31 December 2012

Christmas mani #2 featuring Candy Lacquer "Rudolph's Treats"

Christmas nails #2 featuring Candy Lacquer "Rudolph's Treats"

This is three coats of Gelish "Runway for Your Money" with a coat of Candy Lacquer "Rudolph's Treats". Accent nail is a taped Christmas tree using China Glaze "Winter Holly" for the tree, Candy Lacquer "Dippin' Dots" for the ornaments and a fished out giant piece of glitter as the topper from Kleancolor "Afternoon Picnic". All topped off with two coats of Poshe top coat.

As soon as I saw the Candy Lacquer polishes with all round dots, I *had* to have them. They are really fun! They are something that is a lot cuter to me and in close up pictures than anything else, because you can't tell the difference between the round and hex unless you're really looking. (As I'm typing this, I can't tell when they're at keyboard's length.) Also, I had a bit of an issue with the glitter separating from the base in the round glitters. I own several other Candy Lacquer glitters and haven't had this issue with any of the others, so I assume it is related to the round glitters. A little shaking and everything is back to normal, so no biggie!

I didn't like this as much as my other Christmas mani, but it would be pretty hard to beat that one! I'm not sure what it was, but something about this one just didn't "click". I'll try "Rudolph's Treats" over another base in the future and see how that works. (I'm getting all kinds of ideas now, but it's after Christmas! Day late; dollar short.)

Happy New Year! New Year's nails coming soon.


30 December 2012

Christmas nails! featuring the Hungry Asian "Candy Cane"

Christmas nails featuring The Hungry Asain 'Candy Cane'

Christmas nails featuring The Hungry Asain 'Candy Cane'

This is three coats of Gelish "Black Shadow", with one generous coat of The Hungry Asian "Candy Cane". Accent nail has one coat China Glaze "Twinkle Lights". All topped with one coat of Jordana Quick Shine top coat.


"Candy Cane" is a clear/slightly shimmery base with small red and white matte hex glitter and small green matte square glitter. It spread very well. I used the dabbing on method to apply it, because it is somewhat thick but that helped get maximum glitter on the nail.

"Twinkle Lights" is a clear base with tiny red, green, and gold glitter.


This was my first time using any of the Hungry Asian polishes I have, even though I've got a few minis. (I'm not sure why, because they are almost all colors that will go great over gel, but that's another subject entirely.) I can't recommend it more enthusiastically! Not only are her polishes very cute and quite often stuff that you don't just see everywhere else, she adds personal touches to every order. The labels are hand-drawn and every order has a cute little handwritten note inside. I adore stuff like that! It will keep me coming back over and over more than anything else. Plus, the quality of the polish is wonderful. And you know being TartanHEARTS and all I don't have to say that I adore the heart-shaped bottles because it's too obvious but I will say it anyway! I know I would be justified buy full-sizes of any of her polishes because they are so beautiful, but I can't get over how cute the heart-shaped minis are.

I'd also been sitting on China Glaze "Twinkle Lights" for a year or so. I was surprised at how much I liked it on the nail! I wasn't sure, because it seems a little muddy in the bottle. Not so on the nail! The red and green stand out from the gold very distinctly.

Over-all, I wanted to put this back on after a week. I didn't so I could wear more Christmas-themed polish but I would have been happy putting this right back on.

*All polishes featured here were purchased by me. 

11 December 2012

Sally Hansen Lustre Shine 'Copperhead'

This is CND Stickey as base coat. Three coats of SH 'Copperhead' and a coat of Jordana Quick Shine top coat.

I hated this. I didn't even bother to do much clean up. There is a gorgeous green shade in the bottle that doesn't show up on the nail at all. It ends up being a rose gold or copper color most of the time that shows purpley-brown at extreme angles. It would be MUCH better with the green. I like most of my duochromes to have the DUO part!

I've only swatched one other Lustre Shine (Scarab) and it was great. This one was not. I still have a couple more, so the jury is still out on the collection as a whole.

With all the awesome duochrome/multichrome polish out there, don't waste your time with this one.

Candy Lacquer 'Midnight Gems'

RCM 'My Inspiration'

RCM 'My Inspiration' with Candy Lacquer 'Midnight Gems'

Top photo: Three coats of Red Carpet Manicure's 'My Inspiration' with CND Stickey as base coat plus regular Gelish base and top coats. 

Bottom photo: Above PLUS a coat of Candy Lacquer 'Midnight Gems' and two coats of Jordana Quick Shine top coat. 

I LOVED this. The moment I saw Midnight Gems, I knew I had to have it. I love holographic glitter, so when you add many colors of holo glitter plus regular glitters, it is a wonderful effect. (CL's description: "Gunmetal holographic glitter mixed with lots of other holographic colors including red, blue, orange, pink, gold and lavender.") I loved it over the grey, and it really reminded me of a pendant I made. Holo over medium grey is a good look, all around! This look was perfect for a Christmas party my sister put on. Just enough sparkle to catch your eye, without being IN YOUR FACE! 

(All products reviewed were purchased by me. I'll have a post pretty soon where this won't be the case, so I figured I'd better start specifying!)

08 December 2012

China Glaze Winter Holly

China Glaze 'Winter Holly'

China Glaze 'Winter Holly' with top coat

Above is three coats of China Glaze 'Winter Holly' with CND Stickey as base coat and Jordana Quick Shine top coat. (This ATE top coat, and I'd recommend Seche or Gelous!)

I found this beauty at CosmoProf, and it was the only one in the CG Holiday Joy collection that I picked up. I'm relatively sure they didn't have 'Glistening Snow' because I couldn't have passed that puppy up. Anyway, 'Winter Holly' is a nice, mossy green glitter with gold and (possibly?) a few holo glitters in the mixed. You can see the glitter better in the slightly blurry second picture.

China Glaze 'Winter Holly' with no top coat.

This is WH without top coat. ... I LOVED it that way! It was kind of suede-y and really nice. This leads me to believe this would be great mattefied, but I haven't tried it yet. I liked the texture of it without topcoat, as well. I actually liked it better without top coat than with!

The CG Holiday Joy collection is available all over the place, including Head 2 Toe Beauty for $3.25.