Sparkly China Glaze

This mani was a quick fix.  I had only a little time so I just grabbed the first thing that caught my eye.  I used China Glaze First and Last for the base and top coat.  First coat of lacquer was Polar Ice by China Glaze.  It's a small to medium size holo glitter in an almost clear base.  Unfortunately it was clear that no matter how many coats I could put on of this the yellow of my nails would show through.  As I mentioned I didn't have much time so dealing with the yellow using lemon or whatever was not an option.  So then I grabbed Drenched In Diamonds by China Glaze.  It's a frosted sparkly silver that almost looks white sometimes.  I slapped a coat of that on top of the Polar Ice.  Then did another coat of Polar Ice on top of that and then the top coat.  Wasn't sparkly enough so I added another coat of Polar Ice and another coat of top coat!  LOL  So there is 3 coats of First and Last, 3 coats of Polar Ice and 1 coat of Drenched in diamonds on here but not that order.  It's pretty.  I like it.

Here's a short video of the 2 polishes in the bottle.

Burgundy Bounty

This weeks' mani is 5 polishes that look like one of my favourite colours in the bottle.... burgundy!  I define burgundy as purple that is so red it is no longer purple and is now burgundy.  On the nail is another story.  It's a fine line between burgundy and wine and one of them actually is closer to what I have seen others call Raspberry.  Here are the names of the polishes I used in order, thumb to pinky:

Social Animal by China Glaze - Worst smelling.  Skinny brush means many strokes to cover nail.
Rihana by Zoya - Best application!  Thick little brush.  Love it.
Cowgirl Up by China Glaze - Slighly thicker than other China Glaze so went on a touch easier despite skinny  brush.
Adoring Amethyst by Sally Hansen  - Worst application.  Streaky and watery.  Horrible uneven coverage.  Took 3 coats when bottle says 2 and is much lighter on the nail than in the bottle.  Not to mention, how weird is the name?  When I hear Amethyst I think purple.  This is not purple.  It's also not drying.  Still tacky after 45 minutes.
Dark Roses by Sally Hansen - Easy application and good coverage.

Sorry, I didn't realize how late it is.  Photos of my nails is going to have to wait until tomorrow night. Bye for now!

P.S. Look what I got....
The new Bundle Monster Plates!
Those will be my next post!

Ok, here are some photos using my cell phone.  It's always good at getting the colour right.  Have to say this is the most messed up mani I have had in a long time!  The polish just didn't want to dry.  Perhaps it is the humidity we had.  Did it too close to bed so woke up with every nail messed up somehow.  I chip, a piece fuzz, fingerprint, sheet print, and more! Was amazed at how much the top coat hides!


Low Light





Decent Light



Bright Light



Thumb - Social Animal by China Glaze

Index - Rihana by Zoya

Middle - Cowgirl Up by China Glaze - Slighly thicker than other China Glaze so went on a touch easier despite skinny  brush.

Ring - Adoring Amethyst by Sally Hansen

Pinky - Dark Roses by Sally Hansen


Rhiana, Cowgirl Up and Dark Roses are pretty much identical. 

Social Animal and Adoring Amethyst are very close.  I thinkAdoring Amethyst is red rather than burgundy.  Social Animal has a fair amount of pinkish shimmer.  It makes me think "jelly" when I look at it but I don't think it is . As for colour, it is more of a cranberry or raspberry.  It's an unusual colour that is growing on me more and more.

Sally`s Haul on Black

This mani started with 2 coats of Black Out by Orly. Next I layered 9 of the polishes I recently purchased at Sally`s on top. I found a small bottle of Rocker Chick by Orly that I forgot I had which I also used because it was similar to the others. There are 3 bottles left to be used from that haul. They will be part of my next glitter mani! But that is another day.

I`m having a really hard time capturing these polishes. Kinda almost give up. Will try to get a video tomorrow. Got a few pictures. Mostly it is the super subtle Fifty-Four and Love Each Other that I can`t get. I`ll give it another try tomorrow as I said. In the meantime here are a couple of each hand. One blurrier to try and get some holo and sparkle colour.

