10 Day Challenge - Day 9

I'm joining a new challenge group and I wanted to finish up the 10 Day challenge while working on the other challenges as well. I have several favorite color combinations but I decided to go with pink, purple and blue.

The colors I choose were: Color Club Sweetpea, Hydrangea Kiss and Sally Hansen Bewitched. The stickers are from Ebay. For stamping I used my new DRK-A image plate. I purchased my image plate from the lovely Rhonni in the Adventures in Stamping group on Facebook.

You may have noticed my new nubbins. I broke two nails and the nail wraps were high maintenance so I decided to start over. I feel awkward but I'm getting used to them.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy polishing!

Nabi Magnetics Swatch and Review

The other day I was checking out SoGuessWhat's review on an image plate, and ran across her video for Nabi magnetics. I've never seen them in my area but I was intrigued due to all of the positive reviews. After watching her video I quickly ordered 3 from Ebay. Apparently the Nabi's come in a plethora of colors but I narrowed it down to Navy, Wine and Lilac.

Today I'm showing Wine. I'm not a huge fan of red but Wine is beautiful! I like that the polish doesn't have a magnetic/foil finish but it appears to be more of a creme with black lines. It's pretty fancy but not flashy. I used 2 coats to apply. This polish doesn't seem to like thicker coats, they tend to blur the design.

A negative is that the polish stained my topcoat. It may be avoidable with a thicker topcoat. I used Wet N' Wild clear which is extremely thin, followed by a layer of Poshe. Then I added stickers from Viva La Nails.

As you can see the magnet didn't cover my nails completely. I have very curved nails, so I think this is pretty decent coverage.

Overall I'm happy with my new Nabi's. It applied similarly to other magnetics with the exception of needing a regular coat instead of a thicker coat. My recommendations are to use a cheapy topcoat because it will probably stain and a good basecoat. I also noticed my bottle is about 10% gone now, so you may want to consider that if you find a color you love.

Nabi Magnetics have been popping up sporadically at Walgreens and retails for $4.99-$5.99. I purchased 3 from Ebay for about $12.50 with free shipping.

Layla Hologram Mercury Twilight

Good morning Nail Divas! Today I have the lovely Layla Hologram to share with you. The name of it is Mercury Twilight and it's an AMAZING silver holographic polish. I missed out on China Glaze OMG so I couldn't let this one slip through my fingers. I do have GOSH Holographic and I must say that this one right here is some stiff competition!

In Layla's promotional video they used a buffer to buff the nails before applying. I would assume so that the polish would grip tightly to the nail. I honestly can't say if it would be beneficial or not. I didn't' use a basecoat or a buffer, but I've heard that other holo bases have worked successfully. The polish was slightly lumpy out of the bottle, but it applied smoothly in 3 thin coats.

Guess what? As part of my Anniversary I'm giving away Mercury Twilight with some other great Layla polishes! How cool is that? Enter my Nail Art Contest for a chance to win this awesome Layla!

The Layla Holograms can be purchased at Aveyou.com or Laylacosmetics.it. Aveyou only has 3 colors currently but they plan to get the rest sometime in March. They currently have Ultra Violet (light purple) and Retro Pink (light pink). The holographic lover in me couldn't let these pass. I'm really looking forward to the charcoal black as well. If you can't wait, you can purchase them now at Laylacosmetics.it but shipping is a beast to the US, approximately 30 euros or 15 euros with a purchase over 80 euros I believe. The Layla Holograms retail for $15.50 per bottle.

Reverse Gradient Nails

I love new nail trends and when I saw this mani for the second time I knew I had to try it out. I first saw the design on a lovely nailboader and then again last night on the T.I & Tiny show. Tiny sported a dark pink mani with a white glitter gradient which was absolutely gorgeous.

I wanted to turn things up a notch so I tried it out over a darker base. The polishes I used were Nubar White Polka Dot and China Glaze Smoke & Ashes.

Excuse the awkward angles of the photos. I had to shoot my right hand because my left hand is under construction right now. Too many nail wraps at the moment :)

These are fun and super easy to do. I love the effect but I'll have to keep practicing to perfect the gradient.

