piCture pOlish "Aurora"

Hey everyone!  I'm just going to gloss over the fact that I've been off for two whole days and haven't posted yet...I've been swatching, so there are posts to come!  Today I have the first polish that I put on after a week of nudes and nearly-nudes; piCture pOlish "Aurora":

"Aurora" lives up to its name!  It's an intense blue to purple to green duochrome with some holo shimmer thrown in for good measure.  This is two coats over a black base.  These first two pictures are in the sun.

And these next two pictures are in the shade.  Yes that's the same polish!

This is definitely one of the most intense duochromes in my collection!  I'll have to get the rest of this collection from piCture pOlish!

Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC: Holo

Hi guys!  Not much to chit chat about tonight, I'm still in finals mode and I just wanted to get this up on time for once!  Today's NPC prompt it "Holo".  Holographic is pretty much my favorite finish.  They just glow!  In the sunlight, and some even in dark light!  So today I have for you KBShimmer "Pretty in Punk":

 "Pretty in Punk" is actually a duochrome holo.  It's light green with a purple shift, but these pictures are in dark light, so the color shift doesn't really show up.  But look at those rainbows!

KBShimmer's duochrome holos are AMAZING!!!  I wish I had gotten some sunlight pictures, but I stamped over this right after painting.  I didn't end up liking the stamping though, so you don't get to see it!

Okay, I haven't linked to any brands/stockists while doing this challenge, but I have to give a shoutout to KBShimmer.  I love all the polishes I've gotten from her, and they're such a great price for indies.  AND she has great bath and body products too!  I've gotten samples of her scrubs and soaps which were great, and I always add on a bath bomb to my polish orders!  KBShimmer is a great place to start if you're just getting into indies!

Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 11: Least Expensive

Hi everyone!  So I'm a day behind again, but only because I posted my Mean Girls mani yesterday instead of this one!  Yesterday's nail polish challenge prompt was "Least Expensive".  Well I definitely have a few that were gifts or gifts with purchase, but I thought I'd do one of the cheapest that I actually paid for.  Sinful Colors, Wet n Wild, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear are all great brands that can be found for about $0.99, so I went with a couple unused Sinful Colors.

"Song of Summer" is an avocado creme.  This was such a great formula for 99 cents!  This is one coat here.  I've been really into greens lately, which is odd for me.  Green and yellow are usually my two least favorite nail colors.  But I feel like this is actually neutral enough that you could wear it to work. 

My ring finger and thumb have a coat of Sinful Colors "Rain Song", a pale purple to green duochrome.  I thought this would turn out more purple, like it is in the bottle, but I guess since I layered it over green, it pulled more green.  Next time I'll have to try it over purple!

Sinful Colors can be found at Walgreens, Walmart, and other pharmacies I think.  It's usually $1.99, but Walgreens often has sales for 99 cents.  What are some of your favorite "cheap" brands?

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 10: Most Expensive

Hi girls!  Okay, I kind of love and hate this prompt.  Love it because otherwise I probably wouldn't have dared to use this precious, but hate it because I don't want to admit how much I paid for it!

Here is Enchanted Polish "Ciao Milano":

Unfortunately it was rainy and overcast when I took these pictures, so the true beauty doesn't really come out.  "Ciao Milano" is a blue-teal-purple duochrome glitter.  This is two coats over a black base.  I have a bracelet from Gosia with this polish on it and I've had people ask if it was a mood bracelet because it kept changing colors!  That's what actually started my lemming for this polish, and like other Enchanteds, it's super hard to get.  It was restocked a couple weeks ago, but I missed out on it and no one knows when the next restock will be, if there even is one!  So I bought this unopened bottle from someone in a Facebook group...for $35! :x   Worth it though!  This color is so much prettier in person!

This next picture is a little blurry, but it shows off the color-changing glitter a little more!

What's your most expensive polish?

Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

It's My Birthday!!!

Hey guys! I wanted to post my birthday Mani, because I decided to wear a special polish today.  Here is Enchanted Polish "Magical Mystery Tour":

This post is quite picture heavy, so I'll explain why this is special after the jump!

NPC Day 3: Random

Hi everyone!

Today's NPC prompt called for a random untried, so I grabbed blindly and came up with Sinful Colors "Faceted", which is a glitter top coat.  So I grabbed randomly again for something to put it over and came up with Julep "Lacey"

"Lacey" is a gorgeous midnight blue shimmer and "Faceted" has bar glitter and small hex glitter that's sort of a gold to teal duochrome color.

I'm so glad I tried "Lacey"!  My clinical rotations start next month (eep!) and I'm definitely going to have to tone down my nails when I'm on site.  "Lacey" is a perfectly professional color that still has something special to it.  I'm sure I'll be using it a lot more!

I was just going to use "Faceted" on my accent nail, but I liked it so much I decided to put it on all my fingers!

