Happy Thanksgiving

Sorry for being MIA, but with being on vacation (something I'm very thankful for) and actually spending this Thanksgiving on my couch because sickness caught up with me, I've gotten behind.  So this post is going to be two manicures in one.  I did two themed manicures this week and here they are:

Cherry Pie.  Thanksgiving makes me think of eating.  And eating losts of great food is always followed up by pie.  I actually don't like cherry pie, but had the right colors for it, so here it is.  I painted three coats of China Glaze Salsa and added the lattice of the pie crust with China Glaze Classic Camel and outlined that with China Glaze Midtown Magic.  I finished the look with Seche Vite.

Native.  Thanksgiving in America is a mix of European and Native traditions and this year my manicure reflect more of the native side.  I have trace amounts of Native American blood in me, and I think it's important today to reflect on how we all can come together and help one another and be thankful that we all have something to learn from everyone around us.  For the manicure, I taped off the top half of my nail and painted three coats of China Glaze Flyin' High and then painted the top half with China Glaze City Siren.  With Bundle Monster Plate bm204, I used Konad Special Stamping polishes in Yellow and Black to make the native design.  I topped the manicure with one coat of Seche Vite.

Triple Threat

I'm going on vacation Thursday (hence the amped up posting routine).  This is most likely what will still be on my nails when I leave.  I really liked the way it turned out.  I've named it such because I kept adding polishing mediums for the look: marbling, glitter and Bundle Monster.  I hope the pictures capture it's awesome holographic edge.  I love marbling with my old school China Glaze OMG polishes.

Left Hand:

 Right Hand:

 Holo Shot Left (click to enlarge):

 Holo Shot Right (click to enlarge):

I painted three coats of Zoya Edyta.  On my ring fingers I added LA Splash Cosmetics Nail Glitter in Onyx.  My marble was done with China Glaze L8R G8R and Sally Hanson Diamond Strength in Flawless.  The stamp used Bundle Monster image disc BM212 and China Glaze Passion.  Seche Vite was my topcoat.

One Hit Wonder

If you follow me and my nail polish style, you know I love glitter.  I'm drawn to their sparkle--it's so enticing!  But after this manicure, I have decided I hate glitter polish.  Ok, so I don't really hate glitter polish, but I have come to a decision about it:  It's only good as a top addition to a manicure.  I just have not had great luck with sole glitter polishes, mainly in wear.  This manicure is called "One Hit Wonder" because it barely lasted me 18 hours before it chipped.  (You may not know this about me, but when my polish chips, I have to do everything in my power to pick the rest of it off my nails ASAP.)  I've come to realize that I can do a way better full glitter look with my loose glitters than any polish can give me.  Plus glitter polishes are rarely dense enough to wear alone and I am a girl who 99.99% of the time goes for complete opacity in my manicures.  Ok.  Rant over.  This manicure was cute enough.  I wanted to capture the glitter shining through underneath, but not quite sure I did that.

I painted four coats of China Glaze CG In The City and used Konad Special Stamping Polish in White with Bundle Monster Plate BM210.  I painted one coat of Seche Vite to finish the look.

Discoteca

This manicure was so great in it's silver, holo awesomeness.  It really fun and sparkly. It's hard sometimes to catch glitters in their shiny, holographic, sparkly state, but I'm finding reflection works great to show some of the different dimensions of the polish itself.  On a application note, I used loose holographic bar glitter pressed in the not quite dry manicure, and although it looks great it ends up feeling awful; it would continue to lift during the entire time I wore the manicure and I would have to continue to peel the little bars of glitter off.  It almost reminded me of fraying fabric--or maybe in my dry hand state now, hangnails.  Good thing the whole manicure was so stacked with glitter power, it was hard to notice the waning glitter as the days went by.

I painted three coats of Zoya Dove and added loose bar glitter from CinaPro in Metallic Jewels "E" first and then LA Splash Cosmetics Face and Body Glitter in Silver Torpedo.  Atop the entire manicure, I used one coat Seche Vite. 

Butterfly Effect

From extremely long to extreme short.  Well artificial nails definitely ruined my nails.  Even if I was as careful as I could be: minimal buffing, 45 minute acetone soak to remove, the process of getting rid of them was not very fun.  I definitely loved my claw nails, but acrylic won't be in my future again any time soon. Besides being short, they are so weak.  It'll take me probably over a month to recover.  Oh, well.  All for the love of nail polish!

Getting on to this manicure post.  I have to say that I love the base color in this manicure.  It's from China Glaze's Metro Collection and It couldn't be a prettier brown shimmer. It has so many multifaceted colors: orange, yellow, brown, gold, red.  The glitter placement reminded me of a butterfly--hence the name.  Unfortunately, I don't feel I got a great picture without a lot of glare.

I painted three coats China Glaze Midtown Magic.  I added LA Splash Cosmetics Nail Glitter in Pot 'O Gold.  The manicure was topped with one coat Seche Vite.