LA Splash Sparkling Gold

I am going to share my favorite gold with you!  I am not really ever a fan of yellow gold--in jewelry or in polish as I am much too pale for any shade of yellow, be it mustard or golden.  I tend to go for brass golds or pale golds, which is why LA Splash Sparkling Gold caught my eye when I first found out about this brand.  I seriously can't stop looking at my nails--they're so sparkly!

Sparkling Gold is pale gold microglitter with a few pieces of red glitter suspended in a clear base.  Together the red and gold create a golden wonderland on the nail--it almost looks like it could be a tarnished silver.  I love it!

In all of its glitter goodness, direct sun

The pics above are closer to the true color

of the polish--it's a pale gold.

Glitter close up!

Sorry, that's a lot of pics, I know.  It was impossible to capture how truly dazzling this is on the nail.  And microglitters are my weakness.  Actually, who am I kidding...all glitters!  I'm a first grader at heart.  I am in love with it--and as you already know, I love LA Splash.  The colors are gorgeous, the bottle is skinny and easy to store with a great brush, and the price point is...well, on point!

As with many clear-based glitters, this was four coats until there was no VNL.  I put this over Orly bonder (which works wonders with glitters!) all topped with a coat of Out the Door.

Thanks for reading!

Cherry on Top Award!

I've seen this award making the rounds on the polish blogs and I want to thank Dionela from Short and Sweet Nails for passing on the love to me!!

The instructions:

1.Thank the person who gave this award to you.

2.Copy the award and put it on your blog.

3.List 3 things which you love about your self.

4.Post a picture you love.

5.Tag 5 people you wish to pass this award on to.

1. Thanks Dionela--I love your blog!

2. Look up!

3. I love that I am a teacher who truly cares about my students--and they know it.  I love my weird, sardonic sense of humor.  And I love how fiercely independent I am--don't get me wrong, my family, boyfriend and friends mean the world to me, but I am so comfortable being by myself that it scares me sometimes.  I've managed to make quite a nice life for myself down here south of the Mason-DIxon line!

4.

Maybe pet pics aren't fair here because they're always so darn cute, but my bunny Ponyboy is one of the loves of my life.  (Bonus points if you can tell me what book his name comes from!)  This was his first time ever in the snow--and he loved it!!  How often do you see a cute, white, lop-eared bun playing in a snowstorm?  I had to pick this one.  I have this picture printed on my credit card!

5. Tagged:

Sarah and Jason at Crystal Polish

The Daily Nail--she has such awesome designs!

Polished Lyrics

MeganChair at Little Music Boxes

PolishSis

Thanks again!

Nina Ultra Pro Salsa!!

I was in Sally's last week and I saw a display for a new Nina Ultra Pro Collection.  I don't remember ever seeing a special collection from them before, but I was pleasantly surprised by the color selection.  I believe it was called the "Fiesta" collection, though I may be wrong.  (ETA: It's the "Sultry Samba" collection--I was way off!) There was a purple, an orange and my favorite--a beautiful green which I picked up.

Salsa is a dusty green creme that applies smoothly with two coats.  Though I don't know why this is called Salsa (maybe Salsa Verde would be more appropriate?) it is gorgeous!  This is two of Salsa and one of Out the Door.

I think this might be my new favorite green--and that's a lot for me to say!  It's a perfect, creamy forest on your nails!  I think I'm going to do a pedi in this soon--maybe with some glitter?

Thanks for reading!

ETA: And with a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic, it turns into a perfect old school chalkboard!  (excuse the chipping!)

Babbling Brooke's BIG 2nd Birthday Giveaway!!!

Babbling Brooke is having a birthday--and here's the grand prize:

How awesome is that?!?!

The giveaway will end on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 11:00 PM.

Go here to enter!

Orly Royal Navy

I was home for my little sister's high school graduation over the weekend (I can't believe she's so old!) and I had to stop into the Sally's by my parents' house to see if they had anything I "needed"...and of course, they did!  I picked up this gem, which I had passed up before, from the "In the Navy" collection and it looked killer with my bright red dress.

Royal Navy is a royal blue jelly with aqua glitter...and it's gorgeous!  I think it might just be my new favorite blue, and I love blues.

Check out that aqua glitter!

Sunny window!

This color is just so pretty and perfect for summertime--if you don't have it already, I urge you to go out and get it asap!!  This was two perfectly smooth coats with one coat of Out the Door.  Luckily, I think it's been added to the Orly permanent collection so it will be around for a while.

I hope everyone's having a great summer--thanks for reading!

Crop circle nails!

Crop circles have always cracked me up and when I saw this image on the bundle monster plates, I needed to do crop circle nails asap!  Since I have been wanting to try the Claire's Mood polishes, two of which have been sitting around in my stash for a while now.  I decided to go for the more subtle of the two, mostly because I was feeling the need for some teal in my life.  Claire's Peaceful/Confident hovers between a blue green and a green blue (the lighter of the two shades) depending on your temperature.

I then decided to Konad over the subtle color shift (which you can only see at the top of my nail, where it hangs over my finger) in Orly La Playa, from the Summer 2010 Viva! Collection.  I am in love with this super dark indigo, and think it looks great over teal.

