Olympic Nails Attempt #2

First I want to say thank you for all the comments to yesterday's Olympic manicure which I considered a fail. I just couldn't leave it alone and decided to redo the podium nails that bugged me. I chose this time to go with very simple medals over the same purple background...

Background for these is SpaRitual Star Gazer stamped with Nicole by OPI Iris My Case and Bundle Monster plate BM-316. Each of the nails was then stamped with a ribbon pattern from BM-321 and the medal portion added in a matching color...

Index (silver): Pure Ice Silver Mercedes
Middle (gold): Cosmetic Arts gold foil (no name)
Ring (bronze): Maybelline Summer N Spice

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I'm much happier with attempt number two which doesn't feature the uneven platforms and the mystery number 213 :)

Do you think I improved it or should have just left it alone?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping: Gold, Silver & Bronze

It is official, some manicure should just stay in my head and never be translated onto nail. I think this is one of them. This week the in the group Adventures in Stamping the challenge was to create a mani with gold, silver or bronze. Naturally my mind went straight to the Olympics and dreaming up this mess, which I swear looked much better in my head...

Don't get me wrong, I do like some aspects of this manicure including the purple stamped background to match the ribbons of the medals and the Olympic rings on my pinkie finger. I just don't like the complete look. I think what bugs me the most are the uneven nail tips. Ugh! They didn't translate so well onto the nail, but I really did intend for them to be uneven to match the podium height variation. Somehow they look more like football nails to me than ones worthy of the Olympics...

Just in case you want to know, I started out with a base of Sparitual Star Gazer and stamped over it with Nicole by OPI Iris My Case, a pretty duochrome which I will show soon. The stamping pattern is one of random lines from the Bundle Monster plate BM-316. Then I stamped the numbers using Shany plate SH07 and Cosmetic Arts unnamed gold (1), Pure Ice Silver Mercedes (2), and Sparitual Running with Wolves (3). The tips were added by taping off the nails and using colors to match each number...

The background of the nail was inspired by the ribbon of the gold medal... I might have to recreate the pattern again at some point...

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SpaRitual Star Gazer is a beautiful deep purple with a silvery glitter. Formula on this was nice, but allow extra time between coats to prevent dragging. I didn't notice the bald spot on my middle finger nail until I was taking photos. Two coats for full opacity. The glitter dries a bit gritty so I would suggest a nice coat or two of top coat to even it out. I have lots of purples in my collection, but this one is made unique but the glitter. The glitter is barely noticeable on the nail though, unless you are a weirdo like me who likes studying polish contents...

Swatch Details
	Brand: SpaRitual Collection: main line Color Name/Number: Star Gazer Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) + 100% Vegan

Ok, be honest! I'd love to know what you think of my Olympic mani attempt...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Happy Year of the Dragon!

My bf's mom made this adorable little dragon that she gave us to welcome the Year of the Dragon. It is the cutest little thing and I instantly wanted to match a manicure it. Sadly, my computer decided to be stubborn and I couldn't get this posted yesterday for the 1st day of the year. My bf spent the day reinstalling the whole system and all the programs, but now I'm back to show you this cute little guy...

For the manicure I used Sinful Colors Unicorn which was just a touch darker than the little guy, but the closet color I have. Then, I and added a little ruffle design to the side of the nail using Sparitual Delight, to match the dragon's ruffle "spine". It is such a sweet color combination. Makes me think of spring :)

Just a few shots of Sinful Colors Unicorn on it's own. I've swatched it before, but let's just say I shudder when I look at those photos... so I a fresh set of swatches was in order. Unicorn is a pastel yellow cream. It is one of the only yellows that I can really wear. It took three coats to even out the color and get full coverage. The only problem with this polish is that it stains the nails yellow, but I learned that lesson last time so I had a nice base coat underneath and it seemed to help. This is three coats with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Main Line Color Name/Number: Unicorn, 953 Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

And for a bonus photo, here is the little one with his matching polishes....

Thanks for looking and Happy Year of the Dragon!
Anutka :)

2 Month Haul...

I have had a really bad migraine for the past two mornings and just the thought of the smell of nail polish is making me queasy, so instead of doing my nails this morning I thought I would show you the reason why I should not be allowed anywhere near Ross or nail polish for that matter with a credit card...

In addition to the 50 polishes from the Wet n Wild haul, over just two short months, I got...

Cosmetic ARTS polishes. These are from the Forsythe Cosmetic Group, the same brand that makes Color Club. Unfortunately none of them have names, but most are from the Fall & Winter Collections that you can get more info on here.

Color Cub Back to Boho sets 1 & 2 and Foiled

LA Colors - Modern Metallics

Prisma - Fresh & Fabulous and Pastel... has anyone heard of this brand before? They look identical to LA Colors in packaging and bottle shape...

Elf sets -
Top set (l-r): Twinkle, Golden Goddess, Cranberry
Bottom (l-r): Mod Mauve, Sunset, Plum

That's it from Ross for now... they had lots of other LA Color and Prisma sets, but believe it or not I had to stop somewhere...

At Ulta I got...
Ulta Salon Formula (I just love the new bottle shape)
Top (l-r): Ruby Slipper, Army of 1, Chic Peek, Wild Night, Femme Fatale
Bottom (l-r): Chocolate Kiss, Devious, High Roller, Love my Blackberry, Smoke Screen

Essence Colour & Go (l-r): Irreplaceable, Choose Me!, Walk of Fame, Movie Star, Where is the Party?, Date with the Night

From Apothica, I got..
Sparitual minis:
Top (l-r): Epicurean, I Feel the Earth Move, Howl, Delight, Sacred Ground, Running with Wolves
Bottom (l-r): Spellbound, Emerald City, Idyllic, Smoke 'n Mirrors, Surreal 

Drugstore finds...
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear (l-r)- Plum Power, Red Carpet, Lacey Lilac, Flirt, Midnight Sky, Deep Purple, Grey Area

Sinful Colors (clockwise starting from the polish with "http://" on the cap :D)
Tokyo Pearl, Envy, Gogo Girl, HipHip, What's Your Name, Out of This World, Rise and Shine, Nirvana, This is It, Seaweed, Rich in Heart, Under 18, Easy Going, Daddys Girl, Amethyst, Hot Spot, Mercury Rising, Mint Apple

Wet n Wild Fast Dry -
Top (l-r): Gray's Anatomy, Buffy the Violet Slayer, Blue Wants To Be A Millionaire, Silvivor, Hannah Pinktana, FuchsiaRama
Middle (l-r): Teal of Fortune, Everybody Loves Redmond, The Gold & the Beautiful, SaGreena the Teenage Witch, 9.0.2.1.Orange
Bottom (l-r): How I Met Your Magenta, Cougar Attack, Behind Closed Doors, Buy Me a Drink, Ready to Pounce, Jungle Fever

Other (l-r): Wet n Wild Diving for Pearls, Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, Rimmel Rags to Riches, Oke.doke in Camo Loco, Goldilocks, and Pink This

Well that should last me a life time...

I'm putting myself on a self imposed no more hauling until I swatch at least half of my untrieds... although even as I type this I have a feeling it won't stick... :(

My mission after I finish the 31 day challenge, is to swatch like crazy!
If you would like to see any of these sooner rather than later, please let me know, because I have no idea where to even start!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)