Feature Friday - Stars and Stripes

Hi all!  With the 4th of July just around the corner, I thought I would show you my Independence Day inspired mani before the weekend.

I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  I did two coats of ChG Frostbite and stamped the stars from Cheeky's CH 4 plate with SHXW White On.  I topped that with a coat of SV.  Then, I taped off a diagonal and painted on my favorite red, WnW 414.  I placed another piece of tape on the same diagonal and stamped the stripes from the same plate over the red with the White On.  Everything was topped with SV once more, and that's it!  Here is the plate and images I used:

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I'm Swatchin' You - New York Color Starry Silver Glitter

Hello!  So, I bought this next polly at the same time that I bought my other NYC polishes, so it's fairly old.  It's called Starry Silver Glitter.  I actually saw this in a store recently, so they still make it.  It's holo micro glitter and blue and silver round glitter in a clear base.

The formula is very good.  It went on smoothly and evenly.  However, you do have to work to get the round glitter on your nail.  I actually didn't try too hard, so that's why there is not much in terms of the round glitter.  It dries shiny, but you need a top coat if you are looking for high shine.  I did not use a top coat so you could see the natural finish.  And it is not gritty at all.  Left to right below, you are looking at two coats over black (ChG Liquid Leather), two coats over white (OPI Alpine Snow), two coats, and one coat.

L to R: Two coats over black, two coats over white, two coats, one coat

L to R: Two coats, one coat

L to R: Two coats over black, two coats over white

I used SH Double Duty as a base.

I'm Swatchin' You - Revlon Royal

I have the much loved and hated Revlon Royal for you today.  It is a deep royal blue jelly.  The formula was meh.  The first coat is a little uneven with some balding.  The second coat levels nicely, but a third coat would be needed for full opacity.  And despite this being in the Top Speed line, I found the drying time to be more like Bottom Speed.  It was slow to dry, and even my SV top coat didn't seem to do much for it.  I have used this color in a tape mani before (see here).  And I had to wait twice as long as usual before I could safely tape it off.  The brush was okay, but mine is a little wonky.  There were a couple of bristles that were looped, so I had to cut them out.  Overall, it's a nice color, but a little tricky to work with.

SH Double Duty and SV for base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

Today's color is from SH's Xtreme Wear line.  Another blue for Blue Monday!  I'm on a streak.  I bought this one because the name reminded me of Hubberoo.  He grew up surfing off the coast of CA and this is called Pacific Blue.  First of all, I cannot tell you how incredibly giddy I was to open the bottle and find a regular, round brush!  *insert happy dance here*

This is a very bright, blue creme, and I love it!  Formula was good, too.  It went on opaque in one coat, but I threw on a second coat anyway.  And can I please draw your attention to my middle finger?  No, not because I want to throw a gesture out there.  I just want to express my excitement that I did NOT clean up that nail at all!  Technique is improving, people!  And the not-a-crazy-paddle brush helped a lot.  I know a lot of people out there love the flat, fat brushes.  They just don't work on teeny tiny little nail beds.  Anyway, enjoy the awesome blue of Pacific Blue!

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - China Glaze Frostbite

Happy Monday!  I actually have a blue for your Blue Monday this week.  This is China Glaze's Frostbite.  I LOVE this color!  It's a gorgeous royal blue with a bit of shimmer.  The formula was very easy to work with.  It went on smoothly, and I got great coverage.  This was opaque in two coats.

Base SH Double Duty. Top SV.

I'm Swatchin' You - Finger Paints Easel-y Entertained

Hiya!  Today's color is from FP.  This one is called Easel-y Entertained.  It's a pretty blue glitter in a clear jelly base.  Of course, this is meant to be layered.  However, I think the whole point of a swatch is so you can see what that color actually looks like all by itself - au naturale!  The only thing under it is my usual clear base.  I have experienced a lot of glitters like this that go on goopey and flood your cuticles.  This one was actually quite easy to apply.  I learned quickly to keep it to a nice, thin coat.  You are looking at two thin coats here.  There are so many possibilities for layering this little beauty!  Suggestions?

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for base and top.  In case you are wondering, I keep adding this to every post for those who stray across my blog and may not know my usual suspects.

I'm Swatchin' You - Nail-Venturous Floam

Hi all!  Here is the polish featured on Friday, Floam, an indie polish made by Nail-Venturous.  This is only the second indie polish I liked enough to buy.  Floam is neon blue and neon yellow matte glitter in a clear base.

As I've said before, I'm not usually a big fan of most of the indie polishes out there.  But this one was too unique to pass up.  Plus, I have all of the earrings I wore back in the 80s, and this polish totally reminded me of one of my favorite pairs!

On to the deets on Floam!
The formula was a little thick and finicky.  I had a hard time controlling it, so I wasn't able to get a clean cuticle edge.  The glitter also seemed to be very attracted to my cuticles!  I found that the first stroke did not have much glitter, but the following strokes covered well.  After a little trial and error, I found that it is best to do a light first coat and thicker second coat.  This can be layered, but I decided to wear it on its own.  You are looking at pre-cleanup, and cleanup was no fun!  Floam dries matte, and it is a bit of a top coat muncher.  I topped with two coats of SV and it still was not very smooth.  All in all, a very cool polish that is definitely unique!  You can purchase this through Ninja Polish or the Nail-Venturous etsy shop.  However, the owner, Amy, is currently taking a break.

