NPC Day 9: Had to Have it, Still Haven't Worn it

Hello polish lovers!

Today's prompt in the challenge is Had to Have it, Still Haven't Worn it.  When I saw this prompt I immediately knew which one I would use.  KB Shimmer's You Autumn Know, from the Fall 2013 collection.  I had to wait through 2 restocks on Harlow & Co., in order to get this.  I immediately fell in love with the swatches I was online and was so happy when I was finally able to get it.  I did use it as an accent once but for some reason I never did a full mani.

I love this polish!  This is 3 coats.  You Autumn Know is a white jelly base loaded with gold, orange and purple hex glitters in 3 different sizes mixed with orange and purple micro bar glitter.  I am usually not a fan of bar glitter but this is soo small that it doesn't bother me.

So pretty.  Although this is from a fall collection the colours work very well for spring as well.  I think the reason that I had not worn this before is I am so hesitant to use glitters because I hate dealing with the removal process.  I am going to have to get over it, because this is so pretty and soft.

That is all for today, I will be back Monday with the Most Expensive prompt, if I do not post Sunday.

Tomorrow I am going to the Maple Syrup Festival in Elmvale, a small town about 20 mins from my home.  I went for the first time last year with my sister and loved it so I am really looking forward to this year.  Not only will I be coming home with many maple syrup products but last year there was a Kleancolor vendor so I am hoping he is back so I can pick up a few more for my collection.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 8: Boutique Untried

Hello polish lovers!

Today's prompt is using boutique untrieds, like Butter London, A England, Deborah Lippmann and others.  I took this prompt to mean more exlusive/expensive polish without being a luxury, designer brand.  I chose Butter London and A England for this prompt.

This is 1 coat of Butter London Billy No Mates!  How have I not used this polish!  And for it to be a 1 coater!  So good.  I love this tone of grey.  Once this was dry I used MoYou London Suki Collection Plate 01 and A England Dorian Gray.

Another polish that I can't believe I haven't used.  Dorian Grey almost looks like blackened steel on the nails...gorgeous!  I love the combination of the two cool tones with the organic nature scene.  I also love owls so, double win.

That is all for tonight, except to share that I got my first order of Mundo de Unas stamping polish and I am super impressed.  I will also have an Indie review for you soon of 3 Guilty Pleasures Polish's that arrived today as well.  A double nail mail day, for the win!

I will be back on Friday with the next prompt of Had to Have it, still Haven't Worn it.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 7: Drugstore Untried

Hello polish lovers!

Today's prompt in the challenge is using a drugstore untried.  I decided to use three.  I started with a base of 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Coin Flip, a copper foil finish.

I am trying a new position so that I can show more polish detail.  Also you will notice this is my swatching hand again.  My broken middle finger nail has, although still broken, and held together with Super Glue, grown out enough that I cut down the other nails so they are almost the same length.  That weird bit on the side is the glue holding the split together,  I need to file it down more.

Once Coin Flip had completely dried I got out the Scotch tape and cut triangles to section off the nail.  The triangles that remained I filled with Mint Sorbet, a minty green creme, and Strobe Light, a pink and holographic micro glitter.

Strobe Light is not really showing well, except as the flash of sparkle.  Next time I will definitely use it with a creme to make it stand out more.  I was really impressed with the formulas on all the polishes used.  They were all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear.  I am usually impressed with the Sally Hansen brand.  I can't believe I left them untried for so long.

That is all for today but I will be back on Wednesday with my Day 8, Boutique Untried...I really shouldn't have any but have more than I thought.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 6: Indie Untried

Hello polish lovers!

So I don't buy many Indie polishes...and when I do I make sure they are ones that I am going to like, so this prompt was difficult for me.  I decided to use my most recent Indie, which is one that I loved but have not reviewed here yet.

This is Rainbow Honey's Tera Flare from the Final Battle collection based around Final Fantasy.

I love, love, love, this polish!  It is a dark navy jelly base with scattered multi-coloured holographic glitter squares and hexes.  This is my first polish with square glitter and I am now addicted!  So gorgeous!  Looking at these photos when I was editing them just makes me want to put it on.  This is 3 easy coats with 1 coat of SV.

OH MY GLOB!  So pretty!  I will definitely be wearing this again.

That is all for now.  I will be back on Monday with my Drugstore Untried.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 5: Jelly

Hello polish lovers!

This is going to be a quick one.  Day 5 Prompt is Jelly and I chose to do a pond mani using China Glaze Keepin' it Teal.  This is a very sheer teal green that is another in my collection that I will have to try with LeadLighting.

I used the ant image from Pueen 45 and Kleancolor Matte Black and layered and repeated the image at different angles, layered with coats of Keepin' it Teal.  I don't know if it was a total success but I don't mind the finished product.  This is 5 coats total and you still have slight VNL so that will tell you how sheer it is.

That is all for now.

Until next time, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 4: Frost

Hello polish lovers!

Back with the next challenge of finding a Frost untried in my stash.  I am not a fan of frost finishes as a rule, I tend to find them rather dated.  I did manage to find one in my stash, a Joe Fresh Polish (the brand my local grocery store sells) and besides being a frost finish, the polish is actually called Frost!

