Saturday Spam-fest! *lots of pics*

Sorry for the inactivity lately, I've been getting ready to move into a new spiffy apartment! I've got the big move tomorrow, then after that I should be getting into a better rhythm for posting. However, I still wanted to show you what I've been doing lately, because even if I'm quiet on here, the nails are still gonna be colorful.

Layla Cloudy Violet, three coats over one coat of Aquabase. This is what I wanted China Glaze LOL to be, good color, big holo flame. I like.

These were the nails that I did for my first LARPing adventure where I played as a wizard. The base is OPI Paris Couture for Sure, four coats, and then the swirls are painted on with acrylic paint. The stars are from a little Nail Art jar I got from Five Below that had these and green cutout stars. This mani lasted pretty well considering we were very active on the field of battle!

This mani is four coats of Essie Turquoise and Caicos and a new Rainbow Honey polish called Sakura Matsuri. Bah, I did not like the formula on T&C, it was still streaky at four coats. The application might have been better if it had been thinned out. I like the Rainbow Honey on top though, very delicate but colorful. I see lots of possibility for this color over pastels and deep colors like grey and black. I love the flower glitters in this!

Butter London Knackered! I've been waffling on this color since it was released the beginning of this year. I'm so glad I picked this up during the Butter London BOGO sale! The formula is okay, but pretty watery. I foresaw the definite possibility that this polish could turn into a frosty glittery mess because of the metallic shimmer and holo glitter, but I actually like the combination! The holo wasn't too obvious, except in bright light, and the multichrome is pretty subtle too. This could be a good or bad thing depending on your tastes. Now be prepared for entirely too many pictures!

Finger Paints Plum Startled is another polish I couldn't make up my mind about. I have a toooon of purple polishes, but this one isn't too dupey to anything else in my stash. I ended up liking this color a lot, even if my first mani was a fail and I had to do a total redo. I think the bright purple and indigo shimmer against the dusty wine purple base is just super gorgeous. I think Plum Startled also makes a good transition color from Summer to Fall. This was four coats I believe.

 The gorgeous sparkle in this REALLY comes out in the sun. Check out how pretty!

Now this is a random layering I did the other day using a jelly sandwich technique with Revlon Royal and a blue Quirius glitter polish the has red, blue and gold micro glitter. I loved this mani because it reminded me of superhero/Superman themed colors.

Alrighty, I think that catches me up pretty much for the moment. Thanks for reading!!

Summer Flakie Gradient Manicure

I've got a couple new polishes to show you all today. I wanted to get a couple of my untrieds out of the way, so I decided to do a gradient! I used NYC Golden Glam, one of their new summer colors, and Milani Pink Out Loud, a gorgeous dark pink jelly with golden flecks. I used a little eyeshadow applicator to sponge on the Milani Pink Out Loud over my previously applied NYC Golden Glam.

Golden Glam reminds me a lot of Wet n Wild's Waves of Enchantment, except slightly more peachy and less pinky. It's also super sheer, and still wasn't opaque and 3 coats. But the gold flecks in it make it so summery and pretty. Milani Pink Out Loud I haven't tried as a mani by itself, but the pink base was nicely pigmented, so it didn't take to much effort to build it up on the tips.

And for extra sparkles and some contrast I added a coat of Finger Paints Motley, and another of Asylum. Yay flakies!

Orly Synchro multichrome from Fall 2012 Electronica collection

Holy multichrome, Batman! This color is cuh-razy! In the bottle it's a molten fire-y rosey gold blue purple glass box of emotion. Totally gorgeous in the bottle. On the nail it was a pain in the ass. But still gorgeous. I spent at least an hour last night trying to decide whether to wear it on its own today or over black. When I laid it over black, it was too streaky to wear at one coat, but at two, it kept the blue shimmer from being as prevalent. When the polish is more opaquely layered, I feel like the blue shimmer ends up clashing a bit (and greying out) the color shifting frosty-goodness underneath.

The base of this polish is a super sheer reddish rose pink that I wasn't really a fan of because it just wouldn't get opaque at a reasonable amount of coats. But all the multichrome made it worth it! So much beauty, totally unexpected! It reminds me of the classic Sally Hansen Nail Prisms multichromes. It's like SH Garnet Lapis with a different color base. 

This is four dang coats over two coats of nude polish underwear. This polish bubbled and dented forever, and I almost gave up and changed my mani... and then I added french tips in Finger Paints Black Expressionism!

 

And here I swatched it over black (no topcoat), 2 coats, 1 coat, 2 coats, 1 coat.

I know! So many pictures! But I was chasing that gold edge of color that I just baaarely caughty in the 2nd to last picture, but you can see it in the bottle! What do you think? Are you going to pick up any Orlys from this collection? Are you willing to deal with Synchro's mess of a formula to get this sweet multichrome effect?

Cover Band Sticks n Stones + Zoya Zuza & Orly Preamp art

Gonna keep this post short because it's midnight and I've gotta work early tomorrow. But I wanted to show you my last two manis because I loved both so much that I didn't want to take them off!

Zoya Zuza is a goooorgeous addition to the Zoya line. Zuza is hard to describe. It's kind of foily, kinda glass flecky. But it's crazy gorgeous and crazy pigmented. So pigmented that it stained my nails green! Poop. The formula was also super thick, but the color was so pretty that I got past it.

And overtop I had to choose between my Lynnderella Connect the Dots or Coverband's Sticks and Stones. I chose S&S because of the few specks of iridescent glitter in it that I love so much. And I don't want to dwell on the Lynn drama, I love some of her polishes and I will leave it at that.

Here is Zuza at two coats plus one coat of Sticks and Stones w/ Cult Nails Wicked Fast topcoat. Rach recommended I use their topcoat with Zoyas and it seemed to work well! Previously Zoyas neeever dried on me. Go Rach!

And here is an updated mani (current mani), using Orly Preamp (WHICH I LOVE SO MUCH) with a stamping in Color Club Wild at Heart and then flakies from the Finger Paints Collection - Twisted.

I loves it soooo much! Props to Orly for this gorgeous Fall color that is so un-Fall to me but perfect for Summer!

Floral Nail Art

Just a quick post today, my friends! Pure Ice Heartbreaker over Fingerpaints Black Expressionism, one coat of each with Seche Vite. I used acrylic paints and a little brush to paint the flowers. They were supposed to be based on Austin Scarlett's Project Runway All Stars finale wedding dress but it didn't come out right. Anyways, here you go!

And the rarely seen right hand! *gasp*

Some more catch-up spam!

First up we have my Hunger Games mani! While I was in Vegas, I tried to layer my manis so I wouldn't have to change them as often. So one day I had on CQ Rustic Dream, which I love to death! This is a Rite Aid only polish brand, usually right next to the Chameleons and Petites. Rustic Dream is a gorgeous multichrome that goes from pink to copper to gold. Love it! We planned to see the midnight showing of Hunger Games in Vegas, so I added some flames to my existing mani with Orly Glitz and Glamour. I love that Orly because it's pretty opaque so really great for nail art, I LOVE the formula. Here's the mani that was on fire!

And a flakie extravaganza! Forever 21 has some of the coolest polishes. I found this neat Love & Beauty polish there, uniquely named "Pink".... It's the sheerest reddest pink jelly with the most amaaazing micro-flakie-shimmer. Gorgeousness! It has specks of blue, pink, gold, orange, it's amazing! I wanted to layer it so I put it over Color Club Electronica, a blue tinged purple with subtle pink sparkle. And for extra crazy, I added two coats of Finger Paints Asylum, muahahahahaha!

Here's a shot where you can see all the different flakes!

And more swatches of yesterday's Wet n Wild Speak When Spoken To over black:

And yes that is a Rainbow Dash keychain. :)