31DC2012 DAY 31: recreate a manicure you love

i'm doooone~! it's about time, huh? :) soo happy.

2 coats pure ice super star + 1 coat china glaze white cap + 1 coat sally girl later (gold glitter)

when i was first getting into the world of nail polish blogs (about a year and a half ago), but stumbled across this manicure from fashion polish. i'm pretty sure my jaw fell open (genie from aladdin style) and vowed to try it someday. apparently that day is today. go figure, i still like it!

my brother said my nails look like dragon eggs lol. i don't know what dragon eggs look like, but i like the description! :)

i really like how this is mostly opaque, but definitely not a stark white. that's because i used pure ice super star (a white jelly) for the base color. super star is pretty much the most inappropriately-named polish ever, because what super star do you know of who wears a demure white jelly on her fingernails? no one, that's who. something named "super star" should contain tons of holographic glitter and be some kind of crazy-bright color. complaining over.

lavender x2

today's manicure is brought to you by the color lavender, with a little extra dose of lavender on top.

i freakin love this milani glitter. i don't know if you can tell from the pics (maybe the 2nd one), but it has tiny dark blue-toned purple specks of glitter mixed in with lighter violet hex glitter. clearly i have a thing for chunky hex glitter. oh well. . . . if it works, stick with it, right?

i paid $4.50 for this at cvs, and got some extrabucks for the purchase, so not a bad price. i'm dying to try hot pink too. i love these jewel fx polishes!

lavender holo

ummm, i can't think of a creative name for this franken that i made a long time ago. any suggestions? :)

2 coats lavender holo franken

wanna know the secret recipe? i mixed an unnamed sally girl lilac polish (with miniscule holo flecks) with my trusty milani hd (silver holo). the sally girl had just a touch of frostiness to it, which you can see in the pic above. but overall, it was twinkly, subtly, and understated. i enjoyed wearing this one.

i was serious about that name suggestion. please give me a good idea. because lavender holo pretty much sucks.

underwater treasure

this manicure makes me want to go diving for treasure- sparkling, golden treasure.

1 coat sally girl unnamed gold glitter over 2 coats la splash golden seahorsse

this combination is so me and so gorgeous. this sally girl glitter (let's just call it gold glitter, for simplicity's sake) is one of my favorites. it's 99 cents at sally's, and 1 coat is provides the perfect amount of flash.

mini size sally girl glitter

you have to buy this polish. it can dress up pretty much anything. is there anything more beautiful than super shiny gold glitter that doesn't break the bank? i think not.

weakness wednesday: gold glitter topcoats

gold is my second favorite color, right after pale green (if you haven't noticed). combine that with the fact that i have a inexplicable draw to layering polishes, and you see why i have lots of gold topcoats. today i'm only showing you gold glittery topcoats in a clear base. i have more in a milky white base that will have to wait for another day :P.

love & beauty gold is a very nondescript name, but also a beautiful polish. it has small champagne-colored square-shaped glitter in a clear base.

this sally girl polish is unnamed, but let's agree to call it "gold medallions," ok? great. "gold medallions" is full of small-ish sized yellow gold hexes and little tiny hexes of the same color. this is my 2nd bottle of "gold medallions," and i think my first glittery polish purchase ever. i know.

nyx girls gilded glitter (whew, that's a lot of "g"s) has gorgeous golden flakies in an almost-clear base. the base is a little yellow, so i try to layer this one over medium or bright shades.

i've shown you a picture of petites universe before, but no swatches yet (sorry). when i first spotted it at rite aid (during my crazy $30 haul), i thought it looked like a pretty golden shimmer with gold flakies in it. but when i tested it out at home, the base is super sheer, which makes it more like a gold flaky topcoat. awesome. yes, i already have nyx girls gilded glitter, but universe's base is sheerer, which makes it perfect for layering over those pastel shades that i couldn't with gilded glitter. perfect! and it was just $2!

the last polish in the polish cart used to be sinful all about you, i just put it in an old nyc bottle and mixed in some clear topcoat. all about you makes a pretty flaky layering polish too, but the gold is much darker and warmer than i prefer. it's almost looks rusty. . . . so i haven't used it very much.

graype holo

the eternal question: what does one do when wearing a boring (but sophisticated) creme and is attending a crazy techno dance party that evening? add holo sparkle, of course!

here's sally girl grape from yesterday (which i'm choosing to call "graype" because of how gray-ed out it is), with a thin layer of milani hd on top.

i've worn milani hd several times before, and i've never gotten the holo to come out as much as with this combination. something about the grayish base of "graype" made the holo stand out really well. maybe because hd is pretty sheer on its own? i don't know, but i'm so glad i stumbled on this combo. if you own hd and were disappointed in the lack of rainbow on your nails, try it over another color! i've seen other bloggers try it over black and it looks stunning.

again, here are bottle shots of the polishes i used:

best 75 cents i ever spent

while perusing the clearance bin at sally's last week, i found a grey-ish purple sally girl shade that looked pretty in the bottle, and it was on sale for 69 cents. . . . 75 cents even with tax! i couldn't resist.

i normally don't purchase a bottle of polish, then rush home to apply it. but on this day, that's exactly what i did. i needed something classy and work-appropriate, because i got hired to play piano at a 6th grade graduation that night. this was not the night to break out the holographic glitter. but i also didn't want to wear a yawn-inducing shade either. sally girl grape fit the bill perfectly.

in some lighting, it definitely looked gray

more purple-leaning in artificial light

if sally girl had asked me (which of course they didn't), i would've named this shade "graype" instead. don't you think?? i realized after application that they called it grape because it was grape-scented. . . . it wasn't overwhelming, though, so that's a plus.

did i mention how tiny these sally girl bottles are?? 

sally girl grape- pretty color-accurate

grape dwarfed next to a normal-sized bottle

i loved how smooth and creamy this polish applied, and loved the color. i may or may not have gone back to sally's later and bought another one for 75 cents. . . . *oops!*