Before & After: Citrus Beach

(Products in this post were all purchased by me.)

Hello!

Oh yes, summer is holding on strong here...it hovered around 90 degrees both yesterday and today. And there's not much relief coming any time soon.

So, what else can I do but show you one of the summeriest summer manicures I've ever made? That's right, you've been warned--you're about to be hit by the brightest, citrusiest, beach-blanketiest manicure you've ever seen in your life. I've been saving it for just such an occasion. :)

I started with a base of Revlon Beach, a really unusual shade of greenish-yellow (yellowish-green) with a metallic finish:

Revlon Beach, indirect sunliht, two coats

Revlon Beach, direct sunlight, two coats

Then I added a coat of Lush Lacquer Sizzling Hot, and then stamped a large citrust pattern over it all with Konad White and Bundle Monster BM 308:

Yeah, baby! Tell me that isn't beach-blanket-citrus-licious! No, I don't know what that means, either! But it definitely makes a statement. :)

I hope you're enjoying your dog days of summer, and thanks for taking a look! Hugs and love,
M.

(Products in this post were all purchased by me.)

Before & After: Coffee Rescue 911

Hello!

Yeep, I accidentally put this in the wrong place on my 'publish' queue...sorry!

So, for today's Before & After, I was inspired by a polish I bought a while back to do a coffee manicure, because the polish reminds me of what my coffee looks like when some of the grounds escape into the pot! This happens more than I care to admit...>.>

And, I should tell you...this is a story of failure and redemption. I cried, I shook my fist at the sky, and ultimately, I smiled.

I started with a base of Neener Neener Nails Oh Natural, a light brown jelly with copper and brown hex glitters of various sizes. This is a building polish, and took 4 coats to get to where I wanted it:

Let me say first that I love this polish, and I will wear it again, but very rarely. Once I got it on, it looked beautiful in all lights, and was a great blend of jelly and glitter. However, it was a bit challenging to work with for me. Maybe it was my body chemistry, but the layers didn't seem to want to dry very quickly, and when you need four coats of polish, that's a problem. What I finally did that seemed to work well was two layers and then a layer of Seche Vite, then two more layers and another coat of Seche Vite. Even with the Seche Vite, I had to be careful for a  couple of hours after each set of layers. And at the end of the day, I think the look of the polish was worth it, when the occasion is right.

Because it reminded me of coffee in a cup, I decided to turn it into a latte, and decorate it with mugs of coffee (Red Angel plate 216, stamped with Sally Hansen White On). I sponged Sally Hansen White On onto the tips, and then a touch of Revlon Amber Ablaze to look like cinnamon on the top:

Umm...Yeah. Not sure that's quite how I wanted it to look...maybe if I add a little more cinnamon on top...So I added some Ulta My Two Cents, a copper glitter:

Nope, it still looks like a steaming pile of...bad cocoa. Actually, I think it's worse.

But you see...I'd worked so hard to get the base polish on, I really really REALLY did not want to have to start over. So, I decided to abandon the initial concept, and do a glitter gradient.

I used a q-tip soaked in acetone to remove the white polish from the tips--I worked carefully with fast strokes. This is the benefit of putting a coat of topcoat underneath nail art (although I skip this step far too often!).

Then, I added a full-on gradient of Ulta My Two Cents, which also reminds me a bit of coffee grounds when applied this way:

Ahh, much better. In fact, I like that gradient so much, I almost wish I'd removed the stamped coffee mugs too...but I do think they add a little whimsy. :) What do you think? Which version do you like, or do you think they all suck foamed milk?

Thanks for stopping by--hugs and love. :)
M.

Before & After: Stamped triangle

Hello!

Today's prompt in the Flip-Flop February challenge is flowers/v-gap. To be honest, I'm not sure what a v-gap is, so I've decided to give it my own definition. :)

I started with a base of Nfu-Oh 51, everyone's favorite purple flakie:

Nfu-Oh 51

Yummy flakie goodness...

Next, I free-handed triangles where my half-moon would be, using the striper from Revlon's Jackson Polish. Finally I stamped on each of the triangles using Cheeky Plate GA38, and China Glaze Joy:

So does that count as a v-gap? And what do you think? I think I like this better than half-moons, and I'm going to play with these shapes again. :)

Sorry this is so short today--I'm running on fumes...

Thanks for looking! Please check out the other participants below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

NOTD: U is for Under The Sea

Hello!

I'm slowly catching up with everything--never again will I do a 31 Day every-day-continuous challenge, lol!!! (she says and probably joins one next month.)

Last week's theme in my Llama Nails alphabet challenge was "U"...and I chose to do 'Under The Sea" for my U. :)

I started with a base of The Nail Junkie's Fish (Indie Alert!), a pretty blue shimmer with a variety of blue glitters. Then I stamped over the base with Konad plate m27 and Drikk plate C (which I will be reviewing sometime soon, hopefully!!), in Konad White. Finally, I put on some purple bubbles with Revlon Decadent, to give some color contrast and visual interest:

Under da sea, Under da sea!

Darling it's better, down where it's wetter! (wait...what?)

What do you think? I think it's fun and happy. And I love love love the glitter polish, the sparkly glitters are just sparkly enough to catch your eye here and there.

Thanks for taking a look! :)

Xoxox,
M.

NOTD: Clothing Makes The Man (or, this is why I use stamping plates)

Hello!!

I didn't mean to make him look like Gonzo.

It's hard to paint with nail polish, it really is. But you know what's harder? Painting with nail polish with your off-hand. If I've told myself once, I've told myself a thousand times---do your freehand with the hand you actually write with. This greatly improves your chances of not creating an accidental Gonzo, and improves your chance of not accidentally making a psychopathic-looking Gonzo even more.

So, this week's theme in my Let It Snow challenge is 'Snowmen'. And I decided that a good concept for this would be 'Clothing Makes The Man', where I have a snowman on each nail, but only one of them is happy because only that one is dressed up and looking spiffy.

(holy crap did i just use the word spiffy?)

Well...I still think the concept is great, we just have to alter it a bit to 'Clothing Makes the Gonzo'...which possibly argues *against* the up-lifting effect of spiffy awesome clothes, rather than *for* it:

Please don't ask me why my top hat looks like a sombrero-cowboy hybrid. Or why Gonzo looks like he's about to stab you to death. I don't have answers to any of these questions, and what's sadder is...this is the improved version over the initial attempt.

Actually, more I look at it...the more it looks like a troupe of zombie snowmen coming to clear out a sleepy small-town village...That can't be good... Brb, I have to look up in the DSM-V to see if there are any psychological disorders that are characterized by accidentally making zombies out of all of your free-hand nail art, whether you mean to or not.

As I'm sure you're all rushing to recreate this, let me share with you the polishes I used. The base is Zoya's Mimi, and it's actually quite lovely when not covered with vagrant snowmen. I used Sally Hansen White On, Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, Pure Ice Siren, Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, Revlon Cloud, and Sally Hansen Orange Impulse for the Snowmen themselves.

Well, on the positive side, linked below you will find other snowmen manicures, many of them probably well-executed and without psychopathic zombie muppet overtones.

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Watercolor Camo

Hello!!

So. Yeah. Today is watercolor day in the 31 Day CNT challenge. I've um...never done a watercolor mani...>.>...So, um...Yeah.

Well, we must do the things we are afraid of to grow, right? So I did it. But since I really don't like pastels, I decided to go another direction with the colors, and did a camouflage. :)

I started off with a base of Julep Stella, a light butterscotch sort of color:

Julep Stella 

Then I put on random swaths of China Glaze Trendsetter, China Glaze Westside Warrior, Sation I Paint In Peace, and Revlon Hot For Chocolate. I splurted a little bit of acetone over it, and swooshed it a bit with a nail art brush to get the watercolor effect. Then I stamped over with with China Glaze Passion and plate QA30 to give it some rank stripes:

Camo watercolor

I admit, it's still not my favorite technique, and you likely won't see it here again. But, I like how this turned out, and never say never! So who's to say. :)

Thanks for looking, and please check out the other watercolor manicures linked below. If they aren't showing up it's because I'm having a problem with the code and I hope to get it fixed soon. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: G is for Ghost

Hello!

