NOTD: Mono-Chromatic, Multi-Textured Manicure...Gold Finger

I've never really been big on a lot of nail art but I do love a mono-chromatic, multi-textured manicure.  It gives the the look of nail art without having to have the artistic abilities...LOL!  I think this will make for a great holiday manicure.

I was inspired by one of the shades from the China Glaze 2013 Holiglaze Holiday Collection. One of the shades I purchased was China Glaze Mingle with Kringle, a gorgeous cool yellow gold foil.  

Once I decided on using Mingle with Kringle for my next manicure, it was easy to decide on the rest. Today's manicure includes, China Glaze Mingle with Kringle, OPI Honey Ryder, Orly Luxe, and Sally Hansen Glitter Gun. These four shades are all in the same color family but have different finishes.

I also love that it almost gives the mannequin hand look but with that extra bling. 

I'm wearing Gray for Diabetes Awareness...

October well known as Breast Cancer Awareness month and receives tremendous support and although I've been blessed enough not to have had any of my immediate family or friends impacted, I, also show my support. But November is Diabetes Awareness Month and this hits very close to home.

It is estimated that Diabetes affects 25.8 million people of all ages, that’s 8.3 % of the U.S. Population. It is the leading cause of kidney failure, new cases of blindness among adults, non-traumatic amputations, a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the U.S. (U.S. Dept of HHS)

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS: OPI Pink of Heart 2013 Duo plus 1

For the month of October, I try to show my support for Breast Cancer Awareness by wearing pink nail polish throughout the month.  I've done this for the past few years.  This year is no different.  I've been very blessed that none of my immediate friends and family have been impacted by breast cancer. But that doesn't mean I don't help in the fight. Earlier this week, as I was posting about Breast Cancer Awareness, I e-met one of my Twitter followers.  As as fate would have it, she was scheduled to start a new round of chemotherapy on October 1st,  So I decided to dedicated my 2013 BCA manicures to "lovenailpolish3".  I'm praying her strength and healing. 

For my first manicure, I was determined to find and use the OPI 2013 Pink of Hearts duo. Fortunately, I found it at my local Ulta ($15.95 USD). This year the OPI BCA collection was made up of OPI Pink-Ing of You, a baby pink jelly and OPI More Than A Glimmer.  This collection also comes with BCA Pink Ribbon nail stickers and stick on gems. While these two polishes would have been enough, I just felt the need for another color, so I pulled from my stash a favorite pink from 2012-OPI If You Moust, You Moust (2013 Minnie Mouse Collection)

Instagram Giveaway...New Hard Candy Nail Polishes

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw a recent post in which I displayed the brush defect with one of my recent Hard Candy purchases. Hard Candy's PR firm replaced my defective bottle, along with several other polish, but they also sent me the entire set of new polishes they added to the Hard Candy nail polish collection.  To show my appreciation for the Instagram followers, I've decided to give one lucky follower the entire set of 9 new  polishes.  

It all started with Pink...Revisiting Orly Basketcase

I have loved the Orly brand of nail polish for years. Some of my earliest blog posts were of Orly polishes.  I have often commented on how much I loved the Orly rubberized bottle tops. Orly recently redesigned their bottles again.  My nail polish collection includes just short of 90 bottles of Orly, and in my collection I have 3 generations of bottles.  Change is often not easy but after a couple uses, I have gained an appreciation for the redesigned bottle. 

Orly Polish Family Portrait

The redesigned orlybeauty.com features video tutorials, how-to tips, and insight on color and nail trends.  I have already started making my shopping list by reviewing the true-to-life color swatches. We all seen other brands' swatches that looked nothing like the actual polish.

I've always been a history buff so the company video that Orly released explaining the history of the Orly line is very interesting to me.  An isn't quite interesting that the founder's nail is Jeff Pink.  

Nina Ultra Pro Matte Glitter...Limited Edition...

OPI has its Liquid Sand. Orly has its Pixel line. Zoya has the Pixie Dust and now Sally Beauty introduces the Nina Ultra Pro Limited Edition Matte Glitter.  All these line are textured and dry to a matte glitter. I was recently in my local Sally Beauty and came across this limited edition line. I was slow in adding the textured polishes to my collection but now I am really liking them. So I was quick to grab this small collection.  

