Liquid Glam Lucky Charm Swatch And Review

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Hello darlings!  Did you enjoy your weekend?  Ours was a quiet weekend, which is always a nice weekend at our house.  LO has some sniffles, so we didn't got to the pool like planned.  Instead, we tried to use our new gym membership which included daycare services.  Our workout didn't last long, however, because after 10 minutes we got a call saying that she hadn't stopped crying since we left her in their care.  It's going to take time for her to get adjusted to the new surroundings, which means each subsequent workout is going to be 5 minutes longer.  Hopefully by the end of the month I'll get a full hour workout!

Today's polish is a white crelly based glitter that allowed me to knock to untrieds in one shot.  I started with a layer of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, a white cream proported to be one of the best drugstore whites out there.  I'm always looking for a good white, and I was not let down by this one at all.  I used only one full coverage coat and I had no issues with streaking.  Perfect!  For the star of the show, I used two coats of Liguid Glam Lucky Charm, aptly named for its colorful squares of turquoise, hot pink, and yellow glitters that mimic a certain cereal.  In retrospect, I could have used one coat of Lucky Charm and gotten a similar effect but without as much crowding of glitters.  Application itself was a cakewalk, with no issues with dragging or stacking of the adorable squares.  I finished this with a layer of topcoat for shine.

Liquid Glam Lucky Charm

Liquid Glam Lucky Charm

Liquid Glam Lucky Charm

Liquid Glam Lucky Charm

Liquid Glam Lucky Charm

Liquid Glam Lucky Charm

I really love the fanciful mix of glitters, especially considering that they're square glitters.  I have used a white base in a long time either, and the bright colors really pop against the blank canvas.  Although I think one coat would have been enough, I can't help not regretting the two coats because it's so much fun to apply the square glitters.  Liquid Glam certainly has created a polish that is addictive to use and addictive to stare upon, which makes it worth every penny IMO.  This polish is still available in the storefront, and features a 5 free formula and free shipping every day.  Score!

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Hare Polish From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont Swatch And Review

Happy Tuesday!  Are you hung over from Cinco de Mayo?  If not, hopefully you had some yummy Mexican food to celebrate.

Hooray!  Hare Polish recently released a collection inspired by the city of my home, called Viva Los Angeles.  Upon hearing this, I knew it was a great time to break my mini ban and splurge on the collection.  Living in Los Angeles has its pros and cons, and it's always nice to be reminded of the beauty found within this desert city.  I'll be sharing a swatch of each polish in the collection over the next few posts.

The first polish is From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont, a pool blue base loaded with pink, white, black, and gold microglitters with a dusting of gold flakie shimmer.  Nikole's inspiration is the pool side view from Chateau Marmont, an experience that I've not yet had the pleasure of experiencing.  I suppose it's never been high on my list of things to do in LA, but after wearing this polish, I'm making a mental note to put it higher on the list. Chateau Marmont is located off of the infamous Sunset Strip, and is well known for its celebrity popularity.  To achieve opacity, I used three coats here and had no issues with balding, glitter stacking, or dragging.  I added extra shine with two layers of topcoat.

Hare Polish From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont

Hare Polish From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont

Hare Polish From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont

Hare Polish From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont

Hare Polish From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont

Hare Polish From The Balcony Of Chateau Marmont

I can see pink blooms above the vibrant blue water of the pool, along with the glow of the ever present LA sunlight.  I love that this polish contains unexpected glitters like the tiny black glitters against the blue base.  It's not something I would think to add myself, but along with the other glitters, it comes together to create a harmonious canvas.  There's also an illusion of added length to my nails, and suddenly they seem impossibly long. It might be time to take down some of that length.  In the meantime, I'm looking forward to swatching the rest of these polishes with their beautiful unexpected color combinations.  Its a true representation of LA, which is finding unexpected delicate beauty in a dusty congested desert city.  Stay tuned for more!

Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit? Swatch And Review

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This time of year the chocolates get marketed full force, and one of my favorites is Cadbury Mini Eggs.  I can't get enough of that crisp candy outer shell and the velvety smooth chocolate within.  I like to buy a few bags to freeze so I can eat them throughout the rest of the year.  My BIL always raids my stash, so I'll have to remember to get a couple extra just for him.  Do you have a favorite chocolate or snack that you like to load up on?

