Tape Challenge #4 - Peek-a-holo!

Hello, Fireflies!

This is my last (scheduled) tape mani for the challenge!  I had so much fun doing them that I finished my four before the month was up!  We'll see if I decide to do any more.

I was inspired by this mani by IG@Pastel Polish that I found on Pinterest, and all my untried holos from Amy's Nail Boutique!  There are five altogether in this mani.  On my thumb, from top to bottom: Aquarius, Fire Dancer, Purple Prism, and Gabriel.  Biker Chick is the darker purple you can see on the tip of my pinkie, and is also somewhere on the other fingers. 

I put pieces of striping tape over each color.  I probably would have liked this better if I'd used larger pieces of regular tape so I could really see the holo at the end.

I painted over everything with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and then peeled of the tape!

Peek-a-boo! I see that holo shining through!

Lots of bottles for this bottle shot!  OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Biker Chick, Fire Dancer, Purple Prism, Aquarius, and Gabriel. 

I have been on a white kick these last few days!  Yesterday's mani had me starting with OPI MBSW, and covering it up; today's started with lots of color, and ended up mostly white.  Which do you like better?

Karmic Flowers

Hello, Fireflies!

I'm old. I'm jaded.  I have TONS of Indie polishes now, and if I'm going to be seduced into buying another, it had better be on sale.

Unless it's the Fall-ographic collection from Amy's Nail Boutique.  Yes, it's holo and duochrome, and I'm a sucker.  This is Karma Chameleon.

Look at that lovely shift and glow. 

I wanted to do some nail art that I could pull off on my non-dominant hand, and I was inspired by this abstract flower look from My Nail Polish Online.  I love how the blues in her mani worked together, and I wanted to do something similar with pink and orange.

After drawing the stems of the flower with a black striper, I used a dotting tool and Too Cute-icle Gorgeous to make the petals.

It's an *abstract* look, see?  It's supposed to look that way on my right hand.

I wanted to see what it would look like with a stronger pink, so I dotted Priti NYC Jersey Beauty Dahlia over the orange.  I like it!

Amy's Nail Boutique has some spectacular, affordable holos that I really like a lot.  I love using holos as a background for nail art, plus they dry fast for a quick mani when you have to run out the door. This is a quick, fun nail art that is hard to mess up!

Holoooo, Orange!

Who loves orange?  This girl.  I hope you do, too, because I have a lot of juicy orange goodness for you today!

Amy's Nail Boutique Orange A-Peel.  This is a burnt-orange or blood orange type of color, not your typical bright orange.  It's a jelly, too, so squishy.  This is 3 coats, I believe, and it covered pretty well in Real Life, though there's a little VNL in the pix.  This is absolutely gorgeous.

I started to do a comparison post, and I realized that I had swatched this a while ago, but never posted it.  This is Literary Lacquers More Like Fire Than Light, a bright, squishy, fiery jelly orange holo.  Ka-pow!

Bonus glitter pix!  After I swatched Literary Lacquers More Like Fire Than Light, I put Tough As Nails Lacquer Orange Whip over it. Orange is such a great jelly color, and the glitters just swim around.

So, here's the comparison shot you've been waiting for!  Drumroll, please:

The Chirality was the closest in color, but it's a crelly and doesn't have the same texture at all.  The Chirality was also the only one-coater in the bunch.  Born Pretty holo is close, but took 2 coats to get that nice, dark burnt orange color.  Greatest Treasures looks similar in the bottle to the others, but on the nail is much more pink.

So, no dupes, but Chirality is close.  From a distance, they all look pretty similar, though, which is probably why non-polish people think we're a little cuckoo.  Let 'em.  I know that I need 10 different variations of orange holo.  And, don't even get me started on purple or blue holos.

Bottle shot:  Amy's Nail Boutique Orange A-Peel, Chirality Just Before Dawn, Literary Lacquers More Like Fire Than Light, Literary Lacquers Greatest Treasures, and Born Pretty Store holo #5.

