my spectra is a flairin' up today

If any car guys are reading this right now, you will know what I mean when I say SpectraFlair. For those who don't, well SpectraFlair is a holographic pigment they put in paint that has a prismatic rainbow effect as the viewing angle changes. For awhile, indie polish makers were able to get their hands on this powder and were making nail polishes out of it. Then it was banned. I managed to get my hands on a bottle of a SpectraFlair topcoat off ebay a few months ago (yes, I'm just now wearing it). You can use this on top of any nail polish and it will give it a holographic effect, although very dark colors work best. Let me also say that nail polish makers are still using holographic pigments but just not specifically SpectraFlair because it is not FDA approved and illegal to use in nail polishes, oh snap!
What I used:
2 coats of NYC Bowery Black (top left pic of it by itself)
1 coat of SpectraFlair Holo Top Coat
on my ring fingers, I used 2 coats of an unnamed holo glitter made I got at Forever 21
This manicure goes crazy in direct sunlight and the pics are shown in different lights. Unfortunately, I have none in the direct sunlight because we had no sun today! We had some for a brief moment and right as I was about to take the pic, it disappeared behind the clouds and never returned. Boo.

I'm twying to hunt a wabbit

I have become a bit obsessed with Hare polish. I really, seriously want every polish that girl churns out. I just got my long awaited Atolla in the mail today and will get around to swatching that soon. There has been this one though that has been haunting me called The Sky Was Pink. I loved it so but just couldn't bring myself to buy it because it just seemed as if I could probably franken something out really close. So I tried with stuff I already had in my stash. It came out pretty close but obviously not exact. But close enough that I may not purchase...I said maybe. And another reason for maybe is because my Atolla that came today is in the same color family...hmm...
How I did it: I used 2 coats of Konad in a pearl pink (no name). Let it dry. Then I used a thin coat of Pure Ice Strapless. Let it dry. Next was one thick layer of Pure Ice Wide Awake. My final layer was jelly sandwiching it in with a thin layer of Pure Ice Monte Carlo. All topped with Poshe Fast Dry Top Coat. Seems like a long process, but not really. All the layers dried pretty quick in between, so it was a snap.
The pic shows my creation (top), what I used (middle), and the real The Sky Was Pink (bottom, which are not my nails and belong to another blogger whose blog is called Right on the Nail).
What'cha think?

My first frankenglitter

I've frankened several of my polishes but this was my first frankenglitter! For those of you who don't know what a franken is, it's where you take a couple or three or several polishes to make something sort of your own. In this one I used Wet n Wild: Break the Ice, Wet n Wild: Party of Five Glitters, and Pure Ice: Sexy Mama. I was going for something close to Unicorn Spawn by Gloss n Sparkle. Ehh, it's in the ballpark but not a dupe by any means. My boyfriend said it reminded him of a confetti cake frosting. So I call it well...Confetti Frosting. I think it looks more like speckled eggs, ha. But here it is and I kinda like it.

Hare style

Today I have for you another one from the indie polish line, Hare. This one is called Medusa Luminosa and the polish maker named this collection after jellyfish. I have 2 from the collection right now (this one and Bury the Hatchetfish) and hope to get Atolla as soon as I can. It's always sold out. But on to this one. I could not, even after almost 50 pics get an accurate of the color. Purples are the hardest to get anyway and then add glitter to it and it's almost impossible. The last one here (although a bit blurry) is the most accurate colorwise, in the others it looks almost too sapphire-ish. But it's not. It is actually a true medium purple with sapphire and teal iridescent glitter. Also some golden purple micro glitter in the mix. When I ordered this, I was expecting more of a sapphire like my camera picks up, that was how the swatch showed on my iPad. So I was surprised when it arrived. This polish is a little tempermental (a bit thick and gooey) and it took 3 thick coats for opaque coverage (Poshe base and topcoat). I learned that if I closed the cap and shook between ever other coat, it worked better. So, so beautiful but not a polish you can slap on in a hurry as it needs to be babied and coaxed a bit. It's also a glitter eater but nothing my Poshe couldn't fix. Poshe is the absolute best with taming hungry polishes!

Lay down and boogie...

and wear that funky polish til you die. This polish is pure funk. No other way to describe it. It is Hare Asteroid Turf and was my first love with Hare and indie polishes. I saw this on llarowe.com and it HAD to be mine. I've actually had it for a few months and worn it once but didn't have my blog then. So now here it is for your viewing pleasure. It's a grass green with large fuchsia glitter. I'm wearing 3 thickish coats with no underwear and Poshe topcoat. I have a love affair with green and pink together in any situation so this is a dream polish combination. But if you're not a daring polish wearer, definitely not for you. Me though, the funkier the better and this took me straight to Funky Town. Ha.

if only I were a mermaid :)

Guess who's back, back again? Back again? My blog is back, tell a friend.
Seriously, tell a friend. About my blog.
Ok, my posts have been far and few between as of late. Moving into the new house and all its trial and tribulations. (Insert curse words here). But we are finally (almost) settled in. My nails have suffered immensely in the process. And I've had little time to paint them at all. The horror! It's been an itchin' and I finally got to scratch.
So what polish do I bring you for my return?
Drumroll, please.........
deborah lippman's Mermaid's Dream.
Where do I start with this?
My favorite polishes are blues, greens, teals, glitters. This has all of it. The name itself, Mermaid's Dream. I LOVE the ocean, everything about the ocean, including anything about mermaids. I think I was supposed to be a mermaid :)
This polish is a seafoam green metallic base with micro silver, gold, and green glitters and then larger turquoise blue glitter. Le sigh. It dries to almost a scaley, matte finish. Maybe what you would imagine a mermaid tail to be like. Really cool. I prefer a glossy finish though so I topcoated it.
Now, if you know anything about deborah lippman's polishes, you know this wasn't cheap. It's my most expensive polish to date. $18 at Ulta. Normally, I would not make such an extravagant purchase but my boyfriend's mom got me an Ulta gift card for Christmas. I saw this polish and fell head over heels but I wasn't going to buy it even though I had a gift card. But she talked me into it! No regrets here, though. As fabulous on the nails as it is in the bottle!
And...sorry but I'm still using the iPhone for the pics...the camera is in a box in the room that we haven't unpacked yet. Ummmm, maybe I should be doing that instead of my nails. :/~

Zoya holographic goodness

My boyfriend got me 3 Zoya polishes for Christmas that I'd been wanting forever. In the package they sent a little sample of this...this would be Zoya Aurora. It's from their 2012 holiday collection. I HAD to have it. It is a medium purple with holographic glitter. I couldn't even begin to capture its true splendor with my iPhone camera. I wish I had a real camera to try but I'm in IL visiting my boyfriend's family so it will have to do. But trust me, this polish is a must! (Even if you don't like purple)