Nail Potions and Pearls

Hello, Fireflies!

Every time I think I have a favorite nail polish color, I get a new one.  Lately, I have been obsessed with bluish/steely grey polishes.  So, of course I was happy about Kunimitsu by Nail Potions Russian Blue.

I should have mixed it a little better to get more of the gold glitters, but otherwise, I couldn't be happier.  I love the light blue shimmer, and the formula was great. 

I wanted to play off of the gold glitter, so I picked this nail art, inspired by one done by A Thousand Nails. 

I used Scotch tape to get a nice, clean line, and painted the stripe with SOPI Charge It!  I like that this gold isn't a metallic chrome, and you can see some of the swirls of pigment.  It has a kind of molten effect.

For a little 3-D detail.... and something that ended up reminding me a little bit of a Dalek... I added some half-pearls in a dark blue.

Bottle shot:  Nail Potions by Kunimitsu Russian Blue, SOPI Charge It! and a wheel of half-pearls.

If you'd like more information about Nail Potions, you can find her on Facebook and on her Etsy shop.  I wish I could remember where I bought the pearls.. but you can find similar things on Born Pretty Store, Dollar Nail Art, or KKCenterHK, among other places.

Do you like 3-D nail art? 

Celiac Awareness - Not Just a Picky Eater

This is Celiac Awareness Month, and some of the beauty bloggers are posting green and yellow manis to help raise awareness, and I decided to do one as well.

May is Celiac Awareness month and its colors are yellow and green. Celiac Disease is more than an allergy to gluten. Gluten is an ingredient found in bread, pasta, anything wheat-based, and even items such as soy sauce. Basically gluten is in much of our daily food. From the National Foundation from Celiac Awareness, “Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. What does this mean? Essentially the body is attacking itself every time a person with celiac consumes gluten.” When someone with Celiac eats gluten, it can take the intestine up to a year to heal from the gluten attack. You can find more info at http://www.celiaccentral.org/

I used Julep Daisy for my yellow.  Even at 3 coats, I still have VNL.  I do like the bright, jelly quality of this polish, but I can't wear it by itself.  I loved it with a little green, though..

I did a glitter gradient with Nail Potions by Kunimitsu Mamacita.  This is such a pretty green polish, with a neat iridescence. 

I wouldn't normally wear such a bright combination, but I really liked this.

If you'd like more information about Celiac Disease, please visit the Celiac Central webpage.

If you'd like more information about Nail Potions by Kunimitsu, you can find her on Facebook and her Etsy shop.

Indie January - Kunimitsu Nail Potions

I'll admit it, this Indie is special to me.  I'm glad to consider Jessica, the founder of Nail Potions, as a friend.  She's a great person, and she makes beautiful polishes.

Love is a Kitten.  When I saw her wearing this, I asked her to set one aside for me!  I love these white creamy polishes, and the small sprinkling of glitter is so dainty and pretty. 

Kunimitsu is the name of Jessica's beloved cat that has since passed away, but is remembered on every label of Nail Potions.  I wasn't able to paint the real Kunimitsu, so I just did a little silhouette of a kitten in her honor.

Bananas Foster.  I started with yellow undies for this clear glitter topper.  It's so hard to find really nice pastel yellow polishes, but this Joe Fresh is a winner!  2 coats of Butter and no streaks, no chalkiness.  Really nice.

So cute and sunny under Bananas Foster! I love this glitter, it just looks like slices of banana and drizzles of caramel.

Cinnamon Raisin.  This was love at first sight.  A nude crelly?  Yes, please!  And the purple and black glitter with a tiny bit of holo.. it's perfectly named, and looks great.  I really like this one.  

You Are Loved.  This is another clear glitter topper, so I put it over a red glass fleck - OPI You Only Live Twice, and a golden shimmer from Barbara Daly called Pirate.

