I Feel Polished!: July 2013

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Half Moon Glitter Nails

I did some half moon nails before I had my blog and they were such a disaster, I never tried them again. What caused said disaster? The paper hole reinforcers I used. They weren't sticky enough to stay stuck to my nails while I polished so the lines were all jagged and made me want to cry. Fast forward to now, I have decided to give them another try, sans hole reinforcers. I trust my freehand polishing capabilities enough now. Plus, I knew I would be covering up the majority of my line anyways!

I began with two coats of Zoya Purity. Then, I used my thin nail art brush and Zoya Julie to draw the half moon shape. Once I had that done, I filled in underneath it with the regular brush and Julie. I did two coats of Julie. Then, I polished one nail at a time with top coat. Before it was dry, I used some periwinkle hexagonal glitter I had to cover the half moon line. When I'm doing this, I lick the point of an orange stick, then poke the glitter and stick it to my nail! :) I worked my way from the left to the right. These turned out amazingly well and I ended up loving them! Enjoy! :)

*Zoya Julie was provided to me. All opinions are, as always, my own*

Monday, July 29, 2013

Indie Spotlight: Scrumptious Sprinkles

has been a favorite indie maker of mine ever since I first purchased Party Like It's 1999 in April. Shortly thereafter, Laura asked if I'd review some of her polishes and of course, I agreed. Well, several polishes, purchases, and swatches later, it was safe to say that ellagee was my favorite indie brand by far! Laura's formula and colors can't be beat and I just adore everything she comes out with. So, when Laura began taking applications for a regular swatcher in June, I applied! The chance to own and photograph all of her amazing, big-5 free creations? What an exciting opportunity!

I know the competition was stiff and a lot of great bloggers applied! Laura had a really hard decision to make and I am excited and honored to tell you that she chose me! Eeeek! :D :D :D Laura has been incredible to work with and I am having so much fun! And you guys are going to benefit from this, too! You'll be getting sneak peeks, first swatches of new collections, and giveaways sponsored by ellagee! YAY!

So, that's the story of how I came into possession of the amazing polishes I am showing you today! This collection, Scrumptious Sprinkles, is being released TODAY! And you get the first look at these pretties! I am dying over this collection! I cannot even describe how much I love this collection! Every single polish made me drool and the inspiration is one of my favorite movies as a child: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! Yep! Awesome, right?! These polishes all have microbars (think fuzzy polishes) but these aren't those annoying bar glitters we all but despise. They are so tiny and cute! I LOVE THEM! Ok, let's check these babies out, shall we? This post is PICTURE HEAVY! Enjoy! :)

Chu-Chi Face: A clear top coat with black and white microbar glitters and tiny black, white, and black holo hexes. This is one of my favorites for sure! It's so versatile and I can't stop thinking of amazing color combos for this one! I chose to do two coats over Color Club Poptastic. This is definitely my new favorite black and white topper!

Doll On a Music Box: A yellow cream base with red, orange, yellow, and green microbars and tiny red hex glitters. This is two coats all by itself!

Don't Take Candy From Strangers: A black base with red, orange, yellow, green, and blue microbars. Named for the creepiest villain in all of the movies I ever watched as a kid, the Child Catcher! Ugh, he gives me the chills! I was so scared of him! This is two coats by itself!

Don't Waste Your Pucker: A minty cream base with yellow, green, and blue microbars and tiny gold hexes. This is two coats alone!

Musical Morsel Supreme: A peach cream base loaded with orange, yellow, green, and blue microbars and tiny gold hex glitters. This is two coats alone!

O'er Lullaby Bay: A silver lavender soft holographic base with white and silver holographic microbars and tiny silver holographic hexes. Another of my favorites! This beauty is absolutely amazing! This is two coats by itself!

Perfection in Sugar Confection: A pink cream base with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple microbars and hexes! This is the first one I put on and I'm pretty sure I actually squealed with delight! Lovely! It reminds me of a frosted doughnut! This is two coats!

That Sweet Without Peer: A lavender cream base with turquoise, blue, and purple microbar glitters and tiny purple hexes! This is two coats by itself!

Toot Sweets: A blue cream based loaded with pink and blue microbars and tiny magenta hexes! Again, another serious favorite of mine! Again, two coats!

Truly Scrumptious: A shimmery white cream base with white, pale pink, and silver holographic microbars and tiny silver hexes. Another favorite! I love how delicate this looks and it reminds me of my favorite character, the beautiful Truly! :) This is three coats.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Glitter Starburst

I tried these nails a few months ago and they were a MASSIVE fail. Not wanting to allow some silly nail polish to kick my butt, I decided to give them another go. Stupid pride of mine! :) They came out better this time so I feel accomplished enough to show them to you and claim myself victorious! Take that, nail polish! HA! :)

I can't think of what these look like, so I went with glitter starburst. I began with two coats of China Glaze Optical Illusion, a full coverage glitter with green tones. Once that was dry, I broke out my thin nail art brush. I then proceeded to polish on starburst-ish shapes with China Glaze Recycle and China Glaze For Audrey. I wish my lines were straighter but I love these nails otherwise! Enjoy! :)

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Indie Spotlight: Flower Child

I have another for you today! I really love Whimsical Ideas by Pam's polish. They are a little more costly than other indies, but you really are paying for a great quality polish and I adore her presentation from the bottle to the label to the bow. Not to mention, she strictly sells through email. My nerves don't allow me the opportunity to stalk all of those re-stocks on Etsy and the like. I much prefer the way Pam sells her polish.

Today, I have Flower Child for you. I've heard this one was discontinued, but many bottles will still be floating around on the internet and swap groups, I'm sure! This polish is a gorgeous lilac base with tons of purple glitter in a variety of shades and sizes. It went on beautifully and I didn't have to do anything special to get the glitter out. I did three coats of Flower Child. Enjoy! :)

Whimsical Nail Polish by Pam Flower Child

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Easy Striping Tape Nails

It has been FOREVER and a day since I used striping tape for a mani and actually kept it on my nail! I usually just use it to create a design by pulling it off after polishing over it. Anyways, I decided to break out in my colored striping tape to find some inspiration!

I decided on purplish pink holographic striping tape with Zoya Arizona and Zoya Rocky to compliment it. I began with two coats of Arizona. When that was dry, I used striping tape to tape off a little more than half of my nail. I polished Rocky below it and pulled that tape off. When Rocky was dry, I used my purplish pink tape and stuck it over the line between Arizona and Rocky. Once I topped it with top coat, it was perfect! These were super easy to create! Enjoy! :)

*Zoya Rocky was provided to me. All opinions are, as always, my own!*

Monday, July 22, 2013

Indie Spotlight: ellagee Bubbly

Do I need to profess my love of ellagee to you guys again? No? Ok! Just remember, I seriously LOVE ellagee! :)

Bubbly is one of the polishes in Laura's Cocktail Hour Collection. I've never really been a yellow gold person, but lately it has been growing on me! And Bubbly is the polish that kindled that flame! I was so excited when she sent it to me! Any polish with circle glitter can get me to rethink everything I thought about a polish, hahaha! Bubbly is a sheer gold base packed with fine gold shimmer and holographic gold glitter, both circles and hexagons! I layered one coat of Bubbly over OPI Aphrodite's Pink Nightie. Enjoy! :)