Sparkly Black Comparisons & The Lustful Zebra

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I did some comparisons of sparkly black polishes for you this morning, and have the pictures for you. I compared Hot Topic Iridescent Black (IB), OPI Baby It's "Coal" Outside (BICO), and Sally Hansen Salon Raven's Wing (RW). In half the pictures, I only looked at the OPI and SH because clearly, the Hot Topic is more sparkly than either, and the other two are very, very close to one another.

When I finished with that, I tried to do a new technique for today's mani, but it was a bust. So instead, I went with reliable old favorites: Color Club Pink Lust as a base for a Zebra Konad mani. I didn't use a thick enough coat of top coat on my middle finger, which caused a bit of smudging. The smudging shows under the magnification of the pictures, but not just walking around, so it's staying. Here's my Lustful Zebra mani:

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Love and nail polish to you!

A Red Hot Gift Wrapped up in a Bow

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I simply have a little Konad fun for you, with OPI's Red Hot Gift.

I know it's a little over the top cutesy, but that was the point, so I'm happy with it.

Speaking of gifts (nice segue, huh?) if you haven't entered the current contest, or if you have new ideas for it, please enter! It's open through the 6th to all readers worldwide, and whoever has the most creative use for the OPI Get In-Spider-ed set gets the set. You name will show as you enter it, so you don't have to enter your full name, and your email address will only be used to notify you if you're the winner. Here's a picture of the prize and the entry form.

Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!

Precision Sprinkles Collection

Hello again, Dear Reader!

I told you I had more in store for you! That "more" is Precision's Sprinkles Collection, a fun collection of glitters. In the pictures, I used three coats and most are not totally opaque, but surprisingly, they're opaque enough for me. These glitters are unique from others I have in that they're fine glitter (making for easier removal) in a jelly base rather than clear or matching opaque polish, and the delicacy of the fine glitter and jelly texture somehow make the VNL I have with some of them okay with me. The pictures show the three coats over Precision base coat (because it's the fastest drying for swatching), with the bottle pictures being in direct sunlight and the hand-only being in less direct light. I absolutely love these - I love all things sparkly, and these are very sparkly! Here they are, in alphabetical order.

First is 18 Carat Cake (yes, I know it should be Karat - talk to the manufacturer about that, not me!), which is a sparkly 18 Karat gold.

Next up we have After Dinner Mints, a stunning pale blue-green glitter.

Now we're to my second favorite, Hazel & Gretel, which is a pumpkin colored jelly with silver and pumpkin glitter. I don't know what they were thinking when they made this polish, but I'm glad they were thinking it!

That brings us to my favorite of the bunch, Red Velvet Cupcake, a deep pink jelly with pink and silver glitter. Again, how they thought this up, I will never know, but Precision has my gratitude for this one!

Next comes Shake Your Bon Bon, a silvery baby blue.

That brings us to the last in the collection, Taupe It Off with Sprinkles, which is a taupe jelly with taupe and silver glitter.

Pretty cool, aren't they? And you know what? I have more Precisions on the way - I am in love with the application, dry time, and shine of these polishes. These are also available from sparkling*nails (that's a link to her listings of them), who's my favorite seller on ebay. She combines shipping, and orders over $100 to the US and Canada (so very easy to do in her store...) ship for free. I'll give the ol' disclaimer: I don't benefit at all if you buy from her, I just get to be happy that you, Dear Reader, are getting the good stuff first.

This time, I think that's all I've got for today. Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!