Finger Paints Wild About Spring collection with RINGS and an Update

Between grad school semester end, moving back to Texas, living in a relative's spare bedroom while we wait for our house to be vacated by the current renters near the end of May, and spending a lot of time in my car driving to my current job from said relative's home, blogging about all my awesome polish buys and nail art is certainly harder to accomplish.  My nails have been (GASP) naked for more than a week each time and pictures in my relative's home aren't as good because there is a distinct lack of light.

I want you to know that I am absolutely still here, still buying nail polishes, still spending my free time living it up in the polish world (don't tell anyone I seriously said that), and still maintaining my blog and tweaking things.

Meanwhile, I do occasionally get an ok photo of what I've aquired.

The following polish pic shows this year's Finger Paints Wild About Spring collection which came with these very collectible and hard-to-find animal rings.  I had to have them all and so now, I do but the owl was especially elusive.  Thankfully, my librarianish/detective-like skills hunted it down to complete my collection.

Aren't they cute?  From left to right we have I Spy-der, Fishin' for Fun, Owlin at the Moon, Hoppy Go Lucky, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Are you Hoppy?

You might find it difficult to get all six but last week there were some still left at some of my local Sally Beauty Supply stores.  

So, what ring and (or) polish is your favorite?  I have to say that my top rings are the frog and the owl rings and I love, Love, LOVE the purple shimmer and shatter glitter polishes.  You could've predicted that, though!  I will update this post with swatches as I get them done.  

Thank you so much for looking and good luck finding these fun polishes and rings!

Review of Polish Addict Spring Polishes

Laura over at Polish Addict recently sent me two of her Spring polishes to review and it was some of the first nail mail I've received at my temporary resident, my grandfather's home. 

First up, is a neon dream of a polish.  Spring Prom Queen is full of matte neon red and fuchsia hexes and squares, matte hot pink hearts, and several different sizes and shapes of white glitter in a subtle light pink base.

I think that Spring Prom Queen is awesome!  The formula is smooth, easy to apply, and takes two to three coats to reach full coverage.  I love all the different shapes and the white and neon matte theme going on.   Spring Prom Queen proclaims that Spring is indeed here with a fresh and bright signature that I find nicely different than some of the neon glitter bombs we are seeing in indies. 

Next I have Spring Equinox which is a shimmery rose colored base filled with silver and light pink hexes of various sizes and tiny green glitters.   Spring Equinox is the first day of Spring aka March 20th which recently passed and this polish lives up to that hopeful day capturing the colors of a rose garden.     

I love the extra large hexes, the mixtures of these glitter colors, and the shimmering base in Spring Equinox.   Like Spring Prom Queen this polish goes on smoothly and completely covers in two coats.

To get your own Polish Addict Spring polishes, go to Polish Addict's shop on Bigcartel!  The shop reopens Friday, March 29th with new polishes and some great polish deals. Run, Go, you know you want to:)

Chirality Mystery? Polish

 Helloooo, ya'll.  I have adjusted to my new work schedule and my temporary digs at my grandfather's house in central Texas.  Its been a long process and I am still not finished but I am making progress on getting the husband, cat, and furniture back to Texas.

Some of you may recall my epic and I do mean EPIC post with all of the Chirality holographic polishes available back in January.  If not or you need a refresher, here's the link to that post.

Recently, I was VERY impressed with and jealous of a mystery polish that another blogger (Superficially Colorful) bought from Chirality and seconds later I had paid a very well spent and shockingly cheap $4.50 for THIS. AMAZING. POLISH!!!!

Chirality has several holos in this family of shades such as Cu2, Kale, and Katydid.  Since is unnamed and unlike any other Chirality holo shade, I am calling it Spearmint.

Put your tongue back in yo' mouth and I. KNOW!  What an awesome mystery polish!  This polish is slightly teal, slightly green and all beautiful holo goodness.  In the pics, I used an Orly base coat and two  thin coats of Spearmint, no topcoat.  My faith in mystery polishes and grab bags just might have been restored:)

You can find Chirality mystery polishes for sale here and the Chirality shop for other polish goodies including the rest of the holos I posted about AND then some new ones here.  Don't worry about me, I already bought the new ones so you can expect a post about them eventually. 

Because Neil is better than Ryan in all things...

Pinked Polish's Luck of the Irish St Patty's Day Giveaway

Dear Followers:

I am a bad blogger.  I have been meaning to have  a giveaway because I've  had so many milestones lately.  I stalled because I wanted to get a couple of really good prizes but the opportunity to donate to Pinked Polish's giveaway came up so I want you all to go and enter! I was able to get several awesome Nerd Lacquer polishes in her first recent restock so I chose to donate Nerd Lacquer Event Horizon.  In addition to my donation there are many awesome polish prizes and a Fox Claws polish rack.  You can enter here.  Go show some nail love to all the bloggers and sellers participating and of course, GOOOOOD LUUUUCK!

I promise that as soon we finish the St.  Pat's  giveaway I will be having a giveaway just for you:)   Hint:  new and popular Ninja Polish product will be one of the prizes.   Yep, more than one:)

I may not be blogging much in the next week because I am moving back to Texas.   What an ordeal to move 1100+ bottles of nail polish and all of my nail stuff in a Kia Spectra!   Ill have to show you the madness moving strategy soon.   Find me on FB if you want to see if I and my polishes made it down safe:)  See you soon!

XOXO,
Char

Essence and Indie Tuesdays: essence grey-t to be here and Windestine Secret Garden

Hard to believe but today's e&I Tuesday offering is my fourth in the series.   It forcing me to get out of my comfort zone with color, to use many indies I have lying around un-swatched, and I have so much more to do.  Did you know that the essence colour & go has several new colors?  I think essence and Indie Tuesdays will continue for quite a while on Nails Actually.

