The Makeup Show Orlando - Blogger Preview (and nails!)

One of the most exciting opportunities I've received as a Beauty Blogger of Central Florida is to attend The Makeup Show Orlando.  It is an amazing conference with workshops, demos, lectures, and lots and lots of makeup.

There are a lot of pix, so I'll put in a little break here.

Spiced Up Spice Drops #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

For this 'spiced up' challenge, I actually took inspiration from my husband!  When I showed him these textured polishes, he thought they looked like the spicy gumdrops that he really enjoys.  And so, the Spice drop mani was born.

Only the polish on the thumb is a traditional glitter, from Liquid Sky Lacquer, Hot Rod Red.  The rest are textured polishes from either the NOPI Gumdrops collex, or the Zoya Pixie Dust collex.

I can't pick a favorite! Cinna-man of my dreams is pretty unique, and I love the color.  Arabella is so vibrant! All the textures applied wonderfully, and they all had a sparkle to them.

Bottle shot:  Liquid Sky Lacquer Hot Rod Red, NOPI Cinna-man of my Dreams, NOPI My Cherry Amour, Zoya Miranda, and Zoya Arabella.

I am still loving the texture trend - with or without topcoat! Are you?

Battle of the red-hot flakies

Hello, Fireflies!

I love flakies.  Practically obsessed.  I want to BUY ALL THE FLAKIES!

So, it's no wonder why I have dupes.. or at least close cousins.  I picked these 4 polishes that all have a purple base with red flakies: Nfu-Oh 51, Color Club The Uptown, Layla CE 52, and Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple.

Even though they are all similar, none of them are exactly the same!

Nfu-Oh 51 is pretty much the original of this type of polish.  The Layla comes closest, but has a more purple base, less blue.  The Uptown is lighter still, and the Kleancolor has almost no color on the nail.

Even the flakies are all a little different.  The Uptown has almost too many flakies - with 2 coats of polish, the flakies start to look like a whole layer, rather than individual flashes.  The Nfu-Oh has the finest, smallest flakies.  The KleanColor's flakies are bordering on glitter. Not to mention it has that hideous Kleancolor aroma.

Nfu-Oh has discontinued their flakie line, but you can still find a few floating around on Ebay and the like.  If the smell doesn't bother you, the Kleancolor is probably the cheapest option, and you could layer it over whatever purple base you'd like.  I'm not sure of the availability of the Layla, since Ulta stopped carrying their line.  The Uptown is part of Color Club's Winter 2013 collection, so it should be around for a while, and then it will hopefully end up in TJMaxx!

Have y'all seen other versions of this polish?  If you don't need them all, which would you choose?

Harvest Time #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

It's harvest time! So, it got me thinking about food.  Which got me thinking about pie.  Pumpkin Pie.  Liquid Sky Lacquer Pumpkin Pie, to be precise.  It's that perfect 'cooked pumpkin' shade of orange holo.

I was watching a Robin Moses video where she demonstrated some 'old school' nail art - stuff she did back in the '80's.  I wore nail polish then, but I wasn't into nail art.  I was really only allowed to wear champagne and frosted pink, back then - maybe a red for a special day.  Black was for the 'bad kids.'  Oh, how times have changed.

I used Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics ISherwood and Above the Curve Let's Tan-GO for old-school stripes that reminded me of waves of grain.

All the oranges, yellows, and browns are perfect colors for fall.  These stripes also make me think of hay, maybe stuffing a scarecrow!

The magic that is topcoat smooths everything out.

Bottle shot:  Liquid Sky Lacquer Pumpkin Pie, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics ISherwood, and Above the Curve Let's Tan-GO

Ready to rock some old-school nail art?

Sunday Stamping - Color-shifting Diamonds

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's stamping challenge is the somewhat banal, but useful 'plate ending in 1'.  Not too exciting, but sometimes I like the freedom of choosing from lots and lots of plates.  That end with 1.

I started with a deep oxblood, Cult Nails LameStain.  It's not black, really.  It's close, but it's a very nice oxblood red.

 

Two luscious, easy, deep, mysterious coats.  Nobody makes a creme like Cult Nails.

Here's my plate - Pueen 11.  I wanted a bold, full-nail pattern today.  I loved the sharpness of it.

Mentality makes some of the most awesome stamping polishes.  Even a duochrome like Morality stamps beautifully.

I love how the color shifts from purple to green in the stamp.

Bottle shot:   Cult Nails LameStain and Mentality Morality.

I love duochromes, and they can be fun to stamp with.  Everyone will wonder how you did your nails! It'll be our little secret.

Red hot Red!

Hi Fireflies!

"Sometimes, I like to dance around my living room in my underwear.  Doesn't make me Madonna.  Never will."  - one of my favorite lines from the movie Working Girl.

Sometimes, I like to put on red nail polish and be a hot tamale.  I may or may not dance around in my underwear.  If I were to, though, I might wear Cirque Vesuvius, because it is a red-hot holo.

Red is the hardest color to make holo - it's either too pink or too grey.  This one is really close to a true red. 

I wanted to amp up the red a little, and also the sparkle, so I did a gradient with Liquid Sky Lacquer in Hot Rod Red.  I love how it darkened the tips and added a little glitter.

Bottle shot:  Cirque Vesuvius, and Liquid Sky Lacquer Hot Rod Red

If you were going to dance around in your underwear and pretend you were Madonna, what nail color would you wear?

Got to keep on keepin' on!

Hello, Fireflies!

Welcome to November! Time to put all the Halloween stuff away, and prepare for Turkeys.  Or, if you're influenced by all the stores, time to get ready for Christmas-y stuff.

This time of year can be tough.  For me, and many teachers, it's the last push to get through the semester before Thanksgiving break that is the hardest! So, that's one reason why I chose to put on Different Dimension Just Keep Swimming.

Not to mention, it's freaking *gorgeous*.  Supposedly, it's a close match for Enchanted Polish Marge's Blue Beehive, but I don't have that one - and it's likely I never will, given its rarity.  Don't need it, now.  Trust me, Just Keep Swimming is spectacular.

When it was time to change my mani, I thought I'd play around with some v-gap nail art.  Guess they're more like hearts, less like Vs.  First, Finger Paints Black Expressionism.

I love blue and grey together, so I thought it might be nice to use Not Too Polished Camellia, a soft, dove grey scattered holo.  It's a little translucent, so I had to use a few thick coats to get it opaque.

If I was starting this mani from scratch, I might switch the grey and blue around, so Camellia doesn't have to be so thick to cover the black. 

Bottle shot:  Different Dimension Just Keep Swimming, Finger Paints Black Expressionism, and Not Too Polished Camellia.

Do you like to play with your polish before you take it off?  Do you try stamping, or nail art?