Extreme Matte Flakey Goodness

Guys...I might have gone overboard on pictures with this one. It's just so....pretty...and sparkly...!!

You know how I feel about doing nail art after nail art after nail art. I just don't like it -- I like to have something plain(ish) between manis. So this was my solution to "plain mani" -- three coats of a flakey polish over a dark green! Most people would just pick a light pink if they were going for "plain"....

Anyway, I started with two coats of Finger Paints Scenery Greenery. It's a pretty dark forest green, but man my bottle has gotten thick :( I hate it when you open a bottle of polish after not using it for a while only to find that it's practically chunkified. I topped that with two coats of Finger Paints Twisted which...OMG. I guess I never got the full effect of this polish because I've only ever used it over light colors. But over this dark green?! Wow!

 

Then I just had to see what it looked like mattified because I LOVE the look of matte flakies. And yes....I may have put on a matte top coat and taken pictures of it in my car on my lunch break....

What do you guys think of my mattified flakey mani? Love it or hate it? I happen to LOVE the way this came out!

Who's ready for the weekend? I AM I AM! Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday...

Berry Flakey Goodness

I received all five of the Finger Paints special effects flakies last week from my mom, and have just now gotten around to using them! I know, I know. Blasphemy at its finest.

For this mani I used a base color of Zoya Jacy. If you've been following Mad Manis for quite some time, you've probably heard me say time and time again how much I love this color. Well, for those of you who haven't: I. LOVE. THIS. COLOR!! I love berry shades, but this ones a bit different.  If you look closely in the bottle picture, you can see little teeny tiny particles of a purpley shimmer! The application on this was a little runny for a Zoya polish, but I can handle it because I love this polish so much. Zoya had one of the best berry shades of all time. OF ALL TIME!! (Kanye reference, anyone?)

 

The flakey polish I used over this is Finger Paints Asylum. Asylum is the prettiest of the bunch -- it has little flakey particles that flash blue and green and orange and yellow and it's just like a shredded flakey rainbow of goodness on my nails! I used two coats of Asylum for these pictures.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Finger Paints Flecked

Hello everyone.  I'm happy to be well enough to post again, as the last 2 weeks has been a real challenge for me.  The flu has really knocked me on my butt - I was sick in bed for 6 full days.  By the time I was beginning to feel a little bit better, I had to prepare for Amanda's visit to Boston.  We had only 3 glorious days together before she and her brother returned to Indy.

My nails have taken a beating this winter.  Since November they've been in terrible shape - first from all the packing and moving/lifting heavy boxes, coupled with the cold weather and being sick (I broke 2 on my picture hand one night as I stumbled to the bathroom) - I've had to cut them down to nubs again.  So until they grow back out you'll have to live with my non picture hand nubbins.

I did manage to score two complete sets of the Finger Paints Special Effects flakies yesterday.  The one I'm showcasing today is Flecked - which is a green flakie that flashes blue in some lighting.  Here I have layered it over OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow, which is a deep forest green.

I used two coats for my pictures, but the flakies are very dense and one coat will actually cover quite nicely.  With the small amount I used (even using 2 coats) I can tell this polish will last me a while.  The special effects polishes are meant for layering, and although you can use them over any color, applying over dark colors is where they really shine.  I did experience a little bit of tip shrinkage which was most likely caused by the SV top coat.

Day 27: Inspired by artwork

Only 4 more days in the challenge! Thank goodness because I am getting wiped out! Today's theme is inspired by artwork. I didn't have the patience to do something extreme like Starry Night, so I did this love sculpture by Robert Indiana.

The base color for this is China Glaze Caribbean Blue and the green is Finger Paints Scenery Greenery. I freehanded the letters with red acrylic paint. I think it turned out pretty well, just wish I had gotten a better picture of it!

There is a copy of Indiana's Love sculpture at the Indiana Museum of Art here. So much Indiana!

Happy Sunday!

A for effort...F for execution

Hello! Today I had an idea for henna nails. I saw a tutorial on Robin Moses's nail art channel on youtube (if you want to check it out, here is her channel...she is AWESOME) for a henna design and it inspired me a little bit. I wanted to do something a little more simple though.

To start with, I used three coats of Finger Paints Blank Canvas Cream. I've only ever used this color once and I wasn't a big fan of it, but now, I think I miiiight kind of like it. It gives me mannequin hands, but I don't know. I feel like it works for me as something really neutral. I could probably wear this to an office job and not be obnoxious.

Now this is where I failed. I looked up some henna designs online so I didn't look like I was just making everything up...but the execution of these sucks and I know that. I debated even putting these pictures up, but maybe someone else can do something better with it. I think the problem was that I didn't have a good, thin brush so I had to use toothpicks and a dotting tool along with a black striper polish for the longer lines. I think given better materials, this would've looked a lot better.

Not my worst...but not my best. What do you think?

--Amanda

Happy Birthday (Nails) To Me!

