Color Club Linear Holos!

Hey guys. No secret that I've been TERRIBLE about challenges this month so I'll be taking a break from them next month. It was getting discouraging to have so many obligations when I was behind on blogging so I am going to take a break and get some blogging mojo back before I pick up again in May (hopefully). Here's a few rainbow manis to catch me up and satisfy the March requirements ;) These are all from Color Club's 2012 Halo Hues.

First up is Harp on It and Blue Heaven. You probably didn't even realize this is two different polishes in this swatch at first glance but the left side is Harp on It and right is Blue Heaven. The second photo shows the difference a little better but it's still pretty close. I included a bottle shot too so you can see the colors in the bottle, which look different.

And secondly (and finally) is Cloud Nine which is one of the pinks. The linear holo is so strong in these you can't even tell what the base color is sometimes! This was pretty, I should really wear holos more often.

There we go! Did you guys get any of the Halo Hues? I got Eternal Beauty from the new ones and that's it.

xoxo,
Amanda

Saturday Mini-Challenge: Cling-Wrap Mani

Hey everyone! Happy weekend! I'm so so so glad that it's the weekend, work has been nuts lately and I love my breaks on the weekends now.

Anywho, a few of my twitter buds and I decided to challenge ourselves to do a cling wrap mani... just once. My fellow challengers are Nicole, Wes, and Fitzy. It's a one-time challenge - right up my alley! haha! I've never actually done one before this so I was having a lot of trouble deciding what color combination to do... and then I had an epiphany. ALL THE COLORS!

Magnetic Radiant Red, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Shrimply Devine, OPI Atomic Orange, Zoya Pippa, Essence Bashful, Essence Sleepy, A-England Tristam, Color Club Pucci-licious

I heard that putting dark colors over light worked best and it just so happened all my light and dark colors alternated so I could do every other for my base coat. We have Sally Hansen Shrimply Devine, Zoya Pippa, Essence Sleepy, and Color Club Pucci-licious as my base colors:

I waited for them to dry (a tough feat since I'm impatient). I only did one coat even though they have some bald spots because I knew they'd get covered up :) Then I added the remaining colors (Magnetic Radiant Red, OPI Atomic Orange, Essence Bashful, and A-England Tristam) on top, and used the Saran wrap to dab it away while it was still wet.

 

Here are a close up of the nails I liked better:

There you have it - I managed to use all of the colors of the rainbow. Even indigo! (Which after intense twitter debate, it was discovered can be one of 4 shades and I just chose the darker blue version of the definition.) I really like this method and I loved the results! The Magnetic brand one is a scattered holo and it came out really pretty, it kind of looks like the glitter crackles earlier this year.

Anyway, HOOOOOOOOLYYYYYYYYYY chattiness this post. Sorry about that! Kudos if you made it through and I hope you enjoyed ;)

xoxo,
Amanda

Guest Post: Dolores from Colorful Bottle

Hey ladies, today I have a post from my lovely friend Dolores in Slovenia who swaps with me all the time so I can get international goodies :) We decided to do guest posts for each other to show off some of the stuff we got in our swaps, so check out what Dolores did and then check out her blog Colorful Bottle!

 

Hi!

I'm Dolores from Colorfulbottle and I got honoured to prepare a guest post for The Nail Polish Enthusiast!

When me and Amanda completed our last swap package we got a really crazy idea. We decided to prepare guest post for each other with our new goodies =). I really couldn't wait to make this post, but I sadly had some other obligations so I couldn't prepare my post as fast as I wanted to prepare it. Now I finally made it, and I'm really happy with the result =). 

It was really difficult for me to pick one polish out of so many new pretties in my stash, because of my BIG problem I decided to do a gradient( I got to use 2 colours and not all polishes match, so I ended up with only 3 possible gradient combinations), I used pastel colour for the base because Amanda once said to me, that it is probably my fault that she started liking pastel polishes. I also wanted to include glitter in my manicure, but glitter really isn't my thing. I also have to admit that I cheated a bit. I wanted to do soft stamping on top, but out of all gorgeous nail polishes that Amanda sent to me, there wasn't a pastel polish that would stamp great, this is why I ended up using KONAD special polish, 

Here is what I prepared:

 

 

For this gradient I used Orly Lollipop as a base ( 2 coats) and then I made a gradient using Color Club Mr. Socialite and Orly Lollipop

I upgraded my manicure with KONAD polish in pastel violet and BM 16

 

I was really satisfied with what I ended up with and I hope Amanda likes it too =)

This is all from me!

