A Stroke of Color

A quick hello...

2011-09-16T18:00:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone!

(First off, if anyone still comes here you'll notice my (ex) blog is back to a default template design as somehow the images I was using have disappeared and I can't find them.)

I started med school 3 weeks ago and I'm already very busy with all my classes and studying as I hate being caught helpless a few days before the exams! I was planning on swimming with the varsity team this year, but in early August I subluxed my shoulder that was operated on last March so I've pretty much been doing weights and running since then. I subluxed it again last week while kicking in the water so I'm waiting to see my doc next week and my surgeon in 4 weeks. I'm really hoping it's nothing too serious, but honestly, judging by the pain I was in for 3 days I think something happened inside. What is now the question!

I still have a mountain of polishes I'd like to sell if anyone is interested as they're really just sitting in my cupboard... If I can't sell them they'll probably end up in the trash or at some old people's home :O They can be found here.

It would be easier if you can contact me at astrokeofcolorblog@gmail.com if you're interested.

Enjoy the fall!

Touching base one final time...

2011-04-13T15:29:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone,

I know it's been forever so I figured I'd post one last time. I really enjoyed writing my blog, but the time has now come to move on to other things. Even though I still kept around 200 of my favorite polishes (yes, many many neons!), I haven't painted my nails in almost a year now so there would be no point to keep working on a nail polish blog.

I've also had a lot of stuff going on in my life, rehabbed my shoulder from last August's surgery, only to find out this past February that my left shoulder was also torn. Ended up having left shoulder surgery a month ago (surgeon said the 180 degree tear was much worse on that side), and am now slowly rehabbing this one while my other one has most likely developed tendinitis ;) Why do simple when it can be complicated? lol

I also went back to school, and now am hoping to get into med school for next fall.

So there you have it.. not much interest or time to keep doing this blog so this will be my last post. My fire sale is still going on if anyone is interested, and I won't be removing the posts or the pics on my flickr account either. I will however be moving the blog back to the free blogger URL (astrokeofcolor.blogspot.com) shortly.

Thanks for being along for the ride while it lasted!

Fire sale continues!

2010-09-25T14:59:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone!

It's been a long long time ;-) I had shoulder surgery 6 weeks ago and everything is looking very good in rehad right now. I can now do all of my everyday life activities normally, and I've been running & biking for 3-4 weeks now. I'm seeing my surgeon again next Monday so I should know better by then when I can try going back in the pool :D

I'll be honest... I haven't painted my nails in 2 months now :O I need money badly so I figured all those pretty polishes sitting unloved in my helmers might be happier in better homes. I now have a bit under 250 bottles in my stash, still quite lofty according to non-np people ;-)

Anyways, here's the link to my newest sales. New additions are in orange. Please email me if you're interested in anything!!

SALE

Small disclaimer: I always package as well as I can with bottles wrapped individually in bubble wrap, and padded mailers or boxes when I have them. Accidents during transit do happen, but I can't be held responsible for that :( Also, you can always request a box rather then bubble mailer, but 1) I don't think it makes a big difference, and 2) shipping from Canada is pretty expensive so a box would cost more in terms of shipping weight.

New update :D

2010-07-31T19:58:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone!

Yes I am still alive lol... I've had quite the summer up to now! I broke up my 7-year relationship in June and found a new place to move into on July 1, so since then I've been super busy getting my stuff organized. I've also had my surgery scheduled for Aug 12 so I've just finished painting my new apartment while I have use of both my shoulders ;-) Still no swimming, but I did compete in my first sprint triathlon a few weeks ago, and I'm doing another one next weekend right before my surgery! I also had a blast cheering for friends at the Lake Placid Ironman last weekend and I've decided when I stop swimming that's what my goal will be :D Yep I'm intense!

I've worn polish I think once or twice since April... last time I put on a pretty pink neon but it just felt weird so I guess I'm not really back into it yet :/ Maybe that will come now that I'm more settled down? I haven't bought a polish since the CC neons last winter/spring I think!

Anyways, hope everyone is enjoying their summer (for those of us on this side of the world!)! :D

Blowout Sale!

2010-06-07T15:46:00.005-04:00

Good afternoon!

Still waiting on my surgery date.. so I'm just going through a declutter phase where it's like I need to get rid of stuff to feel good. I've therefore gone through a massive purge (about 1/2 my stash!), and I'm posting it here for you guys! The list has everything that's listed on LJ, with the new additions in red or orange. Please leave a comment here or email me if you're interested! Shipping to the US is around $6 for 1-3 bottles, $8 for 4-7 bottles, and internation is around $9 for 1-3 bottles and $16 for 4-7 bottles.

Sales spreadsheet

Adding: I'm psychoswim @ MUA and you can find all my feedback there :)

Update :)

2010-05-11T21:09:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

Thanks everyone for the wishes, but unfortunately such is our health system that I learned on my scheduled date that my surgery was postponed to somewhere in June. I am still awaiting for the June schedule to come out and the hospital to call me with a new date, and I am supposed to have priority then so hopefully that means early June because I am going nuts with not swimming and with the pain :(

Maybe because of everything that's going on in my life, I haven't been feeling like painting my nails at all recently and have only had polish on for like 5 of the last 20 days or so :/ I'm just not itching to buy new colors, or to do funky manis... For this reason I've decided to take a break from my blog. I don't know how long it will last, but I imagine like always I'll get the drive back eventually.

Thanks to everyone for all the nice comments, and hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later with more pretty and wild colors!

ChG Poolside Collection :D

2010-04-26T22:58:00.003-04:00

Good evening!

This will probably be my last post for a little while pending my recovery from this Wednesday's shoulder surgery, so let's make it fun! I just received the China Glaze Poolside collection from a friend, and I have to say they are everything I was hoping they would be!! The entire collection is a huge hit with me, and it's probably my all-time favorite ChG collection :D The polishes are right on par with the Color Club neons in terms of formula and brightness, and the CCs have always been my favorite ones so hats off to ChG!

I was going to put them in order from least favorite to most, but I can't pick so here they are from the least opaque to the most opaque. The first 2 are 4 thin coats, but I suspect they would look great in 2 thin coats over white. The next 3 are 3 thin coats like I usually do, and the last one is 2 coats but I would probably still do 3 coats on a regular mani. All pics are quick swatches with no base or top coat.

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - retina burning highlighter yellow creme.

Sun Worshiper - retina burning orange-yellow creme that looks more orange indoors and more yellow outdoors. It's a bit more orange than CC Explosive.

Kiwi Cool-ada - retina burning (feeling the theme here?) green creme, way brighter in real life.

Flip Flop Fantasy - retina burning pink-coral-orange creme, pinker in real life.

Towel Boy Toy - super bright blue shimmer.

Pool Party - retina searing pink creme.

Enjoy and have a great week! :D

Even more new CCs :D

2010-04-25T13:09:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

I apologize for the recent lack of posting... I'm having shoulder surgery next week so I've had quite a lot on my mind these last few days :/ Anyways, here are the last NOTD pics I have for now.

CC Twiggie is a great stark light minty green creme, and applied very nicely in 3 thin coats :D

CC Pucci-Licious is a bright but not neon slightly bluish purple creme. It is more purple in real life than the pic shows, and applied nicely in 2 (or 3) thin coats :D

CC Feelin' Groovy is a fantastic retina burning neon green creme and it also applied nicely in 3 thin coats. You can still see a bit of VNL in the pics, but IRL it's not as noticeable given the brightness of the polish ;)

CC Take Me To Your Chateau is a fantastic light blue creme. It's a bit lighter and slightly different in tone from CC Blue Light or CC Factory Girl and it is my favorite baby blue yet! Once again, very nice application in 3 thin coats.

