Twinsie Tuesday: Favorite Holo

Hey y'all! This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is a simple one - our favorite holographic polishes. While I do love the rainbow filled holos, I'm not one that goes crazy over them. But the Color Club Halo Hues are about as perfect as one can get in the vast market of holographic polishes. I don't have the complete set, but I do have a few and my favorite of the bunch is Cosmic Fate.

Sunday Stamped: MoYou London Holographic Reptile Print

Hey friends! Happy Sunday! This is the first Sunday Stamped post with my new camera! I haven't really had too much time to play with my stamping gear, until this weekend. I missed it!

Sometimes inspiration can come in the strangest ways, like the name of a polish. O.P.I. Amazon...Amazoff is a great color, and the name evokes so many jungle/tribal images that I had to use it some how!

Used:

O.P.I. - Amazon...Amazoff

Color Club Halo Hues - Kismet

MoYou London Pro Collection - Plate #03

I couldn't get the idea out of my head, and I totally dig to outcome! It's such an edgy/sexy/badass look! Not to mention the awesome effect that Kismet gives to the design. Holos for stamping, yay!!!

Hope you guys have a great day!

Sunday Stamped: Bundle Monster 2013 Plates

Hey y'all! Along with the new MoYou London plates I recently acquired, I also got the new Bundle Monster 2013 stamping plate collection. It is full of really great images, some inspired by the nail art community, and others inspired by current trendy hipster things. Needless to say, I am super excited!

Please Note: Products shown were purchased by me for my personal use.

Blue protective cover. Remove before stamping.

The Bundle Monster 2013 stamping plate set consists of 26 plates with full sized images as well as decal-like images.

Paper backing.

Plates BM401 - BM409

Plates BM410 - BM418

Plates BM419 - BM426

Now for the good stuff! I know you guys want to see more than just the plates! So here is the first mani I did with the new Bundle Monster 2013 stamping plate set.

Used:

Color Club Halo Hues - Eternal Beauty over Essie - Mint Candy Apple

Stamp Plate - BM404

I used my new MoYou squishy stamper with the plates, and found that the Bundle Monster plates don't work as well with it. The small intricate images - like the one I chose to stamp with - work fantastic! Better than I have ever done. It is the more open designs (like plate 403) that I had problems with. I think the main issue is that they are not engraved as deep as the MoYou plates and don't hold as much polish. I have the MoYou red stamper ordered and will be doing some test runs once it arrives. Other than that, I love the plates and am excited to play around with them!

Stamping is still such a challenge for me, but I hope to rectify it with all the new goodies I have, and keeping up with Sunday Stamped. I definitely need the practice! Hope you guys have a great Sunday!

Please Note: Products shown were purchased by me for my professional use. All opinions are my own. For more info, please read my disclaimer.

Bundle Monster stamping plates are available online. The 2013 set retails for $16.50, individual plates retail for $1.99 a piece.

2013 Top Ten and Year In Review

Hey friends! Can you believe it is 2014?! I hope this year takes it's time and gives everyone moments to enjoy life. This past year has been quite the roller coaster, personally, as well as for my blog. I cannot even fathom what the next year will bring, but that's part of the fun!

My favorite polishes from last year consist mostly of Indie brands. I fell head over heels for Indie polish and was fortunate enough to swatch for a few! So here are my top ten polishes from 2013 (in alphabetical order):

 

Color club - Cosmic Fate, Essie - Naughty Nautical, Elevation Polish - Marmolada

ILNP - Nostalgia, KBShimmer - The Dancing Green

 

Lacquer Lust - Morning Sunshine, Pipedream Polish - Color Portrait World, Rescue Beauty Lounge - Nails & Noms

Takko lacquer - Pucker Up, Zoya - Carter

Best collection - Zoya Summer Pixie Dust
 

 

Solange, Beatrix, Destiny, Liberty, Stevie, & Miranda

 

 

Fav indie/small brand - Pipedream Polish

 

 

Candy On The Beach (dc), Deep In My Daydreams (dc), Pink Elephants and Lemonade, Time In A Tapestry, Color Portrait World, Green Light, Feed The Monster & She's A Thriller (dc)

Honorable mentions - Hare Polish - Zoltar Speaks, Julep - Jane, Pipedream Polish - Time In A Tapestry

Biggest disappointment - China Glaze Hologlam collection

Top three most popular posts in 2013 - Revlon Chroma Chameleon Amethyst, Different Dimensions Ditz and Whatever, Picture Polish Majesty

 

Happy 2014 you guys!! Much love in the new year!

