Smitten Polish Huckleberry Gumdrop

Smitten Polish Huckleberry Gumdrop is a robin's egg blue crelly filled with delicate, pearlescent white flakies. I love the look of these soft, subtle flakies. I don't think I've ever tried a polish with this particular type before (all the ones I have are of the iridescent, color-changing variety), but it creates a beautiful effect that's fun yet understated. Coupled with the blue base, it almost reminds me of how you see little glints of sunlight dancing along the water during the summertime.

As I mentioned above, this is a crelly, so the formula is on the sheer side. I needed four coats to reach the level of opacity I like for photos, but if I was just wearing this polish out and about without swatching it, I probably would have stopped at three. The consistency itself is nice and workable.

Huckleberry Gumdrop is my first experience with Smitten Polish (courtesy of the wonderful Ms. Amanda) and it's already got me lusting after some of their other, equally gorgeous shades! I need their holos! You can purchase Smitten Polish from their website.

Jessica Rabbit-Inspired Nails

Today's mani is a little tribute to everyone's favorite preposterously proportioned cartoon glamour girl, Jessica Rabbit from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". I loved this movie as a kid (although watching it years later, I realized how many of the jokes must have gone over my head when I was younger) and Jessica was always my favorite character, so I thought it'd be fun to do a manicure inspired by her signature look:

If you follow Deborah Lippmann's collections, you might recall that before Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?  was released as part of DL's 2011 holiday collection, it was codenamed "Jessica Rabbit." Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? has a clear base absolutely packed with red hex glitters, most likely intended to mimic the look of Jessica's iconic red sequin gown. So I figured, what better polish to use for some Jessica-inspired nails? 

I started with a base of China Glaze Ruby Pumps, to add some extra sparkle and help fill in any gaps left by the large hexes in Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?. Then I layered Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? over top using a dabbling technique to make the glitter as dense as possible. It took three to four coats for each nail until I reached a level of opacity I was happy with, but the glowing, glittering nails it created were worth the extra effort!

 Quick 'n dirty indoor lighting shot to show off how much this combo really glowed:

I absolutely loved this mani, so much so that I wore it for five days, which is a crazy long time for me! A couple people said it reminded them of Dorothy's ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz (appropriate, given that I used Ruby Pumps as my base) so I guess you could call these Wizard of Oz-inspired nails too! :)

Twinsie Tuesday: Bubbles

So I'm late to the party with my Twinsie Tuesday mani this week, but here goes! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this week's theme is bubbles. Honestly I was a bit stumped as to how to interpret this theme, but I gave it my best shot.

I started with a base of OPI Don't Burst My Bubble (because of course) and then did an accent nail with some beads from a Born Pretty kit, with the idea that they would look like little bubbles. Originally I tried using clear beads, since I figured they would look the most bubble-like, but they looked weirdly creepy over a nude polish. Instead of bubbles, they looked like some sort of lumpy growth on my nail bed and nobody wants that! (Sorry, I didn't think to snap a picture before I went to Plan B.) So off they came and I used some lavender beads instead!

So yeah, not the greatest mani ever and I don't know if it necessarily says "bubbles" but hey, I tried! I'm curious to see what everyone else did with this theme!

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

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

Twinsie Tuesday: Stay Tuned...

I was traveling this week to visit family and didn't get in 'til late last night, so no Twinsie Tuesday post for me this morning, but I am going to try my hardest to have something up either later tonight or early tomorrow! Sorry guys! I have a mani in mind, I just haven't had the time to do it, because I suck at time management and planning ahead. But spoiler alert: The theme is bubbles! :)

Thankfully my Twinsies are a bit more on the ball than me, so do check out their posts for today. Hopefully I'll have mine up shortly!

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

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

Essie Haute In The Heat Preview

In addition to a new batch of neons, Essie has another collection launching this summer: Haute In The Heat. (I keep typing Haute As Hello, which is the name of a polish in Essie's core collection.) The collection officially launches in June but rumor has it some stores and salons are already stocking it. So here's a look at what to keep your eyes peeled for!

Haute In The Heat

Strut Your Stuff

 

Fierce, No Fear

 

Roarrrrange

Urban Jungle

Ruffles and Feathers

Some nice colors here, to be sure, but I feel like we've seen these from Essie before. Roarrrrange looks like Orange, It's Obvious!, Haute In The Heat looks like Style Hunter, Strut Your Stuff looks like a less saturated I'm Addicted... But maybe I'm just trying to convince myself I don't need anything because I'm on a no-buy til OPI Coca-Cola comes out. But I've been eyeing I'm Addicted from Essie's recent Too Taboo Collection, so I'll definitely be picking up Strut Your Stuff if I don't snag I'm Addicted!

So what do YOU think: see any must-haves or just same old, same old?

Nicole by OPI Seize The Summer Preview

Nicole by OPI's summer offering is a smaller one this year, but with so much going on lately with NOPI's big sister, the original OPI, it's hard to complain! The Seize The Summer Collection features four new shades, launching this June.

Lay it on the Lime

 

Shaved Nice

LeaPink For Joy

The Coral of the Story

LeaPink for Joy? Really, NOPI???? *sigh* It's been quite a while since I bought a NOPI polish (looking back on my blog, the last one was Just Busta Mauve from Fall 2012--incredible polish, by the way) and I don't see anything here that I think is likely to break that streak. There are some cute colors, for sure, but nothing earth-shattering to me. But I'd love to hear your thoughts on the collection in the comments section!

China Glaze Thataway

China Glaze Thataway is a soft orange with gold shimmer. This is an older China Glaze and I'm not quite sure when it was originally released, but it's still part of the core collection at Sally.

The formula is a teeny bit watery for my taste and a smidge brushstroke-y, but not bad overall. This is a polish that could have veered off into frosty territory if the formula wasn't executed well, but thankfully what you get is a glowing, shimmering shade of orange. China Glaze does shimmer so well and this polish is a great example!

When I stopped to think about it, you don't see all that many orange shimmers out there (especially not a softer orange like this one), so Thataway is a fairly unique shade and a gorgeous one, at that! If you're looking for something fun and summer-y, but maybe neons aren't your style, check out Thataway!