Happy Hanukkah!

I thought a jelly sandwich in the traditional colors of Hanukkah, silver and blue, would be a really charming manicure, and this look even evokes a snowy evening to boot, making it doubly seasonal!

Artsy Wednesday: Re-do your first blogged Nail Art

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My first blogged nail art is here: Memorial Day Manicure.  Not too shabby for just starting out!  I decided an exact duplicate manicure would be boring, so this is more of an "Inspired By" type of thing :)

I busted out my good old Orly Stone Cold and Rock-It; these colors are so stunning I can hardly stand it!  Plus, they're one-coaters. I'll always fall in love with a one-coater.  The holo triangles and stars are Gosh Holographic Hero.

The white is Milani White on the Spot, and I just had to jazz it up a bit.  I won a  Shimmer Polish giveaway a few months ago, and that blue beauty was a perfect way to snazz up my manicure!  Shimmer Polishes are really impressive; packed with glitter, but not goopy, no taco glitters, easy application and not too topcoat hungry either.  Impressive!

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday bloggers; they all do some pretty gorgeous work!  And welcome to our newest blogger, M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E!

Lab Muffin

Maria's Nail Art

Valiantly Varnished

Unnaked Nails

Nail & Polish

Beauty Gnome

M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E

Artsy Wednesday: Earthquake or Seismograph mani!

This kind of nail art, I like.  I can do it all with brushes in the bottles of my polish, it's simple, and people will probably ooh and ah when I go to the bank or grocery store, which is always a fun little ego boost!

I used two Pretty & Polished colors as my base; Olgite, a shimmering, duochromey blue with pale purpley-pink at certain angles, and Concoction, a deep purple jelly with holo glitter and iridescent flakies and small glitter (I KNOW, IT'S AMAZING).

Here, I have 2 coats of Olgite:

This polish is a nice opacity, and dries quickly to a satiny finish.  It's not matte, but it's not a full shine, probably due to the pigmentation.  I like it!  I did notice that my second coat needed to be a little thick to prevent dragging the first coat and creating bald patches; the polish wasn't hard to work with, it's just worth noting that a thicker second coat is worth it.  Plus, Olgite dries quickly, so no problemo!

Next, I put 2 coats of Concoction on half of each nail:

This polish is sheerer than Olgite, but two coats still provided good coverage (at least of the color of Olgite). This polish is pretty darn gorgeous, these pictures don't do it justice.  It's got a great depth, and the smidgeon of flakies in the polish give it a special twist!  I'll do lone swatches of Concoction soon, so you can really see how it pops!

Finally, paint a wiggly line down the center of your nail.  You can do this a few ways; add strips using the brush of the polish, add strips using a nail art brush, add a wavy line with a nail art brush, add zig-zags.  As long as it kind of looks like a seismograph, you've done your job!

I used GOSH Holographic Hero; I figured my nails were too dark to use black.  These turned out a little more Flash Gordon than Seismograph, but I really like them anyway!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin

Maria's Nail Art

Valiantly Varnished

Unnaked Nails

Nail & Polish

Beauty Gnome

Lacquered Lunatic

Disclaimer: The Pretty & Polished polishes featured in this blog entry were provided for review.  All opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

10 Day Nail Art Challenge Day 10: New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year!   I had a wonderful 2012, and I hope 2013 is good to all of you.  Have a wonderful time celebrating tonight!

 Cobalt blue, color-changing shimmer, holographic tips and stars, does it get any more festive?

10 Day Holiday Nail Art Challenge Day 1: Silver and Gold!

Silver and gold, silver and gold

Ev'ryone wishes for silver and gold

How do you measure its worth?

Just by the pleasure it gives here on Earth.

Silver and gold, silver and gold

Mean so much more when I see

Silver and gold decorations

On ev'ry Christmas tree.

I've had that song stuck in my head since I signed on for this nail art challenge.  I tried to do striping tape trees in gold, with Zoya's Luna as the background, for the silver element of the nail art.  I added little iridescent stars on top of each tree, to create a super shimmery, gorgeous manicure!  I'm in love with this one, and the tape trees are SO easy to do!

