Layered Print

 This was an interesting result of an attempt to match a complex print on one of my favorite shirts. I didn't match it perfectly, but I love the effect of all of the layered stamping! I used half a dozen different shades of teal with as many stamping designs as I thought would work together. It was fun!

 I began with two coats of Color Club Blue-ming. I then stamped on a faux-crackle pattern (Pueen 45) in the slightly lighter China Glaze At Vase Value. Next, I added a light heart-chain pattern (Pueen 27) using L'Oreal Not a Cloud In Sight. 

 A lacy ribbon stamp was next (BM-321) using Sally Hansen New Wave Blue. The stamp has a curved 'V' of lace, so I applied it in random directions on random nails. I followed that with a more tightly packed vine-floral design (BM 312) and OPI Amazon...Amazoff. I only used sections of what was on the stamper, and spread pieces throughout each nail. Next, I added a leafy design (BM-312) using Nicole by OPI Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam. Finally, I decided to punch it up with some itty bitty flowers in Sinful Colors Black on Black.

Colors Used:

Color Club Blue-ming

China Glaze At Vase Value

L'Oreal Not a Cloud In Sight

Sally Hansen New Wave Blue

OPI Amazon...Amazoff

OPI Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam

Sinful Colors Black on Black

Pueen 27,45

Bundle Monster 321, 312

Crackled Ombre

 I decided to go to my spreadsheet of polish for inspiration, and utilize the first polish I had listed as still untried. That turned out to be a crackle polish! For an interesting effect, I did a horizontal ombre under it and mirrored the gradient with teardrop studs. I love it!

 The ombre was created using SpaRitual Dreams Becoming Reality on my thumb, Nicole by OPI I Sea You and Raise You on my index, Sally Hansen Blue-ming Fast on my middle, Julep Bess on my ring, and Tea Beauty Mint Leaf on my pinkie.

 The crackle polish is Sally Hansen Star Burst, a black crackle with a generous mix of silver glitter. I was a bit worried that it was going to be a bit too goopy to work, but it cracked easily once applied. I really like the effect when paired with the changing shades of blue.  As a last touch, I used three colors of teardrop studs to mirror the ombre.

Colors Used:

SpaRitual Dreams Becoming Reality

Nicole by OPI I Sea You and Raise You

Sally Hansen Blue-ming Fast

Julep Bess

Tea Beauty Mint Leaf 

Sally Hansen Star Burst

Rainbow Waves

I really have started to enjoy messing around with nail foil. I've gotten better at working out the wrinkles, and now I think I've even found a combo that works so that the top coat doesn't wrinkle or cloud the shiny design.

 I just received a whole variety of awesome nail foil from Dollar Nail Art, and I really couldn't wait to use it! As soon as I opened the box, I started prepping for these nails.

 I decided to start first with this lovely bright silver holographic "wave" design. It proved frustratingly hard to capture the bright holographic flair in my lightbox, but keep scrolling for some bright colors at the end of this post!

Next, I decided to stamp a boxy design from Bundle Monster plate 322 using Wet n Wild Black Creme. I like that it breaks up the silver while still letting plenty of the holographic goodness show through. To compliment that design, I added matte black diamond glitter (also from Dollar Nail Art) to my thumb, middle, and pinkie nails.

Click to see photos taken outside!

Blaze of Glory

This is the beautiful and amazing Blaze by Daily Hues Lacquer. It is amazing duochrome bronze/copper linear holo. I took so many photos trying to catch the beauty of this color!



Blaze was easy to work with, and these photos show three coats, though it was passable with just two. The formula was on the thicker side, but not unmanageable.

The shift from soft bronze/gold to reddish copper is fairly subtle, but definitely present. The amount of holographic flair is rather amazing, without really dulling the color. Normally I can barely capture holographic sparkle in my lightbox, so I'm amazed it was bright enough to show up in these first photos!

This is going to definitely be a image-spam post, so please click through to see more photos!

