July 4th Water Marble

Happy 4th of July to my American followers!!  I finally had some time to create another water marble!!  I haven't worn one in such a long time!!

-Press Sample

A nice white base is required for most water marbles, and I used this one from Born Pretty.  It's a brand called Sweet Color and it works really well in marbles:

You can purchase this white creme (plus many other colors) from Sweet Color HERE.  If you use my code ZR5X31, you'll receive 10% off your entire order.  Born Pretty carries tons of awesome nail art products!!

Along with the white creme from Sweet Color, I also used NOPI Be Ama-zing! and Challenge Red-y to create this patriotic marble.  All of the colors worked well together and I'm really pleased with the final result!!  I kinda wish I hadn't added the dots because they kinda make things a bit too "busy" for my liking.  LOL!!

Hope you're all enjoying your holiday!  Did you create any Patriotic Manis??

-Polishes used were sent for review

Color Secrets

--These polishes were sent for review

Happy Thursday Everyone!!  Today I have two polishes from a brand that's new to me called Color Secrets.  I just love discovering new brands, so I was excited to receive a couple of these polishes to share with you...

Gone With the Wind:

Gone With the Wind is a soft gray creme.  The formula with both polishes I have from Color Secrets is pretty thick.  The dry-time was about twice as long as a regular creme polish.  The finish is nice and shiny, you just have to be patient until Gone With the Wind dries.  I have two coats in the above pictures.

Notebook (with an accent nail using Gone With the Wind):

Notebook is a hot pink creme with the same formula as Gone With the Wind.  Hot pink creams are my favorite kind of polish :)  This color is so pretty!  I attempted to marble on my ring finger, but the formula of both polishes was almost too thick to use in a marble.  I have two coats of Notebook in the above 3 pics.

**Color Secrets polish is available here for $2.99 each.

**You can like Color Secrets here on Facebook.

--These polishes were sent for review

Spring Flowers Water Marble

Hey Guys... Just a quick post today as my heart is very heavy for the victims of the bombings in Boston :(  Ugh.. so incredibly sad.  :(

I did a water marble last week that was inspired by my favorite springtime flowers... daffodils and tulips..

Tulip and Daffodil Inspired Marble:

I'm just kinda "meh" about this marble.  The dang water bubbles are back and the red didn't play too nicely with the other colors.  I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  I marbled with MBSW, OPI Need Sunglasses?, OPI Girls Just Want to Play and NOPI Pros & Confidence.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Shamrock Water Marble 2013

Hey Everyone!!  Sorry my posts have been sparse this week.  It's "busy season" at my salon and I've been working a lot the last few weeks.  I wanted to try another Shamrock Water Marble this year and here's what I came up with..

Shamrock Marble '13:

This marble is just kinda "meh" in my opinion.  The earth-tone colors are kinda drab, but I didn't have time to try another.  I used OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?, Sation Weed Out the Wimps, and Sation Magic Mani Bus (my very first Sations, btw).  I like my ring finger the best.. the lighter green color is prettiest as "the shamrock."

Last year's shamrock marble:

I definitely like this more.  I love the gold in this one!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!!

Messy Easter Egg Water Marble?

Happy Weekend Everyone!!  I have another water marble to share with you today.  I just picked up three new polishes from China Glaze's Avant Garden Collection (Pink-ie Promise, Tart-y for the Party, and Keep Calm, Paint On) and wanted to use them in a water marble.  I used the three I just mentioned plus Lemon Fizz for the following marble:

Messy Easter Egg Marble:

direct sun

I've always said that OPI is my favorite brand to use in water marbles, and I'm sticking to that statement after trying all China Glaze again.  I almost didn't complete this marble because the colors weren't spreading nicely, but I kinda liked the "messy" look they created, so I continued with my entire hand.   There's no rhyme or reason to this marble; it's just kinda messy, but I like it and it's perfect for Easter. (maybe I should have saved it and posted it closer to Easter--oh well, I'm early) ;)  I'm sure I'll attempt a marble for St. Paddy's and I'll grab some OPIs for that one.

Enjoy your weekend!!

OPI Euro Centrale Water Marble

Happy Weekend Everyone!!  I knew I'd create a water marble with some of the OPI Euro Centrale colors as soon as I got my hands on them.  I tried to choose the colors that would mesh well in a marble and here's what I came up with..

OPI Euro Centrale Water Marble:

For this water marble, I started with a base of My Vampire is Buff and created the actual marble with MVIB, Can't Find My Czechbook, I Saw.. You Saw.. We Saw.. Warsaw, and Suzi's Hungary Again.  When I create my marbles, I start with my pinkie nail and work my way to my thumb.  By the time I got to my index finger, MVIB and Czechbook kinda bled together..  ugh!  But, overall, I'm happy with the end result!!  I'm using My Vampire is Buff in so many manis lately..  You really have to pick that color up if you haven't already!!

Euro Centrale Collection nail lacquer shades contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and each includes OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application.

Euro Centrale by OPI will be available February 6, 2013, at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.  

For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

--OPI polishes were provided for review

Spring Fever Water Marble

Hey Guys... Just a quick weekend post of a water marble I did earlier this week when I was really wishing spring was here!!  Who am I kidding, I'm constantly wishing for spring..  Maybe it WILL come early this year since that goofy groundhog saw his shadow, or didn't see his shadow. (I forget which one means spring is near lol).

Spring Fever Water Marble:

 

I really like how this marble turned out except for the darn bubbles!!  I used all OPI once again--  Alpine Snow, A Grape Fit, If You Moust You Moust, and Green-wich Village.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

A Slumber Party Water Marble

Hey Guys!!  Hope you're having a great Thursday!!  I have a quick post of a water marble I did a few days ago.  I just love the color combo in Lush Lacquer Slumber Party, so I created a water marble with matching colors...

macro of Lush Lacquer Slumber Party

Aren't the colors so pretty together??  There were five different colors used in this marble..  All OPI--Alpine Snow, Black Onyx, No Room For the Blues, A Grape Fit, and Shorts Story.  I struggled with the darn water bubbles again, but overall, I really like this marble :)

**Here is a post I previously did using Slumber Party over Zoya Dove**

Christmas Water Marble

Merry Christmas Everyone!!  I have a Christmas-y Water Marble to share with you today.  I watched this tutorial from My Simple Little Pleasures for inspiration.  My nails are no where near as long as hers, so the "poinsettia" design doesn't really look like hers..

Christmas Water Marble:

I used China Glaze for this marble-- Hey Sailor and Holly Day.  I added Out The Door- Northern Lights Holographic topcoat and I wish I hadn't.  I liked the marble better without the topcoat and I smeared my thumb a bit right after adding topcoat..oh well.. Merry Christmas Everyone!!  (Like the background?  I was wearing Old Navy Pajama Pants that had "HO! HO! HO!" all over them ;)

Peppermint Swirl Water Marble

Hey Everyone!  I was going to entitle this post "Weekly Water Marble", but I haven't been too diligent  on keeping up with them the past few weeks.. sorry.  I do have an excuse, though.  I burnt my thumb on the oven rack and had a nasty ugly blister, but it finally looks half-way normal again.  Anyway, if I do a marble next week, I'll be able to post "Weekly Water Marbles" again!!  Until then, I hope you enjoy this Peppermint Swirl Water Marble..

Ahh, I must admit, this marble drove me a bit bonkers!!  I just could not get the middle and index fingers "right."  I re-did them twice!!  Those freaking water bubbles appeared each time, then I obviously didn't wait long enough before I applied topcoat because it smeared my middle finger.. ugh.  My ring finger is my favorite.  I think I'll try to do a handful of holiday marbles before Christmas!  For this marble, I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow, then marbled with Alpine Snow, OPI Green-wich Village and OPI Girls Just Want to Play.

**Enjoy your Wednesday and hopefully I'll see you next week with another holiday inspired marble**

--I almost forgot...  Today is my dog's birthday!!  His name is Dugan and he's 4 years old today!!

Happy 4th Birthday Dugan--Mamma loves you!! 

LVX Fall 2012 Collection Swatches, Review and a Water Marble

Hey Everyone... I'm writing this post while watching the Presidential results.  It's about 10pm Tuesday night and we still don't know.  I'm had my eyes and ears glued to the TV, but had to take a break and write this post..

LVX is a new polish line.  The Fall 2012 Collection is their second line of polishes.  I reviewed a few from their first line here and was totally impressed!!  Let's see how I like these three from the Fall Line...

LVX FALL 2012 COLLECTION:

Prussian, Koko, and Legendaire

Prussian:

Prussian is so stunningly gorgeous!!  It's a highly pigmented blue creme with just a hint of green.  I guess you could call it teal.  In the bottle, Prussian looks a bit more green.  I love the formula with Prussian.. it's so creamy smooth!  I used two coats and I was a bit scared to take this off because I assumed it would stain because it's so highly pigmented, but removal was not a problem.  Prussian is the prettiest blue creme in my collection!!

Koko:

with flash

Yes, I love this one too.  I absolutely love chocolate brown cremes and Koko is gorgeous!  The first coat of Koko went on kinda streaky and dried kinda dull, but after a second coat, everything evened out and the finish was bright and shiny.  Koko is much more "chocolate-y" in sunlight and darker indoors.  I think I only own one other chocolate brown creme, so Koko will get much use from me!

Legendaire:

Legendaire is a creamy gray with strong lilac undertones.  This color doesn't mesh well with my skintone, but that's really the only negative thing I can say about Legendaire.  Out of theses three polishes, Legendaire has the best formula!  It's a one coater!!  I usually add a second coat just to be safe, but I didn't have to with Legendaire.  I can't think of another polish with a formula a nice as this one!!

So, of course I had to try a water marble with these beautiful cremes...

LVX Water Marble:

These three colors marbled together pretty well.  Koko spread in the water easier than the other two.  I think that's because the formula isn't as thick.  I kinda "dinged" my pinkie finger by the cuticle, but besides that, I was happy with the results!!

** I can't say enough good things about LVX polishes!  Even the bottles are beautiful!!  I see good things happening with this line of polish and I already can't wait for their next line!!  Yes, the price is higher, but these polishes are top notch in my book and are totally worth their price!!**

**LVX  polishes can be purchased at shoplvx.com for $16 each, BUT here is an EXCLUSIVE BLOGGER PROMO you can use for the entire month of November...Use BEAUTYBLOG20 and receive 20% OFF your entire order!!**

--Like LVX here on facebook

--Follow LVX on twitter @shoplvx

--The polishes were provided for review