SuperChic Euphoria Meets Texture

Today's post features both holographic and textured polishes. Not two finishes I would normally put together but this totally works for me.

I recently acquired Euphoria, a deep plum holographic made by indie polish maker SuperChic Lacquer. The polish was a very thin consistency so I had to put on 4 coats for full opacity in the pictures below. Fortunately, similar to many other holos the polish dried quickly so it wasn't a long wait between coats.

The textured polish on my middle, ring and pinky fingers is Julep Cameron. This polish is described as having a Stardust Finish and is a silver lilac. This texture is what I would consider medium grade grit. There aren't large particles to give that scratchy feel, but it's not exactly smooth. I do feel that the glitter pieces add a nice shine to the polish which without them the polish might have looked a little one note.

After laying down some nail striping tape, I used a makeup sponge to dab Cameron at the end of my nails. Since I did want the texture feel on my nails, I didn't topcoat the nails with Cameron, but my index and thumb was top coated to keep Euphoria from chipping.

I always feel hesitant to cover up a holo because they are just so freakin brilliant, but I was totally loving this mani. What do you think about these two finishes together?

~Linda

Silver & Studs

Today I have a quickie post featuring OPI Crown Me Already from the Miss Universe Collection. This silver glitter has both small round silver glitter as well as large hex glitter all in a clear base. This polish is packed and is easily buildable for full coverage. 

I have 3 coats of Crown Me Already (CMA) on my ringer finger and Essence Black is Back on the rest of my nails. My middle finger has two coats of CMA over the black base. Black and clear rhinestones add a little extra bling which is never a bad thing! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

OPI AmazON AmazOFF

Hello fellow junkies! Today I have one of OPIs Spring/Summer 2014 Brazil Collection; AmazON...AmazOFF.  This is a deep teal polish with a very subtle shimmer hiding in there. The formula was pretty good giving full coverage with 2 coats.

Since the shimmer is very subtle, I didn't have any issues with streaking. This has a coat of Sally Hansen Big Shiny Top Coat giving a nice shine and smoothed out even the smallest imperfections.

I was wearing this the days leading up to Valentines Day, so I decided to add some little hearts with Layla Mercury Twilight and a small rhinestone. Since me and my better half don't necessarily make a big deal of Valentines Day and I'm not a pink chick I decided this would be my homage to the 'holiday'.

Hopefully you ladies were showered with love...or at least gave yourself something purdy!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Zoya Carly Upgrade

Just a quicky today. I showed you Zoya Carly all by her lonesome the other day, but I decided to upgrade her a little bit.

I added Zoya Trixie, a silver foil in a sponging technique to the tips of my nails or up by my cuticles. Then I sponged Layla Violet on top to give some extra beauty and added some rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Merry Christmas - Santa Belts!

I know I've been MIA and will most likely continue to be for the next month or so, but I had to drop in and show you my Christmas Mani. For those of you who celebrate it, I hope that you've had a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends! I'm probably about to O.D. on wine and grapenut custard...how sweet the holidays are.

I hand drew these little Santa belts on my ring and index fingers and candy canes on my thumb and pinky. My middle finger is a flashy green scattered holographic glitter!

I used the following colors in this mani: KleanColor Bite Me, Layla Mercury Twilight, Color Club Holiday Splendor, Zoya Purity and Orly Liquid Vinyl.

Enjoy the Holidays!

~Linda

Secret Periwinkle

Morning Lacqueristas! This is China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le blinged out with some silver foil nail art.  Secret Peri-wink-le is a creamy periwinkle color that has perched itself right on the line of light purple with a hint of light blue. It had really good consistency and self leveled quite nicely. Two coats and it was completely opaque.

I decided to try a few different designs since I've never really worked with foil before. It moved around on the nail A LOT but a layer of top coat kept it in check and didn't cause shrinkage or wrinkling.