If you know the nailboarder who first performed this design, please let me know so that I can give her credit for her work.

I'm also hosting a Spring Nail Art Contest. I would love to award you with some cool prizes. Click here to enter!



Thanks for stopping by! Have a happy polishing day ;D

Color Club Blossoming Spring 2012 Collection - Swatches and Review

Today I have the Blossoming Collection to share with you. The set consists of 5 cremes inspired by Spring flowers and 1 Diamond Drops top coat.

Blue-Ming. Minty blue creme. This is one is very bright but not at all neon. I used one thin coat followed by a thicker coat. You may need three if you like them thin. Blue-ming dried at a high gloss without a topcoat. Really pretty but I didn't expect it in the collection. I thought it would be more of a powder blue. That doesn't take away from its beauty though. It reminds me of Aquadelic from the Electropop collection but its definitely more minty.

Sweetpea. Soft and feminine rosy purple/pink. I really like the application on this one. It also has a high gloss and reminds me of Splash of Grenadine.

Hydrangea Kiss. Dusty blue-purple creme. It reads more blue on me for some reason but I like it. It reminds of Lapis of Luxury but much prettier. I used 2 coats.

Lavendarling. Dusty purple creme. I used 2 coats here.

Blushing Rose. A lovely soft pink shade. This was the only one from the set that needed three coats but it was worth it.

Diamond Drops. Color Club described this as a silver ice flake polish. They're definitely flakies, but more of a holographic foil-like flake. The flakies reflect different colors when they are hit by light but my favorite effect was in the shade. I may try to matte them to see what happens.

I tried one coat of Diamond Drops over each color.

Spring is my favorite Season, so I always look forward to new collections this time of year. Color Club based their collection on flowers of the Season. To be honest, I'm not a flower expert, so I had to Google what a hydrangea is, then I realized they were flowers my childhood neighbor had in their backyard. I can say that they captured the pinks, purples and blues of the hydrangea, sweetpea and lavender flowers. I'm not sure of the inspiration for Blue-Ming, it seems to be the outlier in the group. Diamonds Drops is a pretty foil-like flakie which I preferred over the lighter colors in the set.

A few of the polishes dry at a high gloss, as if they are a few drops of clear away from being jellies. My favorites from the collection are Hydrangea Kiss and the Blue-Ming and Blushing Rose combinations with Diamond Drops. Since they are cremes, there are likely some duplicates out there. The only one I can think of for now is Sweetpea's similarity to Splash of Grenadine. Overall they have a good formula and applied well. Definitely worth considering if you don't have anything similar or if you love Spring colors.

The Blossoming Collection will be available in February 2012 at shopcolorclub.com. All Color Club products are made in the USA and are not tested in animals.

~Sent for review by PR~

Nail Art Stamping Contest Spring 2012

It's My Blog Anniversary! To celebrate I'll be hosting my first ever Nail Art Stamping Contest. The theme for the contest is "Anything Spring" and your mission is to create a nail design inspired by the spring season.

There will be a total of 5 prizes. Yes 5 prizes! There will be a 1st place winner and 4 randomly drawn winners. This is to encourage those who are new to stamping to participate! I really want to encourage stampers at all levels to join in on the fun =D

You can select which random drawing you would like to enter from the list of 4 prizes below. One winner will be drawn for each random prize. For example, if there are 5 entries for the Holland polishes, you will have a 1 in 5 chance of winning the set! I will use Random.org to select the random winners.

Rules

1. You must submit your entry using the Inlinkz tool (super easy - click button below).
2. You must use some type of nail stamping in your design.
3. The design must be on your own nails. Please show at least 4 nails.
4. The design must be your own, created by you, and not previously published (Facebook, Blog, etc..).
5. Water decals, nail stickers, nail wraps and nail foils are not allowed. Feel free to use any other embellishments you like outside of these items.
6. One entry per person please.
7. This design contest is for my readers so you must subscribe to enter.
8. The 1st prize winner will not be eligible for random drawings. You can only win 1 prize.
9. Open Internationally except Italy, Llarowe does not ship there. Please be aware of shipping restrictions prior to entering. Julep only ships to the US and Canada.
10. The deadline for submission is March 21, 2012 (7pm US Central time). My blog anniversary! This should give you plenty of time to come up with cute Spring ideas.

Judging

1. The designs will be judged by me and a panel of nail stampers and bloggers.
2. The designs will be judged based on theme, creativity and originality.
3. If you do not win 1st place it does not mean we don't love your design. There can only be 1 winner and 1st place goes to the person with the most votes.
4. The judging decision is final.
5. Judging will be for 1st place prize only. All other prize winners will be randomly chosen using random.org, according to which random pool you would like to be added to.

What Can You Win?

First Place Prize
-Layla Hologram Mercury Twilighth (yes the new amazing holo!)
-Layla Magnetic Goldent Nugget
-Layla Magnetic Purple Galaxy
-$25 Llarowe gift certificate (get your Lynnderellas, Ozotics, HITS, etc...)

4 Random Draw Prizes
-Cheeky Image Plates Bundle (26 plates, 160 designs)
-Essie Spring 2012 Collection
-$75 Julep Gift Certificate (online use only, excludes Spa services)
-4 of my favorite OPI Holland Shimmers (DutchYa, Rotterdam, Herring Problem, Pedal Faster)


All of the prizes are new and were purchased by me with the exception of the Llarowe gift certificate which is graciously provided by Inlinkz. Thank you!

How do I enter?

1. You will need to "host" you photo using one of the free sites: Flickr, Picasa, ImageShack, Phot0bucket, etc. They will give you a URL for your photo.

2. Upload your design by clicking the button below, the blue frog that says "add your link". Input the URL from the host and fill out the required fields so that I can contact you if you win. If you have a blog, you can make a post, then use the URL of that post instead. A link back to this contest would be appreciated but not required.

3. Add a message in the comments section on my blog to let me know which random drawing you would like to enter. Please ensure your username matches your picture so that I can enter you in the correct drawing, or clarify which entry belongs to you in the comments. I cannot be responsible for non-matching entries or confusion due to mislabeling.

4. Bam you're done! Feel free to link your picture back to your Blog! More traffic for you ;) Just make sure you link it back to the actual post. If you don't have a blog don't feel discouraged, you can still enter.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I tried to make this as easy as possible! Any questions? Add a comment below and I will try to clarify.

Icing Magnetix Blue Swatches and Review

When I first saw swatches of the Icing Magnetix I knew I had to have the green and blue from the set. Of course when I got there, the shimmering pink was calling my name, so I left the store with all four :D

My current NOTD is the blue magnetix from the collection. As far as I know it does not have a name, or at least my bottle doesn't. It comes with a wavy magnet design and I must say it's smokin' hot! The polish color is a cobalt blue with ice blue highlights created by using the magnet.

There is also a hint of pink shimmer that can be seen in the dark blue of the design. It gives the cobalt blue a slight pink flash under artificial light. I haven't worn this out in the Sun yet but I doubt it would be very obvious. For a topcoat I used 1 layer of Wet N' Wild clear followed by 1 layer of Poshe.

Here's a close up of the wavy magnet. I revealed the design by accident. I actually purchased the magnetixs a few weeks ago but I got frustrated with them and let polish dry on the magnet by mistake. When I removed it with straight acetone it revealed the design. This mistake actually turned out to be quite helpful because I could accurately see which way the lines were going and didn't make any in the wrong direction.

The down side of the polish is the horrific brush. It tends to bend in all kinds of strange directions and picks up way too much polish. To help with application I flattened it with a plastic bag for the first coat. I left it as is for the second coat so I didn't waste too much polish. The extra also helps to intensify the design.

All things considered, it's a a great buy because the magnet is very strong and can be used for other magnetic polishes. The wavy designs is also one of my favorites from the other options available.

The Icing Magnetixs retail for $9 per bottle but Icing usually runs a buy one get one 50% promotion. So two magnetic polishes are a pretty sweet deal for less than 15 bucks.