Good evening!
So, I've discovered a new (to me) indie polish maker, Darling Diva Polish. I know, I know, that's not a new indie maker, but it's new to me. I placed and received my first order within, like, a week and a half. I was pretty impressed with that.
When I had placed my order, she was running a coupon for 20% off, plus a free polish with every order. I completely spaced the free one, so it was a happy surprise when I opened up my package :) I'll show the other two next week or the week after, but tonight is for the free one.
I looked on the site and searched for it by name, but I didn't see it and it didn't come up, so I'm not sure if it's not released it or discontinued or what. Regardless, it's definitely feeding my growing weakness for crellies and circle glitters. Bubble Bath is what I call a dolphin grey, meaning it's more of a blue grey than a true grey. Its circle glitters are different sizes and colors, and you don't have to work at fishing them out. It did get a little thick with the second and third coats, but it was totally opaque with the third. It also was a smooth as I would have liked, but two coats of Seche made it tolerable.
Sometimes it's a crapshoot when a surprise/free with purchase item, but this one I'm really happy with :)
Good afternoon!
I have finally both the time and energy to put up a post today, even though I'm still not over this damn cold I brought home. I'm feeling better than I have, I'm just trying to shake the dreaded cough >.> However, I have a week and half's worth of manis that need sharing, so I can't put it off much longer!
So, yeah, today's my birthday :) Of course, they had to be blue for today, and what better color to use than Zoya's Neve? Neve is dark, almost blurple blue with flashes of purple scattered throughout. It's very glowy, just like all other Zoya shimmer, and it applied so nicely. Two coats were all I needed for opacity.
Over top of Neve, I applied just one coat of OPI's Pure, the 18k white gold and silver topcoat. This is just like last year's Man with the Golden Gun, except it's white metal instead of gold. I had passed on that one, but really wanted this, so I picked up the last one at Salon Centric yesterday :) Topped off the mani with Seche.
Yesterday's mani was actually Sunday's Stamping Sunday challenge, three blues. The base was 2 coats of Zoya Blu, followed by a coat of Zoya Mosheen then Seche. The stamped images were from Nailways NW00013, stamped in Zoya Ibiza with another coat of Seche.
For Textured Friday, I wore Make Him Mine, one of the Liquid Sands from OPI's Mariah Carey holiday collection. Make Him Mine is a pretty rose gold and very on trend right now. The color looks more like a neutral on me, but I don't mind. Two coats for this one.
Thursday's nails reminded me of wrapping paper, not just because of the color, but also because of the stamped image I used :P The base color was two coats of Zoya Solange with a coat of Seche. The stamped image came from my Chez Delaney Christmas, stamped in Sally Hansen Insta Dri Jumping Jade, followed by one more coat of Seche. When I pictured this in my head, it so didn't look like wrapping paper, but that's how it turned out lol.
Wednesday's mani was just a hot, glittery mess. It featured a polish I snagged on a Black Friday sale from Candy Lacquer. To be honest, the only way I'll ever truly take advantage of Black Friday sales is online. I can't stand the mindless crowds that go out for those sales, plus, I was in Tennessee at the time. No way was I going anywhere!
The color was two coats of OPI's Your Palapa or Mine? with Candy Lacquer's Rockin' A-round the Christmas Tree sponged over it. I've been finding my indie glitter toppers are easier to deal with, and less bubbly messes, when I sponged them on. For this, I applied two coats of Seche to smooth it out.
Tuesday was all about one of my favorite Christmas treats, candy canes! Base color was two of OPI's Speak for Your-elf! with a coat of Seche. Stamped image came from the same Chez Delaney plate I used on the wrapping paper nails, stamped in CND's Vinylux Cream Puff. Another coat of Seche to seal it.
And, finally, last Monday's nails were also last Sunday's Stamping Sunday challenge, a jelly stampwich. Originally, I wasn't going to do it, because we had just gotten home Saturday, I was sick, and we had stuff that needed to be done before we went back to work Monday. I did it after all, because I couldn't think of anything else to do >.<
The base color was a single coat of Nails, Inc. Baker Street, then a coat of Seche. The stamped image came from one of my Winstonia plates (can't remember which right now), stamped in CND's Vinylux Cream Puff. The jelly coat was Miss Pixie from L'Oreal, which kinda smeared some of my images. Topped off with Seche.
Whew! There you have it! Finally caught up! I hope you guys enjoyed seeing what I created :)
Good evening!!
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I just haven't felt up to it. It's just been so hot, and it feels like it sucks the energy out of me driving home. Having no A/C in the summertime here is miserable.
Anywho! I have three manis I want to show you. The first, today's, was inspired by this photo:
Disclaimer: This is not my photo, it's OPI's, but I wanted to show what I was inspired by :) I've wanted to do this for quite a while, I just didn't have the color used, Louvre me Louvre me Not. I finally got it about 2 months ago, and still didn't get around to it.