Thumb - Sally`s - pale pink with holo

Index - China Glaze - Fairy Dust

Middle - Orly - Shine On Crazy Diamond

Ring - Orly - Fifty-Four

Pinky - Orly - Love Each Other

Thumb - Nina - Opal Elegance

Index - Sally`s mini - no name

Middle - Sally`s mini - no name

Ring - Orly - Rocker Chick

Pinky - Sally`s mini - pink

Layering Experiment

Good evening!  This was just some experimentation that I had not planned on sharing but the colour came out so bold I decided to share it.  Unfortunately neither photos or video could capture just how intense the colour was.  I can't even find the right words to describe it.  Gaudy but cool?  I am for sure going to do this again for keeps.  It started with a coat of Black Onyx by OPI.  It was going on kinda thin and streaky but I didn't want to do 2 coats so I laid it on thick which of course led to bubbles.  Then it was 2 coats of some gorgeous glass fleck loaded polishes.  No top coat.  No clean up 'cause I had not intended to share it.  Sorry for the ugly.  : )

Also want to try green, lime, red, and purple glass fleck as well next time.

The ones I tried this time appear in the same order on my nails as they do in the top photo:

Pinky - Lighthouse by China Glaze

Ring - Spectrum by Sally Hansen

Middle - Byte by Sally Hansen

Index - Laser by Sally Hansen

Thumb - Orange Marmalade by China Glaze

Sally's Haul

I only just recently discovered that there is a Sally's Beauty Supply just 15 minutes away from me.  A couple of days ago I finally made it there.  I arrived to find that they were having a sale in April:  Buy 2 bottles of nail polish, get one free.  Of course the sale had already been going on for 28 days so I'm sure I missed out on some great stuff.  Still managed to find 9 full size and 4 Sally's mini bottles of sparkly goodness that I wanted.  When I was taking photos I left out 2 bottles as the were not very sparkly and I wasn't as in love with them as I am the others.  They are included in the video.  Those 2 are a milk chocolate coloured shimmer called Unplugged by China Glaze and Goth by Orly which is a black cream with sparse silver glitter. The following pictures are slightly blurry to try and catch the sparkle.  Of course photos never do them justice, especially not holos.  Which is why I did a video.

First a couple of group photos and then some close-ups.  Descriptions listed based on polishes in order left to right:

Tiara - Orly - small silver glitter
Shine On Crazy Diamond - Orly - small holo and micro silver glitter in a clear base
Fairy Dust - China Glaze - micro holo glitter in a clear base that is finer and denser than Shine On Crazy Diamond.
Opal Elegance - Nina Ultra Pro - small holo and micro silver glitter in a milky base.  Very close to Shine On Crazy Diamond.
2 Sally's Minis - can't find a name on them.



Love Each Other - Orly - Purple (or is it blue & pink?) glass fleck in a milky base.
Fifty-Four - Orly - Pink glass fleck in a milky base.
Laugh My Art Off - Finger Paints - small blue glitter
2 Sally's Minis - can't find a name on them.

The following pictures may end up all over the place:

Tiara by Orly

Shine On Crazy Diamond - Orly

Fairy Dust - China Glaze

Opal Elegance - Nina Ultra Pro

Love Each Other - Orly

Fifty-Four - Orly

Laugh My Art Off - Finger Paints

Sally's Minis

Here's the video!  It's my first longer video with voice so I'm not totally "together" yet.   LOL  Did stuff like forget to say the name of a polish and had a little trouble getting or keeping stuff in frame and the labels being out of focus and.... ya.   : )  Enjoy the rainbows and sparkles!

Easter 2011

Happy Easter Weekend!!!!!  Also happy Earth Day today!!!!!


This mani is inspired by jelly beans and those plastic eggs that you can put Easter treats in for Easter egg hunts.  Bright, beautiful, vibrant spring colours!  Love them!!!  Loads of sparkly glass fleck!

Thumb - 2 coats of Mimi by Zoya + 1 coat Byte by Sally Hansen

Index - 3 coats of Byte by Sally Hansen

Middle - 3 coats of Spectrum by Sally Hansen

Ring - 3 coats of Lighthouse by China Glaze

Pinky - 2 coats of Orange Marmalade
by China Glaze + 1 coat Lighthouse by China Glaze


Of course photos don't do it justice so a short video is necessary!  : )  Yet even that cannot capture it 100%.

Citrus Sparkle!

Citrus is the theme of this week's mani!  Yummy! : )  I have been impatiently waiting to do this mani for awhile.  I tried doing it with 3 gorgeous glass fleck filled citrus colour polishes from OPI but they are just too sheer!  Goldilocks Rocks (orange), That's All Bright With Me (yellow), and Call Me On My Cell-ery (green). Then I tried layering those on similar colors that were more opaque and had some shimmer in them.  I still didn't get the look I wanted.  To get what I wanted took some serious layers with 8 different colours!  LOL  I love it so it was worth the trouble. Lighthouse by China Glaze is this reason I finally got what I wanted!  You will see what Lighthouse looks like on it's own when I do, and post, my easter mani next week. 

Index Finger:
1 coat Va Va Voom,  a shimmery dark peach by Rimmel.
1 coats Goldilocks Rocks by OPI
Not sparkly enough sooooo
1 coat Lighthouse by China Glaze

Middle Finger
1 coat Ivy League by Sally Hansen
2 coats Call Me On My Cell-ery
Not sparkly enough sooooo
1 coat Simply Smashing by OPI

Ring Finger
1 coat Lite by Sally Hansen
2 coats That's All Bright With Me by OPI
Not sparkly enough soooo
1 coat Lighthouse by China Glaze


Pinky Finger
2 coats Orange Marmalade by China Glaze
1 coat of Lighthouse
to add a touch more sparkle
and lighten up the orange.

This reminds me of Lifesavers!  If only I had a glass fleck loaded red!  Hmmmmm.

Inventory Day 2

Last weekend I finished entering all of my polishes in the Excel document I started the week before. You can check it out by clicking on the STASH tab above and then following the link to the document. Before I properly organize all of my polishes over 2 racks I wanted to see what 3 of my fave brands look like together. Here is a picture of most of my OPI, Zoya and China Glaze.

Click on the pic to get a larger version in a window all it's own.  Once there if click on it again you should get an even larger version.  you can also go check it out at flickr photo album linked to in the header above.  So pretty!  : ) There are only two non-sparkly colours in my entire collection of almost 200 bottles and that is black and white.  I LOVE SPARKLE!

I am also still working on designing this blog.  Added a few more tabs above. Hope you will explore a little!  Thanks for stopping by!

Inventory Day!

Today was a relaxing, stay at home, rainy day! I spent the majority of it entering my nail polish stash in an excel spreadsheet. I'm about half way done! You can view it by clicking on the stash tab above and following the link. Some of them are so old you can't find them using Google. : ) I just bought 2 of these racks in the last couple of weeks. Not organized yet but here is the first rack which I worked on and completed today.  These bottles will not stay in this order.

Click on the picture for a larger view in a window by itself.  Click on that photo and it will give you an even larger view that is about 50% of actual size.  You can read the labels and see the colours quite clearly.  They are even the true colours which can be hard to capture at times!  When I am all done I will take pictures of the final order and add text to each bottle with the name of the colour.


This does not include dozens of bottles of Zoya and China Glaze I have purchased in the last month. The Burlesque collection by OPI set me off on a feeding frenzy! I've kinda been out of the loop and didn't even know about Zoya and China Glaze! LOL  I am now cut off and cannot buy another bottle for a long, long, long time.  Hopefully I will find duplicates so I can trade for colours on my wish list.  Must stop now.......