It's MAGIC!! Syn Cosmetics Solar Color-Changing Polish!

I love cruising through Facebook and stumbling upon fantastic polish-makers who have unique and fun creations!  I was sooo excited to find Syn Cosmetics this way!  She had spectacular glow-in-the-dark polishes and, just as I had found her page, was currently posting polishes that CHANGE COLOR IN THE SUN!!  Crazy lady say what!?!  But she had a YouTube video & everything, so I of course  immediately bought both colors she had available.

May I introduce "Sunkissed" (pink) and "Solar Skies" (blue):

Please disregard my newbie stamping skills...I'm still practicing ;-)  I used Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" for undies, and layered 2 coats of my Syn polishes on top, alternating the colors on my nails, before stamping with Bundle Monster plate 321.

And now.......IN THE SUN:

This color change takes place in SECONDS!  Like almost immediately.  And then they switch back to white just as quickly.  It's MAGIC!  And the pink nails really do show up better in real life, although not as dark as in the bottle.  How COOL is that?!?  OK, I'll stop yelling now ;-)

More:

I swear the colors show up better than this in real life, and it's sooo exciting to watch when it changes!  I'm going to try layering 3 or 4 coats next time!

Anyway, I LOVE these, and I plan on topping any black & white mani I do with a sneaky coat of this magic polish!  

You can check out Syn Cosmetic's shop HERE.  Like her FB Page for constant sales updates (I actually got a free bottle of un-released polish with my order during a promo she was having), plus she's super-responsive to posts and is very interactive on her page!  I got my polishes lightning-fast, had great communication, and it was just an awesome purchasing experience all the way around.  I'm going to be getting some of her glow-in-the-darks, and she says there are more sun color-changing polishes on the way, ones that start off one color, and then change to another!  OMG!!  She's also just announced a "Deadly Syns" collection she's working on!  Oh, and she also sells powder pigments and other makeup things.  Lots of exciting stuff, so keep an eye on her! :-)    

My Franken Inspired by "Granite"

OK, so I've noticed that just recently there have been a few different bloggers posting about I'm Feeling Nailventurous's beautiful polish "Granite":  THIS ONE from "I've got the Glitter Jitters", THIS ONE by "Holographic Hussy", and THIS ONE by "Superficially Colorful".  They are bitter-sweet, in that the polish is super-gorgeous (as all Nailventurous polishes are), and that it is no longer available for purchase, as Amy has decided to no longer sell her polishes.  Although I totally support her decision to do what is best for her, I am super-bummed that her gorgeous creations will no longer be made, since I have a bunch of them on my wish list.    

So what's a girl to do?  Franken!! :-)

Here are my base polishes:

Sinful Colors "Snow Me White", China Glaze "Recycle", Nail'd It "Muddy Buddies", and Windestine's "Into the Wild".  I also threw in a few more black medium & small hexes.  I mixed just a little of the CG with the SMW and then added the glitter polishes till my mini bottle was about 1/2 full.  I added suspension base, and then the loose glitters.  I think I'll call it "Bed Rock" ;-).  The original "Granite" looks like it has a lot more small black glitters, and it also has white hexes in it, but I decided not to add them.    I'm actually still debating that decision...

SWATCH TIME! (click on the pics to en-biggen)

Sorry the writing's so small.  From right (pinky) to left (pointer):  2 coats of "Bed Rock" alone. 3 coats of BR alone. 2 coats of BR over Sinful Colors "Snow Me White". 2 coats of BR over China Glaze "Recycle".

Sooooo, I think I like the 3 coats alone the best, followed closely by the white undies.  The opacity came out perfectly on this, so that it's sheer enough to see the glitters in the bottom layers, and it builds up to full coverage.  Although I'm quite happy with my franken, I think I'm going to tweak it a bit to look more like the original.  Well, at least I don't feel so bad about missing out on the real "Granite" ;-).  What do you think?

Holographic Happiness!

With all the buzz about the new holographic collections set to come out from Color Club & China Glaze, it made me want to play with the holo's that I already have.  

This is Hits-No Olimpo "Hera" & "Hefestos".  In the sun, baby!!

So, Jilltastic Nail Design does a weekly challenge on her FB page, and this week was Leopard Print.  She also does a weekly "Try It On Tuesday", where you showcase your "un-trieds".  I wasn't able to do the TIOT this week, so I figured I could at least do the weekly challenge:

 In the sun:

I used my holo polishes Darling Diva Polish "Divalicious" for the pink spots, and Pretty & Polished's "Black Swan" for the outlines.

Gawgeous, right?  I <3 Holo's :-)

Sinful Colors "Amethyst" Franken-ized!!

