Striping tape fail.

I'm not a pro manicurist by any means. Don't ever think I am.

Here's proof. Tonight, I decided to try striping tape. I received Finger Paints... Art.... Something.... Hot pink in my first nail art society box this month (the rest of the box except a file and dotting tool was crap which was frustrating) and decided to try it out tonight.

I used Zoya -Arizona, a yummy orange sherbet cream color, as a base for two accent nails, and after they had dried for twenty minutes or so, I put on striking tape and then gave all of my nails two coats of the hot pink.

I let them dry another ten or fifteen minutes, and peeled the tape off slowly.

The results were disastrous.

Someone give me tips?

My prize polishes!

Thanks, An Accent Nail, for this prize!

http://anaccentnail.blogspot.com

I entered a massive giveaway hosted by two other nail bloggers, Lace and Lacquers (www.laceandlacquers) and Naked Without Polish (http://nakedwithoutpolish.blogspot.com) back in January. I was beyond surprised to receive an email saying I was one of 40 winners!

My prize arrived today. OPI - DS Mystery and Finger Paints - Flecked.

Had to swatch them together really quick. Of course, I did an accent nail with the Finger Paints. Seemed appropriate given the blogger who donated my prize!

The OPI is a.... Black... Or crazy dark purple.... Polish with gold shimmer. It's pretty! Looks black or brown or something in the bottle but the first coat of polish seemed purple or so... Regardless. It's pretty!

I used two coats of the Finger Paints on my accent nail. The flecks are green and blue in the light. Also pretty.

Not sure about the combo together but I had five minutes to try and run out in the sun before Spencer finished his lunch!

NailNation3000- Sock Monkey

Here's a quick post on a polish I threw on yesterday during nap time. It's by NailNation, and can be found on www.llarowe.com

It's called Sock Monkey. I got it on sale. Double the happiness!

It's really fun, a nude/khaki base with shiny red micro glitter, small white squares, small black squares, and a few holo hexes. My critique on that is that you can barely tell they are holographic in the base, which seems kind of silly. Every now and then you can. That's probably what they are going for anyway, and I am actually cool with that. I think too much holo would look silly here.

It went on like a dream. Opaque in two coats! Dries pretty smooth too, but I put on top coat anyway.

I Have a Herring Problem, Gene.

Just a quick post from me today. Collin has a double ear infection and woke me up at five this morning... So I'm exhausted. But... I had my Zoya - Gemma manicure on from Friday until this morning.

Today, I'm wearing OPI - I Have a Herring Problem. I love this polish. It covers in two coats and has a beautiful shimmer.

Then, I decided to try out Daring Digits (www.ddpolish.com) - Gemma. It is a gorgeous glitter polish.

From the website (because I can't describe this one nearly as well):
Gene is a galaxy polish with gold and copper flakies pink and rainbow flakies and a green teal shimmer! Amazing in different light. Show here 2 coats over a dark purple polish. This polish is a tribute to the amazing Gene Roddenberry, the creator of one of my favorite franchises Star Trek.


This polish went on evenly and smoothly. It dried very fast! I haven't even put on a top coat because it goes on so smoothly. If only my photos could have captured its dimension better. I think I need an iPhone macro lens.

That One Nail Polish - Custom Color!

I was really excited to find a mystery package in my mailbox Friday. I hadn't ordered anything recently, so I had no clue what it could be. But then I remembered Nik saying earlier in the week that she couldn't wait for me to get some mail. Turns out that she worked with Roxette at www.thatonenailpolish.com to create a custom polish for the both of us!

This polish is inspired by Nik's and my coordinating chevron aprons by Butterfly Designs. Here I am modeling mine. Nik's is the same except for the trim--she chose turquoise.

The polish base is a fantastic gunmetal gray and it features small, hexagonal turquoise, silver, and yellowish-gold glitters as well as larger hexagonal silver glitter. When I first opened the bottle, I was a bit worried about how thick the polish seemed to be. But worry not, it went on very easily!  Glitter distribution is amazing-one of the best I've come across! The color coverage isn't bad, just a little thin for my liking. That said, next time I use it, I do plan to put it over a dark gray polish, just to see if it brings out the glitters any more.

(pardon my crappy pictures...as usual, I'm using my iPhone. Note to self: buy a battery for your good camera!!)

My only complaint--it's really difficult to remove. The color came off easily, but the glitter is a different story, even with acetone polish remover. Actually, it's still on my nails. I'll have to try again to remove it. While that's more a rant about glitter polish in general, this one is proving especially difficult to get off...I guess it's time to finally try the foil method I found on Pinterest some time ago!

complete with cotton ball fuzz

All in all, I'm really happy with this polish & have my eye on a few others in Roxette's collection! Go check it out and give That One Nail Polish a try!

Have you tried That One Nail Polish?

Nope, I'm not being intentionally vague.

That One Nail Polish is an indie brand I happened upon via Instagram, I believe.

You can find the polishes here:

http://thatonenailpolish.bigcartel.com/

As I chipped my Spencer manicure doing dishes for the upteenth time today, during nap time, I decided to try out "Wipe Out." It's a glitter polish jam packed with bright blue and neon blue hexes and smaller black hexes. They are all matte. They are awesome.

I wanted the blue to really pop on my fingers (visually, haha) like it does in the bottle, but I also wanted to be able to see the black a bit, so I chose to do one coat of "Wipe Out" over OPI "Nein! Nein! Okay, Fine!"

It's pretty rad.

Application was fairly easy, though with the amount if glitter packed into the bottle it can clump a bit on the brush and nail. It didn't bother me though and was easy to manipulate and disperse while painting. It's hard to complain about that when you get some polishes that look awesome but you can't get the glitter out of the bottle! Totally not the case here! And you get a great amount of each color. Excellent!

