Feeling Glittery

I'm back with another mani today. *pats self on back*


In my polish collection I own many glitter polishes, yet I rarely make use of them. Today I was in the mood to try one of my favourite (un-used) glitters out. Let's take a peek!


Borghese in Berry Confezione - A berry fucshia creme, that looks very juicy on the nail. Shown here, two coats without topcoat. Application was smooth, although slightly thin. VNL is minimal, but present. Berry Confezione leans a little more purple than what you see here.

 

For some sparkle and glam I added two coats of Orly "Bubbly Bombshell". I wanted to up the jazz factor so I added two fimo flower pieces in pink and tangerine and then finished it all off with a healthy coat of Seche Vite.

Voila!

What do you think of this sparkly, floral mani?

Blue Monday: Boy Meets Girl

It's that time of the week. Blue Monday is here again.

I'm trying to get through some of my older mani's and this was one that I really liked. It is very simple, but I think that's what drew me in.

Let's go see.

*
 
 

 

Blue: Essence - Walk On Air (2 coats)
Pink: Essence - Ultimate Pink (2 coats)

The pictures above are without topcoat.

Walk On Air is a very saturated medium blue which leans the slightest but purple. Application was simple and effortless. Opacity was perfect at two coats and it dries very shiny.

Ultimate Pink is a pigmented medium pink that is slightly cool toned. I think cool toned colours work well with my skin tone. Again, application was easy and this polish dried very shiny as well.

I have to say, I'm very impressed with my Essence polishes. They regularly retail at $1.49 at Shoppers Drug Mart (in Canada) and this week they were on sale for $1.34 (5ml each). They are mini's but the bottle shape makes it look like they hold more. The brush is full sized and flat which makes application very easy. The handle isn't too small, you really get a good hold of it. As they release new shades, I will be only too happy to pick them up!

Do you participate in Blue Monday? Let me know in the comments, I'll link to your blog in future posts.

- A Polished Touch

Essie Jag-U-Are + Accent Nail

Good morning. While going through my drafts I found another Valentine's themed mani. Really, this would be appropriate any time of year because it doesn't have anything specific to Valentine's Day other than colour. (ie: some stamping would be specific to that holiday, etc ... does that make sense?)

Essie Jag-U-Are

3 coats, no topcoat

Jag-U-Are is a very pretty warm based medium red with golden shimmer. It was fairly sheer at one coat but 2 thins coats more and you get this beauty. I wanted to add some glitter so I added my favourite red glitter polish ....

Milani Ruby Jewels

2 coats layered over Jag-U-Are, 1 coat Seche Vite

The ring finger ended up looking a lot thicker than I like however I could deal because it was so preeeeetty.

Ruby Jewels is a gorgeous red micro glitter suspended in a cherry red, sheer base; because of the tinted base is is possible to make this glitter polish opaque on its own, however I wasn't going through the effort of applying or taking it all off. ;)

What is your favourite red glitter polish?

Blue Monday: L.A. Girl "Deejay"

As much as I absolutely adore wearing neutral shades in my wardrobe and as much as I love collecting neutral polishes, I somehow find myself drawn towards brighter shades when polishing my nails. I think I'll have to start swatching my more "work appropriate" polishes, they are feeling neglected I think.

My Blue Monday mani is a tribute to my love of crème blue polishes (which I later cover in glitter, haha) and my affinity for doing accent nails. I used L.A. Girl - Disco Brites in Deejay for all nails except for my accent nails which I polished using a California Colors polish found at Winners. They came in a set of 5 and they were un-named so I creatively called it "Baby Blue". My creative polish names are quite impressive, no?

Deejay, 2 coats - Baby Blue, 3 coats

After polishing I kept looking at my nails, enjoying the two shades of blue but wanting something more. I looked in my Blue Melmer drawer and picked out two corresponding glitter polishes, both by ACO (the polishes by Ardene's) named Blizzard and Blue Glitter. Blizzard is on top of Deejay and Blue Glitter is over Baby Blue.

Blizzard is on my index, middle and pinky - Blue Glitter is on my accent nail. 

One coat on each.

Blizzard reminds me of the type of glitter found in Deborah Lippman's "Across The Universe". I know it's not an exact dupe of the glitter, it is just reminiscent of it, in my opinion. Also, Blue Glitter was a let-down. As I applied the glitter I noticed that the colour from the glitter pieces seemed to bleed as I swiped the brush across my nail. Highly frustrating. I will try it out again over a white polish to see if it does the same thing. I've never had that happen before, I was slightly shocked.

