Illamasqua - Collide

Before my nails broke, I had on my favorite pink, Illamasqua's Collide.

 Collide is a bright, bright, bright neon pink.  Did I say bright?  The formula is a bit sheer, I used three coats with top coat.

 The application  is great, no streaks or bald spots and I didn't see any chips until day 3.  

 I purchased this during a sale Illamasqua was having but you can also purchase it from Sephora for $17.

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U.S.A. Nails

Anyone else getting caught with the Olympic bug?  I wanted to dress my nails for the opening ceremony.  I recycled one of my 4th of July Mani's with a twist for this one.

Started out with a base of CG Dandy Lyin' Around and Illamasqua Phallic.

Using masking tape I sectioned off the area for the stars and stripes.  

 I used Konad white and plate MJ VI for the stars.  The wavy stripes are made by using Konad Wine Red and Bundle Monster plate 210.  Finally I added silver striping tape to finish the look.

Here is a picture of the original.  I think I like the look of the original one better.

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Illamasqua duo of Viridian and Glitterati

Last Christmas I received the duo of Illamasqua Viridian and Glitterati as a Christmas gift.  I thought I'd break them out and give them a try.  

Viridian is a gorgeous green in a metallic finish.

I had no problem with the application, no streaks or patches which is always good.  It was opaque in one coat, out of habit I did two coats.

In the shade

Glitterati is a cranberry base with holographic glitter.  There is a lot of glitter in this, they're not kidding.    I don't know why but a fruit cake always comes to my mind when I see this polish.

Started off with adding an accent nail, didn't like it.

   So then I went ahead and did the rest of the nails.

This is one coat over Viridian, there was so much glitter, no bald spots.

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Part 1 of Anniversary Present

 Yesterday was my fifteen year wedding anniversary!

  My husband took advantage of having to be in Houston to shop, he sent me this picture to tease me.  Keep in mind I thought I already had received my gift in the form of stamping plates(Sugar Bubbles, MoYou and MoYou UK).  So this was a nice surprise.

 From Neiman's Tom Ford Black Sugar and YSL Gris Underground

 He also stopped at Sephora and picked up Illamasqua's Pink Raindrops

 I did a quick swatch of them will probably review them in detail later on in the week.  The TF and YSL applied like butter but the Illa was think and lumpy.  I applied thinner so hopefully that will help.

And to top it off, he also bought me a pound of See's Candies Nuts and Chews, like the best chocolate ever.

Once all the plates come in I'll post them as well.

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Untried Tuesday - Illamasqua Viridian

 How Illamasqua Viridian has remained in the untried list for this long is beyond me.   So I dusted it off to be used in a stripped mani.

 For the base I went with another untried from China Glaze, this is from the 2012 Holiday Joy Collection.

 The formula is thin so multiple coats would be needed, I opted to use this over a coat of silver polish so that I would only need one coat.

 Once again I applied a coat of Gelous prior to using a top coat.  

 Prior to applying Viridian I added two stripes of tape to each nail.

Once the tape is in place, I applied Illamasqua Viridian. Illamasqua describes Viridian as a peacock green.  This is a metallic polish with blue/green shimmer.  It is very opaque, I only used one coat.  The formula was nice with no streaks.

I applied the polish one nail at a time and removed the tape while the polish is still wet.

 I did have issues with the first top coat I used, it smeared the pinkie.

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Sunday's Challenge in Adventures in Stamping

So today's challenge  in the face book group Adventures in Stamping was to stamp over a saran wrap base.  

This is what I used for the base.

 A quick coat of My Boyfriend Scales Walls and than big random dots of Blow, Lament, and Can't Find My Czechbook.   

 Using the saran wrap  I spread the dots of polish out so that they overlap and create that effect, and than added top coat.  

 I stamped some butterflies using the DRK-B Plate.

Here is the end result.

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Simple stripes and dots with Illamasqua

I broke out with the tape and dotting tool for todays nails.

These are the colors I used today.  

 For the base I used Illamasqua's Load and for the designs I went with Illamasqua's Nomad.  I purchased both from Sephora.

 Gotta love the names Illamasqua gives it's products.  Load is a sheer off white color.  The application was a bit difficult.  It was streaky and left a few bald spots on the base.

I used three coats plus a top coat.

Using Illamasqua Nomad, a dotting tool and tape I added stripes and dots to my nails

 Finally I added a pink fimo flower.

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Nail Mail!!

Love going to the mailbox and finding packages in there.  Today I received two packages one was an Etsy purchase from Vivid Laquer(here) and the second was from JJP Beauty Supply.

Let's start off with the small one.  I was surprised at how thick the envelope was, what with it being one plate.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find the plate secured in a small jewelry box, no bubble wrap for them.   I wanted this plate to be able to have an, OPI Spotted look, but the fingerprint image is calling my name.  The plate retails for $8.

Plate VL009

The bigger envelope came from JJPBeautysupply.com(here), I was surprised to see that they choose to mail five polishes in a cardboard envelope.  I'm happy to say they all arrived intact, each polish was in a bubble envelope.

 I purchased three Zoya's and two OPI's from the latest collections.

I wanted some more of the OPI Bond Girls Collection, so I added Vesper a beautiful dark purple, and Jinx a gorgeous coral color.

Vesper and Jinx

I purchased Rocky from the Stunning Collection, another blue to add to my collection a lovely creme formula.  From the Irresistible Collection, Tinsley a sheer pink/gold . And my favorite is Liberty which is from the Summer Pixie Collection 2013.

 They were less expensive at $6.75 and $7.50 for the pixies plus the code ebayjjp for free shipping. 

 

 Here is a close up of the textured polish.

 A little extra, my sister was nice enough to have stopped by her Sephora inside a JCP and bought me Poke, a pretty violet.  She went when they were on sale, she paid $7 for it!!

Well that's all for today thanks for looking!!