Rock Star Mani

Polish-aholics Anonymous has Monday Nail Art every week. This week was rock star. I'm a little late getting mine done after being sick. I did it last night, but when I was done, I was ready for bed. So, the post is coming to you today. :)

I originally had a different idea in mind. Glitter, stars, silver, purple, black. But it fell through. Though while staring at my nails Monday an idea hit me. I decided to layer on top of my existing color so I wouldn't be so discouraged by being sick. The design came together very well and I love it much more than the design I originally had in mind.

For my base I used my existing layer of e.l.f. Sunset. I painted an extra coat to smooth out wear from the previous day, but if I were starting from scratch, I would only need two coats. I taped off diagonal tips and used two coats of Wet n Wild Silvivor. Then with my striping brush, I added a line with Sinful Colors Black on Black. On my accent finger I used my new rhinestones instead of the stripe. 

I love this design! Especially Silvivor. Its really metallic and so shiny. I know in the pictures my rhinestones look more like round half pearls. My top coat killed them. I'll know better than to use it next time with them. 

I am really excited about my rhinestones. I just got them in the mail Monday from an EBay seller in China. They only cost me 99 cents, free shipping. And they only took nine days to get to me (including weekends). I got 1500 of them in 12 different colors. I took pictures so you could see how pretty they were before my top coat came into play.

If anyone is interested in getting some like this, the selection is here. They come in 1000 x 4mm, 1200 x 2mm, and 1500 x 3mm. I got the 3mm. I will be buying more soon, considering the nice quality and great price.

e.l.f. Sunset

I've been sick for the past several days, so I've lacked polish posts. The fumes plus my already aching head do not mix. So Creepy Pumpkin stayed on my nails for days. I finally took it off last night to attempt a rock star mani design, Polish-aholics Anonymous's nail design theme for today. I gave up partway in. The design was not going as I expected, plus I did not feel well. So I stripped off everything and went naked. Naked nails, I mean. :P

Them being bare was getting to me, so I searched through my untrieds for something quick to paint on. I settled on e.l.f. Sunset. Its a very pretty color that I can only describe as berry wine. It has a frost finish, which looks prettier (in my opinion) with a top coat.

I love it! Perfect for Autumn. It has a slight shimmer to it, which you can see in the bottle.

I have nothing but love for e.l.f. polishes. I own a few and love every single one of them. Great application, look, and price. I got this particular one in a set of three called Purple Trio from Ross for only two dollars.

Sunset is absolutely worth owning! :)

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Creepy Pumpkin

I finally found some time to paint my nails. Yay! I decided on Creepy Pumpkin. The bottle is so cute! The top is shaped like a little headstone with R.I.P. written on it.

Artificial Light No Flash

Artificial Light No Flash

Its very pretty. And as I'm sure you can tell, its pretty sheer. If you have short nails, you could probably get away with three coats. I used six and you can still see my nail line. Next time I wear Creepy Pumpkin, I will definitely use a colored base coat.

I layered two coats of Night Glow over this (from the same collection). It glows pretty bright in the dark. However, I could not manage to get a picture. The light from my camera was unhelpful. I will figure out a better way to photograph the glow in the dark polish better before I wear it again.

This polish is definitely worth owning if you love orange, Fall, or Halloween. I found mine at ULTA for only two dollars.

Patchwork Nails

This week's Monday Nail Art Challenge on Polish-aholics Anonymous is Patchwork. Its an interesting idea for a nail design. I did not have time for an entire patchwork manicure, so I did accent nails on my ring fingers.

For my patchwork accent nails, I used Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, Sally Girl Surf's Up, No6 Party Punch, and Sinful Colors Black on Black. On the rest of my nails, I used No6 Party Punch.

I think its cute as an accent nail, but I wouldn't want to wear an entire manicure of it. Its just not my thing.

Pure Ice Spit Fire

I am far behind on keeping up on my nail posts. I painted my nails on Thursday night and meant to post this Friday after work. That did not happen. But better late than never.

I was crunched for time and did not want to go with naked nails, so I opted for partially naked glitter covered nails. A pretty glitter by Pure Ice called Spit Fire. It has rose gold glitter along with some iridescent as well.

This is one coat over my bare nails. It has a lot of glitter for one coat. You cannot tell from the pictures that the glitter on my nails is iridescent, but you get a glimpse of it in the picture below of the bottle.

Since I was going to work with this glitter on, I wanted to take some of sparkle away. So I added Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love. I love the effect that matte polish has on glitter. Its so interesting. And instantly changes the look of your polish.

I promise Spit Fire is just gorgeous in person. I swatched it yesterday on my new nail wheels. Two coats and you could see the rose tint. It is so pretty. And absolutely worth owning.

Essence You Belong to Me

Seafoam is such a pretty color. And that is what Essence You Belong to Me reminds me of. A lovely blend of blue and green. The application was good. The first coat was a little streaky, but the second coat evened that out. I've noticed a lot of polishes apply like that.

Its a tad more green than the second picture shows. Basically what you think of when seafoam comes to mind. Its definitely worth purchasing. I found mine at Ulta for one dollar.

Dahlia Cantaloupe

Before seeing Dahlia Nail Lacquer on Ebay, I had never heard of the brand. Although after a little digging, I discovered it is a cosmetics company that was established in 1924. To be around that long, they must be doing something right, right? So I gave in and bought two Dahlia polishes. Cantaloupe is the first one of the two I've tried.

I used Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love on top. Cantaloupe by itself is shiny and the exact color of the inside of the fruit its named for. Its got a little more peach to it than the picture shows, but if you've seen a cantaloupe, you know the color.

I don't think you can tell from the picture, but it painted on streaky. Even after four coats. Perhaps thinning it would help. I will thin it before using it again. But don't let my streaky experience deter anyone from purchasing a Dahlia polish. I've had bad experiences with wonderful polish brands. I blame it on a bad batch or a chemical reaction to my body chemistry. Who knows why it happens...

I plan to try my other Dahlia polish soon. I'll let y'all know how it paints on. Hopefully better than this one.

Sinful Haul

I made a trip to Walgreens today with their 99 cents sale on Sinful Colors in mind. They have beautiful colors and you cannot beat a dollar for polish. So I splurged. Eight polishes, plus one Wet n Wild.

From left to right (in the first picture): Sinful Colors Unicorn, Mint Apple, Purple Diamond, Black on Black, Irish Green, Sugar Sugar, Pinky Glitter, San Francisco, and Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters.

Essence Twins Bella and Edward

I was lucky enough to win a set of Essence Nail Art Twins from Traci. I received them in the mail yesterday and was in love. I had to try them out. So last night I painted them on. They are so beautiful in person!

Bella is just gorgeous! A lovely blue/green shade of polish. It only took one coat to be opaque on most of my nails.

Then I added Edward. This is just one coat. So much glitter for one coat. There looks to be three sizes of glitter. Large squares, and two sizes of round glitter. So beautiful. I'm absolutely in love with it.

If you can get your hands on these two, they are absolutely worth owning.

Veering off the polish road, tonight is the finale of True Blood. Instead of revisiting my True Blood nail art, I decided to keep Twilight on my fingers and break out my Eric Northman necklace. I thought I'd share, for anybody that loves True Blood too.

Nail Mail! Essence Twins and Dahlia Polishes

I love getting packages in the mail. Especially what I got today. I won Traci's 1200 Follower Giveaway. The prize was the Essence Twins Bella and Edward. I was literally over the Moon when I got the email saying I won. I've been looking all over for them. You cannot get them in the US without paying outrageous shipping or finding someone in Europe to send them to you.

Traci sent them to me in pretty pink bubble wrap with equally cute tape. They arrived safely, thankfully.

Bella is the solid, while Edward is the glitter. Both are just gorgeous! Edward has tons of glitter. Some are squares. I've never seen square glitter in nail polish. Always round or hexagons. I cannot wait to try these out. I will either tonight or tomorrow. So expect my next post to be out them.

To Traci, thank you again!

Along with my Essence polishes, I got some Dahlia polishes. I had never heard of the brand before I saw them on Ebay. A little research later, and they looked to be like nice polishes.

The tops of the bottles are insanely long. I've never seen any that long. But I like the curved shape. Fits better to my hand. The left is Cantalope and the right is Orange. Both look to be very pretty polishes.

On a non-polish note, I wanted to share another thing I got in the mail today. Cute little crystal hearts for a bracelet I want to make.

I make and sell jewelry online. I absolutely love it. I will be trying my hand at nail polish jewelry in the near future. You can find all my jewelry here.

New Polishes

I always seem to buy polish in threes. Today was no exception. I stopped by Ulta and decided spending a little bit of money wouldn't hurt. I had planned to see which of the Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers they had left. Only the orange and black. I don't wear black often at all, so I just got the orange. Along with a couple of other little bottles.

From left to right: Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Creepy Pumpkin, Essence You Belong to Me, and Absolutely Pure. Creepy Pumpkin is a lovely shade of orange with glitter. The best way to describe You Belong to Me is seafoam.

I cannot wait to try Creepy Pumpkin. I love love love Halloween!