Golden hearts

Today's manicure started out with a base of one of my most favorite red polishes - Zoya Carrie Ann.  It's a sparkly fire engine red and it just flows over the nail like a dream.  I used two coats for the base and let it dry thoroughly before I stamped it.

I told myself I wasn't going to pick up the Essie mirrored metallics.  One - because I tend to not like Essie's formula, and two - because I thought I had dupes of most of the colors in my stash.  (By the way, my boyfriend says I shouldn't call it a "stash" because it's way too big.  I should call it a 'hoard' instead - LOL)  I saw some of this line being used to stamp with though, I changed my mind and picked up 4 of the 5 colors available.  Bad me.  Bad.  I need to put myself on a makeup/nail polish purchase moratorium.   

Anyway, my first experience stamping with Essie Good as Gold was successful and here is the result. The stamp is BM 317 from their 2012 release.   Oh, and on the thumb I added some sparkle with Milani Red Sparkle One Coat Glitter.  I really love this glitter, but my bottle is half gone and it's starting to thicken a little.  Might be time to look for a backup bottle.  Let's face it - I just love red polish!

Well, I'm off to work for what's sure to be a brutal 'last day of the month' Tuesday.  Have a good one everyone!



Christmas Eve mani featuring Milani Gold

I have been feeling really uninspired lately regarding my manicures.  After a couple days pondering it, I finally decided on this as my holiday manicure for Christmas Eve.  I'm still undecided as to whether I'll remove it and do something different for Christmas Day or if I'll be too tired after all the festivities.

I wanted a yellow gold base instead of a white gold.  Does that make sense?  More of a true gold color.  I only have a couple gold foils in my collection so that limits my choices.  So for the base, I used one coat of Orly Glitz.   It went on very smoothly and one coat was pigmented enough for the base I needed. 

I wanted just a hint of holographic flash to poke out from underneath the glitter, so next I applied one coat of China Glaze Cleopatra.  This is a clear base with gold and holographic microglitter.  It's very sheer and the glitter is surprisingly sparse considering how saturated it looks in the bottle.  If you were using this alone you'd need to build it with several coats.

The crowning glory was Milani Gold and I used 2 coats. This is from their Rock Star Heavy Glitter line and is a clear base just packed with large gold hex glitter.  Very blingy.  The formula is a little thick and I find I have glitter glob buildup around the neck of the jar if I'm not careful.  You'll also need to use the 'push it around your nail' technique to distribute the glitter evenly.  Be sure to wait for your base coat to dry before applying a second coat or you'll just end up moving around the glitter from your first coat!

And thank you to Amanda at Fashion Footing for awarding us the "Glitter in Their Veins" award for mastering the art of glitter nail polish.  I definately am a glitter lover, but I'm not sure about my Amanda.  She's a work in progress :)  Btw have you noticed how many nail bloggers are named Amanda or Mandy? 

Sexy Red Half Moons

Hello all!

Today I wanted to do something simple, but pretty at the same time. What's a sexier color than red? Umm NOTHING! And what's sexier than sparkly glitter goodness? Again...NOTHING!!

I used clear binder reinforcement circles for the half moon guides and one coat of Milani Red Sparkle. Yes, one coat! They really ARE only one coat glitter polishes. Awesome.

Short post for today, but there's not much more to say! It's sexy yet simple me thinks.

Have a good one!

-Amanda

Colorful Explosions

Hi all! Today I have a super fun mani to show you guys! I wanted to try nailside's Explosion mani again since last time I tried I sort of failed. I wanted to do something colorful so I did skittles nails with a sort of gradient.

 

If you haven't already, check out Jane's tutorial. She can explain it much better than I can!!

Here are the colors I used... take a deep breath...

(from base to tips)
Pinky: Sally Hansen Pink Blink, Sally Hansen I Pink I Can, OPI Let Me Entertain You
Ring: China Glaze Refresh-Mint, Zoya Tangy, Orly Here Comes Trouble
Middle: Essie Nice is Nice, Sinful Verbena, Milani Purple Gleam
Pointer: China Glaze For Audrey, Sally Hansen Fairy Teal, Milani Blue Flash

Enlarge to see sparkley goodness

*pant pant* That's all of em! What do you think? I think this is so fun and colorful and sparkley but I don't think I'd ever be able to get it to look the same on my other hand :( It was definitely time consuming, but worth it!

Have a lovely day!

-Amanda

I call these...my diva nails

Hello! This not having a job thing sure leaves me a lot of time to do my nails...

These are definitely my "diva" nails. They're funky and sparkley and in your face and I think I really like them!

I started off by painting just the tips of my nails with Pure Ice's Super Star which is a really good white polish given the price. I only needed two coats to get it opaque! I applied SV over the white and waited a good 15 minutes, then taped off a diagonal on my nail with Scotch tape. I used Milani Purple Gleam over the tape to create the diagonal, applied more SV and waited another 10-15 minutes. Finally I taped off the opposite side of my nail and used the zebra print Konad plate in black special polish. Some of the tape lifted off when I was putting the purple on so I decided to use a silver striper to cover that up. I am so sneaky :)

Whad'ya think? Yay? Nay? I think these are so FIERCE! Rawr

-Amanda

Sally Hansen Shell We Dance over Milani Gems

I saw this on another blog and - I'm so sorry - I can't remember who inspired me to try this type of mani.  Once I figure it out I will post the site and give that person their proper credit :)

I'm just loving this mani so hard.  It's one coat of Milani Gems topped with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Shell We Dance.  Shell we Dance is a sheer pink creme and I didn't think I'd use it much when I bought it.  Turns out I may have to buy a backup bottle soon.  I'm having a love affair with Sally Hansen Salon Manicure line.  I've never had a single issue with their formula or application. 

This mani reminds me a little of Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air - only pink based.  My hands look like cotton candy - I want to eat 'dem!

Love or hate?