Sinful Colors *Rainstorm* and Hit Polish *Aquarelle*

Hello all! 

Today I have Sinful Colors Rainstorm and Aquarelle by Hit Polish (formerly D & R Apothecary)!

Rainstorm is a beautiful navy blue color. No shimmer. No fleck. Just a nice semi-gray navyish blue. 

"Aquarelle is a beautiful pastel mix of mini matte aqua hex, matte white bars, small matte lilac hex and medium matte bubblegum pink squares." - quoted from Hit Polish.

Here's a macro of the glitter. And sorry for the non-sun pictures! There was a rainstorm going on! How fitting! I'll be sure to add more 'in sun' pictures as soon as it decides to make an appearance.

Onto application! I started with my usual prep, then moved on to Rainstorm! Which was absolutely perfect going on! Great formula for this one. Very opaque in one coat, but I usually do 2 anyways just to even out. Very fast dry time as expected with SC. Then I did one dabby coat of Aquarelle on my ring finger as an accent! Sealed it up with one coat of INM Out the Door. I also did one coat of SV today (the day after) for super protection because darker colors tend to be more noticeable when the tip wear sets in and if you accidentally get a boo boo!

Here we are in CLOUDY conditions.

 

Here's a close up of the accent. 

And here we are in artificial lighting.

I am loving both of these! I had such a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted Aquarelle to go on top of. I think this is nice tho. I'll def have to try it with one of my teals soon.

Here's a pic of the weather that was going on whilst I was outside snapping pics :)

Enjoying the rain here in West Texas!

Until next time...


Here's an added pictures for direct sun reference!

 

The tip wear is setting in ahhhh!!!!

Sinful Colors *Mint Apple* + D & R Apothecarys *Shattered*

Not 24 hours after my last mani, I made a booboo with my nails! It might have been self induced. 

 Oops. Lol. Thats okay tho because of course, I had to do a full repaint and this time used one of my new Sinful Colors Mint Apple and D & Rs Shattered as an accent on my ring finger and thumb!

 

Here's a close up of Shattered. GORGEOUS!

Ok so here we go. I started with my usual prep. Then did 2 coats of SC Mint Apple. I love their polishes with the glass fleck in it. This one has a very subtle holo effect at the right angle. Just. Stunning. The application was good, a little bit of drag but thats just because it wanted to dry so fast!

Then after my base color was nice and dry, I applied one dabby coat of Shattered.
It is an awesome glitter with "micro tiny turquoise slices, fine black hex glitter and fine sliver hex glitter along with small black hex, metallic silver shreds, silver holographic squares, matte turquoise glitters and large silver holographic hex". As stated from Rachel at D & R. Its awesome. Another hit for sure!
 My favorite part is the lil turquoise line glitter!

Here we are in direct (morning) sun.

See the slight holo effect on Mint Apple?? STUNNINGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Oh man I went picture crazy here lol.... But its just so awesome!!!!! Here's another one...

Here's the super duper up close of the accent! LOVE IT!!!

And in artificial lighting...

I did use INM Out the Door as a top coat on this one too. And if you've ever went to bed a few hours after you *thought* a mani was dry, you know that those darn sheet lines are going to be inevitable!
I might Seche Vite this one up today as a saver and try to keep it boo boo free for a few days!

Until next time...

China Glaze *For Audrey* + D & R Apothecary *Party in my Pocket* Accent Nail

Hello everyone! I went to the Sinful Colors sale yesterday and loaded up on 12 more goodies! But here I am showing China Glaze. Why you ask? Because I have too many untrieds and I've been dying to use this one as I am a fan of all things teal. And CG For Audrey is a beautiful dusty teal color.

 Here's my duo for today.

I decided to do an accent nail with D&R Apothecary's Party in my Pocket - and whoa is it ever!

 It has pretty much every color and size of glitters! Stunning! I love the black and white tiny mattes, to me thats what really makes it pop! 

 Here's a close up.

 

Isn't that awesome?! 

Now onto the paint job. I started off with my usual prep. Then did 2 thin coats of CG For Audrey. 

Dry time was fast because (as I find with most CG) the formula is really thin. And it was rock hard in about 15 minutes! Super! The only problem was it was so thin it pooled a little bit around the cuticles. No biggie really and I'll def deal with it because of the dry time! Then I decided to do one coat of Party in my Pocket on my ring finger nail as an accent! After everything was dry I applied INM Out the Door as a top coat.

 I use that sometimes too because the shrinkage is less (but dry time is longer than Seche Vite) and felt it was a good move on the 'color only' nails.

Here it is in full sun! See! Practically no pull back (shrinkage) with the color nails.

Also, it was pretty opaque with one coat but I did two anyways. 