Tequila Sunrise

 The prompt for the Weekly Challenge for the Nail Polish Queens this week was 'cocktais'. I am completely in the dark about cocktails; all I know is that they're colorful, alcoholic, and I love playing with the umbrellas. So I turned to a friend and she suggested Tequila Sunrise!

 I began with OPI Samoan Sand as an undercoat, to try to cut down on how much buildup a thin yellow jelly would need. I then started layering on Sinful Colors Yellow Out There, which is a sunny yellow jelly with scattered holographic bar glitter. It's a subtle effect, but it does really shine in sunlight!

Next, I used Sinful Colors Curry Up on my tips. It's a light melon orange jelly filled with red glitter and silver bar glitter. However, it was nowhere near dark enough to make a meaningful gradient. I added the sheer tint OPI Amberrassed across most of the nail, followed by a generous pass of Sally Hansen Vitamin D-Light. Next, I used a bit of a darker red tint with OPI Be Magentale with Me and Sally Hansen Jell-ous? before finally adding a touch of OPI Don't Violet Me Down. The violet was sheer enough that it did a wonderful job deepening the color without turning everything purple.

 And lastly, I remembered that I had cheap little dollar store FIMO fruits, so I added those along with little red gems to represent cherries.

Colors Used:

Sinful Colors Yellow Out There

Sinful Colors Curry Up

OPI Amberrassed

Sally Hansen Vitamin D-Light

OPI Be Magentale with Me

Sally Hansen Jell-ous?

OPI Don't Violet Me Down

Galactic Stars

 I was in a bit of a creative rut and couldn't figure out what I wanted to do for nail art. So I decided to fall back on redoing one of my favorite things ever, galaxy nails! Can't go wrong with that!

 I began with one coat of Sinful Colors Black on Black, followed by Claire's Bright Lights Big City. This polish is AMAZING. It's an incredibly flashy scattered holo microglitter in a black base. I tried catching some of the holo goodness in these photos, but it's so hard to get on camera! In any case, this was a magic polish to use as a backdrop to galaxy nails. It gives everything a wonderful depth!

 Next, I proceeded to use a makeup sponge to dab on first China Glaze White on White, then Sinful Colors Mint Tropics, followed by Sinful Colors Fly Away, and finally SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars. I love how quick galaxy nails can come together!

Lastly, I dotted on small points of White on White, then added a few twinkling stars for good measure.

 Trying to get a better shot of all of the holo sparkletastic goodness!

 And again, with some bottle shots of Bright Lights, Big City

 Colors Used:

Sinful Colors Black on Black

Claire's Bright Lights Big City

Sinful Colors Mint Tropics

Sinful Colors Fly Away

SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars

China Glaze White on White

Transitions

 I've taken my first steps into the indie polish realm after seeing all of the amazingness that is out there. It probably helps that I'm in love with both linear holo polish and thermal polish, two things that indie brands seem to be doing extraordinarily well.
I recently purchased two thermal polishes from Daily Hues Lacquer, and they are amazing! These are my first thermal jellies, and I am in love with how responsive they are to temperature change compared to cremes. Even in summer, if I touched something cool the tips of my nails would stay purple for a long time! I love the effect of going from bright blue when warm to deep purple when cool.

These are Daily Hues Nelle (solid jelly) and Daily Hues Priya. (Jelly with glitter). I loved the color so much, I couldn't decide between them! Priya has an amazing amount and variety of glitter, and after a proper bottle shake it wasn't difficult to get the glitter out.

Being jellies, these did take four to five coats to cover my nail line. Extra layers just helped with the depth of the jelly sandwich for Priya, though!

 Just because I wanted some extra thermal fun, I stamped a design from Pueen plate 46 using Dance Legend Termo Trio No.1. Because the stamping transferred such a thin layer, it changed incredibly fast and was hard to capture on camera. However, it went from appearing dark blue, to lavender, to light sky blue as it warmed.

 Keep reading for more photo overload!