Sunday SPAM

Sunday SPAM is going to be a new featured article on my blog. Like many bloggers and nail junkies, I have a lot of polish. I have a lot of polish that I haven't worn. I have more polishes that I have not worn than that I have worn. I actually have enough untried shades to wear one a day for a whole year and beyond. I realize the chances I will succeed at doing a 365 untried challenge is very slim, but what I am going to do is at least attempt to do my nails everyday and then post all my manicures through the week on Sunday in an edition I am calling "Sunday SPAM".

Nina Ultra Pro - Blu Blaze -Oh blazes. This is hypnotic. This is a hot blue. It's not necessarily neon, but definitely has neon pigment because it dries matte (the look of which I enjoyed as well). This was my first experience with Nina Ultra and I am pleased. The only thing that sucked about it is the brush. Not a fan. It's very small making application a bit tricky but painting very carefully I got the job done.

e.l.f. - Coral - This was my first experience with e.l.f. This is a very inexpensive brand (the polishes retail for $1!) but I was never blown away by any of the shades. (I must note that I haven't checked out their color range in quite some time but it looks like there are some interesting shades now). I received this as an extra in a swap and so I thought I would take a chance. I was impressed. The brush is fantastic, the shade is much more interesting than I expected, and most importantly, and most shockingly, the formula is amazing. The swatch you are seeing is ONE COAT.

Color Club - Charity Ball - This is a very odd color. But it is so weird that I like it! I don't even know what to call this. It's like a really red brown. Like a brick color? Maybe it's burnt sienna? Or rust? I don't know but it's fun.

Mood Struck (hot/cold/in-between) - This I just found the other day. It was a pleasant surprise. I found a display at Rite Aid of mood polishes I had never seen before. This was the only one that I grabbed because a lot of them looked a lot like Claire's shades I already had but this one looked really nice. Cold it's a purple with blue shimmer and hot it's a bright blue with blue shimmer. This is awesome. The only problem I have with this is that it doesn't have a name!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate that. This is the display if you want to keep an eye out>>>


Zoya - Dove - I went ahead and got myself the entire Intimate collection and have used three of them so far and I am very pleased. This is a pretty, soft gray creme. Not too dark, too light, to warm, too cool...it's just right.

Misa - Touch The Rainbow - Oooooh! This is so pretty. I got comments on this baby. This is from the new Misa - Wishes collection. I have also worn a couple of the other shades in this collection and I am enamored with them all! They are so pretty. The soft shades are interesting colors and they are packed with a pretty shimmer that makes the whole look delicate, but beautiful.

Easter Mani - So I didn't exactly redo my mani, but I made it better! I dotted my Misa - Touch The Rainbow with Orly - Snowcone, Orly - Cashmere Cardigan and Nicole by OPI - My Lifesaver.

Hope you enjoyed my first installment of Sunday SPAM and I am super excited to bring you more! Happy Easter!

:c)
-Elaine

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

I am super in love with my mani, but super upset that pics do not capture its awesomeness. The problem lies in the fact that I used neons (China Glaze - Poolside specifically) for this mani and we all know how hard it is to photograph them. The neon glow and brightness doesn't translate to digital pics, but I will try to explain as we go.
:c)

I started with a base of pure white creme. This allowed me to do less coats of the neon and really made the color pop. Next I painted two coats of China Glaze - Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Holy cow is that bright! Super neon, hi-liter yellow. I wore this out to see friends the other day and in dim lighting my girlfriend asked if it glowed in the dark! Nope, just super neon!

For the dots, I knew I would be using three different colors and wanted them to look random which actually takes some calculating. To make sure I got the pattern right, I used my polka dot image from Konad plate M79 with white polish first on all the nails. Then I went over the dots with a dotting tool and China Glaze Sun Worshiper, Pool Party and Flip Flop Fantasy.

Besides the fact that my pics don't show off the neonness, they show some white around the dots where I didn't necessarily cover my white base dots fully, but in real life I swear you don't see it. I am staring deep into the dots on my hands and I don't see the white spots. It's like this:

See what I mean? But it actually looks really cute and bright in real life. I hope you can picture it in all its glory!

Have a great Sunday!
-Elaine

NOTD: A Little Bit of Konad Goes a Long Way

Good morning everyone! I have a cute little manicure to show you today. I think it is really fitting for the gloomy, rainy weather here in Chicago today. I didn't mean for it to match the gray day, however. It just sort of worked out that way! April showers...

I was wearing Diamond Cosmetics - Serendipity yesterday and thought I would add something to it instead of redoing my nails for today. I added a bow with Konad plate M59 China Glaze - Awaken, China Glaze - Millennium and a dotting tool. It's just a nice little added touch to an already great mani.

Have a great day! Hope you have clear skies where you are!
:c)
-Elaine

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! You didn't think I would leave you hanging without showing you my Easter nails, did you?!

:c)

For the base I used Sally Hansen - Lavender Cloud for all nails. Then I did "skittle" polka dots with various pastel cremes. From pinkly to thumb:

China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint

No Miss - Boynton Beach Blue

China Glaze - Light As Air

Maybelline - Sweetie Pie

China Glaze - Lemon Fizz

I did all the dots with a dotting tool. What do you think? Fit the "Easter mani" bill?

-Elaine

Dinosaur Eggs

Hi everyone! I am trying to post this quickly because I really need to lay down (headache ): )

This is a mani I did a while back with all of the Sally Hansen - Complete Salon Manicure Colors I showed you here.

Lavender Cloud, Yellow Kitty, Commander in Chic

Gray by Gray, Thinking of Blue, Plum Luck

And a few more bottle pics:

See you tomorrow with something great!

New Color from Claire's

Hello lovelies! Back to regularly scheduled programming! I am back from New York and back to work! You may have noticed earlier I re-posted my Nubar Prisms because something was screwy with the first post. I felt that I couldn't just leave you with that for today since we already saw it, so I bring you a new color from Claire's that I picked up.

Dream Catcher - Very pretty jade green with a subtle bright green shimmer. Word on the street is that this is very similar to Chanel - Jade, which I don't have to compare because I just can't spring for that pricey stuff. I really love this color but I felt that the formula was a bit tricky. It was streaky leaving me to do 4 coats for this swatch.

And this is what happens when I think of adding polka dots to be cute. I used Migi Nail Art Pen in pink, but I think I may have overdone it a bit!! It reminds me of some sort of armored animal like a turtle or armadillo!

Have a great day!
-Elaine