Category: NOTD

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Pure Ice — Wild Thing.

Even though I seem to own a lot of different green polishes, I never seem to wear them as a full manicure–with the exception of the obvious holidays like Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. Lately, though, I’ve been trying to wear other colors than my usual fall pinks, purples, and coral. So what better time that to chose a color completely out of my comfort zone!

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I picked up Wild Thing by Pure Ice at my local Wal-mart for $1.97. I don’t own very many Pure Ice polishes, even though I always find myself staring at the display. However, this color couldn’t help but catch my eye the last time I was visiting. I’m not even sure what to call this color. It’s bright green, which leans yellow. I’ve seen other bloggers describe it as a “Shrek” green, which seems pretty spot on.

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Application was pretty good on this one–I only needed 2 coats for full opacity. Dry time was also pretty good–I find that’s the trick with polishes that have a tricky formula. Before I applied it, I went online and checked out swatches on other blogs to see what the polish was like (I pretty much do this with every polish after I buy it) so I knew people had some problems with patchiness, so I applied thin coats and let it dry a bit between applications. I also applied my Nutra Nail Speed Dry top coat, which gave it a great glossy shine.

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I like this color. It’s very different for me, but sometimes it’s nice to change things up a bit. I don’t think I’ve worn a straight green manicure outside of Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day since I was probably 15. But it does remind me of green, green grass which makes me think of Summer, so it’s a win in my books. Although I probably won’t wear it everyday (just can’t do it), I think it would make an perfect pedicure color.

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In love with Spring, Coral and Floral.

Happy first day of June!

Oh how happy am I that Spring is in full bloom. Summer has always been my favorite season–I love the heat. So in honor of Summer being all that much closer, I did a pretty floral manicure. There are so many floral/rose and polka dot manis floating around I felt inspired. I’ve been working on perfecting my roses and with my new tiny nail art brushes I got not that long ago, I feel like my technique has definitely improved.

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The polishes I used to create this floral manicure was:

  • Sinful Colors in Island Coral –pinky coral on my nail art free nails.
  • ACO by Ardene in Bridezilla — off white/nude background color of my nail art.
  • Claire’s Neon Purple –roses
  • Unnamed Claire’s Pink shimmer polish –roses
  • Bourjois Paris in 1938 Mais Oui —roses
  • Boujois Paris in 2002 Effect 3D Lip Gloss — roses.
  • ACO by Ardene in Green Peace — darker green of leaves.
  • And another brighter lime green I can’t remember the name of.
  • Nutra Nail Top Speed Top Coat (with green tea.)

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As you can see from the close up of my flowers, they actually (kind of?) resemble roses–or at least I think so. Thanks to my new, and much smaller, nail art brushes creating the swoops of different colors really makes a big difference in how these flowers turned out. I also really like the color combination of the pinks and purples and this Sinful Colors coral. It all makes for a wonderful Spring-soon-to-be-Summer manicure.

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My nails are so happy to soak up the sunshine and increasingly warm weather. I have a feeling that I’ll be creating a lot of floral manicures. Now I just have to find the perfect complimentary spring dress to match, and I’ll be all set for the day.

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From the forgotten stash — Icing’s Romantic/Relaxed.

Today I have another polish from my forgotten stash with you–and another “mood” polish! Like I stated in my other Claire’s mood polish, I was quite obsessed with these when they first came out, as I had never witnessed a thermal polish before so these left me in awe. Now that I have my Mood polishes back, I’m definitely going to have to go on a search to find more for my collection.

Today’s polish is Romantic/Relaxed from Icing’s Mood Swing polishes.

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Romantic/Relaxed is a pink metallic polish with is scattered through out (while cold) which transforms into a gold polish when it is hot. I’d call the darker version of this polish (which I believe is the “romantic” part) almost a blush. The color is very pretty, and subtle and the gold shimmer scattered through out is gorgeous. It also dries to almost a satin finish, but I added top coat to help the polish last longer (and cause–I top coat all my manicures.)

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Romantic/Relaxed while cold.

The magic happens, though, when you hands start to warm up. (And this is why I love this polish SO much) Suddenly your polish goes from a blushy pink to a full on pale gold shimmer. I know I’ve heard some people online in swatches of this polish say they weren’t too keen on the either color, but I think both are beautiful.

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Romantic/Relaxed — while hot (index and middle finger) and cold (ring and pinky).

I was so much more impressed with the change on these as opposed to my Claire’s Mood polishes which I didn’t see as much of a difference while swatching. Icing’s Romantic/Relaxed seems completely unaffected from it’s time spent in a box in the attic.

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Romantic/Relaxed mid-change.

Overall, I really, really love this polish. My only complaint is neither Icing nor Claire’s carries any of their Mood polishes anymore. I really wish they would bring them back because I can guarantee I would purchase every single color they released.  Thermal polish seems to be a popular trend that isn’t slowing down, and now that I’ve been playing with the few that I have I need MORE!

So what do you think of this “mood” polish?

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My first sucessful chevron moons!

I have a really, really exciting manicure to share with you all today.

finished product

As I’ve mentioned before, I love a good chevron, but I’ve never been very good with creating chevrons with tape as something always seems to go wrong. However I found a foolproof way to create chevron moons, and I’m a very happy girl. I also documented the process so I could share with you my easy tutorial on how to create these chevrons if you–like myself–have trouble getting tape manicures to work the way you want. =)

Continue reading “My first sucessful chevron moons!”

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Long lost goodies.

So the other day I was over at my parents. They’re moving away the beginning of next year, so I’ve had to go through the few boxes I left in their attic when I moved out. I knew a box containing the stash I had collected while living at home, and after going through a couple I found it!

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Surprisingly–considering it’s been sitting in an attic for the last two and a half years–it survived. I was expecting a lot of causalities, but there were only a few polishes of mine that didn’t make it. (Mostly shatter and crackle polishes). But what excited me most of all was that all my Claire’s Mood Polishes have survived.

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Claire’s Mood color changing nail polish in peaceful/confident.

When these polishes first came out (I believe it was in either 2010, or 2011), I was obsessed with them. I loved the thermal effect, and promptly bought 4 of them–3 are Claire’s brand, the other Icing brand. Unfortunately, I don’t think the years have been kind to the polish. Maybe it’s my base coat or top coat, but the color change isn’t as vivid as I remember it being.

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Index & Middle finger: after running under hot water. Ring & pinky finger: unchanged.

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You can kind of see the change on my index and middle finger (after dipping in hot water).

I’m slightly disappointed that they seem not to work as well as they once did, but never the less the color is gorgeous so I’m happy to have found this and all my other polishes I’ve been without for so long. I’m especially excited for all the nail art combinations and swatches to be had.

It’s like Christmas in May. =)