China Glaze This Is Tree-mendous

Halloween is over, which means Christmas nail polish season has officially begun! A bit ridiculous, I know. But when there are so many fabulous holiday shades available, it's impossible to not want to show them off. China Glaze in particular has a habit of coming out with fantastic holiday collections. This year's Happy Holi-Glaze line is no exception. It's already being stocked at Sally Beauty Supply, so I picked up the two shades I was most interested in.

This Is Tree-mendous is a green and gold microglitter. You could use it for layering, or you could do what I did, which was just slap it on until it was opaque. This is three coats with top coat.

China Glaze This Is Tree-mendous

China Glaze This Is Tree-mendous 

China Glaze This Is Tree-mendous

I love it! It's the perfect shade of evergreen that's glitzy but not over-the-top green. I think there may even be two tones of green glitter, you can see some flecks of vibrant emerald. The application was good, I didn't have a hard time getting three even coats. At first the glitter wasn't very saturated on the brush, but by the third coat it was like butter. It makes me want to  I would love to see this topped with big gold glitter, or gold shatter, or maybe some red gems to look like holly. It really is the perfect Christmas Tree Green glitter and I know I will be wearing it lots this holiday season!

What do you think? Will you be picking up any new holiday colors? Would you wear Christmas nail polish in November?

Dia De Los Muertos Nail Art

Hi everyone! Did you have a nice Halloween? I spent the evening with friends passing out candy and having a great time scaring kids! I mean that's what Halloween is for, right? The next day I took a trip to Sally Beauty Supply and voila, they had the China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze collection! I'd been eyeing two colors after seeing other bloggers' lust-worthy swatches, so I didn't hesitate to pick them up. Since I also had some grand nail art plans up my sleeve I picked up a few extra supplies: gemstones, acetone remover, dotting/marbling tools and two stripers.

Sally Beauty Supply Haul: China Glaze This Is Tree-mendous and There's Snow One Like You, Cina nail art gems, Beauty Secret acetone nailpolish remover, Cina nail art dotting tools, Finger Paints Red-Aissance and So Easy Stripe Rite in black

Now I mentioned some nail art. Downtown we are premiering a symphony for Dia De Los Muertos and it has an animated film that goes with it. All week during rehearsals I've been hearing creepy music and seeing the ghostly cartoons, obviously I wanted to extend the experience onto my nails. Armed with my new toys (and 4 hours worth of Wuthering Heights on Hulu) I spent an afternoon on a Day Of The Dead manicure. Here are the pictures, I really hope you like it!

Dia De Los Muertos Nail Art

 Dia De Los Muertos Manicure, right hand

Dia De Los Muertos Manicure, left hand

I absolutely love how this turned out. The colors are even more pronounced under artificial light.

Dia De Los Muertos Manicure, right hand in artificial light

Dia De Los Muertos Manicure, Left hand in artificial light

The rosary across my left middle, index and pinky fingers is one of my favorite parts. It makes me think of a rosary draped over my fingers and I keep imagining the rest of it is there somewhere.

Dia De Los Muertos rosary nail art

 The skull faces were really fun to create. Each one is different and sketching them out ahead of time really helped. The new dotting tools were absolutely essential. The cross and flowers was the first nail I did so that I could practice using them.

Dia De Los Muertos Skull and Cross Nail Art

 This is my absolute favorite nail, the flaming heart with chains around it.

Dia De Los Muertos Flaming Heart nail art

 A close up of my other thumb. This one was supposed to have a mouth like the others, only I made a false swipe with the striper. Whoops.

Dia De Los Muertos Manicure, skull and cross nail art

Dia De Los Muertos Manicure, skull and rosary nail art

A lot of people have asked me if these are decals- they're not! It's all hand-painted on my natural nails. I used two coats of Sinful Colors Snow Me White as a base and then a plethora of other colors for the design. Once I got the hang of the faces they were easy enough and I would definitely do something like this again next year. On some nails you can see the colors bled once I applied top coat, so I'll need to remember to wait longer in the future. And I do plan on having more nail art to show you! But not right away. This and my Halloween mani have been great fun but I'll be happy to get back to just a solid wash of color. And speaking of, stay tuned soon for China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze colors!