Tis the season of glitters and light colored crellies, and today's polish hits that it right on the nail(no pun intended).  This is Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit? a sheer white crelly that contains a lovely array of circles, stars, hexes, and squares in shades of matte pastels and neons.  I'm always a sucker for a polish like this, there something about matte glitters that I gravitate towards.  The holographic microglitter ain't half bad either!  Unfortunately the base is super sheer, and I used four coats here and still had some VNL.  The formula is thick so caution is needed when applying towards the cuticles, and the glitters aren't as dense as I'd like.  I finished this with a layer of topcoat to add shine and smoothness.

Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit?

Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit?

Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit?

Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit?

Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit?

Different Dimensions Why Am I Such A Misfit?

I want the neons to pop some more, and I can see this would be an amazing color to use if skittled with neons.  I'm in love with all those light colored circle glitters floating in the white crelly base, and there's definitely some squishiness to enjoy.  

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Kunimitsu Nail Potions Nice Planet Swatch And Review

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Happy Sunday my lovelies!  I immersed myself in a book these past few days and finally came up for some air.  I don't get to read often anymore, but when I do, I have a hard time pulling myself away.  What's the last book that you read that you couldn't tear yourself away from?

It's been raining like mad here in SoCal, and it's really making me look forward to spring.  I thought Nice Planet by Kunimitsu Nail Potions would be the perfect polish to springboard into the next season.  It's a white cream based polish sprinkled with blue and green hex glitters and gold microglitter that applied surprisingly easily for a white based polish. I only needed to apply three thin coats to get full opacity, but the formula was on the thick side.  The brush is nice and wide as well, and I had to wipe off quite a bit polish into the neck of the bottle so as to not to overload polish onto the nail.  I finished with topcoat to hasten drying.

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Nice Planet

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Nice Planet

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Nice Planet

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Nice Planet

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Nice Planet

Kunimitsu Nail Potions Nice Planet

Does that scream spring or what?  It's like fluffy white bunnies jumping about in the green grass and blue skies, with the sunlight twinkling through leaves.  I don't often like to wear white based polish because of my fear of patchy application but I had no trouble with that at all with this polish.  I would have liked more of the larger glitters, and will have to remember to let the bottle sit upside down for a while since it seemed that most had settled toward the bottle during transit.  I think my favorite are the gold microglitters in the polish because it seems to bridge the blue and green glitters to the white cream.  Have you started transitioning toward spring colors yet?

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Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale Swatch And Review

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Hello ladies!  How did you spend your New Year's Day?  I went out to dinner with my family at our favorite Japanese Izakaya restaurant.... yum yum.  As for today, I know it's going to be a busy day for me at work.  Luckily it's my last day of work for the week, and then I'm off for a three day weekend.  Woot woot!

In other news, the winners for the Hobby Polish Bloggers Giveaway have been announced, and I believe that the winners have all claimed their prizes.  Congrats if you won!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

To keep in theme with New Year's sparkle, I am happy to swatch Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale.  It's a delicate shimmery glitter based polish that's too sheer IMO to wear on its own so I used it over a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls(I'm still not a fan of this... not sure why so many ladies like this).  It's got a ton of pink and silver microglitter to create the shimmer effect, and to accent there are circle glitters in silver and pink and small holographic hex and square glitters.  It's got that wintery feel to it, sort of like iced snow with pink lights shimmering over it.  I used two coats here to maximize the shimmer effect and to get as many circle glitters as I could on the mani.  Unfortunately I didn't get as many as I'd like because they seemed to want to stay at the bottom of my bottle.  This is finished with a layer of topcoat.

Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale

Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale

Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale

Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale

Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale

Different Dimensions Today Was A Fairytale

The strong pink shimmer effect more than makes up for the lack of circle glitter.  It's probably a good thing that there isn't so many larger glitters anyway, because that can lead to stacking and glitters sticking out off the nail.  I'm always looking at the glass half full.  Speaking of glasses half full, I'd like to fill up mine from last night!  Are you on a sparkly glitter kick like I am, or are you moving onto other colors like vamps?  What's the color scheme for January anyway, being after the holidays but too early for spring?

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#31DC2013 Inspired By A Song - Michael Jackson's Beat It

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Today's inspiration was easy for me - I've been watching MJ's Beat It video constantly for the past couple days because I suddenly needed to learn all the choreography in the video.  I've got most of the steps down, but there are some parts that I just can't get.  I love it though - I know I'll randomly start dancing it while I'm in line somewhere because I'm nuts like that.

