Nails in my Coffin

Uber Mega Haul: My First Makeup Haul Video

2011-03-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

So I did my very first makeup haul video, polishes at the end.. wondering if you ladies would dig seeing a video of my polish stash/collection??
Tanks for taking a min for this post
-ilectra

NOTD: Mildly Valentine

2011-02-13T02:34:00.000-08:00

Since im not a huge fan of Valentines I didnt do alot of Val themed nails this month, but I did do this mildly Valentine one.. and it was my NOTD up until about a hour ago... So it counts.. so heres nail spamage:

Lovely Blurple color by OPI called Sapphire in the Snow and Essie Jamaica Me Crazy, Im in utter love with both of these colors.

Pardon my tip wear! doh! lol

The bluple looks soooo purple indoors and soo blue in sunlight so thats kinda fun, like 2 mani's in one.
Thats it for now,thanks for reading and have a Happy Valentines -ilectra

Elle's Spell (Pic Heavy)

2011-01-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, First things first.. you might have noticed I changed the layout/design of the blog. Id love to hear what you think.. better.. worse or about the same? Plz take a min to give me some feedback.

Also im now at 61 followers, so since we are creeping up on 100 I wanted to let you ladies know that I'll be having a 100 followers give away.. so stay tuned for that ladies :D

Ok on to the polish, Ive been forcing myself to try reds hoping I could find some that Im in love with and Ive found one. Barelle's Elle's Spell which came out locally around Christmas. Im such a sucker for flakie's.

This polish is very sheer with a majorly red tone so it's best layered over an opaque polish, So below I layered it over Zoya Janice, a red with magenta tones that I dont care for but it worked at a good base.
I tried to capture all the sparkly goodness thus all these pics..Click them to see details.

Straight on, the flakes are fiery Yellow, Red and Orange. But to sides and from the top and bottom the flakes pull Green.

and if all those pics weren't enough for ya, here's some video showing off the sparkle..

I passed this up twice even when my husband said I should get it and then after seeing swatches online I ran back to get it and Im so happy I did.. Anyone else pass on this one? have you seen it over dark colors, cause thats simply breathtaking..
Well thats about it, Thanks for reading
-ilectra

Award and Laced Up with Sally Hansen

2011-01-14T00:27:00.000-08:00

I got Tagged with a Blog Award, So a big thank you goes out to Polish Wasteland for the Award.

This fun award comes with a few rules:

Link and thank the person who gave you the award
Share 7 things about yourself
Award 15 other bloggers
Contact the bloggers to tell them about the award

Here are 7 random tidbits of Ilectra goodness..

1. Until 2010 I spent my whole life as a chronic Nail Biter and Im often still tempted.

2. Im a Foot Fetish Model part time

3. Cheese is my all time fave food

4. I just got married for the second time in Oct of 2010 and im only 28

5. I turn 29 on the 31st of this month

6. Im part of a 3 girl Comedy Troop on youtube Called Sketchywhenwet

7. I learned how to sew via machine within the last 3 months and love it!!

Ok sooo those are random heh Now for the blogs I nom/tag.

1.Addicted To Polish

2.Alizarine Claws

3.Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss

4.Chromatic Misadventures

5.Elle Hearts Blogs

6.Frazzle and Anipolish

7.Beauty Before Breakfast

8.keerthamina pretty ballerina

9.Mirannie´s nails

10. Hands On Colour

11.ANOTHER Bottle of Polish?!

12.Lemming Monster

13.Miss Makeup Fairy

14.Nail Polish Nonsense

15.Nail Spotting

and that's that :) Thanks again for the cool award and this was pretty fun.

Ok now on to the meat and potatoes of this blog. The new Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips.

I was very weary of these as they seemed lik your run of the mill sticker type nail polish strips for which Im not a fan.. also I have very large thumb nails and wasnt sure they would include a size to fit my crazy thumbs.

But they had so many cool designs and the no dry time and that equaled up to an impulse buy.

I only got #360 Laced Up to try it out so here's the down low.

The box says that this is "Real" polish and lasts up to 10 days.It also says its Big 3 free as most are these days.

Outta the box you have 2 packs of strips for a total of 16, a wooden/orange stick and nail file/buffer and Instructions.
To prep your nails it advises to start with clean, dry nails.. big duh on that one . then push your cuticles back with the orange stick. then shape nails and buff the surface. The final thing to to be sure to swipe nails once more with polish remover to assure clean oil free surface for the polish. It also says applying with warm hands is desirable.

After ALL of that prep you simply peel and stick .. stretching the design a lil is helpful for a good fit.
Then you just file off the excess.

This is what I ended up with, I got much better at it as I went along..This is reg room light at my vanity table.

This is with flash. You can see that they aren't a perfect fit but its not so bad that its bothersome.. micro always shows every lil detail but in person at half arms length away they look just about perfect.

This one is after one day of wear in sun light. I loved the no dry time but just had to add a top coat to make me feel more secure in theyre staying power.. I put them to the ultimate test.. the HOT SHOWER OF DOOM!!! with me my polishes always seem to fail this test.. but holy cow these things are still on without a dent or a chip or even any lifting at all.. So although im not keen on the fit or the PITA to apply them Im pretty much in love with the designs and the wear and the zero dry time as Im a clutz and always mess up my nails within 15 mins of painting them..

So what do you think? ive seen um range from $5.99 to $10. Have any of you tried them?
Thanks for reading ladies
-ilectra

Mrs Claus, Red or maybe Pink?

2010-12-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

Im starting to think the sun might not come back out til the spring.. lots of overcast days.. or more like nothing but overcast days... I love winter but hate to many overcast days. blah..

But with Christmas around the corner and all the holiday polish colors out, its a great brightener of the overcast days..

Today Im showing you guys a polish that perplexes me very much. China Glaze's Mrs. Claus from the holiday collection. When I got this I could have swore it was a red glitter polish with a pink tinge but once I put it on It was very very pink with a lil reddish tinge. Somehow I dont feel like pink glitter is very "christmasy" but it's still really pretty and sparkley.

