Ozotic Elytra 528 over Ozotic 505.

I hauled all six of the Ozotic Pro multichrome polishes last week and I planned to post the swatches of them before posting the swatches of this, but I just can't wait to show you this little number I have been sporting for the last few days.

This is one of the new multichrome glitter polishes from Exotic Pro, Elytra 528.  There have been a number of great swatches around of this over black, like You've Got Nail and Vettelicious.  So I thought I would do something different.

This polish is basically a glitter version of Ozotic Pro 505 (which is a dupe of Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal (which I'm giving away as a prize for my franken polish contest)).  I thought I would layer Elytra 528 over Ozotic 505.

This is base coat, one coat black, one coat Ozotic 505, two coats Elytra 528, two coats Seche Vite. This first picture was outdoors in indirect sunlight.

This picture is in direct sun, and the turquoise glitter was so blinding that my camera wouldn't focus properly.

Here is an upclose of the glitter, showing the colour shift.

And even closer of the glitter.  You can actually see the tiny shimmer particles beneath of the multichrome colour shift of 505.

I found this glitter polish had a surprisingly smooth finish.  It certainly isn't gritty like you would expect a glitter polish to be.  I also found that it removed pretty easily, I didn't even need to use the foil method to get it off.

These photos are only showing the green, turquoise, blue and purple flashes.  When layered over black you see purple to gold flecks at the right angle too.  I personally think 528 has the best colours and most noticeable colour shift out of the three Elytra's.

In case you didn't know, these can be purchased from piCture pOlish, and they do ship internationally, although they are $$$$$ especially as the Aussie dollar is strong at the moment.

More about → Ozotic Elytra 528 over Ozotic 505.

OPI Steady As She Rose

I finally have the Internet back and it's uploading my photos no problem now :) Today I have Steady As She Rose from OPI's Pirate's of the Caribbean collection. A very sweet and delicate pink creme.

I just love this. It's not an overly yellow or blue pink, it's just right. It does have that dusty quality to it like the rest of the collection which makes it just that much nicer.

I did need three coats however. I think I was using the polish to thin though, it seemed to to work better when I used thicker coats. I've got loads of polishes ready to post for you, so keep checking back!

More about → OPI Steady As She Rose

The Fairly Odd Parents

These were suggested by Laura. :)

I chose to just do the three main characters because they will become part of the "Full" mani project if you know what I mean. I like that I'm not forced to do all 5 or 10 nails.

If you'd like a specific nail tutorial, just let me know in the comments and I'll post it.

Have a great night!

More about → The Fairly Odd Parents

L.A. Colors Color Craze and Art Deco swatches

Hey guys! I meant to post way earlier but I got caught up doing submissions for More Nail Polish's franken contest and Swaafie's nail art contest! And tomorrow I'll be doing a submission for Leslie aka Nail Polish Art Addiction's nail art contest!
Everyone check out those contests.
When voting begins I'll be sure to show you my submissions :)

I also got caught up making swap packages! Swaps are fun but I am done swapping for a while, it got a little out of hand. Haha.

Today I'm going to show you all my L.A. Colors nail polishes.
This does not include L.A. Girl. (They are the same company right?)
Anyway. I have 5 Color Craze polishes and 2 Art Deco polishes.

 I'm going to start with my favorite - Sea Siren.

You might remember this polish from my 10 favorite polishes post.
Sea Siren is an awesome one-coat teal polish. It seems a bit streaky in the photo but it isn't. Beautiful polish. Still one of my faves for sure.
It is a bit hard to capture the color.

It is almost neon, and has a bit of lovely shimmer. I think my picture from the favorite nails post is the most accurate so I'll post it again here:

Love love love.
The rest of the Color Craze polishes I own are jellies.

Atomic is a teal jelly. VNL after 3 coats. Really pretty color though!

Static Electricity is a royal blue jelly, still sheer at 3 coats. Really nice color though.
I think these shades are better on short nails because the VNL is not as obvious.

Nuclear Energy. Again, sheer, 3 coats. Nice deep-but-vibrant purple.

Hot Blooded. I cannot refrain from singing the song Hot Blooded when I see this polish/talk about it.
Hot blooded, check it and seeeeee.
Okay. This one is only 2 coats but still sheer. True red jelly.

That's all for Color Craze!
Everyone should buy Sea Siren. If you can find it. Since I bought this bottle I have never seen another in any L.A. Colors display.
The rest aren't great, and they take a while to dry because of the 3 coats. But jelly lovers will love them!

Now for Art Deco. These aren't really swatches I guess but showing what they are.

