Holographic Half-Moons

I've been slacking a bit lately, haven't I? Well... yes. And also working on a featured-polish post, but that's no excuse for neglecting to post a bit now and then! 

I do have a good one today, though!

Mmm, holographic! I have a hard time wanting to do fancy nail art with holographic polishes, since I feel like they're plenty fancy on their own and I don't want to distract too much from the inherent awesomeness. But on the other hand (hah!) I feel weird just painting my nails with one color anymore.

This time I just did a freehand half-moon over China Glaze When Stars Collide, using Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Black Tie. The duochrome in Black Tie got overwhelmed by the holo of When Stars Collide, but it still added a bit of subtle dimension to the moons. I think a creme would have just been too flat next to the holo! 

The pic was taken in direct sunlight, to best show off the holographic effect. These new China Glaze holos aren't as strong as the Color Club set I have, but still lovely, and this color in particular is gorgeous even without the holo effect. Also, I *was* able to use topcoat (NYC Grand Central Station) without dulling the rainbows.

Black Tie Lilac

I'm feeling a bit pastel and spring-y, despite the lingering cold and rainy weather, so I pulled out a nice frosty lilac shade and had some fun!

The base is Pure Ice New Lilac (one coat, how awesome is that for a frosty polish? :D ) and after much thought of what to do about fancying it up a little I remembered I'd been meaning to play with Hard Candy Black Tie Optional. And sure enough, these two play well together! 

Textured Stripes

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the trend of textured polishes. I'm generally not a big fan of rough things on my nails, and the glitter ones just look to me like being lazy about using top coat. Some of the creme ones though are at least interesting enough that I decided to give the trend a fair test by picking up a bottle and playing with it a bit. 

The base to this manicure is Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (the new version), and I freehanded the stripes with the bottle brush of Milani Spoiled In Fuchsia.

I wasn't as annoyed by the texture as I expected to be, but I'm still kinda on the fence about the usefulness of these polishes for me. I'm really a big nail art person, so it's fun to play around with things like this... but is it really worth having a whole new set of the same colors, just for the texture? That's what I'm not sure about. 

I might pick up a few more of the Milani ones, or some other inexpensive ones if I see them in colors I like, but mostly to me this is a meh trend. I'm just not flipping my shit like I did over crackles and magnetics.

Polish Days: 7 Deadly Sins (Envy)

The Polish Days theme for this month is 7 Deadly Sins. I was originally planning on doing Sloth, by doing a really lazy manicure and then letting it chip for a few days... but I couldn't stand it! The bad-mani-ness was going to drive me nuts. So as a backup I did a green mani for Envy instead.

The base color is Revlon Scented Beach, which is a gorgeous color but smells kind of icky to me, like sunscreen and decomposing seaweed. Not a scent I'm fond of! 

I stamped the tips with an unknown Color Club polish, a nice forest-green with a semi-jelly finish, and BM18, and finished the look by placing some clear glitter from the local craft store. The glitter didn't show as much as I would have liked, but it was a neat idea. Oh well.

Check out what other ladies have done with the theme! 

Linear holo french-tip

I promised to share a bit about my delicious new linear holo set from Color Club (the Halo Hues)... here we go!

For the first nail art with the set, I did a simple french tip: 

I cheated on my 10-pan challenge to get these, but they are so, SO worth it! I ordered the set of 12 from Amazon, with the six 2012 shades and the new 2013 shades. Every single one is gorgeous as can be! No guilt... ok maybe a little, but only a tiny bit!

The base for this manicure was Cloud Nine, the ever-so-slightly lavender leaning pale pink, and I freehanded the french tips with Harp On It, the silver of the set. 

I tried a trick I'd read about for getting more wear out of a holo polish without using aqua base, which I don't have (I used my regular base coat for this. I do buff my nails to remove ridges though, which I would definitely recommend if not using a ridge-filling base for linear holo to look its best!) or dulling the holo finish with top coat. The trick is, to sandwich your layers. Base coat, holo coat, top coat, holo coat OVER the top coat! This way you get the staying power of the top coat and the full rainbow effect of the holo. Very effective, very nice. 

I used NYC Grand Central Station, which some people say doesn't dull holos as much... I did definitely notice it dulling Cloud Nine though, until I put on the second coat.

Look for more holo nail art coming soon! I can't get enough of these beauties!

Half-angled French Glitter

A fleeting dark mood struck, and since I prefer a black with something extra instead of a plain creme now that I've outgrown my teenage goth phase I started out with a base of Sephora by OPI -- Never Enough Shoes, then blinged it up a little with Nicole by OPI -- All is Glam, All is Bright. 

And then, because I wasn't feeling shiny, I mattified myself.

I love how subtle the glittery bits in Never Enough Shoes are. Barely there, just enough to keep it fun instead of full goth black nails. 

And yes, I have absolutely no problem with wearing holiday-release polishes all year long. It's a pretty, pretty glitter! I love the effect of the red with the silver and the super-light blue. Yum yum! 

Do the intentions of the brand for the release or seasonal colors have any influence on your decision of when or not to wear certain polishes? Or do you just wear what you feel like all year 'round like me?

Spring Flowers

I was feeling in a very spring mood and desperately needed some major bling on my hands. What's the result? A freehand flowers accent nail over holo glitter!

The base is Color Club - Sugarplum Fairy, which despite being from a holiday collection is super appropriate for spring. Or summer. What the heck, I'd wear it all year! 

The flowers were freehanded with Kiss stripers and a toothpick dipped in Color Club - Almost Famous for the centers.

(I broke down and ordered the Color Club Halo Hues off Amazon. More on that later, for now I'll just say THEY. ARE. AMAZING!!!)