Polish Post: Colors by Llarowe "Black Gold, Texas Tea" Swatches, Review, and Nail Art

Good Monday Morning, lovely people!  I've got a polish post for you along with the design from last Friday's You-Pick-My-Art.  While I'm waiting for my caffeine to kick in, let's dive right into it :)

The polish I used for the base of my nail art is "Black Gold, Texas Tea" by the brand Colors by Llarowe.  Here are some pics:

Outdoors

Indoors

Black Gold, Texas Tea is a gorgeous ultra linear holographic black polish.  Opaque after two coats, it dried almost instantly and application was super smooth.  I added a topcoat to make it shine and bring out the holographic effect even more.  My nails are POPPING!  I just love this color!  Clean-up was pretty neat, too - no staining around the cuticles, though Llarowe recommends a good base coat to prevent the nails from being stained due to the  high pigmentation of the polish.

I chose this polish as the base because it made the perfect "space" backdrop for my Captain Amelia nails from Treasure Planet.  For those unfamiliar with the movie, Treasure Planet is a take on the classic Treasure Island, and takes place in the 17-1800's but with a steampunk twist.  Aliens everywhere, ships fly, it's just amazing.  Definitely one of my favorite Disney movies, and my son absolutely loves it too ^_^

In the movie, the captain of the ship taken to find Treasure Planet is Captain Amelia, the winning choice from the You-Pick-My-Art last Friday.  Here is the design I came up with for her:

Her ship is on my pointer finger, Treasure Planet is on the middle, Captain Amelia is on the ring, and Morph is on my thumb (he's just such an adorable character, I couldn't leave him out!).  I had a lot of fun with these, and am pretty happy with how they turned out :D  I hope you are, too!

Got some nice polish posts set up for this week I think you will all enjoy :)  I hope you survive your Monday!!  See you soon <3

*NOTE: Links I provide are NOT affiliate (i.e. I do not get any sort of kickback when you click on them through my post). I simply provide them for your convenience :)

First Ever "Bestie" Nail Design!

So in the nail art world, there's a thing called "Bestie Nails," and it is when you and another artist collaborate to do a design, usually based off a picture or another nail design.  It's pretty neat, and I've seen lots of examples that are just too cool!

Last week, for the first time, I was asked to do a Bestie design!!  Of course I said yes, especially when it was a mermaid themed design!!  Originally it was just me and this other artist Rizzna, but one more, Dess, wanted to join in, too, and I'm so glad she did because her art is amazing!

We chose a beautiful picture of a mermaid's silhouette against a sunset.  Here's the reference image:

Image Found: Here

Now unfortunately, Rizzna was unable to participate this time around (though we will definitely be collaborating in the near future!) so it is just mine and Dess's design.  Here they are:

Here's a larger image of my design ^_^ :

I took a little artistic liberties and added more vibrant colors, and Dess and I also added long flowing mermaid hair :)

I think they turned out so wonderfully, and I am so honored to have been able to collaborate with such an amazing nail artist!  I look forward to doing another bestie design with Dess again soon :D

Dess runs a wonderful Facebook page called Upload and Share Your Own Nail Art Creations you should check out and give a "like."

I hope you enjoyed the art.  I've been sitting on this design for a while, I'm so glad to finally be able to share it with you all ^_^

On my Facebook Page, the winner for this week's You-Pick-My-Art i:s Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet, so I will be working on a design for Monday.  Have a wonderful weekend!  See you soon! <3

Princesses and Villains: Jasmine & Jafar

So last week I showed you Ariel and Ursula from the "Happily Ever After...Not If I Can Help It!" collection by Ice Polish.  This week I have the next set: Jasmine and Jafar!

Jasmine is a lovely light seafoam green with a subtle holographic shimmer.  Jafar is a deep magenta purple with purple micro flakies and a linear holographic effect.  Same as usual - really easy formula to work with, opaque in 2 coats, spread evenly, dried in under 5 minutes.  Love this polish :)

For some reason my villains are looking way better than my princesses so far :P  I'll work on that for the next pair.  Speaking of, I have Belle/Gaston, Mulan/Shan Yu, Aurora/Maleficent, and Cinderella/Stepmother left - which one do you want to see next?? :D

Polish Post: Love Angeline "Lapis Ensemble" and "Chord of Emeralds" Swatches & Review

Goooooooood morning!  We're already halfway through the week!  I can't believe how fast this month is flying by - this entire year, actually.  I feel like as soon as July hit, months have been flying.  It's crazy.

Today's polish post features two polishes from the indie brand Love Angeline's new "Harmonious Gemstones collection.  The first of these lovelies is called, "Lapis Ensemble."

Outdoors

Indoors

Lapis Ensemble is packed full of navy, silver, periwinkle, various metallic, and gold holo micro glitters.  It's quite an eye-catcher in direct sunlight.  Application was a bit tough - the glitter got really thick by coat number 2 and didn't spread easily.  I did 3 coats to bring it to complete opacity, but I applied it in thin layers rather than thick because I found it was easier to handle that way.  The polish dried to a semi-textured finish in under a minute.  I topped it with two coats of HK Girl Glisten & Glow to even it out and make it shimmer more.

The second color is "Chord of Emeralds:"

Outdoors

Indoors

Chord of Emeralds has green, brown, silver, metallic, and gold holo micro glitters, and application/dry time/opacity is all exactly the same as Lapis Ensemble.  This one is my favorite of the two, though, because that green is really quite stunning outdoors AND indoors :)

There are 5 colors total in the Harmonious Gemstones collection.  They are currently out of stock, but there is a re-stock scheduled for this Friday, the 19th, at 8am PST.  Here are some links for you to keep in touch and up to date:

Facebook: Here

Store: Here

Instagram: Here

Have a great Wednesday!! See you tomorrow with another Princess/Villain post - who will it be? ;)

*Note: Links I provide are NOT affiliate (i.e. I do not get any kickback when you click a link through by blog).  I simply provide them for your convenience :)

"Unless Someone Like You Cares a Whole Awful Lot...

...Nothing is going to get better - it's not."

So for Friday's You-Pick-My-Art, the popular vote by a landslide was The Lorax.  This Dr. Seuss book was my absolute favorite as a kid, so I'm pretty happy it won ^_^  It was really difficult to choose a design for it, because there is so much from the story I just love.  I narrowed it down to five key scenes that I painted on each nail.

I had toyed with the idea of blending the book art with the movie art, but decided to stick to the book since most people did not like the movie version of the story.  I actually liked it, I loved the resolution in the end and seeing the Lorax come back :)  But I'm such a softy and a sucker for happy endings :D

Sorry to cut this short, I've got a little toddler pulling on my arm, wanting to show me (for the 20th time) how his train looks when it crashes :P  Hope you all enjoyed this art!  Have a wonderful Monday :)

Princesses and Villains: Ariel and Ursula

The indie polish brand Ice Polish launched a "Happily Ever After...Not If I Can Help It!" princess/villain line of polishes.  I had the pleasure of reviewing Cinderella and Stepmother a while back as a pre-release.  After she launched the full line, I snagged all the rest that I didn't have, because they are so beautiful!!  Ice Polish is one of my favorite indies because she has one of the best formulas I have come across.  In the pics I'm about to show you, I've been wearing the polish for 4 days with no wear, tear, chips, or any kind of damage.  It's a darn good polish!

So after acquiring all the princess/villain duos, I decided to do something fun with all of them!  I wanted to hand paint each princess and villain on top of their corresponding nail polishes.  I am going to try to post one set a week for you for until all 6 sets are done.

Without further ado, here is the first duo: Ariel and Ursula!

As you can see, Ariel is a beautiful coral pink color with a light holographic effect in the sunlight and very subtle light green (the color of her tail) micro flakies.  Ursula is a dark, almost metallic purple, also with a holographic effect, and dark purple micro flakies.  Both were opaque in 2 coats, dried under a minute to a semi-flat finish.  

I gotta say, I love how my Ursula turned out!!  Pretty happy with that one ^_^  I didn't intend to make Ariel's neck look so pencil-like, it just happened that way when I was trying to paint her hair to look like it was flowing in front of it.  Oh well :P 

Both polishes (to my knowledge) will be available for purchase in a few weeks when the shop re-opens.  In the mean time, I have Belle/Gaston, Cinderella/Stepmother, Mulan/Shan Yu, Aurora/Maleficent, and Jasmine/Jafar left to paint for you! :)

Which princess/villain duo do you want to see next week?  

Polish Post: Gothic Gala Lacquers "Moon Over Paradise," "Vallis Sanguine," and "Starling" Swatches and Review

I had the pleasure of stumbling upon a smoking discount from the indie brand Gothic Gala Lacquers a few weeks ago, and was able to make a rather large purchase without complete hurting my bank account ;)  I bought 6 colors and was given a FULL SIZE mystery freebie, for under $50 - shipping included.  Jealous yet?  Just wait...  I have 3 of those lovely polishes to show you today!

First up, we have "Moon Over Paradise:"

Outdoors, Indirect Sunlight (darn you, storm clouds!!)

Pardon the tiny air bubbles in this macro - they are NOT from the polish, they are from the crappy topcoat I used (that has now been banished from my collection).

I've been on a glitter-jelly kick lately, dunno what's come over me.  I usually stay away from them because generally, they're not only a pill to applicate, but an even bigger one to remove.  I'm glad I strayed from my usual mindset with this one, though, because it's pretty sweet!

Moon Over Paradise (the version I purchased - there is a choice between black and grey), is a black jelly base with red moons, purple dots and hexes, and a light purple/lavender diamond glitter.  Application wasn't too bad, though I found the larger pieces of glitter needed more persuading to spread out than the others.  I used three coats over my bare nail and felt that made it pretty opaque.  As with most jellies, dry time was a bit longer, so I put on 2 layers of a (crappy) quick-dry topcoat to also even it out.  Because I had 3 thick layers, I had to be pretty tender in handling anything after applying, but after about 10 minutes or so, it was all good.  It's definitely one of the easier glitter bomb jellies I have dealt with yet, and it is really pretty!!

Next up is "Vallis Sanguine:"

Outdoors in Direct Sunlight

Indoors

You all know by now how I feel about holos, so this one was impossible to pass by.  And besides, I didn't have this particular shade in a holo polish yet.  So there! :P

Vallis Sanguine is a beautiful purple/burgundy color with an amazing linear holo shine in the sunlight.  Despite being a red-based polish, I had no issues with staining - none!  Gotta love that!  Application was nice and smooth, and I put on 3 coats in the pictures above with no topcoat.  Dries very quickly to a semi-flat finish.  It's such a lovely shade indoors and outdoors!!  It is a perfect color for Fall, too :)

Last but not least is the gorgeous Limited Edition "Starling:"

Outdoors

Indoors

This polish made my jaw drop when I pulled it out of the box.  It is so much more sparkly in person than I could ever hope to capture on camera, and the colors are soooooo rich!!  By far my favorite polish by this brand, and the fact it is a limited edition and there are still a few left in her shop is astounding.  You need to get on this quick before they are gone - seriously!!

Starling is a gorgeous green and purple mutlichrome with blue and pink microflakie glitters.  Application was really smooth, and took 3 coats for it to be completely opaque.  The polish dries to a shiny finish (no topcoat used in the pics above) in under 5 minutes.  There was no staining with this polish, either, though I haven't really come across any chrome type that does.  This color is so deep and eye catching, it is definitely one to add to any collection, and another one perfect for this Fall season!

NOW are you jealous?  Because you totally should be.  I wouldn't blame you, at all ;)

I am very impressed with these three polishes by this new-to-me brand, and will most definitely be keeping it on my radar!  You would be wise to keep Gothic Gala Lacquers on yours, as well :)  Here are some links to help you do that:

Facebook: Here

Store: Here

Instagram: Here

Well I hope you enjoyed this polish post!  I have a new one I'm working on that will be part of a series for you - I think you will like it :D  Have a wonderful Wednesday!! <3

*Note: Polishes were purchased using a publicly offered discount code.  Links I provide are NOT affiliate (i.e. I get no kickback when you click on them through my post).  I simply provide them for your convenience :)