Thankfully, though, I did. I wasn't really feeling bright, obnoxious colors today, so I opted for something a little dark and vampy. I applied 3 coats of LMLMN and topped with Seche. I realize now that I did my mani sort of opposite of OPI's, take a look. I used Scotch tape to achieve my tips.
Now, yesterday was Stamping Sunday, and I did up a mani for it. The theme for it was called your favorite color combo. I have a few that I especially like, but the one that is dear to me is blue and silver. I had just picked a new blue earlier in the week, Essie's Bouncer it's Me, which is a gorgeous neon blue.
I started off trying to sponge that over one coat of Milani's White on the Spot, but I couldn't get it even, so I ended up applying it normally. I topped with Seche and let that dry a good while before stamping.
This gave me a chance to try out a new plate I got a few weeks ago in a group buy from Betina. I used the animal print image from B-16 stamped in Pure Ice's Silver Mercedes. Topped with Seche again and done. I think it all came out a little thick looking, and it was a bitch to get off, what with all the Seche I used.
Lastly is a fun mani I wore Friday. I started with 3 coats of China Glaze's Highlight of my Summer, which is a cross between lime green and mint green. It's not a true lime green, it's too blue toned to be lime. It's also not a true neon as it doesn't dry matte. I love it, though, because it's bright and cheery.
I let that dry alone before applying one of my new indie glitter, Pixel Party from Candy Lacquer. Pixel Party is a fun glitter full of multicolored, matte, square glitters. You're definitely going to have to use the dab and place method for this, but you don't need to fish for them. I only did one pass of PP, and used 2 coats of Seche to smooth it out. I think I could have done with a coat of Gelous and a single coat of Seche instead though.
Good morning!
I have for this morning an Indie polish I received last Christmas as part of a Secret Santa swap I was in. It's the first of the brand that I now own, Amy's Nail Boutique Pink Lemonade.
Pink Lemonade is full of yellow and pink tiny, tiny hex matte glitters. Sometimes, it looks like there's orange in there, but there isn't any; I checked with a loupe just to be sure. The glitters are suspended in a clear base that dries kinda matte.
First, I had to thin the crap out the bottle I got, lol. I think that was just mine, and not manufacturer problem. I finally got it thin enough to use this week :) I found it is easier to apply a drop of it near the cuticle and spread it out from there, not necessarily dabbing, but not quite like you would with normal polish.
My mani started with 2 coats of China Glaze's Sunshine Pop let to dry, followed by one coat of Pink Lemonade, a coat of Gelous to smooth it out, and Seche.
Good morning! I hope the sun is shining for you wherever you today. It's rather gloomy here and I think we're gonna get more rain. Yay xD
I bring to you today my very first product review! I was so excited to be picked for one, and hope it's a precursor to more in the future! Today's review is made possible by Jody Alu, owner and proprietess of soflajo.com, a site that deals in handmade home and bath products. Jody sent to me for a review one of her original nail lacquer creations, Grasshopper. Grasshopper is part of her current collection and is available to purchase here on her site and here on Etsy.
Grasshopper is a sheer, shimmery golden green polish with different shapes and sizes of holo glitter in it. Looking at it, I see bar glitter, hex glitter, round, and diamond shaped. It's not densely packed, and this polish was definitely made to be layered. For the purpose of this review, I swatched it over three different colors: China Glaze's Gaga for Green and Zoya's Suvi and Raven. I did two coats of each color with two coats of Grasshopper layered over that.
The first pics are Grasshopper over Gaga for Green.
You can see the shimmer a little bit, and you can tell the glitter is holo, but it doesn't really pop over this shade of green. I did find that Grasshopper is very manageable and easy to work with, though.
Here it is over Suvi:
Now, let me tell you, I love Suvi. I love that fact that it's a gorgeous emerald green without any yellow tones in it. However, it's pretty dark and fallish. Grasshopper turned it into something more springlike without being too yellow for me to enjoy. I like it how Grasshopped looks layered over Suvi.
And now for Raven:
This is what I would picture Suvi to look like with just the glitter and not the base, lol. This came out pretty dark and vampy, but I think it's my favorite look of the three. Depending on the angle, I could almost see the silver shimmer of Raven coming through and that gave it a pretty effect.
Here are close ups of each, in order:
Good Friday morning!
Some time ago, I stepped out of my buying norm, and gave into the urge of buying my first Indie polish. I'd seen so many wonderful combos with the one I bought, that I just couldn't resist. Now, I didn't buy mine directly from the maker, I got it from a friend on FaceBook, but I do want to give props to the maker for her wonderful polishes.
What I bought was Cosmic Ocean from Pam's Girly Bits. You can find all the ordering info and such here on Pam's site. Cosmic Ocean is one that you will definitely want to layer over other colors, since it's rather sheer on its own. For this mani, I layered CO over 2 coats of OPI's DS Fantasy, which is just amazing. I really could have gotten away with just one coat of Fantasy, it was that opaque, but I did two anyways. I topped it all off with a coat of SV and done! My first two pics are inside with a flash; I know the first one is blurry, but it shows CO very well. The others are outside without a flash.
