Crumpet's 31DC: Fire

I wasn't super keen on this prompt because I wanted to think of something creative, but was coming up blank.  I was going to try a fireworks mani, and KNOW I saved a link somewhere to a cute look, but can't find it anywhere.  I almost skipped today, but then...
I was torn.  I thought about going straight Fantasy Fire, but my swatching abilities leave something to be desired, so I'll leave that to the pros.  I thought about some layering and finally came up with this:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats China Glaze Smoke and Ashes
*2 coats Finger Paints Flashy
*2 coats Darling Diva Ringer (accent)
*1 coat Out the Door

Instead of trying for flames, or some of the gorgeous gradients I've been working my way up to, I went a little dark.
I used Smoke and Ashes, a black base with green shimmer, for my base, like coals.  On my accent I went with Ringer, a pink to green shifting shimmer made to resemble Fantasy Fire's shift. 
On the other nails, I used Flashy, a red to green shifting flakie.  My fire's a little more abstract, but I think I'm liking it.

I forget that I have some awesome flakie polishes tucked away that always win me over when I pull them out!

Matte black and flakies

I am going to really try to keep posting while I'm in school, but I'm seeing that my time will be VERY limited (in the past week I had 5 days of class and worked 6 days without any days off...I'm feeling it!).  I have some photos that I've been meaning to get up and am trying to keep snapping them as I polish, so here's a quick look at one I tried (then I have to go read!).
This is one that I found on Pinterest and have been dying to try.  It was created by the incomparable Jen at the PolishAholic.

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*Picture Polish Festival
*1 coat Out the Door
*1 coat Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love

I know, with that macro shot, that I missed a little bit of polish near the cuticles, but in real life it was not visible.  I used a cream black base and taped off the tips (though flakes are kind of imprecise, so you may not really need to tape off) to paint with Festival, a gorgeous multicolored flake glitter.  I was worried that it would not stand out much as I painted and added a fast dry top coat so that I could get to bed a little earlier :)
Once it set I added Matte-ly in Love and BOOM!  The colors of the flakes were instantly much more visible and it dried almost instantly.  I'm still not totally in love with matte finishes, but this looks wonderful on the nail!  The downside to matte polish/toppers is that I've found they chip really easily.  In the future I'd like to make the tips larger or paint the whole nail or half or something so that I can get even more of the flakie goodness on there! 
Have you found some cool ways to play around with flakies?  With matte toppers?  Share your ideas with me!

New 31DC: Flakies

I didn't think too much about today's challenge because I like flakie glitter and have an amazing untried.  So, I wore a simple swatch of Cult Nails' Seductive today:

*1 coat Yello-Out
*1 coat Maybelline Plum Paradise
*1 coats Cult Nails Seduction
*1 coat Out The Door

 

I wish that I had planned better for Seduction. I used a thin base without realizing how sheer the tint of this is. In the future, I'll build my base much cleaner and better. This polish is packed with red to green duochrome flakes with scattered blue ones too. I did a horrible job of getting the color shift to show, but know that this is a-mazing! I bought it when it became pretty clear that Clairvoyant will never come back, and I think I'm okay with that. I'm dying to see this over something with more contrast, like black...

After I got home with chips in my nails, I reconsidered my flakies. Today is my best friend's birthday! She is amazing and, even though she is really not into nail polish, she stops by here to see what I'm up to. She's on the other side of the country and I miss her so much, so I wanted to do a special mani for her today. AND, I even worked in some flakies!

 

*1 coat Yello-Out
*2 coats Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau (pinkie and index)
*2 coats Julep Dendrie (middle and thumb(
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out (ring)
*2 coats Finger Paints Motley (all but ring)
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*Cover Girl Candy Corn
*1 coat Out The Door

I decided to use Finger Paints Motley as my flakie.  I layered it over Take Me To Your Chateau and Dendrie to look icy.  I alternated those two because I just couldn't decide which look I liked better.  Both a clean, cream finishes.  Take Me is a pale sky blue, which has streaked a bit each time I used it, but definitely not enough to ditch it!  Dendrie is a pale, warm gray (is that possible?) that also covered really easily in 2 coats.  There were not really any streaking issues with this. 
I used 2 coats of Motley to amp up the flakes.  It's funny that, in these photos, the green really shows in the flakes because in real life, the blue is much more dominant.  My middle nail (gray base) is the easiest to see both colors on--blue down the center and green on the sides.

