Milani Cyberspace

I don't know weather to classify Cyberspace as a scattered or linear holo. Definitely a scattered in the bottle, but once on the nail it takes on a linear look. Honestly, I'm not going to think too much about it because it beautiful either way. Cyberspace is the blue in Milani's 3D Holographic line. I believe that out of the entire line this shade has one of the strongest holographic qualities to it.

Application was fine. It went on a bit thin, but was completely opaque after three easy coats. I had no issues with cuticle pooling at all.  Three coats, plus SV:

Like always, I wish my camera would pick up sparkle better because this polish is so gorgeous, especially from a drugstore brand. You can see the linear-ness best in the last shot.

So, what would you say? Scattered or linear??

A few stash additions

My MIL got me a few polishes for Christmas and I couldn't have been happier because I wasn't expecting any at all!!

Color Clubs: Port-folio, Editorial, Model Behavior, & First Looks. Port-folio is an amazing purple/green duochrome. It is seriously gorgeous. So is First Looks which is a blackened base with blue shimmer. Love.

The bottle with the jeweled cap is a Cynthia Rowley polish. I couldn't find any information on it anywhere online and couldn't even find bottle shots of a bottle that looked like this. It is a no name, but the bottle is so cute and the polish isn't so bad, either. lol. It's a pink metallic shimmery color that looks like it will probably apply like a foil.

Last, she got me a Sally Hansen nail art pen in Hot Pink. I have never tried one of these, so I am excited to see how it compares to using polish and a small art brush. I believe I have heard that these work well as stamping polishes, too.

I am really happy with my few little gifts...I was impressed with the gems she picked out for me despite not being a polish aficionado like myself :)

Orly Decades of Dysfunction

Orly Decades of Dysfunction is what I used for a base in my snowy nail art from yesterday. It's a beautiful pinkish off-white creme. It is like someone took a perfect white and added a little drop of grey and a little drop of pink.

I used two coats and ended up with a TINY bit of pulling at the cuticles. Other than that non-issue, it applied perfectly. Pics are two coats and topped with Seche Vite.

Nail Art Snowy Trees

Since we had our first snow storm of the season the other day, I found it fitting to do a some snowy nail art.

This manicure turned out amazing and I got an insane number of compliments on it. One of the ladies in my office was convinced I used some kind of stencils to do it. The sales guys and my boss even ooohhhed and ahhhed over them! LOL! These are men in their fifties and sixties. And the first question everyone asked was "Did you do that yourself?!"

I really enjoyed doing this mani.  It makes me super excited to try more artistic designs in the future.

The colors I used were OPI Alpine Snow, China Glaze Mahogany Magic, Orly Decades of Dysfunction. Also, I used a small nail art brush, dotting tool, and makeup sponge to complete the look.

What do you think? Is this something you would try yourself?

China Glaze Winter Holly

For Christmas, I painted my nails with China Glaze Winter Holly. These pics are seriously forcing me to figure out a better lighting set up. I had a perfect one for the summertime when I had good, or at least half decent, sunlight all day long. Never had an issue with capturing a polish. Now that the days are shorter and sunny days are few and far between, looks like a light box in a necessity. I actually have one, but for some reason, my pics in it are still coming out yellow toned, so I am trying to make the necessary tweaks to get the pics to come out right.

I'm sure by now you have seen many gorgeous swatches of this polish and know that it is a dark forest green micro glitter polish with lots of holo glitter scrattered throughout. Holo really has been the hit of the season, hasn't it?

I had absolutely no issues with the application of this polish and it was completely opaque in three coats.

I wish I could have captured the true beauty of this polish. Every little morsel glitters. If a glittering Christmas tree could be made into a polish, Winter Holly would be it. I definitely have nothing like this in my stash, and if you didn't pick this up, you may want to re-think that decision!

Giveaway Winnings

Got a few more nail mail packages over the past few days.  I was lucky enough to win two giveaways the past week, plus I received one more of my birthday swap packages.

First, from Seriously Swatched I was supposed to only be winning the Seche Vite Collage Overlay, but she sent me some extras as well :)

She sent a nail polish remover pad, two self tanner towels, make up brush cleaner, Seche Vite Collage Overlay, and Sinful Colors Winterberry. I ALMOST bought the SV Overlay about a week before winning this! What are the odds?! I can't wait to put this over a bright, fun summer color. And oddly enough, Winterberry is one of the few Sinful Colors that I don't own! lol. I love the purple/grey colors, so this is right up my alley.

Then, from Oh Three Oh Four, I won the second prize of her holiday giveaway, which was a set of Pure Ice polishes.

 Oh Baby!, Sleigh Ride, Sugar Cookie, My Wonderland.

 My friend Dee sent me these for the birthday swap. The CG were from my wishlist, so I am happy to have those. I am that much closer to finally finishing my Ink Collection. There are only 5 left for me to get now :)

OPI Avojuice lotion, Orly Sashay MyWay, China Glaze In The Limelight, China Glaze Shocking Pink, OPI Be Brave, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Ruby Diamond and also a couple nail files.

Santa Hat Nail Art

I used my Milani 3D manicure as a base and did some cute Santa hat nail art over it.

My inspiration came from Set In Lacquer. She even has a great tutorial if you would like to try this yourself.  I decided against doing the snowflake dots around the hat just because my nails are shorter, so I thought it might look cluttered.

The polishes I used for this were LA Colors Nail Art White, OPI Color To Diner For, Milani 3D, OPI Alpine Snow, Sinful Colors Nail Art Pretty Cool.

Milani 3D

Milani 3D was released as a part of the 3D Holographic line. It's a gorgeous yellow toned gold scattered holo polish. If you were lucky, you grabbed this up for a couple bucks during the CVS clearance sale.

This polish applies beautifully. The first coat goes on slightly sheer, but builds up nicely in two coats. I did three coats for these pics just for extra depth and sparkle.

I did some cute nail art over this that I will be showing you tomorrow!  What do you think of the Milani 3D line? Do you have any of them?

OPI Alpine Snow

I used OPI's Alpine Snow for the balloon nail art that I posted yesterday. I love this white and use it for lots of nail art. It's a white creme polish with a great formula. I have two coats and no top coat in the pics. You will notice some pulling at the base of the nail, but I knew I was going to paint over it, so I wasn't too worried. One more coat or more careful application would have taken care of this..

Personally, I love white polish. I have a white creme or jelly in almost every brand that I own, but this is definitely the best white creme that I have come across. Do you like white polish or do you go for something a little more off white?