A girl and her love of nail polish

Archive for October, 2012

Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge: Mummy Water Marble

I couldn’t come up with anything unique for Day 4 of the Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge from datyorkLOVES/Sassy Nails, so I modeled my mummy nails after my favorite version, from Colette at My Simple Little Pleasures, who is the queen of water marble nail art.

Obviously mine do not compare to hers, but I did give it the old college try. I tried to model my color choices on the ones she features in the video tutorial, but I realized after the fact that mine actually had too much white in it. Having more of the ivory and brown shades is what makes hers look more like mummy wrapping.

Mummy water marble Halloween nail art

For mine I started with two coats of Ulta Snow White as the base. I also used it for the water marble, along with Megan Miller Lemon Ice (which I mistakenly thought would come across a ivory) and Essie Mink Muffs, which is one of my favorite brown shades. I added one coat of Poshe quick-dry top coat at this point.Mummy water marble Halloween nail art

For the eyes, I applied Orly Liquid Vinyl, a black creme, using a small nail art brush. For the eyeballs, I used the head of a pin for the larger dots and a small dotting tool for the smaller dots, Ulta Snow White and Ulta Steppin Out. I finished it with one coat of a regular top coat.

Mummy water marble Halloween nail art

As far as the water marble goes, I think I actually had sections that looked better than what I was able to get onto the nails, but that’s just one of the many challenging aspects of water marbling that I have yet to conquer. I dipped multiple nails at one time on this one, so not sure if that helped because it was quicker or hurt because I might have gotten better design placement if I had been doing one at a time.

Mummy water marble Halloween nail art

When you do water marbling, do you usually do multiple nails at once? If so, any tips?

Nail-aween Halloween Nail Art Challenge

Check out all of the NailAween Nail Art Artists!

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Holiday, NOTD

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Restock Radar: Week of Oct. 22

Here’s a look at some of the indie nail polish restocks scheduled for this week. Check back every Monday to see what’s coming up.

Monday, October 22
morning (time not specified)
NAILD’IT UNIQUE NAIL POLISH (On Etsy)
Notables: Shop will be open for one day, including a restock of Ghost Hunt (glow-in-the-dark with iridescent micro glitter and large neon pink, blue, green and orange matte glitter in a gray jelly base)

DARING DIGITS (On DDpolish.com)
time not specified
Notables: Launch of new Daring Duos sets of limited edition/seasonal polishes, along with the launch of a new online shop.The first two Daring Duos available are Lilac Carnival and Blueberry Butter

Saturday, October 27
5pmET
HAPPY HANDS NAIL POLISH (On Etsy)
Notables: New bottles, new labels, new price point: $10

Steals and Deals
ALL THAT GLITTERS is having a sale in honor of reaching 2400 likes on Facebook. Use the coupon code 2400LIKES to receive 24 percent off your order until Tuesday, October 23 at 12am.

SHIMMER POLISH is having a sale in honor of reaching 1500 likes. Use the coupon code FACEBOOK to receive 15 percent off your order through Sunday, October 28.

STARRY EARTH Halloween polishes are on sale for $7 this week or until they run out:.

WHOOZ POLISH is having a grand opening sale. Use the code WHOOZOPEN for 10 percent off your order.

And Keep An Eye Out For …
CHAOS AND CROCODILES revealed pictures of the Winter 2012 prototypes on Facebook.  No word yet on when they will be available.

Same for AMY’S NAIL BOUTIQUE.

DOLLISH POLISH plans to launch a line of nail polish jewelry:

F4 POLISH is prepping a new Disney-inspired collection.

If you know of any planned restocks coming in the future, please let me know at polishgroupie@gmail.com Thanks for stopping by!

Category:

Indies

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Lynnderella Mercury’s Rainbow

I know there are a lot of people out there that have written off indie polish maker Lynnderella after a lot of controversial stuff went down (weird blog rants, awkward breakup with Llarowe, nepotism), but I hadn’t gotten ahold of one before all of the nonsense, and I really feel like you can’t call yourself a true collector of indie polish without at least one Lynn in your stash.

So I’ve been semi-stalking the Lynnderella Ebay site, where she occasionally lists single bottles with the buy-it-now option. A few weeks ago I saw that Mercury’s Rainbow was available and decided to pull the trigger.

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

Lynnderella Mercury’s Rainbow has holographic hex glitter and holo micro glitter in a shimmery gray base. I’m showing here one coat over two coats of Sinful Colors Slate, which is a medium gray with frosty silver shimmer. It’s topped of with one coat of Poshe fast-dry top coat.

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

The application was good for me. It went on smoothly and had tons of glitter, no fishing required.

Lynnderella Mercury's Rainbow over Sinful Colors Slate

It was so fun to wear and was so beautiful and sparkly in different lighting. I must say, I do love it very much. These photos don’t do it justice. I’m not sure it’s worth the $23 price tag, but if this turns out to be the only Lynnderella polish I ever get, I’m ok with it being this one.

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Indies, Swatches

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Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge: Bloody Nails

Here’s my Day 3 entry for the Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge from datyorkLOVES/SassyNails. There are 10 themes, and I have to complete all of them by the end of October, but other than that, it’s self-paced.

Halloween Nail Art: Blood Smears

Today’s theme is bloody nails. I tried to do something a little different here since there are so many creepy examples out there of Halloween manicures or vampire-themed nail art featuring drippy and splattered blood. I went for smears instead, as if someone had smeared blood on a wall.

Halloween Nail Art: Blood Smears

I started with two coats of OPI Berlin There Done That, a nice neutral taupe that I thought could very easily stand in for a wall color.

Then I used Ulta Steppin Out for the blood smears. I think both the color and the thicker consistency of this polish mimic real blood.

Halloween Nail Art: Blood Smears

My technique on this was to drop some of the red polish onto a piece of wax paper. I then used the straight edge of a piece of paper and dragged it through the polish, then dragged it across the nail. In some cased I dragged left to right, other times dragged downward.

Nail-aween Halloween Nail Art Challenge

Check out all of the NailAween Nail Art Artists!

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Holiday, NOTD

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Polish Us Pink – Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK

Polish Us Pink Breast Cancer AwarenessIt’s the middle of October, which means breast cancer awareness month is in full swing. Several nail polish bloggers have organized the Polish Us Pink campaign, through which they will be posting pink manicures on Mondays throughout the month to help raise awareness. I’m joining in with swatches of Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK.

The polish is inspired by the film Mean Girls, and it’s really cute. It’s got a milky pink base with different shades and sizes of pink glitter.

Different Dimensions On Wednesday's We Wear PINK indie nail polish

This is one coat of Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK over one coat of Ulta Snow White, plus one coat of Gelous top coat. The polish is pretty gritty on it’s own.

Different Dimensions On Wednesday's We Wear PINK indie nail polish

One thing to note, I was expecting it to be more opaque because of other swatches and reviews I had seen, but my bottle is pretty sheer. For comparison, my thumb here has two coats of Different Dimension On Wednesday’s We Wear PINK by itself.

Different Dimensions On Wednesday's We Wear PINK indie nail polish

Polishes from Different Dimension are available via Etsy.

For more about breast cancer, please visit  the breast cancer page on the American Cancer Society’s Web page, which has lots of information about mammograms, treatment and how to get involved with the fight for a cure.

Here’s a look at some of the other bloggers participating in Polish Us Pink. Please click here to see them:



Category:

Indies, Swatches

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Restock Radar: Week of Oct. 15

Here’s a look at some of the indie nail polish restocks scheduled for this week. Check back every Monday to see what’s coming up.

Wednesday, October 17
between 8pmET and 10pmET
CANDY LACQUER (On Big Cartel)
Notables: Restocking Sugar Skulls (white and pink hearts, yellow flowers, white, pink, teal, yellow, green and opal hex glitter) plus other shades

Friday, October 19
1pmET
SERUM No. 5 (On Etsy)
Notables: Restock of Day Glow (lemon ice glow-in-the-dark) as well as some sold-out colors, including Girl’s Gotta Eat (gold, silver and holo hex glitter)

time not specified
PAHLISH (On Etsy)
Notables: Launch of new Collage of Senselessnes – Bright Eyes fall collection, which are described as Stroke of Luck (formula still being finalized); Goldmine, Gutted (sheer shimmery gold base, metallic gold/copper glitter, matte black glitter, gold shimmer), Lonesome Ocean (dusty midnight blue jelly base, copper and pink shimmer, copper/orange/berry metallic glitter, teal matte glitter); Your Lover is an Actress (dusty purple jelly base, red/copper/berry/blue metallic glitter, purple microflakies, translucent/iridescent blue small hex) and Your Possible Heart (sheer ruby red base with red, orange, berry and purple glitter)

Plus Typewriter Keys and Endless Static Sea on sale for $7 until stock runs out.

And Keep An Eye Out For …

THE NAIL JUNKIE is now selling her Cutie Balm hand-blended cuticle treatment as a standalone item in her shop. A 0.5oz jar costs $3.

F4 POLISH recently previewed four holiday shades on Facebook

If you know of any planned restocks coming in the future, please let me know at polishgroupie@gmail.com Thanks for stopping by!

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Indies

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Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge: Matte Dotticure

So this is my Day 2 post for the Nail-aween Nail Art Challenge from datyorkLOVES/Sassy Nails. There are 10 themes, and I have to complete all of them by the end of October, but other than that, it’s self-paced.

Today’s theme is a matte dotticure. I was really happy with the way this one came out, and it was really fun to wear.

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

I started with two coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl on all of my nails except my ring finger, which is two coats of China Glaze Riveting.

I added one coat of Poshe quick-dry top coat. As I did, some of the China Glaze Riveting transferred to the brush and then to my nail as I was painting the next black nail, and it left behind a bit of the orange shimmer. I really loved the way it looked, so I decided to do some minor frankening: I mixed a bit of the two colors together on some wax paper and then painted that on top of the black nails so they’d all have a bit of the orange shimmer on them. Topped all of that off with Poshe when I was finished.

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

Then I added dots. I started with Ulta Snow White dots using the head of a pin, then used a small dotting tool for the inner dots: black on the orange nail, orange on the black nails. The accent nail almost looks like a bunch of googly eyes, don’t you think?

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

To make it matte, I added one coat of Essie Matte About You. Unfortunately I didn’t let it dry long enough before I applied it, and it smeared some of the dots. 😦 The matte effect wasn’t very strong, perhaps I needed to add more.

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

Here’s a look at the manicure before I added the matte top coat.

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

Halloween Dotticure Dotting Nail Art with China Glaze Riveting

Nail-aween Halloween Nail Art Challenge

Check out all of the NailAween Nail Art Artists!

Category:

Holiday, NOTD

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