Leftover Rainbows

Well, in all the hullabaloo of trying to keep up with challenges, I swatched far more rainbow-themed polishes than I'd realized. I'm only now finding the hidden folders of rainbows! Here's a few for today :)

Nfu Oh 66, which is the green holo. This is two coats and I took these in my lightbox, no base coat or top coat. The formula on these is tricky: WAIT between coats and you should be fine, but I was a bit impatient and you may notice some bald/thin spots. Or maybe you won't, because you'll be mesmerized by the holo.

I swear I also swatched the light blue one (65) but the swatch eludes me. I'm losing it. Anyway, it's like the green one but baby blue. :)

Deborah Lippmann Let's Go Crazy is a deep purple based rainbow glitter jelly. I got this for a ridiculously good deal on HSN for $8 back in the day (Amanda did too, because I told her about the deal. she's welcome.) I have to own pretty much all of DL's versions of rainbow glitter because she really started all of these shenanigans, and I love it.

These pictures are three coats and it's still pretty sheer but the glitter takes away from that, I think. I stopped at 3 coats because IRL this wasn't as patchy but, of course, lightboxes and bright lights are bound to show all the flaws.

Okay, done with rainbows for now... probably for a little while but believe it or not, I have even MORE swatches saved up. Rainy day vault photos, someday.

xoxo,
Amanda

February Untrieds .. 5?!

Hey everyone. I can't believe how this month is flying by. Already on my 5th untrieds challenge with Amanda and Sarah! Thank goodness because I'm craving more glitters on my blog... not that I haven't snuck them in anyway ;)

Today's polish is actually from Amanda so even more reason to love it! This is Sephora by OPI Read my Palm which is a really perfect green. I am not a huge green person but this is one of my favorite shades. This is two coats and it applied like butter. Also, don't you love Amanda's label? I love her so much.

I'm sure you all expected this by now. I had to add glitter, had to. I suck at this challenge. Who's idea was this anyway?! Oh, yeah... mine. *changes subjects* This is Naild'It Unique Hocus Bogus which I bought from Llarowe a while back and I haven't tried this either until now, but it's a perfect complement to the SOPI. Hocus Bogus has purple, blue, teal, and black glitter in various sizes. There's also some stars and I think maybe large round black glitter? But I might have imagined that. This is one coat which distributed pretty well on its own but I did go back and add a couple hexes to even it out overall. Really pretty polish!

Here it is a little closer to show it off <3

Anyway, have you guys noticed a difference in my photos? I've been trying a different technique and wondering what you all think. Please let me know in comments!

xoxo,
Amanda

Colors That Look Good on Short Nails: Fashion Footing Edition

Hey all! Today Amanda from Fashion Footing has a post for you guys, showing a color that looks good on short nails. Colors for short nails is one of my number 1 search terms so I'm going to try to bring you guys more of that via some of my own swatches and guest posts, if anyone else is interested in posting! Take it away, Amanda!

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Hey guys!

I'm so happy to be doing a guest post for Amanda. I heart her and she's awesome and so much TWITTER LOVE!!! :-)

I feel like most colors look good on shorty nails and while I don't have the shortest nails ever, I certainly don't like my nails to be much longer than this.

This is probably one of my favorite Catrice polishes. King Of Greens is a positively gorgeous green with flashes of bright green shimmer. This was a dream to apply and covered like a champ.I used 2 easy coats. I don't even think I had to do any cleanup. Huzzah!

So gorgeous! If you can get some Catrice polishes, I highly recommend them!

Thanks for letting me guest post, Amanda!

Amanda

Northern Star Polishes!

Hi everyone! Today I'm back in the reviewing saddle again as Kristin from Northern Star Polish was kind enough to send me several of her products to review.

First up is Valentine Schmalentine, which was my favorite of the bunch! This is a light gray base with pink and black shreds and microglitters. I applied this over a complementary gray creme to conserve it, and this is one coat. The glitter payoff was pretty good, considering this was just one coat without pushing or fishing around. I really liked this!

Next is  Mistletoe at Midnight over Nicole by OPI Daffy Dill. This was really fine chartreuse (I think that's the best color description?!) glitter with some larger hexes. The glitter payoff on this was excellent, as you can see below it basically covered 100% for a glitter in one coat. I bet it could be layered to wear alone but it'd take several coats and you are probably better off doing it over a complementary shade. This isn't my usual choice in color but it was absolutely unique and really easy to work with!

