Day 9: Rainbow Nails

Today was a tricky one! Say the words 'rainbow nails' to me and my mind starts running wild! I was thinking stamping, dotting and striping all in one mani I decided reign in all that jazz and take the simple chic approach with rainbow stripes which I am absolutely over the moon with. Think 'Sammy and the Amazing Technicolor Manicure'!

Don't forget to peek at Cristina and Rie's rainbow creations today!





Polishes used
All on a white base coat
La Femme - Red Cherry
Miss Sporty - 323
George - Buttercup Shine
Collection 2000 - Spangles
Barry M - Cyan Blue
Barbara Daly - Purplicious



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Day 3: Yellow Nails

When I think of nail polish colours, yellow is one of the last on my list and I know a lot of you guys will agree with me. It's just not very flattering on most skin tones so most of the time it gets shoved to the back shelf.

I only have one yellow polish so choosing today's colour was a doddle! I bought it a few months back because I always found myself needing yellow for a few of my freehand nail art ideas but the formula is horrid. 

I had to paint a white base on to my nails before even thinking about applying the yellow because it's watery and I'd need a good 4/5 coats for it to be anywhere near opaque.

George Buttercup Shine (2 coats over a white base)
Top Coat of NYC

Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some comedic nail art on this shockingly bright colour!
The thumb is the symbol for radioactivity and on my ring finger is the bio hazard sign.

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's Day 3 Yellow Nails too!

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RockStar energy drink mani!!

Hallo ladies,



I have a fun mani for you today :)On Saturday I was watching a movie drinking a RockStar energy drink and all of a sudden I had a light bulb moment. LMAO







But before I get to my mani I wanted to wish my bestie "Shannon" a Happy and fun Birthday <3 I hope you have a wonderful day and that you get everything your heart asks for. I wish I was there to celebrate your birthday with you.



Ok enough of the mushy stuff :)and onto my kick a@@ mani :D



For this mani I used black from a brand called Basic (2 coats), China Glaze Happy Go Lucky (2 coats) and the same for the Konading.





















So what do you think?



Thanks for looking,

Kesha

L'Oreal Summer 2011 Limited Edition Nail Polish

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm a bit late with them, but today I have L'Oreal's Limited Edition Summer Siren Collection, their four polish shades for Summer 2011.  I'd seen these a few times before and kept walking, but today I took a look and liked what I saw - they're really spectacularly sparkly and shimmery.

I used Pink Shells, which you could probably guess is the pink one, today.  Two coats could have worked, but mine were very thin and with the clear fake tip I have, I needed a third.  It applied really easily and dried very fast.  Here's L'Oreal Pink Shells.

L'Oreal Pink Shells Nail Polish, Three Coats

I took bottle pictures of the other three for you.  The only picture I'm not thrilled with is of the blue, Blue Marine, which seems to have some purple duochrome going on in indoor lighting, but that got washed away in the sun.  Here's Blue Marine.

L'Oreal Blue Marine Nail Polish Bottle

Yellow Seahorse has the potential to be what I wanted Chanel Mimosa to be, and I'm really hoping its shimmer shows up well.

L'Oreal Yellow Seahorse Nail Polish Bottle

The last one is called Coral Starfish, and it's a blazing orange with gold shimmer.  It's really pretty.

L'Oreal Coral Starfish Nail Polish Bottle

It's my hope that the remaining three shades sparkle the same way that Pink Shells does - it's hard to take my eyes off of it.

That's L'Oreal Summer Siren and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Nubar Yellow Primrose & D26

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today seemed like a good day for more stamping, so that's exactly what I did.  I started with a manicure of Nubar Yellow Primrose, then I picked out the full nail pattern from D series stamping plate D26, which I used with Yellow Konad Special Polish.  A coat of top coat to seal it, and I was finished.

Nubar Yellow Primrose Nail Polish and Stamping Plate D26

It looks like retro kitchen decor to me, but oddly enough, that's a good thing.  That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Chanel Mimosa

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've finally gotten around to trying out Chanel Mimosa again, and yet again, I find it somewhat disappointing.  I'd have been mad if I paid for this one.

Mimosa is a yellow with a great shimmer in the bottle, but on me the shimmer didn't translate to on the nail at all. In normal lighting, it's that kind of finish where you're not sure if it's a creme or a shimmer.  The color is nice, but both times I've used it, it required four coats to be even and opaque.  For high end prices, RBL Yellow Fever is much nicer, and since the shimmer doesn't really show up in Mimosa, they're not too different from one another. Here's Mimosa under artificial light.

Chanel Mimosa Nail Polish, Four Coats

See?  It's just a standard yellow.  I could have used unrealistically bright lights and a closer macro shot to provide you with a prettier picture of the polish, but I was more interested in showing you what it really looks like on me wearing it.

