ECOPOLO Summer Mani Challenge: Summer Floral

See?  I told you I'd be quicker about getting this week's challenge mani up!  Here's the weekly breakdown:

Well, these didn't turn out as nice as I was hoping.  Don't you hate it when you get an idea in your head but you simply just cannot execute it?  I was attempting to do hibiscus flowers using this tutorial from thatleanne. But yeah, it totally didn't work out.  At all.  I don't know how many times I redid this stupid mani, but I finally decided that what I came up with would just have to do.

I did a mini skittle mani on my thumb, index, and pinkie nails using China Glaze Hawaiian Punch, Zoya Yana, and Zoya Myrta.  Then, I painted two accent nails with Cult Nails Tempest and added my dotted on flowers using Hawaiian Punch and Yana. I used Zoya Myrta to create the pistil, but, as you can see, they were way too thick.

I'm sure I'll eventually get to a review of the three polishes I haven't reviewed yet, but I'll give a quick and dirty blurb about each polish just in case you're curious.

Hawaiian Punch is a gorgeous vibrant red with flashes of pink making it lean more towards a hot pink.  Application was easy, no clumping, pooling, streaking, or dragging.  I used three coats.

Yana is a gorgeous corally pink that actually WORKED on me!  I don't typically do well with Zoya cremes. They either streak like mad or refuse to dry, but Yana was perfect.  Application was super simple and required almost no cleanup.  This is three coats.

Tempest is a gorgeous white that achieves opacity in one thick coat or two coats if you're striving to keep bubbles and shrinkage to a minimum.  Application is a little more tricky than the other two.  If you want opacity with one coat, you have to do three quick swipes without going over parts that have already been painted, otherwise you'll get bald spots.  This is one thick coat and one thin coat.

You can read my review of Myrta here.  It's the old format, but I think you get the idea.  I used two coats because I nicked it a little and wanted to make sure I covered that bit up.

Lastly, I tried out a new quick dry topcoat last night, and it left me with mixed feelings...  Nubar Diamont isn't as thick as Seche Vite or HKGirl, and it doesn't have the same strong smell, either.  It dries super fast and really hard like SV but without the shrinkage and bubbles SV is known for, which is what I've been looking for.  However, it didn't dry shiny.  Take a look up there at my macros of Hawaiian Punch and Yana.  Go ahead.  I'll wait.  Yeah, those would be brush strokes.  Ugh.  I'm not sure if it's just that Diamont doesn't play well with Zoya and China Glaze, or if maybe I allowed the brush to touch the paint, which was mostly dry at that point, and it mixed the paint with the topper?  I'm not sure.  It also smeared the art a little even though I waited  a good 10-15 minutes after painting them to add the topcoat.  So yeah, I'm still going to experiment with Diamont, but I'm a little disappointed with the outcome as of right now.  I received this little baby from a friend who has a huge refill bottle.  I've always wanted to try it out, but I didn't want to commit to a full size bottle in case I hated it.

You can purchase Zoyas at salons or beauty supply shops like Ulta.  You can purchase Cult Nails at their online store here.



What's your favorite summer flower?

Before & After: Nubar Iris Dust glitter sammich!

Hello!!

Today I have another manicure from the Flip- Flop February challenge...sort of. Sort of, because I kinda messed up a little bit. The prompt for today is Stamping/Jelly Sandwich...but somehow it made it into my calendar as 'Stamping/Glitter Sandwich'. Not a huge difference, except for the fact that I made my sammich without using jelly polish...I used non-jelly duochrome instead. Bad, bad blogger. :(

However, I really love the colors and the result, so I have to share it anyway! 

Here are the polishes I used, in the order I used them; from left to right, Nubar Iris Dust, Rainbow Polish Pheasant (a clear-based polish with copper, yellow and blue glitters), and Sally Hansen Amber Ruby, from and old, old, old school Nail Prisms release:

Nubar Iris Dust, Rainbow Polish Pheasant, and Sally Hansen Amber Ruby

Here is Iris Dust on its own; it's a rich purple-brown-gold duochrome with a fairly strong color shift: 

Nubar Iris Dust

Aaand, closer up. :)

Then I put on a layer of Pheasant, letting it sit where it lie instead of smoothing or trying to perfect placement (because I think  little randomness looks best in a glitter sammich). Finally, I topped it with Amber Ruby, which is similar to Iris Dust, but different enough to add dimension:

Okay, that's a lot of pictures, lo, but I wanted to try to catch the different colors through the shift. And I realize these colors aren't for everyone, but what can I say, I just love them. I love the way the duochrome shifts over the glitters, I love the metallic tones, and I adore the way the blues just pop out from the rest. Can't you just see these colors on a gorgeous pheasant out in the wild??

Thank you for checking it out, and please take a look at what the other participants did today. :)

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Nubar Wildlife

Hello!

After all of the Halloween manicures, today I thought I'd post something a bit more subtle, with a subdued fall feel. :)

I started off wearing Nubar Wildlife for a day. It's no secret that I love multichromes, and this is one of the really unique ones out there. It goes from an avocado to an olive to a forest green, with flash of light and dark chocolate brown in it. There is no light or condition under which you don't see the color shift, the light only changes how the exact colors show up. And it's one of those that have rich, bright colors that just pull in the eye:

Nubar Wildlife in the shade

Nubar Wildlife in the sun

After wearing this for a day, I stamped a fern pattern from Bundle Monster BM05 on all fingers but the accent, and an overall fern pattern from Konad plate m83 on the accent nail. I believe I used China Glaze Westside Warrior for this, but I forgot to write it down so I'm not positive--but I'm about 85% sure. :)

Stamped in the sun

Stamped in the shade

Something about this polish and this manicure is just peaceful to me, like sitting in a beautiful English garden sipping a cup of coffee and watching the birds at the feeder. :)

Thanks for taking a look!

Xoxox,
M.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Growing up in California both in the desert and along the coast, I didn't really get to experience seasons quite like the rest of the country. When I was younger, I lived in Utah, but I was so young that I didn't appreciate what happened right around October. All I really cared about was which kind of candy I was going to get on Halloween, and what I was going to be that year. I was Captain Jean-Luc Picard three years in a row. But I digress.

Now that I live in Colorado, I'm getting the whole fall/autumn fever that comes with the pumpkin pies and falling leaves. These leaves are right outside our yard.

Yep...they're as crunchy and fun as they look. I have tested them and approved them.

Along with this fever comes the fever for pumpkins. So some friends and I (after recovering from last night's outing to the bars) went pumpkin picking. I had to sport some appropriate nails for the occasion. Originally I wanted to do a Konad/Bundle Monster of the Jack O' Lantern stamp I have, but I don't have an orange polish that stamps really well, so I bailed on that idea. Instead, I just went with a pumpkin-y colored polish from China Glaze called Papaya Punch and some Nubar 2010.  Here's the result:

In-the-shade shot.

Pretty damn close huh?

I picked a perfectly round pumpkin at the second patch we went to. The first was so picked over only the rotting ones were left. I will give the first one some credit for being more family-fun friendly though. They had tractor rides, a corn maze (albeit a pathetic one that even my short-ass self could see over) and a petting zoo (with kittens?). Usually the petting zoo would win me over, but we already had an animal with us, so I was happy.