Birthday Nail Art!

Hi guys!

So, my birthday is on Sunday, and I may or may not have been planning my birthday manicure for the past few weeks, and I finally got to do it today :)

I used Glitter Daze Super Smooth Basecoat first, and then two thin coats of Raegan by Julep. 

The thumb and pointer finger are skull/crown decals that I ordered from amazon. They're meant to be used on dry nails, so I waited about 10 minutes just to be safe. Then I put a coat of Sally Hansen's Anti-Chip Top Coat (red bottle) on too. 

The pinky is an acrylic skull I also ordered from amazon, it came in a pack of like 10. To be safe, I put on a coat of brush-on nail glue under it, and then again over it (pro-tip: once the nail glue is on top DO NOT touch it, because then it will stick to your finger and come off your nail). 

Middle finger is just a cross made of rhinestones (for some reason I've been really into them lately. I put a layer of nail glue under and then a layer of Tough Coat on top. 

The thumb is a image from a stamping plate that I ordered on amazon. I'm not exactly sure what the brand is, but the plate is QA8. I know they sell this plate at bornprettystore as well. 

Then I topped everything with Northern Lights Top Coat by Out the Door to give it a overall sparkly look. 

I just have to get through 6 hours of work tomorrow without chipping/acrylic skulls coming off, and then the birthday celebrations can begin! 

xoxo

Belle

Halloween Haul Part III: Different Dimension and Forever Polished

Hi guys!

Ok, originally I was going to do this as two separate posts. However, today I got such exciting nail mail that I had to share it NOW!

First up is three out of the four polishes in the Silenced the Lambs collection by Different Dimension. 

The polish on the left is called It Rubs the Lotion On Its Skin, and it is a black base with orange glitter. This polish is slightly textured (although not as much as traditional "textured" polishes). If you use a regular top coat, it dries as just a shiny black polish with orange glitter. I think I like it without the top coat though, it's very unique. Also perfect for Halloween (which, in case you haven't noticed by now, I have a slight obsession with). 

In the middle is Good Evening Clarice (if you noticed the dark spot, it's because I somehow managed to get nail polish on the bottle not even 5 minutes after opening it). It is a very pale holographic green, and it also GLOWS IN THE DARK. That's right, it's a holo that also glows in the dark. This is the polish that made me need this collection. I LOVE that it looks awesome both in light and darkness. Here is a bottle shot in the dark after charging for like 15 seconds: 

And all the way to the right is Have the Lambs Stopped Screaming? It is a glitter bomb with so many different shapes and sizes of glitter in black, orange, yellow and white (including hearts, stars, circles and hexes). There's also some holographic microglitter. This, again, is one of the exceptions to me not liking glitter bombs. 

Note: there is a four polish in this collection, called I Ate His Liver With Some Fava Beans and a Nice Chianti. However, I didn't get it because it is also a glitter bomb, and it has big circle glitters (which I'm not really a fan of). I thought about getting it just to complete the collection (and because the name is AWESOME), but I really can't ever see myself wearing it (that doesn't mean it's not really pretty though! It looks really cool over Good Evening Clarice in pictures that I've seen, it's just not my style). 

I actually found out about this collection the day after it launched, and it was already sold out on Etsy. However, I found out it was launching on Llarrowe, and I stalked the launch in order to grab them (the launch was in mountain time or something, and I'm in EST, so I misread the time zone chart and wound up setting my alarm two hours early (when the time of the launch was really two hours behind) so I got up really early for no reason. You know you're obsessed with nail polish when....

Anyway, the collection is still available at www.llarowe.com! 

Some swatches, in different lighting and with different backgrounds: 

From left to right it's Have the Lambs Stopped Screaming on top of Good Evening Clarice, HTLSS by itself, and IRTLOIS with no top coat. 

Here you can see Good Evening Clarice by itself

Here is some flash so you can see the holo

I thought this one was a really good shot of IRTLOIS

All in all, I think this is a really cool collection, and I think that Different Dimension always has really cool, unique polishes. You can either buy from llarowe or from www.etsy.com/shop/DIFFERENTdimension

Moving on. 

Here are some really cool polishes i ordered from Forever Polished. 

The one in the middle and the one on the left came as a set called Skull & Crossbone. It was $8.50 for both...which is actually a really good deal considering that that's usually the price for one polish. 

The one on the left is called Sugar Skulls, and it's described as a sheer, off-white base with holo dust and fine blue holo glitter. It also has pink skull and crossbone glitters and matte grey hex glitters. This polish is too pretty for words. I LOVE all things glitter, and pink, and skulls, and really this polish is so pretty it makes me want to cry. 

The other polish in this set is called Toxic Babe, which is a glitter bomb in a clear base. This has white skull and crossbone glitter, white diamonds and squares, black stars, squares, hexes, and circles, neon green squares, stars and hexes, and hot pink hexes. I would definitely wear this over something neon. It's SO punk rock. 

Finally, the polish all the way to the left is called Pumpkin Spice, and it is a pumpkin orange to yellow thermal with burnt orange holo glitter. I love orange, and thermals, and glitter, so I had to have this. 

Swatches: 

From left to right: Sugar Skulls, Pumpkin Spice (cold), and Toxic Babe

Here is Pumpkin Spice with warm water over it. It almost has sort of a greenish tint to it, which I think looks kinda weird with the orange glitter. 

Now, you might have noticed in the first picture that there are little jars of something. I knew I only ordered nail polishes, so I figured they threw in a little something extra, like rhinestones, when I saw the little containers.  This is what was actually in there: 

EXTRA PINK AND WHITE SKULL AND CROSSBONE GLITTER! And a lot of it, too! I almost died of excitement when I saw this. I can put these on ANY polishes now, and instead of fishing I can just put these on. That is SO cool, and I've never seen anyone else do this. 

