Let's Go Camping - Under The Stars

Hello, Fireflies!

This month's Challenge Your Nail Art challenge is short and sweet - three days of camping-related manis.

I've never been camping.  I used to think I wanted to try camping, and then I remembered how much I hate mosquitoes, but how much they love me.  Or that I like Western-style toilets.  And A/C. And real showers.

I do love the idea of a dark night with a bright moon and a mist of fog, so that's what I tried to depict on my nails.

I started out with Darling Diva Polish What You Do For Money Honey, a dark green jelly with lots of gold shimmer.  This jelly is a little tricky - took me 4 coats to get it opaque, and it never really dried. This one gets undies next time.

I painted a moon with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls with some shading of Dance Legend Grey Britain.  For the mist, I dabbed on a little One Direction NaNaNa and Sally Hansen Triple Shine Great White.

Bottle shot:  Darling Diva Polish What You Do For Money Honey, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Dance Legend Grey Britain, Sally Hansen Triple Shine Great White, and One Direction NaNaNa.

Sure, camping under the stars sounds romantic, but room service sounds nicer!  Do you like camping under the stars?

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT pink stripes

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's GOT challenge is all about stripes.  And pink.  And flakies.  And holo.  I started with a gorgeous rosy pink holo, Girly Bits Crantini.  Impeccable formula, as always.

I freehanded a diagonal French tip with Sheswai Totally, a rose cream. I remember when Sheswai burst on the scene with a polish that dropped the F-bomb.  I never was able to get a bottle of that...

Flakies and holo in ONE mani?  This may rip a hole in the time-space continuum.  Hope everyone has their towels.

Darling Diva Polish Rose Opal is a similar color pink as the other two, and just adds a subtle flash of flakie.

Black stripes provide contrast, and make it so that I complete the objective of the challenge.  Win-Win!

Holo, creme, and flakie pinks.  It's getting dainty up in here!

Bottle shot:  Girly Bits Crantini, Sheswai Totally, Darling Diva Polish Rose Opal, and a black nail art striper.

Do you like looks that are all in similar colors, but change up the texture like this one, or do you like more contrast with your stripes?

An InLinkz Link-up

The Nail Files - Pinky Cherry Blossoms

http://www.jennieshaw.ca/

Hello, Fireflies!

What, a new nail linkup? I saw this cute pix on my friend Amber's blog, Daydreaming Beauty, and I threatened convinced  asked her to let me join.  I was all like, nails? Where?

Have you ever been to Washington, D.C. during the time the cherry blossoms are blooming?  It's utterly spectacular, and it smells amazing.  Inspired by that and many incarnations of cherry blossom nail art (including this one by the fabulous Kimiko7878 on Instagram) I came up with this.

I started with Cult Nails Angel Whispers, a textured pale, pale pink, and Darling Diva Polish Rose Opal, a pink jelly with flakies.

 I used a black striper for the branches and leaves.

I decided to do more abstract blossoms, with dots of polish.  I used Sheswai Lacquers in Babe and What, and also did some highlighting with Angel Whispers.

It almost looks like snow, instead of flowers!

One of the benefits of doing dots instead of something more precise - you can do both hands, and they look like you totally meant to do dots!

Bottle shot:   Cult Nails Angel Whispers, Darling Diva Polish Rose Opal. Sheswai Lacquers in Babe and What, and my black nail art striper.

I don't always do nail art on both hands, but if I do, I want everyone to see it! Look, Ma! Both hands!

Check out The Nail Files to see who all is linked up this week!

NYE Pretty Peach Party Nails!

Hello, Fireflies!

It's here, the last day of 2013!

I'm wrapping this year up with a soft, pretty, glittery mani that should work for all occasions.

I started with Lacquer Lust Sweet Georgia Peach.  Unlike my other Lacquer Lusts, this one isn't a holo! Color me surprised.  Peach surprise.  Yum!

Not absolutely in love with the formula, actually.  You can see that I had a little trouble getting a smooth, opaque nail.

I love this new color from Mariah Carey's OPI Holiday collection.  Ski Slope Sweetie is sheer, but with a heavy gold shimmer.  You can be looking at it one way, and not see much at all, and then when the light hits it from a different direction, the shimmer is so opaque, the polish just looks gold!

Darling Diva Polish The Big "O" is chock full of iridescent glitter.  They're not flakies, per se, but they're not mylar shards, either.  They are closer to the awesomeness of flakies, but in a glitter.  I love them, and they look spectacular when they catch the light.

There is something about the iridescent glitter over the gold shimmer over the delicate peach.  It's like I'm riding a unicorn out of 2013! Onward and upward!

Bottle shot:  Lacquer Lust Sweet Georgia Peach, OPI Ski Slope Sweetie, and Darling Diva Polish The Big "O".

