Showing posts with label nail polish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nail polish. Show all posts
Untried Polish Challenge: Cool
Monday, May 6, 2013
5/06/2013 11:06:00 AM
I'm back again with another installment of the Untried Polish Challenge. Day 6 is Cool. After my Hot Chocolate Nails all I could think was what drink cools me off. Can you guess?
First I started with a base of Jade Seduca Rosa. This is a light pink holographic polish and boy is it filled with rainbows. Jade is a Brazilian polish so not easily found in the States, but I know you can order them from Llarowre and other resellers if you are interested in getting them.
I had to include one more shot, because SO PRETTY! Anyways, after letting Seduca Rosa dry, I added half circles in Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Yellow Kitty.
I then painted in lines to define the lemons in Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ivory Skull. And there you have it Pink Lemonade nails. Are y'all keeping track? That is two freehand nail art designs in a row. I am really branching out with this polish challenge.
What drink do you prefer on a hot day? Are you a pink lemonade girl like me?
Be sure to visit the other ladies participating to see what they came up with for todays challenge. You can visit them here:
Jonochi of Just Add Polish
Masha of Lost in Lacquer
Amanda of Designer Nail Accents
Raine of Lacquer Lily
Sam of Polished Art
Patricia of Polished and Glittered
LizJane of Organic Neglect
Anna of Blueberry Nails
Kristina of Lacquer Fetish
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
Untried Polish Challenge: Warm
Friday, May 3, 2013
5/03/2013 09:47:00 AM
Day Five of the Untried Polish Challenge calls for Warm. When I was thinking about warm polishes, I decided to go with China Glaze's Mahogany Magic from their Hunger Games collection. I don't know what it is about this brown polish, but I love the warmth it has.
While I was thinking about warm things, I got onto the thought of "What keeps me warm?" and after picking Mahogany Magic, it hit me. HOT CHOCOLATE!!! I'm a Hot Chocolate feind in the winter months, so this was a natural progression for me. (Insert rant here about how it snowed yesterday...in MAY!)
People, I am way proud of this manicure. It is my first foray into freehand nail art. I worked super hard on this and may have spent way to much time carefully painting the details onto my nails.
On my thumb and middle finger, I painted marshmallows. Everyone knows you need a good 'mallow or two or five when drinking Hot Chocolate. All of the white in the manicure is done in OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls which up until now I've only used layered under other polishes, that makes it an untried right? I'm saying yes. They are outlined in OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? (tan) for some depth.
On my pointer and pinky fingers I've sponged on a combination of My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Did You Ear About Van Gogh? to simulate the foam that you get on the top of your Hot Chocolate. You know, after your 'mallows start to melt? Yum! I topped it with a homemade franken holographic topper to give it some shine. If you look close you can see the rainbows in my pictures.
Finally on my ring finger, you have a mug of Hot Chocolate with steam and marshmallows. The weather here has still been cold enough to keep me drinking my Hot Chocolate, so I'm going to enjoy this manicure as long as possible.
Don't forget to see what the other ladies did for day 5 of the Untried Polish Challenge. You can visit them here:
Jonochi of Just Add Polish
Masha of Lost in Lacquer
Amanda of Designer Nail Accents
Raine of Lacquer Lily
Sam of Polished Art
Patricia of Polished and Glittered
LizJane of Organic Neglect
Anna of Blueberry Nails
Kristina of Lacquer Fetish
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
Tangerine Dream & Rock Candy
Thursday, May 2, 2013
5/02/2013 03:08:00 PM
Hey All! I'm back today to show you the second installment of the Julie G Frosted Gumdrops swatches. Today I've got Tangerine Dream and Rock Candy to show you.
Tangerine Dream is a very pretty orangey-yellow with tiny gold sparkles in it. Looking at this collection, I thought this would be my least favorite and I was pleasantly surprised. While I think this color will look better on me while I'm a bit more tan during the summer, I love it.
Application for Tangerine Dream was easy, but it is a the sheerest of the six colors. I ended up using three coats here. As usual I waited in between each coat to minimize dragging.
Next up we have Rock Candy. Those of you that know me in real life know teal is my favorite color. So its no surprise that Rock Candy is my favorite from the collection. Hello Gorgeous! Rock Candy is a medium teal with silver sparkles and larger silver hex glitters in the mix.
Application was easy and you're looking at two coats here as well. I ended up actually swatching Rock Candy last and wearing it for a few days. I had no problems and only a small chip before I removed it. Removal of these polishes is easiest with the foil method, as the remove very similar to glitter polishes.
What do you think of these colors? Do you have a favorite?
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
Hot Cinnamon & Blueberry Fizz
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
5/01/2013 09:59:00 AM
Today I have for you two of the six Julie G Frosted Gum Drops collection. Be sure to tune in Thursday and Saturday for the rest of the collection.
I got these polishes from the Groupon Deal and then had to wait FOREVAH for them to get. Seriously, waiting on them seemed like ages. When they finally got here, my life got to busy and I couldn't get them swatched for you until now.
There are six colors in this collection. Hot Cinnamon Blueberry Fizz, Tangerine Dream, Rock Candy, Sugar Rush, and Crushed Candy. Three warm colors and three cool colors. I'm going to show you one of each. Aren't you excited?
First up, Hot Cinnamon. When they say "Hot" they mean it. This color is a bright classic red with some tiny bits of gold sparkle thrown in. This color is a great way to stay classic but with a punch of unexpected texture. I'm in love with this color.
I got these polishes from the Groupon Deal and then had to wait FOREVAH for them to get. Seriously, waiting on them seemed like ages. When they finally got here, my life got to busy and I couldn't get them swatched for you until now.
There are six colors in this collection. Hot Cinnamon Blueberry Fizz, Tangerine Dream, Rock Candy, Sugar Rush, and Crushed Candy. Three warm colors and three cool colors. I'm going to show you one of each. Aren't you excited?
Hot Cinnamon applies easily and you are looking at two easy coats. I did take time in between each coat to minimize dragging, but the dry time was comparable to the OPI Liquid Sand polishes that I have. The glitter/gritty pieces in these polishes are also much finer than the OPI's but I'm okay with that. :-) Lets take one more look at Hot Cinnamon.
Next I'm going to show you Blueberry Fizz.
To me, Blueberry Fizz looked brighter and a bit more vibrant in the bottle than it does on my nails. However, I like the color, so don't let my previous statement fool you. This is an almost light denim color with larger silver glitters mixed in. The large glitters really shine here and I love them.
Dry time and application were the same here as with the first polish. Two coats and waiting in between to minimize the dragging.
I really enjoy this line of polishes and I can't wait to show you the other four. Come back tomorrow to see Tangerine Dream and Rock Candy.
What do you think of textured polishes? Yay or nay?
Enjoy & until tomorrow, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
Untried Polish Challenge: Two Colors
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
4/24/2013 09:21:00 AM
Today is day 2 of the Untried Polish Challenge. Today not only will I show you two colors that I've never used before but you'll also see a brand new technique, at least I've never tried it before.
For day two, I've chosen to use China Glaze's Ride the Waves and OPI's Gone Gonzo. Ride the Waves is a neon jelly from the summer 2012 collection. Gone Gonzo is a glitter topper from the Muppets Collection.
Being a jelly polish Ride the Waves goes on super sheer, but then again it's supposed too. Here you can see it after two coats.
The blue glitter in this polish blends in with Ride the Waves but the big silver hex glitters really pop.
You can kind of see them better in this picture. After giving Gone Gonzo a bit to dry, I then went back in with Ride the Waves and topped it all again with one more sheer coat.
The glitters really glow under the final layer of polish. I really enjoyed the way this turned out. I see many more jelly sandwiches in my future.
What do you think? Have you tried Jelly Sandwiches?
Don't forget to check back in for the next installment of the Untried Polish Challenge. And don't forget to go see what the other ladies came up with. You can visit them here:
Enjoy & Until next time, Amy Lee
For day two, I've chosen to use China Glaze's Ride the Waves and OPI's Gone Gonzo. Ride the Waves is a neon jelly from the summer 2012 collection. Gone Gonzo is a glitter topper from the Muppets Collection.
Being a jelly polish Ride the Waves goes on super sheer, but then again it's supposed too. Here you can see it after two coats.
Then I topped it with a coat of Gone Gonzo. This glitter topper applies wonderfully. One swipe and you get a great glitter payoff.
And there you have it. Jelly Sandwich! I've never tried this technique before so it seemed only natural that I would give it a go for the Untried Polish Challenge.
What do you think? Have you tried Jelly Sandwiches?
Don't forget to check back in for the next installment of the Untried Polish Challenge. And don't forget to go see what the other ladies came up with. You can visit them here:
Jonochi of Just Add Polish
Masha of Lost in Lacquer
Amanda of Designer Nail Accents
Raine of Lacquer Lily
Sam of Polished Art
Patricia of Polished and Glittered
LizJane of Organic Neglect
Kristina of Lacuqer Fetish
Enjoy & Until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes in this post were purchased by me
A England Tristam
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
4/23/2013 10:35:00 AM
Today I just have a polish swatch to show you. I know, I know....GASP, Amy left a polish alone. Well darn it, sometimes there is a polish that is just to pretty to mess with. A England Tristam is one of those polishes.
