I'm Swatchin' You - Zoya Stevie

You know what I'm going to say...head over to my giveaway.  Time is running out!  For today, I'm showing you Stevie by Zoya, a light purple textured matte with metallic glitter.  This is from their 2013 Pixie Dust collection.

The formula on this was amazing!  It was easy to apply with even coverage.  It builds beautifully and quickly.  Due to it's matte finish, it dries very quickly.  I have to say, this was just as pretty as a one coat sheer.  But I loved how it built up, so I did three coats, which is what is pictured.  The glitter does kind of hang off the nail a bit, making the edges of the nails feel rough.  You can probably kind of see this in the photo above.  But it smooths out with a bit of wear after a couple of hours.  Love this one!  Which are your favorite colors from this collection?

SH Double Duty as a base with no topcoat.

3 Colors Nail Art Brush Review - Born Pretty Store

Hello and happy Tuesday!  First of all, be sure to get your entries in for my giveaway!  It ends next week.  As for today, I'm reviewing a product from Born Pretty Store.  This is their 3 Colors Nail Art Brush set. 

The set includes a fine detail brush (red), medium liner (green), and a long striper brush (blue).  They are also numbered 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Other than the fact that they look like pens, the brushes are of decent quality.  I don't know that they will necessarily last, but they're great for someone just starting out with liner brushes (like yours truly).  And at $2.57, they are definitely a deal.  And if you hit the Born Pretty Store banner in my sidebar, you can use the code there (GMG10) for a 10% discount!  I like that they come with protectors over the bristles.  Makes storage much safer.  I did play around some with all three brushes, experimenting to get an idea of how they work.

The brushes loaded well (I do have experience with painting...just not with nail polish, as some of my epic failure manis have proven).  I did find that the brushes stained fairly easily with highly pigmented colors, but this didn't affect their performance.  Then, I decided to try my hand at a mani.  So...I bring you my Purple Pixie Stripes mani.

I started with Zoya Stevie for the main color.  My accent nail is a base of ChG Sweet Hook.  Then I used the fine detail brush (the easiest brush to work with for a beginner like me) to add three stripes using SH CSM in Bewitched.  I topped my accent nail with a coat of SV.  Not too terrible for a first attempt at striping with liner brushes, is it?

Anyway, get in on the giveaway, and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

This product was sent for review.

I'm Swatchin' You - Orly Rose Radiance

Today's color is another one I had trouble with classification.  It's Orly's Rose Radiance.  I have chosen to consider this a metallic.  And although the name suggests pink, it looks more like a light purple to me.

This took just one coat.  The formula was excellent.  You will get some visible brush strokes, but it's such a pretty color...who cares!

SH Double Duty and SV as base and top.

I'm Swatchin' You - Ciate Guest List

This is another polish that I received from Holly overseas.  This one, called Guest List, is by Ciate.  It's a beautiful, vampy dark plum creme.  The brush on this was a little short and stumpy, but the incredible formula made it very workable.  It took two coats for smooth opacity, which is what you see below.  The formula was very forgiving and easy to work with.  I always get a little nervous with dark cremes, because if the formula is no good, they can be a nightmare.  Guest List was a dream to put on, and looks beautiful!

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

I'm Swatchin' You - Wet 'n' Wild Back Alley Deals

Hopefully, if I chuck some glitter at you, it will give you a happy, sparkly Monday!  This is from Wet 'n' Wild's Color Icon line.  It's called Back Alley Deals, and it's purple micro glitter and dark pink round glitter in a clear base.

 

The glitter is very dense, so you get really good coverage in only one coat.  But, it is difficult to get even coats.  Your first brush stroke is pretty dense, but subsequent strokes are sparse.  So, be sure to re-load your brush for each stroke.  From left to right below, you are looking at one coat, then two coats, one coat over white (OPI Alpine Snow), and one coat over black (ChG Liquid Leather).