If you'd like more information about Amy's Nail Boutique, you can find her on Facebook, and Etsy.  Chirality also has a Facebook page and a BigCartel store.  Literary Lacquers' Facebook page is here, and her store is here.  Tough as Nails Lacquer also has a Facebook page and an Etsy shop.  Born Pretty sells all kinds of things besides their own nail polish, at good prices.  Check out their Facebook page, where they frequently have a 10% off discount code, or their webstore.

Do you have a fave orange holo?  If you haven't seen it already, I did some stamping on Enkelini Laney Lou a while back, too.  Is there one you like I didn't compare here?

Green Tea, two ways

I am such a sucker for pale green colors.  I couldn't resist picking up Sally Hansen Green Tea. 

The complete Salon Manicure line is so great.  I still wear it with base and top coat, but it is so smooth and shiny - and I like the curved applicator even though I have small nails.  It makes it easy to get that perfect cuticle line.

Kleancolor Sparkle Emerald looks blue, but it has that emerald green tint to it.  Unlike most Kleancolor glitters, this one has a fantastic formula.  Their holos and microglitters are a true bargain.

I was pleasantly surprised by Amy's Nail Boutique Delphinium.  I didn't realize that it would be a full-coverage glitter!  It really does evoke the colors of that flower, with the small teal, and purple glitter and the larger pink squares.  

Glitter can definitely change the look and feel of a mani!  One is so cute and sweet, and the other is in-your-face blingtastic.

Pink, two ways

Sally Hansen Rosy Posie is a frosty pink that I picked up on sale.  Not my usual polish, but it is soft and pretty... and a little boring.  So, I pumped it up!

I loved this combination of glitters in Amy's Nail Boutique Cherry Blossoms.  If you've ever seen the cherry blossoms blooming in Washington, D.C., it is amazing!

I like how Rosie Posy gives a boost of shine to the mani, but it is still a soft, pretty look.

Kleancolor Fuschia Glitter is, like many of their glitters, thick and heavy on the base.  It's a pretty mix, but I needed a denser glitter to work with the frost of Rosy Posy.  Two layers of Kleancolor would never dry!

 I just wish it would look on the nail like it does in the bottle!!

Playing Around, Placing Glitter

When I was a student, there was none of this electronic stuff in school.  You had wide-ruled paper and #2 pencils, and when I wanted to goof off, I didn't have a laptop or cell phone or ipad.

So, I did what every kid did then.  I doodled.

I think this mani is adult doodling.  I didn't know where I was going, I just thought the journey might be fun.

This is just the prettiest green-yellow!  SpaRitual Yes, I Can.  I love SpaRitual's formula - look at that shine with just 2 coats, and no topcoat.  The rubber grippy cap is a nice touch, too.

Ulta Not From Concentrate is a sheer, iridescent orange-gold.  I swirled it around my nails.

I like KleanColor glitters, but their formulas are very thick and goopy.  So I took 2 polishes - Golden Nirvana and Gold Caviar and put them on a palette and fished out whatever glitters I wanted and placed them around the swirls.

I did the same with some red glitters from Amy's Nail Boutique Marigold.  I thought there were red and orange glitters in there, but it looked all red to me.  It was a bit disappointing, actually.

Seche Vite to finish.

Right hand:

Not my favorite mani, but it was fun to experiment with the glitter.  Almost like creating a glitter mix, but without actually mixing the formulas.

Do you doodle on your nails, too?

Furnace Glow lit a fire in my heart!

This polish is very special!  Meet Glitter Gal Furnace Glow Soft:

It's an amazing multichrome that has orange, pink, gold, and copper tones to it.  It's such a strong shift that you don't need to do much to see it - it's just there, all the time.  This is one of my new very favorite polishes.

I didn't want to cover it up, but I couldn't just leave it alone.  The good thing is, you can still see the color shift!  This is Amy's Nail Boutique Tiger Lily, a clear base with orange and black microglitter.

I love how the pink shows through the glitter!

 Do you love these orange/pink duochrome polishes?