China Glaze - Ride the Waves

Another China Glaze neon to show. This is the royal blue color. Not sure if it's a true neon, but it is definitely bright. Applies slightly thick like a jelly polish.

This is 3 moderate coats. I was trying for thin even coats, but the formula is a little off.

Still quite a delicious color though! And soooo shiny with topcoat.

After a day of wear I tried adding a flakie topcoat. Essie Shine of the Times. Why haven't I tried this combo before? A flakie over a vibrant royal blue?! This is a must if you haven't done it yet.



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China Glaze - Flirty Tankini

I got a few of the ChG summer neons and we'll start off with this one. A bright coral with shimmer. I don't know that it's entirely neon because it dried with a shiny finish.

 This was 2 easy coats.

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31 Day Challenge - Day 29 - Supernatural

Again, I'm going out of order, but just deal with it. I'll cover them all in the end.

A unicorn is supernatural correct? I'm taking it from the definition of  "being seemingly against the laws of nature." This is Buttercup the Unicorn from Toy Story 3.

This is the sweetest supernatural thing I've seen in...... maybe forever. 

I first painted my nails with China Glaze Lemon Fizz, then China Glaze Crackle Lightening Bolt. Then I did a coat of Sally Hansen Glass Slipper for an extra magical quality. I freehanded Buttercup with acrylic paints.

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Mash Up

I recently bought the M.A.S.H. image plates. I think they have released 2 sets, well I bought just the 2nd set. 25 plates for $12.99? Yeah, it's a great deal.

This is a look I tried first. China Glaze Shower Together with a gradient fade into Barielle Swizzle Stix. Then I stamped China Glaze 2030 using the MASH 43 image plate.

It  proved to be nearly impossible to photograph, but so is pretty much everything at my new place. I'm having a hard time finding the best set up....

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time for a HOT mani - featuring studs from Born Pretty

Hey guys! Pretty much I am the worst blogger ever this week, because I am busy being a good employee at my new job!
I've been super super busy but it's gonna slow down after tomorrow and I can get back to my regular flow. Good thing, too, because I might soon die of exhaustion! Opening new stores is hard work. But I love my new job and my coworkers. So life is good!

Tonight I'm going to show you a mani that is freakin' hot!

I recently received some new items from Born Pretty to review so you'll be seeing those over the next little while.

The first thing I tried out are these awesome studs!

Sexy! I'm a sucker for anything studded so I adore these nail studs.

These are the 4mm gold square studs from Born Pretty which you can buy right here.

They came in a nice resealable bag:

There are so many things you can do with these studs, I had a hard time deciding what to try first!

I got so many compliments on this mani, the studs are really eye-catching and fun to wear. They give your nails that extra somethin' somethin'!

The base color is China Glaze - Love's A Beach from the Summer Neons Collection. I'll have a full review of these polishes when I get the second half in the mail, but let me just say now that this one is amazing!
I love the shimmer and the formula is fantastic. 2 easy coats. As usual for neons it dries matte but comes alive with topcoat.
My ring finger is Milani Jewel FX - Gold.

I applied my studs into a coat of wet Seche Vite and then I added another coat on top.
I wore this for 2 days before losing a stud - and that was only because I was unpacking dozens of boxes at work! I could likely get these to last 4-5 days under normal circumstances.
Despite being kinda big, I didn't find they stuck out much at all once covered in a thick coat of Seche Vite.
The one on my pinky nail was more stuck out because the nail is so much smaller but that's to be expected.

Overall I totally love these studs and I can't wait to use them in a bunch more manis!
Get these and all your other nail art needs at Born Pretty.

Keep your eye out for some more BP product reviews soon, including a way cool polish!

And don't forget to use my coupon code if you order, for 10% off your purchase!

Product provided for honest review.

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more China Glaze swatch spam

Good afternoon and welcome to yet another swatch spam post from yours truly!
I'm making my way through swatching and posting all of my polishes and these swatch spam posts really help me get it all done!
For some reason I really like doing swatch spam. I hope you guys don't mind it either!

Today's spam is China Glaze. Some blues, some crackles, some sheers, and a brown. Nice and random.
One or two of these swatches were done at different times so some are older and crappier but hey, they'll do.

China Glaze - Blue Sparrow (Neon)
Blue Sparrow is not exactly neon as the name says, but it's really vibrant and fun to wear! It's full of blue glitter, and dries a bit matte like most neon pigments do. This is 2 coats. Love it!

China Glaze - Dorothy Who?
This is a stunner that I think everyone should have in their collection! Two coats of lovely blue jelly packed with glitter.

China Glaze - Frostbite
This is an intensely vibrant blue shimmer that's almost metallic but not quite. This was one of the first CGs I bought because it really stands out in the big display at Sally's!

China Glaze - Cracked Concrete (Shown over Essence - Walk On Air.)
This is the slate gray crackle from CG, shown in the first photo with topcoat and the second photo without. It dries matte, as usual. Works pretty well! I don't think I've actually worn this one, I can't seem to think of a color it would look fantastic over. Undecided.

China Glaze - Lightning Bolt (Shown over Essence - Gleam In Blue)
Ah, Lightning Bolt. Somehow I got it to mostly work for this swatch!
The last time I tried to use it, it did not work at all. See here for that fail.  I am holding a grudge against this polish because of that fail. And now I have a white crackle that works amazingly, the one by Color Club. I hate this one so much that in fact I might even dump it out and use it for a franken bottle. Take that!!

China Glaze - Haute Metal (Shown over OPI - Paint My Moji-toes Red)
Sally Beauty put their crackles on clearance a month or two ago, and I picked up two of them. It was a useless purchase really because I don't think I'll be using them very often. Oh well, they were $3. 
This is the pink crackle from the Crackle Metals.
It worked pretty well, and I bet it would look nice over black. I like this one more than the next.

China Glaze - Latticed Lilac (Shown over OPI - Vampsterdam)
This is the purple Crackle Metal which really isn't very purple at all. It's basically silver. And as you can see, it didn't even crackle on two of my nails. I think I needed to shake it some more - it's like the pigment drops and you're left with basically clear polish in the top of the bottle. So it's sheer and weird. Meh.

China Glaze - Below Deck
A "purple-taupe" creme polish that covers in 2 coats. Sometimes I like this color and sometimes I don't. The formula is nice and it's always good to have neutrals.

China Glaze - Rainbow
This polish is certainly not a rainbow. It's a super sheer shimmer. The polish is a milky white in the bottle and gives just a hint of white on the nail, with a lot of pink shimmer. I've shown 3 coats here so I could capture it better in a photo, but if you're going for just the sheer look of this polish you could wear one coat. My mom wears one coat of this on her nails almost all the time. She likes the pink shimmer without really being able to tell she has polish on. (She likes to pick at polish if she can see it. She's bad.)

You can also layer this over other colors to give them a wash of pink shimmer, but you also add a milky look. Not my fave. (Shown here over Below Deck.)

China Glaze - White Cap
This is another sheer, totally packed with gold shimmer. I've shown it here at 3 coats, which is kind of a weird look. I don't love it on its own. But it looks really cool layered!

Shown over Essence - You Belong To Me. It adds a nice golden shimmer. I bought this after seeing a manicure with it on another blog that I wanted to recreate... But I've totally forgotten where or what.

WAIT! I remembered. It was here on Colores de Carol! Damn, I love that mani.

There we go - another 10 polishes posted. I've only got what, 400 more to go? Ha!

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