Above is the bottle looking very reddish.

Here's a close up of it layered over American Apparel's Berry Polish.

This is 2 coats of Berry and 2 coats of Mrs Claus, notice that each bottle pic really looks very red.

But the Glitter is bright shiny pinks, light pink and fuchsia.

Im on the fence about this polish, I love that it's very eyecacthingly Shiny but otherwise its just ok.

What do you think? Somewhat unique?

That's it for now, thanks for reading -ilectra

Fireberry Red and the amazing art of Conni Togel

2010-11-17T02:22:00.000-08:00

Im posting my fave polish of the week today, Best formula and color ive worn in ages.
Sally Hansen's hard as nails Xtreme Wear in Fireberry Red, It was a summer limited collection or early fall in my area.

I was a bad girl and didnt use a base coat with this polish or a top coat, I was in a hurry so this is 3 thin coats no base or top coat. It dried really quickly which I loved.

Indoors this color takes on a deeper tone and becomes rather luscious and channels a vintage feel.

Ive never been a huge fan of red nail polish for so many reasons but this polish is fantastic, if you can get your hands on a bottle I say go for it cause its a new fave for me and could be for you too.

On a somewhat related note I would like to introduce you guys to my fave artist, Her name is Conni Togel
and her amazing work can be found at http://www.charisma-art.com/ .
I got to see her and buy some prints from her over the weekend at a local Craftsman art show, this was my second time meeting her and buying art from her. She noticed my polish when I was checking out and commented that she really liked the color, it was the one featured today Fireberry Red. I loved that an artist such as her who has mastered beautiful colors on canvas liked this color, talk about good taste..lol ha ha.
But anyway here's a pic of one of the prints I got from her, I watermarked the photo for the safety of her art.

It's titled Firefly Ballet and no you aren't seeing things those are sheep, all of Conni's work is Sheep, whimsical, silly and fun sheep. No other artist's work has made me smile so much as hers and so I had to share it with you and it didnt hurt that she loved my polish :)

Well im feeling a bit more back on track, did ya miss me?? I know I missed you guys.
That's all for today's post, Thanks so much for reading. -ilectra

Holy Cow, Everyday is Halloween?

2010-11-17T01:34:00.000-08:00

Looks like its time to play catch up. Im so far behind so tonight I'll be making 2 posts.

For this one I went thru my Halloween nails I had done this year and picked my favorite one and the one that could maybe be worn for something other then halloween.

I wore this to a Halloween party and everyone loved it and kept grabbing my hands.

I was a Fairy Princess for the party and the hubby went as a Modest Skeleton ,lol.

Anyway even though its past Halloween I hope you guys can enjoy this one.

The base color is Orly Iron Butterfly and the blood coat is Sally Hansen Salon in Cocktail Party

I painted the tips in 2 thick coats, before it dried used a toothpick to drag the color in streaks down the nail.

Super simple but really had quite the party fan base, it'd be a cool Vampire nail mani.

Well hope you guys dig this one, next post im getting back on track and back to updating ive gotten so many great polishes Im dying to show you guys and a few that im disappointed with I want to review..

Thats all for this post, thanks for reading -ilectra

Autumn Cold and Halloween Nails

2010-10-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

So what have I learned this month?? Having Jason Vorhees kill you and shove you into the lake will give you one hell of a cold, so ive been battling a monster cold but now that it's passing I wanted to share with you my nails, I have been doing halloween nails since my last post and even sick Ive been taking pics for you guys.

Today Im sharing the mani I have on right now, I'll call it Danger, Hot Lava. (All pics can be enlarged by clicking)

I used one coat of Sally Hansen Salon, Pat on the Black and is a blackened plum. Then down the middle I stripped each nail with Hard Candy's Lava I topped it all with a quick dry top coat ans then when back over the Pat on the black with Essie matte and I finished it all off with a Halloween decal on each ring finger.

Close up of the matte/shiny and decal, the red/orange Lava looks like red foil when it catches the light over the top of this darker color.
Im really loving the Halloween season cause it's inspiring me to do more nail art rather then just plain polishing, I enjoy trying to be creative and that brings me to my final thing to share today,above I mentioned how I managed to get a cold and Im sure a few of you were like huh???
Well Im one of 3 members of a comedy troupe on youtube , we are all good friends and we do comedy silly videos for fun so one of our videos for halloween the one that gave me the lovely cold I thought I would share with you guys.. we are no pro's be we do love what we do.
Crystal Lake Water
Ok that's about all for this blog post, the cold is going and the nails are lookin cute, hope you check out and enjoy me and my friends silly video.
Thanks for reading -ilectra

IDK Wedding NOTD

2010-10-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Doh!! it's been 2 weeks since I posted, the Wedding and everything involved was way way more then I had imagined, I worked my butt off and it was hell on my hands.. But while on honeymoon I did manage to snap some pics of the Mani/NOTD that I did for the wedding.

I used IDK From the China Glaze OMG Collection and added a pretty nail decal on my ring fingers.

I love my wedding band!!!

Wow at all of the holo goodness, This is 2 coats with seche vite over the top and these pics were taken after 3 days of wear and tear.

On a mushy note:

It was everything I had hoped it would be, I hope you guys dont mind me sharing some of this with you.
I am now back from honeymoon and things are slowing down so more nails and nail fun to come, sportin halloween nails right now and thinking of keeping in the fall/halloween theme for the rest of the month.. Wonder how fast before I get bored..lol Ok more soon, also want to share a few pics from the honeymoon next post. Thanks for reading -ilectra

Flakie Week: Franken Friday, Bar Hopping

2010-10-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Alas it is Friday so we have come to the end of our Flakie week, and it was fun but today I an sticking with our theme and sharing a Franken I made with Nubar 2010 that I call Bar Hopping.. It's by far a total success as a flakie franken but the color and tone that I ended up with makes me so happy so that is way its a total keeper for me.. Here she is in pic spamage..(click pics for larger size/more detail)

The weather was real crap so I had to take pics in the light box, this one in shade conditions.

