Periwinkle with a touch of HOLOGRAPHIC MADNESS

 Going through my stash, I was open-minded, but I knew that I wanted something periwinkle, and I wanted something FABULOUS. What do you think, faithful reader, did I get what I was going for?

I started out with three coats of Lapiz of Luxury by essie. On its own, this is such a gorgeous color. Falling somewhere between blue and purple, Lapiz of Luxury is a perfect color for warmer weather. I applied a coat of Seche Vite, and could have left it there.

 Sure, I could have left the manicure, but I have become so enamored with holographic polish that I had to take the look further. I used one thick coat of Ocean Rush Holograph Effect polish by Layla Cosmetics right on top of the pre-existing Lapiz manicure. So far, this is the best that I have ever been able to apply a holographic polish. I chalk it up to the fact that all of the polish on my nail smoothed out all my ridges and left my with a smooth canvas. Later on, I'll talk more about my experiences with the Layla holographic collection, so for now I just ask that you take a moment and appreciate how spectacular the polish is.

Lucky Ducky Green!

Short, sweet, and to the point. Check out this color! So green! So pretty! So happy making!!!!!! From the Orly Birds of a Feather collection, I bring you Lucky Duck.

 

This manicure was three coats of Lucky Duck, though I could have gotten away with two. It gave me full coverage, and is probably one of the best greens in my collection. Hands down. Some people think of green as being a Winter color - what with Christmas, holly, and all that jazz - but when I look at this color, I see Spring.

Lilac Festival and TMI

 Today I'm meeting up with one of my beloved former suite-mates from my undergrad days. This particular suity lives over in Rochester, and they hold a lilac festival each year. Finally, after years of hearing how amazing the festival is, I'm able to go! Of course, it wouldn't be an event unless I did my nails in honor of lilacs, weekends, and friends. This is code for.... holographic polish. Not really, but whatever. I really am getting into the linear holos.

The above picture is me cheating you. These are not my nails today, which are abysmally short. These are from a week ago, and it's one thick coat of Ultra Violet holographic polish by Layla cosmetics. I actually used an a pre-existing manicure (that I didn't take pictures of) of Essie's She's Picture Perfect as underwear for Ultra Violet. It worked out well since the first manicure worked as ridge filler. The holographic effect was INSANE.

These are my nails today. Two thin coats of Ultra Violet (in anticipation of the lilac festival) over one coat of Nfu-Oh's Aqua Base. Probably next week I'll do an expose on the miracle that is Aqua Base, and my run down of holographic nail polish experiences - the highs, the lows, the beauty. I lost all patience with my nails earlier and clipped them as short as possible. Not the end of the world, luckily nails grow back. Just a heads up though, you'll probably notice that my swatches will feature nails of different lengths. As my nails are growing out I'll be going through some backlogged pictures and posting them along with some current ones.

Next time I will probably either use a ridge filler before the Aqua Base, or perhaps I'll use two coats. Personally, I feel like the ridges in my nails took away from the incredible holographic effects that I got from the top manicure. Don't get me wrong, this is still lovely... it's just not the same. Speaking of not the same, I'm showing you my right hand today (don't get used to it, the left is so much easier to shoot) because I am silly and can't contain myself. At all.

See that ring? That's my engagement ring. This past week, my boyfriend and I got engaged. He's the best - hilarious, loving, intelligent, patient, geeky as all get out... he's fantastic, and I am so proud and honored to say that I am his and he is mine. I realize that if you're reading this, you're here to read about nail polish, but you're still here. So, thank you for letting me share this with you!

Artful Dodger? More like Best Teal Ever!

 I'll be honest. I have been on the fence about this shade for a while now. I first heard about it when I started looking into the Butter London nail polish collection. Apparently Miley Cyrus wore Artful Dodger to an awards show. Color me less than impressed. I turned away from the color in favor of those that would be more unique to my collection.

Eventually, my resolve broke. Sure, I have tons of blues and tons of teals, but there is always room in my heart for a new one. Luckily, after wearing this, I am fairly certain that none of the colors I have match this shade. YAY! Three easy coats topped off with a coat of Seche Vite gave me the perfect manicure for casual Friday tomorrow. I plan on waltzing into work with Artful Dodger on my nails, a floral print dress on my frame, and blue flats on my feet. Beating the Friday cubicle blues, one insanely colorful outfit at a time.

ORLY Dark Shadows Collection - Swatches and Review!!!! :)

 A little while back, I did a post where I attempted to do some cherry blossom nail art. Oh, how I loved that manicure! I used Orly's Decades of Dysfunction, which is a creamy neutral that impressed me with its resistance to tip wear and how darn flattering it was with my skin tone. Today I'm going to be swatching the rest of the Dark Shadows nail polish collection that Orly has come up with. This post is a little picture heavy, so bear with me... if you dare.

 First up, or really second up since I've already presented the pretty that is Decades of Dysfunction, is this gorgeous color called Mysterious Curse. As a faithful collector of all things blue, duochrome, and fantastic I highly recommend this! Mysterious Curse manages to fall between navy blue and violet, depending on the lighting. While I wouldn't consider this to be a true duochrome, the shimmer that lies within the base makes this truly special to behold.