There are currently 3 shades to this collection - Shooting Star, Twinkle Twinkle and Star Bright. I can only hope that they add more shades to the collection.  While pretty, I wouldn't necessarily say that they are Summer shades. But it you are like me, I wear what I like, whenever I like it. LOL!



The first in this collection is Shooting Star, a gorgeous blingy silver. This is two coats with no top coat. Silver polishes tend to scare me but this one, although bright, its not gaudy bright. I had nothing like this in my collection nor have I seen anything similar in other brands. I'm glad I own it.

Next, is the first I picked up in this collection, surprise, surprise.  This is Twinkle, Twinkle - a navy blue glitter that dries matte.

Lastly, in this collection is Star Bright, a pink matte glitter.  Surprisingly, I'm really liking this textured finish. I am normally a smooth finish girl.  But like with most of the textured polishes, a top coat isn't suggested, but if you prefer a smooth finish you can always add your favorite top coat.

As I mentioned earlier, several brands have their version of the glitter matte polishes.  When not paying attention, I purchased the Nina Ultra Pro in Star Bright and the Orly Pink Pixel.  When I got them home, I had to do a comparison.  Below you can see that the Nina Pro appears to be more textured as well as lighter in color. I wouldn't call them dupes but they are  definitely in the same color family. While I normally love the Orly line, in this case, I prefer the Nina formulation.  Again, I hope they release other shades in the Matte Glitter finish.

If you haven't tried the Nina Ultra Pro line yet, you really should.  I love the brush. It's another one of those wide brushes that pretty much covers the nail with one stroke.  Nina Ultra Pro is exclusive to Sally Beauty and sales for $4.69 a bottle for a 0.5 fl oz bottle.

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money, unless otherwise noted. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Revlon Glitters: Girly & Radiant with Undercoats

So as I continue to work through my untried polishes, I decided to try two of the Revlon glitter polishes in my collection.  The first, is a fairly recent release, Girly, from the Revlon Bubble Gum Days/Urban Nights collection, released during the Winter of 2012.  Girly is a milky glitter with pink & purple, multi-sized holographic glitters. 

Because Revlon Girly is somewhat sheer and we all know how troublesome removing multiple layers of glitter can be, I chose to wear a base coat of Essie Splash of Grenadine.  This was released during the Spring of 2010 as part of the Resort collection.  I remember being on the hunt for this shade.  Essie Splash of Grenadine is a fuchsia pink crelly with a purple undertone. Looking through both my purple and pink collections, I really don't have any shade similar.  Pictured here I'm wearing 2 coats, but if I were going to wear this alone, I would probably add a third coat. This is a great shade for Spring & Summer.

So with the Essie Splash of Grenadine base coat, I layered two coat of Revlon Girly.  Most nail polish addicts have at one point in time done a "sandwich manicure"- requiring at least 2 separate polishes. Revlon Girly is pretty much a "sandwich manicure" in a bottle.  The different glitters are suspended at different levels in the polish. Application is easy. The glitter spread with no trouble. I didn't need to "place" them as with most glitters. There's something about this  polish that just reminds me of a cupcake with sprinkles. 

The next glitter I'd like to share with you is Revlon Radiant. However, being that Radiant is in a transparent base to achieve fully opaque manicure would require many coats, if at all possible.  So as a base color, I chose one of my all-time favorites, Orly Blue Collar. I have worn this shades many times and am shocked when looking back that I have blogged about it. I love Orly polishes and especially their cream polishes. This mid-tone sky blue cream applies like a dream and is still readily available.

To Orly Blue Collar I layered Revlon Radiant.  As I mentioned, Radiant is in a transparent base, so it requires a undercoat. In that base is blue micro glitter along with larger hexagonal green and silver glitters. I love glitters like Radiant. You and achieve many different looks all depending on the base you select. Much like Girly, the application was easy and I didn't have to struggle with the placement of the glitters.  It should come as no surprise that I would love this blue glitter.

For whatever reason, I don't have many Revlon polishes in my collection. Revlon is a brand that has been around for decades.  I need to give it some more love.  What are some of your favorite Revlon polishes?

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money, unless otherwise noted. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Random Blues Swatches...