I used bundle monster plate bm19--it looks like there are crop circles on my nails!

out in bright sunlight

indoors the polish looks mostly green

indirect sun

 

Sorry for the wet fingers--here I'm trying to show the difference in color.  

The left is the cold color and the right is the warm temperature tone.

I really liked the consistency of this polish, it dried quickly and matte (as neons tend to do), but one coat of Seche Vite glossed it up.  The orly was also very good for konading and the dark blue shade was nice and opaque.  

Thanks for reading!

Nubar Reclaim

I've heard such wonderful things about Nubar but, since they aren't available in stores, I've never gotten to try any of their polishes.  When I first saw Reclaim swatched (as part of the Limited Edition Going Green collection; on sale now for $49.95) I knew it had to be mine.  A medium green holo?  Yummy!

Unfortunately the sun hasn't been out since I polished my nails, but I did get some bright outdoor light:

And outdoors:

This is two coats of Reclaim with one of Seche Vite.  The polish applied like a dream--no streaks and quick to dry with a perfect consistency.  The holo is gorgeous and goes between this spring green with a hint of yellow and brown.  I absolutely love it and hope to order some more Nubars soon!

Anyone else want to see someone come up with a dark holo green?  I might have to do some frankening!

Shake it up!

Feeling the need for some bling today!  I added two coats of Out the Door's Northern Lights hologram topcoat in silver to yesterday's LA Splash Abyss.  


Indoors:

Outdoors:

Holographic awesomeness.  Have a great weekend!

LA Splash Abyss

I love LA Splash nail polish.  They're only $4 a pop, come in great skinny bottles and they have tons of GLITTERS!!!  I guess I was feeling a bit goth when I got home this afternoon because I went straight for my bottle of Abyss, a black creme with silver microglitter.

The glitter in this polish was perfect: nice and smooth with even spacing.  It looked like the milky way!  Tiny glitter is my favorite kind of glitter, but I might add a larger glitter as a topcoat tomorrow.  The formula was nice and smooth--this was two coats and I had complete coverage.  And then I added a fauxnad star on my thumb for good measure, in konad silver special polish:

LA Splash has some great polishes (and mascaras!).  Sparkling gold and sparkling lavender are two more of my favorites; they're on sale this week (buy one get one 50% off) at Ulta.  


Anyone else love LA Splash?  Any other great (and cheap!) glitters?

ORLY Plastix: Swatches and Review

When I read the press release for ORLY Plastix, I knew they had to be mine...plastic nails? In vintage colors? Please sir, can I have some more? When I saw the pretty matte bottles sitting in my local Ulta, I picked up all four at once. I hadn't seen them in person yet and I'm a sucker for textures and gimmicks.

image via temptalia.com

Orly says:

ORLY, the company that continually pioneers the Nail Lacquer arena with the most cutting edge colors, technology and textures, introduces the Plastix Collection. Complementing the Fall 2010 runway looks that featured bright neon colors amid shiny black plastic, latex, and rubber reinventions of vintage must-haves, Plastix evokes the vintage classic trend with four new lacquers and a unique new formula that coats the nails with a smooth glossy matte “plastic” finish. The exclusive finish and texture is a first in the nail category, delivering a monochromatic, shiny and rubbery look that takes experimentation to an entirely new level, with the focus being on both the distinctive nail surface, as well as the latest in color trends. The unique look can not be achieved with color alone as the finish is a must for recreating the true “plastic” statement.

My review on these is mixed, but I'll start with my favorite:

Viridian Vinyl, described as a "glossy blue-green" was my favorite of the four colors though the formula was a bit problematic. It's a lovely peacock color, similar to the American Apparel color of that name.

You can see the finish best in these pics--it's almost like a satin matte. As this one was the most watery, and I got a bad brush, I don't know if it really looks how Orly intended. I also found that these took a long time to dry. Maybe it's just because I'm used to a quick dry topcoat, but the "latex" nature of these didn't lend itself to a quick swatching session.

Next up, Retro Red, a "traditional red"--I really liked this color. It reminded me of the perfect red lipstick...smeared all over my nails, of course. This one was shinier than Viridian Vinyl, but the consistency was perfect.

Purple Pleather, a "shiny purple" had a great consistency as well. It's a perfect purple, much like China Glaze Grape Pop, but with a satin finish.

Last is my problem child, Old School Orange. Labeled "classic orange" by the folks at Orly, it was my favorite color but the most difficult to work with. It was sheer and thick, not a good combination. It literally made me think I was dripping latex onto my nails. That said, it was the most "plasticy" of the bunch and it is an awesomely perfect shade of orange. Think orange soda:

All of these were two coats, except for the Old School Orange, which was three. They tend to show every imperfection so use a ridge filler or apply thick coats. Allow for ample drying time as well--they take a while. The polish itself feels a bit like latex paint if any of you have worked with that.

I really liked the bright, retro vibe, but wasn't impressed by the "plastic" finish. Like I said it was a satiny matte, not much unlike the Orly mattes I already have. Do you think you'll pick up this collection or is it a pass?