Monday Mani: Secret Galaxy by 6 Harts

This one I had a HARD time taking off... in fact, I didn't take it off until I *had* to because my whole pointer finger of polish fell off in the shower.  The tip wear on this was incredible, which is a testament to the high quality of the polishes I used.

Base coat by Northern Polish, two layers Willa by Zoya, two layers Secret Galaxy by 6 Harts, and top coat of Glitter Glaze by Girly Bits.  There is incredible sparkle to Secret Galaxy that I had a difficult time capturing on camera.  Holo only seems to want to be captured when the photo is blurry!  So you'll see that in some of my photos in an effort to show you that super sparkle.  Ignore my poor clean-up job - the macro setting is very kind to point out what the naked eye thought was fine!  All taken under studio lighting on a white background.  Love love love Secret Galaxy!

Let me know what you think of the color in the comments below!

Disclaimer: polishes purchased for my own personal use.  All opinions are my own.  No affiliation with Northern Polish, Zoya, 6 Harts, or Girly Bits.

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Week 4 Orange, Purple, and Green + Reciprocal Gradient

Oh, boy, was this a toughie of a challenge!  I had reciprocal gradient as the pattern challenge and while I was familiar with it, I couldn't exactly remember what it was so I had to look it up.  I was also a little apprehensive because I've not actually done a gradient at all yet, but I knew enough about this cool technique to wonder if the colors weren't going to work well or just look like a hot mess (spoiler alert: I was right).  Thanks to a great Youtube tutorial by My Simple Little Pleasures, I was quickly able to learn how easy it is.  Patience and time are the key!  So I sucked it up and dove in.

Picking colors from my stash was hard.  I don't really own orange, and not much plain green.  It also doesn't help all my polish is currently stored in boxes due to my living situation so searching is a litte harder.  :)  The recent A Box, Indied had all three colors, but I felt the purple was too sheer for this and didn't "go" well in tone.  I felt a plummy purple was more appropriate.  However, I worried this darker color palette would be difficult for a gradient, even though I liked the undertones of the color combo.  I decided to risk it anyways.

I used Different Dimension Witch & Fabulous as the orange and Colors by Llarowe Doctor Bombay's Potion as the green, both from the October A Box, Indied.  From CbL's fall collection 2015 I chose Aubergine Dreams as the purple.  Luckily, because I had been wanting to try a gradient for a while I already had on hand Glisten & Glow's Ctrl-Alt-Del latex barrier.  Despite being scented, it smells like bathroom cleaner to me.  Although it doesn't bother me, I have read reviews previously to be cautious that it does bother some noses.  It is incredibly easy to apply, but I do need more practice on where to place it to get best results (there's some cracks and cervices I missed).  This stuff is awesome enough, though, that I might use it on every mani!  Especially since I'm lazy and also not skilled with clean-up (which you'll see from my pics below).

Doing a gradient is incredibly easy - I just painted onto up&up latex free foam cosmetic wedges - it's the waiting part that's the hardest.  I had to do several layers to get the orange to show, but it did eventually (kind of) work.  I used chevron vinyls to create striping down the middle to reveal the reciprocal aspect.  I've recently discovered the awesomeness that is Girly Bits' Glitter Glaze quick dry top coat - dries super fast, super tough, and super glossy that makes holo and glitter pop.

While this isn't my most favorite mani I've done, I am proud of my sponging technique on first try.  Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Shade lighting

Shade with indirect sunlight

Full sun in an attempt to show all the glitter and holo

Disclaimer: items were purchased by me for my personal use.  All opinions are my own.  No affiliation with the brands mentioned in this post

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Mani: CbL Rainbow Connection Birthday Exclusive Loving Every Moment

This past week, I have had the fun of spearheading a group buy for Rainbow Connection's exclusive Colors By Llarowe polish called Loving Every Moment that was made for RC's 2nd anniversary.  When I opened the box, I was blown away by the gorgeousness.  Seriously, this is some CbL to the next level.  And I instantly knew this would be hard to photograph.

Application was on the thicker side than I'm used to for the CbL's I currently own, but that may be due to the rich complexity and intense holoness of this polish.  It's opaque enough that you could probably get away with it being a one coater with the right application technique, but I did two to really pop out that richness.  My nails like CbL so the polish dried quick, and slightly gel like.  My kind of polish!  Depending on lighting, it can lean pink or blue.  I've noticed natural light it leans blue and artificial light it leans pink.  And the times it's a straight up purple the richness and depth is drool worthy.  This polish is one of those you appreciate even more in person and can't capture it fully on camera.

I tried taking lots of pictures in several types of lighting.  As a result, some are a little blurry - it wouldn't play nice with the camera and sometimes the blurry ones capture the essence best (perhaps you've heard sometimes blurry photos capture intense holo best?).  This beauty you can purchase from the Rainbow Connection site.  It's been selling fast and I don't know how many restocks there will be!

 

 

studio lighting

 indoors, direct sunlight

outdoor shade

outdoor shade with indirect lighting

These last two shots really highlight the pink, purple, and blue!

Disclaimer: I am no way affiliated with Colors by Llarowe or Rainbow Connection.  Products were purchased by myself.  All opinions are my own.

Monday Mani: all the purples by Girly Bits

A few months ago, I created my most popular mani post to date.  I loved it so much, I really wanted to do it in other colors.  For a recent challenge in the Girly Bits fan group, I decided to use purples I own by GB to recreate the faux ombre I had previously done in green (but that was different indie makers).  I love this one just as much and I hope you do, too!  For the first time, I did these all under studio lighting.

