Holographic Accent Nail Mani (Layla & Hits)

I was looking forward to writing this post all day!  I wore this mani for two days and it still is beautiful. That never happens, uh, ever.  I got Layla Flash Black in a swap with my friend Melissa and Hits Apolo from Llarowe's 49% off sale. They're such a cute couple.

"Natural Light"

This is two coats of Hits Apolo and two coats of Layla Flash Black over the Jessica Hologram Base Coat. I sealed these off with NYC Grand Central Station.

Flash

I took these photos after an 8 hour shift at the daycare and after my shower (hair washing included). No chips! I was not expecting such awesome wear-time.

"Natural Light"

Both had really nice formulas, Apolo was a little bit runnier, but not in a bad way - it just made it easy for thin coats.  Both applied so nicely and wore so well.  They were shiny and sparkly and holo-y! As with most holos, they both dried really fast.

Flash

"Natural Light"

I am so happy to have these in my collection! I want to play with more holos really soon :D

Have you entered my 300th post giveaway yet? 
ENDS THIS FRIDAY!

Layla Jade Groove

It took me forever to decide on this polish. Me and a friend stood in Ulta for far too long going over the pros and cons of which ones to get. I finally, after much persuasion from my friend, decided on Jade Groove. At almost $16 a piece, I need to be sure I want it. I have Ultra Violet as well, but ordered it from online a while back.

"Natural" Light

She's beautiful!

Flash

"Natural" Light

This is four coats over the Jessica Holo Basecoat.  This polish was a bit splotchy. I think you need to glop more on to avoid that. I think it may have been my bad, I got 3 coats on my right hand. I sealed it with NYC GCS.

"Natural" Light

OPI DS Passion

This is one of those bizzaro polishes that looks amazing in the bottle, amazing in photographs but sucks in real life.  Ok, that is a bit unfair, it doesn't suck by most standards: it's beautiful and has a strong linear holo effect, but it falls very flat against my personal skin tone.  It's a personal grievance.  It's a bit close to my skin tone and I don't think holo mannequin hands are.. good.  But I do love it regardless.

"Natural" Light

"Natural" Light

This is 3 coats of OPI DS Passion over the Jessica holo basecoat, topped with NYC Grand Central Station.  NYC GCS really doesn't kill holos!  It may dull them a little, but I couldn't notice a difference.  My manicures feel incomplete without a topcoat, so I'm glad I now have one for holos!

"Natural" Light

Flash

Flash

You really can't even tell what I'm talking about with the skin tone dilemma, but it's quite apparent in real life.  She is quite the knockout though!  Thanks for reading (=

Jessica Disco Diva & Valentine's Stamping

With the lover's holiday approaching, I thought it'd be cute to add some themed stamping to my dazzling previous manicure.  I seriously can't get enough of Disco Diva, the linear holo is so incredibly strong!

"Natural" Light

I used Funky Fingers Monster Ballad for stamping and Klean Color Metallic Blue for the dots as well as Monster Ballad.  The finishes of the colors (foils) played so nicely with the base (holo).

"Natural" Light

For anyone wondering, the rose is from plate BM09 and the kissy lips are from plate BM02.  I used a dotting tool for the dots, of course!

Jessica Disco Diva

OH MY GOD. This polish is incredible. INCREDIBLE! I'll let the pictures do the talking for this post.  This is 3 coats of Jessica Disco Diva over holo base coat that came in the set.

The Best Layer Combination Ever!

This post is about the greatness that I discovered by layering to polishes but I want to make sure Hits Zeus gets its own glory, too.  The layer combination will be further down the post.

This is 3 coats of Zeus with no topcoat.  It's so much more holographic in real life but my lamp kind of killed that effect.  Considering how dark it is, and how I normally dodge dark polish, I'm really blown away with how much I love it.  It's divine! (Pun intended, ha!)

Flash

My camera flash helped capture some more of the rainbow though.

Zeus is more of a black than a charcoal, which seems to be more common lately. If you're looking for an actual black linear holo, this is it.  While the linear effect isn't super strong, it definitely isn't scattered - they do pull to create the coveted linear effect.

Blurry macro nail shot to show the rainbow.  I'm so happy I splurged on the Hits!

So that fancy layer combo I was talking about?  It's incredible.  My Secret Santa spoiled me and sent a package with some fantastic polishes, Nabi Iris Jumbo Glitter being one of them.  I put one coat over my existing Zeus manicure and almost keeled over.

!!!

LOOK AT IT.

It's an instant galaxy effect.  My nails looked like a photo of the Milky Way.  I'm in love!  My first Nabi and holy cow is it a good one.  I sealed this manicure with one coat of Out the Door, by the way.

Hits Haul & My Greek Kitties

So I ordered some Hits polish from Llarowe earlier this week and they arrived today.  That was fast.  :D There was some reasoning behind ordering these particular polishes, aside from them being magically delicious.  I've mentioned them previously, but we have some cats.  And most of them are named after Greek deities.  So when I saw this collection I knew that somehow, some way I needed them.  I'd never spend this much regularly for a polish but they are quite fantastic.  Anywhoodle, this is what I got:

Artemis - Atena - Demeter - Zeus

I ordered these four specifically because they share a name with my kitties, but the only one I wouldn't have wanted/purchased aside from that is probably Demeter.  It's orange, but I had to.  My cats wanted to make an appearance, so I said OK.

