My History with Purple

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When I was much much younger I had a passionate love affair with the color purple.  I don't want to date myself, but this was back when one piece jumpsuits with MC Hammer pants were "in".  I had one in a satiny purple and white floral.  And velvet, oh la la, they say it's a royal color, well, I had enough purple velvet to qualify for queen of the world.  I loved purple.

Can you see the fuchsia?

Over the years I have much improved fashion taste and have cut back to zero jumpsuits and only a couple velvet pieces here and there, the love for purple remains though.  I prefer the rich, deep shades over the lighter ones so when I saw Sexy Divide by Essie, I knew it had to be mine.

Excuse the tip wear, this was after a day at work.

This has a gorgeous shimmer to it that upon very close inspection has hints of fuchsia that doesn't actually show up as a color outright but adds to the depth.  It  was actually a lot more sheer on the nail than it seemed in the bottle so it took anywhere from three to four coats to get the color saturation that I wanted, but it was well worth it. 

It's more of a warm purple and in full sun this color just glows while in shade it deepens considerably.  What's more, this has the fiance's approval.  After I'd done my nails he pulled my hand up to study them and said "This is a good color, I like them.  You should dye your hair this color." (We'd been talking about me dying my hair and were pondering color options.)

Gratuitous close up shot.

 So what color had you had a long term relationship with?

Smooth Baracuda!

I'm hostessing a giveaway, you can find out more about it here!

Even when I love the way a manicure turns out, I can usually only keep it on for about two days before I'm looking to switch it  up or or change it altogether.  This time I didn't have time to do a full polish redo so I grabbed some white and black acrylic paint, a liner brush and a dotting tool. 

Is it just me or did it end up looking like a rather cartoonish fish face complete with teeth??  I actually didn't notice it until I was taking pictures before I left for work.  The latter fact kept me from editing it and after a day at work I figured what the heck. 

Not much more to say about this, so it will be a super short post today.  Hope you all have a lovely day, and until next time, take care.

Blue and Bling

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Wouldn't you know that just as I get some serious bling on my nails the weather would turn bad with no sunshine?  Ah well, I'll subject you to my overcast day photos anyway and figure that you can use your imagination to envision bling and rainbow goodness.

For this I used Savvy Deja Blue on all of my fingers.  This is a dark, inky blue creme that isn't as close to black as the pictures make it seem.  In real life you can easily tell that it's a dark blue.  I had to use 3-4 fairly thick coats depending on the finger because it is rather sheer and has a tendency to drag.  This latter issue is resolved with allowing a minute or two between coats. 

On my ring and index fingers I opted for one of the new Sally Hansen Gem Crush polishes.  This one is called Glitz Gal and is a fine pewter glitter suspended in a clear base with some very small silver holographic hexes. I absolutely love the formula for the Gem Crush polishes.  Each one I've tried has had amazing coverage (this is two coats), easy application, as well as an amazingly smooth finish for a glitter.  Meaning it isn't doesn't guzzle top coat to get a shiny finish.  And did I mention that I love the wide flat brush?  It gives full nail coverage in one stroke.

I topped everything with a coat of Seche Vite.  I will admit though that I had to touch up afterwords because apparently Savvy and Seche don't mix well and I had the worst tip shrinkage that I've encountered to date.  I know that it's an issue for other, but this isn't really a problem I've had in the past with the pairing of the two brands so I'm wondering if it's just this color of Savvy or this bottle of Seche. 

So this is the first Savvy polish I've worn in a long time.  I love the brand but it always seems that they always have the same old polishes and no real new and fun colors.  Am I the only one that feels that the line has gotten a little...well, blah?

Thanks so much for reading, until next time, take care!

Give it up for Nicki Minaj

Looking for my giveaway?  You can find it right here!

First I would like to say that these pictures are pretty true to color as far as the polish, but my skin by no means is this boiled lobster shade of red.  I've no idea what my camera was thinking. 

So I am loving these two shades from OPI's Nicki Minaj collection.  They are super bright, fun and sassy. Being as such I thought they needed a unique look.  I took my inspiration from indigonova1 because the colors and the effect just seemed to be perfect for each other.  I wasn't ready to jump in with all my fingers so to speak so I opted for two accent nails.

Did It On Em is the bright and fun green, which I used on my ring finger while Fly is the  blue that I used on all the other fingers.  Fly only needed two coats to be opaque while Did It On Em was thinner and had a streak problem it took 3-4 coats to get it opaque.  You'll noticed that my blues are  a bit different, I actually used acrylic paint for the stripes and dots just because I had the two matching colors and acrylic for me is easier to work with for detail work.

I really love this, it's is so bright and fresh and just plain fun.  I never saw myself as liking the more graphic prints on my nails, but I'm rethinking that now.  Aside from my obvious glitch on the index finger (oops) I discovered too late that there was something stuck in my Seche Vite brush that left little spots,  Lesson learned...wipe your brush. 

What do you think, would this make you rethink graphic patterns on your nails? 

Thanks so much for reading, until next time, take care! 

Happy Panda

*Grrr, Blogger is giving me fits today, I can't get my photos to load properly, so sorry if this is all wonky.*

*Don't forget to enter my giveaway here!*

I can't think of anyone that doesn't look at a panda and go "awwww".  They're just so darn adorable and they make adorable nail art as well. 

I picked up these nail stickers a last fall I believe.  I wanted a back color that would really play up the black and white and thought that red would be just perfect. 

 

OMB is a Nicole by OPI color and it's a really lovely, warm, shimmering red.  This was two coats. The application was nice and smooth.  I really like the formula of these, but their colors usually don't seem to be anything unique.  I have similar colors in my collection already and don't feel the need to duplicate, so don't usually purchase this brand. 

I did have a bit of a problem with the stickers, they are a lot thicker and stiffer than most, they literally crackled as I pushed them down to try and get them to conform to my nail shape.  Unfortunately that didn't work and they lifted significantly.  To remedy that I applied a gel top coat  This worked pretty well, I still had a bit of a poky part but it was tolerable until I smacked my finger into something and as you can see ended up with a big crack.  Lucky for me it didn't crack the nail, just the top coat, but I know it looks a little odd.   

I would have liked this to last a bit longer, but between the rough part and the crack, it only made it for two days.  Sad panda.

Subtle, Flakie Style

I was in the mood for something a lot more subdued than usual so I pulled out my Essie Sand Tropez .  While I don't wear it often I do love it.  I wore it as is for a day and then came across the new Finger Paints Special Effects Flakies Topcoats.  Hello, must have all of them!!

Not being the patient type, the moment I got in the car I pulled one randomly out of the bag to try (yes, I painted in the parking lot.)

Turned out that I grabbed Asylum which consists of orange and purple/blue flakies.  Oh be still my heart!  I quickly topped off my Sand Tropez and while the pictures here do it very little justice, you will have to trust me that these top coats are as amazing over the more pale colors of polish as they are over the dark ones.

Asylum tended to show up more in shade or indoor lighting situations when what light was available would hit it just right and cause a flash of color.  I can't begin to tell you how many people noticed and loved my mani, which NEVER happens when I'm wearing a pale polish. 

These pictures are of one coat Asylum over my base color.  I was amazed at the density of the flakies first and then at how smooth the surface was after it dried.  There isn't really any need to get fiddly and press down pointy bits or add a secondary top coat to smooth the surface like you do with some flakie polishes (Color Club, I'm looking at you)

I know that most of the swatches you've seen of the Flakie top coats have been over darker colors, but I hope you'll give them a try over your lighter polishes too.  The are amazing and add a subtle bit of zing to an otherwise simple manicure. 

Enter my GIVEAWAY .

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading, I do so enjoy it when you comment to let me know you were here, until next time, take care!

A Pretty Pain

I have a handful of Ulta polishes and for the most part have been pretty happy with them.  This one is an exception.  This is Ulta Chic Peek

For starters, while the application of this polish was great, it did not wear well at all.  The wear you're seeing on the tips is after just one day and I didn't even go to work.  By the end of day two it was a ratty mess.

Also, notice the nicks and dents?  This polish did NOT want to dry!  You've heard of quick drying polishes, this was a slow one.  After 20 minutes with about 5 of those being in front of a fan, it was still super tacky to the touch so I put some Seche Vite over the top, later that evening I was still able to dent it.  Not a happy camper.

Now I know that it could be  a base coat/top coat issue, so I'm willing to give it another go to see if those changes make a difference, if it's a body chemistry thing I'm out of luck.

The color is nice, I actually have an eyeshadow just this shade and shimmer that I love, I was hoping to have a coordinated look with nails and eyes but I don't think I'll be wearing this polish that often. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  If you haven't yet, take a moment to enter my 200+ Follower Giveaway and have a wonderful day!

China Glaze- City Siren

Another beauty from China Glaze.  This beautiful red is City Siren from the Metro Collection

 Usually I don't consider myself a red person, it's hard for me to find shades that don't make me look like I'm jaundice or have had a bad reaction to the polish and am all rashy.  

I was surprised at how good this looked on me though, very classic and it makes my skin look quite pale and lovely.  I used two coats here and they went on quite beautifully, smooth with almost no drag or streaking to speak of.

This is quite simply an awesome red.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading, Leave me a comment to let me know you were stopped by, and check our my GIVEAWAY while you're here!

Nail Blogging and Giveaway! *Closed*

Thanks everyone for being so patient while I took a bit of a blogging break.  I'm back and refreshed!  Read on for information on my 200+ follower giveaway.

I think most nail bloggers will agree that the driving motivation is the love of nail polish, we enjoy sharing a new polish, or a new design with our readers and it opens up the opportunity to make new friends with similar interests.  I mean really, if you were to gush over the latest collections by OPI or China Glaze at work the way we do here, we'd get some mighty strange looks.  Here, everyone gets us.

Sinful Colors See You Soon & L.A. Girl Rock Star in Supernova

I often envy the big bloggers that get items sent to them for review, how I wish I could put that wonderful little disclaimer at the bottom of my posts, and hey, who doesn't love free polish!  But, I have to remember that even the big bloggers didn't start off that way, they started off just like the rest of us, out of pocket with a few spare moments here and there and most of them have been doing it for quite a while.

China Glaze Urban Night & Brownstone, Green Lightbeams nail foils with adhesive and Job nail art stickers

I'm pretty darn proud of my little nail blog.  It's taken me longer than most maybe to get all of my lovely followers, but I'm ok with that.   In fact, I'm thrilled because I've finally reached 200+ followers!  Yay Me!!  Ok, you know what this means, yes folks, it's time for a giveaway!

Ulta Jaded & Hard Candy Sweet P

As much press as you get when you say tweet this, facebook that blah blah blah, I learned that I prefer to keep things simple.  This will be open only to individuals who follow my blog but new followers are welcome, and everyone gets two chances to win. 

OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name* & Tease-y Does It

One. Comment on this post, tell me how you follow, and  something interesting about yourself, why you blog (if you do), your favorite polish, whatever, just something to let me get to know you my reader.

Two. Mention this giveaway in a blog post (sidebars won't count) and come back and leave a second comment with the link to that post.

If you are set as a No Reply (meaning I can't respond to your comments via email) then you must leave a way of contacting you should your name be chosen.Easy peasy right?

* fine print*
 I will be verifying whether or not you follow or blogged.
I'm going to open this up internationally, but I state here and now that I will ship via the least expensive method possible, and my responsibility for the package ends the moment it gets dropped off at the post office (I will notify you when I do).  I will not be responsible for lost, stolen, broken or customs confiscated items. 
This giveaway will run from now until the end of January with the winner being announced February 1st.  I will then use random generator to pull the winning name and send them an email notifying them.  That person will need to respond to me no later than February 5th or a new name will be pulled.
Finally, if you haven't caught on to what you win yet... Those pictures you've been looking at, those are the prizes although I may throw in a few extras.

*All of the polishes are new and never been opened save for the OPI Congeniality Is My Middle Name which I did not notice had possibly been opened until after I had purchased it.