Christmas Skittles!

Good morning, and happy Thursday! Today I have some Christmas nails to show you. I am super excited for Christmas this year - partly because I'm actually excited for Christmas, and a little bit because I just want to be done with the semester. It's wrapping up! I only have one final, two projects and two papers left, and I'll be done it a week. So excited. Anyway, here's my Christmas nail art skittles mani:

Thumb & ring finger: Pure Ice Kiss Me Here with two coats of Lac Attack Holidays in Hogsmeade
Index finger: Two coats of China Glaze White Cap, topped with two coats of China Glaze Snow Globe, topped with two-ish (I say this because there was some finagling involved to get enough glitter on) coats of OPI Lights of Emerald City. (Not looking forward to removing this.)
Middle finger: Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe with gold circles in Zoya Ziv.
Pinkie finger: Zoya Rekha with snow in Cult Nails Tempest

Whew! That was a long list of polishes. I started this mani not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, but I really like how it turned out. This was the first time I tried Lac Attack Holidays in Hogsmeade, despite having bought it almost a year ago - I just felt weird about wearing it in January. I really like it, though, especially the stripey large red hex glitters. So cute.

It's supposed to snow here in St. Louis today, tomorrow, and Sunday. I really hope we get some accumulation, and I might just have to do another wintry/Christmas mani to get in the mood. :) Have a great day!

A Different Kind of Galaxy

Hi there! I've done several galaxy manicures of this variety in the past, but after wearing Living Water by itself for a day or two, I thought I'd try a different kind of galaxy manicure. I sponged Sinful Colors Nail Junkie and Sally Hansen Laser, then topped it off with a coat of Claire's Starstruck. I did have to place the star glitter from Starstruck, but other than that it was quite an easy manicure, and I enjoyed wearing it for the day.

Sorry for the green glow on my nails in some of the pictures...the top coat was apparently so shiny that I reflected the trees and grass in almost every picture. Other than that, the pictures are pretty accurate.
In other news, I might not be posting a lot for a while...my fingers recently started peeling profusely for no particular reason I can discern. This occurs despite the heavy moisturizing I've been doing over the past couple of days, and it doesn't really make for nail pictures that are pleasant to look at. So, until whatever it is quits or is abated, I won't be taking any new pictures. I do have one manicure left in my archives, but that's it, so...yeah. Hopefully my fingers will be back to normal soon?

Cult Nails Living Water

Aaaaand, it's Friday! I bought Living Water soon after it came out in early 2011 as part of the Cult Nails Inaugural Collection. The first time I tried it, I'll be honest - I didn't like it that much. I was disappointed, and I never got around to taking pictures to post here. I decided to give it another try, and boy, am I glad I did! The picture to the left is a macro of one of my nails. I used two coats of Living Water sandwiched between Duri Rejuvacote (which I'll post about soon) and two coats of Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat. The second coat of top coat was necessary to make Living Water completely glossy, but it was definitely worth it.

Cult Nails Small Haul

Let me qualify my title - I realize that two polishes, for some people, is not a "haul." But I just got Cult Nails Get It On and Wicked Fast in the mail from the $5 sale, and I'm excited. Really, really, really excited. So I'm making a little haul post to share my excitement with all of you.

Look at those little polish burritos! So cute! I really appreciate the care Maria puts into her packaging - not only is the polish bottle cute, they're wrapped cutely - and even better, the paper they're wrapped in is 100% recycled and recyclable, and instead of using environmentally unfriendly packing peanuts, Cult Nails polishes are nestled in cotton balls you can use to take your polish off. Of course, the most important part is what's inside the "burritos" . . .

Ahhh! I can't wait to try these - and while I don't have any more time to do a manicure than I have for the past two weeks I haven't been posting, I'm going to make time just so I can use my new base and top coats. Speaking of not posting for two weeks...I'm sorry about that, I really am. Life has been crazy here, and with classes taking over my life, tests, and three hours of a cappella practice every night last week (our concert was Saturday), I simply haven't had time even to paint my nails, much less post here. In fact, my nails have been bare for over a week. *gasp* Hopefully things will calm down after the three tests I have coming up this week, because I have Zoyas to swatch. I just hope you're not all tired of Beach and Surf already!

