Simple Saturday - Coral & Glitter, Two Ways

Hello, Fireflies!

Ever find yourself reaching for the same colors or combinations of colors for your makeup or nails?  When going through the vault, I found two sets of coral and glitter nails that I thought might make a nice post together.

I would call Butter London MacBeth a red-leaning coral, I suppose.  Dark pink?

I remember hearing about the fuss OPI I Lily Love You made when it came out, but I could never find a bottle.  I found this one in a blog sale not too long ago.  Now I get it.  It's pretty gorgeous, but I do have a thing for iridescent glitter/flakies.

It's such a squishy, glowy topcoat.

Look, ma! Two hands!

LA Colors Flash Pop in Mad Duo has a completely different kind of coral - almost a neon, orange-leaning one.

The glitter has mylar shards as well as regular glitter, and has a little bit of that glowy effect, but its not as refined as OPI I Lily Love You.  This is a Punk Rock version!

Perfect for summer fun.

Which coral and glitter is more your style?  The soft, romantic pink with iridescent flakies, or the semi-neon orange with shards?

Sunday Stamping - Summer Fun!

Hello, Fireflies!

Are you ready for summer yet? It feels like summer already, though it doesn't 'officially' start until later this month.  For some, summer means the water, tiny clothes, and fruity drinks.  For me, it means A/C... and fruity drinks.

What's more refreshing than white?  Revlon Spirit is a great two-coat fast-dry creamy white.  And, I picked up a few bottles on clearance, so even better.

Winstonia W106 is full of summery images.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the fruity drink to stamp at all!  Ah, well, I'll just drink 'em instead of wearing 'em.

I used Revlon Ultra Violet and Pop Art for the stamping - bikinis and flipflops and sunglasses and beach balls!

Cute... but not exactly what I had envisioned in my head, ya know?  Glitter makes everything better, though.  LA Girl Sprinkle is a mix of hot pink and white hex glitters in a clear base.

Bottle shot: Revlon Pop Art, Spirit, and Ultra Violet, and LA Girl Sprinkle.

What nail trend says summer to you? Neons? Rainbow glitter? White nails?

Saturday Spam - Holo, Glitter, and Studs

Hello, Fireflies!

Time again to reach back into the vault for a few one-offs that were fun, but for some reason didn't make it into a post of their own.  The little rejected manis that could, as it were. The chorus line manis.  The bench-warmers.

I've really sold them, haven't I?

First up, Glittering Elements Odin, a metallic green with hidden holo hex glitters.

I paired this with two glitter toppers from the LA.Girl Splatter line - Sputter (purple and white glitter in a clear base) and Sparkle (gold and white glitter in a clear base).  Maybe I was going for a Mardi Gras theme?

I went back and double checked the name of this polish, because it confuses me now as much as it did when I first used it.  This is Aly's Dream Polish Dreamy Amethyst.  Personally, I've only ever known Amethysts to be purple.  This is not a failure of my camera - this polish is blue.  Maybe a hint of purple flash. Nonetheless, it's a gorgeous blue!

That cute little crescent moon stud and rhinestone is sitting on top of Colors by Llarowe Best Day Of My Life.  I've been really impressed with the pigmentation and rainbow flame of CbL holos! The formulas do tend to run a little thick, but usually not unwieldy.  This is a really lovely royal purple with blue flash.

And last, but not least, Jade Sunset.  Still one of the best holo values, this little Brazilian brand packs a solid holo punch!  I love this coral.

So, there you have it, folks, the latest installment of 'Spam From The Vault.'  Any favorites?

Review: Beauty Box 5 - March

Hello, Fireflies!

It's April! You know how I know? Because I'm going to tell you about a sub box I got in March!

I've been getting a few subscription boxes.  The surprises can be fun, even if I don't always like everything that comes in the box.  Here's what March's Beauty Box 5 looked like:

Here's the card that talks about everything in the box:

I flatter myself that you want to hear what I thought of everything!

I liked the Tree Hut creme.  As long as I get boxes, I will never run out of lotion.  I think I get one every time.  One day, I'll just fill the tub up and soak in it.  This creme smells so nice, with a hint of coconut and lime (you put the lime in the coconut and drink it all together, you put the lime in the coconut, then you feel better)

Another full-sized product that everyone was excited about was this makeup base from BellaPierre.  It's a multi-purpose base - shadow primer, concealer, and illuminator.  The texture is kind of like a creme blush - a little bouncy, kinda dense and smooth.

I'm not sure why companies think that us curly-haired folks want more mousse, but that's what Design Essentials Natural Curl Enhancing Mousse is.  I actually think it's more of a foam - it's liquid in the container, and then there's an aerating pump, like some of the liquid soap dispensers have.  It wasn't bad - my hair was a little crunchy, but the curls held for a day.

It does smell really good - I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was like a candy I used to have as a kid.

There were two semi-duds in the box.  Jane's Pick soap sent a teeny sliver of something.  They didn't bother to check the box for which kind of soap they sent, but judging from the *overwhelming* aroma of eucalyptus, I'm guessing it was the Gentle soap.

Eucalyptus, to me, smells like bug spray.  Not something I want to clean myself with, which was just as well, because I got one use out of it before it fell apart into mush.

The last thing in the box is a dual-sided facial pad from Swissco.  There is a side with soft terrycloth, but the handle is sewn into that side, so if you want to move it out of the way, it puckers up the pad.  The side with loofah is so rough, I can't imagine using it on my face.  I am a delicate flower, you know.

In case you were wondering, the mani I'm wearing - NOT included in the box - is Illamasqua Freckle with accents of LA Girl Spatter.  I was going for a nude/blue look, but I actually don't like how it came out. The nude is the wrong color for me.

What did you think of this month's box?  Some makeup, some haircare, some lotion, one thing I'll have to re-purpose, and one thing I didn't like.  Not bad for about $10.  I definitely got my money's worth!

If you think you'd like to try Beauty Box 5, and you want to throw a little referral love my way, click HERE for my referral link.

I have some cool Chucks #NailArtForNubs nailart going live at 9am Eastern - hope you'll come see what the ladies with nubbins and I are doing this week!

The Dark Side Has... Unicorns?

Hello, Fireflies!

I have a treat today - it was a treat for me to wear, and I hope it will be a treat for you to see.  Holos from a new Indie - Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer.  If you aren't following Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl, I think you should be.  As long as you keep following me, too.  Yeah... yeah!

This is Blue-Eyed Girl The Dark Side Has Cookies, a dove-grey linear holo.  It's pretty sheer, and does remind me of wearing a holo topcoat on its own, but it's not that sheer, and it's a bit more grey.

I love grey and pink together, so I paired it with the soft jelly pink of Essie Shop Till I Drop.  This is a pretty sheer jelly, so I laid it on rather thick for this mani.

I also added some studs I received in my Winstonia July Grab Bag.  Too cute! 

Next up, an LE polish that she's no longer selling (sorry!) Elusive Unicorn.

This one is also a little sheer, but the formulas were both so nice, you could probably put on as many coats as you wanted.

I wanted a little more in-your-face pink, so I added a V-gap with LA Girl 3-D Dazzling Pink, a hot pink scattered holo.

V-gaps are pretty easy, and I could have added more definition by adding some black with a striper, or even some dots, but I loved this just as it is.

I don't normally wear tons of pink, but I enjoyed both of these looks a lot!  If you'd like more information about Wishes of a Blue-Eyed Girl, she can be found on Facebook, and her blog.

Are you thinking pink?  Or wishing like a blue-eyed girl?

Retro Techno Geek

This dotticure is inspired by one from Kayla Shevonne.  I loved the pattern and wanted to see how it would look with 4 different colors.

This is two coats of Milani Pink and Proper.  It's a saturated pink that leans a little towards rose and has a shimmer to it.  This is two coats with no topcoat.

All of the Milani polishes I've tried are very consistent.  Thick, but not goopy, almost 1-coat coverage, and shiny, shiny.  I much prefer this kind of polish texture to the thin, streakyness that I usually get from Essie - at twice the price.

I won a LA Girls dotting set in a raffle at our Beauty Bloggers meeting, and I used the dotting tool with all the polishes for this mani.  First up was Milani A Rose Milady.  I used the largest side and spread out the polish a little farther than the initial dot.  I started using the dotting tool for the lines, but switched to a thin brush.

Then I used the LA Girls Polka Dot Blue inside the pink circles, and added other circles on the sides,

I connected blue lines to the dots and then dotted the Milani A Rose Milady inside the blue.

Right hand:

 I thought maybe the Polka Dots purple polish would look good on top of the other dots.

I love dotticures, and this is a fresh take on it.  The LA Girls set is a great way to get started.  The dotting tool is equivalent to any other dotting tools I've tried - easy to use and clean, and double-sided for different sized dots.  The instructions say to load the tool straight from the brush, but I'm not that coordinated, so I used a small plastic palette.  I suppose it might waste some polish, but it seemed easier than trying to hold the brush and loading the tool.  It doesn't take much to get proficient at dots, so it's a gateway mani to nail art.

The Milani and LA Girl polishes were provided to me for review.  Nonetheless, the opinions presented are my own, and as unbiased as possible.

http://www.milanicosmetics.com/ 
http://www.lagirlusa.com/

Strawberries, two ways

This mani makes me think of a strawberry sundae with chocolate sauce and sprinkles.  I started with 2 coats of Milani Pink Slippers, a beautiful light pink with a slight shimmer.  Then, I added vertical stripes in Milani Morning Coffee, a medium brown, and Milani Chocolate Sprinkles, a dark espresso brown with copper microglitter.  Chcolate Sprinkles is a CVS exclusive color.  After seeing a swatch of it, I made a special trip to my local CVS to get it!

I added a border in Milani Chocolate Sprinkles all around the nail, except for the tip.  I think that the vertical lines make my nails look longer.

Right hand:

 

And a bonus strawberry mani!  Jackpot!

This is two coats of Milani Fuschia Fierce.  Must be a cousin of Sascha Fierce. It is bright, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners, almost neon color.

Look at that shine.  It almost looked shellacked.

I thought it would pair nicely with LA Girls Fruity in Strawberry Delight.

I swatched 2 coats on a nail wheel so you could see it's color.  It's great for layering - I think it would take too many layers to be opaque.  On the thumb, it's over 2 coats of the Milani Fuchsia Fierce.

It smells strongly of artificial strawberry!  My dog Banjo was crazy for it.  He kept trying to lick my fingers, searching for the food, but he didn't like the taste of the polish.  It was so confusing for my poor pooch for something to smell sooo good, but taste sooo awful!

 

Looks like it *could* be tasty, though, right?


The Milani and LA Girl polishes were provided to me for review (Although I already owned a bottle of Milani Chocolate Sprinkles that I had purchased beforehand.)  Nonetheless, the opinions presented are my own, and as unbiased as possible.

http://www.milanicosmetics.com/ 
http://www.lagirlusa.com/