Thor's Bifrost Bridge Thingy

This weekend we ordered Thor on demand. (He-he, don't I wish!) Really liked the movie. Every time they showed the Bifrost Bridge, at least I think that's what it was, my husband would say: "That's a really cool bridge." And it is. Thor called it a sort of rainbow bridge. It was like a subtle prism with mid-range colors.

So I had cool tones and icy things on the brain when I made this mani:

Polishes:

O.P.I.What's With The Cattitude?, Borghese Patina Pearl, LA Colors (no name) glitter, O.P.I. Ogre The Top

 

I started with one coat of What's With The Cattitude?, then sponged Ogre The Top over that. 

Over the entire nail, I added a coat of Pearl Patina, then finished with the LA Colors glitter. The glitter has multicolor shimmers under white. 

With just the side of the sponge painted with What's With The Cattitude? I made stride marks on the nail beds, to simulate icicles. 

I applied matte topcoat which seemed to encase everything under glass, like the Bifrost Bridge in Thor.

At least, that's what I thought at 2 am.

Thanksgiving Mani

Seeing everyone's holiday manis put me in the mood to have one of my own.

Gosh, this was a difficult one to photograph.

L-R:Wocka Wocka!, Excuse Moi!, Designer...de Better!, Warm & Fozzie, Pepi's Purple Passion

 

• With Pepi's Purple Passion I made french tip side swipes.
• Then  Excuse Moi! along the bottom for a glitter edging.
• With my dotting tool I used the remaining colors.
• On my thumbs and middle fingers I added gold and ruby rhinestones for some glitz.

These are the nails I used:

Because mine refuse to grow. 

Did you do a special mani for Thanksgiving?

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Revlon Color Allure Glue On Nails Review

Quietly wearing my unadorned (=non-3-D nail art) nails since last Wednesday.

I've wanted to try out Revlon's glue on nails ever since I saw them. However, their $9 (more or less) price point stopped me.  But then CVS spit out a coupon for me during a BOGO 1/2 off sale, and I knew it was time to break open the piggy bank on these.

This is one of my deconstructed nail boxes, ready to move to California. *Click here* for the back story.

• 24 nails in a box
• Vintage Velvet nail color
• Medium Length
• Glue, nail file, and cuticle pusher included
• 7-10 Day Wear

REVIEW:
After removing my cuticles, washing my hands, and rubbing each natural nail with nail polish remover to remove any soap or natural oils remaining:

• I sorted the nails according to size for each finger. Starting with my pinkie nail, I glued on the nails. For my thumbs, I trimmed the cuticle edge with scissors so they would lie more flush to my straight cuticle edge.
• Theoretically these should be easier to glue on than french tip nails because the threat of seeing air bubbles is not there.
• However, if you get glue on your fingers and then try to apply the nails, you'll get glue on the color and flub it up, like I did.
• I used pink gel glue I have, not the glue that came with the nails. I feel most of these glues are the same anyway, and it's what I had nearest to me.
• Not really necessary but I applied a clear top coat over the nails and free edges.
• These are medium length. Compared to Kiss or Broadway nails though, I feel these are shorter than medium length. I have short nail beds, and Revlon fits me like Kiss' short length. If you have longer nail beds than I do, these may appear as short length on you. (To Explain: Because my nail beds are short, standard press-on/glue-on nail sizes are longer on me. "Real Short Length" is a short length on me. "Short Length" is more of a medium length on me. "Medium Length" is actually long on me.)
• After 6 days wear: I can feel a little bit of lift on the cuticle edge of some my right hand nails, but none on my left. 
• The color is really dark and pretty. The surface stays shiny. 
• BONUS: These did not bleed like the Fingr's brand of color nails I tried. Those bled as I was gluing them on. Truly weird!

 The next morning after I applied the nails, we went to Sandia Peak. My husband's mother's ashes are up there, and he wanted to visit one more time before we moved. We were in Bear Country. There were warning signs all around. Not many people were around on that Thursday, and honestly, I was really scared. I'm a city girl.

The cold really affected my hands and nails. I could feel pressure or a pull on my nails and they ached some. Maybe it was a combo of cold and almost 6,000 more feet above sea level I was experiencing. When I got home that night, one of the thumb nails was loose. I simply reglued it.

Here's how the nails look today, Day 6. There is some tip wear.

I thought I would decorate them or paint them or do something to embellish them, but I never did. I really like them the way they are.

Are these worth $9 a box? Possibly. I would buy these and wear them again.

Have you tried Revlon Color Allure nails?

Midnight in the Garden

The fimo slices I ordered from Hong Kong finally came! It only took a little over 2 weeks. I was elated because the shipping notes said it could take up to 8 weeks!

L-R: Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty, Sally Hansen Gunmetal, In the Spotlight

For the base, I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 310 Gunmetal.

Gunmetal is such a beautiful dark grey. It really is gorgeous on it's own.

Once that dried, I added a glitter coat of Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty.

And then side swipes on the cuticle edge for stars in the sky.

Here are the fimos I used in the nail art.

 When I saw the butterflies and dragonflies I was excited. I thought the neon orange butterflies would look particularly striking against the Gunmetal grey. 

 I was really disappointed when the neon butterflies just vanished under the clear nail polish. I have had this happen before with orange fimo slices of fruit. Oh well... I eventually used a small dotter and white polish to make something of those neon orange butterflies show up.

The lovely leaves!

Now this is a subjective choice--which way to orient the nail art.

Should it be facing the wearing or facing out, to the observer?

I have seen nail artists (those who paint on other's nails), always orient the nail art work as if they are looking at it. The wearer would have to turn their hands to see the nail art.

I have also seen those who do nail art on their own nails to always orient it for the wearer to look at it correctly. To an admirer the nail art is upside down. I hope I'm describing this correctly.

What do you decide to do when you make nail art?

With this design I decided to put the leaves at the tips, and the butterflies toward my cuticles.

Is it right or wrong? I don't know. I would just rather extend my fingers out to show people who comment then try to contort my hand in a way for them to see what I was getting at.

 I added rhinestones after the fimo for more eye catching sparkles.

Love how these turned out. What do you think?

OPI: The Muppets "Muppettes" and "Pepe's Purple Passion"

My husband loves me. He marched right into Ulta on Sunday, and with military precision, got the OPIs and got the hell out. He can't tolerate the perfumes and smells in Ulta. But he braved them for me. He even used a coupon!

Here's what he brought back:

L-R:Wocka Wocka!, Excuse Moi!, Designer...de Better!, Warm & Fozzie

Pepi's Purple Passion

 I just had to do some swatches:

Two Coats:

With Flash

Without Flash

Wocka Wocka is beautiful cranberry. Perfect for winter and the holidays.

Excuse Moi is a strawberry tinted glitter with red, blue and green flakes. It is opaque in 2 or 3 coats.
But it can definitely be used as a layering polish.

I LOVE Designer...de Better! It is metal/silver with red flakes.
I wouldn't call it silver because it has more dimension to me, than a silver polish.

Warm & Fozzie is like a bronze glitter with pink flakes.
These photos just don't do it justice. It's like nothing I own.
Just Gorgeous!

Pepe's Purple Passion is a dark burgundy with red shimmer specs.
It's actually darker in person. Like blood red dark.

So I decided to do some layers:

With Flash

I knew Excuse Moi! would go great over Wocka Wocka!

Without Flash

I enlarged this in hopes that you will be able to see the various colors of the glitter in Excuse Moi.

With Flash

Warm & Fozzie over Pepe's Purple Passion.

Without Flash

My husband brought home flowers too, 

but it was the polishes that really cheered me up.

What a great guy I've got!

I am so excited about these polishes! I feel that each one was a home run for me. I don't normally love every polish in a box set but this Muppettes did it for me.

What do you think of the new OPI Muppets Collection? Have you purchased any? Which is your favorite? What do you think of mini-sets? Do you buy them when available?
If you're thinking of buying the min-set, I encourage you to do so. Even though the brush is tiny, the formula is smooth and goes on evenly. It also dries very fast.

Let me know what you think in comments below...

Liebster Blog Award

Thalie at http://glazedtalons.blogspot.com/ picked me for one of her top 5 favorite blogs and sent me this award. I really appreciate Thalie. We are all busy, yet she takes time to comment on my blog. I think it's safe to say we bloggers appreciate all the comments we receive. When I see Thalie's name in my email inbox, I have to smile.

She made my day when she put me in her top 5 list!

The rules for this award are as follows :

- Copy and paste the award on  your blog

- Thank the giver and link  them to your blog

-  Make your  top 5  known and let them know this by

 one to leave a comment on their blog

My top 5 blogs that I love are: 

http://artofnail.blogspot.com/ 

http://deez-nailz.blogspot.com/

http://pamsgirlybits.blogspot.com/

http://livylulu.blogspot.com/

http://mymakeupmania.blogspot.com/

Well, I could have named many more bloggers, including glazedtalons in my favorites list.

Thanks for sending me this award, Thalie!

Playing Around With Polyvore

I never heard of this site until a few days back. They have contests running for prizes. I have always loved making collages. This is just a fun way to do them in a virtual environment. No glue or scissors needed. Everything is available, just one click away.

The last one in the second row was my first attempt. I used a template for that one, and just dropped and dragged the items into the windows. All the other ones, I created using various backgrounds and items to create the collages.

What do you think? Have you tried Polyvore?

Polyvore Heidi Klum Contest

I started following HK on twitter. She's hosting a contest on Polyvore. Only 2 days left to enter.

Romantic Escape by plasticnails featuring pyramid jewelry

Supertrash draped top
$53 - theoutnet.com

Lace up high heels
$60 - heels.com

Pyramid jewelry
$55 - qvc.com

The Sak Artist'S Circle E-Reader Case
$26 - lordandtaylor.com

Mini Decorative Realistic Orange Fall Autumn Pumpkins and Gourds - Pkg...
$14 - amazon.com

100 Mixed Fall Colors Silk Maple Leaves - Great Autumn Table Scatters:...
$13 - amazon.com

200 Wedding Silk Fall Autumn Leaves Petals: Everything Else
$5.99 - amazon.com

Sugar Nails

I didn't know what to name this. 

I thought they looked like sugary nails.

These are the nails I used.

L-R:LA Colors white glitter, Borghese Patina Pearl, Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, Kiss Nail Art Paint Pink Glitter & Gold Glitter, CG Boundless Color Ruby Dust

•  One coat of Lavender Cloud over the white tips.
• Three coats of Patina Pearl over Lavender Cloud tips.
• LA Colors white glitter from tip to mid-tip.
• CG Ruby Dust over nail bed to mid-tip (meeting edge of white glitter).
• Kiss Nail Art paint pink glitter at bottom of white tip.
• Kiss Nail Art paint gold glitter swipes on white tip.

• I used fimo slices of butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies, and a few leaves.
• And added different colored rhinestones.

I got this hand-made bead ring from the balloon fiesta last month.

I like how they turned out. And they're fun for me to look at. :D

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!