Royal Under Fire

 

 

 



Good Friday to all!! Well, hope everyone had a good week. So, this is my first true hurricane season down in Louisiana, so it's been a crazy week with Issac! I live in the northern part, so we just got some wind and rain but nothing serious, unlike the south and Mississippi. I work at a bank that operates out of Hammond, which if anyone paid attention was hit hard (it's not far from New Orleans). So, we have worked but the lower part of the state hasn't been. It's been weird watching it all unfold just a few hours south of us.

Anyways, that hasn't changed anything in my life, so now I bring you all the famous Max Factor Fantasy Fire, which is called the dupe for the also famous VHTF and VE (very expensive!) Clarins 230, as you can see from Chalkboard Nails. So, this will work for now...however, this polish was one of my biggest lemmings! So, I was SOOOO excited when I found it on ebay for a decent price. I ordered 2 mini bottles (which is the only size made...hmmm) from the UK. I couldn't wait to get it on!!!

 



 



 

So, for my look I wanted to use an undie that would bring out the beauty in the most awesome color, which I think is purple...so I used blue. My fav blue- Revlon Royal. It only took 1 coat of this bright bold color and 2 coats of Fantasy Fire to create this most beautiful array of colors I've had on my nails so far! I LOVE this look!! I think I saw this combo. You get a different look with whatever undie color you wear. But, whatever you choose to mix this polish with, it's beautiful and defintely works well with any color! My camera sucks and doesn't even begin to show off the beauty of this look!  If you have Fantasy Fire or Clarins 230 what combinations have you tried? Show links if you have them! I am anxious to try something different since this combination isn't anything new, but this is definitely my favorite look.

Fun With Studs and Bows

Hello Monday polish people! I  haven't really been doing much swatching lately. I don't know what's up with my body, but it's just been one thing afer another since we came in from vacation. I feel like I'm just getting a head cold now, but alas! It is not enough to keep me away from my polish! I went to the doctor this morning and have a sinus infection (so basically a cold), except they gave me 2 shots and 5 different meds. I'm also having a bad flareup with my eczema, so I'm a little doped up and still feel like crap, but I'm still here:)
I've been doing a lot of rearranging and organization, as I've been showing some pictures, trying to get all my polishes and things in the place where I want them, but I keep changing my mind! Damn freewill...ha.
Well, I am trying to incorrporate more nail art into my manis, but I'm still in the kindergarten phase haha. Please let me know how I can improve...whether it's my nails, the way I paint, ideas, my pictures I take...whatever!

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 So, I used Orly Bonder as my basecoat then used 2 coats of Cult Nails Spontaneous, a gorgeous purple with purple micro glitter, which I left as the top color on my ring finger. Then I used 1 coat of OPI Significant Other Color, which I think is a very sheer, beautiful duochrome of pink, green, and kind of this orangy-red, I guess more of a multi-chrome. I thought it would be a more pink color, but this is defintely a duochrome, where more than one color is the primary color, even though the bottle appears pink/purple.

I then tried to get crafty and use some studs I bought off of the Cult Nails website. I used the 2012 Cheeky Monkey plate CH1, which I got on Amazon on sale now for $15.99, 26 plates in all.  I used Konad's stamping polish in black for the bows. And of course I finish it off with a thick coat of Seche Vite.

(my blogger all of a sudden won't let me enlarge or add captions to my pictures).  Don't mind my middle finger (I "bleeped" it out because it's partly broken!) eep! Well, I feel like crap, so I'm going back to bed. Let me know what you think, and has anyone else been experincing problems with blogger, also? Well, toodles mah noodles! Hope everyone has a great week!

Models Own Beetlejuice Summer 2012 Collection

Well, I had created this awesome look for the 4th, but when I did it last night I was tired and I had already taken my Ambien...hehe, so it was a bit sloppy and wasn't worth sharing, although I did get some compliments on them at work today. I am so excited to have tomorrow off! Well, I will get to my non-patriotic post...

I have been drooling over this collection before it was even released but everytime I found the collection together it was never in stock...until last week! My first Models Own polishes! I was soooo excited to get them. Their store doesn't ship to the US, so thanks to Harlow & Co. I got mine in like 4 days...shipping from Canada! How awesome! I wanted the first Beetlejuice Collection, but then their summer Beetlejuice collection came out and it was love at first sight!

More than any of them I wanted Indian Ocean. So I'll show it first. This beautiful duochrome is blue, pink, lilac, but very sheer. So, as shown below, I used one coat of Pure Ice Kissy Kiss (a periwinkle color). It wasn't very opaque but that's what I was going for. I then used 2 coats of Models Own Indian Ocean, followed by a thick coat of Seche Vite- I also used basecoat Seche Clear (I will ALWAYS !use a basecoat although I may not name it in my posts- as I used the same base and top coat in all of these manis)) I LOVE this outcome! Indian Ocean also has small purple or pink glitter in it- just a subtle amount to really make it pop. One of my favorite polishes! Jen from Polishaholic also did an awesome swatch on this color here!

Next, is Tropical Sun, which I really liked but wasn't just crazy about until I put it on. This was also a sheer peachy shimmer with hints of orange pink and gold. I decided to go with the base color, coral. For this I used Sinful Colors Hazard- one coat of this opaque polish gave me a brighter Tropical Sun that I would have had otherwise. I still loved this look and as shown below shows its different "faces" in the sun.

