Mint Manis For Talia Joy

  Hello to all!  I know this poor blog has been collecting cobwebs and dust the past few months - life has been crazy.  I will tell you all a bit about what has been going on lately in another post (I do plan on trying to get on here at least once a week or so if possible) but right now I want to talk about what has brought me back today.

  As many of you might know, the beauty community recently lost one of our own in 13-year-old Talia Joy Castellano.  She fought a long and hard battle with cancer and earned her wings this week.  One of the last photos she posted to Instagram was a mint manicure she, her mother, and her sister all wore together.  The nail community decided to honor her today by posting "Mint Manis For Talia Joy," headed up by Nicole of Nail Polish Wars.  I had to come back to pay tribute to this amazing little girl!

  For this mani, I recreated an old favorite in mint colors.  I used China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint as a base, OPI Jade is the New Black and Konad White for the stamping using plate BM-315.  The white doesn't pop against the mint quite as much as the blue from the original but I actually love the subtle look.

  I think it's great that so many in the community are showing their love and support for this wonderful person and her family.  She touched a lot of people's lives and will be greatly missed.  My thoughts and prayers to all of her family and friends!

31 Day Challenge, Day 2 - Orange: Monarch Butterflies

  Hello all!  Orange didn't end up being a very hard prompt for me - it only took me a few seconds to settle on a design that I have been wanting to try for quite awhile, but never had the proper tools (or the confidence) to actually try.  This look has been done by many others and I am glad to have finally recreated my own version!

  For these monarch butterfly nails, I started off with two coats of Zoya Tanzy, a light orange shimmer.  I then sponged on China Glaze Riveting to give a gradient effect from light to dark shimmery orange.  I used Zoya Raven and a striping brush to paint the lines, and Zoya Purity and a dotting tool to add the white dots at the tips of the wings.. I mean nails.  :)

  I really love how these turned out, especially with the gradient!  I think after doing this once I am getting a better feel for how to use the striping brush well, and it makes me want to totally recreate the look because I think I could do a much better job, haha.  Maybe this summer!  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and aside from horribly smearing some of the dots, I really loved it.

  Also, my starting the 31 day challenge prompted my sister Becky to do it along with me!  We are a bit off-synch right now but we'll probably get caught up soon.  Check out her day one nails!  Now I'm off to brainstorm what do to for day three... check back Friday to see what I come up with!

Mardi Gras!

  Happy Mardi Gras!  While I don't have any fun celebration plans for the day (I mostly plan to go to work, come home, and study), I of course had to plan out a fun Mardi Gras manicure.

Indoors, light box

  For these nails, I used three coats of China Glaze Glitter All The Way, a multi-colored glitter made up of gold, green, purple, and red glitters in a clear base.  As soon as I saw this color in the Holiday Joy collection, I just knew I would be wearing it for Mardi Gras!  On the ring finger, I tried out my very first fishtail pattern using Zoya Ziv, Tru, and Holly.  It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be and I really love the look!  I will definitely have to use this technique again soon.  Hope you all have a great day!

Indoors, light box

Valentine's Water Marble

  It's been awhile since I decided to get my hands all messy... I mean since I did a water marble.  ;)

  I started with a base of Zoya Purity and then used OPI If You Moust, You Moust (pink), Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam (white), and Nicole by OPI Kourt is Red-y For A Pedi (red).  I then used China Glaze Fairy Dust for a nice sprinkle of holo glitter.  Don't ask where that random silver glitter on my middle finger came from, because I don't know.  It bothers me, haha.  But other than that, I loved the results of this one!  The technique might be messy, but so worth it in the end!

Blurry close-up for the holographic glitter effect

With A Cherry On Top

  While I was creating this new layout, I kept getting ideas for matching nail designs using similar colors and patterns.  I have always wanted to do a cherry manicure of some sort, and this presented the perfect opportunity!

