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)

Merry Christmas!

I haven't posted in over a month. I have been doing my nails but no time to take pics :( I've been soo busy with trying to get packec for our move and the holidays. It's been hectic and a bit stressful but will all be worth it in the end. This isn't the best paint job but as of right now, I am painting on my bed as that is about the only furniture I have left in my house right now! And this is nothing special, just a color...but a beautiful color so I thought I'd share! This was a limited editiom shade from Pure Ice sold exclusively at Walmart. It's called Champagne and it's a sparkly, metallic teal with gold and silver flakes mixed in. I think it's gorgeous for Christmas but would be a great color for any other time as well. Pic was taken outside in natural dreary winter light, but enjoy and Merry Christmas everyone!!

Nail mail!! Hare!!!

I have to say that I am obsessed with Hare Nail Polish. I absolutely adore it. And was so happy when I got in on the restock sale on Llarowe. If you love nail polish, check out the Llarowe website because it is all about indie polish and stuff that you just can't pick up at your local Walgreens, Ulta, or even Sephora. Not that I don't love those other store also for nail polish, but you can't even begin to get the kind of polish there that you can get at Llarowe! On to the Hare.
The first Hare's I bought were Ancient Affairs and Asteroid Turf. Love at first site. I then had my eyes on Bury the Hatchetfish, Bisbee, and Medusa Luminosa. I thought it would be impossible to ever get my hands on Bisbee or Bury the Hatchetfish. Impossible I say. I missed out on 3 restock sales. Seriously, this stuff sells out like Cabbage Patch Kids circa 1984. It's like trying to get an iPhone 5 first day. It's like trying to get a $99.99 54" 3D TV on Black Friday....ok, you get the point. Well, guess what? I got in on the 4th restock sale due to my ninja online shopping skills and now am the owner of Bury the Hatchetfish, Bisbee, and Medusa Luminosa, along with my previously purchased Ancient Affairs and Asteroid Turf. Now I think I must have the whole Hare Polish collection :) Chritmas is coming up folks, if you just have no idea what to get me! Ha.

I will get around to switching these, I promise! But right now, as I've said before, I'm in the middle of selling my house and having showings and trying to pack for the new move and Christmas and arrrrgh! But for the time being here is a picture if my little treasures:

Left to right: Asreroid Turf, Medusa Luminosa, Bisbee, Bury the Hatchetfish, and Ancient Affairs. *swoon*

Thanksgiving nails!

I couldn't wait to do this mani. I've had it in my head for days what my color scheme would be. I hoped it would turn out as fabulous on my nails as it did in my mind. And bada bing bada boom...it did! Wowzers. I can't stop looking at it. My new favorite to date. I got to use my much beloved paisley stamp again, too. My boyfriend thought (after describing my plans) that it might be too busy, but in the end I still did it and neither of us think it's too busy. I'll keep the writing short aaannnddd...here it is :)

What I used: CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Confetti in Bayou blue, 3 coats of Sinful Colors in Ice Dream on ring fingers, stamp color was Sally Hansen in Silver Sweep, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2012, BM-315

Double feature...

I did both these manis this weekend but I've been too lazy, errr, I mean busy to post them. Well, really it was a mixture of both. I've been very busy and when I wasn't busy, I was being lazy. That sounds about right. My boyfriend and I are buying a house, trying to sell mine, showing my house, then there's work and holidays, a teenage son, a dog. Life, right? It's a wonder I have time to do my nails at all...but I try and make time because as I've said before, it's a de-stresser for me. Ok, so on to the nails:

My first one to show you is Revlon in Facets of Fuchsia. It's larger and smaller pieces of fuchsia glitter suspended in a black base. I used Sinful Colors Black on Black for underwear, but probably could've gotten away with no underwear with 3 coats. I've wanted this polish for awhile but never could just bring myself to get it. I don't know why. I guess because Revlon is a more expensive drugstore polish and I just couldn't justify the purchase in case I didn't love it...I WAS iffy about glitter polish...key word -WAS. Read on. But I was in Ross for Less wasting time while they were showing my house and I lucked upon this in a pack with 3 other Revlon polishes for only $5.99. Among those was another one I've been eyeing called Blue Lagoon. So with that, I couldn't pass this up. Now about the glitter polishes...I've never been a glitter polish type of girl but with the Hare polishes I've purchased lately and now this one, I've got a new slight mini obsession. I love the randomness of it. No nail come out the same. After wearing Facets of Fuchsia, you betcha I picked up a couple *cough, cough* more glitter polishes.

