It's franken time!

Hello all! I recently got a bug in my bonnet about all the Spectraflair I had left, so I decided to mix up some colors. My first creation I'm gonna show y'all is Peritwinkle.

Ahhh. That's what I'm talking about. My perfect periwinkle with a holographic shimmer. I got disgruntled because I'm always looking for a bright lilac periwinkle and it's so hard, so I experimented until I got something I liked. The recipe for this baby was about a quarter Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, about an 1/8 of Circus Tight Rope, but any neon purple would work. And then a bunch of white to lighten it up. Then I added about 3 tiny scoops of Spectraflair and shook it a bunch. 

Weeeellll, I learned quickly that this much creme polish just about obscures all holo particles. So I literally used up about two bottles of clear trying to thin it out. And then you could just baaaarely see the holo. So these pics above are Peritwinkle plus a coat of home-made Spectraflair topcoat. 

Ain't she a beaut? This is about 2 mini scoops of Spectraflair in 3/4 full bottle of NYC Grand Central Station. We shall dub thee, Rainbow Road! So there's the scoop. My two newest frankens, got one more to swatch later, a vampy holo. 

NOTDs... past and present

Hello my friends! I am very sorry that I haven't been around in months. Nothing has really gotten my juices flowing enough to bother you all with it. Suffice to say I've had a lot going on: going back to school for nursing, dealing with housing crises of friends, broken NOTD camera and of course, Macy's. I've still been painting the nails, just not taking pics as often as before, and not spending much time on nail art. Well, I'm starting to get inspired again, so we'll see what happens. This post is gonna be a photo dump of some of the manis I have managed to capture on film in the last couple months. These pics are using my Iphone 4, so please bear with me (or bare with me ;p )

I'm gonna say this NOTD was maybe American Apparel Peacock... not positive. All that really matters is that that is Lilacquer Lycanthrope on top, and what a beauty she is. Green bronze shift to blue. So sexy. And for fun I topped it with a franken of mine that's just multi-iridescent squares in clear.

I'm pretty sure this is Hits Artsy, even though at this angle the flash almost makes it look like SH Turquoise Opal. Always gonna be a top 20 polish. Soooo sexy. 

And Zoya Aurora! How I love Zoyas holographic polishes. Just the right amount of fire to keep it gorgeous, but not too much to overwhelm the base color. Aurora makes me start singing the opening theme to Disney's Sleeping Beauty "Hail to the Princess Aurora!" Yum.

Aaaand a not-so-successful dotticure using Zoya Storm. Storm was okay, but not nearly as pretty as my favorite of the collection, Blaze. Not enough sparkle for me. So of course I went overboard and sparkled that shit up. I think I used Jade Mystic Gold and Urban Outfitters Green Holo for the dots. Got tipwear super-fast on this one, but wear time was pretty good for Aurora and Blaze.

If you like old, sorta gramma-y nail polishes, I suggest hitting up your local Dollar Tree! I found some ooold two packs of Almay nail polishes, mostly pinks and mauves and frosts but some had a really cool hidden shimmer. This light beige-y color is called Dusk and it has a pretty coppery pink shimmer. Of course I bedazzled it with Essie Shine of the Times and an accent of Layla Mermaid's Spell.

And that's the end of today's nail journey. I hope to be back soon with more pics of my nail exploits, but my new nursing classes must take priority! Thanks for reading :)

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!!

Catch Up Spam!

Man am I behind on swatches or what??? Here are some of the manis I've been wearing lately:

Essence Grey-t to Be Here with CND Crimson Sparkle on top. Had to add the CND effect because the Essence's sparkle just wasn't cutting it for me. Love the base color of it though! Three coats plus one of Crimson Sparkle.

OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow Suede. Normally I don't like green polishes, but the depth in this one is amazing. It almost looked 3d/holographic. Super sexy green. This swatch is two coats no topcoat.

And here with NYC Grand Central Station topcoat.

China Glaze Pink Plumeria, two coats over a nude franken base, with a franken Spectraflair holo topcoat. I love Pink Plumeria soooo much! It almost makes me look tan. 

Layla Hologram Effect Red Taboo is a gorgeous deep pink holographic polish. This swatch is two coats over one coat of Nfu Oh Aquabase. Please excuse the lack of cleanup, I did my nails at my parent's house and didn't have my usual equipment. Ugh, it's almost TOO pretty!

Woo! I've got some more coming a little bit later, a few indies that deserve their own post!

Sunday Night Spam! Franken, a China Glaze Bohemian and a German OPI

Here's a little catch up spam I've been saving for you all. Work has been totally insane lately and when I get home, all I want to do is pass out. But I have been doing my nails. So first up is a franken I made using Revlon Royal, clear, suspension base, and Spectraflair powder. This swatch is two coats over Essie No More Film.

And this next mani I wore all of five minutes. Chromes seem to be impossible for me to apply without serious bubbling and brush-strokiness. China Glaze Deviantly Daring is one of the less duochromatic colors in the China Glaze Bohemian collection, but I think it's still a pretty color. This is two coats and one coat of Poshe. 

OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest.. .how I wanted you to be more magical. In the bottle it is fantastic! Purple-red shimmer in a deep navy base. On the nail it looks almost black unless it's in direct sunlight.*sigh* This is two coats with one coat of Poshe. Easy to apply, and one of the easiest cleanups I've ever done on a vampy. Definitely a gorgeous formula. 

My goal is to franken this with OPI Germanicure and red to green shifting pigment to make something awesome similar to OPI La Boheme.

I know, a lot of pictures, but I was hoping to catch some magic!