Making Room for the Blues with NL glitter

Now this is a first.... I got inspired by my Ripponburn ladies! The idea came while there this week and two ladies had their nails done just like this. It looked so pretty, the blue just pops! So I decided to wear it myself and it is gorgeous! I have received so many compliments on my nails - and I have only been wearing less than a day.

The base is two coats of OPI No Room for the Blues (2009 Bright Colors). I have had this blue for quite a while but never use it. I tend to grab Czechbook and leave this for Ripponburn or the studio. I don't know if it the colour of the blue in the glitter or just my skin tone right now. But the blue is absolutely fab!

This was topped with Nostalgic Lacquer's Rollin' with the Homies (Clueless). I have used this glitter for earrings but this is the first time I have mani-fied them. Great glitter, well disbursed. I dabbed on a thicker coat to push the spots around and then topped with a thin coat to even out. The glitter has round specks of white and cobalt blue in a clear base. There is some back in there as well, but the blue and white dominate.

Together this is a stunning combo! Looks like robin's eggs or granite sheets in a bathroom. Whatever it reminds me of, it shur is purty! I topped with two coats of Out the Door. After one coat I felt the glitter just a tad, so evened the surface out with another coat. And just so you know, below are Nellie's nails – but more on that in another post!

nellie!

Summer stripes with You Oughta Know

Although my dots were still in pretty good shape, I felt like something new last night. I wanted to use one of my new Nostalgic Lacquer glitters, and then had an awning stripe idea - oh so Tuscan!

I started with two coats of Butter London Cheeky Chops - a good bright but a tad muted yellow. Then I used my white striper and drew three lines on each nail. Pretty simple. Worried about cuticles lines later for clean up!

Then I grabbed Nostalgic Lacquer's You Oughta Know - a black-white based multi-glitter with bright flecks of red-orange and yellow and tiny turquoise spots. Even though I had the bottle upside down, I had to fish around for the glitter. Not that big of a deal, but still worth mentioning. Probably two layers of glitter. One layer of top coat.

If I were a "normal" person I would have applied at least another layer of top coat. But I know I will not be wearing this for long (GOT day and Waitangi Day on the horizon). The large black hexs have an ever so slight taco effect. And some of the thin bar glitter sticks up (and you annoyingly pull it off!).

All in all the mani looks good - the awning style of the yellow and white stripes reminds me of Disneyland! In fact, the whole mani does. I feel a pendant coming on....... ha!

yes - you can buy!! :) here

full sun

right hand

Sunburst gradient with Nostalgic Lacquer Athlete

Happy 2014! I started the year with a bright sunny gradient, inspired by one of my new Nostalgic Lacquer glitters. Erin sent me four beautiful glitter to review, along with the two I ordered from her. So I am currently the proud owner of six new NL glitter polishes!! Here I am using the Athlete from the Saturday Detention collection, a groovy orange, yellow and white glitter.

I started with two coats of OPI Goldeneye then gradiented China Glaze Orange Knockout (neon orange - finally a good use for it!) and Mariah's OPI Sprung over that. I didn't bother top coating that and just went ahead and applied the glitter.

The Athlete is a clear base with orange, yellow and white glitter. It has large white square glitter mixed with very small pinpoint white specks, and that would be the only drawback for me. I like the white idea, but the white bits are big and "loud". I would rather they be smaller. And, I have to admit, one rolled upwards and I had to pick it off after it dried.
What I really like are the orange and yellow bits with the white. A very summery glitter, and over my gradient or a solid metallic it looks great!

I had to fish and dab a bit to disperse the white around. But I only did that on the first coat. The second coat of glitter I applied normally and that seemed to fill in any spaces. I can also imagine some jewelry ideas with the glitter.

right hand

So... we started the new year with a kitten, six weeks old. The Mr wanted a kitten, but he will not admit that. He thought Harvey needed a mate. It does make sense, though. Two person household, two cats. And why not? They eat basically nothing so care is minimum and if we go away, taking care of two cats isn't much more difficult than one. Right now we are calling him George – king for a day! – but that will most likely change soon as his personality comes out. Behold, the tiny tot.