Welcome, to day two of the challenge! Just a recap this is a cooperative effort
between myself and Kelly of Tuxarina, the Spring Fling Challenge is a
five day mini skills showdown. We are fortunate to be joined by five
others representing both the US and International nail blogging
communities:
Hayley of Polished at Heart
Jackie of Polished at Heart
Erin of LovelyLacqueredLife
Ghila of Nails Noob
Kylie of SparKylie Nails
Lynette of Pink & Purple Dots
For the next three days I will be sharing a new product with you, Nail Candy Nail Art Pens. I am very fortunate to have a dear friend and comrade in fashion, June at JM Princewell on the Oval in New Hampshire. She is the reason I am laced in Pandora, adore Paddywax, and am addicted to Tea Forte. Her taste is impeccable and the experience of her store is unsurpassed. She has a firm commitment to US Made, NH Made, Fair Trade, and For Women By Women products. This is a commendable effort. June is helping to underwrite my challenge by asking me to test the nail art product. Here is day one...
I went more graphic with this challenge. I am not a overly flowery chick, but I love patterns. I have two entries today, one design done on myself and one done on my Mom, Marina. I had such a wonderful visit with my parents in Florida, and will miss my favorite hand model!
First up, a tri-tip French manicure... This look was inspired by Hayley and Ghila. These colors are Hayley's wheelhouse as represented by OPI's Stranger Tides, I Don't Give a Rotter-dam, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The combination is mind blowing. I will do this again sans nail art. My nail art as done with the white and turquoise Nail Candy pens were inspired by Ghila. She adores free-form and whimsical things. I consider these a flowers a peek into someone's private Wonderland... The design was finished with a bit of sparkle- rhinestones from Nail Candy.
Secondly, a trigger manicure on Mom... This look was inspired by Radha at The Polish Owl. She loves bold colors and adores Takko lacquer. I used a combination of Takko's We're All Mad Here and Essie's In the Cab-ana ( a 2013 Resort Collection release). My floral designs were inspired by Sheryl at Takko's brand packaging and done with Nail Candy in white. I love these nails, and I love the amazing woman to whom they belong to. You're the best, Ma.
I can't wait to see what all the ladies have done! Please share the comments and share the love...
Stay tuned for day three... Patterns of Fashion!
(Please
note that Takko Lacquer is
available at Etsy. Takko Lacquer ships internationally with MeiMei's
Signatures.)
Welcome, lovelies, to April and a new Challenge! A cooperative effort
between myself and Kelly of Tuxarina, the Spring Fling Challenge is a
five day mini skills showdown. We are fortunate to be joined by five
others representing both the US and International nail blogging
communities:
Hayley of Polished at Heart
Erin of LovelyLacqueredLife
Ghila of Nails Noob
Kylie of SparKylie Nails
Lynette of Pink & Purple Dots
Today's
theme celebrates the ground breaking individuals who have formed what
we know and lust as the "indie" polish movement. Indie lacquers take all
forms: glitters, holos, creams, semi-mattes, flakies, shimmers, jellys,
crellys, and cremes. The color variety is so bold and far reaching
there is something for everyone. The polishes are so desired, the
mainstream lacquer community is taking notice. OPI has introduced more
multi-colored glitters like Rainbow Connection and Polka.com. China
Glaze has introduced a black and white glitter, Whirled Away, and a
multi-colored glitter white crelly, It's A Trap-eze. Most recently,
Illamasqua released their speckled polishes (pastel crellies with black
hex glitter) Freckle, Speckle, Fragile, Mottle, and Scarce . I can say I
own at least one of each kind of these indie inspired beauties.
For
the challenge I felt I was important to recognize the talent,
creativity, and perseverence of the independent polish manufacturers.
Hence the "indie skittle." Starting from left to right (pinky to thumb):
KBShimmer's Where My Peeps At? over OPI's Don't Talk Bach To Me
Whimisical Ideas by Pam's Seuss over OPI's Suzi Says Feng Shui
Windestine's Fireworks over Julep's Simone
Takko Lacquer's Glittergasm over Julep's Adrianna
Oopsie Daisies' Bluebird over Julep's Shenae
I can't wait to see what all the ladies have done! Please share the comments and share the love...
Stay tuned for day two.... In Bloom!
(Please note that KBShimmer, Windestine, Takko Lacquer, and Oopsie Daisies are available at Etsy. Whimsicial Ideas by Pam sells direct from her Facebook page. Takko Lacquer ships international with MeiMei's Signatures.)
Also, thanks to my awesome husband, Jesse, for assisting with the graphic. Also, he bought me those flowers for our anniversary last year...
Hello, lovelies, it is a beautiful thing to get back to regularly scheduled posting. I hope the new season finds you all well. Leave it to me to start Spring with a 2012 Limited Edition Holiday release from Illamasqua- Glitterati. Glitterati was featured along with Viridian as a varnish duo. I have to say it is an incredible color collection and such a luxe take on the Winter Holidays. The colors themselves are so universal they easily translate into year-round wear.
Glitterati is a sheer black-raspberry varnish that has silver holographic multi hexes floating in it. Though dark, edgy, and vampy, it appears mysterious, coy, and feminine. She is a complicated girl, and I am in love. Illamasqua was not lying when they claimed that this color could seduce. Coverage was perfect with two coats. Please note that two coats of a quality top coat brings this color to full potential.
I have been teasing some Whimsical Ideas by Pam for a while. I haven't sat down and swatched them yet, but I thought it would be a fun time to show a comparison between Glitterati and Pam's Peanut Butter and Jelly. Peanut Butter and Jelly has a similar raspberry jelly base but is slightly more purple leaning. Rose gold multi-hexes dominate this lacquer rather than silver holographic. I do have to say, they make a lovely combination, and there will be a trigger mani coming soon...
May your Saturday be sweet...
Spring is here, my lovelies! Just in time to celebrate the Vernal Equinox, myself and Kelly at Tuxarina are happy to announce the Spring Fling Challenge. So far, we are being joined by Hayley at Polished at Heart and Lynette at Pink & Purple Dots.
We would love to have you join in, too! Please leave a comment to enter or connect with Kelly (@Tuxarina) and I (@ECKlipse) on Twitter...
Blog silence has been broken! It has been a crazy two weeks, my lovelies...
Life had kicked into overdrive, along with Jes and I traveling to Charleston, SC, and now most recently this cold/curse/Ebola? thing that has been plaguing my general person. I do have to say I think it is twit-contagious because a large contingent of fellow nail bloggers, are currently afflicted. Love and well wishes to my dear Hayley, and also Amanda and Wes. If things don't turn around we will be blogging about tissues, cold remedies, and cough drop comparisons. Bleh.
So, Illamasqua is making it's debut on my corner of the net. Yeah... I'm smitten. This is the perfect Elena mainstream brand. It's sleek, it's edgy, it's controversial... ("It gets the people going...") They do not have the slogan "Make-up for Your Alter Ego", for no reason. Then there are the names of the polishes. Vice, Throb, Kink, Rampage, Monogamous, Faux Pas, Phallic, Load, Bacterium, Fragile and Scorn... Also, they have a full spectrum of varnish colors and finishes (creme, gloss, shimmer, rubber, speckle, glitter. )
In honor of St. Patrick's Day and my Godson, JJ's, Christening, I selected Illamasqua's Speckle polish in Mottle. Mottle consists of glossy black micro glitter and hexes floating amid a fresh mint gloss base. The coats go on thin and evenly, allowing the "speckles" to distribute well. Full coverage is achieved in three coats. The final product gives the appearance of Cadbury Mini Eggs, the quintessential Easter candy. Easter, eggs, birth, rebirth- getting why I chose it for JJ's special day? Yes, there is a lot of meaning behind a color for me. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Check out my lovely present from JJ and his parents, my Alex & Ani Godmother bracelet. So special.
Also, exciting news... Kelly at Tuxarina and I are joining up again for a Spring Fling Challenge April 8th through the 12th. So far we are being joined by Hayley at Polished at Heart and Lynette at Pink & Purple Dots Come on and join us! I will be releasing the challenge graphic soon, but I am proud to preview that we are going to be kicking it off with some Indie polish love!!!
Come and join me on Twitter @ECKlipse... also, fangirl moment achieved! Illamasqua follows me on Twitter, and its devastatingly awesome founder, Nina Rahmatallah, has taken time to answer my tweets. Thank you, a lot. Really. Wow.
Leave it to me to start March with a vocabulary lesson... First, I am going to give you a bit more insight into the loves of Elena. Contrary to popular belief, there is more to this chick than nail polish. I have shared my love of art and music on this blog. Music is such a part of my creative experience, that I do not write or draw without a soundtrack. ( There are some phat beats kickin' right now as we speak, lovelies...) Another major passion of mine is reading and words in general. I was the kid that my parents actually said, "Get the damn book out of your face, and do something already." I consume literature, magazines, anything... There is a beauty in the written word to me, so much so that I love fonts and can recognize an unhealthy amount of them. I can tell the difference between Helvetica and a modified Arial- so don't even try to pass that off on me. ( Graphic design geek humor- Jes more than appreciates it.) I even had a favorite font in high school- Bradley Hand ITC. One day I am going to break down the theory about my blog and personal branding. I have something special that I am cooking up for that via some slick nail art.
So for me, March is always the switch up after a challenging month- February. February is dead of Winter in New England, insanely busy, typically transient, and only 28 to 29 days to pack that all into. Welcome, March! Really, I sincerely mean that. Spring 2013 is trending a modern look to soft color. Pastels aren't just for your grandmother, the country club set, and Kanye West anymore. I want to actually rock pink and mint green with edgy hematite jewelry and studded high heels. This brings me to the mercurial portion of the title. Mercurial is defined as "having qualities of ingenuity, eloquence, or thievishness attributed to the god Mercury or to the influence of the planet Mercury." I have always felt March to be a transitional month. In my opinion, in order to embrace change one must have a lot of ingenuity and eloquence.
On to the business at hand- the polish. I wanted something that was clean visual transition from Winter to Spring and I found that in Essie's Mojito Madness and Beyond Cozy. Mojito Madness, is my favorite Essie bright creme. A stunning rich Jade tone that evokes sipping on its namesake on a temperate night, it is perfection in two coats. Mojito Madness was released as a part of Essie's Summer 2012 "Bikini So Teeny" Collection. Beyond Cozy is a stellar silver-gold hybrid microglitter. It achieves full coverage in two coats. This is an amazing glitter to gradient with. Beyond Cozy was released with Essie's Winter 2012 "Leading Lady" Collection.
I am so excited for this month! My first Illamasquas will be debuted next week, I have a special seasonal KB Shimmer, my new Julep Maven box for March is dying to be shown, and I still have Whimisical Ideas by Pam to feature ( there will be spam)...
Thank you so much to all of my new followers on here and Twitter! I am averaging between 1500 to 2000 views a month internationally!
Merci, Gracias, Grazie, σας ευχαριστώ...
Ciao bella!
I have been very fortunate to meet so may wonderful people since September! During this time I have received a few special packages, but the one I am about to show you did quite a bit of traveling. My friend, Ghila from Nails Noob, sent me a lovely package all the way from her home country of Italy. I was super excited to get it, and I can definitely tell all the love that was put into sending it stateside!
She sent me quite a few amazing things. Before I get into sharing the package contents, I wanted to feature one of the polishes she sent. LAYLA is a cosmetics company based out of Milan, Italy that has been getting a lot of attention over in the US for the past year or so. They have a great 3-free line, of many finishes and shades. The Butterfly Effect ( a dupe of Nfu Oh 51 and cousin of Cult Nails Clairvoyant, distant relative of Clarins 230 and Max Factor Fantasy Fire) is pretty amazingly awesome. The polish itself is a luscious royal purple jelly with iridescent multicolor flakies. The color shift from ruby red to emerald green ( and every color in the spectrum) is noticeable and stunning. I was in Sephora and one of the girls grabbed my hand to see what I was wearing. It's that cool. It was a smooth application and opaque in three coats.
In addition, Ghila also sent me two other polishes that I will be featuring soon. First up is LAYLA Softouch in Golden Touch. The Softouch line features a sueded matte metallic finish. It's very elegant. She also sent Lady Venezia in Oro/ No. 22. This is a delightfully sunny gold microglitter in a golden tinted base.
In addition she sent me some wonderful natural and cruelty free products, Ghila has taken a firm commitment on her blog and in her life to support this great cause. ( Way to go, sista!) She sent me a handcrafted soap with herbs from her garden, honey manicure creme, lemon extract for baking, and some samples of hair and skin products. What a stellar introduction to Italian health and beauty products!
I can't thank Ghila enough for her generosity, hopefully my package to her will be making it's way soon...
