Avocado Nails

HAPPY FRIDAY!! and Long weekend ;)

Inspired by the colour of my most recently applied polish, Zoya's Tracie, I created some nail art with avocados in mind :) I was also partly inspired by a post on Chalkboard Nails of some some lovely avocado nail art inspired by the latest OPI fall collection.

I used Bundle Monster plate 212, at first glance this pattern reminded me of peacock feathers, but when stamped on green they are sooo tiny little avocados :) I stamped with an older Sally Hanson Diamond Strength, Jade. In the bottle it is a deep, almost black green with emerald green glitter. When stamped it appears to be a simple murky green which I think is the perfect contrast.

For the ring fingers I dotted the "pits" with two polishes, Crushed Grape (SH New Lengths Ceramics) and Ruby Red (Sally Hanson Diamond Strength), purple and red shimmers. These are also older Sally Hansen Polishes. I kind of wish I used a more subtle, lighter colour for the pits, I feel like they stand out a little too much.

What do to think? Are you inspired by food for nail art?

Guacamole Nails!

Today I have an unique polish I picked up from Zoya's latest promo a while back now, this is Tracie.

Tracie is apart of Zoya's 2012 summer collection and. Think it's a pretty unique colour, it totally reminds me of alvacado!! I would describe it as a soft, light green with white/silver microshimmer. You can see the microshimmer more in the bottle but I am ok with that. On the nail it really brings out the shiny finish.

I used one medium stroke followed by a second thinner one to even out the first. The formula was about the same as the other Zoya's I own, thick and smooth, overall easy to work with. Next time I will have to thin it out a bit to get it to a slightly smoother consistency.

Wallpaper Nails

Today I have a mani refresh with Orly's Pixi Stix. For stamping I used Bundle Monster plate BM-201 and Sally Hansen Amber Chrome (apart of the chrome collection).

Amber Chrome is an amber/coral chrome and I find that it plays really well off of Pixi Stix. I think it is one of my fave chromes :). I find that chromes give the cleanest stamps.

The pattern I chose was geometric flowers. Since it's so linear and geometric it reminds me of wallpaper lol.

Not too much more to say about this one, just a super simple and quick mani refresh :)

Pixie Polish

Today I have a bright, fun pink, Orly's Pixie Stix. I picked up this polish because in the photos I had seen online it appeared to be a pretty salmon creme. Although it has some yellow undertones next to my skin it pretty much just looks pink :( I do find that it warmer lighting such as evening sun and warmer light bulbs it does appear to be a bit more salmon/coral... But mostly pink.

The formula was great, I only needed two coats to reach opacity. It is a creme finish but I did it to be semi translucent, not so much a jelly, but it has a similar consistency in the bottle, like a creamy jelly lol, I guess milky would be a better description. On the nail it's totally a creme though.

I have enjoyed wearing this, it appears quite bright in certain lighting as well. I brainstorming ideas of what type of nail art I can do on top :)

Stripes and Stones

Today I have a mani refresh I created using OPI's Skull and Gloss Bones as a base and Zoya's Dovima for stamping. I wanted something simple yet interesting. What I ended up deciding on was the diagonal stripy pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-20, this is from the original set. I love this pattern but my nail beds are slightly too wide and tall to fit the full pattern, so I improvised :)

I stamped my nails either closer to the base or tip of the nail and then removed a few lines from the top, bottom or both. The end result is a different design on each nail.

I think it's quite simple but has that little something special. My thumb nails were way too big for the stripes so I decided to stamp them with a dotty pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-211 (not shown).

I like this monochrome mani, since Dovima is not a stark creme black it does not look so plain. Dovima is actually a matte which you can tell from the bottle. It has this tiny bit of shimmer that ads some depth to the over all mani.

Have you ever altered Konad/fauxnad designs to create another design or pattern?

The Newest Additions to My Polish Family!

A quickie post today, just wanted to show off some new polishes I got in the mail the other day. Both are from the limited Bohemian Collection which consists of a bunch of duochrome polishes. I picked up Rare and Radiant (the Chanel/OPI dupe) and Unpredictable. I got these through Amazon and was pleasantly surprised to receive the bottles with the silver lids. I had heard some people complain that some sellers/stores had the regular black tops only. This happened to me once with the Prismatic collection, I picked it up at Sallys.

Here are the bottles in the sunlight...

...and in the shade.

I also have some swatches on my nail wheel, left to right Rare & Radiant and Unpredictable.

sunlight

shade on an angle

shade

Each swatch is two coats and applied well. I did notice some streaking during application but it seemed to even it's self out once it dried. look how smooth and shiny they look, such perfect fall shades. What's your favorite from this collection?

Skull and Gloss Bones

My polish choice was inspired by the weather this weekend, dark and rainy. The perfect colour to represent this; OPI's Skull and Gloss Bones. This is another polish from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection.

I would describe it as a soft, light grey. It has no undertones of yellow or blue, it has to be the most perfect grey creme! My boyfriend was reminded of Pelican Grey from China Glaze when he saw this polish, and you may say they are close minus the shimmer.

