The Vault - Glitter Ideas

 Hello, Fireflies!

I haven't done very many holiday nail looks this season, but one thing I can always make time for is a little glitter to feel festive!  I have a few looks I pulled from the vault to share with you today.

Dance Party!

Here we are, Fireflies! The last day of the Celebrate the Occasion with the Challenge Your Nail Art group.  This has been fun for me, and I've definitely had to give some thought to these special occasion nail arts.

For my freestyle mani, I decided to do a Dance Party! So, my dancefloor is Wet 'n Wild Black Creme with a smattering of Sephora by OPI 18k gold topcoat.  Reading '70's excess already!

Check out this groovy stamping plate by Winstonia! Bell-bottoms, big hair, and disco balls! I used W216 and Essie No Place Like Chrome, as well as Maybelline Bold Gold for the stamping.

I couldn't resist pulling some of the holo circle glitters out of OPI I Snow You Love Me for a little extra bling-bling!

It's a Studio 54 Discotheque Glitz and Glam Sparkly, Gold Lame' Dance Party!  All that's missing is the coke!

Bottle shot:  Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, Essie No Place Like Chrome, Maybelline Bold Gold,  OPI I Snow You Love Me, and Sephora by OPI 18k gold topcoat.

Do the Hustle!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday Stamping - Happy Chinese New Year!

Hello, Fireflies!

Friday was the celebration of the Chinese New Year, and that's the challenge for today.  I admit, there are many, many times when I am ignorant of other cultures.  So, I got myself on the interwebs and did a little research on the Chinese New Year.

Ok, you got me.  I went to Wikipedia.  I'm not writing a research paper, here. 

I learned that red is a very important color for this celebration! It made sense to start this mani with a sparkling red - Too Cute-icle Lifeguard.  Lovely bright red jelly with a subtle scattered holo. 

What's more celebratory than gold confetti?  REAL18k gold confetti, that's what! Sephora by OPI It's Real top coat, for the win!

This is the year of the horse, so I had to use this horse stamp from Mash - 42, along with Maybelline Bold Gold.  I have trouble with little images - the horse on the plate is running and free.  Mine looks shackled, lame, and sad.  Poor old horse.

Dragons are important to the celebration, too.  There is always a dragon dance.  Who wouldn't want to pretend to be a dragon for a little while?  This is also Maybelline Bold Gold and plate DRK - C.

I also read that people wrote letters on red paper during the New Year, so I used Finger Paints Black Expressionism and the same DRK - C plate to make, what I assume is, Chinese letters.  It could be drivel, it could say, "Eat At Joe's."  I really don't know.  Maybe it says, "Hi, Mom!"

Here's the whole thing all together.  Lots of red and gold!

Bottle shot:  Too Cute-icle Lifeguard, SOPI It's Real 18k topcoat, Finger Paints Black Expressionism, and Maybelline Bold Gold.

Did you celebrate the Chinese New Year? 

It's a Percival Holiday!

Hello, Fireflies!

As many beautiful polishes that A-England makes, I think my fave is Percival.  It's a gorgeous red metallic.  It applies flawlessly, and can be a one-coater. 

For my husband's office party, I decided to add a little sparkle with Pixie Polish Disco Peacock, a scattered holo topcoat with a blue flash.

I felt very festive, and best of all, it was quick!  I am always running late when I go to parties.  Who am I kidding... I am pretty much always running late.

My friend, Jill, also wanted some holiday nails!  I couldn't believe that she wanted RED!  Of course, I had to bring out my best!  A-England Percival didn't disappoint.

She also wanted some stamped snowflakes, which I did with Essie No Place Like Chrome, my fave silver for stamping.  Perfect!

I gave her an extra-decadent flourish with SOPI's Real 18k Gold topcoat.  Now, who's a princess?  That's right, this girl.  Fancy.

What do you do to your nails to make you feel extra-special? 

All that glitters is not gold...

But, today, it is!  Come see what I mean...

A while back, I tried this Avon Garden Green and really liked it.  Great blue shimmer, though it dries soooo slowly on me.  The lump on my ring finger?  I can't remember.

I layerd on some of Sephora for OPI It's Real 18k gold topcoat, and I loved it.  Oftentimes, I forget about layering, and then I "discover" it all over again.

So, I decided to try it over a few different colors and finishes, and see what, if any, I liked.  First up -

Maybelline Bare Escape.  This is part of an LE collection this spring/summer.  It's a barely there grey, almost white.  Application was ..meh.  I had some issues with it not leveling completely.  The shine on it is really nice, though.

In Real Life, I could barely see the gold flecks.  Very, very, very subtle.  Kind of a waste of real gold topcoat, in my opinion.  A gold glitter with bigger flecks might be just the ticket, though.

One of Butter London's spring pastels, Fruit Machine is a bubble gum pink.  Unfortunately, it had the same application problems as most of the other pastels from this collection.  Problems self-leveling, patchy application.

I really love pink and gold together, but again, this was almost too subtle for me.

Sally Hansen Complete Black and Blue.  A dark blue with cobalt shimmer, this one almost looks like a duochrome.  Two coats are definitely needed to get the full spectrum of color, and it goes on really well.  Really liked this one.

Now we're getting somewhere.  The darker colors are what's really needed to make the gold pop.  I loved the shimmer and shift from beneath the gold flake.

Este'e Lauder Dressed to Kill.  I am a huge fan of these polishes that have a burning glow from within.  This polish is right up my alley.  I think I may have even gasped a little when I put it on.

This was my absolute fave with the gold topcoat.  You can see the fire burning underneath, the gold popping on top, and every direction you look at the mani, you see another dimension of color.  There's even some gold within the polish.  This was a synergistic mesh of polish, where two become something greater by coming together.

ETA:  I was asked to do one with black and gold, so here it is: 

Wow, huh?  Love it.

I was too cheap to pay the full price for this topcoat when it came out, and snagged a bottle on sale.  It's a true luxury to have gold flakes on your mani, and I can see where there are times where regular gold glitter would be acceptable, and even preferable over real gold.

Are you over the gold flake topcoat?  Do you think it's too extravagant, or worth it for a once-in-a while luxury, or would you rock that every day in every way?