Twinsie Tuesday: Shattered Glass

I'll admit, I had to look up what this technique was because I'd never heard of it before. But near as I can tell, a shattered glass mani involves large iridescent mylar flakes laid across the nail. The nearest thing I had in my collection to replicate this style with was Studio M Covered In Diamonds, which has a clear base filled with mylar pieces.

I like the way this polish looks but I don't wear it much because 1) it's a bitch to remove and 2) the mylar pieces are pretty jagged and easily get snagged on things. A thicker top coat is a must with this one. (I used Nubar Diamont.) My base was OPI Kitty White from the new Hello Kitty Collection.

This combination didn't come together quite as I envisioned it but it did make for an interesting pairing nonetheless. It has a cool, kind of opalescent look to it that like. It looks way more complex and multifaceted in person than my camera could pick up with all the colorful flakes. I had to layer up Covered With Diamobds to three coats to get it to stand out against the pearly white background of Kitty White, so my nails felt hella rough, but they looked sparkly and shiny so that's what truly counts. ;)

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Twinsie Tuesday: Marching Orders - Take...4, Maybe?

We've done the Marching Orders challenge a number of times for Twinsie Tuesday. I can't remember how many exactly, as you might have noticed by this post's title. But with this challenge, we are all randomly paired off with a Twinsie who we get to assign a manicure to. We can choose a particular technique we want them to use, certain colors, whatever!

The fabulous Amanda got to give me my orders this time around and she meant business! Her marching orders had multiple requirements. I'll list them below, followed by how I chose to incorporate each step into my finished mani. Per Amanda's instructions, my mani had to include...

The color periwinkle: I chose a base of Essie Boxer Shorts to start things off.

A heart: I layered Glimmer by Erica I Heart You, which contains pearly pink heart glitters, over Boxer Shorts.

A touch of matte somewhere in the mani: I Heart You also has matte pink squares. Score!

Non-ring finger accent nail: Thumbs, this is your time to shine! I used Studio M Jingle Jangle for my accent nail, because it went well with I Heart You and, most important, also contained the final element I needed to complete Amanda's challenge, which was...

Purple glitter: Amanda is the purple queen, so I knew her instructions would include purple somehow! :) Jingle Jangle's mix of blue and purple glitter worked perfectly here.

So here is how all of those things came together for the final mani!

Aaaaannnnddd now that I post the photos I notice that I didn't do any clean-up on my pinky. Go me. But anyways, I am thrilled that I was able to get through this challenge without resorting to nail art. Yay! It did take some thinking and shifting through my stash to get all the right "ingredients" but that's half the fun!

I got to assign a mani to Anne, so be sure to sure to swing by her blog and see whether or not I chose to be mean and terrible with my marching orders for her. (I don't think I was, but Anne might see it differently, I dunno hahaha.) I can't wait to see what everyone else assigned each other too!

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Traci at DrinkCitra

Twinsie Tuesday: Studio M Purple Medallion

Today's TT theme is kind of a shameful one for me: oldest untried. After I recently went through my stash to sort out my untrieds, I came to the realization that I have a lot of them, so I'm on a no-buy while I try to show my existing stash some love. I'm not sure which polish is my oldest untried, but Studio M Purple Medallion is definitely up there. I think I got this polish either sophomore or junior year of college...? Something like that. To put that in perspective, I graduated a little over a year ago. Yeah, I know, I'm really bad! :-/

If you're not familiar with Studio M, the brand is only sold at Meijer stores (a grocery chain in the midwest) and it's owned by the same company as brands like Color Club and Ruby Wing. While several Studio M polishes are Color Club re-bottles, Purple Medallion is unique to the Studio M line and, along with Slammin' Red, is one of two polishes the brand is probably most known for. Purple Medallion has a purple (duh) jelly base packed to the gills with silver holographic glitter. It's got a really intense sparkle to it, making it easy to see why this has become one of Studio M's signature polishes.

I used three coats here. The formula isn't awful but it isn't great either. It's on the runny side and drytime between coats is a bit longer than usual. If you live near a Meijer store or have a swap buddy who does, I recommend checking out Studio M. Purple Medallion is a core polish and the Studio M seasonal collections usually have some fun gems too.

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Traci at DrinkCitra

Studio M Firecracker

Meet Studio M Firecracker a.k.a. the polish that makes me sing "Go Go Dancer" by Lana Del Rey in my head every time I see it sitting on my nail station. ("They call me firecracker...") Firecracker is an insanely sparkly glitterbomb filled to the brim with silver holo, gunmetal and purple glitter. Check this baby out!

