Lit from Within: August 2012
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Friday, August 31, 2012

Great Glue Experiment

Everybody is talking about the 'new' discovery of using PVA glue as a base for glitters.  Of course, the hipsters have been doing this 'forever' and what's the big deal?

Trust me, it's a big deal - no one needs to be scared of glitter polish removal ever again! Hurrah!

I did this experiment three different ways. There are a lot of pix, so please follow after the jump!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Guest post at Globe and Nail!

This didn't post properly when it was supposed to... well, go see it now! :) lol

I'm guest posting at Globe & Nail!  Emma is at ballet school, so a few guest bloggers are helping her out.   Check out my post to see how I took Sinful Colors Zeus up a notch.



Isn't it lovely?  That dusty purple, the pink shimmer.. and I always get great coverage with Sinful Colors.  Can't beat the $2 price tag, either.  Glad they apologized for stealing blogger images, and promised to not do that again. 

See you over at the Globe & Nail!

Pin it Thursday - sappy cute

Pinterest does funny things... I usually wouldn't pick out a nail design like this, but after seeing it pinned many times, I thought, well, a lot of people like this!  Maybe I should try it!

I am such a follower.

I started with Barielle Provocative.  Which is anything but.  Classic, maybe.  A sheer nude/pink, a color I have 20 of in my collection. 


 I think this is the best freehand white tip I've ever done.  This is Milani White on the Spot. 



And now, for the cutesy, sappy part.  HEARTS!  These I did freehand with Orly Ruby.



I couldn't believe my hubby actually liked this and wants me to wear it again, maybe for Valentines' Day.  He's such a romantic.


Did you pin a mani today? 

Avon and Glitter I

Some of my earliest nail polishes were Avon - in the square bottles.  A bright orange and a light grey.  Must have been 20 years ago, because they're back in fashion again!

I decided to try Avon again, and ordered some polishes from my friend Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles.

This is pretty pix heavy, so I put all the lovelies after the jump!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Green Tea, two ways

I am such a sucker for pale green colors.  I couldn't resist picking up Sally Hansen Green Tea. 


The complete Salon Manicure line is so great.  I still wear it with base and top coat, but it is so smooth and shiny - and I like the curved applicator even though I have small nails.  It makes it easy to get that perfect cuticle line.


Kleancolor Sparkle Emerald looks blue, but it has that emerald green tint to it.  Unlike most Kleancolor glitters, this one has a fantastic formula.  Their holos and microglitters are a true bargain.



I was pleasantly surprised by Amy's Nail Boutique Delphinium.  I didn't realize that it would be a full-coverage glitter!  It really does evoke the colors of that flower, with the small teal, and purple glitter and the larger pink squares.  



Glitter can definitely change the look and feel of a mani!  One is so cute and sweet, and the other is in-your-face blingtastic.



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Pink, two ways

Sally Hansen Rosy Posie is a frosty pink that I picked up on sale.  Not my usual polish, but it is soft and pretty... and a little boring.  So, I pumped it up!


I loved this combination of glitters in Amy's Nail Boutique Cherry Blossoms.  If you've ever seen the cherry blossoms blooming in Washington, D.C., it is amazing!


I like how Rosie Posy gives a boost of shine to the mani, but it is still a soft, pretty look.


Kleancolor Fuschia Glitter is, like many of their glitters, thick and heavy on the base.  It's a pretty mix, but I needed a denser glitter to work with the frost of Rosy Posy.  Two layers of Kleancolor would never dry!



 I just wish it would look on the nail like it does in the bottle!!




Monday, August 27, 2012

Teal, two ways

Jessica polishes deserve more polish love.  I haven't tried one yet that I didn't love!


This beautiful teal, Scene Stealer, is from their Paint the Town collection.  I thought the paint pails were too cute, but I will admit that they were a little difficult to use as a brush holder.  They should have taken a cue from Butter London and made the novelty cap removable. The size wasn't a problem, but the little handle always seemed to be in the way.


 Kleancolor glitters are cheap and lovely, but are often slow-drying and have a little too much base to glitter ratio.  I still buy them whenever I see them, though.  I can't resist.  Peaceful Heart is a green base with green and holo glitters and hearts.


 Blam! There's a heart, right there!

Next, I tried it with Daring Digits Techno Square.  I love the little square glitters!  I would have liked the glitter to be a little more dense, but it was a nice, soft glitter look.  If it weren't for the glitter shape, however, it would be like so many other topcoats out there.


Do you also like to experiment with different topcoats?  I'll have some more coming up, too!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Sunday Stamping - Pulsating Purple

I love holos. I love purple.  Thus, my lemming for Catrice Dirty Berry was inevitable. 