Rose Cutaway

Hello my fellow polish friends! I hope you all are having a great weekend! I have a bit of nail art for today's post, something I have wanted to do for quite a while, but always forgot about.

 

The original inspiration comes from a set of NCLA wraps, but also from the most awesome nail art blog,  One Nail To Rule Them All.

 

 

 

Used:

 

O.P.I. - MVIB

(besides MBSW, this is an amazing base for nail art!!!)

O.P.I. - Black Onyx

Color Club - Coral Cascade

Essie - A Crewed Interest

Revlon - Posh

 

Striping tape

Nail art brush

Dotting tool

 

I really love this. So frickin much! And even though it looks complicated, it's super easy! I got quite a few compliments from the others moms at my kiddo's school when I wore these. One even asked if I would do her nails, if she paid me!

 

Well, that's all for today! I have a tooooon of swatching to catch up on, so hopefully, there will be lots of pretty polish on the blog next week!



Watermelon Nails: Nail Of The Day

Hey everyone! I have a little summer nail art for today's post. We only have about a month left of summer before my little one starts her first year of school, but I am holding on to these last days with everything I have. I think this might actually be my first official summer design since everything has been done according to the nail art challenge. 

 

Used:

 

Zoya - Maya

Color Club - Wild Cactus

Wet n Wild Wild Shine - Stand The Test Of Lime

Maybelline Color Show - Clearly Spotted

 

Nail Art brush

I fell in love with the idea of watermelon nails from Sarah of Chalkboard Nails. Her take was really fun and I wanted to do my spin on the design. Can I just admit right now that I may have squealed when I finished them?!? So super cute and totally doable! Aside from doing a jelly sandwich with Maya and Clearly Spotted, I just used Stand The Test Of Lime and my striper brush to paint a few stripes on top of Wild Cactus. Easy peasy, folks.

Nom. Who doesn't love watermelon in the summer?!



That's all for today! Hope you have a great one!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Inspired By Artwork

Hey all you lovely people! Hope your week is going well! We have a bit of sunshine today, after an all day downpour yesterday. Rain is great an d all, but all frickin day is a bit much. My garden is looking rather water logged today!

 

Since it is Tuesday, that means another challenge post is up today! I have been eagerly waiting for this particular theme, because I am a huge art dork. Fun fact: I was a fine arts major in college and took long boring classes about art history! So I have a fair bit of knowledge pertaining to artists and their bodies of work. Finding a piece and translating it to nail art was a bit of a challenge, but after I decided to go for a more graphic style, everything fell in to place. One of the best graphic artists, I think, is Andy Warhol. His imagery is iconic, bright and totally eye catching. One of my favorite pieces is an earlier lithograph called "Flowers."

 

 

photo credit

 

 

 

Used:

 

Essie - The More The Merrier

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out

Color Club - Coral Cascade

Sally Hansen Insta-Dry - Man-Go Team

Julep - Lexie

China Glaze - Passion For Petals

 

Nail Art Fan Brush

Dotting Tools

 

I cannot believe how awesome these turned out!!! I am so so so happy with everything about them. And I am totally gonna rock these all day long.

 

For the grassy back ground, I used the fan brush that came with my nail art brush set and I really love the grungy result. Dotting tools for the flowers and topped it all with NYC Grand Central Station (thinned down an excessive amount). Pop art on my finger tips! 

 

 I would really love to play around with this style and do different color combos. Maybe some like the NARS palettes that were released last fall?

Next up is "Inspired By A Flag" and I have noooooo clue what I am going to do! >_<

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Half Moons

Hello everyone! Today is #18 on the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge, and that means Half Moons!

 

Please Note: Post contains affiliated links.

 

 

Used:

 

Zoya - Ziv

Color Club - Wild Catcus

 

Nail Stickers

Born Pretty Studs (link)

 

Half moons aren't really my thing, but I still wanted to do something pretty. My original color combination didn't work out, so I chose green and gold. Honestly, I'm not really feeling it. I do like the studs, cause anything with studs are that much more awesome. These are from one of the Born Pretty stud wheel, and I love them.

 

So what do you think of studs? Love 'em or hate 'em? My husband thinks they are super gaudy!

 

Fashion Friday is back tomorrow, and then Galaxy Nails!!! Excuse me while I faint.

 

Please Note: Products shown were purchased by me for my own personal use. All opinons are my own. This post contains an affiliated link. If you click the Born Pretty link and purchase a stud wheel, I will get a portion of the sales allowing me to buy more polish! For more information, please see my disclaimer.



