Did Someone Say "Precisions?"

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've finally done swatches of some of the polishes I've been staring at this week, and I have pictures for you!  They are, of course, my most recent Precisions haul.  Today I have four of them, and tomorrow I'll show you the other four.

The first is a sheer called Champagne Supernova.  It's sheerer than I expected - I feel a little naked posting this picture!  But, I'm amongst friends, so what the heck...

Next up is a bright pinkish red jelly called Peek A Boo Pink.  Although lovely, I think I'll pass this one on to one of my girlfriends who loves jellies - she would wear and appreciate it more than I would.

I also have another red, this one a deep true red, called Miami Heat.  It's opaque in two coats, which makes it a keeper for me.

Finally, my favorite: Flamingo Pink.  This is a great opaque pink creme, and the name suits it perfectly.

That's the first half of my most recent Precisions haul.  I hope you enjoyed them!  They're easy to find - I got them from sparkling*nails on ebay (that's a link to the listings).  She's easy to buy from, and if something you've seen here is out of stock in her store, just email her at sparklingnails@verizon.net and she'll make sure you get what you're looking for.  She's always great, but we've found she's especially good to The Nailphile readers, so let her know you saw it here!

On to something hard to find... Moooooonpoooool!  I managed to get my hot little hands on a spare bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool, and I'm giving it to you, Dear Reader.  I'll randomly select the winner on December fourth, so there are only a few days left to enter to win.  If you haven't put your name in the hat yet, please do!  The drawing is open to all readers worldwide, your name will show as you enter it (so you don't need to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to notify you that you've won.  Good luck!

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Date Night

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I still haven't done the swatches I've been meaning to do for you - I've spent the day napping today.  Nothing like a quick trip to wear you out!

What I do have for you today is my new NOTD - another untried green, Barielle's Date Night.

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!

My Welcome Home Mani: Sally Hansen Salon Emerald Ring!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I got home safely a little bit ago, and as soon as I settled in, went about the business of changing my mani.  One thing I've taken home from this trip is a rave for Barielle's Manicure Extender, which I recently got at TJ Maxx for $3.  I added a coat to my dry Konaded mani, and after travelling both ways, making a boatload of pies for my dad, and doing lots of running around over the course of three days, I had just the beginning of a bit of tip wear on one finger, the other nine still perfect.  I think I'm going to reserve this for use on trips, as it really did make a difference.

On to the new!  As you can imagine, three days was a long time for me to have *any* mani, no matter how fabulous.  It was nice to settle down and change it, and I knew right away what I'd change it to.  On Tuesday evening when I got the day's mail, I had a package from my friend sizzlinggrace.  After hearing me whine about my seemingly endless and completely fruitless stalking of Sally Hansen Salon's Emerald Ring, she sent it to me.  I was astounded when I opened the package - it's even prettier in person than any picture I've seen of it.  A new favorite green!

Here she is by the light of the setting sun:

And inside, where the color is more accurate:

Another great big giant Thank You to sizzlinggrace for making my day both Tuesday, when I got to open this package, and today, when I get to wear it.  I am blessed to know some dang cool ladies!

That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader, but I have lots of swatching to do for you in the morning.  Until then, love and nail polish to you!

SpaRitual Days of Wine and Roses

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still away, to return home today.  I didn't do the swatching I was hoping to get done on Tuesday before I left, so I held out one more picture of a Nails of the Day that hasn't yet been published: SpaRitual's Days of Wine and Roses.  I kept it for a post by itslef because I love it so much!

This is such a great shimmery shade that just epitomizes the SpaRitual glow of which I've professed my love.  The shimmer moves and changes with the light, and it's a color I can look at for a good while without ever getting bored.  This particular color is one that I love for Fall, so I took it out recently after swatching.

I'd better get myself busy with some new pictures for you when I get home - I think you've now seen all that I have!  I hope you enjoyed them, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

My Thanksgiving Mani

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Reader!

