NOTD: Zoya Alegra

OK, so I just realized I've posted FIVE manis in a row without an ounce of nail art!  Gah!  What is the world coming to??  Time to remedy that =)

I have to tell you that this mani didn't go anywhere near planned.  I've been thinking about doing a kind of watermelon water marble, and I've gotten requests for it also.  I wanted to use the pink & green from the Zoya Sparkle collection, and it was just not working in the water.  I was sad.  I used black as a base for one of the failed experiments, so I decided to use Alegra & then do some black Konad & then another coat of Alegra for shimmer.  For stamping I used plate m72 with Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme:

There!  I am now caught up from my week-long backlog!  Now I just need to catchup with everyone else's blogs XD

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Naked Nails 8-29-10

When I've got patches on, I kind of have to time when I wear hard to remove polish like glitter - since soaking off usually also will soak off the patches LOL!  So after I took off Violet Sparkle I redid my patches, did a minimal amount of filing, and thought I was about due for a naked nails post =)

It's been about 6 weeks since my big chop back in July.  I like the length they're at right now, about 7-8mm most nails.  I'm still growing out some old breaks & of course being a clutz managed to acquire a few new breaks too, but can you spot all the patches?

It's actually easier to tell you which nails are not patched that those that are - my left index & ring, and my right middle are the only nails without some kind of trauma right now.  But I know they're there & I can still barely see them, so I don't really mind.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Nubar Violet Sparkle

Right off, let me say this was like 5x more glittery than it looks in pics.  And just a little more red, but it came out closer to color-accurate than I expected.  This is Nubar Violet Sparkle:

 

 

Purple, glitter, what's not to love?  Removal?  Pfft - I soaked off with the foil method+pure acetone & it was absolutely not an issue.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Zoya Ki

Well, today was Fair day & it was awfully hot but still awesome!  I'm super-tired, but still so behind I wanted to get at least one thing up before I hit the sack, so this was my NOTD ... hmmm, last Wednesday/Thursday I think?  Hard to photograph, hard even to capture on video, but well-known by reputation - here is Zoya Ki, purple/green duo-chrome goodness:

 

 

Here it is in motion ... didn't realize Dude ended up in the background until I was editing LOL:

 

 

A few more NOTDs to catch up with, then I'll post pics from the Fair ... mostly food pics LOL, but a few other things too =) My Konad mini-haul for one thing!  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Nubar Gem

This is one of the colors I was most looking forward to wearing from my haul.  Duo-chrome pink & grey, with holo glitter throughout - from the Prisms collection, this is Nubar Gem:

Here's a look in motion:

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

TOTD: Nubar Petunia Sparkle

This is another that was really hard to photograph.  It's pink - but for some reason the camera was reading it bluer, almost to the point of looking purple.  But it's pink.  The sunlight shot is closest to true color - this is Nubar Petunia Sparkle:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Avon Lagoon

OK, right off the bat I have to tell you - I'm not satisfied with these pics.  Period.  This polish has a periwinkle shimmer that would.  Not.  Photograph.  I've actually worn several polishes lately that were lessons in frustration trying to capture in pics but this one may take the cake.  The shimmer literally disappears on film.  The blue base is this shade of blue, but it's just so much prettier in real life.  This is my NOTD from last Friday, Avon Lagoon:

On a side note, I quite like the Avon brushes, although they could be a little more rounded at the tip - but I like how wide they are.  Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Nubar Raspberry Truffle

So, you all know that I do my nails right before I go to bed 90% of the time - that means I need a reliably kick-ass topcoat to make sure I wake up with glossy nails & not sheet marks.  Nubar Diamont used to be, in my opinion, just as good as Seche - fast drying & super glossy.  I'd read on a few blogs that Nubar had changed the formula, but didn't think much of it.  Until I used one of my new bottles on this & it was dull, sticky, and for sure NOT drying fast enough for me to crawl into bed.  All I really have to say is:  WTF Nubar.  Or, to quote my mom when I told her "why would they make it less awesome?" I ended up adding Seche over top so that I could go to sleep.  Even if I'd been patient enough to wait for Diamont to dry completely, it was not giving me any shine.

This was my NOTD last Thursday.  That's pretty damn sad that I am over a week behind on NOTDs.  Here is Nubar Raspberry Truffle:

Really, pretty, a lot of depth, and I wish I'd had some sun when I took my outside shots.  I'm not sure, by the way, what in the world happened to my thumb in that last shot, although it was taken after work.  It's so crackled it looks like it was shut in a door or something which I can guarantee it was not =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Nubar Haul

So, I fell off the blogosphere for like a week. I wasn’t quite sick, but not feeling well, then I ran into rather extreme … feminine pains shall I delicately say? I spent several days sitting semi-miserable & doing nothing much more than reading. Which under other, more comfortable circumstances would have been just fine, but I missed blogging while at the same time just didn’t feel up to tackling a whole post. It takes energy to be this brilliant after all XD

Anyway, now I’m back on track – back in business – back in the game … uh, yeah. Back. Back with pics of my now almost 2 week old Nubar haul =) I’ve already used a few of these & will have posts for them up soon-ish. I’ve still been doing my nails, but not quite as often & mostly just plain color, no messing around with nail art or anything.

This arrived on my doorstep on the 13th ... I know, it's like years later, right?  LOL I'm just getting around to taking pics!  I have to preface all this by saying it's been almost 2 years since I placed a Nubar order AND they were having a 20% off sale.  So I ... indulged.  I still didn't fill all of my lemmings, but I made a pretty big dent.  I bought 4 entire collections:

Top:  Going Green (Conserve, Earth, Forest, Greener, Reclaim, Wildlife) & Chocolate Truffles (Swiss Chocolate, Cherry Coridal, Chocolate Covered Caramel, Raspberry Truffle [well, it would be there except I took it out to wear], Milk Chocolate Creme, Chocolate Coffee Bean, Foundation & Diamont [base & top also taken out to wear]).  Bottom:  Sparkles (Star Sparkles, Fire Sparkles, Night Sparkles, Sky Sparkles, Meadow Sparkles, Violet Sparkles, Petunia Sparkles, Hyacinth Sparkles) & Prisms (Spark, Jewel, Gem, Essence, Treasure, Brilliant, Absolute, Prize).

Then I got 3 additional polishes:

Left to right:  Burgundy Velvet, Moon Shadow, Purple Rain Glitter.

I've already worn Raspberry Truffle & Gem, I've got Petunia Sparkles on my toes & I'm about to put Violet Sparkles on my tips =)  I also just took off Zoya Ki - so I've got lots to post this weekend.  Not to mention I want to do something fabulous to wear to the fair on Monday, since I'll be dealing with a lot of cash & thus having attention on my hands.  So I've got a couple of ideas but haven't firmly decided yet.  Which speaking of the fair, if you haven't stopped to leave your Konad plate recommendations for me in my previous post, please do!  I'm not sure yet how many I'll be coming home with LOL.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Favorite Konad Plates?

If all goes according to plan, I'll have a "real" post with pics for you guys when I get home from work tonight.  I'm feeling much better.  SUPER behind with everything, but thank you all for the well-wishes =)

 

For right now I have a question - what are your personal favorite Konad plates?  (Actual Konad, not from the many fauxnad brands)  Monday is Fair day & I'll be picking up a 2nd stamper at the Konad booth (for creating mirror images), but it only just occurred to me that I should probably take advantage of the Fair specials & pick up some on-sale image plates.  I'll probably take a look over the weekend, but are there any you think I should consider?  Leave a comment & let me know =)

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

Recovering But Not Recovered

Been seriously feeling like crap the past few days, so sorry for going AWOL =)  Still not quite back to my normal self but on the right track, I'm hoping so at least.

 

Lots to post when I feel coherent enough to do so LOL.

 

~Colette

Avon Haul

So, the wife of a guy at work recently started selling Avon ... and so there were catalogues all over, with nail polish on sale in them =)  Here's what I got:

 

 

Top left to right:  Fusion, Luxe Lavender, Lagoon, Olive Green.  Bottom left to right:  Mink, Urban Grey, Vintage Blue, Jade.

 

I'd say Lagoon was the surprise of the lot, the color drop gave no hint that there's like this periwinkle shimmer overlaying everything.  It's very pretty & very hard to photograph in these kind of boring square bottles - seems like round bottles show more color in pics.

 

Anyway, I'm sure many of you have heard that one of these is a dupe to a very expensive polish ... here is Olive Green next to Rescue Beauty Lounge Orbis Non Sufficit:

 

 

They don't look it in the bottle, probably in part because ONS needs a little more shaking than I gave it, but swatched they are damn close.  OG is a teensy tad itty bit darker with a measly trickle more blue.  No one but another nail blogger would ever notice LOL, and only at extremely close range.

 

Still have the Nubar haul to come =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Orly Velvet Rope + M21

Quick post of purple goodness.  This polish is almost ... flocked with glitter.  I was disappointed the effect didn't show better in pics - although they are surprisingly close to color-accurate for a purple.  This is only a little more red IRL.  Orly Velvet Rope:

 

 

Day 2 I added paint splatter with Konad plate m21 & China Glaze IDK & QT:

 

 

Haul pics are still coming I swear.  I am slightly behind with that, and with emails, but I am pretty close to caught up with comments except for the last day or so.  Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

NOTD: PHD Just Tips Challenge (Gold Holo)

(You can view the full Challenge Gallery HERE)

I wish that I'd done my tips in white or black or silver or something as a base, but when I started I was intending to overlap these kind of like fish scales, not have gaps between.  But when I started working with them, I realized they were thicker than they looked, too thick for that idea to work very well.  Blingtastic base is 2 coats of China Glaze Golden Enchantment ... which mad my nail beds appear a little more yellow than gold, but I'll forgive it because it's holo:

 

 

Oh also, I probably should have checked the packaging to see what these little things were actually called, so I could tell you guys, but I didn't so I'll just tell you what they are - little holographic circular stickers that came on a little strip from Michaels.  They're in the scrapbooking section, and there were lots of other cute stickers there that tempted me.

 

On the downside, although these started out smooth for the most part, not sure if it was gradual exposure to water as I washed my hands or what but some started lifting, and I started picking ... by the time I got home, there was only one nail that still had all of its circles.  The ones that didn't peel off however were very stubborn & required a bit of prying with an orange stick in addition to polish remover.

 

I know I keep talking about my hauls & then not posting pics - I just haven't had time.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Orly Royal Navy + Gold Marble Overlay & Tutorial

Orly Royal Navy is just as nice as I expected.  I wore it alone on Thursday.  Weird thing was there was no visible nail line in real life, but it looks like it in several pictures.  Ladies, my camera is lying to you!  LOL, this is a near-flawless polish & color, & you can really see the shimmer in the side shade shot:

And then that night I marbled a gold & clear on top.  The gold I used was China Glaze 5 Golden Rings, and I had to try several clears before I settled on Sally Hansen Invisible.  You wouldn't think they'd be that different, but they're all different consistencies, dry at different speeds, etc.  I was going for a more random pattern than I normally go for, I like the way it turned out:

Here is the tutorial:

The plan at the moment is to lay out all my hauls for pics & get them posted and onto my spreadsheet tomorrow.  Thanks for reading =)

~Colette