Fat Tuesday 2015

A couple of years ago I visited a dear friend of mine in New Orleans and fell a little in love.  I know the city has plenty of problems, but my when you first fall, you only see the good things: wonderful hospitality, delicious food and drinks, gorgeous architecture, beautiful old neighborhoods nestled in sweeping trees, a joyful, resilient people, and a deep, in the moment, love of life.  I was smitten.

So, on this, their day, I celebrate a little Mardi Gras hundreds of miles away.

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya Haven
*2 coats Zoya Logan
*1 coat Salon Perfect Champagne Toast
*Zoya Severine
*1 coat Out the Door

Haven is a beautiful, shimmery purple.  When I saw swatches online I knew this was one color I really didn't have and wanted for my collection and I am NOT disappointed!  Logan is a pretty dark green packed with gold shimmer.  There is no hint of nail line in real life, so I'm really surprised it's so pronounced here.  For swatching I guess you want 3 coats, but 2 is just fine for wear.  I added some gold holo micro glitter on top because you can't sparkle enough for Mardi Gras!

I added some gold polka dots and love them so much with Haven I kind of wish I had covered the whole nail.  My trusty Golden-I is M.I.A., so I used Severine, one of the Zoya mini mystery trio (totally disappointing, but it got me 3 other full-sized for $15, so I can't complain too much!).  The coverage was great, not much different from my other gold.  I preface this with the fact I am not a stamper, but it was easy and opaque and might be good for stamping too.

So there's my little love letter to NOLA, where the streets are now quiet.  Fun fact I learned: the only time bars are required to close in New Orleans is at midnight on Mardi Gras so that they can clear and clean out the French Quarter.  (I also learned that if you've made it to midnight on Mardi Gras you weren't doing it right, because most people begin "celebrating" very early in the day and are goners long before the stroke of 12)

Crumpet's 31DC: Recreate One of Your Own Old Manis

This was a tough one for me!  I originally started this blog for 2 reasons: to earn extra entries in giveaways by sharing the information and remembering/documenting polish looks I tried and liked.  I've felt a lot of pressure NOT to recreate old looks. which is really why I liked this--silly, huh?
There were plenty of designs or color combos that I LOVED and thought about wearing again, as well as looks I...butchered, for lack of a kinder word...that I'd like a second chance on.
With so much to think over, I went simple and obvious.  This is the first mani I ever posted:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya Zuza
*2 coats Icing Lemme See Your Peacock (accent)
*1 coat Out the Door

This was actually a combo I loved then and love now.  The glitters work well with Zuza, which I never get tired of wearing.  (The whole Surf collection was gorgeous and remain some of my favorite polishes).  Zuza is 2 easy, thin, perfect coats, just as it was then.  Lemme See Your Peacock got super thick, so I dumped polish thinner in.  While it revives, it's still a little difficult, so I had to dab a bit.  No biggie!
So there it is--where this blog, though DEFINITELY not my love of polish and nail art, started.

What have you revisited that you love better/improved upon?  What do you think I should give another try?

...And Presents Under the Tree

My striping tape skills failed me again on this one, which I saw on Pinterest and traced back to the ever-amazing Manicurator, Victoria. I was SO meticulous in my taping, too, trying to make sure I could get the strips off quickly when I was done polishing so that I'd get clean lines.  Apparently I was not as fast as I thought...so, plan B:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I
*2 coats China Glaze Angel Wings
*2 coats China Glaze Ruby Pumps
*Zoya Logan
*Wet 'n' Wild Kaliedoscope
*2 coats Out the Door

I loved the gold on this one--Golden-I has such a gorgeous shimmer to it and the holo sparkle of Angel Wings were perfect together.  Angel Wings glows behind the tree!  I painted over my failed stripes with the perfect green foil of Logan.  I like that you can still see the edges (total accident) so it looks more like a tree than a triangle.  I dabbed on some Kaleidoscope for decoration and added a rhinestone topper. 
What's a tree without presents?  I love the "wrapped present" nails and used the ever-awesome Ruby Pumps.  While nothing ever looks as good in a macro photo, my "ribbons" weren't too bad on these accents.  I added a bow sticker, some glossy topper, and called it a festive day!

There are still a few polishing days left before Christmas--what's your favorite tree design?  What should I try before the season's over?

