Fancy Taffy Pants!

Hi all!

Today's post is for the ABC Challenge but I just had to go with that cute title instead of my usual "ABC Challenge 'L': blablabla".

This mani was actually completely coincidental. I painted my nails Friday with a new polish and kept it on until Tuesday (which is forever) but I had absolutely no idea or inspiration to do some nail art for today's post. It was then I realized that the mani I had worn all weekend had a polish starting with L so I used these pictures instead. I really didn't want to share this just yet for several reasons, which I'll go into later, but I didn't want to keep missing posts.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Fancy Pants and added accent nails of Lacquerlicious Tart Taffy, which had been a long time lemming ever since I saw Mimi's pics on her blog, so when a 25% off sale appeared, I pounced.

This looked so pretty but Fancy Pants chipped HORRIBLY. Within 24 hours I already had small chips at my nail tips and eventually it started peeling off in sheets. My mom had this same mani at the same time and hers didn't even last a full 10 hours, but she also has her hands submerged in water far more than I do.

Also, I ran into some issues with my Lacquerlicious polish. First of all, it's sinking :(. I can tell she's using suspension base and I know from several people that none of her polishes ever did this so it's probably a case of a bad batch. Either way, turning it upside down for a minute takes care of the problem right quick. The other issue is that it seems like some of the glitters stained my nails. It was very very faint and barely noticeable but I saw it and thought I had a rash on my nails. I am not very logical when it comes to nails. A very wonderful person indeed had the same two polishes and is trying out this combo as well to see if it stains the nails so I will update this post later with her findings and tell you if it was just me or not.

UPDATE: My very nice tester informed me she did not have any staining with the Lacquerlicious polish and she wasn't even wearing base coat! So it might have been an adverse reaction with my base coat (Nailtiques).

Small personal announcement: I'm starting a new job on Monday! That's pretty much the reason my nails have been so sad lately, I've been running around getting everything done before I start. I don't anticipate it will disrupt the blog too much but I will let you know if anything changes.

Whew! That was a much longer post than I anticipated and I didn't even go into the whole China Glaze/Vampy Varnish situation. Let's just say that as a blogger, I'm not happy with China Glaze.

Have a great day loves!

Dirty Waters? (Illamasqua Cameo + Stamping)

Hey all and happy Friday!

You might be able to tell that I have no idea what to call this post. I think it's because I find the color combination a bit odd. Don't get me wrong, I loved this manicure lots and lots but its not a combo I would typically go for. Am glad I did though, I'm working on getting out of my comfort zone.

I started with two coats of Illamasqua Cameo, which is the most amazing vivid periwinkle I've ever had and want 25 bottles of it (I'll probably just settle with the one I have) but it was a bitch to photograph. This color really spazzed my camera out so I have to apologize for the swatches, I tried to color correct but I'm pretty sure I failed. For the stamping I used DRK-A and Color Club Beyond.

There are some color accurate swatches on Vampy Varnish and Ommorphia Beauty Bar.

I thought it looked like dirty water with oil in it and my mom said it looked like you were looking at the sea through a chain-link fence. She's very creative, lol.

What do you think? Agree that its an odd color combo or does it seem totally obvious to you?

Have a great weekend, loves!

ABC Challenge 'K' - KIKO 400 (Silver Holo!)

Hi all!

So this challenge was a bit of a pain in the butt. Not because I didn't have a K polish to post, but because I didn't have time to do anything for it! Tuesday was a very emotional day here in PR as we were in the finals of the World Baseball Classic against Dominican Republic, with whom we have a very long history of competition so tensions were high all-around. We lost, whatever. ANYWAY, point is, I would've painted my nails Tuesday if I hadn't been busy and from then on I haven't really had a chance or motivation to do them (I'm actually naked as I type, GASP!).

All that explanation to say that the mani I'm showing today was one I did and posted on Instagram about 5 weeks ago but I never took lightbox pictures of because life happened, so today I'm showing my cellphone pics I had stored (which are surprisingly good, I can see why people use their phones for blogging sometimes).

I started with two coats of KIKO 400, the silver holo from their LE collection a while back and stamped with black and DRK-A on my pointer and middle finger.

Not a macro, just zoomed in on one of the previous pics.

I loved that mani so much I feel like wearing it again now that I see it. However, the idea for this mani wasn't just born out of nowhere, it was meant to mimic my new ring! My mom bought it as my birthday present and brought all the way from Morocco for me. It's perfect. If you know me a little bit, you know I love swirls too much so this is quite appropriate for me :D.

So that's it from me! I didn't realize this post would be so rambly.

Have a great day and check out the rest of the manis that were posted on time for the challenge!

Messy Fishtail Chevrons

Hi all!

Sorry for the later-than-usual post, I've been really distracted doing other things on the computer and kept forgetting to finish editing the pics. I'm sure I kept forgetting because I just don't like these pictures that much but I like the color combo enough to justify posting them.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Tart-y For the Party, then used OPI My Vampire is Buff and L'Oreal Not a Cloud In Sight, all from their respective spring collections, for the chevrons.

Overall, not that bad for a first try from someone deathly afraid of doing freehand, just not as clean as I would like. Both colors I chose for the chevrons required two coats to be opaque and streak free so the layers just kept building up and it looked too lumpy by the end. I do LOVE my pinky though, that's how all the nails should have looked.

Have you tried this technique before? There's a great video tutorial for it on Chalkboard Nails!

Have a great day lovelies! (As great as a Monday could be, anyway).

MASH Matte Topcoat Review

Hey all!

Today I'll be sharing my thoughts on the MASH Matte Topcoat. There's more pics than usual here so I'll just get right to it.

I started with two coats of KIKO 335 and added one sparse coat of Bokeh Effect by Makeup Withdrawal. I loved this combo, the base color of Bokeh Effect is very similar to the KIKO and I die for those copper glitters.

But this is a review! Get focused. Then I added the MASH topcoat to all the nails except my ring, on which I applied Essie Matte About You for comparison's sake since its the only other matte topcoat I own.

 

Both topcoats dried at the same speed but, as you can see, the Essie is more of a true matte while the MASH is more satiny. I personally prefer the MASH over Essie because the texture of the Essie was always a bit uncomfortable to me, I find it chalky. Also, the Essie appears to lighten the base color a bit and is very flat while the MASH one retains some sparkle and doesn't alter the base color.

All in all, another win from MASH for me! I really enjoy this topcoat so much more and the appearance it gives. I'm dying to use it over a gradient now, saw a matte gradient on IG recently and my eyes popped out of my head.

What do you think? Agree with me about the appearance and finish of these matte topcoats or do you have another favorite?

Have a great weekend loves!

Product featured was sent for review, all opinions are my own. For more information, refer to my Disclosure policy.