Artemis (Quiddle)

Athena (Neener)

Demeter

Zeus<3

Our cats have picked up a few nicknames along the way, but those are their actual names and the names used on their vet papers, etc.  I wish I had a better picture of Demeter but shes so skittish so that's all I got. And my little Zeus, I miss him so much.  Ugh he was just adorable and the sweetest little man. Do you see why I had to get these?! Do ya?!

Well anyways, I was thinking about my other cats and the polishes and I had a storm of thoughts: 
-My other cats: Frank, Ralph and Nyx.  The boys aren't godly but Nyx is the goddess of darkness and night, and our Nyx is a little black beastly thing.  I wish they had made her one in black.
-And Zeus should've been silver 1. because my Zeus was white and 2. I envision Zeus' grey beard.
-I also see Artemis as being yellow, not silver.
-Atena makes sense as pink, and a lot of the others are aptly named I suppose. 
-Demeter makes sense as orange as shes the goddess of the harvest, and I think harvest colors = Thanksgiving = orange.
-Also, we used to have a cat Pandora, she died years ago, and I'm not even sure if Pandora was a goddess but it would've been nice to have a full weird cat/np collection.

But I wasn't on the design team so my input means nothing.

I also got my Black Friday Milani order (Finally, they never sent a shipping notice. It just showed up.) and didn't feel it deserved a full post so I'm tossing it in here as this is a "haul" post.

Dude Blue - Fresh Teal - Cyberspace - Hi-Res - Dressmaker

On that note.. Dude Blue..?? Really?

Sally Hansen Prisms: Purple Diamond + Guest Nails!

I am so happy to finally own Purple Diamond!  This color is beautiful and it's really hard not to stare at my nails.  It's such a happy polish.

 This is 3 coats of Purple Diamond over CND Stickey and topped with NYC Grand Central Station Quick Dry Top Coat - which is really good, especially for $1.99!  This polish has a divine formula.  Three thin coats, dries quickly (as holos do) and was easy to apply.  I'm not sure on wear length though.

Look at the rainbows!

 

 

Macro nail shot - DROOL.

My friend Coryn is going to a concert this week and wanted nails to suit to the event.  She chose China Glaze Haunting with a white star konad accent.

I did two coats of Haunting over a CND Stickey and sealed it with a coat of Out the Door.  I used Konad Special White for the stamping. She was so excited!  I love doing my friend's and family's nails - it makes me so happy to be able to do something nice for them!  It also helps me mentally justify having so many bottles.  "SOMEONE might need this one day!" Hey, whatever works, right? :D

China Glaze OMG & QT

A sweet sweet lady by the name of Moxie sent me quite possibly the biggest lemming I've ever had, out of sheer kindness! I don't ever want to take this off. It's so eye-catching.  I can't thank you enough :D Ladies and ladies.. China Glaze OMG!

Three thin coats. No TC

It's hard not to stare at your hands all day when there is a frickin' rainbow on them, ya know?

Dollface sent me QT, too.  I'm the biggest pink holo h00r.  I can't contain myself when it comes to them.  They're just a perfect combination of everything I love: A. China Glaze B. Pink C. Holo. Wheeeeeee!

LOOK @ IT.

I stamped with QT.  The OMG's make such good stamping polishes.  I used BM224 for the flowers.

Two Holo NOTDs: Chainmail Charm & All Hail the Queen

Holographic polishes make me so happy. So so so happy.  They're so pretty, eye-catching and unique.  I have two holo NOTDs to show you from this week.  Nothing fancy, they're spectacular on their own.

The first is Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm.  This is my first Diamond Cosmetic polish and I am thoroughly pleased!  I know nothing about the company or its reputation but I received this in a swap.  I basically told my swapper friend to surprise me since I didn't care what I got, I just didn't want a double. It's a beautiful charcoal almost black holo.  It may actually be black, I'm going by what my eyes see.

Two coats of Chainmail Charm over WnW Black Creme.

Stunning!

Since returning to school and having night classes, I've become semi-nocturnal and don't have much free time during daylight hours.  The beauty of this polish is surely stunted by my 'natural' light bulb but it does show most of its beauty.  Formula was great; no complaints.

My second holo NOTD is Butter London All Hail the Queen.  I had no idea this was even a holo until I put it on.  The lights at Ulta washed this out so bad in the store, and it just looked like a pretty sandy shimmer to me.  Butter London is another brand I know nothing about; I've never looked up swatches or anything.  These were simply a compulsive whim purchase on my birthday when they were having their BOGO sale. I'm glad I took the plunge!

Three coats.  The lighting does NO justice.

A lovely sandy holo. Yum!

All Hail the Queen is so unique in its own right.  I have nothing that compares and if you were going to make the $14 plunge for a Butter London, I suggest this one wholeheartedly!  This was 3 thin coats and the formula is INCREDIBLE.  No streaking, it dried fast (as most holos do) and probably could've been a 2-coater but I usually apply 3 out of habit.

Happy Happy Holos!

*This is definitely a click-to-enlarge-for-detail kind of post.