Polished Pairings: Limealicious Funday

Hello!!!

Welcome to the new feature I promised you, Polished Pairings. :)

Since I began supporting Indie polish makers, I've built up quite a collection of toppers (glitter and otherwise). I've come to love playing around with layering combinations, and decided to start a feature dedicated to that. Sometimes I'll present a layering combination with a subtle accent stamp of some sort, and sometimes I'll present it just on its own. :)

For this very first polish pairing, I started with China Glaze's Sunday Funday as my base, and then layered over Lacquerlicious Lime Ice on top of it. It was crying out for a slice of lime, so I added a stamp on the accent nail, with Sally Hansen Lickety-Split Lime and Bundle Monster plate BM04:

China Glaze Sunday Funday + Laquerlicious Lime Ice

I'm on a big green and blue kick lately, and this really hit the spot!

What do you think? Do you want to see more Polished Pairings? Would you like them to be in the 'before & after' format where you get to see the base color alone first?

Thanks for taking a look. Big hugs! :)
M.

Review: Assorted Studs from Born Pretty Store

Hello!!

I'm very excited about today's post, because it features a gorgeous polish that I adore (another one I rushed to buy from Orly's new collection) and a very cool stud assortment that I was sent for review from Born Pretty Store.

So I started off with a base of the polish, which is Orly's High On Hope, a deep blue with beautiful purple flecks...it's like the prettiest night sky you've ever seen:

Orly High On Hope

I wanted to do something that would complement that beauty but not detract from it, and my mind instantly went to the cool stud assortment that I got from Born Pretty Store. Of course I've used studs before, and I have some small circular ones, and some round ones. What I love about this set is that there are a ton of different sizes and shapes to choose from, including stars, ovals, hearts, and my favorite--grommet-type ones with holes in the middle:

For this manicure I decided to go with hearts, and I thought it would be very cute to do a half-moon mani with the hearts as the half moon:

This took literally seconds to do, and with a coat of topcoat over them to secure them, they stayed put for the whole day that I wore them. Best of all, when I took them off? They were big enough that they popped off and I put them right back into the wheel to be used again.

If you're wondering how to apply these, there are several ways; most of the time I put a dot of topcoat on my nail, then with my dotting tool (which still has a bit of topcoat on it), I pick up the stud (or rhinestone, or whatever) and place it onto the dot of topcoat on my nail. I cover with topcoat, and then I'm finished.

But sometimes I don't want to cover the design with topcoat (for example, when working with matte polishes, or with embellishments that lose their shine under topcoat)...and later this week I'll show you how I attach items in those cases with a new tool I found, also from Born Pretty Store.

If you're interested in buying this set, you can find them by clicking here. And don't forget that if you use my discount code, you can get 10% off of this, and/or all the other pretty things your heart desires:

As always, I'm not an affiliate, and I don't make money in any way if you use this code or any of the links. :)

Thanks for taking a look! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. :)

Hugs,
M.

(The studs in this post were provided for a 100% honest review.)

Before & After: Happy Anniversary, Nail Challenge Collaborative!!

Hello!!

As you know, I joined the Nail Challenge Collaborative group recently, and have been participating in their challenges. We're starting a new one that works a little bit differently. Instead of a set of themes that are pre-determined for each week, we have one theme per month, and create 4 manicures during that month on that theme.

This month's theme is 'pastels' in honor of the very first theme that NCC did, and while our posting dates are normally flexible, just this once we are all posting today in honor of that first challenge date's anniversary. :)

For my first and most important pastel manicure, I started with a base of Orly's Coachella Dweller, a soft, minty-avocado green polish from their new Hope And Freedom Fest collection. I fell in love with this the moment I saw it, rushed to buy it, and was so excited for this excuse to use it, hee hee hee:

Orly Coachella Dweller in direct sunlight

Orly Coachella Dweller in indirect light

I've been on a skittle manicure kick lately, particularly the sort where there are two nails that are alike and two that are different, so I went that way here. First, I put a layer of pastel glitter, Neener Neener Nails's Sweet Tart; it has matte hexes, diamonds and shards in a spray of pastel shades. Finally, I stamped on the middle two nails using Sally Hansen Lightning, and Bundle Monster plate BM11:

Ugh, it annoys me that I got a small roll fold when I stamped the middle nail...but other than that, I'm happy with it. It's a soft springy look without being annoyingly pastel (as you know I'm more of a jewel-tone type of gal).