I know it's not a very strong holo, but it's still SO PRETTY.  It's really hard to get Catrice in the US unless you have a swap buddy.  I went to Beauty Cosmetic and jumped through some hoops and waited a month for it to arrive from Bulgaria.  So I may be a little biased as to how DARN AWESOME this polish is.


It's so awesome, in fact, that some of the stamping wouldn't even stick to it.  That's my reasoning, and I'm sticking to it.



It worked a little better on my right hand, but my pinkies repel stamps, apparently.



So, now you know - don't stamp over truly awesome polishes, because they will just not be hidden.

And, knowing is half the battle.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

BBC Weekly Roundup 8/26







Purple Daisies - inspired by Robin Moses

Another seafoam/mint green.  Why do I have so many of these?  This is Urban Outfitters Smush. It's nice, but it's about to become a part of something, dare I say, amazing.


I ran across an UO and just had to try their polishes, so I picked up this and a blue, and a couple of glitters.  Love the bottle, love the color.  I only did one coat, because I knew I wanted to pair it with another polish.


Can you see the green shimmer in Elixir Lacquer Miss Kitty's Meow?  It's the same color as Smush. 


I fell in love with this pairing.  I think this is one of those cases where the two polishes together made up something more than each polish alone.  While it's gorgeous plain, I felt the itch to add some nail art.


This is a design inspired by Robin Moses' Pink and Purple Floral Sunset.   I really liked how the viewer seems to be looking up from below the daisies that are framed against a beautiful purple sunset.


I dabbed a little of Ulta Quit Metal-ing, a shimmery pink, on the top corners of the background to give the illusion of a gradient.  I painted the flowers in SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars, a dark purple, and Rimmel Wild Orchid, a rich lavender.  Right hand:


What do you think?  Would you try the nail art, or just enjoy the magical Miss Kitty on her own?

Friday, August 24, 2012

Playing Around, Placing Glitter

When I was a student, there was none of this electronic stuff in school.  You had wide-ruled paper and #2 pencils, and when I wanted to goof off, I didn't have a laptop or cell phone or ipad.

So, I did what every kid did then.  I doodled.

I think this mani is adult doodling.  I didn't know where I was going, I just thought the journey might be fun.


This is just the prettiest green-yellow!  SpaRitual Yes, I Can.  I love SpaRitual's formula - look at that shine with just 2 coats, and no topcoat.  The rubber grippy cap is a nice touch, too.


Ulta Not From Concentrate is a sheer, iridescent orange-gold.  I swirled it around my nails.


I like KleanColor glitters, but their formulas are very thick and goopy.  So I took 2 polishes - Golden Nirvana and Gold Caviar and put them on a palette and fished out whatever glitters I wanted and placed them around the swirls.


I did the same with some red glitters from Amy's Nail Boutique Marigold.  I thought there were red and orange glitters in there, but it looked all red to me.  It was a bit disappointing, actually.


Seche Vite to finish.


Right hand:


Not my favorite mani, but it was fun to experiment with the glitter.  Almost like creating a glitter mix, but without actually mixing the formulas.

Do you doodle on your nails, too?

Furnace Glow lit a fire in my heart!

This polish is very special!  Meet Glitter Gal Furnace Glow Soft:


It's an amazing multichrome that has orange, pink, gold, and copper tones to it.  It's such a strong shift that you don't need to do much to see it - it's just there, all the time.  This is one of my new very favorite polishes.



I didn't want to cover it up, but I couldn't just leave it alone.  The good thing is, you can still see the color shift!  This is Amy's Nail Boutique Tiger Lily, a clear base with orange and black microglitter.


I love how the pink shows through the glitter!



 Do you love these orange/pink duochrome polishes?


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Pin it Thursday

Pin it Thursday was started by Pinked Polish, and it's an opportunity to share our interpretations of the (many) manis we've all collected on Pinterest.

My original inspiration is this pin, which was done in Julep colors that I didn't have, so I used Pomegranate lacquer in Cyberspace and Blue Screen of Death.

Cyberspace is a lovely charcoal scattered holo, and Blue Screen of Death is a vivid cobalt blue jelly with shimmer.  Both had amazing formulas. Cyberspace only needed 2 coats with no special base or care, and BSoD needed 3, and still had a little VNL in the picture, but it wasn't noticible in real life.


I then used the corresponding color to make the pattern on the lower half of the nail.  I need a little practice to get it as sharp as the original pinner, but I really like how it came out - and it was so simple - not tools, tape, nothing, just the original polish brush.



 What do you think of this look?  Will you be pinning and trying it yourself?

Rainbow Honey Sakura Matsuri Collection

There's something about Rainbow Honey.  The attention to detail - the box art, the bottles, and the polishes!  I had to get the entire (mini) Rainbow Honey Sakura Matsuri Collection to try.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

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