First Frost #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

I got a little busy with Real Life (what's that?) and totally forgot about this challenge!  I don't like bailing, though, so I've doubled up on some of the posts to make sure I finish before month's end.

That's right - you get two, TWO posts today.  Lucky you.

The first challenge mani today is "First Frost".  So, I went looking for something green - because here in Florida, everything is still green when/if we get a frosty morning.

Imagine my surprise to find that this glitter turned green!  I don't even know who made this Indie, but I remember it used to be a pretty good dupe for OPI Absolutely Alice...which is blue.  This is what a bleeding glitter looks like - all the formerly blue glitter is now silver, and the base, which used to be clear, is now a blue/green.

Luckily, I still like it, and it seemed perfect for today's mani. But I'm kinda bummed that it's no longer Alice-like.

I am absolutely loving this OPI Ski Slope Sweetie from the Mariah Carey holiday collection.  It's iridescent, with a gold shift.  The gold becomes opaque at times, and sometimes it just frosts whatever color is underneath.  Very unique!

Even though the OPI makes the mani look 'frosted,' I wanted to add a little more frost and texture.  So, I took a bottle of glitter and dusted parts of my nails with it.  The glitter catches the light like ice would, and it gave the mani a 3-D textured effect, like sugar crystals on top!

This angle makes it a little easier to see the 'frost'.

Bottle shot:  Alice Who? (Unknown Indie), OPI Ski Slope Sweetie, and some glitter.

Do you know who created that Indie?  Would you be upset that it changed so dramatically?

Don't forget - there's another #FallingForNailArt today!

Predominantly Peach 'Parison

I have four peach-leaning Indie polishes for you today. 

Gloss 'n Sparkle Dazzling Dusk.  Yes, it looks pink.  But when I put it with pink polishes, it looked peach.  So, apparently, it's somewhere in between the two. 

Regardless, it's a beaut.  Great application, nice distribution of glitters, and it's preeeeety.  Whatever color it is.

Literary Lacquer Carrots, Carrots.  This is from the Green Gables collection, and it's what Gilbert said to Anne when he pulled on her ginger braids... and she broke a slate over his head.  And, so their courtship began.

This is peach, leaning orange, especially with the glitters.  But that base is especially gorgeous.  I love the crelly peachy-orange juiciness of it.  One of my faves!

Dandy Nails Sticky Sweet.  I love Dandy Nails polishes.  This one has a base that is unique - slightly metallic, kinda...wrinkly?  I don't know how to describe it, really.  This is a polish that would need topcoat for me, but I wanted you to see the texture of it.

I love the colors - orange, yellow and periwinkle glitters in a peach base.

Rainbow Polish Exotic Plumeria.  How can all these polishes be peachy glitters and be so very different?  I was blown away by this polish.  I love the metallic-looking glitters, the jelly squishy base, the tiny sparkly glitter. 

This glitter adds red to the mix and it's great.  Fresh, juicy plums and peaches.

Here's a bottle shot of the four with the corresponding swatches:  Gloss 'n Sparkle Dazzling Dusk, Literary Lacquer Carrots, Carrots, Dandy Nails Sticky Sweet, and Rainbow Polish Exotic Plumeria.

And, all together.  One thing I love about Indies is how many variations there are. 

Which is your fave?  more pink, more orange?  more texture or a jelly?  tiny glitters or bigger ones?

If you'd like more information about these Indies, you can find Gloss 'n Sparkle on Facebook. She has an Aussie-only Etsy shop, but her page lists some International retailers.  Literary Lacquer also has a Facebook page, and an Etsy shop.  Dandy Nails is on Facebook and Etsy as well.  Rainbow Polish has a Facebook page here, and both an Etsy and Big Cartel shop.

Mod Lacquer - Southwest Spring Collection

Mod Lacquers is a new-to-me Indie.  This collection caught my eye the moment I saw it - pastel milky-based glitter sandwiches?  I wanted it.

First impressions are very good for this brand.  I love the bottles, I like the labels - though they are only on the bottom, and I am wanting one on the side of the bottle, too.  All the formulas were great - even distribution of glitter, no streaking, average dry time, and opaque at two coats.

Puesta Del Sol.  This translates to "sunset," and it would be a very pretty sunset in lavender with blue, white, red, pink, and yellow.

Salida del Sol.  Translates to 'sunrise' in English.  This would be a very cheerful sunrise, indeed.  Yellow base with orange, yellow, blue, green, and red.

Cielo Azul.  "Blue sky."  I love pastel blues, but this was my least favorite of the collection.  I think it's the red glitter, actually.  It is a little jarring for me in this mix. 

Verde Montaña.  "Green Mountain."  This is my fave of the collection.  Light pastel green, soothing pastel glitters - very reminiscent of Easter and Spring.

As a surprise (at least to me!) I was gifted a mini of their lacquer, Nonpareils.  This is a white milky base with multi-colored glitters, much in the vein of KBShimmer Oh, Splat, and the like.  Very cute and festive.

If you'd like more information about Mod Lacquers, you can find them on Facebook, or at their Etsy shop.

