Travelin' flower mani

Last time I went to visit my folks, I took a bunch of nail art stuff with me.  My family is pretty supportive of my habit, though they don't know *exactly* how much polish I've accumulated, and they've probably never seen my blog.

During some downtime, I decided to paint some flowers to wear on my last day there, and I ended up driving home with them on.

I used Jessica Nails Gone Bare for the base.  In the bottle, it looks like a peachy nude, but it definitely took on a whitish tone in these pix.  Even with two coats, there is still VNL, but I didn't mind, and the flowers and vines helped camouflage it.

Kleancolor Neon Sapphire and Red made the flowers and leaves, and then I touched over all of it with the Jessica NGB to soften the look a little.  I really like how that made it seem almost translucent in some places and lightened the design too.

Right hand:

Do you like to do nail art on-the-go?

Teal, two ways

Jessica polishes deserve more polish love.  I haven't tried one yet that I didn't love!

This beautiful teal, Scene Stealer, is from their Paint the Town collection.  I thought the paint pails were too cute, but I will admit that they were a little difficult to use as a brush holder.  They should have taken a cue from Butter London and made the novelty cap removable. The size wasn't a problem, but the little handle always seemed to be in the way.

 Kleancolor glitters are cheap and lovely, but are often slow-drying and have a little too much base to glitter ratio.  I still buy them whenever I see them, though.  I can't resist.  Peaceful Heart is a green base with green and holo glitters and hearts.

 Blam! There's a heart, right there!

Next, I tried it with Daring Digits Techno Square.  I love the little square glitters!  I would have liked the glitter to be a little more dense, but it was a nice, soft glitter look.  If it weren't for the glitter shape, however, it would be like so many other topcoats out there.

Do you also like to experiment with different topcoats?  I'll have some more coming up, too!

Really dressed-up digits

I am all about a good dupe, and these Jessica polishes were supposed to be just like the Dior spring 2012 collection that were so beautiful.  I don't even know how many peach/orange polishes I bought trying to match this color.  So glad I finally was able to get Jessica Love Story!

I wasn't worried about the VNL because I knew I wanted to try this glitter.  I am really enjoying the glitter trend with oranges and yellows.  If it looks like an orange or a fire, I'm probably going to want it!  I couldn't resist Indie polish  The Polish Bar Citrus Squeeze.   I think it goes perfectly with Love Story - it's not so orange that the orange glitter gets lost, and not so yellow that the yellow glitter is hidden.  The white just pops on it.  I got some compliments on this combo.

You may think that's the end of the manicure, but you'd be wrong.  I added a new piece of nail jewelry, recently introduced by Chronicle Stones, called the Nail Veil.

Nail Veils come in several different styles  - some are long and pointy, some have jewels hanging on them, but I loved this one the best.  Unlike rhinestones or most other nail art, this is real jewelry, and it is reusable.  You can put polish on it, or topcoat, or nail glue, and then clean it with acetone, and you're ready to go again.  

Now that is a dressed-up manicure!  What do you think about nail jewelry? 

Essie - no dupes in my drawer!

I am the person whom the advertisers love.  I am the one who reads these blogs that say - forget all the other blues you have, THIS is the one you need.  And I say, yes, yes, I DO need that particular blue.

So, I bought two new Essie shades:  Bikini so teeny and Mojito madness.  Both colors were touted as THE new shade, and I believed that..sorta.  I knew I had to look in my extensive collection to see if I had any dupes.

So I picked the closest 4 bottles of light blue I had, and swatched.

Essie bikini so teeny, China Glaze Electric Beat, China Glaze Secret Peri-winkle, Zoya Jo, and Jessica Movie Premier.  I thought for sure Electric Beat, and maybe Kinetic Candy, or DL Let's Hear it for the Boy would be close.  Kinetic Candy and the DL didn't even merit a swatch they were so different.

I don't think any of them are alike.  Electric Beat and Movie Premiere are similar (the Jessica was ONE coat, can you believe it?  All the others were two)  Jo is much darker on my nail than it was in the bottle.  So I can breathe a sigh of relief - no dupes for the beautiful Bikini so Teeny.

Next, the greens.  Again, I picked the 4 closest greens I had.  Essie Mojito Madness, China Glaze Gaga for Green, Revlon Bonsai, OPI Don't Mess With OPI, and Sinful Colors Exotic Green.

Ok, I just realized that because this is my right hand, the swatches are all backwards from the lineup.  DERP.  Thumb is Mojito Madness, index - ChG Gaga for Green, middle - Revlon Bonsai, ring -  OPI Don't Mess with OPI, and the pinky is SC Exotic Green.

Gaga for green looks close in the pix, but it's visibly different in RL.  GFG is a much sheerer polish that took 3 coats for opacity, and is a little more yellow.  OPI DMWOPI was the closest in the bottle, but is the most different on the nail! This is why I don't trust bottle comparisons.

Again, nothing close in my stash.  Good thing, because I really do like that Essie.

With 10 different colors on 10 different nails, I knew I'd be re-doing my mani, so might as well test a couple of glitters!  On the Essie BST, I layered Revlon Radiant (said to be a DL dupe.)  Very pretty, nice coverage - I could have added another layer for full opacity, but I liked it with the underwear showing.  I'm liking the flashes of green glitter, too.

And, finally, a layer of Sinful Colors Call You Later over Essie MM.  Not sure I would pair these together again, but I do like that flash of gold in that glitter.

So, does anyone know of a dupe for either of these Essie colors, or are they truly unique?  Have you worn them with a glitter topcoat that you liked?