Nail-ing Life Online

Hello my dear Divas, how are all of you doing this late morning (where I live, anyway)? I’m doing very well, cleaned up the kitchen and most of the living room.

*Ahem* Anyway, I’ve got today’s post for you. I promised you I’d start on the CND Layering series after my post on last week’s CND haul, so here it is. This is part 1, seeing what the Effects layered over Bicycle Yellow look like. Check out the swatches below.

Here we have your basic CND Color — in this case, above is Bicycle Yellow. Let’s see how the Effects change it below.

I’m not too impressed with the way Crimson Sparkle looks over Bicycle Yellow. It just shows a bit of red sparkle, but overall there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between this and regular Bicycle Yellow.

This one I’m more impressed with. You can see a bit of green, but more gold when combining Emerald Shimmer with Bicycle Yellow, or at least I do.

You’ve already seen this combo before, so I’ll spare you the details.

I think I may be the most impressed with this one. Lavender Pearl, to me, actually takes Bicycle Yellow to a whole other dimension of awesomeness. And who says Pearls can’t be wild?

So, what do you ladies think about this post? Do you have any suggestions for which Effects look the best with Bicycle Yellow? I’d love to know! With that, silverdiva signing off saying peace and polish to all of you!

Hello my dear Divas once again! I promised you this post from last. Well, here it is.

I’ve already blogged about China Glaze’s Vintage Vixen, the Hotsy Totsy part. Now it’s time for Cat’s Meow. When I ordered the Hotsy Totsy set, I also ordered the Cat’s Meow set. I paid $17.98 for each set (give or take a few cents), and did my swatching with both sets. It’s time for me to unveil the Cat’s Meow set. Check out the swatches below.

Classic Camel is exactly like its name — a beautiful camel gold. This one has golden shimmer in it.

Emerald Fitzgerald is a blue-based, cool deep green with shimmer. If you’re a Deep Autumn like me, this is a must-have for you.

First Class Ticket is a deep, cool eggplant-y purple loaded with blue shimmer. This is the color I’m wearing right now, and when you look outside if you’re wearing this color, you can see how the blue shimmer pops.

Goin’ My Way? is a deep, frosty brown shimmer. Don’t worry, this isn’t that kind of frost — that horrendous, brushstroke-y kind of frost, it looks more lit-from-within.

Midnight Mission is a deep navy blue base loaded with what seems to be silver particle glitter.

Riveter Rouge is a lovely burgundy-red base loaded with the same kind of particle shimmer as Midnight Mission.

Application on these six, just as it was on the Hotsy Totsy set, was absolutely fabulous. Not a single one of these needed more than three coats, and Classic Camel was perfect in three coats. The rest, I do believe, were perfect in two. I can’t really pick a favorite out of this set since I love them all, and I can’t pick a least favorite out of this set for the same reason.

Whew! This was sapping my brain power doing all these posts. So, Divas, what do you think of these? Is the entire collection something you’d buy, or would you pass on it? Or are there a few that really call to you? I’d love to know. With that, silverdiva signing off for the time being saying peace and polish to all of you!

Hello dear Divas, how are you this afternoon? Well, I promised you a ‘special’ post, so here it is. Actually, this will be done in two parts, each consisting of six polishes.

China Glaze came out with Vintage Vixen, which was available internationally in June and stateside in July. I ordered these on Monday, and got them in my mail yesterday. The price for these was $17.98 for each set (give or take a few cents). Then I had a hell of a swatch session using all of the 12 polishes I got. First I swatched the ‘Cat’s Meow’ set, and second I swatched the ‘Hotsy Totsy’ set.

You’ve seen the Cat’s Meow set posted on other sites first, and on some other sites they’ve posted the entire shebang. Mine is different in which I’m posting the Hotsy Totsy set as part 1.

The Hotsy Totsy set is what I consider to be the deeper, softer, smokier set of colors. I think this is the set that anyone who has been diagnosed correctly as any of the three Autumn’s will really appreciate. Deep Autumn’s will appreciate Jitterbug since their coloring can handle the silvery, charcoal of this color. Check out the swatches below.

Bogie is a deep, eggplant-y base loaded with what would appear to be multi-colored shimmer.

Foxy is a deep, russet rusty orangey red loaded with shimmer.

Hey Doll is my least favorite in this collection for two reasons. One, the color is kind of hard to describe (although it has found its ‘home’ in my Warm Pinks stash), and two, I’m personally not too much of a pink girl. I will say, however, that this color is a deep pinkish color with more than a hint of warmth to it.

Ingrid is a deep, deep mushroom-y taupe color infused with bronzey shimmer. The shimmer itself seems kind of olive-y to me, which I really do love.

Jitterbug is a deep, silver infused charcoal kind of foil color. It reminds me of a less blue version of those old S.O.S. scouring cleaning pads made of harsh wool (those ones preloaded with soap that I loved to use while cleaning).

Swing Baby is a rose-tinged bronze foil type color. I’m not sure how much (if at all) this compares to Orly Rage. If any of you has both Orly Rage and China Glaze Swing Baby, would you do me a favor and tell me if they’re even remotely close? Thanks!

Application on all of these was great, no more than three coats per polish. The two-coaters, I believe, were Bogie, Foxy, Jitterbug, and Swing Baby. The three-coaters, once again I believe, were Hey Doll and Ingrid. I’ve already mentioned that Hey Doll was my least favorite, but I’m a little stuck on which of the other five is my favorite. But I will say that I am leaning between Ingrid and Jitterbug as my favorite polish of this set.

So, what do all of you ladies think? Yes I know — you’ve seen it on other blogs. But you haven’t seen it on mine. I’d love to know if I took okay swatches on these since I worked so hard to get them captured as perfectly as I could. My next post will be on part 2 of this collection: the Cat’s Meow set.

Hello dear Divas, what’s up this morning (in the States)? Nothing much here, just a little bit hyper for some reason.

Well, I’m a bit behind since I haven’t even really felt like doing any blogging for the past few days. So it’s time to unveil… My CND Haulage!

Last Thursday I bought three new CND colors and three new CND effects online at Head2ToeBeauty.com. I got them in the mail on Saturday, and have been hard at work swatching up all of those. Check out the swatches below.

Electric Orange is a vibrant, bright orange creme that captured pretty close to a neon initially. Great for a True Spring and a fun summery color for all of the Autumns. This swatch was three coats.

Inkwell is an almost-black, glossy navy creme. On Head2Toe Beauty’s online swatch, I mistook it for a black. I think I have an exact dupe in Wet ‘n Wild Craze’s Nocturnal, so I shall do a comparison post for you soon. This swatch was two coats.

Ivory Coast is a sheer ivory white that would make for an elegant choice in bridal polish for any of the Springs or Autumns. My hands look pretty clean and elegant with this on, but overall sheers aren’t really my thing. This swatch was four coats.

Crimson Sparkle is a clear base loaded with reddish sparkles. Gives a sparkly red effect on the nails when paired with a color. This swatch was two coats.

Emerald Shimmer is a clear base loaded with golden green shimmer. Gives a shimmery golden-green effect when paired with light to medium colors, and a deeper green effect when paired with medium to deep colors. This swatch was two coats.

Lavender Pearl is a sheer lavender pearl, kind of shimmer. Gives a delicate pearly lavender effect on lighter and sheerer colors; gives a more ‘wild’ pearly lavender effect on mid to deep colors. This swatch was two coats.

So, what do you ladies think of these lovelies for my haul? Good choices, or could I have done better? I’d love to know. Tomorrow I’ll start my CND Layering series, but in a little bit I’ve got something special for you (yes, you’ve seen it on other blogs, but not this one). With that, silverdiva saying peace and polish to all of you!

Hello dear Divas, how are all of y’all doing today? Me, I’m doing all right. It’s been a little while since my last post, so I do apologize.

On Friday, I managed to go out to Sally’s and Walmart to get a few things. While at Walmart I picked up Hard Candy Mr. Wrong for $5. At Sally’s, I picked up three Savvy shimmers and an Orly Foil FX. Of course I had my Sally’s card with me, so I went ahead and renewed it then.

Would you like to see the swatches? I’ll go ahead and show them to you. Check them out below.

Hard Candy Mr. Wrong is a neutral purple base loaded with gold sparkle that gives this polish its foil appearance. This was just two coats to full opacity.

Ooh, I love this one! It’s Orly Luxe, a yellow-gold foil/chrome. If you look outside in the sun, you can definitely see a chrome aspect to it. This picture catches it in a foil aspect. I was able to get full coverage at just one coat for this swatch!

This is Savvy Glass Slipper from their Shimmer collection. Glass Slipper is a sheer teal shimmer/glitter, or as I like to call it, a sparkle. I think it’s simply meant to be a layering polish since I have only three coats on.

Savvy Knightly Armour is a sheer silvery lilac sparkle that I used three coats for in this swatch. I think that this would be a lovely color over China Glaze Sci-Fi.

Savvy Magic Pumpkin is a semi-sheer coral base loaded with golden green sparkle. This was three coats — it could use a fourth coat, but what makes this one stand out more is that at least you can wear it alone if you want.

Application on all five of these was great — no problems to speak of. Two of these are sheer, but I think they’re meant to be worn sheer or as a topcoat for another color. Dry time was about average for these polishes. I usually never wear polishes for more than one day at a time so I couldn’t really tell you about the wear factor.

So, what do you ladies think about my haul on Friday? Good ones, or not? I’d love to know. I’ll have a post later on today about my CND haul from Head2Toe Beauty, and then a small series on each base paired with each topper for the next few days. With that, silverdiva signing off for the time being saying peace and polish to all of you!

Hello my dear Divas once again! I promised you another post in the last installment. Well here it is!

This time it’s a simple combination of two Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes: the black base with glimmer of Midnight in NY plus the flakie-filled Hidden Treasure. I know All Lacquered Up and Vampy Varnish have shown their renditions of this combo in the past, but here I am showing mine now. Check out the pictures below.

Hidden Treasure over Midnight in NY

I took this one outside about an hour or so ago, just before my first post of the day. I must have taken about fourteen of these, with Flash off, and sadly this pic was the best I could come up with. This was two coats of Midnight in NY, and one thick coat of Hidden Treasure on top.

Hidden Treasure over Midnight in NY side

The side pic, for some reason, seems to give a better representation of the flakie shape. Plus there’s a glossy shine on the pinky. Love!

Hidden Treasure over Midnight in NY thumb

And of course I just had to give you my thumb shot! This is the best representation of not only the flakies, but also the best representation of the duochrome-ness of the flakies that I could give you. I didn’t think I was going to be impressed with this combination, but I’ve fallen in love!

Yes, I know this has been done before — but it hasn’t been done yet by me. Anyway, what did you ladies think about this post? Impressed with the combination as done by me, or no? I’d love to know. With that, silverdiva signing off for the time being saying peace and polish to all of you!

Hello my dear Divas, how are you this fine afternoon? Or morning or evening, or even night for my International readers? I’m doing just fine.

I’ve been doing a lot of nail painting and mucking around on Facebook. TAAZ is another fun thing I’ve been doing if I can ever get it working for me. Other than that, the weather in my town has been mild to downright hot and humid. I have to have the fan on all day every day just to be semi-cool.

Anyway, today I have some great layering combinations for you. These were my recent Nails of the Day, so check them out!

DVD over Throw Me Something Purple Please

This is Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition DVD layered over Misa Throw Me Somthing Purple Please!. I thought about layering these two together because I thought they’d look really great together. Color me VERY impressed! I think this is a combination that a) would really be a fun summer/warmer season combination to do, and b) I’d definitely wear again in the future.

Heartbreaker over Gray Suede

This is the most recent combo — the one I wore yesterday. It’s Pure Ice Heartbreaker over Revlon Gray Suede. I always wondered what this combination of nail polishes looked like together, and let me say I love it! (On a side note, I had to cut the rest of my nails down to about the length of my left ring nail. My right pointer was breaking, so I tore it off. Now I’m trying to grow that out.) I think Heartbreaker is definitely one of the best layering polishes ever.

Ice Blue Shimmer over Bicycle Yellow

This is my first Creative Nail Design layering with my first two ever CND polishes. Originally I wanted to buy Sapphire Sparkle as the effect with Bicycle Yellow as the color. However, at the time I bought these, Sapphire Sparkle was out of stock. So I went with Ice Blue Shimmer instead. And let me say, I am quite impressed with this one. This now makes me want to buy more CND Colors and Effects.

Ivanka over Paper Chasing over Enchanted Forest

Ooh, I love this combination to death! I was curious to see what Zoya Ivanka looked like over Orly Enchanted Forest, so I tried that out on the ring nail. It appears like Ivanka + Enchanted Forest = a deep olive green color. China Glaze Paper Chasing was one that definitely needed to be layered so I tried it with the other two on the pointer, middle, and pinky fingers. This trio together equals a green kind of foily, glowy look that I absolutely ADORE!

What do all my fellow Divas think about these combinations? Love, hate, not impressed? I’d love to know what you think! With that, peace and polish to all of you from silverdiva! I’ll be back in a little bit with today’s NOTD.

Hello my fellow Divas, I’m back! Random.org was too difficult for me to grasp, so I went with the old traditional way of picking a winner.

I wrote each entry out by hand, then cut the paper into little strips. Then I mixed them up, closed my eyes, turned my head, and picked an entry. Therefore, the winner is….

cupcakequeen22!

Since I was so late in making this post, you (cupcakequeen22) now have exactly one week from today to respond when I send you an email.

To all of you: A HUGE THANK YOU for entering. I have your emails so I can get in touch with you for a potential RAOK or a swap.

That’s all I have for you for right now. I’ve got some new nail combinations to show you later on either today or this week. With that, silverdiva signing off for now saying love, light, and polish to all of you!

Hello my dear Divas, how are all of you this morning? Me, I’m doing just fine. I got a better night’s sleep last night than I did the night before.

Anyway, I’m here to tell you now that the giveaway ended at 12 AM Central Time. I’ll go ahead and count up all the entries today, then run them through Random.org and announce the winner tomorrow. However, I won’t be able to send anything out until 30 July so please be patient! Thank you!

Hello my dear Divas, how are you today? Well, I’m doing quite nicely today. At about 9:30, closer to 10 this morning I got a knock on my door. I answered it and saw the FedEx lady with a package in tow.

Well, it’d be quite obvious that the package was for me. I had to sign the little digital pad thing with one of those styluses (damn, I hate those), which was always annoying. When she left, I realized it was my order from Barielle. I got a hell of a deal on my polishes that I bought — I would’ve paid $32 plus the shipping for the whole shebang, but there was also a promotion that knocked about $6 off my price. So my final total was $32.10. Not bad for getting six polishes, huh?

I’ve got the swatches for you. Check them out below.

Belly Dance

Ooh, I think I’m in love with a nude once again! Revlon’s Gray Suede started it all, and now this! Barielle’s Belly Dance is a perfectly neutral base with a silvery sheen that I think is a good indicator of a pearl  finish (not a frost). This one is originally from this summer’s High-Steppin’ collection.

Falling Star

I love this one! Barielle Falling Star is a deep periwinkle/cornflower blue creme base loaded with small copper glitter particles. This is unique in my collection, and I’m glad I’ve got it.  Originally from last fall’s All Lacquered Up collection with All Lacquered Up.

Freestyle

I wanted a minty green from Barielle, and Freestyle delivered with its minty green base. However, that’s all it did for me. The semi-sheer, frosty formula with silver glitter particles disappointed me for the reasons that 1) I needed four coats to not only get perfectly opaque, but also perfectly even, and 2) that all I managed to catch was brushstrokes, not little silver particles.

June Bug

This is the color I’m wearing right now — Barielle’s June Bug. I love this in every way possible: it’s a soft teal base loaded with teal shimmer and fuchsia glitters. This was originally from this Spring’s Wildflowers collection.

Make It A Latte

Barielle’s Make It A Latte is a deep, chocolate brown base loaded with coppery red shimmers. Unfortunately I didn’t catch it very well on camera, but in person it’s super cool. I think this color is a must for Deep Autumn ladies.

U-Concrete-Me

And the last one. This is Barielle’s U-Concrete-Me. It’s a super shiny mid to deep gray with a hint of warmth. It almost has that squishy, jelly like feel to it. Like Make It A Latte above, this is from the All Lacquered Up collection (along with the second pic, Falling Star) of last fall.

Application was disappointing on Freestyle because there was a bit of drag to the polish. The rest all applied perfectly fine. Dry time was average for a nail polish. While Freestyle covered perfectly in four coats, U-Concrete-Me covered perfectly in three. The rest (Belly Dance, Falling Star, June Bug, and Make It A Latte) covered perfectly in just two coats.

So, what do you ladies think of my selection of Barielle’s? Think I did a good job picking them, or could I have done better? I’d love to see what you’ve got to say on the matter. With that, silverdiva signing off for the time being saying love, light, peace, and polish to all of you! Don’t forget, you’ve got until 12 AM CDT (central time) to enter my giveaway!