I'm Swatchin' You - Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie

Yup, I got another Spoiled.  Luckily, the color is amazing, because the brush certainly isn't.  This is called Shrimp on the Barbie, a pink jelly with gold micro glitter.

This took just two coats to look incredible.  While my brush was the worst I've seen from Spoiled, it certainly still qualified as craptastic.  As I said, the color is gorgeous, so I'm still glad I braved another Spoiled.  I'll be decanting sometime in the future.  The only other downside is that I hate cleaning up micro glitter!

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - Orly Glitz

Here comes some Orly bling!  This is Glitz, a gold shimmer.

Glitz is a true gold with strong shimmer.  This was good to go in only one coat, which is what you are looking at.  The formula was great, but this dries a little dull.  So you really do need to add a TC, which really adds depth and brings out the beauty of this color.

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - China Glaze Champagne Bubbles

So, remember a few days ago I told you that my cuticles have been ravaged by some work I'm doing in my mother's bathroom?  Well, manual labor strikes again.  While removing a wallpaper border, I broke TWO nails.  A moment of silence, please.  Beware, extreme nubbins lay ahead...with horrible cuticles to boot.

Today's color is China Glaze's Champagne Bubbles, a gold shimmer with silver micro glitter.  This is from ChG's Winter 2011 Let It Snow collection.

This is two coats with no issues.  The formula was good, and I really had no problems with this at all.  The color is good, but not really anything to shout about.

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - China Glaze Swanky Silk

Today's polish is the first one I'm showing you from my favorite China Glaze collection, Bohemian, just released this year, 2012.  This is a pink and gold duochrome called Swanky Silk.

The formula was fantastic.  This applied smoothly and evenly and was opaque in two coats.  I tried my best to capture the duochromey goodness, and I hope you get an idea of just how pretty this color is.

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - Color Club Antiquated

Today, I'm showing you Color Club's Antiquated, from their Foiled collection.  This is a metallic, muted gold.

Really missing my lightbox!  Have I said that enough?  This color is really great!  Application was excellent.  It would have been opaque in one coat, but there was some slight balding.  So a second coat was needed to solidify it.  Love it!  In fact, I loved it so much, I did a full mani with it!

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

I'm Swatchin' You - China Glaze Ultamate Holiday

Hey folks!  Today, I've got a polish from China Glaze's limited edition collection that was done for Ulta.  It's called Ultamate Holiday, a gold holo glitter in a clear jelly base.

One thing I loved about this polish is that it applies really well for a glitter.  It goes on evenly and dense.  You are looking at my usual two coats.  However, this does dry matte, and it's a top coat eater.  I only applied top coat to my middle and pinky fingers.  I don't know if you can really see the difference.  If you want a smooth finish, you will need 2-3 coats of your top coat.

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

I'm Swatchin' You - China Glaze Mega Byte

Up next is China Glaze's Mega Byte.  This is a mustardy gold holo.  Unfortunately, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy (everyone in NY/NJ are in my thoughts every day!!!), I was not able to get a sunny pic.  And I apologize for the generally craptastic pics on this one.  I don't know where my head was!

The formula on this was pretty great.  I had solid coverage in two coats.  I really can't report any complaints on this one.  Enjoy!

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

I'm Swatchin' You - Icing Magnetix Gold

Today, I'm showing you an Icing Magnetix polish.  It doesn't have a name, so I'm just calling it Gold.  Original, right?  Anyway, the brush was craptastic.  I think I actually took a picture of it for my brush comparison post here.  Otherwise, it actually went on quite nicely with good coverage.  I've heard that people do one coat and then a second coat using the magnet.  I just tried one coat since it seemed to go on so well.  I have to say, the magnet was freakin' awesome!  Worked like a charm with no problems.  But since I only did one coat and thanks to the strength of the magnet, you can kind of see some thin spots.  Lesson learned.  Base was SH Double Duty and no top coat.

Feature Friday - St. Patrick's Day Glitter Gradient

Happy Friday and a huge welcome to new readers!  Today's featured mani is a St. Patrick's Day inspired mani.  I kept it pretty simple.  Started off with one coat of SH Double Duty as a base.  Then I did two coats of ChG's Holly-Day.  I was so happy to get this in a swap with Rachael over at The Perky Polisher.  Go check out her blog...she's doing a giveaway right now!