I also was sent a sample of Lenore, which is primarily purple, so it's right up my alley! This has purple shreds and hexes in purple, black, silver, and I think some yellow. I used two coats over OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts. This is two coats with some pushing around, but really pretty effortless as far as chunky glitters go! I really liked this and can see myself using it around Halloween, possibly over orange!

Kristin also sent me a sample of her Dark Chocolate cuticle oil, which I didn't photograph because I didn't know if you guys wanted to see my cuticles all oiled up haha! It smelled spot on to dark chocolate, so if you're a sweets fan it's perfect for you. It absolutely reminded me of Valentine's Day and the scent wasn't too strong. I'm not sure 100% on how I feel about my fingers smelling like chocolate, but mostly because I'm on a diet and it's pretty tempting... ;)

What did you think? Northern Star Polish is available on Etsy for $6 for a 9mL mini and $9 for a full size 15mL bottle.  All her polishes are B3F and I see she's now offering flat rate shipping for $3 per order which is a fantastic deal!

xoxo,
Amanda

November Untrieds Part 2

Hey my peeps ;) Can you believe I got myself involved in two challenges for November? Oopsies! Well, today I'm back with mine and Madeline's China Glaze untrieds challenge. I warned you there'd be a lot of holiday polishes in the mix (Madeline said a lot of hers are holiday ones, too) so here's the first of many haha!

Today I have Mistletoe Kisses, which I'm shocked to find out is from their 2010 holiday collection. I had no idea I'd been holding on to this so long! This is green glitter in a light green base and it builds really nicely. This is two coats and it was really easy to work with for a glitter polish. I didn't really have to worry about glitter ending up everywhere and the base was the perfect consistency to work with. No top coat for these pictures.

So I like it, I don't love it. I'm not a huge green person anyway but this is perfect for the holidays. It reminds me of a fake Christmas tree, for some reason, so I can imagine myself wearing this during that time. Then again, there's a whole new crop of holiday polishes coming out so I think I'll end up wearing those instead ;)

That's all from me, go check out Madeline's post for today and... Happy Holidays?

xoxo,
Amanda

Urban Outfitters Smush

Hi ladies! How's the week going? More than halfway through which is promising! I have short Fridays so I'm really looking forward to the weekend already since it's almost here for me! Any plans?

Today's post is Urban Outfitters Smush, a Tiffany or mint blue. It reminded me of China Glaze For Audrey but I forgot to compare, so let me know if you're interested in a comparison.

This is four coats of Smush. Yes, you read that right, four. You can see I didn't even do cleanup with this one because it was an absolute nightmare so it came off right after these pictures. It was super streaky and the application was tricky, at best. I was pretty disappointed in this one :(

Such a shame, because the color is so pretty! What do you guys think? If you want to try it, it's listed in my Blog Sale! ;)

xoxo,
Amanda

More Christmas Nails...

Two days in a row?! I admit, I'm cheating: I wrote these two posts in a row. But STILL. Give me some credit for trying ;) This mani was intended for a party with my friends from school and we exchanged secret Santa. I liked this idea more in my mind and it looks sort of funny until step two... Also, please ignore my cuticles which are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo drrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I'm sorry.

Anyway, step one: Nubar Reclaim (green holo!) and OPI Log on to Love accent:

Check out this gorgeous linear holo... yummmy!

Then I did a gradient over the Nubar with China Glaze Snow Globe using my Orly Smudge Fixer (basically, drop a dollop of a glitter polish and then paint over it with the Smudge Fixer and voila! gradient). And thennnnn I added China Glaze Ring on the Red over the OPI (sheesh, that's a lot of brands!). Here's what I got:

As you can see, I'm obsessed with Snow Globe. I got a backup bottle from my nail secret Santa and I'm so relieved - I was hoarding my bottle (seen here) and refusing to use it as often as I'd like. Now I will be using this wellllll into the summer, probably year round, calling it Sand Globe or Snow Cone or something so that I can justify it...

xoxo,
Amanda

Christmas Party Nails

Hi everyone! I'm back...ish. I was really behind on Christmas manis and it's just not the same posting them after the holidays, so I guess the deadline inspired me! These are the nails I wore to my work Christmas party, which was kind of a good idea in my head but didn't work out exactly as planned.