 I wasn't able to quite capture the richness of the polish in my pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it when I tell you that the color is a keeper. I used three coats, though I could have done with just two. The third coat was mostly to help cover up a minor ding that I managed to give myself. I'm a huge klutz. Alas.

 Next up is the vampy, vaguely jelly-like Vague Mistake. I don't have a huge variety of red polishes in my collection, so this is for sure a welcome addition. It actually painted brighter onto my nails than I expected it to from the bottle. After two smooth coats I was able to achieve full coverage.

As this is out of my usual comfort zone, I was pleased with the result. Perhaps even more importantly, I was pleased with the eventual clean up. The polish did not stain through my base coat, which has happened before to me. It's honestly part of what has turned me off of reds in the past. No muss, no fuss - just pretty nails.

 Last, though not least, is the shade called Buried Alive. Honestly, I much prefer this color in the above picture. Through the lens, the depth and inner fire that shows in the bottle came out to the front and center. I honestly thought that this would be my favorite (or at least top two) from the collection.

In reality, I found that unless I caught my nails at just the right angle, most of what I found was that my nails were... brown. Now, I'm not saying that this polish isn't for you. It just so happens that I'm not feeling this one. Formula wise, just like the rest of the collection, this was fantastic. Two coats gave me full, complete coverage, and it leveled itself out effortlessly.

Overall, I really enjoyed most of this collection. Three out of four isn't bad, and I know for a fact that I'll be re-wearing Decades of Dysfunction, Mysterious Curse, and Grave Mistake. My question for you - faithful, classy reader that you are - do any of these colors get you excited? Even more important, what do you think about the growing trend of marketing nail polish with movies? I personally think that it's great fun, and I look forward to what else might be coming out in the future.

Happy Mother's Day!

In honor of my fabulous, gorgeous, hilarious co-blogger/mother, I decided to post off-schedule and show you a manicure that I put together in her honor.

 There are two things that you should know about my mother. 1. She loves the color green. 2. She loves bling. With this in mind, I started out with the lovely Anne from the Rescue Beauty Lounge "The Real Housewives of the Tudor Dynasty" collection. Anne is the kind of color that sneaks up on you and when you're least expecting it, she kicks you in the face until you acknowledge how pretty she is. A dusty olive green with an inner shimmer that goes from pink to gold... WOW... I'm a huge fan!

  

Of course, as you can see, I just couldn't stop with Anne. It's Mother's Day... and that means you go all out. So I brought in one of my favorite glitter top coats. I introduce Mumbling, which I found through TheHungryAsian's etsy shop!  Last I checked, there was still more Mumbling to be had, and I highly suggest you pick it up if you have a thing for glitter. A mix of gold, silver, and holographic glitter particles in a clear base that run from fine glitter all the way up to larger hexes. I've even spotted a few tiny stars in the bottle, but I've yet to capture one on the nail.

 

Both of these polishes applied beautifully - I used two coats with Anne for full coverage, and one easy swipe was all it took to get the look I was going for with Mumbling. For this manicure I decided to try doing a chevron tape manicure - not too shabby, eh? I think that the best part about this manicure, other than the beautiful polishes, fantastic application, and fun look is the fact that every time I look at my nails I think of my mom. From six hours away, it makes me feel like I'm celebrating with her even though I can't be there.

I hope that if you're reading this you are having a fantastic Mother's Day surrounded by those who love you. And to all you mothers out there, thank you for all you do.

Order of the Garter gets funky. Ohhhh yeah.

Oh gosh, this is a pretty color! I've seen tons of coverage of the A England "The Legend" collection, and I have to say that Order of the Garter is the unsung hero of the whole shebang. Like the rest of the collection, the polish applies smoothly - two coats were all that I needed to get full coverage. The only difference is the fact that Order of the Garter isn't holographic. Oh well. Don't get me wrong here, I have a huge affection towards holographic polishes, but that's no reason to overlook such a lovely polish.

Somehow, I don't have a blue in my collection that comes close to this color, so I count that as a win. It's always nice to find something different. (Please ignore my cuticles. They are horrid. I am so shamed...)

One day later, even though I was enamored with the color to begin with, I started to get a little... antsy. What happened next shouldn't surprise anyone that has read my past posts. I slapped glitter on the nails faster than you could say "Colorful Expletive by LynBDesigns." This is my subtle way of introducing this top coat. Nice, right?

I found Colorful Expletive through Etsy, and I must say that I am impressed! The fuzzy picture above really helps to capture the explosive nature of this polish. Over all, I found that the glitter provided even coverage. I had to dig a little bit to make sure that each nail had at least one star, but I think that it was worth it. After two coats of Seche Vite, I was able to smooth the whole thing out. I couldn't help but thing of Captain America every time that I looked at my nails. I'm thinking that there are worse things!