Thank you all for reading my post and big thanks to Amanda for hosting my post!

Have a lovely day!

 

 -----

xoxo,
Amanda

 

NOTWeekend: Color Club Otherworldly

Hello my dearests! How is your day going today? I tell ya, getting back to blogging has been hard time management-wise (which is weird, since when I went to school I had plenty of time for blogging?) but so rewarding to be back. Thank you for all the comments and views and all that other statistical nonsense. It's nice to know I didn't lose you guys with my long hiatus :)

Anywho, this is the mani I wore a little while ago on my weekend away with my BFF to Cape Cod. It rained the whole time we were there, but it was nice to spend quality time with her. We don't do it too often, but it's always such a nice reminder that I have such a fantastic person by my side! As you probably know, on weekends my manis get a little crazy because I can wear all my glitters and neons and crazy stuff I can't during the week, so I broke out neon and glitter. I know. Whoa. Otherworldly is a neon blue with silver glitter in it. Below is two coats with no underwear or topcoat:

Then I added topcoat and it was spectacular:

No flash, indoor lighting

I wore this for about two days then a full nail peeled off and that was the end of that. I can happily report I had no staining and I absolutely loved the hell out of this color. I'm dying to try others from this older collection now! What do you think?

xoxo,
Amanda

Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer + glitter

Hey ladies! Another late post today, I'm sorry. I stayed at my boyfriend's house again and didn't have anything saved up to show you, so this is hot off the presses!

I started this mani off with two coats of Wet n Wild's Buffy the Violet Slayer, which is a very vibrant violet. It was really easy to work with (I love WnW's brushes, even though I think they're a bit too stiff) and it was pretty shiny on its own (below is no top coat).

Then I added glitter because it was a weekend and I figured "why not?", so I put Color Club Wish Upon a Rockstar on top. WUAR is a multicolored glitter featuring large pinky-silver hex and smaller glitter in red, aqua, silver, green, and gold.

Lots of people were disappointed by this collection by Color Club but I loved it! Yes, the glitters are large and kind of tricky, but nothing unmanageable and I'm glad to see a glitter collection out! This one was, of course, my favorite and I bought two bottles. Just in case.

What are your thoughts? What other colors could I have paired this with?

xoxo,
Amanda

Teeny Tiny Sally's Haul

Hi all! Sorry for my absence... I had some, err, house problems and had to vacate for a few days. But I'm back again. As long as no more storms knock out power or things kick me out of my house, we're back on track!

Above you can see that I've been doing some haulin'. This was actually a complete accident: I went to Sally's for FingerPaints Fun-fetti only to discover it's an online exclusive. I couldn't just leave empty handed! So Sally's had the holiday displays out and I picked up the following:

Color Clubs from the Scent-uous collection: Kiss Me Mistletoe, Very Merry Berry, Sugar Plum Yum

Orly gift set including Sweet Peacock, Lucky Duck, and Fowl Play (and a bonus wristlet!)

So it was a good trip overall! I was especially excited for the glitters and Fowl Play, but the wristlet and accompanying Orlys are pretty :) I already wore Fowl Play, so you'll be seeing that soon!

xoxo,
Amanda

Pink Wednesday!

Hey ladies, seems like forever since I've participated in Pink Wednesday! I have for you OPI Chapel of Love. Blogger flipped ALL my pictures for me (um, thanks? but not really?) so they are all tilted awkwardly if you think my hand is actually holding the bottle this way haha. Anyway...

Here's Chapel of Love in natural sunlight at three coats.

Then, being the glitter fiend I am, I added accent nails of Color Club Backstage Pass, which is a chunky purple and silver hex glitter.

Here's a close up... ignore the fact my stupid middle finger got dented.

Please excuse the cuticles - blegh! These imperfections are so clear on camera but I don't even notice them IRL!

I liked this color combo, I struggled for a while on what color to wear this over, but I think pink works so well with it without being super over-the-top girly. Thoughts?

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Part Three: Kesha Nails!

Hey all, I know I'm a bit late but... well, you read my last post. You get it. So here's my last installment of my Halloween nails: my costume inspired nails! For Halloween this year, I was Ke$ha. Whenever I told people that, they'd tell me it was perfect for me. I don't know exactly how to take that, but I took it as a compliment. When I was deciding what to do for my nails, I couldn't decide between epic glitterness, Halloween, or animal print, so I decided to combine all three: glow in the dark animal print with glitter accent nail... EUREKA! ;)

Below is OPI Glow-Ink the Dark from their 2009 Halloween collection (I bought the minis on Amazon) layered over white. It's about four coats: this polish is SHEER (and, to add insult to injury, incredibly hard to take off - like, worse than glitter... ugh). It's a very pretty purple (and does glow in the dark well, but I couldn't get a picture of that since I was doing my hostess responsibilities and then I lost power).