I only have 2 Art Deco polishes. Black and Silver Glitter.
The silver one is great but the black one sucks now.
After you use these for a few weeks, doing things like zebra and leopard, they get super gloopy and unusable because when you do detailed patterns you end up leaving the bottle open for too long.
I don't use the black one anymore, I should probably throw it out. No amount of thinner makes it useable really. I started using this brush in Wet N Wild Black creme but now that I have nail art brushes, this one is not needed anymore.

The brushes are really thin and good for nail art. But not excessive nail art, because like I said, they dry up.

The silver glitter is all small silver glitter, all the same size, no holo. Nice for detailing.

That's all my swatches for today!
Now here is a sneak preview of my upcoming DS Original post.
(If we ever get sun. Tomorrow is June, yet today it was so cold I had to wear my winter coat. Pathetic.)

Soooooo holooooooo.

More about → L.A. Colors Color Craze and Art Deco swatches

New clothing and New Markdowns at Medusa's Threads!

Above are a couple of the newest items in my store, Medusa's Threads. I've just taken tons of new markdowns too!
Don't forget that I still have some of the Kaleidoscope collection & 2Nite! I constantly check prices to make sure you are getting at or below market prices for these. I can fit up to 6 polishes in a flat rate box. I've also got OPI DS Royal! With a little luck & some hard work, I'll be adding some new polishes next Tuesday. Wish me happy hunting!

Thanks for reading!
April

More about → New clothing and New Markdowns at Medusa's Threads!

Dexter's Laboratory

Just two quick cartoon nails along with the logo for Cartoon Network.

Thanks to all who have kept suggesting different cartoons! I've taken note of all of them! Some were already on the to-do-list, while others are now added! So be patient! I'm working on them all. :))

More about → Dexter's Laboratory

**Giveaway Reminder**

Don't forget my giveaway ends 11:59 pm TOMORROW! You can enter by clicking the pic in the top right corner of my blog. I will be traveling tomorrow, but I hope to sort through and announce the winner by the weekend. Thanks for entering! :)

More about → **Giveaway Reminder**

Nude nail polish is the latest trend and Zoya has it!

More reviews on the three new nude nail polish colors of the Zoya Nail Polish Touch Collection (Zoya Minka, Zoya Shay and Zoya Pandora)... proving that "less really is more" sometimes!

"I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite of these because all three of them are really cool,
and they're coming out just in time for my renewed love of shimmers."

Nailphile

________________________________________________________________

"Overall, I like this collection..."

a lot of contests and such

________________________________________________________________ 

"They really deliver on the promise of  full coverage nude(s)"

Let Them Have Polish

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"This collection delivers something for everyone, and unlike most nude polish colors on the market these polishes have a lot of opacity. Less is more, and in a sea of brightly colored polishes sometimes it's nice to opt for a more subdued look."

Meowalycat - Beauty Product Junkies - BellaSugar

__________________________________________________________

It's not about finding a perfect match to your skin tone but rather about finding the one that coordinates. Our color experts logged many hours creating the perfect full-coverage nude nail polish shades! Since then we've found that most people can wear one of the three new nudes in the Zoya Touch collection no matter what!
Zoya Nail Polish

"You know what? They're (Zoya Nail Polish) right!"

Manicure Mommas

More about → Nude nail polish is the latest trend and Zoya has it!

Hanging with my Girls

I invited my young gal pals over for an afternoon of polishing. I've set it as a personal goal to regularly have these girls over. They're a lot of fun, and it makes me feel like a role model! Lol (All three of these girls are early teens, btw). I don't know what was more fun for them, picking out nail polish or playing with my iPhone apps & camera. I'm cool with it as long as they had fun.

You even get to see their faces this time!

Here is the link to the post when two of these girls made their first appearance on my blog.

Cali-G is back!

 Cali G and Coco Puff both got a full set of acrylics about a week ago, so we jazzed it up with new polish and fresh pedis.

Her advice? "Go with bright colors, because it shows you have a bright personality."

Coco Puff

She took inspiration from my recent post of pink leopard with jagged black tips, and changed the colors up and wanted to go with "goopy drips" and not "jagged tips."

The end result? "It's very Nicky Minaj vs. The Flintstones" Lol

She wanted toes to match my Toes Like Rebecca post.

Last but not least is Wonder Woman

She couldn't like of any other strong, powerful woman to serve as her alias. :)

Fingernails were gradient sponged, kind of ended up looking like easter eggs though...

I had a proud moment when she was deciding on her pedicure. She asked for a "beautiful tiffany blue color, you know?"

Like this? China Glaze For Audrey (bonus points for her as a young person understanding the pun of the name!) Then she said that it would be really cute "if only you could do little bows like the ribbon the boxes are tied with..."

Like this? Konad image plate m56.

I love it when I can amaze people...

 They are simply adorable.

 I got the girls presents of a Konad stamper & scraper and Wet N Wild Black Creme. Then I let them pick a few each from my stamping plates that I rarely use (there was a forbidden pile of my precious plates) for them to practice and learn to stamp themselves. Stamping is the first thing I learned to master with nail art, so I hope to pass that torch to them!

More about → Hanging with my Girls

Franken Contest Reminder and ABCs

I thought I better do a reminder about my create a franken polish contest.  It closes this Thursday - 2 June, and so far I have received ONE entry.  So she's a shoe in for the prize at the moment!

And now, I've realised how much I enjoy reading other people's ABC's, so for the first time, I will reveal a little more about myself.

A. Age: 36
B. Bed size: King
C. Chore you hate: All of them, that's why hubby is so good at them.
D. Day: Sunday
E. Essential start to your day: Peeing
F. Favourite colour: Red, but not on my nails.
G. Gold or Silver: Gold.
H. Height: 5'9" or 175cm
I. Instruments: Recorder, triangle, tambourine - anything my 3 year old can play.
J. Job title: Team Leader in a Federal Govt Dpt.
K. Kids: Two, 3yo and 4 months.
L. Live: North Canberra
M. Mum’s name: Dorothy.
N. Nicknames: Caddy, Cath, Wellsy, Wellsette,
O. Overnight hospital stays: Two, to have my bubbies.
P. Pet peeve: Drivers that don't know how to merge.
Q. Quote from a movie: At the moment, Mr Three is totally into the Cars movie, so my favourite quote is Mater saying "He did what in his cup" after McQueen tells them that Doc won three Piston Cups.
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: Two older brothers.
T. Time you wake up: 6.30ish
U. Underwear: Always, although I have been known to partake in an occasional 'No undie Sundie'
V. Vegetables you dislike: Jerusalem artichokes & broad beans.
W. What makes you run late: Kids, like Mr three chucking a wobbly, or Miss four months doing a serious mess in her pants, as we walk out the door.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Wisdom teeth.
Y. Yummy food you make: It's all edible, but my specialties are: tomato savories and cheesies (both family recipes)
Z. Zoo: Love them, but only if the enclosures are appropriate, with plenty of room for the animals.

I like the fact that most other bloggers haven't been specifically tagging people with this, rather, they suggest you do it too if you enjoyed reading it. Jacie, I enjoyed reading yours, so anyone else that wants to do this, please do, and leave a link in the comments so I can have a read.

More about → Franken Contest Reminder and ABCs

the A-Z of me! + Stylish Blogger Award

Hey guys, second post today because I'm at work and bored.
Yes, I have internet again! :D
So I decided to do this tag even though no one really tagged me. I have an hour left to kill!

A. Age: 20
B. Bed size: Queen. My dad owns a mattress store so I am very spoiled in the bed department.
C. Chore you hate: Basically the only thing I have to do is swiffer... and I hate it. Haha.
D. Day: Every day I'm not working, so, Wednesday-Saturday, and every second Sunday.
E. Essential start to your day: Toast.
F. Favourite colour: You should know this if you've been following me for a while. Teal and purple.
G. Gold or Silver: I prefer silver jewelery but gold nails. Lol.
H. Height: 5'6"
I. Instruments: I play a bit of guitar and bass, a tiny bit of drums, and I can sing! I was in a band in high school. And I miss it a LOT because I should be a rock star. Haha!
J. Job title: Manager/Sales Representative/Refill Technician... haha
K. Kids: Nope.
L. Live: Newfoundland!
M. Mum’s name: Cathy. This is a strange question.
N. Nicknames: Beck, Becka
O. Overnight hospital stays: A week when I was 4 and a week in 2009.
P. Pet peeve: I was thinking about this earlier - when people have word verification on their blog. I haven't ever had it, and I have never received one "spam comment." It's such a waste of time!!
Q. Quote from a movie:

I Love You Man. One of the funniest movies ever.

R. Right or left handed: Right.
S. Siblings: Nope. Thankfully.
T. Time you wake up: Usually around 9.
U. Underwear: Currently navy blue with a big silver guitar. Told you I was a rock star. (P.S. I am planning on an undies-inspired series after the success of that post! Haha.)
V. Vegetables you dislike: This would be easier to answer the other way. Vegetables I DO like: Lettuce, potato, corn.
W. What makes you run late: Nothing really. I'm pretty punctual. Other people make me late if they're picking me up.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Everything. I literally cannot think of a body part that has not been x-rayed or CT scanned. I even have pictures on my cellphone from my head x-ray. I like to show people my skull. Lol.
Y. Yummy food you make: Baked goods. Cookies, cupcakes, cakes, cake pops, banana chocolate chip muffins. I also make a mean ice cream sundae, and peanut butter toast.
Z. Zoo: I've never been to a zoo!

Secondly, I was recently tagged with the Stylish Blogger Award from Moondancerjen.

Thanks, Jen! I don't think I can come up with 7 things about myself after the last tag, haha. But I did just want to mention that she gave this to me! Girl has some cool nails, too.

I tag all of my followers with blogs of their own ;)

My mom just called me and told me that my DS Original just came in the mail! I can't wait to get off work and go get it!
Swatches tomorrow if there is sun! :D

More about → the A-Z of me! + Stylish Blogger Award

Acrylic Paint Nail art

I broke out the acrylic paints and practiced doing nail art as I had a free afternoon XD
First I did a skull

Then I did a heart with a banner

Then I drew a dagger with wings

And then I did a feather

I also did a free hand star. For some reason I have issues with stars they always seem wonky but this on was ok. Not interesting but it turned out nicely.

I've already taken these off as this was just a practice session. I might try a gradient later as I really like the colour changing polishes I've been seeing on other blogs
Stacie xoxox

More about → Acrylic Paint Nail art

Weekly Giveaway Roundup

I love giveaways. Each week I'll post giveaways that I think are awesome! I'm trying to catch any giveaway that has nail polish & I always post them on the Monday before they close. I figure some publicity towards the end of the entry period is a good idea, so don't worry that I've forgotten yours if I don't post it immediately! On the other hand, I know that I will occasionally miss a giveaway or two. If I miss yours, please know that it was accidental and nothing personal!

NAIL POLISH & MORE

• Colores de Carol is giving away 11 fabulous polishes! Ends 5/31.
• Beauty Fulfilled is giving away 9 incredible polishes and tons of makeup!! Ends 5/31.
  
• Une Ruxi a Paris is giving away 17 fine polishes & more! Ends 6/1.
• Nails Beautiqued is giving away 3 Revlons!! Ends 6/1.
• Sawan is giving away a $25 Apothica GC! Ends 6/1.
• You Nailed It is giving away 3 captivating polishes! Ends 6/1.
• My Nail Graffiti is giving away 21 excellent polishes! Ends 6/1.
• The Daily Varnish is giving away 3 gorgeous polishes!! Ends 6/1.
• Lacquer Lover is giving away 18 interesting polishes! Ends 6/1.
  
• Josie's Nails is giving away 7 brilliant polishes and some nail art goodies! Ends 6/4.
• The Phalanges Files is giving away 2 Sally Hansen Crackles! 2 winners!! Ends 6/4.
  

MAKEUP & SKINCARE

• Bonjour Beauty is giving away a Sigma F80 Brush! Ends 6/1.

THINGS FOR YOUR HOME

• Coupons & Deals Blog is giving away a Dell Computer!! Ends 6/1.
• That's It Mommy is giving away a Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine!! I loved this thing when I was a kid!! Ends 6/2.
• That's It Mommy is giving away a Nordic Ware Creme Filled Wafer Cake Pan Set!! Ends 6/2.
  
• Spiffy Stuff is giving away an adorable Poison Apple Pie Miniature! Ends 6/5.
  

Please feel free to post your giveaways in the comments of the Weekly Giveaway Roundup posts! Let's keep them all on these posts and not on regular posts.
Thanks for reading!
April

More about → Weekly Giveaway Roundup

Haul

Its coming to the ends of the month and I know I did not do any better in buying less polish then there is days in the month but there was just so many things that I couldn't pass up on. This month I found alot of really cheap stuff so its not like I spent alot. I think my goal is gonna change to how much money I spend instead on number of bottles.

Walgreens

Sally Hansen Crackle Chery Smash

Sally Hansen Distressed Denim

Sinful Colors Neon melon

Sinful Colors Pink

Sinful Colors Dancing nails

 5 Below

Wet N Wild Prancer

Wet N Wild Blitzen

Wet N Wild Comet

Funky Fingers Sand and Stilettos

Funky Fingers Golden Coast

Color Club Glam Stickers

Glitter for a fraken

Marshall's

California Colors set (nameless colors) ($4.99)

Cute Glass file

Barielle Frech manicure set ($5.99)

Rite Aid & Marshalls

Nicole by OPI Nic's sticks 5 pack ($6.99)

Sally Hansen color quick and nail art pen duo

Sally Hansen crackle antiqued gold

Ulta In NH

Essence I like

2 Essence studio nails stickers

Everythings here was all pretty cheap so I was happy even though I bought alot. I also took advantage of the 50% off on Barielle polishes and I did resist the one free Zoya bottle promo. I think Ive been good most of my polish buying has been for swaps and a giveaway so that's helped from buying polishes for myself. I couple bottles more I will have to build my 2nd helmer because I am running out of room. I updated my spreadsheet and I know have over 500 polishes. I am a Polishaholic!

More about → Haul