Favorites: Green!

Hello!!

I'm back with my next installment of my favorites, this time with my favorite greens. :)

I've decided to abandon any sort of distinction between this year and last year, etc., and just pick my top greens, period, end of story, done and dusted. It's just too hard to not include a polish I'm excited about just because I only discovered it recently. And that's the cool thing about having your own blog...you can shift the rules as needed! :)

So, let's get to it, my favorite greens:


Barielle Date Night:

This is my favorite Christmas green shimmer. Not just for Christmas, of course, but that rich, wintery green that makes me think of forests and glens. If you'd like to see some nail art using this polish, click here to see my snowy trees. :)


Barielle Polished Princess

A slightly blurry picture to show the spray of holographic glitter throughout, while preserving the color This is the sort of goldenish-green that makes me think of lush meadows on a spring day. Ths shimmer and the splash of glitter make it interesting and eye-catching, without being over-the-top.


Butter London Wallis

Ah, Wallis...my very first lemming. This polish was a lemming of mine before I even knew the polish term 'lemming'. I waited and waited for it to go on sale at Ulta, and then still only got it as a special gift for myself, 6 months after I started my blog and polish obsession. It was worth every penny and every day I waited. This stunning golden-green-black-flecked polish is like no other that I've seen, and it makes me think of some magical mossy bog in the Highlands of Scotland (which may be nothing like reality, since I've never been to Scotland--but I want to believe it looks like this). The formula on this polish hates me, and I don't care. Not at all. I love it with all my heart.

China Glaze Tree Hugger

A limey-margarita-y sort of vibrant green, this is shimmery summer grass in a bottle. Not only is it pretty in its own right, it's magic for nail art and stamping, and for me, that's a really big deal. I dropped my original bottle of this polish and it hit the edge of my garbage can and smashed--and I almost cried, because I didn't know if I could replace it. Luckily, I was able to. And I will never judge anyone for having back-up bottles of polish, ever. Some risks you just can't take. Here is some nail art using Tree Hugger as a base. :)

InDecisive Nail Lacquer Lush: 

Lush is a richly pigmented Kelley green with a soft spray of teeny silver glitter. This polish is just so...lush. Seriously, not trying to be funny, it is. It's lush and luxurious and smooth and rich and intense. Among other things, I think it's the perfect Irish-y green, so of course I had to do some nail art with it for St. Patrick's Day.


Maya Hex

Mmm, olive green. Maybe I love this color because it's he same color my eyes are in mid-range outdoor light, flecks and all. Nah--I love it because it's just plain beautiful. It's one of those cases of a polish that takes what might be considered an 'ugly' color by some, and makes it beautiful and elegant. I love my olives, and I haven't found one I like better than this. It's a very vintage sort of color, which is why I used it for this art nouveau nail art. :)


Models Own Golden Green

This one was on the verge of not being included because I think of it as a duochrome, and wasn't sure if it should be included in that bunch. It does shift from a deep gold to a dark green, and so technically is a duochrome. I love the particular olivey-golden greens in it, though, and had to include it here. I used it as the base in this Renaissance Christmas manicure.


Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches

Another border-line duochrome, although it's hard to see in the photo. A forest-olive with hints of golden brown, it changes color if you layer it--it's a chameleon, even going to a red-brown at times. Here it is in one of my all-time favorite manicures.


Orly Coachella Dweller

This is a newcomer to my collection, having just been released this spring. A light, soft avocado green creme, it's pretty and soothing. To loosely quote a commercial you might know...I don't often do pastels, but when I do, I do Orly Coachella Dweller. Here it is with a little nail art. :)


Ruby White Tips Lonesome Pine

I'm not even quite sure how to describe this one...it's not a frost, but it looks a bit like a frosty feel to it. It's a unique darker avocado green with teeny holographic glitter throughout. It looks gorgeous in all lights and has enough shine to keep the eye dancing.