Cult Nails Fall 2011: Hypnotic Collection

Cult Nails - Fall 2011 HYPNOTIC COLLECTION Available for pre-sale now through July 31, 2011 Pre-orders will ship late August / early September  FOUR ENCHANTING NEW SHADES THAT WILL HAVE YOU SPELLBOUND Fall 2011 - Hypnotic Collection The Hypnotic Collection includes 4 new shades by Cult Nails.  'In a Trance' shifts from olive green to a muted gold and has an enchanting shimmer that brings it to life.  'Enigmatic' is a purple base with silver shimmer that draws flashes of red, blue, purple, and pink sparkle in the sunlight.  'Awakening' is a muted teal that has a rich creme finish that dries to the perfect Cult Nails shine and is perfect for any skin tone and age group.  Finally, 'Hypnotize Me' lives up to it's name as an ice green sheer jelly with vibrant blue and green glitter that is marvelous on its own or layered over any color in this collection! Cult Nails polishes retail for $10 (USD) for each 0.5 fl oz bottle; pre-sales for this collection will cost $30 (USD) for the set of 4 (plus the cost of shipping). It's time to get HYPNOTIZED...  SHOP NOW 321-574-8939 | http://shop.cultnails.com

Cult Nails Let Me Fly

Cult Nails Let Me Fly is the second polish I tried from Cult Nails. It's a medium teal blue with silvery shimmer. It has a good consistency, applies like a dream, and barely needs two coats for opacity. Its soft finish and opacity remind me of Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H, but there are no further similarities between the two. In these pictures, I used two coats of Let Me Fly with Insta-Dri top coat.

 outdoors, sunlight

 outdoors, shade

indoors, artificial light

*sigh* Isn't it pretty? I love this kind of soft, silky finish, and I really wish there were more polishes that had it. It's not microglitter, it's not glass-flecks, it's not a typical shimmer...what is it? Is there a name for this finish, or is it just "the really cool shimmer that hardly anyone ever makes"?

While I love this on its own, I think it'd be a really good base for layering - since it dries fast and is almost opaque in one coat, you'd be able to pile the layers on in less time than with a polish that dries more slowly and takes three coats. Plus, the shimmer would be really nice underneath the layers. Maybe I'll use it with my IceSlicks...

Cult Nails Captivated

By now, most of you have probably heard of Cult Nails, the nail polish company started by Maria, the blogger at R3 Daily. The brand's second collection came out this spring, and as soon as I saw the first swatches of Captivated, I knew I had to have it. Captivated has a sheer coral base with lots of fiery glitter. It's best suited for layering, but first I wanted to try it on its own. This is four coats with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

 indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, cloudy

outdoors, cloudy

I wish I could've taken pictures of Captivated in the sunlight, but the sun has been very fickle for the past couple of days. As far as the formula, Captivated was a bit thick, but easy to apply, and I didn't have trouble controlling the brush. I thought the cylindrical bottle might be a little difficult to handle, but I didn't have any problems. The only thing that bothered me is that after my full manicure, I could already see that the line of polish had gone down. I guess I might have to get a backup bottle! 

After wearing Captivated on its own for most of the day, I started wondering what it would look like with crackle on top. I tried it Sally Hansen Cherry Smash on my thumbnail, but it's so sheer and close to Captivated's color that it didn't look very distinctive. Instead, I decided to use Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold, and I really like the result.

 indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, cloudy

outdoors, artificial light

As you saw if you read Tuesday's haul post, I also purchased Let Me Fly, Iconic, and Living Water, and I'm trying Let Me Fly next. Actually, I'm applying it as I write this post, and it's really lovely so far.

You can purchase Cult Nails polishes here for $10 each. It's more than I normally pay for nail polish, but I definitely think they're worth it. As a huge bookworm, I feel it's the equivalent of paying a little more for a book at a local indie bookshop rather than buying it cheap at one of the big block stores - but in this case, you can't get the product anywhere else!

P.S. Sorry for the greater-than-usual amount of pictures in this post. I was too captivated (ha, ha) to leave any out!