Maybelline Cool Couture with China Glaze CG in the City

Now that you know that I love Halloween, I wanted to yet you know I will be participating in my first nail challenge! Not only do I get to do nail art for my favorite time of year, I also will be posting more consistently. Three times a week! While doing these art challenges, I will be adding an additional segment called "Now & Then."

Last year I was just starting to get into nail art. I had no dotting tools or anything but still tried my hardest. I will be posting my manicures from last year with this year's nail art challenges (some overlap!) and you can see how practice is the only way to perfect nail art! I'm really looking forward to showing you my first nail arts despite the low quality of photos. 

Now onto the polish which was the base of my nail art in the Halloween Nail Art Contest (vote for #26 in freehand category HERE). I bought Maybelline Cool Couture a year ago and only NOW am I using it. It's a blue toned grey with gorgeous blue shimmer. Two coats and this is no clean up. 

With flash. LOVEEEE.

No flash but you can still see the SHIMMA.

Because I did nail art on my left hand, I wanted something simply on my right. One coat of China Glaze CG in the City. This glitter is a chameleon. Sometimes it's gray based, other times I see purple and bronze. Sorry I am awkward at posing my right hand. Two untrieds in this mani! Just an extra note, removal was SO easy with this glitter and no staining at all.  No foil needed here! All photos with flash here.

I hope you are all excited for the Fall and Halloween-themed nail art to come!

Zoya Glassfleck Gradient with Lynnderella Common Sense

First thing's first: If you don't know, I'm obsessed with Halloween. All things Halloween. And I love nail art. I have entered a nail art contest and would love for my followers to vote for me!

Vote HERE. Voting continues until October 21st! So vote every day. I'm #26 on the freehand category, the last picture before the voting box. If you love my nail art, then do vote! I'll put reminders every other post or so :)

Ok on to the polish: Here's another manicure I absolutely did not want to take off. I really love when I expect a polish to be amazing and then it turns out to be so...and more.

When Lynnderella came out with her Sweet Summer collection, Common Sense blew me away. Despite the yadda-yadda drama, I admit when polishes are gorgeous. Common Sense is made up of rose gold and copper glitter of different sizes, but mostly medium to small. I love the uniformity of it. No giant glitters in here and that's exactly why I love it (giant glitter is great, but sometimes I like a most consistent look). All pictures are one coat of Common Sense over my Zoya gradient. I did need two coats of top coat though as I wanted it perfectly smooth.

I took advantage of the Zoya BOGO and got Tiffany and Gloria. This created a really subtle but stunning gradient that picked up the colors of Common Sense. Loved it all so much AND I used three untrieds!

Yes, this is one coat. No dabbing needed. Perfect consistency. 

Zoya Tiffany alone. 2 coats. Peach Glassfleck and gorgeous.

Zoya Gloria gradient over Tiffany. Gloria is a pink-red glassfleck.

It's subtle but the gradient is there

Do you love this as much as I do?

A England Guinevere and P&P Tart

Quickie post today. Mostly because I did not really enjoy this manicure and I've already re-homed the polish that ruined it. 

The good: A England Guinever. Gorgeous greyed out purple creme. Perfectly opaque in two coats. Then I ruined it.

I wanted to do a reverse gradient. While the method works, this glitter does not. Something about Pretty & Polish Tart does not work for me. I compared it to the swatches that initially made me want it. Turns out there are multiple versions of this polish. I wish polish makers were more explicit about their reformulations. I had to take this off a day later. That is how much I hated it. 

  

So what do you think? Do you hate it as much as I do?

Have you checked out my blog sale yet? Take a lookie here.

Blog Sale! Updated

It's a new year and I need to do some serious purging.  I will discount for bulk purchases. Please read carefully.


Updated 1/5/2013.

• Open to US and international buyers.
• Payment is to be made via Paypal ONLY through an invoice plus 3% to cover the fees and 30 cents for the Paypal transaction (this is safer for you).
• If interested, please send an email to michellekak@gmail.com with the subject BLOG SALE. Please list where you are located so I can calculate your shipping cost AND your paypal email address for the invoice.
• Shipping costs for the United States will include delivery confirmation and I will provide you with the tracking number.
• I am not responsible for lost or damaged items.
• No returns, all sales final.
• Once an item has been spoken for, a line will appear through the name.
• Please read descriptions carefully.

Shipping costs:

USA- $2.50 for the first item, and .50 each additional item.
Canada/Mexico- $4.00 for the first item, .50 each additional item.

All other countries- email me for an accurate shipping quote

Flat Rate boxes/envelopes available if needed.

Thank you!

