Different Dimensions World of Warcraft Collection

Hi everyone!  I haven't posted lately because I've been busy ignoring everything and playing World of Warcraft, or WoW for the other lady gamers out there.  Recently a new expansion came out for WoW, and even though I told myself I wouldn't play it, I eventually caved like every other WoW player out there.  So I suppose it's only fitting that I have the World of Warcraft collection from Different Dimensions to show you.

DD's WoW Collection was sold as a set of 5 polishes for a limited time just before the expansion came out, so I obviously had to get it.  I have bottle shots and nail wheel swatches of all the polishes, but the bulk of the post will be about a mani I did with one of the polishes.  Get ready for some glitter!

 L to R in both pictures is Horde, Alliance, Murloc, Bad Ass Panda, and Spectral Tiger

                                            Horde                                                         Alliance

                                         Murloc                                                  Bad Ass Panda

                                   Spectral Tiger                                             Spectral Tiger Glow    

This is two coats of each polish, so Horde Alliance and Murloc can be worn alone, while Bad Ass Panda and Spectral Tiger need to be layered.  For WoW players, these polishes are all part of the game and the colors are very accurate, while to non players, they're awesome glittery polishes.  Everyone wins!  Also, Missi asked which side of the game I was on (Allience or Horde), and sent a  super cute nail polish necklace she made with the corresponding polish.  In my case it was Horde and I LOVE it.  My boyfriend thought it was really cool too!

When I got the collection, I  was most excited about Spectral Tiger because it GLOWS IN THE DARK, so naturally I had to try it first!  This post is pretty picture heavy, so click the jump to see all the pretty.

Vivid Lacquer Polishes

Hi all!

Today is very very special, because I have some swatches of the Vivid Lacquer by the lovely Anni.  In addition to great polishes, Anni also makes these crazy cool stamping plates!  I have three polishes to show you guys and I did order a stamping plate, it just hasn't gotten here yet so expect to see that in the future!

Don't Forget the Rum, Fairy Bread, Sketchbook

This post is going to be pretty long and picture heavy so get to the goodies after the jump!

Laser Tape Manicure with China Glaze Neons

Hi Everyone!

I suppose it's officially fall, since here in Colorado we had our first snow on Friday and it's been cold and drizzly ever since.  Ugh. I love fall in the sense of deep polish colors, warm candles, and hot chocolate, but I could really do without the crappy weather.  I guess I can't have everything, haha.

Even though fall is in full swing, today's manicure is definitely more summery.  I finally decided to try the Laser Tape Manicure that's been all over the blogs, and honestly it's a really easy technique for such a cool result.  For this manicure I decided to do a "warm" hand and a "cool" hand.

For the right hand I used CG;
Love's A Beach
Orange You Hot?
Flirty Tankini
Beach Cruse-r
Shocking Pink (Thumb, not pictured)

And for the left hand I used CG;
Splish Splash
I'm With the Lifeguard
Turned Up Turquoise
Sun-Kissed
In The Limelight (Thumb, not pictured)

Honestly, I'm not sure why I didn't take pictures of my thumb nails, but it's too late now!  All the colors are from the China Glaze Summer Neons collection except Shocking Pink, Turned Up Turquoise, and In The Limelight.  Those three colors can be found at Sally's as part of their core line.

For each hand I used a regular base coat and two coats of color, and once coat of a fast dry topcoat.  Once everything was completely dry, I placed 4 pieces of striping tape on each nail at different angles, then painted over with one coat of china Glaze Liquid Leather.  Then I quickly and carefully pulled off the striping tape in reverse order of how I placed it.  In order to remember the order of each strip, I taped, painted, and pulled each nail one at a time.  Finally, I let the polish dry for about a minute before adding a no chip topcoat so as not to smear the black too much.

RT Hand - White Light
Index to Pinky - Love's A Beach, Orange You Hot?, Flirty Tankini, Beach Cruse-r

RT Index - Macro - White Light
Love's A Beach

RT Middle - Macro - White Light
Orange You Hot?

LT Hand - White Light
Index to Pinky - Slpish Splash, I'm With The Lifeguard, Turned Up Turquoise, Sun-Kissed

I really loved this manicure, especially how bright the neon colors were against the black!  Some of the lines didn't turn out a clean as others, but I'm sure it will get better with more practice!

And now for the cats.  They have been some sleepy little stinkers lately.  They're comfortable with each other now so they play and wrestle all day, so then they just zonk out.  Here's Tifa sleeping in the corner with her face smashed into the ground.  I'm telling you, she sleeps in the weirdest ways!