I used three coats here. The formula is decent--a little goopy, but nothing terrible. I used a glue basecoat with Firecracker because I'm sure removal would be not so fun otherwise. Aside from that, this is easily my favorite Studio M polish I've tried! It would make a fabulous polish for a night out or any other time you want to be sure your nails will get noticed. There is some crazy sparkle going on here! I love it!

As far as I know, Firecracker is a Studio M original and not a Color Club re-package (the brands are owned by the same company and share colors a lot), so if you want it, get thee--or a swap buddy--to a Meijer!

Twinsie Tuesday: Studio M Grape Escape

It's Tuesday, so you know what that means: time for another go-around of Twinsie Tuesday! This week's theme is regional polish: a polish that is only available where you live or a brand that originates from your area. For me, this was an easy choice. I'm from Michigan, the birthplace of Meijer, which is a grocery store chain and the only place that carries the Studio M line. If you're not familiar with Studio M, they're owned by the same company that owns Color Club, so a lot of Studio M polishes are rebottled Color Club polishes, although Studio M does have its own unique colors as well. I actually don't have much access to Color Club where I live, so the Studio M line is a nice way to get some Color Club!

I'm not sure whether the Studio M polish I chose to show you today, Grape Escape, is a rebottle or an original. (If you do know, please give me a heads-up in the comments!) But I can tell you for sure that it's a blue-based neon purple creme. :)

This is kind of like China Glaze Grape Pop on steroids. It's bright but not melt-your-face-off-like-at-the-end-of-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark bright. I really love this color and I could see it flattering a wide variety of skintones.

Grape Escape dries to a semi-matte finish. The formula is excellent and completely opaque in three coats. What you see here is right after I painted--no clean-up required! I love it when that happens.

Amanda: http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/
Anna: http://goingtotheshowing.blogspot.com/
Anne: http://grapefizz.blogspot.com/
Ashley: http://artevolve.blogspot.com/
Brandi: http://thecollegiatenail.blogspot.com/
ChiChi: http://beautystarr1009.blogspot.com/
Cordia: http://srslyswatched.blogspot.com
Jenn: http://allthatisgorgeous.blogspot.com/
Jenna: http://www.jennafroggy.com/
Katherine: http://hauloffame.blogspot.com/
Maribeth: http://obsessivecosmetichoardersunite.blogspot.com/
Marisa: http://marijonails.blogspot.com/
Meredith: http://polishandcharms.blogspot.com/
Nory: http://fiercemakeupandnails.blogspot.com/
Rachel: http://topcoatit.com/
Sarah: http://seesarahswatch.blogspot.com/
Tara: http://polishyoftruth.com/

Twinsie Tuesday: Non-Ring Finger Accent Nail

Hello everyone and welcome to yet another addition of Twinsie Tuesday! This week's theme was a manicure with a non-ring finger accent nail. After waffling between using my middle or pinky finger for my accent nail, I ultimately settled on my middle finger. For my color scheme, I stuck to pastels. On my accent nail, I layered Studio M Tru Passion over Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy. Then I used my favorite yellow, China Glaze Lemon Fizz on the rest of my nails.

I'm not necessarily unhappy with this combo, but I feel like the colors didn't go together quite as well as how I originally saw them in my head. I think any mani involving Lemon Fizz is at least somewhat cute by default though. It's such an adorable yellow and it's one of those colors that just makes me happy when I look at it. Plus it's a yellow us pale people can wear without looking like a jaundiced corpse! Always a plus.

Have you ever done a manicure with a non-ring finger accent nail? Either way, maybe my fellow Twinsies will give you some ideas for your next accent mani or inspire you to try one for the first time! I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else came up with!

Amanda: http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/
Anna: http://goingtotheshowing.blogspot.com/
Anne: http://grapefizz.blogspot.com/
Ashley: http://artevolve.blogspot.com/
Brandi: http://thecollegiatenail.blogspot.com/
ChiChi: http://beautystarr1009.blogspot.com/
Cordia: http://srslyswatched.blogspot.com
Jenn: http://allthatisgorgeous.blogspot.com/
Jenna: http://www.jennafroggy.com/
Katherine: http://hauloffame.blogspot.com/
Marisa: http://marijonails.blogspot.com/
Meredith: http://polishandcharms.blogspot.com/
Nory: http://fiercemakeupandnails.blogspot.com/
Rachel: http://topcoatit.com/
Sarah: http://seesarahswatch.blogspot.com/
Tara: http://polishyoftruth.com/

Twinsie Tuesday: Jelly Sandwich

Hey all, sorry for the super late Twinsie Tuesday post today. I didn't have time to finish it before work today but I got it all done as soon as I got home! This week's theme is jelly sandwich, where you sandwich a polish between two layers of a jelly polish. I don't have a whole lot of jellies in my collection and I made multiple (crappy) attempts at trying to do this theme, most of which were too awful-looking to even photograph.


So I settled on doing two coats of Studio M Fame & Fortune (originally released under the same name by Color Club--Studio M is owned by the same company) sandwiched between OPI Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em, a (as the name implies) hot pink jelly. The base of Fame & Fortune is tinted pink. Ironically it's tinted pretty much the same color as the OPI I chose for this sandwich look, something I didn't discover until I started doing the mani.

The formula on the OPI is good but the Studio M is really tough to work with. The base is thick and the big mylar(?) pieces are very difficult to paint on. Most of the time I just had to place them with my brush. The pieces are also surprisingly sharp; I wound up scratching myself on accident a time or two because edges of the pieces wound up hanging over my nail beds. I used one coat of Seche topcoat but you'd probably need at least two to cover up the rough, jagged texture of the irridescent pieces. Despite being a pain in the ass, they are really pretty and shiny though.


So there you have it: my jelly sandwich. Be sure to check out the other Twinsie Tuesday girls if you haven't already--and welcome to new addition Brandi!

Amanda: http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/
Anna: http://goingtotheshowing.blogspot.com/
Anne: http://grapefizz.blogspot.com/
Ashley: http://artevolve.blogspot.com/
Brandi: http://thecollegiatenail.blogspot.com/
ChiChi: http://beautystarr1009.blogspot.com/
Jenn: http://allthatisgorgeous.blogspot.com/
Jenna: http://www.jennafroggy.com/
Katherine: http://hauloffame.blogspot.com/
Marisa: http://marijonails.blogspot.com/
Meredith: http://polishandcharms.blogspot.com/
Nory: http://fiercemakeupandnails.blogspot.com/
Rachel: http://topcoatit.wordpress.com/
Sarah: http://seesarahswatch.blogspot.com/

Studio M Covered In Diamonds

I may have squealed a little bit when I put this polish on for the first time. It had caught my eye a couple times at Meijer and finally I decided to take it home with me. After putting it on, I can say that this was three dollars well spent! Covered In Diamonds is a clear base filled with different-sized iridescent flakies. Since the base is clear, I decided to layer one coat of Covered In Diamonds over two coats of Wet N Wild Black Creme to really bring those flakies to life. The results were stunning!

Pictures do this polish no justice. None. Zero. These flakies are so incredibly vivid and shift colors so beautifully in the light.  They are different colors, sizes and thicknesses, making for a really mesmerizing and complex effect. I seriously think it is one of the most beautiful flakies I own and I can see my love for it growing even more as I try layering it over different colors. This is a polish you really just have to see for yourself to know how beautiful it truly is!

At three dollars, Covered In Diamonds is a total steal. If you don't have access to Studio M polishes, they are made by the same folks who do Color Club, so there's a Color Club version of this as well that I believe is the exact same thing.

If I had to point out something I don't like about Covered In Diamonds, it's that that it dries really lumpy because of how large some of the flakies are. I kind of had to pat down the larger flakies a bit with my brush and then I needed two coats of Seche Vite, as opposed to my usual one, to smooth out the texture. But honestly, I'm willing to do the extra bit of work when the results are as drool-worthy as this.

Studio M Tru Passion

Just like I added a touch of bling to my Cocktail Bling manicure (swatches HERE), after wearing Bangle Jangle alone for a day (which you can see HERE), I decided to add some sparkles to it as well. I used one coat of Studio M Tru Passion and I think it looks so cute! I like how the dustiness of these Cocktail Bling polishes really make layered glitters pop.

Tru Passion's stellar formula was extremely cooperative-not thick, not runny, but just right. I used one coat of Tru Passion, which went on very smoothly over two coats of Essie Bangle Jangle. You could easily wear this polish alone though, because it has great opacity and would probably cover completely in just two coats. I originally was just going to use Tru Passion as an accent nail but I liked this combo so much that I made it into an entire mani!

If you're not familiar with Studio M, they're made by the same manufacturer as Color Club and sometimes the two brands even share colors and color names. This polish originally came from the Color Club Glitter Vixen Collection. Studio M polishes are exclusive to Meijer and retail for $2.99 each.

Since I live in Michigan, there are Meijer stores everywhere here, but unfortunately if you live outside the Midwest, Studio M polishes aren't very easy to come by. Look for this brand next time you are in a Meijer though! I really like the Studio M polishes I've tried. The bottles may look extremely dated, but they hold good things inside. :) My Meijer also just recently started carrying Color Club shatter polishes as well. Maybe they will add more Color Club in the future?