This polish applied perfectly in two coats. It actually would have applied fine in one thick coat but I thinned my bottle with a few drops to I could apply two instead. It's such a great base for nail art so I can't wait to try some out :)

Holo on Holo Stamping

Happy Friday!! I wanted to do something fun with China Glaze L8R G8R before removing it. I was thinking of crackle or some sort of tape design but did not want to cover up the polish completely. I decided I would find a design to stamp with. I ended up choosing the shattered glass/mosaic pattern from Bundle Monster, plate BM-208. I also had the idea to stamp with another holo!!

BM-208 worked awesome by the way, I had some issues with it last year if you recall in this post. Bundle Monster provided me a brand new plate at no charge and I could not be happier :) I really like this pattern.

I chose Nubar Reclaim for the added tone on tone look and I love it, I really need to do more manis like this. I love the subtle refresh it gives and you can still see the holo! I did use a top coat and I feel like it may have dulled the effect a tiny bit. If anything it is more scattered, but not too bad. I used a very thin and quick swipe of an old bottle of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

See Ya Later Alligator... Some old & NEW Holos for 2013

Woohoo!! More holos! Today I have one of my China Glaze OMG polishes, I only own a few from the collection, and have only worn one as a full mani believe it or not! The first was DV8, which I LOVE, the second for me to wear from this collection? L8R G8R.

L8R G8R is a light green holographic/prismatic polish. I used two coats in my photos with a regular base coat (I forgot to use my Nfu Oh Aqua Base) and no top coat. Considering I wore a regular base I had no issues with application. The polish applied smoothy and dried quickly.

After wearing this for a few days, I kind of wish it was more pigmented or a deeper green. It is a pretty pastel lime but it needs a little more brightness to it! I was actually inspired to wear this polish after seeing swatches of China Glazes Spring 2013 Hologram collection and seeing OMG a UFO which is not only an awesome looking green holo, but the name rocks too! I soooo cannot wait for those :)

Krystal  from PolishGalore was kind enough to let me use her borrow her photo above to show you guys OMG a UFO and the other lovely holos China Glaze is set to release this spring. Look how saturated these shades look! To see more photos of this collection and some more upcoming collections from China Glaze, be sure to check out her post here.

The wear was typical of holos or most regular polishes without a top coat. Within the first couple of days I got some slight tip wear and one or two minor chips. This was from various day-to-day stuff like washing dishes, prepping food, cleaning etc. I want to do some fun nail art with this one, I'm off to look up some inspiration ;)

I couldn't resist taking a photo of my nails by my new neon coral bikini, :) ... which of course is showing up pink. I love the contrast in colours.

What's your favorite holo polish?

Duochome Refresh

Today I have a refresh for OPI Planks a Lot. I was looking up inspiration and came across this awesome mani from the NailXchange. I pulled out my Red Angel plate and Sally Hansen chromes, but was missing a blue.... No blue chrome, I must substitute! Sitting on my desk was my brand new bottle of Deviantly Daring that you have already seen here a couple times now from China Glaze's Bohemian collection.

I figured why not? It's blue, it has a chrome like shine and it looked to be thick enough. I tested it out and although it worked with the other chromes, I decides it was so pretty it deserved to be stamped on its own!

Now... My continuing annoyance with my Red Angel plates... This particular image on plate RA-107 is ingraved too deeply, an issue I have been having with my set. The result? Not too perfect stamping and smudging :( I guess I will have to try this image out again with one of my regular stamping polishes and see if I get the same issues.

One thing I thought about after was leaving the polish in the engraving a little longer after scraping to adhere better to the stamp when you pick it up. Again, I'll have to try another time. Below you can better see how each nail has a different result.

My fave nail is the pinky :) I thin k the stamp was the cleanest on that nail and the pointer is my second fave, I find the best way to stamp is to have a soft touch. Am I the only one having issues with these plates :(

Doppelgängers! Holo Edition, Featuring Layla and Nfu Oh

I hope those of you who had a long weekend emjoyed yourself, I know I did :) Today I will be comparing two awesome holos! Like I said in this haul post although I have around 4 other silver holos, I could not give up the opportunity to purchase Mercury Twlight from Layla when I saw it in store. Maybe one day will do a comparison on all of them if you are interested, but for now I picked Layla's strongest condenser in my collection, Nfu Oh 61. For your reference this this is the newer formula. So let's compare them shall we.

First close ups of the bottles, for whatever reason both of these holos hide in the bottle, doesn't really look like anything too special. I have noticed however that if you shake them up real good you can see a rainbow. I didn't capture this on camera because it goes away too fast.

Next up is formula, both polishes are different. Layla is very thin where Nfu Oh is thick and gloopy! Although I prefer the application of Layla, it does take longer to build up, for a full mani I would probably want three coats. In the swatches you see in this post, both polishes are two coats.

Although I have not worn either of these polishes yet I have worn the same brand and finish just different colours. From what I remember even without a top coat these lasted a long time! Definitely longer than my China Glaze holos. So which is more holographic?

... The winner is on the left, the Layla!! My camera sucks at capturing holos, Layla was sooo holo in person! Look how pretty!!

Layla is on the right in this photo, upside-down!

One last thing before I finish this post, check these two out in the shade. I love how the Nfu Oh looks like a chrome. For that and just not being holo enough I'm gonna have to day they are not dopplegangers. Do you need them both then? Probably not, I just cold not resist picking up a stronger silver holo :)