Sew Psyched....

This is totally not the first time I swatch this shade.... but to me, it's a great Fall color and it's one of the few greens that doesn't give me lobster hands.  This is two coats of Essie's Sew Psyched and I used Millennium by China Glaze and stamped on the paisley design from Bundle Monster plate 315.  Cute, no?  Then I added a little rhinestone from one of my wheels from Born Pretty Store.  Nothing fancy. 

To be honest, I was having a little creative block.  Two failed attempts at plaid will do that to you.  LOL

Happy Polishing!

Houndstooth prettiness...

This is pretty self-explanatory.  I used Valerie by Zoya and OPI's Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? on my pointer... followed it up with Bundle Monster's 322 plate with Konad Special black and voila...houndstooth!  Topped it all off with Seche, of course.  ;)

Happy Polishing!

Glittering Fall Leaves

I'm in a Fall kinda mood but wanted to avoid the dreaded neutral browns and the like.  Although I love those shades, they make my super pale/pink undertone skin look horrible.  Instead, I came up with this look.  Two coats of Glittering Garland (a gorgeous green jelly with tons of microglitter in gold tones) by China Glaze and 2030 for the stamp.  I used Bundle Monster's B04 image plate.   

What are you guys thinking for Fall?  Any looks you love to recreate?  I cant even believe Thanksgiving is next week.  Where did the year go?

 Happy Polishing.

And for Halloween, I did....

I love Halloween and this is what I came up with for this year.  Subtle but cute and luckily I work in an office where my boss doesn't care WHAT'S on my nail.  :)  One coat of Liquid Leather, one coat of Mummy May I and Millennium for stamping.  All China Glaze.  Cute, huh?  I used plates Mash 38 and Bundle Monster 225 for the images.  Tell me what you think.

Happy Polishing!

It's almost Halloween...

This is two coats of Zoya Kelly using Millennium by China Glaze for the image from Bundle Monster BM-224 image plate.  Cute, no?  As usual, no formula issues with Zoya and Millennium always stamps so well.  It really is a go-to for stamping purposes.  Let's see what else we can come up with for Halloween. 

Happy Polishing!

Smoke and Ashes

This is Sunday's mani.  Two coats of Smoke and Ashes by China Glaze. A practically black base loaded with blue/green/gold duochrome shimmer.  Very different and beautiful in person.  It's practically a one coater.  I used Sold Out For Ever by Catrice on ring fingers.  Also two coats.  Then I stamped the snakeskin pattern from Bundle Monster 215 on ring fingers using Smoke and Ashes to tie it all in.  *love*

Happy Polishing!

...Seeing Spots...

Here's a mani I recently wore when my boyfriend and I went to Billetproof in Ocala, Florida.  Billetproof is a traditional and custom hot rod gathering.  It's a great day spent looking at great cars. 

Alas, I digress...back to the nails.  This is two coats of Girl Friday by Misa.  A beautiful red with even brighter red microshimmer.  Absolutely gorgeous and of course, like any Misa, wonderful application.  I stamped the leopard spots from image plate BM 221 using Konad's special polish in Black and then highlighted a few of them using their White.  Topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite and done.  What do you gals think?

BTW, dont know if any of you are into metal art work or have men in your lives into it themselves, but my boyfriend is uber-talented and totally worth me dropping his name.  You can check out some of his art here.  (shameless of me, I know.)

Happy Polishing!

Yummy Chocolate Pudding!

Hey Ladies! 6 days 'til my birthday! I can't wait!

So back to my untried drawer I go... This polish has been long overdue. I've owned it for at least a year and a half now and hadn't worn it yet. *sigh* This is Mink Muffs by Essie. Essie describes this as a smoky plush taupe. I'd describe this as milk chocolate pudding. You know those pudding packs that have a layer of chocolate, a layer of vanilla, and another layer of chocolate? Well, the color you get when you mix the 3 layers together (as I always do) is what this color is to me! LOL! Now I'm hungry for pudding. The bottle is a little deceiving... The polish dries darker than you'd think based on the bottle. But it's still super pretty! 2 coats for full coverage (but you can almost get away with just 1).

I went ahead and stamped some leopard spots using BM-221 by Bundle Monster. I barely own any gold polishes because gold and I don't usually go well together. But I reconnected with this beauty in my stash: Butterscotch Cookie by FingerPaints. This is a beautiful gold with gold micro shimmer. Perfect for stamping if you want a touch of gold but don't want it to be overbearing! Perfect for me.

Hope you gals like it!

Reggea Zebras...