How are you bringing in the New Year?  I love to watch the holiday special Rudolph's Shiny New Year every NYE! 

I wish all my Fireflies a wonderful and happy New Year! Thanks for being with me this year on my journey!

Killer Clouds #FallingFornailArt

This is the last of the Darling Diva Polish Queen collex that I picked up - Killer Queen. 

And, oh, Freddy was! And, I think this polish is, too.  The shifts are less dramatic than some of the others in this collex, but the pigmentation is divine.

I love a red-violet multichrome, though.  Gorgeous.

I saw this 'cut out' nail art technique on Lucy's Stash, and wanted to try it here.  Almost looks like strange clouds, doesn't it?

This is one of those cases where I think the look would have been easier to recreate and smoother, had I used acrylic paint instead of nail polish. 

Bottle shot: Darling Diva Polish Killer Queen and a white nail art striper.

There will never be another Queen like Freddy! I love that this collex has reminded me of some great music while giving me some of my favorite colors and finishes.

These Swirls Will Rock You

Hello, Fireflies!

I have another of Darling Diva Polish's Queen collection for you today:  We Will Rock You.

Is there anyone who hasn't heard at least some rendition of this song?  As a member of the marching band in high school and college, I know I've played snippets innumerable times.

But you haven't seen too many polishes like this one!

Another stunning multichrome holo polish.  Blue! Purple! Teal! Green!

Wow.

I saw this design on Pinterest that apparently was done by a nail artist for a client, but there was no identifying information.  I liked it, though, and wanted to do my own version.  I used a neon blue Color Club (when are they going to start putting labels on their bottles? Please?) to make an asymmetrical hill on my tips.

I used a black nail art striper to make some swirls, and then highlighted with a silver glitter nail art striper.

At some angles, We Will Rock You is more blue, but at others, a bright purple!

I love the color shift in this polish, especially how it plays off the neon blue.

I loved it so much, I did the other hand and went out on the town. It was harder to do the swirls with my left hand, but in Real Life, no one really notices that they're not exactly the same. As an added bonus, the swirling lines take attention away from the length of my nubs, and if there are any differences in length.

Bottle shot:  Darling Diva Polish We Will Rock You, Color Club Neon Blue, Milani nail art striper in silver glitter, and black nail art striper.

Unfortunately, We Will Rock You was an LE, and it seems the store of pigment needed to make it has run out.  At this time, I don't know if any more of this polish will be made. Some of the Queen collex are not LE, however, so check them out!

Flash Scrolls

Hello, Fireflies!

I couldn't resist some of the multichrome holos from Darling Diva Polish's Queen collex.  The three I picked up are *gorgeous*.

First up, Flash.

Named for the theme song for the movie, "Flash Gordon."  The movie wasn't so great.  I'm not a huge fan of the song, either, even though I love me some Queen.

But this polish? Wow.  Really, WOW.   Look at this gold and purple.

And then to yellow gold and orange..

Greenish gold?  Is this the same polish? yep!

At first, I thought I'd add just a simple black French tip with Finger Paints Black Expressionism.

But, then, I couldn't resist adding a few scrolls a la Robin Moses.  I love scrolls, but I haven't yet mastered doing them - especially with polish - so, I keep practicing!  I'm pretty happy with these, I will admit.

That color change slays me.  So many colors at once, all changing every time the lights hit it a different way.

I didn't want to take this off! Such a gorgeous polish.  I'll have two more from this collection to show you, but there are 6 all together.  Are you as much in love with Darling Diva Polish Flash as I am?

Purple Layers

Hello, Fireflies!

This mani I want to show you today is one that just evolved from looking at a color and wondering what it would look like with just a little..more.  Most times, I wish I knew how to edit myself!  I this this one is pretty good.

I started with Milani Violet Dash.  These high-speed drying lacquers are nice, especially for this clumsy gal, who is knocking into things within moments of finishing a mani.  The faster a polish dries, though, the faster you have to work, or you get streaks and patches like I did.

I thought that Darling Diva Persephone would need undies, but you can't even tell that the violet is under there.  It probably did save me from doing another layer, though - and I wouldn't want to waste a drop! 

I love the shift and blue shimmer! 

It's like magic when a polish looks purple, but then, no, it's actually a frosty blue.  How do they *do* that?

I couldn't resist ONE more layer.  The blue and the purple just seemed to call out for a glitter accent of Nerd Lacquer I Think You Call Me.. Sexy.

I think it is pretty sexy, myself.

So, how many layers of purple would you need?  Do you have a favorite layering combination?

If you'd like more information about Darling Diva Polish, they can be found on Facebook and Etsy.  NerdLacquer is harder to come by, but she does have a Google+ page, and has restocks on Ninja Polish and her own webstore.