Today was the first day of the Walgreens $.99 Sinful Colors sale!  Now, I really like Sinful Colors polishes!  They have amazing colors, are 4-free, have a nice formula, are great in water-marbling, and are regularly $1.99, so they won't break the bank, and I don't feel so guilty marbling with them!  There have been a few new "collections" that have come out recently, and today I raided them! :-)

My absolute faves were "Amethyst" (purple creme), "Rain Storm" (medium blue creme) and "Lavender" (periwinkle creme).  I got 2 of the first two, and only 1 of the Lavender, but I will fix that oversight tomorrow, as it is sooo similar to my favorite China Glaze shade: "Secret Peri-wink-le"  

I've been wanting to try a jelly-like franken with glitter in it, and I was inspired by THIS POST by the one and only I'm Feeling Nailventurous.  So I figured I'd use "Amethyst" as my base, I picked out a few other polishes in my stash, and away I went.

I added a little Amethyst, and then kept adding the glitter polishes till my mini bottle was almost full.  Then I added more glitter hearts, and a pinch of small pink & purple glitters.

I painted a base of Amethyst and an accent nail of Sinful "Outrages".  This is 2 coats of each with no top coat.  The polish went on so smoothly, and is completely opaque with 2 easy coats.  Not bad for $.99!  On the thumb, I layered 2 coats of my franken.  When I layered the franken over the ring finger, it totally hid the pink.  So I tried the franken all by itself.  This is 3 coats on the ring finger:

Nice coverage, but I prefer it with "underwear" like on the thumb.  So I re-did it:

The flash makes it look more blue than it really is:

So I really like how this polish turned out!  I think I should have used less "Amethyst" so that the polish would be more sheer.  I really like the look of how the glitters are kind of emerging out of the polish.  Anyway, if this franken had a name, it would be "Elusive Hearts", because I had to fish around forever to get hearts on the brush.  And there are like a zillion of them in there...I know, because I put them in because they're my favorite part!

So get yourself to Walgreens this week, and try some frankening out for yourself!

Fimo Flowers!

So after the glittery goodness that was Koi Pond, I was wanting a non-glitter mani next (i.e. I didn't want to go through the ordeal of removing glitter polish).  So I rummaged around my nail art box to see what I had not yet tried.

A while ago, I had found an awesome deal on fimo canes, so I had those sitting in there, and I had picked up a razor blade at the Dollar Tree around the same time, so I was set to go.  So I picked out some flower canes, and got some polish to match.

I did a water marble, sliced the canes, and stuck them on my nails with nail glue.

I think they came out pretty cute!  

They even matched the golf shirt I wore that day.  

Note to self:  fimo cane flower petals chip off whilst playing golf :-(

Try it on Tuesday: Rainbow Honey "Koi Pond"

I recently got 4 Rainbow Honeys!  Yes, they are on the pricey side for me, but I just couldn't resist, especially with all the beautiful swatches popping up in blogland lately.  So I figured it would be perfect to try out one of my Rainbow Honey for Jilltastic Nail Design's "Try It On Tuesday", where you do a mani with a polish from your stash which you have not yet tried.  

Click to see what other bloggers are trying on! :-)

"Koi Pond" is the polish that first made me take notice of Rainbow Honey, so I figured it should go first.  I love koi ponds, they're so relaxing, so a polish that looks so much like one is an awesome idea!

I picked a nice dark blue for "undies": NYC Nail Glossies #243B.

Sorry, I got excited and had started my glitter on my pinky before I realized I should take step-by-step pics ;-)

Koi Pond is PACKED with glitter!  By packed, I mean like absolutely full!  

So, these nails are each ONLY ONE (1) brush-ful of "Koi Pond".  These are in the sun:

And this one's inside.  Still super-blingy!

ONE brush-ful.  The glitter was obviously thick, so I topped it with Gelous and then a generous coat of Seche Vite.  They are smooth, but still could have used another coat of Gelous for that glass-like finish.

Is that gorgeous, or what??  I mean, it is totally a koi pond!  I love it!

And what's a koi pond without some lily pads?

No flash:

  

These are free-handed, but I was actually wanting to do a stamp of lily pads.  Problem is that of the FOUR sets of stamping plates I own, not a single plate has lily pads :-(

I LOVE "Koi Pond", and I can't wait to try my other Rainbow Honeys.  The polishes are packaged in beautiful little boxes, and the brochure I received with my last order is so professional.  You can order polishes from her Equestria Collection at her new website HERE (click "Shop").  "Koi Pond" is from her previous "Sakura Matsuri" collection, which looks like will be available later this summer.  I've got my eye on "Hanami" ;-)  

Water Marbling for Toes?

