A Transformation...

Last week I showed you a sheer little El Corazon Poly-Chrome beauty. As a rule of thumb I like to try the sheer shimmery shades over a black base and this was no exception. The beautiful brassy color that resulted did not disappoint. Accented with a bit of stamping, it was transformed from a delicate beauty last week to something much more bold today...

Shown here are two thin coats of El Corazon Poly-Chrome 322 layered over Sinful Colors Black on Black. The first coat was a bit streaky, but it evened out by the second coat...

I stamped with Black on Black using MoYou Pro Collection 06 stamping plate. This is such a gorgeous pattern that for me lies somewhere between stained glass and animal print depending on how I look at it. It also reminds me a bit of that stone man from comic books/movies. I've only seen pictures so I don't know what he is called. Anyone know what I'm talking about?..

The manicure was missing something and I debated adding black tips vs a black raffian. As you can see I went the raffian route and I love it. It just gave the manicure a more finished look while giving it a bit of pop and definition...

This is definitely one of those manicures that I don't want to take off...

Let me know what you think of this manicure!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Incoco Fright Night...

Today I would like to show you another beautiful set of nail polish appliques from Incoco. These nail wraps named Fright Night are namesake for the Incoco Fright Night Halloween collection this year. These are perfect for some quick nail art to get you in the holiday mood...

The set come with 16 double ended polish strips to fit different nail sizes. They come in an airtight package and should be used shortly after opening or they will start to dry out. If you have shorter nails, they can be cut in half allowing you to save some for a second manicure. Since they do dry out, seal them either with a vacuum food packager or in the original package using the included piece of silver tape...

These nail polish strips are easy to work with and apply. They stretch well to fit curvy nails. For application directions please take a look at either my previous Incoco reviews or the Incoco website. These nail appliques are packed full of sparkly glitter for a little bit of fun Halloween bling...

I decided to have a little bit of fun with these strips because I wasn't quite ready to part with the adorable Spooktacular ghosts from yesterday. From my leftover strips I cut out a few little ghosts and added them to today's manicure. They are not the easiest to cut out since they are tiny, but it was worth it...

And these little ghosts keep me company at night! I had a blast wiggling my fingers in the dark and making these cuties "fly"...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

The Graveyard After All This Time...

Today I would like to show you a fun Halloween themed manicure. I got this beautiful gray polish for review along with the 365 Days of Color Horcrux collection last month. I set it aside at the time because it was not part of the collection and it somehow managed to hide from me until now. I'm so glad that I finally saw this little one hiding among all the big polish bottles which clutter my table. It is appropriately named 'After All This Time?' as though to mock me in the fact that I took so long to play with it. It is absolutely perfect for a spooky graveyard manicure that even glows in the dark...

To create this manicure I used a base of 365 Days of Color After All This Time?. Swatches of this beauty are further down in this post. I stamped various images from Bundle Monster plates BM-413 and BM-H08 and Winstonia plate W116. For stamping I used Essence Stamp Me! Black stampy polish....

How fun is that skeleton peeking out from behind the gravestone?

Oh and did I mention that it GLOWS in the dark? That's right, it doesn't just glow in the dark! It GLOWS in the dark!...

After All This Time? is a dove gray jelly loaded with silver and holo glitter. There is definitely a lot more holo glitter than what my camera could capture. This beauty sparkles. It is fairly sheer and took four coats to build up to good coverage. I think next time I will try it over gray undies, but for my first swatches I wanted to show the color by itself. The formula is very nice, no streaking and great glitter distribution. Swatches are with a top coat...

Just look at this glow! It is the brightest glow in the dark polish that I have ever tried! Unlike others I've tried, this one is also most certainly not camera shy!

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: 12 Months of Color, October Color Name/Number: After All This Time? Number of coats: 4 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

What do you think of this polish? I'm most certainly in love with it. I love gray polish to begin with, but throw in some holo glitter and I start to swoon... make it glow in the dark and I fall head over heals in love!

Find out more about 365 Days of Color...
Shop | Facebook | Blog

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

31DC2013 Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

It has been nearly a month since I created my last manicure for the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I think it is about time I picked it back up and tried to finish it. Today I would like to show you my manicure for Day 23 of the challenge, inspired by a movie. Since it is so close to Halloween, I couldn't help but try my hand at the always popular The Nightmare Before Christmas manicure...

Besides a black base of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, the rest of the manicure is done using acrylic paints. I find it much easier to work with paint for any detail work. I cut one of my brushes down to just a few hairs for some of the really fine lines. I'm quite proud of how this turned out...

Here is the movie poster that I used for inspiration. It looked a lot more blue on my tablet which is why I went with more of a blue tone for my manicure...

What do you think of this manicure?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping Over Black Base

I've been in a bit of a nail art funk lately after burning out halfway through the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I'm still determined to finish it, but for today I decided to take part in a different challenge. It has been way too long since I participated in Sunday Stamping with the group Adventures in Stamping. Somehow these challenges always get my creative juices flowing and today's theme of stamping over black turned to this...

For this manicure I started out with a base of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme...

I then added three coats of Essence Fly Firefly Fly glow in the dark top coat. It does alter the base color a bit which is why it looks gray rather than black...

I stamped the spiderweb from Bundle Monster plate BM-H07 using Color Club Cherubic, a peachy holographic beauty. The spiders were stamped using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and Bundle Monster plate BM13. Each spider accented with a red rhinestone...

And now for the glow in the dark shot. Is it OK to admit that it actually creeps me out in the dark? The spiders look too real for comfort... *shudder*. I'm debating entering these in the Bundle Monster nail art contest....

A few photos of Essence Fly Firefly Fly before all the stamping. This is three coats over black. I originally tried just two coats as suggested on the bottle, but it didn't glow quite bright enough. It glows really brightly in the bottle (see photo above), but this doesn't quite translate onto the nail. The effect seems to fade rather quickly after the lights are out. Swatches are with no top coat...

Over black, you can see the little fluorescent particles. More coats equals more particles, less visible base and brighter glow...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Essence Color Name/Number: 18 Fly Firefly Fly Number of coats: 3 (layered over black) Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I'd love to know what you think of this manicure!

P.S. Sorry if I freaked any of you out with spiders :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

31DC2013 Day 20 - Water Marble

Today I would like to show you my water marble manicure for Day 20 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I watched and re-watched a bunch of videos by My Simple Little Pleasures in preparation for this since marbling is not my forte. I love all her marbles with Color Club Halo Hues so I decided to try it for myself. Countless hours and wasted polish later, I would like to present you with my manicure...

For this water marble I used Color Club Beyond (black) and Over the Moon (blue) over a white base. This is my first almost successful flower pattern water marble. I say almost successful because I'm not entirely pleased with the way the middle finger turned out, but I got a massive migraine while working on this due to the polish fumes (did I choose the perfect hobby for myself or what?) and had to call it quits. In any case, I wish the flower was more stretched out to match the rest of the nails...

I'm so in love with the Halo Hues... now if I could just convince the folks at Color Club to keep making more colors...

My favorite marble is on the pinkie...

I'd love to know what you think of this!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

31DC2013 Day 19 - Galaxies

I have fallen far behind in the 31 Day Nail Challenge and I'm not sure I can catch up, but I will try. Today I have my galaxy manicure for Day 19 to share with you. I looked at many images of galaxies for inspiration and was set to try and replicate one of them, but once I started actually applying the polish all that was thrown out the window and I just went with it...

For this manicure I used a base of Zoya Storm. I then starred at it for a while since it is just so gorgeous and truly a galaxy in itself. I really shouldn't have used such a beautiful base since none of it is left visible. Every time I tell myself that I will start out with just a cream black, I reach for the pretty blacks instead. I sponged a bunch of Zoya polishes (Megan, Julie, Yara, Noot and Noel) to create the galaxy. I then sponged on a holographic top coat to give it some shimmer and followed all that with white splatter stars using acrylic paint.

I have not been happy with the last few galaxy manicures that I have made. In fact I made a different one for this challenge and disliked it so much that I took it off without even taking a single photo of it. I'm really pleased with the way this one finally turned out especially since I was starting to think my galaxy manis are cursed...

The beautiful base was Zoya Storm which is a black jelly with holographic glass fleck particles. These photos don't capture it's true beauty since all the holographic flecks look white here, but are very colorful in real live. It applies very easily and provides good coverage at two coats although I did use three for these swatches. This is definitely one of my favorite blacks in my collection!

Swatch Details
	Brand: Zoya Collection: Ornate, Holiday 2012 Color Name/Number: Storm, ZP645 Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: No Big5Free - Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Camphor

I would love to know what you think of this manicure!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **