A girl and her love of nail polish

Posts tagged ‘NOTD’

Crumpet’s Tri-Polish Challenge Day 1: Dotticure

I’m starting a new nail art challenge today. This is the Tri-Polish Challenge from Crumpet’s Nail Tarts.

The basic rules are that you have to pick three polishes, one coral, one purple and one green, and then use those same polishes to create four different manis. You can also add in white, black, silver, gold and glitter toppers.

Sinful Colors Island Coral, Amethyst, Juelp Courteney

The three colors I chose are Sinful Colors Island Coral, Sinful Colors Amethyst and Julep Courteney.

Tri-Polish Challenge: Dotticure

I went for a simple dotticure, starting with the base color, adding a white dot and then a smaller dot of the base color. The index finger white base is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, the same white I used for the dots.

Tri-Polish Challenge: Dotticure

Nothing too crazy, just wanted to get back into the nail art game.

Tri-Polish Challenge: Dotticure

Check out the rest of the challenge participants here:



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Nail Art Challenges, NOTD

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Dollish Polish Team Salvatore

Who knows what tonight is?!?! That’s right, the premiere of The Vampire Diaries! Woo hoo!

So it’s only appropriate to bust out Dollish Polish Team Salvatore, an indie polish inspired by the show. In case you missed my supernatural nails post from the 30-Day Challenge where I professed my love for all things vampire, here’s my vampire-themed manicure from last month.

Dollish Polish Team Salvatore over A-England Morgan Le Fay

If for some reason you don’t watch, then all you need to know is that it’s a show full of beautiful people, nearly all of whom are either vampires, witches, werewolves or somehow otherwise touched by the supernatural. It focuses on a love triangle between a girl (maybe now a vampire?) and two vampire brothers whose last name is Salvatore. Hence, Team Salvatore — why should we have to choose? (But who’s kidding who: Damon, Damon, Damon.)

Dollish Polish Team Salvatore over A-England Morgan Le Fay

Back to the polish, I bought it back in August but have been saving it for today. It’s got a mix of red, black and silver glitter, some square, some hex, some micro, all in a clear base. Honestly it’s not a polish that I was in love with from bottle shots and swatches, but I really wanted it anyway. But seeing it now on my nails, I really love it.

Dollish Polish Team Salvatore over A-England Morgan Le Fay

I saw a lot of swatches of it over black and over red, and some over white. I considered gray, which I still think would look great, but at the last minute, my bottle of A-England Morgan Le Fay called to me. I liked the idea of using white but not having to deal with annoying white polish application problems. A-England goes on like a dream, plus Morgan Le Fay has a beautiful shimmer that I thought would complement the glitter.

Dollish Polish Team Salvatore over A-England Morgan Le Fay

So this is two coats of A-England Morgan Le Fay, and then two coats of Dollish Polish Team Salvatore. I topped it off with one coat of Gelous to help smooth out the glitter and then one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Dollish Polish Team Salvatore over A-England Morgan Le Fay

Dollish Polish is available via Dolly’s store on Big Cartel.

Hope you like this manicure, and go Team Salvatore!

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NOTD

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30 Day Challenge Day 17 – Glitter: Essie Set In Stones With OPI My Pointe Exactly

For the glitter theme of the 30 Day Challenge, I’m featuring a jelly sandwich. This has quickly become one of my favorite subtle-yet-flashy combinations.

Jelly Sandwich: Essie Set In Stones with OPI My Pointe Exactly

Jelly Sandwich: Essie Set In Stones with OPI My Pointe Exactly

The glitter is Essie Set In Stones, large, medium and small silver hex glitter in a clear base, which satisfies the 30 Days of Untrieds challenge I’m doing simultaneously.

Jelly Sandwich: Essie Set In Stones with OPI My Pointe Exactly

I started with two coats of OPI My Pointe Exactly, a sheer grey. I followed that with one coat of Essie Set In Stones and then another coat of My Pointe Exactly. There’s one coat of Poshe quick dry top coat to finish it off.

Jelly Sandwich: Essie Set In Stones with OPI My Pointe Exactly

Short and sweet, but pretty, don’t you think?

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month.
I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30-Day Challenge, NOTD

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30 Day Challenge Day 13 – Animal Print: Zebra French Manicure

It’s Day 13 of the 30 Day Challenge and we’re on to animal prints.

They say there’s a first time for everything. Today, it’s my first time with animal print on my nails. I trolled around online for inspiration and saw several zebra french manicures. I liked the idea but added some color instead of just going for black and white.

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

For the french manicure I used Kiss Nail Art Paint White (untried) for the tips, and then two coats of OPI Care To Danse? (untried), a light sheer pink.

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

I then used Sinful Colors Nail Art Sour Grapes, a neon magenta striping polish, to create the stripes. I stuck to the tips for all of my nails except on my ring finger, where I painted the stripes on the whole nail. For a little something extra I added one coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, silver matte hex glitter with silver shimmer in a clear base. I finished with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Zebra French Manicure with OPI Care To Danse? and Pirouette My Whistle

Not sure this is something I would ever have tried without this challenge, so I guess it’s good to expand my horizons!

