Fake Ruby Slippers

 This is two coats of Cult Nails Quench, a lovely red jelly, with two coats of KleanColor Chunky Holo Scarlet.
 Quench is ever so slightly pink-toned and Chunky Holo Scarlet is obviously not actually holo - the glitter pieces are iridescent and flash red, yellow, orange, and green.
I apologize for the less than amazing pictures!  The sun was setting and I didn't get a chance to take better pictures later as my mani chipped at around 24 hours.  Major bummer!  It definitely reminded me of my previous Essie Ruby Slippers mani, though.  It had that kind of glowy depth and firey beauty.
 Also, it must be said:  KleanColors stink quite literally and I think I may have to give up on them entirely as they do not ever want to fully dry on me!  I used three coats of different quick dry top coats on this mani and while it was top-layer dry very quickly, it remained dent-able and did not completely dry for hours and hours and hours.  Seriously.  Like, more than eight hours.  This is not okay, people!!  It must be a body chemistry thing.  It makes me very sad because I've acquired quite a few lovely KC glitters and shimmers and whatnot.

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More Party Tox

 These are some SKINFOOD Party Tox swatches I did a few weeks ago.  The bottle above is No. 7 Pearl Party and it corresponds with my index finger.  I used one coat of the glitter over a coat of black polish (DC Matte Black) for all of these.  I also used top coat so that they would look good and shiny.  :)
 The bottle above is No. 8 Aqua Party and it goes with my middle finger.
 The bottle above is No. 9 Deep Sea Party, and you guessed it, it corresponds with my ring finger.
Last is No. 5 Seaweed Party and it's on my pinky nail.  I think it looks really cool over the black.

I ordered these off of Ebay.  I'm a little flustered because I think I may have No. 6 Coral Party in my possession, but I'm actually not positive.  This is the downside to having a huge stash and not having any spreadsheet or easy method of organization.  If I find it, I'll have to swatch it!  But then again, maybe I didn't even buy it.

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Twilight

 I've had OPI Yokohama Twilight (from Japan) for a while and have wanted to try it but never got around to it until now!
 I layered one coat of Yokohama Twilight over two coats of Zoya Caitlin, which proved to be a really great pairing.
 Caitlin is just lovely on her own and the application was most excellent.
 I was worried that Yokohama Twilight would be too sheer for me on its own.
 I have to say that I'm really happy with how these pictures turned out - all 800 of them (just kidding).
 Also, dare I say, this mani was even more beautiful in person!?
 The duochrome shift is nicely visible from blue, to purple, to pink.
 And the shimmer in the sun is just mesmerizing!
 I'm pretty sure Yokohama Twilight is fairly hard to find these days.  I ordered mine from Doll Up Nails, which is also where I got all my glitterbomb Estessimo TiNS from.
 At first I wasn't feeling this combo for some reason.  It felt dated and grandmother-ish to me!  Then, I really grew to love it and was very sad to see it go.
 I'm trying to capture the pink shift in the horribly awkward photo above.  It's more easily seen in real life.  Gosh, my fingers look mutant!
 I ended up cracking it after a day (or was it two?).  I used 2012 Prayer, which I got at a local Walgreens.  I've only seen those Crackles at a few Walgreens - definitely not all of them.  They have a ton of great colors that all seem to have Christian themed names.
Prayer cracked really well and applied very easily.  I love that shade of purple!

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Fall Spicy-Mustard-Pickle Nails

 So...I may have been dragging my feet a little in posting this one.  It's two coats of China Glaze Trendsetter with a coat of Anna Sui 802.
 This was inspired and requested by a dear friend at work.
 Here's the thing - I know it's ugly.  I still feel compelled to occasionally buy and even wear ugly polish colors.  It's true.  At least it's GLITTERY and ugly!
Yes, I do realize it's not going to be everyone's favorite mani.  I'm okay with that.  :)  Just posting for the sake of posting.  And who knows?  Maybe even a few people do like it!  I was surprised that I got a couple of compliments when wearing it.

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Deep Space

 Today I'm sporting a manicure that definitely makes me think of outer space!  It's two coats of China Glaze Haunting with one coat of Lynnderella Bride of Franken.  Haunting is awesome and almost opaque in one coat - not quite, but points for almost!
 I used Orly In a Snap and then a color preserving top coat from Sally Beauty as my two top coats.  I'm not thrilled that the polish is not awesomely smooth, as you can probably see.  A friend on MUA told me that she uses In a Snap and likes it (I had asked her what she uses over KleanColors), so I'm going to use it for KleanColors and see how that goes.
 There's also a weird scratch across my ring finger nail.  Not sure how that happened but you can see it more in the last photo.
 Anyhow, I quite like this combination!  They are very pretty and spacey looking, which I love.
 I think I may put on a matte top coat tonight and see how that goes.  
 If you haven't heard of Lynnderella polishes, you can see her blog here.
I think Bride of Franken is going to be really terrific over pretty much every dark color.

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Rainy City Night

For this mani, I started with two coats of BB Couture for Men Michael.


Michael is another gorgeous bluey purpley wonder polish. The formula is excellent, as always.


When you are putting it on you see all these shimmering little micro flakes. Obviously, this doesn't translate as much onto the nail.


It reads like a slate blue most of the time.


The picture above is from in my bathroom. The picture below is with the flash, to try and show off the shimmah, since it's rainy out and there is no sun to be found!


Now, I was perfectly happy with Michael. Really. But due to a series of unfortunate events, I had to add something to this mani to save it. I won't bore you with details.


I added a coat of BB Couture for Nails Trim & Tassled.


Check out the beautiful iridescent little glitters! They shift from green to yellow to orange.


It kind of reminds me of a rainy night in the city...hence my post title. :)


Sometimes, when life hands you lemons, you gotta put some glittah on that mani!!




I've edited this to add some sunny pictures!








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Flakes!! (And a Really Great Blue)

I started with two coats of OPI Roadhouse Blues. This was flippin' opaque and amazing in one.

These pictures here are shown without topcoat. The application and formula are perfection.

I was not expecting this polish to steal my heart, but it has!

My original plan was to put purple glitter over it...but I changed my mind.

I decided to take OPI I Lily Love You out for a spin!

Here it is at one coat over Roadhouse Blues.

I topped it with a coat of Gelous and then a coat of Nails Inc. Kensington Caviar top coat.

There were a few rogue flakies that I needed to gently convince to lay down flat, even with all that top coat goodness over.

The end result is glassy smoothness, near to perfect.

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