Oct 27, 2013

Lynnderella Halloween Twinset - part 1

I'm going to get into the Halloween spirit (hehehe spirit) this week with some Halloween themed nails, art and polish.  Halloween has never been very big in Australia, as a kid we never did trick or treat, but I've noticed it getting bigger each year.  Probably due to the internet, international traditions are something we all have more exposure to now and they're catching on.  Last year we had quite a few kids door knocking and my boys dressed up and handed out lollies.  It was fun.  The kids are already planning what they will wear this year and we'll be carving a pumpkin again.
Alex and Ben hollowing out the pumpkin last year.
Starfleet Captain Alex and Dr Ben last year.
Personally I think the best part of Halloween is all the indie polishes so I'm starting my Halloween nails with some Lynnderella's from Glitter Connect.  I'm lucky enough to have the limited-edition Halloween twinset, Are You a Good Witch? and Ghouls Just Want To Have Fun!.  What makes them a twinset?  Matching iridescent burple shimmer and octagon-shaped bottles.  There's probably some Lynnderella collectors/fans out there that will have a problem with the bottle shape, it doesn't match the usual bottles, but that doesn't bother me.  These bottles match each other as you'd expect from a twinset, besides some of my older Lyns are in round bottles.  Anyway tonight I'm going to show you some simple nail art with Are You a Good Witch? and you'll have to come back to see Ghouls Just Want To Have Fun! later :)
Are You a Good Witch? is described as a multiglitter made with assorted black, green, purple, white and neon red glitters in a violet-blue-shimmered clear base.
As with any Lynnderella glitter bomb the first thing I did was test it on a nail wheel over a range of different colours in a search for the perfect 'undies' and like most Lyns it looks great over just about anything.  I wanted a base colour that would be dark enough to bring out the purple shimmer but not so dark it would hide the black glitter.  I loved it over black, it made the little green stars pop but the black glitter was lost.  I decided on a dusty greyed out purple, China Glaze Jungle Queen, which is apparently a Chanel Paradoxal dupe but I don't have the Chanel to compare.  Jungle Queen is a lovely polish, smooth and perfectly opaque in two coats with a subtle purple shimmer.
This is without top coat.  A top coat would bring out the shimmer.
Then I sponged a gradient on the tips with China Glaze Gothic Lolita.  It's a good match for Jungle Queen, with a similar hidden shimmer and dusty purple, just brighter in colour.  I cut my sponges into thin strips, about as wide as an orange stick, so I can sponge on polish without getting it all over my fingers.  I really should get a photo of my gradient technique one of these days.
With my base gradient done I then sponged on a gradient of Are You a Good Witch?  Using a sponge to apply it made it easier to place the larger glitter where I wanted then carry the finer glitter and shimmer down to my tips.
Sunlight.
On my accent nail I stamped a spooky witch's house using BM-305 plate.  I filled in some details with glow in the dark polish and added the dead tree by hand.
Shade.
Check out that glitter!
I love the way this turned out.  Pretty and magical but still Halloweeny.  Lynnderella Are You a Good Witch? is just stunning.  It's packed with so many different glitters.  I don't think I've even discovered all the types of glitter in there yet.  The little green stars are my favourite and the fine purple shimmer glows so beautifully.   It's not just for Halloween, it's a polish I can see myself wearing again and again
It went on really easy with a sponge but with the brush it still gives a great spread of glitter with just one coat.  I topped it with a coat of clear Gelicious ultra glaze top coat, it's a UV gel polish.  I like to use UV top coats over coarse glitter polishes because they give a really glossy smooth finish and there's no wait for drying time.
Flash.

Like all glitter bombs removal can be a pain and is best using the foil method but if you want to make it easier I recommend a coat of Picture Polish Revolution under the glitter layer or a peel off base coat.  I used Innisfree peel off base under this manicure.  Even with the UV gel top coat the peel off will let me just 'pop' this lot off in the morning so I can play with the other half of this twinset.  If I didn't want to remove it the peel off can just as easily last a week without lifting.

If you're in the US you can get Lynnderella polishes from Lynnderella.com but us Aussie girls are lucky enough to be able to get them from Glitter Connect in Australia.  Check out the Glitter Connect facebook page for news and releases.
Halloween twinset, Are You a Good Witch? and Ghouls Just Want To Have Fun!

Oct 25, 2013

Emily de Molly Hole in the Sky

How's this for a pretty periwinkle blue?
This is Emily de Molly Hole in the Sky, 2 coats over a pale pink base.
It didn't need the underwear but I was already wearing the pale pink so decided to use it as a base coat.  On it's own this would probably need 3 coats just to make it even, or 2 thick coats.
One coat of INM Out the Door top coat and it's smooth and shiny.  Such a beautiful polish :)  That strange dark shadow in the back ground, that's Spock.
Spock thinks I've lost the plot because I'm holding my hand but not patting him.
Data thinks I'm crazy too but he doesn't care as long as he gets food.