Oh yes, it's the Halloween season, so you know I had to do it--'G' is for Ghost! :)

I haven't done anything super cutesy and child-like yet this Halloween, so I thought I'd go there for this one. :)

To start, I used a base of Revlon's Grape Icy (which has the side benefit of being a scented polish, which is cool and disconcerting at the same time--it's odd to keep getting whiffs of candy from your hand):

(Pay no attention to those sheet marks on my nails--I painted these about 4 hours before I went to bed, but because I forgot to put on a topcoat, this is what happened when I did go to bed--yargh.)

Next, I put on some awesome Phantom Frights duo polish glitter on that I found for $1.99 at Rite Aid that doesn't have a name; it's orange and black bar glitter with orange hexes and a spray of orange micro-glitter in a clear base. It's cheap and it curls a bit and I don't care because I loves it:

For the final stages, I stamped with Sally Hansen Lickety-Split Lime using the lines and rectangle image from LLC-B; then I finished up by stamping a little ghostie with Sally Hansen White On using the image from Bundle Monster plate BM223:

This makes me think of the fun Halloween parties we used to have at school when I was a kid. It makes me smile, and I hope it makes you smile, too.

Thanks for looking, and please check out the other 'G' entries, linked below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Pumpkins

Hello!!

Today's prompt in my CNT Halloween challenge is 'pumpkins'. I did the manicure for this one ages ago, because I love pumpkins, and couldn't wait! I actually did it before I knew officially when I'd be posting it, because I knew one of my challenges would have a pumpkin prompt in it. :)

I started off with a base of Revlon Orbit; this is a polish I got on one of the dual-ended polishes, with a flakie on the other end. It's a deep purple that goes almost to black. On the accent nail  put two coats of The Nail Junkie's Tiger. I wanted to spice up the purple a bit--it's sort of flat on its own--so I put a coat of CND Amethyst Sparkle over it:

Revlon Orbit + CND Amethyst Sparkle + The Nail Junkie Tiger

To make the pumpkin look, I stamped using Sally Hansen Orange impulse, and the pumpkin image from Bundle Monster plate BM222:

Pumpkins, indirect light

Pumpkins, direct light

Pumpkins, shade

I love this shade of purple with this shade of orange, and I was so excited that the stamping polish was so close to the color of Tiger when put over that orange! Something about this combination just makes me happy. I hope you enjoy it, too. :)

Thanks for looking, and please take a look at the other pumpkin manicures linked below. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: F is for 'Flourish'

Hello!!!

Today's letter in my Llama Nails alphabet challenge is F, and I've decided that stands for 'Flourish'. I love love love images that have flourishy flounces, so I love any opportunity to use them.

I had been wearing Orly Oui, which is one of my new favorite polishes. It's a deep lavender-ish polish with gorgeous gold and silver flecks to it:

Orly Oui in the shade

Orly Oui in the sun

To create my manicure, I stamped using Revlon Orbit a dark purple creme (half of one of the double-ended Revlon flakie polishes) to get a tone-on-tone effect, and Bundle Monster plate BM314:

Flourishy flourishes :)

Add caption

The thing I love best about this is how the gold-flecked polish shines out from underneath the stamping; I also love that the stamping reminds me of some wrought-iron gate. :)

Thanks for looking, and please check out all the other 'F' manicures, linked below!

Xoxox,
M.

Blogger 1.0 -

MSMD Monday: Skittle Nail Art

Hello!

I'm excited about today's MSMD because it's something I've wanted to try for a while, skittle nail art. One of the queens of this technique is Sammy of The Nailasaurus, in my opinion, so I'm using one of hers for my basic inspiration. You can see it by clicking here.

I've been having a yen to pair a moss green with a pretty purple in a manicure, and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity, so here's what I did:

Skittle mani!

Skittle mani in the shade

Skittle mani--direct sun

So here's what I did. All fingers have Revlon Muse as the base color:

Index finger: One thick coat of Different Demension That's so Fetch (Indie Alert!)