Here it is with the clouds from plate M79 in Konad White. Unfortunately the polish wouldn't completely transfer to my nails so the clouds are a little transparent lol!

And finally a pretty Nails Inc I wore 2 weeks ago - Belgrave Square :D It's a bright pink with glass fleck like silver shimmer. I prefer gold shimmer, but it's not bad either :)

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

More CC neons :D

2010-04-12T17:49:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

I wanted to try and wear all my new CC neons one after the other, so here's a few more from last month's notds :D Almost Famous is a great yellow creme, not really a neon like CC Yell-Oh, but a very bright creme nonetheless. It's extremely close to ChG Happy Go Lucky, but I had to use 4 thin coats on AF compared to (I think) 3 on HGL.

Next is Edie. This one is pretty much identical to the older CC Wild Child. It's probably the "dupe" that is the closest ;-) It is WAY brighter in real life than in the pic, and dries as a matte neon slightly turquoise-ish green. It applied perfectly in 3 thin coats.

Finally, here's Warhol, a totally amazing hot pink neon! It's deeper than Jackie OH!, and not as red/orange. In real life it's a true pink, more like the bottle color in the pic. This one and Jackie OH! are probably my 2 faves among my new pretties :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

CC Jackie OH! :D

2010-04-09T11:07:00.003-04:00

Good morning!

This is the first color I tried from the new Color Club neons I received about a month ago. Jackie OH! is the most amazing hot pink neon with just a touch of orange/red to it. It is not a dupe of Screamin' Fuchsia like CC and VNS say, SF is more red/orange. In fact, most of the colors that are supposed to be dupes are at least a bit different from the originals. This is not as red in real life, more like the pink bottle color. It applied perfectly in 3 thin smooth coats :D

And here my black Konad to go with it, using plate M64 :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

Quirius Amp'd Up :D

2010-04-03T13:04:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon!

Long overdue post lol! Here's Quirius Amp'd Up, possibly the coolest orange neon I own :D It applied very nicely in 3 thin coats, and even though you can kinda still see a VNL, it's so bright no one would ever notice!!

And here it is with the leopard spots from plate M57 in Konad Black :D

Enjoy and have a great weekend! :D

Nails Inc Long Acre :D

2010-03-23T23:36:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

Here's a weird one for the books lol, Nails Inc Long Acre. This is to me a total Shrek green creme. It's kinda ugly, yet I really like it on my skin! It applied to perfection in 3 thin coats.

And here's plate M64 in Sparitual Thunder Road :D

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Nails Inc Primrose Hill Road :D

2010-03-19T23:28:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

After looking for a while, I finally managed to get my hands on this beauty. Nails Inc Primrose Hill Road is a neon coral-ish red with some pink tones and some orange tones too. It's also a jelly, but since I don't particular like jellies I did 4 thin coats to hide most of my nail line. 3 thin or maybe even 2 was even already though so enough for jelly-lovers :D I think this is definitely my favorite red to date!

And here it is with flowers from plate M60 in Konad White :D Weirdly the pinkish base bled through my top coat and turned the stamping pink? lol

Enjoy and have a great weekend!! :D

Revlon Peach Petal :D

2010-03-18T20:27:00.001-04:00

Good evening!

2 weeks ago I went shopping to the drugstore with my $55 GC, and the Revlon pastels caught my eye. I love peach polish, but they never work on my skin. Well Peach Petal is the exception! It's a slightly sheer and streaky milky stark peach pastel, and I think it totally works on my warmer skin :D I had to do 4 thin coats instead of 3, but that probably means it's a 3-coater for most of you ;-)

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Nails Inc Seven Dials :D

2010-03-15T10:58:00.002-04:00

Good morning!

Here's another one of my newly arrived Nails Inc. Seven Dials is a fantastic medium green creme, and it applied beautifully and was opaque and even in 3 thin coats.

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Milani Fresh Teal :D

2010-03-13T11:22:00.002-05:00

Good morning!

A quick post before I leave for the pool showing you a recent arrival. Milani Fresh Teal is an awesome teal neon that was even and opaque in 3 thin coats as usual. It's more green than the pic shows, closer to the bottle color actually :-)

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Nails Inc Pembroke Close :D

2010-03-09T21:28:00.002-05:00

Good evening!

Here's another one of my new Nails Inc, Pembroke Close. This one is a fantastic medium purple creme and was perfectly even and smooth in 3 thin coats. The pics are in the shade so imagine the color is a touch brighter and less blue in real life ;-)

So now, what do you put over such a pretty base color without overpowering it? I went with this delicate pattern from plate M79 in Sparitual Quiet Storm and I love it :D

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Nails Inc pretties :D

2010-03-01T14:49:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon!

Something different for today... quick swatches (no base or top coat) of some of my newly arrived Nails Inc pretties :D

Wimpole Street:

Eccleston Mews (just a tad pinker IRL):

Dean Street (close to ChG Red Pearl):

Beaumont Street:

Buckingham Palace:

Portman Place:

Clerkenwell:

Duke Street (a bit more purple IRL, like a greyed purple):

Portland Place:

Hope you enjoy and have a great day!! :D

CC Pink Rush :D

2010-02-25T12:29:00.003-05:00

Good afternoon!!

I was busy last week with a swim meet so what better to paint my nails with than a blinding hot pink neon? Color Club Pink Rush is such a great color! It dries a bit darker and slightly more orange-pink than in the bottle, and needed 3 thin coats to be opaque and even :D I just love it! It's brighter in real life than the pic shows, and I color-corrected the pic too because it was photographing bright orange lol.

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

LA Colors Magnetic Force :D

2010-02-19T08:47:00.002-05:00

Good morning!

I found a new polish display at my super small drugstore last week, and you'll know right away why it caught my eye even though I wasn't looking for polish! LA Colors Color Craze Magnetic Force is a fantastic radioactive coral neon with gold shimmer. It looks pinkish coral in the bottle, but much more orange on the nail :D It's a bit pinker IRL and much much brighter than the pics.

And seeing as I just received my new Konad plates last week, I thought the animal pattern from M78 would be just perfect :D

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Nails Inc Kings Road :D

2010-02-15T10:08:00.002-05:00

Good morning!

I love cremes... I've had this slightly shimmery pastel lavender Nails Inc sitting in my helmer drawer for months, and I finally decided to try it thinking I probably wouldn't like it. Well turns out I was wrong lol! I really like Kings Road, it's a super pretty pastel pinkish lavender with subtle gold shimmer that only shows in strong sunlight :D It applied like butter in 3 thin coats. The color is a bit pinker in real life as the pics show.

And I added the houndstooth pattern from plate M63 in ChG Grape Pop, and I just love this! :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

H&M Bella's Choice :D

2010-02-09T10:05:00.003-05:00

Good morning!

Here it is, my new all-time favorite polish!!! H&M Bella's Choice is the perfect bright turquoise creme for me!! I've actually just gotten my hands on a backup since the bottle is so tiny ;-) Application was very nice in 3 thin coats, and I wore my notd/kotd for 4 days :D It's actually greener than the pics show, tho the KOTD pic is closer to real life.