Today I thought I'd show you my holiday mani.  I did it on Tuesday, and was so excited at how well it turned out that I could just pop.  I even took pics inside and out in the sun on the balcony, but the inside pics turn out a little better.

I decided to go with a spectacular leopard print mani, double stamping black Konad polish with plate M57 over three coats of Chanel Gold Fiction.  It turned out on my hands exactly as it was in my head, and I'm pretty pleased!  I topped it with one coat of Konad top coat, then a coat of Barielle Manicure Extender - I wanted this one to be bulletproof!  Here she is.

In the sun:

Inside:

How's that for festive?

That's all I have for you for now, Dear Reader.  I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and love and nail polish to you!

Two Random Nails of the Day

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm off on my little holiday jaunt for the next couple of days.  I'll try to check in as I can, but if your comments or questions go unanswered for a bit, please know that I'll answer them as soon as I can.

What I have for you this morning are two Nails of the Day I've done around swatching but hadn't yet published.  I love them both, they just haven't fit into any posts lately.

First I have Color Club's Pink Thong, which is a fabulous color, but still left me with slight VNL in three coats.  Since it's subtly sparkly, I forgive it!

Next up is Misa's Ghetto Fabulous, a really yellow bronzy gold.  I bought this one for the name - it applies in that my clothes and makeup are always understated, but you've seen my nails...

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  I have more good things planned for you in the next few days while I'm away, and will be checking in as I can.

If you haven't already, please toss your name into the hat for one brand new bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool (Mooooonpooooool!)  of which I'll be randomly selecting the winner on December 4th.  Your name will show as you enter it (so you don't have to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to notify you that you've won.  Good luck!

That's all until tomorrow, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

My Claws Got Clawed!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have pictures of a previous Konadicure of the Day I hadn't yet shown you.  On today's agenda is a little swatching to keep you entertained while I'm away tomorrow through Friday, as well as doing my very grand Thanksgiving mani.  I get to see almost all of my friends in one place at a huge gathering of 500+ people on Wednesday night, and want to have something really fun to show them.  I'll also have to wear this one for three or four days, so I've planned something fabulous to keep me entertained.  Cross your fingers for me that I'm able to execute it well!  I have a backup plan if I can't, but I really want Plan A to work.

Back to the old KOTD: I felt like wearing SpaRitual Surreal last week because it ain't just another navy blue.  It's got that SpaRitual *glow* to it that makes me so happy to look at!  I applied it and then assessed my work, and decided that at their current length, my nails could use a little something more to spice them up with such a dark color.  Of course that meant I was breaking out the Konad, and I wanted a design that was small but not too girly.  The perfect choice?  The claw mark pattern from plate M5, which I haven't used in some time.  Over a color as dark as Surreal, white seemed like the best choice to use.  The result looked like my claws got clawed, which made me very happy and kept me giggling about claws getting clawed for a while.

So those are today's pictures and my plans for the next few days.  I hope the mani entertained you as much as it did me!  Now it's time for another reminder to enter your name for the December 4th random drawing for a brand spankin' new bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool.  If you haven't entered yet (one per customer, please!), I'd be glad if you did.  The drawing is open to all readers worldwide, your name will show as you enter it on the form (so you don't need to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to notify you that you've won.  Good luck - I'm pulling for everyone who's been coveting Mooooonpooooool!

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  I may have more for you later today if I get all my swatching done.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

NARS Platoon and a Big Welcome

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

This afternoon's pictures are really just an excuse to post.  The *real* reason I wanted to post is to welcome my friend Michelle to the wonderful world of blogging!  She's the author of the new nail blog called A Stroke of Color, and a woman after my own heart with her love of all things Precision and Konad!  I'll leave it to you, Dear Reader, to check her blog to find out the meaning of its creative name - there's more to this lady than nails!  I've also added a link to her blog on my blogroll to make it easy for you to check in and see what Michelle is up to.  I hope you all give her a warm welcome!

On to the pictures!  It wouldn't be a real post without pictures, now would it? I dug some up for you that I've been hanging on to for a rainy day.  They're of NARS Platoon, a well-named pale army green.

