China Glaze Frostbite & OPI In True Stefani Fashion Swatches (and jelly sandwich!)

Today I have two swatches and a jelly sandwich for y'all!  The swatches are China Glaze Frostbite, a bright blue shimmer, and OPI In True Stefani Fashion, a silver holo glitter.  They looked so good together I decided to try Frostbite as a jelly sandwich and it worked great!


Ok first up is China Glaze Frostbite, a bright royal blue polish with a lovely metallic shimmer.  This polish applied really well, but it is definitely sheer...I used 3 coats to build opacity.  This is one of those colors that glows from within, I think due to the metallic shimmer.

Morgan Taylor Scene Queen Swatch

Today I have the most amazing polish I've ever seen, Morgan Taylor Scene Queen.  It is truly wonderful!  It looks like a silvery metallic nude and then it leans a champagne blush color. Seriously, I'm obsessed.

Striping & Glitz

Hey y'all! Up for today is a black and white and glitter all over mix match mani :)  I was going for a dark, simple colored mani with lots of eye appeal and this definitely met expectations.  I was inspired by this post on the nail polish challenge.

First I used Finger Paints Where Art Renoir, a black polish with silver glitter, two coats for my base.  For my middle finger and the base for my ring finger I used a base of China Glaze Gossip over Gimlets then two coats of OPI In True Stefani Fashion.  On the ring finger I used double thick striping tape stripes and added FP Where Art Renoir on top.

Mix & Match Mani

 This was a mani I had been looking at for a while now on Pinterest.  There are actually 3 version that I pinned; a blue one, purple one, & a red one.  When I looked into the blue one I found that the girl had actually done this design in a few other schemes as well.

Happy Birthday To Me

Happy Birthday to ME! My birthday is tomorrow so today I am sharing the nails I did for this weekend.  This post was inspired by this post by BadGirlNails. 

Glitz Mani & Pink French

Hey y'all :) This is a mani I based off a picture I found on Pinterest from Chloe's Nails.

Pink Purple Galaxy

Hey y'all, today I have my first "galaxy" style mani.  This isn't the typical color scheme for a galaxy (blue, black, pink, green etc.) but rather one based on Zoya Payton (my base color).   The idea was more of a twilight colored galaxy scheme but it didn't quite turn out like I wanted.

I started with Zoya Payton as my base, then sponged China Glaze Gossip Over Gimlets.  Then LA Colors Light Pink Metalic, and Zoya Reva.  I then sponged a little of the base color to blend it all a bit.  I dabbed Wet N Wild Coloricon Speak When Spoken To on the very center and topped it all with crack (China Glaze Fairy Dust) and Sally Hansen InstaDri.

China Glaze Autumn Nights

Happy Fall Y'all!
Today I have 2 polishes from the China Glaze Autumn Nights Fall 2013 Collection.

The formula and coverage was wonderful with both polishes and the colors are fantastic.  CG Gossip Over Gimlets is a very opaque silver foil with tiny gold flakes that you can barely see, but they add a nice warm tone to the silver.  CG Rendezvous With You is a very unique dark warm purple foil, I don't think I've seen this color before. 

This is 2 coats of CG Rendezvous With You and tips are one coat CG Gossip Over Gimlets.  Both of these are foil finish shimmers and they are gorgeous!

Finger Paints Colorful Collage

This is one coat Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, with 2 coats Finger Paints Colorful Collage.  The accent nail is China Glaze Spontaneous, then CG Grape Pop, then CG Fairy dust.  The pictures on this aren't great because I didn't have time to take them until we were at a friend's house so the lighting was bad, sorry!

Also, apparently I'm pretty obsessed with Finger Paints Colorful Collage, this is the 3rd time I've worn it since I bought it less than 2 months ago.

Flash

No Flash, Crappy indoor lighting

*** Y'all please take a minute to also check out my jewelry page, I'm running a 35% off sale right now. The tab is at the top of the page, Contact me if you'd like to purchase one, and thanks for looking***

Glitzology Country Girl- LONG REVIEW

This was a special mani for me, because it was for my son's 1st birthday party :)

We had a farm themed party and I knew I wouldn't have time for animal nail art, so when I found this john deere themed polish on Glitzology's site I knew I had to have it!  They were having a 50% off sale so I got this polish and a Cupcake scented cuticle oil (it smells like heaven).

I used the 3 Minute Artificials as my base, then 2 coats Barielle Lily of the Valley, 2 coats Ulta Sun-Sational for accent nails, then ONE coat Country Girl, followed by 2 coats of Gelous topcoat.

Zoya Kimber & Finger Paints Colorful Collage

I grabbed this Finger Paints color on a whim at Sally's this weekend and I'm so glad I did because I love it! This is some super blingy holo glitter, in nearly all lights. The display didn't have a collection name though and I can't find any swatch info online for it either.


This is one coat Zoya Kimber and 2 thin coats Finger Paints Colorful Collage.


These are a little wonky right hand pictures because I didn't have time for a full gel set and I'm healing a split on my right hand. When I first started doing gel sets I over filed trying to blend the smile line and I was left with a super sensitive, red, dented in area that's finally growing out but when it got to the tip it split so now it's very short.