What I used: CND Stickey basecoat, 1 coat of Sinful Colors in Black on Black, 2 coats of Revlon in Facets of Fuchsia, Seche Vite topcoat



Moving on... next is some stamping action. The base coat is another I grabbed from Ross for $1.99. Unfortunately, it's unnamed but by Cosmetic Arts. I don't like that they don't name their polish! But, it's a really pretty color. It looked much different in the bottle though. I expected it to be more glittery on the nail because in the bottle, you can see tiny different colored glitters in fuchsia, blue, purple, and silver. On the nail, it just kinda all blended together to make a purple fuchsia. You could see tiny flecks of blue sometimes, pretty but not what I was expecting. I stamped over it with my trusty Essie in Midnight Cami, which is one of my favorite polishes for stamping. I was decently happy with the way it turned out.

What I used: CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Cosmetic Arts unnamed color, stamp color was Essie in Midnight Cami, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2011, BM-203

Blue for World Diabetes Day

Today is World Diabetes Day and the nail community is doing blue nails in order to raise awareness. My dad has diabetes so this was for him...

Ok so let's talk about this color. This is one of my new Pure Ice in Getting Gorgeous. OMG holy moley balls. Anyone who is a nail polish snob will be converted right now. The best spent $1.99 EVER. This is a must have blue in your collection. Go out and get it. Now. Run. I couldn't even begin to capture a fraction of it's fabulousity on my iPhone 5 camera even under a many different lightings. (I'm working on getting a real camera and lightbox soon). But let me tell you about it. It looks royal blue that shifts to violet in the bottle with tiny blue glitter. On the nail? Totally tranformed. Made me wanna go do the crying game in the shower. It is that awesome. It's like a duochrome glitter. It shifts from electric blue to royal to sapphire to purple to teal. The name says it all: Getting Gorgeous. This is easily one of my favorite blues right now. Pure Ice is doin' it and doin' it well ;)

Pure Ice haul - new colors!

I am not a nail polish snob at all. If I like a color, I get it. I don't care where it came from or how much it cost. I love some of the .99 ones just as much as I love my $11 ones. And honestly, I like the cheap ones better sometimes because I can get 2 or 3 for the same price I can get 1! Plus, I don't feel bummed if I don't love it since I'm on a budget and can only spend so much on nail polish every couple of weeks or so. Brings me to the topic at hand...Pure Ice sold excusively at Walmart. $1.99 a pop. And guess what? 55 new shades. That's right, 55. If you don't know already, Revlon bought Pure Ice out (along with BonBons) and have introduced a fabulous new line of colors! I only picked 5. For now. It was a hard decision, too. Out of 55 and $1.99?? Think of the willpower I must have had!!

FYI: I would love to swatch these out on MY nails but just didn't have time tonight. I just swatches them out on my nail wheels for the time being. Pic was taken indoor with flash.

Left to right in the pic:

Internationally Known - (but I'm known to rock the microphone) sorry...couldn't resist...some of you kids I'm sure just now did not get that. See, it was a rap song early 90's by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock...oh nevermind. anyway...umm...it's a creme teal, covered completely in 2 coats, beautiful peacock-ish color. Love. Although I had a few polishes close to this, no exact dupe in my personal collection, but I'm sure there is one out there. Probably not at $1.99 though!

Glass of Bordeaux - tiny red glitter in a black almost jellyish base. Took 3 coats to get opaque, but awesome outcome.

Monte Carlo - bright fuchsia-plum jelly. Yes, jelly. Pure Ice made a jelly! I don't usually like jellies, but the color is a beauty on this one. 2 coats did pretty well, I was surprised.

Taxi - tiny gold glitter suspended in a lavender base. I don't have anything even remotely like it in my collection and I can't wait to wear this. 3 coats for opaque. It's my favorite of the 5!

Getting Gorgeous - tiny electric blue glitter in an electric blue base. 3 coats for opaque, but it is gorgeous.

My first indie polish!

