Glam Polish Halfmoons

Glam Polish is one of those indies that came about like 2 years ago and just blew everyone's minds. They still continue to do that with these amazing collections they release like every month, easily making them one of my top favorite indies. When I wore these two polishes together, I literally could NOT stop staring at my nails. Glam Polish, keep em coming!

See what I mean?

I am not the biggest pink fan, but I can be a sucker for a gorgeous baby pink. Add some holographic shimmer and glitter into it and I am sold! These are both from the Knockout collection, which I couldn't help but buy the entire collection.

I started off with two coats of POW! which is the baby pink. Formula was a dream to work with of course. I applied a fast drying top coat before adding my half moon stickers, then applied a thickish coat of BANG!. I think these two polishes compliment each other very well and can not wait to wear them again, if that ever happens....

My ring finger is KB Shimmer- Turnip the Beat which is a textured polish. I applied a top coat to it which I think is the first time I have ever done that with a textured polish. I know the textured craze is kind of over, but I still love them as an accent nail!

Here is a blurry shot to really show the sparkle and shine!

Festive Half Moons

Today is officially my first day of my last winter break that I will ever have! I will be out of school for about three weeks, so I will try and do as much nail related stuff as possible! Here are some half moons using some new polishes released for fall:

It has been quite rainy here in Northern California (surprisingly), and this weekend was supposed to be dry and sunny, so I of course wore some holos!

These are holos are both from the Cirque Burlesque Collection released for fall this year. I snagged these during her Black Friday Sale, which I believe was 20% off.... I am trying to do as many festive themed nails as possible, and I think these work well.

The gold/olive green is Cirque- Harlow. I used two coats, although you could easily get one coat if your nails are really short. I top coated that, placed my half moon stickers, and applied a thickish coat of Cirque- Josephine, which is a beautiful deep forest green! I have a lot of holos now, so when I see one in a shade I don't have, I kind of freak out, which is what I kind of did with this whole collection. Although I only got three of the four released.You definitely need these, they are super high quality, come in beautiful packaging, and the formulas are like butter, just like all the other Cirque colors I have tried.

Lastly, the textured polish on my ring finger is Zoya- Chita (Pixiedust Collection Fall 2013). One of the best Pixiedusts out there in my opinion! It is pretty much one coat, even with my nails at this longer length, but I went ahead and did two coats.

Stay tuned for more festive nails

Gold and Magenta Skittle

I am not the best at describing color names, but I would say these colors are pretty close to magenta...This is just a simple skittle using some new polishes for Winter:

The polish that isn't really new is the gold on my middle and ring finger which is Mod Lacquer- UFO Cover-Up (Above Top Secret Collection 2014). I used two coats for both fingers, then applied a fast drying top coat. Then using binder paper reinforcement stickers and Nail Vinyls, I placed them on the nail where I wanted, and painted one thick coat of Enchanted Polish- September 2014.

The awesome glitters/textured polishes on my index and pinky finger are both from KB Shimmer's Winter 2014 collection. The magenta is Turnip The Beet and the gold is Dressed To Gild. Both were really easy to work with. Dressed to Gild was slightly thicker and super glitter dense, but they were both two coats.

Stay tuned for my Thanksgiving Day nails! They are gonna pretty awesome.

Yes, More Half Moons

I am in a bit of a nail art rut right now, so I am content with doing everything in half moons or french tips! Sorry, but the creative part of my brain has kind of switched off for quite a while, all though I do have 2 pretty awesome things planned. One I just haven't gotten around to doing, and the other one is using polishes that will be released tomorrow, so I don't exactly have what I need to create the look I am going for... Anyways, here are some more half moons:

Sorry for the boo boo on my pinky, one of my mice bit me real good over the weekend...

I started off with 2 coats of Ooh La Lacquer- Summer Daze (Summer Collection 2014). This is one of the more opaque Ooh La Lacquer holos that I have tried, I love it! Formula was awesome. It is super vibrant purple/fuchsia shade, but the color on top kind of took away from the awesomeness of it. You can see a better swatch here, and why not buy it while your there!

The textured polish on my ring finger is OPI- My Current Crush. This came in a limited edition set last year, so I am not sure how readily available this is.

