Island Girl Aloha Luau

Hi everyone! As promised, I have one of my new Island Girl Hawaii nail polishes to show you.  I picked up a few when I went to Maui.  This one is called Aloha Luau and it's a pale blue-based purple, almost lavender, shimmer.  The shimmer is subtle, and you almost can't see it unless you're in direct light.  The formula of this polish is different than anything I've ever used.  It's almost gritty.  It's also pretty thick, but not goopy, just thicker than most other polishes I wear.  The application was easy, and I only needed 2 coats for opacity.  It dried extremely fast, and matte, which was surprising because the formula was so thick.  The wear time was not great.  It chipped in 3 days, and I was using Nailene Acrylic Strong top coat, which usually gives me a good 5 days of wear time.  It's a fabulous color though, and despite the terrible wear time I love it!

This is one coat of strengthening base coat, 2 coats of Aloha Luau, 1 coat of Nailene Acrylic Strong top coat, and 1 coat of quick dry top coat.

Photos taken in direct sunlight.

Thanks for looking! :)

Hawaiian Inspiration

Hi everyone!  I haven't posted this past week because I went to MAUI!  :)  It was such a fun trip and we spent our time laying on the beach, snorkeling, zip lining, watching magnificent sunsets, and eating great food.  While doing all of these activities I found so many sources of inspiration for my manicures.  We went snorkeling off the coast of Lanai and saw several species of beautiful tropical fish.  One that I particularly loved, was the parrotfish.  It's beautifully colored and gave me a lot of inspiration for a manicure.  I wanted to do a parrotfish inspired mani, but I'm not sure if I like the results of this yet.  I feel like this one sorta looks like a little kid's finger-painting...

I didn't use a base coat for this one since I knew there would be several layers of polish, and 6+ layers is not chic this season. :)  I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Rise and Shine.  I picked it up right before I left because it reminded me of tropical water.  I originally went to look at the Island Adventure collection (the new one that looks oddly similar to OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection), and found Rise and Shine in the display, but I don't think it's part of that collection.  Anyway, it's a gorgeous, rich teal color with a subtle shimmer.  The formula is great and opaque in 2 coats.  It dries very quickly and matte.  These photos don't do it justice, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it to photograph without this weird yellow tinge.  I ended up taking the photo in indirect light to get a better representation, but the color is much more vibrant and bright that it looks in this photo.

Next, I added 1 coat of L'Oreal Blue Marine, a duochromatic that is teal, but flashes pink and purple.  It reminds me of peacock feathers.  This is another one that I purchased right before my trip and I wanted it because it reminded me of tropical water (I had the tropics on my mind apparently.)  It's very sheer and if worn alone would probably require several coats for opacity.

Next, I used a piece of folded paper towel to apply Wet n Wild Eggplant Frost in a random pattern.

Then, I applied a layer of Hard Candy Beetle, then a layer of Sally Hansen Byte.  Here's the final result:

The jury's still out on this one.  Where do you find inspiration for your manicures?

I also found Island Girl polishes while I was in Maui, and purchased a few of them.  Stay tuned these next few days to see swatches.  Thanks for reading! :)

Sinful Colors Fusion Neon

I've been on a neon kick lately and this weekend my sister let me use her Sinful Colors Fusion Neon, a neon pink that has quickly climbed to the top of my wish list.  I love it!  So here's a shout-out to my sister for her awesome taste in colors!  :)

Fusion Neon has a pretty good formula.  It was a little thin and required 3 coats of opacity, but it dried quickly so it was actually a pretty quick manicure.  Like most neons, it dried matte, so I applied a shiny top coat.  The wear time is terrible though.  I've only been wearing it for one day and already have major chipping.  I love it though, and will definitely be looking for it next time I go shopping.

This is 3 coats of Fusion Neon and 1 coat of quick dry top coat.

Photo taken in direct sunlight

Photos taken in indirect sunlight

Thanks for looking! :)

4th of July Manicure

I know it's a bit early, but I will be super busy this weekend so I wanted to show you all my 4th of July mani now.  At first I was thinking about doing red and white stripes, but I wore stripes for Easter.  So, I decided to wear stars and dots instead.  For the stars I used striping brushes, and for the dots I used a bobby pin.  I didn't wear a base coat or a top coat for this one.

Base color: Sinful Colors Snow Me White
Blue Stars: Kiss Nail Art striper in Pearl Blue
Blue Dots: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue
Red Stars: LA Colors Art Deco striper in Red Glitter
Red Dots: OPI Kennebunk-port

Did you wear a themed mani for the 4th?  I hope you all have a safe and fun holiday!  Thanks for looking! :)