My Alter Ego Sneaks A Stamp..

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Sunday Stamping challenge was a choice, and mine was to let my 'Alter Ego' take a crack at stamping and do something that I wouldn't normally do.  I didn't go too crazy, but this definitely isn't something I reach for that often!

Breaking Dawn Hurts

Hello, Fireflies!

Yesterday's post came out kind of late, so just a quick Saturday glob of glitter for you today.  This is Polish Addict Breaking Dawn, a black jelly polish with gold hexes and a few bars.

Gorgeous, right? Oh, what a pain to apply, though.  Goopy, thick.  I did have to add thinner.  Who knows if it was like that all along, or if sitting around my drawers caused some evaporation.  I'm going to work with it because it's just so pretty.

I paired it with a black dress that had gold beading on the bodice.  It complemented my outfit so beautifully!

Have you ever tried to save a wretched polish because it was so pretty?  
 

Syrupy Gradient #NailArtForNubs

Hello, Fireflies!

Two posts today!  If you're interested, I did a review of FutureDerm collaboration products My Beauty Bunny All-Natural AHA Facial Moisturizer, and Phyrra's Pretty Little Elixir.  Click here, or there will also be a link at the end of the post.

Jellies.  People love 'em or hate 'em, or only want them on their PB&J, not their nails.  I found a way to do a 'syrup' type-ombre with L'Oreal Berry Nice, a royal purple jelly polish.  Here's one coat:

So thin! But watch what happens when I apply more layers - each one starting a little farther away from the nail bed.  Instant gradient!

Topcoat helps smooth out the lines.  It's not so obvious when you're not in macro-mode, anyway.

For fun, I decided to see what would happen with a layer of The Shift Me, an iridescent topcoat from L'Oreal.  Pink and blue!

The gradient isn't as strong, but how fun that it changed all the colors, yet you can still tell that there is a royal purple in there.

This is definitely an easy nail art! No special tools - and if you don't have a jelly polish, mix a few drops of any regular creme polish in with some clear polish, and make your own! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Ready to read my review and see my hair and makeup look?  Click here!

GOT - Layering Between the Sheets

 Hello, Fireflies!

Today's mani takes you both to the murky depths of the pond mani, and also to the murky depths of my blue polish drawer.

Have you heard of the 'pond' mani?  It's basically a jelly sandwich nail art technique, but instead of glitter between the layers, you do nail art.  And, there are typically more layers, giving the impression of depth.

If you actually have enough polish on to create 3-D images, maybe you have too much polish on.  Maybe.  Just sayin'.

I started with my good ol' dotting tool and Revlon Spirit.  This is the bottom of the pond.

Ah, Revlon Royal.  One of the darlings of the polish world, and one of the best undies for all the Clarins 230/Unicorn Pee dupes.  Also, a kickass jelly, when jellies were new.

Another layer of flowers.

Another layer of Royal, and then the last layer of flowers.

Bottle shot:  Revlon Spirit and Royal.

In Real Life, the layers are a little harder to see, I admit.  Maybe I should have added a little clear polish to Royal for more translucency.  But it is definitely a fun way to layer, especially a simple image like a dotted flower.  What would you layer between the sheets.. of polish?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sweetcheeks II - Matte and Jelly Holos

Hello, Fireflies!

Today, I bring you three more Sweetcheeks polishes.  Ready? And...

First, Sweetcheeks Polish in Vous Etes Mon Soleil.  Now, I don't speak French, but I think this means, "You are my sun."  or "Beer, please?"  I know for sure ONE thing it doesn't say, because of the song Lady Marmalade.

This is a holo matte polish! Kinda cool, actually.  I did a striping tape design, and painted Sweetcheeks Polish Black Ice over the tape.

And, like I always tell you not to do, I didn't let the base polish dry completely.  So, the tape pulled off all the purple polish underneath it.  I was saying some stuff, Pardon My French, if ya know what I mean.

So, one of these nails has been doctored, and the other hasn't.  But look at how pretty it all is with topcoat on?

Bottle shot:  Sweetcheeks Polish in Vous Etes Mon Soleil and Black Ice.

Bonus polish:  This is Sweetcheeks Polish Eric, a brown jelly with green shimmer.  I think it's pretty.  But, Eric has a dark side.  He is thick and not very well pigmented.  So, I had to use 4 layers to get this much color, and for the shimmer to show up.

But, why is there no nail art on it? Because it didn't dry fast enough, and I banged it all up.  So, this is a polish for those who are patient! And less clumsy than I am. 

