Sunday, September 30, 2012

Halloween Indie Spam!

Yay! Finally October is here (well...tomorrow) so I can do Halloween manis, which are my absolute favorite! I thought I'd share a little Halloween indie spam with you guys to kick things off right! Some of these are older indies and some of these are brand spankin new for this year!

First up is HARE polish The Monster. I actually was lucky enough to get the polish last year when Nikole released the Creeps collection, but it is now finally for sale again for those of you who want to pick it up (available at Llarowe and possibly from HARE polish's Etsy page (see HARE Polish's Facebook page for updates on stock in her shop). This polish is one of those that looks so blah when you first put it on, but once you add topcoat it is just magical! This is one coat of The Monster over Essie School of Hard Rocks (although it is perfectly opaque and really doesn't need to be layered, I just prefer to layer all of my glitters over a base color).

 
 
 
Next I have an oldie for you: Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains. I have had this polish for ages and have never worn it so I decided to swatch it. The pink shimmer in it is lovely. Unfortunately, there is really limited availability of this one now since it is one of the discontinued Lynnderellas, so eBay is the place to find it if you are looking for it. This is 2 coats over OPI My Pointe Exactly.
 
 
 
Next up is a polish from a newer indie brand, Oopsie Daisies. This is Mischief Night, part of her Halloween Harvest Duo (the other polish, Apple Picking, is just fall in a bottle. I will be wearing it soon!). This polish has fuchsia, orange, and purple glitter in a black jelly base. It looks absolutely perfect layered over another Halloween classic, China Glaze Mummy May I? This is 1 coat over Mummy May I? This polish is available from Oopsie Daisies Etsy Shop. Follow her Facebook page for updates.
 
 
 
 
 
Up next I have a polish from Nail Pattern Boldness called Bitches Brew. This polish is so awesome and the blue and yellow glitters are perhaps a little unexpected in a Halloween polish, but they totally work! This is 1 coat over OPI Road House Blues. Nail Pattern Boldness polishes are available in her Etsy Shop and as of this week they are available at Llarowe as well (although it looks like for now that Llarowe is only stocking core polishes from Nail Pattern Boldness, not Halloween Polishes). Follow their Facebook page for more info.
 
 
 
And last but not least, I have another Hit Polish for you called Halloween. This polish is truly Halloween in a bottle with all of the classic colors represented (orange, black, purple, and green). I think it is so fun and looks great with purple (this is one coat over Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz). These polishes are available on Hit Polish's Etsy shop and you can follow their Facebook page for updates.  
 
 

 
 
 
 
So are you guys pumped for Halloween manis like me? I have more Halloween manis and indies to share with you soon! Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

This Earth Matters MORE!

So my hugest lemming is Sparitual Earth Matters...but this stuff is SO hard to find. You can't even find it on ebay for exhorbitant prices, you just plain cannot find it anywhere! My friend Xilde knew that I have been wanting this polish for ages so she made me this glorious franken. It is just STUNNING!!

 
 
 
 
This is 1 coat of the gorgeousness over Zoya Ivanka.
 
 

 
 
 
Here is Zoya Ivanka on its own. It is gorgeous by itself!
 

 
 
 
*Swoon* It may not be the real thing...but it is pretty darn amazing! I will continue on my quest for Earth Matters, but for now this is a worthy polish to have in its place! Thanks for looking!
 

Hit Polish Mr. Bubbles

Today I have a mani that I absolutely adore for you guys. I'm not sure if I have mentioned my matte glitter obessions, but I LOVE THEM! They looks like candy on your nails! I was on the search for some matte glitters to add to my collection and I found Hit Polish (a division of D&R Apothecary) on Etsy. They have a ton of glitters in their shop to choose from and I got several minis to try out.

Mr. Bubbles is a glitter polish full of different sizes of matte white, pink, and blue glitter. It is really worthy of it's namesake. I layered one coat over OPI What's With the Cattitude. I loved it so much I wore it for several days and was constantly looking at my nails.

 
 
 
 
Isn't it fabulous? Hit Polish had a big sale last weekend and I picked up several more minis and they are on their way to me now. I will be swatching those for you guys when I get them! I saw on their Facebook Page that they are being generous enough to have another sale the weekend of October 13 (and they have items stocked in the shop in the mean time as well.) Be sure to check them out!
 
 
Thanks for looking everyone!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Fun with Finger Paints Fall of Surprises

Today I have a mani that totally screams fall! I recently picked up Finger Paints Fall of Surprises because it looked like a very fun and fallish glitter, and I don't have anything like it. It has bronze hexes and bronze microglitter.

I had seen a gorgeous jelly sandwich mani that Scrangie did when she guest posted on Sparkly Vernis, and it inspired me to do something similar. For my mani, I started off with a base of a darker red jelly with golden shimmer, Mode Arsonist. Then I layered on one coat of Finger Paints Fall of Surprises. Next I did a layer of a red jelly, Chanel Pirate. Finally, I thought it would look cool to dab a bit of the bronze glitter on top so I took Fall of Surprises and wiped off the brush very well and lightly dabbed some glitter on top (be sure to wipe the brush off well because it is a very dense glitter). I think that it looks perfect for fall!

 
 
 
I will say I have enjoyed my new adventures in nail art, but this mani really felt like my old self! Thanks for looking everyone!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

31 Day Polish Challenge DAY 31! Redo Your Favorite Challenge

So, I decided for day 31 to redo my least favorite executions of the challenges. Maybe not totally with the rules, but who cares? I've made it this far, I'm making the rules now!

First: Water Marble. As you guys probably remember, my water marble day was a massive failure so I didn't even post it (I posted an old one instead). In the end, I FINALLY got one to work out for me! I used Finger Paints Paper Mache, OPI Fly, and Sally Hansen Coral Reef for the marble.





Next I decided to redo my Black and White mani because that was back when I still wasn't comfortable with stamping and my technique was a bit off. This time I used Sally Hansed Insta Dri Whirlwind White for the base and Fingerpaints Black Expressionism to stamp. This was Bundle Monster plate 212.




And my final mani is a redo of the Rainbow mani becaue the first time I just did a holo, which was sort of
lazy. This time I did stripes of rainbow colors as the base of my mani (I used OPI Red Hot Ayers Rock, Essence Get Up!, Jaybird's Fruit Martyr, Essie Pretty Edgy, Nails Inc Baker Street, and OPI Funky Dunkey). Then I stamped on top with Finger Paints Black Expressionism and used Bundle Monster plate 201.





So...THAT'S IT GUYS!! I made it through all 31 days! It actually took me 51 days to complete this entire challenge because I skipped some days here and there (and several weekends) but still in all, I'm pretty proud of myself that I actually completed it. It has been a long, strange journey and I have learned so many things along the way. When I started out on this challenge I didn't stamp, I didn't do nail art and I didn't wear orange or yellow! My how things have changed over the course of 51 days! I hope that you guys have enjoyed this as much as I have! Thanks for looking!

Friday, September 21, 2012

31 Day Polish Challenge Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial

Today's mani was inpired by a tutorial and one of my favorite things: CUPCAKES! I have always wanted to try this tutorial and this was the perfect time to do it!

I started off with a base of OPI Sparrow Me the Drama. I used OPI Mermaid Tears for the "cup" with a pink striper for the stripes. I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps for the cherry and a purple and blue striper for the sprinkles. Then (and this doesn't show up in pictures as well) I used a fine paint brush and dabbed Sephora for OPI Wild About Shimmer (dupe to China Glaze White Cap) onto the frosting to give it, well, a frosty look. It looked really pretty in real life!





Better view of the shimmer:




Here is OPI Sparrow Me the Drama by itself. I almost got rid of this once because I hated it and now I love it! It is so funny how tastes change.



So that is all of the real challenge days. Whew! I can't believe that I'm finally done with those! All I have left to do is redo my favorite(s) for day 31!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

31 Day Polish Challenge Day 29: Inspired by the Supernatural

Today's mani had to be inspired by the supernatural and I chose dragons for my inspiration. And being all cheesy (as I am), I had to use a polish with dragon in the name to make it even MORE in theme! The base of my mani was a-England Dragon with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I used for the stamping (I used the scale design from the Bundle Monster 215 plate). For the accent nail, I decided that my dragon had to be breathing FIRE so I did a base of China Glaze Crimson and then used some oranges, reds, and yellows with a fine paint brush to create flames.





Here is a-England Dragon on its own. So pretty! This is 2 easy coats. Look at the pretty gold flash in it!




Almost there!! Only a few more manis left in the challenge!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Up Colors Multicores Collection Swatches

Hi guys! Today I have swatches from the Up Colors Multicores collection, which is a collection of multichromes. First off I will start off by saying that these multichromes were different than others I have worked with before because they were thing, but layering them over black did not show them in their best light like other multichromes I have worked with. I preferred to use them on their own, but they all did take 3-4 coats (prefereably 4 on the lighter colors) for opacity. I didn't really mind this, as I just used thin coats. I wanted to say that up front as I know that using more than 2 coats does bother some people. I didn't do this, but I would suggest layering these over a color similar to the base color of the polish instead of black to help with opacity if using multiple coats bothers you.


Up first is Mosaico. This is a Navy/Blue/Purple multichrome. This is 3 coats.





Up next is Mutacao. This one is STUNNING! It was my favorite from the collection. It is a brown/red/green multichrome but the brown and red are the most prominant. It is a perfect color for fall.  I loved it so much because it seemed really unique to me. This is 3 coats.


Next is Caleidoscopio. This is a teal/green/blue/grey multichrome. The teal and blue are the most prominant in the polish. This is 4 coats.





Next is Camaleao. This an orange/copper/gold/pink multichrome. This one has the most flashy multichrome effect of any polishes in the collection. This is 4 coats. 





Next is Cromoterapia. This polish has a purple/green/gold multichrome. It is one of the thinner ones and requires 4 coats for opacity.




Finally is Camuflagem. This one is a red/wine/blue multichrome. This one, to me looks more like a pink base with a blue shimmer vs being a multichrome. It is also very sheer and requires 4 coats. I think this one would work very well over a similar base color.





Overall this was a nice collection with, I think, some unique colors. I think that the multichrome effect of these polishes was nice, but it is definantly more of a subtle effect when compared to polishes such as the Ozotic Multichromes. I think the biggest downside to this collection is their sheerness, but as I mentioned before I think they would work fanastically over a matching base color. And as I said before, I know that a lot of people's solution is to layer multichromes over black but I felt with this collection that didn't work at all. You completely lost the integrity of the polish when layered over black in my opinion.  My top pics are Mutacao, Camaleo, and Caliedoscopio. 

These are available at Llarowe for $8 each. What do you think of these? Do you have any of these in your collection yet?