Now, there's a little bit debate about my calling it a "faux ombre".  The art degree in me argues this counts as an ombre because it's the same color graded.  However, I've been told in the nail world an ombre is across fingers, and a gradient is per nail regardless of color choices.  I called it faux because I didn't blend.  But maybe it's faux because it's on each nail.  I'm curious your thoughts so please weigh in on the comments: do you categorize this as an ombre or a gradient?

I used Girly Bits Twitterpated, Remember Aja, and Seriously Sassy.  As usual, all applied beautifully.  Twitterpated was more sheer than I anticipated.  I ended up doing three coats because I don't like visible nail line.  Remember Aja I've already worn and it's one of my favorite purples of all time.  Seriously Sassy made the perfect tips.  I taped off on the diagonal and accented each polish with black striping tape.  I experimented on my thumb with one diagonal and one straight to see how it looks, and I totally like it and will do manis in the future this way.

What do you think of this look?  Are you excited for me to do other colors?

 

Disclaimer: all opinions are my own.  I am in no way affiliated with Girly Bits Cosmetics.  I purchased these items myself.

Monday Mani: #52WPNMC with Girly Bits Just My Cup of Tea'l and Polynesian Sunset

It's Week 34 of the 52 Week Pick N Mix Challenge with this week's prompts being lilac and teal or pastels. Considering I have a most-likely-diagnosable problem with the amount of blues and purples I buy, I figured why not give the lilac and teal a shot. Luckily for me, I have the perfect duo of untrieds to fit the bill.  From my stash I picked from one of my favorite indie handmade brands, Girly Bits. Pam released a custom polish trio in June 2014 exclusive to the GBCF Facebook group, two of which happen to be a purple and a teal. For the purposes of this nail art challenge, I'm arguing it's a lilac. ;) 

Since these were released as customs, they were available only one time to a select group of people and did not have an official description. As provided by Pam at the time of preview for purchase: "This teal leans slightly more blue than #islandtime and it has more aqua shimmer and less gold. This purple is slightly darker than #endlesslove, with prominent pink shimmer and silver holo sparks in addition to the base holo." I applied both colors in thin layers (with top coat), and both, as is my usual experience with GB, were super easy to apply and dried quickly. I had not discovered the pink shimmer (which I thought at the time was a pink flash) of Polynesian Sunset until later under the lighting of my bedroom light fan, a very pleasant surprise. I enjoyed Polynesian Sunset for two days with very minimal tip wear (only one minor chip), which is also my typical experience with GB, as a monochromatic mani. I later applied Just My Cup of Tea'l ruffian style, mimicking nail art from this post.  Both are jam packed with holo and stunning colors.

As you will see in the nail art photo, my index finger is not pictured.  To my surprise, the lilac layer pulled up with my vinyl upon removal.  While I patched the screw up with the teal polish, I felt it wasn't camera ready.  I have had the teal on since Thursday with extremely minimal tip wear, only one chip (I'm sensing a theme).  Girly Bits polishes are VERY hardy.

In the shade with indirect lighting

In the shade

In the shade with indirect lighting

In the shade

Monday Mani is about showcasing beautiful indie polishes that I've purchased through lifestyle shots. So many swatches out there are captured under lighting and conditions that aren't common of every day. My intention is to show mani's under typical lighting and wearing conditions so you can decide if the beauty is right for you or not. Please note that although colors are accurate on my computer monitor (Macbook Pro), colors do vary among devices. Professionals blogger swatches are perfect - here's my life lessons from a handmade artisan.

Disclaimer: All reviews and opinions are my own. Products were purchased with my own money. No affiliation with Girly Bits or their products.

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Mani: #fightforlightandlive and Girly Bits

Yesterday afternoon I discovered the #fightforlightandlive and #depressionawareness mani movement on Facebook.  Being a mental health professional first and foremost, I didn't want to miss out on participating.  I figured better late than never!

I had just opened up my three Mystery Bags from an exclusive sample sale for group members that handmade indie polish maker Girly Bits ran earlier this month.  The bags contained OOAKs, Oops, Prototypes, Testers, Discontinueds, and the like.  Among them was a beautiful green/purple holo duochrome (if I'm guessing correctly) and I thought it perfect to try out since it was a newbie and green.

While I had some application and drying issues - an anticipated risk of mystery samples - that affected clean up and appearance, it is quite the lovely color.  If the application issues were worked out (which may be the reason it didn't make it into production), I think this prototype would turn into a huge hit!  Next time I think I will build with super thin coats as I think I was a little overzealous with my painting.  This is two semi-thick coats with Zoya's Anchor and Armor.

Sadly, my camera was NOT cooperating with capturing the purple side of it.  When I walk into full sun, it turns into a full blown muted purple shade and the holo lights up.  While the naked eye can clearly see it, my camera clearly cannot.  Which is SO unfortunate because I wish I could easily show you how dynamic a color this is!  Instead, I tried my best with different lighting and angles in hopes of highlighting its beauty.

Post in the comments below what you think of the color!  And, please, help fight stigma surrounding mental illness and become an advocate for changing society's perspective.  Visit your local community agency or NAMI chapter, and help educate yourself and others about mental illness disorders.  Together we can #stampoutstigma and be agents for change!

Shade lighting

Direct sun lighting

(aka when my camera should have captured the purple instead)

Indirect sun lighting

(trying to capture the purple at a new angle)

Indirect sun lighting

Indirect sun lighting

(can see the purple a little bit)

Disclaimer:  All products were purchased with my own money.  All reviews and opinions are my own. Not affiliated with Girly Bits.

NOTD Handmade: Haleakala by Elevation Polish

I'm currently wearing handmade indie polish by Elevation Polish called Haleakala.  This absolutely gorgeous shade is a purple holo that lands somewhere between a berry and a wine shade.  My photo doesn't do it justice!

Earlier this week I wore Darkest Storm. I can never get enough blue!