Agro and a decal fail

My eyes are heavy tonight, so I'll make this short and, well, not quite so sweet.
First up, I've been dying to try out Agro and thought it would be the perfect fall green.  I was NOT wrong!

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats China Glaze Agro
*2 coats OPI DS Classic (accent)
*1 coat Sally Hansen Dries Instantly top coat
*1 coat Out the Door

I love the way that the pictures above shows how complexly beautiful this olive green is!  Agro has a gorgeous golden glow to it and I am really digging it!  I couldn't really decide what to do with it to make it more interesting, so I used trusty Classic, an easy, smooth nude/golden holo.  Here comes the fail, part 1...

Poor Chuck.  He never catches a break, does he?  I added a Thanksgiving decal that I bought from RLR Creations last fall.  I used the decals on nekkid nails last time and some of the lines got a little rough.  These Peanuts designs (my other hand has Peppermint Patty, who matches Agro beautifully!) are more delicate that the others I've used, so I learned last night to carefully peel the decal from the paper with tweezers instead of sliding it so that the design doesn't rub away, and they transferred perfectly.  This, however, was NOT the proper background for the decal and it's really hard to see.  Totally not doing this adorable set justice!
My second fail of the night was a new top coat.  My Out the Door is getting thick and stringy as it nears the bottom of the bottle, and the store I usually purchase it from (because it is cheaper there than anywhere else I've found) also happens to be one I can't bring myself to enter (since I quit working there almost 5 months ago and still don't feel free of the way it crushed my spirit).  SO, I thought I'd try a new one, and Sally Hansen tends to be pretty good.  Pro?  It dries SUPER fast.  Con?  It's not great.  Well, it's okay, but super thin.  It's not as glossy as I like and doesn't give that awesome, glassy feeling that I like.  While really not noticeable to anyone else, I also feel like the polish doesn't look as good under it, not quite as deep and dynamic.  That's why I gobbed it on my left hand for pictures. 
So, long story still pretty long, I just ordered an insanely huge bottle on Amazon Prime and tomorrow will be able to just about bathe in Out the Door!

Golden fall

I. Am. LOVING. This!
I was feeling SUPER uninspired last night, but needed to change out my mani.  I was trying so hard to think of something creative and fall-inspired so that I could post (there are so many awesome swatchers out there--I don't really feel justified posting a simple polish change).  I was tired and decided to go boring with a simple accent color and call it a night.  
Sometimes simple is perfection. 

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya Channing
*2 coats OPI My Favorite Ornament (accent)
*1 coat Out the Door (2 on accent)

Ahhh!  Warm, glowing, autumn perfection!  I've had both of these colors for a while and really regret not wearing them sooner.  Channing is a rusty orange foil finish with gorgeous, shimmering flecks.  This was 2 easy, thin coats. 

My mom gave me My Favorite Ornament last Christmas.  It wasn't on my wish list because it's just another gold glitter...except it's amazing!  (Side note: my mom's awesome and clearly knows me better than I know myself) This is a fine white-gold glitter.  I used two coats here and, while you can see nail line in the photo, in real life you can't.  This sparkler dries gritty, so I used 2 thick coats of topper and may add a 3rd tonight.  It's so pretty though!  The picture above is a little blurry so you can see the sparkle better on the accent--love it!
I was ready to stop after the polish but had a little baggie of of decals sitting on my table.  I saw a sheet of stickers that I think I won, definitely didn't buy, and didn't expect to like.  The little swirls are a sticker (I know, I could try to paint them on, but let's be real--it would not end like this!) and I LOVE it!  It was the perfect little extra.
I'm trying to post more often, and I'm so sad that this one will get taken off sooner rather than later.  I could stare at this all day (and may have for much of the afternoon while I typed...).

Have you been surprised by something you underestimated?  Is there a sleeper gem I should try?  Do tell!

A Stunning Cowgirl

I wore my candy corn nails as long as I could justify and then decided to transition into a look that was more fall-y.
Last year I realized that I didn't have many maroon/wine colors and added a bunch to my watch/wish list.  I ended up getting a few from my amazing mom for Christmas and haven't really used them, but I'm totally regretting that now!
I decided to start my cozy, rich fall manis with a real stunner:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats China Glaze Cowgirl Up
*Revlon Stunning
*1 coat Out the Door

How GORGEOUS is Cowgirl Up?!   It's darker in real life, closer to the bottom photo than the ones above, but it is spectacular!  I used 2 thin coats for easy coverage.  The wine/deep maroon foil glows in the sun and micro purple shimmer (see middle pic) definitely shows on the nail.  I can't get enough!

