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.

August is Indie Month Day 22!

Indie Month Day 22 already. And somehow I've managed to keep up for the most part (a couple of double post days). I'm looking forward to doing this again next month as well as a few cosmetic reviews and swatches that should be coming closer to the end of this month.

As for the main event...

This is Barry M Princess, a textured effect nail polish. Here I have two coats with no top coat because that would ruin the texture. This polish is sort of like liquid sand, but pink and sparkly. Exactly what I would expect for a polish named Princess.

I didn't wear this for long, but I'll tell you it was a pain in the you-know-what to remove, so I get the feeling that it would last a while and stick fairly well on the nail. Since the coverage isn't quite perfect (you can see some nail line on my index finger for example) you could probably get away with a fair bit of tip wear without even noticing. I look forward to wearing it again for a longer period of time.

August is Indie Month Day 15!

I know it's day 16 now, I had a terrible sort of day yesterday and didn't get to blog. So I'll do two today to make up for it. They'll be a bit shorter.

This is Cult Nails Intriguing. Two coats, no topcoat. This is a gorgeous soft blue hinting purple, (maybe periwinkle?) gently holographic polish. I have a few similar colors to this but none of them quite get that tiny hint of purple like this one. The subtler holo is also a nice change of pace from the intense linear holos that I usually wear.

Cult Nails is a brand I love, probably the brand that first introduced me to the indie nail polish world and I haven't looked back. These are long wearing polishes that tended to last me a week before I started doing my nails more regularly. There are often great deals on them too! Check out Maria's store here and Join the Cult!

Indoors - direct sunlight.

Indoors with flash.

August is Indie Month Day 14!

Day 14! HITS Polish Art Lover, a holographic multichrome that is a duplicate for Enchanted Polish Across the Universe. It shifts from blue to purple mainly, but also can show red/yellow in certain light situations.

This is one coat over a black base. I really love the many colors and the bright holographics of these polishes, I have several and the quality is no different than EP in my opinion. They last several days on the nail, wear very well and have great color pay off. I purchased mine from llarowe.

There are several HITS polishes that dupe EPs, so if you're looking for some of those multichromes take a look! Great prices, cute bottles.

Indoors with flash.

Indoors, indirect sunlight.

Indoors under halogen lights with flash.

Indoors, indirect sunlight, to show some of the color shift.

August is Indie Month Day 13!

Many apologies for the late post today. Just not feeling up to par, but Indie Month will wait for no lady who loves lacquer! So today I've got Ruby White Tips on the blog. This is a polish that I won the naming contest for!

Here I've got Look at the Flowers over several different bases.

Index finger - two coats over black

Middle finger - three coats alone

Ring finger - Two coats over Rainbow Honey Trifolium

Pinky Finger - Two coats over white

I love RWT polishes, I wish my collection was larger than just a few. They are such gorgeous colors and the collections are always based on things that I'm so fond of like Breaking Bad or in this case The Walking Dead. I love the little glam at the top of every bottle too.

RWT polishes are relatively sheer in my experience, usually needing at least three coats or a well suited undie to make them look their best. In this case I like it best over RH Trifolium, or any other green base I would imagine. It is a tealy green jelly ish polish with pink shimmers all throughout.

All of the RWT polishes I have are long lasting, several days or more without chips or peeling.

Check out her shop on Etsy there are some promotional offers going on right now which you can find on their Facebook page. :)

Enjoy!

*Unfortunately I was unable to recover any photos of this look during the December 2014 issue. New images will be uploaded in the future.

August is Indie Month Day 8!

Day #8 already! I'm a little surprised with myself that I've managed to keep this up so long, but here's hoping I will be able to finish out the month! Alright, for today I've got LynBDesigns Purple Polish of Sex from her Baker Street Collection (Sherlock). 

My index and ring finger are two coats of Purple Polish of Sex over two coats of Cult Nails Blackout.

Middle and pinky finger are four coats of Purple Polish of Sex.

The application is nice, but very sheer compared to what it looks like in the bottle. After four coats it was a little uneven, but if I had gone a bit slower between coats it would have been fine. I hadn't done this with undies yet, but in future I most certainly will use black undies if I'm going to wear this polish. It makes the color what I really want from it.

It is a shimmery deep purple with both blue and pink shimmer. The two pictures with flash did a good job picking up the blue. You can see the pink a bit in the bottle of the first picture and on the index finger.

Lasting power was a bit less than I usually like, 1-2 days for me, though it's possible that at that time I didn't have a good base/topcoat combination. 

August is Indie Month Day 7!

Indie Month Day 7! Rainbow Honey's Trifolium, a gorgeous green with a hint of teal, speckled with tiny gold flakies. 

This is two coats with no top coat.

 All of the photos turned out a little more teal leaning than this color is in real life, it's more on the side of grass green. I wish I could capture the true color better but it certainly does look like this in darker lighting.

Great application, super easy to put on. The formula is like butter that just glides right on. I can't speak to the lasting power, once again, but other RH polishes I have used have lasted for 2-3 days before I changed my mani. 

Indoors, indirect sunlight.

Indoors, more direct sunlight.

Indoors with flash.

August is Indie Month Day 5!