I was thinking about doing a full nail design over BC, but when going through my plates this particular design from plate M54 caught my eye :D Just love it!

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

ChG Something Sweet :D

2010-02-07T20:18:00.003-05:00

Good evening!

Here's another one from the recent China Glaze Up & Away collection. Something Sweet is a light, but somewhat bright pink creme that looks like it has a light lavender undertone that makes it pop on my warmish skin. I used 3 thin coats as usual, and by the 3rd coat it was even and opaque :D It's a bit more pink than the pics show.

I added a pattern from plate M64 in Sparitual Provocateur, and I LOVE it!! I wore that KOTD for 3 days straight until it was too chipped to keep ;-)

Enjoy and have a great week!! :D

Nails Inc Miami Purple :D

2010-02-06T17:06:00.003-05:00

Good afternoon!

Boy I suck at updating :-( Anyways, here's an awesome purple jelly I wore last week, Nails Inc Miami Purple. Now I don't normally like jellies as I don't like to have VNLs, so I did 4 thin coats on this one and it was opaque enough for me :D Unfortunately, using an extra coat made the polish chip faster than usual on me but it still wore nice for 2 days.

And I added a cute little flower design from plate M69 in ChG Lemon Fizz (yes it works great for Konad!) :D

Enjoy and have a great Saturday night! :D

ChG Happy Go Lucky :D

2010-01-29T22:31:00.003-05:00

Good evening!

I'm back with a new post!! I know it's been a long time, but I've just been feeling too uninspired and too tired to do my nails for most of January :-( Anyways, I received 8 of the ChG Up & Away last week so this week I started with Happy Go Lucky to make me happy. Well turns out it's the perfect buttery sunny yellow creme!!! It applied perfectly for me in 3 thin coats :D

And I added a cute blue-green konad design from plate m73 in ChG Four Leaf Clover :D

Enjoy and have a great weekend!! :D

Essie Mint Candy Apple :D

2010-01-14T21:48:00.001-05:00

Good evening!

I finally convinced myself to edit some pics so here my last mani of 2009, Essie Mint Candy Apple! It's an amazing bright pastel green creme that really pops against my neutral warm skin, and it's made its way into my top 20 for sure!! Unfortunately it ended up snowing or being cloudy all the time I wore it so my pics just don't do it justice :(

I decided to add some konad using plate S6 in Princess Pop Green, and since my stamping wasn't perfect enough for me I topped it with ChG Glacier and wow did that work!! I wore that kotd a week lol :O

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

China Glaze Poolside - Summer 2010!

2010-01-08T17:03:00.003-05:00

Good afternoon!

I'm currently away on training camp in (cold) Florida, and I've been feeling pretty lazy wrt changing manis and taking pics so today I thought I'd post the promo pics for the Summer 2010 China Glaze collection that will be available next April.

"Introducing Poolside by China Glaze!

Dive into summer with these hot neon hues! No matter where you are this summer, China Glaze takes you poolside with 6 new juicy neons. Vibrant colors add bright, dare to bare deliciousness to your manicure and pedicure. Dip your toes (and fingers!) into a bolt of lightening blue, kiwi cool-ada green, poppy pinks and candy-colored citruses. Bold, brilliant polishes are the perfect accessory to any summer wardrobe!"

The Poolside Collection by China Glaze – Swim in Colour.

Pool Party - neon dark pink creme
Flip Flop Fantasy - neon coral creme
Sun Worshiper - neon tangerine creme
Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - neon yellow creme
Kiwi Cool-Ada - neon green creme
Towel Boy Toy - neon blue creme with a hint of irridesence

What do you think, don't you agree this looks like my very own collection? ;-) I don't think I've ever looked forward that much to a collection, and I'm actually most likely going to try to get my hands on the display to put on top of the Helmers!!!

Enjoy this summer preview and hopefully I'll be back soon with new pics :D

Essie Ruby Slippers :D

2009-12-29T19:08:00.002-05:00

Good evening!!

After a few days of pondering, I settled on Essie Ruby Slippers for my Christmas mani, and although I wasn't too sure at first it certainly grew on me! I ended up wearing it 3 or 4 days and fixing the little chips along :D Great red jelly with magenta and gold glitter it seems on my skin, it was opaque after 3 thin coats. The gold glitter didn't show as much IRL as it does in the pic, the magenta/burgundy was way more prominent!

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

OPI Dear Santa :D

2009-12-27T13:32:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon!!

I don't tend to wear reds often, but after trying on OPI Dear Santa last week I just might have to change that! DS is the most wonderful red infused w/ red and gold microglitter :D It's quite warm tho, but it fits perfectly with my warm skin tone :D It is definitely my all-time favorite red now.

And here's one more Christmas-y konadicure using the holly from plate M12 in Princess Deep Jungle Pearl polish. I wore that one for 4 days!

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

FP Evergreen Dream :D

2009-12-25T19:30:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Now that I'm back home, here's another of last week's manis, FingerPaints Evergreen Dream. This is a fantastic dark green shimmer that is opaque and even in only 2 thin coats! :D

And here's another Christmas-y konadicure using plate M12 and ChG 2030 (sorry for the blurry pic) :D

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

CC Wild At Heart :D

2009-12-22T10:55:00.000-05:00

Good morning!!

Just a quick post before I'm off for some last minute Christmas shopping (for my SO!!) and then to the pool. CC Wild At Heart is a great slightly holo/glittery purple, and it applies like a charm in 2 thin coats :D

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

SW Charming :D

2009-12-18T11:36:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon!

Here's my first ever Street Wear, Charming. It's an amazing tealish blue glitter that made me fall in love!! This is 3 coats of Charming over 1 coat of ChG Millenium :D

And here's my first Christmas-y mani of the year, using plate M12 and ChG Millenium :D I LOVE it!!

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

Island Girl Surfer Babe :D

2009-12-17T20:28:00.002-05:00

Good evening!!

I just got the results from my shoulder MRI I had last week... I have a SLAP tear, part of the labrum also detached from the bone, and a tear in my supraspinatus tendon :( Trying cortisone injection next week to see if it will help manage the pain so I can keep training.

Enough of that so here's another recent NOTD, Island Girl Surfer Babe. This is one fantastic neon!!! I tried to color-correct the pic, but it's still 100000x brighter in real life! Like a green-turquoise pop :D

Enjoy and I'll be back soon with more :D

More Nails Inc :D

2009-12-12T19:25:00.003-05:00

Good evening!

I spent a few days having to configure my SO's new laptop and reinstall Windows 7 on my own laptop so I've finally been able to edit and upload some new pics! Here are 2 very nice Nails Inc cremes that I wasn't sure about at first, but ended up loving on my warm skin :D First up is Carnaby Street, a very much mustard-like yellow that applies pretty nicely in 3 thin coats.

And now, here's Nails Inc Battersea Park, a fantastic dusty army green! Application was perfect in only 2 coats IIRC.

And here's Battersea Park topped with Creative Limelight :D I'm not sure why the pic shows such a different hue for the polish, but IRL you could only see the flakies!

Enjoy and have a great weekend! :D

ChG Aqua Baby :D

2009-12-04T15:02:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon!

I bought this polish a couple of weeks ago due to swapper's remorse over having swapped away ChG Shower Together (they are the same color, but different formula it seems). Well I'm so glad I followed my gut! Aqua Baby is this wonderful medium bright aqua/teal creme that applies perfectly in 2 thin coats. I wore that mani for 6 days with only having a few touch-ups to do here and there :D The color IRL is a tad more green/teal than the pics show.

And on the 2nd day I added a pretty Konad design from plate M70 in Konad White polish. ♥ ♥

Enjoy and have a great weekend!! :D

Nails Inc Hollywood :D

2009-11-30T11:15:00.002-05:00

Good morning!

I just got back from my swim meet in Toronto, so I'm once again playing catchup on my recent NOTDs. Nails Inc Hollywood is one of four colors from The Hills collection, and it is the one that caught my eye the quickest ;-) It's a wonderful neon pink creme that goes on like butter in 3 thin coats and dries matte so needs some glossy top coat to really shine. Just awesome and would've made my MUA top 20 if I had worn it a day earlier! It's brighter and more neon IRL as with most neons.

And now for the requisite konadicure, I used one of my favorite patterns from plate m64 in Konad Black polish :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

OPI Sapphire In the Snow :D

2009-11-22T16:38:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon!

Having just recently received a few holiday OPIs in the mail, I decided to take a short break from the brights and neons and wear Sapphire In the Snow. This is such an amazing dark purple creme!! It's perfectly opaque and smooth in only 2 coats, and doesn't look black in most lights (at least on my skin) :D On me it's more of a purple than a blurple, so definitely a bit more purple than the pics show.

And here's a (imo) pretty cute Konad design I added from plate M73 in special white polish... I adore how it looks!

Enjoy and have a great week! :D

Jessica King Tut's Gem :D

2009-11-19T11:32:00.002-05:00

Good morning!!

I love light bright blues, I really do. So when I say Jessica King Tut's Gem has now become my favorite blue, it's not for lack of competition! KTG is a bright almost neon sky blue that has very subtle shimmer so it almost looks like a creme but it's not. Application was perfect in only 2 coats which is very rare for me, and the wear was very good too :D

And as I had a swim meet last Saturday I decided to add some flames from plate M73 in Konad White over :D Love!

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

ChG Meteor Shower :D

2009-11-18T16:53:00.001-05:00

Good evening!

Well my RBL Teal mani lasted me 4 days before chipping off to much... and I was too lazy to remove it so I just slapped on a coat of ChG Meteor Shower on top and voila!! Just a wonderfully sparkly dark navy jelly :D

Enjoy and I'll be back soon with some more :D

RBL Teal :D

2009-11-13T19:46:00.002-05:00

Good evening!

I don't own many high end polishes, but boy am I glad I sprung for this one! RBL Teal is a fantastic dark teal creme that has the best formula ever and such a nice application! Unfortunately it's not the easiest polish to photograph so please consider that my pic does not do it justice at all!

After 2 days I had to add some Konad, but I didn't want to detract too much from the unadulterated beauty of Teal so I chose a simple design from plate M39 in CC Worth the Risque. So awesome, and possibly my favorite konadicure ever!

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Orgasm Cosmetics I Dare You! :D

2009-11-11T20:35:00.002-05:00

Good evening!

Here's a pretty cool green a friend of mine sent me as a surprise, Orgasm Cosmetics I Dare You! :-) The formula is great and it applied very nicely. I'm also still chuckling at the cheeky names lol!

And I added some Konad from plate M65 in Princess Psyche Pink, but I wasn't that sold on the finished mani :-/

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Halloween mani!! :D

2009-11-08T19:15:00.001-05:00

Good evening!!

Yes I know I'm late and that Halloween was over a week ago, but still here's the mani I wore for a few days around that time. I used 2 coats of OPI Ghostess with the Mostess (glow in the dark) over a coat of Misa Heaven White, and added some black Konad from plate M70 :D I loved that mani, and people around me did as well LOL!!

Enjoy and have a great week! :D

OPI Mod About You :D

2009-11-05T17:58:00.001-05:00

Good evening!

OPI Mod About You is another color I wore last week while in Florida. It is one of my favorite colors, and one of a very select few I own a backup of. I feel it's just the perfect pink whiteout, and it totally pops against my tanned skin! This is an older pic as I couldn't get anything decent this time around.

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Essie Pink Parka :D

2009-11-04T11:00:00.002-05:00

Good morning!

I am finally back home after a little over 2 weeks in Florida and tho I must say it's good to be home, I really miss the warmth and sun :-( Anyways, I just finished editing my latest NOTD pics so here's a great one from last week, Essie Pink Parka! I topped it with 2 coats of ChG Snow Globe (again) to hide all the bubbles I got on application (boo!), but I adore how it turned out!

And since I hadn't konaded for a while, I decided to add some flames to my explosive pink mani using plate M73 in Konad Black polish :D

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

ChG Dreamsicle & Milani Colorful In Coral :D

2009-10-27T16:08:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!!

I'm still in sunny Florida until Sunday, so in the meantime here's another NOTD from last week, ChG Dreamsicle. I layered 2 coats over Milani Juicy Glo (neon orange creme) and it is just totally awesome! :D

And my current pedi, Milani Colorful In Coral with OPI Mod About You polka dots :D I've gotten quite a few compliments lol!

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Massini Neon Caution & ChG Snow Globe :D

2009-10-21T20:26:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

Back to a true "me" mani for this one ;-) I intended to use only Massini Neon Caution (almost dupe of CC Yell-Oh) but SV bubbled like mad over my 4 coats of polish... I loved the color but didn't want to redo, so I decided to add 2 thin coats of ChG Snow Globe on top! I just love the end result, and it wore extremely well, enduring swimming and training for 4 days :D

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

SH Project Runway & ChG Shooting Stars :D

2009-10-18T18:51:00.004-04:00

Good evening!

I'm currently away on a training camp in Florida, but I thought I'd take the time to catch up on some more recent NOTDs :D Sally Hansen Project Runway is one of the most beautiful greens I own, and it is definitely my favorite SH green! It seems to be, at least for the moment, a Canadian exclusive collection tho. I wore that one for 3 days straight ;-)

Here's my current pedi, 1 coat of ChG Shooting Stars over 2 coats of OPI DS Glamour (please excuse the blister on my toe...). This is just so awesome and sparkly!

Enjoy and have a great week! :D

Jessica Butterfly Kisses & ChG Blue Hawaiian :D

2009-10-14T09:06:00.002-04:00

Good morning!

First up, here's Jessica Butterfly Kisses, a very pretty and sparkly blue. I thought it would be too frosty in the shade, but as the inset shows the microglitter prevents that :D

But I wasn't completely satisfied so when more ChG glitters showed up in the mail and I saw Blue Hawaiian, I just had to use it! I added 2 coats of BH over my Butterfly Kisses mani and the result is spectacular! BH has multicolored glitter that actually shows on the nail even tho it doesn't show in the pic.

Finally, I added a subtle Konad design from plate M61 in ChG Passion and I loved that! :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

RBL Scrangie :D :D

2009-10-10T12:19:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

Please say hello to the most beautiful purple ever, RBL Scrangie! This is another one of the RBL bloggers' polishes created by the genius Scrangie and it does not disappoint! I waited a long time before finally caving because I mistakenly thought it wouldn't look good on my warmer skin, but I am so glad I finally bought it! In fact, I'm considering buying a backup because I love it so much :D A picture is worth a 1000 words so.. ;-)

After 2 days I decided to add some subtle Konad so as not to detract too much from the original beauty. I chose plate M63 in SH Silver Straits, and wore that mani for another 2 days :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

SH Sun Kissed :D

2009-10-09T13:09:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon!