Then I added a couple of coats of ChG's Blonde Bombshell.  I did the first coat from just before the cuticle to the free edge.  Then I did a second coat over the bottom half.  Then I touched up the tips to create a slight gradient look.  I topped it all off with a coat of SH's Insta-Dri top coat.

Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tuesday - Lightbox - And a Mardi Gras Mani!

First of all...hello and welcome!  17 and I'm so excited that each and every one of you are here!

If you've noticed, I'm trying to come up with different things to bring you throughout the week.  I have Feature Friday, which is the "experimental mani of the week."  Sometimes they are great, other times, not so much.  And now Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tuesday.  I would like to use these posts to tell you about things I've tried, made, etc.  Maybe they'll be great ideas and maybe not so much.  That's where the adventure comes in!

So today, I'm bringing you my tutorial for making a lightbox.  There are many different variations out there.  As a former, semi-pro photographer, I found this to work the best for me.  Also, bear in mind that my experience in photography was in 35mm film.  My digital camera is actually a hand-me-down that's quite old and does not have a very good lens.

First, why a lightbox?  A lightbox allows you to take photos of objects (or manis) with a continuous, uncluttered background.  It also helps to minimize glares and distracting shadows.  The indirect or diffused lighting also avoids hot spots that usually result when you take photos using an on-camera flash (especially fixed flashes on point-and-shoot cameras).

For my lightbox, I decided to use as many materials as possible that I already had on hand.  Plus, I did not want to make it out of foam core since I move a lot and it would be destroyed during the next move.  You can absolutely make this out of white foam core (available at any craft store) to save some work.  I used a cardboard box I had left over from the holidays.  That's my sweet Hubberoo doing the cutting for me!

I wanted my lightbox to be square, so the width of my existing box dictated the finished size.  Since the box was 15" wide, I (or should I say, the Hubberoo) cut it down to be 15" long.  He just cut out the back and left the sides.  The sides were then able to be folded up to create the new bottom (shown below).

Some lightboxes have holes cut in the sides with the holes covered with tissue paper.  Lights would then be positioned outside the box, as in the diagram below.

I did not want to use this setup because I would prefer to fill the box with indirect light instead of using a diffused light.  It can be difficult to diffuse the light effectively to avoid hot spots, glare, and shadows.  So I cut two notches from each side.  The notches were approximately 2" x 7".  The purpose of the notches is to get the lights to be slightly recessed into the box to effectively bounce the light off the top of the box and down onto the object(s).

Next, I lined the box with matte white poster board (glossy poster board will cause glares).  I cut the  white poster board to fit both of the sides and the top of the box.  I attached the pieces using double sided tape.  Then I measured the back and bottom of the box and cut one piece of poster board to cover both surfaces.  I did this to create a continuous piece of poster board to serve as a backdrop with no seams or creases.

Now all that's left to do is attach your lighting!  I picked up two work lights from a hardware store.  I also grabbed two bulbs.  I will tell you to save your money on the bulbs!  All you need are low watt (mine are 60 watt equivalent) daylight bulbs.  I paid about $6.00 for a package with two bulbs.  Some people will tell you to splurge on more expensive bulbs.  This is absolutely not necessary unless you are using a very expensive, high-end camera.  Most of the point-and-shoot digital cameras are not sophisticated enough to pick up small deficiencies in regular daylight bulbs.

I attached my lights to the notches in the sides of the box and angled them up to the top of the box.  You may have to play with the angles a bit to find what works best.  Take some test shots and look for glares or shadows and adjust your lights as needed.  Here is what mine look like:

Lights off

Lights on

And the results!

Hope this helps you!  And remember, this is what worked best for me.  There are tons of options for building a lightbox.  Go with what works and what is easiest for you to do.  If you made a lightbox recently, let me know in the comments so I can check it out!

And since it's Fat Tuesday, I am throwing in a quick Mardi Gras mani!  I used Revlon's Not So Blueberry as the base.  Then I added SH Insta-Dri in Jumpin' Jade and ChG Champagne Bubbles on my accent nail using tape.  Topped it all with SV.  Enjoy!