Matte Gold Glitter

This manicure is the result of another case where I wanted something easy, but not just a plain color.  I had picked up L.A. Girl Glitter Addict in Synergy a couple of months ago and hadn't used it yet.  Actually, Sam, my 6 year old, picked it out from the display at Rite Aid one day when I was browsing!

I decided to start with a base of Ulta Alter Ego, which is a really pretty shimmery turquoise with silvery shimmer.  I have a sort of love/hate relationship with glitter polish - I like it, but before I even put it on I'm thinking about how much of a pain it is to remove.  So I end up not wearing it that often.  I really do love a good matte glitter though, so I topped this one off with Essie Matte About You. 

How do you feel about glitter polishes?  Do you prefer chunky or fine glitter?  Saturated?  Shiny?  Matte?

My First Gradient!

Right now, gradient manicures are THE thing.  I have a ton of them pinned on Pinterest, including this great tutorial from The Nailasaurus.  I have seen people using her technique on multiple blogs I read, and they come out with these gorgeous gradients that I just drool over.

I decided to try one and bought some makeup sponges.  I used a base of China Glaze for Audrey and then mixed it with Wet N Wild Bite the Bullet, a kind of smoky purple, for the gradient effect.  It turned out okay.  I'm not sure if I was not using enough polish, not mixing the colors enough, or not moving the sponge up and down enough, but it did not turn out NEARLY as smooth looking as the other gradients I've seen pictures of.  I may just need to practice more.  It looked pretty cool from a distance, but in the photos you can see the sponginess of it.  I'm going to have to try again soon, and see if I can get it to turn out better.

Have you tried gradient nails yet?  I really want to try a rainbow gradient, so maybe I'll try that next time.  It seems like maybe using more colors could help make it smoother?  We'll see!

Nicole by OPI Turquoise Texture

I recently wanted to do something fun, but not too complicated.  I decided to use one of my texture coats that I haven't really worn before, Turquoise Texture from Nicole by OPI.  I saw online somewhere that the crackle will follow your brushstrokes (duh!), so I was excited to try something a little different, a diagonal stroke.  

For my base coat, I used Sally Hansen Fire Opal in Amber Opal.  It is one of the polishes in my collection that is absolutely gorgeous that I totally forget about.  I tried to get a couple of shots of it, but they really don't do it justice at all.

Next I used the texture coat and did a kind of diagonal stroke.  I love the way it turned out.  The color combination was awesome, especially when we got out in the sunlight at the zoo the next day!

Ulta Bam-blu-zled

Sorry for my lack of posts lately!  I have a bunch in the works to show you, but I need to edit the photos and get them up here.  I did my first gradient nail recently, and also stamped for the first time, so I'm hoping to get those up later this week!  For now, here are some swatches of one of my newer polishes, Ulta Bam-blue-zled.  I thin I too these before using it as a base for something else I was doing.  It's a pretty light blue cream with a hint of purple.

Guilty Pleasures - 37 Color Water Marble

Yeah, I wore 37 colors at once.  Let me explain...

I am part of a monthly Bunco group, and this month it was my turn to host.  My theme was "guilty pleasures," so we had scorecards with things like Jake Gyllenhaal, fried chicken, Britney Spears CDs and fruity cocktails on them.  We had Cheetos and some delicious cupcakes and mini corn dogs.  We had a REALLY delicious cocktail with marshmallow vodka, creme de cacoa and cream soda.  While I was thinking about MY guilty pleasures, of COURSE nail polish came to mind immediately.  So it got me thinking... how many different colors could I wear at once, and how would I put them on?

I thought about a patchwork mani, but I eventually settled on a water marble.  With experimenting with colors, it took me a couple of hours to finish this, but it was worth it - people loved it!

I had several turn out the way I've wanted my others to turn out.  I used distilled water this time and it seemed to help with getting the polishes to spread much more than I've ever gotten them to do before.  I was surprised how much I like the glitter nail and that China Glaze Riveting turned coral, and it was fun getting to know which of my polishes work best and ideas for new color combos.

 

 

The colors I used, from left to right:

 

Pinkie: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Bronze Pink, Revlon Matte Ruby Ribbon, OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, Sinful Colors Bare
Ring: CoverGirl Nailslicks Starry Blue, Revlon Color Illusion Purple Twilight, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Rock-a-bye, Revlon Perfectly Plum, CoverGirl Nailslicks Wild Plum
Middle: Ulta High Roller, Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, China Glaze Swing Baby, Pure Ice Iced Copper
Pointer: Pure Ice Splash, Sally Hansen HD DVD, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Pure Ice All Night Long, Ulta Bam-blue-zled
Thumb: LA Colors White, OPI Skull & Glossbones, Sinful Colors Black on Black

Thumb: Revlon Double Truffle, OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know, Wet N Wild Cocoa Shimma (This one turned out pretty crappy, so no close up shot)
Pointer: Sinful Colors Bare, Sally Hansen HD Byte, Pure Ice Super Star, Zoya Jacy
Middle: Pure Ice Oh Baby!, Sinful Colors Frenzy, Ulta After Party, Sally Hansen Gem Crush Glitz Gal
Ring: Sally Hansen HD Resolution, Ulta Limelight, OPI Jade is the New Black, Ulta Jaded, Piggy Polish Envy
Pinkie: China Glaze Riveting, Ulta High Roller

Blue Ombre Nails

I've seen lots of photos of ombre manicures. Maybe this isn't a TRUE ombre since I didn't just use different shades of the same color, but I like how it turned out!