What do you think? Have you done any nail art? What is your favorite nail art that you've created?

Halloween Nail Art

Happy Halloween! The creative juices were flowing yesterday and I was able to create some over-the-top Halloween nail art. I didn't really think it would be appropriate to dress up for work today, so my costume was on my nails!

Right Hand

Thumb: OPI Chopsticking To My Story with jewel-eyed Jack-o-lantern

Index: CG Ick-a-bod-y over Zoya Shawn

Middle: Deborah Lippmann Funky Chunky

Ring: OPI Take The Stage with polka dots and jewels

Pinky: Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

 Left Hand

Thumb: CG Zombie Zest over OPI Did It On Em

Index: CG Mummy May I?

Middle: CC Platinum Record between OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?

Ring: Zoya Shawn and OPI Rising Star

Pinky: CC Platinum Record between SC Black on Black

 The Halloween Rainbow

From Left to Right:

China Glaze Mummy May I?

Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance

Deborah Lippmann Funky Chunky

Sinful Colors Black on Black

OPI Take the Stage

OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?

OPI Chopsticking To My Story

OPI Rising Star

China Glaze Ick-a-bod-y

China Glaze Zombie Zest

Zoya Shawn

OPI Did It On Em

Color Club Platinum Record

What do you think? I love how the Jack-o-lantern's eyes glow red like an evil zombie pumpkin. I also love how you can see a little bit of the unique texture of Funky Chunky. I tried to mimic that effect sandwiching silver glitter between layers of sheer polish on my left middle and pinky fingers. My favorite nail though is the polka dots and gems on my right index finger. It's just so fun and I keep rubbing my nail like it's Braille. On a side note: I got to see the tomb of Louis Braille this summer in Paris! He's buried in the catacombs of the Pantheon. Fun fact!

How will you be celebrating Halloween? What will you dress up as, and more importantly, what's on your nails?

Oxblood and Gold Glitter Accent Nail

I'm back! What a busy last two years it has been. I moved cities twice, apartments thrice, spent a summer in Paris, got a kitten, and started a new job! Well same job really, just different orchestra. My dream orchestra. For right now it's a one year position, but I'm hoping to be here for good.

With an iPhone and a lot of time on my hands (no pun intended), it's finally time to start posting again. Expect to see new manicure pictures twice a week. They might be a new polish acquisition, old polishes you may or may not have seen before, or I might create something special inspired by whatever concert we're performing, in which case I'll share some media of my inspiration. Be prepared too for some thrift store finds, baking recipes, shots and stories from Paris, as well as a kitten pic or too. And please feel free to comment about it all!

Today's manicure is China Glaze Naughty and Nice from the Holiday 2010 collection. It's a rich maroon creme that's almost a jelly. I love that it looks opaque but the color depth varies: It's like swishing around a glass of wine. The oxblood color is perfect for fall and sanguine enough for Halloween week.

China Glaze Naughty and Nice

Since I'm lacking any other bling on my left ring finger, I added one accent nail in Color Club Take The Stage. Take the Stage is gold glitter with large silver holographic flakes in a clear base. This is four coats.

China Glaze Naughty And Nice with Color Club Take The Stage

 Warming up backstage I was mesmerized by the accent nail. The oxblood matched our concert folders and the glitter matched my horn! Not intentional, but I was excited about the coincidental coordination.

blinded by bling backstage

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, I appreciate your patience over the past several months and look forward to sharing more fabulous fingernails and fun with you!

Gray and Lavender Nail Art

Howdy friends. I was in the mood for a little nail art this morning. My inspiration was a lot of pictures I've been seeing around Pintrest. A big trend in nail art has been clean lines with contrasting colors. Sometimes people use tape to create this effect, but I was too impatient to wait for the polish to dry long enough for that, so I freehanded it. I painted my nails with two coats of RBL Insouciant. Then I added a swipe of China Glaze Pelican Gray, at a random angle. I used a thin line of gold glitter to highlight the border between the colors. Then I topped it with one coat of CND Air Dry, my favorite quick dry top coat.

