A Tale of Aly's Firebrick and a Fall Dotticure

Hello, Fireflies!

Once upon a time, there was a little Indie named Aly's Dream Polish.  She burst on the scene with a zillion holos, and *blew my mind*.  So much, so, that I couldn't decide which I wanted... so I didn't buy any. I had a sad.

And then, she got popular, and all the pretty bottles found other homes, and I had a sad.

And then, she got sick and went away, and I had MOAR sad.

One day, the Princess Aly awoke from her sickness and had a huge PRESALE! where all the pretties were available, if the masses were able to pass the trials of PATIENCE and then present the GOLD.

And, lo, I passed the trials, and bought (among others) the lovely Aly's Dream Polish Firebrick.

And my sad went away, banished from the Kingdom, never to return. 

I absolutely love it.  Perfect blend of reddish brown, with the scattered holo that evokes fire.

I actually wore it by itself for awhile before I messed with it.  I had purchased a set of Essence Vintage District polishes from a blog sale, and thought that the three would make a fun dotticure with Firebrick.

I started with Shopping @ Portobello Road, a dusty-yet-vibrant teal.

I am forever on the hunt for that perfect peachy-melon color, and if this isn't it, it's darn close.  Vintage Peach is lovely!

The last layer of dots I did with Antique Pink, another dusty-but-vibrant color.  Definitely not an old-lady rose color.

I just love how they all went together.  The Vintage District polishes are so cool - it's almost like they took a neon and toned it down - the color is still bright and pigmented, but it's not in-your-face loud.  I really like them!

I also like the half-moon effect I got by leaving the top-third of the nail free of dots. I couldn't bear to cover up all of Firebrick!

Bottle shot:  Essence Vintage District polishes in Shopping @ Portobello Road, Antique Pink, and Vintage Peach, and also Aly's Dream Polish Firebrick.

So, dear traveler, be forewarned that it may not be a simple task to acquire the fabled Dream Polish of Aly, but it may be worth it!

Something Different Sunday - Oopsies

Both of today's posts are centered around something very near and dear to my heart - the 'oops'.  For example, almost every video I take with my camera is an accident, and begins with, "Oh, S#@%, I'm taking a video!"

I make a lot of mistakes.  Some turn out okay... some I sweep under the rug.  I have a very lumpy rug.

The first mani is a splatter mani I did for a friend.  It was my first one, and I had a lot of lessons learned. 

The main oops is that I didn't put some kind of balm or vaseline around her nails because some of that polish *stained* and would NOT come off.  So, even after lots and lots of cleaning and acetone, I could not get a clean mani.

I also think that smaller straws would work better.  And I have tried to use better lighting since then, too.  I can't remember all the colors I used, but I know that the blue base on the thumb is Nails Inc Baker Street, the orange is Island Girl Sunset Beach, the yellow is Zoya Pippa, and the splatter blue is Essence Let's Get Lost.

I'm glad that my friend Toni liked her mani, though, which is all that really matters.

The next oops isn't so much the mani.. but I forgot to take pix, so I had to steal this from my friend Jill's Facebook page.  Jill wanted a mani similar to one I had done before, but with some added stamping.  This is Color Club Over the Moon - in my opinion, one of the best blue holos out there - and probably Finger Paints Black Expressionism, my go-to black for stamping.

The last oops is in the art.  I had seen this mani from Raggio di Luna called 'falling black apostrophes on purple' that I loved and wanted to do a version of.  The colors I used were Deborah Lippman Brown-Eyed Girl, Finger Paints Paper Mache, and Pretty Jelly Hera.

Yeah, I did white apostrophies instead of black.  Do you see the problem yet?

Yeah, I unknowingly did a sperm mani.  FAIL. 

LOL.  Embrace the mistakes, because if you're not making any, you're not trying hard enough.

Delicate French Tip Cherry Blossoms

Hello Fireflies!

A friend of mine posted this picture of beautiful, delicate cherry blossoms over a simple French tip, and I wanted to see if I could recreate it. 

Well, I couldn't.  But I'm still pretty happy with my version of it.

I started out with a thin, thin layer of Essie Shop Till I Drop for the soft pink base, and then used Milani White on the Spot for the tip.  A long striping brush with Cult Nails Nevermore, and I had the cherry blossom branches.  I actually really liked this look, and could have stopped here!

But, I'm glad I didn't stop there! 

I used a teeny art brush and painted the flowers first in white, then added a mix of pinks - Essence Iced Strawberry Cream, and Orly Oh Cabana Boy.

This mani used a strange accent finger for me - I rarely use the index as an accent - I usually like the ring and thumb nails for accents.  Also, for this mani, the accent is the absence of nail art. Weird.

Bottle shot:  Milani White On The Spot, Cult Nails Nevermore, Essie Shop Till I Drop, Essence Iced Strawberry Cream, and Orly Oh Cabana Boy.

What do you think?  I hope you liked it, too.  I didn't want to take it off!

I got the blues, the shiny, dotty blues..

I've got the blues... but they're definitely the good kind!

First up, a simple design I did to hang out with the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida.  I was running late so I needed something that was only one or two steps, and that I could do on both hands.

OPI What's With The Cattitude.  A coveted shade of baby blue, this was part of the Shrek collex.  I needed to be a little more careful in my application, but I told ya, I was late.  I'm often late.  When you are running late, do not choose a pastel polish, for it will screw with your mani. Pastels are finicky buggers.

Look, ma, both hands! And one of my fave rings, too.  The dots were made with Essence Let's Get Lost.

If you follow Sinful Colors, you may know that they came out with a line of polishes with a gel-like finish, but a polish-like application.  Shine with no curing?  I'll bite.

