essence - Gold Rush

Gold Rush is a super shimmery champagne color.  It came out lighter and more sparkly than I expected.  Even though the color isn't too crazy, a lot of shimmer is packed in that little bottle.  I used two coats and then stamped the leopard print pattern from Konad plate m57 using Konad black.

China Glaze - Grape Pop

I've been wearing the mani above for almost two weeks now, which is why I haven't posted anything new.  I started with two coats of China Glaze Grape Pop and then stamped the flower pattern from GCOCL K04, which I used last month.  I thought it still looked a little unfinished so after that dried, I used tape to cover the flowers and painted a stripe of light purple using OPI Do You Lilac It? along the left side of each nail.  Loved the way it turned out!

Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not

Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not is an oldie but goodie.  It was part of OPI's France Collection in 2008 and I loved it so much I bought two bottles.  Today I was wearing this dress that I thought it would go perfect with Louvre Me, so after three coats I stamped a pattern in black from Konad plate m64:

Louvre Me has some fuschia shimmer in it, so depending on the lighting and number of coats, it can take on reddish / warm tones (think OPI Pamplona Purple).  I added one more coat than usual to make it a little darker since I was trying to match the color of my dress.  Wearing matching dress + manicure was so much fun!  I wouldn't do it all the time but I definitely got a kick out of it today.

Orly Witch's Blue

I was surprised by how shimmery and vibrant Witch's Blue looks outdoors, because it looks darker (and murkier) in the bottle.  I used two coats in the pic above and since I still had GCOCL plate K04 on my desk from Monday I stamped one of the flower designs using China Glaze Milennium:

The design I chose (in the center of the plate above) is pretty big but I didn't want it to cover the entire nail of every nail, so I rotated the design around and stamped only parts of it.  Each nail ended up looking different but they all matched since they are from the same design:

Yellow for Easter

I always notice when people wear yellow polish, but I hesitated to try it myself because I was afraid it'd make my skin look sallow or unnatural.  I finally gave into temptation when I saw Orly Lemonade because it's such a sweet, soft pastel color and I had the perfect excuse with spring in the air and Easter right around the corner.

Overall I think if I'm only going to have one yellow in my collection, this is the right yellow for me.  It's not too bright or neon and it makes me feel cheerful just looking a it.  The pic above was taken in the morning, and later in the day I stamped a floral pattern from Konad m64 using Konad black:

The yellow looks a little bolder here in bright sun but it's still a nice pastel shade.

shades Secret Encounter

I'm so glad the sun is out so I can start taking pictures again!  For the mani above I used Secret Encounter from shades (by Barielle), which is a shimmery wine / magenta.  It reminds me of Just Dancin from Confetti except with more shimmer.

I taped off part of the nail to add a swipe of Orly Rage from the Foil FX collection, which is a rose / bronze foil, and then I stamped the big white flowers using GCOCL plate K04.

Edit (4/17): I posted a pic of GCOCL K04 here

Alstroemeria Inspiration

My mom has these gorgeous alstroemerias (Peruvian lilies) growing in her frontyard and they were on my mind when I did this mani:

I used Confetti Vava Voom as the base because it's almost a perfect match for the flowers.  The design I stamped using pink Konad polish was from H Series plate H38:

To be honest, I'm not sure what the design is supposed to be.  Grapes and thorns, maybe?  Then on my ring finger I added two slices of fimo clay flowers over a layer of top coat.  Here's a shot of my nails next to the flowers:

Confetti Masquerade Ball (compared to I'm With Brad)

Masquerade Ball is another great color from Confetti.  It's a black base with dark red shimmer and the formula was super smooth and pigmented.  I think it's comparable to I'm With Brad from Sephora by OPI:

I can't really tell the difference when I look at my nails and I thought the formulas for both were great with no issues.  If you're interested in a comparison of the brushes you can check out my old post on Metro Chic where I have the brushes lined up.

OPI DS Coronation w/ Houndstooth

I loved the My Private Jet houndstooth mani from a few weeks ago so much that I had to do another one!  This time I used OPI DS Coronation (from the Designer Series with the silver bottle cap) as the base.  It's a silver holo so it has a really cool rainbow 3D effect in the light:

And then I stamped the houndstooth pattern from Konad plate m63 using Konad black special polish:

I love how the houndstooth pattern comes out so crisp and perfect.  Thank goodness for Konad--I'd never be able to get this look by free handing with acrylic paint.  I can'd decide whether I like this black & white look better than the brown & gold combination when I used My Private Jet . . .

Revlon Not So Blueberry

Every time I go to CVS I see a display of scented nail polishes from Revlon and today I finally gave in to the temptation to buy one.  If you're interested in smelling these polishes before you buy, I recommend holding the open bottle a respectable distance away.  Though they're scented, they're still made of chemicals and the fumes probably aren't meant to be inhaled directly.  I carefully smelled a few of the bottles and settled on Not So Blueberry, which is a light frosted purple shimmer:

It smells like blueberry syrup or bubble gum, yummy but artificial.  The display says it is formulated with a top coat "included" (I assume because adding your own top coat would diminish the scent).  Not So Blueberry is a very pretty color but a little too flashy and shimmery for me, so I stamped a big leaf design from H Series plate H11 using Konad's Violet Pearl polish:

My nails still smelled faintly of blueberries after covering with Konad polish and top coat so this was a fun novelty to try.

OPI My Private Jet w/ Houndstooth

For this mani I used OPI's My Private Jet as the base color and then stamped the houndstooth pattern from Konad plate m63 using China Glaze 2030 and topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.  I really like the way this turned out!  It kinda makes me feel like I'm wearing nail decals or Minx--the pics above are after about three days of wear.  

My Private Jet was a cult fave before OPI updated to a 3-free formula.  It used to be a charcoal holo but the new formula doesn't have the same holographic look.  It's still packed with rainbow glitter and glass flecks though, so still pretty awesome in my opinion:

In some light My Private Jet can look brown-ish like above, which is why I paired it with gold instead of silver when I was stamping the houndstooth.

Sinful Colors - Mercury Rising

For this mani I used Mercury Rising from Sinful Colors, which is my new favorite brown shimmer:

I amassed quite a few browns this past fall / winter and I love them because they're warm-toned like dark red but never run the risk of looking vampy.  I bought a bunch of H Series (fauxnad) plates online a while ago and haven't gotten the chance to use them yet, so I picked out plate H1 and stamped this random ribbon / flower design using China Glaze 2030 (my go-to gold for Konading):

I gotta say the design is a little strange, but a nice change from the flowers, hearts, and bows that I'm used to from standard Konad plates. 

Confetti - Show Stopper

I did this mani with Confetti Show Stopper and stamped a design along the edge of each nail from GCOCL plate B01 with gold (China Glaze 2030).  The design is only fully visible from the side profile which I thought made the design more simple and elegant.  See pics of Show Stopper pre-stamping after the jump.

Continue Reading . . .

Spring is in the air!

After some rain for the past few days, it's finally sunny outside and it feels like spring, so I wanted to wear something cheerful:

The shimmery lime green background is China Glaze Tree Hugger.  I stamped the flowers from fauxnad plate M59 (or GCOCL plate B02) using green and yellow Konad polish.  The grass on the ring finger is from Konad plate m66 and the dragonfly is a slice of fimo clay.

More Crimson Cutie

After I posted a swatch of Crimson Cutie yesterday I was experimenting with one of my new GCOCL plates and came up with this:

All the images came from GCOCL plate E02:

I really liked the designs on this plate!  I'll definitely be using these again with different colors.