Seize the Sparkle

natural light natural light natural light sunlight Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats Orly Va Va Voom 4 Coats Sephora by OPI Meet Me at the Disco 1 Coat Borghese Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite Neon polishes have really become a thing for me this summer. Honestly, I blame my hesitancy on the incredible over-neonization that was the 80s. I'm dipping my feet in the shallow end of neon... experimenting with neon accents. Don't expect me to wear anything that's full-on neon just yet! The last time I was at Sally Beauty, I picked up the Orly Baked mini-polish set, Tropical Punch, and Va Va Voom. I figured I should probably swatch it, considering this is the 3rd time I've worn it in just a matter of a few weeks! Knowing that I wanted to do an accent mani, and since Va Va Voom is so bright, I knew that the accent needed to be super sparkly and bright. So, I turned to Meet Me at the Disco, a recent TJ Maxx find, and one of the f

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats NYC Jacaranda Flower 1 Coat Borghese Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite I popped into Rite-Aid over my break yesterday, on a quest for the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Electric Summer Collection....... and found the NYC City Samba Collection instead! In addition to Jacaranda Flower, I picked up Sweet Melon, Ocean Blue, and Tropicoral. I knew I wanted to wear purple today, and since new polish is always at the forefront of my mind... Jacaranda Flower was the natural choice! Application was really good. I like the brush size on NYC polishes... not too big, not too small. I probably could've done just two coats, but my painting environment was humid, and I could've sworn I needed a third coat. I topped it off with a coat of clear followed by Seche Vite, and this time around... no smudges or re-painting necessary! Woohoo! Oh, and if you're wondering what a jacaranda flower looks like? I was wondering too...

When I said "no more coral and blue..." that didn't apply to teal, right? Phew. Didn't think so... Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulColors Sweet Nothing 1 Coat SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite Sweet Nothing is one of those polishes my Cybershot just can't seem to photograph correctly. It's teal, I promise! I'm not sure how, but the shutter of my camera ate alllllll the yellow required to properly view this shade. This manicure is totally one of those lemme pick a random bottle, paint my nails realquicklike , and go to bed. Yep. Three easy coats and off to marshmallowland. I just needed to plug in my phone, and... oops... forgot to pull out the plug in the Otterbox. No problem! I'll just use the end of my glasses, and... there goes the right thumb. It's okay, I'll just de-blanket and fix it... ooof... there went left middle. Sigh. So, I removed the polish from those two nails

I'm still very much into the brights over here at Chez Sparkle... Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 5 Coats Nicole By OPI Lay It On The Lime 1 Coat Borghese Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite So, you can't really tell by my pictures, but Lay It On The Lime is bright... really bright, I swear! It's not a neon... more of a bright chartreuse. Take a tennis ball, tone it down a little, and that's the shade we're talking about. This lovely yellow-leaning green is part of NOPI's Seize the Summer collection. I probably walked by this display at least a dozen or so times without checking out what was on it. It was hanging out on a higher shelf, and I wrote it off as a few random shades and a bunch of clear coat and treatments. It moved to a bottom shelf last week, and Lay It On The Lime finally drew me in... See how it's practically glowing? It's just a really bright and fun shade... perfect for summertime! How did Sei

I've mentioned many times how I'm not the best artist. Which is frustrating, because I love a lot of the nail art I see on other blogs, especially some of the free hand designs! They're ah-mazing!!! But, Renoir I'm nawt , so I typically stick to layerings and gradients, which still let me play around with color, minus my D- drawing skills. Every now and then, though, I get a little adventurous... I tried the Staricure , I tried Distressed Nails ... so now, after owning a roll of striping tape for almost 6 months without even opening it, I ripped into the package last night, and set to work... Polishes Used: Orly Neon Watercolor Manicure (base) Striping Tape 2 Coats Orly Saturated 2 Coats Sinful Colors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite So, while I was painting my Watercolor Manicure the other day, I was planning on attempting this one once my "base" was good and dry. What better way than to wear it for a day? Honestly, this is a good met

The only thing better than one neon polish? FIVE neon polishes coming together to create this ... Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats Orly Passion Fruit (base) Orly Ablaze Orly Hot Tropics Orly Tropical Pop Orly Va Va Voom 2 Coats Sinful Colors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite So, I talked a little bit about nail art that I wanted to do with my Orly neons. Say hello to part one... and if all goes well tonight, part two will be posted tomorrow! :) This manicure was actually really easy in terms of nail art. Which is good, because Je ne suis pas artiste! If that applies to you as well, you'll be happy to know that you can definitely duplicate this look. (Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it!) I started off with Orly Passion Fruit as my base. No real reason, other than the fact that it was already on my nails. (Sorry, I totally forgot to swatch it by itself! Don't worry, I'll wear it again, promise!!!) Using Ablaze, Hot

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats Orly Hot Tropics 1 Coat Sinful Colors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite ...and my nails are bright again! Huzzah!!! The neons are totally sucking me in. I've never really worn neon polish before, but lately? I'm all about it... so much so, that yesterday, I actually expected Sally Beauty to still have full size bottles of Orly Hot Tropics, part of their Baked collection. Sadly, the Baked display had one lone bottle of Tropical Pop and 2 bottles of Lush, neither of which had brought me into the store. BUT! The clerk mentioned something about a mini-set, and I lapped at her heels like an eager puppy and she handed me this... Hot Tropics would be mine! Saturated would be mine! Ablaze would be mine! Neon Heat would've been more appreciated than Tropical Pop... but maybe I'll wear it, sometime? Most importantly... Hot Tropics would be mine!!! Mwahaha!!! This is probably the first time I've

Last night was the first night my nail color has changed since SUNDAY... because I finally treated myself to a mani/pedi. I've never actually done that by myself before. It was nice! Lots of pampering and a professional's help with my nail shape, which I'm sure you'll notice! (OMG... they're all kinda the same size and shape now!!!) I got a more cream than tan color on my toes that I can't remember the name of... It was China Glaze, I think... maybe II or Inner Beauty? Je ne sais pas! I really should've written it down because I'm loving it! On my digits, I got a hot neon pink that was really fun to wear. I almost didn't want to take it off last night, but I had a chip on one nail! (yes, after only 3 days of wear!) So, I painted this mani last night in an attempt to cure myself of the no-more-neon blues. Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulShine Spitfire 3 Coats Urban Outfitters Periwinkle Creme (ac

Okay... so I realize I might be in a rut. Coral, blue, coral, blue, coral, blue... sheesh! I promise, I wear more colors than blue and coral. I've been gravitating towards them sooooo much lately and it's not even officially summer yet! Promise, promise, the next NOTD will be neither coral or blue! Until then though, I've found another coral that you might want to add to your stash while it's available... Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats Wet n Wild Temptation 1 Coat Sinful Colors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite When I picked up a bunch of Sinful Colors polishes last Sunday... I also picked up this lone little bottle from Wet n Wild. It's the 2nd polish I've bought from the Limited Edition 2014 Street Art Collection. I just couldn't resist adding another coral to my stash, and I definitely don't have a neon one! Formula-wise... this polish is great. It went on streaky as anything at first, but self-leveled

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulColors Blue La La 1 Coat SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite Yes... another polish from SinfulColors. Also, yes... another blue! I'm not sure what it is about blue right now? Am I channeling cloudless skies and ocean water? Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't really own all that much blue clothing, let alone wear it... but blue nails? I'm allllll about 'em lately. :) So... I knew when I saw Blue La La at Walgreens, that it had to come home with me. Lucky for me, it was on sale! All SinfulColors and SinfulShine polishes are 99 cents a pop at Walgreens right now. Since my Walgreens isn't really a weekly destination like CVS or Rite Aid... I knew I probably wouldn't get back over for a little while. I've been eyeing up a bunch of colors from their new collections, largely thanks to posts over at Pretty Girl Science and Night Swatcher . So... I may or may not have sto