Matte Burnished Leather Loose

Hi, Fireflies!

I have a simple look to show you today.  This is the only glitter from the Sinful Colors matte 'leather' collection, Leather Loose.

I love the way the glitter just smolders in the background.

It's like a completely different polish with topcoat!  The change works with any topcoat, but I bought a bottle of Sinful Colors' to see what the difference is.  Their topcoat is very thin, so you can 'paint' a design in the matte with it - something that would be difficult to do with a thick topcoat like Seche Vite.

I added a little bling with Zoya Maria Luisa.  It's a gold flakie - not a glitter.  Very interesting!

Do you like playing with mattes and topcoats?  Would you 'paint' a design in a matte?

Falling for Nail Art - Stripey Sweater Weather

Hello, Fireflies!

Yes, another matte-obsessed post.  Tell me you don't think this berry matte is gorgeous.  It's Sinful Colors Get It On.  Oh, yeah, baby.

Orange and berry?  I think I am channeling a little '80's Cosby sweater action.  The stripes are made with Sinful Colors Laced Up, another matte.

The glitter is a striper, but the grey is yet ANOTHER Sinful Colors matte, My Turn.

Everything just pops with a little topcoat.

Bottle shot:  Sinful Colors mattes Get It On, Laced Up, and My Turn, and a glitter striper.

I'm back in my high school, wearing my Shaker knit sweater with the rolled cuffs.  Sweater weather, baby!

Orange Sunburst

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's nail art is a freehand striped look inspired by a stamped nail art by Colores de Carol.  She did hers in purples, which I love, but I was in a fall mood, so I broke out some browns and oranges.

I started with Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers I'm Going Through Some...Changes, a milk-chocolate brown holo.

I made a striped pattern, narrow at the top and opening towards the tip of the nail with a pale orange glitter from Zoya, OC Cooler.  Weirdly, it made the brown holo take on some grey characteristics!

Then I took Zoya Channing, a stunning burnt orange metallic, and made stripes going in the other direction - narrow at the tip, and spreading out towards the top.

Like that little 'flare' on the ends?  Reminds me of a sunburst pattern! Totally on purpose.

Bottle shot:  Zoya Channing and OC Cooler, and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers I'm Going Through Some...Changes

Are you rocking fall oranges yet?  Love!

Textured Flowers

Hello, Fireflies!

Y'all know that I don't have many original ideas when it comes to nail art.  This is why I love Pinterest so much.  Every now and again I'll paint from a pin without seeing the original inspiration (why do people remove the original source info from their pins, I don't know.)

So, I was inspired to do this art from looking at the tutorial, and it wasn't until I went digging around that I found out that this is from The Beauty Department's interpretation of Anna Rifle Bond's art.

I started with this beautiful holo from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer:  Dorkhead? You Slash Me with Your Words! a pale green with a green flash.

I love the interplay between textures, and thought it might be fun to paint these flowers with a textured polish.  So, I made the branches in the stunning Zoya Pixie Dust Chita.

I made the blossoms with a dotting tool and Zoya Pixie Dust Sunshine, a sparkling denim blue.  Why that blue is 'Sunshine,' I don't know, but okay.

Love, love, love that green flash in Dorkhead!

That green glow just makes the whole mani for me.  The glow, the holo, the texture, the sparkle.. oh, my.  And, the textures weren't hard to use for nail art at all!

Bottle shot:  Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer:  Dorkhead? You Slash Me with Your Words! Zoya Pixie Dust Chita, and Zoya Pixie Dust Sunshine.

Do you also like mixing and matching textures and finishes?

Matte Preppy Stripes

Hello, Fireflies!

I didn't think I had a thing for matte polishes, really.  Then, the Leather collex from Sinful Colors came out, and I'm in love with them all.

This one is probably my fave:  Strapped.  Awesome sea-green jelly matte.  Like, whoa.

It can be a little tricky doing nail art with mattes, because they dry really fast.  I've used Sinful Colors Cold Leather in a wide stripe over Strapped, and you can see where some of the stripes get a little thick.

The magic of a nice, thick, glossy topcoat like Seche Vite is that it blends out some of the texture, and all you see now is a glossy blue stripe.

The white stripes around the blue just make me think of my 'preppy' days back in high school, with the popped collars on my polo shirts.

Bottle shot:  Sinful Colors Strapped and Cold Leather, and a white striper.

Matte, or glossy?  Punk or Preppy?

Falling for Nail Art - Bobbing for Apples

I think I may have bobbed for apples once in my life. But, I have watched the Charlie Brown Halloween special eleventy-bilion times, so I think I have a pretty good understanding of the concept.

Plus, I looked up apple designs on Pinterest, and found this really cute one by steffels that I knew I wanted to use.

I thought that Different Dimension Ocean's Daughter would make a nice watery background for my apples.  This is such a gorgeous holo - light blue with green - very watery.

Using a dotting tool to make the apples made it pretty easy! No apple is a perfect sphere, and no two apples are alike, so it works out.

I used my new fave bright red, Zoya Sooki, for the apples, with stripers in black, green, and white for the stem, leaves, and highlight, respectively.

Here's the bottle shot:  Different Dimension Ocean's Daughter, Zoya Sooki, and nail art stripers in black, green, and white.

Doesn't it make you want to shove your face is a barrel of cold water and try to grab slippery apples with your teeth? Especially after other people have tried to grab those same apples with their mouths?

Oh.  I think I know why no one does this any more...

Falling for Nail Art - Glittery Crunchy Leaves

Hello, Fireflies!

For the Crunchy Leaves challenge today, I decided to go for a bomb. Glitter Bomb that is.

I started with 2 coats of Daring Digits Fallen Leaves.  Appropriate name, right? Nice green-tinted glitter with lots of micro holo. A little too sheer to be worn on its own, though.

I liked the green and brown base, but really wanted the reds and golds of dried fallen leaves, so I layered Candy Lacquer Mulled Cider over it.

  This pix is blurred a little - love that holo and gold pop!

It's a simple concept, but I really love how you can see some of the green and brown on the bottom, like a forest floor, and then the bright reds and golds on top.

I wish we had color change here in Florida, but I have lots of memories of Fall growing up, too.  Now, if only the pine needles quit dropping and covering everything, that would be great!