I started off with one coat of Ulta's The Jungle Look - ONE freakin' coat. Below is no top coat, too, and look how shiny! This color reminds me of Mandy because she's always encouraging me to use it ;)

Then I wanted to add some dots. I decided on silver, but my boyfriend also wanted red... but the red didn't really show up and they just looked black in most lights. You can see it below with the flash that it is red, but the first picture they hardly show up. I made the dots using my Migi nail art pens.

And there you have it, really simple holiday mani. I was going to do this with blue and silver for Hanukkah as well, but I've lost track of all time and haven't... but you can visualize, I'm sure.

xoxo,

Amanda

I'm Not a Nail Artist... Part Three

Hello! How's everyone's day going? Today is my five year anniversary with my boyfriend! I'll be gone for the night to go to my nearest Ulta in Connecticut and just enjoy the sights we don't have in Massachusetts :) Any weekend plans for you guys? I have another nail art attempt today, which didn't turn out horribly but was really much better in my mind. I decided to emulate a Christmas tree, but not drawn on each nail. Instead, I made it so each nail was a part of the tree. For each nail I started with Ulta's The Jungle Look then added some sparkly green from my Migi pens for the branches. Then, I added red candy canes and various colored ornaments to each nail, and a yellow star at the very tip of my middle finger.

I took this picture before top coat because I wanted to see if I liked it better 3D or with topcoat... but the polish wasn't totally dry apparently and smudged to smithereens with top coat, so this is the best way I have to show you. Again, remember I'm no professional and take this as inspiration if you want to improve on it :) What do you guys think of the concept?

xoxo,
Amanda

I'm Not a Nail Artist... Part Two

Hi, I'm back! More nail art! Hopefully you all haven't lost faith in me after the last attempt :/ This one came out much better, but was much simpler. I decided to go for wrapping paper nails. Each nail is themed differently, but I think that made it even more fun! Behold:

For this I used base coats of a basic white, Ulta The Jungle Look, Cult Nails Iconic, and Orly Sweet Peacock. Then I added green and red polka dots on the white, a red bow on the green, green swirls on the red, and silver ribbon on the blue.

This was pretty simple and I liked it a lot! My favorite were the polka dots, they were just so cute! I wish I had done the bow facing out but hindsight is 20/20. Which nail is your favorite?

xoxo,
Amanda

Cult Nails Awakening + China Glaze Snow Globe

Hey guys, I'm back again! Are you confused by my regular posting? I know, I know. I was a neglectful mom... er, blogger. But I'm trying to be good again :) Today I have two polishes: one I like and one I adore! See if you can figure out which is which (it's not hard if you pay attention at all :P)

Cult Nails Awakening is a gorgeous green leaning blue, or blue leaning green creme... I can never tell. I don't like labels! It applied easily in two coats, but it could have used a third if I was applying it solo. However, I never leave well enough alone...

So I added China Glaze Snow Globe, a perfect addition for the first of December! Which is perhaps one of my favorite glitters ever. It works with everything.  Yes, all these italics are necessary.

Snow Globe contains medium sized iridescent glitter which shows as different colors depending on the base color. I put two coats of Snow Globe over Awakening, and magic was made...

I love Snow Globe over dark colors, but I recently saw it over pastels and white (!!!) and I kind of love it that way too. Either way, I need another bottle (even though I'm sort of afraid since Steph told me her bottle dried up when she had it originally :( and I'd be so sadddd).

xoxo,
Amanda

Guest Post: Amanda from MaD Manis

Hi ladies, today I have a guest post from Amanda (isn't her name awesome? Great name!) from MaD Manis. She and her mother, Melissa, blog together and I just love that idea! Amanda (and Melissa, for that matter) is an incredibly genuine, sweet, and kind person who I've had the pleasure of getting to know through twitter, facebook chat, and our common love for our kitties. Meow! Anyway, on to her post for today, China Glaze Trendsetter.

Hello all!
I know I'm late to the party on this, but I just got some of the Metro colors recently. This is the one I was most excited to use so I thought I would share it with my fellow Amanda's readers!