I was super tempted to leave well enough along and just wear Cowgirl Up, but I wanted to post and didn't want to bore you with a simple swatch (plus, there are SO many better swatches of this one out there), so I dabbed some Stunning holo glitter on the tips and  tried for a little bit of a gradient down the nails.  I'm still trying to get the hang of the glitter gradient and think I'll keep trying--next time I think I might try an eyeshadow sponge for more control.  For these I just used the polish brush because I botched them with a makeup sponge on my first try.

Do you have any tips for glitter gradients?  Please share!

Funky Halloween French

For today's look, I revived a look that I LOVED when I did it here and here.  It's pretty easy to do when you use striping tape because it gives a good, even stripe of color between the French tip layers. 

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya Myrta
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Out the Door

The one thing I see I always forget is to be careful on the tips with this look.  It seems, no matter how great they look in real life, on camera the base color always peeks out!
I underestimate how much I love my Zoya colors!  I mentioned recently that I loved their Ornate collection scattered holos and I also swoon over the foils in their Surf collection.  Myrta is a gorgeous, rusty orange with the strong shimmer that gives it a metallic look in the shade and a glow in the sun.  I went with this more muted orange and my trusty Black Out on the tips, guided by striping tape.  I forgot how simple but striking this look is and love it!

Do you have any good advice to learning (and remembering!) to wrap your tips when you polish?  Please share!

Holo Harvest

I love the fall.  I love sparkles.  I love Northern California.  I love pumpkins.  I love RLR Creations decals.  Hence, this mani :)

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats OPI Embarca-Dare Ya!
*2 coats OPI DS Classic
*1 coat Out the Door

I chose this second photo because, if you enlarge it, you can see the purple shimmer that adds depth to Embarca-Dare Ya!.  It is a gorgeous magenta foil finish, shimmering and so easy to apply.  I absolutely love it!  I knew that I wanted to use DS Classic, an unbelievable nude/pale beige polish packed with scattered micro holo glitter, but could not for the life of me figure out what to pair it with.  I didn't really want to go full-on orange to match the pumpkin decal that I fell in love with, and was just looking for a good fall color.  I loved how these looked together and now can't wait to wear Embarca-Dare Ya! again.

If you haven't tried water decals, I highly recommend hopping over to Etsy and checking out this shop!  She has tons of designs, changes them regularly with the seasons, does not charge shipping, ships FAST, and has a great product. 
Not convinced yet? 
These babies are SO easy to use!  You cut the little decal off of the sheet it comes on (about 2 dozen decals to a sheet) put it in water for 15 seconds, then take it out.  I use tweezers to pick it up, my finger to slide the paper back off, and place it with the tweezers.  If you dip the nail you are applying to in the water first, it lets you slide the decal around really easily for perfect placement.  Dab it dry, then add a layer of top coat and done!  I love these ones because the decals are on a clear sheet that does not really show on the nail when applied. I've worn these on bare nails, solid colors, and now a holo and, aside from how intricate and perfect the pictures are, you really can't tell it's a decal on the nail.  LOVE them!
I liked this Thanksgiving/fall look because it was kind of subtle and clean.  Have you found any color combos you were pleasantly surprised with?  Share 'em below!

Candy Corny?

This was the first Halloween mani I did this Halloween.  I am a sucker for Candy Corn.  I love it.  I was crushed to hear that it is the most hated Halloween treat (and I totally don't think that's true).  I wanted to do a Candy Corn mani without going overboard or taking too much time.  The result was...well, it was.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
*Cover Girl Boundless Color Candy Corn
*Wet 'n' Wild French White Creme
*Zoya Myrta
*1 coat Out the Door Northern Lights
*1 coat Out the Door

Ignore the tip wear--it took me a couple of days to snap some photos and it's the lease noticeable here.  I wanted to use the candy corn accent with a French.  My oranges are rather thin, so I used Myrta for the tips over my natural nails.  This is a gorgeous, burnt orange with a sparkling foil finish.  Unfortunately, it kind of clashes with the candy corn.  I was disappointed in the color coordination here.  I liked my accent and I liked my French, but together they didn't quite work liked I had hoped.
Have you ever had that happen--colors just not quite working that you had high hopes for?

May the treats be ever in your favor!