Thanks for reading!

XO

Gina

Jelly Sandwich with Windestine Star Light

Hi Everyone!

Today I have my very first attempt at a Jelly Sandwich!  I really love the look of jelly sandwiches, but my plain jelly collection consists of about three polishes, haha.  So here we have my take on the Essie Marshmallow sandwich, but instead of Essie, I used China Glaze Oxygen.  Which is essentially the same thing, right?  Oxygen leans a little more toward the off-white side, which is great for wearing it alone since it isn't as blinding as a pure white.  I believe Oxygen is opaque in 3-4 coats depending on how you apply it.

For this look, I paired Oxygen with a polish you've seen before; Star Bright by Windestine.  I thought Star  Bright would be fun for the sandwich because of the pink glitter and all the fun shapes!  I used my regular China Glaze base coat, then this "recipe" for the sandwich:

Oxygen
Star Bright
Oxygen
Star Bright
Oxygen
Fast Dry Topcoat

A warning in advance to everyone about the pictures, my right pinky nail got torn off - thats right, my nail tore off - so it looks really nubby and uneven.  to try and make up for my sad right pinky (and to show off the different shapes in Star Bright) I included pictures of my less photogenic left hand.  For some odd reason the star glitter ended up on my right hand and the moon glitter ended up on my left.  Enjoy!

RT Hand - White Light

RT Hand - Flash

RT Index Finger - Macro

RT Middle Finger - Macro

LT Hand - White Light

LT Hand - Flash

I really like how this Jelly/Marshmallow sandwich turned out, and I know i'll be using Oxygen for glitter sandwiches again!  Oxygen was originally released with the Creme Couture collection, but it can still be found in regular stock at Ulta and Sally's.  Star Bright is sold by indie polish brand Windestine on Etsy and also Big Cartel , who just happens to be having a fairly large restock TONIGHT at 5 pm PST!!!


AAAAAAAND, I've been very bad about the cat part of Nail Cats, so today you get a pretty cute picture of our new kitten, Cloud.  He's a pretty cute (and sleepy) kitty!

XO
Gina

Enchanted Polish - Awesomeness

Hi Everyone!  Today is going to be a quick swatch post of Awesomeness by Enchanted Polish.  Enchanted Polish stared out with only holos, which are some of the best I've seen!  Enchanted Polish has since released a Looney Tunes and Falloween collections that are glitter toppers, although I haven't purchased any of these.

Awesomeness is a jewel toned purple holo, and like all  the polishes from Enchanted Polish, it is very smooth to apply and very pigmented.  It's opaque in one thick coat or two normal/thin coats.  The holo effect is spectacular on this polish, and its not dull, even low light.  The pictures below are two coats without a topcoat.  They are taken outside to capture the holo effect, but I'm not used to outdoor pictures, so please forgive the less than stellar pictures.

Sunlight

Sunlight

Macro

Bottle 

At least the bottle shot is accurate :)

Enchanted Polish can be found at Llarowe ($13), Harlow and Co ($15), and Mei Mei's Signatures.  Mei Mei's has a few exclusive colors, but it is sold for 20 Singapore dollars, which converts to about 16.25 US dollars.  You can also follow Enchanted Polish on Facebook for updates and swatches of new collections.
Thanks for reading!

XO
Gina

China Glaze On Safari and Darling Diva Polish Water Marble

Hi Everyone!

Today I have another water marble for you.  This time, the marbling itself turned out a lot better, however the mani as a whole still didn't turn out as I wanted.  I started out with a white base of China Glaze White on White, then used Exotic Encounter, Purr-fect Plum, and Jungle Queen from the China Glaze On Safari Collection and Space Beetle from indie brand Darling Diva Polish.  The On Safari polishes are all deep fall-esqe colors and Space Beetle is a charcoal duochrome holo.

L to R: Purr-fect Plum, Jungle Queen, Exotic Encounters, Space Beetle

I thought being from the same collection these colors would work well together, but after marbling the colors we a little off.  Jungle Queen looked especially different as the grey tones in it took over after being marbled. I seem to have a common theme of accidentally making my water marbles look like candy canes; last time the pink, purple, and white ended up looking like a peppermint candy cane, and THIS time my boyfriend said the colors looked like the mint chocolate candy canes.

Another friend said they looked retro, which is a little better but still not what I was going for.  Sigh.  Still, It wasn't as bad as as last time, and I still really like the idea of using one shimmer color in the marble, maybe just one with a darker pigmented base next time.  So here you go!