Sundays usually aren't my day to post, but I couldn't wait to get these up! My birthday is tomorrow, and I wanted to do something special and fun for it on my nails. So, I decided to do cupcakes and a Happy Birthday polish dupe! I know cupcakes aren't too original as they're done a lot...but gosh darnit, they're so cute (I think so at least). I started off with FingerPaints Watermelon Watercolor on all my nails except my pointer and ring fingers. I used Petites Periwinkle as the purple background on those fingers, and painted WmWc on the bottom as the base for the cupcakes. The white frosting is your basic acrylic paint and the sprinkles are made with China Glaze Solar Power, China Glaze Caribbean Blue, and Zoya Sooki. I topped the other nails with Ulta's Pinata-Yada-Yada which is pretty much an exact dupe for Lippmann's Happy Birthday (see The PolishAholic's comparison here).

I think these are so stinkin' cute. What do you think? Tomorrow I turn 22.. AHH! I'm a big girl now :(

Studio M Magic Attraction

I saw these polishes at my local Meijer. I'm not familiar with the brand so spent some time online trying to find information. The information I did find has not been validated, but apparently this is distributed by Forsythe Cosmetic group - the same company that makes Color Club. I can neither confirm or deny that allegation. The bottle says its exclusively distributed so I think that it exclusive to Meijer stores only (I are smart).

I started out with a base color of Finger Paints I Pink I Can. I like this color pink. I hate this polish. It's gloopy, streaky and dries with air bubbles in it. I don't know if its my bottle or all FP lacquers are like this. I only used it because I needed this particular shade of pink. This is the only semi-postable pic I got of this color because the others look so awful.

Now here's where the magic comes in. In the bottle this polish looks like a soft pink base with holo microglitter floating in it. Eye catching, but nothing that would make me say Wow. On the nail - all bets are off! It kinda reminds me of OPI Teenage Dream only the glitter is a little more dense and TD is in a pink base whereas MA is in a clear base. It applied and covered well, no problems with streaking but you have to be careful to spread the glitter out. Because it's so dense, it nearly obscures the base color. But wow - it looks like I literally dipped my fingers in crushed diamonds. I did not apply a top coat because I was swatching to smooth out the surface but - Loved this! LOVE! I'm so happy I bought it! I can just hear the Crocodile Hunter in my head saying "GORGEOUS! GORGEOUS!"

It was hard catching the sparkle-iciousness of this polish. Pictures just don't do it justice. It's one of those polishes you have to stop, hold your hand up and admire every few minutes. Oh, and sorry about that fiber clinging to my middle finger. Didn't even see that little sucker till I was reviewing the pics. Whoops.

Blurry pics to show the holo

Win. Win. And did I mention Win?

The Wearin' O' The Green

We decided to do a St. Patty's Day post for you all showcasing the greens in our combined collection. This is not all of them, but quite a few that we have collected.

Sinful Irish Green - This is the GREENEST green I have ever seen. It's a bright kelly green, and exactly the color I think of when I think of St. Patrick's Day. It's a sheer polish, and takes multiple coats to get it opaque. Even with 4 coats I could still see my nail tips. The picture isn't very color accurate - this is a very bright almost neon green.

Sinful Green Ocean over Irish Green - This is a thick glitter topcoat with flakes of green and blue in it. It went on really gloopy but I do like it.

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover - This green has just a touch of a blue/tealish hint to it. It was categorized with the greens at Sally's Beauty Supply but I'd refer to it more as a "greal". It goes on smooth, like all China Glaze lacquers.

Sally Hansen Grass Slipper - I think Sally Hansen is probably my favorite polish formula but; like many others, I'm not sure I like the brush. Grass Slipper is one of my favorites. It's an unusual shade of yellow green.

Zoya Tangy - This is a luscious bright light green shimmer that reminds me of a Honeydew Melon. I got this one in my 3 free promotion from Zoya. The formula is great, easy to apply and dries fast.

China Glaze Refresh Mint - This is the color I ended up using today for my full manicure. It's a yummy light mint green just the color of mint chocolate chip ice cream or spearmint chewing gum!

Zoya Ivanka - Pretty sparkly, glittery green. Application on this was a breeze -- I've never had any application problems with Zoya polishes.

Finger Paints Scenery Greenery - A dark, forest green. Application was decent, I seem to have problems with Finger Paints colors applying easily. But the color is nice. Sorry about the little oopsie clean-up on the middle finger.

Wet 'n' Wild Sage In The City - A light green shimmer. Application was nice. I like the brushes on these WnW polishes because they're big and easy for me to cover my whole nail with. I understand that some people don't like the wider brushes, though. Pretty, just not really my color.

Revlon Beach - This is one of Revlon's scented polishes. Why is it called beach? It doesn't smell like a beach. Actually it doesn't smell like much of anything recognizable... just stinks. I prefer the chemical smell of regular polish over this stuff. Anyway, this is a yellow-green shimmer color that I REALLY hate. I dunno if it's an ugly color, or if it just doesn't look good on me. But I DON'T like this.

China Glaze Entourage - A bright, shimmery green color.