The contenders today are--
essence: grey-t to be here
Indie:  Windestine Secret Garden (recently acquired from a blog sale)

grey-t to be here is a light grey polish with a subtle pink micro shimmer.  The picture below shows the shimmer effect.  This essence polish covers in one coat and dries super fast. I am not typically drawn to grey polishes but I really love the surprise shimmer in grey-t to be here.

Windestine's Secret Garden consist of white heart glitter, pastel green hex glitters in two sizes, pastel purple hex glitters, and silver micro glitter suspended in a clear base.  I thought that the light and pastel nature of this indie would mesh well with grey-t to be here and it does!  This combination has made for a very feminine and understated manicure.  

So there you have it!  Another pairing of commercial and independent polishes colliding together for the sake of fashion and art and beauty!

I don't believe that Secret Garden is still available for purchase but you should absolutely check out Windestine's esty shop to see if there is anything else you might want.  

Koi Nails inspired by Natasha Wescoat

Let me preface this post by pointing out that I have done nails inspired by Natasha Wescoat before.   I really loved her "Gold Coast" painting and did some very similar nails.   Natasha recently posted a picture called "Koi and Cherry Blossoms" on her Facebook page and I am in love.   Unfortunately, we are about to move and need all the money and less things we can get so no paintings for me:(  Still, I had to tackle this nail art and sometimes, I feel like a freakin' Van Gogh with all my art imitatin'.  

*Side note:  Natasha was the first person to see these nails because I messaged her a picture and she responded "Omg that's awesome!!! Thank you for sharing that!"  so I think I have her blessing!*

Incidentally, I believe the Koi painting is still available for purchase on Etsy here.

So here is Natasha's gorgeous painting:

And here is my attempt at flattery in its sincerest form:

I started with  Orly's Nail Armor and then applied one coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White.   Next I applied a gradient using Milani 3D Holographics Cyberspace and Hi-Res.  It was a little more subtle than I planned but as you can see it worked out great!   Next I used a ton of oranges, pinks, reds, peaches, WnW Black Creme and Sinful Colors Snow Me White to free-hand on the koi and the cherry blossom details.   Yes, it took a while and I watched about four episodes of X-files before finishing this manicure but it was so worth it!   I topped all nails off with one coat of essence colour and go space queen which is an iridescent glitter.   I finished this manicure with a coat of Seche Vite and went to bed! (but not before posting pics in some of my FB polish groups like a fiend!)

 

I think these turned out wonderful with a little bit of work and patience and a tiny nail art brush:)    If you can't tell, I am trying to get back into nail art because I did get a little swatch happy there for a while.  I still have 100s of unswatched nail polish but nail art is where I started and while I've gone on to buy loads of gorgeous indie and non-indie polishes and have delved into frankening and polish mixing, I think nail art should always be on my blog.   I love all things nail polish and that's not going to change:)

More Holo Nail Art: Holo Cirlces

 Playing again with my new Color Club Halo Hues! This time I used Miss Bliss, Eternal Beauty, Beyond, and Cosmic Fate.

I started out with two  coats of Sally Hansen's InstaDri Mint Sprint.   Then I added random triple arches in black, purple, and yellow-green Halo Hues.   Last I accented open spaces with dots of Cosmic Fate. 

This manicure surprise me with how great it turned out.  As you probably know, sometimes nail art can go horribly wrong or incredibly right.   This is decidedly right!

Note to self:  use more holos in nail art!

Essence and Indie Tuesday: essence date in the moonlight and Two Birds, One Store's Just Keep Swimming

I know, I know...my first two E&I Tuesday offerings were full of girly purples and pinks so today I went darker and not-so-girly with essence colour and go date in the moonlight and Two Birds, One Store's Just Keep Swimming.

date in the moonlight is a dark, deep blue polish with blue shimmers.  Like most essence colour and go polishes, date in the moonlight gives full coverage in a single coat and dries lightning quick.

I acquired Just Keep Swimming in a blog sale months ago and this is the first time I've worn it.  It is suspended in a clear base and packed with yellow square microglitters, small black and blue square glitters, and large white square glitters.  Below, I have about two coats of JKS and I had to fish for some of the large white squares.   I like how unusual this glitter polish is...its not what I would call pretty but its very visually striking and interesting.   Not my usual pick for nails but this weekly post is all about getting me and you to see examples of two different polishes and how they come together.  In this case, these two polishes get along famously! 

Its always fun to apply a matte topcoat to my glitter manis.  I like to show you mattefied manicures because taking away the shiny finish on glitters really shows the detailed make-up of the indie polish on top:)  

Unfortunately, I don't see Just Keep Swimming available for sale on the Two Birds, One Store etsy store but it never hurts to ask, plus go and take a look at all their other pretty polishes!  Happy Tuesdays, ya'll!

Holo Swirls and Dots

I have yet to fully try out my new Color Club 2013 Halo Hues but I did get to use Kismet, Cosmic Fate, and Over the Moon in some quick nail art for you. 


I started out with two coats of Chelsea's Kaleidoscope.

Then I added swirls with Over the Moon and Cosmic Fate.   Last I added dots of various sized and order to accent the swirls and other nails.

This nail art was fast, easy, and very cool to look at.  Are you tired of holos yet on this blog?  Its rather obvious I have a bit of a holo habit.   I can't wait to use the new Color Clubs in stamping and water marbling because these colors beg for it!