Jelly Sammy - OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y? and Rainbow Connection

I am excited to show you my first jelly sandwich today!  I can't remember the first time I saw pictures of this mani style, but I knew I loved it.  I only own one jelly finish polish and it already has glitter in it, so I didn't think that would work.  After consulting some of my nail polish friends I knew which ones I had to hunt for; the OPI sorbets from the Texas collection.  I picked up one for free with a credit I had and before even trying it I knew I would want others.  I picked up two more at a small polish shop I found in my area.  That was a goldmine - glad I found it!  More glad I got more OPI sorbets because I am swooning over this mani!


I am wearing 2 coats of OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-y? with 2 coats of OPI Rainbow Connection.   I topped it off with 1 more coat of DYTIT and no top coat.  That's 5 coats of polish, 6 if you include the base coat.  My nails do not feel heavy or thick.  DYTIT is a very light polish, it's a pinky-red color.  It goes on very smooth and sheer with the first layer but built nicely with the second.  You would probably need at least 4 layers to get an opaque color - but that's not really the point of a jelly.  It's meant to be sheer and glossy.   I put 2 layers of Rainbow Connection on top, getting my nails nice and covered in multi-colored and multi-sized glitters.  One last coat of DYTIT and I was good to go!  Dry time was fast, even without a top coat.  


I really like this combo and will be trying my other OPI sorbets soon!  Do you like the finish of the jelly and sorbet polishes?

Party Rockin

I recently got nail mail from Hazel, the creator of HazeGlaze.  I was so excited to open the package and see my new glittery pretties! In this post I will review Party Rockin.  It's an awesome glitter bomb polish full of pink, green, aqua, silver, and magenta hexes.  There are also purple squares, micro-glitter and silver holo bars at the party.  It's all in a blue-grey base.  It's 100% fun!  I gave the bottle a good shake to make sure I got a mix of glitter, and I did.  Lots of different shapes, sizes and colors on my nails!  I used 2 layers of PR.  Both layers went on easily and the glitter didn't move around too much once on the nail.  Definitely Monday Night Party Rockin in Vegas worthy (did you know LMFAO performs at a Party Rockin' party some Monday nights at Marquee?).  I better perfect my shuffle!


 I applied PR over 2 layers of Color Club Ulterior Motive, a bright fuchsia with blue and pink shimmer.  I also liked this color.  It has a glowy shimmer and is beautiful color.  I'll use this one again for the summer!


You can get HazeGlaze on esty for $8.79 a bottle.  She has some beautiful creations in her shop - I know I will be buying more soon!  Color Club can be found at beauty supply stores, and Bed Bath & Beyond (only the "super" stores that carry beauty products).

Floam!

This is a fun one!  Floam by Nail-Venterous Lacquers is made of turquoise and lime green glitter suspended in a clear base.  The turquoise glitter seems to have some sparkle, but the green is matte.  They are both densely packed into the base.  I tried 2 layers alone on one nail and think with 3 (maybe 4) layers it would be fully opaque.  But I decided I didn't want that much Floam on my nails since I've heard it's hard to remove.  I opted to layer it over Zoya Mitzi.  Mitzi is a matte yellow- lime green polish from their Mod Matte Collection in Summer 2011.  I thought it would  work to bring out more of the green glitter since turquoise seems to be the dominate color.  Mitzi goes on streaky and chalky - not one of my favorites, but it was perfect as a base for Floam.  


I purchased Floam from Ninja Polish.  You could also buy it directly from Nail-Venterous Lacquers on etsy when the store is open.  Zoya as I'm sure you know is from Zoya (or Ulta).

 

Sticks n' Stones over Neptune

I recently purchased a polish from Cover Band called Sticks n' Stones.  I LOVE it.  The end.


Ok really, here are my thoughts.  It's a black and white glitter in multiple sizes and shapes: squares, hexs, mini circles, bars and large rectangles.  There are even sparse holographic mini glitter pieces in there to give it a little more excitement (like it needed it).  All that glitter goodness is in a clear base so it's a perfect topper for any color.  I decided to layer it over Sinful Colors Neptune.  Neptune is an awesome cornflower blue with green, silver and pink shimmer.  All those colors show up well on my nails and the shimmer does show through Stick n Stones - bonus!  I would like to wear Neptune again on it's own sometime to admire the sparkle.  I used 2 coats of Sticks n' Stones over 2 coats of Neptune.


I purchased Sticks n' Stones from Ninja Polish, which opened not too long ago.  They carry some exciting brands at affordable prices.  Sinful Colors is from Walgreens and is part of the Castaway Collection.

Hunger Games: Smoke and Ashes with Luxe and Lush

I'm so excited to see The Hunger Games!  I am going tonight with some girlfriends and have begun my preparations for the evening.  My mom gave me the book set that came with a  Mockingjay pin as an early birthday gift…yes I'm a nerd and yes I'll be wearing the pin to the movie.  I also found a video tutorial on how to make a Katniss braid.  I will attempt that as well.  Of course I have a good portion of the China Glaze Capitol Colours collection.  I've already tried a few and have liked them all.  But for tonight I will be representing District 12 by wearing Smoke and Ashes.  