Middle finger: gradient done with Zoya Tru, topped with Ulta Purple Xing

Ring Finger: Stamped with Zoya True using LeaLac plate LLC-A (I will review this plate shortly), centers dotted with Ulta Purple Xing

Pinkie finger: purple gleequins, with one coat of gelous on top, and a coat of Seche Vite

I really love the way this came out! This type of manicure is so fun, with something different going on with each nail, but it still looks clean and pulled together. I also really love how That's So Fetch looks over Muse--the color combination is amazing. :)

I hope you saw something here you like! Please check out all of the other MSMD manicures, linked below. :)

M.

Dupe Or No Dupe?: Misa Taking Chances & Revlon Fig

Hello!

Remember back a while when I reviewed the Misa 2012 Fall Wanderlust collection? There was another one of the polishes (Taking Chances) that reminded me of something...Revlon's Fig Jam, to be exact.

I pulled out my Fig Jam, and my memory had not served me wrong...they looked an awful lot alike in the bottle:

But, of course, just because they look like in the bottle, doesn't mean they look alike on the nail...:

Shade

Indirect light

Direct Sunlight

Dupe! Dupe! Dupe!!

Holy moly, seriously? The only picture you can tell the slightest difference in is the direct sunlight picture, and that's just because the Misa's formula was a bit thicker, and you can see the brush strokes a bit more in that direct light (Misa is on the index and ring finger).

And really, that's the only difference I could find. Both have good application, but Revlon's is a bit thinner. So what this comes down to for me is price. If you pay full price, the Misa is cheaper. If you can get the Revlon on sale, and I can usually get it for about $1.99 on sale at CVS if I'm patient, the Revlon is cheaper. But you definitely don't need both! :)

Hope this was helpful...Thanks for stopping by. :)

M.

NOTD Before & After: Orly's Smolder (Or, Fall Is In The Air...)

Hello!!

A little while back I reviewed two colors from Orly's Fired Up collection, and liked them so much that I ordered a third color from the collection, Smolder. When it showed up, I couldn't wait to try it out, especially when it turned out to be more of a red than it looked from the promo materials, which made it look a bit more like a wine color.

Smolder is very similar to Flicker in the type of color and finish it is; it has incredible depth and intensity, and I want very much to call it a duochrome, but it doesn't quite shift as much as flash--it's sort of in between a flash and a shift. In the shade, you see deep red with orange/copper flashes and winey flashes. In the sun, more of the wine color comes out. And like Flicker, Smolder is true to the name of the collection in that is seems to be lit from within:

Orly Smolder--shade

Orly Smolder--shade, different angle

Orly Smolder--direct sunlight

I had been wearing this for a day and wasn't sure what to do with it because I didn't want to cover it up, when my AIS group announced the challenge theme, and solved my dilemma. The theme for today is 'Can't wait for fall!', and this color screams fall to me, so I knew I'd be using it as my base.

I personally love fall and fall colors, and while I don't want summer to end, I'm really jazzed about putting together my first official 'fall' manicure, so one fall color was certainly not going to be enough. So I grabbed a rainbow of fall colors in a bottle--Kleancolor Chunky Holo Bluebell. If you've never seen it, it's a stunning holographic duochrome (don't know where holographic came from!) glitter that's sort of like the rainbow flakies out there:

Orly Smolder + Kleancolor Chunky Holo Bluebell

It's like a spray of fall leaves in a bottle...

Honestly, at this point I almost decided that this could no longer be a part of the weekly theme, because AIS is a stamping group, and I almost couldn't bring myself to stamp over this combination. I wore it like this for a day, and then finally decided that a little spray of leaves would be a nice touch to stamp on top:

For the stamped image, I used Cheeky XL plate E, and stamped with Revlon Varnished, a greenish gold that I thought would be perfect for fall. However, if I had to do it again, I think I'd go with a straight gold polish, which would have a bit more of a warm feel. :)

So there you have it, a NOTD, review, and theme challenge all in one. I loved this all so much I wore it from start to finish for 5 days, which is crazy long for me these days! And I should mention, not one chip until the last day. :)

Thanks for taking a look, and have a great Sunday!

M.