Here it is in indirect sun.

 And here it is under artificial light. Makes it look super dusty in color.

And lastly, here's a super duper up close of the accent nail.

It's definitely a party on my accent nail!!!

I did this on my toes too but with glitter all the way! Oh teal how I love you!
All in all this is a really nice color. And again can't go wrong with the CG! I'll wear this until the tip wear sets in.... until next time!!

D & R Apothecarys *Mint Chocolate* + Sinful Colors *Out of this World*

Hello everyone! Today I have another glitter to show from D & R Apothecary aka Hit Polish!

I had to file my nails down a bit before painting and started with my usual prep. After that was dry I applied two coats of Sinful Colors 'Out of this World' (above) which is a very sheer metallic/holo like silver. The holo effect disappears after this first coat which is a bummer and I would have minded more if I wasn't going to put this sparkly goodness on top.

Enter: D & R Apothecarys (hitpolish.com) in MINT CHOCOLATE! This is awesome glitter. It has medium sized mint green/ brown hexes, smaller sized mintier green hex, teeny tiny brown square glitters sprinkled about and a few 'chocolate bars' in there too! I <3 bar glitter!! Line glitter, whatever you call it! When it behaves its really awesome and this glitter behaved very well. I only did one thick coat of Mint Chocolate. Gotta conserve my minis and two coats of glitter can be a little much sometimes, especially when it comes to removal!

Here it is in full sun after one coat of Seche Vite dry fast top coat!

I really wasn't sure what to use as a base color. I swatched it over brown and light green (Kleancolor TLC to be exact) but then tried the silver. Much better! Really makes everything pop I think. Maybe I just have holo on the brain too lol Thanks to my friend April @ Lacquer Inspiration for finding me the most awesome GOSH Silver Holographic! Can't wait to get that puppy :)  Anyways...

 Here it is in the shade.

  Heres a super duper up close.

I'm having fun with my D & R's! Their polish is amazing and always unique!

 I look forward to fall so I can use that 'Autumn Harvest'! And don't forget about Halloweeny right around the corner! Are you ready for the holidays?!

Kleancolor *Pastel Teal* + PrettyandPolished *Sand Art*

Hello everyone! Finally found some time to paint yesterday so today I'll be showing you PrettyandPolished - Sand Art! over Kleancolor Pastel Teal. Although that links to her etsy page, this was bought from llarowe.

I started with my usual base prep; One coat of Kleancolor Calcium base, and one coat of OPI Natural Nail base.

Here's a link to my prep page! Complete with nekked nails lol.

After that I did two coats of Kleancolor Pastel Teal. I LOVE PASTEL COLORS!!! Especially this one, it always seems like a good base color to just about everything. The formula is better on the Teal than the Pastel Blue. Or I got a bad bottle of the Pastel Blue, either way this is my second bottle of the Teal and both applied fab.

So I got the base color on and let it dry *adequately* between coats. Which means about 15 mins between my color coats. I do this because it prevents shrinkage. See, as the polish dries it can 'shrink' up, taking anything underneath it, if it wasn't dry enough, right along with it! Seche does this also, thats why its good to wait a while before applying Seche, as nerve racking as that can be! Gently rest your finger on your nail to see if its dry and if it leaves a finger print impression, wait longer! To fix any booboos you can lick your finger and just rub it back into place. That's how I fix any accidents. If it doesn't leave an impression and you think you can test it by kind of tapping it with another nail to see if it makes that 'its dry!' sound, then you're good to go for another coat! After the second coat is dry, take a small nail art brush, dip into acetone and clean up where necessary around the cuticle area. I leave a lot of space between the polish and the cuticle. Its just personal preference really...

Now onto Sand Art! I'm going to put an exclamation point at the end of that one because WOW it is a very exciting polish! It has matte pink, purple, blue, and green hex/round glitters. Stunning. Great application. Reminds me of Floam but with more color. After that was dry (and it did dry matte with quite a bit of texture) I applied one coat of Seche Vite dry fast top coat.  It is 'thirsty polish' and even after one thick coat of SV it still had a lil bumpiness to it. Which is okay with me, I don't mind it.


Again, this mani was done yesterday so forgive the lil bit of tip wear!

Here it is in full sunlight:

I love the bigger purple dots in it and it reminds me of something Easter-y. Not just because of the Pastel Teal, but because of the speckled effect! Like those little candy eggs.

Here's a super duper up close of the glitters.

 

And as I was taking pictures a cloud happened to pass by, so here it is in the shade too!

Overall this is a great eye catcher and I just adore the speckled look! I think I will wear it for a few more days even though I have a few bottles of *D&R Apothecary's/hitpolish* I've been dying to get to!

What do you think about tiny glitter polish?