My First Leadlight

Hello, Fireflies!

Ready for another post of 'Nidia Tries Something New and It Goes Sideways As Expected'?  Good! Here we go... my first lead-light technique!

Getting Wild with makeup and nails with the Wet 'n Wild Fall LE Collection

Hello, Fireflies!

When the new LE Fall Wet 'n Wild collection came out, and people started posting comparisons to the UD Naked 3 palette, I knew I wanted to try them.  Don't get me wrong, I have the original Naked palette, and it's a great palette.  But I wanted to see if these rose-toned neutrals were worth another $50, or if I'd be okay with the two $4 Wet 'n Wild palettes.

I actually really like these palettes! Wet 'n Wild definitely has both hits and misses with their eye shadows, but I think these are a hit.  Here's a closer look at the eye look I did with the Wet 'n Wild Melrose at Night palette.

I am always up for a dark berry lip, and I love the new matte Bordeaux Boulevard.  I am also a sucker for the rubbery black packaging on these LE lippies, too, but the formula was fantastic. 

Um...I know I used a foundation, but it didn't seem to make it into the picture.  I've been using powder foundation this summer, for the most part, so it's either Ageless Derma Pressed Mineral Foundation, or the It Cosmetics one.  Also, I used mascara.  Was I drunk when I put this together?  Where's the mascara?

I'm hard pressed to use anything other than my Cover FX stable of primers, though.  I haven't found a foundation they won't work with, and I love that they are skincare as well as makeup.  The blemish primer is proving especially useful these days, and because the eye primer is also a treatment, I put it over my lid and under my eye, as well.

I finally gave away that Physician's Formula brow definer.  The design just bummed me out.  I hated having to replace the cap whenever I wanted to switch to the brush.  I'm much happier with my Too Faced Bulletproof Brows.

The blush, Maybelline Mineral Power in Fresh Plum, is one I've had for a while, and thought it complimented the eyeshadows well. 

I have tried the UD setting spray, this mist from Pur, and the ELF setting spray.  I like them all, but the Urban Decay sprayer beats them all, hands down.  The Pur spraying mechanism just douses me, which wastes product and is annoying because I can't put my glasses back on until my face is dry.  So, for now, I'm back to using the UD spray full-time, and I'll refill the bottle with something else when its done.

I also did a nail look to go with the outfit I'm wearing.  I started with Echo Dark from this same LE collection.  It's a dark navy jelly matte.  What? yeah.

I did random brushstrokes with Revlon Spirit and another color from this LE collection, Careful, it's Vine-tage. a matte grape.

To better match the pattern on the shirt, I used Mentality Eeny and Pueen 13 plate to stamp this floral pattern.

And, here's the final result!

The whole look, sorta:

Have you picked up anything from this collection?  What do you think?

Embracing My Geekness - Old School Gaming Style

 Hello, Fireflies!

I don't do that much gaming myself, but I'm married to a gamer from way back, and when the idea of a video game mani came up, I chose some old-school video game stamps!

I had also just received my order from Mentality's sale, and wanted to try out some of their famous stamping polishes! They did not disappoint!  I've identified which polish and which stamping plate I used for each finger:
Joysticks (what's that? Some kind of weird controller?) and a Game Boy (huh?) and swords and keys (prevalent in the role-playing games my husband loves.)

Ah, poor Mario!

Link with his old-school sword in Legend of Zelda!

When my husband and I were dating, we used to go to the arcade and play our fave games - X-Men..

hahahahahaha X-chickens!

...and Trog!

Bottle shot:  Mentality Betty, Tawakkol, Doublet, and Duality.  Used, but not pictured:  Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, and Milani White On The Spot.

Do you have a favorite old-school video game?

An InLinkz Link-up

TRI-ing on Talons

 

Hello, Fireflies!

Let's just get this part over with, shall we?  Holy Frijole!

You've seen my nubs, so you know these talons aren't real.  They're KISS Everlasting French press-on nails.  I got them from Influenster, and took them for a spin.  After a day, I got bored with the plain French, and started doing different nail art looks, which I'll be showing you in the coming days and weeks.  They do look pretty good, and with a layer of Rica's Glossy Glam, they actually looked more real.  Fooled a friend of mine that does her own acrylics!

For the nude part of the challenge, well, the nail already has a nude part! I accented it with Ooh La Lacquer Matte-terial Girl, a collection of tiny nude/pink glitters in a matte base.

I was inspired by Robin Moses' Heart Flowers design for this look.  It was kinda fun to have a long nail as a base for this nail art.

After setting the background branches with my black striper, I used Avon Mango Melon (which looks red, but it did seem like coral!) with a little Born Pretty holo #3 to make the heart flowers.

Mentality Pastille didn't work for the leaves, really, but I did love it for the 'pollen' of the flowers.   Who needs leaves? This turquoise holo is so pretty.

Some more Glossy Glam, and we're done!

Bottle shot:  Ooh La Lacquer Matte-terial Girl, my black striper, Mentality Pastille,  Avon Mango Melon, and Born Pretty Holo #3.

I'm okay with my nubbins, but it was fun to wear talons for a few days.  There was So.Much.Room on my nails! Do you have a preference for looking at nail art on long or short nails?

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT - Something a Little Tropic-holo!

Hello, Fireflies!

It's warming up here in Florida, time to start thinking about summer cocktails, days on the beach, and tropical manis!

I started with some golden sand - Mentality Euphoria.  My camera couldn't even pick up on all the holo glitter, it's very sparkly.

I love Above the Curve polishes, and Prototype Blue felt like the water on a summer's day. 

I added a little white and gold glitter with a couple of nail art stripers, because I felt it should be breezy, and there would be small waves in my imaginary tropical paradise.

You don't see a tropical drink only because I already drank it.  The little umbrella is stuck in my hair behind my ear.

Bottle shot:  Mentality Euphoria, Above the Curve Prototype Blue, and nail art stripers in white and gold glitter.

If you could have anything tropical painted on your nails, what would you get?

An InLinkz Link-up

Mentality Half-Moon

Hello, Fireflies!

I hope you enjoyed Black Friday like I did! whew! I'm exhausted and broke, and I didn't even leave the house.  The Interwebs are a fine, fine invention!

Today's mani was inspired by one done by my friend Stephanie at A Little Polish.  When I saw it, I knew I had to do something similar.  Her manis are sooo beautiful, though!

I started with China Glaze Keep Calm..Paint On, a lovely mint green creme with a subtle shimmer.

After the base coat was *completely* dry, I used a piece of clear tape to mark off a straight 'half-moon' and then painted the rest with Mentality Kindness, a beautiful teal-green holo with a duochrome shift to purple.

Then, I placed a small rhinestone in the center of each nail, and hex glitters on either side.  I don't know how people do those manis with whole nails - or whole hands - of glitter placed one by one.  I was tired after doing just one line on both hands. 

I felt so fancy-shmancy with this mani.  Something about all those sparklies.

Look, Ma, both hands!

Bottle shot: China Glaze Keep Calm..Paint On, Mentality Kindness, rhinestones from Cult Nails, and glitter.

Have you done a mani with individually placed glitters?  Do you think it's worth the effort? This one was totally worth it for me - I loved it.

Brown Glitter, Brown Glitter, Brown Glitter

Hello, Fireflies!

I don't know why brown gets such a bad rap.  I love it - I am a brunette with brown eyes, and I wear brown polish!

So, today, I have a few different brown glittery - and I think, gorgeous - looks to show you. 

They all start with Mentality Hunger as undies, though most of them didn't need undies.

I like the shift between the copper and gold, and the subtle holo.  It's a little too light for my personal coloring, but it works so well with these glitters.

First up is Rebel Heart by Fanchromatic Nails.  It's listed as a 'cherry red' but it looks more reddish-brown to me.  I think this color is so beautiful, and is one of those shades that looks good with so many other colors.

The reddish hue just makes it glow.

Next, from the now-defunct Feenix, is Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter.  I feel bad that you can't buy from her store anymore, but you can still find Feenix in blog sales sometimes.  It's too pretty not to show off, anyway.

That subtle hint of red is something I love in a brown polish. 

Another reddish-brown polish is Lilacquer Variations On A Theme.

Apparently, Lilacquer is defunct now, too.  That's the problem with liking Indies - some of them don't stay around very long.  Bummer.

Three reddish-brown glitters, all different.  As of this writing, you can still get Rebel Heart from Fanchromatic Nails, but the rest are out of business.

Bottle shot:  Mentality Hunger, Fanchromatic Nails Rebel Heart, Feenix Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter, and Lilacquer Variations On A Theme.

Does the fleeting nature of Indies make you want to collect them, or avoid them?  I used to want to own *every* Indie I could, but now there are so many I can't possibly collect them all.

Mentality Flowers

Hello, Fireflies!

Today, I want to show you some nail art inspired by a floral design by The Nail Newbie.  I really liked her super-sized flowers.

I used all Mentality polishes for this look.  I started with Friendship, a grey-purple duochrome with a subtle holo.

I like how the purple creeps up from the edges of the nail.  There's also some green in there!

I used Tempest and a nail art brush to make the super-large flowers.  Tempest is a vampy red shimmer with a matte finish.  I actually wasn't loving how it looked matte, though.

For a bit of highlight, I dabbed on a bit of Zip.  It was too subtle for this application, though.  It needs more surface area, because it is really pretty!

See what I mean about Tempest with a glossy topcoat?  It glows!

Bottle shot:  Mentality Friendship, Tempest, and Zip.

What do you think about the super-sized flowers?  Do you prefer floral nail art where you can see more of the flower? Is it too abstract to be easily identified as a flower?