Spring Showers and Easter Flowers

 Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Sunday Stamping challenge is Easter.  I wasn't feeling like bunnies and chicks today, so I picked a Spring-y glitter polish and some flowers to go with it!

Revlon Transforming Effects Top Coats

Hello, Fireflies!

Isn't this blue gorgeous?  It's actually a little deeper in color and so beautifully shiny and jellied in person.  It's KB Shimmer Low And Be Bold, a cobalt blue-lovers dream.  Though absolutely gorgeous on its own, I decided to see how the color was transformed by using the new (and not LE!) Transforming Effects topcoats from Revlon.

Reindeer Games

Hello, Fireflies!

I know, it's supposed to be Stamping Sunday, but I just couldn't.  It was supposed to be about stamping your Christmas List, and I had a brain fart.  Plus, this week has been absolutely crazy, so I decided to forgive myself and show y'all another mani I did that I really liked.

Jack O'Lanterns

Hello, Fireflies!

I got a little ambitious with my nail art today.  Every now and again, I think I can do something... well, let's just say that I need a little more practice with this one!

I was inspired by these awesome Jack O'Lanterns from Kayla Shevonne.  I started with a sparkly black background.  I love KB Shimmer Stark Raven Mad.  It's the blackest black holo ever.

I started painting the faces in with white, and then used yellow, yellow-orange, and then pumpkin orange to fill in the white.

They look like Clown O'Lanterns. LOL.

Bottle shot:  KB Shimmer Stark Raven Mad, Orly Hook Up, China Glaze Metro Pollen-tin, Urban Decay Bang, and a white striper.

Ok, maybe next year, I'll go as a Clown O'Lantern.  Start a trend!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday Stamping - Based On My Phone Case

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's stamping challenge was to stamp a mani based on your phone case.  My phone case is a custom that my brother had made for me with 3 of my pups on it - Banjo, the Rottie/Boxer cross, when he was a young pup, enjoying his first rawhide; Goliath the Rottweiler, my heart dog (who passed away a few years ago from Lymphoma) wearing my husband's tie (and a bad photoshop job on his eyes! lol;) and then Lena, the Italian Greyhound mix who looks like she's talking on the phone, too.  Really, we caught her right before foot-eating time.

As they are all dogs with some variation of black and tan, I wanted to play off that with a gorgeous holo I can't get enough of  - KBShimmer Run, It's the Coppers!

I used three different stamping plates for this mani.  The paw prints came from QA4, which also has Transformers on it.  How random is that?  The puppy face is on Mash 27.  The dog collage is on DRK-C.  I used Revlon Spirit and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme for the stamps.

I miss Goliath a lot, and it's comforting to have his picture so close at hand.  I wish I could have pix of all my dogs, past and present, on my phone case!

Puppies!

Bottle shot:  KBShimmer Run, It's the Coppers!, Revlon Spirit, and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

I also have one other phone case from Julep that says, "Keep Calm and Paint Your Nails."  What do you have on your phone case?

Ermagerd! Burbles!

Hello, Fireflies!

It's the last Black & White NCC challenge this month! Who knew that Black and White nails could be so much fun?

I started this with one of my new fave black holos, KBShimmer Stark Raven Mad.  It's got a beautiful rainbow, and it's not grey or brown, like so many 'black' holos are. 

Simple white bubbles with Revlon Spirit and stamping plate Mash-43.

But then, the stamp goes from this... to this!

I matched different sized clear rhinestones to the circles for a fun, blingy-beyond-blingy look.

I actually started with just a ring accent finger... but I couldn't help myself.  It was too fun to stop.

Bottle shot:  KBShimmer Stark Raven Mad and Revlon Spirit.

You know what it reminds me of?

Makes me laugh, every time.

An InLinkz Link-up

A Different Kind of Summer Sunset

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Summer Time Nail Art Challenge is sunsets, and the BBCFL put together a Summer roundup, so I present my version of a summer sunset!

I was inspired by this post from Plump and Polished, where she describes doing a gradient with a craft brush!  Being as crap as I am at gradients, I thought I'd try it.  Definitely will take me a little practice, but it's a lot less messy!

When KBShimmer put out her early summer collection, I knew I needed the neutral holos.  From nail bed to nail tip, the gradient is: In Bare Form, Big Tan On Campus, Run! It's the Coppers!, and Stark Raven Mad.

I put a drop of each polish in a vertical line down the center of the nail, and then used the brush to swipe horizontally across the nail. 

Probably shouldn't have made my first attempt at this technique with holos, and they are notoriously finicky and did get a little patchy when I over-brushed. Also, next time, I'll use the lightest color for a base, and then try the gradient after it dries.

