"Subtle" Glitter bomb

Hey guys! What's up?

What's up for me is that I did something on my nails that I never thought I would ever do.  

That's right.

A french manicure.  

*crickets*

Since I've never had one, it was interesting to see what it looked like on my hands, and I admit it was nice and clean looking (though it also got me wondering if that's what my nails would look like naturally if they weren't polish-stained, ha).  

However, it didn't last even half an hour before I decided to bedazzle it!

I tried out two different effects, and I want you ladies to tell me which one you like better.

The polishes I used are:

Revlon Scene Stealer - My favorite sheer jelly polish, because it leans pink, just like my skin tone.  

China Glaze White on White - I've never used this alone, but for nail art work it is just the right consistency and fairly opaque.

Claire's Bedazzled - my favorite rainbow glitter.  It has large hexes of all colors, but also lots of blue microglitter to fill space on the nail.  It is very dense for a glitter topcoat and easy to work with - no poking glitter with your brush to try and make it stay where you want it to.

So, on my left hand I did: two coats scene stealer, two coats white on the tip, one coat scene stealer to soften things, then one coat of Bedazzled.  Finished product: 

Indirect sunlight:

Direct sunlight:

This one is definitely worth biggifying to see all the individual types of glitter!

And on my right hand, I did a variation on the same thing, but changed the layers: two coats white on the tip, one coat scene stealer, one coat bedazzled, one coat scene stealer.  The resulting jelly sandwich looks like this:


Indirect sunlight:

My right hand is shy to be seen on this blog, since the index and middle finger won't grow longer than that no matter WHAT I try.  I think I use them too much, even though I try not to.

Direct sunlight:

And then, before removing this three days later, I added an extra coat of scene stealer to my ring finger on my left hand, for comparison pictures.  (Left to right: without, with, without top sheer layer).

 So, what's the verdict? Which way do you like better?

Maria

Halloween prep

Hello all,

Happy Halloween!! Yeah, I'm a little bit early, but I've always been very enthusiastic about holidays.  I like extra reasons to be happy.

Today's manicure wouldn't be possible without the glorious franken, Pumpkin Patch, that I bought from the wonderful blog My Nail Graffiti.  Her husband made these four frankens!! I bought Pumpkin Patch and Magic Dust, for $3 each, what a deal!

Since I am so fond of orange, and it is Halloween-time, I used Pumpkin Patch first.

It was very close to opaque in just one coat, and you could probably be ok with one if it were a thick coat.  I did two thin coats for these pictures.  And - guess what - these pictures are after four days! There's hardly any tip wear! Color me impressed.

The is the cute bottle: 

And a close up:

 

Notice not only the various sizes of green glitter, but also the gold microshimmer! How unique! I can easily say there is nothing else like it in my collection.  It is so interesting (in a good way) and I loved looking at it.  

Plus, did you notice I got a new camera? I'm still working on figuring out macro settings, but I can definitely see an improvement!

Pumpkin Patch, indirect sunlight, after FOUR days of wear:

 

*lalalalala I don't see that unevenly short nubbin lalala*

I had intended to do nail art on these on the second day, but I came down with a very bad cold. 

Using Barry M Spring Green, Finger Paints Cordur-orange, and a pumpkin-shaped glow-in-the-dark neon orange: (woops I think I had left it on macro, heh)

Here's what I put on today:

Cute, eh? A cross between preppy plaid and Halloween.  The green stripes, freehanded, really bring out the green glitter.  And the jack-o-lantern (awkwardly on my middle finger since it is still short) glows in the dark!

What do you think?

 

Maria

Giveaway winner!

So... the moment you've all been waiting for... the winner!

 There were a total of 127 people who entered, and they got 362 entries. I used random.org and the lucky winner (#122) was:

 ROCHELLE!

 Rochelle, of the wonderful blog Elle-Hime! I actually discovered this blog a few days ago while I was going through the entries and looking at every single comment. Her blog really stood out to me, especially due to the high quality pictures and gorgeous layout. It looks very polished for a new blog. Well Rochelle, I hope you like the polishes! I'd love to see pictures. :)

 If for some reason she doesn't reply in 48 hours, I'll be forced to pick another winner.

 Now, on to my nails for the day: I made use of the On the Prowl polishes for this one, since I of course got my own set. I started with a base of Revlon Carbonite, a stunning polish on its own. I actually think it looks just like pencil lead (like it's inspirer, Chanel Graphite, is trying to do).

[Please excuse the stupid middle finger that is still a nub. How DARE it refuse to grow faster. Also, this is pre-cleanup.]

Then I put two coats of Tangled in my Web on all fingers except my ring finger, on which I put Correction Tape as an accent nail!

I really, really enjoyed this look. Tangled in my Web is so unique, and Correction Tape is just dazzling! Little square purple, silver, blue, and black glitter.  There is nothing else like it, especially when it catches the sun!

This one is horribly blurry, but it gives the best idea of what this mani actually looked like: 

That's it for tonight!

Maria

30 100 Follower Giveaway!

Hi everybody!!

First off, I guess I was feeling rebellious, because I painted my nails something not on the 30 day challenge list *gasp*.  These aren't super unique, but I really like how they turned out. And I've gotten a ton of compliments on them, which always tells me I did SOMETHING right :)

Monarch butterfly nails:

I used Essie Braziliant, an opaque bright orange with a pink flash, and OPI Pros and Bronze, a semi-sheer gold and pink duochrome (one of my favorite polishes by far!).  Note: Pros and Bronze looks surprisingly amazing over orang.  I will have to do this as a whole mani sometime.

I know my blog is still a baby, and I still have a lot to learn, but I am super excited to have reached 30 followers!  So for you, my dear readers, I have a giveaway!

I found an entire mountain of boxes of On the Prowl at a Wegman's near me, so I was able to buy multiple sets of On the Prowl and not feel guilty that I was depriving anybody.

The giveaway prize will be:

Fantasy Makers Holo Glitter

picture in shade:

Picture in a little bit of sun, but unfortunately it is gray and rainy. In real life, this stuff has a very strong linear holo effect.

AND *drum roll* all eight of the much-sought-after On the Prowl collection!!

It's a good thing you all know what these look like, because this is officially the worst picture ever taken of this collection:

From left to right: Behind Closed Doors, Correction Tape, Ready to Pounce, Cougar Attack, Tangled in my Web, Buy Me a Drink, Inkwell, Jungle Fever


Oh, Tangled in my Web, where have you been all my life?! And you, Behind Closed Doors... <3


To enter, just fill out and submit the form below.  Since I'm going on vacation Oct 6-11, this giveaway will be open until midnight on October 11.  Open to all!




Happy October!

Maria

Day 17 - GLITTER!

*ahem*

Today, day 17 of the challenge, is the glitter day! Now I know some say glittery nails is immature, but what do I care? I wear what I like to wear.  And glitter makes me happy.

For this post, I wanted to do a true glitter bomb!

I used one coat of Sinful Colors - Queen of Beauty and two coats of Funky Fingers - Baby, Baby, Baby.  Both are fairly opaque, at least for glitters.  I'd say they would individually be able to cover completely in two or three coats.

But the important part is that they are blindingly reflective and shiny!

At the same time, glitter is hard to remove, and I didn't want to put this on my hands just to take it off again the next day.  So..... onto my toes it went!  And I love it.  I'm wearing flip flops 24/7, thankfully it is still warm enough outside.

Without further ado, the important part.... the pictures!  You may need some sunglasses! ;)

Staring at her toes,
Maria