Blue and Gold #NailArtForNubs

Hello, Fireflies!

Is it an oxymoron to say Happy Memorial Day?  At any rate, I wish peace to those of you who have lost loved ones in service to their country.

I already did a 'Memorial Day' mani last week, but I thought that this mani from the vault was appropriate.

I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the build up.  I don't know what happened.  This is Northern Star Polish Peacock Party with Sephora Formula X Out Of Sight, and a few gold triangle studs.

Isn't that deep teal gorgeous?  It does have a subtle holo to it, but it kinda got lost in the gold.  I love how this gold topper is part glitter shards and has a flakie quality to it.  Rather than sitting on top of the polish like a glitter topcoat, it seems to meld with the polish.

And you know I love to stick things on my nails, even if they come right off after I've taken the picture!

Bottle shot:  Northern Star Polish Peacock Party with Sephora Formula X Out Of Sight.

Has this weekend meant anything different for you? Hubby's had a 4-day holiday weekend, so we've been spending a lot of quality time together and doing some house projects. I hope everyone has a few moments to spend with loved ones, even if only in thought or prayer.

An InLinkz Link-up

Two posts today! I have an EPIC, MEGA Cover FX product review post today.  Click here to check it out.

TRI-Polish Tuesday - Roses

Hello, Fireflies!

Did I just show you a Northern Star Polish yesterday? It was good, wasn't it.  Yeah, I know.  Real good.

*ahem*

So, this is another Northern Star Polish, Printemps, a barbie-pink with a subtle holo.

I recently picked up some Washi tape in the dollar bin at Target (for 75% off! booyah!) and I'd heard that some have used it for tape manicures.  It's pretty good! It's really sticky at first, so I still needed to put it on my hand to remove some of the stickiness, but it stuck well, and made pretty clean lines with Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

Can you tell I am just loving these water decals from Born Pretty Store?  Even though these were sent to me for review, I've already purchased another set of these, and some others.  They have a nice selection on sale right now - some as low as $0.88!

I thought this might give a sort of flowerbox or trellis effect over the French tips.  I'm not sure I'm loving the red roses over the pink, but I do love it over the black.

I know, I didn't manage to get any yellow in to this week's challenge.  Who knew that yellow would be my Achilles heel?

Maybe I should have done yellow dots or something like that?  Yellow roses are my fave, wish these decals came in yellow!  I'll keep looking.

If you'd like to go shopping at the Born Pretty Store, feel free to use my coupon (GVX31) for 10% off! Born Pretty Store can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and their blog.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Beauty Blog Coalition giveaway goes live at midnight, Central time! There are three CASH prizes - first is $500 dollars!

Slashy Shirt - #NailArtForNubs

Hello, Fireflies!

I like to change my nail polish a LOT.  Yeah, I know, you're feigning surprise.  If I'm going out, I like to have my nails be inspired by my outfit, so that's what I did for today's mani.

I started off with this gorgeous purple/berry holo from Northern Star Polish, Janus Rising.

I made some slashy swipes randomly across each nail with an iridescent blue nail striper.  This just looks strange! Thankfully, we're not done.

Milani Rapid Orchid looks like black, but it's really a dark grey-purple. It's just about black.  It's pretty much as close to black as you can get without actually being black.  My husband would look at it and say that it's black.

I think it looks better with the white highlights.  It breaks up the other colors.

Here's the shirt I was wearing.  I love how the blues pop out of the mani and the shirt when placed together.

Bottle shot:  Northern Star Polish Janus Rising, Milani Rapid Orchid, blue and white nail art stripers.

This was fun and easy to do.  No rules, every nail is a little different, and no one can say you messed it up! Best of all, easily replicated on the non-dominant hand. Would you wear a slashy/messy nailart like this?

An InLinkz Link-up

Two posts today!  If you missed it, I reviewed my March Birchbox subscription box.  Click here to see it!

A Rose By Any Other Name Would Still Be Hard To Paint

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's post is brought to you by my stubbornness and inability to paint a rose.  I have done stickers, and blobs, and other permutations, trying and trying again.  Today's version is inspired by a blog post from Kerruticles, who got the idea from Gemma Lambert.