I have a couple of assignments for you now, Dear Reader.  If you haven't yet entered to win the bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool I'm giving you, please do, and also please take a minute to check in on Michelle at A Stroke of Color.  That's all for today - until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

The Bermuda Escape Mani

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I woke up today to a dreary, grey mix of rain and snow, and do you know what I decided I needed?  A Bermuda Escape.  Since I can't hop on a plane and take one, I decided I'd have a Bermuda Escape on my hands.

I used the China Glaze Bahama Blues less Calypso Blue (the darkest) for a gradation mani, starting with Bermuda Breakaway and ending with Bahamian Escape (hence Bermuda Escape).  The result is a mani that starts and ends with a creme, and has a sparkly, almost metallic center with a shimmer and a microglitter on either side of it.  Something very wicked in me gets tickled to death when I have a super sparkly middle finger, like I'm secretly flipping off everyone in the world I want to flip off - terribly immature of me, I know, but it's true!  What I like about the overall effect (other than my immature glee), is that the progression of finishes works as well as the progression of color - from thumb to pinky, it's creme, shimmer, glittery, then toning down with a more subtle microglitter, and then back to creme.  I was tempted to use the creme Calypso Blue and substitute two other creme blues to make this mani strictly a gradation of color, but I'm really pleased with the end result of using different finishes as well.

That's what I think of it.  Here are the pictures for you to decide what you think.  The colors are, from thumb to pinky, Bermuda Breakaway, Blue Paradise, Blue Island Iced Tea, Caribbean Blue, and Bahamian Escape.

This is a mani that boosted my mood when the weather outside is doing just the opposite.  I hope it perked you up a bit, too!

Here's something else to perk you up, also from China Glaze.  It's Mooooonpoooool!  Yes, Dear Reader, I have a brand new bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool to give to you.  I'll randomly select the winner on December fourth, and am taking entries until then.  Your name will show as you enter it (so you don't have to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to notify you that you're the winner.  If you haven't yet tossed your name into the hat, please do!

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Pink Leopard

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I just thought I'd drop in and show you a pic of my KOTD - it's my first attempt at double-stamping an all-over pattern, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

Variants of Blue

Hello, Dear Reader!

I was recently having some fun with blues, and have pictures for you.  The first is my first attempt at using a Krackle polish.  I used a base of FingerPaints Papier Mache, then painted one coat of Toma Blue Krackle over it.

I kind of like the effect - it looks a little bit like my nails are molting.  However, the Krackle was about ten times harder to remove than glitter, so I don't know how often I'mm be sporting this look...

The second is an old favorite, Nfu-Oh #52, over a new one, Barielle Shades Berry Blue.  I like it!

I'll be playing with more blues this week and have more pictures of them for you then.  Until later, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Reader Request Mani

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a reader request mani, one alternating Nubar's Hot Blue and Hor Green on each hand.  It's definitely bold, but I like it!  Here's how it turned out...

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish!

Magnetic Magic

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm pleased to say that I have a few of L'Oreal's new Star Magnet colors on their way to me from Finland - they began their journey yesterday.  Nail polish ain't cheap outside the US, so I had to select only three of the available colors - I chose Purple, Prune, and Silver.  The ones I'm missing out on are Red, Grey, and Chocolate.

The special property that all of these polishes possess is that the polish is iron based, and they come with a little magnet.  When the magnet is held up to the the nail, the polish creates a star pattern on the nail.  This is the same principle as last year's Lancome Le Magnetique, which came in only one color, was more expensive, and is super tiny.  In anticipation of the arrival of my new pretties, I took out my Le Magnetique and used it.

The way it works is that I applied one coat normally, then for the second coat, applied polish to to a nail, held the magnet up to it for about five seconds, and repeated that process for the remaining nine nails.  For the pattern to be centered, nails have to be much shorter than mine, but for me it created a pattern pretty well centered on the free edge of my nails.  This is what the finished manicure looks like:

I love the effect, and am really fired up about receiving the three that are on their way to me.  As soon as they arrive, I'll show them to you.  The only (big) down side to them is that they've only been spotted, as far as I know, in Sweden and Finland, so they're well into the "hard-to-find" category.  I am fortunate enough to be blessed with an online friend from Finland who procured them for me.

