Avon: Olive Green

The Avon color Olive Green makes me think of fresh cut grass - it's the perfect shade of mossy green....very earthy and even though it's not really a "vampy" color, it's still right up my alley. I don't think Avon makes this color anymore, which is a total shame. The formula is perfect and I think it's a pretty unique shade of green.





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Gradient Success!

Yay! Finally, after several tries, I came up with a gradient that I think actually looks good! I used China Glaze Velvet Bow and Ruby Deer. Man, I had the hardest time getting a good gradient. I don't know if it was color choices or lack of skill, but geesh. I was ready to give up! But my persistence finally paid off. The base color was a failed gradient using Sinful Colors Cinderella and Loreal Jet Set to Paris (I still haven't given up on that combo yet!).





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Red, White and Blue Water Marble

Well, my Memorial Day red, white and blue gradient was a major fail, but at least my marble manicure was a major win. I used Wet n Wild French White Creme as a base color and marbled using WnW French White Creme, WnW Red and Loreal Jet Set to Paris.

I adore this manicure so much! I marbled this on Thursday night and in an effort to make it last until Monday, I applied Gelish top coat and cured it under my LED light. I've never tried to do that using regular polish and it actually worked. I can't wait to try this with other colors. I love how shiny the Gelish top coat makes it.



This photo was pre-Gelish top coat

Hope you all are having a great weekend! We went to Greenfield Village for their Civil War Remembrance Weekend (4th year running) . Today I planted my tomato and cucumber plants in my Topsy Turvey  grower and tomorrow we get so spend some time being mellow at home.  I love long weekends!







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Border Manicure

I love all these specialty manis lately.....gradients, water marble, and border (or framed) manicures. It's fun to experiment, and I figured I'd give a border manicure a try. I actually tried this before my gradient the other day (this was actually my Cinco dy Mayo mani). The base is Supernail ProGel Blue Granite and the innards are Essie One Day without Blues.  I wish I had a steadier hand, but overall, I really liked wearing this one.



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Memorial Day Gradient - Major Fail!

Ugh, I clearly do not have the knack for nail art! LOL. I attempted to create a gradient mani for Memorial Day using Red, White and Blue. Now, keep in mind it was my 1st ever attempt! ha ha.

Here's what I started with. I think it had potential, but clearly needed work.  I think I needed to use more polish, it looks kind of dry:



So, stupid me decided to add a layer of Wet n Wild Stars and Stripes overtop...yeah, I should have waited for it to dry a bit more because it smeared the colors together, but not in a good way...like the white became pink...darn!


So, major fail here. But I really want to get a good gradient, so I'm going to keep trying. Does anyone have any tips for me??


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China Glaze Luxe and Lush

When I first saw Luxe and Lush in person, I thought it was a dupe to Color Club's Covered in Diamonds, but although they're similar, they are definitely different. Both are chunky flakies in a clear base. What do I mean by chunky? Most flakie polishes are smooth, but the flakes in "chunky flakie" polishes are irregular shapes that do not lay flat on the nail. Some examples of other chunky flakies would be the NYX avenue or Sinful Ocean polishes.

The primary differences between CID and L&L is that CID has larger flakes and flashes more colors; blue, green and gold. L&L has smaller flakes and flashes gold and green. Here are the two together:

Here is Luxe and Lush by itself. This is layered over my current Gel mani.

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And the winner is.....

Thank you to everyone who entered my 500 follower giveaway, I appreciate every one of you. I found a few more vintage polishes at the Dollar Tree, so I'll be working on another giveaway real soon...

Now for the good stuff, the winner is:



Congratulations Sara, I hope you enjoy the polishes. I'll be shipping out your package by the end of the week.


Here's a quick nail pic, I used Milani's striper polish in Purple Outline as an accent to my Rad Nomad mani from the weekend.

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Studio M: Rad Nomad

Now, on to the polish! Rad Nomad is shared by both Studio M and Color Club. It's a dusty purple-y gray cream. The color was originally from the fall 2011 Color Club collection Back to Boho, and after researching that collection, I'd say this color is my favorite from it. It must be a core color, because now Studio M is carrying it at Meijer.

Lobster hands!

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Layla: Flash Black

Flash Black is another one of the Layla's that I ordered from Ulta online. It's a silvery grayish black holo. The rainbow effect of this polish is just so intense, I seriously can't stop looking down at my nails whenever I pass by a bright light. Like I don't think I should be allowed to wear this polish while driving! LOL.

Now here's that super holo rainbow....swoon!

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Layla: Ocean Rush

I've been stalking my local Ulta for the Layla holo display for a couple of months, and all they have are still the magnetics. And there are a lot left in the display, so I don't think they're going anywhere for a while. I finally couldn't take it anymore, so I just bought some online.

This is two coats of Ocean Rush. I love everything about these polishes, but they are a bitch to apply (bald spots!) and the price is steep ($15.50 for a 10ml bottle)....but when you see them in the proper lighting, all that goes away. I mean, wow! Unfortunately, we haven't had any sunlight yet, so I had to make due with indoor lighting.





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Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over a mystery red

Yikes, I'm so bad! I took these picks last week, and I totally cannot remember what color of red polish I used! Because of that, I wasn't sure if I should post this, but it's so pretty, I just had to. The flakies are Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, which I'm sure you can tell by the bottle 8-) I adore the look of HT overtop a red color, the shift of orange, gold and green...ugh. ♥♥♥







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Wet n Wild Coloricon: Bow in My Presence

This is the 2nd color I purchased in the Be Jeweled collection, it's called Bow in My Presence. BIMP is a very light teal that flashes pink. The duochrome on this one isn't as strong as Speak When Spoken To, but I only used one coat here, so that may have something to do with it. This is one coat overtop yesterday's Studio M On the Hunt.

You can start to see the pink flash around the edges although it's very subtle:

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Studio M: On The Hunt

I recently found this polish at Meijer, it's called On The Hunt. I believe this is a Studio M exclusive, I Googled the name and didn't see any Color Club's with the same name. OTH is a mint green with some pretty amazing gold shimmer. The shimmer is what sold me on the color. I love this for spring. I'm not a pastel girl, so this is a good alternative for me ☺



Look at that shimmer! ♥



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Wet n Wild Coloricon: Speak When Spoken To

Speak When Spoken To is from the Wet n Wild Coloricon Be Jeweled collection. For the most part, I wasn't that impressed with the colors in this collection, but that darn Scrangie did it to me again. Once I saw her post with these colors I decided I needed them LOL. SWST has a great purple/blue duochrome shift. This was two coats overtop Studio M Rad Nomad, which is a dark dusty purple color (I'll be posting that this weekend).



I love how blue just the tips are in this picture ☺





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Playing with tape

I'm not great with the tape manis. I know they're easy, but I just don't have the knack. I decided to play around a bit with my current RCM gel mani, so a taped off a couple stripes and added Sally Hansen Vivid overtop. I figured if I messed up too badly, I could just remove it and still have a perfect mani underneath. Of course I did ruin it, the stripes aren't even close to the same width. Sigh. Oh well, I tried ☺ ha ha.





Next time, much thinner stripes and I'll have to pre-cut them. I guess I just don't have the patience for nail art!
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