I wanted something subtle for this stamp so I could just show off this polish. I've got so many beautiful polishes lately that I really don't want to stamp over but it kinda conflicts with my blog...lol, so I'm gonna have to maybe do some blogs now and then just dedicated to my polishes on their own.
But I went ahead and tried this out just on my ring finger so I could showcase this polish. This is my first indie polish and I just love it! It's by Hare Polish and it's called Ancient Affairs. I got it on a indie polish site called Llarowe. http://shop.llarowe.com/
or Hare Polish also has a shop on Etsy.
It's gray with tiny sapphire, blue, and turquoise glitter. It took 3 coats to get opacity. I took this picture in direct sunlight and it shows some bald spots but doesn't look like that if you are just looking at it. My stamp also isn't this vivid either. It's really very, very subtle, but again...direct sunlight.
I'm loving indie polish right now because I get so bored with the store bought. And stay tuned because I will be working on my own polihes very soon, I hope :)

What I used: CND Stickey basecoat, 3 coats of Hare Polish in Ancient Affairs, stamping color was Milani in Sail Away, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Cheeky Jumbo Plate A

Well, hello gorgeous.

This stamping adventure turned out pure awesomeness. The pic really does not do it justice. Dare I say that it's my favorite I've done so far? Even more than the paisley? Maybe so...
I mean, I just love this color combination. It's Essie in Trophy Wife for the base (which is a staple color for any polish collection IMO) and Essie in Midnight Cami for the stamp color. I also love the stamp design. This win more than makes up for my Halloween fail last night. I know that my clean up here is super messy. My clean up in my pics are always messy because I like to get a pic as soon as I do them because my polish chips so easy and I never know when I'm gonna mess them up. But this is even worse than normal. Apparently Midnight Cami is just a biotch to get off the skin. It stains and sticks. But it's ok, it will wear off after a shower or two. And the outcome is more than worth it. I think I shall try these colors with my paisley stamp at some point. Then I'm positive the paisley would redeem itself as champ!

What I used: 2 coats of CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Essie in Trophy Wife, stamp color was Essie in Midnight Cami, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Cheeky Jumbo Plate A

Walkin' in tha spiderwebs

I'm not gonna lie, my Bundle Monster plate BM13 sucks. It's not etched good enough and I had a very hard time with it. Grrr. So yeah, this pretty much bites...but I wanted and was determined to make it somehow work. I'm disappointed to say the least, but here here's my Halloween stamping...enjoy (I say that ever so sarcasticly)

What I used: CND stickey basecoat, 1 coat of Sinful Colors in Black on Black, 1 coat of Nfu Oh Flakies #38, 2 coats of Pure Ice in Hot Tamale on ring finger, stamping colors were Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Silver Sweep & Sinful Colors in Black on Black
Plate: Bundle Monster, BM13 - grrr again

My boyfriend's car

Well I let my boyfriend pick my colors again. This time he wanted me to use my "Polestar Blue." It's not technically Polestar Blue, it's technically Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue and it's pretty much an exact dupe. Ok so for those of you who don't have a clue what Polestar is, which is probably the majority of you..it is a line of racing and performance parts made for Volvo cars. Interested in more? You can read all about it here and see the Polestar blue for yourself:
http://www.polestar.se/
So for my base coat, I used an another almost exact dupe for the color of his Volvo C30. Volvo calls it Cosmic White. Revlon calls it Aloof. Ha. It's a pearlish white with a silver base shimmer. Anyway, so I put my Polestar Blue (aka Brisk Blue) on top of Volvo Cosmic White (aka Aloof). And there you have it. Inspiration in so many unexpected places :)

What I used: CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Revlon in Aloof, stamping color was Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2011, BM-203

Ring around the...mistletoe

This stamping wasn't meant to be blog worthy. I was just playing in my nail polish last night (due to stress, seriously, painting my nails helps relax me. I know, weird). But it turned out fun looking so I thought I'd share. This particular stamp reminds me of the Target logo. If I'd done it in red and white, I'd be walking a Target advertisement. The base is called Mistletoe from Revlon and was part of their holiday collection last year. It's actually a dark, deep green with tiny gold sparlkes. You can see just a hint of the green in sunlight but indoors it just looks like a black sparkle. The stamp color was actually bronze but looked silver upon stamping. Oh well, still turned out kinda cool.

What I used: (no basecoat), 2 coats of Revlon in Mistletoe, stamp color was Sinful Colors in Super Nova, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2010, BM-19

Paisley!!

