W: Whirled Away and Re-fresh Mint, China Glaze

Well. I had some ambitious plans to do a water marble mani for W, but that failed at that. So here was my back up, a glitter, from the Cirque du Soleil collection.

Whirled Away, China Glaze.

Re-fresh Mint, China Glaze.


Below is my failed attempt at water marbling.  I had tape all the way around my finger, but I had it on so long I got tired of it and took it off.  Now I know why everyone tapes the sides of their fingers.  Anyhow. I spent an hour trying to get a suitable marble pattern in the water.

My problem was the polish kept setting too quickly.  I don't know if it was the polish or I was just not working fast enough..... I watched a bunch of videos, and tried a bunch of different polishes, no luck. I also used room temperature tap water, then tried room temperature filtered water.  It did not seem to make a difference.  I had to give up.  I may try again later.

I have new found respect for ladies that can water marble!

The base color is Orly's After Party in case you are wondering.  Sinful colors Savage is the marbling color I really wanted to work with.

Well that is it for today.

Razzle Me Dazzle Me - China Glaze, Glitter Tips w/ Fresh Paint Coconut

I have to say I've been loving this manicure.  

This is Razzle Me Dazzle Me, just on the tips and accent nail.

Below is a bottle shot.  Various black and light gold glitters.

Below is my right hand, with glitter on all the tips, no accent nail.

AND..... a simple swatch of Fresh Paint's Coconut.   Two easy coats, very nice formula, thick and pigmented. Coconut is an off white with peach undertones.  This makes my skin look really tan and the polish looks really bright, stark almost.

Fresh Paint can be found at Five Below, a junk store where everything is $5 or below. Color Club, or Forsynthe Cosmetics is the maker of Fresh Paint.  These are cheap around $2 a bottle, technically they are 3 for $5.

Enjoy!

P: Peaceful Opposition, Orly

Hey there! Quick ABC challenge post today. Here is Peaceful Opposition, by Orly, from the 2013 Hope and Freedom collection.  A sheer white polish with silver hex and square glitters.  The formula doesn't level out very well so it looks a bit streaky but that's the norm for these milky sheers. I just did one coat under a top coat. Super fast mani with no cuticle clean up. Gotta love that.

So that is it for today. Check out the other ladies below!

Essence - Prismatic White

Hey there! 

Just the other day I walked into another manager's office and saw posted:

"Small minds talk about people.

Mediocre minds talk about events.

Great minds talk about ideas."

So has anyone been following Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise divorce?  I'm so disappointed in the swift divorce with very little details!  JK!  I was rooting for Katie Holmes and I think she pretty much won, thankfully.  Scientology is a cult.  Yes, sometimes I am small minded. I can't help it!

ANYWAYS, today I have another soft work mani to show you, Essence's Prismatic White.  This is two coats.

Prismatic White is very similar to Galaeletric except its not as sheer, and has a white base instead of purple.  There's a duochrome shimmer that flashes mostly blue and sometimes pink at a sharp angle.  Sheer but bright, feels good for a hot summer.

I haven't abandoned my glitters I just need a day off!  Plus my AC is out, and I don't want to even know how much its going to cost to fix or what the heck is wrong with it.  Anyone else having a crappy summer? 

Share in the comments section.

Chevron French with Beverly Hills Plum

Hello out there!

Here is this week's simple work mani.  Instead of traditional smile lines we have V shaped tips.  This was quite striking, a few people wanted to touch and inspect my nails.

Orly's Beverly Hills Plum adds a nice healthy rosy glow to my nail beds.  Natural but enhanced.  Orly is known to add "optical brighteners" to their polishes and I noticed as I was applying Beverly Hills Plum, it has a tiny sparkle to it. 

Well here are my naked nails to compare.

Eeeek!  The tips are yellow! I look like a chain smoker!  Let's cover those up shall we?

I've tried a bunch of different base coats, none of them really work to prevent staining.  I've been wearing Orly's Nail Defense a protein treatment then Orly's Bonder as a base for every manicure for the last month and a half.  I'm still evaluating if that is working or not.....

For a Chevron tutorial look under the How to tab.  Or click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Revlon Colorstay Longwear - Calla Lily

Calla Lily (CL) is a super sheer white with a golden shimmer.  I layered two coats of Calla Lily over Orly's sheer beauty (plain sheer white) and here's how it turned out.

I skipped the colorstay topcoat and just used Revlon's quick dry topcoat instead, which worked out fine.

In some pictures you can see my yellow tips, I think the gold shimmer kind of accentuates that.  I keep buying polishes that do that.... I don't know why but, I don't really think that clearly when I'm in the store.  I just think "oh your pretty, I'm going to buy you..." 

Next time I'll try this over another polish.  I hate opaque white polishes, they seem so stark to me and I keep thinking it looks like I played around in the office with white out.  So that's why I didn't layer this over a solid white. 

Overall it's not bad at all, it will be one of my go to work manicures.

Thoughts?

China Glaze - Moonlight

Here is this week's simple and clean work mani.  CG's Moonlight a medium sheer milky white polish.  I wear Orly's Sheer Beauty, from time to time, which is very similar to this polish but it is more sheer than Moonlight.  Easy to apply, excellent smooth formula.

Two coats.

I did the accent finger with Ulta's glitter top coat.
A subtle way to sneak some glitter into my work day... ssshh.

Moonlight might be more sheer without Orly's nail armor, underneath. 



What I used.

Unlike hklinda, at the Lacquer Room who likes to wear her polish with out "undies" sometimes. I must be the opposite, I wear thick, full coverage grandma "undies" - Orly's Nail Armor.  Orly recommends two coats of nail armor, which has silk fibers in it and also functions as a ridge filler.   I don't have any ridges but right now my thumb nail has a big crack in it, below the nail line, so I'm using Nail Armor.  I don't want to deal with tea bags or glue or whatever else is used to patch nails, and so far, it's been working out well. 

Yes, I found Ulta's glitter top coat in the clearance bin, when I got to the register, the cashier rang it up for 49 cents!  SCORE!  It goes on really smooth, you don't need to add another top coat to cover the glitter. 

Thanks for stopping by!