Insouciante is one of my most favorite polishes, and I really like the way it looks with the gray. I'm sure I will be wearing this for another week, which is how long I wore my last manicure. A week and no chips, with no top coat even! OPI gets major points for that.

China Glaze Colors From The Capitol (The Hunger Games collection)

Howdy friends. China Glaze has released updated information about their much anticipated Hunger Games collection. The polish names have been changed, and the entire collection will now be called Colors From The Capitol. I'm sure to those of you who have read the books, you could explain this title to me, since I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with the election in November that is already everywhere on Facebook. Politics aside, here are closer looks at swatches, bottle shots, and the new names of the China Glaze Colors From The Capitol Collection.

China Glaze Colors from the Capitol collection, photo courtesy of All Lacquered Up

China Glaze Colors from the Capitol bottle shots, photo courtesy of Mama's a Rolling Stone

China Glaze Colors from the Capitol collection, photo courtesy of All Lacquered Up

These seem very earthy and run from muted cremes to bright, in your face glitters. Luxe and Lush is sure to look gorgeous over many of these colors, especially Dress Me Up, Fast Track, Agro, and Mahogany Magic. There's something unique about each of these polishes, it's hard for me to even pick which ones stand out. As a collection they look beautiful together, I think China Glaze has done a good job of creating a cohesive collection with something for everyone. Now let's see them in person! The collection is set to release March 1, with the movie coming out on March 23.

China Glaze Hunger Games Preview

Howdy friends.  The Hunger Games trilogy has been on my reading list for some time.  It seems like everyone is talking about it, from colleagues to my teenage cousin and even my mom.  Now that I'm a Texas resident I can go get a library card (wooh!) and hopefully check it out, but if not I could always just watch the movie that's going to be released in March.  Which brings me to the exciting point; China Glaze is reportedly coming out with a nail polish collection to coincide with the release of the Hunger Games movie.  Here's the sneak preview of the colors:

• Primrose *inspired by Prime
• Rebel *inspired by Gale
• Catnip *inspired by Katniss
• Coal Hearted *inspired by District 12
• Joined at the Seam *inspired by The Seam
• Fight to the Finish *inspired by the night sky the tributes look into
• We Could Runaway *inspired by the forest Katniss & Gale hunt in
• Baker's Son *inspired by Peeta
• Cinna-mon *inspired by Cinna's gold eyeliner
• Fire in Flight *inspired by the Flaming Mockingjay
• Heat of the Moment *inspired by the costumes Katniss & Peeta wear into the Arena
• Flaming Gems *an overlay inspired by Katniss' interview dress

I don't know what any of this means because I haven't read the books, but I certainly am intrigued.  I wish this nail polish collection/movie release tradition had started sooner, like say for Harry Potter!  Oh well, there's still hope.  And in the meantime, all you Hunger Games fans, get excited!

Thanksgiving Water Marble

Howdy friends.  Thanksgiving is almost here, and I was inspired today by the rich autumnal colors of the Harvest.  I tried a nail art technique I've never done before: water marbling.  No, it's not something they do in prisons.  It is a way of making marble designs with different color nail polishes in water, and then dipping your nail onto the pattern.  It sounds hard, and it kind of is.  And it's messy.  But it's a fun way to combine different colors into a beautiful manicure.

The colors I marbled were OPI Rising Star, China Glaze Naughty and Nice, and Deborah Lippmann Kiss From A Rose.  Before I marbled I painted my nails with one coat of Zoya Minka, just to give myself a nude base.  Here's how it turned out:

Right Hand: Water Marble with OPI Rising Star, China Glaze Naught
and Nice, Deborah Lippmann Kiss From A Rose

Left Hand: Water Marble with OPI Rising Star, China Glaze Naught
and Nice, Deborah Lippmann Kiss From A Rose

I love the autumnal color palette.  It was time consuming to do, but know that I feel like I have a hand on the technique (hah, no pun intended), I'd like to try it again.  I have some great Christmas combinations in mind!