Anyone who knows me knows that paisley is my absolute favorite design. And I didn't just jump on the paisley band wagon, I've loved it as long as I can remember. So it kinda sucks that it's so popular right now because like every fad, it will fade. But it's ok, I will still forever be in love with it. And in fact, this particular stamp was the whole entire reason I became interested in nail stamping. I saw a pic on another nail blog and had to know how to achieve these paisley nails! So I've been just waiting til I got this stamping thing down a bit to try my paisley stamp.
The stamp color I used was from Maybelline Color Show in Bold Gold and it stamped flawlessly. My base is from the Color Show line also called Twilight Rays. It's black with tiny gold flakes throughout. I actually bought these two colors specifically together for the paisley. The combination didn't disappoint. It turned out so lovely!! I may just do my nails paisley everyday in different colors! Ok, that's going a bit far BUT it really is going to be hard to restrain from this plate. Maybe once a month? We'll see :)

What I used: 2 coats of CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Maybelline Color Show in Twilight Rays, stamping color was Maybelline Color Show in Bold Gold, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2012, BM-315

Crocodile rockin'

I really should have been cleaning my house instead of doing my nails but I had a HELLACIOUS day at work and playing in my nail polish makes me happy. So I did that instead.
I picked a crocodile print (or lizard, whatever it is. I'll say crocodile because it makes for a cute blog title). I'm not usually an animal print person but it was calling to me. There's also a snake print I'm gonna get to at some point.
I went with green (again). I can't seem to stay away from greens and blues. Both are my favorite polish colors for the time being. But my original plan was to use a khaki base with a dark army green for my stamp color. However, the only khaki I had looked white underneath the dark green when I stamped it...sooo on my polish wish list a darker khaki/taupe must be added ASAP :)
On a whim, I decided to use a new(er) Loreal color I picked up at Walgreens. It's from their Fall 2012 Limited Edition Project Runway collection called The Temptress' Touch. The sales counter lady at Walgreens had put this color back for me waiting for me to come in and look at polish (sometimes I just go in and browse at the new collections). What? I don't have a problem...really.
Anyway, she said it looked like a color I'd like. She was right. But I'm pretty sure that's a sign that you go into Walgreens too much for nail polish when the counter lady starts to know your taste and puts stuff back for you. Ha!
Ok moving on...
Here it is and it turned out very nice. It actually looks better in person than in the pic. And uhh nevermind the clean up there or lack of. I was in a hurry, as always!

What I used: CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Loreal in The Temptress' Touch, stamping color was Essie in Armed and Ready, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2011, BM-224

Crossing the lines

This was my first try with a reverse image. The first time was a disaster. I smeared it in one place and it didn't transfer well in another. I hate to start over but it was just my ring finger nails I was doing the reverse image on. The second time was much better and came out better. I think I'm kinda diggin' the one different nail thing.
This was also my first Sonia Kashuk nail polish. I believe it's sold exclusively at Target stores. Fatigued is an army green with a very slight bit of shimmer. I loved the formula and will definitely be seeing more of these polishes in my future.

What I used: CND Stickey basecoat, 2 coats of Sonia Kashuk in Fatigued, stamping color was Sinful Colors in Black on Black, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2012, BM-316

Feelin' a lil pink today

Since the change in the weather here in East TN, it has got me missing summer something awful. It's been dreary, blah, and just too cold for me. I dread winter so bad. So I thought I'd do a pink today. I can't brighten up the weather, but I can brighten up my nails! Plus, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so it fits just as well. I thought it turned out ok, just a couple of small mess ups, but overall...I was quite pleased with them.

What I used: CND Sticky basecoat, 2 coats of Pure Ice in Peony, stamping color was Maybelline Color Show in Impeccable Greys, Seche Vite topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2010, BM10

Trial, trial, and more error

I'm not happy with this stamping at all, but I'm posting so maybe someone else can learn from my mistake. When using a cream polish that's a bit on the thin side, you don't have to work as fast. In fact, you should take your time. I learned this about into my 8th nail. I found that if I stamp then wait about 3-5 seconds before stamping it on my nail, it didn't smear quite as bad. I also found out that the design I was using was not as crisp as some of the others I have. I know this because the polish was not coming off evenly, so I tried different polishes and the flaw was with any polish. I read that sometimes this will be the case with some designs on a plate, just a chance you take. So anyway, it is what it is. I'll probably take this off tomorrow at some point and do something different since I'm so not digging this. But here it is for the time being. Smudgy and blah. Oh and btw, the base coat I used for this is just lovely. It's Sinful Colors in Winterberry. It's hard to tell in this pic but it's a deep, grey purple with shimmer. Great color for fall and it's only $1.99 at Walgreens.

