Holographic stars and strawberries

When the sun is shining, it's time for the holo polishes to come out and play! I bought my first holo polish from Urban Outfitters as a pick-me-up present to myself. Wasn't expecting much, but OH MAN when I brought this baby out in the sun, I was completely floored. I mean, LOOK AT THIS!

I freehanded on some cascading stars with black acrylic paint. Indoors, you can still see some of the rainbow effect. I'm just sorry I didn't get a picture in the sun with the stars.

After this first wonderful experience with a holo, I was craving more. I picked up Color Club "Miss Bliss" and "Over the Moon". I used Miss Bliss for some holographic strawberries over "Bossy Boots" from butter London, a really gorgeous, pistachio green. The strawberry leaves were painted with Essie "Mojito Madness".

Holographic strawberries have magical properties, you know. If you eat one, you will gain enough strength to defeat the evil Dark Wizard Mage King.

Some essence untrieds

Hey guys! I finally got around to using some essence colours that have been sitting on the top of my nail polish drawer all lonesome and untried. You know the ones - whether in drawer, bin, basket, or what have you, we all got our untrieds. Finally decided to give them some attention, and here's how I used them.

First up is "Grey-t To Be Here". You see that flash of pink shimmer peeking out there? That's what compelled me to pick this one up. While the shimmer is not very apparent, it IS very pretty when it comes out in the light. If not for the shimmer, this is a nice, light grey that went on well in two coats.

Added chevron accents with a striper brush. The neon pink is China Glaze "Love's a Beach" (HA, still love the name), and the glitter is China Glaze "Tinsel Town".

My second essence polish is "Modern Romance". A peachy pink with the same hidden pink shimmer in "Grey-t To Be Here". This one took three coats to get to opacity - I wasn't a huge fan of it on its own, so I used it as a base for a gradient with Sally Hansen "Snappy Sorbet", and Essie "Coral Reef".

The idea of "peach soda" was in my head at the time, so I added a layer of OPI "Pirouette My Whistle" on top of the gradient for some bubbly. Swiped on a couple leaves with American Apparel "Office" for a final touch. Ahhh refreshing.

Have you tried any essence polishes yet? Are you a sucker like I am for shimmer in a bottle? Until next time!

Gettin' my glow on

Who says glow-in-the-dark polish is just for Halloween? I had fun this week trying it out with American Apparel's glow-in-the-dark colour, Moon. This goes on sheer and glows the traditional fluorescent green. I used two coats over two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I haven't tried layering with other colours, but I'm fairly certain the base needs to be light for the glow to show. I originally had one coat of Moon, but I found two gave it extra glowing power.

I had some fun and painted little skulls on each nail. Looking back, they kinda look like some kind of skull jellyfish. Moon gives a semi-matte finish, and I really liked how it looked. After I painted on the skulls, I put a coat of Gosh matte topcoat over to mattify everything.

On my other hand, I had a different type of glow going on. One of the NEON variety! This is two coats of American Apparel's Neon Red.

My camera had a hard time getting the colour right. The second picture is more colour accurate, though it makes my hands look really red. I really loved the colour. Bright, but not eye-searingly so, and a very pretty shade. The consistency is a jelly/creme hybrid, and also dries to a semi-matte finish.

I've been doing really simple stuff lately as I'm going through exams. Please stick with me, I hope to get back into the groove of things soon! See ya!

Pink elephants

I just really wanted to paint pink elephants. I have a vague childhood memory of watching the movie Dumbo, and there were pink elephants in it. Other than that, I don't even know why.

Polishes:

Left to right: China Glaze "Skyscraper", American Apparel "Mount Royal", "Coney Island"

I've been itching to wear China Glaze "Skyscraper" ever since fall started. Skyscraper is a gorgeous, denim blue packed with tiny little silver glitters. The jelly-ish texture gives the polish a lot of depth, but it is prone to dragging, so it's best to wait in between coats. The first coat goes on a bit streaky, but it levels itself out and reaches opacity with a thick-ish second coat.

Hope you enjoyed this random little bit of nail art today!

King of the Forest with China Glaze Harvest Moon

Hello everyone! The last couple posts for my Alice series have been short and to the point, but I miss interacting with you guys. I also really wanted to do a tutorial, since I haven't done one in a long while. Hope you like this!

I have been dying to do a fall manicure ever since the weather started getting cooler. While I'll miss the sunshine and pastels of summer, I am super excited for the rich colours and fashion of fall. Bring on the scarves and fuzzy sweaters! Today, I recreated a deer pattern from a sweater that I recently purchased.

sweater from Forever 21

China Glaze Harvest Moon is a shiny, metallic copper filled with tiny red and gold shimmer. If this doesn't scream fall, I don't know what does. And I love the name! I painted two smooth coats here.

Polishes:

Left to right: China Glaze "Harvest Moon", Sally Hansen "Black Out", L.A. Colors striper in black

Directions:
Base: start off with two coats of Harvest Moon

For the stripes on my thumb and pinky, I used the bottle brush to make a stripe at the tip, and then a black striper for the stripe a little further up.

Finished!

What are you excited about for fall? Which colours will you be wearing? I still have a couple untried fall colours that I'm excited to use. Have a great weekend!

Rainbow Clouds with Butter London The Black Knight

While not participating in the 31 day challenge myself, seeing all the different and interesting designs people are coming up with is very inspiring! Recently, the theme was "Rainbow Nails", and I got the urge to do my own. This is a variation on the happy clouds mani I did before, and again, inspired by Jane from Nailside's rainbow design. Love!

Another name I have for this mani is "Bleeding Rainbow" (some dark parody of "Reading Rainbow" perhaps). The colours bled out from the arc into the clouds and rain - is what I was going for here.

My base is one coat of black with one coat of Butter London "The Black Knight". Then I painted the white arc first using the bottle brush, starting from the side of my nail and extending down to the tip in one stroke. For the rainbow clouds, it's easiest to get the rounded edges when you have a small bead of polish on the end of your brush (but not so that it's dripping). The raindrops were painted with a nail art brush.

Yellow - China Glaze "Lemon Fizz"
Purple - Zoya "Reagan"
Blue -China Glaze "For Audrey"
Light Purple - Nature Republic colour PP402

 

The Black Knight has a sheer black base with predominately blue, red, and fuchsia microglitter. If you look real closely, you can see even tinier silver, yellow, and green glitter in there. On it's own, it would take three coats to become opaque, but if you paint a black base, you'll only need one.

Closeup of the glitter - how amazing does that look??

Hope you enjoyed this! I'm sure I'll be inspired many more times while this 31 Day Challenge is going on.

Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy

When my nails are short, it's the perfect time to do some swatching and try some untrieds! Today, I have Essie "To Buy Or Not to Buy" from the Spring 2012 Navigate Her collection. I had too few purples in my collection, and this is part of the remedy.

To Buy Or Not To Buy is a light lilac with very hidden blue and purple shimmer. It leans a teensy bit more pink than in this picture. The formula was not my friend. It was streaky, and I had bubbling issues even though I waited well between coats. This took three.

The shimmer is so pretty! Now wouldn't it be nice if it actually showed??

Since I didn't get the shimmer, I added some glitter that was happily of the same colour. This is one coat of Kleancolor "Disco Ball". It has a coloured base that gives a sheer wash of blue along with the glitter.

Also, this is the first time in a long while that my fingers match my toes! I thought it was quite a momentous occasion. On my toes is Soulstice Spa in "Provence".

So the question is...to buy or not to buy? What do you say?

Nude Gradient with OPI My Very First Knockwurst

I saw this look on Zoenails and I fell in love! Simple, with a pop of colour - and you might know how I love my gradients! I had a major nail polish haul this week, and OPI My Very First Knockwurst was one of them, so here's my version.

This was done with two coats of OPI My Very First Knockwurst, and then sponged with Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet.

 

My Very First Knockwurst is a light pink putty creme from the OPI Germany Collection. It comes off as a dusty rose, leaning to lilac. The formula was an absolute pleasure to work with, going on easily in two coats. It doesn't quite look nude against my skin, but it's still pretty and very appropriate for the conservative-office.

I just may have to go back for the other nude from the Germany Collection, Don't Pretzel My Buttons. I'm more inclined to buy these "plain" colours, rather than the deep, metallic shades that are offered (though I love seeing them on other people's nails).

Have you picked up any shades from the Germany Collection? What is your perfect nude colour? I am still on the hunt for mine!