I've been swamped with studying, class, internship work and work-work lately, so prepare yourself for a little avalanche of posts here!
This is my most recent one, a Halloween mani that chipped so it had to go.  To be honest, I wanted to do a few, so I wasn't TOO sad to take it off...

*1 coat Yello=Out
*3 coats China Glaze Harvest Moon
*3 coats China Glaze Riveting
*3 coats Sonoma Nail Art Sincerest Pumpkin Patch
*Zoya Yara
*1 coat Out the Door

The China Glaze Capitol Colors were/are phenomenal.  Plain and simple.  Tons of them lend themselves to fall art, and I used two of them for this main.  Harvest Moon is a gorgeous, warm coppery-brown with a sparkling foil finish.  I used this on my thumb, index, and pinkie fingers.

I used Riveting for my pumpkin accent with Harvest Moon for the lines and a little bit of Yara for the grass and stem.  I adore Riveting.  I won't waste your time here, but you can click on the tag to see me sing its praises again and again.  This orange just glows!
Finally, I used Sincerest Pumpkin Patch for a second accent.  I love Sonoma Nail Art polish!  Not only do the polishes come from very near to my hometown, but they are amazing!  They combos are so rad and the polish is wonderful quality.  I haven't used this one in a year and didn't need any thinner like I usually do with indies.  I like it a little better with a base, like Yara, but I didn't think that through before I started painting, so I just layered the beauty on!  I love this polish and the Peanuts--it just makes me smile every time I look at it!

33DC: most used color polish

If I were going by the numbers, today would be Black Out and Snow Me White.  Those two make their way into almost every mani I do!
I looked over my tags and, while there are plenty of polishes I love and would wear every day, Danke-shiny Red and Golden-I both had 7 tags, so I made a mani with the two of them.  It's a lot more Christmas-y than I'd like, but the numbers don't lie!

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I
*OPI Danke-shiny Red
*1 coat Out the Door

Okay, ignore the mess that I made of my fingers :) Today I had a midterm and very little time, so I was rushing to get this posted.  I used 2 coats of Golden-I as my base.  This is my go-to gold and a gorgeous foil/metallic finish.  

I love this design from Pshiiit.  She has amazing nails and art and I've been wanting to try this for a while because it's one of the few I think I can manage!  Actually, this was easier than I thought and turned out pretty cool. I simply used striping tape and overlapped it differently on each nail, which meant that I didn't need a lot of precision, and then painted over with Danke-shiny.  Both of these colors just glow on the nail--I'm so excited for the sun to come out tomorrow!

It's My Year

I've been on a cleaning kick recently.  This is partly due to my new found free time after losing one of my jobs.  It's partly due to my parents doing a major clean and purge of our home 600 miles away from me.  It's also largely due to a marathon of "Hoarding: Buried Alive" on Netflix.  I was going through my polish and trying to organize and log it all.  I have actually not bough much polish since March or so, but I had a ton of polishes that I never tried (sort of like my bookcase full of books I haven't opened.  Yet!).  I keep my polish in drawers and cute photo boxes, but that means that I am really only seeing the caps when I look for a color.  I was a little hesitant to mark my bottles, but I used sticky labels to paint swatches of colors and punch a little dot for each lid.  Some (I'm looking at you OPI) were a little hard to neatly apply, but overall this has helped me so much when it comes to finding colors.  It also opened my eyes to some untrieds that I was truly missing out on!

 *1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*3 coats OPI It's My Year
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I
*1 coat Finger Paints Elves Bells
*1 coat Out the Door

 

 Forgive the tip wear--I have a habit of painting my nails at night, as I relax, and then going to bed.  In the morning, I often forget to snap pictures before work, so this was after I got off.  In real life, it was not nearly this noticeable!
It's My Year is one that I picked up on clearance at Ulta and never got around to trying on.  What a mistake!  That second picture is blurred to show how much sparkle is packed into this beauty.  The color is like a dark lavender, soft, and packed with golden sparkle.  I guess you might call this a foil finish, and it is radiant in the sun!

I added a gold accent to work with the warm shimmer in It's My Year. You can see how Golden-I, the gold base, is also loaded with shimmer for a foil finish.  I love Elves Bells, micro gold glitter with holo particles, and hadn't used it since Christmas, so I added a coat on top. 
Did you ever find a polish that you kicked yourself for leaving in the untrieds too long?