After Glow-Ink the Dark, I stamped with Color Club Lumin-icent using the animal print stamps at my disposal and did my accent nail with coordinating Color Club Jingle Jangle:

Zebra, cheetah, glitter, giraffe. Totally Ke$ha!

 Here's a more close up view so you can see them all. The giraffe stamp wasn't very cooperative, but hopefully people understood the point. Maybe it's more of a cow stamp? Eh, I like giraffes better!

I actually ADORED this mani. It made me want to stamp and glitter-fy everything. I think Ke$ha invaded my brain. I kinda liked it. And tomorrow: Kesha makeup!

xoxo,
Amanda

Some Fall Hauls *pic heavy!*

Hey ladies... I know I've been a really irresponsible and unreliable blogger lately. I'm so busy between work and friends and boyfriend and tweeting the Crazy Cat Ladies that I have been neglecting my blog, I'm sorry. I plan to get back to it soon! Meaning... NOW! And when I come back, I come back in a big way. Here's a million recent haul quickie (hehe) swatches.

China Glaze BFF (someone on MUA included this as an EXTRA! fbasjbfjajkfhkj), Nicole by OPI Sensational Scarlet, piCture pOlish Sparkle, piCture pOlish Jealousy

China Glaze BFF, Nicole by OPI Sensational Scarlet, piCture pOlish Sparkle, piCture pOlish Jealousy; one coat each

Lex Cosmetics: Atlantic, Seashell, Sweetie Pie



Same order as above, one coat on Atlantic and Seashell, two on Sweetie Pie



Color Club: Otherworldly, Jingle Jangle, Beyond the Mistletoe

One coat each of Otherworldly, Jingle Jangle, Beyond the Mistletoe; Insiders tip: I ordered the latter two on Transdesign. They aren't listed as a collection, but you can find them alphabetically in their A-Z page... go forth and order, my fellow addicts!

Color Club Foil Me Once (I kinda love that name haha), Lumin-Icent (don't love that one), Perfect Mol-TEN

One coat each of Foil Me Once, Lumin-Icent, Perfect Mol-TEN

China Glaze: Ring in the Red, Tinseltown, CG in the City



Two coats each of Ring in the Red, Tinseltown, CG in the City (which, by the way, I thought I'd love and I don't)



Amour Black Glitter, New York Summer Multi-Glitter, China Glaze Snow Globe, China Glaze White Cap

Black Glitter (two coats on its own), Multi-Glitter over Lex Cosmetics Seashell, China Glaze Snow Globe over Lex Cosmetics Sweetie Pie, China Glaze White Cap over Color Club Otherworldly

I actually have gotten quite a few things since I took these pictures, including lots of swap goodies! I have Absolutely Alice coming my way soon which is exciting! Anyways, which ones do you guys want to see more of/full swatches?

xoxo,
Amanda

Cult Nails Let Me Fly + Color Club Covered in Diamonds

Hi! How are you all doing? I hope all is well with you guys :) Today's post is pretty quick because it's a lovely polish and I don't want to ruin it by talking too much! Here's two coats of Cult Nails Let Me Fly:

Yes, I cropped my pointer out. The cleanup was baaaaaad.

 Then, because I got bored, I added two coats of Color Club Covered in Diamonds...

In low lighting

Flash

... which made me realize I hate mylar flakies. These just looked like giant chunks of plastic on my nails and I wasn't a fan. So I promptly sent it to live with Nicole. Hopefully she can give it the love I just couldn't.

xoxo,
Amanda

Work Inappropriate #6: Color Club Holiday Splendor

Hey ladies! This morning (okay, right now...) I uploaded pictures from my camera and discovered a treasure trove of forgotten manis I did last week: a-England, a holiday Color Club (that's the current post), and some glitters! I wasn't as lost as I had thought! So here we go, actual NOTDs again!

Anywho, I'm not sure what happened here. I had thought everyone knew about the Color Club holiday release, and I ordered them on Transdesign about a month ago. Then randomly, I saw some press releases a couple days ago. And I thought, "Press releases? But I already have some of those!" so here's one of them, Holiday Splendor.

