Rainbow Reptiles and Drawer Inspired Fuxnadicures

No Words...... Just pics......

Sinful Polar Opposites Magnetic Nail Polish

Sinful Polar Opposites duochrome magnetic polish!!!!!

OMG, this polish is so awesome! Lol.



I thought I was over magnetics for now. We've seen so many of them from almost every brand including china glaze, wet n wild, Layla, random grocery store brands, Sally Hansen, etc.



This, however, my friends, is something I at least, had not seen. A magnetic polish that is also a wonderful glittery shimmery DUOCHROME.

Yup, you read that right. Sinful Polar Opposites is a Duochrome Magnetic polish!!! "Duochrome Magnetic polishes EXIST!?!?" Yes, dear reader, they do now. And FYI, sinful has done a pretty bang up job on this one. Amazingly, for a five dollar bill, you could be the proud new owner of such a beauteous lacquer, too! =0)



Behold:

For Those About To Rock

I Salute You!  

;0)

haha...  any AC/DC lovers out there?  How 'bout lovers of the movie School of Rock!? I love that movie so much!

Anyhoo, I just got my new set of Bundle monster plates (25 piece set) in the mail a couple days ago.  Which I was totally stoked about b/c amazon predicted they wouldn't get here for another 5 days or so.  

Early nail mail ROCKS!  hahah!

So, I had to try them out.  Among my favorite and most anticipated images are the skull and the nautical star.  Thus, this mani was born!

I tried them out on the "practice mani" below:

Skull Practice mani with plate BM 206, BM 211, BM 08

More after the break!!!!!!

Fourth of July / Grateful Dead Mani

This is what I wore for the 4th. 

I used nailside.blogspot.com's tutorial for the double lightning bolt mani. She's amazing for sharing her secrets!  =0)


I used wnw white, Cosmetic Arts (also known as color club) 220 volts, and wnw red.

All you Grateful Dead fans out there who love polish as much as I do, stand up! lol

I know you're out there!

How much does this mani rock!?!  I have been planning it in my head for what feels like FOREVER!  ;)

And finally with nailside's tutorial was totally able to make it happen.  Thanks again girl! XD

waddya think?

ps- have you checked out the blogsale update yet?  ;)
kitties gotta eat!

Shooting Stars BM NOTD

Here I used the Milani silver Holo called HD.  It's more holographic than the Cosmetic Arts polish I used last time.  I was still in my starry mood so I used another star image from the same plate I used last time (plate BM20).

I stamped in Konad Special Black and topped with SV. 

Milani HD, BM20, Konad Black

Shooting Stars!

Rainbow-ey goodness

Look how L O N G my nails are!

On another note, oh my gosh!  I can't believe how Looooooong my nails are!   They started just at my fingertips, I'd say.  In fact, here's my first Konadicure so you can see the length I started with:

This is OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui stamped with Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal

See? Just to my fingertips maybe a *touch* past...

And now my nails are the longest they've EVER been!  I could never keep them long because of sports (if you play water polo you KNOW what I'm talking about! You can't have ANY white showing), or because of playing the guitar, or just plain being a big fat tomboy!  haha... which I definitely am.

I'd like to think I'm S L O W L Y growing into a "young woman," and maybe by the time I'm 50 I'll feel like a "lady."  I'm just not there, yet, though!  In my mind, I'm just one of the guys.  That is, if guys wear zebra print nail polish!  =0)

I just may have to cut them all off, though, and start again.  With the new year coming and all, I feel like a change!  Wadda you guys think? 

Should they stay or should they go?  

*dun dun dun dah dah dah dah DUN*  (yeah. you were humming along, WEREN'T YOU?!  hahah!)

Bundle Monster Mani #1! I'm Seeing Stars...

Yeah. I did it.  I finally ordered the Bundle Monster plates.  And right at Christmas time at that.  I had them on my Amazon.com wishlist for a while, but I heard some chatter on MUA about them maybe not being available (question mark? still not sure what that was about...) so I jumped on it.  Mr. L said it could be my Christmas present.  Yay!

It said on the Amazon tracking system that they were coming from Hawaii!  Which I didn't know.  But even though it projected the package to arrive in 11 days, it only took 5. Woohoo!  I was so excited to see that little white envelope!  XD

I of course had to immediately rip it open and play!

The first design to really jump out at me (and one I have been waiting to get my hands on) is the all over solid star pattern from plate BM20.  It's really cute!  I'm surprised I haven't seen more pix of girls using it.

Cosmetic Arts polish in "Silver Belle," stamped with Konad Special Black w/ BM20 plate

Silver Belle is pretty! I was going for a sparkly/rainbow/shining star thing.

It didn't come out totally 100% perfect, but I need to practice with the BM full nail plates since they are so much smaller than the Konad images. My left hand looks better than my right, though, because as luck would have it, my left hand nails are the exact right length for the BM full nail images. My right hand nails are a tad longer so the star image ends before my tips.  Doesn't look that great.

I'm very happy with the Bundle Monster plates, though.  A couple of them had scratches on them, but not over any of the images.  They all seem to stamp well once you get the right polish or pressure or method down.  So, yeah.  They're a little more finicky than the Konad plates, but the price difference makes it totally worth it.  I'd have spent close to $150 on Konad plates instead of the less than $20 for the BM set.

True, you don't get to choose the exact plates you will get, but they are always the same set.  So at least you know what you're getting and can see them before hand.  I always research my purchases like crazy before buying so I knew what all the images were.  Most of the plates have images I will use and a few of the plates I LOVE!  So, it's definitely a win for me! 

Hope everyone is hanging in there!  Xmas is coming fast. . . but make sure you guys KEEP YOUR HEADS!   Remember what it's all about and enjoy the time you get to spend with your loved ones.  I know I treasure every second I get with mine!  (you know who you are!)  =0)

Cosmetic Arts Silver Belles is holographic! (With Comparisons)

OK. Someone on MUA said they found a new brand of polish at their Fred Meyer.  Which happened to be a location very close to my house.  While I didn't trek out to the one she was referring to, I did happen to stop by my Fred Meyer for milk and butter (you know, the essentials!) and wandered over to the polish setction.

I have to say, the Fred Meyer closest to my house is AWESOME about Limited Edition polish.  They always get things in before anyone else, and this was no exception.  I found the Cosmetic Arts Nail Polish display along with the LE (although I hear they may become part of the core line) Milani Gems Polishes.  And of course, there were the LA Girls Rockstar as well as their Metallic Polishes.  On the other side were the Holiday Milani Polishes I blogged about already (gold and silver holos).  Not to mention the pink breast cancer awareness OPI polish display.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Fred Meyer, I love you!  You are on the front lines of my polish obsession.  And for that, I thank you.  ;0)

OK.  I'm done gushing now.  Onto the goods!

One of the colors that stood out to me the most was the "Silver Belle" color.  It did indeed look like just another silver foil/sparkle/shimmer/metallic, etc.  However, when I took a whif of the actual polish, I could tell it was holographic!  Does that make me crazy?  That I can sniff out a holo polish with my nose?  You all know what I'm talking about, don't you?  OMG smells like it, and GOSH smells like it.  There's a certain, I-don't-know-what that silver holographic polishes have. Anyway, I brought it home and I was right!

It's not like OMG.  It's not like GOSH. It's probably more like the Kaleidoscope line by China Glaze, although I don't have any of those, yet.  It's a more of a scattered holo and not the linear type.  You'll see what I mean.

Looks like silver here, but it's a scattered rainbow in bright light!

Here's the comparison shot. L-R: SB, Gosh Holographic, SB, China Glaze OMG

Cosmetic Arts Silver Belle

Overall, this polish is awesome!  It's so pretty, it dries SUPER FAST like all of these types of holographics do, and it is sooooo much easier to remove than a glitter polish since it's smooth.

The formula on this one was great. It went on like buttah and I didn't have any problems with dragging or bald spots.  I'm pretty sure this would ROCK for making frankens! ;0)

The ONLY small complaint I can think of is that the brush on the one I got is kinda wonky.  It wants to have fly-aways, but if I tell it who's boss, it will cooperate OK.

Hope you guys are able to find these! There were other colors that I KNOW are going to be exciting for you girls!  I have one more to show you (for now) from this line so STAY TUNED!  XD

Milani 3D Holographic Gold and Silver Swatches

So, I saw these the other day at Fred Meyer and thought I'd like to know what they look like on.  Then I thought you might want to see, too! XD

Here's the silver one. These are labeled as "Milani 3D Holographic." And they are holographic, but it's more of a rainbow glitter all over type than the OMG collection linear holos. Voila:

Milani 3D Holographic (#509)

A little burry so you can see sparkle!

I like the silver one a lot.  It's pretty and silvery and sparkly.  What's not to love?!  I'm less of a gold type girl, but I swatched the gold anyway so you could see.

Milani 3D Holographic (#510)

Again slightly blurry for maximum sparkle effect.

The formula on these is pretty good.  This was 2 coats on the gold and 3 on the silver.  The silver one is a little more sheer.  The gold is holo glitter in a gold base where as the silver is just the glitter suspended in a clear base.

Anyway, these are very pretty!  I didn't get to see them in full sunlight (it's very dreary 'round these parts this time of year), but I'm sure the bling-fest will be ON!

I still prefer the OMG type linear holo to this kind, but these kind of polishes definitely have their place.  I think for the holidays thses colors are pretty spot on and awesome.  Go get 'em!  The only other polish in the Milani Holiday display that I saw was a neon red shade.  Um, yeah. Me plus red equals no go.  Let's just leave it at that.  Shall we?  ;0)

Patchwork Nails Mani

So, my friends at MUA have inspired me once again.  I finally tried a patchwork mani.  Here's the original tutorial.

I tried it with tape like she suggests (even Scotch brand!) but it didn't work out so great. I had some polish slip under the edges so the lines didn't look perfectly straight.  I used OPI Ski Teal We Drop, and China Glaze Flyin' High and Recycle.

I thought it looked OK, but I knew I could do better...

If you know me at all, you know that fudged lines just won't do for me.  I HAD to re-do this mani and do it right!

So I tried again.  This time, Mr. Lacquerish let me use his airbrushing supplies. Something called "Frisket." It's for masking off areas you don't want the airbrush paint to get to.  Seemed prefect for my application and it WAS!

Check it out:

This time worked a LOT better!

 I used OPI Suzy Skis in the Pyrenees, OPI Suzy Says Feng Shui, OPI Lucern-tainly Look Marvelous (for the ring finger accent only) and China Glaze Awaken.

My ring finger has OPI Lucertainly Look Marvelous instead of the blue (accent nail).

I think I like this version better anyway.  Also of note, the first time I used Seche Vite as my topcoat. My bottle is getting near 1/3 of the way gone and is pretty goopy at the moment as a result. It was kind of hard to work with and made this mani very thick when done.

The second time around I used Out The Door top coat.  It's similar to Seche in that it's a quick dry.  It doesn't dry quite as fast, but it's much thinner than the goopy mess that is my Seche Vite right now.
I think it worked a lot better in the end, although I did need to wait a bit longer between colors for it do try completely.

So, waddya think, guys?  Have you seen the patchwork mani's popping up, yet?  What would be your favorite color combo?