Thanks for taking a look, and don't forget to check out the other pastel anniversary manicures linked below. :)

Hugs,
M.

Review: Ruby White Tips Polish part 2

Hello!!

Are you ready for the second half of my Ruby White Tips Polish review? If you missed part one, you can get to it by clicking here. And at the request of the FTC, I will again mention that I paid for these with my own money, but did receive a blogger's discount. :)

I'm gonna jump right into da polishez and then talk about them generally at the end...here we go...

First up, The Sword, from her Kill Bill collection! This is a very soft silver-purple-green duochrome with a generous dose of holographic microglitter. At first sight, it looks like this might be a dupe of Wet n Wild's Gray's Anatomy or Revlon's Smoldering with glitter added, but the duochrome colors are different and more intense (but hard to capture on film--they show up more in real life):

Ruby White Tips The Sword in indirect outdoor light

Blurred to show the holo glitter :)

I love the soft color with the awesome sparkle of this. I think it would also look good layered over other colors, and I can't wait to try that. This is two coats with topcoat; excellent formula.


Next I have Exploding Heart, also from the Kill Bill collection, which is a glitter topper made of teeny sparkly red glitters. First I have one coat of it over China Glaze Peachy Keen, with no topcoat:

Ruby White Tips Exploding Heart in direct sun

And then, two coats, with topcoat: 

Ruby White Tips Exploding Heart in direct sun

This isn't the type of polish I normally buy, because I like glitters that have a bit more diversity of texture in them. But this looked so pretty in the bottle, and I wasn't disappointed when I got it on the nail. It has good, even coverage and just the right amount of sparkle. I love it over this peach, and I can see it being very versatile.

Next is Poppy...ah, Poppy. The color on this changes with the light; in some lights it's a coral sort of color, and in others it's more of a deep mauve-y pruple. It has a ton of teeny holographic glitter in ti that looks pretty in and out of the sunlight, always a plus for me. The most important thing about this polish, in my opinion, is that it is one of several polishes she has made to benefit Batworld.org, a sanctuary for 'wayward' (I love that, lol) bats. You know I have a soft spot in my heart for animals, and I've always thought that bats are extremely cute and get a bad bat rap when really they are not scary at all and actually eat all of the yucky insects that you don't want around anyway! But regardless of the positive social purpose of this polish, this is absolutely, without question, my favorite of all the ones I purchased:

Ruby White Tips Poppy in indirect light

Ruby White Tips Poppy in direct sunlight

Blurred for your holographic viewing pleasure

This is two coats with one coat of topcoat (it is a little topcoat hungry so you might want to go with two coats of topcoat). The formula went on like butter, and wore really well. Polish usually doesn't last on my nails for more than 24 hours, but I wore this for almost three full days iirc. :)


And to finish up the bunch, we have BB Kiddo, also from the Kill Bill collection.

[Scene: Blue fleck-finish polish accidentally crashes into purple fleck-finish polish.]
Blue polish: "Hey! You got your purple fleck-finish all into my blue fleck-finish!"
Purple polish: "No, YOU got YOUR blue fleck-finish polish into my purple fleck-finish!"
In unison: "Wait a minute! Together we look great!!"

I enjoy believing that that's how this polish was created--an accidental collision of duochrome-fleck goodness.

Sadly, there was a slight snafu with the delivery of this polish, and by the time I was able to swatch it, I had fallen victim to the Great Nail Break of early 2013--so I only have nubbins for this swatch. Which is a shame, because it deserves long, full nails! This is a gorgeous purple-blue duochrome fleck polish, but that doesn't really say enough. It goes through different shades of purple and different shades of blue, and almost has greeny bits at times. Here it is layered over a black base:

Ruby White Tips BB Kiddo

Just look at all those shiny, pretty, blingy flecks!! This is two coats, with topcoat. The formula was excellent, and I had no trouble getting it to the edges of the black (I hate toppers that don't cover evenly so they *look* like they've just been splotched over black). This is another stunner, in my opinion.

