Midtown Magic

The other day I was at the mall getting a replacement iPhone.. and due to many frustrations I decided to check out the beauty supply store. There are a lot of new collections coming out soon and I was hoping they had some. Well I was in luck as they had the new China Glaze Metro collection. It took a lot of self control to not scoop the entire collection up (especially since I was so frustrated with my phone situation I definitely needed a little retail therapy). However, I only purchased 2 bottles, Loft-y Ambitions and Midtown Magic.

I was a little disappointed in the shimmer/ glitter within it. It is a little difficult to see but I still like the color. It is a deep blackened brown (it looks black in some lights, or lack thereof ) with multi colored shimmer. The shimmer is mostly copper and gold. You can defiantly see the multi shimmer in the bottle but it is a lot harder to see on the nail. In my opinion on the nail the shimmer is mostly copper.

Since it is still summer I feel that I shouldn't be wearing all of these dark vampy colors ( I wore OPI Manicurist of Seville the other day and LOVED it.. Didn't get any good pics though. Sadness) Anywho, here is Midtown Magic.

UPDATE: I think Midtown Magic is a dupe for OPI DS Mystery. Yes, I know Midtown Magic has a blackened brown base and DS Mystery has a deep purple base but after 2 coats of each they look amazingly similar. I just need to do a swatch of both to compare.

Blurred to see the shimmer. See it is mostly copper.

But in the bottle you can see a lot of the gold. 

Give Away Alert!

Traci over at The TraceFace Philes is having a giveaway for reaching 1,000 followers!!! That is an amazing accomplishment so congrats Traci!!!! And the prize is AMAZING!!! The ENTIRE China Glaze Metro Collection... I so want to win this! But I guess I would be happy if one of you won instead. =) Good luck!

My Water Marbling Attempt

After seeing all of these amazing water marble manis all over the interwebs I decided to give it a whirl. Instead of trying to be too ambitious I was only going to do an accent nail on each hand. I gathered all of my supplies and started at it. My first attempt was a success! Could it be that easy?! Famous last words... In the end I have 1 accent nail, my first attempt at water marbling ever.

When I tried to do my right hand accent nail it was a complete fail. I think I redid it about 5 or 6 times and then just gave up. But I guess for a first try one decent nail isn't too bad. I really like the color combo. At first I was using more colors but they wouldn't spread. I also think that the heat may have been a factor in my fail as it has been sooooo hot!!!!! It seemed as if the polish dried instantly and I couldn't spread it around. Oh well, there is always next time. Does anyone else have a similar experience? Or any tips if you have been successful at it?

I used Essie- Trophy Wife for the full mani and then China Glaze- Liquid Leather and Senorita Bonita for the marble.

I found it really hard to capture the marble. Here are the best pictures I could get. 

Spectra Flair Topcoat- gLORIous

I finally was able to use the Amazing Spectra Flair topcoat called gLORIous made by the wonderful Lori Hill Shadow on PAA. I was waiting for a sunny day to take pictures but the sun was just not cooperating for me and I couldn't wait any longer. But believe me this is an amazing topcoat. The base was Zoya Phoebe.

Close up to see the holo effect

Please excuse the wonky nail shape. I broke a few nails and tried to file them down... Which is a HUGE undertaking for me as I cannot stand filing my nails. It gives me the chills. I shudder to even think about having my nails filed... Uggggh. Is anyone else like that? Or am I just a weirdo?

In a Galaxy. Far Far Away.

Todays mani was part of the Monday Nail Art Challenge over at Polish-aholics Anonymous. This Monday's theme was glitter bomb. Now I am still working on my nail art skills but I figured glitter bomb was right up my alley. Plus I had just gotten the entire Wizard of Oh Ahz Returns collection which is all glitter.

I really liked the result of this, but it is a biotch to photograph (plus I am STILL using my iPhone because my Nikon Coolpix has just about had it and will not focus on anything. Grrr) It looks sooo much better in person and I think this is my favorite mani to date.

I started with a black base of Sinful Black on Black and then just went crazy with the sponging. I think I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Dorothy Who?, C-C-Courage, and Nova, then Milani Blue Flash, Purple Rush, and Racy Green.

The end result really reminds me of a picture of the galaxies you would see from NASA or something.. Just beautiful!!!

Blurred to see all the sparkly awesomeness. 

Close up to kind of see the galaxy effect (it is way cooler in person)

We've got another giveaway!!!

Oh man I am on a roll tonight! Amy over at I'm feeling nail-venturous is hosting a giveaway for reaching 100 followers.. She Has some pretty sweet prizes you should go check it out, right now!!!! lol

Give Away Alert over at Konad Addict!

It is Konad Addict's 1 year blog-anniversary and she is hosting a give away!!! You should head on over!!

Give Away over at Blingernails!!!

To celebrate reaching 100 followers Blingernails is hosting a giveaway. Check it out.

Harry Potter Nail Fail....

Here is the mani I did for the release of the final Harry Potter movie.. It didn't come out as good as I was hoping.  This was my first attempt at free hand anything and as you can see by my thumb it looks like I just learned how to write. But I guess practice makes perfect.

