Just Because Nails - Picture Polish Aurora

This has to be one of my favorite polishes, despite being nearly impossible to capture all of it's faces. I pulled out the big camera recently and tried to catch this beauty on my nails.

Isn't it just gorgeous?!

Battle of the Topcoats - Part 1!! HK Girl Vs Seche Vite

Immediately after finishing the mani.

Shortly after finishing the mani - you can see some shrinkage already occuring on the index finger.

Shortly after finishing the mani - all good!

Both my HK Girl and my Seche Vite are quite low, as you can tell. They've both been thinned to be workable and both apply similarly to the nail. Each one had a tiny bit of smudging on the stamping if I wiped the brush over it too many times, so in that regard the performance was the same.

However within hours of finishing, a clear winner began to emerge. The nails with Seche Vite were already showing some serious tip wear/shrinkage.

Shrinkage/tip wear on the SV nail.

Within about 48 hours, I had some chipping on the SV nails. You may notice that I had to file my nails a bit before this photo was taken - some rough edges were catching and I didn't want any breaks, so the index finger looks less severe than reality. As you can see, the HK Girl nails are still looking quite good!

Winner: HK Girl!!

Bin Chic's Boutique - St Val's Heart, St Paddy's Shillelagh and The Trickster

I wanted to pop one more quick post of the remaining swatches from the BinChic Jan-April polishes before I get into some fun stuff coming up. I loved all of these polishes and can't wait to show more designs including them. The thermal is extremely reactive and the formulas are buttery if a tiny bit streaky on the more metallic finishes (to be expected). Enjoy these! I sure am!

February - St Val's Heart

Super pretty cherry red with a pop of pink shimmer, what's not to love?

2 coats.

Sunlight Macro

Sunlight

Flash (look at that shimma!!)

St Paddy's Shillelagh

This green is so gorgeous! I wore it in my pre-St Paddy's Day green madness as well. Love the shimmer!

2 coats.

Sunlight Macro

Sunlight

Flash (to show the shimmer!)

Flash - another face of the color

The Trickster

 Love how thermally reactive this was, it was really difficult to capture a fully warm picture because it changes so fast!

3 coats.

Cold, Flash - shows the shimmer.

Cold, Natural Lighting.

Cold, sunlight.

Natural temperature, Natural Lighting.

Natural temperature, sunlight. (Shimmmaaaa!!!)

Warm, flash.

Warm (quickly changing), sunlight.

*Press Sample*

BinChic's Boutique - WTF (Wine Time Finally) - Swatches & Review

Two coats, flash.

Today I have for you a polish from BinChic's Boutique called WTF (Wine Time Finally) inspired by the pantone color of the year, Marsala. This is a gorgeous burgundy-wine holo that I'm really enjoying!

I've shown one coat here because this polish could have easily been a one coater if I knew what I was working with before applying it. 

It's self-leveling in the same was as A Englands, where you need to work quickly and in a thicker coat to avoid the polish drying too fast and making lumps where you drag your brush. You can get full coverage in one shot if you work fast. These are a bit streaky/patchy because I wasn't yet aware of the type of polish, but still totally wearable!

I really enjoyed the forumla, though there was a little bit of streaking that can happen sometimes with more metallic type finishes like this. It went on smooth and could have been a one coater with proper application. I plan on trying some stamping with this polish eventually.

I wore it for about 48 hours - went swimming, did dishes, showers, etc. and had only a little bit of shrinkage on two fingers from my top coat, not from the polish. I would say it wears quite well! Check it out over at BinChic's Boutique on Etsy!!

One coat, natural light.

One coat, natural light.

After a second coat the streakiness was much less apparent and the finish was quite glossy, but these shots are taken with top coat. (Seche Vite)

Unfortunately the sun was not shining today but I took photos with the natural light from outside and with flash to show the holographic finish.

Two Coats, natural light.

Two coats, flash.

*Press Sample*

A Busy Few Days of Swatching!

While writing out full length posts for my blog has been a bit difficult for me lately, I have been keeping up with my nails. The last couple of days I've started working on swatching my polishes for my pinterest collection. I thought I would share them with you all here and remind you that if you like my swatches, you can find them regularly on my Instagram. Once I've completed the projects I owe for Christmas (crochet requests from my Etsy shop - details in the future) I will get back into my normal programming for blogging.

So without further adieu, some of my swatches this week.

Eat Sleep Polish - You Can't Sit With Us

Eat Sleep Polish - Great Sexpectations

Eat Sleep Polish - The Turtle and the Hare

Aly's Dream Polish - Hottest Pink

It has been a month.