I am so in love with the color this came out, its a jelly/shimmer/cream mix .

This is two coats but as you can prolly tell it could have used one more. I made the base thin enough so that with each layer you could still see the flakes in the layer under it.

Close up above you can see the flakes peeping out, its very subtle but just enough to add some fun twinkle of color to the baby blue.

I really wish I could have gotten pics of this in day light, its so lovely outside, soft and interesting.
But again as a Flakie franken not a huge success but im still very taken by it, what do ya think?

Well guys and gals, that's the end of flakie week I you guys enjoyed it..
On a side note it's now only 8 days til my wedding so things are getting hectic, im going to try and stay on top of blogging here but I feel like it'll be mostly NOTD's til after the Wedding.. But Ive got fun stuff planned after the wedding so think good thoughts for me the next 8 days heh Im gonna need um :)
Thanks so much for reading -ilectra

Flakie Week: Cover Girl.. really??

2010-09-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

Thursday brings us to a polish that just about all of you can get but people never really think of it as a flakie but it is indeed and it's cheap and beautiful sooo what more could ya want.. lol

It's Cover Girl's boundless polish in Pink Twinkle, I layered it over Essie's Lapis of Luxury.

One thing I wasnt quite able to catch in pics was that the pink layered over the blue made a soft lavender kinda magic in doors and in shade. But in the pics with the sun on it looks much more blue and the Essie shines through.

First I thought Id show a close up of it on the nail just in case there are any doubt that this polish is indeed flakie.

Granted the classic color shift of flakie's is very minimal in this one but it's still super stunning.

I really like the subtly of this one, this is with 1 coat over 2 coats of the Essie.

For me this has been a real must have polish, its so sparkly without being over powering and so easy to get, atleast in my area.
It's almost the end of flakie week sadly, tomorrow will be franken friday and so it'll be a flakie franken and so I wanted to comment that I yes we did a flakie week without Nfu Oh polish and yes I know thats kinda weird but I simply dont own any yet and they aren't as easy to get ahold atleast not the super amazing ones lol.
So hey maybe another flakie week will have to happen in the future, but tell me what do you think of today's polish? have you seen it while out and about?
Thats all for today see ya tomorrow, thanks for reading -ilectra

Flakie Week: Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

2010-09-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

Who didnt know that Hidden Treasure would make it into flakie week?? ha ha yes yes the polish that women sold theyre kidney's to get a hold of this last spring had to be included even if ive posted it before and even if you've seen it a billion times here she is again.

This time I layered HT over China Glaze' Flying Dragon a beautiful bright purple polish with pinkish purple and blue glitters. Not alot to say about this polish that I haven't already said it really speaks for it's self so here is pic spam ..Click any pic for larger size/more detail.

In sunlight!

In Shade!

Close up!

Sooo there has been alot of hype about this polish and I really really can see why, cant you??

I have heard that bottles of this once thought sold out everywhere are popping up in stores a bunch these days so dont give up hope on this one yet if you havent scored a bottle its still to be found and if not grab a bottle of Nubar 2010 and you'll never know the difference :)

In an exciting note... LOOK what came in the mail today..

Looks like I could do a Glitter Week, sooo what do ya think?? Glitter week with These? Or Just one monster post?

That's all for today's post, thanks for reading guys -ilectra

Flakie Week: OPI Merry Midnight

2010-09-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Tuesday flakie time, so happy to hear that you girls are digging this week's theme. Today I have a lemming fullfilled and the main reason I chose to do flakie week, non other than OPI Merry Midnight from the 2009 Holiday Collection.
Here's a bottle swatch..(click pics for bigger size/more detail)

Yes indeed it looks like flakie insanity right there but as you all know in the bottle and on the nails is so rarely even close.. but even if on nails it doesnt look like the above it is still a beauty..see...

This polish is amazingly opaque this is with 2 coats in sunlight..I found this polish to be a pain in the butt to get good pics of cause its so freakin shiny ha.

In direct sunlight you can see the beautiful plum purple color but in norm light this polish is super dark.
Blue,Red,Pink,Orange and Purple shimmers and flake colors litter this polish, I cant stop staring at the blue bits.

I lemminged this baby for quite awhile and now that I have it I can say that's its a real pleaser.. This is a be careful while driving polish , it catches a sun beam and the orange flakes look like they are on fire.

Here's an on the nail close up in shade and sorry about the quality of this one again so hard to capture how awesome this one is..

That's all for Tuesday, stay tuned for Weds.. Thanks for reading -ilectra

Flakie Week: LA Girls Rock Star - Crowd Surfing

2010-09-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday guys and gals it's the start of Flakie week so let me say that I know many people either love or HATE flakies but Im in the love camp so Im featuring them for a whole week, but for those of you that hate them next week I'll be back to non flakie goodness and I would love to hear what you DO love so that I may feature it too :)

Now all disclaimers aside ha ha Here we go..
Today's flakie is LA Girls Rock Star in the shade Crowd Surfing , I layered it over the top of a beautiful Nina Pro polish Called Never Glum Plum, its a creamy plum grey..Here are the bottles side by side.

The LA Girl Flakie is a light green jelly base full of green shimmer and orange/gold flakes. Here is it over the Nina Pro Never Glum Plum in direct sunlight.

Here it is in shade in its full glory..

Look at all that flakie goodness..This is two coats layered but one would have been good for a slightly more subtle effect.

As you can see the green base and shimmer really take over and so this is one that could be great on its own in 3 coats or so.