Since a standard yellow isn't nearly festive enough to keep my spirits up these days, I added to it from one of the D series stamping plates, D23.

Chanel Mimosa Nail Polish with Stamp from Plate D23

Adding the smiley face, a pattern I've wanted for some time, made me think of something funny.  A good while back, I'd added Konad fake gem decals or some other nail art to a Chanel.  I liked it, it was fun to wear, nothing out of the ordinary.  Someone left a really funny comment on the post, lecturing me about how Chanel is all about simple elegance and reprimanding me for ruining it, and it just went on and on with the "you should know better" kind of thing.  It made me think of one of my aunts, who'd be about 98 now and always wore a hat and a fur coat, and I pictured her getting all irate about what someone else had done to her own nails, which made me giggle.  I think for me the bottom line is that for $23, I'm not just buying a bottle of polish, I'm buying the rights to do whatever the heck I want to do with it!  Today, that was a smiley face.

That's Chanel Mimosa and the story for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Making Lem-on aid!

OK the titles lame but the polish is hot!Color Club Get your Lem-on from the Wicked Sweet collection (Lemon scented nom)This is 3 coats of neon perfection!The subtle green shift from the green shimmer makes this color fantabulous!I added some cute little Skully kitty Angels and Devils to me this up a bitAnd one lone buggerfly because my pinkie nail is way too narrow for most nail decalsThis

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul & Konad m74

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I wanted something happy and sunny, so I wore SpaRitual Enlightened Soul with the diagonal flower pattern from Konad plate m74 stamped on it in Konad white.  Enlightened Soul is a yellow creme I showed you a while back, and I used three coats for this manicure.  It turned out pretty well.

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul Nail Polish with Konad m74

I needed something sunny because looking for work is taking quite a toll, and I've finally hit the point of having to selling off some things I really don't want to get rid of, and that bums me out.  This will be the only mention of it here because I'm going to just auction off what I need to on Ebay, and since I don't want anyone to feel duped by later finding out they bought something from me, I changed my user name there to the_nailphile.  I often get emails from readers when my pictures are stolen and used there, usually with an uncomfortable "I don't know if this is your auction..." as an opener, and I have no plans to use blog pictures there for anything, but I wanted to let you know that's me.  Nothing's listed there yet because I didn't want someone to place a bid and be uncomfortable with it later, but I ask that if you have questions, comments, problems, concerns, etc., about anything there please feel free to contact me through their private message system, as I'm not willing to let that necessity to take over the comments here.  That's the last you'll hear about any of it on this blog.

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

Lem-on Crushed Candy

Good morning, Dear Reader, and Happy Easter!

For today I doctored up my Color Club Get Your Lem-on manicure, but I used China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle Glaze rather than Konad.  I was thinking of what color to use for Konad, and I kept nixing choices because I know that the color shows up strangely on neon yellow, when it occurred to me to try out Crushed Candy for a potentially Easter-y version of Get Your Lem-on.

I added a coat of Crushed Candy, then two coats of some Nutra Nail strengthener that's clear and a coat of quick dry top coat to smooth it out.  I'd been using one coat of Gelous rather than the Nutra Nail, which worked just fine, but I don't have enough Gelous left for one manicure and most likely won't repurchase it.  The sun came out for a bit yesterday, so I was able to take a picture in sunlight.

China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle Glaze over Color Club Get Your Lem-on

This worked out well for me since it tones down the yellow so much and I'm wearing this manicure to church today.  It's like an Easter egg is getting cracked open and the yolk shows (although that imagery doesn't withstand close scrutiny - I really don't want an egg with a neon yolk).  I can also still catch the lemon fragrance under all those additional coats, which is pretty impressive.

That's my manicure for Easter, and so far, Easter is shaping up into a pretty dang good day.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Color Club Get Your Lem-on

Good morning, Dear Reader!

There's nothing quite like ten solid hours of sleep, is there?  You get to benefit from my fabulous sleep in that it's more likely I'll keep my thoughts generally focused!

Last night I changed my manicure to Color Club Get Your Lem-on, the yellow from Wicked Sweet.  It's a very nice highlighter yellow shimmer and the polish was easy to control, but it did take five coats to be opaque.  I'm sure a white base could reduce that number, but when I'm trying it out the first time and want to tell you how many coats it takes to be opaque, I just use the color.  There's still no sunlight, or hope for it, so I used artificial light for the picture.

Color Club Get Your Lem-on Nail Polish, Five Coats

Although I love this polish. I think it's just okay on me - it's not horrible, but not flattering either.  Neon yellow is such a fun color that I wear it anyhow.  I like it best on very dark brown skin though - to my eye neon yellow just pops off of dark hands, and it makes the skin tone look really cool.  For me, since I want a little more than "not bad," I'll probably add Konad to it today.

