I can’t wait to share my swatches of this collection with you!  Stay tuned!

Red Carpet Manicure’s (RCM) Postcards From Milan collection has six rich, dark shades that are perfect for fall and winter. Each shade has a lovely, subtle metallic shimmer. I really liked the formula of these polishes and the opacity… most only required two coats for full coverage.

This is In Style, a gorgeous color that reminds me of cranberries.  When I compare this color with my other swatches, it’s really very unique.  It’s too purple to be considered a red, but a little too red to be considered purple.

Behind the Scenes is my personal favorite color from this collection.  It’s a dark green with golden shimmer, but it also seems to have some blue/teal undertones.  I’ve been wearing this color for a couple of days now and really don’t want to take it off.  I added some gold floral stamps on top of this color, which you can see here.

On the Catwalk is a lovely shimmery grey.  It’s very versatile and would match just about any outfit.  The color in person is actually slightly darker than it appears in my photos below.

I Own the Runway is a dark burgundy shade.  The formula of this polish seemed to be a little different from the rest… maybe a little jelly-like.  It has a little shimmer to it, but not as noticeable as in the other colors.  This is the only color that I applied three coats with because I felt that it was a little uneven with just two coats.  The third coat made it a much darker shade – with just two coats it was noticeably more red.

Front Row Fab is a unique shade of purple with a golden shimmer.  I really love this color.  I would say it’s more of a blue-ish purple.  How would you describe it?

On Trend is a vibrant dark blue with metallic shimmer.  It’s really an amazing color in person.

I always receive comments staying that the polishes in my photos look very matte.  That is just a result of the way my lightbox filters the light.  The polishes are all nice and shiny in natural light.  Below is a quick pick that I took of my swatch sticks under a regular light to show you. 

So what do you think of this collection?  I have to say that I Own the Runway is a little dark for my taste, but I think all of the other colors are absolutely amazing.  All of the colors are new and unique additions to my collection.

I’ve written about Glam and Glits’ Ink gel polish brand many times, but they recently came out with a couple of new products that I’m really excited about.  The first that I’m going to share with you is their Pure Pigment Collection, which includes 32 pigments and effects.  Pigments can be blended with gel polish, acrylic powder or gel to create new finishes and effects.

My favorite way to use pigments is to blend them into the tacky layer of gel polish to create gradient effects.  I created this fun dotted manicure using a few of the Glam and Glits pigments.  To achieve this look I polished all of my nails with two coats of Ink Glacier (white) gel polish, and then took a dry brush and patted the pigment powder into the tacky layer and then blended the pigments with the brush.  For the ring finger and thumb, I just applied a top coat over the gradient effect that this created.  On the other fingers, I applied dots of top coat with a dotting tool.   After curing the top coat in my LED light, I wiped the excess pigment powder off using a lint-free alcohol wipe, which exposed the white polish underneath.  There is a video demonstration on how this was done at the bottom of this post.

Glam and Glits sent me six pigments to try out.  I used swatch sticks to demonstrate how each looks as a gradient over white and black.  You can see that the color and effects differ depending on the base color used.  You can blend pigments together to create new, unique colors as well.

Masquerade is a gorgeous teal blue pigment, my favorite color!  This color stays pretty similar when applied over the light and dark bases.

Timeline is a light green pigment.  This shade looks a little more olive when applied over black.

Burnt Out is a reddish-orange, but actually looks more pink when applied over black.

Sparkling Gold is an amazing glittery gold that looks fabulous over any base color.

Golden Sparkle is a light colored pigment powder with a very subtle golden shimmer.  I had a very hard time capturing the golden shimmer effect when it was applied over white, but it has a really stunning shimmer effect.  The gold effect is much more evident when it’s applied over black.

Glimmer Glow is similar to Golden Sparkle, except the effect is a silver shimmer.  Again, my photo doesn’t capture the silver shimmer well when it’s applied over white, but it’s also very pretty.

Head over to the Glam and Glits website to check out all 32 colors and effects!  You can also check out my swatches of the Glam and Glits Ink gel polish here.

Update: I received a lot of questions about this technique, so I made a quick demo video.

The Beauty Blogazons want to wish you Happy Holidays by hosting a giveaway with a prize of cold card cash! The Blogazons are back for another year of giving and this time we have sweetened the pot! All you have to do is follow some of your favorite bloggers via the widget below for a chance to win $500 (via your choice of Paypal or Visa Giftcard). Think of all the nail polish you could buy!

A big thanks to all of the beauty bloggers that are involved in this amazing giveaway:

The giveaway is open to all participants worldwide! It starts right now (November 25) and ends December 9, 2013. See the official contest rules below in the Rafflecopter widget.

Good luck, and thanks for your support!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I practiced some freehand designs on a color wheel before attempting a design on my nails.  I’m very impressed with how easy they were to use.  The colors seen in the background below from left to right are: Sin (red), Chrome, White, Black, Blaze and Charm.

I recently picked up a couple of Messy Mansion stamping plates after seeing a review over at Manic Talons. I used stamping plate MM20 for this design. I started with two coats of Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal (grey), and two coats of Gelish Artic Freeze (white) on the ring finger and thumb. I wanted to try stamping with different colors so I selected a few that I thought would be complimentary. I knew I wanted one of them to be neutral to the base color, so I used China Glaze Devotion for the silvery stamps (FYI the China Glaze Romantique collection works great for stamping). I also used Kleancolor Metallic Pink and Kleancolor Metallic Aqua.

I was shopping around for some affordable stamping polishes because I want to add some color to my collection since I only had black, white, silver and gold stamping polishes.  I heard about this Kleancolor metallic set on Amazon.com and quickly grabbed them since they’re so affordable ($14 for 12 polishes).  I did some testing with the colors and they all stamp well, though not entirely opaque over darker colors.  I can’t wait to try some more colorful designs.

NAILS:

Let’s start with the nail wishlist… it really isn’t terribly long since I lack impulse control and usually buy myself what I want.  These are mostly nail stamping-related products. There are a few plate collections that I haven’t broken down and purchased yet, and I really want some good full coverage stamping polishes in a variety of colors. The Konad brand is simply the best. I’m only showing one Konad color here as an example, but I would like any Konad colors. The China Glaze Romantique collection is also awesome for stamping. I have the silver & gold colors, but really want the brighter colors from this set.

I also listed a little bead organizer. I thought this would be great for organizing my loose glitters since I have them all in little individual baggies.  And there are a couple of OPI Gelcolor collections that I would love to own.

MAKEUP & BEAUTY:

I love makeup sets, and the Sephora sampler sets. Of course I don’t NEED these, but I like them. I also really want a new makeup brush set, and I desperately need a new flat iron since the I one I use now is falling to pieces.

I also love MAC cosmetics and need refills on two of my daily staples, NC25 Studio Fix powder plus foundation and the Fix + finisher.

Other Non-Beauty Items:

I want new bedding and would love a down comforter and duvet set. I haven’t selected a duvet pattern yet, but since my bedroom walls are dark blue I think I’d like something bright and bold.

I’m also an avid gardener and start all of my plants from seed in the winter months. I already own one of these grow lights, but would love another since one isn’t enough to provide light for all of my little seedlings, and a greenhouse is the next step. A portable one will have to do until I have enough land to build a permanent structure.   Some day!

Gift Cards:

Another gift idea that you can’t go wrong with… gift cards. I mostly shop at Amazon.com, Sally Beauty Supply and The Limited!

Red Carpet Manicure offers everything you need to do your own gel polish manicures right from the convenience of your home, without the salon prices!  If you read my blog, you know that I’m a gel polish fanatic.  Gel polish is the way to go for a long lasting, high shine manicures.  You can get 14-21 days of wear with no chipping or peeling when applied properly.  And what I love most about gel polish is that it’s completely dry to the touch after curing in an LED light for just seconds, so you can go about your business without having to worry about whether you’re going to mess up your nails.

Red Carpet Manicure offers over 100 colors to choose from, and they have affordable starter kits to get you going.  They sent me two of these kits to share with one of you!

The Gel Polish Pro Kit has everything you need for at home gel manicures.  The kit includes:

• A Professional LED Light that cures in just 45 seconds
• Prep Max Adhesion Sanitizer
• Structure Base Coat Gel
• Brilliance Seal & Shine Top Coat Gel
• Revitalize Nourishing Cuticle Oil
• Erase Gel Nail Polish Remover
• Purify Pre & Post Application Cleanser
• and one LED gel polish color: Red Carpet Reddy

The Gel Polish Removal Kit, includes:

• 20 Foil Wraps
• Erase Gel Nail Polish Remover
• Buffing Block
• 2 Orange Wood Sticks

The Giveaway Prize:

ONE lucky winner will receive BOTH of the kits listed above.

The Rules:

• The giveaway will run through December 13th, 2013.
• Entries will be collected via Rafflecopter only.
• The winner will be selected randomly via Rafflecopter and announced on December 14th.
• The winner will be notified via email, and will have 48 hours to claim the prize or a new winner will be selected.
• This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY!
• Entries will be verified.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m still in disbelief that it’s December already.  I haven’t started decorating my house or shopping for gifts yet, but I’m trying to get myself in the Christmas spirit with some festive nails.  I’m pretty happy with how this design turned out.  I used two colors from the 2012 Gelish Holiday Collection, All Tied Up… with a Bow (red) and Just What I Wanted! (green).  Both are gorgeous glitter polishes that shine and sparkle.  I applied two coats of Artic Freeze on the two middle nails, and then used some loose glitter and glequins.

On the middle finger, I applied a thin coat of Gelish Foundation over the white and then used a brush to pick up the glitter and apply it randomly.  I cured the layer of foundation to secure the glitter in place and then added two coats of Gelish TIO to make the nail nice and smooth.  The glitter that I used is called “Christmas Lights” from Artsyfartsy Crafts.  On the ring finger I applied some green hex glitters (aka glequins) in a Christmas tree pattern.  I also used Gelish Foundation here as the “glue” for the hexes and star.  The star is from this stud set from the Born Pretty Store.

How I created this look:

1. Normal gel polish prep.
2. Applied a thin layer of Gelish Foundation & cured.
3. With a dry brush, applied a gold glitter gradient into the tacky layer of the Foundation gel using Sinful Colors loose gold glitter that I picked up at Walgreens.
4. Applied Gelish My Favorite Accessory onto just the tips of my nails.  I wiped most of the polish off of the brush and started painting and the tips and just pulled down to make a gradient effect.  I cured the color, and repeated with a second coat.
5. Applied a thin layer of Gelish TIO on the whole nail and cured.
6. With a dry brush, applied a glitter gradient using Peacock glitter from AFC.
7. Applied another thin layer of Gelish TIO, cured & wiped the tacky layer off.
8. Stamped the snowflake patterns onto the nails using BM319 stamping plate and Konad White Polish.
9. Added Crystal Luminous Green Swarovski crystals using Gelish Foundation as the “glue” and cured.
10. Applied one final layer of Gelish TIO, cured & wiped the tacky layer.

Hot Rod Red

Red Roses

Good Gossip

Rose Garden

Queen of Hearts

Stand Out

Since we’re on the subject of reds, I have a few other red Gelish swatches that I haven’t posted yet.  Red-y and Waiting is only available in MINI size.  Spicy Fortune is a limited edition color from the Year of the Dragon collection.  These two colors also look very similar to Hot Rod and Red Roses.  I don’t see the  need to own all of these reds – one of the 4 will do.    And Just in Case Tomorrow Never Comes is a bright red, but it has a shimmery finish.  This one is similar to Queen of Hearts except it’s lighter/brighter.

Red-y and Waiting

Spicy Fortune

Just in Case Tomorrow Never Comes

I almost didn’t swatch Simpler Sheer because it’s just a sheer/clear polish with a pink tint.  But for the sake of swatching all of the Gelish colors, I did it anyway.  Sorry, this isn’t very exciting!  Personally I would skip this polish and just apply a layer of base, and a layer of top coat if you want a clear gel polish overlay.

On the other fingers I applied two coats of Gelish Spicy Fortune and one coat of Good Gossip to add some red shimmer. Then I wiped the tacky layer and placed scotch tape on my nails, blocking off the red portions of the nail and applied 2 coats of Meet the King on the exposed triangle (curing after each coat). I then added the Jingle Bells glitter to the the tacky layer of the gold polish and then removed the tape. I applied two coats of Gelish TIO on these nails as well. I know it sounds like a lot of layers of polish, but I applied thin coats and my nails don’t look or feel bulky at all.

My photos don’t really do this manicure justice because they don’t capture the awesome glittery shimmer.  I also wanted to mention that Spicy Fortune is a hard color to find since it was limited edition.  You could also just use three coats of Good Gossip, or use Hot Rod or Red Roses as the base instead.

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I’ve been crazy busy with work and holiday stuff. I have a few new Gelish Trends that I’ll be swatching very soon and I keep hoping that the Gelish Snow Escape collection will be available for sale any day now so that I can work on those swatches as well. I call my local Sally’s every week since the girl gold me they get shipments every Thursday.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a quick video update of my polish stash since it has changed quite a bit since my last stash video was posted in February.  I find it interesting to watch my stash grow.  I just found this post from September of 2012 where I said I had 90 bottles of nail polish (gel & RNP).  Today I have around 200 bottles of gel polish and probably another 100-150 bottles of RNP (not including base/top coats, etc).  That’s a guess though, I haven’t actually counted in a while.  (Update:  I counted 228 bottles of gel polish).  I also keep this Excel spreadsheet of my gel polish stash in case you’re interested.

The Gelish Trends seem to be making their way into online stores and I picked up a few more this week.  These three polishes are all glitter toppers and are glitter suspended in a clear base.  They can be applied over a base color for a little extra bling, or you can wear them on their own as seen in my swatches below.  The Trends are a little on the thick side, and in my experience they were harder to soak off than normal gel polish colors if you apply several coats.  Each of these swatches is three coats with no undies.  The glitter in these polishes is actually pretty dense, but it does take a few coats to get full coverage.  Even after three coats you can still see a few bare spot, especially near the tips and edges.

Don’t miss my short video at the bottom of the page to see how these gorgeous glitter toppers sparkle and shine!

This is #PartyGirlProblems, which is loaded with different colored micro glitters.  The most prominent colors are pink, blue and silver.

This is Getting Gritty With It, another dense micro glitter.  This one has different shades of blue, a little pink and a little silver.

And the last one that I have for you today is Are You Feeling It?, which is loaded with different sizes of teal blue glitter.  Teal is my favorite color so I’m actually going to wear this one for a couple of days. 

And here’s a quick video that I made to show you how these beauties sparkle in real life!

360 Black Flip is a dark jelly base with fine holographic glitter.  In this swatch I applied 3 coats on the index and middle finger, and two coats over a black base on the ring finger and pinky.  The base is very sheer and it would take a lot of coats to get it opaque, so I recommend layering this over other colors.  The glitter is stunning, but it reminds me of Vegas Nights and I think the effect is similar to applying Vegas Nights over black.

Sledding in Style is a glitter topper with multi-color glitter of different sizes.  I think this would look great over another color like Let’s Hit the Bunny Slopes (below).  This swatch is three coats with no base color underneath.

Race You To The Bottom is my favorite of the bunch.  I’m sure you know by now that teal is my favorite color, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one and it certainly didn’t disappoint!  This is a gorgeous shimmery polish.  I call a dark teal, but it really takes on different colors depending on the lighting.  It’s very sultry.  I was going to do some nail art for Christmas, but as soon as I saw this I knew I would be wearing it for the holiday.  I can’t even bring myself to do nail art over top of it because I love it so much.  <3<3<3  This swatch is only two coats.

Wanna Share a Lift? is a glittery red jelly polish.  My photos don’t do it justice because it really sparkles in the light.  It is similar to Good Gossip and All Tied Up With a Bow in ways, but it’s a little darker than these two.  I’ll post some comparison pics within a couple of days, so be sure to check back to see those.  This swatch is three coats.

I Heart My Instructor is a creamy dark blue – I think this is the darkest creamy blue out there.  Let me know what colors you would like to see this compared with and I’ll take some pictures.  I’m thinking of comparing it to Deep Sea, Caution and After Dark.  This swatch is only two coats, so it it has really good coverage.

And Let’s Hit the Bunny Slopes is a creamy medium grey.  I will post some comparison pictures of greys too, but this is definitely a unique color.  It’s darker than Cashmere Kind of Gal and lighter than some of the other greys.  It also has some slight blue-ish tones to it.  I think it’s really classy.  I haven’t had time to test it for fading yet, but I’ll be sure to post an update if I find any issues with the color changing.

Here is a short video that I put together to show the colors with some movement and lighting.

I haven’t found this collection for sale many places online yet, but it’s available here.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Let’s Hit the Bunny Slopes is the new creamy shade of grey that was released in this collection.  You can see that it’s much darker than Cashmere Kind of Gal, and very different from the other existing shades.

Wanna Share a Lift? is the newest sparkly red, and I put this next to Good Gossip (the most popular sparkly red), All Tied Up, and a couple of shimmery reds for comparison.  I’m surprised that Wanna Share a Lift looks so dark next to the other two.  They are all 3 coats over a clear swatch stick.  I think that Wanna Share a Lift just has better opacity than the other two because it doesn’t really look that dark on the nail. 

I Heart My Instructor is the newest shade of dark blue.  It has better coverage than Midnight Cover and is a bit richer in color.  Deap Sea has a bit of a purple shimmer to it.  I couldn’t find my swatch of Is It An Illusion, but it’s also a very dark blue with a shimmery finish. Race You To The Bottom is also a new color in this collection.  I struggle with classifying this one as blue or green, but I think it fits in better next to my green swatches than the blue ones, although I consider it to be a dark shade of teal.  I’m still wearing this color and don’t want to take it off any time soon!  I put it next to a green (Just What I Wanted) and a couple of teal blues to show you how it compares.

The price of the Daisy Gel Polishes is very reasonable at $13.95, and the price includes the bonus bottle of RNP!  I really love that they come with a matching RNP so that I can match my toes to my hands. I personally never use gel polish on my toes since RNP seems to last a really long time on my toes. If you have small children you could also polish your child’s nails to match yours.

I swatched a few of the colors for you to see, and I wore one of the colors on my dominant hand for a week.  Daisy gel is supposed to last up to 21 days.  If you know me though, I can never leave my polish on long enough to do a true durability test but it did last well for the week that I wore it.  I was even handling acetone as I swatched polishes on my other hand and it still held up well.  The Daisy polishes applied with ease, only required two coats for full coverage and I had no issues curing in my LED lamp.  The removal process was also a dream… the soak-off only took a few minutes.

This is Daisy Gel Butternut Squash which is a creamy brown-ish orange shade.  I’m not sure how else to describe the color, but I think the name of the polish is appropriate.  It’s a nice fall shade or a good neutral for everyday wear.

Here I layered two coats of Daisy Gel Golden Orange Star over top of Butternut Squash.  It’s an orange and holographic glitter topper.  It’s hard to capture the beauty of holographic glitter on camera, but it’s very pretty in person.  The RNP version of this glitter topper is much more dense with glitter than the gel version (photo below).

This is Daisy Gel Sweet Purple, a lovely creamy shade of lilac.  This is the color that I wore for a week.  As with most gel polishes in this shade, I did experience some fading.  The color turned darker and looked more like the label on the bottle by the end of the week.  I still liked the color, but it wasn’t as bright.

This is Daisy Gel Lush Lilac, another glitter topper with purple and holographic glitters.

I have one more blue color (Blue de France) yet to swatch and also a French manicure kit.  I will try those soon and write about them so, stay tuned for that in the coming weeks.  Below is a quick picture that shows the soak off gel polish next to the regular nail polish version for each color.  The colors are pretty dead on, but as I already mentioned the RNP versions of the glitter toppers have a lot more glitter.  I applied three coats of each glitter topper on the swatch sticks below, and two coats of the solid colors.  The quality of this picture isn’t great, so please refer to the swatches above for more accurate representation of the colors.

Then I applied one coat of Gelish All Dahliaed Up on my pinky and thumb, followed by two coats of Gelish #PartyGirlProblems.  My index finger has two coats of Garden Teal Party, I applied a dark blue glitter gradient to the tip, and then hand painted on some fireworks. On my ring finger I started with two coats of Gelish I Heart My Instructor, applied a teal blue glitter gradient to the tip and added the fireworks and 2014.  The 2014 text was drawn on with a white Sally Hansen nail art pen.

Applying the hex glitters took the most time, and then I fumbled around with lots of ideas.  I tried stamping and failed miserably, and ended up using a dotting tool and RNP to create the fireworks instead.  In the end I’m really happy with the design.

I can hardly believe it’s 2014 already!  I’ve spent a bit of time reflecting on accomplishments achieved over the past year and goals for the coming year (for the blog and my personal life).  Below is a summary of my accomplishments and goals for Chickettes.

Accomplishments in 2013

• I set out with a goal to swatch all of the Gelish colors by the end of 2013 and accomplished that for the most part.  I swatched every color that existed prior to 2013 and the majority of the new colors that were released throughout the year.  I still have to swatch some of the Trends and a couple of hard to find colors.  You can view all of my Gelish swatches in this gallery, or check out the spreadsheet that I use to track my collection & swatches.
• My nail art was featured on several platforms including the Facebook pages of Gelish, Gelish MINI, Nail It Magazine, Orly and Couture.
• I hosted several awesome giveaways over the year including ones sponsored by Gelish MINI, Red Carpet Manicure, Wantable, Esther’s Nail Center, and LacQit.
• I started making YouTube videos.
• I learned lots of new techniques from friends in various social groups including how to do glitter gradients and use pigment powders for nail art.
• Chickettes has gained lots of new followers on various social platforms and I have loved the interaction with the fans and followers.
• My photography skills improved greatly over the year and I think I found my ideal hand poses for photographing swatches and nail art.
• And I developed a media kit to use when communicating with potential sponsors, though I haven’t shared it publicly until now.  Click here to see what it looks like.

Goals for 2014

• Finish swatching the Gelish Trends line and any new Gelish colors that come out over the course of the year.
• Branch out into new and different brands of gel polish, and hopefully develop sponsor relationships with some of these brands (let me know your favorites).
• Swatch all of the Ink and Shellac polishes that are in my current collection.
• Make more YouTube videos and improve upon my video editing skills.  I’d like to make my videos a little more streamlined and professional.
• Create an intro video for my YouTube channel.
• Continue learning new nail art techniques.

I would love to hear from you about the types of things that you’d like to see, or see more of in the coming months too so please leave comments with your ideas!

Favorite Nail Art of 2013

As I was looking back over my swatches and nail art pictures from the past year, these were some of my favorites.  They are in order from oldest to newest so you can see the progression of my photography skills and hand poses.  Each has a link back to the original post if you’d like to read about how they were done.

Happy New Year everyone!