Hey it doesn't suck

I attempted water marbling again even though I'd tried 4 times previously and wasn't impressed.  I had a cool idea this time around so I decided to give it a shot.  I started with a base of basic black and used 3 polishes that I consider to be 'layering polishes'.

I used Sally Hansen White Turquoise (which I'm holding above), Sally Hansen Showtime (the holo from my haul last week) and Sally Hansen HD in Byte.  I think I don't put enough rings of polish in the water and that's why I'm never happy with my designs.  The problem is that marbling wastes so much polish that I want to cry.

This mani looks different from almost every angle and I think it's kinda cool.  I'm not 100% happy with it but satisfied enough to give another go some time. 

After 2 days I felt it needed something else so I added one coat of Kleancolor Chunky Silver to it.  The best part about this mani?  Well because I used such light sheer layering polishes it made cleanup so easy!  I am definitely going to try marbling again and I've got a few more ideas rolling around now.

Later
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Stamping with Carbonite

This is 2 coats of OPI's Stranger Tides.  I found this one in a clearance basket a few weeks ago.  This is one reason why I usually refuse to buy new OPI collections when they first come out.  The shades I want always end up in the clearance bin eventually.  It's awesome that I love the unpopular colours!

Sorry this is a really shitty photo but it's a small US haul I had a few weeks ago.  I found Revlon Carbonite at Meijer but I didn't realize at the time that it's a dupe for Chanel Graphite.  It was $4 in a display on its own and I thought it looked pretty unique.  Also I'm probably the last blogger on the planet to buy Revlon's Royal.  I eye it up every time I'm out shopping but I've never seen it cheaper than $6 here in Canada.  Next up is Studio M's Sweet Dreams - I was on a hunt for purple cremes and picked up Sinful's Verbena on the far right as well.  The LA Colors polish is Aqua Crystals (glitter) found at the Dollar Tree.  Lastly, I finally found Sinful's San Francisco at Walgreens.  I've been looking for that colour forever.  Pretty small haul overall.

So as soon as I got home I broke out Revlon Carbonite because I knew the colour would look awesome with Stranger Tides.  I used plate BM207 and aligned the stripes straight across instead of diagonally as the image was intended.  I thought it was decent.  I don't mind the loud patterns when the colours are subtle.

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Epic Win, Epic Win, Epic Win

Epic Win #1 - Awesome metal concert on the weekend with my fave band ever headlining :)  Black nails were mandatory.  I started this one off with one coat of Wet and Wild's Black Creme.

Epic Win #2 - Once coat of Icing's Epic Winning.  The photo sucks but this polish is friggen magical!  The rainbow of colours you get under the light is unbelievable.  I didn't bother to stamp it.  I got tons of compliments on this and could not stop staring at my nails.

Epic Win #3 - An awesome fellow blogger shared with me the location of an amazing warehouse where I procured these little bottles of happiness.

From L-R: White Turquoise, Coral Amber, Emerald Amethyst and Golden Cinnabar.  The best part?  There were fifty cents each!

L-R: Valentino, Night Hydrangea, Showtime (HOLO!), Night Blooms and Ruby Rays.  Also all .50 each.

L-R: Moonstone, Rhodolite Chrome, Kleancolors in Golden Nirvana and Chunky Silver.  On the far right is a shadow pigment that looks like Orly's Galaxy Girl:

Dry on the left and over primer on the right.  I'm going to use this for frankening.

I did swatch them all but because my pics suck so I'm only posting this one to show you the awesomeness of Showtime.  Just to the right of Showtime is Coral Amber which is not my kind of colour at all but it's holo and will make a great franken. 

I only had about 15 minutes in this store but I could have easily spent hours there.  I walked out with 12 polishes for less than $7!  You can bet your ass I'll be back there eventually.  Damn good week :)

Later
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How to extend the life of your Nfu Oh 61

I think I've shown this one before but it's China Glaze's Hologram from the Tronica collection, 2 coats.  I actually added a third coat the next morning since it wasn't quite enough.

I did a terrible job freehanding some black tips and then I stamped a little spider on the ring finger using Wet and Wild's Black Creme plus konad plate m1.

While I was wearing Hologram for the first day (I almost always do my stamping on the second day...weird or no?)  I kept thinking that this is probably the perfect basecoat for Nfu Oh 61.  So I decided to try it out:

Only the pinky nail is Nfu Oh 61 (1 coat) over Hologram.  There is also a topcoat on my nails here.  So everyone who said that the Tronica's aren't holo can kiss my ass lol ;)  And wow did this ever extend the life of Nfu Oh 61!  The first time I used Nfu Oh 61 I had chips the very next morning and it was pretty much toast by day 2.  I will be using Hologram under it from now on for sure!

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Simple mani and an awesome find

This is 2 coats of Essie's Sand Tropez which I picked up for half price during my last trip to the US.  Not my usual type of colour but I don't mind it.  I like Essie's formula but I don't know how they justify the $9 price tag. 

I stamped it with Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Bittersweet and konad plate m31.  Finished off with an orange gem on the ring finger.  Simple and classy, just the way I like it.

So a couple weeks ago when I was polish hunting in a nearby city I went to 3 different Winners and came up empty handed!  Ugh I hate how Winners is like that.  But I stopped at my local Winners last week and found these awesome Kleancolor sets:

Top set is a metallic set containing: Metallic Pink, Metallic Yellow, Metallic Purple, Metallic Jungle, Metallic Navy, Metallic Brown. 

I swatched them as soon as I got home over my existing mani:

This was one coat of each over an almost black polish so you can see how amazing these are for stamping.

The second kit contained glitters: Black Out, VIP, Kiss Goodbye, Grand Finale, Karat and Peaceful Heart.

I didn't swatch Peaceful Heart since I already have the full size bottle but the thumb is Black Out and the rest (L-R) are: VIP, Kiss Goodbye, Carat and Grand Finale.  I don't like the strip glitter at all but I love that Carat has large diamond glitter in it.

These sets were $5 at Winners and I think I'm going back to grab another metallic set.  Also I need to find somewhere that sells Kleancolor here in Canada because I really need a full size bottle of Black Out!

Later
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