Valentine's Day Nails- Day 1

Well, after this week of horrible weather, it's finally sunny outside...and we have Kade lol. So, it's kind of hard for me to swatch seeing as I'm constantly chasing a 15 month-old around the house, cleaning and cooking! I did manage to create this Valentine's look last night, though. I really wanted to start out with some non-traditional colors (well anything that wasn't red, pink or white). I will start from yesterday and create Valentine's Day look each day until Tuesday.  I want to see what I can come up with. I'm sure other bloggers are doing something very similar.

Pure Ice Kissy Kiss, butter LONDON Knackered,
 Konad Special Polish in Black with RA120

I used Orly Bonder- I like using a bonding basecoat even if I know I'm not going to keep the mani very long- it does what it says and the polish adheres easier to my nails. I used one coat of Pure Ice Kissy Kiss, which is a sheer jelly periwinkle color (shown in the first picture below) that I thought would bring out the lavender in butter LONDON's Knackered, which I swatched a few weeks ago with butter's Spring 2012 Collection. I love this color because it's so versatile! It's a beautiful duochrome with multi-colored micro glitter and looks different everytime I use it. I love how it shimmers and changes colors in the sun. I can take a million pictures this polish on!

I only used one coat since I knew I was going to stamp. Using Konad Special Polish in black I used Red Angel stamp RA120, as shown left.  I'm not a hearts kinda gal, but since this look is for the holiday dedicated to love, I thought I'd branch out.  Again, on the Konad special polish, I love it even though some say it's not necessary and to use regular polish, which I've been doing, but find that I like Konad better and don't mind spending the few extra bucks. I love the easy pick up and application. I never doubt it's ability to do what it was created to do and all I have to worry about is my ability to apply it well lol. I still need quite a bit of practice on my stamping, but I'm getting there.  Finally, I topped that off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat. I absolutely LOVE this stuff and will never use anything different! I will have to get a bottle to include in my giveaway (it's $10 at most retailers).

I wasn't quite thinking it through when I was stamping and should've put the hearts facing the other way so I wouldn't have to turn my hands upside down, but oh well. And my middle finger (of course) has a heart that looks a bit smudged, so please just keep in mind that this is the holiday for love:) I stopped with this simple look, because I didn't want to start a project that I literally couldn't finish. I need more practice before I start doing more complicated looks.  If left to play, I will work on my nails for 2 hours!

I will try to post another look for today (this is actually Friday's look) sometime tonight if I can get a chance to swatch.  Right now I'm cooking peanut butter brownies, washing dishes and clothes, so I'm a busy body today, but I'm sure I will make the time to do another look:)

butter LONDON- Spring 2012

Hey there polish people! Today I am sharing my swatches of most of the butter LONDON Spring 2012 Collection, with the exception of Trout Pout (I didn't like it enough to spend the $15 on it at first).  This is their latest collection, but surely isn't new to all you polish lovers.

photo from butterlondon.com

Here's my picture just to show the difference than the advertisment,
which isn't much (minus Trout Pout : ( l )

First, I bring to you Slapper, which was my last swatch of the day, so the sun was quickly fading, which I found greatly affected my pictures.  While one of my favorite of the bunch, I don't think I really captured this beauty because of the light, or lack thereof. I used 3 coats just because I wanted to get the full brightness. I used the same top coat on all of these swatches, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry .

 Next is Disco Biscuit, first of all, I love the name. It takes me back to my college days, yes I know what a disco biscuit is lol.  I think it's a perfect name for this glittery, shimmery hot pink.  When I see it, I think Michael Alig and James St. James, the original club kids!

 This color was a bit messy for me, because I had to do so many coats.  I used Pure Ice Platinum on the bottom to bring out the best of this color, which is kind of transparent, so I also used 3 coats on top of 2 coats of the Pure Ice, which is a pearly white and thought it turned out well.  I love this color for it iridescent purplish blue tiny glitter. It's kind of gritty and probably need a better top coat, but haven't had the chance to go shopping for one yet.

Third is Miss Bossy Boots. I wasn't really sure about this color until I put it on. It's got that "shabby chic" look. I also used 3 coats for this pastel, just to make sure I got the best of it.  I think it would be even prettier if I had applied a white coat underneath, but nevertheless I think I captured this color. The weather was perfect today, so I took the opportunity and swatched away!

First one is in the shade, second is taken in the light.

And last, but surely not least is Knackered. I love this color because it's transparency gives polishers the chance to make it their own color adding whatever base color underneath, giving it a different look every time. I thought I would play around before I decided which color to use underneath. As you can see on the wheel below, I tried 5 different 3 different blues, 1 shimmery taupe, and 1 light gray.

I wanted to show what I thought would be Knackered's true color if it was opaque, so I went with one coat of Sally Hansen Gray by Gray (which is more of a blue gray), and again 3 coats of the butter.  I love the different colors it gives in the sun.  I had so much fun taking different angles and playing with it in the sun (that so rhymed, yikes!) I thought the end result was very accurate and I was pleased. Besides I'm sure I'll do this color again soon, it's too pretty! This was my result:

This grayish purple iridescent color really comes out in the shade.

So, now that I did my swatches for this collection, I really wish I had bought Trout Pout...I think I underestimated it. Well, I know my manicure isn't perfect and I still have lots of practice, but I've been working really hard! I really have mom! ha.  Well ya'll, I really enjoyed doing these colors, they were different and all fun to apply and take pics! Only complaint I have is the time...I started at around noon and am just now finishing (around 11:30 p.m.), so it's very time consuming! I worked pretty much all day doing these swatches...I'm tired. I'm going to bed now:)

Butter London Wallis

So the weather has been HORRIBLE this week. I was so stoked when I got some new polishes at Ulta, but sadly it stormed for 3 days straight  so I couldn't do much. Plus I had a hard time getting my acrylic nails off that I had previously been wearing. I love wearing them because they make my nails look so pretty and long, but they just tear them up and leave me with these awful stumps:( boo.  So I still need some work and didn't include any swatches.  This isn't a new color, but I still wanted to write about  Butter LONDON Wallis. When I saw it I knew I HAD to have it! It's so different.

PLEASE DO NOT FEAR TO BE THE FIRST FOLLOWER! I NEED TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE WANTS TO SEE WHAT I GOT ha! Anyways, more to come tomorrow!! Goodnight polishworld!