Dollish,, Hare Rad Cloud, one coat mani, $8. Nail Pattern Boldness. Dandy Nails Colorblind2 BN Evaporation, $7. Cult Cruising Nude

BL Black Knight and Wallis, Zoya Fei Fei $4, Zoya Hope

Barry M Chameleon Pink, BN, $7. W7 Lava Flow, BN, $8

Todidoki SANDy, one nail, $5. Pop Pink Glitz, BN, $3. ChG Twinkle Light, BN, $3. Icing Black Shredded, one nail, $3

Pure Ice, Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride. Love & Beauty Rainbow Shredded Glitter, swatched one nail, $2.

Orly Twilight, 1x, $3. Pure Ice Taxi, 1x, $2. Icing Magnetic (spillage on bottle but BN), $5. Sally Hansen Golden Child, 1x, $2. Sally Hansen VIP Pink, one nail, $3

Sinful Colors: Seaweed, 1x, $2. Dream On, Irish Green, BN. $2

Piggy Polish Easy Tiger, 1x. $2. Wet N Wild Rain Check, BN, $1. NYC West Village (purple shimmer), BN, $1. Anise Chill Down, BN, $2.

Ultas. $1 or free with purchase (specify)

One of my Favorite Manis EVER: Nails Inc. Baker Street with NVL Pulverized

Where do I start with this manicure? If you follow my Facebook page, I posted a picture about finding Nails Inc. crystal caps on sale at Sephora, and I quickly snatched up Baker Street (and broke my no buy). WORTH IT. Baker Street is a vivid blue creme and yes, it is that saturated with NO staining.

I got NailVenturous Pulverized a while back (unfortunately, Amy no longer sells polish, but Ninja Polish sells a few of her creations). My Pulverized might look a little different from yours, well, because it is. This version was specially made for me and doesn't have the large hex. It have large white hexes with smaller blue and purple hexes. Then there are mini bars and microglitter in purple, blue, and green. I love it SO much! Baker Street perfectly complimented Pulverized, but I didn't have the heart to cover up all of Baker Street, so I went with a freehand diagonal, which I alternated.

You really do not need tape for this manicure. If your lines aren't perfect, cover it with dots! Again, I wanted complimentary colors, so I chose A England Tristam and Lady of the Lady, which was perfect. Pulverized has awesome green microglitter, so I grabbed A England Dragon, which I won from a Cosmetic Sanctuary giveaway and together, I think it created the perfect look. I was actually saddened to remove this mani; that is how much I loved it!

Baker Street, 2 coats

Baker Street, 2 coats, indirect lighting

Sunlight

I really love the alternating diagonals. 

Do you have Baker Street? If not, go get it. Now. You won't regret it.

Lastly, if you aren't following my Facebook, I added coordinating chains with all my pendants in my Etsy shop. So take a gander!

Spotlight on my Etsy shop: ehmkay designs.

Since I have hit 100 followers, I thought I would post about my etsy shop, ehmkay designs.

If you don't know, I make nail polish jewelry. Yea, yea, everyone does it. But does everyone used 5-12 polishes PER piece? That is what sets me apart. While I have mostly been doing custom orders, I have tons of jewelry that I have already made, available in my shop. There is a tab on the top of my blog with links and pictures of some of my pieces.

Additionally, because I find the sparkle is difficult to capture by photo, I offer videos of my jewelry to show live glittery action.

Recently, I have added sterling silver chains for the silver pendants, and gorgeous silk ribbon double strand necklaces for bronze pendants. These are included in the pendant price.

Lastly, I have expanded and now offer silver rings, silver studs, and white gold hook earrings. All my jewelry is nickel-free. I have added pictures of some pieces below, but definitely take a look at my shop!

Link to Piece

Link to Piece

Link to piece

Link to Piece

Thank you all for taking the time to look at my  Etsy Shop!

Ultimate Galaxy Nails

Last week was my boyfriend's birthday and we had an awesome time celebrating! I had ordered a special polish to wear on his birthday, but it didn't arrive in time (but you will see it soon; it is stunning). So instead, I went with galaxy nails! Boyfriend loves space and watching shows about the universe, AND galaxy nails were actually the FIRST nail art I ever tried a little over a year ago.

So what do you think?! I spent a little over an hour on these but I think they were amazing. I was sad to take them off.  There are 8 million pictures, with the colors at the bottom and a picture of the first time I ever did galaxy nails! I forgot to add my bottle of IMN Northern Lights, which is what I topped this look with

That might be my boyfriend in the background..

All the colors I used for this look.

First time I ever did galaxy nails...uh, I was a bit shakey

Birthday beers for the boy!

Happy Birthday to the boy!  He loved this manicure so much, he requested that I do them once a month!

If you haven't liked my Facebook page, head over there! I've been posting my hauls and some truly epic nail mail!! ALSO, I'll be announcing my blog sale soon with about 40 polishes. This gal's gotta purge.

Don't forget to check out my Etsy shop!