Can you get any more fabulous? Solar Flare (seen here layered over Essie Mesmerized) is one of China Glaze's new "specialty collection" that includes some of the coolest glitters I've ever seen. Stock photos of this one had me having fits, and I wasn't able to find a swatch online, so naturally into my cart it went. Solar Flare is a clear base with true gold hex glitter. The application can be a bit tricky: if you start at the base of your nail, it seems like the glitter does drag to the end. The glitter also seems to not want to lay completely flat. The neck of the bottle also gets a bit congested. Overall, the effect is super cool and unique. The color is a gorgeous bright gold and wears more like jewelry than nail polish. Check this one out.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICS, AND TO SEE IT MATTIFIED!
China Glaze - L-R Shooting Stars, Atlantis, Electric Lilac, For Audrey (is it crazy that this is about the 5th bottle i've bought?), Solar Flare
Maybelline - Matte Olive, Matte Sapphire, Khaki Fringe ($1 each at Dollar Tree!!)
Essie Matte About You, Essie Mint Candy Apple
OPI Holiday was woefully underwhelming, in my opinion. I ended up with three out of a dozen and have already gotten rid of one of them (Holiday Glow). Smitten with Mittens and Merry Midnight are definite keepers, FYI. Merry Midnight is a sheer, very sheer, purple with silver shimmer, blue microglitter and red-based duochrome flakes. Whoa. I have no idea where this shade came from, but it's very nice. Having said that, I do feel like it's just a great topcoat. Here I'm wearing it over Zoya Pinta. It's incredibly unique from a brand that is becoming increasingly predictable.
Tracey at GingerKittyDesigns on etsy.com can help you take your love of nail polish to the next level. She can turn your favorite nail polish shades into jewelry! There are several different designs to choose from including necklaces, earrings and the oval ring style I'm wearing above. My ring is in the gorgeous Essie Starry Starry Nights. Tracey has tons of shades to choose from, and while she has a lot of ready-to-ship items, she will custom make your jewelry with your choice of shades in no time flat.
Look how great the ring looks with my Zoya Pinta manicure!
Zoya Pinta is an incredibly pigmented vampy "blurple" from their Dare collection for Fall. This baby was nearly opaque in one coat and applied amazingly. I have an on-and-off obsession with Zoya and while I usually gravitate towards the more "interesting" shades (shimmers, glitters, duochromes) it's creme nail polishes that I think Zoya does best.
Get this beauty through Sunday for 15% off at DeborahLippmann.com! Just enter HOLIDAY09 at checkout.
This is Lippmann Collection's Ruby Red Slippers. Initially only available as part of a Ménage à trois of lip-smacking glitteriffic polishes commemorating the company's 10th anniversary. Now they're available seperately and this baby threw itself at me, I swear. What a little hussy.
Lippmann's website calls this "Dorothy's Shimmering Ruby." Let me tell you something about your friend, and mine, Dot. After returning to Kansas following her trek around wherever the hell she was, she got bored. After all the adventures she'd had with her various organ-deficient friends, she felt a little stifled back on the farm. So her gingham skirt got shorter and her ruby red heels got a little higher, and this is what her slippers look like nowadays, girls. Not your mama's ruby reds. Behold.
Ruby Red Slippers is a super-sheer black base with loads of both teeny round, and larger hex glitter in a rich red. This picture shows 3 coats. I thought 4 was going a little far, though I may next time. I wanna go all the way with this one. *wink*
I layered this over Finger Paints Icy Iris. Not like you can tell. As a nail-boarder from the olden days on MUA used to say (fivezero if you remember her): "It's a metric assload of glitter". Man, I miss 5-0.
What the hell? I'm all about the glitter right now, and I imagine it's because all the great polish companies out there are basically shovelling it at us. Bring it, nail polish fairies! While I'm actually in a pretty committed relationship with China Glaze's glitters, this Sally Hansen caught my 5-year-old's eye at Wal-Mart earlier this week. Don't be scared, this kid has taste, don't be scared. This is Sally Hansen Xtreme (cause they're too good to be just Extreme) Wear Rockstar Pink. This drunken-joy-ride-in-a-bottle is full of blue, pink, purple, gold, and red glitter. Possibly more colors but I feel like if I look much closer, I'll have a seizure. God, that's a lot of glitter. I can't really say much else, so look at this bad boy:
FInger Paints nail polish, a brand sold exclusively at Sally Beauty Supply, is always good for a killer holiday shade or 6. This year I picked up three of the six-shade collection. The first I'm going to post is this gorgeous purple, Icy Iris. It's not really "icy", and to be honest it's not really Iris-colored either, but what the hell, it's awesome. It's my favorite of the three polishes from this collection that I purchased. You can get these at Sally for around $3 or so. This applied awesomely with two coats. One coat was nearly opaque but I always hold my nails up to light and check for bald spots, and there's always one or two, and for the sake of consistency I can't put two coats on one nail and one on the rest. The thought just makes me twitchy. Great pigmentation and the shimmer in this vibrant-yet-vampy jeweltone purple is really pretty as well.
Oh, yeah. I'm back. Kinda, haha. Sorry I've been semi-MIA guys. I have been super busy with a lot of things and just got over a month-long illness to boot, so needless to say, I owe you guys some posts. I'm getting right on that. They may be slow at first, but I hope to keep things steady despite starting a new job! Sooooo.... without further blabber, I've got a couple nail polishes I know you'll enjoy!
Nfu-Oh is a brand that started popping up on MakeupAlley.com some time ago. They were an obscure Korean brand of nail lacquer mainly used by nail artists. As far as nail polish, Nfu-Oh is known for their eye-popping flakies, or sheer polish in many shades with light-responsive "flakes" of thin opalescent glitter. Whew. Yeah. They're as awesome as they sound. I have had a few of these babies hiding in my nail polish stash, and just re-discovered them. (I'm getting back into nail polish, girls, so there will be a lot more nail polish-ey goodies to come). Keep in mind that while these are gorgeous with a few coats on their own, they are truly amazing layered over a multitude of polishes.
Click to see a couple manicures I've done with them recently:
