Glitterati with the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida

Hello, Fireflies!

This month's BBCFL roundup is all about makin' it rain! Yes, glitter!  I've rounded up a bunch of different looks I've created with different kinds of glitter used in different ways.  Hopefully, you'll find a look that inspires you to wear glitter your own way.

Tri-Tie

Hello, Fireflies!

Today, I tried the tri, but ended up doing the duo.  No green in this mani, just blue and purple.  Here's my inspiration:

One of my husband's ties! He chose a handful of his ties that he wants to see me use as inspiration, and I thought that was a grand idea!

Here's the hot mess I started with:

I used striping tape and hole reinforcers that I trimmed, over a layer of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.  Looks like spiders. Ewww.

After putting the tape down over the VERY DRY black, then I quickly painted in different sections with colors inspired by the tie.  One nail at a time, please.  If it dries before you get the tape off, your polish will pull off with the tape!

All done, before topcoat.  I love the colors! Purple, grey, blue, silver, and black.

Like a stained glass window!

A nail art like this one really needs topcoat to bring all the layers into one, visually. Notice how all the brushstrokes are minimized, too.

Do you think it looks like the tie?

Bottle shot:  Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, Sonia Kashuk Dime a Dozen and Russian Roulette, Jordana De'ja' Vu Blue, and a silver nail art striper.

I couldn't be more thrilled that my husband has taken an interest in my nail art, and even found his own ways to participate! It was so sweet, and he loved the nail art I did, too.  Have you had a partner or friend help you find inspiration for your craft?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sparkly, Spooky Black

I have some black combos to share with you today!

I know it's called ManGlaze, but women like it, too!  I have to confess, I'm seeing more blogs with men painting their nails, and it's pretty cool.

Matte is Murder, a matte black, is one of the first polishes ManGlaze came out with, and it's pretty much their signature color.  In my opinion, they make some of the BEST matte finish polishes available.

I used it as undies for Dandy Nails You Set My Soul Alight, but this glitter didn't really need any undies.  I'm loving Dandy Nails, they just keep putting out great glitters.  I don't usually wear plain black nails, but these multicolored tiny sparkles make it perfect for me.

The undies for this next mani is Sonia Kashuk Tango Mango.  I like her polishes a lot.  Very consistent formula, high shine, great color payoff.  This is a little bright for me, but it's a great Halloween orange!

 ..not that this polish needed any undies at all!  Joe Fresh Twilight is a flakie in a black base.  I thought it would be sheer, but it wasn't at all!

You can only barely see the orange around the edges, which I did on purpose to see if it would pull more of the orange color out of the flakies, but it really didn't.  To be honest, I was al ittle disappointed with the flakie payoff in this polish.  I wanted more.. MOAR flakies.

So I added my own!  Finger Paints Twisted, a lemming I never thought I'd get.  I managed to collect all the Finger Paints Flakies, and this is my fave, by far.  So gorgeous, especially over black.

Another sparkly black mani for you today!  It started off with Revlon Black Lingerie, which I got at Big Lots for about a dollar.  This is a great black!  My camera actually had trouble photographing it because it's so shiny.

Over that, I used Girly Bits Howl at the Moon.  Girly Bits is a very high quality Indie, and this polish is no exception.  Love that glossy black and the gold glitter - perfect for this season, or any season!

Bonus mani!  This one starts with Borghese Notte Black.  It's not as glossy as the Revlon, has a bit more grey to it.  I'd be hard pressed to choose this one over that Revlon or some other deep dark black polish.

This one I covered with Orly Androgenie, which looks like a galaxy in a bottle, but not so much on the nail.  I think it would take quite a few coats to get that look on the nail.

I amped up the sparkle with Lorena Cinderela.  All flakies just look gorgeous over black, don't they?

A little bit of holo sparkle from Out the Door Northern Lights.  Now that's a sparkly party!

 Do you like shiny, sparkly black all year 'round, or is it just for Halloween for you?