Overall, I'm incredibly impressed by these polishes. I love the variety of finishes, and I love that the formula on all of them was very good--and that I could get excellent coverage in two coats. I will definitely buy from Laura again, without a doubt. Plus, she had amazing customer service--when there was a slight mix-up with BB Kiddo, she made sure everything was fixed asap, and even sent me a surprise to make up for the delay. She was a joy to deal with, and her polishes are awesome!

You can find Ruby White Tips polishes by clicking here. You can find her website here. Her polishes are three-free and cruelty free, and sell for between $8.25 and $8.75; for any polishes you buy from her Bat World collection, 50% of these sales go to Batworld.org, and help to rescue bats that would otherwise lose their lives. Take a look at their cute little faces, and you'll want to save them, too! Thanks, Laura, for looking out for these wonderful creatures. :)

And thanks to you all for reading! Big hugs,
M.

(The polishes in this post were purchased with my own money, at a blogger's discount. This review is my 100% honest opinion.)

Before & After: Mayan Era

Hello!

This week's time period in my Llama Nails challenge is the Mayan Era! One of the coolest facts I know about Mayan culture is that they had a sport that was the forerunner of basketball; they played on a stone court with a rubber ball that they had to throw through stone rings mounted on the wall. Sounds like a lot of fun, except that often the losers were killed. That part probably wasn't so fun.

I've never hidden the fact that I have a little bit of a dark sense of humor, and to my mind my newly aquired NerdLacquer in Warrior Ethos was the perfect polish to use as a base for this manicure in light of that. Both the name and the color of the polish--a red base with gold and black glitter--seem perfect to represent that basketball-related part of Mayan culture:

NerdLacquer Warrior Ethos

Mmm, NerdLacquer goodness

Add caption

Then I decorated the base using Barry M Gold Foil and Cheeky plate C; that pattern has a sort of Mayan decorative look to it to me. Finally I finished off with a tribal skull image from Cheeky plate L and Konad Black, to represent the sad fate of the losing team leader:

I love how this came out. A bit dark and maybe a bit morbid, but the reality is, the humankind can be dark sometimes! They Mayan culture certainly isn't the only one that has a history games and death being interrelated (the Ancient Romans are probably the king of that particular realm, lol), and I've always thought it was a really interesting connection to modern basketball. So I just had to do it!

Thanks for taking a look, and please check out the other Mayan manicures, which will almost certainly be less bloody than mine. :)

Hugs,
M.

You follow me...do I follow you?

Hello!!

If you're reading this, you're most likely one of my followers. Thank you for following me, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! I would like to follow the blogs of all my followers, but the way GFC and Bloglovin' work, I get myself confused about which ones I follow already and which I haven't followed yet. I admit--I'm easily confused, lol.

If you have a blog and I don't already follow it, please put your link in the comments below and I'll come follow. I know that it says *not* to put a link to your blog in the comment or the comment will be deleted, but this post is the exception to that, so ignore it and link away! If you're not sure if I follow and don't want to have to stop and check, just put your link in anyway just in case. :)

Big hugs to all of you, and thanks again for supporting my little blog. I know you have a choice in blogs, and I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read mine (said in best flight-attendant voice). :)

M.

Before & After: Rainbow Butterflies

Hello!

Today I'm doing something a little different--a twin post with the very sweet Laura of Little Laura Loves! Laura discovered stamping recently and is diving into it with gusto! She has been playing with the Salon Express stamping plates, so we decided to use the butterfly image on SE18.

I started with a base of Julep Helen, a soft mauve creme:

Julep Helen

Julep Helen

Then I wanted to stamp a spray of butterflies across the nail in a rainbow of colors, almost like the butterfly is changing color as it goes:

I used my Sally Hansen Insta-Dris for this, in Lightning, Orange Impulse, Rapid Red, Brisk Blue, and Going Grape!. Finally, I thought a layer of China Glaze Fairy Dust would give it a magical fairy quality, but I think it was a misstep:

It just seems like a bit too much, and I prefer the crisp contrast of colors without the extra sparkle. What do you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by, and please don't forget to check out what Laura did with the image by clicking here.

Hugs,
M.

Salon Express SE18
SH lightning, orange impulse, rapid red, brisk blue, grape going
Julep Helen
China Glaze Fairy Dust