Before & After: Brocade Brigade

Hello!

Looking for a winter look that doesn't scream holidays? Let's see if I can pull one up for you...

To get an awesome head-start, let's bust out a little magical holo-duochrome goodness with Mentality Morality:

Mentality Morality

Mentality Morality

Yeah...that's nice...And since that felt so good, let's do some stamping with a little bit more Mentality--yep, you heard me right, some Mentality on Mentality action--with Mentality Bandit (a moss green matte polish) and Pueen 26:

I love me a good brocade in the winter, especially when it's a holo-matte-duochrome brocade, in gorgeous eggplant and moss tones...Le Sighs--I heave them.

Hugs and love!
M.

Before & After: She can't take much more of this, Captain!

Hello--

This week's theme in the Kimber's Amazing Challenge Ladies group is faux stone. I was all ready to do a nice faux turquoise when I looked down at Julep Clara on my fingers and it changed my plans.

Here is Clara, a deep night-sky purple with tons of bright blue glass flecks:

Julep Clara, artificial light

  
 

This is more duochrome than it appears here; it's almost magenta at the edges in certain lights. The formula is wonderful, no application problems. As I was swatching it, I realized it reminds me of Orly Galaxy Girl, so I'll be doing a comparison of them for you. :)

Here is where I admit that I'm a leeeetle bit of a sci-fi geek, and maybe even a leeeetle bit of a Star Trek geek. So as I was looking at this polish and thinking about the night sky and the universe and aliens and stuff, and also had the whole 'faux stone' issue rolling around in my brain...and next thing I knew, 'dilithium crystals!' popped on out.

To create my faux crystals (that's a type of stone=rock=crystals, right??), I loosely sketcyed where I wanted my crystals to be with China Glaze Travel In Color, a topcoat that is supposed to shift the color of your polish just a bit, and add a hint of magic to it. Then, I took some Barry M Silver Foil, and mixed it with some Travel In Color, and used the mix to draw and outline over my crystal formations. Then, I put another layer of Travel in Color over the crystals:

I think the Travel In Color is really beautiful and creates a mystical crystalline feel. I do wish the lines of the outlines were a bit thinner...anyone have any tips on a good nail art brush that makes good thin lines?

Big hugs, and don't forget to check out the other faux stone manis below. :)

M.

Review: Pretty Julep Fall colors

(All polishes purchased with my own money.)

Hello!

Recently I had three lovely fall Julep colors land in my inbox, and I can no longer resist showing them to you. :)

Let's begin with the lovely duochrome glass-flecked wonder that is Julep Karmen:

Julep Karmen, 2 coats, indirect outdoor light

This looks to me like someone took the most vibrant red, orange, and yellow fall leaves, threw them into a blender, added a touch of magic, and hit the 'awesomesauce' setting. I love the different colors that peek out from all over the place, and I love the duochromy effect. This is my absolute favorite fall polish I've seen this year. This is two coats, but if I had been careful, I could have managed one.

And on another slot in the fall continuum, we have Julep Tatiana, and orange-brown-gold flecked beauty:

Julep Tatiana, two coats, artificial light

If you're not into the bright orange sort of look, or are just looking for something that's really fall but a little more understated, this is the lovely for you. You might be sensing that I really love the fleck finishes--I think they give so much visual interest and depth. Le Sigh.

And to turn to the grape-harvest side of fall, we have Julep Reece, a glorious grape with a hint of color shift and a shower of holographic glitter:

I love the rich color of this one, and of course the beautiful reflective holographic glitter just sends it over the top. I've seen other similar polishes, and love that this one is one of the best done I've seen and is an affordable alternative. This one also is a great transition into winter with all of those amazing jewel-toned outfits lying in wait for us. :)

Hope you enjoyed my little walk through my favorite recent Julep pretties, and I hope your Thursday is amazing!

Hugs and love,
M.

(All polishes purchased with my own money.)

Before & After: Smile, Jack, smile!

(All products purchased by me.)

Hey there!!

It's the final week of the Nail Challenge Collaborative's Halloween month, and today I have a fun little manicure to celebrate the week leading up to Halloween itself!

I started off with China Glaze's Bizarre Blurple, from the 2012 Halloween collection. This is a stereotypical blurple duochrome, which flashes blue to purple; this definitely favors the blue side. What so bizarre about it you ask? Maybe the fact that my camera was actually able to take a picture of it, when blurples normally freak it out:  

China Glaze Bizarre Blurple, 2 coats, artificial light

Then I layered on a coat of Shirley Ann Nail Eyes On Indie, a limited edition polish in a purplish-red tinted base, with red, black, pinkish-white glitters in a variety of shapes, including diamonds and half-moon holographic:

The moment I saw that polish, I thought it would be a great glitter for Halloween...I'm not much for the glitter shapes like hearts, flowers, moons, etc., but this one just worked for this purpose, I think. :)

Finally, I stamped a jack-o-lantern and some jack-o-lantern faces on it with Barry M Silver Foil; I used Bunny Nails HD-D and HD01:

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?

Pumpkin Pi!

I think this is a fun manicure with a slightly spooky edge, and I love how this glitter looks against the blurple. :)

Don't forget to take a look at the other Halloween manis linked below! Hugs and jack-o-lantern kisses,

M.

(All products purchased by me.)

Before & After: Mutagen Graveyard

(All products in this post were purchased with my own money.)

Hello!!