What I used: CND Sticky Base Coat, 2 coats of Sinful Colors in Winterberry, stamp color was L.A. Colors in Delicate, and Seche Vite Topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2011, BM-204

Not exactly sloppy seconds

This was my second official full manicure with my stamping. I used another swirl design because swirls are a bit more forgiving as I haven't got it down to perfection just yet. I also had to use the small end of my Konad stamper because if you've read my posts, my large end was defective and I haven't recieved my other one yet. I think it turned out decent.
I have to say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this base coat. It's called Avante Green and it's from Maybelline Color Show's Fall 2012 limited edition line. It's very hard to find and was so happy when I lucked upon it. The whole line is sold out almost everywhere. The pic doesn't do it justice. It's a duochrome and looks like a grass green upon first glance but then has flashes of yellow, gold, chartreuse, and teal. Awesome. It almost heart my heart to stamp over it and even considered leaving it alone...but...my stamping plates were calling to be used.
I let my boyfriend pick out the base color (he chose the colors last time too, I just forgot to mention it). He said green, although that's what he said last time. And I suspect it could be what he says every time since that's his favorite color. Ha. But I had just got this polish and was itching to use it anyway :)

What I used: CND Sticky Base Coat, 2 coats of Maybelline Color Show in Avante Green, stamp color was China Glaze in Wagon Trail, and Seche Vite Topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2011, BM-201

Grrr. More stamping failure

Apparently I am the only one that this is happening to because I've done a search and can't find much info. But what was happening is that my polish would not transfer from the stamp to my nail. It transfers from the plate to the stamp beautifully, no problems there, which was where I found alot of people were having some problems. I read what more advanced stampers recommended (filing stamp with nail file). So I tried this, made no difference. So I tried some of my polishes that dry VERY slow. Still no difference. Mind you, I know you have to work fast here...which I am doing. I watched tutorial after tutorial and I am working quicker than most of them are and even tried using the EXACT polishes they were. Still wasn't getting it to work. So I just kept practicing and I went back to my solution from the other day. Maybe it was too cold? (but the house was warm this time - 72 degrees). So what I'm now doing is rubbing the stamp on my palm or with my fingers right before I swipe. Also using a top coat on my base seems to help. I don't know why or what the difference is.
BUT my pattern is still not transferring completely off the stamper. Like a first layer comes off on the nail and a ghost image is left on the stamper, so it makes my pattern on my nail much sheerer than it should be. Does this make sense? I'm starting to think I may have a defected stamper, lol. So if anyone actually reads this and may have some suggestions or input, I'd really appreciate it!

EDIT: seems I really did get a defective stamper!! After playing around, the green side on the double sided Konad stamper works awesome. No problems picking up or transferring....smooth like buttah! So I ordered another stamper, I would return this one but I threw away everything. Oh well. Here's to waiting again. The green side works for all my nails except for my thumbs so I still get to practice anyway :)

Brrr. Not cool for stamping

Lesson learned this morning. The temperature dropped quite a bit during the night last night. Got up this morning to a cold (for me) house, it was about 68 degrees. Well, was going to do a quick orange and blue stamp in support of The Chicago Bears (my boyfriend is from IL). My point being: my stamper would not work! Nothing on my nails, would just stay on the stamper. I had to warm up the stamper and my nail polish by rolling it around in my hands and I also turned on the heat because it was too dang cold for me, period! This was just something I'd thought I'd share and now I know.
BTW: since I was in a hurry, my base coat did not completely dry and my stamping was blurred on some nails. Plus, I'm still trying to get the hang of getting the pattern to go the same way. I just went with it today, but it was really too awful to post a pic. It was definitely frustrating today, but I will get the hang of it!

(Like a) Virgin...Stamper

So this was my very first stamping try with all the bells and whistles. Yep, that's right, my very first. I got my stamper and templates in the mail Monday and played around with it a few times after work since then (this now being Thursday night). I was a bit nervous after putting on a base coat, two coats of nail polish, and then waiting for it to dry only to mess everything up and have to restart? I'm sooo impatient with drying time. But I had to suck it up and do it. Didn't turn out as bad as I thought but there is definitely some trial and error here when doing a full set of hands. Practice makes perfect though! Can't wait to practice some more. Even tempted to take this off right now and try again...but...I won't...just yet.

What I used: CND Sticky Base Coat, 2 coats of Sinful Colors in Mint Apple, stamp color was Wet n Wild in Saved By The Blue, topped with Pure Ice in Oh Baby, and Seche Vite Topcoat
Plate: Bundle Monster 2012, BM-312