Cherimoya Trinity & The Pink Panther

I wanted to have a little summer fun so I went for the crack!!! Since I've been doing a rotation in Corporate America I've been trying to tone down my mani's, but my boss is away, so I can wear whatever I want. I always feel so suffocated when I can't wear the polishes I want the most, so I'm having a little nail party..... at least for the next few days :)

Here's Trinity over Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau. I stumbled across this pretty while visiting a local beauty supply store. I didn't realize it was such a bright pink in the store. So bright that it's almost neon. It's a great summer color and a great buy for $2.99. It cracks well, best over dry polish like the other crackles. I've also seen these for sale online but I can't remember where at the moment. It was an etailer that I've never used before.

I wanted to experiment so I stamped animal prints. Hey it's the Pink Panther (ha ha).
It created a cute 3-D effect.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow with another fun mani!

Midnight Mani 2

A quick post to share my Saturday night nails. These are nail stickers by Bling, available at Sally's for about 4 bucks. Easy application but I experienced some lifting the next day. I had to take them off for work, but they probably could have lasted another day or two.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Give-A-Way Winners

Hello everyone! A quick post to announce the Give-A-Way winners.

Congratulations to:

Danielle from Sweet As Honey - Prize 1

Fathima from Makeup, Makeup & Some more Makeup - Prize 2

Thanks to everyone that participated. I have emailed the winners.

Midnight Mani

Hello hello! I had a very long day so this post will be short of words. First I wanted to let you know that I'm almost finished tallying the give-a-way entries and I'll post the winners this weekend. I also wanted to quickly share a couple of NOTD's made using Daschica's Beauty Big Image plate A.

Base Old School Sally Hansen, stamped with Konad white polish.

Base China Glaze Peechy Keen, stamped with Avon blue.


I ran two miles so now I'm too tired to go find the polish names. I'll update them tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

**Update, Avon blue - Textured Teal. Sally Hansen red - Something New.

Color Club Back to Boho Collection

New Bohemian 70’s Inspired Collection Coming This Fall

New York, NY – June 2011 Color Club, a New York based cosmetic brand specializing in nail and lip products announced today its new “Back to Boho” Fall 2011 Collection. The new collection features twelve 70’s inspired longwearing nail polish shades perfect for creating an effortless “Boho Glam” look. The collection will be available in September of 2011. With fun bohemian vintage inspired names, the Color Club “Back to Boho” Collection shades include:

Nomadic in Nude – a must have neutral for the season; off white and creamy

Earthy Angel – Gorgeous creamy camel

New Bohemian – a new 70’s take on Tiffany Blue

Shabby Drab – Purple Greige The ultimate boho color

Rad Nomad – Purple brown crème

Red-ical Gypsy – Boho chic red, a new take on a vintage classic red

Boho Mojo – Silvery, beige pearl

Nouveau Vintage – The perfect understated vintage frosty gold

Voodoo You Do – The perfect charcoal grey for the season with blue undertones

Artsy Crafty – The ultimate muted military green

Blue-topia – Just as it sounds, the perfect shade of deep blue

Rebel Spirit – Deep chocolate brown creme

*Click to see details*

Boho Mojo, Nouveau Vintage, Voodoo You Do, Artsy Crafty, Blue-Topia, Rebel Spirit

Nomadic in Nude, Earthy Angel, New Bohemian, Shabby Drab, Red-ical Gypsy

Color Club is all about color and renowned for its fun, high performance rich shades and exceptionally safe products. All nail colors are vegan, Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP and paraben-free - and made in New York, NY with the best raw materials. Color Club products are made in the USA and are not tested on animals. Products are available at shopcolorclub.com.

ABOUT COLOR CLUB

Color Club is a nail polish brand developed by Forsythe Cosmetic Group. Founded in 1979, the Forsythe Cosmetic Group is a New York-based cosmetic company widely regarded worldwide as a pioneer within the professional beauty industry. A global brand with products represented in more than 95 countries, Forsythe was one of the first companies to recognize and address the needs of the professional nail salon, a new phenomenon at the time. Rather quickly, the Forsythe name became synonymous with excellent, performance-proven products available in a diverse range of eye-catching shades. Today, more than three decades later, the Forsythe Cosmetic Group remains a vanguard in the beauty business by constantly introducing new concepts and elevating industry standards. Forsythe manufactures every product it offers, a practice that ensures superior color-matching quality control and the ability to respond quickly to consumer demands for the latest and most exciting trends in nail color, nail treatments and lip color.

For additional information on Color Club please call 1-800-221-8080 or visit www.cosmeticgroup.com.

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Dashica's Beauty Big Image Plate SdP-A

Hello everyone! Today I have a review of Dashica's Beauty SdP Big image plate A. If you're not familiar with Dashica's Beauty, it's the same owner as Shirley's Nail-Art & Water Decals. Yes, the lady with the cute image plates. Shirley introduces 7 new plates with 42 designs. Here are a few of the mani's I've done using plate A.

The swirl image is one of my favorite designs. It's a like a water marble without the mess. For the base color I used Finger Paints Aren't You Glad-iolouis topped off with Konad white.

There's also a Hello Kitty image. I stamped with white, then filled in HK's head, then stamped again with Konad blue. The base colors are Zoya Sweet & Color Club Take me to Your Chateau.

I also tried Hello Kitty in black.

A full heart design. I used China Glaze Something Sweet & Emotion . The lighting is bad in this pic and makes the image appear faded. It also stamped well.

A closer view to show details.

As you can see, the image plate works very well. Its about 8x6 inches and has 42 designs. Some of them are duplicates to allow you to stamp mirror images. The designs are larger than Konad & BM's, so it's great if you have large-r nails. I usually have to stamp my thumbs twice with Konad plates, but these are large enough to cover my entire thumb.

