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Saturday, March 31, 2012

My Stash - China Glaze

Another installment of my stash! I missed last week, so I plan to have another post in a couple of days. Today, you'll get to see all of my China Glaze.

All in rows

Lightning Bolt, Oxidized Aqua, Crushed Candy, & Broken Hearted

He's Going in Circles, Sunshine, Tinsel Town, & Emerald Fitzgerald

Snow Globe, Sangria, Icicle, & Heaven

Sun Worshiper, Secret Peri-wink-le, & Fairy Dust

I have not even worn half of my China Glaze polishes. The application on all of the ones I have tried is great. I should own more.

Clicking the linked polish names will send you to a post containing a swatch/review of it.

L.A. Colors Sea Siren

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! I have a bright shimmering color to show you today!




L.A. Colors Sea Siren is a bright turquoise with slight shimmer. The application is great and opaque in two coats. I know some overlook L.A. Colors because of the price tag, given its only a dollar, but trust me, it does just as well as polish I've paid eight dollars for. Give it a chance. 

L.A. Colors retail for around $1 and can be found at most Dollar stores.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 8 - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! I have the last design for the Girly Girl Nail Challenge for you today. This challenge lasts a month and includes eight different days of nail art. Instead of trying to keep up with a new nail design each day, we have two each week. Day Eight is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: It's true, we do! Let your mani show us how fun-loving you are!







Nothing says fun like multicolor glitter! I did each finger with a different polish to amp up the fun. From thumb to pinky, they are Wet n Wild Silvivor and Essense Hello Holo, China Glaze Sunshine, Zoya Kissy, Kleancolor Puppy Love, and Color Club Holiday Splendor. Silvivor is a pretty silver metallic, opaque in two coats. Hello Holo is an amazing polish with a clear base packed full of holo glitter. Sunshine is a yellow jelly with small holo glitter. Its rather sheer, so it took three coats, but I imagine it would be opaque over white or a yellow base. Kissy is full of red, pink, purple, and holo micro and bar glitter. So much in one bottle. It took three coats to be opaque and would look lovely as a layering polish I imagine. Puppy Love is a barely blue base with small blue glitter. It was also three coats. Finally, Holiday Splendor is a one coat green jelly with holo glitter. The application with Hello Holo, Silvivor, and Holiday Splendor is perfect. Puppy Love is very good as well. Kissy and Sunshine need to be dry between each coat or they will drag a little. But other than that, the application was good.

Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their websiteEssence Special Effect Toppers polish retail for €1.79. Given I'm not located in that part of the world, I am unsure of which stores carry Essence in Europe, but their website has a store locator for you. Sunshine is part of the China Glaze Specialty Collection. It retails for $3-6 at various stores and websites (including Head2Toe Beauty, and Amazon. Kissy is part of the Zoya Gems & Jewels Collection and retails for $8 on their website. Kleancolor retails for $3.50 on their websiteHoliday Splendor is part of the Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Zoya Apple

I hope you're enjoying your Wednesday! I have a gorgeous sparkly Spring color to show you today.




Just as the name implies Zoya Apple is a yellow-toned apple green with gorgeous gold shimmer. In person, there is no visible nail line. It is opaque in two coats. The application is great, it goes on very smooth. Apple is a wonderful Spring green. Its very cheerful.

Apple is part of the Zoya Sunshine Collection and retails for $8 on their website.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 7 - Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! I have another design for the Girly Girl Nail Challenge for you today. This challenge lasts a month and includes eight different days of nail art. Instead of trying to keep up with a new nail design each day, we have two each week. Day Seven is Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: That's what little girls are made of! Show off your sweet (or spicy) inspired nails.




I took the theme a bit literal. Sugar on my index finger with Bon Bons 1060 and Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter, both two coats. Spice on my middle finger with two coats of Julep Demi. Everything Nice on my ring finger with Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go and Ulta Glitter Top Coat, both two coats. On my pinky, I combined Sugar and Spice with 1060 and Demi. Every girl is a combination of them after all. :)

Ulta Nail Lacquer retails for $6 at Ulta. Bon Bons retail for $1 at Walmart and Bari CosmeticsSinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. Julep retails for $14 at Julep. Finger Paints retail for $5 at Sally Beauty Supply.

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amanda of Nox Nails
Amanda of Berry Polished
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

Monday, March 26, 2012

Butterfly Wings

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! Today I have my creation for the Monday Nail Art Challenge on Polish-aholics Anonymous to show you. This week's theme is Butterfly.






This was my first time attempting butterfly wings. I loosely followed along with a tutorial by CutePolish. For my base, I used Barielle End of the Rainbow. I used three thin coats for opacity. With a nail art brush and Sinful Colors Black on Black, I painted on the black outlines. Finally, I used two different size dotting tools and Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the dots. I wish my lines had been a bit more straight, but I like how this turned out. Especially considering its the first time I've attempted this design.

Barielle Shades retail for $8 on their websiteSinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Black & White

Its Stamping Sunday! This week's theme is Black and White. Any design as long as its only black and white.



I painted my ring finger with two coats of Sinful Colors Black on Black and the rest of my fingers with three thin coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Using plate BM04, I stamped the design on using both of the Sinful Colors polishes. I went back with a dotting tool and added small dots to frame out the design. Snow Me White appears a little off white over the black.

Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Color Club Poptastic and My Franken Shatter Shock

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! I have a cute manicure to show you that's been sitting on my computer since earlier this month. On PAA, there was a Monday Nail Art Challenge with the theme "Pets". Any manicure was fine as long as you featured your pet (or stuffed animal) in the picture.





I painted all of my nails with two coats of Color Club Poptastic, a bright pink creme. The application is perfect. Then I layered my franken crackle on every other nail. Bridget Benike (a lovely lady I know from PAA) named my franken Shatter Shock. Its a black holo crackle. In the pictures, it appears to be a scattered holo. But in person, its linear; similar to Revvvolution. The last picture was taken with a flash to really show the holo.

As I mentioned before, I did this combination for the Pets theme. So I took a picture with my chihuahua Butterscotch. Not a very good nail shot, but I was more focused on having her stay still. Most of the pictures were blurry because she was moving.


Poptastic is part of the Color Club Poptastic Collection. It retails for $4-8 various places online.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 6 - Who Inspires You?

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! I have another design for the Girly Girl Nail Challenge for you today. This challenge lasts a month and includes eight different days of nail art. Instead of trying to keep up with a new nail design each day, we have two each week. Day Six is Who Inspires You?: Show some love to your favorite female role model by creating gorgeous nails in their honor.



My mom is the woman that inspires me the most. She is a wonderful mother and individual. She has always put my brothers and I first, wanting the best for us. I love her more than words can express. So for today, I painted my nails blue, her favorite color. When I showed them to her, she loved the accent nail the most.



I painted all of my nails with two coats of Ulta Blue Streak then one coat of Ulta Hide and Go Sequins on each ring finger. Blue Streak is a lovely creme. It looks a little like a streaky jelly for the first coat, but evens out to a pretty creme with the second coat. Hide and Go Sequins is a dark blue jelly with green, blue, and silver hex glitter along with smaller blue glitter.

Ulta Nail Lacquer retails for $6 at Ulta. Hide and Go Sequins was part of a limited edition Glitterati set of mini polishes.

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amanda of Nox Nails
Amanda of Berry Polished
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Look by BIPA Metallic Matt

Its the middle of the week! I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! I have a pretty holo polish to show you today.





I love holo! Look by BIPA Metallic Matt is a gorgeous silver linear holo. It was opaque in two thin coats. The holo effect is hard to capture, but you can see the rainbow of colors. For this polish, a top coat does not dim the holo effect at all. The application was great and very shiny without top coat. Makes me wonder where they got the matt part from.

This polish was a gift, but from what I understand, the Look by BIPA Special Effect polishes are limited edition and retailed for € 1.99. The brand can be found on BIPA. If anyone knows where these are sold and if they are still available, please let me know.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 5 - Gotta Love Chick Flicks!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday! I have another design for the Girly Girl Nail Challenge for you today. This challenge lasts a month and includes eight different days of nail art. Instead of trying to keep up with a new nail design each day, we have two each week. Day Five is Gotta Love Chick Flicks: We just can't resist! Wear a mani inspired by your favorite chick flick.




My favorite chick flick is without a doubt The Notebook. Its an amazing love story. If you have not seen the movie, I will not spoil it for you by telling you about my mani, I promise. Noah writes Allie a letter everyday for a year. 365 letters.




I painted all of my nails with three thin coats of Essie Bone Chilling. For my ring finger, I used a L.A. Color Art Deco Black Striper then painted a heart with a dotting tool and Julep Cameron. For the rest of my fingers, I wrote out words with the tip of a calligraphy pen. I could not get the letters small enough with polish. And calligraphy pens will not bleed or run. 

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amanda of Nox Nails
Amanda of Berry Polished
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles
Eugenia of Talon-ted
Jess of LuvMyLacquer
Kelly of Devilish Polish
Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins
Sarah of See Sarah Swatch
Stephanie of A Little Polish
Tressa of O' Natur Nail