Lastly, the awesome shimmery purple on my other nails is Orly- Hot Tropics. I am in love with this color! I have had it for a while and am just now getting around to wearing it...so sad. Just in time before summer is officially over. The formula is fantastic. I did one thickish coat on top of the holo, but depending how small your nail beds are, you could definitely get away with one coat with this polish! It is a vibrant purple base with tons of gold and silver shimmers in it. I am so happy the shimmer actually shows up on the nails. This picture is fairly color accurate too, it may be just a little darker in person. Pictures can't really do it justice.....

Sideways Half Moons

I saw this design on Pinterest a few weeks ago and am finally getting around to trying it out. Everyone knows I love me some half moons because they are so easy, but this is a nice twist to it. I added a little of my own touch by outlining the lines:

As you can see, I need some practice with free handing straight clean lines! I was also going to add some horizontal lines over the blue, but the purple took so long and didn't turn out the way I wanted, so I just skipped those.

I started out with two coats of China Glaze- Be More Pacific (Off Shore Collection Summer 2014). Then I applied the half moon stickers and applied Color Club- Take Me To Your Chateau (Pardon My French Collection Summer 2010). I have fairly curved nails, so this technique wasn't ideal for my nails. No matter how much I pressed on the stickers to make sure it was flat on my nail, the color still managed to bleed so it wasn't a perfect line. So, I will probably not ever be doing this again, especially since my lines that I did to cover up the mess came out so crappy! The purple I used is Floss Gloss- Lean.

Zoya Tickeld and Bubbly Nail Art

Well, almost all of these polishes are from the Summer 2014 collection, except for one. I saw Jen from The PolishAholic post her version of this, and I was like yes yes, I am doing this when I get my picks from this collection. These are actually all the polishes I got from the collections, minus the one.

I accomplished these the same way as usual. I applied the base color, added a fast drying top coat, placed binder paper reinforcement stickers, and painted the glitter on.

The consistency of theses polishes are pretty much the same. The cremes were all 2 coats, although depending how small your nails are, you could get away with one coat with some of them. The glitters were also the same consistency. I applied a semi thick coat just so I could get a good effect

Here are the colors I used from the Bubbly collection going from my thumb to my pinky:
Zoya- Harper
Zoya- Binx
Zoya- Jesy
Zoya- Stassi
Zoya- Muse

Here are the colors I used from the Tickled collection, with the exception of the orange on my middle finger, which I will just specify in this list:
Zoya- Kitridge
Zoya- Wendy
Zoya- Thandie (Stunning Collection Summer 2014)
Zoya- Tilda
Zoya- Ling

KB Shimmer Textured Halfmoons

Yes, more textured halfmoons, but I just can't help myself when I see a perfect color combo, especially if it is the same brand! Here it is:

Ain't it pretty?

I started off with two coats of the base colors, and added a fast drying top coat before applying the stickers for the half moon shape. The purple is KB Shimmer- Pansy-Monium, and the green is KB Shimmer- Honey Dew List. Both are from their Spring 2014 Collection. I love that indies are pushing out normal creme polishes now because you know they try to make them high quality, and they definitely are. Super creamy and easy to work with.

The Colors I used for the half moons are from their Early Summer 2014 Collection. The green is KB Shimmer- Partners in Lime and the purple is KB Shimmer- Too Pop to Handle. Gorgeous shades. I didn't try taking these off without foil, so I am not sure if they are easy to take off like the OPI Liquid Sands and Zoya Pixiedust. I am assuming you still need foil since they have the super chunky glitters like the new Zoya Magical Pixiedusts, which do require the foil removal method!

Up next will be my Fourth of July nails!

Mod Lacquer Holographics

Mod Lacquer quickly became one of my favorite indie brands last year, and it became even more of one of my favorites after Jennifer, the creator, released an all holo collection! I was originally gonna just get a few, but she had a good deal for all seven, so I thought why not! Here are most of them, aside from the black and silver:

Since I layered them over creme polishes, they looks slightly lighter than what they truly are.

I used a slightly thick coat of the holos after the base colors were dry. You could get away with one coat on their own if you have short nails. The formula is absolutely flawless, and dat holo is so strong! Definitely some of the strongest holos in my collection, and I have a lot now.