In the sun it really shimmers and sparkles due to the green shimmers..So this is like most flakies a polish of many faces.. I love it because its the mix of my love of Green and my love of flakies..
So do ya love it? or is it a fist full of ugly? lol
That's all for today, see ya tomorrow with another flakie beauty thanks for reading -ilectra

Fall Fashion Friday: Boots boots boots a plenty

2010-09-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

Yay its fall fashion friday again and today's post is going to be a mega photo overload..
Best fall fashion item bar none??? BOOTS! duh.. lol ok cardigans, scarfs and tights are pretty awesome too but today im showing my love to boots..

I have 7 pair of varying styles and shades to share with you today, It's still a lil to hot for boots here but I will be sporting many of these all Autumn long..

All images are clickable for more detail/bigger size pic.

First up a cute Pair of Steve Madden Cybul Flat Boots in Cognac.

These are sooooo buttery and comfy and look super cute with fun fall dresses that hit around the knee.

Next is Wanted spike boots in Brown.

These boots are a lil more rough and tumble, they are faux fur lined and the top of the boot has a sweater like stretch material which make these super warm.. word to the wise on these they run really small sooo its always wise when and if buying online to go a size up, cause extra room is better then broken toes..lol.

Next we have Michael Antonio Onte boots in black.

If looks could Kill, ok so these are a lil more daring and not everyone's taste but you cant help but feel really kickass in them.. I think they would be awesome for a fall night out.. They rock with tights and have silver accents.

Next are Wild Rose Tamie Boots in Black.

Yet another pair of stiletto boots but just ever so slightly tamer and with gold accent's rather then the silver in the previous pair. These are surprisingly comfortable and dont stress the arch like alot of stiletto's do and so that makes these more wearable.

Next we have my fave pair Naugthy Monkey Maverick boots in Chocolate.

The warm toned brown with the mix of leather and suede make these my go to fall boots, they are comfy and look great with jeans, they are super soft and make me want to swashbuckle ha ha.

Up next DollHouse Hemi Boots in Black.

These boots are freakin awesome they have amazing tread,like almost snow boot tread, soft and sturdy they make a dress fun and look sexy and casual with jeans.. see...

And now last but not least Nine West Elbe Boots in Black.

These boots are almost 5 years old and have been through hell and high water and yet they still look new as the day I got them, these boots have class and style and literally look good with just about everything and any thing you can pair them with.

And that's all 7 I chose to feature, I almost added rain boots to this but since Fall is the driest season in my area I decided against it but with that said, rain boots also make a super fun and cute fall boot and in wetter climates its super practical .. They come in all kinds of designs, mine have lil whales all over them so cute.

I hope this inspired you to give boots a try this Fall or Pull your old boots out of the closet.
So of the 7 what did you like or not like?
Thats all for this very long post, thanks so much for reading -ilectra

Bright Idea with Color Club

2010-09-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

Getting married in 17 days ahhhhh so much to do its crazy, so ive been slacking with posting but ive been taking pics of all my mani's so they will make it here soon as things calm down..

Today I wanted to feature 2 of the Colors from the Electro Candy collection from Color Club, shield your eyes cause they are amazingly bright.. even in the dark..

Volt of Light and Tangerine Scream are the Yellow and Orange from the collection (had to make my own labels).

The neon yellow like most neon yellows took far to many coats I believe I did 5 here.

Both of these Neon's have a subtle shimmer the orange is 2 coats to perfection.

It's officially Autumn but still 94 degrees here so rocking this bright summery look doesn't feel off at all, ugh I cant wait til it cools down here I love the fall and fall weather warm days and cool nights.

Even with 5 coats I can still see thru that yellow.. So Id say it's deff a layer over white kinda polish..

So with this mani on I was laying in the dark watching tv and looked down to notice that my nails were glowing bright in the TV light, now that is bright..

and Yep you guessed it like many neons they are great blacklight colors..Great for dance club nights..
So what do you guys think of neons? Love um Hate um or just cant pull um off? On a side note Color Club is quickly becoming one of my fave brands, a awesome friend got me the Wild at heart set and wow it was love at first sight..
Tomorrow is Fall Fashion Friday and then next week im going to do Flakie week and feature fun Flakie polishes so stick around for that awesome sauce lol, well that's all for today thanks for reading -ilectra

Franken Friday: My Private Comet

2010-09-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

Ha ha late again, wow its 6am and im still up so hey still friday for me :D But in all honesty a friend of mine from out of town is here so I slacked off with them .. But on with the show..
This week's franken was a win and a fail.. I set out to try and franken the famous OPI My Private Jet with the amazing multi holo buuuuut what I ended up with is alot more like China Glaze's Comet so I named her My Private Comet heh I took pics a month ago and again today so here's some pic overload... enjoy
Click any pic for a full view :)

Here are two from today..

It is far from the amazing OPI MPJ but its still pretty so its a winner..What do ya think?
Ok soooo since im late how about some bonus pics??

Ok so this sign is around the corner from my house and I had to take this pic.. Can you nail savvy gals tell me what polish this is???? ha ha

Also my cat Mona made me laugh when my soon to be hubby held out a cheeseburger and she was like eh who cares.. ha ha " HAS CHEEZBURGER, DO NOT WANTS CHEEZBURGER"

God I love that cat, I love taking pics of her but standing still is not her strong point. Well Hope you enjoyed this FF post that's all for now, thanks for reading -ilectra

NOTD in a backlog way

2010-09-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago when I first cut my nails down I had this beautiful NOTD that I ended up not getting around to posting, But the polish was a lemming of mine for quite a while so I just have to post it :)

Nicole by OPI's I Stop for Nicole, its a sparkly duo chrome amazingness that these pics just wont do justice.

It's a beautiful pink/red and even though the Nicole bottles are the uglyst bottles ever I saw this as a NOTD on the MUA boards (makeupalley.com) and it was instant love even though Im not a huge lover of reds or pinks in polish.. I think my polish addiction is curing me of my did taste of most colors.. colors Ive always hated are yellow,brown,pink and red and I have quite a few of each of those colors in polish. ha

Well there ya go a NOTD from weeks ago that I felt just had to go up since it was a fulfilled lemming.
That's all for today, see you guys tomorrow for Franken Friday thanks for reading -ilectra

Revlon Emerald City vs OPI Here today Aragon Tomorrow Suede

2010-09-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Browsing Target a few weeks ago I spotted a Revlon polish that had matte suede written across the bottle of a beautiful green.. I had to grab it and run home and play with it and my Bottle of OPI Here today Aragon Tomorrow suede and see how they compare... So here's the Comp of the two below. All pics are clickable for full size.

Here are the bottles side by side, The Revlon looks more matte in the bottle then the OPI.

But as you see above the Revlon doesn't dry all that matte or suede, it dries to a dull shine. Then I added matte magic to it and that did help make it more of a HTAT dupe, but still off..

The Revlon Emerald City has more shimmer and sparkle then the OPI and it takes longer to dry.

I would say that they are dupey but not an exact dupe, but a great alt for those of you who loved HTAT and couldn't get a hold of it or those of you like me who have to have both cause of my green love and the fact that they are diff enough to have both :)

That's all for today, thanks for reading -ilectra

NOTD and Beauty.com hook up

2010-09-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday was my bridal shower and the girls went all out with games and prizes and food, it was fun and I even scored a Gift card to The Body Shop so I just ordered The Almond hand cream with it.. anyone try that?

Anyway here's my nail of the day for Sunday at my shower thru today, I already had on Zoya's Kalista from my last post and I used China Glaze's Millennium to stamp and then a coat of my trusty SV top coat.

This design is from the bundle monster plates, BM12 plate.

I used the stamping to cover up blanket marks on one of my hands from falling asleep without applying my fast dry top coat .Ha.

I got a box today from beauty.com and was thrilled to open it up and find:

A friend got me the Lippman Across the Universe polish from my amazon wishlist and beauty.com sent the Napoleon Perdis Lip Palette to me as a free gift.. man how cool is that, this has to be the coolest free gift with purchase ive ever gotten. Here's a better look.

The beautiful Across the Universe(wearing it now, just couldn't wait)

The NP 15 color Lip Palette, Lip palettes really aren't my thing but I am quite fond of this and the fact it was free makes me love it.. ha ha So all in all today was a happy mail day..

That's all for today, Thanks so much for reading -ilectra

Fall Fashion Friday

2010-09-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

As promised last Friday I am doing my first bi weekly fall fashion friday.. today was a super busy no time to even eat day so as you can see it's 3am now so after friday but better late then never :)

So here it is , since my main focus is nails I thought the first fashion friday should be eased into sooo, This fashion friday features my Fall Statement Ring, It's a vintage costume jewelry ring that I got from etsy for all of $5 ( I love love love browsing Etsy for vintage stuff, rings, brooches etc)

-Click on any of the below images to see them full size-

I dont wear alot of jewelry but a big funky ring is a must and a vintage one or one in warm hues looks amazing with fall layers, Cardi's and Blazers.. its a cool way to jazz up a simple jean and shirt combo.

This one along with many of the bigger funky rings is adjustable, which is great if you are like me and your fingers shrink when its colder, so on cooler fall nights you can just tighten it right up.

I am wearing 2 coats of Zoya -Kalista and a coat of matte magic in these shots. Its a beautiful lush brown but photographed on the more black side.

As im sitting here posting this im enjoying this:

Toblerone Fruit and Nut, never had it before and picked it up today on a whim at the target checkout and ummm This stuff is like crack.. its soo soo yummy.. kinda reminds me of a richer version of the old chunky bars if you remember those they were a big square in silver wrapping.. Anyway this stuff is so good I wanted to share as I think im hooked. If you like your chocolate smoooooooooth and you like raisins and nuts, you have to try this..

Ok ok enough candy babble, Thanks for reading my first fall fashion friday and I hope it wasn't to painful :)

That's all for today lovelies, thanks -ilectra

Quick NOTD : Striped and loving it

2010-09-08T01:16:00.000-07:00

Its been one heck of a weekend plus Monday since it was a holiday. Hope you all had a nice Labor Day weekend.
I am super tired and not feelin super great sooo It's gonna be a quick nail of the day from the weekend... yay

Striped mani with a Gray base and the help of two sinful colors and one LA colors nail art polishes. The thin brushes make this fun high impact mani so easy its a crime.

I have to admit im not the best with keeping the lines straight but that doesn't take away from this mani's fun appeal.

This is a coat of gray polish, single coat lines of color and seche vite.

I got a bunch of compliments on this one simply because its eye catching. I only ended up wearing this for one day on sat because I was working on a craft project and discovered FabriTac fabric glue eats nail polish, I never would have guessed that one and so the glue ate thru the top coat and all but it was pretty while it lasted and again its super easy, mildly time consuming but easy enough to do..

Soooo just for fun wanna see what I was working on that cost me my cute mani?

I took a mini dress form art metal piece and covered it in heirloom batting and then covered it with a beautiful fleece fabric, added a ribbon to cinch and accentuate the waist. Why?? Well I collect cute vintage brooches and wanted a cool , unique and cheap way to display them that wouldn't take up to much room..

In the mirror you can see there are pins on the back too, PS ignore the junk vanity and the polish sittin there. I plan to feature those here in a few days as they are to close to exact not to show the dupe-y goodness.

Ok well that's all for today, keep your cute mani's away from fabric glue and thanks for reading - ilectra

First Franken Friday

2010-09-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hey hey guys, so My best bud D and I have been doing alot of frankening sooo since the last franken I posted did well all thru fall I will be doing a Franken Friday every other Friday and a Fashion Friday in between. Fashion Fridays are only bi weekly and only during the fall season so for straight up nail fans no worries I wold overload the blog with stuff other then nail stuff..

Ok ok with all that said lets get to the good stuff, Welcome to the first franken friday..
I have been featuring alot of dark colors and alot of fall colors so I thought I needed to start with a light color.

This is called Grandma's Girl Pink, It was maid with Essie's crazy sheer color called yes we can pink and jessies girl loose shadow called Sunlite Cactus I believe and I added a splash of a mystery Borghese that I have that is bright red with gold flecks/tones.

This is it in bright sunlight..It's a dusky old lady pink with a golden shimmer.

In light with no flash^

In shade with Flash

In Shade with no Flash

This polish only took 2 coats to be very opaque and was alot of fun to make but it is honestly a lil to boring for my taste, my soon to be hubby and D both really like it but I really just dont, It really reminds me of my grandma and those old women that only buy 80 shade of hard as nails pink.. ok that sounded more negative then I meant it ha.. It may grow on me if i dont give it away first.

Sooo next time what would you prefer to see my attempt at OPI My Private Jet or My attempt at Essie's Starry Starry Night or just something random?

Well that's it for this weeks franken friday, thanks for reading

-ilectra

MAC hits fall green perfection

2010-09-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

As promised in my last post here is My fave Fall Green ever, MAC's Jade Dragon from the new Fall Color Trend polish collection..

Here it is in sunlight and the most true rep of how this polish looks IRL, The sparkles are there but not as much as you see in the bottle, its pretty subtle.

Sorry about the messy app but I was racing the sun big time to get outdoor sun shots.

As you can see above it is dark and can verge on black but not quite, it always stays just a tad away from looking black and I really like that about this shade..

I am wearing 2 coats in all of the pics, this stuff is super opaque , only downfall I found was that even though I had this on for less then an hour when I took it off it was like monster hands.. it stained my nails sooo badly and my cuticles and fingers so I would say this one needs a few layers of base coat at the very least..

To me this polish is Fall perfection in Green, its so much better then I had imagined it would be and pics just dont do it justice.

Well that is all for this post, next few are short nail nubbin city since I had 2 break.

Thanks for reading -ilectra

Say Hello to my Little Friends

2010-08-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

China Glaze Awakening Collection, the fall/hallowen set of 3. Mummy May I, Ick a Body and Zombie Zest.

I only swatched Mummy May I and Ick a Body for this post because Zombie Zest is so similar to the Orly cosmics "It's not rocket science" I am going to dedicate a whole post to comparing them.

So first off let me say I LOVE HALLOWEEN!! Fall is my fave season and Halloween is by far my fave holiday so when they start putting out the Halloween collections I go gaga.

First up is, Mummy may I.. I had a really hard time getting good shots of this one. It was so amazing in person but capturing that was hard so here are two shots I got that give a pretty good idea.

This is 3 coats but 2 would have worked fine too.

This color did not disappoint Black base with deep purple glitters, it as well as Ick a body dries rough due to the glitters, top coats deff needed.

Next up is Ick a body, an amped up version of Last halloween's mega hit Fortune Teller also from China Glaze.
Here you can see it and Mummy May I.

Its very densely packed Orange glitters, with a sheer black/green base, this was a 3 coater to cover any baldness.

I really loved this one, it just screams Halloween to me and I love the fact its so high impact unlike last years Fortune Teller that was sparse glitters.

I only have one complaint from this collection, the fact that it's only 3 I would have loved a few more gems like these three, like maybe a dark brown with red shimmers.. But hey there is always next year.

Here's an upclose of Ick a Body to get your Halloween blood pumping.

I have a bunch of great stuff to post in the coming weeks, but I promise to show you guys Zombie zest soon side by side with "It's not Rocket Science" but I can tell you now that they are NOT dupes.

I also broke two nails after swatching MAC's Jade Dragon for you guys so I had to cut all my nails to nubbins :( it sucked so Next post is Jade Dragon and after that you guys gets to enjoy nub nails for awhile.

That's all for this post, Thanks for reading

-ilectra

NOTD Orly's It's not rocket science

2010-08-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

You guys have prolly seen the Orly Cosmix's on every blog you follow but never to much of a good thing I always say ha :)
So out of the full Cosmix Collection I got 3 of them, Space Cadet, Galaxy Girl and It's not Rocket Science. I am a sucker for the color green and green nail polish is my obsession so as you can imagine It's not rocket science sttod out to me the most in this collection and is my fave of them all.. Below with flash:

When light hits this color it hits back, it has a strong gold flash that really sparkles.
The above pic is in mid day low light and is the truest rep of how this color looks in most lighting.
The above is with no flash and is two coats with poshe topcoat
Here's this beauty up close, in low day light with no flash, so sparkly and you can really see the yellow/gold flash.

Ok now to the good and the bad news:

The Good : This polish dries pretty quickly and even though its sparkly it dries smooth. It applied well and was perfect in 2 coats. Also i seriously love the Orly bottles because of the rubber tops, its so easy to grip.

The Bad: Because of the process it took to make the cosmix polishes they cost almost double a normal Orly polish. Each one of these are selling for $10 most places and that would be ok if it weren't for the next bit of bad. The tip wear you see in those pics is only after 12 hours of wear and in less then 24 hours I had bad tip wear and 3 chips.. that BTW never happens to me.. I can normally go up to 6 days without a chip.. So being chiptastic is not cool for a $10 polish.

But overall I love this one for simply being beautiful,I had 3 people comment on this color in about 2 hours while i was out today so it is indeed eye catching.

Thats all for today
Thanks for reading
-ilectra

Storms at Midnight, Franken Magic

2010-08-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

Franken: The mixing of polishes,finishes and glitters to create a new color and unique polish.

Today I have a franken I made lastnight while I was bored and watchin tv.
I just started adding and mixing til it began to take shape, It started Green and then went into heavy Blue but I wanted it to be a very very Blue based Purple so I added some red and shazam..It's Storms at Midnight, I named it that cause it reminded me of the night sky but sometime with a heat storm the sky gets those lovely purple hues.

Here's it in shade

Here's outside as it was getting dark with no flash
and here's 3 of it outside near dark with flash
These pics really really capture the blue in this franken, but indoors its a lovely dusty purple, and oh so shimmery. All of the above is just 2 coats, it dried quickly and went on wonderfully. I never imagined when I started making this that it would be so multi dimensional and so beautiful. This color in person is dark without being to dark and the plum tomes give it a lovely Autumn feel, so I made this beauty just in time for the season.

This has to be in my top 10 polishes ever, Not to shabby for a girl who owns over 200. (I know 200 is a light weight in nail blogger land) But Im wearing it now and have no desire to ever take it off..lol

So tell me what do ya think of Storms at Midnight? Would you like me to feature other frankens Ive made??
Well thats all for this post
Thanks for reading
-ilectra

I get by with a lil help from my friends

2010-08-19T18:23:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post today, Im so busy workin on my wedding stuff, my soon to be and I are getting married on Oct 10th this year and thats only a month and a half away ahhhhhhhh so much to do..lol

But my maid of honer ,D came by last week to get her nails done again, she went to canada and brought me back Gosh polish so that makes her the coolest..lol Anyway I used one of the polishes she brought me as her main color it's called purple heart and it's got more duo chromes then a Christmas store.. I swear in diff light it looks like any one of like 8 colors. But true to its Purple name it photographed mostly purple.

I stamped her nails with one of my BM(Bundle Monster) plates with China Glaze GR8 polish, a pretty yellow holo.I have GOT to figure out why Im not able to do my friends nails as well as I do my own, im thinking its about angles but D has alot of patience with me and has agreed to let me perfect my on others painting skills on her. :)

She's a hard workin hands on girl so her cuticles and fingers are pretty tore up as you can see but im gonna keep treating um til I bring them back to a soft splendor. We have been growing her nails for my wedding and she started with nano nubs so I think shes coming along really well.
It was seriously hard to capture this mani in pics.. Overall not original but I still really dug it.
Ok this short post is turning long.. so that's all for today
thanks for reading
-ilectra

Dusty my Darling

2010-08-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

The things we will do for nail polish, isn't limited to digging in old dusty bins and shelves for a hidden gem. So today I bring you a lovely Dusty (Old dusty bottle of polish) that I found for 50 cents in a dusty old bin at my local beauty supply shop.
Ruby Kisses-Blue Denim
Its a lovely dark blue that manages to not look black indoors.
It's Dark and Vampy but has a hit on classic without being red. The formula is sadly not big 3 free but it went on like heaven and was opaque in one coat, the above is 2 coats.
I added another dusty find on top of that.
LA Colors - Rainbow Glitter

Look at all that close up sparkly goodness <3
I love the Rainbow Glitter over the top, The last 3 pics were taken in my new light box photo studio that The hubby and I made to take pics of my nails and my polishes, I love it so much.
What do you think? Like the nails/hands in the mini studio we made?
Well that was all the dusty love I have to show for now.
Thanks for reading
-ilectra

and then there was Maryland Crabcake

2010-08-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

I have been a lifelong anti pink kinda girl and as ive gotten older ive mellowed out and come to understand that pick has its charms but never have I loved pink... until OPI Maryland Crabcake.
This is bar none my fave pink polish, its got a lil hint of orange in it and its well it's the bee's knees..lol
I did this nail look with it the other day and it was my first time using it, I got it in a big haul from the flea market and umm yeah I love it.
This one is super old/old school as you can see on the bottom label, but even with its age it applied like a dream.
On my thumbs I used China Glaze Skin Tight for the polka dots,and some random ebay nail art gems/bow etc.

I also added a glittery top coat, so the glitz you see isnt from Maryland Crabcake, its from a China Glaze called Starfish Wish and its also super old school.. but I thought it looked nice over the OPI.The camera really picked up the orange tones to this, its quite the beauty in person. I do believe its been discontinued but its worth hunting down.
I'll still say that im not a huge fan of pink but this pretty pink will always have a spot in my heart heh.

Thats all for today
Thanks for reading guys
-ilectra

You've seen it all before.. one more time!

2010-08-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Many of you like myself have seen Nubar 2010 and Sally Hanson Hidden Treasure in almost every nailblog Ive seen in the last 4 months. But I was curious to see if you savvy nail gals could tell the diff between the two if not marked..
So here's another comparison of these two beautiful flakie polishes, over the top of Diva of Geneva.
These really are a great way to spruce up a old mani that ya dont have time to remove.
As you see in the first pic above they look similar in the bottle but hardly exact.

In all of these pics I have SH HT on 2 fingers and Nubar 2010 on two.
But can you tell which is which? The two above are in sun and Below are two in shade..
So now that you are at the bottom, I bet you are wondering which is which, well if you cant tell then I'm not telling :D Needless to say, they really are pretty much the same.. DONT spend $30 on ebay for HT if you cant find it or get your hands on it, you can get the Nubar 2010 for under 10 and thats with shipping..

Dupe's are fun, I might have to try and do more of them. I picked up a Ulta purple polish with my reward points on sunday that looks like an exact dupe to OPI Rumple wiggins , I think its called..
Ok so there you have it, my comparison blog post to join it's twins out in blogland.
Thanks for reading
-ilectra

And if you're a Diva

2010-08-08T01:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie to show the new OPI Diva from Geneva from the Swiss Collection as promised. This polish is a lil like magic.
I did my nails at night and in my room light i was a lil sad to see it on cause it just looked like a million other burgundy polishes I had seen, nothing special.. I captured that color below.

But to my joy and surprise when I went out, it turned a beautiful plum color, that has a mild almost duo chrome effect.. Below without flash.

This was 2 coats, its super opaque and has a lovely shimmer/sheen as you can see below.
After taking these pics I also noticed that this polish also from the right angle picks up an amber tone, in my bathroom it looked like a beautiful warm amber.. so to sum up, This is NOT my normal fair as far as polish goes, Im not huge into reds or burgundies but I do love purple soo this is a total must have. you have to see it on in person to really see just how wonderful this color is.

Time on my hands and polish on my nails

2010-08-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hey hey guys its been a bit since my last post so this will be a nice fat blog post.
So on the 29th I went into surgery and they make you remove all your polish from hands and feet booooo naked nails.. But before I went into surgery I had a week long haul.. check it out.

Sally's had a huge clearance bin...heh
So since out of surgery ive had alot of time on my hands trying to recover so what do I do with the extra time? 3 things, Paint my nails, Work on my polish spreadsheet (a new thing for me) and look at more polish online (stalk polish on ebay and then not buy it lol)
So here are 2 of the polishes from the pre surgery haul, and sadly I ended up disappointed in them both, so so pretty in the bottle .. oh here here goes..
First up: CQ Silver Taupe
Im not a fan of Taupe polishes on me but the silver was so sparkly I figured it'd make it wearable hmmmm maybe not what do you think??
This is 3 coats and I feel like it really could have used another but uugghh 4 coats is hell.
It took forever to dry, forever and a half but once it did it was on there to stay.
I guess im on the fence about this one, on a plus for me this polish didn't chip at all..

Last up: L'oreal Party Hop

Im really loving purple polishes right now. But this somehow came off looking tacky.
But still in bottle its so pretty. See

This was also 3 coater that could have used another coat, something about the sparkly ones.
But on a negative note for me this polish just would not dry.. hours and hours later it was still wet and when i went to bed still wet thus on wake up it was a wreck.
Should have titled this post bling bling ha ha.
So there ya have it on those two.. Right now I have on OPI Diva from Geneva from the new swiss collection so I'm about to go take some pics of that for you guys but before I go,
I got in my TD order and would like to know which of those you would like to see next..They are:
Orly Cosmix Space Cadet
Orly Cosmix It's not Rocket Science
Opi Here today Aragon tomorrow suede
Opi Ski teal we drop (also from the swiss collection)
China Glaze Side Saddle
China Glaze C C Courage

Let me know, also my friends went to Canada and brought me back GOSH polishes sooo i'm excited to show you guys those as well.
Thanks for reading TGIF
Enjoy the weekend
-ilectra

Movies and Mani/Pedi Mayhem

2010-07-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

I was feeling the need for a change so it was time to change the polish on my hands and feet, so I popped in a movie that Madonna did that had Gogol Bordello in it and got to work on my toes..
Then I watched Howard the duck and did my mani, man I forgot how fun that movie is.. love it.

So I made a whole night of it.. may sound silly but it's very very relaxing for me so it couldn't have been a better way to spend the night.

Here is what I came up with.

Mani , Half water marble with SH HD Nail color in Opulent Cloud and Pixel Pretty. Other half OPI Sheer your toys and WnW Hallucinate(glitter) down the middle.

The above pic is how it looks in shade/indoors.

Then outside in sunlight.

And close up.

Then for the Pedi I did flowers, SH Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away ,White nail art polish, and China Glaze, Sun Worshiper

The pedi looks so spring/summer it makes me smile every time I look down.
Side note other then the silk magnolia in the shaded pic, all the lovely flowers are in our front and side yard, they are so pretty the hydrangea is pure perfection. It has been in the 100's all week and today it was 100 with index of 110 and a severe heat advisory, so I hope the lovelies make it through this heat.

Ok that's all for now I hope you guys had a lovely weekend.
PS Whoever said diamonds are a girls best friend never saw Chanel's Cosmic Violine Nail polish

Thanks for reading
- ilectra

Friends = More Nails

2010-07-23T02:02:00.000-07:00

So my friend Fenix came over and wanted her nails done, but had no preference as to what she wanted done, so I just kinda winged it . I had her choose 4 colors she chose Yellow(china glaze lemon fizz) ,Light Cream orange(dont remember the name), bronze(from CG boundless) and plum sparkle (OPI meet me at the star ferry).

With those 4 over a white coat from finger paints I did some color block sponging, all the same on both hands and then I added a yellow rhinestone to the center of each nail.
I really liked the idea of it, but it didn't turn out quite like I had planned, I think maybe diff colors would have worked better but that said, over all it didn't turn out to bad. What do ya think?

Im not yet used to working on other peoples nails, I normally just do mine but I really enjoyed it and plan to practice on my friends more to get better at it.

Thanks for reading and happy painting
-ilectra
PS I plan to do a haul blog soon as I ordered some awesome nail stuff from Ebay and have had a few really cool polish swaps on MUA or www.makeupalley.com so check back for that :)

Hues of Green

2010-07-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ive been noticing that im in a bit of a polish rut, Ive been buying and swapping on MUA for Light mint greens so last night i pulled a few of them out along with My new dark hunter green from the American Apparel Polish collection and did a sponge paint gradient and just for a little pop I added NUBAR's 2010 just to the tips on top on the dark hunter green.

I plan to do a video and blog post with a compare of the Nubar and the Sally Hanson's Hidden Treasure since its so hard to find now.So for this I used AA Office, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, LA Colors Disco Collection in Turntable, China Glaze Four leaf Clover and AA Hunter, with the Nubar 2010 just on the tips.

The Nubar tips reflect Yellow's Orange's and Green's as the light moves over it.

This my first time trying the sponge technique, im going to have to work on it for sure.
But still I think it came out quite nice, looks great in person and ive have quite a few people ask about them today.

Doing my nails is my zen, so I enjoy sharing .
Thanks for reading
-ilectra

Water Marbling Nails: Summer Swimming Pool

2010-07-17T03:13:00.000-07:00

This is my first post to this nail blog and What a better way to start off then with a lil bit of Summer Themed water marbling. Thanks for Looking.
-Ilectra
Using OPI Catch me in your net from the Spring/Summer 2010 Flutter Collection and Finger Paints Paper Mache(white)