Lunar Eclipse by Orly

I bought this when I was with Renee at Ulta a few days after Christmas(okay who else misses Christmas?..I do..) when she was here visiting. I don't actually own a lot of Orlys, shocking.  I think this is my second. What can I say my heart belongs to Zoya! But when I saw this blue, I was wowed! It's so vibrant, and gorgeous!

 I have a few blues, but nothing that bold!

Taken by the lamp (in the dark)

Artificial light

Taken with sunlight

 I took pictures in different lights, to show how different the polish is. I have to say this is not an easy polish to photograph! I added some micro glitter lamé polish that I bought in Japan a few summers ago. It's a great polish to use when you want to do a gradient on your nails. I love to look at the bottle and see the holographic beauty that it is... ahhh( yeah that isn't sad at all..) but I must get back to my nanny duties and say good bye for now!

Happy Halloween Ghouls and Gals!

Being a nanny I have to get in the Halloween spirit if I like it or not, even if my back has been a nightmare the past few days ( note to self: sleep on side, not on back). But it's also nice to have an excuse to dress up (the ever original witch costume) and bake cookies!

But to also do a Halloween inspired manicure! Now I have to confess I'm not a huge fan of candy corn, I'm actually more privy to the ones that have chocolate at the bottom, The Indian candy corn. ( Insert the tune of Moose and Zee's "But I don't like candy corn!")

Don't judge me.

But onto the manicure! I used Zoya Sooki to make the various shades of orange, because I don't own an actual orange nail polish. Shocking, I know. And for the yellow, I used this detailing yellow nail polish that Renee got for me as part of my b-day gifts when I visited her in Japan.

For the glitter I used.. those awesome glitters that I got from AC moore, that I keep talking about. I tried to make the tips more opaque (mostly because I was happy with the redish orange tips and too lazy to paint them white) But in real life, it is much more obvious that they are white and I don't look lazy (thank you very much flash for basically sucking up the white and ruining my reputation as someone who took the time as actually painted the tips white instead of just drenching them in white glitter)

I love how the thumb came out /modest.

The ever amazing ettisais topcoat!

Okay, well off for now, tata and Happy Halloween!

Diagonal & reversed edge, holographic and "bullion" mani

For today's manicure I did get a little inspiration from one of my Japanese manicure magazines, the basic design, but to mix it up I changed the colors, reversed the patterns on two nails, and re-arranged the placements of the gold balls.

OPI Tickle My France-y swatch:

I called the gold balls bullion in the title, because well thats what they're called here, and well, I don't know what else to call them.. they aren't beads.

Diagonal & reversed edge, holographic and "bullion" mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
After my base coat I applied the base color, OPI Tickle My France-y. Its a great color, a mauve-y nude, which works so well with other pink and purple polishes. I then freehanded (let me tell you how hard that is.. and I did mess up and fix it a few times) the diagonal hot pink (no name) polish edges, purporsely reversing the sizes,(look at index and middle finger, for example, the bottom corner on the index finger is bigger, while the top corner on the middle finger is bigger) and I reversed the pattern on the thumb and pinkie fingers.

Next, I took a nail art brush and painted stripes, reversing the placement on the nails of course ;) of Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff Nail Color in Secrets Frost. I LOVE this holographic polish.. I need more!! After that, I placed the gold bullion in alternating places on the nail (seeing a pattern here? ^_~.) The spacing/placement on the nails is on purpose, no gold beads are missing/placed incorrectly. Finally I topped it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

I actually found a much better gel topcoat, will blog about that one later!

Striped Mani- my pink for this Wednesday

This wasn't intentional, I know Erika was planning on doing a pink mani this week (I'd figure we'd rotate or something like that, as there are a few of us and it may get tough for all of us to do pink every week) but it coincidentally worked out that way, so why not share it.

A Japanese magazine inspired me to do this manicure. The original was blue and white, but I thought this was cheerier and more bright for spring. Actually, it kind of reminds me of a Victoria's Secret bag, only with darker colors! They are big on nail design over here, and every magazine has a section on manicures. I came across a "border" (it's what they call stripes here) manicure, though done slightly differently (they also used 3-D accents) I decided to give it a try.

I used two no-name polishes in hot pink and red, then topped it off with Sally Hansen Diamond Strength nail color in Diamonds. -I love the rhinestone-embellished bottles this line comes in- I painted the stripes free-hand with the regular bottle's brush (still did not find my fine tipped manicure brush..) so the stripes are a bit wonky, but they'll do.

The manicure came out better on my left hand -I'm right handed-, the same hand I cracked my thumb nail on, so I put a heart over the bandage.

Striped Mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Japan

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that one of our bloggers, Renee, who is currently living in Japan right now, is safe and okay, as well as her husband and kitty Aqua. It would be great if you could give her a nice shout out! Thanks guys you're the best:)

Ohayo (Good Morning!) Polished Fans (Renee)

Been away a bit due to a foot surgery, and yesterday I decided to give myself a much needed manicure :)
All polishes I used are Japanese drugstore brands except the nail decals (Broadway Nail Art.)  Nothing too fancy, but I created a simple yet elegant look that is easy to re-create!

First, I coated my nails with basecoat.  Then I applied two coats of beige polish, to give a nude natural look.  Then I painted the tips with dark pink polish, painted the border between the pink and beige with a thin line of gold glitter with a nail art brush, put flower decals on my ring fingers and thumbs, and topped it off with two coats of clear coat.

Now, forgive me if this is late, (remember, surgery and the fact that there are no Sephoras in Japan) for all those ladies who love everything Kawaii (cute) I found the Hello Kitty for Sephora line, including nail polish!  The packaging is to die for cute, and the color swatches look really good too.  Here's the Sephora stock photo:

Pink Sprinkles looks so pretty!  I might have to nab me some..
Until next time polished fans!