  For these nails I started out with one of my very favorite colors, China Glaze For Audrey, on all but my ring finger.  As an accent nail, I used Nicole by OPI Please Red-cycle.  I then added white polka dots using Konad Special White polish and plate BM-19, and the darker blue swirls to the other fingers using Nicole by OPI Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam and plate m64.  For fun, here are the nails with stamping alone, before adding the cherries:

  For the cherries, I started out with Nicole by OPI Please Red-Cycle for the main body of the red cherries and Nicole by OPI Up & Kim-ing Pink for the pink cherries.  Stems were added with OPI Did It On 'Em, and the white reflection with Zoya Purity.

  This design was a lot of fun to create, and to wear!  I do, however, need to find some better paintbrushes for fine details on nail art, I think mine are too large and floppy.  I had only planned on wearing this for a day, but ended up leaving it on for three because it was too much fun to take off.  Got a lot of comments on this one! 

Gorgeous Glitter - I'm Not Lion!

  Today I want to share with you my selection from the China Glaze Safari collection from last fall.  While I really liked quite a few of the polishes from the collection, I really had to limit myself to just one when it came out.  It was a tough choice, but in the end I am super pleased with the one I picked out!

Outdoors, direct sun

  China Glaze I'm Not Lion! is a light gold glitter packed with holographic glitter bits.  I was drawn to this one because the color is neutral enough that when I need a more subtle look for work I can get away with it, but get it in the bright light and it comes to life!  I wore this around the hospital for about a week last fall and got quite a few compliments on it.  Application is fairly smooth, although it does take three coats to build to opacity.  Here is a fuzzy shot for you to really see that holo shine!

Outdoors, direct sun

  In low light the polish it a bit more tamed, but still really pretty.  Enough of the holo still peeks out to give it a glowing look.

  This is a great polish, perfect for any time of the year and just about any occasion.  I'm very glad I chose to add it to my collection!

It's a Trap!

  While the entire China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection was lovely, I only ended up with one of them, and I am so glad I added it to my collection!

Outdoors, shade

  China Glaze It's a Trap-eze is a rainbow of glitter in a sheer milky base.  The glitters in here include white, blue, green, orange, pink, yellow... and probably some more that I'm missing, in a variety of sizes.  It's a bit on the thick side, which is to be expected with this much glitter, but applied really nicely in two coats.

Outdoors, sun

Outdoors, shade

  I really like the combination of colors in here, and it is pretty unique, at least to my collection.  It seems that China Glaze is catching on to the indie-glitter craze and trying to bring it to the mainstream salon brands, which is pretty fun.  If you like glitters and didn't grab this one yet, I would strongly consider it!  It's a wonderful polish - not a trap at all.  ;)

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Ringing in 2013 with Zoya Storm

  Happy New Year to all!  Hope the first five days of 2013 have treated you well - and that any resolutions that you made are still going strong!  Mine are... doing okay, haha.  One of them is to post on here more often - we'll see how well I can keep up with that!  To start, here is my New Year's Eve manicure, featuring the lovely Zoya Storm.

Indoors, artificial light

  For these nails, I started with two coats of Zoya Storm, a gorgeous black with scattered holographic glitter.  For images of Storm alone, see below.  I added silver holo snowflakes using plate BM-323 and China Glaze OMG.  While I loved that look alone (and sort of wish I had some pictures), I decided to play off of the bright colors of the holo glitter and add some colored dots to the center of some of the snowflakes.  I used China Glaze LOL, TMI, and Techno Teal for holographic colorful dots.  While I really like the effect of the purple and teal dots, the pink almost seems a bit too bright for the black and draws all of your attention.  But I am still pleased with the outcome!  I topped it off with a silver rhinestone in the center of the large ring finger snowflake.

Outdoors, natural light

  Storm alone is completely gorgeous.  In natural light, it is an inky black with scattered silver microglitter, which on its own is pretty enough.  However, get it under some sun (absent on this overcast, snowy day) or some artificial lights and...

Indoors, artificial light

Indoors, artificial light

  The holographic effect is intense and gorgeous.  While slightly less holo than Aurora, against the black background is is really beautiful.  This is probably my second pick from the Zoya Ornate collection, and my new favorite black holographic.  I would strongly recommend it for the upcoming three-free deal from Zoya!

