Sunday Stamping - For Mom

 Hello, Fireflies!

I'm combining two challenges today - Adventures in Stamping is over a pink base.  Check! Too Cute-icle Bikini is a bright pink scattered holo.

Challenge Your Nail Art's week-long challenge is all about celebrations! Today, we're celebrating moms. So, my first stamp (done with Finger Paints Black Expressionism and Anna's Nail Art W228) is a tattoo-style heart-mom!

My mom loves hummingbirds and flowers, so that's the theme for the rest of the mani.  Plate W202 from Winstonia has this cute hummingbird that I had the *worst* time getting to work.  I originally wanted metallic hummingbirds.  Nope, none would work! Finally, I got the black to work, and dabbed a little Dollish Polish It's Bigger On The Inside on it for a little blue glitter.

My mom also loves jewelry, so I got out my Profound Glassworks crushed synthetic opal topcoat.  It's subtle, but you can see the bits of red and green opal over the black!

My mom has always loved gardening.  When my folks moved to Florida, she left behind a ton of flowers and trees, and a thriving tomato garden back in Virginia.  I think of all the things she left behind, that was the hardest for her.  Now, she's starting over again, and already the flowers are blooming all around their new house. 

Hers are much prettier and smell better than the pseudo-acrylic flowers I attached to my nails!

I bought these flowers from Winstonia, but you can get similar ones on Ebay and the like.  They're kinda rubbery, actually, not true acrylic flowers.

Bottle shot: Too Cute-icle Bikini, Profound Glassworks crushed synthetic opal topcoat. Finger Paints Black Expressionism, and Dollish Polish It's Bigger On The Inside.

Flowers, hearts, and hummingbirds are my homage to Mommy! What would be a part of your Mommy Mani?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday Stamping - Here Comes Pastel Peach Peter Cottontail

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's stamping theme is pastel. I went rooting through my Indies and found this LE from last year -  Dollish Polish Peter Cottontail.  Oh, what a lovely peach! In the bottle.  I think this polish took a cue from China Glaze Love Letters. Visually, they are both the Iocaine powders of the polish world.

I took my trusty Milani White On The Spot and stamped this tribal-esque pattern from my Pueen 10 plate.
 

This is more white than peach - or even clear - not really pastel.  So far, totally bombing this challenge on so many levels.

It's peanut butter jelly time! Well, just jelly sandwich time! I added a few more layers of Peter Cottontail on top of the stamping.

The white brightens up Peter Cottontail, and now it's looking more peach.  I really like the bold print with the pale pastel and the delicate glitters! Almost like a wedding mani.

Bottle shot:  Dollish Polish Peter Cottontail, and Milani White On The Spot.

What do you think about stamping jelly sandwiches?

Go Blue Lightning, Go, Go!

Hello, Fireflies!

No matter what polishes I use, I seem to always come back to blue.  I love blue nail polish - and it always reminds me that I could never wear it as a kid.  How normal it seems now!

I picked a couple of different blues to wear together, both from Indies.  First, I picked Dollish Polish It's Bigger On The Inside, an homage to TARDIS blue.  It has micro silver glitter in it.  Can't go wrong with that combination!

I knew I wanted a silver glitter division between Bigger and my next color, but I wanted to make sure the glitter looked opaque, so I lined it with silver first.

I think it looks like lightning.  I also think I am a doofus for making the same line on my index and middle finger. 

Maya Cosmetics Stargazing is supposed to be a dupe for Essie Starry Starry Night.  I don't know if that's true, but I do think it's gorgeous.  It's a little on the thick side, but a few drops of thinner took care of that.  Really thick polish is just a pain for nail art!

I think the silver glitter looks so much better over the silver base, don't you?  I knew you would.

I have a soft spot for Maya Cosmetics - I love all of their polishes that I've tried, and the packaging is really nice, too.

Midnight blue is really hard to capture in nail polish - too often it just looks black.  Not here, it's a true Midnight blue, my fave color.  sigh...

Bottle shot:  Dollish Polish It's Bigger On The Inside, Maya Cosmetics Stargazing, silver and silver glitter liners.

Ready for a little blue on blue action?

Glitterween, Part II

Hello, Fireflies!

Can you feel Halloween getting closer? I have a fun, spooky mani for tomorrow, but for today - MOAR GLITTER!

This is LynBDesigns Psychedelic Vampire. 

Some vampires *are* sparkly, I guess! And, uh, purple.  Name aside, this polish is really pretty, and doesn't have to be relegated just to Halloween.

Pretty & Polished Witchy Woman is a purple jelly with glitter and a purple shimmer. 

The bottle is from a scratch and dent sale, but the polish is perfect.  So purple-y!  It needs at least 3 coats, though, especially if you have long nails.

This polish was even more sheer.  365 Days of Color I Smell Children is purple glitter in a really sheer black jelly base.

I'm torn about using undies on this polish, because the jelly is what gives it that cool translucence.  But this is 3-4 thick coats, and I'd never be able to wear that without denting it. 

Also, I will note that this polish doesn't really smell like children.  In case you were wondering.

Last, but not least, Dollish Polish Vampires Coven.  Dark black jelly with red/orange/pink glitters.  Looks like glowing embers.  Pretty cool.

