Stained Glass Twin Nails

Today I have a fun twin mani that I did with Tracey, also known as @missbellatracey on Instagram.

She suggested we do a neon stained glass mani, so I picked a few neon shades from my collection that would somewhat match her OPI neon set (that I totally covet! Even though they're not technically neon...they're so pretty!) I can't speak for her, but mine are WAY brighter in person, as is often the case with neons. Even with that, I think they both turned out really great!

10k Collab for Autumn

Today I have a recreation of one of my favorite nail girls' previous manis, Autumn aka @justagirlandhernails!

To celebrate Autumn hitting 10k followers on Instagram, two of her besties, Amanda and Christina, pulled together 20 fabulous nail ladies to recreate some of her amazing nail art. I was so honored to be invited to be included in this talented group!

I chose to recreate this lovely floral design over a polka dot and sheer base. How do you think I did?!

Save Pacific Blue Collab Pictures!

I am so proud of the huge response Rei and I got for our "save Pacific Blue" collab! It's pretty incredible to me how one simple, $3 drugstore polish brought so many polish lovers together. Some of the people who participated have hundreds of polishes in the collection; others have only a handful--Pacific Blue is important and special to all of them. Obviously, they are all pretty upset.

My issue with Sally Hansen isn't in the fact that they discontinued or reformulated a beloved polish. It sucks, but that happens all the time. What's irritating to me, and many others, is that they quietly made these changes and packaged it as the same product as if no one would notice. Additionally, Sally Hansen's PR has handled the outraged masses poorly. A large part of that is likely the result of them feeling overwhelmed. I know I'm glad to not be in that PR director's shoes right now.

My hope is that this will get their attention, and get them to listen to us, or at least honestly acknowledge the situation in a direct manner. In the age of social media, people crave interaction with the brands they care about, and like to feel that their voice means something. All we're asking for is to be heard!

Here is a larger version of the photo:

And here's the mani I submitted. Can you find it in there?

Finally, I really enjoyed reading through all the emails everyone sent. My favorite message came from a mom who uses the color annually to support Autism awareness and her son that has the disorder. As silly as this controversy make seem to some, this matters to a lot of people. Obviously we're not curing cancer here, but the right polish can brighten even the cloudiest day! Anyway, here is a word cloud I created with the email messages I received:

Thanks again for participating, everyone! Please repost these images to all of your social media to spread the word!

Save Sally Hansen Pacific Blue!

Most of you probably already saw this on my Instagram, but I wanted to post it here, too, just in case you missed it!

There has been an uproar in the nail community this week over the changes in formula to some cult favorites in the Sally Hansen Extreme Wear line--most notably, Pacific Blue. What was once a perfect, creamy dulled cobalt blue one-coater is now a shimmery, sheer, gloopy mess. It appears that changes have also been made to Mellow Yellow, and there is talk of changes to Coral Reef and other favorites in the collection. Polish addicts have posted many comments and questions to Sally Hansen's account looking for answers, and all have received a standard, formulaic response. Needless to say, the hive has been rattled, and people are getting angry.

In an attempt to get Sally Hansen's attention and to show our solidarity as a community, my friend Rei of Reinovate Nails and I have teamed up for a "save Pacific Blue" collab! As the photo below states, please send ANY manicure photos you have using the flawless original formula of this polish to savepacificblue@gmail.com by next Friday, June 27th. It can be a swatch or nail art, and can be a recent or older picture. We want to show Sally Hansen that this is important to us! There is strength in numbers, so join in and tell your friends! You can find the original posts on mine and Rei's Instagram pages, or at the beginning of the tag #savepacificbluecollab

Daphine Polish - His Dark Materials collection, part 1

Hi, everyone! Today I am very, very excited to be sharing the first half of the His Dark Materials collection by Daphine Polish with you! This collection of eight polishes is inspired by a trilogy by Philip Pullman that includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. I think this collection has some really gorgeous polishes that will appeal to fans and strangers of the trilogy alike.