Oct 24, 2013

Wave of Polish - Pregnancy and Infant Loss #4

Here's my latest pink and blue mani for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month.
This is what I wore on Tuesday.  I was aiming for a soft look so I did a gradient using 2 shades of pink, from light to darker and back to light at the tips.
Then I stamped in shades of blue and white.
The plate I used is Messy Mansion MM14.  I still suck at stamping but this is the best result I've had so far.
I should probably have put more thought into the overall design but I wasn't expecting the stamping to work.   I used China Glaze Angel's Breath and Something Sweet for the gradient and for the stamping I used Zoya Jo, Ulta3 Lily White, Essie Sweet Talker and China Glaze Modify Me.
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Oct 20, 2013

Wave of Polish - Pregnancy and Infant Loss #3

Thinking ahead to next weeks next pink and blue mani for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month and I realised I hadn't blogged last weeks mani yet. I painted my nails, took photos, then got so side tracked with the excitement of the Wave of Polish auction that I forgot to actually blog. How did everyone go with the auctions? Did you get yourself a special polish?
So here's what I wore last week for Pregnancy and Infant Loss mani #3.  Two thermal polishes.
Pretty & Polished Flip Flop Fuggetaboutit! and Pretty & Polished Mirror Mirror.
Flip Flop is the pink one, light pink with glitter when warm and hot pink when cold.
Mirror Mirror is the blue one, light blue with glitter when warm and a darker blue when cold.
I tried some stamping over it but I'm still struggling with stamping.  My 2 squishy white stampers wont pick up anything and I can't get the hang of using my hard stampers on the curve of my nails :(
It was hot here so mostly my nails showed the pale warm colour and the feathers only showed up when it was cooler at night or when I had my hands in cold water.  I used ice to get the cold colours in these photos.  These are lumpy polishes, I used 2 coats of top coat.
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Oct 8, 2013

Wave of Polish - Pregnancy and Infant Loss #2

It must be Tuesday because I have another blue and pink,Wave of Polish, mani today :)  The polish auction is off and running today at http://waveofpolish.blogspot.com.au so if you haven't got your bids in, check it out now!  There's a heap of amazing polishes and more have been added since the auction started.
For today's manicure I wanted to go as pink as possible for my base colour and the polish that best fit that description is Pretty Serious The Pink One
It is seriously pink!  A hot hot hot neon pink with an electric blue flash through it. 
I was worried the camera would have trouble with the brightness of the pink but it's the blue shimmer that was hard to capture (and the jpg compression has made a mess of the photos).

This is two coats of the perfect formula I've come to expect from Pretty Serious with a layer of their Crystal Coat topcoat (from the Till Death Do Us Party! wedding set)
Then I tried my first ever one stroke nail art.  It was pretty much a fail as far as being one stroke went.  Turns out all the brushes I have are too long and stiff.  So I just did one butterfly.  It was blue and white but the pink shows through the blue so it looks more purple. 
The painting one stroke might have failed but I think outlining it in black helped pull it all together.  I used a toothpick to get the tiny little white dots and I dabbed some iridescent polish on the wings to catch the light.
Then I did a gradient overlay of Lynnderella Bride of Franken on all my tips and then another gradient of Lynnderella Forget You Not on all except my accent nails. 
Forget You Not is a periwinkle blue glitter topper with sparse pink and blue shimmer but it looks more lavender over The Pink One.
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PixieDust purple

Lately I've been wearing a lot of the Zoya PixieDusts.  They wear so well and are the perfect solution when you need a quick manicure.  One or two coats and no need for a top coat.  The colours are beautiful, the texture is interesting and they sparkle!
This is Zoya Carter with a bolt of Zoya Liberty.  Photo taken after two days wear.  Please excuse the dry cuticles.  I can't apply handcream or cuticle oil before photographing texture polishes without spoiling the look of the texture.
I wore this for a full week without any chips.  Just had to be a bit careful if I rubbed my eyes.  The texture can be scratchy, especially if you wrap your tips.

Oct 1, 2013

Wave of Polish - Pregnancy and Infant Loss #1

October is International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month so throughout the month, each Tuesday, I'm going to be painting my nails blue and pink to show my support.   Anyone is welcome to join in and October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness day.  So if you don't want to do every Tuesday you could just paint your nails blue and pink on the 15th.  At 7pm on the 15th people are asked to light a candle so throughout the time zones there will be a wave of light and a wave of polish.  There will also be an auction of Australian polishes starting 9am AEST on October 8th.  You can read more about the auction at http://waveofpolish.blogspot.com.au/ and share your polish photos on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/waveofpolish/
For my first Pregnancy and Infant Loss mani I've used some amazing polishes from Loki's Lacquer.  I was lucky enough to win these polishes in the fabulous Shades of Phoenix birthday giveaway so sorry you wont actually be able to buy these anywhere.  Tara from Loki's Lacquer does do custom polishes so if you love these you can always ask her to make you something similar.
This is Atlantis (the blue) and Phoenix on Fire (pink).  They both sparkle like crazy in the sun but unfortunately there was a lack of sun (plenty of strong winds and smoke) today so I had to use flash for the photos.  They are also scented!  Actually I'm assuming they are both scented.  It may just be one of them but each time I've worn them it's been both together so I can't really tell if the scent is coming from one or both.  Maybe it's just Atlantis?  Note to self - check this with Tara.
For my accent nail I layered Jordana Pink Hearts over Phoenix on Fire.  This is two coats of each of the Loki's Lacquers and they are wonderfully smooth and flow beautifully.  There's a bit of a purple duochrome effect to Atlantis but I couldn't really catch that with the flash.  I used Orly Bonder for my base coat and INM Out the Door for the top coat.
Other bloggers participating in International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month are:-


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