How about an early Halloween mani? SH Sun Kissed is a super pretty tangerine creme (more tangerine IRL than the pics show), and it applied pretty well. Unfortunately I'm not sure if it's the right orange for my skin and I didn't end up loving as much as in the bottle :'(

I added some black Konad (here's Halloween!) with plate M60, but once again that mani didn't last very long as mail the next day brought a beauty I just couldn't resist (soon to come) ;-)

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

SH Rockstar Pink :D

2009-10-07T19:04:00.001-04:00

Good evening!!

A few days ago I decided to try another NFU Oh holo, #64. I can't remember who suggested that applying much thicker coats actually worked better, but it really does! It was opaque and even in 2 coats. Unfortunately, once again I love the look in sunshine, but just am not loving the finish indoors :-(

I didn't have time to do another mani from the start, so I decided to slap on some SH Rockstar Pink and the result is fabulous!! Tho apparently this isn't as in-your-face as my usual manis according to my coach lol :D

Enjoy and have a great evening!! :D

ChG Atlantis :D

2009-10-04T16:09:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post since the last time :-( Anyways, here's China Glaze Atlantis, the first of the new glitters I've tried. This is an amazing color!! I layered 2 coats of Atlantis over 1 coat of ChG Adore (the blue Romantique) to get it perfectly opaque :D

As usual I was looking for something to add and I settled on the little stars from plate M3 in SH Silver Straits polish. I adore the end result!

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Milani Brilliant In Blue & Sparkling Blue :D

2009-09-29T10:35:00.002-04:00

Good morning!!

I was lucky enough to have some sweet friends in the US who picked up most of the Milani Back To Colors (?) polishes for me. Brilliant In Blue is the first one I tried, and I love it! It's a bright blue creme, not neon and not sky blue. Please excuse the patched up index finger... didn't survive the morning practice ;-)

And here is it's matching holo glitter, Sparkling Blue. I just added 2 coats on top of BIB, but it's opaque on its own as well. As the base of SB is a creme, the glitter doesn't show as much as in the bottle, but I really like it that way!

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Barry M Bright Red & NFU Oh #45 :D

2009-09-28T12:53:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!!

A few days ago I was challenged to wear red tips as I very rarely do so. I ended up using Barry M Bright Red which is one of my favorite red cremes. Application was pretty good in 3 thin coats, but unfortunately there was no sun so instead here's a swatch pic from a few months ago :D

On the 2nd day I decided to play with one of my new NFU Ohs, #45, so I added 2 coats over my red mani and I really like how it turned out, except it might be just a tad too orange for my tips...

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

New look and new domain!!

2009-09-27T19:16:00.001-04:00

Good evening!!

I've been playing with redoing my blog layout for a few weeks now, and I finally had the time to finish everything today so here it is!! I hope you guys enjoy it :D I've also transferred my blog to my very own domain at astrokeofcolor.ca, but the blogspot address will still work and redirect. Please let me know if you have any problems!

Nails Inc Brewer Street

2009-09-27T08:06:00.002-04:00

Good morning!

Here's another polish from my online UK shopping trip. Nails Inc Brewer Street, it turns out, is like the perfect pastel green for my warm skin tone! Honestly it looks like it could be part of the Nubar pastel collection that I like so much and replace Green Tea ;-) Application was perfect in 3 thin coats.

And here's one of my favorite konadicures ever! I used plate M64 and Nubar Lavender :D

Enjoy and have a great Sunday! :D

Quirius Belmont Garden :D

2009-09-26T22:22:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

Once again catching up on my posts.. here's Quirius Belmont Garden. This is a super bright green neon that is actually very close to Color Club Wild Child. Application was great in 3 thin coats :D It's much much brighter in real life of course!

And I had to add some Konad of course! I chose the zebra stripes from plate M57 in Konad White polish.

Enjoy and have a great weekend! :D

Nails Inc Bubble Trouble :D

2009-09-23T19:46:00.001-04:00

Good evening!

Here's another one of the ASOS Nails Inc exclusives I got my hands on thanks to a UK friend, Bubble Trouble. This one is a bright pink creme with maybe just a touch of coral in it, somewhere between Nails Inc Shoreditch (which I've already shown) and Nails Inc Festival Pier :D

Unfortunately this mani didn't survive my swim practice so I had to remove it before I could Konad :-( He he enjoy and have a great evening! :D

SH Xtreme Wears :D

2009-09-20T22:56:00.004-04:00

Good evening!

Here's one of the newish (to me!) Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear cremes I picked up at Walmart last week. Green With Envy is a perfect apple green creme (or wasabi apparently) :D It was completely opaque and even in 3 thin coats.

And with a cute fishnet from Konad plate M57 in Konad White polish.

And here's another one of the cremes I picked up, Mellow Yellow. This one is a very smooth bright yellow creme that's not quite neon, and was also opaque and even in 3 thin coats!

And with a houndstooth pattern from Konad plate M63 in Konad Black polish. This was my very first time using this pattern, and it resulted in one of my all-time favorites konadicures!!

Enjoy and have a great week! :D

No name blue glitter :D

2009-09-19T18:24:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon!

Here's a fabulous blue glitter one of my friends found in a LA dusty. It came along with a whole family of similar glitters I really need to get out and wear soon ;-) This is 3 thin coats, and the glitter is pretty smooth with only 1 coat of top coat.

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

RBL Orbis Non Sufficit :D

2009-09-16T20:52:00.003-04:00

Good evening!!

I don't often buy higher end polishes, but I could not resist getting this fabulous green from the bloggers' collection! Stephanie created this amazing classy dusty forest green creme, and it is everything I expected :D This is 2 thin coats.

And here's a cute Konad Scrangie suggested would look cute, and wow was she right! I used image plate M70 and Nubar Lemon Sorbet.

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

FF Teeny Bikini Pink :D

2009-09-11T19:20:00.002-04:00

Good evening!!

Here's another pretty neon for tonight, Funky Fingers Teeny Bikini Pink :D Like many of the FF colors, this is the exact same as Color Club Electro Candy and I love it just as much! It's a really bright pink with aqua shimmer.

And here is my attempt at making konad flames using image plate M63 and Konad Black polish. I love it so much!

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

CND Silicone Smile :D

2009-09-10T11:55:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon!

I've always liked glittery white polishes, but find that many have horrific application and coverage. Creative Nail Design Silicone Smile is totally the opposite! It was almost perfectly opaque and even in 2 coats, but I added a 3rd for good measure. Unfortunately it seems I was a huge klutz that night because I kept hitting my nails everywhere and denting & smudging my mani :-( I therefore decided to add a pretty Konad pattern to hide the imperfections! I used image plate M61 and Konad Black polish to get my cow konadicure :D

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

NFU Oh #65 :D

2009-09-07T18:10:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

Here is another NFU Oh I finally dug up to wear, #65. It is a super smooth light blue holo that looks truly spectacular in sunlight, but I am still unsure of whether I like it in other lighting... It's so smooth it almost looks frosty when the holo disappears :/ It also was a real PITA to apply, and I needed 3-4 very thin coats to finally get it opaque and even. For these holos, you need to let your base coat dry completely, and then wait longer between the coats to avoid cuticle drag and bald spots, and also let it dry before applying the top coat.

And here is a cute hearts french tip from image plate M73 in Princess Deep Jungle polish.

