Zoya Flash & Tangerine Scream

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just took a picture of my Nails of the Day before I do some swatching (this morning's post was a few days old), and I ran into another picture I hadn't shown you yet, so I thought I'd show you both.

My NOTD is Color Club Tangerine Scream with Konad Bead Tattoos on it.  I did the polish last night and the decals this morning, and I definitely think that works better for me.  Tangerine Scream took four coats to be opaque, but is worth it to me.  I love this orange!  I also finished it first with the top coat that came with Electro Candy, which claims to increase the vibrancy of colors.  I find it makes a marginal difference, and if I'm going for four coats, what's one more - I used the Color Club top coat before Diamont and drying drops.  I then added yellow & green heart Konad Bead Tattoos, which come in packs of 15, with three colors in each, so you have to buy an even number of the packets if you want one on each nail.

Color Club Tangerine Scream and Heart Konad Bead Tattoos

I don't want to remove this one to swatch, but I don't know if tomorrow will bring me sun, so I must.  It's like my nails are little suns, and it makes me think it's warm out when it's not.

The other picture I ran into was of Zoya Flash skittles with white flower decals on the tips.

Zoya Flash Collection: Dana, Perrie, Robyn, Jancyn, Jolene (Thumb to Pinky) with Decals

I liked that one - it was very Springy.

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

Color Club Electro Candy

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm cursed with being up early as a consequence of going to bed early, so I thought I'd show you my Nails of the Day.  I started it last night with the nail polish, let it finish completely setting while I slept, and just added the decals a few minutes ago.

This mani shows two of my recent kicks in one - skittles (each nail a different color) and decals.  I've always liked decals, so I can explain that one away, but I've never been too wild about skittle manis before, but am having a great time with them.

I got a backup set of Color Club's Electro Candy Collection from last summer in my last VNS order.  Which reminds me - they have Poolside up, and China Glaze nail polish prices go up $0.30 on the 15th, so get 'em while you can.  Kiwi Cool-ada sold out in hours on Trans Design.  Back to my story: Electro Candy.  I got the backup of the collection because I'd count this as one of my top ten favorite collections ever.

I decided last night to do another rainbow mani with it, and since I wore Ultra Violet recently, that's the color I left out.  I let it dry overnight before adding decals because I find the polish under decals never quite cures right if I add them too soon.  The decals I chose were from that Korean pack I got where there are four tip patterns.  Quite a lot of decisions on this one: six colors, four decals, five fingers!

Electro Candy, Tangerine Scream, Volt of Light, What A Shock!, Pure Energy

The bottle is Ultra Violet so it wouldn't feel left out.  You'll be seeing more of these colors - they're my favorite neons, I just don't know where my original set is.  Now that I can locate one, I can wear them!

That's all for this morning, Dear Reader.  I also has some fun nail art supplies in that VNS order that I played with yesterday, I'll try to give you a peek at that later.  Until then, Love and nail polish to you!  

Color Club Ultra Violet & Konad M75

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a polish with one of the most overused names: Color Club Ultra Violet, from last year's Electro Candy Collection. NARS, Color Club, and Estee Lauder all have an Ultra Violet, but this one is the on that most lives up to the name for me.

Color Club's Electro Candy Collection is one of my all-time favorites, definitely a Top Ten Collection. What I like about them is that they're such a great twist on neons, which are traditionally cremes, and these are shimmers with a flash. They're like amped up neons, and Ultra Violet is one of my favorites of the collection. The fact that they're super cheap is just a bonus!

I used three coats of Ultra Violet, and here it is alone.

Color Club Ultra Violet Nail Polish from Electro Candy

Color Club Ultra Violet, Three Coats

To it I added a little pattern from Konad plate M75 in Konad White.

Color Club Ultra Violet Nail Polish with Konad M75

Color Club Ultra Violet, Three Coats with Konad M75

So this is my manicure to redeem myself for the silly one I did last, night, and I think it does the job.

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

Coral Blue Konad Princess Nail Polish over Volt of Light

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I told you I'd be back with something a little better than this morning's Wet N Wild, and here I am!

Now I have today's Konadicure for you to see. I got up early, so I was up for the effort of Color Club's Volt of Light from the Electro Candy Collection as a base. Volt of Light is one high-maintenance nail polish! On its own, it take me six coats to reach bottle color, and today over a soft white base, it still took four coats. However, for a great highlighter yellow shimmer, it's occasionally worth the effort. Since I had the time before the rest of the world awoke today, I went for it.

Once Volt of Light dried (about 20 minutes after a coat of Diamont), I stamped it with a swirly ribbony pattern from Konad Plate M69, using Coral Blue Konad Princess Nail Polish. I really love my Konad Princess Polishes - they're great colors, and they work so well for stamping, providing a clean, crisp stamp. They're still 20% off with code "nailphile" at Wow So Cool, with free shipping over $20, so if you're thinking of trying them, now's a good time.

