Big Hot 4th of July Mess!

I swatched this gorgeous red white and blue glitter from Utopia on one nail over a dusty gold I was wearing and LOVED it! My idea for our PCF Challenge was simply Independence Day so anything goes basically. I started with one coat (yes 1!) of aEngland's beautiful silver Excalibur- no brushstroke, just chrome yumminess. After it dried, I started sponging Orly Grave Mistake and China Glaze Frostbite for the stripes- (I tried China Glaze Poinsettia for the red, but the silver just made it look hot pink) Then I put a heavy two coats of Utopia Stars and Stripes over it and that's when it got messy- placing the glitters around smeared the red and blue- but this stuff is so pretty! It has large shimmery white and matte blue stars, matte blue and white bar glitter, small and medium shiny red hexes, large shiny red square, and for a knockout punch, tiny holo hexes.  Love it, making sure I have enough foil and acetone to remove- pictures show a bit of the red staining, sorry- Gelous and Seche Vite over.

My First Candy Lacquer- City Girl

Large matte hexes- white, black, red, blue and purple, medium pink, coral and green hexes, tiny white hexes and sparse white black and blue short bars.
Sounds like the recipe for a disaster, but it somehow comes together and looks modern and chic. The red hexes look corrugated and the purple have a plaidish imprint- very very cool. I dabbed it on with a sponge over two coats of China Glaze's Exotic Encounters, a medium dusty teal from this summer's On Safari Collection. Only slightly bumpy after a single thick coats of Seche Vite.

Neons!

Just comparing a few of this summer's China Glaze Summer Neons with the 2009  Color Club Electrocandy collections- the ChG are a bit more plush and look nicer without topcoats, but the brighter color and more obvious shimmers inn the CC make that collection the winner in my book.

Hot Hot Hot Combo-Nerdlacquer Hyperspace Bypass

So today's item in the Purple Crumpet Fairy Summer Challenge series is Hot Hot Hot Combo- lending itself nicely to my latest and happiest swap to date- Nerdlacquer's Hyperspace Bypass! over China Glaze Sunshine Pop. Nerdlacquers are rarer than hen's teeth these days, as the artist has seemingly dropped off the face of the earth, and her polishes are selling for horrific markups on fleabay. The combination of complex glitters and colored bases are just about second to none and I love each and every one of the handful of nerds I have, so I was beside myself with joy when I found a swapper in Swapaholics (thanks again Missy R!)  that would take my (now discontinued) Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed in trade for this lovely yellow creature.

I layered one easy coat over two coats of ChG Sunshine Pop, a shimmering bright yellow not quite neon from the 2012 Electropop collection. (why do I always say Electrpoop in my head when I see that?) Sunshine Pop was still a bit streaky after two coats (unlike my fave ChG yellow- Solar Power) but I knew the yellow base in HB would cover any streaks. On its own HB would be a tad darker and more jelly like, but I am too chintzy with my nerds to use two coats. Still loving the results- wish you could see the random tiny gold holo glitters and sparse larger holo hexes sprinkled among black, yellow and gold glitters of various sizes. {{{love}}} Easy Gelous and Poshe over top.

Check out the other Hot Hot Hot challengers!

China Glaze Martini Pedicure Collection

Come to me, my Precioussssssssssssesss....oh yes, the long lemmed (is that a word) shimmering, micro-glassed flecked beauties China Glaze birthed in 2005. Found these on ebay, although a friend was able to walk into a nail supply in her area of Cali and buy them a bit cheaper than I did. Ah well. The swatchsicle closeup is the best in terms of color correctness, and these each took 3 or 4 coats to near-opaqueness, but who cares? Enjoy!

switched the two first swatches from left

Most acccurate as to color

Love Yourself with Clockwork

Not springy at all, but I love brown polish and hadn't tried Mahogany Magic from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection. I TOTALLY understand the woman who drinks nail polish after applying this beauty- it was just like smearing melted milk chocolate over my nails- a few bald patches after one coat (and very thick) but the second coat leveled nicely. I gussied it up with a dab of Sonoma Clockwork for, what I think, is a shnazzy classy look. I only had to pull one small bar glitter out with tweezers that refused to lay flat, the other glitters were compliant. I especially love the fine gold glitter in Clockwork- this would totally be opaque in two coats, I used one. Gelous and Seche Vite over.

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!!

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.

Riveting.....Mattified!

It's been done so much better than I can show, but I wanted this for posterity- the polish of the season, the break out star of the China Glaze Capitol Colors (Hunger Games) collection. Two coats over CND Stickey, then Revlon Quick Dry TC and Essie Matte About You. Lovely. Second pic I look very tan, but the color is closer to the actual.

Needle Drag time again!

Finally got Grace home from college and she admitted she had been really really wanting the Leighton Denny Persian my bff Debbie Crumpet had sent from across the ocean. We started with a base of the new China Glaze Dress Me Up, a grayed out rosy pinky color then laid a second heavy coat over it with dots of the Persian dragged around with a large pin. A few dots with a dotting tool, Out The Door and voila!

Fruity Tooty and 3 Untrieds down!

Was feeling the need for something summery after doing all these light artworks for my daughter and darks for me. This makes me want to order something fruity in a pineapple and put my feet up on the railing overlooking the beach- China Glaze Lemon Sour topped with Zoya Manhattan Mixer (sounds like cocktails have already started) then the new China Glaze Riveting from the Hunger Games collection finished with Cherimoya Emerald 3. (nasty stuff to apply, foamy and bald spots- I kinda had to dab it on) but I love the shimmer! Out the Door topcoat. btw Riveting is my new favorite polish.

Not exactly a winter design

So..... I was looking over some untrieds and attempting to picture various configurations and permutations of colors, textures and designs and happened to spot (in my nearly 100% China Glaze drawer) Lemon Fizz. I love yellow almost as much as orange and green, but the pale chalkiness of it just kept me turning away time and time again, so, after screwing up my courage (and googling a bunch of swatches for strength) I laid down three coats over Seche Rebuild and Orly Bonder. I was careful after the second coat, to let it dry pretty well before the third, and  still had a bit of the cuticle drag we all know and come to expect from pastels. Overall though, the texture and leveling was, say, 8/10. After some spots with CG Tree Hugger, Caribbean Blue and Custom Kicks, I was pretty happy with the result. Out the Door topcoat AND Seche Vite over that to level the dots. Inside and outside shots.

Ready for Spring!

Got some new Zoyas and was itching to try them out, this is Kristen, a gray-blue cream that was a little streaky and thick but evened out pretty well with two coats. Waiting longer between coats might have helped with the cuticle drag. I tried out nailside's floating clouds design using China Glaze  Make Some Room and Custom Kicks. (see tutorial here http://nailside.blogspot.com/2012/01/tutorial-freehand-cloud-design.html) but clearly I did not look at it BEFORE doing my own. :) So after a couple nails I gave up and went with a single coat/dabbing of the re-issued China Glaze Techno. Seche Vite over top. Pretty happy with this one. Second picture is in sun and blurred to show holo glitter, third in shade.

My failed Robin Moses Replica!

So I saw this gorgeous (and which ones AREN'T??!?!) Robin Moses nail art I was sure Paula would like, and followed the link to the tutorial. Fine. Easy. Tried it. Failed. She makes those things look as simple as falling out of bed. And they are NOT. The swirls defeated me at every turn. (ha!) But fortunately I had topcoated before the acrylic so I was able to erase the mistakes with water. (good tip btw) All the bases are China Glaze, I would be happy to let you know the names if you like, the flowers are acrylics I mixed. Out the Door topcoat.
Oh, here is the REAL DEAL if you like! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlrufBJolgU

First of the New Year! Cult Nails Clairvoyant! (aka Unicorn Puke)

I know you're supposed to put this over black or purple, but I wasn't feeling either, so I put two coats of the beautiful medium dark gray China Glaze Concrete Catwalk over Gelous then a single coat of Cult Nails Clairvoyant. I wanted to try the new Finger Paints Twisted, but the CG is a bit muddy and the Clairvoyant has a purple base that sharpened the gray just a bit, whereas the FP is yellowish/clearish. Two coats Poshe over because the flakies were a little bumpy.
Desk light

 Full sun

 inside natural light from window

Green Weekend time again!

Helping with a Seniors Christmas brunch tomorrow, gotta get my holiday green on, too late for cutesy nail art so I stuck with layering- Essie base, two coats of the lush emerald green with micro green gold and red glassfleck called Jolly Holly then Nubar White Polka Dot over 8 fingers and Lynnderella Funny Money on the ring fingers. Gelous then Seche Vite!

Funky French Glitter Tips

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms have been popping up at Ross stores and I managed to find one lonely set that begged to come home with me. It included Diamond, used as the base here over Essie all in One Base. I sponged on tips with China Glaze Some Like it Haute and practically dumped Seche Vite over it all. Still kinda chunky, don't expect it to last long, but it's a very different look for me!
Loving the holo and glitter though!