  I have lots of fun swatches, glitter layering combos, stamping and nail art planned for the upcoming weeks so keep checking back!  I will do my best to keep up this resolution - good luck with any resolutions that you have made for 2013!

Jolly Winter Holly

  Today I have for you China Glaze Winter Holly from their Holiday Joy 2012 collection.  This stunning medium emerald green is speckled with green, gold and scattered holographic fine glitter in a clear base.

Outdoors, indirect sunlight

  Unfortunately I didn't have the best day for snapping photos of this one outside.  You can see a little bit of the holo in the picture above, but the sun was just barely peaking out from the clouds.  Here is a slightly fuzzy, artificial light shot to get a real sense of the holo glitter.

Indoors, artificial light

  The holo in this makes it one of my favorite Christmas greens of my collection.  It applied well in three coats, not too thick or gloopy.  A bit on the gritty side, but not more so than other similar glitter polishes.

Outdoors, shade

  While you lose the holo in the shade, the green and gold combination still make this a gorgeous polish, and perfect for the holidays!  This is definitely one of my new favorite greens!

  Merry Christmas Eve to all!  Check back tomorrow for my Christmas Day manicure!

Pink Bubbles

  Here is a fun stamping manicure I wore earlier this summer.  Got a lot of great comments on this one, as it was my manicure during my short (but still way too long) hospital stay in June.  All of my nurses loved it!

  Started off with two coats of China Glaze Dance Baby, with houndstooth pattern in Nicole by OPI All Kendall-ed Up using plate m63, and the circles in Konad Special White using plate m85.  I love the depth the houndstooth pattern in a slightly darker color gives this, even from far away.  Happy Pink Wednesday! :)

Happy Birthday To Me....

  My 26th birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and I did this fun brightly colored water marble for the event.

Outdoors, sunlight

  I started off with a base coat of OPI Pink Friday, and then marbled with OPI Funky Donkey, OPI Fly, and Nicole by OPI All Kendall-ed Up.  I added the tips using Konad Special White and plate BM17.  Of course I had to top it off with some China Glaze Fairy Dust.  These nails were perfect for my birthday, since these are some of my very favorite colors!

Outdoors, shade

Stone Cold

  Another quick post today - still dealing with all of this life-change stuff and to top it off the sinusitis/bronchitis that I thought I got rid of a couple of weeks ago came back with a vengeance.  Ah, life... :)

Outdoors, shade

  Two coats of China Glaze Stone Cold from their Capitol Colors Hunger Games collection.  Gorgeous dark gray/black matte polish.  As with all mattes dries super fast so apply quickly or it can get streaky.  I'm not usually into blacks like this but the matte finish makes it totally awesome.

Happy Easter!

  What better time than Easter Weekend to rock a fun pastel skittles mani?  Unfortunately it makes me wish I had some candy in the house, since they look like little candy-coated Easter chocolates.  Oh well.  :)

Outdoors, overcast

  For this mani I used the following colors, from thumb to pinky: China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, Essie Lilacism, Orly Lemonade, China Glaze Kinetic Candy, and OPI Pink Friday.  I used Konad Special White stamping polish and plates BM-211 (flowers) and m19 (tips) to add the designs.  I topped each nail off with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust for a slight touch of holographic glitter and was done!

Close-up for detail

  Hope everybody has a fabulous Easter weekend!

Red Bandana

  Quick post today with a fun stamping mani using one of my favorite patterns.  :)

Outdoors, shade

  Two coats of OPI Red Lights Ahead... Where? followed by stamping with Konad Special White and plate m60.  Finally topped off with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust to add a bit of holographic sparkle.  Basic and fun!  So ready for summer.

Outdoors, sunlight

Tristam with a side of OMG

  Here is another gorgeous polish from a-England, the dark blue holographic Tristam!

Outdoors, sunlight

  For these nails I used two coats of s-England Tristam, which applied beautifully and has a gorgeous holographic effect on its own.  Then I stamped on some China Glaze OMG using plate RA-108.

Sunlight

Outdoors, shade

  I pretty much loved everything about these nails - the color is gorgeous, I love the holo, and the pattern is really fun.  I am definitely now a huge fan of a-England polishes!

