ABC Challenge: Everything But The Kitchen Sink

Well, for the first week since we started, I really couldn't think up a nail art topic that started with 'E'. So, I used this as a great opportunity to use my Polished Components Everything But The Kitchen Sink in a jelly sandwich.

I received Everything But The Kitchen Sink in a birthday swap from Ashley, the creator of Polished Components. If you haven't seen any of her polishes, you should check them out...so gorgeous! Anyways, EBTKS is packed with seriously every glitter you could think of. All shapes, sizes, and colors. I layered it with Zoya Paloma and the outcome was amazing!

Three coats Paloma, one coat EBTKS, and one more coat of Paloma.

Check out that bottle shot! I don't think I could have picked a better combination for my first jelly sandwich! <3

OPI Ski Teal We Drop + Zoya Frida

I was going to split this into two posts, but it seemed kinda pointless considering Frida didn't make Ski Teal We Drop look too much different.

Here is OPI Ski Teal We Drop on it's own. It's a darkened blue leaning teal shade. This is not one of those shades that look black in low lighting. It is so rich and keeps it's color nicely no matter what the lighting.

Two coats, no top coat:

Then, since Zoya Frida is a teal jelly, I wanted to add it over Ski Teal We Drop for some added shine, and it did not disappoint! The base color did not change at all, but Frida added an insane amount of glossiness to the manicure.

2 coats Ski Teal We Drop, 1 coat Zoya Frida, no top coat.

Do you like layering similar colors of polish or layering polishes that are different to see what the outcome is?

OPI Black Spotted + Milani Cyberspace

My friend Felicia was so kind and sent me some decanted OPI Black Spotted in a swap package because she knew how badly I wanted to try it. I don't think I ever would have gotten a hold of it otherwise.

I had been dying to try it, but was doing mostly Christmas and holiday manicures for the past couple weeks. I wore Milani Cyberspace for a day, and then knew it was time to bust this baby out and give it a try.

It is a VERY thin polish, and applies almost like a crackle. You want to do very thin coats...so thin that you think you don't have enough on the brush. You can see on my index and pinky finger that I used too much. Also, it dries very quickly, so don't try to over manipulate it. Just do a couple strokes and then move on to the next nail. My right hand ended up looking better than this because I got the hang of applying it.

These pics are without top coat, but if you are going to wear this for an extended period of time, you will want to put a top coat on or else the Black Spotted is easily scraped off. It could be because I layered it over a finished mani with Seche Vite, though. I guess I need to do some trials to see what works best with it.

Overall, I find the effect to be pretty cool and definitely unique. I don't think this is a polish I would wear frequently because most non-polish enthusiasts wouldn't 'get it'.

So, what do you think? Is it something you would try/wear? Or are you going to pass on this trend?

Layering: Essie Leading Lady + Essie As Gold As It Gets

I got bored with yesterday's mani of Essie's Leading Lady rather quickly, so I decided to layer As Gold As It Gets over top of it. I am really enjoying all the red & gold combos I have been seeing this season, so I went with my own version.

As Gold As It Gets was one of the polishes released in the Luxe Effect Collection. It is a gold glitter top coat that almost passes for a gold flakie top coat. I really liked how this looked over Leading Lady. I think they blended really well together, and almost looked as though it was one polish instead of one layered over the other. Application was smooth and easy, it was not difficult at all to get an even coat.

2 coats Leading Lady, 1 coat SV, and 1 coat As Gold As It Gets:

I kinda want to keep playing around with this mani. I might put a matte top coat over it and see how that looks, or maybe paint snowflakes on it? Maybe both? I don't know...what do you think??