With all the video replay(I'm currently limited to only playing it a max of five times a night right now by my DH), I have MJ's outfit vividly seared into my mind.  This is the video where he wore his iconic red jacket that everyone in the 80's needed to immediately own after seeing.

To start, I used LA Splash Red Sea for my base on the ring and middle finger.  I placed studs on my ring finger with a toothpick, and then stamped a zipper using Wet n Wild black creme and a BM plate.  My white on the ring and pinky is Zoya Purity, stamped with a piano to represent MJ's t-shirt in the beginning of the video.  The black and white pink is a take on his white socks peeking out of his black pants and shoes.  I finished with Zoya Storm on my thumb to add some bling.

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Song - Michael Jackson's Beat It

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Song - Michael Jackson's Beat It

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Song - Michael Jackson's Beat It

#31DC2013 Inspired By A Song - Michael Jackson's Beat It

I showed my DH my nails and asked him what he thought, and his first response was, "Those are Michael Jackson nails!"  Mission accomplished!  *starts doing the beat it dance*

I'm excited to see what the other ladies came up with for today!

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#31DC2013 Tribal Print Nails In Slate Green And Devotion

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I've never done tribal print nails before so today's challenge was a novelty for me.  I remember when I was in elementary school we had a project in art class where we drew tribal posters to hang up in the hallways, and I would endlessly paint tribal posters.  Come today, I have no idea how to start.  I decided to choose my colors first, so I went with some untrieds - Model's Own Slate Green and Illamasqua Devotion along with Wet n Wild Black Creme.  I layed down three coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, which, by the way, after this try is not my favorite white.  Next, I randomly drew some lines color by color with the nail brush, and then followed with the dotting tool.  Viola, my first attempt at tribal nails!  I then layed a thick coat of my Poshe/NYC GCS mix over top and managed to not smear the black too much.

#31DC2013 Tribal Print Nails In Slate Green And Devotion

#31DC2013 Tribal Print Nails In Slate Green And Devotion

#31DC2013 Tribal Print Nails In Slate Green And Devotion

#31DC2013 Tribal Print Nails In Slate Green And Devotion

#31DC2013 Tribal Print Nails In Slate Green And Devotion

This is one of those times where I wish I had some nail art pens, but I can't seem to find a good one in my area.  I've heard the Barry M one is good, but unfortunately those aren't accessible to me.  If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear it! 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the other ladies fared with this challenge - look below to find out!

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#31DC2013 Delicate Print With Spring Blossoms

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Catching up to speed, I've got today's Delicate Print as some spring blossoms.  I thought some tiny little dotted white blossoms would be perfect because they're so fragile in the early spring, fighting the leftover winter elements to blossom and survive.  I reused some of the polishes from the last post; I have three semi streaky coats of Bettina Tulipani as my base, and used Zoya Purity with my smallest dotting tool to create five petal flowers.  I connected them with OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know and then finished with topcoat.

#31DC2013 Delicate Print With Spring Blossoms

#31DC2013 Delicate Print With Spring Blossoms

#31DC2013 Delicate Print With Spring Blossoms

#31DC2013 Delicate Print With Spring Blossoms

I suppose I could have used this for the previous mani, but somehow I find these more fitting for today's challenge.  This mani was super easy to create and I like the way these turned out.  I know I'll be loathe to remove them when it comes time.

Let's see what the others ladies came up with, shall we?

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#31DC2013 Floral Nails with Pink Daisies

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I'm late with today's challenge but I still managed to get it done.  For today's floral nails, I decided to use inspiration from one of LO's jumpers and Simply Rin's flower mani.  I used Zoya Purity for the base, and then painted on pink petals with Bettina Tulipani and dotted centers with American Apparel Manila.  This is finished with topcoat.

#31DC2013 Floral Nails with Pink Daisies

#31DC2013 Floral Nails with Pink Daisies

#31DC2013 Floral Nails with Pink Daisies

#31DC2013 Floral Nails with Pink Daisies

It's not the cleanest nail art and I've got a ways to go before I master the brush, but I like the way this one turned out.  Now I've got to move onto the next challenge to catch up!

Take a look at what the other ladies have cooked up for you today!!

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