Advent Calendar Challenge Day 10: Lights

So for this mani I did some Christmas lights on my nails. Someone asked me how I made my Christmas lights and it was pretty simple. I took a piece of painter's tape and folded it in half. Then I cut a "parenthesis shaped" notch out of the tape, sort of like I was making paper snowflakes. So when it is folded, the notch should look like this: (  But when you open it up, there should be a hole in your tape that looks like
this: () You just want to make sure that the hole is a good size for your nails (not too big or small). Then I placed the tape at different angles on my nails and dabbed on sparkly colors for the lights.

Blue: Hits Gato-mia with Jordana Blue Bash dabbed on top
Red: Zoya Kimmy with Dollish I Wanna Do Bad Things to You dabbed on top
Green: Zoya Ivanka with Orly Here Comes Trouble dabbed on top
Orange: China Glaze Riveting with L.A. Girl Glitter Addict in Flamboyant dabbed on top
Pink (on my thumb, but not pictured): Hits Cirandinha with Orly Bubbly Bombshell dabbed on top

For the base of the mani, I used China Glaze Fast Track with China Glaze Fois Gras dabbed on top with a makeup sponge to create a marbled look. I actually forgot to post pictures of that by itself, but it was really pretty. I used a silver striper for the metal base of the lights and a white striper for the cord and accents on the lights. 

I'm a little behind on the challenge, but I am still doing my manis. I had to take a few days off to do some non-Christmas manis so I will post those soon for you to give you (and me) a little break). Thanks for looking everyone!

Hits GRAACC Swatches

I recently received the Hits GRAACC collection to swatch and review and I wanted to share those with you guys today. This collection contains 5 glass flecked polishes in bright, summery colors. I found them all to be unique in my collection and very lovely. Another great thing about this collection is that it was created for a great cause. Hits is donating a portion of the proceeds from the collection to the GRAACC which is an organization in Brazil that raises awareness and helps to fund research for childhood cancer.

First up is Pega-pega, a red leaning purple jelly with glass flecks. This was 3 coats. The glass flecked shimmer within this polish almost looks like it is glowing pink within. A super pretty polish.

Next is Cirandinha, a vibrant hot pink jelly with glass flecks. This was 3 coats. This polish was so much brighter and gorgeous in real life. It is a real stunner. The glass fleck shimmer in these polishes is amazing! In this one in particualr, the flecks make it really glowy.

Next is Gato-mia. This is a vibrant blue jelly with glass flecks. This was 3 coats (although this was the most opaque of the collection). This polish is awesome! It almost looks metallic the shimmer is so vibrant. This was hands down my favorite of the collection.

Next is Cabra-cega. It is a lime green jelly with glass flecks. This was 3 coats. It was the sheerest of the collection and some people might even prefer 4 coats if you want more opacity (depends on how thick your coats are.)

Last is Queimada. It is an orange jelly with glass flecks. This was 3 coats. This one was my least favorite of the collection simply because it wasn't the best color with my skintone (reddish oranges tend to work better on me) but it was a nice polish for anyone who can pull off the color.



Overall, I really liked this collection. The glass flecked finish of these polishes was just to die for and the colors were really bright and fun. Also, I would say that these are the best Hits brushes I have found so far so kudos to Hits for listening to our complaints about previous brushes! They were a little sheer (3 coaters for me), but I think that the payoff is worth it! My top picks from the collection are Gato-mia, Pega-pega, and Cirandinha.

These are available from Llarowe for $6.00 each. What do you think of these polishes?

Hits MTV Collection Swatches

I recently got the Hits MTV Glitters in the mail to swatch and I wanted to share them with you.

First up is Pink Pop. This had a mix of small pink and silver glitter with larger pink holo and silver holo hexes with some medium red hexes in there for some interest. I really loved the color combo of the glitters. This is 1 coat over China Glaze Hyper Haute. The formula was good on this and as you can see there is a nice glitter density at one coat.

Up next is Blue Jazz. This has blue microglitter as well as blue and green hexes in a blue jelly base. You might be thinking it is a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe but in fact, it is a little different (and in a good way I think). Some of the larger hexes are holo which I think makes this polish a little more special than Across the Universe. Also, the base of Blue Jazz isn't as pigmented, so I would definantly recommend layering. This is 2 coats over Zoya Ibiza.

Golden Disco is up next. This one is a mix of gold and copper microglitter with larger gold and silver holo hexes. I think this one is very cool and I can imagine it would look nice over a dark wine color or red for the fall. It just reminds me of Autumn. This is one coat over a-England Princess Sabra.

Speaking of Princess Sabra...let's have a look at that one! This is my first time wearing it and I adore it! I was worried I wouldn't even like it because I'm not typically a gold person, but it pulled really neutral on me which I loved.

Last up is Synth Pop. This is silver microglitter with larger silver holo hexes. This was my least favorite of the collection. It is pretty, but just didn't stand out to me. I think it was mainly because the larger hexes were so sparse in it. This is 2 coats over Color Club Worth the Risque.