Zoya Irene

 Irene is a gorgeous forest green with rich wisps of copper throughout. This is one of those polishes I can't stop looking at when I wear it. If you don't have it and you love green polish--get it. You won't be sorry. Here it is with a copper glitter accent nail.


Zoya Gemma

Gemma was one of the first polishes I bought when I began my journey into polish obsession, and she still blows my mind when I look at her. Who thinks to take an olive drap polish and give it a soft blurple flash? Who does that? I don't know, but I hope they got a raise for it. This polish is otherworldly and ethereal. It's like a cool breeze wafting through sheer curtains on a summer day. It's fairies and mystical creatures but also aliens and butterflies, all wrapped up into one. And if you think I'm going off about it, I absolutely gush about it in my original post about it here, along with some of my first freehand on it. This is another must-have if you love greens, in my opinion.

So there they are, my favorite greens so far in my polish explorations! I hope you saw something you liked, and if you have a favorite that didn't make it on here, please let me know about it so I can check it out! Let's work together in this enabling thing. :)

Peace, love and polish. :)
M.

Before & After: Little Leprechaun Guy

Hello!

Today I'm finishing the last prompt in my Let It Snow! challenge, and of course with perfect timing, the prompt is St. Patrick's Day.

I started with a base of Butter London British Racing Green, which you've seen me use a number of times as a stamping polish. BRG is a deep, dark preppy green:

I have to admit that the formula on this did not like me, and I wasn't too fond of it either (and it shows in the swatch). I think maybe Butter Londons don't work well with my body chemistry, because I hear from everyone that the formula is great--but I have 4 of them now and none of them are very fond of me. Nonetheless, I love them for stamping and NOTHING is going to dissuade me from wearing Wallis. Nothing.

But back to the current mani. I wanted to give the green a little St. Paddy magic, so I added a coat of Zoya Maisie, a green-blue flakie top coat. Then I stamped using my Bunny Nails HD-B plate, and Barry M Gold Foil:

Grrr. I'm annoyed that I stamped the clover a little low on my pinkie, but other than that, I really like it. Maisie works so well with BRG! And that little Leprechaun guy makes me happy every time I see him. :)

Thanks for stopping by, and please check out the other St. Paddy manicures linked below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: St. Paddy skittles + note about Google Reader :)

Hello!!

Okay, first the obligatory note about Google Reader shutting down on July 1st. Probably you already know about this, but in case you don't--yeah, it's gonna. I personally prefer Bloglovin' for keeping up with my blog reading, so this isn't a huge deal for me ::dodges the rotten tomatoes being thrown at her::, but I know that most people prefer Google Reader, so I'm sorry to hear this on your behalf if you do. The good news is that you can easily switch to several other readers, including Bloglovin', which allows you to import all of your blogs from GR with literally one click of the mouse.

Up 'til now I've run my giveaways using GFC to verify you're a follower. It's not a secret that people have a feeling that GFC will be following GR before too long...so I'm hoping Bloglovin' will change their system so you can see more than just your most recent 20 followers. Speaking of which, my next giveaway will be at 500 followers on either GFC, Bloglovin' or 600 with them combined. :) I have a Bloglovin' button on my sidebar if you want to follow me that way. :)

But on to the important thing--the polish and the manicure!

Today I have another St. Patrick's Day manicure for you--remember I wore China Glaze's L8R G8R a while back, and then made my Pot O' Gold manicure on one hand of it? This is what I did with the other hand. So here again is the lovely L8R G8R, looking slightly lighter in color than it does IRL:

China Glaze L8R G8R in direct light

I did this manicure first, so didn't realize how much the brilliance would show through even under glitter; so I kept this simple to keep a lot of the polish showing:

On the index finger, I stamped some shamrocks with Bunny Nails plate HD-B, using Butter London British Racing Green. On the middle finger, I did a saran-wrap mash-up with Butter London BRG and Barry M Gold Foil. On the ring finger, I put green and gold microbeads, and on the pinkie, I sponged some China Glaze Graffiti Glitter. St. Paddy Skittles FTW!

Thanks for taking a look. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Pot O' Gold

Hello everyone!

Oh yeah, today I have a shiny, glitzy ball of bling for you, lol!! I showed you my 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' manicure which was a nice, subtle St. Patrick's Day manicure. Today's offering will be on the other end of the spectrum. :)

As I chose which base I wanted to use, I realized it was time to do something I'd been long waiting to do...Use my cherished China Glaze L8R G8R. I lusted after this polish for ages, but refused to pay the $40 price tag for it on eBay; I finally found it in an accidental dusty hunt (the story behind it is an unusual one and I'd be happy to share it if you like!). I'm so glad I didn't pay that ridiculous price anyway, because since then the Hologlam collection has been announced, so more awesome China Glaze holos are coming soon. In fact, mine might arrive in the mail today!

But I digress...holos tend to do that to me. Anyway...L8R G8R is a soft avocado holo that I found it nearly impossible to capture in any light; all of my pictures made it look a little bit lighter than it does in real life:

China Glaze L8R G8R

China Glaze L8R G8R...Look at that luscious rainbow...:)

It's no secret that the China Glaze OMG collection applies like butter and wears like steel, at least compared to other holos. I hope the new collection does the same!

Of course I wore this for a couple of days before I decorated it--how could I not! Next I added a layer of glitter, Pure Ice I'll Behave, which has small kelly green glitter and larger green hexes:

China Glaze L8R G8R + Pure Ice I'll Behave

And a shot in the light to showcase the rainbow

A slanted shot to show the glitter and how it plays with the rainbow

I hoped that the rainbow would show through under the glitter, and boy did it! It doesn't just peek out, it boldly calls out. I love this effect. I've always been hesitant to cover my holos because I didn't want to lose their brilliance (after all, that is why we love them!), but I'm definitely going to be trying glitter over holos again.

Finally, I stamped a pot of gold with my Bunny Nails plate HD-B; I used Butter London British Racing Green as my stamping polish. I put gold glequins on top of the pot of gold, and then arched them out like rays pouring over the other nails (or, at least, that's what I was going for, lol):

Pot of Gold!

Close up of the pot :)

So yeah--pretty darn blingy! I love that the holo gives a bit of a 'rainbow' behind the pot of gold. :) Hope you like it, too. :)

Thanks for reading!

Xoxox,
M.

NOTD: Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Hello!

Today is officially Mardi Gras, so I have my second celebratory Mardi Gras manicure today. This one I made on purpose, lol! I set out to make it sparkly and glittery and gaudy in that awesome Mardi Gras way. Let's see if you think I pulled it off. :)

I started with a base coat of Milani Hi-Rez, one of Milani's very chunky, but still awesome, holographic polishes. It's a sort of a dark lilac shade which I thought would serve as a good backdrop for the rest. Next I did a quick saran-wrap pattern over it with China Glaze's Rare And Radiant, to give it a bit of iridescent green shine in spots. After that, I put on a coat of Hit Polish's Bourbon St., a fun glitter in Mardi Gras colors. And last but not least, I stamped swirls of beads being thrown through the air with Bundle Monster plate 224, using Butter London's British Racing Green and Manic Panic's Blood Thirsty:

This is a good shot to see the iridescent effect

Love that pretty glitter. :)

To show that it doesn't look so busy when you actually see it farther away. Not that I care if it's busy, lol!!

This angle gives a great shot of what Milani Hi-Rez looks like :)

Now I want to find a place to eat crawfish, dance to Zydeco, and wear some beads!! Who wants to join me?!?

Also, I just wanted to point out that this is basically the same design I used on my hot chocolate manicure (which you can see here for comparison purposes); although I did add some saran-wrap background here, it's otherwise the same technique with different colors. The two together show just how versatile a single stamp can be when you just vary it a bit, I think. I've never before been inspired by one design I was doing to do the same thing for another purpose, so I just had to share that part with you. :)

Here's hoping that your good times are a-rolling! If they aren't go make 'em roll!! :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: China Glaze Cranberry Splash

Hello!!

