Butter London Pink Ribbon

Butter London Pink Ribbon is a sheer baby pink. But on yours truly, Casper The Friendly Nail Blogger, it reads almost like a mannequin hands shade. Sheer pinks have a tendency to pull nude on me (see Essie Ballet Slippers for additional proof) , but it's an effect I kinda like.

I used Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage (review forthcoming) as my base coat to help increase the opacity of Pink Ribbon and I managed to get away with just three coats here. This isn't typically the type of shade that I go for, but it does make for an excellent palette cleanser when I'm craving something more neutral.

Loki-Inspired Nails

So I've mentioned it a time or two on here but in addition to nail polish, one of my other big interests is comics. I'm mostly a Marvel kind o' gal and today's mani is inspired by one of their most popular villains, Loki. Loki experienced a huge boost in popularity following the character's prominent role in the Thor movies and The Avengers film, where he is played by British actor Tom Hiddleston.

I'm not really a fan of Thor himself, because I don't find him particularly compelling as a character, but Hiddleston's on-screen portrayal and Kieron Gillen's work with the character in the "Journey Into Mystery" and "Young Avengers" comics made me take an interest in Loki. I also blame my inner reformed mall goth, which has a deep and abiding love for anti-heroes.

Anywho, the point of this digression is that I decided to putz around and do some Loki-inspired nails. Loki's signature colors are green and gold, so I incorporated those two shades into a ruffian mani, with added black accent nails as a nod to Loki's look in the comics, where, in more recent years, he has been shown wearing black nail polish.

I started with a base of Azature Gold Diamond, then used Butter London British Racing Green. For my accent nail, I used OPI 4 In The Morning. This was only my second time trying a ruffian mani, but I think it is already worlds better than my first one! I hope you enjoyed my dorky nails today! :)

Rainbow Honey Papillon

Rainbow Honey Papillon is a clear-based glitter topper with blue iridescent shimmer, pink and lavender glitter and pink holo butterfly glitters. I mean, really, that last bit is all you have to know, because butterfly glitter=automatic awesomeness!

Papillon will be launching as part of Rainbow Honey's upcoming Midnight Garden Collection for sprintime, so it's not available quite yet, but it never hurts to get your wishlist started early, right? ;) This is two coats of Papillon over Lime Crime Crema De Limon.

The formula is excellent and the glitter disperses evenly across the nail. You don't have to fish at all for the butterfly glitter either. I got plenty of them on my brush without any trouble!

I really enjoyed this combination. I have to admit, it was partially inspired by Fluttershy from My Little Pony, but also a desire to wear something spring-y on my nails. There's still several feet of snow on the ground outside, to the point that I can't even see out of my apartment window (*grumble*) so I'm dying to see just a teensy glimpse of spring, even if it is just my manicure!

You can purchase Rainbow Honey from their website.


Disclosure: This polish was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Azature Gold Diamond

Paul Simon once sang about a girl with diamonds on the soles of her shoes. Now, that's all well and good, but wouldn't you much rather have diamonds on your nails? ;)

Every Azature polish is infused with a real black diamond, giving every shade an extra luxurious sparkle. Gold Diamond is an ultra shimmery gold foil with that special dash of diamond dust. The way Gold Diamond gleams in the light, it looks like your nails have been dunked in liquid gold. This is such a luxurious shade!

The formula here is great and reaches opacity in three coats. I took these shots under my little lamp so you could see just how vibrant that diamond shimmer truly is. Golds aren't always the most flattering shade on me so I tend to be pretty particular about them, but Gold Diamond is one that I really like!

You can purchase Azature from their website


Disclosure: This polish was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: Barielle Elle's Spell

February is American Heart Month for heart disease awareness, so in recognition of that, all of the Twinsies are sporting red manicures for today's Twinsie Tuesday. Now, I don't necessarily dislike red polish but it's not something I reach for super often. There are too many fun glitters and crazy colors to play with instead! However, I recently got the chance to try out an awesome red that I thought would be perfect for this theme: Barielle Elle's Spell!

Elle's Spell is a rich red jelly filled with iridescent flakes that flash everything from orange to yellow to green as they bathe in the light. This is one of Barielle's most famous polishes and it's easy to see why! The flakies have a very strong shift to them that, when coupled with the red base, is nothing short of magical.

The flakes spread evenly across the nail with no dabbling or placing required. I did give myself a little extra drying time between coats though. I used four here but you could easily get away with three if you're not as picky about VNL as I am. It's rare for me to wear a red polish for three whole days but that's exactly what I did with Elle's Spell! It's such a stunner and I wasn't even remotely tired of it by the time I finally did take it off.

You can purchase Barielle from their website. And if you're in the mood for more beautiful reds, be sure to head on over to my Twinsies' blogs!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

Disclosure: This polish was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

China Glaze Off Shore Preview

Every summer, you can count on China Glaze to release a fresh batch of neons, just in time for beach weather. This May, CG is at it again with the Off Shore Collection, featuring 12 new brights that are sure to go perfectly with your flip-flops and sunglasses.

L to R: Sea's The Day, Stoked To Be Soaked, If In Doubt Surf It Out, Sun Upon My Skin, Shore Enuff, Be More Pacific

 L to R: Feel The Breeze, Float On, Dune Our Thing, X-TA-SEA, I Sea The Point, Wait 'N Sea

Source

I really think they could have used a few more "sea" puns, don't you? *sigh* Names aside, there seems to be a nice variety of colors here and I'm especially looking forward to the two greens! These promo shots are always kinda deceiving, but at least judging by these pictures, this collection doesn't appear to be as retina-searingly bright as some of CG's past neon sets. Perhaps that will mean some improvement in the formulas for these polishes. I know many people, myself included, had some issues with last year's neons.

Born Pretty Pink Flower Water Decals: Review & Swatches

 Happy Saturday! Hope your weekend is off to a good start! I don't have much planned for today, just a lazy day of Netflix and drinking lots of tea. Clearly I like to live on the edge.

Anywho, today I'll be showing you some water decals from Born Pretty Store! I have written about Born Pretty's water decals many times and they're one of my very favorite nail art products. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of water decals, they basically work like a temporary tattoo: dunk 'em in water, peel off the paper backing, stick 'em on, seal in with topcoat and then admire your fabulous nails. Easy!

Born Pretty carries these water decals in hundreds of different designs, so whether you want cartoon characters, abstract designs, animals--you name it, they probably make water decals of it. The decals I have to show you today are a pink flower design.

Here's what the entire sheet looks like:

And then here are the decals on my nails, using Pahlish Singing In The Garden as my base!

My goal with this combo was to try and make my nails look like mini gardens. I think it came out really cute! The decals themselves are incredibly easy to use and they blended in seamlessly with my base polish. I used one decal on each finger and still had plenty left over on the sheet--enough for another full manicure or several more, if I stuck with accent nails. I want to try these over a nice seafoam green shade next!

If you would like to order anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.