Subtle Pink Gradient with Stamping

I decided to play with my mani from last night. I did a sponge gradient and because it's been awhile totally failed at take pics of what it looked like before the stamping. Sorry. Anyway, since I used Sinful Colors Cotton Candy for my mani yesterday, I decided to do my gradient with Cotton Candy and her sister, Sugar N Spice. It only took two rounds of sponging to achieve the look I was going for.

I said the other day (Wednesday?) that I missed stamping so I went through my stamping plate collection and found a design I liked and hadn't used before. I used the large swirly design from m51 Konad plate and stamped with Color Club Miss Bliss, an awesome pink holographic polish.

On a side note, now that school is over for the semester, I finally have some time to wade through the 2 TB of data I recovered from my destroyed PC a few months ago. I hope to be able to recover a couple of reviews I was working on, a handful of posts,  and a ton of pictures including the photos from my nail art contest. Thanks to all of you for sticking around through the random & scant posts and failed PC.

Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Sinful Colors Cotton Candy

I thought I'd start out my return to blogging with one of the untrieds I nabbed sometime in spring. This is Sinful Colors Cotton Candy from the Sugar Rush collection. I grabbed up several of the polishes from this collection.

I usually love Sinful Colors but I was a little disappointed in this one. Not for the color, I love the color and the pretty little shimmer flecks in it. No, I was disappointed because the first coat went on semi-transparent and streaky. After letting it dry for a while, I tried adding a thicker second coat...still streaky and semi-transparent. So I let that coat dry and added a third thick coat. I was definitely happier with this polish at 3 coats. I topped it off with one coat of Seche Vite and went to take pictures, then I saw it. VNL, not glaring but enough that I could see it. Bummer. The other thing I noticed was that it looks a little darker than it does in the bottle.

Ah well, they can't all be perfect right? Did anyone else have this problem? Like I said, I love the color so I will probably wear it again. I'm thinking maybe some kind of nail art. I am looking at Sinful Colors Sugar n Spice (from the same collection) and I'm thinking about doing a gradient over this with the two.

Gnight all! Much Love & Lacquer ~ The Dragon Lady

Sinful Colors Sinfully Magnetic

As some of you know Sinful Colors has now jumped onto the magnetic bandwagon and released a magnetic line called Sinfully Magnetic. I found a display of them at my local Rite Aid, that contained 6 or 7 colors (sorry, forgot to actually count them). They retail for $4.99 which I was bummed about because it's Sinful Colors and they are usually cheaper. As for the colors, some of them looked pretty close to the colors we have been seeing in the magnetic polishes for months. The dark green, dark purple, dark charcoal gray, silver, dark blue, etc. I almost walked away from the display but as I was standing up glitter caught my eye...yup glitter. Captivate Me, definitely captivated me. It's a wine colored polish with small, holographic micro glitter.

After finding one with glitter I searched all the colors on display carefully and while no others in that display had glitter one, Polar Opposites (a light gun metal-ish gray), has a blue to purple duo-chrome shimmer to it - hard to tell for sure but it might actually be a green to blue to purple. I scored both of these and grabbed up a spare of each to use in a future giveaway.

What do you think of these? Has anyone else found any glitter/shimmer magnetic polishes? Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Yesterday's Teal Mani

Here's a quick post to show you all what I used in the ovarian Cancer Awareness mani I wore yesterday. I used two coats of Sinful Colors Sweet Dreams, a pale teal with a silver shimmer. Once that was dry I stamped over it with the awareness ribbon french tip image on BM-324 using China Glaze Deviantly Daring. On my accent nail I sponged Sinful Colors Nail Junkie, then hit it all with a coat of Seche Vite.

Mani/Bottle shots:

I also did my toes in a teal glitter nail art polish, Finger Paints Art Hue Feeling Young?, I moved some of it to a small polish bottle for easier application. I topped it off with two coats of Seche Vite, then today I used one coat of Geliah Top It Off UV Topcoat for awesome glass-like shine (also adds durability and I am planning on wearing this for awhile).

Macro in sunlight

First ever toe shot! 

Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Pink Wednesday: Wet n Wild Tickled Pink and Sinful Colors Glass Pink

I decided to go with a pastel look for today's Pink Wednesday being how it's Spring and all. I Just picked up Wet n Wild Tickled Pink for $0.69 at my local Walgreen's this morning. I used three coats of Tickled Pink over one coat of Barielle Growth Activator. The formula was on the thickish side and left horrible streaks and drag marks, hence the 3 coats. It all took forever to dry even after I topped it with a coat of Seche Vite. It probably also didn't help that the brush was all wonky too.

