Illamasqua Speckle

Hello Ninjas!!

Hubby and I have visited some houses over the last few days and we're getting really excited about getting our first home! I do think my hand is going to fall off by the end of this process though and we've only just submitted the loan application! Oy, I need a signature stamp.

Tonight's manicure is two coats of Illamasqua Speckle which is a very pretty light purple with black hex and micro-glitter scattered throughout. Illamasqua describes Speckle as as speckled lilac finish and it comes from the I'Mperfection collection. This is shown with only one coat of topcoat but could probably have used two to get a super smooth finish. Overall, I really love the way this looked on and it was really easy to work with despite being completely packed with glitter.

Duochrome Purple Layering

Good evening Ninjas!

The weather here in NC is just toying with my emotions this week. There have been days nice enough to wear summer dresses and others where I needed gloves and a hat when I went outside. Ah well, Spring will be here soon enough!

Tonight's manicure is one coat of Cult Nails Charlatan over two coats of Illmasqua Vice. I really liked the way that Vice looked with the rubberized finish and sort of wished I hadn't layered anything on top of it. I can always wear it again though! Vice is a really pretty magenta that Illamasqua calls a "deep cerise" where Charlatan is a sheer pink jelly with pink/blue duochrome particles suspended in it.

Illamasqua Glitter Gradient

Good evening Ninjas!

Happy Monday, hope you had a lovely weekend. I think the highlight of my weekend was Walking Dead coming back for the Mid-Season premiere! Do you watch that show?

Tonight's manicure is one I really didn't want to take off. This is two coats of Illamasqua Phallic which is, hands down, my new favorite blue nail polish. Illamasqua describes Phallic as a "deep midnight blue, shimmer finish" which doesn't do this polish justice. This polish absolutely glows on its own but I couldn't just leave well enough alone. I did a sponged glitter gradient on the tips of my nails with Finger Paints Falling for You which is a Copper mini and hex glitter combination. This was an awesome duo!

Illamasqua Viridian

Hello lovely Ninjas!

Yestderday two of my nails broke, one on each hand, so I am completely nubbinized! Fear not though, I have quite the backlog of manicures to post for your viewing pleasure. The last time my wonderful Mother in Law visited, we took a short road trip to the nearest mall said to carry Illamasqua in it's Sephora so I could oogle the lacquers. My MIL let me pick out four beautiful colors to take home and the stunning Viridian was one of those colors!

Illamasqua calls Viridian a "peacock green, metallic finish". Not the most descriptive blurb about a nail polish ever and not entirely accurate if you ask me. Viridian is definitely metallic and definitely green but I'm not sure it's vibrant enough to be called peacock. The base for the metallic green shimmer is a pretty dark black jelly so this color isn't a bright as I was hoping after seeing some of the promotional pictures. The formula was amazing though, two super easy coats that nearly applied themselves and I had to do almost zero clean up! This reminds me of a twice as expensive, slightly darker version of Ulta Envy. Do you have anything like this in your collection?

Illamasqua Kink and Essie As Gold as it Gets

Hello darling Ninjas,

Thank you for the kind words for Tango, he's on the mend but being a horrible brat when it comes to taking his meds! Hopefully that means he'll heal right up with no issues.

Today I've got na layering combo that wasn't what I had planned. I had initially meant to wear only Illamasqua Kink for a few days because I love green and I thought the vinyl manicure would get some interesting comments at work. I did three coats over Essie All in One Base with no top coat. I let it dry for almost three hours before I went to bed since I didn't know how long it would take to cure without topcoat. It seemed fine when I went through my nightly routine so I thought nothing of it. However, in the morning I had horrible sheet marks all over my lovely nails! I was sorely disappointed in the dry time of this polish. The application was a breeze, even my husband commented that I didn't "take long enough" to paint my nails. With all the press marks all over my nails, I had to find something easy to cover them up with before I went in to work  that I could use Seche QD over.

I ended up choosing As Gold as it Gets from Essie's LuxEffects collection since I thought that the gold flecks would look good with the deep forest green of Kink. I slapped on the new layer as I was dog sitting and it was good to go in under an hour (I was super cautious with it, it was probably fine sooner). This manicure turned out great but I'm still sad I didn't get to show off the cool vinyl finish of Kink. I know that the "matte" top coat I have from Kleancolor dries to a very vinyl finish, so maybe I'll try using that when I wear Vice.

In-Law Haul and a Polish Rack!

Hello ninjas!

Today I've got pictures of all of the polishes  my amazing Mother In Law got me for Christmas (and after). This is an amazing Haul. I'm not kidding, she willingly took me to a mall nearly an hour away so I could get my hands on some Illamasqua polish from a Sephora. She's so awesome at enabling my polish addiction <3

Whole Illamasqua Collection: Scarab, Poke, Viridian, Vice, and Kink.

 Isn't she amazing? I am so incredibly lucky to have her as a MIL, she's the best! The other pictures I have for you are another great present from my MIL: an acrylic polish rack! Now, I could probably use almost 5 of these so I ended up putting only my favorites on the shelves. It took me nearly an hour to do! I've got a whole picture, row pictures then an updated row picture after I received my amazing Illa. polishes and my Nails Inc Magnetic!

L-R: Base and Top Coats, Stripers, Flakies, Effects, Holos, Duo/Multi-chrome glitters

L-R: AEngland, Butter London, Chanel, Cult Nails, Essie Untrieds, Illamasqua, Cool Cotoure (I love this polish!) Orly, RBL, Revlon Dupes, Rimmel London

ZOYA

Updated with my new Illa polishes :)

Thanks for looking!!

Times Square Haul

Today I have for you the three polishes I picked up on my first day in NYC. I picked up two Flaky polishes at Inglot, 202 and 204. I also picked up Illamasqua's Scarab at the Times Square Sephora. I haven't edited the pictures with 204 yet but I do have Scarab with 202 which was a completely EPIC combination!