Last, but surely not least is Copper Pot, which was, I suppose was my least favorite of these 3, which isn't saying much. Once I put it on I was impressed- although I have probably 4 polishes that are almost this same color (one being a Pure Ice for $1.99). This was strong enough not to use a base color underneath, so I just applied 2 coats of this shimmery copper, hence Copper Pot lol. Looking back, it wouldn't have hurt to use 3 coats, but it still turned out nice.

When I went outside to take these pics it looked as if it was about to rain, so there wasn't a lot of sun, which didn't really give me a lot to work with. Of course, the clouds eventually moved on and my other swatches for this came out great due to the sunlight. Yay for summer....ha. Living in Louisiana isn't much fun during this awful season...the humidity is smothering. Well, I will leave you with this fun picture:

Polishing with the Un-Named

Hey all you polish girlies! As I was looking at all my polishes I came across this polish that I got a while back called "Designers Choice" that I got for 99 cents. It's such a pretty copper/yellow duochrome foil that I had to was just sitting on my shelf calling my name.  I started out with Orly Bonder then applied 3 coats of this cheap polish.  I will say that the saying "you get what you pay for" definitely applies to this polish...

Here's what it looks like in regular light- kind of a coppery foil with a hint of reddish yellow

It's thin and I had to put the top back on and shake it up a few times during application to keep it from I found that it was thin then it would be really clumpy- especially at the end of my nail where it would gather and just clump up and I would have to wipe it off. I just kept in mind that I paid less than one dollar for it, so...

In direct sunlight- has a yellow foil duochrome

Lastly, I applied Seche Vite top coat, as always, as this stuff works miracles to seal off the color! I just got this bottle a few weeks ago and it's already almost half gone! But it's only $6 at Wal-Mart and Sally's. All in all, it was worth my $1 and I will probably use this to make Frankens and such. I am happy with the results I got and wish it had a name, but alas, I suppose I will give it a name...

Here is the straight cooper foil color in the sunlight

Here it has a green tint to it

Here's a clear view of the duochrome colors- red, orange, gold,
green, and yellow

We'll call this one DC (Designers Choice) Golden Girlies...

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:)

Stamping With ULTA For Bitten and RA-104

Wow, this has been a long week! I have been dying to swatch and photograph, but the weather has been horrible all week! Storms Thursday through Saturday afternoon. I don't mind swatching inside, but my camera seems to work best on macro when I'm outside without the flash, so I don't argue with it.  Doesn't matter how awesome my nails look, if I can't get a good pic, then I can't share :(

So, last this past week I ordered a lot of goodies from Amazon that I've been picking out for a while now- Red Angel Plates, MASH dotting tools (as shown below), MASH plate holder, some Konad special polishes, nail art rhinestones and tweezers for them, Konad plate, and a MASH crystal/glass file, and finally some empty polish bottles so I can make Frankens! So excited!! I got half of my stuff, but still waiting for the rest. I love getting packages! Oh, and I ordered some Bootie Babe polishes! (will post when I get those!)

I was really inspired and wanted to use just about everything I got all at the same time, but it's not as easy for me as it looks.  I was so excited and started out with a look I thought would look great, but it turned out crappy, so waited until this morning to try something else.

I started off with Color Club Stuck On You basecoat, then two coats of ULTA For Bitten, which is a beautiful deep red/purple/gold duochrome, shimmer that I have bought a few weeks ago, but haven't used yet. I think I will try this again soon without stamping, which kind of hides its beauty.

ULTA For Bitten

I then used my new Red Angel stamps, which I found I like a lot more than the Bundle Monster plates I have, as they are larger- BM has 6 on one plate while RA has 4 and RA was a bit cheaper. The Nailasaurus made put all the plates side by side with their size in this review. I think they only have that one set, though, so I'll be watching to see when they make more! As shown to the right, I used the stamp highlighted on plate RA-104. I used Konad Special Polish in White, which  I understand aren't necessary to use, but I wanted to see for myself. Since I've only used it this once and I haven't been stamping for long, I don't know how much my opinon counts, but I like the special polishes...this is why:

1. As shown on the left, the brush is shorter than regular brushes (compared to Sinful Colors brush), which makes painting the stamp faster and easier so polish doesn't drip.

2. All the colors are very opaque, since they are made for stamping, you don't have to spend time testing polishes, which I will still do...

3. The stamp picks up the polish very easily, without hardly any pressure picking up and applying to the nail.

4. The price of the polish runs anywhere from $3 to $6 a bottle...yes, they are simply for stamping, but in my opinon it's worth it, especially when using white and black, since I will probably use them the most.

5. They dry very quickly and I can still use a regular top coat after a short time.

I finished it up with 2 coats of Seche Vite topcoat.  I tried to get different angles to show the polish in different light, although I didn't have much light to work with as it was overcast for like the 20th day in a row...I just couldn't wait to swatch. I do still need some work as far as my stamping, but I suppose everyone has to start somewhere.  I don't really know how crazy I am about the white over this color, but I went with it, but might try again with a darker color for stamping.
I am excited to get the rest of my loot in, so I will try to get another post or two in this week.

And, to end today, here's my little helper that loves to grab my polish and drop it in the trash thinking he's helping me pick up:)