Admittedly, I am not familiar with this series, but I go absolutely nuts for literary-inspired collections, (anyone remember my "BUY ALL THE HUNGER GAMES POLISH" days?) and Joanne of Daphine Polish was kind enough to send me an amazingly detailed write up of the collection, inspiration for each polish, and quotes from the books to accompany them, so I will be borrowing heavily from her summary. I also watched the movie version of the first book, but won't even pretend that this makes me an expert on the series!

In the words of Joanne: "To quickly summarize these books, they tell the coming-of-age adventures of Lyra Belacqua, an ordinary orphan from Oxford who turns out to be the most important person in not just her universe, but in all universes. This collection mainly draws on The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife for inspiration." For reference, I have denoted all text written by Joanne in underlined text.

Now, on to the swatches!

Polishes provided for review.

Polish Pusher - Unicorn Sneeze

Good morning and happy memorial day to my USA nail babes! Today I have a fabulous design inspired by an even more fabulous indie polish -- Unicorn Sneeze from Polish Pusher.

Unicorn Sneeze is a vibrant, hot pink jelly polish with pink, blue, and orange small glitters and large blue holo dot glitters. These photos show three thin coats of squishy goodness, and these first three photos show it topped with HK Girl Topcoat. Without topcoat, this polish dries to a velvety, semi-matte finish. 

Gradients & Glitter

Gradients are probably my favorite nail art technique. Once you figure them out, they're by far the quickest way to make a simple mani something more striking and special. Usually I try to stick to similar colors, or shades at least in the same family, when doing gradients, but for this mani I pushed myself to try something new. 

The pink half of the gradient was made using Revlon Parfumerie - Ginger Melon. I have a handful of polishes from this collection, and I've been really impressed with the quality of all of them--not to mention their amazing scents! Ginger Melon was one I wanted to for a while, and it was difficult to find, but I'm so glad I finally did. It's a gorgeous, warm toned pink that smells incredibly delicious.

The blue half of the gradient is Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away! This polish was a birthday gift from my dear friend Rei, and I can't believe I'm just now getting around to using it. Its a summery, vibrant turquoise that gets amazingly opaque coverage. This actually reminds me that I should pick up more polishes from the X-treme Wear line, since they've always had great formulas and I hear they're good for watermarbleing. 

Also, I used the Elmer's glue anti-clean up method for the first time. It's AMAZING how much time it saves, especially for this blue that screams "NAIL STAINER!" I need to practice my application a little, (I got to close to the nail and ended up pulling up some of the polish from my nail) but I'll definitely keep practicing this method just because it's so easy, and saves my cuticles from too much acetone bathing.

I topped the gradient with one dabbed coat of Lumina Lacquer - Dance in the Rain. If you can show me an indie line with better mixes in their glitter bombs, I will eat an entire humble pie. Every polish I've tried by Lumina is incredible, complex, and unique, and it's always easy to grab all of the glitters--even those large dots I love so dearly!

I went macro crazy when photographing this mani, so you get two!

For the two macros, the first photo in the post, and the one below, I topped the entire look with a generous coat of Sally Hansen - Big Matte Topcoat. 

I loved wearing this and got lots of compliments! I even got one from a stranger on the train this morning, which always makes my day. I wish I could keep it on for a few days, but I've got plans for a very special themed mani for the weekend, so it will have to live on in photos alone. However, expect to see LOTS more gradients now that I've found the glue method!

Neon and Studs

Today I wore this super colorful neon mani. Can you tell I'm excited about the warmer weather?! I like how this turned out, but I don't really have much to say about it, besides that it's super bright! 

I applied two coats of The Juicebox Lacquer - All Night Long over one coat of China Glaze - That's Shore Bright on my index and pinky nails. My middle and ring fingers have two coats of China Glaze - Son of a Peach and some neon studs. Then I topped it all with Sally Hansen's Big Matte Topcoat. I've had Son of Peach for almost a year, I can't believe it took me this long to use it. It's insanely neon in person, it's reading much softer in these pictures. 

It turns out my new apartment has a GREAT spot for taking nail photos in natural light. I take back all of my prior complaints about shooting in natural light, I love how these turned out! 

Colores de Carol - 1912 and #hiveminduntrieds!

