Monkey see, monkey do: butterfly wings

I have nothing to disclose.

One of the things I love best about blogging is the people I've met. Tomorrow is the birthday of my friend Narmai, who I've come to know pretty well over the past year or so. I tend to think of her more along the lines of a distant cousin, seeing as how similar we are in many ways.

I was already plotting and planning a manicure for her special day tomorrow, and then this morning I saw her beautiful butterfly wings manicure. She added some glow in the dark polish to this manicure, which looked pretty neat! After commenting on her post, she ordered me to try this.. so I did!

She's also convinced me to practise stamping, so I shall try to do some more stamping in the next few weeks.. just in time for the holiday fun! Anyway, the one plate I don't have is the butterfly wings, which of course is the one I wanted the most. Oh well. So I had to freehand this.

First I did a jelly sandwich using Sinful Colors Nail Junkie & Kissy. I added a coat of Fantasy Makers Go With the Glow. Then I simply used my Shany nail art polishes to draw in the lines, and finally the dots. I decided to stay true to nature and make the dots random.

I wasn't able to get a great picture of the glow in the dark effect, just because I've had a migraine for the past 5 days.. so I'm a little shaky and without much patience :( Oh well, as you can see, it definitely glows and looks pretty neat!

This was a lot of fun, and I hope I'll get a chance to do more nail art soon! Thanks to Narmai for the inspiration, encouragement & friendship :) Have a great day tomorrow!!

Review: Daphine Polish Watermelon Taffy

Press Sample

I have the last of my Daphine Polish polishes to share with you today. I have to admit, when I opened my package and saw the name Watermelon Taffy, I was mildly amused. With a name like Melanie, you can't escape being associated with melons :P (Not that I'm saying this was done on purpose.. but you get the gist.) Watermelon Taffy was the full size sample I was provided with, which makes me very happy because ironically, this one is my favorite. I think the only thing that would make this polish possibly better is if it smelled like Watermelon.

"There's nothing like taffy made in and bought from a candy store on the boardwalk along the shore. Bright pink taffy with a green "rind," watermelon was always one of my favorite flavors. Part of the Beach Collection — inspired by all things beach related, they're all perfect colors for summer.

Pink almost-neon jelly with green and black glitters. It practically glows!"

This is the description of Watermelon Taffy, and I have to tell you, Joanne did a perfect job of creating a polish which captures the color and fun of watermelon. Just looking at the polish in the bottle, I'm reminded of watermelon.. the glitters and color she used for this are, in my mind's eye, perfect. 

 
L - R: 1 coat over black, 1 coat over white, 3 coats, 2 coats, 1 coat

I love how this looks as a topper over black and white, but I was looking at this polish and thought it would look fantastic over orange. So I decided to do something a little bit different with it.. get ready for my first Halloween manicure of the year!

For this manicure, I used 2 coats each of Kleancolor Neon Orange and LA Colors Circuits, with 1 coat of Watermelon Taffy.

This polish did apply just a little bit lumpy which you can see a bit better over black, but it really didn't bother me that much.

You can find Daphine Polish:
on Facebook
at Etsy
on Instagram
Watermelon Taffy is available on her Etsy shop for a $10 full size 16.5 ml bottle and it is 3 free.

Thank you to Joanne for providing me with this sample.

Review: Daphine Polish Hathor

Press Sample

Today I'm continuing with showing you yet another polish from Daphine Polish, and I'm delighted to share that it's from their brand new collection, Goddess of the Two Lands. Here's a brief description with some background information about Hathor.

(image source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/gods_gallery_07.shtml)

"An emerald green with gold holographic glitter and a hint of holographic sparkle, Hathor is the goddess of feminine love and motherhood. She wears a headdress of horns in which sits the solar disk and uraeus (upright cobra) of royalty. She was one of the most popular goddesses in Ancient Egypt and was deeply loved by nobility and commoner alike. She was revered by women who sought to emulate her as the ideal wife, mother, and lover. The Ancient Greeks identified Hathor as their goddess Aphrodite."

(2 coats, flash, and 3 coats, flash)

To be honest, I'm pretty torn with this polish. The formula was a little difficult to work with. There isn't anything in particular I can point to. It reminds me a little bit of the Sally Hansen Chromes for whatever reason. I found the formula a little wonky, just because the glitter makes it a little lumpy with multiple coats. I think I would prefer this with one coat over black or white just to get a more even finish.