Photographing them, on the other hand, is NOT easy, especially when they're this glittery!  My lighting was shining off of it so brightly that I barely got any usable photos.  However, moving my hands around creates this gorgeously distracting glitter

Artsy Wednesday: Glitter gradient dotticure!

I just got a dotting tool, so I thought a snowy, tinselly glitter gradient was in order.  With Zoya's Luna and Trixie, I got a pretty nice (if not subtle, but sometimes subtle is nice!) glitter gradient dotticure:

I'm going to be putting more effort into blogging in the coming days, including the possibility of recording video each time I do an Artsy Wednesday manicure, or other nail art, and then posting it along with pictures.

I love Luna so, so much.  It's such an unusual, one-of-a-kind polish!  I'm pretty sure I bought it on a whim, probably during a promo of some sort, just a cart filler or what have you, but it's in my top 10 polishes, without a doubt.  The milky white silvery shimmery goodness is just so pretty!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

Artsy Wednesday: Movember (better late than never!)

I'm so sorry this post is late, but between holiday travels and being sick, I couldn't get my act together and Movember it up until after work today.

Movember is a moustache-growing movement that is geared toward raising awareness for prostate and testicular cancer.  You can learn more about Movember and its goals here: http://us.movember.com/  Being knowledgeable about cancers you and your loved ones are susceptible to, how to detect them, and what to do if you do think you've found something, is critical, so any time I can promote health initiatives I'm happy to do it, even in a small way like a Movember manicure!

I busted out my prized holos for this one; Layla Coffee Lover and Gosh Holographic Hero.  A nice, aged, distinguished silver moustache makes this Movember mani complete!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

Zoya Swatchathon: The Neutrals!

Zoya has a pretty fabulous selection of neturals, that range from pale pinks to greys, blues, greens, browns, purples, you name it.  I've got a selection here to share with you of my Zoya neutrals; I'm sure I'll get a lot of mileage out of these this fall!

First we have the silvers: Luna, Harley and Trixie.  Luna is a silver glitter in a whitish base, a very very cool take on a glitter polish.  I also didn't have to scrub too badly to remove Luna, which was a relief.  Harley is a cool dove grey with a slight shimmer.  It has a slightly tricky formula, a little thick but sheer at the same time, so it can be challenging to apply even coats.  However, a little extra care gives you a super soft, beautiful look!

Index, Middle: Luna  Ring, Pinky: Harley 

Next we have Trixie, a fantastic silver foil.  If you ever buy a silver foil, this is the one you should buy.  Great for stamping, easy to apply, not patchy, dries quickly, very nice!

 Index/Middle: Luna, Ring/Pinky: Harley, Thumb: Trixie

Next, the nudes.  First, we have Anne, a butterscotchy sheer nude with a hint of shimmer.  This is sheerer than I expected, but could be a really nice base for a french manicure.  Next we have Minka, an almost taupe nude with full coverage in just 2 coats!  I love this polish, it's a fabulous base for just about any nail art, and it looks so very classy.

 Index/Middle: Anne  Ring/Pinky: Minka

  Index/Middle: Anne  Ring/Pinky: Minka

I did 2 coats of Anne above, but wanted to compare 2 coats to 3 coats to show you the difference.

2 coats Anne: a little patchy, visible nail line

3 coats Anne: note that there's much less visible nail line

Next up, we have the neutral-pinks.  I thought these were too close to neutral to be included in the last post, and that they'd be a better fit in this set.  First we have Avril, a very nice pale pink that has a classy look to it.  I am amazed at how well this polish builds on itself; on the first coat you think "Oh no, this will never be opaque!" Then, the second coat covers the nail line and evens everything out immediately.

I also have Dharma here, a very very sheer pink base with a really nice blue flash to it.  I don't know how many coats it'd take to get opacity with this one, but it's a great little addition to other manicure colors, as well as adding a special touch to a French.

