NOTW: Two Weeks of Jamberry Christmas!

Hello! Merry Christmas! I hope you are enjoying the holidays!

I have two different looks to share with you today that I did while wearing some Jamberry nail wraps as accent nails.

The first, is this peppermint candy look I wore last week:

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I used Zoya Elisa and Orly Au Champagne here over my base coat of Duri Rejuvacote plus Sinful Colors Nail Hardener. I stamped the candies with Zoya Elisa and Bundle Monster plate BM-213. The candy cane stripes are nail wraps from Jamberry. I was a little sad to see that the red on the wrap was much more orange-toned than my polish, which made this one my least favorite of the two designs.

The second, is this festive little number I'm currently wearing:

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This mani features OPI The Color of Minnie over my basecoats, which is a punchier, brighter, and more orange red than Zoya Elisa. While it still doesn't match the red on the nail wrap perfectly, the colors do play nicer together. After that was topcoated and dry, I used one dabbed on coat of KBShimmer Kringle All the Way to add some sparkles to my middle finger and double-topcoated it smooth.

I hope your holiday is bright and cheery!

More soon I hope. ^_^

NOTW: Luminous!

Hello!

This week's nails are a simple combination of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and AEngland She Walks In Beauty. These were beyond gorgeous and full of light. I adored this look, and I definitely stared admiringly at my own hands quite often this week.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I feel like pictures don't do this justice - it looks very luminous and ethereal in person. I need to do swatches this weekend, but I don't want to take this polish off!

Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

I started with one coat each of Duri Rejuvacote and Sinful Colors Nail Hardener. Then, I used three coats of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu. My middle finger, ring finger, and thumb each got one coat of AEngland She Walks In Beauty. I finished this off with one coat of Seche Vite.

More soon! ^_^

Bonus NOTW: Blush!

Hello!

Today's look is another one from a few month's ago. This one started with my usual base coat combination, and two coats of Orly Naked Canvas. To that I sponged on Rainbow Honey Sword Lily to create a soft gradient. I stamped the scroll work image from FUN #3 Stamping Plate with Konad Special Polish in Black over my gradient and sealed it with a quick coat of NYC In a New York Minute. Voila!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Orly Naked Canvas

Hello!

Today I have Orly Naked Canvas swatched up!

Orly Naked Canvas. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Naked Canvas and is an off-white cream with fine purple shimmer. That shimmer is a little shy, so it'll take some nice, direct light to get it to shine. Once it does, it is beautiful!

Orly Naked Canvas. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Duri Rejuvacote, one coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardener, two surprisingly opaque coats of Naked Canvas, and one coat of Seche Vite. The formula on this is nice -- much nicer than I expected. Whites and pastels can be streaky and hard to apply, but this was smooth and self-leveling. No streaking and easy going!

Orly Naked Canvas. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

I purchased my bottle from Sally Beauty.

Orly Naked Canvas. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

GOT Polish Challenge: Stripes

Hello!

Today's GOT Polish Challenge prompt is "Stripes"!

I used my two picks from last year's Hologlam Collection from China Glaze, Strap on Your Moon Boots and When Stars Collide. These are not quite a year old, but close. I think that collection came out in March or early April. Anyway, I swatched them once and never wore them again... what a shame!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I started with a base coat combination of Duri Rejuvacote and Sinful Colors Nail Hardener. After that, I layered on one coat of When Stars Collide, and topped it with one coat of Seche Vite. When that was dry, I used striping tape to create the look and one coat of Strap on Your Moonboots. Once the tape was removed, I used another generous coat of Seche Vite.

Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

This turned out clean and crisp. I love how the two polishes work together, but the holo is so subtle!

Here are the rest of the participants' take on the prompt:


More soon! ^_^

NOTW: Snowflakes!

Hello!

Well, that last mani was the one and only Christmas mani I made time for this year. Good thing it wore like iron -- I had it on for twelve days! And it looked great until that last day - I only had minor tipwear. I have some other ideas for Christmas manis, but since the season has passed, they'll have to wait until next year.

Snowflakes! Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today's nails were inspired by this mani from The Nail Network. I started with my usual base combination of Duri Rejuvacote and Sinful Colors Nail Hardener. Then, I layered up three coats of Revlon Spooky Skull, which has sadly discolored to a warm, yellow-toned white over the year since I last used it. Super bummed about it... but I embraced the yellowed look and used one coat of Essie As Gold As it Gets over top, followed by Seche Vite. Once dry, I stamped the snowflakes from BM-323 with Konad Special Polish in White. A quick coat of NYC In A New York Minute sealed and glossed everything over.

I then tried stamping single snowflakes in gold like the inspiration mani, but they didn't show up at all. So I left it at this. I thought the yellowed base color would work out due to the warm tone of the look. It almost does, but in person, it comes off more like discolored nails. Is there any save for a yellowed and discolored bottle of polish? Help!

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Maybelline Clearly Spotted

Hello!

Quick swatch post today for Maybelline's Clearly Spotted.

Maybelline Clearly Spotted over Model's Own Pink Punch. Indoors, artificial light, no flash. What a snazzy bottle!

Clearly Spotted is a black and white glitter topper in a clear base. There are small and medium white hexes, and tiny, small, and large black hexes. This provides the perfect glitter coverage with one coat.

Maybelline Clearly Spotted over Model's Own Pink Punch. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one swiped on coat of Clearly Spotted over yesterday's Model's Own Pink Punch swatch plus one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. This polish is easy to apply. The formula is great, and all you need is one coat.

Maybelline Clearly Spotted over Model's Own Pink Punch. Indoors, artificial light, no flash. I loved this combination with a matte finish!

I snagged this a few months ago during a shopping trip at Target. I think I've seen this collection around at places like CVS and Walgreens too,

Maybelline Clearly Spotted over Model's Own Pink Punch. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Orly Au Champagne

Hello!

Orly Au Champagne. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Today's polish is from Orly's 2011 Holiday Collection, Holiday Soiree. I remember having just gotten into nail polish before this collection was announced, and this one I wanted so much. I failed to find it at Sally's during the holidays, so I waited until just recently to pick it up from Head2Toe Beauty.

Orly Au Champagne. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is Au Champagne, a gorgeous, glistening white. This lovely polish is now my go-to white polish. It is packed with white, pearly shimmer that creates a freshly fallen snow look. At a distance, it's a gentle, clean white. Up close, the shimmer appears pearly and opalescent. I can see opalescent shimmers in a few colors, which reminds me of a white, tri-coat vehicle paint. I love it!

Orly Au Champagne. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Swatches today are a base coat of Seche Clear, two coats of Au Champagne, and one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. This polish has a fantastic formula. It is nicely pigmented, or so packed with shimmer, that two coats provides good coverage. I bet this would make a great base for milky glitters!

Orly Au Champagne. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!

Hello!

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Just a quick post today! This is OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Don't Touch My Tutu! is a sheer, white jelly polish. It has an easy-to-work-with formula and a shiny finish. It's one of those "your nails but better" polishes, meaning that this provides a sheer wash of color which doesn't completely hide your nails, it just enhances them with a subtle brightening effect.

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Swatches are a base of Seche Clear, three coats of Don't Touch My Tutu!, and one coat of NYC In a New York Minute. It has a nice, soft, clean look, which is a nice change from the bright polishes I have been sporting lately.

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This was a part of the NYC Ballet Collection from last spring, I think. I found it dusty hunting a few months ago, so there may still be some to be found. Happy hunting! More soon! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Smitten Polish Glass Elevator

Hello! My first Smitten Polish today!

Smitten Polish Glass Elevator. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This is Smitten Polish Glass Elevator.

Smitten Polish Glass Elevator. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Glass Elevator has light green satin hexes along with fine, shiny green and blue glitter in a white, jelly base. Swatches today are three coats of Glass Elevator topped with Seche Vite over bare nails. Formula on this was okay. I found it a little hard to get even and the satin hexes got lost in the base. Much thinner coats or layering one coat over something else might help. All in all, I like the finished look, though. It reminds me of winter.

Smitten Polish Glass Elevator. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

 Smitten Polish can be found at Llarowe!

Smitten Polish Glass Elevator. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Revlon Spooky Skull

Hello again!!

Today I have a swatch of Revlon Spooky Skull. I've been seeing a lot of you find my site by using that one as a search term. I suspect from my mention of it here, my ghostie manicure, where I layered it over white. I thought I'd oblige and do an actual swatch and review of Spooky Skull. I haven't seen any swatches around the internets yet, so maybe this will be useful to some of you!

Revlon Spooky Skull. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Spooky Skull is a sheer white jelly with a white shimmer. This one is super, super sheer. Swatches today are a base coat of Sinful Colors Nail Hardener, then one coat of Spooky Skull on my pinkie finger, two on my ring finger, three on my middle finger and thumb, and, finally, four coats on my index finger. I skipped topcoat with this one because it was nice and shiny alone. It has a good, self-leveling formula, which gave me no trouble.

Revlon Spooky Skull. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

I picked this up in hopes of doing some jelly sandwich manis with it. It's very sheer, so I'm not sure how well it will work for that purpose. I'll have to experiment!

Revlon Spooky Skull. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

 I found my bottle at CVS, but I've also spied the display at Walgreens. 

Revlon Spooky Skull. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

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!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: OPI Skull & Glossbones

Hello again!

OPI Skull & Glossbones

Just a shortie post today!

Here is Skull & Glossbones from OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection. The formula was thick and a bit of a pain. I didn't use a base or topcoat with this. The first coat was really streaky and I was worried it wouldn't even out. I ended up needing three coats to get to this:

OPI Skull & Glossbones. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

This was on my first ever wishlist--when I first started getting into this little hobby, I spent hours pouring over blogs, looking at swatches. I made this giant list of polishes that I had to have. This was one of them, and that list ended up getting nearly completed. You'll get to see them as I continue to try and swatch them all during this little project of mine.

Even though this was a pain formula-wise, I do like this polish. It has a nice cement look to it. It reminds me of Halloween for some reason (maybe the name?), and I have plans to use this in a Halloween mani a few months from now. OPI is sold in salons, which is where I found mine. I'm not actually sure where else to get them, or how to find older polishes. I've since stopped buying OPI for a number of reasons, accessibility is one of them, but I'll continue to showcase the ones that I do have.

OPI Skull & Glossbones. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^