I've made it no secret that I LOVE BLUE NAIL POLISHES!!!  So today, I went through my stash and pulled out a few of my untrieds to share with you.  None of these are new and I sure you've at least heard of them. So let's get started.  First is OPI Russian Navy (Russian Collection, 2007)...Simply, it's a gorgeous deep navy blue with faint purple shimmer. In the bottle there appears to be a duochrome. However, on then nail, not so much...nonetheless, if you love blue polishes, you need OPI Russian Navy.

Next is OPI Glacier Bay Blues from the 2004 Canadian Collection. I lucked up and was able to find this on one of the online retailers I use. This is a peacock blue/purple/green duochrome. This is the old pre-3Free formula. I don't know if this is the reason, but the application is superb. The duochrome, while not as each to photograph, is very visible on the nail.

Here is OPI Swimsuit...Nailed it! from the 2011 Miss Universe Collection. Of this collection, Swimsuit...Nailed It is my favorite. This is a beautiful electric blue foil. Just be sure to wear a really good basecoat, at least 2 coats. This polish really stains.

Lastly is OPI Swimsuit Nailed It layered under Orly Spazmatic.  I love mono-chromatics colors when applying glitters and these two are a perfect match. This is a gorgeous combination.  Spazmatic is from the Orly Flash Glam FX collection. While I haven't seen it in stores lately, I do know that the Flash Glam FX is still available online.

So this should hold me over on my blue polish addition, at least for a while. What are some of your favorite blue polishes? I can't see to get enough of blue nail polishes.

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money, unless otherwise noted. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Knock, Knock. Who's There? Orange. Orange Who? Orange you loving the Orange nail polishes...I know it's Corny! LOL!

Maybe it was all the rain we've been getting lately, or maybe it's just because Spring is finally here, but for whatever the reason, I've been loving oranges and corals lately. Today I'm sharing with you two more of my untrieds. First, Zoya Myrta, from the Surf Collection of 2012.  This is an orangey-reddish-coral foil with a golden shimmer. It's a perfect Spring & Summer shade tanned skin. Once again, I am impressed with this Zoya polish and need to add more to my collection. As pictured this is 2 coats. 

And to add some more bling to Zoya Myrta, I pulled out China Glaze Mango Madness.  This was one of the polishes from the 50 Specialty Collection of 2009. Mango Madness is a mango-coral jelly holographic glitter. While I guess with 4-5 coats you could wear it alone but I layered it over Zoya Myrta. And this was a match made in heaven.
These two colors complement each other perfectly.  This is definitely a combination I will be sporting again throughout the warm months and being that I live in Florida, the "warm months" are May-November...UGH!

Of course, the Zoya polishes can be purchased on Zoya.com and the China Glaze Specialty Glitters can still be purchased through several of the online retailers, such as Victoria Nail Supply, 8TY8Beauty, and Head2ToeBeauty. 

I have really been in an orange-coral mood lately. What color has been calling you lately?

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money, unless otherwise noted. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Glitter Galore: Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas with Pure Ice Playtime (Bare It All)

To me, there's something about today's manicures that just scream elegant! Maybe it's the descriptive I'm using, it a "Champagne Gold".  Today I'm sharing with you two more from Pure Ice. The first is Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas. I have other gold nail polishes but this one is classic and elegant. I could certainly see this on a Red Carpet. 

Pure Ice is a brand sold at Walmart for less than $2.00 a bottle. When I first started purchasing Pure Ice polishes, it was for their layering polishes. Some of their earlier polishes were just gorgeous for layering. They could definitely add to a manicure and Pure Ice is still one of my favorite brands.
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This Champagne Gold shimmer polish has a taupe undertone and is another that gives me with my skintone a mannequin hand effect.  Here I am wearing 2 coats but to avoid visible nail lines, I would suggest 3 coats.  Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas is a great shade to have in any polish collection.

While Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas can stand on its own, I felt the need to add some bling. So to it, I layered another Pure Ice, but this time a glitter, Pure Ice Playtime; which has been re-released as Bare It All.  Bare It All is described as an "ultra-fine, dense gold and copper glitter". While I ready owned Playtime, I received a bottle of Pure It Bare It All for review. Since I already own one, I'll add this to my Giveaway Stash.  