Hey Ladies!

I've been making progress on using the polishes in my untried drawer. It's weird because all I've wanted to wear lately are some of my older polishes. But I've been able to fight the urge (for now). I think its because I've put myself on a polish-buying-ban until I make a serious dent in my untried drawer (an entire helmer drawer full). So its going to take me a while...

So Mari and I went to this whole-in-the-wall beauty supply store a long time ago. I swear that place is older than our ages combined! Who knew that place would be a goldmine for older China Glaze polishes that are hard to find. We got a bunch of stuff. This color isn't difficult to find at all anymore but I picked it up since I had been wanting it for what felt like eternity. This is Reggea to Riches by China Glaze. It is an insanely vibrant fuchsia purple with intense blue flash/shimmer. So pretty. And now for the downside of it: Super sheer! This is easily a 3 to 4 coater! Even then, you could still see some VNL if you looked closely. Other than that, the formula and application were fine.

I decided to stamp zebra stripes using BM-223 by Bundle Monster. I stamped with Konad Special Polish in Sky Blue. I used this plate because I liked the fact that the stripes were thinner than the zebra stripes on the Konad plates. After stamping I wished I had used the Konad stripes though. I don't know. I felt kinda "meh" about it.

Hope you all enjoyed. Happy polishing!

Ripe Bananas!

Hey Ladies!

So I went back into my untried drawer and pulled out this long overdue beauty. This is Banana Bandana by OPI. So pretty. I wanted it for sooooooo long but I never saw it in stores... And then one day, there it was! It was mine!

Banana Bandana is a summery pale yellow creme with what appears to be super subtle shimmer under certain lights. There is one downfall to this color: It's sheer. I needed 3 coats for full coverage. One nail even needed 4. It was hard to get good even coverage. Not impossible though. At least it wasn't chalky.

Then I decided to stamp with BM-225 from Bundle Monster. I asked my boyfriend to pick between this design and a cute little skull. Shockingly, he picked the skulls. But just as I was about to praise him on accepting and embracing my weirdness he changed his mind. LOL! So I stamped this vine-like design using Konad Special Polish in Black. The design is big enough to cover the entire nail but I purposely stamped it off to one side. I didn't want to lose so much of the yellow.

I feel like the stamping was an epic fail. The image came out perfect... but the black smeared when I applied topcoat. That has only happened to me back in my pre-seche vite days. Personally, seche vite is the only topcoat that doesn't do that to my stamped images... But this time it did! And I was pretty generous in my application of topcoat (as I usually am when I stamp). I apply a lot so that the actual brush doesn't end up touching the design. You don't notice the smearing unless you look at my nails up close. But I know its there so that is enough to bother the hell out of me...

Conclusion: I'll be taking this manicure off sooner rather than later. LOL!

Happy Polishing!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hey Ladies! This will be a quick post because I'm in St. Louis spending Valentine's Day with my boyfriend. Yeah, this was a scheduled post. At this time I'm on a plane on my way back home... =(

So I wanted to do a Valentine's Day post. This is OPI's Koala Bear-y. I love this color. I've had it for a long time and realized I had never used it. Shame on me. This is a berry fuchsia type pink creme. Great application and great formula. It goes on like a dream. Very bright and pretty. Only issue is that it's difficult to capture on camera. The pictures have a tendency to make the color come out reddish. I then stamped the heart design from Bundle Monster's BM03 plate using China Glaze's Millennium.

Hope you gals like it! Have a Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you guys don't have to spend it away from your significant other!

(Anti) Valentine's Day

Hey Ladies! So I decided to do a Valentine's Day manicure... but I wanted to do something that wasn't so lovey-dovey. (I will also be doing a lovey-dovey mani.) I had a few years where I was anti-valentine's day... So I wanted to represent those days with some polish and stamping. If anything, this can also be a punk rock type valentine's day mani. LOL! I know, random!

I started off with 2 coats of  ManGlaze's most popular color ever: Matte is Murder. It dries matte very quickly and turns into a very dark grayish black color. Almost like asphalt. Then I applied a coat of Seche Vite. That makes Matte is Murder turn into a pure black color with some shimmer. The shimmer is almost holographic in the sunlight. Sadly, I wore this during 2 days of rain and had no sunlight for pictures of the shimmer. So how did I know about the shimmer if I had no sunlight? I've worn this before (here). So check out the link if you want to see picture of this color in the sun. Don't mind the old style photos. That was before we found our picture-taking-groove. LOL!

