Base, Color & Top Coat Mis-Match...or is it the weather?

Over the weekend I did mine & my mom's nails but 1st, let's look at my mom's:

I used CND Stickey as the base coat with 1 coat of Petites in Raspberry Ice.  I love polish that is opaque in 1 coat but they are so rare!  I have come to realize that the opacity is not based on brand as I initially thought but basically it's based on the pigmentation of the color itself. 

Anyways, this color is a hot pinkish-magenta with some shimmer & I love it!  I'd gotten some inspiration from Scrangie (who I consider to be one of the top guru's in the nail polish world) http://www.scrangie.com/2011/01/cover-girl-iceslicks-anti-freeze.html.  For my mom's mani I put 2 coats of Cover Girl IceSlicks Anti-Freeze on top of the hot pink and it is fabulous!  On a nail wheel I tried Anti-Freeze over China Glaze's Goth & it looks amazingly awesome (like outer space) but I just don't think black would be appropriate for my mom - she would feel very out of place.  This isn't the best pic because it was so hard to photograph but the blue glitter gives off an aqua/purple shimmer & I love it!  It took absolutely forever for the 1st coat to dry but once we got the 2nd coat on, we topped it off with Seche Vite.  You may ask, what's the problem?  Well, in less than 24 hrs after giving her this mani, it started to chip & there was shrinkage at the tips.  I even buffed her nails to get the shine off so that the polish would adhere better!  I think I'm going to start keeping a list of base coats, polish brands & top coats that don't play nice because after all this hard work, I don't want it to happen again.



So after I did my mom's nails, I did my own.  I used Nailtek Foundation II for the base coat & China Glaze Bahamian Escape (also a 1-coater!).  I added Konad to it from plate m50 using the Konad special polish in purple & topped it off with ole faithful Seche Vite.  And guess what - mine started peeling off within 3 hours!  That's just ridiculous.  My sweet husband even washed the dishes for me & I was in church most of this time so it's not like I was doing some type of manual labor that would ruin my mani.  Ugh!  I was so aggravated!!!  I was able to touch up most of it so thankfully it was hard to tell but then it started peeling again within just another few hours! 

Later I added a purple rhinestone to the ring finger as an accent.  This pic was taken after I'd touched it up for the second time & this time around the touch-ups are definitely more noticeable (see pointer finger in the top corner).  Btw, all pics are clickable so you can enlarge for more detail.

So I have a few questions for you:

Which do you like better, with or without the rhinestone?

What do you think caused these issues?  The interaction of these polishes, the weather, the user? ;)

Have you experienced anything like this?

Disco Leopard: Milani HD & Konad m57

Hello all - it's me again!  Today's mani I have for you is "down with the funk".  I used Milani's HD holographic polish in HD for the base color & Sally Hansen chrome nail makeup Carnelian Chrome for the stamping & the design comes from Konad plate m57.  The holo-ness in the Milani shows up really great in this pic (the sun was out for about 10 seconds) but not as much as I was hoping IRL.  Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to break down & buy some of the Nfu Oh holo's! 

I was definitely feeling the "jive" when I did this. lol
Have a great day readers!

Zoya Harlow & Konad m74

It's me again dear readers!  I have for you now the awesomeness that is Zoya Harlow (2 coats).  Harlow is part of their matte velvet collection which they describe as being "Rich saturated plum rose packed with sparkling metallic shimmer in a velvety matte finish. A perfect choice for fall or winter that combines rich color with a hot matte finish."  I just love this color and the finish is amazingly awesome in person.

                              
The other matte velvet colors in this particular collection are Posh which is a red & Savita which is a velvety beautiful purple.  Zoya has another matte velvet collection which consists of Veruschuka which is a green velvet, Loredana which is a medium gunmetal grey & Dovima which is a darker charcoal black.  I own all of these except for Verushchuka - I'm just not that into greens (yet).  These are in my untrieds so I'll have to put them on my to-do list fo sho!  You can purchase Zoya nail polishes from any salon or spa in your area that carries their product or you can purchase directly from their website at artofbeauty.com.  I have to say that my experiences with Zoya polish so far have been amazing but that's a whole other subject for another day - maybe for when I have more Zoya swatches to show you.  :-P

Anyways, back to the pic.  The design comes from Konad m74 and the polish I used was LA Colors no name black that I got at the Dollar Tree.  At first I didn't think it would stamp because after I scraped away the excess, nothing appeared to be left in the design but don't let that fool you!  A friend of mine had told me about it and it does work!  It doesn't stamp as black as the Konad special stamping polish in black does, it stamps more of a charcoal'ish shade, which is fine by me.  This also doesn't leave nearly the mess on my cuticle/skin area the way the black Konad polish does which is another plus!  Which reminds me, please ignore my horrible cuticles - it is the middle of winter so cut me some slack.  Anyone have any suggestions for cuticle care?  I'd love to hear them!

China Glaze Secret Periwinkle & Konad m64

Hello all!  Today I have for you one of my most favorite mani's I've ever done.  This is China Glaze Secret Periwinkle (2 coats) with design from Konad plate m64 stamped on top with the Konad special polish in white & of course topped off with Seche Vite fast-drying top coat.  I started to add white tips to this because it would look fabulous.  Maybe next time...

Color Club De-Luxe-Cious & Konad m65

Hello again!  Today I have for you Color Club's De-Luxe-Cious and Konad stamping from plate m65 in the Konad Special polish in black.  I had some application difficulties with De-Luxe-Cious but once I tweaked my application process a few times, I finally mastered it.  It would seem to dry on the brush before I could get it on my nail so I had a bit of cuticle drag. 

I believe this is 2 coats and then topped it off with the konad stamping and Seche Vite fast-drying top coat (which is my all-time fave).  I call this design dizzy nails.

Have a great day!

My 1st Post

Well here goes nothing...

I've been debating for quite some time now (September 2010 actually) on how to start out my blog.  I have no clue what I'm doing so please be patient with me as I figure all this stuff out. 

So I finally decided the best way to get this party started was to share with you how my interest in the world of nail polish was born & the answer to that is, my grandmother.  I don't even recall how young I was when I started with the whole nail polish thing but I know I had to be around 4 or 5 yrs old.  My grandmother always had her pointy nails painted and the color?  Yes you guessed it, that grandmother mauvey pinkish color.  :)  For the longest, that color range was the only one I ever knew existed for nails but that didn't matter.  I loved having such beautiful color extended to my fingertips so that I could stare at them.  I remember receiving some of that tinkerbell peelable nail polish when I was little.  I even remember when I started growing out my nails - I was in the 4th grade and I asked my mom for permission.  My interest in nail polish never waned but I would go through periods of time (years, sometimes months) where I wouldn't paint my fingernails.  When I got pregnant with my son and then after I had him, along with working outside of the home full time, it even got to a point where I didn't even paint my toes (yikes!).  However, what had started out as an interest has recently turned into an obsession when I discovered the world of Konad Nail Art Stamping and it has just exploded ever since.

Back to my grandmother - she is in her 90's, has alzheimers, but she still keeps her pointy fingernails painted.  The last time I got to see her (she lives in Alabama, I live in Kentucky), she had 3 bottles of nail polish sitting on the table next to her chair. :)

I hope to get some pics posted soon.  I can't promise that I'll be posting on a daily basis but I will post as often as I can.

Have a great day!