Today has not been a good day--neither was yesterday--and I could use to have a little color and positivity in my life to make things a little brighter and happier. So today's prompt is a good one for me to focus on writing up right now...because it involves something I love and am fairly proud of.

Today's prompt is to do a manicure that's inspired by fabric. Right away when I saw this prompt, I knew which fabric I wanted to use...several years ago, when I was walking through a fabric store trying to pick out fabric to make a Halloween costume, I saw a design that I fell in love with, and had to have. The moment I saw it I knew I wanted to make it into a beautiful skirt:

There were several problems with this plan. One is that I am not good at sewing. With an easy pattern and a lot of time, I can produce something that will pass as acceptable. This works best with Halloween costumes, because nobody expects them to be perfect anyway, and you don't expect to get a lot of use out of them if you sew one of your seams a little bit closer than you should. That said, I have made myself about 4-5 articles of clothing in my life, and I figured it was worth the risk. If you look at them hem in the picture above, you will see it's far from perfect, although not quite as bad as it seems, because it's laying a bit oddly due to a pleat that needs to be ironed correctly.

The second problem is...the fabric wasn't really intended to be used for clothes. It was intended for home decoration, and was a pain in the tushie to work with. But, I worked slowly and carefully, and while it isn't perfect, I am proud of it and it's my favorite article of clothing to this day.

And I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a manicure out of it, as well.

I started with a base of China Glaze Cranberry Splash, a pretty shimmery red:

China Glaze Cranberry Splash in direct sun

China Glaze Cranberry Splash in the shade

Then I did a gradient with the Cranberry Splash and Misa Spinning Out Of Control (I didn't bother to clean up the cuticles cause I knew I'd have to again after the next step):

Then things got a little complicated--why am I surprised, it's only fitting because the skirt was so complicated! I stamped over the gradient using Butter London The Full Monty, and Konad Plate m64. I put some Pretty & Polished Heist down over the bottom part, to give it a little gold-flake goodness. And then it went very, very wrong. I went to reach for China Glaze Golden Enchantment, and I grabbed I'm Not Lion instead, which is much thicker and more glittery. So when I sponged some at the tips, it ended up looking like this:

Ugh, just ugh. Icky Icky ugh ugh ugh. So, I took it all off, and started all over again...and this time did everything from above except the last bit of sponged glitter:

Ah yes, much better. Even with the random hair in that last picture. Where do they always come from??!!!

Hope you like it, and thank you for looking. Please check out the other beautiful manis below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

NOTD: Fireside Glowing Icicles

Hello!!

The 31 Day Challenge has put me a little behind in other things on my blog; I don't like posting more than once a day if I can avoid it because I think it annoys readers (I've heard people complain about this elsewhere), and I don't like falling behind on other things that I want to do, so I think I'll only ever do the relaxed versions of these challenges in the future.

To try to catch up in the Let It Snow challenge in a fun way, I decided to combine two of the themes into one. Last week's theme was 'Fireside Glow', and this week's theme is 'Icicles'...So I figured, how about a mani sitting next to the glow of the fire, with icicles on the windows outside? I did an abstract version of this concept.

I started with a base of Barielle Elle's Spell, which I just showed you recently, so I won't show the swatch pictures again; I couldn't resist it because it has such a warm, glowy feel to it, like when you stare into a campfire and watch the flames dance.

Next, I took a variety of metallic polishes and striped icicles coming down from the tops of my nails (and up from the bottom of the accent nail). The idea was for some of the icicles to have a glowy reflection from the fire inside:

To do this, I used Butter London Diamond Geezer, Julep Sienna, Top Shop Hyperreal, and over it randomly I put China Glaze White Cap; unfortunately in the picture, the sparkle from White Cap doesn't come through much. I'm not sure how much they look like icicles exactly, but there is definitely a clash of warm and cool, and I think it's an interesting look. Maybe sort of like lava erupting or something, lol. :)

Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you'll take a moment to look at the other participants' manis, linked below. :)

Namaste,
M.

