This Mani is Rock Solid

I'm always such a sucker for any remnant hint of a holo in a polish - I must scoop it right up like ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Rock Solid from Orly's Mineral FX Collection was no exception. I ponder why I let this little darling sit in my untrieds for so long. I had thought that some black stamping would like nice over her and was right.

 This is two coats of Orly Rock solid - which covered nice and opaque, and also not too gritty. I then  stamped the giraffe tips with BM 325 with Sinful Black on Black.  I used the full giraffe alternative image from plate 313 for my accent nails. This almost had a better holo in the shade not seeing direct sunlight. I left it on for awhile and thought the black and charcoal worked nicely together.

We had a nice weekend, time with friends, a great motorcycle ride (and horrifying sunburn to match) finished off with a nice family dinner to celebrate Mom complete with the to die for watermelon margs at On the Border. I'm uncomfortably obsessed with these margaritas as they are one of the only places around that use fresh watermelon mmmmm.

Boogie Nights Patchwork Mani

I know the patchwork mani was trendy long, long ago but I have yet to try one. I thought I would call up the tutorial that many of you have probably seen from the talented Chloe's Nails who has been MIA for awhile now. I was thinking I really needed to use the Models Own I recently acquired from the sweetest little chica in Sweden, Anja for a birthday swap.

I started with two coats of Color Club All That Razz which is a very pretty hot fuchsia pink, could be jelly opaque in one coat and I almost left her alone but decided to forge onward. I then used one coat of Revlon Quick Dry TC and then used Color Club Insta-This for the blue and Nina Ulta Pro Sweet Nothings for the last color.

On my accent nails I used one coat of All That Razz followed by two coats of Models Own Boogie Nights. This is a great glittery polish, I tried to use polish colors that would complement the glitters and think I did pretty darn tootin' well. I also am a fan of the shred glitters as they stayed down pretty well.

Damask Matte Pattern

I must confess that I have the wee hands of a small people (about the only small thing left on my bod these days). A lot of you missies have problems with finding stamps that fit your whole nail and are probably fans of the 3rd gen Bundle Monster plates and especially my gal Julie with Messy Mansion. I have quite the opposite prob here peeps. My nails are so tiny - awesome images like her damask pattern from plate MM06 are too big to fit the whole sweet thing on my nail.

I went for the middle of the plate closed my eyes, OK not really, but held my breathe and went for it. I thought the super trendy combo of peach and turquoise would be great to show this pretty off plus I haven't mattified anything as of late. This is two coats of Orly Prelude to a Kiss stamped with Sinful Rise & Shine.

Rise & Shine is the epitome of that gorgeous mix between a saturated green and aqua with a slight shimmer that was hidden by the matte texture that it dries to naturally as well as my two coats of Essie Matte About You on top. This little lady needs a redo with a super shiny topcoat that's all I know. I then reversed the combo for the accent nails. Booyah!

China Glaze Metallic Floral Garden

This is three coats of Dandy Lyin' Around, the polish ladies weren't lyin' when they put their approval on this one. It is very shimmery and a beautiful white. A nice base if you're willing to go the three or so coats for full coverage. I then used the flowery image from plate BM314. There was a gorgeous black and white combo of this stamp on my Pinterest board but I thought I would add some pretty pastels to the mix.

 My dear husband insisted that Champ be part of this mani shoot, let's just say keeping still isn't his strong suit.

I used China Glaze Emotion, Harmony and Cherish in a reoccurring pattern. I really dislike spring in Colorado, everyone else is like flowers, sun, bunnies yay and I'm over here like um we got 6 inches of snow...SO springtime themed manis, colors and such help remind me that summer is just around the bend.

Happy weekend kids!

InStyle + CoverGirl Made My Day!

I want to thank Jen of The Polishaholic for posting about InStyle.com's Zooey Deschanel inspired nail contest! Thanks to her, I tweeted my tuxedo-inspired mani from awhile ago and was one of three lucky winners!!!

My package arrived today and included some awesome new Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss, lip balm gloss and mascara. From left to right: Timeless Rubies 315, My Papaya 250, Snow Storm 110, Jumbo Gloss Balm in Rose Twist, Perma-Pink120, Bronze Beauty 235 and the brand new Clump Crusher Lash Blast in Black. I haven't tried any of these products and am really intrigued. Can't wait to test them out.

Thanks also to InStyle!

Shimmer Polish ~ Mary

Upon opening my glorious Shimmer Polish package provided for review, little Ms. Mary caught my eye the most. The site describes it as a red micture with black and silver glitter. The black glitter is what really stands out to me in this polish. In fact, at first I layered this over black and thought DUH Freshie, you can't see that great black hex glitter!

This is why I quickly saw the error of my ways and put two coats of Mary over two coats of Color Club Mamba, a beautiful one coat red jelly from the new Fiesta collection. This was a much better fit. I left my accent nail black with one coat of Sinful Black on Black and used striping tape to try and create a burst. I think I should have thinned the polish, as soon as I pulled up striping tape the lines weren't the cleanest.

I really like this polish and will probably use it by itself for another mani again soon. You can purchase Mary and all of her sisters on Etsy.

Mmmm Forbidden Island

So "Mmmm" isn't necessarily my description for this indie polish, but the name of the company on Etsy. It has such a fun name and I get a glint in my eye when I see minty-esque type greens that this one was hard to resist. After I made the purchase of three polishes from the store,I see now that she no longer has an active store or products? I'm not sure if she was just dabbling in the frank world, but my thoughts on the polish may indicate this very fact.

This is three coats of Forbidden Island. I realize that some frankens, especially indie glitter-bombs are thick and need a thinner, but even a brand new bottle of this was very gloopy. After one day of wear it cracked and I seemed to have bald patches even with that many coats. Ultimately it was fine on the nail, but honestly I'm not sure if I'll be using this again =/. I used some Born Pretty Store water decals which pulled out the blue glitter nicely. I am a big fan of their water decals as they have a smooth application and last awhile.

I haven't tried my other two polishes, hopefully those are in a better state of affairs!

JulieG Frosted Gumdrops on Groupon Today!

Check it out, full-size JulieG Gumdrop collection on Groupon Goods today!

Pure Ice Dreamy vs. Orly Elation Generation

When I got my hands on that pretty little holo pink jelly base Orly that goes by Elation Generation, I was pretty sure it was a dupe of Pure Ice Dreamy so I decided to do a comparison. Immediately looking at the bottles side by side, Elation Generation seems to have a thicker and more pigmented base. The holo glitters spread throughout also seem more apparent than in Dreamy.

Once on the nail, Elation Generation definitely was a little thicker, providing better coverage in less coats. This is two coats of each with no base or top coat. EG dried nice and smooth while Dreamy had gritty glitter after drying. After taking photos, you can tell that Dreamy is much more patchy and would need a third coat to cover as well.

My thoughts here, add an extra coat of Dreamy for whatever coverage you'd want with EG and you have yourself pretty much the same polish. I really don't see the need to purchase both unless you're gung-ho about a high quality formula.