You know one of those ones where life intervenes and everything you want to do is sidelined for the important and super un-fun stuff? Yeah, one of those.

I miss blogging. I miss writing. I miss having time to do my nails every day. But I have been working on some fun stuff.

A scarf for a friend, nicely tied in a bow here:

A few pairs of slippers, some fingerless gloves and several bathroom oragnizers have also been keeping me quite busy.

I know this isn't my usual nail related post, but here are a couple of mani's I have done recently to tide you over:

Carpe Noctem Cosmetics - South Haven Sunset

I know I've shown this one before but it's just so gorgeous! I needed to wear it again. Look at that gold shimmer come through, it really does look like a sunset doesn't it?

I have high hopes that in the coming week I will be finishing up many of my near-complete projects which should open up some free time to get back to my nails and my blog. I hope you're all doing well, tell me in the comments how has the past month been going for you?

Final Stamping Month Update & Upcoming Blogs!

It pains me to inform you that I am out of the stamping challenge for this month as my nails started breaking at the quick and I was forced to file down to the nubbiest of nubbins. However I am planning a challenge for October and will participate in that one whether my nubs are nubby or not. Hopefully a couple of weeks will be enough time for them to grow out so I can make them look at least half decent. It happens to all of us. :(

So this means that instead of daily nails, I'll be working on some other reviews instead. 

Stay tuned! I have lots of exciting things in store even if it's not my nails.

And as a last update, this was Day 12 of Stamping Month - Bugs

Nails of the Week! Girly Bits #islandtime!

A brand I very recently discovered a love for but which has quickly found a place in my heart is Girly Bits. Today I've got #islandtime to show you which I fell in love with as soon as I saw the bottle. It looks even better on somehow, if that's even possible. It is a teal holographic with some hints of green and some hints of blue depending on the lighting. I think I've covered the faces pretty well.

I hope you enjoy! This polish is absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't bear to take it off for three whole days, almost unheard of for me!

This is three thin coats with HK Girl top coat. This polish dried lightning fast on my nails and application was amazingly smooth. Can't wait to try some more of my Girly Bits!

Indoors, bright sunlight.

Indoors with flash.

Setepmber is Stamping Month Update!

Stamping month update number two! This stamping guide has proven to be a little challenging. I only have two large plates and a handful of small circular ones so I have only a select number of images to work with. I've had to get creative and make up some of my own themes for a few of the days. Here's my update to today and for daily updates along with swatches and random mani attempts please follow me on Instagram here!

Day 7 - Hearts

KBShimmer A Touch of Glass stamped with A England's Dancing With Nureyev

Day 8 - Dragons

KBShimmer Plum Tuckered Out stamped with A England's Princess Tears

Day 9 - Fish.

I didn't like my first attempt at underwater creatures, so I went for a new theme. Travelling with a view.

Cadillacquer Crystal with Mundo De Unas #16 stamping.

Day 10 - Trees

I went with a beachy theme using Girly Bits #islandtime as a base with Mundo De Unas #6 stamping

Day 11 - Books

Today is supposed to be a book theme. I don't have any book stamps, so instead I decided to tell a story with my stamps.

A handsome Prince Charming, an adoring Princess, they fall in love, and live happily ever after in their castle. (So cheesy.)

This is Lilypad Lacquer Vixens Wear Violet with Mundo De Unas #1 stamping.

September Stamping Update!

I don't think my stamping is wonderful yet and I haven't been taking a significant number of pictures of it, just enough for one each day on Instagram. I'll try to post every so often with a quick update of pictures.

Day 2 was Lace

Day 3 was Cat/Dog/Pet

Day 4 was Food

Day 5 was Birds, but since I don't have any bird plates I went with a Fashion theme.

Day 6 is Travel

September is Stamping Month Day 1!

Day 1 of Stamping Month is Flowers, so I did a quick little accent of flowers on my existing Picture Polish Tiffany manicure using A England's Dragon. All of my A England polishes will be great for stamping with but I do have a few specifically made for stamping too. I'll try to encorporate a variety of colors/polishes into the stamping that I do, though I don't think I will be doing it daily like August.

The hashtags on Instagram are: #septemberisstampingmonth #septemberstamping #stampingchallenge

Participants:

• We Didn't Miss It (blog), miss_tina (Instagram)
• Love This Lacquer (Instagram), Love This Lacquer (Twitter), Love This Lacquer (Tumbler)
• The Bold and the Beauty Fool (blog)
• Laura Kristine (Instagram)
• PhD Nails (blog)
• Koi Kitty (Instagram), The Polished Koi (blog)
• Britt-Lynn (Instagram)