A Tale of Two Glitter Explosions

They say that the first step is to admit that you have a problem... well... I have a problem. I love glitter. I love nail polish. I especially love them together.

This post is heavily inspired by Amy Grace over at The Polished Perfectionist. Before I go any further, let me just say how fantastic she is. Oh, she does the prettiest things with nail polish! Moving beyond my awkward blog-crush... Amy Grace does a mean sponged tip, and after seeing one of her recent posts, I decided to try sponging for the first time. I think that a monster has been born.

Oh yeah, check out that faux-wood finish on my desk. Nice.

Here, I present my first attempt. Starting with two coats of L'Oreal's Check Me Out, I gently used a mutilated kitchen sponge to apply China Glaze's Full Spectrum.  I wanted something bright, girly, and way out of my comfort zone. I may or may not have been humming "Barbie Girl" as I sponged my little heart out. I ended up wearing this to work last week for "dress down Friday" which may have been a good thing considering how bright and... bright it was. It was very bright.

Even though my job allows a lot of freedom when it comes to nail color, I don't want to tempt fate. I decided that my life called for a more work appropriate glitter tip. For this manicure, I took advantage of the fact that I apparently hoard pink glitters.

Sorry for the less-than-stellar pictures...
I was distracted by the shiny!

After using a base of two coats OPI - Did You 'Ear About VanGogh?, I promptly lost my mind and sponged on the following pink glitters:

Essie - A Cut Above

Finger Paints - Hue Left A Message?

Revlon - Sparkling

Milani - Disco Lights 

I don't know why I did this, since they are all the same shade of pink... I think that I was hoping to take advantage of the different sized glitters, but it all just looks kind of pink. Ah well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. I think that for my first two attempts, I didn't do too poorly... but I am excited to try again.

Cherry Blossom Nail Art...

I'm pretty shocked about the title of this post, because I am not an artist. My friends, you could fit all of the artistic talent that I have and it would fit neatly within one of my nails. Luckily, in this case, I confined my art to one nail so it worked out. Inspired by the beauty of spring, the abundant blossoms outside of my office, and the fact that I am SO TIRED of it snowing I present my attempt at nail art. Huzzah!

!HUZZAH!

For nine out of ten nails, (I feel like I'm selling a breakfast cereal... "nine out of ten mom's agree that you should ply you child with this sugary crap!") I used Decades of Dysfunction by Orly. Decades of Dysfunction - or DoD as it will be called henceforth - is part of the Orly Dark Shadows collection. I saw it at Sally's today, and I had to scoop up all four colors. I'll cover the others later, but right now, can we just talk about how lovely this color is? Putty beige with a hint of pink, I think it's one of the more flattering neutrals that I own. It's one of those colors that I never used to look twice at, but oh! OH! It is so pretty!!!!! Application was pretty good considering how light the color is. The pictures show three coats. I didn't have any VNL after the second coat, but I found that three coats really evened out any imperfections.

"Dysfunctional" Flowers... Finally, nail art that speaks to my soul...

Even though DoD is great, I obviously couldn't stop there. I wanted a flowering tree branch, so I grabbed Sea Spray by China Glaze, Flutter by Sinful Colors, and my Milani White Canvas nail art polish. All things considered, I like it. I may even... love it. But it's too soon to say.

Messing with Matte

Quick post for today! I spent all day looking at my nails and smirking while wearing this manicure... and for the dorkiest of reasons. I felt like I had lizard skin nails - AND I LOVED IT.

 I started off with two coats of OPI Cuckoo For This Color, which is so gorgeous on it's own. I'm a sucker for rich greens. In the mood for something even more exciting, I added one coat of Essie's Shine of the Times. Finished off with a coat of Essie - Matte About You, and I was ready to rock 'n roll. I know the picture isn't the best, but it really captured (IMHO) how supremely reptilian the effect was.

Lady sings the blues...and silver hexes....

Oh, is there anything as heartbreakingly ridiculous as expensive nail polish? Gorgeous shades of varying colors that are definitely not within one's budget. Today I'm bringing you one of my pricey polishes, Deborah Lippmann's Lady Sings The Blues. Please keep in mind that this isn't the most insanely expensive polish out there, but I am a grad student so EVERYTHING is expensive right now.

Enough about my ever tightening pockets - let's get to the polish!!

 This is two relatively thin coats of Lady Sings The Blues with a coat of Diamont top coat to make it all shiny and pretty. I was pretty surprised how opaque this was after two coats. I think that for some reason I was expecting this to be much more of a jelly. The two coats applied like a dream, and I didn't have any issues with the application at all. The glitter was spread fairly evenly and the best part was that I put very, very little effort into this manicure.

 From some of the reviews that I have read, there was a sense of disappointment due to the fact that the silver glitter wasn't as noticeable through the blue base. The complaint was that the blue was too heavy for the glitter. I respectfully have to disagree. I think that this polish is lovely.

A sultry, deep, gorgeous blue sky filled with celestial bodies of all different sizes and shapes. That is what this polish reminds me of. The amount of depth that is in each nail is spellbinding.