4th of July Mani!

For this mani I used these polishes:
1. Essie- Blanc
2. OPI- Red Shatter
3. China Glaze- Frostbite
4. Konad special stamping polish White

So how do you guys like this mani? I was actually kind of dreading doing a 4th of july themed mani because i knew it would be very in depth and I stupidly just painted my nails in a full mani yesterday. Anyway in my opinion I think it came out pretty well, I mean its not the most creative mani ever but who cares, its fun! I used China Glaze- Frostbite on my thumb topped with Konad Special Stamping Polish in White and I used the stars on Konad plate m3. On the rest of my fingers I but a base coat of Essie- Blanc under OPI- Red Shatter. 

Also, I did my nails at my friends house and she did a 4th of July mani also! (she used all the same colors by the way except she used Wet N Wild- Red Red instead of the OPI- Red Shatter)

Hope ya'll like them, have a great 4th!!

CG- Emerald Fitzgerald + OPI Silver Shatter

This one manicure had secured the OPI Silver Shatter as my favorite shatter/ crackle/ texture polish ever. The formula on this shatter is 100x better than the black because it doesn't clump up around the neck of the bottle or on the brush which is pretty much my only complaint about the black shatter. Although I am really looking forward to putting this over Mermaids Tears I'm LOVING it over this dark color. I think maybe next week I'll try it over the red that I got from Mandee =) Soo excitedd!!!!

China Glaze- Emerald Fitzgerald

Flash

Every single China Glaze I get makes me love the brand more and more. The formula on this brand is just amazing in my eyes, and this was no different. Emerald Fitzgerald was released in the 2010 Vintage Vixen Collection and it is a deep deep teal and is described as a 'frost' but personally I see tiny specks of glitter in it. Whatever it is theres no getting over the obvious shimmer that makes this polish so pretty. Now the obvious dupe for this polish is OPI's- Cuckoo for This Color which I reviewed here. The CG is  a deeper teal if you look really hard but to the regular joe they are pretty much the same (except I bought this polish for $2.99 and the OPI for $8.50).  This is another polish that from far away and to the naked eye has the 'almost black' look which you know I love in my vampies!

China Glaze- Jitterbug + OPI Black Shatter

China Glaze- Jitterbug

Direct Sunlight

Artificial Light

China Glaze- Jitterbug + OPI Black Shatter

Direct Sunlight- NO TC

Artificial Light- WITH TC

Lets talk about Jitterbug for a hot sec. HOLY BAJESUS. For me and Jitterbug it was love at first sight...I know he felt it too haha. This polish has easily made it into my top 10 favorites just because of this mani. The consistency was what you would expect for a metallic, nothing bad I can say about it. Shown here is three coats. Another AH-MAZING thing about this polish was the price that I STOLE it for. Usually at ULTA and most other places, China Glaze retails for $6.50 USD, I got this little beauty on clearance for...wait for it........$2.99!!!!!!!! Score for lauren's stash =)

After I painted Jitterbug, I admit I should have stopped and kind of regret messing with such a great manicure but I really wanted to try the shatter again so I layered it over Jitterbug. Surprisingly the shatter was a lot more manageable than it was the first time I tried it. It was a lot less gloopy and thick which I was happy with.

The mani turned out really cute in my eyes but I can't wait to just use jitterbug alone for another mani!

China Glaze- Bogie

China Glaze- Bogie

Part of the Vintage Vixen Collection introduced in Fall 2010, Bogie is a warm, dark plum color with a grey/black base LOADED with tons of shimmer. I used two coats for these pictures but if you did a thick coat you could get away with just one.  When I went to ULTA the day I bought this, it wasn't a polish I was necessarily looking for but the color is awesome and really..for $2.99, how could you not buy it!? I love ULTA's clearance section, it always has THE BEST deals, I love ULTA so much that I actually just applied for a job there earlier this week hahaha. Hopefully I get it =)

I heard OPI Have You Seen My Limo? from the 2007 Holiday in Hollywood Collex is a pretty great dupe but with the OPI being more of a green duochrome...does anybody agree?

China Glaze- Frostbite

Well this is China Glaze - Frostbite, a blue metallic shimmer, from the 2007 Ski Collection which has been a lemming of mine ever since Elodie over at Accro Polish swatched it a while back.

AHMAZINGGG!!!!! Exactly like I thought this polish was totally worth the money.  I thought it may look a little weird on me because I have such an olive skin tone but it still looks just as electric as it did on her. There is just nothing bad I can say about this polish, even down to the consistency and formula it was smooth and went on opaque with two coats although I did three here. 

Don't you love it when you are just shopping around and you pick up a polish that looks interesting and you realize it is something you had actually already wanted it? Ahhh, well thats what happened with this lol I love that!

Well after I did my manicure I thought I should spice it up a little more and since I got a Konad Kit for easter I decided to try it out! I used the M3 plate, the four little stars, and stamped it with the special silver Konad polish on my ring fingers only.  For one of my first times I think it turned out pretty well!

I tried to konad over my last manicure (Love & Beauty- Olive) with the cheetah print on plate M57 but that didn't turn out too great. Pshhh whateverr, I like this one!

Finally a China Glaze!

Oh heyy, I'm on spring break, I am not working and I only have a little bit of homework...therefore I will be posting TONS! First off, how fancy am I...my first China Glaze. EVER. I was so excited when I bought this polish last week in a mini haul you have no idea.  Believe me, there are more where this came from..this is starting to become a staple in my lot!

Today we have Oxygen by China Glaze. (sorry I can't put the name of the polish in the color, it would disappear! lol)

Eeek, dry cuticles! So I realize that there is a shadow in this picture but it kind of works to my advantage and I'll tell you why soon.  Anyway, remember in a past post I swatched a light pink color but I said I was hoping for something whiter/more opaque? (if you don't remember, its here).  Well, I found what I was looking for! This is pretty much a white polish but with the slightest pink tint to it (you can see the pink tint on my pointer finger and the color it looks like in most lights on the other fingers).  The application was awesome, totally a great first impression.  It was a great consistency, if anything a little watery, covering evenly in three coats.  As you can tell, there is still a little bit of visible nail line but nothing that was too bad, I figured four coats was a little too thick so I kept it at three. 

I love the name of this polish for some reason, and so do my suitemates hahah. Every time one of them picks it up I'm like ITS CALLED OXYGEN hahha. I'm lame. Whateverr.

Okay well talk to you guys again tomorrow! Happy painting =)