(l to r: 1 coat over black, 1 coat over white, 3 coats, 2 coats, 1 coat)

 (2 coats, normal light)

The color itself is pretty, but I would not describe it as emerald. It has almost a frost like finish, is fairly metallic but also has a hint of iridescence. It is definitely more emerald with three coats, but even with just 2 coats I found it to be a lovely color perfect for Autumn. With two coats it has more of a blueish grey sheen, which reminds me a bit of slate.

(2 coats, flash)

I can't really say that I love this polish, but I definitely do not hate it either.

 I may just be overly influenced by reading too much Harry Potter as of late, but this color makes me think of Slytherin which I suppose does fit well with the cobra theme associated with Hathor. So going with this theme, I thought Hathor would look awesome paired with my Tip Top gold crackle, and I was right!


You can find Daphine Polish:
on Facebook
at Etsy
on Instagram
Hathor is available on her Etsy shop for a $10 full size 16.5 ml bottle and it is 3 free.

Thank you to Joanne for providing me with this sample. Also, I should note I was provided with a mini, not a full size bottle.

I have one more Daphine Polish to show you some time next week :) Please leave your comments, I'd love to see what you think of Hathor!

Review: Daphine Polish Mystik Spiral

Press sample

Today I'm going to start off with my Daphine Polish reviews with a pretty glitter by the name of Mystik Spiral. Here's her description of this polish:

"This polish is part of the Daria collection, inspired by the '90s cartoon. Mystik Spiral is the name of Trent Lane's band, an alternative rock/grunge band with hints of heavy metal. According to Daria, the name sounds like a Doors tribute band. They play gigs around the Lawndale area, though nobody knows why they get booked as their songs are not very good.

Blackened purple jelly polish with matte grey, black and red square glitters, and silver holo hairy bars."

As a teenager in the 90s, of course I watched Daria and I can appreciate this collection :) I received a mini of this polish. The very first thing I have to draw your attention to is the extra long brush handle, and yes they're longer with the full size bottles as well.

Below are my swatch wheels.

 From left to right:
1 coat Mystik Spiral over black
1 coat Mystik Spiral over white
3 coats Mystik Spiral
2 coats Mystik Spiral
1 coat Mystik Spiral



Next I tried a few different color combos.

 I think you can see, this polish is a bit tricky. Used over light colors, the holo glitter loses its effect. Over dark colors, the black glitter tends to blend in and of course of red the red glitter gets lost. I did like how this looked over Julep Nora, the first nail on this wheel. (Sorry for the streakiness on the second nail there, I blame myself and not the polish.)

None of my polishes screamed at me to use with this, so instead I did a layered effect.

The first combo is the one I decided to go with: 2 coats of Maybelline Downtown Brown topped with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Sturdy Sapphire, topped with 1 coat of Mystik Spiral. The second nail here is just 1 coat of Downtown Brown, 3rd is I believe no coats of Sturdy Sapphire, must be 2 coats of Downtown Brown and the last one I believe is 1 coat of Sturdy Sapphire.

I had no problems with this formula, and while I do like this polish I do want to emphasis again that it was a bit tricky to find a good color combination to pair it with (you might even blame my limited collection!) I think this would look good over light pinks or bright blues. It would definitely look great over a nice dusty rose or wine, if you have the right shade (I don't, darn it!)

You can find Daphine Polish:
on Facebook
at Etsy
on Instagram

Mystik Spiral is available on her Etsy shop for a $10 full size 16.5 ml bottle and it is 3 free.

Thank you to Joanne for providing me with this sample.

NOTD: Undies

I have nothing to disclose. I purchased 1 of these items, the other was a giveaway prize.

 Sorry there hasn't been much activity on the blog as of late. I've been really busy with setting up my aquarium, but also getting adjusted to Mike's new work schedule. He's now working 12 hour shifts, which means more computer time for me but it's also meant quite an adjustment in planning and preparing meals.. not to mention adjusting to a different sleep schedule. So anyway, once I do get settled down and adjusted, I have a lot planned to share with you and I should have a lot more time to do it!

Over the next couple of days or so, I will have some reviews of 3 Daphine Polish colors. First though, I'm sharing the undies for one of those polishes.

For this manicure, I started with 2 coats of Maybelline Downtown Brown, one of the limited edition colors from their 2012 fall collection. Now I normally hate brown polish, but this is my little exception. Downtown Brown is of course brown, but it's an iridescent polish which shimmers a gorgeous green. Pretty unique, and I love the effect.

(Please pardon the brown over my cuticles, stubborn cuticles!)

I love this color because honestly, brown polish makes me feel like I have poop or chocolate on my nails, but with the iridescence of this polish it's not so bad.

