Finger Paints: Vivid Reflection

Hi Monkeys! I have a flakie for you today. One of the prizes in my 3 year blogiversary giveaway is the entire set of the new Finger Paints flakies. Thsi one is Vivid Reflection. It has some peach, violet, magenta and blurple flakes in it. I did only one coat but when I do wear flakies, I like lots and lots of them.... this would require probably 3 coats for my taste. Not bad however, better over black I'm sure. Be sure to check out my Giveaway!

Finger Paints: Abstract Attraction and some layering

Hi Monkeys, today I have for you one of the new Finger Paint flakies- Abstract Asylum. I think this one will turn out to be my favorite but we'll see. I love the blue and orange\red flakes that shift to a green\yellow. It's also pretty dense so you don't have to worry too much about not having enough, I did one coat but feel free to do two if you want lots of flakies. I layered an old FP flakie, Asylum, over it for even more color and I love this combo, but it's kind of hard to go wrong with Asylum because it has the blues and yellow flakes but it shifts much more and creates a firey display on the nail. My base is NOPI The Blue is So You from the new 2014 additions, it's a deep deep navy.

Flakies v. Flakies

My Winter Giveaway is HERE

 I have flakie spam for you today.  I haven't picked up Nfu Oh 51 since 2011, so I thought it needed some attention. I layered it over black. The flakies are pretty great: red, orange green to yellow. Kind of reminds me of fire on the nail. They light up like embers. 
I did one coat of 51 and that's plenty. The other flakie I have for you is Orly Fowl Play. I don't like this one as much. I started with 2 coats of Essie Baubbing for Baubles which is a super dark navy color. I added a matte top coat so they flakies would show better but alas, they didn't come out that much more. Fowl Play has blue and orange flakies in it, and I love the blue in this but that's about it. They are actually smaller than in 51 and I've decided, I like my flakies large and in charge. 

L'Oreal: VIP Status + Finger Paints Motley.. Matted

This mani was rad. I started with two coats of L'Oreal VIP Status which is a dark steel gray that has micro shimmer in it.  Application was good and a positive first impression for L'Oreal polishes. I wanted to do something more to it so I grabbed Finger Paints Motley which is a blue and green flakey and did one coat then added Essie Matte about You. I love how this mani turned out. You can see a little bit of shrinkage because I took the picture on day two of wearing the mani so with the matte finish I had a bit of shrinkage/tip wear. I really like the way matted flakies look though. 

My giveaway was extended and stuff was added to it :)

Also, don't forget to vote for me in Julep's NOTD!

Zoya: True and Fleck Effect Collections: Swatches/Review

I have the new Zoya collections for you today, after the jump because it is very picture heavy. If you haven't already entered my giveaway, have a go at it! See you after the jump!

Finger Paints: Twisted

My friend picked up 4 of the Finger Paints new Special Effects Collection (see press release here). Twisted is my favorite from this collection. I love the neon green, blue and the orange and slightly gold/yellow flakes. I layered it over Wet N Wild Black Creme and one coat of Twisted. I wanted to see how this compared to Cult Nails' Clairvoyant so I did a wheel... from left to right: Clairvoyant, 2 coats twisted, motley & asylum, asylum and twisted (I think that's what I did anyways). But you can see that the last one and the second from left are creeping up on Clairvoyant as "close enough" dupes. pretty awesome if you ask me. Tomorrow I have 3 of the OPI Holland polishes for you to check out.

NOPI: First Crush Blush and Barielle: Buddha-ful

One of the stocking stuffers the hubs got me was NOPI was First Crush Blush which is a bronze shimmer. It has orange undertones and is quite pretty, the formula was great too, opaque in 2 coats. I've had Barielle Buddha-ful for a while and have only tried it over a dark polish so I tried it over First Crush Blush and it's kind of great. The bad thing about Buddha-ful is that is sits in a milky base so when you layer it, you get puddling/streaks, but it is so dense that I was able to do one coat and you could still see tons of flakies. I haven't tried it on its own but I was happy with this mani after a coat of SV, it was smooth as glass. I'll probably compare it to the new Finger Paints flakies for you too at some point. 

Essie: Bangle Jangle and Cult Nails: Clairvoyant

Essie's winter 2011 collection includes Bangle Jangle, a muted purple creme with gray undertones.  I used two coats for opacity. I am really loving this polish for fall and winter, it's warm but still happy and not dreary. I did an accent finger with Cult Nails Clairvoyant which is a multi colored flakie that sits in a light purple jelly base. The combo looked better in person but not really a "wow" factor over Bangle Jangle, although I do like how it made Bangle Jangle turn blurple. The Essie winter 2011 collection is available now, Clairvoyant however, is not. They sold out and are waiting for it to come back in stock so be patient. 

News: Some giveaway items have been shipped to me and I'll preview some to you as they come in so stay tuned :) 

Cult Nails: Time Traveler and Essie: Shine of the Time

I got the new collection from Cult Nails recently and decided to swatch some of them separate for you, mainly because I want to show you combos you can do with the polishes. This is Time Traveler which is another navy jelly for fall/winter that is awesome! I did two coats but you could easily get opacity in one with a steady hand.  The other thing to note about Time Traveler is that it did not look like it would stain when you remove it.  I had no problem getting it off my nails and my fingers.  I topped it with Essie's Shine of the Time from the new Luxe Effects collection for winter 2011.  It is very similar to Nubar 2010 but it's smaller flakes and I'd say is more green. I did one quick coat on top and you can tell it's quite dense. Really love this combo and will probably do it again but with Essie just on my ring finger as an accent because I'm loving navy on my short nails this Fall/winter!

News: The blog has hit 1000 public followers! Thanks everyone for hanging out with me, I have been putting together a giveaway with some great goodies for multiple winners this time. Hopefully it will be up in about a week's time. Stay tuned :)

Giveaway: Ends 10/16, Opened Internationally

Hey everyone! Today's post is as promised the next giveaway for TMM. I'm changing it up a bit, this giveaway includes some hot polishes right now and some of my favorites:

CONGRATULATIONS AMANDA H. I HAVE EMAILED YOU!! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED :) 


 Nubar- 2010 and Brilliant (pink holo)
Wet N Wild- Tangled in your web, correction tape, behind closed doors, cougar attack, Fantasy Makers glow in the dark
Orly- Fowl Play
Headband- from my Etsy shop, you will get to choose what color/shape/finish you would like.

Rules:Must be 18 to enter or have your parents permission, Required fields in form must be filled in, you must be a public follower, One form submission per person.
Giveaway ends on October 16, 2011 at 6 pm, pacific time and is open internationally.
I will be verifying entries and verifying the winner before I announce them, so be honest. 
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Nfu Oh: #51

Why hello there flakie pretty! This is the jelly-tastic beautiful Nfu Oh 51. I put down a layer of China Glaze Heart of Africa which is a wine red semi-shimmer. I did two coats to get opacity and one coat of 51 to get the flakie effect. 51 sits in a purple jelly base but when layered over a red, you see more of the green, yellow and red flashes. It's quite interesting. I love that Nfu Oh lays flat, it's important because some flakies are chunky and it makes it harder to smooth out with just a top coat.  Overall, this is a great flakie and I plan on showing it to you layered over other colors like green, blue, black and white so you can see how drastically flakies change when you layer them. So here you go, easy mani that's not plain and it's pretty. 

My Giveaway

Sasatinnie: Red/Purple flakie

I have another Sasatinnie flakie polish for you today. This one is a very deep dirty maroon, bordering brown really.  I did two coats of China Glaze Brownstone, from the fall 2011 Metro collection.  I thought this would be a great idea but I think it came out much too close of a color to compliment it.  The flakies are super small in this one as well, not like the previous so it looks more like flecks on the nail.  I still think it's a good mani, especially if you don't match really with with the tones in Brownstone and want a little extra something to make it darker and more interesting.  I hot Sasatinnie from a swap I did with someone in Hong Kong, so don't run out and go look for it in the U.S. :-) It's not the most interesting mani I've done but it's a quick look to change up a creme. I've started layering more and more so you will see my experiments as time goes on so be gentle :-)

My Giveaway (still plan on doing a Hawaiian theme giveaway if the blog ends up hitting 1000 followers by the 16th!)

Cult Nails: Iconic

Over Labor day, Cult Nails had a sale so I purchased a few, this one is great and a current pedicure! Meet Iconic. It's a great candy apple/dark red with gold flakies in it.

I used two coats and it applied like butter, was great! It looks purple in the bottle but on the nail it is very much a pretty red polish.

The flakies are very subtle until you look at it in light. You can see from the pictures in my light box that where the light shines directly against the polish you see gold, where it doesn't you see the rich red.

What do you guys think... flakie enough? We're also almost to 700 public followers and the giveaway.... makes me giddy as a gibbon! You all rock!

Sasatinnie: Dark flakie

I have a polish from Hong Kong for you today! I did a swap with Charlene  (she sent me a ton of skin food polishes too).. I laid down a coat of Wet N Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer then a flakie.

This brand is Sasatinnie (as far as I can tell). It has gold, reddish, purple flakies in it... I suggest enlarging the picture to check out the flakes, they're awesome. I also ended up putting a top matte coat over it and it looked pretty awesome.


I didn't take pictures of the matte because I was on vacation, so you'll have to take my word of how great it was :)


Have any of my international followers tried this brand? I seriously love it... I have 2 more flakies from it to show you all!

Hits: Green Flakie

My recent swap with Thays from Tata, Nada Ver brought this beautiful flakie to my home.  It's from Hits and it is a green/blue/purple flakie in a green jelly base. The flakies lay completely flat, which is awesome.  I layered it over Wet N Wild Diving For Pearls from the Mermaid's Cove collection.


I want to layer this over a black or gray in hopes that the blue and purple will show on the nail like it does in the bottle.  It's such a great polish.  A little went a long way with these flakies.  So far I am in love with this brand and am sad that I cannot get more in the U.S. (this one is from Brazil). It looked beautiful on and squishy. I added silver glitter swipes over the corners from an Essence nail art polish.  I don't have much, if any, experience with the nail art striping polishes so I'll practice more, but this was fun to add.  Has anyone tried Hits before? I'm in love with this brand in a huge way!

Wet N Wild Sea Witch and Nubar 2010

Let me introduce you to my new purple polish: Sea Witch by Wet N Wild, from their Mermaid's Cove collection.  It's a deep purple that shimmers blue. I did two coats. It looks so pretty under any light, I love this polish!

Recently I did a swap with Jeanie from Midnight Manicures and check out what I got...

Nubar 2010! It's a top coat flakey that changes to all sorts of colors! The flakies turn gold, orange, green, yellow, purple.  One thing I really love about these flakes is that they lay flat.  They're small enough that you can still see the base color underneath.

I topped with one generous coat of SV and it was glossy, smooth and gorgeous!
Nubar 2010 is a dupe for the hard to find Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure. Seriously love this mani. 

Have you entered the current Giveaway yet?  :-)