It starts with this gorgeous plum holo, Northern Star Polish Yummy Plummy

I use Finger Paints Winter Chill, a blackish-purple textured glitter to make a pseudo-gradient on the tips.

I used my white striper to make these curved lines in roughly rose-like shapes. Squint your eyes and turn your head slightly to the right.  Do you see them?

I can never quite get the correct overlap of the lines to mimic the rose petals.  I look at the tutorial, I watch, re-watch, and pause the video.. I think I've got it, and then it just doesn't look the same when I do it.

Bottle shot:  Northern Star Polish Yummy Plummy, Finger Paints Winter Chill, and a white striper.

I will say, though, that these are probably the closest I've gotten!  Some of you will see commas, some of you will see white Skettios floating in a purple gravy.  A rare few of you with vision will see the roses, and will help keep the dream alive.

Art Challenge - The (worst) Way to Travel

Hello, Fireflies!

I'm warning you now, today's post is me struggling through another art challenge.  The original piece that inspired me was this one I found on Deviant Art by Joe Maccer called, "The Best Way To Travel"

Pretty, right?  You may need to refer back to that picture, because my rendition is nothing like it!

I started out with a gorgeous holo from Northern Star Polish, Lunar Glow.

I thought this stamp from an unlabeled plate of mine would mimic some of the swirls and starbursts in the background.  I stamped with Essie There's No Place Like Chrome.

This is so pretty and light and ethereal.

Let's enjoy one more pix of this moment, because it only goes downhill from here.

I thought that I could do a dry water marble for the large starburst patterns.  I used Maybelline Plum Paradise, Sally Hansen White Tip, and Zoya Pippa.

I dotted on the three polishes and then did a needle drag through the dots.

Bottle shot:  Northern Star Polish Lunar Glow, Essie There's No Place Like Chrome, Maybelline Plum Paradise, Sally Hansen White Tip, and Zoya Pippa.

Even my husband was having a hard time finding anything positive to say about it... All I can say is that I tried!

Northern Outfitters.. or Urban Star?

I picked up most of the Northern Star As You Wish collex (inspired by the Princess Bride) at a blog sale, luckily!  I love them.  I paired each of them with a polish I picked up from Urban Outfitters.  Some of these combos work better than others, but some were surprisingly great!

Moonstone.  This UO polish was impossible to photograph.  It's iridescent, but also has a nude base, so enough coats would become opaque on the nail.  It has a gold-pink tone to it.

I paired Moonstone with Northern Star Storybook Love, which has a pale yellow base.  On my thumb, there are no undies under Storybook Love.  It does build to an almost-opaque (but really glitter-packed) density, so you don't *need* undies.  I liked it both ways, actually.  It's lighter and brighter by itself, more golden with the undies.

UO La Ciel.  Oh, teal, you are a tease.  I love this color.  It was so shiny I couldn't get a good pix, too.
  

One of these nails is not like the other!  Can you tell which nail has Northern Star Inconceivable by itself?  The rest are layered over La Ciel.  I could hardly tell in Real Life, too.  The thumb polish went commando in this pix.  If I was going to get just one polish from this collex, it would have to be this one.  Look at that golden shimmer.

UO Hot tub!  It's a neon pink, matte finish and all.  Searingly bright!

I paired this with Wuv... Twoo Wuv.. and it surprised me how much I loved it!  I actually love it both sans undies (on my thumb) and with the hot pink.  On my pointer finger, I only went with one coat of WTW, and the pink base is still bright.  On the rest of my fingers, I have two coats, and it makes the pink more of a bubblegum color.  Two polishes - multiple looks!

UO Voodoo.  Metallic gunmetal, but with micro holo glitter.

I forgot to get a pix of Drop. Your. Sword with no undies.  The sheer black jelly base probably would build up on its own to opacity, but look how much glitter is in just one coat!  I think the undies help this polish be even more gorgeous.  I love the subtle red and blue glitters that support the large silver glitters. 

This was my first experience with Northern Star polishes, and I have to say, I'll be back!  These aren't boring glitterbombs that I've seen over and over again. 

If you'd like more information about Northern Star Polish, you can find them on Facebook, and on Etsy.