I should mention as well that I didn't apply a top coat over the glitter polish and probably should have. I hated the texture the glitter gave my nails. It was rather odd. It felt like a combination of chunky glitter and plastic, as if the clear base dried plastic-esque. Strange.

Anyway, although it sounds like I hated this mani, I really didn't. I quite enjoyed it for the 24 hours that it lasted. ;)

Do you own any ACO or Ardene's polishes?

Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure & ACO Confetti Glitter

Good morning, lovelies. I had initially intended on posting a different mani today but I decided last night that I would save it for Blue Monday instead so I grabbed some polishes and came up with this mani. (I realize that this is another metallic gold polish, but I have been waiting since June to wear my Sally Hansen Gilty Pleasure!) Without further ado, on with the mani!

2 coats of Gilty Pleasure with 2 coats of Confetti Glitter, no topcoat.

One. Single. Photo. Can you believe it? I took 3-4 but I didn't feel like they captured anything that this one didn't already showcase. Quality, not quantity ladies. ;) 

Gilty Pleasure was an easy two coats. I am trying to make my polish coats thinner so I have less issue with peeling polish and this applied like a dream: the consistency of the polish was just right. 

I wanted to jazz up Gilty Pleasure so I added one of my ACO glitter polishes (from a store called Ardene's) on top. I was unsure whether I wanted to stick with the usual ring finger as my accent nail or not and ended up polishing my middle finger instead. Kind of different - I think I like it ... hmm. I definitely like the way that the gold glitter really pulls it all together. What do you think? After looking at the end result I feel like it would have been a great New Years Eve mani. It reminds me of fireworks or, as the ACO polish name implies, confetti!

Middle fingernail as an accent nail: thumbs up or thumbs down?

OPI's Fiercely Fiona + Yelleen Grellow?

Quick post today, folks. This is the mani I promised to show you the other when I posted about my mini-haul of 2 Sally Hansen polishes. I did this mani last week and it stayed on for 3 full days. Yes, you heard (read) me correctly. I added more photo's than I usually would because my camera didn't want to play nicely with this mani colour. C'est la vie ...

If I remember correctly this was 3 coats of OPI's Fiercely Fiona which I picked up in my haul last week.
It looks very 'buttery' in this photo but it is much brighter and leans more green than it shows.

(Indoors with ceiling light; see below for the true colour.)

I added Revlon's Pineapple Fizz which consists of a sheer yellow base with very small flakies and
glass fleck shimmer. I added Sinful Colors Snow Me White for the dots.

One coat of Seche Vite sealed everything in & dried it in under 2 minutes. (Outdoors at sunset.)

(Half shaded/sunrise.)

I think I'll call this kind of yellow "yelleen".

Yellow + Green = Yelleen

Green + Yellow = Grellow

Hahaha ...

Shade.

Shade, again. See the mini flakies & glass fleck? Maximize by clicking!

Gotta run, hope you enjoyed this bright mani!

Is anyone else anticipating the fall/autumn as much as I am?

OPI "Funky Dunkey" with Accent Nail

Happy September 1st! I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned it before but purple is one of my favourite colours. (Teal/turquoise is my other favourite colour and charcoal is my favourite 'shade'.) That being said, my mani today showcases my love for purple with OPI's Funky Dunkey. I picked this polish up the past week and am so glad that I did. Two coats for opacity and HIGH SHINE. Seriously folks, if I wasn't so in love with my Seche Vite I could have worn this polish by itself. Itself! Coming from me ... well, that's crazy. ;)

2 coats of OPI Funky Dunkey with no top coat. So shiny! (Indoors)

Outside. Ergh, bubbles on my index finger. Human error, the polish is perfect.

I decided to have some fun! Beads, black striping, gold glitter, ouuu.

Please continue to excuse the state of my cuticles...

I love adding a little something extra to my mani's and thought this was rather fun. I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be, I kind of just went with it. *shrugs* Abstract. That's what it is. 

I have a question. If you are reading this and have used the Two-Way Nail Star Nail Art Polishes (*whew* long name ...) from eBay do you find them hard to use? I have had to add a few drops of polish thinner to mine and I'm still not loving it. Sure the polish is opaque; maybe it's the brush I don't like. My lines always seem to ... meh. I am always surprised when it looks how I intended. Perhaps I should invest in some detailing brushes. Any recommendations?

One thing I want to mention about this mani: the metal beads on my accent nails tarnished. I wore this to work and about 6 hours in I noticed them starting to look rusty. I don't think that my Seche Vite wanted to play nicely.

What's your preference: one polish mani, accented mani or full blown designed nails? Let me know!

Apology, Belated Thank You, Follower Note & Surprise?!?!

I apologize for not being around for a few days. Canada weekend always seems to be a busy one for me. I also apologize because due to an unfortunate accident I do not have a Blue Monday to share with you. I will get back on schedule next week, I promise. (Keep your eyes open for my Pink Wednesday tomorrow!)

Because I have no new mani to show you, this is the first stages of my
Gradient Zebra Print mani from the beginning of June.

While I took a mini-vacation I reached not only 250 followers but 260 followers! I am so thankful to all of you who deem my blog follow-worthy, it truly does make me happy to see a a new "nail friend" follow. Comment or email to say hi!

Also, I would like to mention that if you have followed me and I have not followed you back, please email me. I would love to support your blog! When I click on some profiles in my Followers list, some do not have a link to their blog posted, so I cannot find it. If you email it to me, I would love to check it out and follow you back. (Please include your GFC Name, otherwise it could take me years to find you!)

I do not accept comments with blog URL's because I don't believe that is a fair way to promote your blog. I have never done it to anyone before, my blog grew naturally, so I feel as though I am being fair by requesting that you email me instead. I would love to hear from you!

Also, there may or may not be a surprise in the future ... 270, 280, 290 ... 300 ... ?

I'll leave it there. *wicked grin*

Thanks for reading!

OPI 'Who The Shrek Are You?' and a Glitterbomb

I am a fan of polish colours that some people may consider to be 'ugly'. Muddy browns, murky greens, strange oranges ... yeah, I dig them. Sometimes I get sick of the generic pink mani and want something really unique and eyebrow-raising. I love when people look at my nails and go "They're polished really nice, but the colour..." because I know I've found something that they probably haven't seen before. I'm always on the hunt for different polishes! With that in mind, today I am showing you a polish that I have been wanting since I first started seriously collecting/growing my polish collection (back in March): OPI's "Who The Shrek Are You?". 

Base colour OPI "Who The Shrek Are You?"
It's uneven in some places and the light was highly unforgiving.

Gorgeous colour. I'm in love.

Ring finger: Wet'n'Wild "The Wonder Yellows" as base colour
Sinful Colors "Call You Later"
Sally Girl mini polish - no name. Gold hex glitter & small round glitter in clear base.

As you can tell, this mani started out with all 10 fingers being 'Who The Shrek Are you?' however I tried to add something fun to my accent nails (ring fingers) and it didn't turn out the way I wanted. My initial solution was to remove the polish on those fingers and re-polish with the OPI but then I saw 'The Wonder Yellows' and voila! The final result. I applied this mani Tuesday night and I'm still wearing it. Almost 48 hours! That is almost unheard of for me now. Needless to say, I LOVE THIS! Very different and right up my alley.

What do you think - Who The Shrek Are You? - rock it or toss it?

Thanks for reading.

Inspired Mani: Flash

Is anyone familiar with the comic book character 'Flash'? Well my husband loved that comic book growing up so I did a nail look inspired by it. For all who don't know what he looks like, see below.

Source: http://www.desktoprating.com/wallpapers/flash-wallpaper.htm

Now, onto the look!

I painted all my nails, except my ring fingers with OPI "Malaga Wine". The ring fingers were polished with Wet'n'Wild Fast Dry "The Gold & The Beautiful".

I added SV (Seche Vite) on top of the gold and once it was dry I cut a piece of tape and placed it on my nail sideways. The exposed area was polished with OPI "Malaga Wine". I pulled the tape off as soon as my nail was painted.

To finish the look I used my Nail Star Two-Way Nail Art polishes in Black. I roughly outlined between the red and the gold and added my top coat. (Seche Vite)

I didn't do any clean-up before I took these pictures so I apologize for that. (*Ahem* ring finger) I figured you'd rather see this look than not at all, so I'm sure a little polish mistake won't take away from the look. :)

I hope you're all having a great Wednesday!

Thanks for reading.

Glitterati

I've come up with a new nail look that is really easy to create, see below for pictures and "how to".

This look has four simple steps. Feel free to change the colour to your favourite one.

1. Apply a base coat, I like using a nail strengthener as my base coat.
(Sally Hansen 'Hard As Nails' in Clear)

2. Apply two coats of black polish.
(L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer in 'Black Velvet' NP136)

3. Apply a glitter polish to an accent nail, I chose my ring fingers. You could apply the glitter polish to all nails if you like.
(Wet n Wild Wild Shine in 'Kaleidoscope')

4. Apply a generous top coat to keep your manicure looking great.
(L.A. Colors Color Craze in 'Voltage' NP401)

So that's it, I hope you enjoyed it! Comment to let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for reading.