Quick NOTD- aEngland Dragon

shown with Poshe TC

this practically applies itself- and try as I might, I could NOT get it on my cuticles- the brush is fantastic, the product perfectly smooth and creamy- new favorite brand- kudos, Adina, this is the best!

What I love about glitter- they are all different!

Manicurity: Nostalgic 'Gluttony' vs. Sonoma Nail Art 'Sisters ...: YAYYYY! I got some excellent nail mail today. Once I said "glitters don't count, I can have as many glitter polishes as I want because they ...

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Sorry to do this to you, but because of The Great Base Shortage of 2012 this amazing art polish may not be available until June or later. Go, stalk, set a timer for June, email alerts, tweets, something, but don't miss out on this! Here  Look under "SOLD" for more of her polishes.

Here is her description: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a rollicking party of a polish filled with the colors of the rainbow. Named for the bighearted drag queen nuns who pour their zest for life and for helping others into everything they do. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a glitter polish with a mix of colored glitters in all shapes and sizes, with a touch of heart shaped glitter. 

I wanted to do something very very special for this glitter topper- so I layered it over one of my all time faves, China Glaze Papaya Punch. Application of Sisters was very tricky- it's large, sparse glitter in a thick base, so it requires dabbing and smearing and placing (ps if you get frustrated with yours, I will take it off your hands...) Very fast dry time, not unusually TC thirsty, the regular Gelous and Seche Vite to finish. 

The elusive RIGHT HAND!!

Another Etsy treasure- Newsprint by KBShimmer

I am not a fan (neither is my skintone) of blue/purple leaning grays, but this polish was too lovely to pass up. KBShimmer on etsy is a master soapmaker who has also branched into nail polish- and her color and glitter balance is supreme! This polish, in her words:

I started with a slate grey base. I then added bar glitters in red, white and black. Square gliiters in red and sliver holographic are set off by black glitters in sever hex sizes. Then we added even more red, white, black and holograhpic glitters. Over 14 different glitters complete this polish.

Easy two coat application, just a little dabbing to tame the bar glitter. Gelous and a thick coat of Seche Vite and we are done! Very chic and office friendly, IMHO.

 and here is the link to her macro: here

Lacquistry hits it out of the ballpark- again- Oh Yes I Did!

I bought this beauty a few months ago and was planning on waiting until later toward the fall to bring it out- but something in the sparkle every time I opened my Helmer beckoned to me. I  had seen a few swatches, nothing to write home about, and now I know why- a camera cannot capture the sheer magnificence of this coppery-aqua-holo glitter polish! It has a sheer copper base that snuggles the tiny brown, fine holo blue, brown and light blue holo hex glitters. Brilliant!  I layered it over the amazing nails inc. earlham st.- a deep coppery shimmer with faint green and pink micro glitters. One coat of Oh Yes I Did! One coat of Gelous and a thick coat of Seche Vite. I am so glad the sun won't be out this weekend. I have places to go and the rainbow of sparkles is quite distracting.

Inside under fluorescent lighting

near a window

diffused to show glitter

A pinch of this, a dash of that..

I was wanting a sea green/blue (teal?) with scattered glitter so I made my own! And color-morphing to boot! I used about 3/4 of a bottle of the duochrome Caribbean Blue Nina Ultra Pro from Sallys then added some Jordana glitters in Cosmic and Rhinestones- pictures taken in various lights, last pic shows two coats alone on the left and one over black (it gleams green over black)

Full sunlight

this is what 55 year old hands look like!

inside thru shade

Fluorescent light

two coats left, one over black on right

Frankens!

Playing around with Spectraflair, color changing pigments, assorted polishes- these are all from other polishes, NOT from scratch-  the ones linked are the same polish, 2 coats alone and 1 over black- second picture is truer to color.

Love yourself Mani!

I did very little for the Spring PFC Challenge and finally had the time to do a pastelly one- but I had to incorporate several things at once- multi-colored bases, contrast dots on white and glitter topcoat. The bases are Barry M in Peach Melba and FingerPaints in Choco Mint. The glitters are Windestine (an etsy seller) in Star Light (over the peach) and Dancing in the Rain over the mint. Fairly smooth glitters too, only needed one coat of Poshe.

My New Favorite Polish! Nerdlacquer's Purely Logical

It WOULD have to be an indie polish, nerdlacquer to be precise. Most people get theirs from etsy, ninjapolish.com or thinkgeek.com. I was gifted this by the wonderful lacquerista, blogger and mommy named Debbie Crumpet (shout out to Beth!) She raved over it but was not happy with the way it looked on her and I was only too happy to let her pitch it across the ocean to me! Nerdlacquers are one of the few etsy/indie polishes that are opaque in their own rights. Three thin coats and some Gelous and Seche Vite and this is smooth as glass. I was surprised it was not lumpier, the thinness and opacity only endear it even more to me. There is so much happening here you need a macro, which I can not provide, but the inventor does here: Purely Logical I have a few of her other polishes and I can HIGHLY recommend them all.

Love Yourself Manicure!

I was so over the pale yellow with sprinkles- decided I needed a very ME color- orange and went with one of my few OPI polishes- A Roll In The Hague from the Holland Collection. Three thin coats topped with a splash of Essence Special Effect Topper in Multi-Sparking and I am loving my nails- CND Stickey base and Poshe topcoat.

This was SO much better in my head!

I wanted to do something pastel and Eastery using glitter- and most of the glitters I have are dark- brown, green, bronze, so I came up with the bright idea of China Glaze Snow Globe over a pale yellow. Now which one to pick? I received Nubar Mellow Yellow in a bundled blog sale and it hadn't gotten much love- kinda streaky and sheer didn't make it my first choice. I figured with glitter over it I might get some use from it. Unfortunately the glitter seemed to "wrinkle" the yellow or something? as well as "denting" it. Lots of Seche Vite and this may last a day. Live and learn!
The first pic is  the truest- the yellow is really a soft pale lemony color. Pearly.

You WANT to enter!

Bee Polished: Free Swag: Stuck Like Glue Giveaway!!: I have so many great things planned over the next few months for this blog.  I definitely want to start sharing some of the tips I've picke...

It's Beginning to Feel Alot Like Summer!

So a friend gifted me some China Glaze neons and I was itching to try them out- Not TOO much (gotta stay office friendly) and I had seen alot of neon dots/designs over white, but since my skin is pretty much white, I wanted to stay away from that. Enter aEngland Excalibur, a white-silver one coat beauty gifted from the ever lovely Debbie Crumpet.
I layered a single coat of Hits No Olimpo Hefesto over the silver and desperately tried to get a pic of the rainbow shimmer this added, but to no avail. The last pic shows a tiny glimmer or two :( Assorted neons later and voila!

Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge April Fools' Dark and Twisted

Nerdlacquer's Crunchy Frog! Not too much more twisted than a polish that resembles a frog after it's been in a blender a while! Two coats over a base of Barielle Green Opal (a stunner on its own) then Gelous and Seche Vite over- very smooth!