Glitter Tips

Today I have a quick and easy mani refresh with Zoya's Miley.

I am still loving my French refreshes lately and wanted to try out another Zoya from my untrieds that I thought would be a good companion, Tomoko. Tomoko is a light gold pixie dust glitter that tries to a gritty finish on it's own.

Using my striping tape I marked off each nail and applied a generous coat of Tomoko. I Thought of leaving Tomoko as-is with a textured finish, but decided on adding a glossy topcoat to make the glitter shine.

Glided Rocks

Happy Friday!

Today I have (about a week late) New Years mani number two, the one I actually wore for New Years Eve.

I recently stumbled upon Milani's new polishes while at the drugstore about a month back. I did a double take as I noticed that the bottles changed. They are actually kind of cool, fully cylindrical with what looks to be a swatch of the shade on the top of the handle. The one that really caught my eye was Glided Rocks a blush pink glitter with a golden shimmer. The swatch on the top of the bottle looked to be different, however, showing both gold and pink glitter.

I decided to layer it over one coat of OPI's I Theodora You. I applied one generous coat over top and sealed it off with a layer of topcoat. I had expected the blush glitter to be more prominent than the glitter from what I originally saw in the bottle, however, it turns out that the golden shimmer was actually a lot brighter on the nail.

Overall I liked this shimmery look, I think this would look great over a deep base as well! 

Sprinkle Jelly Doughnut

...At least that's what my boyfriend called them! I kind of agree, I mean if they were super radioactive sprinkles or something.

I wanted to use my neon glitter toppers from China Glaze's Electric Nights collection before summer was over. I am hoping the bright glitter pigments do not bleed in to the base like the previous one I purchased, Point Me To The Party. To recreate the look of this polish, I layered Can I Get An Untz, Untz, with Let The Beat Drop. For the creamy "icing" base polish I used Essie Marshmallow.

So here is what happened, I applied two coats of Marshmallow to my nails, let them dry for a few minutes and blobbed on some glitter from each polish. The result looks great from afar.... however when a closer look is taken you can see a pink haze from Let The Beat Drop (Doh!) and BUBBLES, BUBBLES, everywhere!

The next day it drove me to the point of removal and reapplication! I know, crazy right? Not like me at all, but bubbles seriously annoy me! Can you see a difference below?

So, what did I do differently?

I applied slightly thinner layers of Marshmallow and allowed some extra dry time between coats. When applying the glitter to the nail I used a cosmetic sponge wedge to soak up excess base and get good coverage of glitter on the nail without adding extra polish. The result was much better!

The one thing that always bothers me about using cosmetic sponges in nail art is that for some reason it likes to attract dust. Does this happen to you too? Other than that I am pretty happy with the outcome of this look (finally). A little disappointed that Let The Beat Drop has started to bleed a bit in to the base, but I am happy I was able to remedy that with sponging on the glitter instead.

I really love these glitters and would suggest getting these two over Point Me To The Party. Not only do you get the same look of this polish when they are layered, but you can use them on their own as well! I think I want to try this over black next, I can see it making the neon glitter really pop.

My Way Or The Highway!

Today I have a shade from the China Glaze Road Trip collection released this past Spring that reminds me of the early 2000's...

I had to lol, I'm totally listening to this while I'm composing this post! This is China Glaze My Way or The Highway, A beautiful blue leaning teal crelly.

The formula was awesome and applied really well to the nail. The first coat was a little bit thin, but the second coat built up to full coverage easily. It was a welcome pallet cleanser to my bright neons and complements my tan well.

To be honest, I picked up this polish 50% based off the name alone with the intent of wearing it for good luck on my road test. Last year I wore Petal To The Metal and had a great test, this is the last test before I get my full license and it's on the highway... I just had to buy it and wear it for my test!

Bahama Mama

I am totally in love with this polish! It is not something I would normally pick up for myself, however I received it as a gift and I couldn't be happier. This is Essie Bahama Mama.

 

Bahama Mama is a rich burgundy leaning purple cream with jelly tenancies (crelly maybe?). The formula was excellent, needing two thin to medium coats for full opacity, however It I wanted to I could have gotten away with one thicker coat.

It's very vampy and had great wear, I didn't want to take it off! I got a small chip hear and there during the week I wore it and was able to touch it up easily for seamless blending.

I kind of what to wear this shade again very soon, such a great shade, good formula and overall awesome polish!

Pink and Girly

The most basic, neutral manis always seem to me my favorite, and this was no exception. Every time I look at my nails I am mesmerized!

I started off with a layer of OPI, I Theadora You which is a pink leaning crelly nude polish. I had worn this polish when I first got it with horrible results. Judging by the ease if use this time around, it is clear that it was due to my own error the previously (oily hands) and not the polish its self.

 I Theadora You applied fantastically, sheer yet buildable, I decided to go with one coat so a hint of my white nail tips were visible. I then layered a previously untried OPI, Pink Yet Lavender apart of their 2012 holiday collection and collaboration with Mariah Carry. I really dislike the name for this polish, Pink Yet Lavender is made up of pink hex and small holo glitter. It is not very dense, only one coat was used over the base. I had considered adding another coat of each but was happy with the look of the mani as-is.