I was browsing around blog land, when I stumbled upon More Nail Polish!  OMG, she is so talented!  And super-creative/resourceful to boot.  Want thinking outside the box?  Look no further!  I mean, she figured out how to make her own cool magnets for magnetic polish!  Go check her out!  

And then, I saw THIS POST about "Dry Water Marbling"!  She reports that she is no good at water marbling, so she makes her marble design in the water, and then lifts it out of the water on a piece of Ziploc bag.  Once she does this, she is free to cut out the best pieces of the design, and apply them to her nails at will...no wasting tons of polish with each finger-dipping!  

Now, I'm no slouch at the whole water-marbling-the-old-fashioned-way, and I have gotten the whole process down pretty well, so it's really not a big deal to do it.  But I immediately saw the possibility of using this "Dry Water Marbling" for my toes!!  So exciting.

So, the first step is to make your water marble, then place a piece of Ziploc on top of it.  Then you can lift the whole she-bang out and set it down to dry.

I found that the stupid things wanted to curl onto themselves upon lifting out of the water, so be fore-warned.  That's why my lower purple-y one is all smudged in a bunch of places.  But when they dry, they behave nicely.

OK, so once they dry, the next step is to paint your nail with a base color.  Then, you are to cut out your design and apply polish-side down onto your base coat when it is "tacky", but not dry.  Press it down firmly. Okee-dokee!

At this point, you grab a corner firmly, then quickly rip off the plastic, like waxing your eyebrows.  I've definitely had practice doing that, so no problem...

Ahem.  Tacky base?  Check.  Firmly-pressed plastic?  Check.  Quick rip?  Check.  OK, let's try again...

Better, but still no cigar.  And now my other toes were dry at this point.  I applied a second base coat, waited about 5 minutes for it to dry, then tried applying my water marble again.

I am so bummed! :-(  I had such high hopes for this technique.  I think I'll try transferring the design to wax paper next time instead of the Ziploc...I dunno.  What do you think?  

China Glaze "On Safari" French Manicure

I LOVE fall!  It's my absolute favorite time of the year!  This up-coming September will be my first autumn since becoming polish-addicted, so I'm super-excited to see Fall polish collections!  As soon as I started seeing swatches of China Glaze "On Safari", I knew I had to have them...the earthy colors, that is:

 L-R: Exotic Encounters, Elephant Walk, I'm Not Lion, Kalahari Kiss, Desert Sun, I Herd That, Call of the Wild

I LOVE THEM!  I passed on getting the reds & purples in the collection, but these are just so different than anything I already have.  And I think they all go so well together!

So, one of the super-awesome blogs I follow, Colores De Carol, had a mind-blowing giraffe manicure using 3 of the "On Safari Colors".  See it HERE.  Fantastic, right?  She also did a leopard-spot french, but I can't find it again! :-(

So, I decided to combine the leopard & giraffe, and busted out my Kalahari Kiss and Desert Sun.  I decided to go with CG Mahogany Magic instead of Call of the Wild, as it seemed lighter to me, and I used Liquid Leather for my dots:

With Flash:

I am very happy with this one!!  And the colors are wonderful!  YAY!!

I should probably take pics showing the layering process, huh?  It's just that I get so excited to see what the final product will end up looking like, that I don't want to stop to pose for pics!  I'll think about it for next time...  

Deborah Lippmann "Dancing in the Sheets" Stamped!

When I started following polish pages, I kept hearing about this Deborah Lippmann who made polishes for celebs.  Sounded interesting, but when I saw the $18 price tag, my interest waned pretty quickly.

Until I found out that HSN (yes, Home Shopping Network) carries Deborah Lippmann polishes.  And sometimes, they go on clearance for $10 for a 2-pack of full-sized polishes!!  $5 for a well-touted polish??  Oh, yeah!!

So I've been collecting them, but I haven't tried them out yet!!  So I busted out a lovely dark purple with blu-ish shimmer called "Dancing In the Sheets".  It was lovely enough, but I also wanted to try out my new Bundle Monster 2012 plates.  So I grabbed Pure Ice "Love", BM Plate #318, and here's what I got:

 No flash:

At the beach in the sun:

So the DL was nice after 2 coats, but some nails needed 3 for full opacity.  The shimmer was present, but not as pronounced on the nail as in the bottle.  

I loved my BM stamp, but I need more practice to get the placing the same for every nail.  Whatever, I still love me some hibiscus!  :-)

Overall, I don't think this was the best combo.  The light pink really didn't go with the dark polish.  And the all-over design covered up the pretty shimmer of the DL.  But you live & learn, right?