Here are the colors from the pink to purple:
Aerial Phenomenon
UFO Cover-Up
Alien Encounter
Clandestine
Majic Eyes Only

And here are the colors I used underneath:
China Glaze- Dance Baby (Electropop Collection Spring 2012)
China Glaze- Happy Go Lucky
China Glaze- Tree Hugger (Electropop Collection Spring 2012)
China Glaze- Flyin' High
Illimasqua- Jo' Mina

Some More Textured Half moons

I hope you aren't getting tired of my textured half moons... I simply have no time for nail art, especially this quarter with school, it is kicking my but! Anyways, here it is:

The gorgeous textured polish is Loreal- Sexy in Sequins (Gold Dust Collection). I believe these are part of their permanent nail polish line, for now at least. It is a dark purple base with tones of gold, purple, and silver shimmers. It also has some fairly chunky purple glitters in it too. It has a super thick formula, but it wasn't hard to work with, perfect for half moons! Dry time was quick unlike the OPI liquid sands, and it is easy to remove just like all other textured polishes, no foil required!

The purple holo on my index and pinky is Different Dimension- Dueling Unicorns (Fall 2013 Collection). I really didn't need this polish, I have a purple holo a lot like it, but that name!! Formula was amazing, 2 easy coats.

Lastly, the magenta holo on my middle and ring finger is Colors by Llarowe- Addicts Attack (LE April Charity Polish). This holo is GORGEOUS. I don't have anything like it, and the formula is flawless. I am happy Colors by Llarowe is getting a little easier to get your hands on, I was missing out! I have accumulated a lot recently, and I love every single one of them!

Simple Swatch: Cirque

I added a little nail art to this simple swatch, very subtle:

Cirque- Queen Majesty (Arcus Collection Summer Collection 2013)

I remember this being a build-able glitter, but it would have taken me about four coats, and I wasn't trying to deal with that. Instead, I layered it over Anise- Violet Falls in Love. Then applied two coats of Queen Majesty, followed by two coats of Seche since Queen Majesty is a top coat eater. Once that dried I applied some binder paper reinforcement stickers for the half moon shape, and applied Essie- Matte About You top coat.

I got the idea from Mrslochness who did it with a darker color and hers turned out much better. I will try it with a dark color next time!

Nail Art Using Rescue Beauty Lounge

Rescue Beauty Lounge had a 50% off sale a few months ago, so of course I took advantage of that! I had one of their colors on my wishlist for a few years, but I just can't see myself paying $20 on a polish.... RBL colors are super gorgeous and have always been praised over their formulas too, and I was very impressed! I picked up three colors, and they all compliment each other very well, so I thought what the heck, let's use them all at once!

Sorry for the weird tip wear... I took these photos after wearing them for 2 days since there was no sunlight to work with, and since I work with isopropyl alcohol a lot at work, it totally shrunk the tips off! So I had to do a little touch ups...

The main green I used is Rescue Beauty Lounge- Abi (Gomm). I am a little confused by the name since the website says "Abi (gomm)" but the name on my polish box has the "(gomm)" clearly marked off. Anyways, This polish is freakin amazing!! It was nearly once coat, and went on like butter. Unfortunately the amazing shimmer you see in the bottle doesn't translate to the nail much. I used two coats and this is still available!

The green I used for the half moons was added to my cart last second. It is Rescue Beauty Lounge- Turn It Around. The shimmer in the bottle shot just got me, and it totally translates to the nail! It is an army green base loaded with a copper shimmer, gorgeous. It is a little on the sheer side so I had to apply a fairly thick coat when doing the half moons. Unfortunately it looks like this color is no longer available, so I am happy I got it!

Lastly, the glitter was the one that was on my wishlist forever. It is Rescue Beauty Lounge- Locavore I love my glitters and saw Scrangie swatch it years ago and have wanted it ever since. It is a really awesome glitter, very dense, but doesn't clump up when you are working with it! It mainly consists of green, purple, and blue glitters, my top three favorite colors. This is still available as well!

Textured Rainbow Halfmoons

I did something similar to this a while ago, only I didn't use textured polishes. You can see it HERE. Let's get to it:

I will just list the colors starting from the thumb to the pinky, starting with the holographics:

Emily de Molly- Seeing Red

Dollish Polish- This Sh*t is Bananas

Nubar- Reclaim

Jade- Mirage

Emily de Molly- Devotion

Each were two coats, amazing formulas. Although the Dollish Polish was on the thick side, kind of hard to work with. But still a really pretty holo!

Onto the textured colors:

OPI- Magazine Cover Mouse (Couture de Minnie Collection 2013)
OPI- Jinx (James Bond Girls Collection 2013)
Kiko- 643 Spring Green (Sugar Mat Collection 2013)
Zoya- Liberty (Summer Pixiedust Collection 2013)
Zoya- Carter ((Fall Pixiedust Collection 2013)

All were just one thick coat

Floss Gloss Skittles

Floss Gloss was having a 20% off sale for Valentine's day, so I thought that was an excuse to get some, especially their newest shade they just released!

Probably the hardest bottles to hold...

The purple is their newest shade, and it is Floss Gloss- Lean. Such a beautiful purple! And amazing formula too. I used two coats on my index finger. The pale blue used as the base color for the half moons and smaller dots on my index finger is Floss Gloss- Moon Baby. The formula on this one was a little runny, but still good opacity, I used two coats. Lastly the bright blue on my pinky and the second color used for the half moon is Floss Gloss- Wavepool. OH MY GOSH! This polish is so beautiful, and the color saturation is to die for. It is pretty much a neon, and glided on like butter. You can get away with pretty much 1 coat if you have smaller nail beds, but I used to coats.

The textured polish used on my ring finger is Dance Legend- Vernazza. I used two coats as well.

You can get this Dance Legend polish along with their other textured polishes on Llarowe. And you can get Floss Gloss on their website and also various boutiques in the SF area.

More Textured Half Moons

I have said it once, and I will say it again: Textured polishes are the best for half moon nail art! They are for the most part really thick which is what you need in a polish for doing half moons, plus the different textures make them look that much more awesome! This one isn't very winter-esque, but I don't care!

This is also the first time I have used a holo as the base color! Me likey.

Let's start off with the green nails: The holo is Color Club- Kismet (Halo Hues Collection 2013). Probably my favorite of the color club holographics, since it is green obviously. I used two coats, but you can get away with one thick coat if you want. The green textured polish is Kiko- Spring Green 643 (Sugar Mat Collection 2013). The first time I saw this polish was on My Polish Stash. I died. Kiko released a lot of amazing textured polish, but of course we American's can't get them that easily. Luckily my nail mail buddy had connections in Europe, and I got this beauty! It is amazing. I wish there were more green textures out there

The purple and pink nails: The holo base is Emily de Molly- Peer Pressure, I used two coats. I first show cased this polish here. Seriously the best pink out there! The textured purple is a polish I am really surprised I haven't heard much about. I don't even think I have seen it on any main stream blogger's blogs. The polish is OPI- My Current Crush (The Texture Effect LE Duo). This polish also came with a OPI base coat. I first saw this at ULTA and I am sure my jaw literally dropped. I wanted to get it since there were only 3 on the shelf, but I stopped myself and luckily when my boyfriend took me on my nail polish shopping spree, this was at my nail supply store! I actually didn't get that good of a deal since it is $10, and my shop had it for $9. Oh well

I hope you enjoyed these! And you will probably be seeing some more of these in the future :P

More Textured Half Moons

I don't think I have ever worn textured polishes on their own before. I may have mentioned it before, but this is the best way to wear them, in my opinion. Especially for someone with so much polish, it gives me a chance to use 2-4 polishes at the same time! Such a nail junkie thing to say... Here is what I did over a week ago:

Apologies for the ding on my middle finger. I decided to cook food right after, and textured polishes take forever to dry!

I started off with two coats of China Glaze- Secret Periwinkle for the the blue nails, and two coats of OPI- Planks A Lot (Pirates of the Caribbean Collection Spring 2011). Then I did the usual and applied a fast drying top coat and applied the binder paper reinforcement stickers before applying the textured polishes.

The blue texture I used is OPI- Alcatraz...Rocks (San Francisco Collection Winter 2013). Seriously amazing! It has so many green and gold glitters in there, it is hard to explain the beauty of it. It is a MUST HAVE. And believe it or not, my ring finger has a different color on it. I accidentally applied Alcatraz rocks, and tried just putting the purple over it, that didn't really work. But the purple I used is OPI- Can't Let Go (Mariah Carey Collection 2013). I used one coat of each textured.