Today is one of those days when I have a deeply special polish to show you. This is I <3 NP Mutagen, one of their gorgeous new multichrome polishes; this particular one is green, blue, and purple, and even some rose gold. Here are a ridiculous number of photos, to show you all the beautiful shifts:

Something about this said Halloween to me, probably the strong purples and greens, so I decided to do a Halloween manicure with it--this was actually one of the first ones I did this year, in anticipation of the prompt theme for today, which is 'Graveyard'.

I saw a different Halloween manicure that did a cool shadow stamp technique, so I decided to try it out myself. I first stamped my tombstones with Sally Hansen Orange Impulse, and then stamped over it again with Konad white (the image is from Bunny Nails, HD03, and she has a slightly smaller version on her new plates):

Here lies Jonathan Blake

Stepped on the gas

Instead of the brake

These pictures can't capture how cool the shadow stamping looked against the multichrome in motion--I wish I'd taken a video of it. But you can see how well the colors work together, and how great this polish is for a Halloween mani. :)

Don't forget to check out the other graveyard manis below, when they get linked up. :)

Hugs and loves,
M.

(All products in this post were purchased with my own money.)

My favorite Halloween Polishes, part 2

...You ready for part 2? (if you missed part one, you can find it here. )

Last time I showed you some basic building blocks, plus a couple that were a little extra-special. I'm going to continue on with the extra-specials--and by coincidence, all of today's offerings are indies, too. :)

Let's have at it!!

Best all-in-one Halloween polish: No Worries Polish Truffula Tree

No Worries Polish Truffula Tree, artificial light

If you want a fun, special Halloween manicure that will catch they eye, but don't have time for nail art and the like, this polish is for you. Beautiful formula, and very festive. Your one-stop Halloween polish experience. :)

Most versatile Halloween accent polish: The Nail Junkie Tiger

The Nail Junkie Tiger

I realized as I was putting this together that I don't have a full swatch of this polish, because I tend to use it as an accent rather than a full mani. So I'm showing you a Halloween mani I did with it instead of a swatch. This is a great polish to use as an accent nail, a background glitter to stamp over, a stand-out skittle nail. The basic orange-and-black color scheme make it perfect for almost any sort of theme--spiders, witches, pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns, haunted houses, bats. Yes yes yes, I realize it has bar glitter. I love bar glitter myself, but even if you don't love it for daily wear, I think it still has a place in theme manicures. :)


Darkest, most goth-type Halloween polish: A Study In Polish Consulting Criminal

A Stud In Polish Consulting Criminal, direct sunlight

Perfect for deadly vampires, serious sorcerers and goth fairies, this red, white and silver in black jelly polish will take care of all of your dark, shadow-filled Halloween-style desires.


Polish that looks most like body part and blood splatter: 6 Harts Ninja Bat

6 Harts Ninja Bat, over medium gray franken, indirect sunlight

Let's say you're stuck in a horror movie, and some serial killer is coming after you, trying to kill you. Let's further say that you pull out a grenade, and blow him to bits. Let's still further say you take a look over at the wall that his body splattered all over. That's what this polish reminds me of, when I'm in a Halloween state of mind.

On that note: Spaghetti and meatballs, anyone?

Most night-sky and alien-esque Halloween polish: Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me.

Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me!, no undies, direct sunlight

Looking for a night sky polish that comes with its own moons? Want something that captures a whimsical, alien-creature type of look? Going to the party as Dr. Who, and want to take the galaxy with you? Want nails that the sauciest of sorceresses would wear, polish that will make your nails look like they can cast spells all on their own? This is the polish for you. You could get a slightly more subtle look than the one I put together here by putting undies under it and using one coat. But who wants subtle for Halloween??? :)


Most self-explanatory: Pretty & Polished Blood Clot

Pretty & Polished Blood Clot, no undies, two coats, artificial light

Yeah, it's probably pretty obvious why this one made the list--this is so creepily, horrendously like a microscope view of blood cells clotting up, it makes the Halloween freak inside me dance with joy. This is also one of those frustrating polishes to photograph--it looks so much better (and creepier!) in person. I believe this was also released for a while under the name 'Bloody Mary'; whichever way you find it, your evil nurse/doctor/serial killer costume would not be complete without some of this dripped, er, painted onto your nails.


Most non-horrific Halloween polish: SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance

SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance, 2 coats, indirect sunlight

 

The only thing horrific here is my swatching ability--these were taken a year ago, I apparently didn't realize the bottle was in focus rather than the nails, and they make me shudder! But they still get the basic idea across, including the duochrome aspect of the polish, and the glitters. This is a wonderful polish for princesses, faeries, elves of various sorts, and other sweet, ethereal costumes. It's also just a fun, quick Halloween polish that will help you capture the general spirit of the holiday in one bottle.


And to end, an absolutely quintessential Halloween polish: Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash

Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash over Zoya Keiko, artificial light

I have undies here, but you can build this polish up on its own to get more glitter and nearly the exact same base color (as you can see in the bottle). This is another polish that I love for capturing the spirit of the holiday just as it is, with no nail art and no costume to pair with it. It's full of energy and fun, just the way Halloween should be.

And so, my favorites are at an end...but I'm sure this is only the beginning of the possibilities. So I leave you with this very important question: what amazing Halloween polishes am I missing from this list? What are your favorites? Point me to them!!! :)

Hugs and Halloween thrills,
M.