Tristam is from The Mythicals collection and is described as a "night blue sky with starlight glimmer and glow." This description is spot on. The polish does seem to glow from within. As with all A England polishes, the formula is excellent. The color is so dark that I could have gotten away with one coat, but I did a second because I'm paranoid. The dark color of this polish makes it hard to capture, but hopefully you get a sense of the pretty that this polish contains.
Tristam is from The Mythicals collection and is described as a "night blue sky with starlight glimmer and glow." This description is spot on. The polish does seem to glow from within. As with all A England polishes, the formula is excellent. The color is so dark that I could have gotten away with one coat, but I did a second because I'm paranoid. The dark color of this polish makes it hard to capture, but hopefully you get a sense of the pretty that this polish contains.
Like I said, some polishes you just have to leave alone. Tomorrow is day 2 of the Untried Polish Challenge, so be sure to come back and see which two polishes I went with.
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
Untried Polish Challenge
Sunday, April 21, 2013
4/21/2013 02:49:00 AM
Hi there Polished Peeps!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. Usually I only post on the weekdays, but recently I agreed to participate in a polish challenge. Eek I know!
Jonochi over at Just Add Polish came up with the idea to do an Untried Polish Challenge. The challenge calls for at least 19 untried polishes, and I have at least that many. Today is the first day in the challenge and then every third day from here on out. Below you can see the Challenge Schedule.
I'm defining untried as hasn't been featured on the blog. Granted most of them will still be "untried" in the truest sense of the word as well. As an added challenge to myself, I also want to try new techniques as well, so look for those within the challenge as well.
So for today, we have the One Color post. I decided to go with a pretty purple I've had sitting untouched for to long. I give you Anemone of Mine.
This is a dark purple with red leanings. Kind of a beet type color. Anemone of Mine is by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure. I really do love this brand. For drugstore polish, I've never had a single issue with any of the ones I own, and boy do I own a lot of them.
This was two easy coats and perfection. It wears great. Be sure to go see what the other ladies posted for the challenge. You can visit them here:
Jonochi of Just Add Polish
Masha of Lost in Lacquer
Amanda of Designer Nail Accents
Raine of Lacquer Lily
Sam of Polished Art
Patricia of Polished and Glittered
LizJane of Organic Neglect
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
Paint Drips with the Avant Garden Collection
Friday, April 19, 2013
4/19/2013 02:48:00 PM
Lately I have been painting. And not painting my nails painting (well I've been doing that too), I'm talking painting rooms in my house. I've screwed up my neck painting ceilings, thrown my back out crawling along the floor painting trim, and tomorrow I'm going to spend the day painting my front door. So I've been dreaming of paint and dreading paint. So I decided to try out the paint drip design.
I decided to pull out all my selections from the China Glaze Avant Garden collection to execute this design. I've shown you Fancy Pants and Snap My Dragon, so I decided to swatch the remaining colors I had for you, before getting to the design. *WARNING* This is going to be a picture heavy post.
Up first we have Keep Calm, Paint On. This polish for me is the perfect in-between of China Glaze For Audrey and Re-Fresh Mint. KCPO has a pretty subtle shimmer and it applies easily. I've done two regular coats here.
Next up we have Tart-y for the Party. What a fun bright pastel purple this is. Does that even makes sense? It does in my brain. I love this color. So pretty. It applies easily and I've shown two normal coats here.
For thirdseys, we have Mimosas before Manis. Based on this name, uh...yes please. In fact, can we all meet up for Mimosas. Like now. How about tomorrow? Anyways, onto the polish, this color was hard to photograph, but I love it. It's this pretty corally orange shimmer polish. Oh so pretty. It applies easily and again you see two normal coats.
Now we have Fade into Hue. I'm not quite sure how to describe this one. It's kind of a denim pale blue with some purple thrown in. Also, with the subtle shimmer, it makes for a fun polish. I have nothing like this in my collection and I'm so happy I decided to get it. This polish also applies easily and two normal coats are shown.
Finally, I have Dandy Lyin' Around. Now I have heard some people say they hate this polish, it's goopy, doesn't apply well, this WAS NOT my experience. It does go on a little sheer, so it took three easy coats. This polish for me was like every China Glaze I own (except you Lemon Fizz, hate you) and I had no issues. I love the shimmer in it as this makes it a very unique white.
Finally on to the paint drips. I saw these coming out better in my head. But they are okay I guess. I started with a base of Dandy Lyin' Around on all my fingers, the did paint drips skittles. My thumb is Fancy Pants, ring is Mimosas Before Manis, middle is Keep Calm, Paint On, ring is Tart-y for the Party.
On my right hand, I reversed the colors. Also, my right hand sucks at taking pictures and is a little beat up, so don't judge it.
Currently, I am wearing this mani covered in real paint. As I may have painted more trim yesterday.