RT Hand - White Light

RT Hand - Flash

LT Hand - White Light (Jungle Queen was really grey on this hand)

LT Hand - Flash

And here are some macros of my favorite fingers :)

RT Ring Finger

LT Ring Finger

LT Middle Finger

You can purchase Darling Diva Polish on Etsy, all her polishes are beautiful and readily available!  She has recently launched her Halloween Collection and you can also follow her on Facebook for updates on new colors and giveaways!

Thanks for reading!
XO
Gina

Magnetic Polish and Apologies

Well Hello.
                         
It has been an entire month since I've posted, for that I am very very sorry.  A lot has happened recently, including MOVING!!! Yay!  The boyfriend and I finally found an apartment so I spent a lot of time packing, and shopping, and of course, moving!  And best of all, the apartment has an extra bedroom so I have an actual room for all of my nail goodies instead of a table in my parent's basement :)  Pictures of "the nail room"  will be coming soon, as well as pictures of a new addition to the family.  After moving, Tifa's been kind of lonely, she really loved the other cats, so we got her a little brother!  I can't wait to show you all how cute he is.

Anyway, on to today's polish!  I really love the idea of magnetic polishes, and I'm glad that some cheaper polish brands like Sally Hansen have jumped on board.  Since I am first and foremost a China Glaze fangirl,  I obviously chose the CG magnetix polishes over the other brands.  Unfortunately, while the magnetic particles in the polish are fine, the magnet is super weak and, frankly, sucks.  I've seen other bloggers get decent results with it, but I have no idea how.  The design barely shows up, and the horseshoe design is awkward to use and I usually end up getting polish on the magnet.  Boo.  So I picked up some magnetic polishes from Finger Paints and Icing for the magnets.  The swatches below are one normal coat followed by one thick gloppy coat of China Glaze Pull Me Close and then about ten seconds of the wavy magnet from the Icing polish.  Then I blew on my nails a little bit to keep the magnetic particles from spreading and blurring the design, and very carefully put on a coat of China Glaze Fast Foreward Topcoat.

Pull Me Close is a medium blue polish that reveals black as the contrast color with the magnet.  The polish is very opaque and would only need one coat, but the instructions say two coats, and having 1 normal coat under the glooped coat seems like a good idea, haha.  As for the magnet, It it leaps and bounds better than China Glaze's.  It's on the cap like most other brands, so it's easy to hols and use.  It also has two lips for the cuticle so you can easily use the design vertically or horizontally.

Icing Polish & Pull Me Close

Icing Magnet 

White Light

Flash

Macro

I love love love Pull Me Close now that I have a decent magnet!  The contrast of the black and blue is stunning, and I love the glowy quality of the shimmer.  It's really eye-catching as well, it grabbed a lot of attention at work and I know a few girls that are going out to buy a magnetic polish after talking to me about them.  Even the boyfriend was impressed; he said they look like marbles, which I think is super cool!

So all in all, I think China Glaze made a blunder with their magnets, but the polish itself is beautiful and easy to work with like expected, and I'm happy with the results.

Aaaaaaand finally, here is a long overdue picture of a silly sleepy Tifa.  Enjoy!

XO

Gina

Fimo Attempt # 2

Hi Everyone!

As you may recall, my first attempt at using clay fimo slices wasn't the best.  But never fear! I'm back with another attempt, and this time I even used nail glue to adhere them :)

I started out with two coats of China Glaze Innocence, which ended up drying a little bubbly.  Lame, but overall still an acceptable base for the French Tips I was planning.  I used some striping tape I bought from Ebay and China Glaze Liquid Leather to do the tips.  By the end of the night LL was getting a little goopy so I think I may have to invest in some polish thinner.  First World nail addict problems, I'm telling you.

Then it was time for the fimo canes.  My boyfriend asked me why I bought canes instead of pre-cut slices, to which I said something along the lines of "it's cheaper...you get more...it didn't look that hard from the videos online...??"  Surprisingly, my boyfriend is very good at slicing them (when he feels like helping), but alas, I was doing these at 2am, so I was on my own.  These flowers are so adorable, and I managed to cut them better than I did last time.  It wasn't perfect, and I probably wasted half of the cane, but I'm still proud of myself :)  On to pictures!

White Light

Daylight

Flash

Macro - White Light

Yay! Super cute flowers, right?  I got the fimo canes from Amazon in case anyone was wondering.

Thanks for reading!

XO
Gina

A Liebster Award? For Me?