Did you miss yesterday's post with two other Sweetcheeks polishes and some floral nail art?  It's HERE if you want to go see it.  If you'd like more information about Sweetcheeks Polish, you can find them on Facebook and Etsy.

This post contains products that were purchased by me, at a discount, for the purpose of review.  Nonetheless, my opinions are my own, and as honest as possible.

Army of Sheep?

Hello, Fireflies!

If you can't have a duochrome, have a polish with a heavy shimmer.  It's almost the same...  well, kinda.  CrowsToes Me and This Army is a greyed-out Army green with a heavy purple shimmer.  I love this combo!

I didn't expect it to be this sheer, though!  This was 3 to 4 coats, and you can still see nail line.  That will never dry on me. If I use it again, I'll try it layered over a grey or dark green.

Ok, I know that yesterday was the end of the tutorial challenge.. but it will never end for me! bwahaha! I used Chalkboard Nails' Sheep Tutorial for this nailart.

It kinda looks like I'm drawing noses when I start out.

Then, I use a dotting tool and Milani White On The Spot to add a big, fluffy ball of cotton candy on top of the two sticks.  Like a weird popsicle.

The same dotting tool goes first into Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, and then into the Milani White for the eyes.  Ghost cotton candy!

A little taupe from Nikka K NY112 for the ears, and OPI Pussy Galore for the noses.  I had a little trouble with the noses.  One sheep looks like a fluffy pig.  Another, more like a cat.

A little topcoat to smooth it all out, and the shimmer comes out to play, too. 

Bottle shot:  CrowsToes Me and This Army, Milani White On The Spot, black striper, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, Nikka K NY112, and OPI Pussy Galore.

This isn't a fail - it's a multi-purpose tutorial.  You can use it to either make Cotton Candy Ghosts, Fluffy Pigs, or Sheep.  Everyone loves a multi-tasker.

Forces of Nature

Hello, Fireflies!

I'm excited to show you these.. even though pretty much everyone else has already heard of these great Emily de Molly "Forces" polishes, they are new to me.  I wasn't expecting them to live up to the hype... but I admit it.  I love them.

Before I speak to each individual polish, I want to say something about the circle glitters in all three. 

I was, frankly, expecting to hate them. 

My nails are small, and typically, what I see with these large glitters is that they overwhelm my nails.  These circles were the perfect size - I could even get 2 on some of my nails!  I couldn't believe it.  I REALLY couldn't believe that these polishes looked as good on me as they did in all the swatches I've seen.

First up, Oceanic Forces. 

This is everything a teal jelly glitter polish should be.  The jelly makes for light and dark areas, and the large and small holo and blue glitters distort the light to give differences in depth, just like an ocean bed. 

Cosmic Forces is a dark purple jelly with holo glitters that flash pink, purple, and blue. 

I was so surprised by the flashes of blue!  That holo circle glitter on my pinkie is flashing the most beautiful cobalt blue.  Awesome formula; beautiful polish.

Dark Forces is a black jelly with silver holo glitters that flash all the colors of the rainbow.

This was the only formula that gave me a little trouble - I needed three coats to even it out, and getting the circle glitters out of the bottle was a real hassle.  I don't know why this one was difficult, because the other two Forces were easy and lovely formulas.

I can't believe how the circle glitters look so awesome and different in each of these polishes.  Really great combinations of colors and textures in all three of these.  I'm glad I finally caved and got all three of them!  Emily de Molly is an Australian Indie, but she does sell through stocklists that ship to the US, like Llarowe.

Which is your fave?

Ruby White Tips- Oh, the shimmer!

Hello, Fireflies!

I have some really pretty polishes and nail art to show you today.  I'm so excited, I had to bump this up in my scheduled posts!

This beauty is Jane's Lemming.  The base is ...grey? taupe?  Who cares - look at that incredible blue shimmer.  I have a LOT of polishes, and none like this.

I decided to play off the blue, and take a tip from this pix from the Manicurator, and use striping tape and a texture to amp up the mani.  This is OPI Alcatraz Rocks! from the San Francisco collex.

Math sucks! Yes, in my opinion it does, but this polish doesn't.  This berry jelly has lots of blue flecks just swimming in it.

This nail art is a bit outside the box for me, but I just had fun.  I liked how the glitter in NerdLacquer All Of Time And Space went with the berry color in Math Sucks! so I did an accent nail... and then another.. and then tips... and then added a blue striper.  Play with your polish!

If you follow Ruby White Tips' Facebook, you may have seen that this is one of her newest releases, Me O My O.  I received it as a prize *before* it was released! Woot!  She liked my swatch, so now it's on her Etsy page for this polish.  This is my first time that this has happened to me, and I couldn't be more flattered.

