Some of my favorite things: Stamping and Glitter!

Happy Monday everyone! I have a pretty manicure for you today, and then also a life update. I’ll put the life update at the end so if you don’t care, no need to read the whole thing (please care! 🙂 )! This manicure combines two of my favorite things: stamping and SPARKLES!

Glitter + stamping = happiness

Pretty! Actually it’s more than 2 of my favorite things, since there’s a teal base color and a glitter polish inspired by The Little Mermaid! So yeah, FOUR of my favorite things. 🙂

Look at that glitter topper!

And a close up of my thumb (excuse how nubby it is – I was just traveling and it broke right off while packing!):

My nubby little thumby 🙂

That glitter! So fantastic!

What I used:

• Base color: Zoya Robyn… a gorgeous bright turquoise creme polish
• Stamping plate: MoYou London Explorer XL 03
• Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas 32 Reddish
• Glitter topper: Ellagee Poor Unfortunate Souls… this topper is just crazy amazeballs. It’s a clear base with red hexes and teal squares/ hexes/ microglitter. AND it’s inspired by Ursula from The Little Mermaid – how can you go wrong?! I bought 3 of Ellagee’s polishes from the new Villainous collection, and I definitely see myself buying a million more!

OK life update time! I am in my very last year of subspecialty training in the Neonatal ICU, and it’s that time to start looking for a job. So I just had my very first two job interviews! They both went really well, and I have a definite front-runner. They will probably let me know the deal by mid October, so keep your fingers crossed for me please!!

Have you tried Ellagee before? If not, you totally need to!

Nude Gold Polish Comparison Plus Cadillacquer Seek the Fire

I have an amazing polish to show you today! But before that, I want to show you a comparison of a few nude gold nail polishes. My post this past Wednesday featured I Love Nail Polish Iconic, and I mentioned that it was really similar to a few other polishes of mine. So I would like to show you a quick comparison!

Bottle shot!

See? They look super similar in the bottle! From left to right, there’s ILNP Iconic, Color Club Cherubic, and Colors by Llarowe Blonde Ambition.

And on my nails:

Comparison shot

As you can tell, on the nails they are similar but not dupes! On my index finger and pinky – Color Club Cherubic, middle finger – ILNP Iconic, and ring finger – Colors by Llarowe Blonde Ambition.

Color wise, Iconic is more yellow gold while the other 2 are more nude gold. And Blonde Ambition is a bit darker than Cherubic, with Cherubic having some silver undertones. From a formula perspective, Iconic was the thinnest requiring 3-4 coats for opacity. The other two were comparable in formula, with just 2 coats to reach opacity.

Anyways, no dupes here! However, they are similar so if you aren’t a crazy polishaholic like me, you probably don’t need them all 🙂 I think my favorite is Blonde Ambition since it looks best with my skin tone, but they’re all beautiful!

OK… and finally, I want to show you my new Cadillacquer polish! It’s my first polish of this brand, and I love it so much! It’s goooorgeous!

Cadillacquer Seek the Fire

So so pretty! That blue is so great on its own, and then there are those stunning little red microglitters throughout. Yummy! I’m so happy I was able to pick this one up 🙂

What do you think? Do you own any of those gold holos? Any others that you can think of as possible dupes? And jeez, how amazing is Seek the Fire? Do you have any Cadillacquers?

Holo Humpday: ILNP Iconic

For today’s Holo Humpday, I present to you *dun dun dun duuuuun* (ps – that was a drum roll)… I Love Nail Polish’s Iconic! Barbra put out such a gorgeous Fall collection, including this ridiculous holographic nail polish.

Whomp… that’s my jaw dropping at this beauty!

Iconic is a stunning nude gold holographic nail polish with hints of silver. I thought I had absolutely nothing in my collection that could compare, so obviously I needed this pretty to be mine right?

Such a strong holo!

As I mentioned in my post Monday that included ILNP Champagne Blush, the formula seemed a bit thinner than other ILNP holos I have. The first coat was very sheer, but it built up nicely. My pics show 3 coats with no top coat.

Here’s a close-up:

Boom baby! Emperor’s New Groove anyone?

Now, I also own Colors by Llarowe Blonde Ambition and Color Club Cherubic which are actually quite similar. I really need to do a comparison picture.

Oh and guess what I just realized?! Today is officially my 1 year anniversary of this little blog! So yay – it’s my blogiversary 🙂 I think things have vastly improved, don’t you?

What do you think? Can you ever own too many nude or gold holos? Would you like to see a comparison shot of the CbL, Color Club, and ILNP?

Negative Space Chevron Manicure: September NCC #4

Did y’all check out manicures from NYFW? I honestly didn’t pay too much attention to them, but one sort of caught my eye. OPI did a simple negative space mani for Dion Lee. So I figured I’d like to try something similar for my last NCC geometric look!

Here’s OPI’s look:

Simple metallic vertical stripe on a naked nail

And here’s mine:

My take on the Dion Lee mani

I was going to just do the vertical chevrons, but the whites of my nails are tinged a bit yellow at the moment and I didn’t like how that looked! So I did a berry french manicure with the vertical chevron.

A bit different lighting to show off the holo

I used Barry M Berry Cosmo for the french tips, ILNP Champagne Blush for the vertical chevrons, and some trusty chevron nail vinyls from KBShimmer!

The Barry M line is just continuing to make me fall deeper in love! Every polish I try from them is creamy perfection and Berry Cosmo is no exception.

I was super excited to break out this ILNP from the new Fall collection – it’s definitely a unique shade for a holographic polish. The formula for the new holos in that line seems to be slightly thinner than I’m used to with ILNP’s holo polish. I have to go back and check the others I have, but yeah… it was pretty sheer on the first coat, and then it built up easily with a thicker second coat.

What do you think? Are you a fan of negative space manicures? That trend certainly doesn’t seem to fading at all!

Check out the other NCC geometric manis:

 

Beautiful Unicorn Dandruff Manicure

You know when there’s that one polish on your wishlist forever and you’re not quite sure why you haven’t yet made it your own? And then when you do, it’s as amazing as you thought it’d be? For me, that’s Rica’s Unicorn Dandruff. I had it as a pending purchase for over a month, and I finally bought it… let me tell you, I was NOT disappointed!

Unicorn Dandruff in all its glory

I bought Zoya Ryan, and I realized my Unicorn Dandruff (PS – how great is that name??) matched it perfectly along with a gorgeous neon green holo of mine. Zoya Ryan is sooo pretty! It’s a dark navy blue with teal hues – and it barely stains!

So pretty! Just look at that bottle!

So much love! And here’s yet another pic:

Can’t go wrong with The Sacred Tsaheylu!

And that neon green holo! Oof – it’s amazing! It’s another polish in the Superficially Colorful Lacquer’s A Life on Pandora collection, and that collection has yet to treat me wrong. Every single polish is a winner! This green is certainly not an exception!

And the main event:

Closeup of Rica Unicorn Dandruff. Nom nom nom!

Woooow! I just love this glitter topper! It has silver, neon green, and iridescent blue glitter, and has great coverage in just one coat. I just love it so much! Also, please excuse my cuticles on that close-up – as I was pushing back my cuticles, I slipped and took a chunk out by accident… ouch!

So what do you think? Aren’t these polishes beautiful? I was so happy they matched one another so perfectly 🙂

Also, guess who is having their 1 year blogiversary next week? Hint – it’s me! Yay for a whole year of blogging!

Hobby Polish Bloggers Facebook Giveaway

Two posts in one day – whaaaaaat?! Unprecedented over here on Doctor Crafty’s lil ol’ blog! But it’s a special occasion, so it’s totally worth it. I’m a part of a lovely group of nail enthusiasts on Facebook – the Hobby Polish Bloggers, and one of our ladies was amazing enough to organize a giveaway!

I thought it’d be great to participate since I’m coming up on my 1-year blogiversary next week (woot woot!). What better way to kick off the celebration than to offer you guys a chance to win some awesome prizes!

Prizes will be available internationally to those 18 years and older. This giveaway opens NOW and goes through 9/30/14. So check it out and enter away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway was sponsored by the following talented ladies:

A Little Polish
acidicice
Addicted to Polish
BeginNails: Every Journey Has A Beginning
B’Nails
Canadian Nail Fanatic
Carinae L’etoile’s polish stash
Copycat Claws
Doctor Crafty (that’s me!)
Fashion Footing
I Feel Polished
Imperfectly Painted
LacqueredGeek
Lavish Layerings
Les essais beauté de Schette
Lit From Within
Lustrous Lacquer
Manic Talons
Manicure Addict
Pamper with Polish
Peer Pressure Polish
Plump and Polished
Polish Galore
Polished and Glittered
ProcrastiNails
Sammy Gail’s Nails
Sassy Shelly
Shelby Lou Nails
The Dalai Lama’s Nails
The Polished Hippy
The Polished Mommy
The Sparkling Hoard
xoxo, Jen

Good luck – I hope you win something nice 🙂

Holo Humpday: Chaos & Crocodiles Security Breach

So far on the quest for the perfect primary red holographic polish, I tested Loaded Lacquer’s Double Shot of Sriracha (check out that post here). It was a great nail polish, but fell short of the primary cherry red goal. For today’s Holo Humpday, I’m testing out Chaos & Crocodiles Security Breach.

C&C Security Breach

Really pretty right? However, it’s not exactly the shade I’ve been searching for! It leans more pink/purple-red than actual primary cherry red. Despite that, it’s a ridiculously gorgeous polish! That holo is one of the strongest linear holos I’ve seen, probably on the same strength as the Color Club Halo Hues (and that’s saying something!).

Look at that holo flame with this angle!

Every C&C polish I’ve tried so far has been perfection, and Security Breach is certainly no exception!

Take a peek at it slightly blurry to show off the sparkle:

Blurry but pretty right?

OK, so I’ve tested 2 red holos thus far: one was too orange/copper, and this one is too pink/purple. Let’s hope I find that Goldilocks “just right” primary red holo next! Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen 🙂

What do you think? Do you prefer pink/purple-leaning reds or true primary reds? I like them all really!

Green and Orange Abstract Mani: September NCC #3

So far this is my least favorite manicure for September’s NCC theme of geometric nails. Better to start you off with low expectations, right? 🙂 I don’t think the mani came out poorly or anything… I just didn’t quite like it. Anyways, let me show you to see what you think:

My meh mani

See? Not awful, but I guess it’s just not quite my style. I basically grabbed some single chevron vinyls and played around with different patterns, then threw some dots up on there.

Look at that crazy amazing mango orange polish!

I think it would, however, be great for a St. Patricks day mani! Especially if you don’t want to paint 4-leaf clovers, leprechauns, or rainbows… this is kind of a abstract homage to the holiday. 🙂 I wasn’t going for that when I did this mani, but the colors definitely scream St Paddys!

Excuse the lobster hands – I was trying to get that light green to look color-accurate

The orange and light green did freak my camera out, so my skin looks a little lobster-esque!

Here’s what I used:

• Base color: My go-to white, Rica’s Whiteout
• Light Green: piCture pOlish Tail Feather… such a gorgeous almost-neon mint with subtle scattered holo
• Darker Green: ILNP Reminisce (H)… the holo version of Reminisce, an ultrachrome from my favorite indie brand that shifts from different shades of green to blue and gold. When it was in a small accent on my nails, it didn’t show the shift very well, but it was still there!
• Orange: Orly Tropical Pop… this is sooo pretty! It’s like a mango/ tangerine yellow-orange neon. It is sheer, so as a full mani you’d have to have a white undie!

So what do you think? Are you as “meh” about it as me? Or is it super appropriate for the March holiday?

Check out the other geometric manis:

Blue Mosaic Color Blocking: September NCC #2

For my second geometric manicure for the September NCC, I played with striping tape and ended up with what looks like an abstract R2D2. I find striping tape so annoying to work with sometimes – this manicure was certainly one of those times!

My abstract R2D2 mani

I really do love the end product though. This took foreeeever (does anyone else get flashbacks to The Sandlot here? Fooor-ev-eeer… loved that movie as a kid!). All that hassle with striping tape resulted in a really pretty manicure! I used a bunch of new polishes I recently picked up, including my very first Chaos & Crocodiles polish!

Sparkly striping tape mani

Ugh, that C&C holo is digustingly beautiful! C&C put out a Secret Agent collection, filled with a rainbow of gorgeous holos. I picked up 3 – the blue you see in this manicure (Sleeper Cell), a lavender called Decoy, and a red called Security Breach. They are all just soooo stunning. Oh! And I saw that people who bought the whole collection got a really amazing package with Secret Agent-themed items. I kind of wish I bought the whole collection now… Hey, there are always restocks right?!

Look at that Blonde Ambition in my hands! So pretty!

Anyways, I just love this manicure!

Colors used:

• Base: OPI My Vampire Is Buff… I can’t believe I didn’t own this before now! I love this super-smooth creamy nude!
• Barry M Damson… a stuuuunning cornflower vibrant blue! Love this so much!
• Chaos & Crocodiles Sleeper Cell… very strong blue holo with some hues of teal. Love love love!
• Colors by Llarowe Blonde Ambition… a gorgeous golden nude with a very strong linear holo. Someone posted in a polish-themed facebook group that this is almost identical to Color Club Cherubic, so you need to own one of them! I haven’t swatched them next to one another yet, so I can’t say for sure if they’re dupes (& which one you need). BUT the color and holo is to die for, so you have to have one!

So yeah, I love it! Do you see what I mean about an abstract R2D2 though? Do you have Chaos & Crocodiles polish – if so, what others are must-buys? Also, any suggestions on making striping tape less annoying?

Check out more geometric manicures:

Holo Humpday: Superficially Colorful Lacquer Atokirina

I’m so excited to show you this next holo of mine! I happened upon some amazing swatches of neon holographic polishes from Israel on a blog I follow, My Nail Polish Obsession. And y’all know I can’t resist a good neon or a good holo, so the combination was lethal for me! So once Superficially Colorful Lacquer released the collection, I bought 6 out of the 7 polishes.

Before I show you one of the beauties, I have to say – Jin (the creator of Superficially Colorful Lacquer) has such great customer service! She added the 7th polish to my order for free, and wrote me a really sweet email after I thanked her for the gift. She put out a gorgeous collection based on Avatar, called Life on Pandora. Each polish is a Na’vi phrase or word.

Without further ado, here’s the first stunning polish from the Life on Pandora collection – Atokirina. Atokirina represents the seeds from the Tree of Life, and the polish is a neon barbie pink scattered holo.

superficially colorful lacquer atokirina swatch

Whew! I mean, come on! So stunning – there’s even a little bit of a blueish hue in certain lighting.

Another gorgeous pic of Atokirina

Oh and guess what – this is also a glow-in-the-dark polish! How can you deal with such amazingness?

Here’s a closeup:

Macro of Atokirina

Love love love… just love. I’m not sure when Jin is restocking this collection, but you should definitely pick up all of them! I can’t wait to see what Jin puts out next!