NOTD: Butter London- Knackered

This polish is really weird, both in color and in application. It reminds me of the deep sea water and mermaids.

Knackered is a purplish-grey color with a green sheen to it depending on how you look at it: It can look like a muddy silver color, or purple-silver, or purple-green. It has a blue undertone and chunky silver glitter.
{as you can tell, I wasn't able to capture all the colors in pictures}

I needed at least 4 coats for opacity. Upon further inspection I was able to see my nail line as well as unevenness from it's poor application and consistency. It tends to get gooey.

This picture shows the range of colors the best- purple at the bottom and green towards the top.

I really thought this color was going to be amazing, but it turned out weird and lacking, definitely not worth $12.

Products Used:

Butter London- Knackered.

NOTD: Butter London- Henley Regatta

Henley Regatta is a full glitter, gorgeous emerald green polish with a slight hint of blue.

 It needed 3 coats of polish for full opacity, and even then there were some bald spots. I would recommend using this polish as a top coat or over a base of similar color rather than on its own like shown in these pictures {I noticed that it started peeling off at the tips due to the mass amount of coats needed to be fully opaque on its own}. It also thickens slightly as you apply making it hard to get a smooth finish. It needed one coat of top coat to make it glossy and smooth.

As much as I love the look and sparkle of glitter polishes... I always dread the tedious removal process and the residual glitter left all over my hands when I'm ready for different polish :(

Products Used:

Butter London- Henley Regatta.

NOTD: Flamingos

Today is the last day of summer! So, I thought I'd over-do it with some bright pink birds :D

Bye-bye Summer, Hello Fall!

Products Used:

Essie- Absolutely Shore | CM Nail Art- white, black, heavenly pink, hottie pink | China Glaze- Fairy Dust.

NOTD: Kate Spade Nail Polish Swatches

 During the Kate Spade flash sale, I managed to get my hands on their travel nail polish set for $12.00 {reduced from $28)! There are four- 6.5 ml bottles with names taken from Florence Broadhurst's signature patterns.

Unfortunately, all of the polishes except for the pink one require very careful application. The pink took 2 easy coats to be nice and even, the rest took 3+ coats for full opacity {with minor bald spots}. The bottle is tiny and so is the brush, this makes it a bit more difficult to work with but not impossible.

Kate Spade- Seafoam Swirls
{I don't usually have a hard time pulling off bright nail polishes, but I felt like both this green one and the red-orange were just not meant for my skin tone}

Kate Spade- Orange Solar 
{Although the name implies orange, this is definitely more of a red polish with orange undertones.}

Kate Spade- Watermelon Fingers 
{My favorite out of the four- the consistency is somewhere in between a jelly and a creme.}

Kate Spade- Yellow Cockatoos 
{This one is more of a mustard yellow, a bit darker and less bright than a true yellow}

Tiny bottle, tiny brush.

Overall, not what I was expecting in quality... but I'm glad I was able to grab these while I still had the chance {if only for collection purposes}. 

Products Used:

Kate Spade- Florence Broadhurst Nail Polish Set. {no longer available}

NOTD: China Glaze Golden Meringue

Today's polish is extremely sheer. In the bottle it reminds me of China Glaze Sunset Sail 

{reviewed here}, but on the nails it is a sheer peachy nude color with a prominent gold sheen.

 After applying 4 coats I could still see my nail line, so I added an emerald green color and made it a french tip.

It would be really pretty with a white tip too.

This is what it looks like over a white base. In my opinion, it looks better on its own.

Products Used:

China Glaze: Golden Meringue | Avon- Noir Emerald, French Tip White.

NOTD: Cherry Blossoms

This Japanese cherry blossom manicure is really simple to create, and so pretty!

                    Step#1: 3 coats of polish.                     Step#2: Paint 1 line diagonally {imperfect is good}

                                                                                               then add smaller ones stemming from it.                                                       

    Step#4: Add 3 dots to form flowers,       Step#5: Add a pink center to each flower, follow with top 

                  randomly spaced.                                     coat.

Products Used:
Essie- Absolutely Shore | CM Nail Art- black, white, heavenly pink.

NOTD: Strawberry Fields {again}

This idea came to me while browsing the thousands of pictures on instagram {follow me @roxypie89}

and what better polish to use than one named just for the things I wanted to paint- strawberries!

Again, this polish takes 2 coats to be opaque and streak-free which is great because it is a fav of mine!

• For the leaves I mixed the two green polishes to create 3 different variations of green and painted them on from darkest to lightest decreasing my brush strokes for each color.
• I finished it off with dots of gold to represent the seeds using the smallest dotting tool I have.
•  {a toothpick can work just fine for this part}

yum!

Products Used:

China Glaze- Strawberry Fields | Avon- Sweet Mint, Noir Emerald | Revlon- Gold Get 'Em.

NOTD: Tiffany Manicure

This is another manicure that I had been dying to try, but I just couldn't free-hand the bow right and stamping just wasn't cutting it. So, I order some adorable bows from eBay and waited 2 long weeks for them to arrive before attempting it again.

I'm sure most of you guys have heard of, seen, or own China Glaze's For Audrey. It is the perfect Tiffany blue color and goes on opaque and even after 2 coats.

• After applying 2 coats of color, I used my CM nail art to draw horizontal lines across the nail- these represent the ribbon on the iconic tiffany box.
• On the accent nail I added a vertical line and placed a bow in the center using a thick layer of top coat to secure it in place.
• That's it! :)

I did notice that one of the bows is defective but for the $1.69, well worth it.

Products used: 

China Glaze- For Audrey | CM Nail Art White | Bows via eBay {$1.69} gogo_newlife123 or direct link to product here.