Day 5 already! Today I've got Takko Lacquer's To Infinity and Beyond. This polish is absolutely stunning. This is a very photo heavy post as it's difficult to capture all the different faces of this color shifting multi chrome holo.

The main color in shady light was purple, best seen in picture #2. With direct light shining on the polish it was usually bright green - you can see this in #3 and #4 quite well. Under bright lights it turns a blurple sort of color and the holo really comes out.

This is one coat of To Infinity and Beyond over two coats of Cult Nails Blackout with topcoat.

I cannot speak to the lasting power of the Takko as I only wear it over undies. Application was very smooth and even and it lasted the course of two days before I changed my mani again.

Indoors with flash.

Indoors, indirect sunlight.

Indoors, indirect sunlight.

Indoors, indirect sunlight. 

With flash under halogen lights.

August is Indie Month Day 4!

I'm so sorry this post is late! I had a migraine keep me down most of the day and only now am getting around to trying to get a few things done before heading back to bed.

Today I've got A England Tristam for you, a gorgeous shade of deep blue with amazing soft holographic effect. The application from A England is always amazing, these poslishes are self leveling and usually one coat is enough.

This is two coats of Tristam, no top coat.

The photos have really done a great job of catching the different faces of this polish which changes in certain lights from a deep blue to a blurple.

Indoors with flash.

Indoors, indirect sunlight.

Indoors with flash under halogen lights.

August is Indie Month Day 3!

Day 3 is a little bit more of a bright and fun polish. Today I've got Suess from Whimsical Ideas by Pam on. This is what I would probably call a bright blue jelly with different glitter pieces that remind you very much of the Cat in the Hat overall.

This is two coats, no top coat. Once again, I probably should have gone for a third coat. The glitter application was easy and quite even on all but one of my nails where I just didn't seem to get any. You can see there are silver/white and red hexes in different sizes as well as smaller glitter pieces scattered throughout.

Apologies for the cuticles getting a little dry at this point. I did several swatches all at once and they weren't quite pleased with me.

Honestly I love this color. I don't wear glitter polish nearly as much as I should because I always enjoy it when I do. This is an absolutely stunning shade of blue and it makes me smile when I look down and think of my childhood. Fun and playful, as nail polish should be!

Great formula, easy application, just a tiny bit of trouble with the glitters being uneven on one finger. I'm sure a third coat could have fixed that. The staying power is decent, three days was how long I wore this in the past.

Indoors with flash.

Indoors, indirect sunlight.

Indoors under halogen lights with flash.

August is Indie Month Day 2!

Day 2 of Indie Month. Today I have for you Arcane Lacquer (once again chosen by randomizer) in the color Dreary Days. This is two coats with no top coat.

The formula is nice, however quite sheer as you can see. On the nail (without the bright lights) two coats was relatively opaque to a point I felt comfortable. Once the flash/lights were on, it becomes clear that the jelly base is still pretty patchy. A third coat would have evened this out to perfection.

It goes on smooth and the glitters distribute very evenly as you can see, there was no mussing with the glitters at all here.

This is a grey-blue jelly with various glitter pieces in black, silver and blue. It really does remind me of a grey cloudy day. Maybe even something more heinous like a tornado with all those particles floating around in it.

The staying power of this polish is great, I have worn it in the past for four days with minimal tip wear and no chipping. Again as I change my nail color too often I cannot state the full length this polish might wear.

The glitters in this polish are not particularly shiny, but they do give a very nice speckling effect. I like this polish, but glitters don't get enough use from me (because they are just too much of a pain to remove).

For more information about Indie Month and to check out what the other participants are wearing, click here.

Indoors with flash.

The above photo is the most true to it's natural color state, a blueish grey base with more glitter packed in than you can imagine.

Indoors, indirect sunlight.

With flash under halogen lights.

NOTD - Fun With Toppers

I have so many untrieds right now I've been doing different colors on each hand. This one is so striking. I wish that I could truly capture the sheen of Hurt No Living Thing but you get a hint of it in the pictures I've chosen. I think it might be time to build a light box. I'm thinking about doing a 30 day challenge in the near future - I want to use more of my polishes.

Anyway, on to my NOTD!
Left hand is Colors by Llarowe Smokin' In The Boys Room - a gorgeous smoke grey jelly that went on very smooth and evened out to an opaque finish in 3 coats.
Right hand is Colors by Llarowe Liquor Is Quicker - a very beautiful purple hinting blue crelly that went on smooth and was opaque in 3 coats.
I have topped my thumb and ring fingers with Colors by Llarowe Leather and Lace in one thin coat - this is a gorgeous linear holographic topcoat that adds amazing shimmer and shine with minimal greying.
The other fingers are topped with one coat of A England Hurt No Living Thing which is a sheer smokey color with pink-purple shifting shimmer.
All topped with HK Girl the new topcoat I have been using and loving after hearing so much about it. It certainly does live up to it's name and I will definitely be purchasing more of this!

Pictures!

Liquor Is Quicker topped with Hurt No Living Thing and Leather & Lace. Taken with Flash.

 Smokin' In The Boys Room topped with Hurt No Living Thing and Leather & Lace. Taken with flash.