Pink Ombré

Hey! Today's challenge is ombre nails, and since I've done a purple one before I decided to look for another color in my collection that I have a lot of. Which is surprisingly pink! I forgot how much I love wearing pink on my nails. After purple and blue of course.

This starts the old ombre vs gradient nails argument. Honestly they mean the same thing. Ombre is fading from dark to light or vice versa. And with a gradient you can do the same thing. In the nail world I firmly stand by the belief that ombre nails are light to dark (or vice versa) with a different color on each nail. A gradient is using two or more colors fading into each other on one nail. Get it? Good!

Light to dark:

Thumb: O.P.I - I Theodora You

Index: China Glaze - Something Sweet

Middle: China Glaze- Pinkie Promise

Ring: Barry M: Dragonfruit

Pinky: China Glaze - Sugar High

It's almost a skittle mani with the colors I chose because I don't have ones that fade smoother into each other. But I love it anyways and I hope you do too ;)

Sparkling Garbage!

On my finger nails in this post is the most amazing polish to come into my collection. ORLY - Sparkling Garbage! From the ORLY Summer 2013 Mash Up collection. Funny name for something so pretty right? Seriously. Pictures do not do this justice. It is seriously a holo BOMB. Too bad I got this so close to summer ending! This polish begs to be worn on the sunniest days. 

Put your blinders on and scroll down!

A little out of focus for maximum holo appreciation.

It even looks amazing in low light and when the sun is going down. Ughh can I wear this forever?

Note: This polish is really sheer. It's buildable in about three/four coats, but since the base is greenish blue glitters, these photos above are two generous coats of Sparkling Garbage over OPI - Thanks A Windmillion. I love it. Can you tell?! Yeah. You need this in your life. And I fortunately got it on sale at San Jose Beauty Supply for $5. SCORE.

Slanted Leopard

So I am participating in nail art August! Monthly challenges put together by Instagram user Jasmine at Californails. I love that she calls them the "I Have A Life Challenge" because they're spaced out every few days so it's easier to keep up with as opposed to other daily nail challenges. 

 Today's challenge was animal print. And since I have never posted a leopard manicure on my Instagram or on my blog I thought, "Why not!" I wanted to switch it up and do it slanted down my nail instead of an all over print. And I of course had to use a purple scheme.

For the spots I used China Glaze - Tart-y For the Party and O.P.I - Talk About An Upgrade and a black polish for the outlines.

 How beautiful is My Vampire Is Buff?! I'm not quite sure how well it goes with my skin tone.. but I am in love with it regardless. And it is so so perfect to put nail art on top of.

TRON Nails

So a while ago I was trying to think of something to do for my nails. And my friend said "TRON NAILS!" 

It's definitely not something that is 100% original but I actually haven't seen it out there that much so I thought I'd take a crack at it!

I love the way it came out! Using pictures of computer circuit boards, I kinda just went to town with some striping tape.

My base is three thin coats of Polish Me to Go - Oh Cool Blue and the black on top is Wet n Wild -Black Creme

I think what sets mine apart from other TRON nail art (and you may have already guessed it if you know the brand PMTG) is... THE GLOW FACTOR!

 I feel like it's a huge sin to put this crap picture on my blog but.. glow polishes are so so hard to capture! Please forgive me for this! But trust me when I say this polish is amazing! The glow is an AWESOME light but bright blue and stays "charged" for a long time! This is about 30 seconds under a lamp! It's what made me pick the color for this design because it matches the TRON logo pretty well.

I definitely need more of these polishes! Plain or in a design they can add so much spice to your manicure! Now if I just got invited to a party.. I'm sure I'd be the life of it with these nails.

Do you like Tron? Are you obsessed with these nails like I am?

Polished By KPT Thermal

Today I have another lovely thermal from the indie brand Polished By KPT! One that I have had my eye on for a whileeeee, and one day I was stalking my clock and waiting for her restock. Right when 7PM hit BOOM. That thing was in my cart and coming home to me! Hot Like Wasabi!

What drew me is its interesting name/color. Ever seen wasabi? The thermal in warm state looks pretty much exactly like it. So cool! (Even though I hate wasabi....whatttt?!)

Swatches below are three thin coats with one layer of NYC top coat over it. I supposed the color would be lighter layered over white if you wish to take that direction

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Cold state is a lovely medium pea green. I apologize for my super wet hands. My hands are always really warm! 

And here's a photo in the warm state, which is a lighter shade of pea green. 

And transitioning!

