TRI Tropical Flowers

Hello, Fireflies!

It's time for another installment of the TRI-polish challenge, and today, I'm going tropical.  I started with a polish I received in my Memebox Blue, so it's a Korean-style brand named Dearberry that I've not heard of before.  Dearberry 33 is beautiful, though, and it didn't stain.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The inspiration for this nail art came from one of those collections where the originator wasn't named.  I've linked it in my Pinterest, and, per usual, if you know the creator, I'd love to credit and link them here.  I stamped the outline of the flower with Revlon Spirit, using Red Angel plate 119.

I wanted the flowers to have a juicy, shiny quality, so I outlined with a red striper, and then filled in with the flakie goodness of Models Own Red Sea.

The nice thing about striper polish, is that it's usually pretty opaque, so even yellow pops.  I also used a white striper to make more dots and redefine the outline of the flower.  Can't even tell it was stamped now, can ya.  I just look like a painting *genius*. Geeeeenius.

Off we go, to a tropical paradise... with a polish that came from Korea, and stripers probably made in China, and Models Own is from the UK. Hmm.

Bottle shot:  Dearberry 33, Revlon Spirit, Models Own Red Sea, and stripers in red, yellow, and white.

If you could go on a tropical vacation, where would you go?

An InLinkz Link-up

July Subscription Boxes - Wantable, Ipsy, Beauty Box 5, and Birchbox

Hello, Fireflies!


Is it still July? Dang, missed it by a day.  Getting closer now! If you'd like to see the breakdown of my beauty sub boxes for July, there's a ton of pix after the jump!

GOT Polish - Blue Ruffles

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Golden Oldie Thursday challenge is a Ruffle mani, which is, of course, a striped mani done with a dotting tool, so that the stripes are, well, ruffled.  Natch.

Personally, I like Pointless Cafe's version on Instagram.

I started with Models Own Beth's Blue.  So gorgeous.  So temperamental.  So worth it.

First dotted layer - Sinful Colors Jolt, a bright robin's egg blue.  Great formula.  The color reminds me a bit of that Rockstar Nails fiasco from the Beauty Box 5 sub box.  This one is about $2 and is awesome.
  

Next, MAC Blue India, a muted grey-blue.  I love the artwork on the bottle. Lawd, I am making a mess, though.  Clean up on Aisle 9!

Finally, Zoya Sailor, a navy blue creme.  And, maybe a few dots of Beth's Blue to make the Ruffle a little more obvious.

Topcoat smooths it out and melds the layers together.

Rrrrrruffles have rrrrrrrridges! Such a fun mani to do, and hard to mess up.

Bottle shot:  Models Own Beth's Blue, Sinful Colors Jolt, MAC Blue India, and Zoya Sailor.

What do you have with your Ruffles?

An InLinkz Link-up

One-stroke pinkish-purple flowers

I had fun, but really stretched myself with all the challenges this month!  Which, I suppose, was the point.  My last flower NCC challenge mani starts with a palate cleanser, Models Own Utopia.

What a peaceful, serene, delicate color.  Made even prettier by a new-to-me Indie, Sweetheart Polish.  This is She's So Flakey, a blush-pink jelly base with pink and green flakies.

I encourage you to go check out Yummy Nails' video that inspired these one-stroke flowers.  Mostly because she is awesome and my flowers look a hot mess, especially compared to hers.  Mine are more like 'she-had-a-stroke' flowers.  But I keep practicing!

I used Nabi Purple Hologram for the inside of the flower, and Cover Girl Outlast Vio-last for the outside, and then added some detail with a black nail art striper.   A magenta half-pearl went in the center of each flower.

I really like that bit of purple holo sparkle in the flowers.  

Bottle shot:  Models Own Utopia, SweetHeart Polish She's So Flakey, Nabi Hologram Purple, Covergirl Outlast Vio-last, and black nail art striper.

Have you tried the one-stroke technique yet?  I suspect it would be easier with acrylic paints, but I like the effect with polish, too.  

If you'd like more info about Sweet Heart Polish, you can find her on Facebook and her Etsy store.

Hobby Polish Bloggers - Inspired by the Beach

 

I live about 20 minutes away from many of the beaches in the Daytona Beach area, and, while I don't go very often, I like that it's nearby.  There's something magical about driving over the bridge over the Intercoastal, and seeing the Atlantic in the distance.

For me, the beach will be about blue skies and blue water.  So, I did a blue mani.

I used Models Own Beth's Blue, a creamy light blue, for all my fingers save my ring finger.  Love this color.

For my ring finger, and thumb striped accent, I used LynBDesigns Don't Torture Me!, a perwinkle with tiny flakies. Then, I dotted with Beth's Blue.  It's like the blue sky, frothy ocean, and fluffy clouds - a perfect day at the beach.

Bottle shots:  LynBDesigns Don't Torture Me! and Models Own Beth's Blue.

So, are you transported to the beach yet?  Can't you almost imagine the palm trees swaying in the breeze?

Check out these other Hobby Polish Bloggers challenge manis!

NOPI and Models Own

I was at Walmart the other day, and saw the new Nicole by OPI Modern Family collection.  I love Modern Family, and I like OPI, so hey, I picked up a couple.

Stand By Your Manny.  Pale pastel blue with a white shimmer.  This polish doesn't remind me of Manny at all.  Mostly because this polish was a streaky mess, and Manny is dependable!  Even after 3 coats, I was having balding patches, VNL, and it didn't dry evenly.

So, what is a girl to do?  Cover that mess with a beautiful glitter!  I picked up a few from the Wonderland collex by Models Own, and they are pretty awesome.  This is Southern Lights, one, maybe one and half coats.  I wanted to be able to see the blue underneath, but with 2 good layers, this would probably be opaque.

NOPI Alex By The Books.  Another color I really wanted to love - I'm a sucker for these minty greens.  Again, though, the formula was a nightmare.  It didn't level out, and was all lumpy and streaky.

So, I covered it with Models Own Juicy Jules, a scattered holo glitter.  I have quite a few similar polishes.  Nice formula, spreads evenly.  It makes the NOPI look pretty good, doesn't it?

The next two NOPIs I got at a Central Florida Beauty Blogger meeting.  I got to pick my own colors, and I absolutely love the ones I got.  Even though they were provided for review, my opinions are my own.

Back to Reality..TV.  I don't know much about the Kardashians, except that they're famous for being famous.  And Bruce Jenner, who, sadly, doesn't resemble his Olympic self anymore.  And I mean his face.

Anyway, I love polishes like these with a red shimmer.  You can even see it on the nail as well as the bottle.

Even though I liked it, I still have glitters to try, and I picked Northern Lights to go with this one.  I like the periwinkle and pink together.  Very soft and pretty!

Smile for the Glam-era.  This was, by far, my fave!  Deep eggplant purple, with sparkles.  I loved this one so much I actually wore it a few days later for Girls' Night Out, and paired it with a plum blouse. 

I suspected that Models Own Jack Frost would look best over a dark polish.  I am so drawn to these iridescent glitters and flakies.  This look is very *me*.

Bonus Models Own!  I couldn't resist picking up Hayley's Comet, a duochrome.  First, I applied (from index to pinky) Zoya Indigo, OPI Black Onyx, 2 coats of Hayley's Comet, and Wet 'n Wild Haze of Love.

Then, another layer of Hayley's Comet over everything.

I couldn't tell the difference between the blue and the black!  I actually liked it best over the reddish color, or by itself.  I liked the brown/nude tones, and not just all blue shimmer. 

Are you liking these glitters?  Would you rather go with the NOPI by themselves?  What would you recommend pairing with Hayley's Comet?

My perception of Perception Nail Lacquer

When I first came across Perception Nail Lacquer, I almost passed it by.  I admit, it was a little snobby to look at the recycled bottles and just think that the seller wasn't serious because they didn't have real bottles.

But, I was liking the polishes I was seeing, so I kept looking around, and did a little research, and found some loyal followers of this new-to-me brand.

And, she got new bottles. So, the snob was satisfied.

All the polishes I picked up were glitters, so I found some undies I thought would go well.  I started with Sonia Kashuk Purparazzi (on clearance at Target).  I've tried a couple of her polishes, and love every one of them.  Great formula, great colors.  Being purple, this one was a tad difficult to photograph.  I think the bottle shot color is the most accurate.

I couldn't resist the name.  Unicorn Farts.  I mean, we'd all been lemming Unicorn Pee for so long, it couldn't be a coincidence...

Look at the glittah!

I loved this.  Pretty, but not sickeningly girly.  Subtle, but not demure.  Sparkly, but not blinged out.  The formula was really easy to use, too, and opaque in 2 coats.  Right hand.  

I had Tokidoki Stellina handy, and wanted to see how it worked with Unicorn Farts.  Nice formula, didn't work for me as an accent.

I tried a Claire's glitter pink and purple hexes that were small, but still larger than the Unicorn Farts microglitter.  I liked this look for an accent, but UF is too pretty to cover up completely in the mani.  

When I saw that Perception Nail Lacquer was releasing some more of a glitter I'd seen and liked, I jumped on it right away.  Wicked is just as beautiful as Unicorn Farts, same great formula, but deeper and more daring.

I started with a base of SOPI Eve-y on the Eyes, a deep violet with a little bit of purple shimmer in the bottle that didn't translate on the nail for me. Like most OPI of any variety, the formula was excellent.

Purples notoriously don't photograph well, so you may wonder why I paired this with Wicked, but it did seem to match some of the glitters in real life.  Wicked was opaque in two coats, anyway, so it really didn't need much help in the way of undies.  Isn't it be-a-u-tiful?

I love how seductive it looks.  These vampy-but-not-black colors are awesome, and I love jewel tones on me.

The last polish has a dark brown base, so I chose Color Club Nothin' but Truffle as undies.  I know it looks black.  It's brown, really.  I was a little disappointed in this color, and the application wasn't as smooth - it was rather streaky for a dark color.  I doubt I would wear this polish by itself, but I'm glad I had it for Rumplestiltskin.

 I will likely try Rumplestiltskin over a lighter brown next time to see if the polish changes, because this one was not opaque in 2 coats like the others.

For a quick comparison, here are bottle shots of Rumplestiltskin, Models Own Thunder & Lightening (middle) and Mixed Up (right).  Rumplestiltskin appears to have more colored glitter in a lighter brown base, as opposed to the grey-brown of Thunder & Lightening, or the black of Mixed up.  

So, what do you think of Perception Nail Lacquer?  Rumplestiltskin is part of a Fall 2012 collection based on the TV show Once Upon A Time, so check out her other offerings.  Perception Nail Lacquer can be found on Facebook, and has a shop on Etsy.