Tuesday, July 29, 2014

A few of my favorite things......



Good afternoon!!

I hope y'all had a good weekend :) Mine was so-so, nothing really exciting to report here, unless you count a new pair of sandals and new purse as exciting lol.

Alrighty, as the title implies, I'm gonna be showing y'all a few of my favorite things, mani style, starting with today's mani. For anyone that knows me, one of my absolute favorite things in the world is mint, barely surpassing my love chocolate, and, as you prolly guessed, it's only better when it's mint and chocolate. I'm talking not just candy and food, but scents, too. So it's really no wonder that I'm been wanting to do some sort of mint chocolate mani for quite some time.

I'll be honest, I own more than one or two mint colored polishes, because they really aren't the same. The latest I picked up was Morgan Taylor's Mint Chocolate Chip, and I just knew this was the base for this mani. Application was a little better than my other mints, but still needed three coats. I added "chocolate" dots in the form of Color Club Rebel Spirit (literally the only brown I own....) and topped with Seche. Simple, yet fun and cool :) MCC isn't as blue leaning as my pics show it; the first one is actually pretty close to what it looks like.








Yesterday's mani featured three of my favorite things- Zoya, matte, and Mundo de Unas stamping polish. The base was 2 coats of Rooney from Zoya's Tickled collection, the stamping color was fiusca from MdU, and stamped image from Sugar Bubbles SB 022. Topped with Seche, matted with Morgan Taylor's Mattes a Wrap.







For Stamping Sunday, the theme was tiger nails for Global Tiger Day, which, incidentally, is today. This also featured Zoya and MdU. Base colors were Sharon and Purity, three coats each. Plates used were Sugar Bubbles SB 002, Winstonia W-03, and 63 from aliexpress (I honestly don't know what else to call this plate. Also I'm so happy to use it finally, all thanks to MdU stamping polishes!), and the stamping polish was MdU black. Topped with Seche.









This was obviously my left hand. I used the same images and colors on my right hand, I just switched the base colors around, so that Purity was the accent, and Sharon was on the rest :)

Friday, July 25, 2014

It's Friday!!



Good afternoon!! Happy Friday!!

I'm gonna try to keep this short, because I have limited time today, so here we go!

For Textured Friday, I've got one the latest Magical Pixies from Zoya, Ginni. Two coats for this mani, even though I kept thinking I should have done a third. I know it looks like I've got tip wear on a few fingers, but I don't; it's just where the base itself only covered and not any of the glitter. I hesitate to do three coats for the Magical Pixies, only because they can look "heavy" like that.







Yesterday was a simple dotticure. Base color was 2 coats of Morgan Taylor's One Cool Cat, the dots were also Morgan Taylor, Varsity Jacket Blues. Topped with Seche.







Wednesday, I did up a 50's themed mani. The base colors were both Zoya, 3 coats of Kitridge and 2 coats of Black Swan, then a coat of Seche. Stamped images were from Mo You London plates, Rebel 2 and 3, and Back to the Future 01, stamping colors were Mundo de Unas black and white. Final coat of Seche.






Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Bubbly and lead lighting!



Good afternoon!

I've got some new colors and a new technique to share with y'all today! Yes, I'm still working through my untrieds, but it's get smaller, finally lol. Today's mani featured two of them, Zoya Stassi and Tilda.

When Zoya announced their summer collections, I knew I had to have these two colors. Tilda, especially, is unlike any other green I own. It's very yellow toned green, almost too yellow for me, but that's alright, because I got Stassi to wear over it specifically. This mani was two coats of each, which turned it into a super sparkly mani, then topped with Seche.








I'm finding the Bubbly colors look better layered over their coordinating cremes in the Tickled collection.

Now, on to the new (to me) technique, which is this month's Monthly Palette Project. The color palette we had to pick from was called "frosted summer".



Before I even read what technique we were to use, I knew these were to be jelly colors, just by the pic. The technique to go with it is one that has been gaining popularity is called lead lighting. Basically, you stamp over a light colored base and fill it with jelly polishes, using a dotting tool or small brush. The effect created is to look like stained glass. At least, this is how I interpret it to be lol.

My base color was 3 coats of Zoya Purity, followed by Seche. The stamped image came from my new Sugar Bubbles plate, SB 021, and was stamped in Mundo de Unas black. I then used the following jelly/jellyish polishes:

-Zoya Paloma, Coraline, and Kate
-China Glaze Are You Jelly? and Isle See You Later!
-OPI Got a Date To-Knight, Hey! Get in Lime, and The "It" Color

Topped again with Seche. My husband said it reminded him of the Partridge Family bus lol. This was my first attempt at lead lighting.






Friday, July 18, 2014

Happy Friday!



Good afternoon!

Here we are, at the end of another week :) Do you have any weekend plans? I really don't, aside from doing my pedicure and trying (in vain) to get somewhere with my swatching lol.

Alrighty, last week I showed you the first of two textured polishes from Rimmel that I had bought at Walgreens a few weeks ago. Side note- I've only seen them at the Walgreens closest to my house. I have not seen them at the store literally across the street from my work, and I haven't gone to others to see if they have them.