Have you tried paint drips? Any tips for me to make them come out better?
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
Dreaming of Summer with a Neon Gradient
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
4/17/2013 11:38:00 AM
The other day I showed you some new polish babies. After wearing my Green Tea manicure for a day, I took it off and went to my new neon polishes. Holy crap do I love these colors. They make me happy. I want summer to be here soooo bad. It's been in the 40-50s here and it's mid April. Mother Nature needs to get her freaking act together.
I started off just swatching these to see the colors. I started off with a base of China Glaze White Out as a base for both of these colors. Here you see 3 thin coats. This polish is finicky. The pay off is good, but it is a giant pain in the ass to make look good. It's all streaky and patchy.
After getting a good base of white down, I started off with Studio M's Orange Sunset. This polish is so bright and yummy. It was also incredibly hard to photograph. At first I was worried about this brand since it was new to me, but boy did it pay off.. Orange Sunset applied easily and took one coat over the white. The brush was easy to manipulate. Overall I really like this brand so far.
Next up, I have Studio M Thunderbolt. This neon purple isn't as in your face as Orange Sunset, but I still love it. All the good things I said about the orange polish, apply here too. It is applied over a base of China Glaze White Out.
After swatching these, I decided I wanted to do a fun gradient with them. I added in China Glaze Pool Party a bright neon pink, between Orange Sunset and Thunderbolt. It was the perfect color, it really helped the gradient flow smoothly between the two Studio M colors. It took two "stampings" essentially to get the colors as bright as you see them here.
I topped the gradient with coat of Seche Vite and it smoothed the colors out nicely. I loved the gradient so much. I should have left it alone. Did I? No.
I decided to stamp it up with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep and Bundle Monster plate 316. I actually really like the stamping on it. I think it adds something fun. I did decide to do the inverse stamp on my ring fingers as an accent, and I wish I had just done the same stamp on all 5 fingers. This is one of those times, where not having an accent nail is better. I need to get better at recognizing those moments.
Are you wearing any polishes and dreaming of warm weather lately?
Enjoy & Until next time, Amy Lee
The Attraction of Green Tea
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
4/16/2013 10:33:00 AM
So, I promised you a look with a few of my new polishes. Here it is. I started off with a base of the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure's Green Tea.
I am in love with this minty, light jade color. OMG it is so pretty. Totally a wear on its own color. It applies like butter. This is two normal coats here topped with Seche Vite.
I wanted to go for a look like this, she executes it beautifully and I love the straight line instead of the typical half moons. This is what I ended up with.
I did the glitter in Studio M's Magical Attraction. And I hated it. Sigh. Don't get me wrong here, I like the color combo. I just don't think it's a good look for me. It makes my nails look shorter than they are. That's partially because I had to trim them down again (traveling was rough on them). Also Magical Attraction didn't build up to opacity like I had hoped.
I'll try this look again, but I've learned a few things. 1. Start with the glitter as your base coat 2. Choose an opaque glitter. With these changes I think I could pull it off in the future.
What do you think? Yay or nay?
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
I am in love with this minty, light jade color. OMG it is so pretty. Totally a wear on its own color. It applies like butter. This is two normal coats here topped with Seche Vite.
I wanted to go for a look like this, she executes it beautifully and I love the straight line instead of the typical half moons. This is what I ended up with.
I did the glitter in Studio M's Magical Attraction. And I hated it. Sigh. Don't get me wrong here, I like the color combo. I just don't think it's a good look for me. It makes my nails look shorter than they are. That's partially because I had to trim them down again (traveling was rough on them). Also Magical Attraction didn't build up to opacity like I had hoped.
I'll try this look again, but I've learned a few things. 1. Start with the glitter as your base coat 2. Choose an opaque glitter. With these changes I think I could pull it off in the future.
What do you think? Yay or nay?
Enjoy & until next time, Amy Lee
*all polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
The Fancy Pants of Courage
Friday, April 12, 2013
4/12/2013 11:34:00 AM
This maybe one of my favorite simple manicures that I've done in while. I started off with a base of China Glaze Fancy Pants. China Glaze wins big points for this polish. It applies like a dream, is opaque in two thin coats, and it has the most gorgeous fuchsia shimmer I've ever seen in a polish. This shimmer makes me want to swoon and it proves very distracting in the sunlight.
This purple glitter turned out to be an almost spot on match for the base color in Fancy Pants. It was a happy accident as it doesn't look that close in the bottles.
Overall I ended up loving this manicure and I wore it close to a week, way longer than I normally wear polish.
Would you have paired these two together? Have you had an happy polish accidents lately?
Enjoy & until tomorrow, Amy Lee
*All polishes featured in this post were purchased by me