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

NFU Oh #46 :D

2009-09-05T16:25:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

This past week was glitter/holo week over at MUA so I decided to finally try one of my unworn NFU Ohs, #46. I used 2 coats over my Banana Bandanna mani (but the polish stands on its own in 2-3 coats) and the result was absolutely amazing! My tips looked like sparkly live flames :D The color is maybe just a tad less orange than the pic, but definitely that bright!

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

OPI Banana Bandanna :D

2009-09-02T20:19:00.001-04:00

Good evening!

I waited a long time before deciding I needed to try OPI Banana Bandanna because it seemed everyone was saying how hard to apply and streaky it was... Well it turns out it wasn't that bad at all, and it is a very pretty pastel yellow! I used 4 very thin coats and it was completely even and opaque :D

Enjoy and have a great evening!! :D

Amoresse Mambo Madness :D

2009-08-31T14:18:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

Today, I want to show you the most amazing glitter/holo I've ever seen! Yes I'm a creme girl, but Amoresse Mambo Madness completely stole my heard :D It's a bit like a lavender version of OPI Paris Couture For Sure or CC Magic Attraction and is as blingy as you could imagine. I used 3 thin coats (sometimes 4) on my tips to get it completely opaque and even, but my matching pedi only required 2 coats of this beauty.

And how about a subtle Konad patttern to go with the bling? I used Princess Violet Pearl polish and plate M73 :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

Zoya Envy :D

2009-08-30T19:12:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

I received this polish from a friend of mine who felt it was too warm for her skin tone... and boy how pretty it is! Zoya Envy is a blackened green creme that almost seems to have very subtle shimmer. It does tend to look black in low light, but I love it anyways! It also applied very nicely in 2 (or 3?) thin coats.

And for day 2 I added some tone on tone Konad using plate M70 and Princess Apple Green polish :-)

Enjoy and have a great week!! :D

Icing Grape A Licious :D

2009-08-27T13:17:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!!

Last week while I was visiting my parents, I dropped by Icing (there are none in my home province) and fell in love with Grape A Licious at first sight. This is what ChG Flying Dragon looks like in the bottle, and a few shades lighter than what FD dries to. It's an almost neon blurple purple with tons of magenta and turquoise glitter :D Unfortunately it was a pain to remove, but who cares? LOL Both pics make it look just a bit more blue than it really is.

And I decided to try for some polka dots using Massini Infusion. I think it looks prettier in real life as the dots don't jump out as much.

Enjoy and have a nice day!! :D

Illamasqua Rare :D

2009-08-25T12:08:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon!

I don't usually like buying more expensive polishes, but I had to make an exception for Illamasqua Rare once it showed up in the US. I have to say this is probably *the* best highlighter yellow neon I've ever tried on! It is opaque on its own in 3 thin coats without requiring a coat or 2 of white polish under :D Unfortunately, it seems that the weather was too hot and humid so it applied absolutely horribly, while my swatch (which is shown here) was flawless :-(

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Barry M Shocking Pink :D

2009-08-23T21:24:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

I've been away at my parents' for a few days, but I'm back tonight with a fabulous bright pink NOTD, Barry M Shocking Pink :D It's such a pretty pink, and it applied like butter and wore really well too!

And here it is with some awesome Konad pattern from plate M69 in Konad White polish :D

Enjoy and have a great week! :D

Orly Pixie Dust :D

2009-08-13T20:10:00.002-04:00

Good evening!!

How many people ever thought I'd fall in love with a gray polish? Well I sure didn't, but I've just fallen for Orly Pixie Dust. It is the perfect glittery gray for my skin tone with the slight periwinkle/lavender undertone and glass flecks! I wore it for 3 days with no chips at all :D

I wanted to add some Konad but it took me 2 days to find the perfect combo LOL! I ended up using CC Fashion Addict which is somewhat similar in tone and I love how it turned out! Plate is M65 (it's a little hard to see the pattern because of the holo).

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Nubar Hot Green & Hot Fuchsia pedi :D

2009-08-13T14:29:00.001-04:00

Good afternoon!!

I've fallen in love with polka-dotted pedis, so here's my latest one. The base is Nubar Hot Green which might just be my favorite green neon and is completely opaque in 2 coats! I used Nubar Hot Fuchsia for the polka-dots which are unfortunately uneven since I didn't have very good lighting last night.

Enjoy and have a nice day!

CC Explosive :D

2009-08-12T13:33:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon!!

Catching up again... here's Color Club Explosive, a fabulous super neon tangerine yellow :D It's more orange in real life as the pic shows, but absolutely impossible to photograph accurately... It's almost jellyish with a glossy top coat too!

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Ciate Refresher :D

2009-08-10T22:41:00.002-04:00

Good evening!

I have a new favorite light blue!! Ciate Refresher is an amazing pastel blue that has a slight lavender undertone which makes it completely unique in my collection! The formula was a little thick for my taste, but nothing a couple of drops of thinner won't fix :-) It is kinda like a lighter BB Couture Zuma Wave Rider which I also loved.

And I added some Konad using plate M72 and Nubar Lemon Sorbet, but I think I liked it better on its own...

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Nails Inc Portobello Market :D

2009-08-09T12:12:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon!

Here is Nails Inc Portobello Market, released last spring with 3 other pastels (including Spitalfields which I showed you just a few days ago). This one is a pastel orange, but it leans on the peach side when compared to Nubar Orange Cream for example. Completely different color for me, but I like it! It pops a bit more against my skin than the pics show tho.

And here it is topped with MakeUp Store Linnea, which I got thanks to a good friend from Sweden :D

I've also been testing Diamond Cosmetics' Super Dry top coat for the last couple of weeks, and I have to say I like it very much! I'm not completely sure about how quickly it dries (since I use quick-dry drops on top), but it doesn't give me bubbles like OTD has been doing of late :-)

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

BB Couture Love Drunk :D

2009-08-06T21:04:00.002-04:00

Good evening everyone!

Here's another very recent NOTD, BB Couture for Nails Love Drunk. This is an awesome sparkly foily hot pink, and I love it!! Unfortunately for LD I've been feeling cremes a lot lately so it only stayed on for one day before I changed my mani ;-)

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Nails Inc Pool :D

2009-08-05T19:13:00.004-04:00

Good evening everyone!

Here's a fabulous royal blue creme I wore a few days ago, Nails Inc Pool. This one also was an ASOS exclusive I managed to get my hands on thanks once again to my UK friend :D It applied amazingly just like most of my Nails Inc.

And here it is with image plate M64 in ChG L8R G8R :D

And something I don't do often, but here's my current pedi pic. I normally don't post pedi pics, but this one is too cool to hide ;-)

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Nails Inc Satin :D

2009-07-31T20:19:00.002-04:00

Hello again!

I got my hands on this ASOS exclusive with the help of a sweet UK friend, and I am so happy I did! Nails Inc Satin is a gorgeous pastel aqua green creme that is similar to China Glaze For Audrey but on the green side. It applied perfectly and also wore really well :D It's maybe a tad greener than my pic here shows.

After the first day I of course decided to add some Konad to it, and I chose plate M41 with Konad White polish. Inspired by this post from a good friend, I added some Art Club Yellow polka dots to my daisies, and the result is very nice and much better IRL!

Enjoy and have a great weekend! :D

BB Couture Crusin Konad :D

2009-07-31T17:19:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!

I've been so busy I completely forgot I'd promised to show you my konadicure! So here it is, image plate M70 in Princess Yellow polish :D And I found the perfect description for Crusin, it's creamsicle!! That's exactly what it looks like :D

Enjoy and I'll be back shortly with another NOTD! :D

BB Couture Crusin :D

2009-07-26T15:24:00.005-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!