Well hey everyone!  Today I was checking on my little 'ol blog here and guess what?  I was tagged by Princess Ishyama over at Glittery and Polished for a Liebster Award.  What is a Liebster Award you ask?  Well, it's pretty much a chain going around from blogger to blogger (the nice type, not the scary 7 days to live type) to help people with newer blogs to get a little bit of recognition, and to help others notice these blogs.  The only catch is that you have less than 200 followers, so I most certainly fit the bill.  Yay!

Here are the rules:

1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 11 questions the 'tagger' has set for them.
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There's no tag backs.


11 Things About Me

1. I am known as the Nail Queen at work
2. "Work" is at a hospital as an x-ray tech
3. My commute is 45 minutes each way (ouch)
4. Though mt cat's name is Tifa, we rarely call her that.  It's usually some variation of a word that rhymes with Tifa (Teef, Meef, Bifa, Teefy, Sef, Bef, Tef, Beefy)
5. She responds to all of them, and act like a dog
6. I get really sad if a design doesn't turn out right on my nails
7. I have curly hair (and I hate it)
8. I read books very fast 
9. I hate Winter and anything that has to do with it (skiing anyone? nope)
10. I act like a five year old most of the time
11. I'm a nerd (I like anime, video games, etc.)


Glittery and Polished's Questions:

1. What was your first polish or brand of polish?
When I was 10? NYC
When I threw out my drugstore polish and got serious? China Glaze


2. What is your favorite book or book series?
Oh my, that's not a very fair question. I like many books.  Let's just go with the series I'm reading now, called The Mortal Instruments

3. What is your favorite thing to have for dessert?
CAKE. RED VELVET CAKE.

4. Where do you go to unwind?
The Bathtub :)

5. What is your biggest dream?
To be successful

6. When did you become a member of the polish/blogging community?
April 2012

7. What is your favorite band/musician?
I'm very in to techno right now, so lets go with Deadmau5

8. What would be a polish you'd want to create?
Some fort of really cool holo/color change in the sun combo

9. What was your best manicure?
I don't know about best, but my favorite manicure was one I did before starting my blog.  I used China Glaze Tinsel Town, but did the accent finger in China Glaze Smoke and Ashes with a bow stamp in China Glaze Metallic Muze. I loved those nails.

10. Who inspires you?
Other Bloggers and Indie Polish sellers

11. What is your favorite color?
PINK


Now for MY questions (the hard part)

1. What is your favorite mainstream brand of polish?
2. What is your favorite brand of indie polish?
3. What is your most wanted polish?
4. What is your lucky number?
6. What made you decide to start a Nail Polish Blog?
7. What is your biggest pet peeve?
8. What does your polish setup look like? (pictures pleaseeeeee?)
9. What do your friends/family think of your polish obsession hobby?
10. What is your favorite type of nail art to do?
11. What is a type of nail art you wish you could do as flawlessly as other bloggers? 

AAAAAAAAND...My 11 Bloggers!

1. Lacquer Row
2. Beauty Ninja
3. Once Upon a Polish
4. Color Happy
5. Nails Actually
6. One Crafty SAHM
7. Teen Polish Junkie
8. Lacquer This
9. Ooh La La Polish
10. Liesl Loves Pretty things
11. Lavish Layerings


I apologize if any of you have already been tagged, but I hope you will all post and tag other Bloggers :)

XO
Gina

F4 Polish - Pink Salmon

Happy Caturday! Haha.

Today I have another polish from Indie seller F4 polish.  This one is called Pink Salmon, and it is a clear base with small round pink and white matte glitter and salmon colored hex satin glitter.  It can be worn on its own with 3 of 4 coats, but I opted to use one coat over China Glaze Thataway.  Thataway is an orange leaning coral polish with subtle gold shimmer that I thought would match Pink Salmon well.  I was happy with the results, my only complaint is that it might have matched too well.

F4 Polish still comes with the cute rhinestone for the "o" in Polish, and like Pink Penguin, Pink Salmon is packed with glitter so application is easy and distribution is even.  The swatches below are shown with two coats of Thataway, one coat of Pink Salmon, and one coat of top coat (it needs more).  Interestingly, the pictures with flash are the most color accurate.

White Light

Flash

Flash

Macro - Flash

F4 Polish can be purchased on Etsy, and if they don't have all the colors in stock, I believe they can make a custom listing for you, which is super great customer service!  You can also like F4 Polish on Facebook where the girls are always posting sneak peeks of their new polishes!

And, since it is Caturday, here is the always entertaining Tifa!  She was being a good girl and actually posing for the camera.

XO
Gina