 Index/Middle: Avril, Ring/Pinky: Dharma

 Index/Middle: Avril, Ring/Pinky: Dharma

Finally, the browns.  These are totally dissimilar, but I didn't have anything else to pair them with, so they get to be compared to each other.  First is Angelina, a creamy dark brown that is almost a jelly in consistency; it applies like a jelly, but it is opaque in 2 coats, and has such a fantastic shine to it that I'm blown away.  These pictures are without topcoat!  That shine is all in the polish!

I also swatched Jules, a taupe with gold shimmer.  This is a neat take on gold, as it is understated, shimmery and charming without being in-your-face.  It's a gold for people who don't like gold.  It does have a bit of visible nail line after 2 thin coats, but a third one would eliminate it entirely.

 Index/Middle: Angelina, Ring/Pinky:Jules

 Index/Middle: Angelina, Ring/Pinky:Jules

That's all I have for Zoya Neutrals, but stay tuned for the Cool tones next!  I've also got some stamping plates coming in that I want to play around with, so I may test out how well Zoyas stamp!  I'm guessing it's going to be awesome.

Artsy Wednesday: Favorite Polish Brand

I didn't want to spoil this week's Artsy Wednesday theme this Monday when I declared it Zoya week here at the blog, but Zoya is definitely my favorite brand and I wanted to celebrate their awesome polishes on more than one day.

Zoya recently put out some fantastic jelly polishes, and I bought myself a bottle of Frida, a teal jelly.  Making jelly sandwiches with the Zoya jellies has taken the blogging world by storm (sandwiching a layer of glitter between layers of jelly polish), but I wanted to do something a little bit different.  Thus, I give you the Jelly Plaid!

 I started with two layers of Zoya's Luna, a pretty spectacular polish with silver glitter in a semi-opaque white base.  I almost passed on it, but I'm amazed every time I put it on as to how amazing and unusual it looks.

I blocked off a plaid pattern with striping tape, then painted 2 coats of Frida, a teal jelly, over.  The jelly finish lets the glittery goodness of Luna shine through while adding some color and depth.

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

 Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Polished Genius
Nails by Ms. Lizard
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Kaka Beauty Blog

Swatchfest: Hot Mess Lacquers!

I got these polishes about two months ago, and I just love them to pieces.  Hot Mess Lacquers is an indie polish brand that has started up recently.  I'm picky about indies; I don't like milky bases, I don't like certain bottle types, I don't like ones that I think look "barfy", I don't like certain densities of glitter (too sparse/too dense).

Now, I'm just one person, and there's a market for just about any polish, but Hot Mess definitely satisfies my polish criteria; the bases of the polish I got were nicely pigmented jellies, the glitter was dense and easy to get out, but not so dense that the polish was unusable or gritty, the glitters were interesting sizes/shapes but didn't curl one bit, there was no bleeding and no staining of my nails, and the bottles are cute and easy to use.  Wonderful!

I want you all to note, none of these swatches have topcoat, so all the shine and smoothness you see is in the polish itself.  Seriously, awesome formulas!

I bought 4 polishes from the Hot Mess line.  From left to right in the photo below, they are: Red Headed Step Child, Aquanet, Cupcake and Yankee Star.

Red Headed Step Child is a strawberry red jelly base with medium red hexes and little black hexes.  The formula on this is super nice, and I didn't even have visible nail line after 2 coats!  This is one juicy looking polish, and a nice twist on the classic red nail.

Swatches include: Index, 2 coats RSHC; Middle, one coat Julep Glen, one coat RHSC; Ring, one coat Smoke and Ashes, one coat RHSC; pinky, one coat white, one coat RHSC.

Aquanet, aside from having a hilarious name, is a perfect synthetic, acidy pale purple jelly with a ton of different glitter shapes including HUGE hexes that are super easy to place and very, very dramatic.  I love the little square glitter too, and how the holographic effect shines through the jelly base.  

Swatches include: Index, 2 coats Aquanet; Middle, one coat Anise Total Temptress, one coat Aquanet; Ring, one coat Smoke and Ashes, one coat Aquanet; pinky, one coat white, one coat Aquanet.