Get Your Lem-on has a great fragrance.  It smells like someone's making a pitcher of Country Time Lemonade from the can of powder (I'm assuming those still exist) while another person is zesting a lemon nearby.  I've been sniffing this one a lot!  Again, the scent is not too strong, and I do have to have my hands near my face to smell it.

That's just about it for this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Island Escape Swatches & Comparison

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still waiting for word on yesterday's interview, which went really well, so I have no news on that front, [I got the call - I JUST GOT THE DREAM JOB!!!] but I got a surprise from China Glaze this morning, so I have things to show you.  I went out to get some coffee early this morning, and as I was pulling out of the driveway I saw a Post-It on my front door, and when I went to look at it I found it was from FedEx and there was a little box at the door even though I wasn't expecting any deliveries.  I'm hoping it was placed there just yesterday... Anyhow, when I got back home I opened it up to find that China Glaze had sent their upcoming Island Escape collection for review, so I have some pictures for you.

First, I swatched the six polishes on a little thingy of fake nails (I believe "thingy" is the industry technical term for it), which I've never done before.  To be honest, I have no idea why I even had the fake nail thingy, it must have come with something else at some point, but it worked out fine.  Second, the sunlight here is almost non-existent and I did the best I could for you on the pictures, but if I notice a few minutes of good light I'll take additional pictures and add them to this post.

China Glaze Island Escape Collection Swatches, Two Coats Each

For reference, everything in the picture other than nail polish is white, that's the light I was working with.  As for the polishes, I thought I'd just go through them one at a time like usual.  If you click the picture it'll open full sized in a new tab, which may be the easiest way to go back and forth to it.

Electric Pineapple is a yellow creme that has a slight greenish tinge to it, and it reminds me of a yellower Misa Green with Envy.  It's quite opaque for a yellow, and the second coat made it even and opaque.

Cha Cha Cha is a yellowish green with a gold shimmer, very much like China Glaze Moonpool, and I compared the two to find that Cha Cha Cha is a little bit brighter.  The only notable application issue was that I found brush strokes were pretty evident in the shimmer even after it dried, so it has to be applied carefully.  Here's Cha Cha Cha with Moonpool.

China Glaze Cha Cha Cha and Moonpool Comparison, Two Coats Each

Blue Iguana is a great glass flecked bright blue, very much like a glass flecked version of Nubar's Mali Blue, which is a shimmer.  Actually, three of these are about the same base color as three of that Nubar collection with a different finish.  Anyhow, the color of Blue Iguana is gorgeous - I spent a couple weeks in the Bahamas a few years ago, and the balcony of the room I stayed in had a clear view of the beach and ocean (which I could stare at for hours), and Blue Iguana is the color that the water was near the shore.  There were no application issues to mention.

Senorita Bonita has the same finish as Blue Iguana, but the shimmer bits are pink in a purple base.  Senorita Bonita's base color is very similar to Nubar's Pasadena Purple, again with a different finish.  Again, nothing was noteworthy about its application.

108 Degrees is a fantastic bright pink, also with the same finish as the previous two, and the base color immediately brought to mind Nubar's Hollywood Pink.  108 Degrees was also easy to apply and even.

Papaya Punch is an orange creme, and it reminds me a lot of OPI's Flit A Bit from last year's Summer Flutter Collection.  Papaya Punch is quite thick, but I did not find that to be problematic, and it was almost good with just one coat (it needed the second to even out the color).

That's just about everything I know about China Glaze's Island Escape Collection, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Color Club Wicked Sweet Scented Collection

Hello again, Dear Reader!

I just got two of Color Club's new collections, and I have bottle pictures of Wicked Sweet, the scented neons, for you.  These, I'll wear rather than swatch, since there are usually questions regarding the strength and longevity of the fragrance in scented nail polishes.

I took the bottle pics because the sun's out and these are really far prettier than I'd hoped, so I thought you might like to see them right away.  Here we go!

The namesake of the collection is Wicked Sweet, a neon blue shimmer.  I sniffed it to find out what Color Club characterizes as a wicked sweet scent, and it smells a lot like Juicy Fruit (but in the bottle, the nail polish smell is strong, so it's hard to pinpoint).

Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Raspberry Rush is a great neon raspberry creme.

Color Club Raspberry Rush Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Get Your Lem-on (great name!!!) is a highlighter yellow shimmer.

Color Club Get Your Lem-on Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection 

Yum Gum is a bright bubblegum pink creme.

Color Club Yum Gum Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Always Get My Man-darin is a bright yellow orange shimmer.

Color Club Always Get My Man-darin Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Gimme A Grape Big Kiss (another favorite name!) is a neon purple creme.

Color Club Gimme A Grape Big Kiss Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

The seventh and last is The Lime Starts Here, a unique neon lime green.