The images are pretty, feminine and offers a good variety. I like that most of them are full nail designs with a few French tips (half-designs). The plate stamps similar to Konad's and I had no issues with stamping or image transfer.

This is a sample plate, but the original plates will have 2 holes that allow you to organize them in a ring binder. I almost forgot Shirley added a cute little plastic/paper backing to the plate.

Plate size comparison. Konad, large plate & SdP big plate.

View of the sample plate. The actual plate will have two holes so that you can store them in a ring binder.
Close-ups of the designs. (Click to enlarge)

You can find the Big SDP plates and other Nail Art supplies at Dashica's Beauty Shop. She also posts updates and new arrivals on blog Shirley's Beauty Nails. The plate retails for 15,99 euros, about $22 US dollars.

~The above plate was sent to me for review~

Miss Universe by OPI Preview

Unleash Your Inner Beauty Queen!

OPI Launches Limited Edition

Miss Universe Lacquers

Pageant-pretty nail lacquers in the new Miss Universe by OPI promotion give fingers and toes added glitz and glamour. Featuring four shades packed with shimmer and sparkle, these limited edition colors capture the energy of the 2011 MISS UNIVERSE^® competition, to be held September 12, 2011, in São Paulo, Brazil.

“Miss Universe is the most popular and publicized beauty pageant in the world,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “We are excited to partner with the Miss Universe Organization, whose contestants provided so much inspiration for rich, high-fashion color.”

With shades ranging from berry and golden pink to electric blue and glittery silver, Miss Universe by OPI provides high-shine lacquers, including:

(click to enlarge)

It’s MY Year

It’s about time for this champagne-rose to shine!

Crown Me Already!

A sassy silver sparkle that knows what it’s worth.

Congeniality is My Middle Name

And berry-wine shimmer is what I do best!

Swimsuit…Nailed It!

An itsy bitsy teenie weenie vibrant shiny-blue bikini.

The Miss Universe Organization named OPI its official nail care sponsor this June. Additionally, Weiss-Fischmann will be a judge for the 2011 Miss USA^® pageant, a precursor to the Miss Universe competition.

Miss Universe by OPI Nail Lacquers contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide^™ Brush for the ultimate in application. This limited-edition promotion will be available beginning August 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.

For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

ABOUT MISS UNIVERSE:

The Miss Universe Organization, a Donald J. Trump and NBC Universal joint venture, is a global community empowering role models of beauty, health and leadership for young women of today. The organization is dedicated to partnering with charities around the world, and to increasing HIV/AIDS awareness by focusing on women's health and reproductive issues. For more information, visit: www.missuniverse.com or follow Miss Universe on Facebook or Twitter @TheRealMissU.

OPI Nice Stems! Summer 2011 Collection

Stop and see the flowers with summer’s Nice Stems! by OPI, a limited edition collection featuring four new nail lacquers in stunning shades of pink. With whimsical names based on their floral inspirations, these vibrant, flirty colors range from pale, frosty pink to rich fuchsia. Nice Stems! offers fingers and toes a perfectly pink shade for all of summer’s looks.

Play the Peonies. A very soft milky pink with slight shimmer that needed 3 coats to become opaque.

Come to Poppy. Shimmering coral pink. Two coats was all I needed. It's definitely one of my favorites from the collection.

Be A Dahlia Won't You?, a fabulous fuchsia. The shimmer is more obvious here compared to Come to Poppy. Two coats.

I Lily I Love You. Described by OPI as a light pink sparkle. It contains glitter and flakies. I layered it over Be A Dahlia Won't You?

Nice Stems is a sweet collection, especially for pink lovers. I Lily Love You is my favorite from the set because it's the most versatile. It can be layered over any of the pinks, but I'm sure it'll also look great over black or another deep contrasting color.

This limited edition Nice Stems! collection will be available beginning June 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.

~The above collection was sent to me for review.~

Color Club Fractured Collection 2011 Swatches, Part 1

Color Club introduces their new Fractured Collection, featuring 6 colors: white, silver, black, fuchsia, blue and gold. Each polish creates a fractured texture on the nail similar to crackle polish. Today I'll share the first 3 from the collection.

Clean Break. A bright white cream. I topped it over Essence Sun Dancer. I really love the way this one breaks into big chunks similar to Graffiti polishes. My favorite of the three.

Broken Tokens. A silver foil over Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. This one is slightly sheer but allows enough contrast for the silver color to dominate.

Smash Hit. A black cream layered over Your Royal Shine-ness. I used one thick coat here.

Fracture skittles mani. I was so excited when I received these I immediately put them over my current mani, China Glaze Peechy Keen stamped with China Glaze emotion. Here you can notice how Smash Hit fractures when a thinner coat is used.

So that's the first half of the collection. I used one thick coat for all of the polishes. They fractured within seconds and dried matte. For bigger cracks apply a thicker coat and for smaller cracks apply a thinner coat.

The polishes are thinner than the crackle polishes I've used in the past. The consistency of the formula allowed me to have more control of the brush strokes. I was able to polish a complete nail without the polish drying before I got to the other side of the nail. Clean Break was the standout for me because of the large chunks. I really like the dramatic effect and how well you can see the base color under the fractured polish.

Overall I think Color Club did a great job with the formula because its a nice consistency which allows you to have good brush control, but I would have loved too had seen more unique colors. Perhaps my love for color will be satisfied with the second half of the collection.

Golden Leaves

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been away for awhile. Here's one of my NOTD's from last week. I stumbled across a Beauty Supply that carries KleanColors and picked up Max Cherimoya "Aurora" a golden pink multi-sized glitter. I topped Wet N Wild black with Aurora, then stamped with China Glaze 2030 for an easy yet dramatic look.