Something a little different Sunday - My... Indies? What?

Don't worry, there are some normal polishes today, too.

Last year, I went to The Makeup Show in Orlando, and there was a booth that sold nail polishes - that you made yourself.  Well, I've been loving Indie polishes for awhile, so I wanted to see if I could do it, too.  I made three.

The first is a wine/brown with red glitter.  I love the color, but it's too easy for the red glitter to get lost.  And. like all three polishes I made, it's pretty gritty.

The good news?  Look how *fantastic* it looks with Color Club Snow-Flakes on it.  I love flakies.  This was part of their 2012 Holiday line, but I understand it's a dupe for Essie Shine of the Times and the like.

This is a green I made, with gold holo glitter.  Something about green and gold together!  Pretty, but again, gritty.  How do Indie makers get the polish to be smooth?

I decided to layer 365 Days of Color Rock Candy over it.  Very festive, if not my cup of tea.  I got this in a grab bag of polishes.  It's pretty, but I just am not that much into shards of glitter.  Maybe in a jelly sammich.

And, finally, a light blue with dark blue and holo glitter.  Grit-tastic, and a little frostier than I'd thought it would be. 

I layered Lilacquer Blueberry Pi over it, but it didn't show up much at all. Whomp-whomp.

So, here's what I learned:
-  Almost every polish can be changed by adding a topcoat glitter.  It's not always changed for good.
- Making polish is super easy.  Making GOOD polish... not so much.

So, hat tip for the Indie makers who take pride in a good product with materials that don't bleed or curl up, that are smooth and pretty.  I'll keep buying them, because I'm not so good at making them.

Indie bling

I'd like to show you some Indie polishes I recently bought.  I haven't really jumped on the 'milky white' glitter train before now, but I love this one by Sparkles By Julie.  This is Water Lily, a shimmery white base with pastel glitters.  No undies.

I painted a few flowers with Nails, Inc Baker Street just for fun.  Really, though, this polish needs no embellishment, and I likely won't do that next time.

I love fall colors.  Unfortunately, here in Florida, we don't get much of a fall season, so I'm just going to wear these whenever I want.  I started with this lovely bronze from Cos Bar, which was sold at Target briefly.  I ordered it online and got one of their summer beauty bags with my purchase, which was pretty cool.  This is a lovely bronze, applied nicely, and I loved the color.

It seemed a natural match to pair it with Lush Lacquer Cheetalicious.  Truthfully, though, I don't think it needed undies - look at that coverage!  I love this look.

Who doesn't love a matte glitter?  Actually, this one I think looks better sparkly, but you gotta try it once, right?

The last Indie for today is over a green base.  I started with Borghese Menta, which was a little too sheer for my liking, so I layered it with NYC Big Money Frost.  I know, I know, it's a frost.  I like them.

Darling Diva Polish makes some of my fave Indie creations.  I wasn't wowed by this one, but it's still pretty.  Hubby thought it reminded him of leprechauns.  I wasn't feeling the dragon vibe, I guess.  It would probably look better over a different color.

Right hand:

Any of these your style?  The subtle white, coppery bling, or dragon scales?

Indie holo

I have recently begun buying more Indie polishes, and some have put out some interesting combos!  Princess Polish came out with a line of Jelly holo polishes.  I have holo.  You jelly? ;)

First up is Orange Marmalade, an orange scattered holo.  Though I love orange, this one wasn't one of my faves.  I know jellies sometimes take a lot of coats, but I get bored after about 3, and start rushing it, which makes a mess.  So I think I stopped after 3 coats here, and obviously still have VNL.  And not really enough holo payoff.

Mint Jelly had a similar story - lots of VNL, not much holo.  I do like this color, though.  Maybe I'll layer it with Cult Nails I Got Distracted next time.

Strawberry Jam is a very pretty polish.  This one was opaque in 3 coats, and has a nice, subtle holo.  Ignore the middle finger smush.  I told you I get impatient...

Blueberry Jam actually has way more holo than I captured here.  It's a linear, and pretty, but the sun went away and I just couldn't get it back before I took off the polish.

Grape Jelly was my favorite of all.  Pretty color, nice strong linear holo, a little VNL at 2 coats, but not bad, and buildable in 3, I'm sure.

I will say that even though not all the jelly polishes had enough holo payoff for me, they were all nicely made.  All of them applied smoothly.  The really sheer ones might make nice jelly sandwiches, or some other application, but were just a tad too sheer for my liking.  Your mileage may vary.


I also have a few polishes from Darling Diva Polish to show you.  Dreamy is a holo topcoat, but I had to try it on its own, and I loved it.  It shows up as a white holo.  So cool.

 Event Horizon is a charcoal grey-black holo with a nice linear rainbow.  

And last, but not least, is Dangerous Driver.  DDP has another polish called Ringer, which is a dupe for Fantasy Fire/Clarins 230.  Dangerous Driver is the holo version of Ringer.  It is gorgeous.  I've paired it here with some rhinestones from the Cult Nails collection.

 So, are you ready to try some Indie holo polishes now?  You're not going to find most of these polish colors/combos anywhere else!