Take two!

I really loved the funky French that I did in my last post, so when it started chipping I decided to give it another go with slightly different colors.  I was a little less happy with this only because I went a little faster, which means that I made a couple mistakes.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Insta-dri Man-go Team!
*Zoya Kimber
*1 coat Out the Door

Man-go Team! is another clearanced polish I found at Target.  This is a more orange, warm yellow, reminding me of marigolds.  It covers well in a clean cream finish.

 

You can see in the second photo that I got a little over excited and added my top coat too soon.  Ugh!  I need to learn patience, but it's so hard when you want to protect something that looks cool!  I just need to remember I'm doing more harm than good when I rush. 
I am so glad that I found my striping tape again.  I do have some trouble with it curling up though, which made for a mess on my right thumb.  Have any of you found a good way to avoid that?  Do tell!

The summer sun's callin' my name!

If you've read through my posts, it's no secret that I am not entirely original or creative on my own.  I do know awesome manis when I see them, though, and love trying my hand (no pun intended, but it is a happy accident) at what others have done.  I am also as straightforward as I can be about where I find designs and try to link back to pages and posts.  I am kicking myself right now because last Saturday I saw this look on Facebook.  There are a ton of nail pages I follow and I went back in my feed as far as I could, as well as through my blogger feed and cannot find my source.  So, if this looks like your mani or you recognize the original lady's work, please let me know so I can edit and give her credit, because I LOVE this one!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sally Hansen Insta-dri Butter-fly Stroke
*Zoya Myrta
*1 coat Out the Door

Target had a bunch of Insta-dri on clearance and I am always looking for a good, opaque yellow to use as a base for my sheer ones.  I used two coats of Butter-fly Stroke and it is perfectly opaque.  The first coat was a bit streaky, but the cream finish evened itself out with the second.  I don't own a lot of creams--I'm too drawn to shimmers and glitters!  I do love, however, how they contrast with more sparkly polishes, so I'm rethinking my instincts.  Myrta is a gorgeous orange and every time I pull it out I wonder why I wear it so rarely.  I loved these two together!

I found my roll of striping tape finally and used it for my tips.  It is so much cleaner and easier than Scotch tape that I think I should make the very small investment in more rolls.  These colors just screamed "Summer!" to me, and I'm not a fan of the hot season, but they've made me so happy!  I got a ton of compliments at work yesterday.  When I do a mani, I love the amazement when a customer asks where it was done and I tell them my couch.  It makes me feel good when they ask if I'm wearing "those nail sticker sheets."  While I tend to focus on my mistakes, it's so flattering when someone thinks they were printed on wraps!  What's your favorite thing to hear when you work hard on your nails?  

New 31DC: Inspired by me

I had a lot of different ideas for this challenge, and they'll make an appearance sooner or later.  Right now, though, life is a little overwhelming.  I fell off a bit at the end of the challenge, and am just kind of exhausted right now.  It's only been a month since I was home-home, but I'm missing it a lot right now.  There are a lot of things that I miss when I get homesick, but a bit one is the stars.  I miss dark skies at night and millions of stars coming out.  The big city has its benefits, but sometimes you just can't beat a small town...

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Zoya Song
*1 coat Savvy Touch of Glitter
*1 coat Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope
*1 coat Out The Door

I could have done a full-blown galaxy nail, because I kind of love them, but that defeats the purpose of this.  I want simple, easy, perfect night sky.  I just got Song in my Zoya promo mail today.  This is a gorgeous dark blue with a shimmery/foil finish to it.  I was worried that this would be a dupe for Co-Bolt Blue, which I have and love, but this a brighter blue (I'll compare them soon).  It is more of a deep blue than a dark one.  It was 2 easy, smooth coats to get this color, but 1 careful one would still be pretty--a little lighter.  It is actually quite a bit darker than these pictures show.

I added Touch of Glitter, a micro silver holo in a clear base that is pretty sparse, then Kaleidoscope.  These actually ended up more dense than I had imagined, but that's okay.  Every time I get home and see the stars, they are always more beautiful and numerous than I remember. 