Here's what the finished manicure looks like.

It's kind of a retina-burning manicure, but I'm really digging the neons and brights for Summer. With the Fall collections already coming out, there's barely been time to enjoy the Summer colors, so I decided to go back to those and have some fun with them (Fall will come soon enough!). Even though Color Club's Electro Candy Collection is high maintenance in that each takes a lot of coats to be opaque, I really love this collection's colors. I just have to make sure I have sufficient time for all that polish to dry when I use them!

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

The Offload the Ring Manicure

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I thought I'd do a special mani for one of my tasks to do this week: offload the ring. If all goes as planned, I will be single and free on Friday (YAY!), and so I'm going to offload my engagement and wedding rings this week. The down side to that is that I really loved my engagement ring, but since I'll never wear it again, I'm getting rid of it.

I figured I'd memorialize the ring by showing it to you, but I sure as heck wasn't going to put it on for a new picture. Here's an old picture of it, with me wearing Essie Ruby Slippers.

Ah, well. It was nice while it lasted!

To commemorate getting rid of it, I started with Color Club What a Shock! from the Electro Candy Collection, since me getting rid of the sprakliest thing I own is quite shocking. Then I added the heart-shaped diamond Konad pattern to my tips (I forget the plate number - it's the one with the cow print on it), and to top it off, a sparkly decal on my ring fingers. Since decals are the closest thing to a diamond I'll be wearing for a good while, I thought I should get used to it!

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

Technicolor Doll & Electro Candy

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning's post isn't really about someone eating candy. Actually, I had a dilemma and chose this title over "Volt of Light Below the Belt," which made me laugh more, but I didn't have the nerve... It's about a Konadicure, of course!

I started with Color Club Volt of Light from the Electro Candy Collection, only this time I took a good tip from Michelle at A Stroke of Color, who's The Queen of Neons. She told me to put white under it to make it more vivid and require less coats, so I tried it and she was right. The white I used was Essie Below the Belt. This is two coats of each.

I then added some of Art Club's Technicolor Doll colors to it with Konad, using Electric Universe with plate M59 and Techicolor Doll with M62.

My camera didn't quite catch the neon-ness of it - I'm blindingly, retina-searingly neon! I like it.

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

Art Club Techni Color Doll

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd planned more Zoyas for you today, then Art Club's Techni Color Doll nail art kit showed up, and I was a goner. Check it out!





It's bright nail art polishes, decals, and sprinkles! This in conjunction with new Konad plates meant today was a day for nail art. I started with a base of Color Club Electro Candy (which I'm thinking I should get a backup of!), then stamped it using Konad plate M73, a floral pattern with Art Club Paisley Paradise (purple) and a heart tip pattern with Art Club Electric Universe (blue). I finished it off with a rhinestone heart decal on my ring finger. OTT? Yes...

It's way over the top, and makes me very happy! The potential this kit holds is simply unbounded. Just wait until I get a handle on how to use the sprinkles!

To Konad with the Art Club Nail Art Polish, I used the long thin brush to place a line of nail polish on one side of the pattern, then used the plastic scraper to spread it over the pattern as I scraped it. Then I just picked up the pattern with the stamper as usual. It worked like a charm. I topped it with a coat of Diamont, then applied the decal and did one more coat of Diamont to seal the decal. Voila!

That's the tale of the Art Club Techni Color Doll kit and my over the top Konadicure. Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Color Club Electro Candy Konadicure & Nubar Nu Nails

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still enamored with Color Club Electro Candy, and I used it for my KOTD. Electro Candy with a little black makes it the 80's again for me!

I'm also going to show you a picture I've always said I would never ever show, but it's the only way to illustrate my point. After having troubles with chips and breaks in my nails, I was told that the formaldehyde in the base coat I was using could be the cause. I reluctantly and skeptically agreed to try Nubar Nu Nails nail strengthener instead, and the difference it's made has been like night and day.

First, the chips and splits just stopped, which was good enough for me. Then about a week ago I noticed the benefit that this picture shows - it completely prevents any staining of my nails at all. I didn't realized they were especially stained until I saw the color difference between the new growth and the rest of the nail. Look at the difference in this picture between the nail at the cuticle line and the rest - that's after wearing reds, black, blues, every color I normally wear, since I started using Nu Nails.

It looks like I'm going to be stuck with Big 3 Free polishes now, because I am absolutely sold on Nu Nails as a base coat and Diamont as a top coat. Sorry for having to show you my grody stained nails to prove a point, but I thought it was a point worth making...

