Orly Melodious Utopia and Dollish Polish BAZINGA!

Hello! Just a super quick post today since it's been a few days. Here's a mani that I did a while back that I thought was fun but never posted...Orly Melodious Utopia (from the Hope & Freedom Fest collection) with a Dollish Polish BAZINGA! (from the Big Bang Theory collection) accent nail.

So bright & fun! I really like the contrast of BAZINGA! over the sunny yellow of Melodious Utopia. It's hard to tell in this picture, but Melodious Utopia has a great pink shimmer running through it that really adds to the depth & interest. As with any yellow it takes a little work, but overall the formula was good. BAZINGA! has great glitter payoff & I didn't have any issues with getting the glitter pieces where I wanted them to be. I did have a little bit of bubbling, but that's mostly user error because I was trying to rush. Yellow polish always gives me slight lobster hands, but the mani was cute so it doesn't bother me too much. It's much worse in photos than in real life anyways.

What do you think of this bright & cheerful mani? Are you a yellow polish fan? Want to see BAZINGA! paired with a different color? I always welcome comments/suggestions/etc!

My Mani Routine

I often have people ask me what my manicure routine is like/what products I use regularly/etc...so here's a quick rundown on this lovely Mani Monday!

To start, here's what my set up generally looks like. The little black & white bag was a gift from my mom a few Christmases ago & it quickly became my nail supply catch-all. I generally sit at our kitchen table, as shown in the photos, but sometimes I'm lazy & it happens on the coffee table. Either way, the set up is usually always the same (I'm a creature of habit). This is obviously minus whatever colors I would be using at the time but includes my clean up supplies, base & top coats, cuticle products & of course the bag & my little work light. The tiny lamp is so crucial! I love it.

General manicure set up

Moving on to top & base coats. As with most products, I have a hard time being faithful to just one. The products pictured below are what I'm currently using/experimenting with. The base coats that I've been using the most lately are CND Stickey & Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator & I'm pretty happy with both. Duri Rejuvacote is also on my list of favs despite not being pictured below. When it comes to top coats I am constantly trying to find the best quick dry option for my needs. (I quickly grew tired of Seche, but will still use it every now & then. I've been through phases with Poshe & Nubar Diamont, too). The top coats that I've been using the most lately are Orly Sec'n Dry & NYC Grand Central Station. They dry quick and shiny enough for me & so far I haven't had any problems with either of them.

(L-R) CND Stickey, Orly Sec'n Dry
NYC Grand Central Station, Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator

Another important aspect of the manicure process is clean up! I know that everyone has their own system & this is just what works for me. The white tub/bottle is filled with mostly pure acetone & also some miscellaneous polish remover leftovers that get thrown in there from time to time. The 2 tools that I use are a plain old orange stick & a random e.l.f. concealer brush. When I'm actually doing my nails, I keep both of these in the polish remover so that I can grab them whenever I need to do some clean up. I use the orange stick the most during the painting process & the brush to do post-mani clean up. I also keep a random microfiber cloth handy for blotting & wiping. (You can tell by the polish stains that the one pictured has been around the block, lol).

Clean up tools

The final step of any good manicure is cuticle care! I don't know about you, but between the polish removing process and the clean up, my cuticles can usually use a little love after my mani is done. The products pictured below are a few favorites out of a bajillion oils/butters/creams that are floating around my apartment. Of course there's LUSH Lemony Flutter, the ultimate in thick & amazing cuticle butters. It's probably my all time favorite cuticle product but, like I said, I'm hardly faithful. The Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Cuticle Eraser + Balm is great for softening hard cuticles & to slather on before using a cuticle pusher. It's a little sticky, so it might be best to use in a situation where you can wash your hands shortly after applying. As far as cuticle oils go, I'm a pretty big fan of CND Solar Oil. It's very moisturizing & I find the smell to be very comforting for some reason.

LUSH Lemony Flutter, CND Solar Oil &
Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Cuticle Eraser + Balm

So there you have it! My favorite/current/must have products & a peek into the method behind my mani madness! The only thing that I forgot to photograph is my polish remover of choice, which is Zoya Remove Plus. I keep a big pump bottle full of it for general use & turn to pure acetone for tougher jobs like removing chunky glitter or dark, staining polishes.