To get the right look I wanted for my finished manicure, I topped this off with Sally Hansen's Sturdy Sapphire. This is a very pretty blue polish, except it's much more sheer than I realized when I bought it. But that's OK, because it definitely comes in handy having a pretty blue sheer polish. This is one coat over my 2 coats of Downtown Brown.

(again, please pardon the mess....)

You can see here just how sheer Sturdy Sapphire is, but for my completed manicure this really didn't matter.

Here's one last look without the flash. I love how these two polishes look together, very pretty combination when layered.

I'll have the final completed manicure to share with you probably tomorrow. Until then, I hope you enjoyed my swatches :)

Ciate Velvet Manicure Berry Poncho

I have nothing to disclose. This item was a gift.

 Today I have something fun to share with you. My sister got me 2 of the Ciate sets for Christmas and I just never got around to trying them out so this past week I took out Berry Poncho.

(This is a picture of some of my Christmas goodies from my sister.)

This was my first time working with flocking powder, and I'm definitely going to have to buy more of it. It was pretty easy to work with although it did make sort of a mess. I was impressed with how quick the polish dried, also. The directions said to wait 15 minutes after application to touch, and it really did take less than that for my nails to set up.

 The directions state that you should sprinkle the "velvet" onto your nails. I found this very difficult to do. The stuff just didn't want to come out of the container so I said screw it, took the lid off and gently placed each nail inside the container. With the little brush that was included in the set, this was no problem to clean up.

I do want to mention that the polish included in this set, Cabaret, was very very.. well, smurfy. It definitely stained my fingers and made a mess trying to get it all off. The color itself is pretty unique.. it's very pretty and looks quite different in different light. Sometimes it looks more raspberry purple, other times it looks more of a wine color.

(here's a shot in the shade.)

(and another in even darker light.)

So, I ended up following the directions mostly to a T with this, but then I didn't think there was enough fluff on my nails so I ended up doing a second coat. It worked out just fine. This manicure lasted about 2 days before it started to mildly chip, and I actually was able to wear it for about 4 or 5 days. When I removed it, I still had most of the fuzz on most of my nails.

There's just a couple of problems with this product:

A) it's Ciate, and I know they're infamous for stealing blogger ideas and then claiming them as their own products.

B) This set is EXPENSIVE at about $20 at stores like Bloomingdales, Sephora, etc.. if you're thinking about venturing out into the world of flocking, do yourself a favor and buy some flocking powder online or from craft stores. You can get a large set like this one for a lot less, and you'll get a range of different colors. I definitely need to pick up some more flocking powder myself one of these days.

C) everything sticks to these nails, be warned! here's what happened when I was picking homemade noodles off of my kitchen table. Fortunately just the flour stuck to my nails and not the noodle dough!

Have you tried flocking powder yet? What do you think of it? Also, have you tried any of Ciate's other sets? I still have 1 more to try out sometime!

Review: Sweet Heart Polish Mermaid's Magic

Press sample.

Today I have a gorgeous polish to show you! This one is another Sweet Heart Polish by the name of Mermaid's Magic. Here's the shop description:

"Mermaid's Magic...is a green/blue, slightly holographic shifting polish that shimmers almost teal in the sun, with large turquoise holographic dots, sapphire squares, teal circles, and blue square glitter."

 I would have to describe this polish as an iridescent scattered holo, with the glitters as described. As you can tell by my swatches, I tried this out originally over black and white - and even considered doing a gradient with those two colors. It does look pretty amazing over black and white (it reminds me of snow!) but I noticed that some other bloggers had also decided to do just that same thing and so I had to be different.

With Mike's help, I went with 1 coat of Kleancolor Neon Pink as my base and 1 coat of Ciate Fit for a Queen on the accent. Then I just applied 1 coat of Mermaid's Magic and topped it off with Seche Vite. The Seche did shrink a little bit unfortunately, but otherwise this manicure lasted about a week with minimal chipping.

Mermaid's Magic transformed Neon Pink into a very pretty softer pink. Fit for a Queen is sort of a frosty metallic, which I will admit did eat up some of the holo and iridescence of Mermaid's Magic but I still felt this looked really pretty.

My only complaint with this polish is that once again I did have to fish around for some of the larger glitters. Otherwise, no problems!

 (Please pardon the shininess of my fingers.. it's cuticle oil.)

(also please pardon the little 'dent' on my accent nail.. not sure how I did that!)

 

Here's a close up of the pretty glitters.. and yes you can see some of the holo sparkle!

Thanks to Cassandra for sending me Mermaid's Magic to review! You can find Sweet Heart Polish on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetHeartPolish

You can purchase Mermaid's Magic in full size bottle for $8.

You can also find Sweet Heart Polish on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetHeartPolish