A is for A-England Elaine and Digital Nails My Violet Crown

I'm horrible at playing along with challenges, but I really am trying hard to keep up with my Red Coat Tuesday, and now the #alphamani challenge I'm doing in one of my Facebook Groups.  Last week's "theme" was A-England.  I only have one, Elaine, so I decided to pair it with a special Digital Nails polish that went really well with Elaine.  I received the Digital Nails polish in a special swap I did with Raph, the maker, and I seriously love it!  Let's take a look at Elaine with accents of My Violet Crown.  

Purchased by or gifted to me.

A-England Elaine is a deep almost eggplant purple creme.  Application was smooth and super easy.  I didn't need to do much cleanup at all.  The layers went on smooth, and I only needed two coats for full opacity.  I topped it off with a layer of Seche Vite to make it nice and glossy.

My Violet Crown is an indigo based polish with a strong purple to blue shift, silver micro holographic glitters, and a dash of holographic pigment.  It was a tad on the thicker side, but I added some thinner, and it was perfection.  I used three coats with one coat of Seche Vite, and it had a gorgeous glossy finish.

As you can see, I've cropped my nails short again.  I find that I tend to like them shorter in the winter time since the cold and wind can really kill them, my cuticles, and my skin.  If you follow Born for a Storm, you're probably already familiar with the Cutie phenomenon.  Cuties are nails that are intentionally short.  Those of us who like to wear our nails super short never have a nice name for our nails.  People call them nubs, but that's such a pejorative term in the nail community because usually after nub the words ugly, boy hands, or gross closely follow.  To counteract that mentality, Sara and I decided to come up with a new name to describe intentionally short nails - the cutie.  So, if you have cuties, we welcome you to post your manis on IG or FB and tag them as #cutienailclub and #clubcutie.  That way we can all celebrate our short lovely nails!

Anyway, you can purchase A-Englands in several places including Color4Nails.  While My Violet Crown isn't available for purchase, you can grab other Digital Nails polishes at her shop here!  So, how would you describe your nail shape?

Red Coat Tuesday: Elevation Fall-ow Me Up North

Well, tonight's polish isn't quite red, per se, but it's close.  I'm starting to run out of red polishes, so I guess it's either time to buy some more or I'm going to have to start using things that are kind of red for the future, heh.  Who are we kidding.  I'll probably buy more.  Let's get to tonight's Pretty Little Liars Red Coat Tuesday linkup featuring Elevation  SBP Polish Fall-ow Me Up North, which was an amazing surprise gift from my friends MaryJo and Sara!  Also, I'm currently rocking some cuties, which we can discuss in more depth tomorrow!

(Source)

First, the rules!

• Paint your nails red, do your lips red, do a shadow design in red, or do anything beauty related that is mostly red.
• Add your blog and photo to the inlinkz!  If you don't have a blog but do have an IG, you can check this link for directions on how to use your IG for inlinkz.  If you don't have a blog or IG, you can just add your photo to the linkup or send it to Color Me So Crazy, and she will get them up for you!
• Use the #RedCoatTuesday tag when you share your photos on IG, Twitter, or Facebook!

Gifted to me by friends.

Fall-ow Me Up North is a small batch prototype from Elevation Polish, which are always highly sought after and a pain in the butt to obtain.  Luckily, I didn't have to do the work for this little baby because it was sweetly gifted to me by friends who were trying to help me feel better after a pretty horrible interview.

FMUP is a lovely orange-leaning coral with red mylar-style flakes.  It's got a bit of a crelly consistency, and I only needed two coats for full coverage.  I used three, though, to make sure there weren't any bald patches in my photos.  

The consistency was great, and it didn't flood my cuticles or get all over the place...  On my swatch hand.  On my right hand, however, it was all over the place.  Cleanup wasn't too hard, but I did have some spots left on my cuticles that I couldn't get off with remover.

While SBPs and Samples are super difficult to grab during restocks, you can purchase other Elevation Polishes at her shop here.

(Source)

An InLinkz Link-up

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer February Releases Part 2

It's been a busy couple of days due to some tight deadlines at my day job plus prepping for today's preorder!  Remember, this month's release is a preorder that will be up until 3:30 pm est on 2.10.2015.  If I have enough stock left after I fill the preorders, I will list them on the store, but some polishes may not be available after the preorder.  You can check out the first half of the Crooked Hearts Collection here.  Let's take a look at the last three from that collection as well as the latest in the Siren Series, Siren Sweetheart.

All polishes were created by me.

Cold Inside Me

Cold Inside Me is a teal creme with green to blue to purple shifting glass flecks.  Unfortunately, you can see the purple flecks best in the bottle but not very well on the nail.  Otherwise, the blue and green show up really nicely in the bottle and on the nail.