Enjoy!

Pixiedust Half Moons

If i had to choose to do only one nail art technique for the rest of my life, it would be half moons! I especially love them with textured polishes. Here is what I came up with:

I started off with two coats of OPI- Don't Pretzel My Buttons (Germany Collection Fall 2012). Then after applying a fast drying top coat, I used my binder paper reinforcement stickers to make the half moon shape as always.

I used one thick coat of Zoya- London (Pixiedust collection Fall 2013). I don't know what happened on the edge of my nail....I also had some shrinking on my tips! Not my best half moons....

Rainbow Holographic Half Moons

I am going to keep this short and sweet. Everyone knows I love rainbow nails and half moons, but today is the first time I combined them! Here it is:

The colors I used from red to purple: Emily de Molly- Seeing Red, Hits- Demeter, Naild' It Unique Polish- Glowber, Color Club- Over The Moon, and Emily de Molly- Devotion.

Then using a dotting tool, I used Color Club- Beyond to make the dots to make the half moon shape. Hope you enjoyed these!

Half Moons Using Smudged Polish

I featured my first and favorite Smudged Polish HERE, and now I have another to show you. I did a little nail art, which is usually hard to do with indie polishes since they are usually glitter bombs. Sylvie did something you never see, a textured polish! I know there are bazillion indie brands now so it is hard to keep up, but I have NEVER seen an indie brand do textured polishes. Not only did she make an amazing textured polish, but it is like nothing the major brands have been pushing out. Seriously, you need to get you some! Here it is:

Smudged- Gravel

I probably could have used a better base color, but I just got this polish which I have been wanting for a year, and I just wanted to wear it! It seemed like a good idea at the time...

I started off with 2 coats of Zoya- Wednesday (Beach Collection Summer 2012). It is a nice bright blue that actually has a muted dusty quality to it. I really don't have anything like it in my collection, and that's saying a lot! The polish is a little thick and goopy though :(

Then I did what I always do with my half moons, and added a thick coat of Gravel. I feel the base color made it look just a tad bit darker than it really is. It has so many colors in it, too! I can see a light purple, dark purple, and black?  Maybe some white, too. I seriously love this! I need to wear it again with a top coat. I really hope Sylvie comes out with more textured polishes, I hope you are reading this :P

She only mails out to Australia, so if you are an Aussie, go to her Etsy!

Half Moons Using Lime Crime

Here are some half moons using two of the newest Lime Crimes in my collection!

I started off with two coats of Lime Crime- Milky Ways. An amazing nude! Then doing what I always do using binder paper reinforcement stickers, I painted one thick coat of Lime Crime- Lavendairy. This is probably the most saturated purple in my collection. Lime Crime definitely has some of the best creme polishes out there. Cremes have always been my favorite finish, but they tend to be difficult to work with. But these are not at all! You should definitely get you some, all I need is the blue and pink to complete my Lime Crime collection!

Illimasqua Speckled Half Moons

I have had these polishes for a really long time, but of course hadn't tried them yet. Nail polish hoarder problems... Here are more half moons! I hope you aren't getting too tired of these.

Sunlight

Shade

I made sure not to cut out any part of the beautiful Illimasqua bottle!

I started out with two coats of the base colors, and applied my Poshe fast drying top coat before applying the stickers for the half moon shape.

The green is Essie- Navigate Her (Navigate Her Collection 2012, now permanent). And the purple is China Glaze- Light As Air (Up & Away Collection Spring 2010/ Electropop Collection Spring 2012). I made sure not to choose base colors that were identical so you could actually see the shape, unlike my Easter Nails.

Then I just applied one coat of the Speckled polishes. The green is Illimasqua- Mottle and the purple is Illimasqua- Speckle. Both applied amazingly. No problem with getting glitter on the nail, and it is such a perfect balance of big chunky glitter and tiny glitters in a creme base.

I can't wait till the next time I go to my nail supply shop and get Nubar- Black Polka Dot so I can make endless amounts of looks like these Speckled polishes. Lucy's Stash has a great tutorial on how to do it!