Trendsetter is an awesome yellow-green mustard color with teeny tiny shimmer in it. It honestly kind of looks like the color of baby diarrhea.. that's the best way to describe it. It's one of those colors that's super, super ugly but still interesting  at the same time.

This one definitely got some weird looks. It's one of those colors that you either love or hate. I happen to love it because I'm a nail polish freak and I like anything weird and unusual, but I know some *normal* people don't have the same sentiments. :)



Application on this one was awesome! Pictured is two coats. Perfect consistency - no cuticle flooding or streaking. Really just perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better application. It makes the swatches look that much better!

I tried to think of some cool nail art to add over the top of this, but I think it's one of those colors that works better when left alone. It's definitely out-there enough as is, don't you think? I think adding to this would just be overkill and way unnecessary. 

I don't think I've ever seen another color like this. So if you like this one, I highly recommend going out buying it. It's just so unusual that I think every collection needs it!

What do you lovely ladies think? Yay or nay? It's definitely not for everyone!

Thanks, fellow Amanda! I'm glad to see this color on here because it's a) not a color I own and b) not a color I feature very often (if ever) since I avoid mustards, browns, and basically, non-glittery colors... although, this one looks great on you, Amanda!

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

Guest Post: Dana of Polished Claws Up!

Hey girls, today's post will be brought to you by my lovely, sweet friend Dana from the blog Polished Claws Up. Yesterday was the first day of fall, so I found this post very a propos and the glitterfest will return tomorrow!

Hello ladies! This is my very first guest post, and I couldn't be MORE thrilled that it's on my lovely friend Amanda's blog! :) When we were throwing ideas back and forth, we agreed on a fall theme. Immediately a few different ideas went streaming through my brain, and I decided to try something new! I give you my fall mani! Enjoy!

When I think fall, I think the great outdoors! What could be better then a deep green (Orly's Wandering Vine) and a deep shimmery brown (Orly's Golden Maharajah)? FLAKY SPARKLE of course!!!! I finally had an excuse to try my ever-so-stunning Crowd Surfing by L.A. Girl Rock Star Nail Color. :P

I started with two coats of Wandering Vine on all but my ring finger, and decided to let the gorgeous Golden Maharajah stand on it's own with it's bronzey brown goodness on my ring finger. Wandering Vine has been in my stash for years now, it's a dark true green and needed two coats. Golden Maharajah is also an oldie but a goodie, a warm-toned brown with bronze shimmer within. Also two coats. Crowd Surfing is far too sheer on it's own, so to finally have a reason to layer it was wonderful! CS is a very sheer polish with a lime green base, green fine micro glitter, & awsome golden flaky glitter.

Thanks again for having me on your blog, Amanda! It was fun coming up with this mani! :)

So there you have it! Thanks for the lovely post, Dana! I don't feature many browns so I'm sure it was a treat for my readers to see it for once! :)

xoxo,

Amanda

Colors that Look Good on Short Nails: Part Une

Hey ladies! As I previously mentioned, my nails are a little bit nubbin-y lately because of my breaks. Never fear, I have been patching, applying strengthener, applying lengthener, and just plain hoping to get my nails back to a reasonable length. But for now, you get the great (please read this with a booming voice like you're at a wrestling match or something. Think of the voice they use to say "let's get ready to ruuuumbbbleeeeee") COLORS THAT LOOK GOOD ON SHORT NAILS series. And here's the first part: Ulta Mint Condition. This is two coats and no topcoat (yet):

See how shiny and pretty it is?! Even on my little nubs! I actually wasn't expecting it to look nice, since when I polled friends on twitter, everyone said to go with dark colors. However, I'm in denial that summer is over and I'm still using all my summer untrieds until further notice. And, because I only have one picture of Mint Condition for some unknown reason, here's a bonus picture of my kitty, Star:

She looks kind of possessed here because her eyes are this really bright green-yellow, but when she closes her eyes she's super cute (to me, because I'm her non-fur mommy) because she's totally black and nothing stands out. I've actually taken some pictures of my nails with her as a background because she's such a solid, opaque background... but then I have to deal with the fluffy fur all over me ;)

Oh, and yes, she's spoiled and sits on my kitchen table all the time. And she's too cute for me to punish her for it. :)

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