Super, super sheer!  This is 3 coats.  Since I hate seeing my own VNL I decided to create a funky french tip using my Art Club by Color Club pastel stripers.  The colours I chose, pink and purple, also happen to have a frost finish.

Sorry it is soo over-exposed but I am not used to having sunlight to take my photos in yet.  Please remember that I am left handed and was using my left hand for this so the lines are not as crisp as they would be if I were painting my right hand.  My poor broken nail on my right hand is getting better, but is not to the length I want yet.

That's all for now,  I will be back soon with my untried Jelly.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 3: Random Untried

Hello polish lovers!

So I am really behind this week on the challenge so I will be posting 3 times today.  First the Random Untried.  I took random to mean a polish that I only had one example of the brand and it is one that I received from a giveaway.  It is even more random in that it does not have a name, although the tag claims it is a limited edition colour.  The brand is Rue Beaute and it came in a skull shaped bottle with a silver cap.

When i took the brush out of this polish I noticed how sheer it was and so started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow.  It took 3 coats of the neon pink polish to get opaque enough that you could not see colour variance streaks.

I can see this working for the LeadLight technique for stamping but it is way too many coats for a base colour for me.  Once this was dry I got out another untried, Kleancolor's Matte Black, for the stamping, using MASH 45(please excuse the mess of my middle finger but matte polish dries very quickly and the entire image did not transfer, so I re-stamped...with not great results).

I think this polish is not going to become a favourite, but I will try it for LeadLight and let you see the results.

Back in a few with Day 4.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 2: Pastel

Hello polish lovers!

Today I have my Pastel mani from the Never-ending Pile Challenge.  I was originally going to to a more intricate design with a gradient of three colours and then my stamping with a fourth but I ended up running out of time and did not wait long enough before the sponging and it removed my white base in spots.  There is nothing to do in this situation except start over, and since we were going to see the new Captain America after dinner, I did not have enough time.  So here is my simplified mani using 2 untrieds from the Formula X line.

I started with a base of 2 coats of Unmistakable, a pastel green-blue(looks more green IRL).

This is a very pretty polish and would not be untried except for the fact that the first time I tried the Formula X line the polish began chipping almost immediately so I avoided it.  This time I did not use a base coat and it adhered to my nail much better.  I will have to experiment with my base coats because I hate not using them, that last thing I want is stained nails.

Once this was dry I added my stamping, using another untried, Formula X Brazen, a pastel blue-toned pink.  If I did this again I would use a brighter polish for the stamping because the tones for Unmistakable and Brazen were too similar and the stamping did not show up as clearly as I like.  The plate is MoYou London Pro Collection 02.

You can see a slight difference in colour in the 2 photo's as one was taken using natural light and the second is in my light box.  The first is more colour accurate.

First ever close up, but I wanted you to see the prettiness of the flowers.

That is all for today, but I will be back on Friday...probably late...with the Day 3 prompt of Random Untried...I have no idea what that will be yet.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Neverending Pile, Day 1: Glitter

Hello polish lovers!

Today I have my first post in the new Challenge I am participating in, called The Neverending Pile Challenge (NPC), which means I need to get into posting more frequently(every Monday, Wednesday and Friday).  It also means my untried pile will finally shrink. Today's prompt is Glitter.

I am not a huge glitter fan, so most of what I have I either bought because I loved it, came as part of a set, or my mother bought them for me.  The one that I chose is one that I got as part of a set.  This is Color Club's Savoy Nights.

Savoy Nights has a thick base that is lightly tinted blue but is totally translucent with tonnes and tonnes of micro and medium silver hex glitter.  Please excuse my messed up pinky, it smudged before I took my first photo.  It took 3 coats to be opaque...it might be better if I did a base first, because the first coat when the glitter was scattered actually looked pretty.

I can see why this was an untried, it is not a win, it looks too messy and all the medium hex glitter seems to have curled.  This may be one that I give to my niece, now that I have tried it.

That is all for today, but I will be back on Wednesday with the next prompt, which is pastel.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Cat vs. Bird Nails

Hello polish lovers!

Sorry to be MIA for so long but I am still waiting for that damaged nail to grow out on my swatching hand and it is taking forever.  Because of this I have really not been motivated to paint the non dominant, to say nothing of my freehand skills with my right hand are atrocious.

Anyway, here is a mani I did a number of weeks ago but just got around to editing the photos.

This is 2 coats of Ciate's Pepperminty, one of my favourite blue-green cremes.  First coat is streaky but evens and becomes opaque with the second coat.  Once this was completely dry I added my stamping.  I used Konad black and MoYou London Kitty Collection 01.

I flipped the image so that you got the story in the correct order.  Bird breaks free of cage, cat sees bird, cat catches bird, bird no more.  I love the cat images from this plate...probably why it is not currently available.

In other news, at my local Marshalls I was able to find 7 LVX polishes...there were a few more I wanted but the first time I was there I had never tried the brand and did not want to go overboard, so I only bought 2...then I was blown away by the formula, application and longevity of the polish and so went back.  Unfortunately 2 of the colours that I wanted to get had been sold, so I could only get the 5 remaining.  I have swatched them all and now need to edit all the photos, so I may have a LVX post for you tomorrow.

Until then, polish happy!