Autumn

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."--George Eliot

Autumn is, and always will be, my favorite season.  From my birthday, to glorious fall colors, to the cool crisp weather that makes yardwork (my favorite form of exercise) so much easier, to apple season and more, I feel calmer, more fulfilled and more generally happy in the fall.

To celebrate, above are some perfect autumn nails; Zoya Cheryl as a base, a gorgeous cocoa brown glassfleck shimmer, with Candii Blossom Cosmetics Autumn Leaves as a matte glitter topper.  Ahh, crisp fall perfection!

Puttin' on the (Neutral) Glitz

Nude polishes are always a safe choice, a classy choice, and a simple, clean choice.

I like a little flash with my neutral nails, so I popped Nina Ultra Pro's Holographic Topcoat (ugh, buy this polish asap folks, it's amaaaaaaazing) over China Glaze Fast Track, with an accent of Spoiled's Jewelry Heist, and voila!

Luxurious Brocades from Maybelline

I spotted the Maybelline Brocades in a CVS recently, and snapped up three bottles posthaste.  This manicure layers Embelleshed Blues (dark blue) and Beaming Blue (light blue) over Zoya's Neve, a gorgeous purple-leaning blue.

The Brocades can lean a little lumpy if they're more than one coat, but with the layering over a base color they smooth out beautifully with a layer of topcoat.

The shimmer in Embelleshed Blues has a GORGEOUS green flash to it, and Beaming Blue is a light blue/purplish pink duochrome.  Both have larger blue glitters as well, giving these polishes quite an effect in a single bottle.

I'm back!

I've been a pretty lackadaisical blogger for a while now, but I'd like to change that!  I moved house, got a new job, got some chickens and have been working on increasing my fitness level as well, so I let blogging take a bit of a back seat.

I'm hoping to stick to a Tuesday/Thursday posting schedule.  As my polish collection has done nothing but grow lately, I've got even more to share.

Let's start with my current manicure:

I used Zoya's Jaime as a base, and jazzed it up with one of the new Maybelline Brocades, Gilded Rose, and Sally Hansen Glitter Gun from the Rent the Runway collection (see a fantastic overview here: http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/2013/08/spotted-new-sally-hansen-limited_22.html).

Application Notes:

• The application of Jaime was very nice; I still had visible nail line at 2 coats, but no streakiness or tricky application, which can be the case with a pastel like this.  
• Gilded Rose is just perfect; opaque in 2 coats, smooth even before you add topcoat, stunning.  I might just buy a backup.
• Glitter Gun was a shot in the dark for me, because a lot of the major brands kind of miss the mark with glitter mixes like this, but I was pleasantly surprised!  Simple application, not too much dabbing to place the glitter, and a free-flowing base that didn't gloop up.

I, much like Wendy Torrance, love pink and gold together. Gorgeous!

Artsy Wednesday: Disney

I've been wanting to try a waterfall manicure for a while, and while I don't think I quite nailed it on the first try, I did end up with a neat manicure.

I used Disney's Snow White as my inspiration, with my middle nail as the skirt of her dress, my index and pinkie as the sleeves of her dress, and my ring as her face/lip/hair color.  I think this turned out a little eerie looking, but frankly the original Snow White story is pretty creepy, so I'm down with how slightly spooky this turned out!

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday bloggers; they all do some pretty gorgeous work!

Lab Muffin

Maria's Nail Art

Valiantly Varnished

Unnaked Nails

Nail & Polish

Beauty Gnome

M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E
Makeup and Masala
Every Little Polish

Artsy Wednesday: Green

Cloud mani time!  I tried a cloud manicure once before and it was a total disaster, but this holo'splosion of a manicure covers up the bruises and warts of my freehanding pretty well.  The layers, from cuticle to tip, are China Club Angel Kiss, Avon Starlight, and China Glaze Kismet.  I love the Halo Hues so much, and the scattered, more muted holo of Starlight really helps set off the different shades of the Halo Hues!

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday bloggers; they all do some pretty gorgeous work!

Lab Muffin

Maria's Nail Art

Valiantly Varnished

Unnaked Nails

Nail & Polish

Beauty Gnome

M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E
Makeup and Masala
Every Little Polish

Artsy Wednesday: Three Colors

It's never too early to start thinking about Halloween, and so I did a fall-ish, Halloweeny manicure to get me in a spooky mood.  I used Sally Hansen Lickety Split Lime as the base, then Slick Slate and Sun Kissed for stamping, using the LeaLC B plate.  I'm pretty pleased with the result!

Check out the other Artsy Wednesday bloggers; they all do some pretty gorgeous work (and we have two new participants, Makeup and Masala and Every Little Polish)!

Lab Muffin

Maria's Nail Art

Valiantly Varnished

Unnaked Nails

Nail & Polish

Beauty Gnome

M.A.S.P.O.O.A.S.E
Makeup and Masala
Every Little Polish