My perception of Perception Nail Lacquer

When I first came across Perception Nail Lacquer, I almost passed it by.  I admit, it was a little snobby to look at the recycled bottles and just think that the seller wasn't serious because they didn't have real bottles.

But, I was liking the polishes I was seeing, so I kept looking around, and did a little research, and found some loyal followers of this new-to-me brand.

And, she got new bottles. So, the snob was satisfied.

All the polishes I picked up were glitters, so I found some undies I thought would go well.  I started with Sonia Kashuk Purparazzi (on clearance at Target).  I've tried a couple of her polishes, and love every one of them.  Great formula, great colors.  Being purple, this one was a tad difficult to photograph.  I think the bottle shot color is the most accurate.

I couldn't resist the name.  Unicorn Farts.  I mean, we'd all been lemming Unicorn Pee for so long, it couldn't be a coincidence...

Look at the glittah!

I loved this.  Pretty, but not sickeningly girly.  Subtle, but not demure.  Sparkly, but not blinged out.  The formula was really easy to use, too, and opaque in 2 coats.  Right hand.  

I had Tokidoki Stellina handy, and wanted to see how it worked with Unicorn Farts.  Nice formula, didn't work for me as an accent.

I tried a Claire's glitter pink and purple hexes that were small, but still larger than the Unicorn Farts microglitter.  I liked this look for an accent, but UF is too pretty to cover up completely in the mani.  

When I saw that Perception Nail Lacquer was releasing some more of a glitter I'd seen and liked, I jumped on it right away.  Wicked is just as beautiful as Unicorn Farts, same great formula, but deeper and more daring.

I started with a base of SOPI Eve-y on the Eyes, a deep violet with a little bit of purple shimmer in the bottle that didn't translate on the nail for me. Like most OPI of any variety, the formula was excellent.

Purples notoriously don't photograph well, so you may wonder why I paired this with Wicked, but it did seem to match some of the glitters in real life.  Wicked was opaque in two coats, anyway, so it really didn't need much help in the way of undies.  Isn't it be-a-u-tiful?

I love how seductive it looks.  These vampy-but-not-black colors are awesome, and I love jewel tones on me.

The last polish has a dark brown base, so I chose Color Club Nothin' but Truffle as undies.  I know it looks black.  It's brown, really.  I was a little disappointed in this color, and the application wasn't as smooth - it was rather streaky for a dark color.  I doubt I would wear this polish by itself, but I'm glad I had it for Rumplestiltskin.

 I will likely try Rumplestiltskin over a lighter brown next time to see if the polish changes, because this one was not opaque in 2 coats like the others.

For a quick comparison, here are bottle shots of Rumplestiltskin, Models Own Thunder & Lightening (middle) and Mixed Up (right).  Rumplestiltskin appears to have more colored glitter in a lighter brown base, as opposed to the grey-brown of Thunder & Lightening, or the black of Mixed up.  

So, what do you think of Perception Nail Lacquer?  Rumplestiltskin is part of a Fall 2012 collection based on the TV show Once Upon A Time, so check out her other offerings.  Perception Nail Lacquer can be found on Facebook, and has a shop on Etsy.

That's a Greyt Teal

I loved doing every step of this mani!  I started off with two great colors:  Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal and Milani Just Greyt.

Taunting Teal is a dark, dark teal - but look at that shine!  This is 2 coats, no topcoat.  Just Greyt has a gorgeous, thick, shiny formula that covered in one coat, but I did 2 out of habit.  This is my favorite grey so far.

I decided to do flowers in the opposing colors - grey on the teal nails, teal on the grey nails.  Then, I added a little holo glitter to the flowers with Color Club Worth the Risque.

 I really liked this simple flower mani.  Later on, I decided to practice some filigree work.  The Sonia Kashuk polish works well for nail art.  The Milani is a little thick for delicate work.  As you can see, I was able to do some, though I still need a lot of practice with my non-dominant left hand!  The Milani has a great formula for nails - thick, opaque in one coat, and dries fast.  Not as great for nail art for a newbie like me that needs more time and a more forgiving medium.

 Ir's a little busy, but I was just practicing! I love this color combination.