I was talking with Rei, one of my all time fave nailbabes, about how unmotivated I've been feeling towards my nails since chopping them to nubs, and she suggested doing a month of untrieds to challenge ourselves and get some use out of those brand new polishes in our respective collections gathering dust. So, this is my first post February's month of untrieds! We'd love it if you joined in, and posted your untried polishes on Instagram with the hashtag #hiveminduntrieds (so named due to mine and Rei's tendency to share thoughts on a regular basis). Keep an eye on Rei's Instagram or mine as we will be posting details shortly on how you can win a fabulous polish prize for sharing your untrieds this month (and check out her blog, too!)

I kicked off my month of untrieds with a recent purchase, 1912 by Colores de Carol. I had been lusting over her Love's Maiden Voyage collection inspired by the movie Titanic, so I took advantage of a flash sale and picked a few up...which have since sat on my desk unused. Thank goodness for untried challenges!

1912 is a soft grey crelly with scattered silver holo microglitters. Photos show three thin coats with top coat.

Application of this polish was flawless, and I probably could have gotten away with two coats, but the third just made the color more rich and added some more sparkle.

Technically, I'm knocking out TWO untrieds with this post! I picked up the new Sally Hansen matte top coat a few weeks ago, but hadn't tried it yet. I like the finish, and I didn't get any of the white spots that have started appearing when I use my OPI matte top coat.

And a macro shot for your troubles! Love those glitters. The full Love's Maiden Voyage collection is available from Colores de Carol, and you will probably see my other selections popping up in the near future. Also, be sure to check out Rei's blog to see her first #hiveminduntrieds post!

Week in Review

Hi lovelies!

So hopefully I can get my life together to have content coming out more regularly, but this week and weekend have been crazy! Luckily I've still managed to keep my nails looking pretty nice...

Space Dust by Squishy Face Polish

Last week I posted my swatch of Polaris, which was just perfect, so here is the other polish I chose from the Squishy Face Polish "Cosmic" fall collection. This one is a purple crelly packed with lots of multi colored and holo glitters in various shapes and sizes. Application of this beauty was PERFECT! Easy, buildable coverage and no fishing for those gorgeous circle glitters! This indie gets my 100% stamp of approval with zero reservations!

Nude Lace Pattern Nails

I love nude polishes, and sparkles, so I just had to combine a few (OPI - DS Classic, Honey Ryder, and Don't Pretzel My Buttons) to create this very lady like mani. I was surprised how easy it was to do the lace pattern using a dotting tool and a small nail art brush--I think I'll recreate for a tutorial sometime soon! Black detail was added using Sinful Colors - Black on Black, and glitter placement was done using Essie - A Cut Above.

OPI - Sprung

A simple swatch of this lovely, coppery metallic with gold microglitters. Photo below (while not-so-great quality) shows how different this polish looks in different lighting!

And finally....I joined the cult!

Geometric shapes featuring Cult Nails - Riot & Time Traveler

I can't believe how long I waited to bring Cult Nails' polishes into my life! Application of these beauties was perfect, and the shades are so vibrant and gorgeous. I used a coat of Wet'n'Wild - A Blank Canvas and striping tape to create the color block chevrons, and applied 3D nail art shapes from the Born Pretty Store using Seche Vite. Pink is Sally Hansen - Back to the Fuschia.

Monthly Mani Faves - August

Here are my favorite manis from August!

Tape & Vertical Gradient

Orange (a custom Nail Honey - Burned Out) and teal (OPI - Fly) vertical gradients with Orly - Luxe topped with Nail Honey - All Gold Errthang and a quilted accent nail using tape.

Fine Art

Nails inspired by iconic works by Mondrian, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Magritte. Palette on thumb contains all polishes used!

Neon Tribal

Used China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy, Sinful Colors - 24/7, and OPI - Fly for the gradients, gold base nails are OPI - Honey Ryder. Used striping tape, dotting tools, and a tiny nail art brush for the designs.

2 Step Galaxy Nails

Sally Hansen - Endless Blue topped with Color Club - Covered in Diamonds.

What were your faves from August?