Twinsie Tuesday: CrowsToes Thing

It's Tuesday, so you know what that means... Yep, it's time for another installment of Twinsie Tuesday and this week's theme features one of my favorite things: glitter! More specifically,our theme is a layered glitterbomb! I decided to go with, in my opinion, one of the very best glitter polish makers out there: indie brand CrowsToes! CrowsToes Thing is an explosion of color. I honestly don't think I could name every single shade of glitter in this polish, but I can see yellow, bronze, red, purple, teal, magenta, silver... There's also a variety of shapes: square as well as large and small hex.  Basically if you can think it, Thing probably has it!

 

I am obsessed with this mani! I layered two coats of Thing over one coat of Essie Penny Talk, a copper chrome, here. I love how Penny Talk adds some bling but doesn't take away from all the colors and sparklies in Thing.

 

I think CrowsToes is pretty much unmatched in terms of not only the number of different colors used in their glitters, but how insanely vivid and bright those colors are. CrowsToes polishes always pop on the nail. If you love glitter, you owe it to yourself to give the brand a try! You can purchase CrowsToes at Llarowe and Overall Beauty.

 

Still in the mood for even more glitter?  (Too much is never enough when it comes to glitter, if you ask me!) Head on over to the other Twinsie Tuesday blogs to see what kind of sparklies the ladies are rocking on their nails!

 

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
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
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Two Birds, One Store Crossroads

I've known Sarah of See Sarah Swatch for quite a while now. But I only recently discovered that Sarah and I are both huge mythology nerds! Sarah just released an awesome new collection on her brand Two Birds, One Store's Etsy shop inspired by various goddesses and when I saw one of her newest creations, Crossroads, it was love at first sight! Crossroads is inspired by Hecate, a patron goddess of witches. Hecate herself is commonly depicted as having three faces (the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone), like so:

Anyways, this is a nail polish blog, not a mythology lesson, right? Back to the polish! :) Crossroads is a very sheer light orange base with small orange and black glitter, small white square glitter and medium-sized orange and purple hex glitter. I absolutely love the colors in this polish. The purple really pops against all the orange!

This is two coats of Crossroads over my favorite white, Lime Crime Milky Ways. Since Milky Ways is more of an off-white than a true white, I think it compliments the orange tint of Crossroads' base. The glitter in this polish is mixed perfectly, so there's no fishing around for certain shapes or colors.

Spun Sugar is still my very favorite Two Birds, One Store polish but Crossroads is a close second! I totally love purple and orange together and the combo really stands out on the nail. It gives you the illusion of instant nail art. Love it!

Essie Winter 2012 Preview

I am back! Thank you so much for all of your kind words for my lovely guest posters and thank you to all the ladies involved for pitching in with some gorgeous manis!

I'm going to mark my return with a preview of Essie's upcoming winter collection! I'm not sure of the official title for the collection, but my best guess would be Leading Lady, as that's the name of the polish most prominently featured in the print ads for this collection. Let's take a look!

Beyond Cozy

Leading Lady

Butler, Please

Snap Happy

Where's My Chauffer?

She's Pampered

 

I think this collection looks gorgeous! I really enjoyed Essie's winter collection last year and this one looks like it's going to be just as good, if not better. I can't wait for Where's My Chauffer?, Leading Lady and Butler, Please in particular. What about you? See anything you'll be putting on your holiday wishlist?

Guest Post From Elizabeth of Did My Nails

Hello everyone! How's your week going? Homestretch! TGIF! Let's celebrate with an amazing guest post from Elizabeth of Did My Nails, shall we?

One thing I definitely lack here on Nailed is nail art, but luckily I have some very talented friends! Elizabeth is sweet as can be and to top it off, the girl has got some mad nail art skills! I'm so pumped to show you what she came up with today. I cannot believe she freehanded this gorgeous mani! Isn't it just so perfectly ladylike and elegant? Very modern-day Scarlett O'Hara! It definitely inspires me to want to try this on my own, although I'm sure I'd botch it. :-/ Oh well. Show 'em how it's done, Elizabeth!

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Hi! My name is Elizabeth, and I'm thrilled to be able to pitch in while Chelsea is away! To be honest, it took me a while to decide what to do for this post. I just wasn't sure whether simple or fancy was the way to go, but in the end I think I landed on something that's a little bit of both, my second stab at some easy, freehand roses. 

 

 

At heart I'm a total sucker for glitter. And for flecks, foils, shimmers, duochromes...I love any and all kinds of eye-catching polish. Sometimes a nice creme finish makes for a refreshing change, though, and this design uses two of my current favourites, both of which happen to be movie tie-ins. The base colour, OPI Skull & Glossbones (from the 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean collection), is a greyish beige. Much lighter than most greiges, it's reminiscent of driftwood or sun-bleached bones. The roses are Orly Grave Mistake, a beautiful blood red from this year's Dark Shadows collection. I don't actually own a dark enough green that isn't a fleck or foil, so for the leaves I just added a single drop of China Glaze Liquid Leather (black) to 4 drops of Jessica Mint Mojito Green.

 

 

There are probably a dozen ways to do more perfect, polished roses than these, but I can't imagine any of them is much easier. All I did was use a small dotting tool dipped in red to paint some comma-shaped swooshes. Just start in the middle, then work your way around and out until it's about the size you want. They don't have to be perfect by any means. Then just give them a couple of minutes for the polish to settle and spread, and dot on some leaves. Once it's dry, add a top coat, and you're done!

 

 

These freehand roses are a fun, easy nail art design for any skill level. Whether you use a dotting tool, a bobby pin, a blunted toothpick, etc., if you can paint a comma, you can paint a rose!



Guest Post from Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

I've got another awesome guest poster today to help you get your lacquer fix while I'm out of town: Sarah of See Sarah Swatch!

Sarah is one of the very first bloggers I had the pleasure of getting to know. We both share an immense love of all things glittery, as you'll see in the absolutely stunning mani she's sharing with us below! I absolutely LOVE this mani. Sarah always comes up with gorgeous layering combos, so brace yourself for all the awesome sparkle you're about to be hit with!

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Hello all! I'm Sarah from See Sarah Swatch :] Thank you to Chelsea for letting me guest post for her, and I hope her trip is going well! Today I have a really autumnal mani. It's really reminiscent of falling leaves, and definitely super glittery for Chelsea ;]

So first I started off with a base of KleanColor Metallic Mango [2 coats]

Then I added a fairly heavy coat of  Lynnderella Glass Houses

I think the base and the glitter are just about the same color, which is what I was going for this mani. But I can't wait to use Glass Houses over a contrasting base! Both polishes were pretty easy to use. The KleanColor dried pretty fast! And my nails look like fire balls! So no problems there;] What do you all think of Glass Houses? Any suggestions for a base polish for next time? 

Guest Post From Anna of Going to the Showing

Hello everyone! I am going to be out of town for a few days at a training seminar for my job, so I've arranged to have some fabulous ladies and their beautiful nails keep you company while I'm away. I hope you'll enjoy seeing all of their amazing manicures and getting to know these incredible women a little better!

First up we have Anna of Going to the Showing! Anna is ridiculously talented at nail art, which, if you know me, is not one of my strong suits! But I think she's come up with an amazing combo to show you today and I adore the colors she chose. I really love the 3-D look, although I've never tried it myself. So who better than Anna to showcase a gorgeous beaded mani for us? :) Take it away!

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Hello Nailed readers!

I have been given the opportunity to blog post here! And here I am so excited! How lucky can I be?

For those of you who don't know, I'm a fellow Twinsie mate of Chelsea's. My name is Anna from GoingtotheShowing and I am so grateful to be here. I really hope you enjoy the post that I have devised for this guest post!

For the orange color on my nails, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed. 2 opaque coats covered my nails completely. I then used Zoya Areej on the ring finger and a random microbead to cover it up. I wanted the colors to be a bit playful and fun besides the gold and silver beads that you usually see.

This look is fun and easy but different from your everyday look. Obviously the beads don't stay on as long as I would like, but hey! It's definitely fun when you first put it on!

Well, I hope you liked this mani! And thanks again Chelsea for letting me guest post! I hope to see you readers again soon!

What do you think of the fish egg/caviar trend?

Twinsie Tuesday: Darling Diva Space Beetle

It's no secret that I love indie polish, so of course I was thrilled when I saw this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme was going to be indie polish! I wanted to choose something very special to showcase today and I hope you'll agree that Darling Diva Space Beetle is a drop-dead gorgeous indie. Imagine a linear holo version of Orly Space Cadet or Hard Candy Beetle. Sounds amazing, right? Well that's exactly what Space Beetle is and yes, it's absolutely incredible! Check this out and get ready to drool...

 

Indirect sunlight:

In shade:

 

 

With flash:

Ahhhh I love it! This really could not be any prettier. I wish every one of you could see it in person, because it's even more stunning in real life! The linear holo is strong but doesn't overwhelm the gorgeous duochrome. But elements shine through beautifully. I tried to take pictures in different lighting environments to show off all the different sides this polish has to it.

The formula is perfectly smooth and flawless. This is not one of those linear holos you have to wear a special basecoat with, like the Nfu Oh holos. Space Beetle worked fabulously with my Seche basecoat and topcoat did not seem to dull the holo at all. Dry time is very quick and this polish is opaque in three coats.

At $12, Space Beetle costs a bit more than Darling Diva's usual polishes, but you're getting a full-size bottle so I think the price is ultimately very reasonable. Besides, just look at this and tell me it isn't worth the extra dollars! You can buy Darling Diva at Carrie's Etsy shop.

We have some real indie maniacs in our little group and these girls are always introducing me to awesome new brands. I'm looking forward to finding some new lemmings on their blogs today!

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
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
Tara at Polishy of Truth