New 31DC: Skittle

Today's skittle manicure is both boring and exciting.  I didn't do any designs or art work, though there are some cute skittle designs I want to try out.  Instead, I just painted/swatched each nail.  Boring.  BUT, the exciting part is what I swatched them with...

 

Color Club Halo Hues!

My Harp On It had met a tragic end, and I have not been able to get any response from Crowd Cut, so I've written it off.  (Sidenote: this makes me really appreciate the other companies and ladies who have wonderful customer service!)  Each of these is just 2 thin coats over Yello-Out, with 1 coat of Out The Door on top to seal them.  Perfect application!  My pinkie has Cherubic, a golden beige holo.  These are all strong linear holos, not particle/glitter ones.  This is probably the must subtle of the bunch, but it still is very strong when you get it into the sun or light!

Blue Heaven is on my ring finger--a light, cool blue holo.  It is a really pretty blue, bright pale and amazingly holographic!

 

 

With the disaster in my box, I not only had a lot of clean up to do on my bottles, but I lost labels.  On my middle finger is the lighter of the pinks, Cloud Nine (I think).  It almost has a lavender look to it and the same intense sparkle as the rest.

 

 

 

My index finger is Angel Kiss, the light minty green shade.  It is a warm green, almost aqua, which doesn't really translate to the photo.

 

My thumb has the darker of the pinks, Halo-Graphic.  It's a darker, more magenta pink than Cloud Nine and warmer. 
All of these applied like a dream and sparkled like nothing I own!  The holo shift is unbelievable and hard to take your eyes off of!  Inside they almost have a metallic look to them, a bit frosted.  I'm so excited to play with these and find ways to use them with other polishes.  Do you own any of these?  How have you used them for nail art?

New 31DC: Favorite Color Family

Full disclosure: today's challenge was hard and kinda crappy for me. Sorry! I have a lot of polish. I have a lot of looks and colors that I like/love. Pink is my favorite color, but I could not think of a good way to showcase pink polishes. Skittle? Funky French? Dots? Stripes? Ombre? NO IDEA!

I considered doing more of a hue mani, like all brights, but even that was hard. I really do shift from loving black and dark shades to pastels to brights. I love pink, but also love a good gray, beige, red, purple, teal... I love glitter, shimmer, holo, duochrome... AHHH! What to do?

So, this is pretty anti-climactic, but I had to get something up for this challenge! Here's Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Lady Luck:

*1 coat Yello-Out
*3 coats Sally Hansen Gem Crush Lady Luck
*1 coat Out The Door

 

I chose Lady Luck for a few reasons.  First of all, I've had it for a long time and not yet worn it, so it was about time.  Secondly, it's magenta, so that covers my pink love.  It is a glitter, so yet another plus.  Finally, it has scattered holo pieces, so score!  I'm not crazy about this for today's challenge, but I do really like the polish. 

The macro photos are more harsh than real life--the 3 coats are really good coverage with this glitter.  One coat will be sparse enough for layering and letting a base show through, so this will be one that I'll come back to (I have others in this line that I need to play with too). 
How do you choose a favorite?  How do you do it justice?  Are you able to narrow your collection choices to just one? 

Haute momma

So, what I actually wore today was China Glaze Some Like It Haute.  This is yet another gem that my mom gave me for Christmas.  I am a blessed girl!
I had been eying this polish for a long time and am in love with it!

*1 coat Hard As Nails Hardener
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat China Glaze Some Like It Haute
*2 coats Hoof Lacquer

In the bottle this looked black to me, so I layered it over Black Out.  When I did that, something interesting happened.  The contrast became very clear, showing Some Like It Haute to be a very dark charcoal gray micro glitter packed with silver shimmer and small silver holo hex pieces.  It. Is. Amazing!  I am kind of in love with this one.  Pictures can't do it justice!

 

Ignore those tips that took a beating when I went back to work today.  I could not keep my eyes off of my hands.  It is almost like a galaxy nail with one brush stroke.  Gorgeous in the sun!  I like dark colors like this best on shorty nails and am so sad to see it go for another challenge mani!  Not that something awesome isn't coming, but this beauty has me hooked right now!  Do you have any polishes, even ones you really wanted, that just blew you away on the nail?