For this mani (yes, I already wore it on my vacation), I used two coats and some topcoats and you have what you see below: a glorious, Christmas green jelly base with lots and lots of holo glitter thrown in.

With flash

Natural light

Blurred for sparktacularity

This was actually one of my favorite colors to wear, but it felt like Christmas on my nails. I kept asking people if it reminded them of Christmas and they said no, so maybe I was just being a nutter because I knew it was from a holiday collection. What do you think? Oh, and excuse Stumpy, my pointer finger. I had a talk with him and told him if he doesn't want to be part of the group, I can't make him, but he'll look back on these pictures someday and be realllllyyyy embarrassed, and I think maybe I got through to him.

xoxo,
Amanda

Transdesign Haulage

Hey, quickish post today because I'm just showing you gals the rest of the fun stuff I got from Transdesign (for now). I'm planning a giveaway at 128 followers... Details to come! Thank you all for following and commenting!

Below is Sation Holiday Spirit, Sation Marion Red, China Glaze Skyscraper, and New York Summer Glitter Fire Red Glitter.

And Amour Rain Glitter and Amour Blue Glitter:

Below are swatches of Fire Red Glitter, Marion Red, Rain Glitter, and Blue Glitter (I didn't include Holiday Spirit because it's for my next giveaway and everyone's seen Skyscraper already)

 Then, I got a few more Color Clubs: Covered in Diamonds and three from the Backstage Pass collection I have heard nothing about until I saw them on Transdesign and neeeeeeeded a few of them. These three are Wish Upon a Rock Star, Backstage Pass, and Fame & Fortune.

Left to right, one coat each: Backstage Pass (large purple and silver hex glitter, clear base; hard to get opaque and placement was tough but not impossible), Wish Upon a Rock Star (multicolor small glitter and sparse hex glitter), and Fame & Fortune (red jelly base with red-based flakies that flash pink and silver).

I'm really happy with all the polishes I got, I went on a bit of a glitter/holiday collection rampage but I'm not even mad about it. Thoughts?

xoxo,
Amanda

Color Club Holiday Collection Swatches!

Hey hey hey ladies! My post today is kinda special because it involves two of my favorite things: glitter (yummm) and new collections! These are from Color Club's Beyond the Mistletoe holiday collection. I realize it's September 4th and I'm talking about a Christmas season collection, but deal with it. I rarely get to bring you collections first-ish (the only other time was Tronica) so I'm excited! Tell all your friends, tell your neighbor, tell your milkman! And if you still have a milkman, tell him to telegraph his best friend to let him know too! ;)

I ordered five of the six from Transdesign.com (all except the gingerbread one because I just couldn't see myself using that color) and three came in. I'm a little disappointed that two were out of stock and they failed to indicate that, but I'm glad they sent the order without them rather than waiting on all of them to come in. So these are the first three I received: Holiday Splendor, Sugarplum Fairy, and Candy Cane.

Yes, I know what you're thinking: Is that glitter? In a holiday collection? And you would be correct. But no, Color Club likes to one-up ya, and they're gonna make it HOLO glitter in a holiday collection:

Le sigh. So beautiful. Nom nommmm. Here are some swatches with the bottles in the background, reverse order as above. (Candy Cane, Sugarplum Fairy, Holiday Splendor)

Candy Cane is the pink glitter on the far left. It's a very dense pink and silver glitter in a clear base. These swatches are only two coats, so I think CC could be built up to opacity for a holiday glitterbomb fest. I can't wait to wear this one!

Sugarplum Fairy, which you may notice is not plum colored, is a silver toned holo glitter in a clear base amazebomb (yes, new term). Lots and lots of holo glitter in this baby. Again, this is two coats so it's possible that this could be built up and worn on its own! <3

Finally, Holiday Splendor. What to say about this?! I love it. It was the one I was most on the fence about when I was ordering and it's the one I love most. It looks somewhat blue in the pictures, but it's definitely green in person and in the swatches, so use that for the color comparison. This one has a green base with the holo glitter in it, and it's gooooorgeeeeouuuusssss.

So what do you think of these three so far? As I said, two more are on the way and I also have the Color Club Backstage Pass collection (well, most of it) which I haven't heard much about but did seem to come out some time ago. I'm not sure if I just missed this one or if everyone did, but I like it a lot! I love everything about Color Club, so I have no idea how I missed an entire collection of glitters.
xoxo,
Amanda