This is another polish that I would describe as "elegant". I've been going through a glitter phase lately and some glitters can be "in your face". However this Pure Ice Bare It All has a stylish and chic look. Again, this manicure just brings visions of a gold formal dress with the matching shoes and gold beaded clutch. If ever I'm presented that opportunity, at least I have the manicure ready.

Pure Ice released several new shades earlier this year.  Have you had the chance to try any and if so, which have been your favorites?  I have several other Pure Ice polishes to share with you.   Again, Pure Ice can be found at your local Walmart.  So the next time you venture out to Walmart, stop by the Pure Ice display.  For a list of the Pure Ice polishes, click HERE.

For more information on Pure Ice:

"Like" Pure Ice on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/OfficialPureIce

Follow Pure Ice on Twitter - https://twitter.com/officialpureice

Follow Pure Ice on Instagram - http://instagram.com/officialpureice

Follow Pure Ice on Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/officialpureice/

Find Pure Ice Online at - http://pureicecosmetics.com/

Available in over 100 stunning and on-trend shades! All Pure Ice Nail Polish are free of formaldehyde, toluene and DBP.

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money, unless otherwise noted. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Glitter Galore: Sinful Color Diamond Lust Collection - Shine On Me layered with Pure Ice Free Fall

Well today, I'm sharing with you the last of the Sinful Colors Diamond Lust Glitter Polishes that I purchased.  There were 8 polishes in the collection, but I only purchased 6. The last two were just two similar to polishes already in my stash.  Now on to this last glitter, I won't say that I saved my least favorite for last, I'll just say that Sinful Colors Shine On Me took the most effort to work with.  It appears to be a very sparse chunky glitter.  There are micro, mid-sized and larger diamond-shaped holographic glitters. Looking at Shine On Me closely, it's probably just as packed as the others, it's just that the micro glitter in Shine On Me is a holo-clear. So with that being the case you only see the colored mid and diamond glitters, thereby making it appear sparse.

I decided to pull one of the untrieds, Pure Ice Free Fall, from my stash to use as a undercoat.  Free Fall is a bright, fluorescent pink shimmer.  That is one of the things I like about the Pure Ice brand, while the initial reason I started buying their polishes was for their layering shades, they really do make some great opaque shades that are perfect for undercoats.  This is 2 coats. I will still need to do another manicure with Free Fall standing on its own.

Layered over Pure Ice Free Fall I placed Sinful Colors Shine On Me. As I mentioned about, the micro glitters are holo-clear, so all you really see are the mid-sized and diamond glitters. This is another case of me having to "place" the larger glitters to achieve a somewhat even look.

Well I have enjoyed this collection and it has sparked a glitter bug in me. So you can be assured that there will be other glitter manicures in the very near future. I hope you found these posts helpful and maybe even generated some glitter love.  So if asked, which were my favorites? I think it would be a tie between Rags to Riches (Green), I Dream In Jewels (Gold), and Queen of Deco (Purple).   Which has been your favorite of the collection?

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Glitter Galore: Sinful Color Diamond Lust Collection - Scene Stealer layered with Zoya Kimber

Today, I have the fifth in my Sinful Colors Diamond Lust series. Lately, I've really become obsessed with glitters. For the longest, I said that I really didn't like glitters, but something has changed. Now I am buying them up like crazy.

First, I needed to decide on a base to layer with today's glitter.  Lately, I've also been wow'd by the Zoya polishes in my stash. I had purchased them throughout the year but often didn't get around to wearing them.  The polish I chose to layer was Zoya Kimber.  I remember when this polish came out with the Beach & Surf Collection last year.  That was a beautiful collection. I ended up buying like 7 of the 12. Kimber is a warm-toned raspberry magenta pink with a golden shimmer. I obtain full opacity with two coats.  I don't think I have anything similar to Kimber in my stash.  It really complements my skin-tone.  I am starting to understand the love so many have for the Zoya brand.

With Zoya Kimber, I layered from the latest Sinful Colors Diamond Lust collection, Scene Stealer.  Scene Stealer is in a clear base, magenta and peach micro glitters with pink holographic diamond glitters.  The diamond glitters are kinda sparse, so you need to "place" them to get good coverage. The method that I am finding most effective for me is to drag the brush on the inside of the neck of the bottle and "pick-up" the chunkier glitter to be placed.

Zoya Kimber and Sinful Colors Scene Stealer is another good combination.  I have one more of the Sinful Colors Diamond Lust Glitters to share with you. Have you purchased any of them yet, and if so, what are you combining them with? I could always use other suggetions.

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Glitter Galore: Sinful Color Diamond Lust Collection - Gemtastic layered with China Glaze Sky High Top

So far, I have shared with you 3 of the glitters from the Sinful Colors Diamond Lust Collection. Today, is number 4 and it's one that should come as no surprise. Gemtastic, is a bright blue glitter. It's in a clear based with blue bar, micro and larger glitters.  Because of the clear base, I would never try to apply this to its full opacity. So that means I needed to decide on a base color.

I decided to wear Sinful Colors Gemtastic with a favorite from the 2009 Kicks Collection. I chose China Glaze Sky High Top-a bright mid-blue that has a slight silver shimmer. Depending on the lighting, I sometimes see a teal shimmer. This is just a great blue, even if worn alone. 

So to China Glaze Sky High Top, I added Sinful Colors Gemtastic.  This is another great combination.  The application required a little "placing" of the glitters but it wasn't the worse.  Gemtastc is a polish that I'm happy to own.

I have tons of blue polishes so I can't wait to find other complimentary shades of blue as well as other colors.  Have you had a chance to try any of the Diamond Lust collection yet? Which are your favorites?


Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* FTC: These products were bought with my own money. These are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by any of these companies. This is not a sponsored post.

Glitter Galore: Barielle Bling-Purple Hearts & Starchild

Recently, I was given the opportunity to review some of the Barielle Nail Lacquers and Nail products.  I was excited because I have always thought of Barielle as a high-end, high quality brand. This may sound odd, but I still remember the sense of pride I felt when I purchased my first Barielle nail lacquer.

So being that I am currently going through a serious glitter craze, two of the polishes I selected were Barielle's Purple Hearts and Starchild. 

Purple Hearts

Barielle Purple Hearts is a gorgeous clear based glitter with purple, silver, & holo glitters in addition to larger purple hexagonals.  The glitters are densely packed so the application was easier than many glitters I have dealt with. There was not need to "place" the glitters.

Purple Hearts is great for layering. You are only limited by your creativity.  The first base I chose was the vibrant royal purple-China Glaze Creative Fantasy.  I love how the holo glitters pop with this manicure combination. 

Another color combination I decided to try was a lighter pale purple to show all the detail of the Barielle Purple Hearts; for that, I chose China Glaze Sweet Hook. With this lighter base, the micro glitters are more evident and the ease of application is understandable. You can see the even spread of the glitters.

Starchild

The next glitter I chose was Barielle Starchild. It's an absolutely gorgeous silver, densely packed, holographic glitter, with both micro and hexagonal glitters.  I have seen many other holo glitters, but this has an awesome holo effect.  

So far, I am loving the Barielle glitters. They spread evenly and don't require placing the glitters, like so many of the other glitters need. Starchild will complement any base color.  But one of the first colors I selected was China Glaze Grape Juice. This darker base, helped to bring out the various particles in Barielle Starchild. Whether I was using flash lighting or natural light, the holographic glitters popped!

The last for this post I decided to combine with Barielle Starchild is a silver base. I chose Nfu-Oh 61 (silver holographic). This combination was one of those I just couldn't stop staring at. I realize that it is just May 3rd, but I have already claimed this as a New Years Eve manicure. This very well may be my favorite silver holograpic glitter.  It will definitely need to do a comparison of those that I own.

Barielle is a brand that I have been aware of for many years, and I prior to this opportunity, I did own a couple shades. I look forward to wearing the other Barielle polishes now in my collection.  As I mentioned earlier, I still remember the first Barielle I purchased-Berry Blue, big surprise! I just wish they were more readily available. For me, products like nail polish are those that I like to see in person.  What are some of your favorite Barielle Nail Lacquers and/or Nail Products?

Grace, Peace, & Blessings.

* This product was sent to me for review consideration by either the manufacturer or the PR firm representing the manufacturer. These however are my honest opinions. I am not employed by nor was I paid by this company.

Barielle Nail Mail!!!