I used Black Out for my penguin (bestie's favorite animal!), with Snow Me White brushed on for the tummy.  I dotted on the eyes and used Candy Corn to dot on the feet and beak.  I'm pretty proud of how these little guys turned out!  I'm definitely going to use them again sometime--they were pretty easy and super cute! 
So those are my flakie nails--both the ones I wore and the ones I painted tonight to celebrate an amazing girl!  Do you like to paint your nails in honor of others?  I love looking down and seeing something that reminds me of people I love! 

3DC: Inspired by a Color

3 weeks in!  I really did not think that I would make it this far into the challenge because it's pretty demanding, so I'm pretty proud of myself.  Today kicks off the final third: inspirations.
Inspired by a color is a little bit unfair because I have already posted color inspiration manis here, here, and here for Go Pink Wednesdays, and I'll have a couple more coming.  But, a challenge is a challenge, so I went ahead and tried another one.
I bought MaxFactor's Fantasy Fire on a blog sale a while back.  I know that this is super sought after and have been hesitant to use it because it's so small!  I decided to kind of let this be my color inspiration today.

The red/purple combo with the dark blue base is really pretty.  I have quite a bit of nail art coming up this week, so I really just wanted to do something simple and easy, and there's not much that's easier than layering glitter!  You can see the sparkle of Fantasy Fire in this next photo:

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
*2 coats Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Co-bolt Blue
*1 coat MaxFactor Fantasy Fire (ring finger)
*1 coat Finger Paints (thumb and middle)
*1 coat Nubar 2010 (index and pinkie)

 

 

I used 1 coat of Fantasy Fire over the navy Co-bolt Blue.  It's hard to really see in these photos, but in real life the pretty purple-red shimmer is very strong.  I hate that this is so expensive and hard to come by because I'd love to use more layers of it, but that bottle is so tiny!

 

I wanted to play with the red-blue color combo, so I used red-shifting flakies over the top of the navy.  I decided to use both Nubar 2010 and Finger Paints Flashy to compare them.  They both have red flakes of glitter that lay flat and are really easy to apply.

 

 

The flakes in Flashy are consistently a bit bigger than 2010, but the two are really close to each other.  I didn't think they'd be so similar when I used them because the bases appear so different, but it's really pretty hard to tell them apart on the nail.

Do you own any of these pretties?  How do you pair your flakies?  Any cool combos I should try?  What about Fantasy Fire?  Do you have it?  How do you use this tough to find jewel?

31DC: Blue

And I'm back!  Today I am onto blue polish and about 1/6 finished with the challenge!  This is a good, strong start.  I know that the colors are the easiest part, but I'm pretty proud that I've got a whole work week under my belt.
Today I've got one untried and one rarely used, mainly because I forgot that I had it after I bought Luxe & Lush.  It's not a dark or muted fall color combo, but what does every little girl want to dress up for Halloween as?

*1 coat Yellow-Out base coat
*3 coats Sinful Colors Cinderella,
*1 coat Sally Hansen Glass Slipper
*1 coat Seche Vite

The ever-popular Cinderella was super cheap and in full supply at Bed Bath & Beyond, so I grabbed a bottle when it was the talk of the polish world (and one for my momma!).  I hadn't had a need or reason to try it out until now.  I used 3 coats, and it was still streaky. This is a very sheer polish.  In the future, I'll either use 4 coats or find a good base to layer it over.

That being said, it is awful pretty!  The pale blue is packed with soft pink shimmer that is stunning in the sun.  While I will need to work at it a bit in the future, it is well worth the effort! 
I wanted something to add to this, and figured that Glass Slipper was only appropriate!  This is a slightly iridescent shard flake glitter by Sally Hansen.  I would also have added another coat of this, because it is rather subtle (which is great, sometimes!).  It didn't necessarily add much to Cinderella, but I just couldn't resist paring them!  I added a little rhinestone for good measure, because I don't have many and don't use them often. 

 (Look at that pink shimmer!)

Do you have Cinderella?  Any good suggestions for using this beauty without putting a million coats on your nails?  Have you found any cool colors to layer Glass Slipper over?

TRUly lovely

It's been a long, tough week. I'm happy for a couple of days of rest and wanted to give my nails some well-deserved loving. I took off my UPS mani, filed down my little brokens, and even put on a base coat. And then I slept.
I wanted to put up a new, current manicure, but instead will show one I did while my mom was in town last month that I did not post. I was inspired by this lovely combo that was posted over at Nail Loopy. It's one that makes so much sense, as soon as I saw it. Also, I adore her blog, so I'm excited to try my hand at what she does!

<Insert photo here, if blogger weren't being obnoxious!  Ugh!>

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails
*2 coats Zoya Tru
*1 coat Nubar 2010 on accent finger
*1 coat Out the Door

Blogger is killing me right now.  Totally.  But, I really wanted to give some credit for a great mani that I adored, and I don't know when it will let me get my pictures up, so this is it.
Tru is such a pretty, dusty purple shade.  It translated much darker on my nail than I thought it would, but I got over that.  The shimmer is absolutely gorgeous in it.  It is such a strong pink/red shimmer in the sun that it's hard not to just stare at my hands! 
Instead of Chole, which is on my wish list, I used Nubar 2010 as my accent because of the strong red shift in it.  This was the PERFECT color compliment to the shimmer in Tru.  It looks like it is made to pair with it.  It is great coverage in one coat, but sparse enough to let the color and shimmer of Tru show through.  I really was sad to see this combo go. 
Sorry that there is no visual for this one, but I guess you really aren't missing too much.  Head over to Nail Loopy to get the idea and fall in love with this combo!

In Memoriam

This has been a rough year for my extended family.  2012 has been filled with too much loss.  We need a good end. 
Last Thursday we lost my uncle.  That sounds so absurd to say, like we misplaced him or can't figure out where he's hiding.  This comes less than three months after we lost my other uncle.  My dad has lost his brother-in-law and brother in the span of a single season.  We can't afford any more of this.  We need time to regroup and heal.  We need to be joyful again.  I know that this will take time, which is what we need as a family.  No more of this. 
My uncles were good men.  They knew the value of hard work, and honest effort.  Mike, who we lost in May, worked in paving, created with his hands.  Chuck, who left us last week, delivered for UPS for more than 3 decades.  He had a perfect driving record, a nearly impossible feat.  They loved their families deeply and fiercely.  They enjoyed simple pleasures: family meals, an afternoon in the sun, a quiet home town.
This week I painted my nails in honor of Chuck.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails
*2 coats China Glaze Mahogany Magic
*1 coat Essie As Gold As It Gets
*1 coat Out the Door top coat
I realized after the fact that I also dipped into my Hunger Games polishes for Mike's memorial (Smoke and Ashes).  That seems so grim, but I think it's that these men were strong, inspirations, and the books are comforting.  It is appropriate, I think. 
I realized that Mahogany Magic is almost a perfect UPS brown!  If I had been careful, I could have pretty much gotten away with one reasonably thick coat, but I was patchy in places and opted for two.  The polish is not quite as yellow as it looks here, but there are plenty of swatches out there to look at if you haven't already. 
I don't know that I'm wild about the glitter.  I should have taken a note from my uncle and been comfortable in the simple, known enough is enough.  But I wanted something more for his memory, something big and demanding notice.  So, I added Essie's As Gold As It Gets over the top.  This is so much easier to apply and more uniform than other flaky glitters I own.  It looks much better and natural over Mahogany Magic in the sun.

This is a hard time.  I am torn between staying in grief and moving on, remembering and thinking of other things.  No one knows how to do this well.  For the moment, at least, I look at my hands and feel pride in the man that I call "uncle," the man that my family loves, the man that we were blessed to know.  It reminds me of what it is to live a good, respectable life, to be a person puts family above all and see nothing undignified in hard work.  It reminds me of the kind of person I can only hope to be.