New 31DC: Inspired by a fabric

I was a little panicked trying to think of how I can make a mani around "fabric."  I am not very into fashion, so I don't see a lot of inspiring looks.  Then I remembered my duvet.  In my first 31 day challenge, I used my current duvet as my pattern inspiration.  This one is based on the one that I have stored right now that I love.  It's packed up right now, so I didn't pull it out to photograph.  Here's a link to it, though, that I found.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*1 coat China Glaze Mahogany Magic
*Zoya Zuza, Meg, Kimber, Carly and Myrta
*1 coat Out The Door

This look also let me use my 2 favorite collections from last year.  I keep coming back to colors from China Glaze Capitol Colors and the Zoya Surf collection.  A-mazing!  Because I knew I was going to be using a lot of dots, I just used ONE coat of Mahogany Magic.  I love any time I can get away with just one coat of a polish!

 

 

The Surf colors were actually really close to the colors of my duvet, a bit dusty or jewel-toned.  These are just gorgeous on the nail and, I think because of their shimmery/foil finish (just look at it out of focus there!), are great coverage.  IF I were a stamper, I think that these would probably be really great to use.  I was just about to remove this to do a little catch-up for yesterday (things are a little messy in my family right now, so I didn't get to a challenge) but I think that will have to wait until tomorrow so that I can wear these for a full day...you understand, right?  Some polish is just too pretty to let go of!

 

Dotty holidays!

Today I wanted to recreate two looks I found this year.  One was pinned by my momma and the other I spotted when browsing through the blogs I follow, by the one and only Melissa of Pinked Polish.  I got new dotting tools with my Amazon order and, because they are my most effective nail art, dove in.  My mom didn't really like the blue background of the candy canes she found, so I tried to find something else for a base.  I was going to go back to The Ten Man or Golden-I when I remembered my new (and kind of damaged :( ) bottle of Champagne Kisses from China Glaze.  Perfection!

*1 coat Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats China Glaze Champagne Kisses
*OPI Danke-shiny Red
*Sinful Colors Skip the Gift Wrap
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy
*2 coats Hoof Lacquer
*1 coat Out the Door

 

I wanted to try the candy canes my mom found, but also the adorable tree Melissa did, so I used it as an accent.  I had intended to place it on my ring finger (my accent of choice) but was not very...alert.  After I dotted red on, I decided to accent my thumb instead!  I used two different sized dotting tools and Skip the Gift Wrap and Green With Envy, in that order.  I added a little red topper, like she did, and really like these little trees!

 

I used Danke-Shiny Red and Snow Me White for my candy canes.  Now, I was grading papers and working in very poor light (because I have not been motivated enough to change a blown out bulb...) so a couple are a little...unique.  But I love the idea of dotted candy canes!  Overall they are super cute and a great take on the design that I never would have thought of--my mind automatically goes to stripes.  Brilliant!

And the star of the show: Champagne Kisses!  Look at that shimmer and those little holo pieces!  Ahh!  This golden beauty leans rosy, very warm and sweet.  I almost left this alone and it was a tough choice to add art on top.  The ONLY downside to this glitter is that it dries really gritty.  I used 2 thick coats of Hoof Lacquer, one before and one after the dots, and then Out the Door to dry, and they are still a little bumpy.  The top coats make the gorgeous color even better, though.  This dries so fast that I probably should have done 3 coats, but really I can't complain because it is such an awesome color.  It's really interesting how the light can make it look more golden or rosy.  If you didn't grab this one, I highly recommend it!
So clearly I've gotten a little obsessed with dots.  Have you seen any cool holiday dot manis I need to try when I get home? Any other amazing uses for Champagne Kisses?

Fall into Winter

My Thanksgiving mani was showing some decent tip-wear (Black Friday can be rough on those of us who work retail!) so I looked for a quick change tonight.  There are still some colors that I wanted to use this Fall but never got around to, and this one by Spoiled is a good transition from the warm tones of November into the cool and crisp Christmas ones that are coming!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats Spoiled I Got So Plastered
*2 coats e.l.f. Golden Goddess
*1 coat Seche Vite

I picked up I Got So Plastered (sidenote: I am really not okay with a number of the Spoiled names.  There are little girls who like to paint their nails that don't need that!) at with a buy two get one promo.  This shimmery rose gold is more sheer than I thought, but so pretty!  It really has a metallic/foil finish on the nail with all the tiny shimmer.  It's a bit cooler in real life than in the pictures and so pretty!

This was my first e.l.f. polish that I found randomly in Target one day.  I couldn't find any others and thought it was really pretty, so I snagged it.  It is a clear base with really fine gold glitter mixed in with some larger gold holo hexes.  I used two coats because it's sparkly, but not super-dense--a great glitter for layering and letting the base show through.

So what polish mode are you in?  Still loving fall/Thanksgiving colors, or moving into the winter/Christmas shades?  Have you tried either of these and found good combos for them? 

With Thanksgiving fresh on our minds, I want to give a couple of huge "Thank you!" mentions!  First off, in less than 2 weeks I have added another 500 views to my blog!  Than YOU, reading this right now, for stopping by!  Much of this is due to the wonderful ladies who are contributing to my Movember movement, which means more than you can know.  Your manis are amazing and the awareness and love that you bring is humbling and inspiring. 
Finally, I want to give a huge thanks to Mandy at Chameleon Stampede Nail Blog.  She is such a sweetheart and talented "nailista."  She featured me this past week in her "Featuring YOU!" post (which is such a cool series that she does).  Check out her awesome work and send a little love her way if you have a chance--she is one cool chickadee!

Go Pink Wendesday: not the end

Today is the 5th and final Go Pink Wednesday manicure for breast cancer awareness.  Andrea at Finger Painting Fingers has done a wonderful job of uniting bloggers and helping promote awareness!  It has been inspiring seeing all of you ladies promote awareness and give support to those who are fighting, have fought, or are vulnerable to this disease.
I figured I'd try to redeem by last post of polka dots (based on a tutorial from Chalkboard Nails) without my hair getting in the way!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*3 coats OPI I Think In Pink
*Zoya Kimber
*Zoya Rory
*1 coat Seche Vite

I Think In Pink is a cream polish that is quite sheer.  I used 3 coats, which build pretty well, but still had visible nail lines.  I knew I was going to cover the tips with dots, so I didn't add a 4th layer.  This is pretty much the perfect baby pink, part of their Pink of Hearts duo for breast cancer awareness.

 

I used Rory for my first round of dots, knowing that Kimber would be able to cover it when I overlapped the dots.  I love Kimber so much that this light, shimmery pink tends to get overlooked in my collection.  Because of the shimmery "foil" finish, it has good coverage with just the one coat dotted on.

Beautiful, shimmery Kimber went over the top of Rory.  I still wish that the dots had a bigger difference in sizes for contrast.  Besides that, I like how these two look together, especially as a tip for the cream base. 

So, this is the end of the breast cancer awareness posts for this October, but it's not the end of awareness.  There is a danger in seeing this as a yearly crusade when it is really meant to be a daily one.  Continue to know yourself and and changes in your body.  Be comfortable and willing to discuss tough issues.  Cancer is scary.  When you are open about it, when you are aware and catch it early, when you are willing to face the reality head on, you rob it of some of its power.  Thanks to continued vigillance, research, and support, we will hopefully see a day when there is a cure.  Until then, this isn't over.

31DC: Metallic

Here goes week 2 of the challenge!  Today I have one untried (except for swatches) and one tried-once.

I saw this really cute manicure one night and knew that I needed to pin it for later.  I was excited to see that I already had the colors she used and it looked easy enough to pull off.

 

*1 coat Yellow-Out base coat
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Coral Reef
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golen-I
*1 coat Seche Vite

This actually turned out quite pretty.  My camera really is not catching the Coral Reef well.  It does have a stronger orange tone to it, in real life.  I love my Sally Hansens!  They apply perfectly every time and most are two coat polishes, 1 if you are going to add glitter or something on top.  These two were no exception.

Coral Reef is pretty new to me.  I used it once this summer as a pedi with some pink flakies on top and fell in love with it.  It is definitely a more pink than orange coral, and I had been looking for one I liked.  I tend towards shimmer finishes (if you hadn't noticed) but this cream is gorgeous.  It really hasn't streaked and smooths itself out well as it settles.

Golden-I is a really interesting gold polish.  It's pretty thin in consistency, but very dense.  It looks, to me, like it is just shimmer that results in a foil finish.  You can spread it pretty thin, if you want, and this was the first time I really used it.  It has pretty good coverage--I only used one somewhat thick coat for these tips. 

 

If I were to do wear this one again, and I'm positive I will, I would follow the advice of Christina and use two coats.  She has a really great post about this polish and metallics and she is right--a lot of the look is about the light you catch the polish in.  I would add a second sweep, though, to make sure no coral peeked through.

 

What do you think?  Are you in love with this combo like I am?  Have you done other cool manis with either of these?