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

This also dries matte and gritty.  The two nails on the left have no top coat so you can see the natural matte finish.  The good news is that even though this dries gritty, it is not a top coat eater.  I added one layer of my top coat, and it is perfectly smooth.  The top coat also really brings out the shine in the glitter.

L to R: One coat and two coats with no top coat

L to R: One coat over white, then black with one layer of top coat

I used SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for my base and top coats.

Feature Friday - Wild Candy Gradient

Okay...you know how I said that some of my adventures would be bad ones?  Well, here is a great example!  But, it was a learning experience, and I thought some of you may benefit from my lessons learned.  Therefore, I am (somewhat reluctantly) showing you the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.  I attempted my first gradient.  I used my usual SH Double Duty base, and added two coats of Orly Cotton Candy.  I let that dry, then I grabbed a makeup sponge.  I painted Orly Wild Wisteria and more Cotton Candy onto the sponge.  I sponged this onto each of my nails.  Then I topped them all with a coat of SV.  Since this was my first time, my index finger experienced the strongest learning curve!  LOL

With the index finger, I learned that if you don't pay attention and start moving the sponge down, it's very hard to go back and fix it!  No, you can't paint on more of the pink and try to cover it.  And no, you can't paint more pink directly on the nail and try to sponge it to blend it back in.  Yup, tried that, too!  :oD

With my middle finger, I learned that putting tape around your finger will help cut down on cleaning up.  However, I also learned that you need to pay close attention to make sure you haven't put tape over your nail at all.  See that sharp line near the cuticle edge that is very pink with no purple?  Yup, that's what happens when you inadvertently cover part of your nail with tape.  Which leads me to my final lesson learned.  I actually learned this lesson with my index finger, but I was already committed.

Whatever color you use as your base, use that color for the cuticle edge of your gradient.  Otherwise, it will look like mine, with a line of your base color showing around the edges.  No matter how much you try to sponge the second color around the edges of the nail near the cuticle, you will get more color on your cuticles than the edges of the nail.

Hopefully, some of you will benefit from my mistakes.  And hopefully, my future attempts will look much better!

I'm Swatchin' You - Sally Hansen Lively Lilac

Hello everyone!  This is a SH Intsa-Dri called Lively Lilac.  While I have a lot of purple in my stash, I do not have many light purples.  So when I saw this sweet little polly on sale for half price, I grabbed it.  I can safely report that I am still no fan of the flat paddle brushes that SH is so fond of manufacturing lately.  I do love and appreciate the fact that the tip is rounded, but the width does not play well with my narrow nail beds.  I have also noticed that the bristles are super soft and silky, so their polishes do apply quite nicely.  The color is a beautiful purple cream that was opaque in one coat.  I did a second coat just because.  And the formula was great.

SH Double Duty and SH Insta-Dri for 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 - An Award, Exciting News, and a Purple Leopard

First, don't forget about my giveaway!  Second, I want to say thank you to Silje over at Foxy Mary's world for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger award!

I am not going to go through the process since I just recently did it, but I did want to thank her and tell you to go check out her blog!

And in even more exciting news...I am DONE!  I finished the last of my papers, and did my last presentation Wednesday evening.  And, my professors this semester gave me the greatest compliment.  They all encouraged me to pursue my doctorate, saying that my work is of that caliber.  SO COOL!  Thursday was my first day in a very long time that I did not have a discussion board to do, article or chapter to read, paper to write, etc.  All I have to do now is sit back, and wait for graduation to roll around next weekend!  Woohoo!

So, the mani I did for this week's challenge for Adventures in Stamping is the Purple Leopard.  The theme was unnatural animals.  I originally intended to get really creative with some kind of supernatural mani featuring ghosts or zombies.  But, I was so enjoying my day with nothing to do, I didn't want to exert too much effort!  LOL  So I randomly chose a plate, and used my favorite color, purple.

I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  Then, I added two coats of ChG Sweet Hook topped with SV.  Then I used SH Complete Salon Manicure in Bewitched to stamp the leopard print from BM 221.  I topped it all off with SV and called it a day!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

French Bows - The Last Easter Mani...I Promise!

Good morning and welcome to 3 more new readers!  Only 7 to go, folks!!!

For my mani yesterday, I wanted something soft, subtle, and sweet for Easter Sunday.  So I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  Then, I did four coats of OPI's Barre My Soul, from their new NYC Ballet collection.  It's a sheer that I wanted pretty opaque, hence the ridiculous amount of coats.  I did this on all of my nails, except my ringer finger, which I was going to use as a subtle accent.  On that one, I did four coats of OPI's Care to Danse, a sheer purple that is also from the new collection.  Then I taped off my tips and added Orly's Faint of Heart.  To finish it all off, I topped with SV, and added nail art - a sweet, little, yellow bow, to my accent fingers.  And for some inexplicable reason, my cuticles decided to look ginormous when I took the pics.  @^%#$!* REALLY?!?  Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and here's to a (hopefully) painless week!

Feature Friday - Peep Show!

It's Friday! First, welcome new readers!  Only 10 away from an amazing giveaway!  I've been gathering goodies for you...OPI, Orly, Sinful.  Bouncing off the walls excited!  PLEASE help me get there!!!  Oh, and if you didn't notice, I've added a page where I will post other blogger's giveaways as I come across them.  Go check them out!

So, here I have my Easter mani.  You may have come across this before because it was featured on Nouveau Cheap's Easter round-up, which can be found here.  From one G to another G - thank you!!!  Sorry I didn't get "in-progress" pics on this mani.  I was a little pressed for time (what else is new?).

I started with my base of SH Double Duty.  Then I did two coats of OPI's Alpine Snow (despite the fact that she's such a bish to me - we have a very unhealthy love/hate relationship).  I free-handed the peeps using ChG Sweet Hook and Sinful's Unicorn.  I used a dotting tool to add the eyes using Orchid's Truffle Maker.  I topped them all off with Spoiled's Shaken Snow Globe (darn those craptastic brushes!).

After submitting this to Nouveau Cheap, I decided I needed something different on my thumb.  So I attempted an Easter basket.  It didn't come out as I'd hoped, but then, these things rarely do.  Oh, well.  I started with ChG Cha Cha Cha for the grass.  Then I added Orchid Truffle Maker for the basket.  Using my beloved tape, I added CC Antiquated to attempt a woven look (fail!).  Everything was topped with SV.  In the end, I thought it was cute and enjoyed doing it.  I am actually planning a different, more "classical" mani for Easter day.  I'll post that on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!  And if you celebrate Easter...Happy Easter!

I'm Swatchin' You - Cover Girl Plum Fairy and a Giveaway Alert

First, check out the giveaway at The Perky Polisher!  Then, here is my last color from Cover Girl's Nail Slicks.  As you may (or may not) know, purple is my favorite color.  So there was no way I was passing this color up when it came out.  It came out at the same time as yesterday's color.  I believe it was the late 90s.  This one is called Plum Fairy.  It's a deep, shimmery purple and I love it!  Another "But I don't wanna take it off!" color.  I just wish my PhD camera did this color justice.  Note to self:  ask for a new camera for Mother's Day this year.  This one went on a little better than the Mystic Peacock, but definitely looks better, and beautiful, after two coats.  Formula and brush were great.  What do you think?  Did anyone else grab these when they came out?  Does anyone else remember the commercial?

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

I'm Swatchin' You - Maybelline Grape

I hope everyone had a good weekend!  Here is the last Maybelline Express Finish I have.  This color is called Grape and it's a deep, dark, muted purple with a brown undertone.  As for application, it goes on a bit sheer in the first coat, but the second coat gives decent coverage.  However, the Express Finish on this one was pretty unforgiving.  If it takes you more than 3 brush strokes to finish a nail, you risk pulling the polish right off again.  You need to be lightning fast with this one!

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