I wanted to show of the glitter more in Synth Pop since it blended so much into the base color of Worth the Risque so I layered it over purple (China Glaze Virtual Violet).



Overall I really liked these glitters. My top picks are Pink Pop and Golden Disco because I found them unique and fun. Also, I definantly recommend Blue Jazz if you are looking for something similar to Across the Universe (but better I think) at a lower price. The formula on all of them was good for chunky glitters and I will have to say (and I can't believe I'm saying this) that the Hits brushes seem to be IMPROVING! What is happening? Maybe they have heard enough complaints about them? Who knows, but I hope that it stays true with any new lines they release because the Mari Moons and No Olimpios were just a travesty (but so worth dealing with for the amazing polishes!).

These are available at Llarowe for $5 each (sale price). What do you guys think of these?  

Hits Mari Moon Swatches

So today I have a few swatches from the Hits Mari Moon collection. This is a lovely collection of multichromatic polishes from Brazil.

First up is Cool. It is a green/gold/blue multichrome. This is 2 coats. I found it to have a more metallic finish than the others and therefore more prone to brushstrokes. With careful application, it looked really nice.

Next up is Cutie Pie. This one is a beauty. The only pictures I have of it are older. It flashes from purple, to blue, to turquoise, to even gold at extreme angles. It was super hard to photograph the turquoise shift in this one, but it is very apparent in real life. It is dupey to the long discontinued (and highly sought after) Turquoise Opal from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line as well as the recently discontinued Ozotic 505 and its Chemistry/Artform counterparts. This is one coat over black.



Last, but not least, is Unconventional. This one is a real stunner, and my favorite one that I have tried so far. It flashes from a gorgeous deep purple to a burgundy and even to a glowing red in the sun. This is 2 coats over black (but I could have just used 1 coat).

Overall, these polishes are really lovely, I just abhor their brushes which you have to use carefully to avoid bubbling (or that has been my experience, at least) and hate that their bottles are so tiny (6 ml). The end result is worth it though! There are quite a few of them that are dupes for hard to find polishes, so that is another great thing about this collection. Here is an excellent list of multichrome dupes that my friend Theomanic has compiled for you to reference if you have any serious multichrome lemmings or if you want to avoid dupes in your collection.

I purchased these from Llarowe and they appear out of stock at the moment, but she is constantly getting new inventory in from Brazil from the Hits line, so keep checking back if you are interested in them!  

Fun With Holo Topcoats! (Featuring Darling Diva Polish Dreamy)

So, I don't know about you guys, but I think one essential thing to have in your nail polish collection is a holographic topcoat so that you can HOLO ALL THE THINGS! I have yet to purchase any Spectraflair or suspension base for myself, so the ones that I have are all commercially available (although some, unfortunately, are discontinued).

L-R Hits Hefesto, Darling Diva Polish Dreamy, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Diamond, OPI DS Shimmer

OPI DS Shimmer is the holy grail of holo top coats in my humble opinion. I was very lucky that a friend recently found a brand new one for me in a salon since it has long been discontinued and is going for some pretty hefty prices on Ebay. It is dense and linear and fantastic!

Hits Hefesto, luckily, is a very good dupe for DS Shimmer that is available at e-tailers like Llarowe that carry the brand (it is Brazilian). The cons of Hefesto are that it comes in a tiny bottle (I have only used it twice and you can see the usage in the bottle already) and the brush is horrific.

My bottle of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Diamond gives a nice scattered holographic look if it is layered over other colors. This one has also long been discontinued, however it has been popping up in combination packs with other Nail Prisms at discount stores like Ross in the US recently. I have also heard that the taller (11 ml) bottles of Diamond have a more linear holograpic effect than the short (8.8 ml) bottles like mine.

Darling Diva Polish Dreamy is a recent acquisition from Etsy and it is a really cool holograpic topcoat. It is a little different because it not only has the finer linear holographic particles, but also has some larger holographic particles sprinkled in which gives it a fun, sparkly effect. If you want to purchase it, you can visit her shop here.

I also have Spectraflair franken that was given to me by a sweet friend as a gift. So if you decide to get your hands on some spectraflair, you can make a really nice one for yourself!

For today's mani, I decided to layer DDP Dreamy over my existing Ozotic 504 mani. I originally got the idea to layer a holo topcoat over multichromatic polishes from the lovely Kristy over at The Polish Haven when I had an insatiable lemming for the impossible to acquire Dollish Polish Toxic Avenger. I layered Hits Hefesto over Orly Space Cadet and it looked amazing and totally dupey to Toxic Avenger. So if you have a lemming for some of the Ozotic Mish Mash Polishes or Toxic Avenger, try layering a holo topcoat over some multichromes. You will not be disappointed! Anyway...on to the mani...

1 coat DDP Dreamy over Ozotic 504

I recently did another mani similar to this using Hits Mari Moon Cutie Pie and Hits Hefesto.



I will spare you guys the really terrible picture of my mani with Space Cadet + Hefesto, but believe me when I say that it rocked!

So...multichromes + holo topcoat? Just do it guys!