For Pink Out Loud!

This post will be short & sweet word-wise but very pic heavy!  Who are we kidding?  We're here for the pics, aren't we?  =D

This is Milani's Pink Out Loud over black ~ Orly's Liquid Leather.  Just look at this layering awesomeness!

Well, what do you think?
Do you have of any good layering combo secrets you'd like to share?

Milani Nail Polish Review: Pink Out Loud

Hello faithful followers & new followers as well!  I apologize for not posting as often as I had been but life has been crazy lately.  I won't bore you with the details - we all know why we are here - nail stuff! :)

This polish was sent to me by Milani to review - it is Pink Out Loud 118. 

Milani is a nice drugstore polish - one of the better lines available I might add.  This is a nice soft pink with some beautiful glass-flecked gold shimmer.  In real life, this color falls in line quite nicely with Pantone's 2011 Color of the Year.

At first glance I thought this polish was going to be too sheer but to my surprise it wasn't!  It did require more than 1 coat but with all the glass-flecked shimmer keeping your eyes busy you could probably get away with doing 2 coats.  However for these pics I did 3.  I also tried 1 coat over a black polish and it looks absolutely stunning!  I will add pics of that soon!

Color:  Great (not to mention stylish with it being the "now" color)

Finish:  Great

Application:  Normal

Wear:  Below normal

Opacity:  Surprisingly Normal

Smell:  Normal

Price:  Cheap

The bottom line?  I definitely give this polish an A.  It would be an A+ but I had tipwear within just hours of application (and yes I used a top coat).  I have a few more Milani polishes to review so I will try a different base/top coat with them and if I find out it's the chemistry between the combos, I'll add a revision/edit letting you know.  Stay tuned for the next review coming in a few days!

Funky French Friday

I apologize - I know a lot of nail bloggers out there do a Funky French Friday but I just can't help myself!  So I was thinking I could do something different though - I thought about doing a theme called "Matte Monday".  What do you think?

Anyways, today I have for you the Petites Raspberry Ice for the french tips using Konad plate M19.  For the base coat I used Artificial Nails that I purchased at Sally Beauty Supply.  Enjoy, have a great weekend & see you soon!

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?

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!