31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Tribal

Hey everyone! Today is all about Tribal nails! This is one of the challenge posts that I was most looking forward to when I started. I looooove tribal nail art, but it has always seemed really intimidating. The designs are always so intricate and complicated and beautiful. I honestly wasn't sure I could pull it off. It took me forever to decide on a design, and then I finally managed to create my first free hand tribal mani!

 

 

Used:

 

O.P.I. - MBSW

Maybelline Color Show - Green With Envy

Sally Hansen Insta-Dry - Butter-Fly Stroke

Color Club - Coral Cascade

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out

 

Nail art brush

 

Only one picture today. My memory card cracked while I was taking pics. Boo. At least I got a usable shot, because it took me soooo long to do! But hot damn, I love it. Perfect, definitely not. My lines are not the smoothest or most even, but I am in love with the design and colors! And I am super proud of myself for being able to do it! Yay!

 

I'm about half way through the challenge, this was number 16 on the list. It has been awesome up to this point, but I know the last few ones are going to be really hard. Hope you are as excited as I am!

 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Animal Print

Hey guys! So I am off schedule again, but that is all due to this particular challenge prompt. I have no love for animal print. Especially since I cannot do it free hand. This may be the first time in the challenge where it just wasn't working out at all. I have done 3 manis, all different and none of them have come out looking how I want. This is the best one, and since I am behind, I said "screw it" and decided to post anyway. Okay, enough of the complaining.

 

 

 

Used:

 

Zoya - Tracie

Color Club - Cosmic Fate

 

Bundle Monster - BM215 plate

 

I think this one would have turned out better if I had used a darker color to stamp with. While, I think the subtle design looks awesome in person, but it just loses all that in photos. Bah. Like I said, frustrations abound with this post. 

 

 

I will be posting the next prompt later today so I can get back on schedule. Do check back this after noon!

Color Club Wild Cactus & a St. Paddy's mani!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I have to admit, I love St. Paddy's Day and when I was a single gal, I would celebrate with my friends and drink several Irish Car Bombs (half a pint of Guiness, with an Irish wiskey & Bailey's floater). Today, instead, I have a wonderful green polish from the Color Club Fiesta collection, to celebrate with!

 

 

 

Color Club - Wild Cactus

 

Wild Cactus is a rich saturated emerald green cream. Perfect for St. Paddy's Day and Pantone's color of the year. I love, love, love it! It is such a vivid green! Sigh. Formula was good, not stellar, but easy to work with. I had a tiny bit of drag on the second coat, but it leveled out okay as it dried. 2 coats, good dry time. It stains really bad, though, one of the worst I have seen.

 

And since this is a special post, I did a fun little mani! Green and gold, glitter and holo, can it be any better?!?

 

Used:

 

Color Club - Wild Cactus

Maybelline Color Show Sequins - Gold's Night Out

Takko Lacquer - Maneki Neko

 

 

 

Look at all that holo sparkly goodness! Dies. Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Color Club Halo Hues - Eternal Beauty

Hello everyone! I have some nail polish related news to share - I got a Helmer this weekend! I am so excited to finally have my stash organized and stored in a much more user friendly container. I've been thinking of doing a stash video, but my collection is still relatively small. Maybe, if you all want to see one? Anyway, on to the polish!

 

 

Color Club Halo Hues - Eternal Beauty

 

Eternal Beauty is a blue/purple linear holographic nail polish. The holo effect is just as strong as Cosmic Fate, just a bit cooler toned. LOVE this color. Simply perfection. The formula was spot on as well. 2 coats, no need for aqua base, no dragging, streaking or any other typical issues that holo polishes seem to have. Color Club must have a magic holographic polish maker, because these are amazing!

Again, the official release is February 15th, but some e-tailers already have them in stock (& some are already sold out!) I ordered mine from 8ty8 Beauty for $8 a piece.

Color Club Halo Hues - Cosmic Fate (Pic Heavey)

Hey guys! Holographic polish is all the rage right now and it seems there are collections popping up all over the place. Color Club is releasing a second part of their gorgeous Halo Hues holo polish line and it is amazing!

 

Color Club Halo Hues - Cosmic Fate

 

Cosmic Fate is a peachy/orange/pink linear holographic polish. As a holo newb, I have little experience with different brands, but what I do have, this one blows them away. Everything about it is perfection. The color is beautiful, application was dreamy (no need for aqua base!) and the holo effect is stunning!!!

 

Natural daylight

 

Really, there isn't too much else I can say other than get these as soon as you can. They are way cheaper than the Layla holos, Fnug, or even the up coming China Glaze holos, and I think they are far superior.

 

Right now, they are available at a few places on line, but the official release is February 15th. I snagged mine from 8ty8 Beauty.