 Best shot, sunlight

China Glaze Ombre Kit- Cure for the Colors

Hi y'all :)

Today I have a mani I did for the Cure for the Colors 5.26 mile walk I participated in this  past weekend.  I walked with a team and was there mostly in memory of my Papa, who passed away in 2008 from pancreatic cancer, about 6 months after he was diagnosed. Purple is the color for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness & Lavender is the color for General Cancer Awareness.

 I had a great time doing this walk, with a great group of friends and look forward to doing many more.  I'm working on getting back in shape and participating in community events like this is great motivation for me.  As a matter of fact, I am doing a 5k MS Walk this upcoming weekend and a 5k Glow Walk/Run in May.

This was done with the China Glaze Grape Expectations Ombre Kit, topped with CG Fairy Dust.  Accent nail is Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, Glitzology Diamonds & Pearls, and the ribbon is CG Spontaneous.  All nails have one coat SH Insta-Dri.

You can check out Cure for the Colors here
I am taking donations for the MS Walk if you'd like to donate, click here

 Sunlight

Shade

*** Y'all please take a minute to also check out my jewelry page, the tab is at the top of the page, Contact me if you'd like to purchase one, and thanks for looking***

Revlon Blue Lagoon Swatch

When i got this color i was looking for Sinful Colors Cinderella but Walgreen's didn't have it and this was pretty close. The only difference I've noticed from swatches is that Cinderella has a lovely pink shimmer flash that Blue Lagoon does not.  Blue Lagoon is a baby blue with a silver shimmer. Its  sheer, this is 3 coats, and formula is a really thin, as you can see by my hideously flooded cuticles.  The glitter on top is Sinful Colors Ice Dream. Ice Dream is a cheaper dupe for China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara and Sally Hansen Gem Crush. There's small differences but hardly noticeable. Check out a comparison post at Hooked On Polish.

  *** Y'all please take a minute to also check out my jewelry page, the tab is at the top of the page, Contact me if you'd like to purchase one, and Thanks for looking :)

Scallop Mani & Haul Pics

Today I tried a design I've never done before, scallops :) This is a tape mani, but I used painter's tape instead of my usual scotch tape. I've got to say, I liked this a LOT better!

Natural light, Cloudy, Shows the orange flash

I started with a base coat of Orly Rock It, an awesome reddish fuchsia jelly base, with tons of red and golden orange shimmer, however that orange flash doesn't translate well on the nail.  Then I used craft scissors to cut the painter's tape in a scallop pattern, added Pure Ice Silver Mercedes (which Pure Ice is changing the name to Silver Star, per their site), then I added Wet N Wild Ebony Hates Chris.  I went back and added dots to my ring fingers with the smallest dotting tool.  I had a little bit of smearing with my topcoat from not floating the brush, but overall I'm happy with it!

The scissors I used

This is one coat of all polishes & one coat top coat :)  As far as application issues the only real problem I had was Ebony Hates Chris, i hate the brush, it's really stiff so it either leaves brush strokes & bald spots or it's really thick.  Silver Mercedes applies fine as long as you don't go back over anywhere as (like most metallics I've worn) it pulls.  Rock It was great, this is one moderate coat and it was fully opaque. 

Left: Nautral Light, Cloudy  

Right: Flash

Now for the haul pics I got in today :)

I ordered a Barielle polish earlier this week for 20% off with free shipping, so that puts it around 57% off.  The rest are from Bloom during their 70% off closeout sale.

 All together

 Left: Barielle Lily of the Valley

Center: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Grass Slipper

Right: Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle Forbidden Fudge

 Left: POP Beauty Magenta Muse

Center: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Rose Amore 

Right: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Peach Pave

 Left:Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Ruby Sequin 

Right: Comparison in the new one & my old bottle from 8+ years ago

And here are swatches of all of them, in order as I've shown them (minus Ruby Sequin)

*** Y'all please take a minute to also check out my jewelry page, the tab is at the top of the page, Contact me if you'd like to purchase one, and Thanks for looking :)

We're off to see the Wizard...

This week's mani is inspired by The Wizard of Oz, one of my favorite movies!

Pinky- Dorothy's Dress
2 coats CG White on White
Lines are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away frankened with CG White on White

Ring Finger- The iconic red shoes.
3 coats CG Ruby Pumps. Two coats was opaque, i just did three to block out the magenta jelly base this polish shows on my nails when held to the light.

Middle Finger- The Tin Man
2 coats Pure Ice Silver Mercedes. Heart is Pure Ice Creme Siren and buttons are Sally Hansen Fastdry Ebony Hates Chris.

Pointer Finger- The Wicked Witch's Stockings
2 coats Sally Hansen Fastdry Ebony Hates Chris. White is L.A. Colors Art Deco White.

Thumb- Yellow Brick Road
2 coats Ulta Sun-sational frankened with Ulta Sun of a Gun. Lines made with Ulta Sun-sational frankened with a no name brown from The Color Workshop.

All have one coat base, and 2 coats Sally Hansen Insta-dri Topcoat




I also got my free Zoya Storm in today along with an acrylic nail sample of their Designer and Diva Collection NYFW 2012.  I really like FeiFei, Daul, Toni, Natty, Moot, and Song.

Rekha, Toni, Monica, Natty, Evvie, Noot

 Elisa, Suri, Song, Ray, FeiFei, Daul

 *** Y'all please take a minute to check out my jewelry page :)
Contact me if you'd like to purchase one, and Thanks for looking :)
http://steelandsashes.blogspot.com/