 This picture really shows off the duochrome flash of "Faceted":

Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Superficially Colorful "Turbulence"

Hi ladies!  No tricks today, just a beautiful polish from a new-comer to the indie market.  Jin Jit of SuperficiallyColorful.com has been blogging for awhile, but she just recently released her first two nail polish collections, Remnants of Winter and Mood Swings.  "Turbulence" is part of the Remnants of Winter collection.

"Turbulence" is a reddish maroon with a strong purple and blue duochrome flash and some scattered holographic shimmer.  I was surprised by how much I liked this one!  The duochrome gives it so much depth!

I took photos at multiple angles so you could see the different colors that come out!

The formula on this was great.  It was a little thick, but I had no problems with application.  I borrowed this one from Gosia to try, and I'm definitely going to have to get some of these for myself!

Jin's new polishes can be found at SuperficiallyColorful.com!

Thanks for reading!

OPI "Peace, Love, & OPI"

Hi girls!  How was your weekend?  It finally started to feel like spring here, but I don't know how long it's going to last...We're supposed to have storms the next few days, and then I think it's supposed to get a bit cooler again.

Today I have for you "Peace, Love & OPI" from the fall 2013 San Francisco collection.

"Peace, Love, & OPI" is a silver duochrome with a purple and green shift.  This is two nice and easy coats.

My ring finger looks kind of brush stroke-y here, but you can't see that in real life.

I think this photo really shows off the pinky-purple duochrome.

So, what do you guys think?  I love colors like this, and I have everything that's even sort of similar.  If I get a chance, I'll do a comparison post!

Thanks for reading!

Colors By Llarowe "Dirty Diana"

Hey girls!  I meant to get this up last night, but then I got caught up in the excitement of having the Purina people over (more on that in a second!), and then Ben and I went to Office Depot later and we ended up being there longer than we planned on.  Some shit went down guys, lol.  Basically the manager wouldn't let us use a coupon from the website even though we were making a LARGE purchase (Ben's re-doing his office).  Whatever, we went home and ordered everything online and the manager missed out on a big sale that probably would have helped him make his plan for the night.

Anyway, the people from Purina came over yesterday to see how Tumnus was around strangers (he's a little shy, but he comes around), to discuss what the video will be about, and to see what the lighting is like in our house.  It turns out the video is for an ad that will be on their website and on their banner ads on other websites!  We'll be celebrities! 

I've been trying to think of ideas for manicures that will be a little eye catching, but not distracting on camera.  I don't even know if my hands will make it on camera, but I want to be prepared!  Here is my first test-mani:

This is Colors By Llarowe "Dirty Diana" with a little kitty tail on my pinkie!  I don't think you can tell it's supposed to be a cat tail though; it just looks like a squiggle :-P

More beautiful pictures after the jump!

Valentine's Mani Part 2: All You Need is Love

And by Love I mean Julep's "Love" that went out to all subscribers this month!

 "Love" is a super-shimmery gold with pink undertones and loads of red microglitter.  It almost has a gold to pink duochrome effect.  I tried to catch the pink flash in the next couple pictures:

 

To add to the Valentine's-y-ness, I added a pink heart rhinestone from a pack from Sally Beauty.  Rhinestones are totally easy to use.  You just place them on your nail while your polish is still wet, let it dry for a couple minutes, then seal it on with a thick coat of top coat!

  I love "Love" so much!  I hope Julep puts out more colors with this finish.  The formula was a little thick though.  I didn't have any problems with application, but I might add a bit of thinner next time.

Julep can be found at Julep.com.  Julep's Maven program is a boutique nail polish subscription box.  I'll let you read more about it here.  If you want to become Maven, you can sign up through my link and use the code "FREEBOX" to get your first box free!

Colors By Llarowe "Grace"

I almost didn't post this manicure because I was so underwhelmed.  But as I was about to change my polish I took a couple pictures and figured I'd make a quick post.

This is Colors By Llarowe "Grace" with one of the new Finger Paints flakies, "Abstract Attraction", over it.

"Grace" is a blue-purple duochrome with even a little gold shift in certain lights.  Most of the time it looked like the top picture to me.  Looking at these pictures it's beautiful; it just really doesn't do it for me on my nails.  I dunno why  *shrug*.  It did apply in two perfect coats, like all of Leah Ann's polishes!

"Abstract Attraction" is a pale purple, blue, and green flakie.  It really doesn't even show up over "Grace", it's too pale and the colors are too similar.

What do you guys think of this color?  I really love the way it looks in the bottom picture; I wish it looked like that all the time!

Colors By Llarowe is one of my favorite indie brands.  This is the only polish of hers I've tried that hasn't totally wowed me.  CbL is available (of course) at Llarowe.com.   Keep your eye out for restocks!

Finger Paints is available at Sally Beauty, but it looks like the new collection is not on the website yet.  I found them in the store near me though, so they should be out soon!

Thanks for reading!