Fruity Friends Nail Art with The Nail Junkie Fruit Collection

Hi hi!!  Happy May 31st!  I'm a happy (albeit scattered) lady right now because there is only 1 more week of school for my kids!  Woot!  But there is so much going on I am truly bogged down with activities and being a crazy mom of 3 littles.  So to keep it lighthearted I've been having some fun with my nails and trying a few new art styles.  This is a cute one that popped into my head after I did a mommy & baby mani with my daughter using The Nail Junkie Strawberry and Blueberry.  I thought, how cute would it be to use all The Nail Junkie Fruit polishes and actually draw the fruit?!  Well I did just that and it is CUTE!!!  I want to hug and squeeze all these little fellows!  
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I started with a base of 2 coats of The Nail Junkie Gardenia.  I free hand drew all the fruity friends and did not use topcoat.   Blueberry: The Nail Junkie Blueberry (blueberry), Sinful Colors Black on Black (hair, eyes), The Nail Junkie Strawberry (cheeks), NOPI Challenge Red-Y (mouth) Strawberry: The Nail Junkie Strawberry (strawberry), Sinful Colors Happy Ending (stem), Sinful Colors Black on Black (eyes), The Nail Junkie Coffee (seeds), NOPI Challenge Red-Y (cheeks) Banana: The Nail Junkie Banana (banana), The Nail Junkie Strawberry (cheeks), The Nail Junkie Coffee (stem and banana line), NOPI Challenge Red-Y (mouth), Sinful Colors Black on Black (eyes) Orange: The Nail Junkie Orange (orange), The Nail Junkie Coffee (stem), The Nail Junkie Strawberry (cheeks), Sinful Colors Black on Black (eyes), NOPI Challenge Red-Y (mouth) Grape: The Nail Junkie Grape (grape), The Nail Junkie Coffee (stem), Sinful Colors Happy Ending (stem), Sinful Colors Black on Black (eyes), NOPI Challenge Red-Y (mouth), The Nail Junkie Strawberry (cheeks)

HI Thumbie!!

OPI DS Couture

OPI DS Couture, I love you.  You are gorgeous.  Your coral-pink base with super holo rainbow shine make me so happy.  You are classy and feminine.  But you are ready to party.  You are perfect.  Don't tell your siblings but you are my favorite.  Shhhhh!  It'll be our secret.

Oh, were you listening to me talk to my polish?  Ehem, that was embarrassing.  Well a super sweet polish friend happened upon this bottle of heaven and remembered that I desperately wanted it.  So it happened that Couture became mine!  It is all I wanted it to be and more.  The color is the perfect blend of coral and pink.  The formula was surprisingly great for an early holo (it is my opinion that holos pre-2012 were mostly thin, watery and streaky.  But recently they are much thicker with a creamy formula but not skimping on holoiness).  When I applied Couture I did worry it was going to be thin and watery but that was not the case at all.  I got full coverage in 2 coats.   I used 1 layer of topcoat and the holo effect was not affected. 

Now the sad part - this is not an easy to find polish.  It's old, from 2008 I believe.  It's discontinued. You might find it on ebay but it will cost you.  If you see it on the cheap buy it without a second thought.   So what do you think of OPI DS Couture? 

**before we start the pictures I just want to say sorry for the wonky hand poses…I truly cannot hold an OPI bottle nicely.  

And now a quickie little comparison.  I happened to have OPI Crim Sun and Coral Reef and they all look similar, no?  So lets see how they look on the nails.  I used 2 coats of each color and then a layer of topcoat.  

Index: Couture

Middle: Coral Reef

Ring: Crim Sun

Pinky: Couture

Coral Reef, Couture, Crim Sun

Couture

Coral Reef

Crim Sun

Lynnderella Salad Days and piCture pOlish Kryptonite

I'm on a little minication so I am going to drop this post quickly just to give you something pretty and sparkly to oogle.  If you like green, sparkles and glitter then THIS is for you!  It's gorgeous and was so sparkly in the sun!  I paired up piCture pOlish Kryptonite with Lynnderella Salad Days and it made quite a pair!

Kryptonite is a fun jelly based polish in a beautiful deep emerald green color.  It's full of sparkly holo particles!  Application was nice and easy.  The polish flowed smoothly and spread easily on my nails.  I used 2 coats and had great coverage.

