Essence No More Drama

Hey there all!  Today I have for you Essence Colour & Go nail polish in No More Drama which is the perfect lavendar creme color.  This is either 1 or 2 coats, sorry I can't remember. :)  Anyways, on the ring finger (aka accent nail), I added a little nail art with some Cinapro nail art stuff I purchased from Sally's awhile back.  I think those are supposed to be teardrops but since teardrops made me sad and I like to be happy, I turned them in towards each other and made a flower.  Hope you like & have a great day!

And here it is from another angle:

 So what do you think?  Have you ever used any of the Essence products?  Some of their products are available at Ulta and may I add that the prices are so low they're insane!  I have several in the Colour & Go line and so far have loved them all.  I only wish we could get more of their products here in the US.  :(

Polka Dots!

Hello everyone!  Today for you I have polka dots. I went through a phase where I hated polka dots but I don't anymore!  For this mani I used one of those tiny Sally Girl polishes in no-name lavendar as the base color (which was opaque in 1 coat!) & for the stamping I used the Bundlemonster "fauxnad" plate bm21 and the stamp color was also a Sally Girl no-name polish in a dark(er) purple.

OPI - Do You Lilac It?

Today for you I have OPI's Do You Lilac IT? with Nubar 2010 on top, Konad m51 using Konad special polish in purple for the design & the little flower on my ring finger came in a packet I bought at Sally Beauty.  I must be in a purple mood lately because it seems as if all the mani's I've done as of recent are purple.  DYLI was opaque in 1 coat - yippee!  When I first saw Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure I knew it was a must-have, then I saw it was LE & going for $20 on ebay, I about died.  Sally Hansen for that much?  You have GOT to be kidding me!  Anyways, I found out that Nubar 2010 is an almost exact dupe so I got it for much cheaper.  This is the 1st time I've actually worn 2010 on a mani because it is so very special to me that I wanted to save it for that special color & to me this combo is perfect so here it is in all its glory!

Then I mattefied it using Essie Matte About You (sorry for the crappy pic):

And here is a pic of the Nubar 2010 - just look at that rainbow of beautiful flaky goodness!!!

Matte-fied Monday with Avon Mirror Shine

Hello all & Happy Monday to you!  I know everyone hates Mondays & I do too so I try to think of Monday as a person, you know the underdog that is very nice but no one likes & it's for a reason that is out of the underdog's control?  So I try to give Mondays a break.  Sorry for going so off-topic - back to the nails!

Today for you I have Avon Mirror Shine in dark purple (cannot remember the name but will update w/it later) & I stamped using Avon Mirror Shine in silver (will also update this later w/the name) & I used Konad image plate m78.  There's two awesome things about these Avon chrome polishes:  they are 1-coaters & they stamp.  I've learned that usually if it's a 1-coater then it will stamp, I haven't found one yet that won't!

So here it is in it's shiny chromaticness (and I think I just made up a word!):

And here it is mattefied:

It's kind of hard to tell but both of these pictures were taken in the same amount of sunlight - indirect through my kitchen windows.

Which way do you like better?

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?

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...