China Glaze Electric Beat Dot Mani

I'm really digging the whole dot manicure thing and trying to get the most out of all the nail polish I have and my tools.  The payoff is so good for such little effort.

I had picked up China Glaze Electric Beat at Sally's because it was on clearance and loved it so much, I couldn't bear to take it off, but at the same time I was getting bored.  So I figured the best was to get some freshness and added longevity to Electric Beat was to go dot.

I used Electric Beat as my base.

such a preeeetty blue!

Then picked out a few colors in my stash that I thought would compliment it. 

OPI DS Coronation, Revlon Blue Lagoon, CG Electric Beat, Butter London Victoriana

I used a piece of foil and folded it in half to make it a little more stiff and dropped a pool of the first color I was going to use, which was Blue Lagoon.  I dotted all my nails using the same polish keeping in mind the design I wanted and then let dry.  I keep a cotton ball with acetone on it in the corner of my foil to wipe the tips of my dotting tools so that they don't get globby.  If the pool of polish starts to dry, I just drop another little pool on the foil.  I noticed that applying the dots with the "side" of the tool vs straight down on the tip seems to be more effective in getting a nice dot shape.

Then I switched to Victoriana and finally Coronation.  I let everything dry completely before apply a topped of SV.  

Hope you like it.  

Until next time.  ☺

Nails Inc Sprinkles Collection - Pudding Lane

So I thought that Sweets Way won the race in the Nail Inc Sprinkles Collection, but I was wrong, VERY wrong.  Pudding Lane is AWESOME!  It is so stunning - I can't stop looking at my nails!  Let's see what you think.

Per Sephora.com, Pudding lane is described as "teal with navy and gold sprinkles".

Let me warn you, the brush for this polish is very thick so you think you're going to have a hard time with the application, but it really wasn't too bad.  I was able to control things fairly well.  For this manicure, I used  my Orly Bonder base, 2 coats of Pudding Lane and 2 coats of SV on top to smooth it all out.  I'm on my 4th day with this manicure and it's still holding strong - Next to no tip wear at all.  

My boss told me it reminded her of the pools at Hearst Castle.  I agree!

photo from  http://blog.aaronmphotography.com

So has Pudding Lane convinced you that you NEED a new nail polish and this is the one your gonna get?  You can find the Nails Inc Sprinkles Collection at Sephora or Nails Inc for $9.50 a pop.

Until next time.  ☺

FLOAM by Nail-Venturous via Ninja Polish

This is Floam.

Time to play!!

Do I really need to say anything about this polish?  It obviously looks like good old-fashioned Floam.

photo via  http://mamasmiles.com/blog

This is a polish I have been lemming for some time and it happens to be the kind of polish that's always sold out.  So I was a Ms. Smartie McSmartington and put myself on the restock e-mail list for this polish and Cover Band's Sticks N Stones, which allowed me to finally score a bottle.  It arrived last week with squeals of joy.

Here it is up close and personal:

For my mani, I put on  a base coat of Orly Bonder and then 3 coats of Floam.  It's a little thick and tricky and I realized after applying it that it can get a bit patchy too.  I think next time I apply it I will start applying the 1st coat from left to right on the nail and then for the 2nd coat I'll go right to left and so on for the 3rd coat.  I'm hoping that will kind of even things out.  Drying time was pretty quick considering the thickness.  I topped Floam off with 2 coats of SV to smooth it out, otherwise it would have had that sandpaper feel that, as you know, is unbearable.  In order to maximize it, you may want to start with a similar colored green or blue base coat and then build it up from there.  I opted to not use a base color because I wanted to see how much coverage it provided alone and obviously it's pretty darn good.  

Floam can be found, when it's in stock, @ NinjaPolish.  It's a little pricey at $9.00 for a bottle + shipping, but for a completely original indie polish like this, I think it's worth it.  

What do you think?  Would you pay the price for this little gem of a polish?  Have you ever bought an indie brand polish before?  If not, would you? 

Until next time. ☻

4th of July Mani - Lush Lacquer Midnight Affair + Essence Walk on Air

No time for jibber jabber tonight.  I'm going to try to head off to snoozeville early, but wanted so badly to share my beautiful new polish from Lush Lacquer called Midnight Affair.  It's glittery sparkle sweetness in a bottle.  I paired this baby up with a new Essence I picked up at Ulta a few weeks ago called Walk on Air (99¢ never looked so good!) and thought they really would make a nice couple.  So I married them.  

Here's is their blissful union in pictures...

I started out a base coat of Orly Bonder, then 2 coats of Walk on Air.  I didn't use a top coat for the following pics of Walked on Air solo.  It shines that nicely all on it's own.  My thumb has 3 coats because I had an oops moment I had to repair.  Great drying time, no fuss application, even with the teeny tiny bottle.   This is just the right blue for the holiday too.  :)  

I topped Walk on Air off with a single coat of Midnight Affair.  This polish is so glitter packed, it doesn't need much help.  The long skinny pieces are less desirable at the top of the nail, so I did pull those off if they were sticking out to make sure nothing hung off the edge of my nail.  It's also a tad thick, which made me a little nervous at first, but it was for nothing because I was able to control the application extremely well.  Drying time was pretty quick - a few minutes.  I used a top coat of SV to smooth everything out and voila!  A patriotic mani in no time at all.