Color Club The Lime Starts Here Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

That's that!  You know I love neons and scented nail polish, so I'll be wearing these this week for sure.  However, I also have the Color Club Starry Temptress Collection right here, so I'm going to run off and swatch those.  I'll get those posted for you soon, supposing the sunlight holds out.

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

OPI Black Shatter & China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm here today with another OPI Black Shatter manicure, one with a very long title.  Last night I'd decided I'd stop with the Black Shatter for a bit, but today I really, really, really wanted to try it over a good highlighter yellow, so I went with it.

The yellow I used was China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, which is a super neon yellow creme.  The yellows that really look like a highlighter are usually a hassle, and this one was no exception.  I put it on while I had my first cup of coffee, and being caffeine deficient at the time, I didn't pay attention to exactly how many coats I used but it was from five to seven very thin coats.  I know using white under it is an option to cut down on the number of coats, but the results are slightly different that way and I like how it looks with a billion coats of just the neon better.  In the plus column I'd include the fact that neons often dry quickly, and that was the case here - the dry time after applying quick dry top coat was no longer than usual, so the only extra effort involved is in the actual painting.

Once Yellow Polka Dot Bikini had dried, I applied a thick coat of OPI Black Shatter.  This time, I gave it a minute or two to crackle, and I found that Black Shatter really will just flake off without top coat.  A flake came off of one nail  after a bit, so I sealed the mani with top coat so no more came off.  I'm using up what I have around so I've been using Poshe, and I again used three coats of it to level Black Shatter off.  I did a thin coat of Poshe, then waited a minute or so for it to set, then added another and waited again before the final coat, sealing the edges with each of the three.  I've found that when I use it that way, multiple coats of Poshe do not shrink my manicure.  Here's the final result.

OPI Black Shatter over China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

This one seems to have lost that Cece Deville feeling that the Black Shatter and Shocking Pink manicure had, but yellow and black seemed a little Def Leppard to me.  Again, I was able to confirm that my sense was accurate.

Mullets All Around

I was also able to verify that the colors in this picture weren't just a fluke.

What's Up with the Guy on the Right?????

Here, we can see that I like Black Shatter with neons, and that any time I pair a neon with black, I'll be overwhelmed with '80's nostalgia and find the band wearing corresponding colors.  I'm tempted to tell you some funny Def Leppard stories, but this post is long and I don't want to bore you.

With that, I'll wrap it up and get to work.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul & Konad m83

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm back to the SpaRitual Truth Collection today with Enightened Soul, a crayon yellow creme.  I don't know what, if anything, it's a dead-on match to, but I know there a lot of basic yellow cremes available.  What makes Enlightened Soul special amongst them is that it only took two coats to be good, while yellows are usually a huge PITA and often require more.  I think RBL Yellow Fever is a two-coater, but it costs twice as much.  The application of Enlightened Soul was also very good - the polish is very easy to control.

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul Nail Polish, Two Coats

I rarely wear yellow alone, it's usually a base for Konad.  Since my new Konad plates got here from WowSoCool, I tried out a couple of patterns from plate m83.

Konad Plate m83 over SpaRitual Enlightened Soul

Now it's more fun!  The stamp on my ring nail is just one big stamp, and I painted the little bird blue and the rest red before scraping the pattern to get two colors in it.

That's the scoop for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky & H8

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I used another Chez-Delaney plate, H8.  The pattern I wanted from it is a flaming tip pattern, which was just too much fun to pass up.  I was considering what colors to use to most look like fire, and I concluded that it would be pretty hard to pull off well using only two colors.  I still wanted to use the pattern, so I decided to go for the look of flames on an old hot rod, like this:

I've Got This One Covered, Indi

I started with the yellow, for which I used three coats of China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, then I did the stamping in Konad Cool Red Princess Polish.  I found it took a while to get a feel for scraping this pattern without messing it up - on the big tip patterns, it's really easy to get the edge of the scraper too deep into the pattern and scrape away far too much.  Once I got the hang of it, the stamping went quickly, and I'm happy with the end result.

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, Three Coats, with Chez-Delaney H8

I think it worked out reasonably well, and the manicure makes me laugh a little bit.

That's all there is to tell this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polih to you!  

Illamasqua Rare & Elope & Konad M44

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I decided to have more fun with brights and Konad to ward off the cold.  I started by selecting a highlighter yellow, Illamasqua Rare.  I figured I'd add some green Konad to it, but I noticed in picking it out that Illamasqua Elope was pretty close to Konad Green Special Polish, and added an accent nail of Illamasqua Elope before stamping the Rare nails with a striped tip pattern from Konad plate M44 in green.  I like the result, but something about it still reminds me about running shoes from the 1970's.

Illamasqua Rare & Elope Nail Polishes with Konad M44

Rare, the yellow, is more neon than my camera could pick up, and a nice one.  It took three coats to be opaque and even, which is quite good for a neon yellow.  I used two coats of Elope, the green.

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