Hunger Games Week: Day 6 (a little late)

Better late than never!  Since I wasn't happy with the water marble I redid my nails for going to see The Hunger Games on Saturday.  This time painted a base coat in Smoke and Ashes then taped off the tops and did the "flames" in Riveting.  Then I painted Luxe and Lush over all of it to make it look like embers.  That idea came from Passion for Polish HERE.  I really liked how this one came out!

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Colors Used: China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, Riveting, Luxe and Lush
Technique: Taping
Purchased: Sally
Verdict on the colors: All excellent

Hunger Games Week: Day 5

I'm so mad at how this turned out, but I'm posting it anyway.  The entire week, this had been my plan for Friday...I wanted to do a water marble with Smoke and Ashes & Riveting, hoping it would look kind of abstractly like fire.  These were not ideal water marble polishes though.  They dried SO. FAST. in the water, when I dragged my toothpick through the water the color layers separated and let water in the middle which diluted the pigment (really evident in my ring finger).  So there weren't many good places to put my finger in the water.  Anyway, I'm pretty disappointed in this, but here it is.  The upside is I taped my fingers correctly this time so clean up was much better than my last water marble.  :-)

See the tip of the ring finger?  That's where the layers separated.  I also got flecks of black in the orange for some reason.  Smoke and Ashes just went POOF in the water and went all over.

Again, my right hand turned out better than my left.  Again.  The hell?

I suppose the upside of not seeing The Hunger Games until tomorrow night is that I have another chance to do a fire-y manicure!


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Colors Used: China Glaze Riveting & Smoke and Ashes
Technique: water marble
Purchased: Sally
Verdict on the colors: NOT FOR WATER MARBLE >.<

Hunger Games Week: Day 4

Today I actually have a Hunger Games THEME instead of just using the colors :-)  I have a fishing manicure using District 4, the fishing district's polish: Hook and Line.  I stamped fish scales on all but my ring finger, using Smoke and Ashes.  I stamped a fish skeleton on my ring fingers.  Then I used Northern Lights Holographic top coat to make the scales look shiny and approximate real scales.  I really like the end result, but I have to say I am NOT a fan of Hook and Line.  Did anyone else have a problem with this polish?? It was so streaky and thick!  I feel like if I hadn't used my fast dry top coat it would have taken forever to dry and even then been one of those polishes that will dent even after it's dry.  So yeah...not a fan.  But I do like the end result here.

I pressed too hard and kind of messed up my middle finger...

I like my fishy.  I was outside trying to get the last of the sun but it started to drizzle.  The water drops fit though.

The fish on my right hand went kind of more diagonal.  Lately my right hand has been looking better than my left, which is so weird!

Today I bought Electrify and Agro, so the only Capitol Color I'm missing is Mahogany Magic.  I wasn't going to buy either Agro or Mahogany Magic, but at this point I feel compelled to finish the collection. I'm going to do a fire-y water marble to go see the movie with my Dad and sister on Saturday using Electrify, Smoke and Ashes, and Riveting; so I should have that tomorrow.




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Colors Used: China Glaze Hook and Line & Smoke and Ashes
Technique: Stamping, Red Angel plates RA111 & RA 107
Purchased: Polishes at Sally, plates on Amazon
Verdict on the colors: Surprisingly the first China Glaze I'm not happy with!  Hook and Line was streaky and thick.  I do love Smoke and Ashes and it stamped well!

Hunger Games Week: Day 3. Also, Pink Wednesday 3

There's only one polish in the Capitol Colors collection that worked for Pink Wednesday so today I am wearing Dress Me Up!  I used Smoke and Ashes for the tips and heart, and used a dotting tool to make the hearts.  I really like this one, and these polishes together.

Happy Wednesday!






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Colors Used: China Glaze Smoke and Ashes and Dress Me Up
Technique: French tip strips and dotting tool
Purchased: Sally
Verdict on the colors: <3

Hunger Games Week Day 2

Day 2 of my Week of Hunger Games colors!  Today I used Fast Track and Harvest Moon.  My original plan was to use Harvest Moon to stamp over Fast Track, but it wasn't quite opaque enough for that (you can see where I tested it on my index finger in one of the pictures though.  EVERYTHING shows up in Macro mode!) so I decided to sponge the Harvest Moon onto the tips to make a gold gradient.

These first two are in natural, late afternoon sunlight.

I turned on the overhead light and adjusted the white balance for indoors for this one, and you can see the gold glints in Fast Track better.  And the test stamp. Fast Track is my new favorite neutral, it's so pretty.  Nude but with tiny tiny flecks of gold glitter.

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Colors Used:  China Glaze Fast Track and Harvest Moon
Technique: Sponging
Purchased: Sally
Verdict on the colors: Have I met a China Glaze I don't love yet?  They're all freaking fantastic.

CAPITOL COLORS!

Here is my first Capitol Colors manicure!  The day after I brought them home I did a quick swipe of all of them over my nails, and decided from that I wanted to use Dress Me Up and Stone Cold together.  I love the look of glossy/matte combos, so I wanted to do something there.  First, here is a swatch of Dress Me Up.  I love this one, it's neutral and elegant looking without being boring.  It's a little pinker than this picture shows, I think I would call it a dusty rose.

Aaaaand here it is with Stone Cold stamped over it!  I used a BM20 plate, and as many, many other bloggers have pointed out, the first set of Bundle Monster plates have smaller "whole nail" images that don't really provide full nail coverage.  In this case, I think the fast drying matte polish also contributed to the stamp not stamping the entire way.  On my smaller nails the stamp is definitely big enough, but even moving quickly it was dry by the time I stamped.  It was a little like if you took a roll of corrector tape and tried to use that to stripe your nail.  Despite that, I really like this manicure and I LOVE the way these two colors play together.

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Colors Used: China Glaze Dress Me Up and Stone Cold
Technique: BM20
Purchased: Sally
Verdict on the colors: Love both of them.  I think Stone Cold might be my new favorite.  My finger nail looks like it's made of smooth asphalt.  Love love love.

Look What I Got

Sorry for the cell picture.  I went to Sally today and picked up 7 of the new Hunger Games collection!  They weren't out yet but the nice sales lady got them for me out of the stock room.  =D

From left to right: Stone Cold, Smoke and Ashes, Luxe and Lush, Dress Me Up, Foie Gras, Riveting, and Harvest Moon.

I can't wait to get home and play with them!