You Are Loved is an LE polish that will only be available until Feb 3.  This is a very unique promotion - for $2.50 you can send a mini of this polish to anyone in the US.  It can be anonymous, or not.  You can send it to someone specific, or ask that Nail Potions send it to someone they think would like it.  It's a great way to put some positive energy out into the world!

Isn't it cute with the different colored hearts and hexes? 

If you'd like to find out more about Nail Potions by Kunimitsu, you can find her on Facebook, or at her shop on Etsy.

Halloween?

When I started playing with these polishes, I wasn't thinking about Halloween, but there's something about green and purple that takes me there this time of year!

The base for all these glitters is China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard.  It's almost neon, but it's not - it's just really bright.  The second pix is shaded on purpose to give a more accurate color of the green.  It's not as yellow as it looks in the first pix.

As a surprise gift when I ordered some polishes from Nail Potions by Kunimitsu, I got a little mini of her Halloween polish, One Scary Outfit.  I figured this one would read Halloween, and it does!  I'm loving the focus on the black glitter with the hint of purple.

Swatching that combo made me wonder if I had any other purple glitters that would read Halloween if I put them over the same bright green.  First, I tried Candeo Mallard.  Candeo colors are very nice glitters - great formula, complex mixes of glitters.  I liked this combo, but I'm looking forward to trying it out over something less Halloween-ie.

Next, I tried Wet 'n Wild Colorcon in The Crown Is Mine.  Hmm.  Not Halloween-ie at all.  The lavender dominates, and the shimmer lightens the green too much.  I wasn't feeling this combo at all.  Pass.

Wild and Crazy in Paris is a color I picked up at a beauty supply store that specialized in ethnic products.  I'd never heard of this brand, but I loved this glitter!  No purple, but the green and black is very festive. 

Dandy Nails is becoming one of my fave Indies.  I have reviewed Wonderwall before, and I'm going to review Bathed in Light for you, too, which I fell in love with.  Like Disco Lemonade is another fun glitter with different greens and black and some holo glitters that flash purple.  Over the green, very Halloween, but I look forward to wearing this year-round. 

All together.  They all have similar colored glitters in them, but they couldn't be more different on the nail!  Thumb - Candeo Mallard.  From index to pinky - Colorcon The Crown is Mine, Wild and Crazy Paris, Kunimitsu One Scary Outfit, and Dandy Nails Like Disco Lemonade.

Will you 'make' a Halloween polish this season, or will you buy ones that are someone else's vision of the season? 

Kunimitsu - Nail Potions

A few weeks ago, I got the pleasure of meeting up with a couple of nail polish aficionados here in Daytona.  I had been waiting for a special occasion to wear my new Layla holo - Coffee Love.

I love brown, I love holo!  Unfortunately, I tried to protect it with a topcoat, and it was too thick and dulled the look, but it's such a complex polish it was still pretty.

One of the people I met at lunch was Jessica, the owner and creative spirit behind Nail Potions.  Kunimitsu was the name of her beloved cat, who has unfortunately passed from this world, but lives on in Jessica's heart and polish creations.  Kunimitsu's silhouette is featured on all the labels, with the star pattern she had on her chest.

Calico is a mix of brown, black, orange, and white micro glitters in a clear base - very reminiscent of a calico coat!  I layered this over Layla Coffee Love to make Calico Love! I really love these polishes together.  The orange is so colorful, but not overwhelming in this mix of glitters.

I'm not huge in the milky-white base glitter fan camp, but there are a few that I like, and these next two from Nail Potions are among my favorites.  Seal Point Siamese has blue, black, and holo microglitters suspended in the white base. 

I really love microglitters, and most of the polishes I have with them are very densely packed and opaque with glitter.  These two are very different because of the white base.

Flame Point Siamese has blue and holo microglitters, and adds coppery-orange ones to the mix.  It's a very soft look. 

I love the sophistication that these polishes have.  If you're interested in Nail Potions, you can find her on Facebook, and she has a shop on Etsy, as well.