Blogger 1.0 -

Before & After: Elle's Spell + Diamond filigree

Hello!!!

Day 19 of the CNT 31 Day Challenge is to do something with your favorite polish.

Oh, the agony.

So many pretties to choose from...so many preciouses...I have discovered so many new and wonderous polishes since I started blogging in April, it was a near impossibility to narrow it down to one. And every time I thought I did--so much guilt about not choosing that one or that one...or hey, what about that one? I can't even understand how anyone narrows it down to a top 10 list at the end of the year, let alone ONE.

I did this post several times, with different polishes, because another thing I found was that a polish I thought was absolutely the pinnacle of amazing will turns out to have been bested by another that I found later. It's like my polishes keep upping the ante, lol! So, I'll show you those other polishes (Nfu-Oh 51 was one of them) in future Before & After posts.

Finally I decided to limit my decision to my favorite color, red. Then, I decided it had to be an extra-extra ultra special red--which means a specialty finish. I'll be honest, it was a very close call between Hits Ares (gorgeous red holo) and Barelle's Elle's Spell, the polish I finally decided to go with.

Elle's Spell is a beautiful red jelly with yellow/orange/gold flakies. When I went to put it on, I realized I have yet to use it as a base polish in a mani, and I've never done a full swatch of it--I have mostly used it for nail art. When I put it on, it went on a bit lighter than it looks in the bottle and I realized it looks a lot like the Layla flakie I got a while back, and I'm going to have to do a comparison post. This is 4 thin coats (due to my jelly issues) and Seche Vite:

Barielle Elle's Spell

Barielle Elle's Spell, plus requisite random fibers

To decorate it, I wanted to do an overall pattern on the nail, with a little extra something to make it a bit special. So, I stamped with Butter London The Full Monty (a great gold to stamp with if you want a little extra sparkle in the gold), and LeaLac plate LLC-A. Finally, I put some gold diamond-shaped glitters down the ring finger as a final accent:

These rocks don't lose their shape...

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

I'm not going to mention the source for these diamond glitters, because I've since found a better one; I got just a small package of these for my money, and I've since got a pot of silver diamond glitters from Born Pretty Store that is *huge* for a very reasonable price. So I'll be reviewing those for you shortly, and if in the meantime you want to get some of these, I think they're a good source for you. You can also get 10% off from them with the coupon code on the side-bar--and no, I don't get a commission, lol! They just really are a better price for a lot more.

So what do you think? The flakies show through a bit, and I do like the scroll work. But honestly this polish doesn't need anything to be beautiful, and when I do this again I think I'll just decorate the accent nail and let the flakies keep the stage.

Thanks for taking a look! Please check out the other favorites below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Indie-licious Review: Laquerlicious Polishes

Hello!!

Today I'm gonna show you some polishes from Laquerlicious, an indie brand that I just found recently. While it was a Christmas polish that caught my eye originally, this review is not going to be a Christmas review, but rather a general review that includes a selection of her polishes; she has a very eclectic range of glitters to choose from.

First up is Washed Denim, a cool blend of different shapes and sizes of teal, black, and white glitters in a clear base. The shapes include diamonds, hexes, circles, squares--the different shapes distinguish this from other similar polishes of the blue-black-white sort, and makes it special with more visual interest. I've layered two thin coats of the polish here over China Glaze Def Defying:

Laquerlicious Washed Denim over China Glaze Def Defying

Mmm...texture...

The formula on this was excellent. I didn't have to do any real placement, just natural shifting as I applied. She shows the polish over blue on her site, which you can see by clicking here, and I like how it pops out even over a similar color.