China Glaze Party Hearty

You'd have to be a Grinch not to like this.  This is the Christmas polish to end all Christmas polishes.  Party Hearty, from the China Glaze Naughty and Nice collection, has red hexagonal glitter, smaller regular green glitter and specks of silver and gold glitter.  I used one coat on my pinky, two on my ring finger, three on middle, and four on index so you can see how it builds.

China Glaze Party Hearty, one, two, three and four coats

As you can see, four coats gives you almost complete coverage while one coat gives you a nice smattering of Christmas confetti.  This one is also great layered over other polishes.  I wore two coats over Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad as a complete manicure.

China Glaze Party Hearty, two coats over Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad

China Glaze Party Hearty, two coats over Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad

I show you I'm With Brad a lot but never on it's own.  I guess I like it for layering etc. because it's black with a sultry red shimmer.  I'll review it soon.  Back to Christmas-in-a-bottle, I love party hearty.  Oddly though I haven't worn it as much as you might think.  I've kinda been saving it for Christmas Day when I slap four coats of it on each nail and say to hell with removal!  The bling factor will be worth it.

What's your favorite glitter?  Do you like them alone or do you layer?

China Glaze Tronica Promo

Things I love:

• China Glaze
• Holographs
• A new china glaze holographic collection!

That's right, China Glaze announced today on their blog that they will be releasing a collection of 12 limited edition holographic shades.  Have a first look at the Tronica collection:

• Techno Teal – Turquoise Holographic
• Virtual Violet – Violet Holographic
• Electra Magnenta – Magenta Holographic
• Gamer Glam – Purple Holographic
• High Def -  Blue Holographic
• Hologram -  Silver Holographic
• Hyper Haute – Rasberry Holographic
• 3D Fantasy – Peachy Pink Holographic
• Digital Dawn – Dusty Rose Holographic
• Cyberspace – Taupe Holographic
• Mega Bite – Gold Holographic
• Laser Lime – Lime Green Holographic

The ones that jump out most at me are Digital Dawn (Dusty Rose), Hologram (Silver) and Laser Lime (Lime Green).  With my recent adoration of 2NITE from the OMG holographic collection, I absolutely cannot wait for these polishes.  They'll be available starting Jan/Feb 2011 at BSG and March/April 2011 at Sally Beauty Supply.

Here's another look at how amazing 2NITE is:

What do you think? Will you be sporting these for summer?

China Glaze 2NITE

I LOVE THIS POLISH!  Ok I apologize for the perhaps jarring enthusiasm, but seriously a periwinkle holograph is something to shout about.  (Especially when you bought it for $1!)  China Glaze 2NITE is from the OMG collection, a special collection inspired by the lingo and flashy fingers of texting.

2NITE has a great application, as long as you remember: Don't use a base coat.  Holographs apply much better without them.  You also don't need a top coat, it minimizes the holographic effect.  But it's ok, because holographs dry really fast, making this a perfect in-a-rush manicure.  Literally 5 minutes and you're done.  (Insert that's-what-she-said joke here.)

I took lots of pictures to show you the many facets of 2NITE.  Enjoy!

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, direct sunlight 

China Glaze 2Nite, two coats, direct sunlight

 Heres what the color looks like with no holograph:

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, shade

 And now back to the holograph because it's so pretty:

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, flash

China Glaze 2Nite, two coats, direct sunlight

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, direct sunlight

Isn't it amazing?  What I'm really pleased about is that the holographic effect is very pronounced.  Sometimes with polishes they leave me wanting more, like OPI DS Extravagance and China Glaze Sugar Plums.  My hand is always searching for the perfect lighting to show a huge holographic effect, but inevitably its always on the subtle side.  But not this polish!  I can't wait til summer to wear it...um...probably every day.