My only complaint is that it needs a little more glitter.. and would look great with some of those larger holographic circles, right?  Of course, they weren't a thing when this polish was conceived.

Doing these posts made me realize how I've moved largely away from glitters lately.  It was fun to remind myself how interesting a good glitter can be.  Have fun with your seasonal glitters, and don't forget the peel-off basecoat!

Glitterween, Part I

Hello, Fireflies!

It's almost Halloween! For today and tomorrow, I've picked some glitter polishes I had that just felt right for this time of year. 

I love the picture on The Nail Junkie Candy Corn.  Angry Candy Corn will make you sick! More than a few pieces of the real stuff, and I do feel a little nauseated, so it's pretty appropriate.

I still love a milky glitter, and I love all these colors.  The formula wasn't as nice as I would have liked - it was kinda hard to get a nice distribution of the glitters, especially on my smaller nails.  It wasn't so terrible, though.  I'll still wear it again because I love the colors.

I fell in love with this polish all over again when I put it on.  This is Dollish Polish I'm the Boogieman.

In Real Life, it's easier to see the awesome golden shimmer that really makes this polish crazy beautiful. 

I got some skull & crossbones glitter from my friend Emma, and added a few. Cool!

I doubt that Rainbow Polish Jungle Paradise was intended to be a Halloween polish, but.. well... green with orange glitters? 'Tis the season!

This one was a little sheer.  I bet some green undies would look great.  Going lighter or darker would totally change the look, too.

The last one for today is Pretty & Polished Blood Clot, a red jelly with red glitters.

I'm kinda torn about this one.  I love the concept, and it looks great.  But the red base is just a little too cherry pink for me.  Oddly enough, it photographs darker - I wish it were the color in the top photo!  The pix below is closer to true color. 

Stay tuned for more Glitter-ween Gorgeousness tomorrow!

Red and glitter, glitter and red!

Over the holiday season, I've worn different combos of red and glitter, and I thought I'd compile some of them together to show you at once.  So many different shades of red now, and different ways to wear it, I hope one of them suits your tastes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even though I'm not actually eating turkey today, it's such an iconic image for this US Holiday, that I wanted to try painting turkey nails.

I was originally inspired by a picture on Facebook, and I even asked her to create a tutorial which I read, but now I can't find it.  So embarrassing.  Another blogger created a similar look, so I refreshed my memory with her tutorial -  Miss JenFabulous from Polish and Pearls.

I used some polishes from the new Jade Diamond collex to create my look - Joy, Scarlet, and Supernova.  The yellow (Supernova) was a little more sheer than I'd hoped, but all of them are really vibrant.

The body of the turkey is American Apparel Racoon, and the eyes and white swirls on the other nails were done with Sally Hansen White Tip.

The translucent white base behind the turkey is two coats of Matesse Elite Snowfall.  I really thought it would be more opaque.
 

I really wanted to see how this would look with a glitter mani, so I used Dollish Polish This is Halloween.  This polish is very Fall, and I loved it with the turkey accent.

Will you have on a special Thanksgiving mani?

Today, and every day, I am thankful for my ability to write this blog, and I am thankful that there are people out there who want to read it.  Thank you all so very much for going on this journey with me!

Shades of Grey

This Fall, I'm obsessed with grey.  And, I'm not the only one - there are so many gorgeous greys out there to choose from!  I want to show you some of the polishes and glitters I've tried this season so far...

For these first few polishes, I layered them all over Color Club Wild Orchid.  It's a light grey that leans a little purple and has a tiny bit of blue and purple shimmer in the bottle that doesn't really translate much to the nail - not what I was expecting from the name!

Revlon Sparkle Aplenty is a LE Runway polish for this Fall.  What I think sets it apart from the others is the black base - but a black base that you can actually see the silver glitter in.  It's not just a textured black blob.  It's a dramatic look!

Jordana is really putting out some great glitters lately, and at about $2 each, they're really affordable and great alternatives to some of the high-end glitters.  Galaxy is a silver base, with different sizes of silver glitter.

Perception Nail Lacquer Grumpy is a milky grey, almost iridescent base with square black glitters!  It's pretty unique in my stash of glitters.  I was surprised by this one! I have to say, though, I have liked all of her polishes so far.  She's recently changed her bottle and started selling through a store from her Facebook page instead of Etsy.

Dollish Polish Many Shades of Mr. Grey is jam-packed with glitter.  I think the base is clear, but it doesn't matter, you can't see it.  So many different sizes and shapes of grey, silver, gunmetal, and black glitter.  Dollish doesn't disappoint!

Different Dimension takes a similar approach, but includes larger silver hexes and some holo glitter, too.  Gorgeous!

All together in one mani, they look completely different!  From Pinky to Thumb - Grumpy, Galaxy, Sparkle Aplenty, Many Shades of Mr. Grey, and  50 Shades.

I did another grey mani I want to share with you.  This one started with Orly Decoded.  I love Orly polishes, they're one of my top mainstream brands.  Their formula is almost always perfect.

After applying one coat of Orly Goth over Decoded, I realized I didn't need undies for this one!  It's very black.  Unfortunately, so much of that silver shimmer you see in the bottle is just hidden in the polish on the nail.

A layer of OPI Pirouette My Whistle lightened up the black and gave me some of the sparkle I was looking for.  Bling-tastic!

Are you into any shades of grey this season?