle of Pure Ice Gossip to stamp the fishnet design from Konad plate m57 over top. I then added the scroll design from Bundle Monster plate BM-12 with Zoya Ibiza, and topped everything off with a coat of NYC In a New York Minute Fastdry Topcoat. I didn't intend for the blue scrollwork to look weathered, and I probably couldn't recreate it if I tried, but I love the way it looks here.

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Overall, I'm loving how this turned out. I love these colors together!

Have a good weekend!! More Monday! ^_^

"This Is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge: Zombies!

Hello again!! How did it get to be Monday again?! My weekend went fast!

Zombie Nail Art.

Today I have another "This Is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge post. The prompt is "Zombies". Here are my zombies!

Zombie Nail Art. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

 They have just feasted!

 I started with two coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones. Once that was dry I used the Saran-wrap technique with Zoya Wednesday to create their mottled, diseased zombie flesh. I dotted on the eyes with Pure Ice Wild Thing. The black accents were done with Konad Special Polish in black. The bruises were sponged on with Essie Bahama Mama, and the blood red is OPI I've Got The Blues For Red.

Zombie Nail Art. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This was a fun one! I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with! Check them out!

More soon!! ^_^

NOTW: Girly Pink Nail Art!

Hello and happy Friday!!

Today I am excited to show you some nail art. There were a lot of steps involved and a lot of dry time, so I did this over the course of two days. First I applied my go-to basecoat (Sinful Colors Nail Hardening Base) and two coats of OPI Bubble Bath, a very light pink. I followed that up with a coat of Seche Vite, so it would dry sometime this year. Once I was sure it was really, really dry and wouldn't be marred, I worked on one nail at a time using scotch tape to cover up part of the Bubble Bath and painting a generous coat of Zoya Shelby, a bubble-gum pink, over the entire nail (tape and all). I immediately removed the tape so the lines would be clean (I did have some issues with the tape tearing, but a gentle-handed tweezers put it right.). Then, I did nothing... for a long time to make sure I didn't ruin it. I did bump my right hand, but the left one came through unscathed! Finally, I added another coat of top coat to protect the fresh polish (I think I used NYC's topcoat).

I waited until the next evening to stamp the houndstooth pattern on--nothing worse that wrinkling not-quite-dry polish with the stamper. I used a very old and very thick bottle of Pure Ice Gossip to stamp the houndstooth pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM19. I used the same tape method to cover the parts of the nail I did not want the pattern on. At this point, I was planning to be done, but it looked unfinished. I used the pointed end of an orange stick to make three tiny dots in a triangle pattern then drug the polish between the dots to create a heart on each nail. I finished it up with another generous coat of NYC's topcoat.

Here is the result:

 Left picture is indoors, under artificial light, no flash. The right is outdoors in direct sunlight--super glossy!

 Here you can see the details and you can tell on my thumb how I drew the hearts--guess I didn't get those edges filled in all that well. It's not as noticeable in person as it is on the macro shot, but it gives you a good idea of what I was talking about up there

Indoors, artificial light, plus flash.

I thought this ended up being incredible girly and fun. Maybe it's almost too pink and girly?

Outdoors in direct sunlight.

This was my first attempt at using tape this way, and it turned out better that I was expecting. I'm suddenly flooded with ideas....

Have a great weekend! More Monday! ^_^

Pure Ice - Gossip: The Only Polish I ever Thought I'd Need

Well, hello again. For my very first swatch post, I wanted to start with the only polish I ever thought I would need. You see, years ago, my polish vision was very narrow--I didn't know what I know now. I was rather picky about nail polish. I hated everything sheer, and I stuck to pinks and reds. I wasn't aware I could get my hands on any other brands besides OPI and whatever Wal-mart/Target had (heck, I didn't even know those other brands existed!). I didn't know I could find reviews and swatches online, so polish buying was always the luck of the draw unless I covertly swatched one nail in the store. I had a few OPI's that were 'acceptable' (which I should swatch soon, now that I think about it). Then I tried this:

Pure Ice - Gossip

Pure Ice Gossip. An opaque, medium pink creme. This polish met all of my past self's requirements--no need to look any further, right?  Oh how things have changed.

Indoors, no flash. It looks a little more berry-toned here than it actually is.

 The formula is very forgiving and I had absolutely no issues with application. This is two coats, no base coat, and New York Color's In a New York Minute Fast Dry Topcoat. I could have gotten away with one coat--it evens out beautifully, but I'm a habitual two-coater.

Indoors, no flash again. This is true to color.

 Putting this on again brought back a lot of memories. This was the polish that traveled Europe with me the summer after high school. It was what I was putting on in that picture taken at the cabin up North during a family vacation one spring. This was even the polish I was wearing when I met the man who is now my fiance. I still love this color--after I was done taking these photos, I didn't really want to take it off. But I pretty much lived in this color for a few years, my vision has broadened, and I've got other things to try!

I remember buying this at Wal-mart. I've seen Pure Ice available there recently, but I'm not sure if they still carry this color.

More soon! ^_^