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

Feature Friday - Relay for Life

Happy Friday!  Tonight, we will be participating in our local Relay for Life.  We are big supporters of this cause.  I am a cancer survivor, as is my husband and mother.  And I lost my grandmother to cancer.  So we always try to support the cause every chance we get.  If you would like to support the cause through a donation, check out my sidebar.  There is a link there that will take you to the donation page.  I appreciate any support you can provide!

To further show my support, I did a simple color-blocking mani using the Relay for Life colors of red, blue, and purple.  And yes, my virtual bandage is back!  What can I say?  I work with my hands a LOT.

I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  Then, I painted a stripe down one edge of my nails with Wet 'n' Wild's 414, which just happens to be my all time favorite red.  Then, I painted the rest of each nail with Essie's Mesmerize.  Finally, I added a little section of purple using Orchid's Good Girl Gone Bad.  Everything was just free-handed. I topped my nails with a coat of SV to finish.
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Are any of you participating in the Relay this year?  Thanks for looking, and hopefully supporting.  Have a great weekend, everyone!  And don't forget to enter my giveaway!  It ends next week!

Feature Friday - Queensday

Happy Friday!  If you haven't already entered my giveaway, you can do so here.

Today's mani is a stamping for the group I belong to on Facebook, Adventures in Stamping.  The theme is Queensday, celebrating the Queen's birthday.  I did not know much about the holiday, so I had to look it up.  I also used the info provided by one of the group members.

I started with SH Double Duty, and added two coats of Revlon Royal.  Using tape, I added two squares using SH XW Cherry Red.  The stamp I used is the crown from BM 08, shown here:

I stamped the crown using Sinful Colors' (SC) Snow Me White, and topped it all off with SV.  I'm less disappointed that my pointer and pinky stamps are a little crooked, because I'm way too excited that my other two fingers were almost straight!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Feature Friday: National Day of Silence

Happy Friday!  So, Heidi over at DIY Polish and More came up with the idea of doing manis today in support of the National Day of Silence, and I jumped on board.  For those of you who do not know, the National Day of Silence is a day when students take a vow of silence to raise awareness of the silencing effect of bullying and harassment of the LGBT community.  You can learn more about it here. 

Here is the mani I came up with in support of the National Day of Silence.  I used the polishes shown below, which are (from left to right):  ChG Liquid Leather, SH Silver Sweep, WnW 414, OPI A Roll in the Hague, SH Lightening, Essie Pretty Edgy, and ChG Electric Beat.

I painted two coats of Liquid Leather on all of my nails, except for the accent.  I stamped the lips image from BM 02 (shown below) using Silver Sweep.  Then I used tape to create the line with 414.

My accent nail was done with the remaining colors using tape.  Thanks for looking, and I hope you will join in and take a vow of silence.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Update:  Click here to see Heidi's mani!

Feature Friday - The Hemi Mani

Happy Friday and welcome to the newest three members of my blog!  Thanks so much for being here!!!  Inching our way closer to 50 and a giveaway!  I've been putting aside pretties for you guys!  Now on to the FF:

So I was swatching SH's Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue.  While I was admiring the color, I found that it reminded me of the blue Hemi with white stripes, much like the one seen here.  So I added the white stripes using tape and OPI's Alpine Snow.  I started with my usual base of SH Double Duty and did two coats of the Pacific Blue.  I topped them off with SV.  I got a lot of compliments from men on this one!  The moral of the story is: The way to a man's heart is through a car-themed mani!  And a weird little coincidence...I went to the mall and when I came out, a car painted just like this was parked across from me.  Let me know your ideas for a car-themed mani!  Ready, set, go!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Nails! - Nail Art Contest Entry

This mani is based on an idea I've had in my mani-spiration book for a while now.  The motivation for finally getting around to doing it is Chalkboard Nails' nail art contest found here.  This is my first time entering a contest.  While I don't expect to win (way too much talent out there!), I'm just proud of myself for getting up the courage to enter!  The rules were that you could only use the polish brush and a dotting tool (or something dotting tool-ish).  I don't have an actual dotting tool, so I used this stylus I have from when I used to do ceramics.

And on to the mani! My idea was to have it look as though rain was "filling" my nails with water.  I used SH Double Duty as a base followed by two coats of OPI's Alpine Snow.  The raindrops and last nail are PP It's All About Blue and it's all topped with SV.  My improvised dotting tool's ends are two different sizes, but both are actually quite small. For smaller raindrops, I used the dotting tool alone.  For the fatter raindrops, I ended up having to use the polish brush to drop a dot of polish and then use my tool to pull a tail.  Since I wanted the nails to look as though water was filling up and sloshing around, I just free-handed uneven tips.  What do you think?