Do you have a specific nail polishing routine? What are some of your favorite products to use when you do your nails? Let me know in the comments!

Ludurana Aurora Boreal - Admirável

It's been a pretty hectic work week, so I've got a quick post for you today. I won this polish in a Llarowe giveaway a while back & never got around to using it. I finally pulled it out of my un-trieds & I'm so glad that I did! Ludurana Aurora Boreal Admirável is a gorgeous multichrome that flashes mostly emerald green, gold & a lighter green. There is also a tiny bit of purple & blue at some angles. Also, unlike its near-dupe Ozotic 503, it's opaque in 2-3 coats!

Of course I couldn't capture all of the amazing color shift on camera, because that would be too perfect, but here are a bunch of pics I took during my attempt! As always, click the photos to enlarge.

In some of these photos it doesn't even look like the same polish! Oh man, I love it. The photos above are 2 coats of Admirável with a coat of NYC Grand Central Station (the newest quick dry top coat that I'm experimenting with) on top. It honestly could have used another coat of polish, but I was in a bit of a hurry & therefore was satisfied with 2 coats. Formula was thin but good, dry time was super fast. The only thing that took my by surprise with this polish, mostly because I didn't fully read the bottle that says "perfumado" on the label, was that it's scented. Like, smells like men's cologne kind of scented. It's not a bad smell, but it is a little strong so best be prepared. It does fade pretty quickly, though, so your nails won't smell like a middle school boy for too long.

I can't believe that I left this polish un-tried for so long! It's a beautiful color & I do love a good multichrome. This is also my first Ludurana (or Brazilian in general, I believe) polish, so hopefully I can try out more in the future. They can be purchased from Llarowe & Ninja Polish!

Have you tried Admirável? Or Ludurana in general? What are your thoughts??

Orly - High On Hope and Elation Generation

Hi everyone! What I have to show you today is a manicure that I wore recently using 2 polishes from Orly's Spring 2013 Hope & Freedom Fest collection. I picked up a Mani Mini kit that includes .18oz bottles of 4 out of the 6 polishes in the collection. I chose High On Hope & Elation Generation to use for this manicure because as soon as I saw them I knew they would go great together!

High On Hope is a navy blue creme with amazing pink shimmer that has a bit of a yellow/orange multichrome to it & Elation Generation is a bright pink jelly filled with holo glitter.

Orly High On Hope with an Elation Generation accent (flash)

Orly High On Hope with an Elation Generation accent (no flash)

The photos above are 2 coats of each polish with Orly Sec'n Dry over top. My camera was having some difficulty capturing the true color of Elation Generation. I would say that the actual color is somewhere in between how it looks in the photos. The holo glitter is also much more pronounced in real life, as is the shimmer in High On Hope.

Formula-wise, High On Hope was good. The first coat went on a bit streaky, but the second coat evened it out & made it opaque. Elation Generation was a tad bit thick but not unmanageable. Dry time was average.

I just love the look of these 2 polishes next to each other! Elation Generation really brings out the pink shimmer in High On Hope & I love the juxtaposition of the holo glitter polish as an accent to a polish with a very strong shimmer. So pretty!

What do you think of Orly's Hope & Freedom Fest collection? Do you love these 2 polishes as much as I do? Let me know in the comments!

Illamasqua - Speckle and Mottle

I love Illamasqua's Speckle & Mottle so much that I'm going to just get right into the pics!

Illamasqua Mottle w/ Speckle accent (flash)

Illamasqua Mottle w/ Speckle accent (no flash)

Mottle is a mint green base while Speckle is a lilac base & both have the same multi-size black glitter. The milkiness of the base colors combined with the different sized black glitters gives a super cute robin's egg appearance that I just can't get enough of! I had so many people at work comment on my nails when I wore this manicure, saying that I had Easter egg or Easter candy nails. I guess everyone loves these!

The formula on both was great. I used 2 coats of each for the photos above & both were perfectly opaque. The glitter pay-off was good so I didn't have to try very hard to get the glitter to place where I wanted it to. Dry time was fairly quick, too. All good things!

Speckle & Mottle, as well as 3 other speckled polishes & other makeup items, are a part of the Spring 2013 I'mperfection collection. Per Illamasqua's website, I'mperfection is "an open invitation to stand up and show the world what makes you perfectly imperfect." I can get on board with that!

Did you pick up any of the speckled polishes from Illamasqua or anything else from the I'mperfection collection? What do you think? I've got my eye on their lipstick in Immodest, too. Looks like a great, bright, matte pink!

Dollish Polish - Big Bang Theory Collection

Today I have 3 of the 4 Big Bang Theory polishes from Dollish Polish! As soon as I found out that this collection was a thing, I HAD to have it! I'm a bit behind the curve when it comes to loving Big Bang Theory, but I've recently started watching it nonstop. I only scooped up 3 of the 4 because 1 of them was super similar to another polish that I recently purchased. Dollish Polish describes each polish as follows: BAZINGA! (red, white, & yellow glitters, in a multitude of shapes & sizes, including squares, rectangles & large black dots all in a slightly tinted yellow base), Coitus (small & medium hexagon glitters in pink, periwinkle, turquoise, gold & white gold with tiny silver micro glitters all in a clear base) & I'm Not Crazy, My Mother Had Me Tested (a full cornucopia of colors, shapes & sizes, all in a clear base).

The photos below are 2 coats of each polish over 1 coat of Zoya's Purity.

I'm Not Crazy... - BAZINGA! - Coitus

I'm Not Crazy... - BAZINGA! - Coitus

I'm Not Crazy... - Coitus - BAZINGA!

I'm Not Crazy... - Coitus - BAZINGA!

The following pic is a quick mani that I did tonight. The main color is Deborah Lippmann Shoshanna with Dollish Polish Coitus as an accent nail. Shoshanna, from the Girls collection, is a lovely violet color with an ever-so-slight shimmer that was opaque in 2 coats. The photo is 2 coats of Shoshanna, 2 coats of Coitus on the accent nail & 1 coat of Orly Sec'n Dry over everything.

Please no judging based on my tiny, nubbin nails. The first day of my new job was this past Friday & my drive home took over an hour...the anxiety kicked in & my nice, long nails were GONZO. They are in recovery & appreciate your patience, haha.

Deborah Lippmann Shoshanna w/ Dollish Polish Coitus accent

Overall, I love these Big Bang Theory glitters & I'm super psyched to fully use them in manicures in the future! The formula on Coitus was great...good glitter payoff & not too clumpy. Based solely upon the nail wheel swatches, the other polishes had good formulas as well. These are my first Dollish Polish polishes & I hope to have many more in the future! The one polish that I didn't buy from this collection is Penny...Penny...Penny... & that's mostly because I felt like it looked a little too similar to the All That Glitters Dream On polish featured HERE, although I'd love to see a comparison just to be sure!

I purchased these polishes from Llarowe, but they can also be purchased directly from Dollish Polish.

Did you pick up any of the Big Bang Theory polishes? Do you have any other Dollish Polish polishes? Let me know in the comments!

Photo Spam!

Who doesn't love photo spam, am I right? These are just some of my recents & favs. <3

Nicole by OPI - Just Busta Mauve

butter LONDON - Trustafarian

China Glaze - It's a Trap-eze!

Jessica - Hologram Chic

Julep - Kate with a Mila accent 

Julep - America over Zoya - Carmen

Nicole by OPI - All Is Glam, All Is Bright

Zoya - FeiFei

Again, it's still a work in progress over here...but I'll get the hang of it in no time!

Zoya - Blaze

Zoya Blaze

2 coats + Duri Miracote top coat

I cannot get over this color, it's so pretty! Perfect for the holidays & the formula was great. I only picked up Blaze & Aurora from Zoya's holiday collection & they are both beautiful, but this just screams Christmas to me. I'll have to find a good green polish to pair it with for a potential Christmas mani. Look at that holo! Love love love. <3

New & Fresh

So I've finally decided to make the leap from only posting manicure pics on Tumblr (keepyournailgamefresh.tumblr.com - which will continue to exist) to actually giving this blog thing a shot. I'm no expert, but I love nail polish & beauty products in general & I love sharing pics & info! I'm hoping to post a little bit of everything but mostly focus on polish. I'm pretty excited & I hope everyone enjoys what they see! This is obviously a work in progress, but please keep checking back! <3