I used two coats here with and without topcoat.  I had to take my photos in the sunshine because this color really messed with my camera.  It's very bright and definitely teal, but all of my indoor photos made it look blue.  CIM dries with a satin finish, so you will need to add a topcoat to get a glossy look.  Dry time was quick, but I still suggest using a quick dry topcoat so you can get back to using your hands more quickly.

The One Worth Leaving

TOWL is a deep berry pink with pink and purple glass fleck shimmers.  The shimmers can look flat in photos, but they're very bright in person.  This polish is a little less thick than most of my polishes, but that's because I needed a not-quite-but-almost-jelly formula so you could still see the shimmers without the opacity dulling them.  Because of this, I used three thick coats for my photos, but you could probably do four thin coats if that floats your boat.

TOWL is probably up in my top favorite BEGLs ever, and I just love the effect it gives.  It's vampy and yet demure.  It would be a great work appropriate color that has just enough extra umph to make it fun.  I didn't have any staining issues with this one, which is great because my nails and skin tend to not like deep reds/pinks.

Might Not Recover

This is probably one of my blingiest polishes.  It contains platinum flakes, silver reflective beads, silver holographic microglitters, and purple/lavender holographic microglitters.  This one seriously shines like only one other polish I've ever made.  The first coat can be a tad tricky depending on your base coat, but you can easily use the dab method to get great coverage in two coats.  Here, I've worn three to make sure I covered up any bald spots.

Please note that reflective beads are slightly heavier than normal glitters, so they may sink to the bottom of your bottle.  Simply roll your bottle upside down between your hands or store it upside down while you're prepping your manicure to mix them back in.  I used two coats of Seche Vite to get a super glossy finish as it does dry a bit textured.

Siren Sweetheart

Siren Sweetheart is a clear based glitter topper packed with blue/green iridescent glitters in varying shapes and sizes, white glitters in hexes, squares, rectangles, dots, diamonds, and stars, and periwinkle glitters in hexes, dots, and mini stars.  Application was relatively easy, but you may have to dig a bit for some of the larger glitter pieces unless you store it upside down during your mani prep.

Here, I've worn it in one coat and a few glitter placements over BEGL Hydrangea and accent of Cult Nails Tempest.  It looks thicker than it really is, so I'm not sure why my photos are doing that.  I only needed one coat of Seche Vite to make it smooth and glassy.

Again, the preorder for the Crooked Hearts Collection is open at my shop until tomorrow at 3:30 pm est.  If there's anything left after I fill the preorders, I'll be adding it to the shop.  So, which are you most excited about?

Comparison Thursday: Peachy-Orange OPI Holos

This week's comparison is a look at a few peach and orange holos I have from OPI.  All of these are discontinued and hard to find, unfortunately, but I still wanted to show them to you guys anyway.  Mainly because I wanted to see how they compared, so you guys get to reap the benefit!  Let's take a look.

Purchased myself.

Day at the Peach, DS Vintage, Coral Reef, DS Couture

I wanted to make sure that the holo flames weren't adversely affected by the use of topcoat, so I went without.  No topcoat on any of the polishes equals awful dry times.  

Day at the Peach

DatP has a super thin consistency.  Because of this thin consistency, it has a tendency to pool, but the smaller brush makes it easier to apply.  It's one of the older Summer for Shore Collection polishes, so it's got a fine holo particle.  Surprisingly, it was opaque in two coats, but I used three for my photos. I thought that it would take much more to build to opacity since the consistency was so runny.  And as I mentioned earlier, the dry time long without a quick dry topcoat.

DS Vintage

DS Vintage is one of the newer polishes, so it's got the new brush style.  The fat OPI brush makes application a little difficult on short nails, which is why I detest those fat flat brushes.  As compared to DatP, it's got a bit thicker consistency, so it's less likely to pool.  The DS line all have a larger holo particle than the Summer for Shore collection.  It's closest in color to DatP, but they're definitely not dupes.  It was easily opaque at two coats.  Again, dry time was long because I didn't use a quick dry topcoat.

Coral Reef

CR is another Summer for Shore polish, so it's a bit thin like DatP, but it doesn't pool as much.  It's very orange as compared to the others in this grouping.  CR has a fine holo particle like the rest of the Summer for Shore collection.  It's opaque in two coats, but I used three for my photos.  It's probably obvious now, but dry time was long because no topcoat.

DS Couture

DS Couture is one of the newer bottles so it's got that thicker OPI brush, which makes application difficult, like with Vintage.  It's on the thicker side, but there is still a tendency to pool on my skin.  Couture is the most red of the bunch.  It's also the most pigmented, and was easily opaque in one coat.  However, I used two coats for my photos.  Dry time was long, but not quite as bad as the others because I was able to do thinner coats due to the high pigmentation in this polish.

So, there you have it!  Those are all of my peachy-orange OPI holos.  I think my favorite is Couture because it's just so vibrant and fun.  Which is your favorite?