Next is Christmas Morning, the polish that originally attracted me to Laquerlicious, so you know already that I'm going to love it, lol. Christmas Morning is just like Christmas morning with all that torn wrapping paper--covered in shreds of holiday color. There are red, green, white, silver and gold shreds of various sizes in a lightly milky base, which also gives it a confetti-ish look. Here is first one coat, then two, layered over Butter London The Full Monty:

Laquerlicious Christmas Morning over Butter London The Full Monty

Side shot of one coat

 Because I layered this over a gold, it's hard to see the gold shreds with only one coat, but it's much easier to see in this picture with two coats (the light was cooperating a little more, too, lol):

Two coats of Laquerlicious Christmas Morning

Side shot of two coats. :)

The formula on this is perfect. I was mindful of how much glitter was coming off while I brushed it on, but didn't need to dab--there is an even suspension and it all goes on beautifully. I was absolutely thrilled with this polish--it did what I was hoping and more. I wore this on Christmas morning (go figure) over silver, and couldn't stop looking at it over silver or over gold. She also shows it over white on her site, which plays up its milky base and makes the red and green stand out more, which you can see here. If you want this polish, don't wait--it's discontinued and she only has 4 left. BUT: it's on sale for $6.50, along with a number of other polishes.


Next to show you is Zebra Kisses, a beautiful black and white shred in a clear base. I love shreds and I love the versatility of black-and-white, and this appeals to me a bit more than the standard cirlce/hex/bar black-and-white glitters out there. Here is two very thin coats over Layla's Softouch Effect 10:

Laquerlicious Zebra Kisses over Layla SE10

Again the formula on this was very easy to work with, and all the shreds laid flat with no problem. I know I'm going to get a ton of use out of not just this polish but this particular combination, because I'm a huge San Jose Sharks fan, and this is their colors. Too bad it looks like there won't be any hockey this season...ah well, there's always next year. :)

Next up is Fall Back, a really fun blend of small glitters in a light brown-ish base. This is a fall polish because oranges and browns predominate, but it's got its own personality--it contains a healthy amount of purples and blues as well. When worn in several coats on its own, it has a duochrome base with a subtle color shift, which you can see on her site here; because she highlighted that on her site, I wanted to show this as a layering glitter. I think it's more versatile than it first looks, and I've layered it over two colors here, first two coats of Fall Back over Ulta Army Of 1, and then one coat of Fall Back over Julep Georgia:

Laquerlicious Fall Back over Ulta Army Of 1

Laquerlicious Fall Back over Army Of 1

I love me some side shots of glitter. :)

Over Julep Georgia:

One coat of Fall Back over Julep Georgia

The formula on this was beautiful--it went on as easily as a non-glitter polish. I personally think that over the peachy color, this could be a fun summer or even spring mani. But then, I'm a bit non-traditional with my colors, lol. This is another limited edition that she won't be making  more of, and as of this posting, she has only 3 available, so if you like it, go grab it! Luckily it also is one of the sale polishes for $6.50. :)


And to end, we have Queen Crown, a clear-based polish with silver shimmer and shreds, and pink and purple hexes and shreds, all with a holographic component. I put two-ish coats over Pure Ice Twinkle, a pretty coral:

Laquerlicious Queen Crown over Pure Ice Twinkle

Very sparkly!

And, of course, a side shot! :)

This polish was hard to capture on film because it's so sparkly and complex, especially with holographic thrown into the mix. It has a fairy princess quality to it that I think the girl that lives inside most women loves to put on now and then (or every day, even!). It makes me want to put on a beautiful gown and a tiara, and I couldn't stop looking at it.

The formula was good, although I personally tend to be a bit challenge when it comes to layering shimmery glitters like this--I tend to have to be very careful to get it to the edges and to not have bald spots...but that isn't a fault of the glitter per se, just one of my personal glitter challenges. It is unquestionably worth the little bit of extra effort I had to put into it to make it even.

So there you have them, 5 beautiful polishes from Laquerlicious! You can find her shop by clicking here. Her polishes are 3-free, and normally sell for $8.50, but she has a number of them on sale right now for $6.50. In fact, I should probably go get a few more...

Thanks so much for reading!

Xoxox,
M.

(Christmas Morning and Fall Back were purchased with my own money. The other polishes were provided for an honest review.)