I then dabbed Lynnderella Salad Days on my tips.  Lynn describes Salad Days so nicely that I am just going to share it here..."Garden variety: tender lettuces, herbs, radishes, tomatoes, rapscallions and carrot chiffonade. A young, bright green with dressing on the side."  Now I want a salad.  Mainly a green glitter polish, there are also red, orange, yellow and purple glitters.  It's a mix of hexs and bars and it's one of my favorite Lynns, so much fun in one bottle!  Loads of glitter come out with each brush dip and it all laid on the nail nice and smooth.  I used one layer of topcoat to seal it all in and give it a glossy shine.

shade

shade

ellagee Electrosynthomagnetic

I saved this ellagee polish for last.  Why you ask?  Because this particular polish takes it's inspiration from one of my all time favorite things about Disneyland.  Electrosynthomagnetic is a nod to the Electric Light Parade.  One of the best parades EVER.  I remember being at Disneyland as a kid and my family would find seats along a Main Street curb as it was getting dark. Once it was fully nighttime the electronic music would start and floats lit up in hundreds, thousands of rainbow colored lights would parade down Main Street.  The music was fun, the floats were funny.  I wish this parade were still around because I think my kids would enjoy it as much as I did when I was their age.  Ah memories.

I recently reviewed other polishes from the ellagee World of Laughter collection.  You can see Welcome, Foolish Mortals here and the Birds Sing Words here.  You can follow ellagee on Facebook and Instagram (ellageepolish) and can purchase her creations at www.ellagee.com.

So here's Electrosynthomagnetic.  (I honestly can't even look at this polish without hearing the parade music in my head).  It's " a clear base with black, red, orange, gold, green, blue, purple, gold holographic, and silver holographic hexagon glitters."  The perfect polish to layer over a zillion different colors!  I chose to layer it over 2 coats of China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard, a shimmery neon green.  It's it fun?  I love it.  Electrosynthomagnetic was another great formula.  I used 2 coats and the glitter was suspended well in the base, the glitters came out easily and spread well on my nails.  No stray or bumpy glitters, and 1 layer of topcoat to gloss it up.  

And again like The Birds Sing Words, I couldn't just layer Electosynthomagnetic over one polish, I had to try it over 2.  I picked Color Club Beyond for my second run.  It's a black linear holo and it was a great base color for a polish that was inspired by night time party fun.  You can see more of the rainbow colored glitters in this combo.  I used 2 coats of Beyond, 1 coat of Electrosynthimagnetic and 1 layer of topcoat.  So which was your favorite combo?  These 2 are a tie for me.

*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

Here's a link to the Electric Light Parade on Main Street Disneyland.  It's a long-ish video, but if you watch the fist minute or two you will see the parade, lights and the inspiration to the polish.  Take a gander and enjoy the song!

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Kiss and Million Dollar Mermaid

My birthday came and went last month, but holy heck my friends in the nail polish blogosphere really spoiled me something fierce.  So yay for awesome friends and yay for a boat load of new nail polish to play with!  Here are 2 of the birthday polishes that came from a group of amazing friends that pitched in to get these for me.  They haven't really gotten much attention but they are gorgeous.  These are some of the new Deborah Lippmann Summer 2013 Mermaid polishes.  Do you remember how much you loved Mermaids Dream?  Well you are going to love these just as much!

I decided to use 2 of the new mermaids here.  I started with 3 coats of Mermaid's Kiss, a gorgeous pink with loads of gold shimmer, light and hot pink glitters.  I easily could have used 2 coats but used 3 to ensure I had no thin spots for my pictures.  The formula was great, applied nice and even.  I then did a gradient with Mermaid's Kiss and Million Dollar Mermaid on my accent nail.  Million Dollar Mermaid is a fun peachy-orange colored base with gold shimmer and brighter colored orange glitters.  Mermaid's Kiss has more (and more noticeable) gold shimmer, but both are very lovely.  I applied the polish in blobs directly to my triangle makeup sponge and pressed it on my nail running it up and down slightly to mix the colors.  I did this 3 times.  I am pretty pleased with how this turned out and I really LOVE the new mermaids.  Aren't they pretty!?  You need to see them in person to believe the amount of gold shimmer packed into these babies.  I finished this off with 1 layer of topcoat on all nails.  

You can purchase Deborah Lippmann 2013 Summer Mermaids on http://lippmanncollection.com, and all the major department stores (Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, etc).