Bottle shot:  KBShimmer In Bare Form, Big Tan On Campus, Run! It's the Coppers!, and Stark Raven Mad.

I love the orange glow that Run! It's the Coppers! gives the look, as if the sun were just disappearing behind the horizon, lighting the sky on fire.

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Also shared on The Nail Files and the Nail Files Pinterest Board. Please feel free to click through for more nail art.

Indie January - KB Shimmer

One of my faves this past year - and many other bloggers also praised this Indie brand - KB Shimmer. Her polishes are beautiful!  Let me show you a few of my faves:

Snow Way.  This one made my list of fave polishes of 2012, even though I hadn't blogged about it yet.  Yes, it is just that special and beautiful.  I will admit, it took 3 coats to become opaque, though, so next time I wear it (oh, and there will be a next time, and a time after that, and many more..) I will probably put undies on because I don't want to waste it. 

Which Way.  This was part of her Halloween collex, I believe, but I'd wear it year 'round.   I love a pretty scattered holo, and how different to have it in a dark purple jelly base?  The second pix is a little blurred to emphasize the depth of the polish and the sparkly holo.  Which Way is a Winner Winner!

Elle.  Oh, these grey jellies.  With the soft pink glitters, among others, it's so sweet and unobtrusive.  I love it, it's one of my faves.  This is another one that would likely benefit from some undies, though in Real Life, you couldn't really see any VNL. 

Oh Splat.  I believe that this polish was one of the original 'milky' glitters to really take off.  For some reason, I used to avoid these glitters, but I'm glad I came around.  I love them now, likely even more than glitters with a clear base...

Cocoa Nut.  I love brown polishes, and it's so unexpected to see brown paired with hot pink glitters, not to mention this was a part of her holiday collex.  When everyone else was doing red and green, KB Shimmers put this out there, and I ate it up. 

No Whine Left.  Last, but not least.  This was another KB Shimmer that made a big splash.  Another unusual pairing - burgundy and cobalt blue - that just works so well.  

In this now-saturated market of Indie glitters, she is still putting out unexpected and beautiful combinations, which is why she's one of my fave Indie polish makers. You can find KB Shimmer on Facebook, or on her own webpage. 

What's your fave?

White Nails for New Town, CT

I couldn't say it better.  And, I couldn't think of a more appropriate mani than white with KBShimmer Pixie Tears, because so many of us can't help but cry over this senseless tragedy.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are affected by this terrible tragedy.  Peace. - Nidia

A good brown and .... a not so good one.

I love brown-toned polishes, usually.  I wanted to love Creeping Moss by Contrary Polish.  Technically, she calls it an olive-green with shimmer.  I call it muddy.  The shimmer is so hidden, there's no shine, no depth.  This polish was such a disappointment!  

The next combo I really liked.  It started with a color I wasn't sure about.  I don't have anything else the color of Finger Paints Catwalk Queen.  I'm not even sure what color it is.  Beige-yellow? Bile?

I topped it with KB Shimmer Band Geek.  I loved this polish in so many ways.  First of all, I was a band geek!  Alto and Tenor Saxophone, depending on the band.  Symphonic, Jazz, Marching... I was Queen of the Band Geeks!

Second of all, it's a beautiful polish!  I love different metallics blending together - copper, gold, bronze, silver - it really does look like a melange of band instruments.  Application was smooth, and it was pretty opaque in two coats. 

Would you wear any of these weird browns?

Election Day Nails

These aren't my version of 'Patriotic Nails' mind you.  These are the nails I did while I waited to vote!

This is only a small portion of the line.  It took about an hour and a half of waiting to get to the poll.  So, I did what any good nail blogger would do - change my polish!

This is Essie Beach Bum Blu.  It's more metallic than I was expecting!  Sometimes I have trouble with Essies being streaky, but this one was really nice.  Almost a one-coater, really, but it looked better, and with a deeper color, with two coats.

Over that, I used two coats of KB Shimmer Shipwrecked.  I liked how the blue jelly base softened the metallic shine of the Essie, but one coat hardly delivered any glitter at all.  I used the dabbing method to get enough glitter to distribute all over the nail.

It's a pretty glitter!  A little more green-leaning in person, which I didn't expect.

I also discovered that even with a glue base, I had some trouble peeling this mani off, and I believe it's because I didn't use a top coat.  I forgot to bring one!  I've experienced this before with glue - the topcoat makes the polish sturdier, I think, and it comes off so much more easily when it's time to peel.

Are you using a glue base?  Do you use topcoat with it?