For this manicure I wanted to get the look of antiqued and distressed metal so I used several metallic polishes and sponged them on to make a sort of textured look. The addition of a holographic teal to the tips was an afterthought, but I thought it made it look better. The whole thing was inspired by CND's recent spate of "acid-washed" colors on pointed almond nails with a really deep smile line for the french. I basically went with that theme, but changed up some colors and added texture, which I think makes it look neat. The holo at the tips is subtle but it makes it a bit more interesting.

Products used:

• China Glaze Millenium
• China Glaze 2030
• Orly Luxe
• China Glaze Techno Teal
• Seche Vite Topcoat

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Products used:

• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
• China Glaze Reggae to Riches
• Sephora by OPI Opening Night
• China Glaze Millenium
• Seche Vite Top Coat

I did this right before I changed my nail shape from square to oval. Man, it feels weird to see them so square, lol. Anyway, I'm really into half-moon manicures right now, and I like the added interest of contrasting colors and a little something extra to deliniate the place where the colors meet. I used China Glaze Reggae to Riches for the base, which is a beautiful bright magenta shimmer with a really, really intense blue flash to it. Then for the rest of the nail, I used the incredibly well-pigmented Opening Night by Sephora by OPI which is a rich sapphire shimmer. For the line of "beads," I used a dotting too and China Glaze Millenium. I'm thinking of trying this same manicure out with black, white and grey soon, I think that would be really elegant. Maybe with some 3D pearl action...

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It's been forever and a day since I last posted, but in the interim I've graduated from my nail technology course and taken my State Board exams. Glad that's all over! Anyway, I've not been doing as much crazy art lately due to time restrictions, unfortunately, but I did do something with two of the new China Glaze Holiday 2011 polishes I picked up recently.

Tinsel Town is already becoming one of my favorite polishes of all time. It's a gorgeous granite grey with multi-sized silver glitter that makes the finish look so interesting; almost textured, sort of like fresh blacktop. I decided it reminded me of granite all around so I went for that sort of look by first polishing all the nails with a couple thin coats of Icicle, a standard-yet-solid choice for a silver micro-foil polish. Then I painted random curvy sections of each nail with Tinsel Town. I delineated the sections with a black striping polish from Sally Beauty, and finished off with Seche Vite to seal it and make it shine. Not complex, but it was very pretty to look at. Hope you like it!

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Color Club Pretty in Platinum - $3.50 at transdesign.com (not affiliated)

Here's one of the polishes I bought from the new Color Club Untamed Luxury collection. Pretty in Platinum is a silvery white pearl polish that dries somewhat matte. It's quite stark but the finish makes it sort of soft. It applies a little trickily but in the end it's worth it. It's delicate and edgy at the same time. I prefer it with a topcoat, but it does look pretty neat on it's own though without a topcoat it tends to feel a little chalky. There's really not much to say about it other than it's quite pretty and well worth the $2.50 I paid for it, lol.

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GOSH Holographic

So how long have I wanted GOSH Holographic? Hmmm... a looooong time. I can't even remember, it's been so long. Way back when I was still pretty active on the MakeupAlley board I desperately wanted this polish. I've never seen a GOSH product in person, so I never had a chance. I was so incredibly happy with Holographic was hiding in my swap package from Michelle (from The Lacquer Files). Whoooopeeee! I've never tried a more awesome silver holo before. It's everything that I imagined it would be and more, lol. Up till now Nfu-Oh 61 was my favorite silver holo with China Glaze OMG running a close second but Holographic has something no holo silver I've tried has, a beautiful finish when in dim light. In low lighting it isn't super holo, but the wide linear effect does show up a bit, but Nfu Oh 61 for instance looks cakey and a bit streaky when viewed in low light even though it's just BAM in sunlight. I love the soft, even and delicate silver finish in low light and the amazing linear holo in the sun. It's amazing!!!

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I bought my first actual Konad Special Stamping Polish last week and I was dying to use it. I already had on China Glaze Jitterbug, so I just grabbed a random plate and got down to business. I used Konad plate m57 with the leopard print on it, and with Konad Special Black stamped it up. Then I used Essence Nail Freestyle Tip Painter in Silver Surfer to dot little bits of chromey silver inside some of the dots. I really liked the way it turned out! I'm all about the monochromatic Konad manicures lately.

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NUBAR Twilight Nail Polish (Night Sky Collection) - $7.50 at bynubar.com

I've got a big appreciation for matte polishes with shimmer, also known as suedes by some. OPI, Zoya, and MAC have had a few, and this is my first experience with them from Nubar. I'm pretty impressed so far with the application and colors. I have tried Midnight from this collection as well and will review that for you soon, but today I'm showing you Twilight. This one is a steely grey matte with loads of teensy silver shimmer. It looks really edgy and chic, in my opinion and when you pair that with the easy application, it's a no-brainer for me. The application of these types of polishes varies widely in my experience; the toughest to apply being Zoya, and the easiest a tie between OPI and Nubar's versions. Zoya's dries quickly while you're trying to apply it, and it's a bit thick as well so it's a bit tougher to apply than is strictly comfortable. OPI and Nubar suede polishes glide on smoothly and evenly, and while they dry quickly, there is more than enough time per nail to get good application and coverage. The wear on Zoya's suedes is a lot longer, in my experience, than the OPI, Nubar, et al... so perhaps it's a trade off. Either way, I love this particular polish in it's suede form and with a glossy top coat added.

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Here's a really simple and pretty Konad manicure I did this week. It's basically just a  base of plain ol' glossy black creme, topped with steel-colored roses and a little bit of sparkly silver embellishment. For the black I used LA Colors Black Velvet which I got at the Dollar Tree, and it's super pigmented, and is really glossy. I used two coats of this and let it dry before doing the design. Over the black, I used China Glaze Awaken ($3) and Konad plate m65 ($7) to stamp the gunmetal roses over it. Then using Essence Freestyle Tip Painter in Silver ($2) I just randomly added a bit of silver to some of the curlicue things around the design. The final product is really pretty, I think. It's sort of gothic and romantic at the same time. The name I gave it for this post, if you're wondering, is the name of a Ryan Adams album (and song) that I adore. I just thought it fit.

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What's better than metallic silver? Metallic silver with glitter! This was a mani I did this week and I loved it. It looked awesome in the sun. The photos don't really capture the blinginess of it all. It's two coats of OPI Rinse Charming (discontinued, but similar polishes can be used, like Zoya Trixie), with two thin coats of China Glaze Shooting Star and two thin coats of China Glaze Techno. Shooting Star is a clear base with lots of tiny holographic microglitter and larger translucent glitter. Techno has a clear base as well, with holographic microglitter of a slightly larger size than Shooting Star and it also has some large silver-based holographic glitter. Both of them together are utterly blingtastic. There are a ton of photos after the jump...

L-R - OPI Rinse Charming, China Glaze Shooting Star, China Glaze Techno

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Here's a festive mani I did for my daughter's kindergarten picnic. Their school colors are blue and white, but I was in the mood for holo, so here we are. I used Nfu Oh 61 ($12.50 at fabuloustreet.com), aka the greatest silver holo ever, for the base. Then with Konad plate m51 ($6.99 at wowsocool.com) and OPI DS Fantasy ($9.90 at amazon.com) I stamped the swirly design. I really liked the overall look. For my daughter, I did a Bobcat paws mani for school spirit, which you can see after the jump.

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