Smoke and Ashes is a beautiful black base with glittering green and blue sparkles inside.  The glitter gets slightly lost in the base, but in the light you can see it glowing under the black.  You can also see it indoors if you look closely at your nail.  I used 1 coat of Smoke and Ashes (yup, ONE coat!) and it applied beautifully.  I decided to bling it up by layering a coat of Luxe and Lush on top.  Luxe and Lush is a fun iridescent flake in a clear base.  I'd say it's the flakie counterpart to Snow Globe.  The only issue I had was the flakies wanted to clump at the tip of my nail so I had to paint slowly.  Luxe and Lush looks green, gold and orange layered on top of Smoke and Ashes.  I guess this is my nail version of The Girl On Fire.


Are you going to see The Hunger Games?  More importantly, what District will you represent on your nails when you go?

Salmon nails: Julep Alicia and Zoya Chloe

I'm so happy the weather is warm, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the kids can play outside!  And I'm so happy to start wearing lighter nail colors.  I personally love turquoise, teal, sea foam green and anything shiny or sparkly (insert appropriate dumb brunette joke here).  But I'm also a huge fan of pink and coral.  


I received Julep Alicia from my March Maven box.  Are you a Maven yet?  If not you should be, here's a link to see what your style profile is.  I'm an American Beauty!  So back to Alicia, she is a very pretty salmon creme.  Here is how Julep describer her, "Sunny salmon, perfect for beach pedicures and fresh, modern manicures."  Alicia was a bit streaky with the first layer, and kind of thick with the second.  Mind you I did rush through the paint job to get to my mom duties.  


I was looking through my box of untrieds and spotted Zoya Chloe…AH-HA!!  Perfect combo.  Chloe is a beautiful flakie in a coral base.  Here is Zoya's description of  Chloe, sheer coral pink base with two types of duochrome Mylar flakes: red-orange to gold and gold-green to blue."  Looking at my nails while I type I have to say yup and yup.  Chloe makes Alicia glow!  Chloe was also very easy to apply and lays down smooth.


So here are my salmon nails.  I really like the way they turned out - mildly bright, spring color, and iridescent.  

Spring Is Here

It's the first day of Spring and I have a lovely lavender glitter mani to show you today.  I started with 2 coats of OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender.  It is a very pretty pinky-lavender pastel color.  Perfect for spring?  I think so!  I topped it with 2 coats of All That Glitters Plum and Plummer.  Here is the description of P&P from Kirsten's etsy store "Plum & Plummer has a grey lavender pearly base with cool toned purples and silver glitters in various colors, shapes and sizes and loaded with large gunmetal hexs."  That's a very accurate description of the purple party inside the bottle!  A few of the dark purple glitters were clumpy, and the silver hexs didn't want to come out to play without coaxing.  But with those two notes aside I really liked P&P.  Very fun, uber girly.  

While I actually got P&P from a blog sale (thanks Marnie!)  You can buy All That Glitters on etsy.  There are some great looking polishes in Kirsten's store.  Vinyl Junkie and all the Bowie's are next on my hit-list!  

On to the pics!

St. Patrick's Day Nails

Last night I had my first mani/pedi in a reeeeealy long time.  It was so nice to get out of the house alone and spend adult time with some of the great women in my MOMS Club.  I picked gold colors for my toes; OPI Glitzerland, a mellow gold and topped it with Deborah Lippmann Here Comes the Queen, a pretty glitter/flakie in different shades of gold.  It's very subtle and very pretty.  Very much a shade I sport frequently.  


But on to my fingers, right?  I hope you don't mind, and I won't do this often but it had been such a long time since I had my nails cleaned up, shaped and painted in a salon that I let the nail technician paint the first coat for me.  I promise I went home and finished up the mani myself though!  


Here's the first layer, Essie Pretty Edgy.  It looks like a dusty green in the bottle but turns out to be a perfectly bright (but not too bright) springy green.  I have on 2 coats.  I think one more would have evened it out nicely - can you see some of the bare patches on my ring and pinky fingers?  That's ok because it's getting covered with fun!

Next up I layered it with a coat of Sinful Colors Green Ocean.  This pretty little lady hails from Walgreens for the unbeatable price of $1.99.  It's a really nice green flakie with some gold, blue and purple color flashes when you move the bottle or your nails around.  All those colors definitely showed up on my nails.  The flakies came out a bit clumpy in spots but for the most party smoothed out well.  There are only a couple nails that I can actually feel a raised flakie bump but that's ok because you can't see it.  I used 2 coats.

And finally I decided to get some gold on my nails too!  I added a coat of Inglot 207.  A beautiful gold, almost rainbow-y holo glitter.  Lots of flashy color in this mini glitter…I see red, orange, blue, green.  It's gorgeous!  It really added a nice touch to my manicure.  It has the tints little brush which is easy to use and went on super smooth.  I used one coat.  I am also trying out a new topcoat, inm OutTheDoor.  Does anyone have an opinion on this brand or another topcoat I should try?  PS - I don't like Seche Vita for the shrinkage factor.

I hope you liked my first nail post!