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!

Nerd Lacquer Swatches

Hello, all you polish ladies! It has been like 3 weeks since I last posted. I am polishing my nails at least every other day and take pictures, but just don't have time to upload and write.  Life has been crazy and busy and I find it very soothing to sit down and paint my nails, but by the time I've painted my nails and taken pictures the sun is gone and it's time to go to bed! Where does the day go?!
Well, I have been buying lots of polish online, especially indie brands such as Nerd Lacquer, which is what I'm bringing you all today.  I ordered four colors and bought one of Amanda's new polishes, Carbon Allotrope. I was sooo excited to get them in, but didn't get any pics of the box as I got them in. Here they are separate as I swatched them.  It took me a couple of days to get all of them on and take pictures. I am still trying to made a lightbox so I can take pictures inside, but alas, I don't have a dang box! I can't remember the last time I DIDN'T have a box!

Carbon Allotrope is made up all sizes of silver glitter, very fine and required 4 coats to get my nails fully covered, but I didn't mind. It was a very easy polish to apply and I could apply them fairly thick. This is a beautiful silver color with high quality micro glitter. I am hoping to order her other high end nail polish, Holy Grail, which sells on her etsy shop for $18. 
The next color I bought was Event Horizon, which is a turquoise color with multi-colored micro glitter and big silver glitter. It only took 2 coats of this beautiful deep green to get my nails fully covered.
My third color, Resolutionary is a bright pink with big gold glitter and small silver micro glitter.  Again, this polish only took 2 coats.
My last polish is Gorramit, which was my favorite because it is so unique.  It's one of the first colors I saw that really pulled me in on purchasing some Nerd Lacquer. This bright yellow has big red and yellow glitter with silver micro glitter. I also used 2 coats for this application.
I have been wanting to purchase some of her polishes for a while, but she hasn't been taking any orders and opened her shop for a few days, so I took full advantage! I would have ordered more, but it gets a bit costly. She has so many more colors I want to purchase and can't wait for her to open her shop back up. She also sells some on Harlow & Co., but as of today, all were sold out except for one!
Here are some more pics of each of the four polishes I bought. Like I've said, none of these are new to the polish world except Carbon Allotrope, but I thouroughly enjoyed swatching these and hope I can upload another post soon! I have plenty of pictures, it's just finding time to write! Happy Thursday to all!!!

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:)