Illamasqua Raindrops and Harem

I finally got my hands on Illamasqua Raindrops and I love it!  It is very pretty and unassuming, thus perfect for any occasion.  Raindrops is a grey jelly peppered with clear (silver? white?) flakies and could almost be a two-coater with careful application.  I was not careful, however, so I had to apply a third thin coat for good measure.  Still not too bad, considering I've read that many have to do four coats for almost-opacity!
I paired Raindrops with Illamasqua Harem, a lovely, bright pink creme.  I think the cool tones of this polish go well with my skin and the two coats flowed onto my nails smoothly.  Oh, how I love Illamasqua!

Illamasqua Raindrops (index, middle)

Illamasqua Harem (thumb, ring, pinky)

It's too bad that Pink Raindrops was such a disappointment...

Let's Do it in 3D on My Private Jet in Oz!

Cheesy title for this post I know, but I made (and ate most of) homemade Goldfish crackers with the kiddies this afternoon, so I am definitely full of cheese.  :)
This manicure is not cheesy, however.  I love it!  I scooped up OPI What Wizardry is This recently and tried it right away; it is so gorgeous that I will definitely need a backup.  Two coats provided opacity and drying time was relatively quick.  I decided to pair it with CG Let's Do it in 3D, as it had been sitting in my untried drawer for months.  I'm glad I did; it is amazingly holo in two coats, dries quickly and has great wear time for a holo.  Continuing the trend, I thought I'd also try out OPI My Private Jet, since it was sitting beside 3D.  Jet did not dry as quickly as 3D and it took four coats to reach the opacity shown, but the shine, oh the shine on this polish.  It is a beauty.  I just don't know if I can deal with four coats, so this will have to be a layering polish.
Right before I took off the polish, I thought I'd put some topcoat on my thumb to see if Wizardry is as beautiful as other bloggers have said, and, honestly, I wasn't too impressed.  I think it is stunning by itself.  What do you think?

OPI My Private Jet (index)

OPI What Wizardry is Thi (middle)

China Glaze Let's Do it in 3D (ring, pinky)

OPI What Wizardry is This (middle)

China Glaze Let's Do it in 3D (ring)

OPI What Wizardry is This with two coats of Wicked Fast (thumb)

Good Friday mani

As per usual, this mani is a couple of weeks old; I wore it for Good Friday.  My husband suggested I wear a somber manicure and this is what I came up with: Zoya Dahlia and Cult Nails Bitten.  I found that Dahlia dried relatively quickly, even though I read on numerous blogs that you have to wait a bit longer for the 'Pixie Dust' polishes to dry.  I used two coats of Dahlia and Bitten and I believe I used a coat of Wicked Fast on Bitten, but I don't quite remember.  :)
I couldn't stop staring at the glinting pixie dust in church!  

Zoya Dahlia

Cult Nails Bitten (accent)

MASH stamping mani

Quickie post today:  I'm recovering from my daughter's birthday party weekend!  :)
As soon as I got my new MASH stamping plates a few weeks ago, I had to try a few patterns right away.  I couldn't just choose one, as they are all so cute!
On my right hand, I stamped using Cult Nails Nevermore while on my left hand, I used China Glaze Liquid Leather.  I've heard that Nevermore is great for stamping and it appears that, for the most part, it is pretty opaque.  I just have to practice my stamping technique...
For this mani, I used Essie Come Here (coral), In the Cab-ana (blue), and First Timer (mint).  I just love their Resort 2012 collection and can't wait to try the fourth polish, a purple creme.  Unfortunately, I just found out that Essie is owned by L'Oreal, which performs animal testing.  :(   That is another blog post altogether, though...

Awkward right hand pose

Awkward left hand pose

As you can see, my stamping leaves a lot to be desired, but the patterns are just so fun to look at!  I think I may need to go stamp right now!

China Glaze Budding Romance, Fade Into Hue and Secret Periwinkle

I've been looking for the perfect green for ages and I think I've found it in China Glaze Budding Romance!  I know most people probably don't like this shade of (olive? moss? pea?) green, but I love it.  Over the years, I've managed to snag RBL No More War, Illamasqua Hectic, Zoya Dree and a few other similar shades, but none are as bright as this!  I adore the colour, but I did not adore the application.  It bubbled like crazy on me, after only two coats (click on the pic to see what I mean).  Granted, I did apply those coats quickly and didn't wait very long between them but still, I haven't seen bubbling like this in ages.
I thought the perfect accent to this green would be China Glaze Fade Into Hue; I really think they complement each other and of course, are my two favourite colours.  :)  A coat of KB Shimmer Squared Away on my thumb and pinkie completed the look.  Argh!  If only it hadn't bubbled...

China Glaze Budding Romance

China Glaze Fade Into Hue (ring)

KB Shimmer Squared Away (thumb, pinkie)

Believe it or not, this square on my area rug matched my nails perfectly!  I think the camera flash darkened it, though as it does not look similar in this picture. 

After I took off this mani, I wanted to wear another blue, so I tried out China Glaze Secret Periwinkle.  The two are similar, but Fade Into Hue seems a tad darker.  I really should do a side by side comparison, n'est-ce pas?

China Glaze Secret Periwinkle

Two skittle manis

Here are a few more manis from the polish 'vault', if you will.  :)
I've really enjoyed doing 'skittle' manis lately, usually because I want to get through my growing pile of untrieds.
For this first mani, I started out with my new fave olive (with pink microglitter) polish, Contrary The Way I Am in two gorgeous coats.  Though I love love love this polish, I was antsy to try out some new acquisitions, so I quickly slapped on one (or was it two? I don't remember!) coat of the following polishes: Sation Oh My Oceania, Elevation Jungfrau, and Cirque Cape Liz (at least I think this is Cape Liz).  All applied easily and are stunners in their own right.  I left my index alone and decorated my thumb with Lynnderella The Present is a Gift.  I love how you can see the pretty pink glitter of TWIA in the second picture .

Contrary The Way I Am

Sation Oh My Oceania

Elevation Jungfrau

Cirque Cape Liz

Contrary The Way I Am

Lynnderella The Present is a Gift (glitter)

Onto the next mani...

I've had Elixir Bad Kitty for about a year now (remember the short-lived maddened frenzy that surrounded this supposed 'LE' polish?) and have brought it out only once before.  I absolutely loved the lilac shimmer with blue flash, but was really disappointed that the polish wasn't as bright and glowing as advertised and also that it shows brushstrokes.  This time around, the brushstrokes seemed fewer, but the colour was still not as bright as I would like, so I thought it would be the perfect backdrop for a little Konad action.  I decided to add an accent finger in Illamasqua Cameo and then add two holo glitters from Cirque XX to my thumb, middle and ring fingers.  The Konad stamping was a bit crooked on my pinkies, but I still like it.  I'll definitely have to practice more, especially now that I have MASH plates!

Elixir Bad Kitty
Illamasqua Cameo (accent)
China Glaze Liquid Leather (stamping polish)

Cirque French Roast/Cape Liz/XX

You'll notice that I liked my last post's accent nail so much that I kept it for my next manicure!  I decided to pair it with the darkly decadent Cirque French Roast, a finely milled brown glitter in a clear base (at least, I think it's a clear base).  You can see glints of green, red and gold, so there must be some multichromatic glitter in there as well.  I've read that it's a glitter eater, but one thick coat of Diamont was good enough for me.  Shown is two coats of French Roast over one coat of Essie Little Brown Dress.  The accent finger has two coats of the beautifully dusty Cape Liz dressed up with one coat of XX.

I just love brown and blue together, don't you?