BB Couture Crusin is a new color that is part of the limited edition Hot Rod collection. It is a bright but somewhat pastel (does that make sense?) buttery orange creme, and it applied very nicely in 3 thin coats. I often have problems with oranges clashing too much against my skin tone, but this one is definitely a great one! I also really like the quality of BB Couture polishes and have some more on their way to me as we speak ;-) The color is more buttery in real life, not as yellow orange I guess.

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

Diamond Cosmetics Fall 09 collection :D

2009-07-24T20:13:00.003-04:00

Good evening everyone!

Tonight I have something a little different to show you. I just received Diamond Cosmetics' Fall 09 collection and 2 more of their past colors, and I had a great time trying them on earlier today. I had never heard of this brand until a few months ago, but I must say I am very impressed with the quality and color range, and even better since they only cost $2 (or $2.50 for some colors). They are available online at diamondcosmetics.com. All of the swatches are 2 coats with no base or top coat as I had to hurry up while the sun was shining ;-)

Sweet As Sugar - shimmery blush nude. This is a great nude glitter/shimmer that reminds me of OPI Hollywood Blonde on steroids. Even tho I never wear nudes and sheers, I think this one looks very neat on its own, but I suspect it would be smashing layered over darker colors!

So Berry Sweet - sweet raspberry shade. This is a wonderful bright pink berry creme that was incredibly smooth to apply. The bottle color is most accurate in the pic.

Never So Evergreen - deep forest green with golden shimmer. This is imo the most unique color of the collection, and it is also my favorite! I would say it is a slightly dusty forest green with multitonal gold shimmer, and although slightly thicker than the cremes, it applied very well too. I have nothing in my stash that looks like this :D

Plum Pie In the Sky - deep, rich plum shade with a soft charcoal undertone. The description is right on. This is like a slightly lighter and more dusty OPI Siberian Nights. I think the grey undertone makes it look very sophisticated. The bottle color is more accurate, altho it is still a bit more purple/plum in real life, and the application was good once again.

The Naughty Intern - rich red. This to me is a slightly brownish vampy red creme. It applied really well too, but is just a tad too brown for my skin tone. Vampy girls will love it tho!

Angelic - sheer ivory. Now everybody here knows I almost always wear brights and pastels so this is definitely a color that's out of my comfort zone. To be honest, I don't think I would ever wear it, but putting my personal taste aside, it looks like a nice not-too-streaky offwhite sheer. I think it might also be opaque if using 3 or 4 coats which would give it a completely different look. Please excuse the extremely stained and uneven nails in this pic!

So this is it for the fall collection! I really am digging these colors! Never So Evergreen, Plum Pie In the Sky and Sweet As Sugar (who would have thought!) are my favorites, while I really like So Berry Sweet too. As I've said before, they all applied very (or relatively very) well and were all good to go in only 2 coats which is very rare for me. I now have 2 more colors to show you, and wow are they hot!

Romance. This is a super bright and obnoxious red creme, and it's HOT! Really nothing more to say ;-)

Don't Teal My Heart Away. My favorite by far!!! This color was created for the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month (September) and Diamond Cosmetics will be donating a portion of the proceeds from each sale to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition :D Besides that, this is an incredible teal creme and I am in love!

Well that's it for tonight so enjoy and have a great weekend! :D

Nails Inc Spitalfields :D

2009-07-21T22:09:00.002-04:00

Good evening everyone!!

Here's my latest NOTD, Nails Inc Spitalfields. This is a super pretty pastel yellow creme that applied better than most pale yellows, but would still need some thinner to eliminate the bubbles I got ;-)

And here it is after adding a pattern from Konad plate M60 in Konad Metallic Pink polish :D Totally love it!

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

LA Girl Hustle :D

2009-07-20T15:25:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!

Well I'm getting behind once again *sigh* so here's a pretty cool color I wore last week, LA Girl Hustle. It's part of the Disco Brites collection and supposedly glows under UV light, but I haven't tested that claim yet ;-) Hustle is a bright blurple creme that is unfortunately impossible to photograph accurately... this pic is only a swatch from a few weeks back w/ no base or top coat as it's the most accurate one I could get!

And I couldn't resist adding a Konad pattern on top so I chose plate M72 and Konad White polish. I love the result!

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

Barielle Swizzle Stix :D

2009-07-17T09:59:00.004-04:00

Good morning everyone!!

I'm a little late (again), but here's another one of last weeks NOTDs, Barielle Swizzle Stix. It's a very pretty light blue creme that's a bit lighter and brighter than OPI Just Groovy, and it applied very well in 3 thin coats.

Of course I couldn't just wear a light blue creme for more than a day, so I added a Konad pattern from plate M74 in Konad Blue polish, and since I wasn't completely happy with it, I topped everything with a coat of Sinful Hottie :D I ended up wearing this one for 3 days or so, and you can see how "long" my nails are lol!

Enjoy and have a great day! :D

Essie Punchy Pink (redux) :D

2009-07-14T22:13:00.003-04:00

Good evening everyone!!

I apologize for being away for a little while but I has my swim nationals last week so I was a little busy ;-) I wanted to wear something popping for my races so I settled on Essie Punchy Pink which is my all-time favorite neon pink. This is 3 coats.

I also decided to add some flakies on top to make it even more blinding :o I used Colorama Ruby Rays and I absolutely loved the end result! It darkens just slightly the base color, and the flakies flash orange!

Enjoy and have a great evening!! I'll be back tomorrow with some more recent NOTDs :D

Nails Inc The Hurlingham :D

2009-07-06T21:46:00.003-04:00

Good evening everyone!!

Tonight I have another fabulous Nails Inc color for you, The Hurlingham. I received this as an extra in a swap with one of my UK friends, and she couldn't have picked a more awesome color! It's a really obnoxiously bright orange red, and it applied like butter in only 2 coats!!

And last night I added a Konad flower pattern from image plate M64 in Nubar Orange Cream, and I adore the result!!

Enjoy and have a great evening!! :D

Nails Inc Shoreditch :D

2009-07-03T19:42:00.003-04:00

Good evening everyone!!

I think I'm in love... once again ;D Nails Inc Shoreditch is this awesome glossy hot pink creme that looks classic but exciting at the same time. It was the first time I tried Nails Inc, and I was really impressed with how it applied. This color is an instant entry in my running top 20!

And of course I had to add some Konad after one day... so I ended up choosing plate M72 and using the white Konad polish. I absolutely adore the result!! And I will be keeping it for one more day.

Enjoy and have a great evening and weekend!! :D

Zoya Pippa and polka dots! :D

2009-07-02T14:16:00.004-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!

A couple of days ago I decided to give Zoya Pippa a try, and I sure wasn't disappointed! Pippa is a bright, but non neon, buttery yellow creme, and it's totally great! This is a swatch pic with no base or top coats.

As I was wearing CC Bizerk Turq on my toes, I decided to spice my tips up a bit by adding some polka dots :D I loved the end result so much I wore this for 3 days straight and only changed because well I can't stand keeping one color too long!!

Enjoy and I hope you have a great day!! :D

LA Girl Funkadelic :D

2009-06-29T10:48:00.004-04:00

Good morning everyone!!

