Twinsie Tuesday! Newspaper Nails

First real attempt at this technique- I did NOT watch youtube videos first, hence the massive fail on a few nails- including newspaper stuck to the pinkie. Go. Watch the videos- do what they say. It works! I have three coats each Orly Gumdrops and CND Guava (which, btw is a dead on dupe- for Essie Tart Deco) Paula has the same colors reversed.

Gold Topcoat Comparison

I realized when I brought home yet ANOTHER gold topcoat I was addicted- to gold topcoats. This is a comparison of the 9 (yes 9) I have that are sheer enough to put over other colors. You may be able to skip buying a few, as there are 1 or two complete dupes here. From left, we have (1 coat each) Essie As Gold As It Gets from the fall 2011 set, CND Gold Sparkle from there stock line of Effects, Deborah Lippmann Here Comes The Queen I got in the Juicy Couture 3 pack, NYX Girls Gilded Glitter (personal fave) L'Oreal Amazon's Flash from the fall 2011 set that had the amazing Owl's Nest) Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Set the Stage (always available) CND Gold Sparkling from the Holiday 2010 LE Duo Orly Shining Star (btw this stinks!) Essence Circus Circus Don't Feed The Tiger and a random, gratuitous swatch of the new China Glaze I got, Techno (A reissue for the new Electropop Spring 2012 collection)

One coat each over black:

 Clearly the Essie AGAIG and CND GOld Sparkle are dead-on dupes, the DL is similiar, but denser, you could use two coats of the others to duplicate. The NYX is my favorite- I love the shards of gold- very edgy and bright, I have an earlier post with this over butter LONDON British Racing Green- LOVE! The CND Gold Sparkling and Orly are similiar, with CND having smaller holo particles (and not smelling) SH is in it's own class with gold hexs in a clear base, and Essence is amazing- the black squares don't show up over black, you gotta try this over gold or anything light if you have it! And the China Glaze is total holo large hex and small mini glitter.

Ah Butter London British Racing Green!

On Weekends We Wear Green, remember? So I wanted to get a head start on the weekend because I have a special mani planned for the facebook PAA Monday challenge, Plaid. This is two thin coats of the gloriously buttery aptly named butter london (yes lower caps) British Racing Green. My dad had an MG Midget this color when I was a teen. I wore this the first time several months ago when they had a BOGO sale. As soon as I had it on my nails I knew I couldn't put anything over it just yet. But this is the SECOND time, so it got a single layer of CND Jade Sparkles. The blurry pic shows the gold and green shimmery particles pretty well. BRG has it's own slight shimmer but it gets a  little lost in the glory of the CND effect. I applied over a coat of Zoya ridge filler and another of Zoya Anchor base. Single coat or Orly Sealon over top (slow drying tc but I didn't want it to shrink)

 Alone with no CND effect. GORGEOUS, right?

First Layering Attempt- please be gentle!

I wanted to continue the "On Weekends We Wear Green" trend with a twist- I have been inspired by a few lacquer geniuses, especially The Swatchoholic (she has Clarins 230- Unicorn Pee- go see here here http://the-swatchaholic.com/?cat=201) so I used a base of Seche Clear, the lovely duochrome Nubar Wilrdlife (2 coats) one coat of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black (I used Kleancolor instead of Nfu Oh 60 because it has a purple base as opposed to the gray in the Nfu Oh) and then a single coat of CND Jade Sparkle covered with Seche Vite. I hope you can see everything that's going on here, the next time I would use two coats of Chunky Holo Black- the larger flakes are a bit sparse, but I am pleased with it for a first attempt!

I love it when my daughter has study groups over!

I get to do all their nails! Here is my SECOND ever leopard print- Essie base, Essie Case Study for the foundation, Barielle Cowl of the wild for the spots, China Glaze Midtown Magic for the lines and a coat of CND Gold Sparkle for fun, all under Essie Good to Go topcoat.