NOTD: China Glaze Unplugged + m72

I'm not sure how I feel about this stamping ... I started with China Glaze Unplugged, which is just chocolate goodness with a golden shimmer, then I stamped the tips with Misa Ghetto Fabulous & Konad plate m72.  The tip pattern on this plate is one of my favorites, but it just turned out so subtle ... but on the other hand, I don't like any of my other options either LOL.  White would have shown more but been too harsh, and I don't think a chrome gold would have gone with the warm golden shimmer of Unplugged.  Oh well - it was only for a day:

 

I've got a gorgeous spring/Easter water marble to show you guys, again with the Tronica collection, so stay tuned for that tomorrow =)

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: China Glaze Vertical Rush + m80

This was from my dusty haul a little while ago - a really nice red, I almost regretted stamping it LOL.  This is China Glaze Vertical Rush, and in a couple of the pics you can almost see the tiny blue shimmer flecks.  Stamping done with Misa Ghetto Fabulous & Konad plate m80:

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Misa Burnished Bronze

Just a quick post, trying not to get any further behind.  Misa's Burnished Bronze is an older color, I'm not sure exactly how long ago they stopped using round labels?  The gold shimmer that shows up in the bottle isn't quite as evident on the nail, but it's still a really pretty reddish brown:

I made a Sally's haul last weekend that I haven't gotten around to posting yet, including the Poolside collection - which I then proceeded to water marble with, my current mani.  I'll try to get pics up tomorrow.  I did shoot a tutorial but I haven't reviewed my videos & I'm not sure I'm going to post one up because every take I felt like I made some kind of glaring error.  Grrr.  But I want to redo the design anyway, with the colors in a different order, so if I do that I will do a re-shoot.

 

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

TOTD: Claire's Rockstar & Pedi Envy

I totally failed to take any decent pics of my last pedi, which consisted of NYC Taxi Yellow Creme topped with Sinful Call You Later (a green & yellow glitter).  Part of the reason was it was all cloudy & crappy & I wanted sunlight pics & when I got no sun I totally spaced on just getting something.  Oh well.  The moral of the story is don't procrastinate, so this time I didn't.  Here is Claire's Rockstar:

With the flash of silver on the brown, it reminded me a lot of Misa Earthward, so I did a quick comparison - not as similar on the nail, the Claire's has much more silver shimmer where the Misa I'd say had more of a silver sheen, even though the base brown is very similar:

Sorry for using my pinky ... didn't want to do any extra remover on my middle as that's the one that's patched right now LOL.

Now, on to the pedi envy ... I consider that I do a better than average job on my pedicure.  I wouldn't subject you guys if I were honestly horrified =)   They're neat (mostly), and if they get chipped, they get redone.  But for an honestly flawless pedicure, Jake is the man.  Some of you may be familar with him as Toepaintguy on Flickr - & he has recently started his own blog, Pedicure Passion.  If you're interested (& open minded & polite, not an asshat, seriously) go check him out, he's already posted some good discussion & a couple of interesting interviews.

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Guest NOTD: Blue & Grey Water Marble

One more post before bed - here is my mom's birthday mani =)  I used Misa Right Here Now, No More Later, and Misa Dying Love for this look, and followed the same marbling technique as in THIS Shades of Green tutorial.  Mom was a very good "client" since she's watched all my tutorials (Unlike Tee LOL!) and it was fun because normally she does her own nails, this was the first time I ever gave her a mani.  And it's  pure AWESOMENESS:

She picked the colors because she was inspired by the stark black tree branches in winter against the blue sky.  While we were out & about we passed this tree & she said "Yeah, just like that!" so I snapped a quick pic:

She's still got it on with no chips!  She is taking extra special care LOL, she's enjoying it so much =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

A Couple Quick Comparison Shots

Not full swatches I'm sorry, just bottle shots. Top is under the natural lamp, bottom is with camera flash:


Left to right: Misa Earthward, Barielle Misbehaving Mistress, Essie Huckle Buckle, Urban Decay Graffiti.

So, the story behind the browns is that I saw Misbehaving Mistress over at Polish or Perish and thought it looked very similar to Earthward, which I wore just recently, so I had to come home & pull both out. I haven't worn the Barielle shade yet but I think I will soon because I really enjoyed Earthward (which my mom is wearing right now after seeing it on me LOL) and they are very similar, although I think Misbehaving Mistress look a little darker, I kind of want to say more dark chocolate w/ silver sheen, while Earthward is kind of a slightly pinker brown w/ silver sheen.

The story behind the purples is that I saw Huckle Buckle over at Helen & Sheenie's Nice Things, and it's actually my current mani. At first glance, it immediately reminded me of Graffiti (which I have both an 15+ year old bottle & a new bottle of), but putting them side by side Huckle Buckle is more lavender while Graffiti I think I want to call periwinkle blue.

Anyway, just wanted to put a little something up, full pics of my Huckle Buckle NOTD coming tomorrow. Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Misa Earthward

I don't know exactly how rare this polish is, but I know it's older, and I know I had to search a bit online to find it after seeing it on another blog. It was totally worth it, it's a gorgeous color, and I ended up wearing it "plain" because of time restraint, but it ended up reminding me how nice a basic manicure - no nail art or Konad or holographic bling or glittergasms - can be. Here is Misa Earthward:


Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Misa Dreamy Purple w/ Marble Half-Moon

I feel like I've been holding out on you guys, LOL, I did this Thursday night & am only now getting around to posting. I used these 3 Misa colors:


Misa Dreamy Purple was my base color, then I used Forbidden Lust & Push Upon It for the marbling. Misa polish is available through their website, or several e-tailers also.

It turned out more subtle than I thought from just looking at them, but it actually ended up showing better in pics, because the camera turned Dreamy Purple into more of a navy in some of these ... Just trust me when I saw it's very purple, and indeed dreamy:


I posted link to a tutorial showing how to do this marbling technique in my Spiderweb Mani post, this is the 3rd mani in the row using int =) I think I will switch it up a little next manicure but I haven't decided how yet.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

TOTD: Misa Blue Over A Boy

Hmmm, not much to say about this, other than I really like having blue toes, which I'm pretty sure I've said before =) Misa Blue Over A Boy:


Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Toes x2

... because I realized when I was going through some pics that I never posted up my last pedi, so I have that old one plus my new current one.

First, here's the old one, which I only got a couple of pics although I had it on a full week. This was really nice & bright on the toes. Misa's Right Here Now, No More Later:

Next, the pedi that only lasted 1 day ... a very rare occurrence for me, since I hate doing my toes, but this just wasn't making me happy ... I like bright toes, but this just ended up a little too yellow for my mood. Misa Let's Go Green:

I was going to spice it up with one of the green NYX Girls glitters that I picked up, but I ended up switching the whole thing & am very pleased with the result. Pics tomorrow =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOT My NOTD

So, it's been a while since a mani irked me to the point that I was forced to immediately remove it. Unfortunately this mani fell extremely short of my expectations & what I had pictured in my head. I think the dots ended up too big, or the lines too narrow, or both ... even though I don't think this qualifies as a total fail, I personally hated it...

But I'll still share, if for nothing other than the beautiful base color. Misa Shop till u Drop, nail art using China Glaze LOL:

You can see I was distracted enough I didn't even have the bottle in the pics ... probably sleepiness had quite a bit to do with it too LOL. The "real" NOTD post is coming, although I kind of spaced on those pics also ... you'll see.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette