Challenge - Birthday/Halloween Nails - Zombie Cupcakes

Last week was my birthday and this week, I got my present from Rachel! Happy Birthday, me!! Ladies and gents, I've made it 30 years on this planet and finally met the polish of my dreams.

After breaking the crap out of my nail and having to mow them to less than half their length (TRAGEDY), I was feeling less than elegant.  I wanted to do something fun to make up for it and haven't yet tried the cupcake nails I see so many ladies on r/redditlaqueristas sporting on their birthdays. With Halloween around the corner, Rachel and I brainstormed these adorable zombie cupcakes!

I had started the manicure with Julep Francis, Julep Cleopatra, and Sinful Colors Dream on. As I was being indecisive over what to use as sprinkles, my birthday present came: Nerd Lacquer All of Time and Space! It is stunning and made for some perfect sprinkles!

The formula is ridiculously smooth and full of glitter. The glitter does settle in the bottle but simply turning the bottle upside down for a short time remedies the issue. All of Time and Space applies evenly, dries quickly, and results in a smooth (no glitter bumps!), shiny coat of polish. I'm in flipping LOVE.

Have you met a polish that raised your expectations of all other polishes? I'm pretty sure that just happened to me.

Challenge - Monster & Halloween!!!

Once again, I have put two challenges together since they were pretty similar. Monster and Halloween!

I chose to do a Witch-y theme. Not that many witches are monsters, but it works. I am very happy with my mani this time! Took a bit, and I tried a new technique of bubble mani. Definitely need practice for that technique, but the effect came out ok.

The index finger is a cauldron using the bubble technique. Meh, but was interesting to try it out. Will definitely be attempting again. Then middle is the lovely witch. I didn't want her to be ugly, so she is kinda glamourous with sparkly skin. My ring finger is "eye of newt". I have always loved that phrase for some strange reason, and Cadillaquer's Masterpiece just screamed it! Of which, it is a spectacular polish! It's like a reverse Scofflaw's David Bowie's Bulge. That's a combo that will be tried, fo sho! Last, pinky kitty! I didn't give him a pink nose because my cat is all black with a black nose. I did want him to have one, so it made it grey.

My thumb I did a sparkly jelly green for sparkly slime!

What do you think?! I really loved doing this one. My freehand has been getting pretty bad lately, so this turning out was a big boost in confidence.
What were your Halloween mani's?

Rachel

Glitter Gal Crushed Ego, with special guest Naild'It PURP... Excuse Me!

Huge fan of holo's here!
Today is Glitter Gal Crushed Ego. LOVE IT! Got a lil' bit o' accent with Naild'It PURP... Excuse Me!

Now these pics came out really close to the real color for Crushed Ego. I would put it as a bright royal purple. PURP... Excuse Me! is pretty close too. I am still learning, but they are great polishes, and highly recommend you get you some!
Naild'It is a new brand for me to use, and have been wanting to try them out for a long time. TWO lemmings knocked off my list!
Please ignore the chip on my forefinger I did not see before taking the pics, even if it is very obvious I SHOULD have seen it...

I did find PURP a little on the thicker side. After reading the description on Etsy, they did say that because of the raw ingredients that it can be a little thicker, and you can add some thinner later if you want. It dried quickly and was pretty easy to apply. And talk about glitter pay off! The large circle glitters I had to fish a little for, but I was not looking to have a million of them on my nail, so turned out perfect after sitting it upside down for a couple minutes.

Have you gotten any new polishes recently? Let me know, and what you thought of them!

Wing Dust - I Am Yours, You Are Mine

I treated myself to a couple new indies, including Wing Dust's I Am Yours, You Are Mine.
By now, you may have guessed that pink, or any shade/hue of pink is my favorite color. This polish is now... My favorite of all time?! IS IT POSSIBLE?! The formula was perfect, color perfect, glitter perfect, holo PERFECT! In the sun it looks like holo strawberry sorbet. Who could ask for more, because that stuff is tasty.

The name reminds me of my dad listening to Crosby, Stills, and Nash. I think that really adds to the love I have for it. We would listen to the oldies station every Saturday. I still remember hearing him whistling along.
Thank you, Wing Dust, for bringing back such a wonderful memory and making a FANTASTIC polish!

Rachel

Challenge - Plants - Venus Fly Trap

Daffy looks just like my late Basil. RIP

Plants are collectively some of the neatest organisms on the planet.  My grandmother is a plant fanatic and has always stopped to smell the roses in her own way (usually that way is by keeping little baggies with her to take clippings and seeds home with her to plant later).  From a very early age I had a healthy respect for how difficult it is to balance loving your plants with drowning them. I don't have any houseplants because I still haven't mastered not going all Abominable Snowman on them. That said, I was pretty stoked for this week's inspiration.

I decided to go after The Venus Fly Trap and I love how they turned out! The texture of the spun sugar feels really neat on the nail while the contrasting colors really pop.  It was a time consuming manicure but definitely worth it for the final look!

First, I painted 2 thin coats of Julep Francis. I free-handed a ruffian over that with NYC Broadway Burgundy Frost and topped with a coat of seche.

Next, I dropped a bit of Julep Francis on some photo paper and mixed it with a toothpick until it was thick and no longer freely dripped. On a fresh toothpick, I grabbed a bead of the tacky polish and brought it up to the nail. I touched the bead to the nail and slowly dragged it diagonally down the nail. When I had gone far enough, I retraced my route so any stringy bits could be easily masked in the line I'd made. Rinse and repeat! When the polish got too thick, I'd add another drop or two and mix thoroughly.

Finally, I used a detail brush to paint the outside edges of each nail with a thin dry brushing of Julep Leah.
This is my second attempt at Spun Sugar.  Have you tried it?

Carpe Noctem Cosmetics & OPI

A while back I got a gorgeous, perfect, spectacular custom polish from Emily at Carpe Noctem Cosmetics. We also were generously given another bottle for our relaunch giveaway. Again, Emily was so AMAZING to work with. I could not gush enough to get this point across. Also recently I purchased Mermaid Tears by OPI. They work PERFECTLY together.  And really do match my kitty's eye color!

Please forgive the dry skin. It's been nutso dry here lately.

With Flash.

I am smitten with large circle glitter. I love how they flash in the light.
One thing I am seeing, and this happens with a lot of super glittery polishes, is that it sucks up the top coat like crazy. However, this does NOT bother me. I like texture, it adds another layer and creates depth, which I enjoy. Some have a problem with that, and it is easily solved with a coat or two extra of top coat.
BRAVO EMILY! Once again, I am so loving this polish!

Until next time,
Rachel

Challenge - Plants

Just like everything, this challenge was filled with good intentions.
And like some things, it fails miserably.
I chose to take pics of this mani anyway, for posterity. I have to say, this is quite possibly the WORST mani I have ever done. Possibly would take 1st prize in a contest for "Worst Mani's EVER". I'm actually pretty proud of that.
No... No I'm not. LOL!
So, I had used Orly's Royal Navy and just LOVE it! I did have a lot of VNL, but the color is just gorgeous. OF COURSE, no pics of the before the rampage of awful came across it. On to the terrible!

Yep. Since I started this blog with Tey, I promised myself that no matter how awful, I would still post it. I think the pinky looks like a daisy put it's leaf in a electrical socket. Looks kinda punk. 

No... No it doesn't.

It's like those "country" hand painted flowers on furniture, but done by a two year old. ROFL!

I was thinking of doing this challenge again, but am ready to just move forward. Already took of that monstrosity and am ready to put on something cheerful and sparkly to make me happy.

Until next time,

Rachel