I purchased a 12 pack of foil in gold, copper, silver, and rainbow from ebay for about $4 USD with free shipping from Hong Kong. Each little pot of foil has about 2 gum wrappers worth of foil (that's a technical measurement by the way ☺). The foil is wadded up inside the container, so it doesn't smooth out completely without any creases, but did smooth out on the nail pretty nicely. The foil will stick to your hands due to oils, so I worked with nail art brushes and tweezers.

I had high hopes for the rainbow foil but it was the least amount of pots in the pack and it's mostly just gold foil that looks tarnished giving it a bluish tint in places. It is definitely interesting though.

Do you have any tips or tricks for working with foils?

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Metallic Bubbles

Hi beauties! Today I have a metallic gradient with my all time favorite silver polish. I started with a base coat of Nicole by OPI Heavy Metal and then used Orly Sweet Peacock and Peripera P027 for the gradient. This is with one coat of Seche Vite to smooth out the bumpiness that can happen due to sponging the gradient.

Heavy Metal is a 'granular' silver metallic, which is the only way I can think to describe it. It is not granular in the sense that it's gritty, but there are visible particles rather than a smooth chrome like finish. Sweet Peacock is a bright blue 'granular' metallic and P027 is a green to blue duochrome.

Although I loved this sucker as is....I felt it needed some stamping. I busted out the stamping plates and decided I was feeling bubbly. I used Konad black stamping polish and MASH Plate #43.

Heavy Metal is an NOPI Classic Color. I've had her for....god damn...like 14 years or something. I remember being in high school when my sister bought it for me. Holy crap, realizing that I've had a polish for 14 years is kind of mind blowing! Not to mention it says a lot about NOPI considering this polish is still a great consistency and applies perfectly.   

Feedback time... I hoped that the pictures helped to understand, but did I make any sense in describing the finish of Heavy Metal?

~Linda

Flower Power

Today I have a gradient manicure with some stamping that was inspired by a recent trip to the Botanical Gardens in Chicago. I saw these amazing flowers that were a beautiful shade of orange with a electric crimson center. These were my favorite flowers in the Garden, so I decided to translate their beauty to my nails.

I started with two coats of Julep Eva which is a rich raspberry colored creme polish. The gradient started with SinfulColors Timbleberry, a coral meets bubble-yum pink and on the tips is China Glaze Riveting. Riveting is a stunning orange polish that's loaded with gold and bright orange shimmer and is from the Hunger Games Capital Colours Collection.

I stamped a floral design using Julep Harley, a silver metallic chrome and MASH Plate #45.

Unfortunately, my nails are rather wide and I have crap aim, so I do sometimes have a bit of trouble getting the images to fit properly on my nails. I'm my own worst critic so all I see are the f*ck ups, but I still think that these turned out pretty darn good.

Thanks for dropping by!

~Linda

Julep Maven August - It Girl

Morning Chicas! I got my August Julep Maven box the other day and wanted to show you some pictures of what I got. I received It Girl this month which comes with 3 polishes and added on the 2 Boho Glam polishes. Julep Maven was also celebrating their 1 year anniversary so they included a nice little tote bag in the box.

It Girl came with a liquid silver metallic chrome named Harley, a pastel indigo metallic chrome named Melanie and Sienna, a shimmery gold which was actually not a new polish launched in August. Harley looks like all the other silver polishes I own but Melanie and Sienna are both new colors to my stash. 

 

I added on a soft milky-white metallic named Isla and a mint-teal metallic chrome named Piper that were the 2 colors from the Boho Glam box. These are my two favorites out of all that I received this month. Both are soft colors but very beautiful. 

Overall, I don't think that any of these have that amazing 'chrome' finish that I am always searching for and never find, but they are pretty good. I'll pull together some full swatches sometime soon.

If you are interested in trying the Julep Maven subscription you can get your first box for 1 cent by using the code PENNY at checkout. The great thing is that if you don't like it you can cancel and won't get slammed with the full cost of the box. You can check out their intro boxes here and if you use my referral link it would be greatly appreciated! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

~Linda