Today I'm showing you Sherbert Sweetheart. This is a light, lemon yellow sparkly texture with a sprinkling of holo glitter. It kind of reminds of Zoya's Magical Pixies, but it's a much light look/feel. As suspected, and like Applelicious, I needed three coats for opacity.







Hmm, seems like my camera didn't want to pick the holo glitter -_- It's there, though.


Now, you can definitely see the holo-ness in yesterday's mani. I kept it pretty simple, since I was still fighting to not get sick. I paired Zoya Jesy and Alma at two coats each. I prolly should have used a third, since you can see the tips of my nails.







For Wednesday, I did some double stamping. The base coat was China Glaze's Blue Iguana at three coats, then topped with Seche. The stamped image, which are seperate on the plate (the squares and the full nail image) were from Emily de Molly EDM 03. Stamping polish used was Mundo de Unas neon green.

I can not say enough good things about Mundo de Unas stamping polishes. They are just amazing, and have picked up every image I've used them on. I should try them on some of my more fussy plates, just to see if I can. I highly encourage everyone to get their hands on MdU stamping polishes, the prices are reasonable (full size and mini options) and the shipping is very reasonable as well. I just ordered a few more earlier this week!






Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Some brightness for Tuesday!



Good afternoon!

I hope today finds you well :) I'm busy fighting a cold from getting any worse. So far, so good; four days in and I really don't feel worse. Mostly, I'm just tired and a little more stuffy and sneezy lol.

I've got a few bright, summery manis to share with you, one featuring new colors, the others are colors I've had in my collection. Last month, I finally got the rest of Zoya's summer collection that I had wanted, and one of the colors was Wendy. Wendy reminds me of two of the colors that were part of the Blogger trio collab. Birchbox had (and still has, I believe), Belle and Kate. Both are what I call grapefruit pinks, one being a shimmery layering polish, the other a jelly. Wendy is in the same color family, but it a creme. It's not a color I usually go for, since grapefruit pink is just too warm for me, but in this case I didn't care. I wanted it as soon as Zoya debuted it.

To keep it from looking too warm, I decided to a gradient with it. Wendy needed 3 coats to not look streaky, then I topped with Seche. For the gradient, I used a new glitter from Maybelline called Rose Mirage. Rose Mirage is dense, fine, rose gold glitter. I sponged that on until I was happy with it and topped that with Seche also.

Wendy is really bright, and my camera kinda spazzed over that lol.








Yesterday, I tried out a (new to me) technique- the distressed mani. I got the idea from this blogger and had been wanting to try for long time. Mine didn't come out as nicely as hers, but I think I did alright for my first attempt. The colors I used were:

- Maybelline Bleached Neons in Bleached in Peach, Day Glow Teal, Pink Punch, Ultra Violet, and Lime Accent
- Maybelline Sapphire Siren
- Milani White on the Spot (base color, 2 coats)








Alrighty, on to Stamping Sunday. I honestly don't remember what I voted for, but what won was a stamp that you don't like. There aren't too many images on my plates that I don't like but there are a few. I remembered two specifically, so I ended up using one of them.

I kept this really simple since having something I don't like on my nails annoys me. The base color is two coats of OPI's California Raspberry. The image is from Mo You Rebel 02 stamped in Mundo de Unas white. 







Friday, July 11, 2014

Happy Friday!



Good morning!!

Man, what a long week it's been! I kinda hate the week after a short week, it makes it seem soooo long :P But Friday is finally here! Not that I have any big plans, I'm just glad it's the end of the week.

I've got three manis to show you this morning, including some new ones. Today's textured polish feature is a not only a new color, but a never-tried-before brand, Rimmel.

I was at Walgreens a few weeks ago, and before going to the register, I of course perused the polish displays. I came across a tiny display of the Sweetie Crush collection by Rimmel. This was the first time I had seen it. I picked out two colors, Applelicious and Sherbert Sweetheart, since I didn't have colors like them already in textured. If memory serves correctly, all the colors were light, soft shades; the two I got are for sure.

Applelicious is a light, apple green, sparkly texture. Formula and application weren't bad, I needed three coats for opacity, which was what I expected. I don't remember what the price point was, but it couldn't have been too terribly much. Overall, I'm pretty happen with Applelicious.








Yesterday's mani was inspired by one I had seen on Nailpolis, so I don't take credit for the base mani :P It started with 2 coats of Zoya Taylor, then created a gradient on the tips with OPI's I Just Can't Cope-acabana. I cleaned up the mess around my nails, then stamped a single little rose from Messy Mansion MM07 in Mundo de Unas Fiusca. Topped with Seche. This came out so bright, my camera kinda freaked out. Maybe I should have matted it lol.










Wednesday's mani was cool toned, tribal themed. This featured a few more new colors from Morgan Taylor. I have to say, I'm really impressed with all the colors I've bought and tried of this brand. They're about on par with Zoya, and I abso-frickin'-lutely love Zoya. 

For the base colors, I used 3 coats of Varsity Jacket Blues and 2 coats of One Cool Cat, then topped with Seche. I then did a Saran Wrap mani over them, with Don't Touch Me, I'm Radioactive over VJB and Gotta Have Hue over OCC. The tribal images came from Winstonia W-02 in the Nature Series, and stamped in Mundo de Unas neon blue. All topped with Seche.