Speaking of hard-to-find, this month's giveaway!  I managed to get my hot little hands on a brand new bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool for you, Dear Reader, and will be taking entries for a random drawing for two weeks.   We'll find out on December 4th who the winner is.  Your name will show as you enter it on the form (so you don't have to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to contact you if you're the winner.  If you haven't put your name in the hat yet, please do!

 

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!

Everything's Coming Up Roses

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I thought I'd show you today's KOTD (Konadicure of the Day).  I started with Sephora by OPI's Casting Call...

It's a very pretty rose creme, but I thought it could use a little something.  Roses on rose seemed like a nice idea, and I decided to use something blue, but not too blue, for the pattern.  I settled on a pattern from plate M56, using Revlon's Petal Chrome for the pattern.  The rose pattern, which is intended to cover the nail, fell far short of covering my nails, so I painted the tips with Petal Chrome.  Here's my result:

I like the combination of the girly flowers with the decidedly not girly chrome tips.

That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader!  If you haven't yet, please register to win a new bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool at the bottom of the page.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Wet n Wild Rock Solid Razzle Dazzle Collection & A Surprise

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I have a new holiday Wet n Wild Rock Solid collection for you, which I believe is called Razzle Dazzle (to the best of my recollection, anyhow - that's what we'll call it today!).  The display I saw had four colors, and I liked and got one of of each.  The pictures show two coats over a base without a top coat.  

One thing that really impressed me as I swatched these is how well pigmented they all are.  I must confess, the first Rock Solids I've owned were the Fall Mistress of the Dark ones I showed you a couple of months back.  For the price of $2.49 each (probably less for most of you, as the prices here are usually inflated by $0.50-$1.00), I'm extremely happy with the quality of these polishes.  The only down side?  They're only 0.33 oz each, versus the more common 0.50 oz, so the smaller bottles of the limited edition colors are more precious, even at $2.49.

On to the pictures!  I'll show them to you in the order of my preference - I like them all, but I think two are knock-your-socks-off colors.

First up is Rose Quartz, a pale frosty rose.  I waffled a bit on buying this one, but decided that it would make a good base for a Konad pattern, so I got it.  It reminds me a little bit of the colors my mother favored - another reason to pick it up.

Next is Red Rubellite, a very vivid red with a strong shimmer.  Probably not unique, but I'm a sucker for a great red.  One thing I noticed about this one is that in two coats, I have no VNL, which is often an issue for me with reds.  That gives this one bonus points in my collection!

My second favorite of these four is another that I was intitially a bit uncertain about: Golden Amber.  It's a slightly orange-y gold, but check out the sparkly shimmer it has!

Finally, my favorite of the bunch, Deep Garnet.  This shade is vampy enough to be vampy, yet still light enough to clearly be garnet.  And what a great shimmer!

Those are the Wet n Wild Rock Solids for the holidays.  I hope you run into them as I did!

So, in the title I mentioned a surprise.  What, oh what, could that be?  What's the most fabulous and hard-to-find color we've looked at recently, and even tried to find a dupe for?  Why, it's China Glaze's Moonpool!  I called it "hard-to-find" rather than "impossible-to-find" because I've managed to find it.  I have one that I traded for long ago, one that was a gift recently, and now I've found one to give to you, Dear Reader!  That's right - our next giveaway is for one brand spankin' new bottle of Moonpool, and it's open to readers worldwide.  I usually have been rooting for international readers to win our contests, since they don't have access to the nifty items I'm giving away, but this time I'm just rooting for any green lover who doesn't yet have Moonpool!  Your name will show on the entry list as you enter it (so you don't have to enter your full name), and your email addres will only be used to notify you if you're the winner.  The contest will be a random drawing, with one entry per reader, and I'll be taking entries for two weeks.  Good luck!

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!