Chameleon Abstract feat Sonoma Nail Art My Three Glitters

Hey polished prisoners,

There's nothing I love more than finding an amazing drug store polish on the cheap except for when it's a HTF lemming.  When I was in Rite Aid some time ago I discovered Chameleon Polish by Scherr - a line of super pretty shifing duochromes that retail for about $3.99.  I picked up one on a whim and now I'm so glad I did! I bought Calypso a purple to gray/blue shifting color.   In a word it's gorgeous!  I wanted to do a simple gradient with Calypso so I sponged it over Essie's Turquoise & Caicos - one of my favorite blue polishes of all time, and added some simple stamping to turn up the flavor.  Here's how it turned out...

Mani-louge

Base coat: Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat

Top Coat: Out The Door (boo)

Base Color: Essie's Turquoise & Caicos

Gradient (dry sponge method):  Chameleon Polish Calypso

Glitter Accent Nails: Sonoma Nail Art My Three Glitters & CND Effects Gold Sparkle

Stamping polish:  Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl

Stamping Plate: SH23

Insert angry face her-  Out the Door smeared my perfect stamp! I'm all out of poshe and I've never felt more desperate!

I chose to add glitter accent nails because honestly I'm always slightly unnerved when all of my nails match.  It's okay every once in a while, but I prefer a little variety within a mani.  SNA's MTG's provided the perfect touch without overwhelming the gradient. 

The gradient before stamping.  I think this is super pretty too!

Honestly there probably isn't a black and while matte polish that I've met that I don't like. However I will say MTG's is toward my top picks when it comes to these types of polishes.  It's funky and unique and I love that the glitters are squares. I added CND's Gold Sparkle just for a touch of sheen without going too overboard.

 

So this is pretty.  Yup - just plain ole pretty.  When I finished this mani I felt like I'd had a return to girly without the bling or gleam. I need to do more mani's like this one.  Do you like it? Am I the only one in the NP sphere still totally obsessed with gradient nail art? I hope not lol! Thanks for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

Stamped: Loreal The Perfect Trench

Hey lacquer ladies,

Today I have a Loreal polish from the new London Fall Collection.  My first reaction when I saw this polish was - this is truly hideous.  If I had a trench coat this color I'd throw it right in the trash or burn it, and that's saying a lot for a coat loving lady like myself!  It reminds me of old dried out putty or mustard that lost its pizazz.  Ew, ancient mustard?!? Hahaha so why the hell am I putting it up on my blog or better yet what on Earth possessed me to buy such a color? Well because for me this is the type of polish that falls into the realm of ugly-pretty.  It's neutral, a great base for creating something unique, and because even though it looks like 10 year old putty even putty has its place in my world.

If you follow my instagram you recognize this from my sneak peak ;)

Plus let's face it I knew I had a secret agent up my sleeve.  A hidden ace in the pocket, if you will, by the name of Sonoma Nail Art Bubble Room.  Omo (basically Korean for OMG)! Suddenly ugly pretty was just pretty...

Suddenly gorgeous right? TBH I felt The Perfect Trench should have originally had a golden microshimmer.

And because I gotta do me I decided this mani was in dire need of arting up and a pretty paisley patterned stamp was calling my name.

Mani-louge

Base color: Loreal The Perfect Trench Coat

Glitter topcoat: Sonoma Nail Art Bubble Room

Stamping polishes: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Haute Chocolate & Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Fuschia

Stamping plate: BM-315

Suddenly this manicure became so gorgeous to me!  I'm in love with the monster I created how about you?  Hehe this just goes to show you an ugly, albeit pretty, polish can't keep a good laquerista down.  Thanks so much for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

Jellied and Holo'ed: Sonoma Nail Art Steampunk

Hey polished prisoners,

Happy Saturday! I planned to do a haul post today but the weather fairies conspired against me for the last several days and decided to bring the rain (and with it bad lighting).  So instead I'm doing a easy breezy swatch.  Eh? Say what! I know I know.  I did plan on doing a little "more" but again the lighting situation wasn't good.  In fact, I'm so annoyed that I'm already trying to either build or buy my own lightbox so that I won't be quite so limited in the future.  That said let's talk about a brand that I absolutely freaking love - Sonoma Nail Art!

Sparkles all around.  I really wish I had been able to get a few photos in sunlight to show off the holographic topcoat a bit more.  These were all taken in indirect sunlight/rainy weather.

First, you need to check out her blog - start there because her nail art is SICKENING! Ok have you recovered yet? Now check out her polishes.  I know you almost died of a polish-gasm didn't you? Flawless flawless glitterbombs with formula that makes it totally worth your while.  I want them all! But for today let's settle for Steampunk.  Steampunk is a glitter polish with black diamonds and an assortment of magenta and rust colored glitter in a dusty pink base. Translation - purrty!

Two coats of Care To Danse? + one coat of SNA Steampunk +one coat of CTD?+  one coat of Fairy Dust = yummy jelly.

I decided to wear it as a glitter gradient layered in a jelly sandwich using OPI's Care To Danse? from their NYC Ballet Collection.  I also added a single swipe of China Glaze Fairy Dust to the entire nail.  For accents I painted my nails using OPI's We'll Always Have Paris (Suede).  I found the final effect to be stare inducing.

Gooey looking in the best way - this is why I love jellies!

So what do you think? I love jelly sandwiches like this because they are easy to put together and have that instant pretty factor without spending oodles of time nail-arting it up.  Of course I'm also extremely biased when it comes to anything jelly finish so course I love it.  If you are interested in acquiring Steampunk or any other Sonoma pretties you can get them here on her Etsy shop.  She restocks every two weeks.  Word of fair warning though - the polishes move quickly and the restocks are fairly small.   Thanks for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

The Relevation of Elevation....Polish, That Is

Hey polished prisoners,

Get ready for some serious polish smackdown!  I have been sitting on my Elevation Polish order for a few weeks now.  Mainly because I wasn't sure which to start with first and secondly because I have so many untrieds these days that I need to to try and get through some of them so I seem less insane for acquiring so many polishes at once.  If you haven't heard of Elevation these polishes are amazing! Check them out on I Dig Brown Polish.  The creator Lulu has some of the most coveted polishes in the indie polish sphere.  So of course I couldn't pick one when I set down do do my manicure.  I got the idea for a braided fishtail manicure from Nails Like Lace and then added my own geometric accents. The result was a braided fishtail manicure featuring Owen, Ubsunar, Pata on the Back, and Aurora with Essie's Mojito Madness and Sonoma Nail Art's Russian River Glitter accents.

Bling Bling...gleam!

Now let's talk formula!  Pata On The Back and Ubsunar were 5 star wonders both in density and intensity of formula and ease of application.  This was also true for Essie's Mojito Madness, a lime green cream that was opaque in gasp one freaking coat! Essie has been killing me with their spring and summer collections this year and I am super impressed!  I wanted Owen and Aurora to have the same formula as Pata On the Back and Ubsunar, however maybe it was because of the density of the shimmer, but they were much thicker and a bit more difficult to apply since the polish dried rapidly.  They reminded me a bit of working with crackle polish i.e. the need to be quick and concise, but the simmer in these two made it well worth the effort so 4 out of 5 stars.  As an accent I used Sonoma Nail Art's Russian River, which went beautifully with Mojito Madness, it also gets 5 stars for formula and ease of application.  Finally, I used my LA Colors Nail Art stripper in gold glitter to add a geometric twist. What do you ladies think?

This fishtail took me 3 hours.  I used Color Club Dry Ice to speed the drying process and my beloved Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat.

It was exceedingly difficult to capture the hue of Owen but I finally got it!

All this sparkle makes me happy!

Just seeing what I could do with the Elevations makes me eager to try other combos of the fish tail!

This is probably one of my favorite nail art manicure's to date! It looks so intricate and yet simple simultaneously and trust me that is tough to pull off.  Plus look at all that shimmer from the Elevation Polishes, and the yumminess of Mojito Madness combined with Russian River!  There wasn't one polish I didn't love here!  I cannot wait till the next Elevation restock, but let me give you some good news.  Fingers Polish Mania is doing a giveaway of Elevation's 180 degrees collection - here! Ugh of course I entered since getting my hands on Lulu's amazing polishes is no mean feat, but you should likewise enter too as the colors of this collection are amazing - see them here.  Will you be entering? Do you have any favorites in the collection or must have Elevations? I do - everything lol!  Thanks for reading and toodles!