Because the glitters are medium to large, you definitely will want a coat or two of top coat. My good stuff is still missing (thanks again, Spencer) so I used two if the cheap stuff.

I have more of That One Polish to show eventually, too!

Go check out her store. She just release a new collection! It's really pretty!

And, if you don't see something to suit your fancy, Roxette will create you a custom polish!

She's a very sweet lady, if you ask me!

Valentine's Nails

Another quick nap time manicure, in the Valentine's Day spirit.

 

OPI's "Meet & Jingle" is my go-to red, especially for the holidays. It's the perfect shade with the perfect amount of shimmer. I went with an accent nail today of Essie's "Leading Lady". I love the red glitter. So festive! Sort of reminds me of Dorothy's ruby slippers, too. :)

 

Here it is pre-cleanup. Because I'm too lazy to worry about that right now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Who's your Valentine? Mine is Spencer!

Spencer. Oh, how I love Spencer.

Spencer is my 2 year-old. He is my first born. He is silly and very smart. He is goofy and sassy. He is mischievous and sweet.

Spencer is also a nail polish, brought to us by Missy of Different Dimension.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DIFFERENTdimension

I received it around Christmas time. I loved it the moment I saw it. Initially, I would say it was about 73% love for the name, and 59% love for the color. We will pretend its a Venn diagram situation so percentages overlap and they don't have to add to 100%. (Holy balls, I can't believe I just wrote all that and didn't even have to really think about it. I haven't taken a math class in 10 years...)

Red is one of my favorite colors. It's up there with turquoise/aqua, emerald green, gray, blue... Okay, I like a lot of colors.

Oddly enough, up until Spencer entered my life, I owned one red polish and rarely wore it.

When Spencer arrived, I knew it was special. So, I debuted it on Christmas. It so sparkly! It's a reddish-clear base, loaded with tiny glitters in red, black, and holographic colors. It has a crazy amount if depth to it. It was the perfect Christmas manicure for me!

I decided that Valentine's Day was another perfect occasion to share my love for Spencer.

I'm wearing it happily- one coat over Zoya- Asia.

It covers like nobody's business. If I didn't look super closely, you wouldn't notice there was only one coat. It goes on evenly, smoothly, and dries well. It doesn't feel gritty or really bumpy without top coat, but smooths so well with it. Plus, gloss is bonus on this polish. It's like a revamped Ruby Red slippers for Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz."

If you're like me and pay attention to labels, at first glance, this one seemed huge. I'm not a fan of not being able to really see the polish because the label is so big.

BUT... Fear not! She has new, transparent labels! Yay!

Okay, picture time. I'll show you Spencer, Collin, and Spencer. Happy Valentine's Day Eve! You have an inspired mani?






PS: I love Collin, too, and he isn't other Valentine! He is 5 months oldI just don't have a "Collin" polish!

A gorgeous Silent Night

Today, I bring you a GORGEOUS polish.

It's called "Silent Night" and is by Jindie Nails.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JindieNails

http://www.llarowe.com

http://www.ninjapolish.com

http://www.meimeisihnatures.com

I love this polish. Simple as that. When it arrived, I couldn't help but sit and gaze at it in the bottle.

Well, after my initial shock of the giant hot pink label. That's the one thing I really don't like about the polish. The label, to me, is totally tacky and kind of off-pitting

But heck, fixed that problem. I just took the big one off. I left the name label on the bottom.

I decided to use Essie "Butler Please" for undies (haha) because I hate visible nail lines and didn't want to use globs of this gorgeous blue jelly filled with holographic glitters in many shapes and sizes, so I would have more for future manicures.

It went on mostly easily. The glitters occasionally would clump but that was easy to fix just by brushing again. They lay flat or again, are easily manipulated. The big glitters come out easily too, no fishing!

I used two coats for depth.

I used the crappiest top coat I own because my toddler seems to have hidden my good stuff. So the polish isn't completely smooth in the photos. Thanks, Spencer.

Though I guess I won't complain too much because Collin pooped and I wrecked three nails changing his diaper.

Anyway, these photos are pretty representative of the real life color and what not, but of course, don't do it justice. In person, it's even better. I'd say a bit mystical feeling, dreamy... Full of depth.

Everyone probably needs this polish. Even with the obnoxious label!

Edit: Spencer, my aforementioned toddler, loves the moons and stars in this polish!

Daring Digits - Mage

Pretty! This polish is SO pretty! When the light hits it, your nails look like they have been sprinkled with tiny jewels. Really.

Though my bottle is stinky.

Fear not, though, as I read on her Facebook page she is switching to a less strong smelling base. So, when she opens her website back up, you probably don't have to worry about it.

http://www.ddpolish.com

I opened up all of my polishes that I received and they all have this strong odor which makes it really hard to use then during a closed-window wintry day. I've got a bit of a headache and suspect the boys probably don't like it much either. Though, I also haven't had caffeine yet.

That aside, today, I bring you Mage by Daring Digits. It's a purple jelly polish with multiple size and color metallic glitters and some beautiful shimmer. I am wearing it over one coat of Grape by Savina.

It applies well, but not as easily and smoothly as More Dots did. The glitters in this one, at least my bottle, stuck to the brush a little more and didn't spread as easily. I think it's because of their shape. I can't tell, but they might not be flat. I am thinking that because they look three dimensional up close.

I put on one coat if top coat, but it needs another to be really smooth. It might be my cheap LA Colors Top Coat.

My photos don't show the true beauty of this polish but it's another wintry cold day full of cloudy skies.

The "cons" aside, this polish is gorgeous. If you like purple and you like glitter, this polish should be in your stash!