Thumb: Wet N Wild- Black Creme (which is a pain to clean up, anyone else have that issue?) and Hot Topic- no name silver

Pointer- Hufflepuff- FingerPaints- Art Nouv-Yellow and Wet N Wild- Black Creme

Middle-Gryffindor- Orly Moonlit Madness and OPI- Bling Dynasty

Ring- Slytherin- Savvy- Garland and Hot Topic - no name

Pinky- Ravenclaw- Revlon- Royal and NYC- Canal Street (the color barely showed up)

Grape...Set...Match & Servin' Up Sparkle

Let me just say. OMG! I love this polish!! The first swatches I saw I knew I HAD to have it... I proceeded to go to every store that carried O.P.I. and no one had it!! Major bummer.. Even Amazon.com didn't have it for a while!! What was I to do?!? Luckily I spotted it one day and ordered it faster than you can say Grape Set Match three times fast.

It finally arrived yesterday and I couldn't get my old mani off fast enough. It is just a beautiful in person if not more.. I am in love.

Sorry, this is pre clean up

Just so beautiful!

Give Away Alert!

Just wanted to let you know that Nails By Desiré is having a give away. It's filled with a ton of great prizes especially if you like to do nail art. So go check it out! Good luck.

Essie Smooth Sailing

I figured I would break this up into two posts since my storage post was a little long. So here is today's mani. I used two coats of China Glaze Pelican Gray as my base. I used Essie Smooth Sailing (oh how I love that color) for the design and tips. The design was from the new Bundle Monster plates #201.

These pictures are still from my iPhone. I checked out my camera settings as Thalie at Glazed Talons suggested, but I didn't have a macro setting or the other option she referred to. Oh well. Thanks for the advice anyways.  Guess I just need to get a new camera (I am a serious shopaholic so it's not that bad of a thing.. lol)

This color combo reminded me of the mani I did the other day with Zoya Dove and Caitlin. But didn't realize until after I had finished. Oh well I still like it.

Storage Solutions

I finally broke down and purchased some storage for my ever growing collection (I think I may need help...lol). At first I wanted to by a Helmer by Ikea but with its $39 price tag I was a little hesitant. It also seems  kinda big so I don't really know of a place to store it.  However, some fellow bloggers mentioned that Michael's Craft Stores carry another product that works. They refer to it as a Melmer and it is intended for scrapbook storage.

On Friday I got a 50% off coupon in my inbox for Michael's and I knew it was time. The orginal price of the Melmer is $34 but with my coupon it was only $17. Score!  It is a really nice solution for my collection. However, I am not entirely satisfied. The drawers don't have full support rails so if you pull them out too far they can tip and fall... Not too great with a very heavy nail polish collection. And two I have a feeling it won't take me too long to grow out of this. But again for $17 can you really go wrong?

So here are some poor iPhone pictures of my Melmer.

See my thumb supporting this? If it wasn't there the drawer would have fallen out. 

I still need to organize this and I am debating of doing it just by color or by brand and then color. Any suggestions?

I need a new camera...

I have determined that I need a new camera. So far I have been using my iPhone for my mani pics but it does not do them justice. Today I tried using my ancient Nikon Coolpix... OMG! It was worse than my phone, it wouldn't even focus on my nail at a decent distance. Ugh. So here are some crap pictures of my recent manis.

Zoya Caitlin and Dove.. Please ignore the short pointer nail... 

Zoya Faye before clean up.. Isn't just so pretty and sparkly?

Here is the only picture of the stamp I did with Zoya Stacy. 

Happy 4th of July!

This is going to be a quick post. Here is my 4th of July mani. It really bugged me that I did White, Red and Blue, rather than Red, White and Blue. The method behind the madness was I was originally going to use white for stamping and I didn't want the white stamp on the white stripe. Obviously I changed my mind. 

This was Sally Hansen Rapid Red, Wet N Wild Saved by the Blue and China Glaze White on White. The stamp was from a Bundle Monster plate but I cannot remember the number and I used an un-named silver from Hot Topic.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy fourth!

I'm Back! (pic heavy)

I've been on vacation for the past few weeks with no access to a computer so I have not been able to update. However, I did take pictures of the manis I did.

Base: NYC- Times Square Tangerine Creme

Stamp: NYC Penn Station

Hot Topic- No name color changing polish no top coat

Hot Topic with top coat of SV

My Hot Topic Haul. I love the silver for stamping it shows up really well. Unfortunately Hot Topic doesn't name their polishes.

Here is a fail. I tried to free hand a funky french. Didn't turn out too well.

Base: Sally Hansen- Coral Fever

Tips: Sinful Colors- Folly

I went out and bought some scotch tape and the lines for this funky french are a lot crisper.

Base: O.P.I- Play 'Til Midnight

Tips- Hot Topic No name Silver

Base: Hot Topic- No name blue shimmer

Stamp: Sally Hansen Color quick pen Turquoise Chrome

Base: O.P.I- Steady As She Rose

Stamp- O.P.I.- Funky Dunky and Ogre the Top Blue 

Base: Princessa- New Eve At Vegas

Tips: Hot Topic- No Name Blue

Blurred to see the sparkle

This was my entire vacation haul. It does include the last Zoya promo where you buy the Color- Lock System and get the Summertime or Sunshine Collection free. I chose the Sunshine collection. I found a lot of discount polishes which is pretty nice on the wallet. I can't wait to use them. Next though is my 4th of July mani. Hopefully I will be able to post that tomorrow!