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through! Click here to see them:



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30-Day Challenge, NOTD

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30 Day Challenge Day 1: Red – Savina Ruby and Hearts

Here we go! Today I’m embarking on my first-ever blog challenge, and actually not just one but two. I’m going for both the 30 Day Challenge and 30 Days of Untrieds, inspired by Rachel from Polished Criminails, who is doing the same.

Savina Ruby, Savina Hearts

Day 1’s theme is Red. Not only does this manicure include untried colors for me but also an untried brand, Savina, which is available at Nordstrom Rack. This mani includes:

  • Savina Ruby (untried)
  • Savina Hearts (untried)
  • NYC French White Tip (untried)

Savina Ruby, Savina Hearts, NYC French White Tip

Savina Ruby, Savina Hearts
For my nails I used two coats of Savina Ruby, followed by one coat of Poshe fast dry top coat. On the accent nails, I used three coats of NYC French White Tip, one coat of Savina Hearts and one coat of Poshe.

I didn’t think of myself as a fan of red nail polish, but I actually liked this one quite a bit once it was on. It’s more of a jelly polish with a red shimmer. It went on very smoothly and seemed to dry pretty quickly, though the finish was a little bit bumpy. Definitely needed the Poshe.

Savina Ruby, Hearts

White polish can often be tricky, and NYC French White Tip was no exception. First coat was extremely streaky, second mostly covered, third did the trick. I was a little disappointed with Savina Hearts. Since the bottle is jam-packed with heart-shaped glitter, I hoped it would go on with decent coverage. But that wasn’t the case for me. I had to fish out and place the glitter.

I tried dabbing; that didn’t work so well because I was just getting lots of the base with none of the hearts. In the end I grabbed a toothpick and used that to place them on the nail. It turned out a little messy.

Savina Hearts

Next time I will try to apply a coat of Savina Hearts that has no glitter at all, just so I can build up a good base of the iridescent shimmer first, and then fish out and place the hearts.

What do you think? Any tips and tricks for applying polishes with large glitter?

Please visit some of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day this month. I know we will need a lot of encouragement to get through!

30-Day Challenge, 30 Days of Untrieds

Click here to see all of the other bloggers that are participating in the 30 Day Challenge:


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30-Day Challenge, NOTD, Swatches

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Zoya Lotus With Pahlish Your Silver Lining

I recently nabbed a new indie, Pahlish’s Your Silver Lining, and have been dying to try it out. I bought it earlier this month at the end of a crap day not only because I liked it very much but also because I took some higher meaning from the name since I was at that very moment trying to find some silver lining in the midst of a bad situation. It felt like kismet.

Your Silver Lining is a shimmery, sheer, milky white polish with small holographic hex, square and bar glitter.

I paired it with another new-to-me shade, Lotus, from Zoya’s True Spring 2012 collection. Zoya describes it as a “dusty blue-toned amethyst purple with colorful shimmer that reflects pink, red and gold.” I’d say that’s a dead-on description.

The application on Zoya Lotus started out nice, but I swear that it got goopier as I went along, so it was a little challenging for me. This was a brand new bottle, first use. Still, I love this color; it has a lot of depth to it and isn’t a bright in-your-face purple.
Here’s Zoya Lotus by itself, two coats plus a top coat:

Zoya Lotus swatchZoya Lotus swatchZoya Lotus swatch
Your Silver Lining is a great shade for layering, but it did take a few tries to figure out how much I needed on the brush for optimal application. I had to fish around and dab to find and place the glitter where I wanted. As a result I ended up with much thicker coats than I intended on some nails, but I got better at it. You can see that my ring finger looks milkier than my middle finger.

The (male) trainer at my gym described this manicure as “whimsical but elegant.” I thought that was pretty funny, but I think it is an apt description.

Here’s Zoya Lotus  with one coat of Pahlish Your Silver Lining on top plus top coat:

Pahlish Your Silver Lining over Zoya LotusPahlish Your Silver Lining over Zoya Lotus

Pahlish is scheduled to launch today at Llarowe at 3pmET and again at 9pmET, so you might be able to grab Your Silver Lining there. Pahlish also has a shop on Etsy.

What nail polishes have you purchased recently more because of the name than the color?

Category:

Indies, NOTD

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NOTD: Mermaid-ish Manicure

Summer’s in full swing here, and the heat’s been rolling in. Thank goodness we have a pool! Just looking at that inviting blue water is enough to cool you down, which is what led to this water-inspired mani. This color combo of turquoise/green/blue brought mermaids to mind, especially with the sparkly aspect of the glitter.

This is two coats of Zoya Wednesday topped with a coat of Poshe. Zoya says Wednesday is best described as a “faded dirty medium turquoise with green undertone and an opaque cream finish.” Well ok then.

On the accent nails I added one coat of Color Club Fly With Me, a lime-green shimmer, and then I dabbed Revlon Radiant on the tips to about halfway down the nail. Radiant is a mix of micro and medium hex blue and turquoise glitter plus silver medium hex glitter in a clear base. Topped everything off with another coat of Poshe.

You can see from the pictures that I didn’t do the best job with the application of Fly With Me on the accent nails, but I don’t think it was as bad as depicted here. I think there was a fair amount of shrinkage near the cuticles overnight (did this at night, photographed the next morning). There’s just no way I was that off.

That aside, this was a really fun manicure to wear. I really love this color combo for summer.

What colors are you having fun wearing this summer?

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NOTD

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