Here's my weekend NOTD, LA Girl Funkadelic :D It is part of the Disco Brites collection which is supposed to glow under black light, but I haven't tested that part yet lol! Funkadelic is a bright teal-ish blue that looks almost blue in sunlight on my warm skin, and definitely more teal inside. It applied beautifully and was completely opaque and even in only 2 thin coats. This pic is only a swatch with no base or top coats as it shows the color better.

Enjoy and have a great Monday! :D

ChG Blue Island Iced Tea :D

2009-06-25T22:45:00.002-04:00

Good evening everyone!!

Quick post before going to bed... Here's China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea, a beautiful blue foil from the Bahamas Blues collection. This is the 3rd color I wear from that collection, and it is the 3rd color I love! The application is very nice, and the finish is so sparkly that it makes you forget the little bubbles I got ;-) In fact, it is so sparkly in the sun that I had to take the pic facing the sunlight in order to see anything!

I decided I wanted to make this look as swirling water, so I added a swirly pattern from image plate M63 in Konad Princess Blue Peal. I really really like the finished mani! :D

Enjoy and have a great night!! :D

BB Couture Laguna Lagoon :D

2009-06-23T21:59:00.004-04:00

Good evening everyone!

I was super busy last weekend with a swim meet, so here's my NOTD from last Sunday, BB Couture Laguna Lagoon. Once againd it applied beautifully and was totally non-streaky! This might be my favorite pale green yet :D

Enjoy and have a great night!! :D

BB Couture Zuma Wave Rider multicolored KOTD :D

2009-06-20T15:34:00.004-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!!

I'd been thinking about trying a multicolored konadicure for a while now, and when I couldn't decide which color to use over Zuma Wave Rider I decided it was time to do it! I have to say I'm quite pleased with the end result!! This is plate M73 with Nubar Lavender, Orange Cream and Lemon Sorbet for the design :D

Enjoy and have a great day!! :D

BB Couture: Zuma Wave Rider :D

2009-06-17T23:07:00.003-04:00

Good evening everyone!

My NOTD now is BB Couture For Nails Zuma Wave Rider, and now that's much better! I'd describe it as a baby blue creme with a hint of lilac/lavender in the background which really makes it pop against my skin. In fact, it kinda reminds me of OPI Mod About You in how it glows without being a neon :D It's also interesting that it really looks blue until you compare it side by side with a pure blue like OPI Just Groovy, and you can see that slightly in the darker parts of the pic. This was my first time wearing a BB Couture and I have to say I am very impressed by the quality of the polish and the application! You can find these at OverallBeauty.

Enjoy and have a great night! :D

SH Arabian Night :-\

2009-06-17T18:04:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!

Last night I decided to do my mani using Sally Hansen Arabian Night. I've had this color for about a year now, and every time I see the bottle I wonder why I haven't worn it yet, so I decided today was the day ;-) Unfortunately, as much as I love the color in the bottle, it just did not suit me perfectly :-( I think my skin tone might be too warm (since I'm really tanned right now possibly) to carry it as it dried way more blue than what I expected. You can see the blurple in the pic as it's taken outdoor in sunlight, but indoor it just looks off against my skin... I ended up redoing my mani this morning, and I'll show you that one (it's fantastic) later tonight!

Thanks for looking! :D

KOTD: ChG Pink-Rox-E + M69 :D

2009-06-16T22:11:00.003-04:00

Good evening everyone!!

As promised yesterday, here is my konaded Pink-Rox-E mani!! I used plate M69 and the special Konad White polish. I really find that for black and white, the special polishes work much better than anything else :D

Enjoy and have a great evening! :D

A new favorite: ChG Pink-Rox-E :D

2009-06-15T23:32:00.002-04:00

Good evening everyone!

I said I'd be back with today's NOTD, so here it is! China Glaze Pink-Rox-E is a fantastic light pink with little gold glass flecks that gives it a lot of depth and makes it totally un-boring :D I absolutely adore this color, and it has just made its place into my running top 20! I've just finished konading it, but that will have to wait for tomorrow ;-)

Enjoy and have a great night!! :D

More neons!! :D

2009-06-15T12:30:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon everyone!!

I'm tired of playing catch-up with my past NOTDs, so how about I just show them all to you right now in here? Continuing on my neon streak... here they are :D

First off, Essie Mini Shorts, a fabulous somewhat jellyish orange neon! Please excuse the little bubbles inbetween the color coats... I think I've finally realized they might be caused by the quick-dry top coats.

Next up is Milani Pink Pop. I picked this one up (along with Milani Juicy Glo and Electric Pink) at CVS while I was in Florida, and you'll see why right away! Unfortunately my camera refused to capture the true color, so I had to photoshop the pic slightly to get a better match.

Right after came Electric Pink which is a super hot pink that of course looks orange on my camera... Once again I tried to photoshop the color to get a better match.

And finally, here is Essie Flirty Fuchsia. I am totally loving this year's Essie neon collection, even though they don't apply very well for me ;-)

So that's it for the catching up, and I'll be back later today with today's NOTD! :D

OCNAILART Konad Contest Winner Announced!

2009-06-15T11:14:00.006-04:00

Good morning!!!

It is with great pride and excitement that the winner of the Ocnailart Konad Contest is announced!

Congratulations to Barbara Wacht of Vienna Austria, who is the winner of the Konad Professional Salon Case Kit, valued at over $400!! Barbara heard about the contest on Scrangie.com, so Scrangie will also be receiving a Professional Salon Case Kit from Ocnailart!

The judges were Wanda V., Jennifer W, and Bokhee D. Their winning pick was unanimous, but all three expressed how difficult a job this was, as all of the entries were gorgeous and very well done!

Barbara's winning entry (below) featured a simple but beautiful manicure featuring a portion of the flower design from Image Disk M21. The judges not only loved the color, but the simplicity and artistic flair with which Barbara placed multiple stampings of the flower (less the stem) and how she added coordinating rhinestones. The photography and use of props was also very artistic and well done, as well.

I would like to thank all of the contestants and blog owners from the bottom of my heart for supporting this project, which was so much fun and brought so much delight!

Congratulations to Barbara (and Scrangie) and many thanks to all of you who participated in this contest - all of your designs were lovely!!! Your artistic abilities amaze me! Your photographs will not be printed, posted, or used without notice AND your express written permission to use them, each time they are used. You reserve the rights to your photos and have the ability to rescind my permission to use them at any time with written notice (email is fine).

Sincerely,
Kathleen
www.ocnailart.com

Congrats to Barbara and Scrangie!! BTW, you can see more of Barbara's work here :D

Massini neons swatches :D

2009-06-12T21:58:00.004-04:00

Good evening once again!

I thought I'd do something a little different tonight just because I feel like it... so here are quick swatches (no base or top coats) of some Massini neons I just received from a friend. Most of these are dupes are very close cousins to the Color Club neons, but since I can never have enough neons well they get to stay with me!

Power Pink (3 coats) is an almost dupe of CC Lazer Pink:

Neon Pink (2 coats) is an almost dupe of CC Pink Lust:

Infusion (2 coats) is pretty close to CC Pink Rush:

Hot Fuchsia (2 coats):

Thunderbolt (2 coats, might need a 3rd one) is a dupe of CC Power Play:

Lightening Blue (3 coats) is a dupe of CC 220 Volts:

Neon Greenlight (3 coats) is a dupe of CC Lime Light:

Neon Caution (3 coats) is a dupe of CC Yell-Oh, but it doesn't need any white under to be opaque!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!! :D