FIREWORKS!!! Boom! Pow!

WOWIE WOW!!!

Oooooh!!!  Aaaah!!!

Lush Lacquer is an indie polish brand that you can buy on Etsy here: Shop @ Lush Lacquer.  Their full size polishes go for $8.75 each (+ shipping) and they also have a mini bottle sampler deal where you can pick any 4 of their custom blends for $19.00.  All I can say is there are plenty of wonderific glitter combos to choose from, so get 'em while their hot. 

Happy 4th everybody!  Until next time.

Revlon Blue Lagoon + Deborah Lippmann Happy B-day Jelly Sandwich

A new trend in nail polishing these days is called the "jelly sandwich".  I don't know who started it, but I'm a big fan because I now have a new purpose for my glitter polishes.

Here is my second go at a jelly sandwich using Revlon's Blue Lagoon and Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday.  The end result reminds me of Revlon's Whimsical, but better.   I invite you to follow my middle finger on its sandwich journey....

Here are the products:

Revlon Blue Lagoon

Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday

I started with a base coat of Orly Bonder, then 2 thin coats of Blue Lagoon.

Then a coat of Happy Birthday...

 Followed by another thin coat of Blue Lagoon and a coat of SV.

I am totally digging this manicure.  I have been wearing it for almost 5 days, which is practically unheard of for me as I usually change my nail polish every other day.  I love that it's so light and summery looking.  Blue Lagoon is really a stunning color.  Revlon has been hitting them out of the park lately.  My boss nailed it when she said it reminded her of those robin speckled chocolate eggs they sell at Easter time.

What do you think?  Will you be trying your own jelly sandwich and if so, what colors/glitters will you be using?

Until next time!

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe - Glitterfest

I have been a very bad blogger.  I started this blog with the intention of posted daily and sharing my love for all things polish, but unfortunately good old life gets in the way.  :(

So after much time here is a long overdue one dedicated to one gorgeous polish - Deborah Lippman's Across the Universe.  I love love love love this polish.  It's has an almost midnight blue base and has hexagonal pieces of blue and green glitter and then also teeny tiny blue microglitter. The description on her website is "blazing blue and metallic green glam in sheerest navy (glitter)".  It's so pretty the way the glitter looks suspended in the base and actually builds up quite nicely.  I believe this was four coats and even though you can still kind of see a little bit of VNL, it's of no consequence.

The other thing I adore about this polish is the name - Across the Universe is hands down my favorite Beatles song of all time.  

Now I'm not going to lie, Deborah Lippmann polishes are what I would call an "investment" because they are pretty pricey (to me, anyway) at as little as $15.50 a bottle to $18.00 a bottle, but if you can't find a good dupe, it's worth it, I say.  I have not seen a dupe for this baby as of yet.  Revlon seems to be the "go to" brand for a good handful of DL glitter polishes.  

Here you go:  

Icing Magnetix - Magnetic Nail Polish from Icing

I was lucky enough to get the heads up today from one of my favorite polish bloggers, the PolishAholic, that the accessory store, Icing, was selling magnetic nail polish.  Of course, I ran to the mall immediately and picked up their last 4 magnetic polishes, of which I did a quick skittle swatch for you today to get a peek.  They were buy 1 get 1 half off, regular price $9.00 each and there are four different colors, none of which have names on the bottles. 
All of these are 2 coats and the blue one has a top coat of SV as it looks a little on the dull/matte side without it.

So what do you think?  I think you can't beat the price considering the Layla magnetic polishes I bought were $15.50 a pop via internet order and they didn't have the nice little mess up guard on the caps like these do.  I know China Glaze has their magnetic collection coming out soon, but I am not sure what the pricing will be like on those.  I have a feeling they'll be around $12.50 or so, but I hope they are less.  I like that I achieved full coverage in 2 coats and that these the colors and designs are interesting enough.  My favorite was the pink/rosie one and it's squiggle design, followed by the gold one (which looks way more cool in person).  Now the one negative I do have about these was the brushes.  In a nutshell, they sucked.  They were all wonkey and twisted up.  I think out of the 4, only one was normal. Despite this, I managed to get around the irregularity pretty easily, especially since right now my nails are so short (due to a middle finger nail casualty I suffered last week). 
I really hope you can find these gems for yourself.  If you can't find them right away due to sell-out, the sales girl my local Icing told me that it was their first shipment of Magnetix, so I imagine they'll be restocking soon.  I also observed that Icing actually has a pretty damn good selection of polishes and nail skins that are very reasonably priced.  Who would have thunk it?  Not me.  I avoid the mall like I avoid people with the sniffles.  I still haven't tried nail skins, so that just might be something I'll pick up on my next haul. 
Edit - so apparently the magnetic cap on these polishes pops off so that you don't have to struggle flipping over a loaded brush with cap and hovering it over your wet nail bed. Bonus points!!!!

Btw,  today's nail haul included 3 American Apparels I've been jonesing for, 2 of the new Special Effects flakeys from Finger Paints that I picked up at Sally's and a new butter London from their spring collection, that I grabbed at Dillard's.  I can't wait to get all these swatched soon!

Until next time...