I decided it was ok but kind of bland so I added one coat of Sinful Colors Glass Pink which gave this mani a lovely glass fleck finish.

Still though it needed something so I added a glitter gradient using some loose, iridescent, light pink, bar glitter. I topped this with two more coats of Seche Vite to help smooth it out. Notice I skipped doing this on my accent nail...I had other plans for that nail.

I realized it has been a while since I stamped skulls on a mani, figured it was overdue. I used plate OB5 and Konad Special Polish in white. Then added one of my newly acquired rhinestone bows in light pink to match. Then topped it with another coat of Seche Vite. I really like the effect of a creme stamp over the glass fleck finish. I think I will have to repeat this with other colors that aren't so close.

Accent nail macro

Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Week 16: Dotticure Mani

 For the 52 Week's challenge I am a bit behind, so I figured i'd just use the polish from my previous post for my Week 16: Dotticure Mani. If you missed my last post I used two coats of Sinful Colors Zeus over a nail treatment base coat and topped it with Barielle Ultra Speed Dry Top Coat. Since I am behind on the 52 Week Challenge manis I thought this color would provide a good base for the Dotticure mani I needed to do. Here's my inspiration for this mani from Polish Amor.

I used my dotting tools to dot on Sally Hansen hard to Tell (shimmery, pearl white) randomly half way to 2/3 the way down my nails. I kind of like it, sort of reminds me of a purple spotted egg or something. I am thinking about a dot-gradient next time.

Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Untried Tuesday: Sinful Colors Zeus

 Wow, just wow. The color on this is just beautiful. A dusty purple with a pink shimmer. This is two coats over a nail treatment base coat and one coat of Barielle Ultra Speed Dry. The formula was a little on the thick side but still applied extremely easily and left no brush strokes or any other issues. I was shocked as to how opaque this was with just one coat. If I had done a thick first coat I don't think I would have needed a second. This just got bumped up the the fav list! Now I am kicking myself for not buying more of these, I do think I have one more from this collection floating around....Neptune, I believe. I might just have to use that one next. And yes, I managed to bang my ring finger on the light box as I was getting ready to take pictures. So much for thinking it was dry!

Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Pink Wednesday: Unnamed Cosmetic Arts Creme & Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter

I haven't done a Pink Wednesday in a while and I definitely miss them. I thought I'd go for a mellow, pastel, Springy kind of a pink today. I just "happened" to stop into my local Ross this morning after class and scored a cute, pastel pink creme from Cosmetic Arts for $1.99. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm on a No-Buy this month...you're not going to tell on me though, right? Sweet, I knew you had my back! ;)

Anyway, this pink creme is lighter than Color Club Peppermint Twist (I was kind of worried it was a dupe but it's definitely lighter). This is 2 coats over my franken nail treatment that I use as underwear (I am hoping it will help my poor nails still recouping from those gels).

I thought it could use something...yes, I mean glitter. So here's where I sponged on some Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter, a hot pink glitter. I topped it all of with two thin coats of Seche Vite for smoothness and shine. I was going to take my dotting tools and dot over this for my Week 16: Dotticure Mani but decided to wear it the way it is to class tonight and do my Week 16: Dotticure tomorrow after class.

Actually posting this from class, so gotta go. I'll try to post the giveaway tonight after class. Much Love, The Dragon Lady

Easter Mani #2 - Easter Water Marble Skittles

Okay, first off I feel the need to say that I have only water marbled a couple of times and the last time was back in September 2011. That said, ready for my newest attempt? LOL! Of course, if you don't zoom it's not too bad! ;)

 

I used China Glaze Dance Baby, Sinful Colors (an unnamed light yellow), Color Club Twiggie, Sinful Colors Cinderella, and Sinful Colors Zeus. I used two colors at a time and used one of those colors with another on the next nail. The swoops and design came out okay but I guess I was having trouble with the water temperature? It's very cold were I live right now, so I was using filtered water warmed up and it was either too warm or too cold for my attempt. I tried several times (3?) and this was the best one. Dang those stupid air bubbles! They totally messed it up! Oh well.

I tried a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust to see if that hid the bubbles a bit....not so much!

Then I tried one coat of Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope, that did a better job but also kind of covered up some of the water marble pattern. These water marbles might have to wait until summer. =(

Much Love, The Dragon Lady