Then I stamped the heart pattern that you apparently can't see... LOL! Let me explain! I used the heart pattern from Bundle Monster's BM212 plate. Such a cute design. I thought it was appropriate for the look. I wanted it to be red so I used Konad's Special Polish in Red. I thought it would work since the bottle is super bright red and Konad polishes are meant to be opaque for stamping. Yeah how about no! I stamped and you couldn't really see it. It was there but it was so dark on the black that it made the design subtle. I've noticed that sometimes topcoat brings out the stamped color more so I applied a coat of Seche Vite. Yeah it helped... only a little. I decided to keep it on for the day and see if it looked better while I was out and about (and not confined to artificial light). But then I had rain and no sunlight all day.

So I got annoyed trying to photograph it in a way where you could see the red and decided to change it. I took the same exact pattern from BM212 and stamped over the red using Konad's Special Polish in White. NOW you can see it! Topped it with a coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go. It's unfortunate that the red didn't work out. I thought it really looked badass when you could notice it.

Either way, I hope you gals like it. I'll be doing another Valentine's Day mani and hopefully that one won't be an epic fail like this one. LOL!

Happy Polishing!

Over The Top!

Hey Ladies! You would think I wouldn't get more polish with as much as I have in the un-tried drawer of my helmer... But I went to a local nail supply store and saw Over The Top. I've been eyeing it for months but have never been convinced enough to get it. I finally caved. I like the color but it wasn't what I was expecting it to be. Essie describes this as a dramatic metallic midnight silver. It's really dark but not so dark that it ends up looking black. It's like metallic asphalt. I applied 2 coats. The first coat was pretty sheer. And some spots would have needed a 3rd coat if it wasn't for the fact that the 2nd coat I applied was very generous.

I stamped the swirl full nail pattern from the second Bundle Monster set, BM-201. I think its an adorable pattern. One of my favorites. I stamped using one of China Glaze's best polishes for stamping: Millennium. The swirls cover a lot of the base color so I decided to just stamp the ring fingers. Didn't want to cover up that much of Over The Top.

Happy Polishing!

NOTD: Blue on Blue

Here is another look from "the vault." I think this might be the last one. Before I start, I just want to say that I love these bottles. I like the different design and the color of the cap. However, make sure your hands are acetone free before you touch the top... Because it screws it all up and then its not so pretty anymore. So this is China Glaze's Kaleidoscope Him Out from the Kaleidoscope Collection. This is a pretty light blue scattered holo. Reminds me of Nfu-Oh's 65 (one of the loves of my life). But trust me, they aren't the same. Hmmm... Maybe I should do a comparison. I'll add that to my list of things to do one day. Then I stamped the full nail design using Bundle Monster's BM224 from the 2nd plate set. I stamped using Konad's Special Stamping Polish in Blue. 

By the way, I added a new commenting system. I've always wanted to be able to reply to comments and I think I finally found a way! So feel free to post a comment to test it out. Let me know if you encounter any problems via email: Lissi4NAA(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks!

NOTD: Angora Cardi & Flowers

Hey Ladies!

Today's post is not from the vault. I am going to make it a point to make a dent in my un-tried drawer. I need to make space for future polish. So I decided to use Essie's Angora Cardi. I bought this polish like 2 years ago! 

Angora Cardi - Essie describes this as a creamy deep dusty rose. It's like a mauve-ish purple creme. Super creamy and yummy. Applies like a dream. Like melted butter. I applied 2 coats. Could be opaque enough with just 1 coat but you have to make sure you get it right the first time. As always, I don't have the patience for that.

I missed stamping so I decided to go for it. The design I used is from Bundle Monster's second plate set, BM-205. This plate has 3 designs I absolutely love! I stamped using Emotion by China Glaze. This is a metallic warm pink from the Romantique collection of Spring 2009. This one is great for stamping! At first I was only going to stamp on my ring finger. I liked it so much that I stamped all my fingers before I realized it.

Happy Polishing!

NOTD: Purple Butterflies!

Hey Ladies!

And yet another look from the vault... Seeing these older manicures makes me miss stamping my nails! Anyways... This is a cute purple combination that I might do again during Spring. This is FingerPaints Aren't You Glad-iolous? from the Palette of Petals collection of Spring 2011. I'm assuming that is the correct spelling of the polish name. It didn't come with a label. I bought this collection from a blog sale and that blogger had received the collection from FingerPaints to review. So it had weird labels on the bottom. Anyone know the correct spelling? I googled it and a bunch of bloggers had different versions. Whatever. Not important. LOL! Anyways... It's a pretty light purple creme. You should be able to get a good even finish with 2 coats. I was afraid this color was going to be chalky but I was pleasantly surprised. Then I stamped the butterfly design on my ring fingers using BM205 from Bundle Monster's second plate set. I stamped with Zoya's Mira from the Summertime collection. Mira is described as a blue toned medium purple with dusty lavender tones. Personally, this color is awesome. It's so creamy and yummy.

