On Wednesdays, the Mean Girls Wear Pink

I've probably mentioned that, as a little girl, I was only allowed to wear pink nail polish.  So, when I got back into polish, I rebelled a little at the idea of wearing pink.  I mean, why wear pink when I could wear BLUE?  or GREEN?  or *whisper* black?

So many rebellious choices, and I chose them all. 

And, by the way, I'm over 40, and it STILL drives my mother crazy when I wear crazy colored nail polish.  *evil cackle*

But, anyway, I decided that I liked pink again.  So here are some recent pink finds.

Illamasqua Pink Raindrops.  Oh, how we waited for this to show up on the UK website, paid our shipping costs, and then.. well, I like it, but I'm not sure it lived up to the hype.  It's not a pink version of Raindrops, as touted.  It is a pretty pink with flakies, but it's not a jelly. 

Smitten Polish Snowberry Gumdrop.  When I saw another blogger say about this polish that she wished this is what Pink Raindrops looked like, I knew I wanted it!  This is more of a crelly, with fewer, but larger white flakies.  I really like this.

365 Days of Color Make Me Laugh-y Taffy.  This is more jelly than I was expecting.  I would recommend wearing this with undies.  It's a thin formula that I think would take way too many coats to become opaque.  Ain't nobody got time for that.  This one has shredded glitters, too.

Feenix Pasadena Rose.  Pay no attention to the glittered ring finger, we'll get to that in a second.  Are you seeing that blue shimmer?  I hope you can find this in a blog sale, because Feenix closed its doors. 

Glitzology Priscilla. Ok, so you couldn't ignore the glitter.  But now I can tell you that it's Glitzology Priscilla.  It has a very sheer base - it might even be clear, but with a slight iridescence.  It looks like it was made to go with Feenix Pasadena Rose.  The blue shimmer plays nice with the pink and purple glitters, and the two sheer polishes together reach opacity without getting chunky. 

LynBDesigns Jarvis.  We're all guilty of buying at least one polish just for the name.  I have a friend whose name is NOT Jarvis, nor any derivation or similarity to Jarvis.  Yet, that is one of her nicknames.  She doesn't wear nail polish.  I knew she'd never wear this.. so I wear it for her.

Elixir Lacquers With A K.  And, we end on a hot pink note. This one is not for the shy and retiring.  It's bright and fun and shiny.  I have no idea what the K is, and why it has one.

I've included links in the polish titles to the Indies that are still with us.  If you'd like more information, you can find them all on Facebook.

Do you wear pink?   Do you wear a particular color when you're feeling rebellious?

Wickedly Smitten Polish

I have three polishes from Smitten to show you today.  I hope you like them as much as I do!

Hillary's Dream.  I never used to wear black polish, and now I can't seem to get enough.. as long as it has a little something extra to it.  Hillary's Dream has lots of extras!  Lots of sparklies, mostly in green, red, and pink, with some blue.  I used three coats to get it as opaque as I liked, but undies would probably help get there in one or two.

I wanted to see what additional colors would pop if I put on an opalescent glitter, so I used Hallucinate from Wet 'n Wild.  The black almost disappears under all that bling!  Definitely a look to get your nails noticed!

Pink Goes Good With Green!   

This one is named after a line in the musical Wicked, where Glinda is making over Elphaba, and she puts a pink ribbon in Elphaba's hair and is delighted that the pink ribbon goes well with Elphaba's green complexion.  I loved that part of the play, so I put a pink ribbon on, too, using Revlon Electric Pink.

Sometimes, Blogger just changes my pix orientation.  I don't know how to fix it, so we'll just pretend these bottles are stacked!  Smitten Polish Pink Goes Good With Green and Revlon Electric Pink.

My birthday present from hubby this year was tickets to see Wicked in Orlando.  I loved the dragon clock on the top of the stage - so epic.

I wish I'd had my Smitten Polish in time for the show!  Psst, Pink Goes Good With Green!

Adeste Fidelis.  I can't say the name of this polish, every time I try, I end up singing it. 

This could be another version of Pink Goes Good With Green! I love the pale green glitter in this, it looks great with the gold and pink.  This is my fave!

Which one makes you feel Wickedly Smitten?  

If you want to find out more about Smitten Polish, you can find her on Facebook, and also on Etsy.

Chevrons, two ways

I have become a real fan of the use of chevrons in my nail art.  They are easy and especially flattering for those of us with short nail beds (and nails!)  I'd like to show you two looks I did with chevrons.

Smitten Polish I Want It Now.  This is a great glitter, full-coverage in two coats.  Sparkly green!  I believe this collex was in reference to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and this was Ms. Salt's homage.

I like gold and green together, so I added the chevron tip in Above The Curve Aslan, a gold scattered holo.  It's opaque enough to cover the glitter, which is a bonus for nail art!

I wanted a little more contrast, so I used a black art striper.   Topcoat, and done!

This second look gets its inspiration from a mani done by Globe & Nail, where she used chevrons and matte topcoat to create a striking mani.  

Essie Armed and Ready.  It looks grey, I know, but it's an army green, and there's a gold shimmer that my camera refused to capture, but it's there.  Subtle, yes, but there.  You can see a hint of it on the bottle.

I'm pretty impressed with the Julep glitters so far.  I had expected this to be a loose glitter, but this is only one coat of Julep Cindy, and it's pretty opaque.  

I did opposite color chevrons, and then painted the bottom part of my nail with the matte topcoat.  It really makes the Essie look even more grey, but hardly changes the Julep at all!

No matter where on the nail you put the chevron, so long as it's pointing down, it creates the illusion of length.  Changing the angle can also help make the nail bed look narrower or wider, too.  It's fun to create illusion with makeup on your face, and on your nails, too!

Do you use nail art to create illusion on your nails?  Do you accentuate something you like about your hands, or minimize something you don't?  

The Makeup Show - Orlando!

The Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida were invited to the Makeup Show in Orlando this year - as press!  I wish I could gone for the Blogger preview, and Sunday, too, but I could only go on Monday.  It was an amazing, fun experience!

Well, I had to do my nails special, right?  I started with Pure Ice Draped, a magenta suede.  I had no idea it was a suede until I put it on!  So pretty.

Here's where my camera and I disagree about what I actually wore to the show.  Sure, I started out with Smitten Polish Hocus Pocus.  Look how pretty it is!  And, it looked good with my outfit.  The purple microglitter... so awesome.

But, then I realized I would be helping out at the Cult Nails booth, so I took this off and put on the Draped again, but with Cult Nails Seduction over top. My camera...well, it didn't take that pix.  Or something.  It was a similar color scheme, but with flakies, instead of glitter.  Very classy.  You'll just have to trust me.. or, better yet, get yourself a bottle of Seduction.  It's the near-dupe of Unicorn Puke, but it was made once they couldn't get the green - gold flakies anymore.

The Makeup Show was held in the Peabody hotel, and the first celebrity sighting I had was of the famous Peabody ducks.  Every day at 11am, the ducks ride down their reserved elevator and walk down the red carpet to their fountain in the lobby of the hotel.  Every night at 5, they have another procession back up to their penthouse suite in the hotel.  Fancy!

I also got to see some amazing makeup artists at work.  Toby Sells is currently one of the makeup effects artists making zombies and such on one of my fave TV shows, The Walking Dead!

He was so nice, and we bonded over his 4 dogs - Chihuahua/Papillion mixes, and Jack Russells. 

I also got to meet Roy and Laura from Face-off.  I thought Roy was going to win for sure.  I was so disappointed when he didn't!

 Another funny and handsome makeup guru - AJ Crimson.

I was sorry to have missed his branding yourself workshop.  He made quite an impact on the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida who did go.  Also, he looks a bit like a young Eddie Murphy.

So many interesting things to see and do - and BUY - at the show.  Many artists were doing special effects makeup, both horrifying and beautiful.

 Amerikan Body Art had a Nail Polish Frankening station, and I made my first Franken-polish!

They had many different colors of mica, and different glitters to choose from.  I couldn't resist this light blue, and some holographic sparklies.

In truth, the best part was seeing other beauty bloggers and meeting new friends at the show.  These ladies are all so gracious with their time and knowledge, and I am so happy to have them in my life!

 Kim from Libbie's Pink Vanity, and Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles

 Kari from Once Bitten

Brianna, Maria from Cult Nails, and LaShon

Maria and I.  I'm cracking up about something silly.

 Safia from Lipstick Mixtapes.  I'm trying to emulate her fabulous 'do.

 Me and gorgeous, bold Phyrra

Meeting Judy from BeautyJudy.  

So many of the artists were awesome to meet.  Sure, I scored some deals on Crown brushes, Eye Kandy glitter, and some Cult Nails, but the people were the best part!