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

Color Club Pure Energy Konadicure & a Bonus

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still having fun with the Color Club Electro Candy Collection nail polishes, today wearing Pure Energy (the blue one) again.  You know I couldn't just wear the same manicure for the second time in a week - what fun would that be?  I added a bit of Konad to it this time, which has also been entertaining me quite a bit, using Konad plate M44 and Konad Special Polish in Psyche Pink.

Here's my Color Club Pure Energy Konadicure of the Day, which is three coats of Pure Energy, one coat of Color Club top coat, a coat of Diamont to dry it, then the Konad and another layer of Diamont.  Whew!






 I'm dying for Coraline Set II to be released, because I'm in love with the polishes from the set (neon shimmer pink, blue , and yellow), although I put the blue and the yellow somewhere "safe."  Set I only had minis of the colors, and I've used them quite a bit, but check out how teeny they are!  




I need Coraline Set II just to get the full sized bottles of these colors!

 In the title I mentioned a bonus, and there is one!  I have another KOTD to show you that I just hadn't gotten around to publishing, and before the picures get too old and I forget about them, I thought I'd show them to you by just tacking them on to today's post.

For this one, I started out with Carolyn New York's Christmas in New York, which is a darkish red creme.  Definitely not vampy and a true red, just a bit dark. Here's three coats of the CNY nail polish on its own topped with a coat of Diamont.







 Then I had a little Fun with Konad, using FingerPaints Papier Mache as the polish to do the stamping and Konad plate M4 for both patterns, then topped it off with another coat of Diamont.  Here's the finished Konadicure.







That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader!  Don't forget that WowSoCool is doing a 20% off coupon right now.  The code is "nailphile," and all the details are on the Coupons:WowSoCool Konad tab at the top of the page.

Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Electro Candy Volt of Light : The Highlighter Konadicure!

Good morning, Dear Reader!


I've been having a grand old time being reunited with my Konad and playing with the Color Club Electro Candy Collection!


For today's mani, I started out with a base of Volt of Light. If you recall from my swatches of this collection, this was the yellow that was still somewhat streaky in four coats. To get it opaque and even, I ended up using six thin coats of nail polish and two coats of top coat - the Color Club Vivid 10 Color Intensifying Top Coat (which really does make a difference), then a coat of Nubar Diamont to make it dry. This was Diamont's biggest challenge to date - seven coats of nail polish to dry! Happily, it worked like a charm, and I was ready to Konad away very soon.


For the patten, I used Konad plate M62 for another favorite tip pattern, and Konad Psyche Pink polish (the neon pink shimmer in the Coraline sets). The result is a manicure that looks like I used highlighters on my nails!

I also found yesterday that using Nubar Diamont over dry polish to seal the Konad pattern works really well - it seals the Konad Special Polish without smudging and dries really fast, but doesn't cause any troubles with the completely dry base nail polish. It's definitely my new Konad top coat too now - I got an industrial size 8 oz bottles of it! Its costs about the same as the professional sized Seche Vite refill, since the Diamont is 8 oz and Seche Vite is 4.5 oz, and with a better dry time, no shrinkage, and being smudge free with Konad, I'm sold!


Also, a little reminder for you, Dear Reader, that WowSoCool is running a 20% off coupon right now. The only exclusion is the already discounted Build Your Own Kits, and the code is "nailphile." There's no end date set for it yet, so you might want to get in on it soon if you're eying more plates or polishes. If you recall, we cleaned out Nubar pretty well while that coupon was going! For the record, I don't benefit at all from the codes I run - they're just an opportunity for my favorite etailers to give you a break on cool stuff that I like, and since I've only run them with companies that I buy from myself, I have faith that they'll do business with you a way that's up to my standards (and I can be a PITA customer!). I don't get a nickel out of it.


I also have a little site update - I added some tabs to the top of the title section for you. I put in a "Current Promos" tab to make it easy to find codes (I don't expect to do more than one at a time). The "Contact" one has my email for you if you have questions for me that aren't general comments, and the "Older Posts" tab is a work in progress. It'll eventually be a list of links to all posts by date, but it starts a few months into the blog. I added a tab just yesterday for the tag cloud. I know a lot of people were using it, but it really did clutter up the page, so that tab will take you to a currently updated tag cloud for the whole site. The next big project that will either be on the side of the page or a tab is an organized format for the labels on all the posts, set up like an outline (Brands will have all brands under it in order, Colors will have all colors, etc). With the number of posts I've got on this site now, I'm making a few changes and additions to make it easier to find what you're looking for when you visit. If you have ideas for anything else that you'd find helpful, please feel free to email me with your suggestions.


That's today's Konadicure, the result of my test of Diamont over Konad, your WowSoCool reminder, and a little site update. Whew! That's a lot!


Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Electro Candy What A Shock & Coraline Konad

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been having for fun with Konad this morning...

