NOTD: Purple with Pink Flowers Drag Marble + Tutorial

Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving =) I had 2, one Thursday at Grandma's house & another yesterday at my brother's.  And still a whole 2 days until I have to go back to work!

Drag marbling is to me a great example of low investment high payout, because it's so easy & can be so impressive.  This one I used OPI Vampsterdam as the base color, and the flowers are done with China Glaze Mistletoe Me!  With the rhinestone in the middle I didn't have to worry as much about bald patches caused by dragging from the center:

Here's the tutorial:



Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Guest NOTD: China Glaze Smoke & Ashes (+ Sponged Glitter Tips)

Mom is also a Hunger Games fan - so of course she wanted to try some of the colors I had from the Hunger Games collection =) These pictures don't quite do justice to the hidden teal shimmer, but here she is with China Glaze Smoke & Ashes:

I think this is probably the darkest color she's ever worn on it's own.  After a few days she covered up the tip wear by sponging with ... something.  Probably China Glaze Dorothy Who? although I could be wrong LOL - but it was a blue glitter & it was pretty awesome:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Guest NOTD: Anise Crocodile Tears

Mom wanted to wear this one as soon as I picked it up, and even more after I wore it.  This dark vampy green is Anise Crocodile Tears:

Just a hint of a duo-chrome to it as well =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Ulta Love My Blackberry + Finger Paints Flecked

Time flies - as those of you who follow my other blog know, I recently got promoted at work & while it hasn't been a huge change, it's been enough that I feel justified placing the blame for my hiatus there =)

Anyway, you'll remember I just finished procrastinating my way through 2011, this is the actual beginning of my 2012 manicures.  I started off with a base color of Ulta Love My Blackberry, a lush vampy purple:

Then I topped it with Finger Paints Flecked, from the Special Effects collection & fell in love:

Of course it was gorgeous with some Matte Magic too:

Here's a look in motion:

I'm really going to try & make time to get caught up here on the blog.  But a lot of responsible-type things still to do also, like my taxes (blech).

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Anise Pearls for the Devil

This almost got one of my "evolution" titles, but I think that requires at least 3 versions of the mani, and this was only 2.  I'm impressed so far with this Anise brand, which as I mentioned I picked up at DSW - & if you're wondering if I went to DSW & left with no shoes, I did buy some but my shoe hauls lately have all been incorporated into my vlogs on my other blog, if your interested =)

Anise Pearls for the Devil is very dark & does come off as almost black in many lights, but a closer look shows purple & turquoise layered over the dark grey base.  I love vampy colors so no surprise I guess that I liked it on its own:

After a day or two I decided to stamp it up - I used China Glaze IDK & Bundle Monster image plate bm224.  This is an interesting, kind of snake-skin pattern, and I switched it up a bit between my two hands.  left hand the end with the smaller scales is matched to itself, right hand the end with the larger scales is matched to itself - and on my thumbs the design is stamped sideways, again opposite sides on the different hands.  Hope all that makes sense LOL but you can see the different look that it makes depending on how you double-stamp.  My favorite placement is my thumbs:

Didn't get as much catching up done as I wanted this weekend, but that's pretty par for the course I think LOL.  I'm going to try & post a few more things today & get closer to current =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Orly Fowl Play

I'd like to say first, that going forward you'll start seeing a mix of pictures, some from my old camera & some from my new camera.  I don't have a case for it yet, plus I don't know how to work everything yet, although I'm learning (& in some cases being rather pissed off in the process).  So far the only thing that I'm unimpressed with is the manual white balance settings, they don't seem 100% accurate to me especially the Fluorescent H setting - but it's not a huge deal because most of the time it does really really well with the setting on auto.

On to the polish - Fowl Play is from Orly's Birds of a Feather collection:

 

Really enjoyed this polish.  Considered wearing it matte for a day, buuuut:

Wasn't too impressed.  Didn't enhance it much to my eye, just made it look kind of old & dirty looking.

Kind of a slow week overall - the mani I put on after this lasted me I think 5 days so I'm still getting back in the swing of things.  Had a semi-fail over the weekend that still turned out pretty cool.  Remembered/discovered that Movie Maker does not like the format that my new camera shoots video in =(  And am planning to work 10-hour days the 3 days I work this week.  So I  suppose I should get to bed LOL.  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: The Evolution of Anise Crocodile Tears

For those who did not see the haul post, this brand is available at DSW - yes, the shoe store.  Imagine my surprise =)

 

I started out with it plain, and as a deep green with slightly duo-chrome tendencies, it stands very well on it's own.  Anise Crocodile Tears:

 

After a few days, I wanted a change without actually changing polish so I added Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure:

 

Which for some reason I just wasn't in love with it that way, so I topped that with Matte Magic & this is the version I ended up actually wearing for several more days:

 

I have no real plans this weekend other than getting caught up with posting, so lots more pretties to come =)

 

Thanks for reading.

~Colette