Busy as a Bumble Bee!

  I have had this idea for a manicure sitting around in my head for such a long time - I am so glad I finally took the time to do it!

Outdoors, shade

  For these nails, I started with China Glaze Sunshine Pop on all but the ring finger, which I painted with China Glaze Kinetic Candy.  For the yellow nails, I added small strips of blue painter's tape and painted over each with black using Sally Hansen Xtreme Black Out.  Finally, on the yellow-and-black nails I added small 3D blue flowers I got from... somewhere.  I topped it off with about a bazillion coats of Seche Vite.  For the blue ring finger, I first added flowers with Konad Special White and plate m82.  Next I painted on the little bee using CG Sunshine Pop and Sally Hansen Black Out, and added the little trail of dots with a dotting tool.  I also added yellow to the middle of the flowers with Sunshine Pop and a dotting tool, and finally added a yellow rhinestone to the center of the largest flower.

Outdoors, sun

  I absolutely love how this manicure turned out!  I think it is totally adorable and perfect for spring!  I have to admit, the little 3D flowers drove me insane - I kept messing with them, which probably didn't help them to stay on.  A few fell off over the course of the three days I wore this, some in the shower and another while just working.  I think if I had used nail glue to attach maybe they would have stayed on better, but mine had dried up so I just attached them with polish (and the bazillion coats of Seche Vite).  I got a lot of compliments on this one!  It took awhile but it was totally worth it.  :)

K-S-U Wildcats! Holographic Water Marble

  Here is a water marble that I wore a few weeks back to a home basketball game of my Wildcats!  Unfortunately, it didn't help us win that game... but I am hoping posting it now will help us out as we continue on in the NCAA Tournament!  I have to admit, I may be a bit too optimistic - I have them winning the whole thing in my bracket, haha.  But our family bracket pool is just for fun, so why not?  :)

Outdoors, sun

  For this water marble, I used China Glaze OMG and China Glaze LOL.  I started out with two coats of OMG as the base, then added the water marbling with both OMG and LOL.  I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Outdoors, sun

Right hand - sun

Indoors, artificial light

Outdoors, shade

  My favorite fingers are definitely the index and the ring fingers on my left hand, but they all turned out pretty fun.  I love water marbling with holographics - it combines two of my favorite things in polish!  Here's to hoping that my Wildcats continue to do well in the tournament!  We are going to need all of the help we can get against Syracuse... :)

  Who do you have winning it all in your NCAA bracket?

Requested CG ElectroPop Comparisons

  I finally got around to swatching out the comparisons that some people asked for of the China Glaze Electropop colors!  First up, the pinks - CG Dance Baby vs OPI Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj collection.

Bottle Shot

Outdoors, shade

Outdoors, direct sunlight

Indoors, artificial light

  While these two look similar in the bottle, they look fairly different on the nail.  Dance Baby is a darker pink, and is much more bold than Pink Friday, which is lighter and has just a touch more peach to it.  They are similar but definitely different enough to warrant owning both, in my opinion.  :)  Now for the blues!

Aquadelic - For Audrey - Kinetic Candy - Re-Fresh Mint

Outdoors, shade

Outdoors, direct sunlight

Indoors, artificial light

   So I decided to throw in a couple of extra polishes on the blue - you all requested Aquadelic and For Audrey, then I purchased Kinetic Candy so I added that.  I also included Re-Fresh Mint, because I feel like it is the green version of Kinetic Candy.  As you can see, For Audrey is slightly lighter and more blue than Aquadelic, and slightly darker and more green than Kinetic Candy - it really fits in between the two nicely!  Aquadelic is truly and aqua where For Audrey is more blue.  While not dupes, they are fairly similar, so if you have For Audrey and you aren't crazy about having all of the blues in the world - like me, haha - then you will probably be okay.  Although personally I think all three of them are needed.  ;)

  Let me know if you guys have any other comparison requests, either with these or any other polishes.  I know I am lazy and never finished cataloging my stash, so you have no idea what I have (sorry about that),  but if you make a comparison request I will show you if I can!  Hope these helped some people decide what to buy!