Swatch: L.A. Girls - Black Illusion

Back at the beginning of the month I used L.A. Girls - Black Illusion for my Halloween Drips design, but some how didn't get around to posting the swatch photos. But fear not, for they are here. :)

I really like this polish. Opaque in two coats, with beautiful holo goodness in the black.

In some lights the glitter just looks silver, which is actually still a cool look. But in most lights it's a delightful holo.

This polish is definitely a good addition to my stash. :)

10/20/13 - Pumpkin Jack'o'Lanterns

So last week I was too swamped with stuff to get a design in, but this week I'm back! I've been tossing around a few ideas, "Pumpkins?... spiders?... blood?.." etc. and unable to decide on one. So I asked my boyfriend what I should do, and he said, "Do a jack'o'lantern with a eye patch, so it looks like a pirate." And I said, "That actually sounds awesome." So I did do that (on two of the nails) and a variety of other jack'o'lantern designs, or plain pumpkins, on the others. :)

Oh yeah, and I made it glow in the dark. ;D

Here's a picture of just the pumpkins, pre-design.

I like the depth of the look I got by layering sheer polishes on top. Unfortunately some of that went away post-top cat, but I still like it. Specifically, I started with Sally Hansen - Orange Impulse, and then did curved stripes of Brash - Gone Bananas and Milani - Awesome Orange. Similarly for the stems I did Kleancolor - Green Grass and Love&Beauty - Neon Green.

On top of that I did one coat of Lime Crime - Crema de Limon, and one coat of Serum No. 5 - Day Glow. Actually, I did two coats of Day Glow on the eyes, but it doesn't look much different. For whatever reason, the glow seems even more awesome in this design than the last time I used it. :)

Oh, and the base colour is China Glaze - Seduce Me, and the eye patch is done in 2True - No. 39.

I think this looks great. Happy almost Halloween! :)

10/06/13 - Halloween Crackle Toes

I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to do for my toes. Finally, I decided I would try Barry M. - Croc Effect over Sally Hansen - Orange Impulse. I love the results!

The first few times I tested out Croc Effect, I couldn't get it to work. As in, it wouldn't crack at all. So I set it aside for a few weeks and returned to it this day. I think what finally made the difference is that I really shook it. Like, sat there for a minute just shaking the bottle. And then I applied to to slightly wet polish, as the instructions say.

The effect is somehow similar but cooler than ordinary shatter. Especially on my left big toe - I totally see a person or a tree there. So great for Halloween!

Well, I think this will be a great look for the month of Halloween. What do you think? :)

10/06/13 - Oozy Slime

I've decided to do design with Halloween in mind throughout October. It kind of depends on how busy I am how many designs that'll be, but we'll see. xD

The first design, to ease us into Halloween, I could definitely do any time of the year, but I liked it for right now. I hadn't tried the drip nail art yet, but I thought these colours would work for it, and I love it. :)

 

This is L.A. Girl - Black Illusion, dripped on by LynBDesigns - If I Lose Myself over Kleancolor - TLC. If I Lose Myself is this gorgeous neon green/blue duochrome, but it's a little sheer, so TLC worked as a base to top it on for over black.

 You can see the holo and the duochrome in this picture pretty well!

I love how the holo plays with the duochrome and the drips, and how the black contrasts with the neon. This design is just so much fun. :)

10/06/13 - Stash Update

Long time no see!

My last few weeks have been consumed with: getting ready for moving, actually moving, apartment stuff hunting, and my first week of classes for my second year of college. Whoo! My nails are in a slightly sad state at the moment because I hadn't repainted in so long and they got a bit banged up from moving. But I've finally repainted them last night and I'll post that tomorrow. :)

While buying things for my apartment, I did end up buying a few nail polishes. xD

First, I got two Milani from the dollar tree. I thought that was pretty cool.

Then I got two L.A. Colours from Hirons.

Also, feel free to admire the wood grain on my beautiful new desk. I know I am!

 

 

 

I'm excited to have two new holos in the collection. And the purple just looked pretty. :)

09/06/13 - Neon Needle Marble

Just over two years ago I did this rainbow needle marble. It's still one of my favourite designs I've done, and I've been planning to revisit it, neon style. I finally did that last night. :)

 

I used 6 out of the 8 pen Migi Nail Art set in their white box. Most of the pens are neon-ish and shimmery. Last time I did the design I used mostly Migi's silver box, and I think Migi pens are an easy way to approach the needle marble.

 

Now, I'll admit I had more troubles with this design. I had to go back in and fill in the "needle tracks," where my needle removed polish instead of just dragging it. However, I love how it looks and it was worth the effort. :)

09/05/13 - Stash Update

Some of you may know about Ninja Polish - Floam. It was wildly popular and then stopped being made. At the time I thought it was cool, but didn't care that much one way or another. When I heard it was very hard to acquire, I was a bit disappointed, but no harm done. Then I bought LynBDesign - Oobleck, and suddenly I needed Floam. I just know that Oobleck and Floam are meant to be. I mean, come on, that's a perfect childhood fun time manicure! And since then I have been looking for dupes to Floam because I need it, but I don't however-much-Ebay-wants-for-it need it, you know?

Well, today in Walmart I saw this new collection from Salon Perfect, and in it is a polish called Kaboom. And I thought, "Hey, this looks very similar to Floam!" So I bought it, and it's half the price of the original price of Floam. And I just looked up swatch comparisons, and it is very close to Floam. Close enough that it works for me! I'm so pleased. Also, Kaboom is a pretty fantastic name too.