I started with a manicure of four coats of Color Club What A Shock! nail polish topped with their color brightening top coat and then a coat of Diamont. I waited a few minutes for it to dry, then stamped it with a pattern from Konad Plate CO5, using Psyche Pink Konad Special Polish. Then one more coat of Diamont, which seems to be my answer for a top coat for Konad polishes.

Here's the finished Konadicure.

That's my Konadicure of the Day for you, Dear Reader. Remember that my Konad seller, wowsocool is offering you 20% off of almost everything right now with the code nailphile. The details are on the Current Promos tab at the top of the page.

Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Color Club Electro Candy: The Return of the Konadicure!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

When I swatched Color Club's Electro Candy Collection for you yesterday, most of them were absolutely crying out to me to Konad them. I knew which one I really wanted to do the most, so I changed my nail polish to Electro Candy (the pink) last night.

Having a great hot pink base, I chose good ol' Konad plate M65 for my beloved swirly tip pattern this morning, and used Konad Special Polish in Blue to stamp the design. I'm also doing a little top coat test, which I'll explain after you see the Electro Candy Konadicure.







Since this is the first time I've used the Konad since I discovered Nubar's Diamont top coat, I decided to test how it would work over the Konad polish, since Nubar says it's also intended to seal nail art (which would typically be applied to dry polish). As you can see in the pictures, Diamont did not cause any smudging or bleeding of the pattern at all, and so far so good as far as using Diamont as a refresher.

For me, Seche Vite has caused the edged of my polish to peel up almost immediately on the two occasions I used it to seal an addition to dry nail polish, and that's not been the case so far with this one. I'll know tomorrow how well the Diamont does to seal Konad over dry polish with respect to causing any shrinkage, peeling or chipping of the manicure. Barielle Manicure Refresher is a quick-dry to coat that does work as a refresher without causing tose issues with a manicure, but I've found that it can cause some smudging and bleeding of Konad Special Polish on its own, so I don't use it to seal Konad. If this works, I'll be happy, since I've been using my tiny Konad Top Coat to seal the nail art without smudging, and then using Barielle Manicure Refresher over it to make it dry quickly and shine. One coat of Diamont is easier and a lot cheaper than the Konad Top Coat topped with the Barielle.

I think this bold mani is a great way to bring back the Konad after weeks of neglect, and it's fun to wear a bright new Color Club nail polish.

One other thing, Dear Reader, before I let you go: reader TML inquired as to why more people aren't using the chat feature on the right side of the page, the fifth item from the top, and I think it's because I've neglected to mention it much. It was used a good bit the day or two after I added it, but not since then. Feel free to pop in and say, "Hi," and see who's on! You don't need to enter an email or use a password, but if you want to reserve your username, just use the username with a password and it's all yours (I do not have access to the password you use). To add an avatar, just put a link to an online picture in the URL box next to your username, and you're ready to go. Feel free to test it as well - as long as the messages are clean, I don't mind if we have lots of "Test" with various avatars going. I added the Chat so we can have a little fun, so let's chat! I'll make it easy for you... Nail Polish: discuss amongst yourselves!

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

Color Club Electro Candy Collection for Summer 2009

Good Morning, Dear Reader!

I discovered I had a package this morning, and I was excited to find it was my Color Club Electro Candy Collection.  This is the collections I've been most anticipating for the last few weeks.  Since I got up bright and early, I got about the business of swatching them for you, and I have the pictures all ready to go for you now.

One caveat: neons are simply very difficult to capture with a camera in general.  Overall, I am pleased with how these pictures turned out, but the colors are actually just a bit more vivid in real life.

Each of these is three coats over a base, with the exceptions of Volt of Light, which took four (neon yellows take notoriously many coats), and Pure Energy, which is three coats with two top coats.  The two top coats I used were (i) Color Club's Vivid 10 Color Intensifying Top Coat, which really did make the color even brighter, and (ii) Nubar Diamont, since I wanted it to dry quickly and thoroughly.  

Let's get to the pics, and I'll tell you more as we go through them...

Electro Candy, the namesake of the collection, is a great neon Barbie pink with the irridescent quality that characterizes this collection.

Pure Energy is a vivid blue shimmer, and my Nails of the Day.  This is the one with two layers of to coat over it.

Tangerine Scream is more neon than this picture shows, but check outt he strong shimmer and irridescence it has - that was a real surprise.

Ultra Violet is really an incredible nail polish.  Although it's darker in the bottle than on the nail, the blue flash is stronger on the nail than it appears in the bottle.

Volt of Light is a unique yellow neon due to its finish and shimmer, but even at four coats, was a bit streaky.  I think this one might be perfect with five coats.  A lot of coats of nail polish?  Yes...

What A Shock! is a fantastic neon green.  It's not a Sinful Colors Irish Green nail polish, where your retinas sting after glancing at it, but it's still definitely neon.

That's Color Club's Electro Candy Collection for you, Dear Reader, and it's what I have for you today.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!