Holo Humpday: KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala

Hello my sweeties! Welcome to yet another Holo Humpday! Aren’t you impressed that I haven’t exhausted my holo stash yet?! I have quite the collection, so I definitely have enough to last for many more Holo Humpdays to come! Today’s featured holo is KBShimmer’s Men Are From Mars-ala.

As I’m sure you all know, Marsala was chosen as Pantone’s color of the year for 2015. When I initially saw swatches of this, I was not impressed. It seemed the kind of color that was very big for elderly ladies. But then KBShimmer put out their version, and oh did I change my mind! Men Are From Mars-ala is such a beautiful version of Marsala.

KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala

I had held off on buying this since I have so many red holos, but I’m so glad I gave in! It’s a more brick red with brown tones that leans orange-red in certain lighting. And it’s different from most of my other red holos!

KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala… in more direct lighting

I have a ton of pictures to show since it’s so beautiful!

KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala

KBShimmer Men Are From Mars-ala

I think the above swatch is probably the most accurate in terms of what Mars-ala looks like in most lighting.

The formula is perfection – it covers in 2 easy coats, and the linear holo is strong even in low lighting. I think this polish is such a beautiful earthy red! It’s a sexy red with a modern twist, and I think it would look good on everyone no matter your skin tone!

What do you think? Do you have this stunner? If not, you need it in your life!!

Holiday stamping using latex body paint!

Latex body paint: kinky? Or a great nail art product? I had seen so many people using tape, Elmer’s glue, Vaseline, and Liquid Palisade to help in nail cleanup. I tried Vaseline, but it was too messy for my liking. I use tape for water marbling, but you can’t get tape to hug the nail shape perfectly. I haven’t tried the other two, but Liquid Palisade always intrigued me. However, I didn’t want to spend that much money (it’s $22 for an itty bitty tube!) when I could easily clean up with some acetone.

And then last month, I caught a video on YouTube by elleanddish that was possibly going to change my cleanup! She tried out liquid latex body paint and it looked amazing, so I had to try it out! I bought Liquid Latex Fashions Body Paint in Neon Blue for only $6.50, and used an old crappy nail art brush to apply it after putting my base color on.

Here’s what it looks like while drying (quick shot from my iPhone):

Latex Body Paint for Nail Cleanup

After putting my base color on, I stamped the images on and peeled the latex off. It worked perfectly!! I had no polish to clean up and it was super easy! Plus it’s fun to peel off 🙂

The only issue was that my nail art brush was kind of ruined:

See all that latex stuck in the bristles?

But if I use the brush only for this application, it shouldn’t be an issue!

OK, so let’s finally show you some nail art huh?

Red and gold holiday stamped manicure

So the image on my index finger is a bit uneven. The reason is that that particular image was real fickle in getting picked up by the stamper. So when it finally picked up, I got super excited and hastily stamped without really paying attention to how even it was.

Otherwise, I love this! I love red and gold together, and I hadn’t worn this particular red polish (Orly Shimmering Mauve) yet! I’ve owned it for almost 2 years and have never found a good use for it. It does show brushstrokes pretty heavily since it has a metallic chrome finish, but since I was stamping over it I wasn’t too concerned with that.

Products used:

• Base color: Orly Shimmering Mauve… a chrome-finish red with pinky-gold shimmer. It kind of reminds me of Marsala (the new Pantone color for 2015). I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Marsala, but I’m warming up to it slowly. KBShimmer is starting to show swatches of a new release for January that has a GORGEOUS version of Marsala holo.
• Stamping plate: Winstonia W120
• Stamping polish: Essie Good as Gold
• Liquid Latex Fashions Body Paint in Neon Blue… as the name implies, this product most certainly contains latex. So if you’re allergic to latex, don’t put latex on yourself. 😉

What do you think? Do you like the Marsala color? What’s your go-to cleanup product? Would you try latex body paint for your nails?