Cupcake is a great way to encrust your nails in jewel-like glitter; I've tried to come up with a way to describe this corally, golden, pinky polish, and the best I can come up with is that it looks like some sort of gorgeous starfish.  It's textural, shimmery, shiny and beautiful.  It is the thickest of the four, so working to get a manageable coat can take a little bit of effort, but it's worth it.  This again has those big hexes, that I've really never seen before in a polish, and are an awful lot of fun to wear.

Swatches include: Index, 2 coats Cupcake; Middle, one coat Cos Bar Bronze, one coat Cupcake; Ring, one coat Smoke and Ashes, one coat Cupcake; pinky, one coat white, one coat Cupcake. 

Finally, Yankee Star.  When I bought this, I didn't realize that all the glitter in it would be holographic, so imagine my surprise and delight when I was expecting plain silver glitters and pulled out a veritable disco ball of rainbows and shiny prettiness!  Yankee Star has stars, bar glitter, squares, hexes, tiny glitter, you name it, all in a clear base.  

The base in Yankee Star is the thinnest, which means the bigger glitter will sink slightly (not all to the bottom, but they will settle toward the middle of the bottle), but setting the bottle on its side for a few minutes  makes the glitter totally accessible.  The thinner base also means that multiple coats don't result in too much polish on your fingers, saving you dry time.

Swatches include: Index, 2 coats Yankee Star;  Middle, one coat Orly Stone Cold, one coat Yankee Star; Ring, one coat Smoke and Ashes, one coat Yankee Star; pinky, one coat white, one coat Yankee Star.

Hot Mess Lacquers are available on Etsy, and are often listed on Copious, so any credits you have could be used to get your hands on some of this fantastic polish!

Disclaimer: all products for this review were purchased with my own money, and all opinions are my own.

Skittles Kick

I've been on a real "skittles nails" kick lately, using a bunch of different colors for each manicure.  I think I just enjoy looking at all the different colors/finishes of the polish, plus a skittles manicure means I don't have to pick just one polish!

My right hand features a bunch of different golds.  From thumb to pinky: 

• LA Colors Antique Gold: a butter London Wallis dupe!  This is one of those ugly/beautiful green golds that are just neat to look at, even if they are really weird.
• Julep Sienna: possibly the best gold polish ever.  Opaque in one coat, good wear, and a really neat white gold look to it.
• Wet n' Wild The Gold and The Beautiful: a greenish leaning gold glitter, it doesn't have as much visible nail line in real life.  2 coats.
• OPI Rising Star: from the Burlesque collection, which may be OPI's prettiest collection ever.  I only have a mini, and I wish I could get my hands on the full-size set, but scouring eBay for it doesn't seem worth the time when I have all this other polish to use.
• Zoya Tiffany: this is such an unusual orangey pinkey goldey glassfleck polish.  It looks a lot like Zoya's Rica, but leans way more pink and gold, while Rica leans more orange.  2 coats got me to opacity, which is really nice for a polish with a moderately sheer formula.

 Silver on the left, to go with the gold on the right! On my left, from thumb to pinky, I've got:

• Zoya Trixie: great formula, 2 coats
• Nicole by OPI Make a Comet-Ment: A scattered silver holo, slightly thin but no visible nail line after 2 coats
• Zoya Harley: A tricky formula, I had to use 3 coats to make sure this wasn't patchy, and I'm not sure the final result is flawless, but the color is just beautiful.
• Essie Power Clutch: I just got this in a 6 polish set from Ross (for less than $18!!), and thought it'd be the worst color on me, but I think it actually looks fantastic.  I did 3 thin coats to make sure there were no bald spots, but it dried like a dream and was a great consistency.
• Color Club Magic Attraction: Another Ross find, this one has holo silver glitter and small pinkish glitter in it; I don't have a lot of silver polish, so this was what I went with in a pinch, but it has great coverage after 2 coats.  It is still a little gritty to the touch after a coat of Out the Door though, but that doesn't bother me much.

So much more fun to look at than just one color!