The colors I used for this one were Essie Go Overboard, Revlon Chic, Ulta Bam-blue-zled, China Glaze For Audrey, and a light blue Petites polish I picked up specifically for this.

Go Overboard and Chic are two of my favorite polishes in my collection, so it's always nice to get a chance to wear them!

Blue Water Marble

I recently did my second water marble, and I tried out some blues!  This time I got some distilled water to use instead of the bottled water, and I felt like it made a huge difference with getting the polishes to spread better.  I have had a lot of trouble getting those nice loopy shapes that show up in most water marbles, and I had a better time this time.  Here it is!

 

My thumbs turned out two of my favorites, nice loopies!  But I still wasn't getting as many rings of color as I would have liked, so the sections of color are thicker than I would have liked.

For the base, I used Ulta Bam-blue-zled. The colors I used for the marble were Bam-blue-zled, Pure Ice Oh, Baby!, Pure Ice All Night Long, Ulta Dance Teal Dawn, and Ulta Alter Ego.

Bottle Spam!

Sorry for the sudden absence from this blog!  I got to the end of my scheduled posts and then I got sick and had bare nails for over a week because I had to blow my nose every 5 minutes and couldn't have wet nails!  It was crazy.  So, I have some fun stuff coming up that I've been wearing and hopefully that will get me back on my regular schedule! 

Today I have some fabulous bottle spam... stuff I've gotten recently!  I got my hair cut last week at Hairmasters, and the location I went to had a bunch of OPI polishes 60% off AND buy 1 get 2 free... what?!  How could I resist?  I got Skull & Glossbones, I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, and Jade is the New Black.  I didn't have any idea it would happen, but I am in LOVE with Skull & Glossbones!  I will have some swatches of that coming up.

 

The other day I was in Big Lots and decided to check out the beauty section for polishes, and they had a whole bunch of two packs of Revlon polishes including the glittery scented polishes.  I got Grapefruit Fizz, Colada Fizz, Pineapple Fizz, and Apple-tini Fizz.  Each pack of 2 was only $2!

 

Lastly, I picked up one of the polishes from my wishlist - Zoya Ki.  Look how pretty that duochrome is!  And a boring old white from L.A. Colors since I didn't have one.

I was also shopping at Fred Meyer the other day and started looking at the Essence display there.  I did not have any Essence polishes, but I have heard they're not bad.  Then I realized that they have a bunch of nail art stuff.  It's super cheap, and I haven't really had a chance to try it out, but I thought it might let me see what things are like even if it doesn't work as well as the really quality stuff.

I picked up a gem-placer/dotting tool, a magnetic polish and magnet, two stamping plates and a stamp, and some stencil stickers with stars.  I'll post more about these as I use them!

 

In closing, here is a random shot of my polishes where I keep them now... I may need a new system soon, it's not very organized and the bins are getting full!

 

Ice Queen Glitter

Just a quick one today, I'm about to hop in the shower then head down to Seattle for a (hopefully mostly dry) visit to the zoo with friends.  Spring Break!  So, today I have some shots of Sally Hansen Ice Queen glitter.  It's a clear base with large silver and turquoise glitter and small silver and holo microglitter.  It looks really pretty in the bottle, but I found when I put it on my nails it was more sparse than I would have liked.  Here I have it layered over Pure Ice Silver Mercedes.  It's pretty, but less impressive than I originally hoped.  

Pure Ice Oh Baby!

I was recently at Walmart and checked out these Pure Ice polishes.  They're cheap, but there are some fun colors.  I'm always looking for interesting topcoats, so when I spotted Pure Ice Oh Baby! I couldn't resist putting it in my basket. 

The first time I wore it, I wore it over Essie Go Overboard, which on it's own is a gorgeous dark teal cream.

Photo Credit: ommorphia beauty bar

When I added a layer of Oh Baby! on top, it was completely transformed.  I was in love!  It added some awesome depth as well as a holographic effect from turquoise to purple.

More recently, I wanted to experiment with some other colors, and I decided to pair it with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Grey Area. 

This is a terrible photo, but it turned out kind of cool.  It added tons of blue shimmer on top of the grey.  I didn't get a better picture because I went to bed too soon and it got mushed about, so I took it off really soon after I'd done it.

I'm so glad I added this one to my collection.  It's versatile, and I can't wait to try it over more colors!

Do you have a favorite effect polish?