I saw Mr. Kitty in a blog sale, and snatched it up.  The shimmer!  Oh, the shimmer.  I couldn't resist.  It's amazing.  Also, this polish is one of the Batworld.Org polishes, and when you buy it from RWT, 50% of the proceeds goes towards helping this bat sanctuary.  Mr. Kitty (and Miss Kitty, his namesake) have a really cool story!  A rescued cat that rescues bats?

Bats eat bugs, especially mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes hurt me and spread disease.  MOAR Bats, please!

I thought that Mr. Kitty and O Me O My O would look great together.  The color separating them in this cloud mani is Illamasqua DWS, a grey creme.

I had a blast playing with these great polishes from Ruby White Tips.  If you'd like more information about Ruby White Tips, you can find her on Facebook, webpage, or her Etsy shop.

I must really like RWT and her bats, because I have two other posts I've dedicated to her polishes.  If you like these, please check out Girls and Bats and Bats and Bill? to see my other reviews.

Out for a Night Stroll in the Sick, Sad World

Previously on Lit From Within..  when we last left our heroine, she was investigating a new Indie brand called Daphine Polish.  We join her now trying out some glitters.....

Hi, Fireflies!  This gorgeous blue jelly sprinkled with holo glitter is called Night Stroll, by Daphine Polish. 

My fave color is Midnight Blue, but it's so hard to capture in polish because it can so easily go too far into black.  This one comes pretty close.  Being a jelly, it doesn't get too dark too quickly.  It actually took about 4 coats to get this opaque.

I thought these whale and mermaid stamps from Winstonia were pretty cute, so instead of just a Night Stroll, we can go for a night swim.  The stamp was done with Essie Blue Rhapsody.

This next polish was so hard to photograph, I can't do it justice.

This polish is a greenish gold shimmer, that almost comes across as a duochrome with glitters.  It's part of her Daria collex, and references a bizarre news show.

I decided to do an abstract gold bamboo stalk, so I took my trusty Maybelline Bold Gold and a long striper, and made some art.

I love how it turned out.  So easy to do, too! This polish has such depth, it makes everything look good.

As I said in my review yesterday, I thought that the formula on this new Indie was really good.  I loved the colors, too.  I only have two critiques:  one, she packed the bottles in sticky bubble wrap, so the bottles all have sticky residue on them.  And, two, all of her labels have black writing, which makes it hard to read some of the labels over darker polish.   I've already been in touch with her, though, and she's getting rid of the sticky bubble wrap, and will get more labels as her shop expands.  If you'd like more information about Daphine Polish, you can find her on Facebook and her Etsy shop.  *Update 8.23.13* Daphine has let me know that she has new white labels available!

Windestine-a-palooza

I love a good sale, so when Windestine had one, I picked up some pretties that I'd been looking at for awhile.

Frozen Wilderness.  I saw this on a friend's nails, and fell in love, hard.  It was almost painful to have to wait for this one.  I don't know why, but I love coppery glitters.  This is with no undies, and there is great glitter distribution and no VNL.  Wonderful formula!

I decided to embellish with a half-moon mani using Kleancolor Metallic Orange and a black striper.  I thought this was fun and cute.

Bottle shot, on its end.  Ta-da!

I ended up with a few other orange and orange-like variations of glitter, too.  This is Twirling Upwards with an accent of Frozen Wilderness.  Love that juicy orange and gold glitter.

I received Peach Ice as a mini, but actually bought it as a full-size with the sale.  I love these peachy-melon colors, and the light glitters are a nice touch.

Leilani is a coral crelly with pastel glitter.. you can see the orange and orange-like theme, though, can't you?

The accent nail on that mani was Crushed Rose in Spring, and here it is on its own.  This green is pretty unique in my collection - it's not an icy mint, nor a grass green.  It's like a crelly pistachio?  Not sure what to call it.

Pond Patrol and Coraline.  Pond Patrol is a glitter-packed grassy green.  It does evoke the vision of a pond choked with lily pads!  This color is rich enough to compete with the amount of glitter, and it all distributes well on the nail.

Coraline came as a free mini, and I'm so glad I got to try it!  Such a vivid punch of coral!  It's very bright, though not neon.  Great summer color.

On A Clear Night. Honestly, I must own a dozen of these black polishes with scattered holo glitter.  They sucker me in *every* time, each one more beautiful than the last.  If you don't own one already, this is a good one! 

So many great polishes from this brand, and the hits keep on coming.  Not a dud in the bunch!  Did you have a fave or fave combination?

If you'd like more information about Windestine, you can find her on Facebook and Etsy.