If anyone has any lemmings from this collection let me know!  I'll check the beauty store where I picked this one up and see if the rest are on clearance too.  Seriously, one dollar!

Polished at the Jersey Shore

As my polish collection increased steadily, one question plagued me throughout the fall:

"What colors am I going to bring for my month-long Winter break in New Jersey?!"

I gave this serious consideration, especially since one of the last times I traveled I had a rather unfortunate lacquer incident.  Granted, it was my fault for putting my bag of polishes in the front compartment of my suitcase.  But my bottle of OPI Midnight Blue Glitter shattered, spilling its contents all over its companion bottles and ruining my makeup bag AND Seacret Nail Buffer.  Those things are great btw.  I got sucked into buying one at the Galleria but got some good use out of it before it's untimely demise.

Anyway, I no longer travel with polishes I'd be upset about losing.  So while I'd love to wear Paradoxal and Bad Romance 24/7 I left those behind in favor of mainly China Glaze, since I have about half of their Christmas collection and am running out of time for it to be seasonally appropriate.

From Left to Right:

• Orly Bonder
• Butter London Matte Finish Topcoat
• Seche Vite
• China Glaze Frosty
• China Glaze Swing Baby
• China Glaze Mrs. Claus
• China Glaze Sugar Plums
• China Glaze Mummy May I
• SEPHORA by OPI I'm With Brad
• China Glaze Naughty and Nice
•  Wet n Wild Morbid
• China Glaze Watermelon Rind
• L'oreal Waters Edge
• China Glaze Party Hearty

The Clears and Shears:

Orly Bonder, Butter London Matte Finish, Seche Vite, China Glaze Frosty, China Glaze Swing Baby

The Reds:

China Glaze Mrs. Claus, China Glaze Sugar Plums, China Glaze Mummy May I, SEPHORA by OPI I'm With Brad, China Glaze Naughty and Nice

 The [Mainly] Greens:

Wet n Wild Morbid, China Glaze Watermelon Rind, L'oreal Waters Edge, China Glaze Party Hearty

Mummy May I is my fill-in for Bad Romance, and I'm hoping to find Revlon Perplex at a drugstore to fill my Paradoxal void.

As an addendum, my dear friend who drove me to the airport gave me OPI Bring on the Bling as a gift, so that obviously came too.  Swatches to follow!

China Glaze Watermelon Rind

This polish holds a special place in my heart as one of the first bottles of China Glaze I ever bought.  I was looking for a sparkly teal and thought this would be just that.  While it wound up being more green than teal I still love it.  It goes on pretty thin so I needed three coats, and even then I could still see patchiness in direct sunlight.  I think if you used a thicker second coat it would fix that.

China Glaze Watermelon Rind, three coats, shade

China Glaze Watermelon Rind, three coats, direct sunlight
See the ugly thin patches on my middle finger? Grrr.

China Glaze Watermelon Rind, three coats, indirect sunlight

This one is absolutely spectacular in the sun!  I remember wearing it in late August and being mesmerized.  It's still nice for winter though and I feel like since it's sparkly green/teal, and Mrs. Claus is sparkly red/pink the two would go together nicely for a Christmas manicure.

China Glaze Sugar Plums

Here's another from the China Glaze 'Tis The Season Holiday 2010 Collection.  Sugar Plums is a velvety maroon with flecks of holographic glitter.  This polish is interesting because without top coat, the glitter gives it a textured effect, like it's literally coated with a dusting of sugar.  You can chose to wear it like this, or you can add a top coat, which brings out more of the holograph.  I found the holograph to be very subtle and would probably wear it this way in the future.  Given the choice between texture or bling, I gotta go with bling.

China Glaze Sugar Plums, two coats no top coat with flash

China Glaze Sugar Plums, two coats direct sunlight

China Glaze Sugar Plums, two coats with flash

China Glaze Sugar Plums two coats with top coat, flash

I love this color.  I think the particular shade of maroon is very Christmasy.  Ideally the holograph would be more pronounced, but I'm willing to forgive that.