Happy Polishing!

NOTD: A 360 View

Hey Ladies!

I normally don't post on weekends. But I did yesterday because I really wanted to share my swatches and review of the Zoya Fleck Effect Collection. So be sure to check out that post here: Zoya Fleck Effect Post!

I start my last semester of law school today. It's hard to believe that its been almost 3 years already. It feels like I started law school just the other day. Time flies! I don't want to go back. This break wasn't long enough. LOL! But I'm glad it's my last semester. I'm almost at the finish line!!! Hopefully this semester won't be as insane as the last one (which was one of the reasons why I had to stop blogging). Anyways...

Here is another look from the vault. I have so many looks that I did but never posted. This is one of my favorites! I actually want to redo this. It's so pretty! Today's polish is from RBL's Surf's Up collection. 360 is a teal-ish color with extremely subtle silver shimmer. So subtle that you barely notice it on the nail. But I swear it's in the bottle. LOL! The color is opaque enough that you can get away with just 1 coat... but I applied 2 just for that perfect even finish. There is something about this color that is just so beautiful to me. To finish off the look I stamped the flower pattern from Bundle Monster's 2nd plate set, BM224. I stamped using the popular Millennium by China Glaze. I love that flower pattern. It's one of my favorites from the set. I stamped the pattern in different directions so that each nail wouldn't be identical.

Hope you all like it!

Starred Purple Panic

Another purple, and this shade DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!  This is Purple Panic by China Glaze.  Good gracious, this is bright, yummy neon purple with the best pink microshimmer.  My nails glowed for days.  In person it's way more purple... it just photographs pink, and boy did I try.  I used Bundle Monster's BM05 plate for the stars with China Glaze's Millennium.  This is definitely going to be a repeat performance for me. 

Happy Polishing!

KOTD: I Went Skiing 'Til I Dropped

Good Morning! I am avoiding my law school homework... It's so hard to get back into the routine when you've been gone from school for a month. Ugh... I don't want to do it! So what better way to distract myself than with nail polish! This is another look I did a while back and never got around to posting the pictures. This is OPI's "Ski Teal We Drop" from the Swiss Collection. This is my favorite color from that collection and it reminds me of my ski trip... because I "dropped" plenty of times. I literally went down a portion of the mountain on my butt and not on the skis! 

Anyways, it's a dark creme teal. It leans more towards the blue side of the force than the green. (Yes, I just made a Star Wars reference. My boyfriend got me to watch the trilogy and now I make references all the time. LOL!) The application was a dream with just 2 coats. Then I stamped on my ring finger using China Glaze's "Beauty and the Beach." I think that is from the Fiji collection. I would describe it as a teal / turquoise with a lot of aquamarine shimmer. It looks green when stamped over "Ski Teal We Drop." The flower is from the Bundle Monster plate BM06.

Hope you gals like. Happy polishing!

Redbull Flugtag Nails!

Hey Ladies!

I'm semi-back. Life has been hectic lately. I'm about to start final exams at school. But I'm going to try my best to schedule some of my backed up posts because as Mari said to me earlier this week: "I am becoming one of those bloggers we hate." And I certainly don't want to be one of those to you guys!

Here is a mani from back in June/July.

This is the mani I did for the RedBull Flugtag (using the colors of the Sugar Free RedBull can). If you don't know what the Flugtag is I suggest you YouTube it because it's hilarious. Basically people make aircrafts and try to see how far they can fly them over the bay before landing in the water. Most of them fail instantly but its the creative aircrafts that are fun to watch. The Flugtag was here in 2004 and finally came back to Miami this year! I was so excited! To bad it was too hot and we couldn't bare to stay there for longer than 30 minutes.

This is 2 coats of OPI's "No Room For The Blues" and 2 coats of China Glaze's "Millennium." I stamped the red wing using Konad's red special polish. The wing came from the Bundle Monster plate BM03. The image is actually a heart with wings so I just put a piece of tape over the heart and 2nd wing and only left exposed the 1 wing I wanted. It worked out quite well.

Please forgive my ugly looking nails. I had some bad broken nails back then and had to glue on fake ones to prevent the breaks from getting worse.

Hope you gals like it!

-Lissi