I'm Swatchin' You - Orchid Funky Monkey

Today's color comes to you from Orchid.  It's called Funky Monkey, and you know I bought it for the name!  It's basically a brown glitter in a brown-tinged base.

If you look closely, you will see that the shimmer is a coppery brown that even looks rose and gold from different angles.  It's a very pretty color.  The formula was great, but it does go on a bit sheer.  So you are looking at three coats.  This does build beautifully with each coat.  The only thing I don't like is that there is a slight VNL, which the brown tinge of the base makes it look kind of like there's dirt under your nails.  Do you agree?

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

I'm Swatchin' You - Orchid Truffle Maker

Good morning!  Today, I'm showing you Orchid's Truffle Maker, a brown shimmer.  I am not typically a fan of brown pollies.  Too often, they just look poo-tastic on me.  But I really like this one.  I've only ever used it as an accent color.  This was the first time I tried it on its own.

The first coat goes on very sheer and streaky, but don't worry!  It looked great by the second coat, which is what you are looking at.  Overall, a good color with a good formula. The brush on the Orchid polishes is a thin round brush, which I like.

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

I'm Swatchin' You - Orchid Pink Negligee

Hi all!  I'm still trying to get my nails back in shape, which is why you did not see a Feature Friday mani.  Sorry about that.  I dug into my little archives, which are dwindling, to find Orchid's Pink Negligee for today.  It's a pink frost with yellow-gold shimmer.  The formula was a little thick at first, but I was able to fix it.  The frost finish does not result in many brush strokes.  It applies very evenly.  The brush was little thick for my taste, but really not that bad at all.  I was pleasantly surprised by how opaque this was.  I thought it was going to be much more sheer.  But this was opaque in two coats.  My PhD camera does not do this color justice at all.  It was really hard to accurately capture this color.  It is really beautiful, and makes a great summer color.  And yes, the virtual bandage has returned!  That is what happens when attempting to un-package children's toys.

SH Double Duty and Insta-Dri 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 - 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!