I am SO happy with Forever Polished, and I would definitely buy from them again! Buy from them at foreverpolishedbyashley.bigcartel.com

Until tomorrow,

(When I will be showing you my birthday manicure nail art, that I am REALLY excited to do) :)

Belle

Halloween Nail Art

Hi guys! So since this IS a nail art blog, I figured id post some Halloween-related nail art every once in a while from now until Halloween:

The base color is Face the Music by Girly Bits. This is a NEON bright green jelly base with black hex and star glitters (there are no stars on my nails...I didn't fish, but if I did I'm sure I would have gotten them out no problem). When I first saw this on Jen, the Polishaholic's blog, I had to have it. It is the first polish in Girly Bits' Concert Series, where each polish is inspired by a musician/band/concert. Also, this polish glows under UV light. I actually had to wait about a month for this polish to come back into stock. 

The pointer finger has a line of clear square rhinestones. 

Middle finger is from Mash Image plate #29. 

Ring is a cross made out of black rhinestones. Note: I did not use nail glue for any of these, I put some Tough Coat on the spots the rhinestones were going to go and then another coat over. 

Pinky is a 3D star decale with black nail tape at either end. I have found nail tape to be extremely difficult to work with...and it peels/frayes within a couple of days. I don't know if ill be working with it much longer. 

Thumb is a flame design from Mash plate  #48. 

Seal with topcoat and done!

xoxo

Belle

Halloween Haul Part II: Sick Lacquers

Hi guys! Here is a really cute pair of Halloween polishes I recently ordered from an indie brand called Sick Lacquers:

Sick Lacquers is a mother and son team that makes really cute polishes!

The one on the right is called Jack Skellington, and it's a crelly with a milky light orange base filled with neon orange hexes, squares and bars, black hexes, bars, and skull and crossbones glitter, and small neon yellow hexes. Very Halloween. This is the only skull and crossbones glitter that I own in a colored crelly base. I'd probably layer it over white or something. 

The one on the left is called She Breaks Hearts and Skulls. It's a clear base with bubblegum pink bars, squares and skull and crossbones, pastel pink hearts and hexes, matte grey dot glitter and "ultra fine" pink and silver glitter. The pink and silver glitter give the polish a gorgeous sparkle. This polish is so pretty I can't even take it. I also love the name. 

In fact, after I ordered Jack Skellington, I stalked Sick Lacquers Instagram and Facebook pages, and I saw She Breaks Hearts and Skulls, so I had to have that one too. I ordered it like an hour after the first one. Later on that night, I got an email from Peggie, one of the owners, saying that she noticed that I placed two separate orders, and asked if I wanted them shipped together. She said she would refund me one of the shipping prices through paypal. I thought this was really sweet, especially considering it was my own fault, and she reached out to me. I love when people do nice things like that. 

Some swatches: 

I also really like how the names of the polishes are on the bottle right in front, that's something I haven't seen before. 

Definitely check out Sick Lacquers! 

You can buy from http://www.etsy.com/shop/SickLacquers

Got to run, have to get ready for work, which I have in an hour. Peace!

xoxo

Belle

EDIT: The pictures have been changed...I used a different camera setting and they're now more focused!

Quick glitter gradient!

Lately I have had horrible allergies.  Nail polish has kinda aggravated it further, so I put polish on the back burner. But today I totally felt a bit better, definitely enough to put polish on.  So I did a simple glitter gradient that dries fast and doesn't look bad if I mess it up.
I always use Seche Clear as a base coat.
I started off with China Glaze Inner Beauty as a base coat to even my nail tone. Only one coat.
Then I used China Glaze Snow Globe, and brought that further up 3/4th's of my nail.
Followed by China Glaze Shooting Stars on 1/2 of my nail.
Finally China Glaze Nova and fanned just the tip of my nail.
Finished with Seche Vite top coat and we are done!!!

Random Nail Art

Hello,

So I saw my mom today and she let me give her a manicure. I wanted to share it really quick:

The main color is Madison by Julep, and the accent color is Oscar by Julep. These are the two colors that come in the intro Bombshell box, and they look stunning together. 

The pointer finger is just a cross made out of rhinestones, and the middle finger is one of the butterfly decals from my September Nail Art Society box. The pinky is a fimo bow. I put Northern Lights Top Coat by Out the Door to give it a little extra sparkle. 

Will probably be posting lots of Halloween related nail art in the near future. 

Peace,

Belle

Ellagee Manicure

Hi guys! Quick post...remember the Ellagee polishes I reviewed? Well I did a mani with two of them. Here it is: 

The base color is Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous by OPI. I then used the dabbing method to get the glitters from La Calavera Catrina by Ellagee. 

The accent nail is Shirley Temple, also by Ellagee, over one coat of My Boyfriend Scales Walls by OPI. Now, I used this as an accent color because I assumed it would be hot pink, the color in the bottle. What I did not account for was the fact that I am, indeed, a human, and that my body temperature is 98.6 degrees (F). 

Lesson: if you're going to use thermo polish, you better love the "warm" color, because, unless you live in Alaska, that's what color you're going to be wearing most of the time. I actually think the baby pink with sparkles is really pretty, and I'm sad that it's only an accent nail and not an entire manicure. 

I had the bottle by my computer and this happened. I thought it was pretty cool. 

I can't wait to go to work (...well...yes I can) because I'm constantly walking into freezers, handling ice, etc) so it will be cool to see the color change throughout the day. 

Bye for now,

Belle