Love love love these polishes, and even though it took three coats they dry very quick and don't feel thick on the nail at all. The formula is thin, but a good workable and buildable thin. These Indie makers will be the death of me I swear! Crazy how a majority of the time they are better than corporate brands!

Look at this picture I found on Google images, if you've never seen wasabi! As you can see the polish really does match! I just find that so darn cool.

Saturday Swatch Spam! Pt. 2

More shades from Pretty and Polished :) here is the blogger collection! Chels collaborated with some really cool bloggers to create a handful of very unique shades that I was very luck to get my hands on through a giveaway. All swatches are three thin coats with Glossy Glam top coat (which I am loving btw. Doing a test post on that top coat soon!) 

Onward! 

I'll start with my favorite. Queen You Dig It? Inspired by blogger Shirpa, owner of Taneja's Bride. Even before I checked out her blog this color scheme shouted Bollywood to me (I am slightly obsessed with Indian culture) and I was right! This off white cream polish has beautiful blue and gold hex glitters and small round maroon glitters. Perfection.

Next is Adventures in Polish Making inspired by the blogger Amy at I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous.

Something about rainy greys draw me in and this is no disappointment. Suspended in this grey base are small blue and purple glitter that give the medium gray a pop. A quiet statement polish for sure.

 This is New York City Lights from blogger Carly at Lacquered Lover. This light purple flakie can be worn on it's own and it shines blue, pink, and I'm even picking up green in certain lights. It infuriated me to photograph though. Could not capture the real beauty!

 Here it is layered over O.P.I I Saw...You Saw...We Saw...Warsaw and the purple and blue flashes of the flakie are a little more apparent layered over a dark polish. Especially on my index and middle finger.

Crystal from Crystal's Crazy Combos created Crazy Circles. I wanted to love this polish sooo much! Circle glitters make me so happy! But I feel like the formula should have been a little thicker so the large round glitters wouldn't just slip off the brush. Even after storing it upside down I couldn't really get them on the brush to manuver them around. I still actually really love it and maybe I will apply it with a more careful hand next time. :)

It's a slightly grey tinted white base with a little bit of holo sparkle in it.

 And Me, Myself, and Cacti made by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails! I love this neon green jelly. It has black and white matte glitter in hex and round shapes. Looks exactly like a cactus! It also reminds me of a kiwi, which makes me want to do some fruit nails... I did three coats here but maybe because of my super visible VNL I will opt for four coats or layering.

All these polishes are so unique! In general and in my collection. I really love Queen You Dig It? and Adventures In Polish Making. 

Thanks for reading part two of Saturday spam and I hope ya liked it ;)

Saturday Swatch Spam! Pt. 1

Hi! Today is the first time I've really sit down and swatched. I haven't shown my picks from Pretty and Polished Adventure Time themed line! Some are from the Algrebraic collection and some from the Mathematical. I was fortunate enough to grab this while they were still up and it looks like she has discontinued them! :( Hopefully Chels brings them back!

Onward to the swatches. All are three thin coats with one coat of Glossy Glam topcoat because I wanted to show you guys a polish, non gritty surface a lot of these glitters can leave!

I'm Not A Banana based of of Jake the Dog. Really nice syrup/jelly type polish. I love glitter jellies.

I still have VNL at three coats so those who are turned off by that may want to layer it over another yellow. I don't mind!

Peebles based off of the Bubblegum Princess. A pretty light magenta/pink base that has orange and pink glitters suspended in them. 

The Young Hero based off of Finn the Human! Cool huh? A sheer white polish with satin like green hex glitters, a long with smaller blue hexes, blue squares, and tiny bright yellow sprinkled throughout.

7 Year Lich based off the character of The Lich. One of my favorites. I've shown it layered over China Glaze Pelican Gray and I love it! It is a flakie polish that reflects dark purple blue and shades of green. So unique. Had to do a little fishing for the black hex and diamond glitters but nothing too serious.

King of C-C-Cool based off of the Ice King. Ok. Definitely my favorite. How spot on is this polish to the character? It's a light blue jelly base white yellow hex glitters, medium and small blue hexes, mini red round glitter throughout... AND DIAMOND GLITTER! That wins it all in my book. You have to do a little fishing for the diamonds but nothing a good shake/roll/storing upside down can't fix!

Ah if I had to pick a favorite I'd pick King of C-C-Cool and 7 Year Lich. But they're also beautiful and spot on to the television show! If I wasn't already a fan, I would be after this. Hope you guys enjoyed the mini spam :) thanks for reading!