I do believe it's shiny.  I wish it dried faster, though, as you can see the little dent on my pinkie.  If you're wondering about the holo...

SuperChic Lacquer (aka Wonder Beauty) Rive Gauche.  Very linear light blue holo, with a bit of iridescence.  I may have bought this because a) it's a holo b) it has a cool bottle.

I thought it would look nice as a gradient, but I think that's a fail, folks.  I like it much better by itself.  Not a team player.

If you'd like more information about Wonder Beauty Products/SuperChic Lacquer, you can find them on Facebook, or her Etsy shop.

So, what blues are for you?  Dots? Holo?  Gradient?

Sunday Stamping - Happy Easter

The theme for this week was Easter. 

Yesterday, I did a mani with different pastels.  Today, I wanted to focus on one color.  So I did a kinda-sorta ombre with purple.

From thumb to pinky (and left to right in the bottle shots) Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect Whisper, Rimmel London I Lilac You, Barry M Gelly Prickly Pear, Essence Oh My Glitter! and (front bottle) Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Orchid Express.

While looking through my stamps, I found one that just said Easter to me - the lily.  This stamp is from Bundle Monster 314, and I stamped with Finger Paints Paper Mache.

Per usual, these stamps look better on larger nails.  Or, at least it would be easier to tell what the picture is supposed to be! 

Are you celebrating today?  Did you do a festive mani?

Indies - fruity goodness

The theme today is that all of the Indies have something about fruit in their names!

First up, some colorful red jelly undies with Chi 24k red.  Love the flecks.  It's a lot like OPI Animalistic and other red flecks.

This Indie had a small marketing problem - they didn't put their name anywhere on the bottle!  I think it's 2Chix Holo Berry, but I could be wrong.  They might have changed their name, too.  People, if you're selling something, put your name on it...

I used Essence Grey-t to be here to do some nail art.  I was going for flowers, but I think they look like zombie/skeleton arms reaching out.  Yeah, that's what they are, that's the ticket.

The next mani starts with China Glaze Immortal, which was released around Halloween.  It's a beautiful medium grey with flecks of blue and purple.  I love grey, and this grey is pretty awesome.

I wanted to emphasize the blue, so I added Lilacquer Blueberry Pi.  I am loving those iridescent blue glitters.  So pretty!

The last look starts with a polish I had to find on ebay - Revlon Royal Cloak.  I love the flakies in this purple polish, but I do wish they were a tad more pronounced.  Still, it has all the wonderfulness of a Revlon polish.

I did a glitter gradient with Hit Polish Pomegranate Ice.  I don't always like to wear red and purple together, but this polish is pretty cool.  The red makes the mani a little more interesting.

So, there you have it - berries, blueberries, and pomegranate.  Sounds almost good enough to eat!

4 blue undies with 4 Indie Glitterbombs

I love blue polish, it's probably my fave color to wear.  I have some polish combinations today that start with a mainstream color, and then layered with an Indie glitterbomb on top.

Oh, dark blue, how you stain, but how I love you anyway.  Orly Star of Bombay didn't stay on me long enough to really stain much, though, because I was swatching.  If I could have, I would have left it on, though.  It's gorgeous, and has that great Orly formula.

I layered with with Above the Curve Peacock 4Play.  Every time I think I have enough blue/green/mermaid glitters, something comes along with just a little something different to tempt me.  Purple.  sigh.

My only complaint about this polish was that it was quite thick, and gritty without topcoat. I added a layer of NYC Grand Central Station which smoothed it out beautifully, but the polish was too thick, and with the glue base it peeled off quickly.

Impala Polaina Fun is a great summery Caribbean blue.  Loved it.  The distortion on my thumb is due to the glue base, not the polish.  Can I just say how much I love these bottles, too?  

I love the Big Bang Theory, but I may love this BBT-themed polish from Different Dimensions even more.  What a great combo of glitters in Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock!

L'oreal Jet Set to Paris is a French Blue, as you might expect!  I thought it would make great undies for this next Indie, but it totally got lost in the blue jelly, so you'll just have to admire it on its own.

Makeup Your Face I Need Blue Tonight is a jelly sandwich in a bottle.  Deep, squishy royal blue with white and silver glitter. A fave shade of blue, and a great way to wear it.

I liked Essence Date In the Moonlight so much, I accidentally bought it twice.  These dark colors with the shimmer that glows from within get me every time.

Pahlish Prayers for Rain is another mermaid glitter I had to have.  I really like the blue/green combo in this glitterbomb.

Do you like your blues layered?  Are you like me, attracted to mermaid-type colors like a moth to a flame?

Glowing Manis

The polishes I want to show you today have a beautiful quality that makes them look like they are glowing.  I loved each and every one of these!

I first started with OPI Not Like The Movies.  This polish hasn't gotten as much love as I would have thought, but maybe because there are quite a few purple/green duochromes out there now.  This one does have a little bit of holo microglitter that gives it a little extra. 

On top of NLTM, I layered Darling Diva Polish Space Beetle.  This polish is both a duochrome and a holo.

It was hard for me to capture both in one photo.  The holo is more scattered than linear, but there is some linear in there.

I loved this so much, I wore it on both hands. :)  So unique!

The next mani started with Essence Grey-t to be here, a pale grey with a pink shimmer. It's hard to capture on camera, but the shimmer is there.  I like these Essence Color-n-go polishes.  The price did go up to $2 with these new bottles, unfortunately, but the formulas are great, and I love the wide brushes.

 Over the Essence, I used Dandy Nails Bathed In Light.

I feel like there should be a moment of silence for this gorgeous, angelic polish.

I wish I could bathe in this polish!  I love the glow, the scattered holo, the color, the formula, everything.  Too much?  maybe....