I Love Accent Nails!

I love doing accent nails.  It's actually my favorite way to wear those super glittery polishes that are a huge pain in the butt to remove (even with the foil method).  I love wearing a plain creme or jelly polish as my main color and then a coordinating glitter bomb on my ring finger or thumb.  This is super easy since you don't have to be very creative to do it.

Here's a recent accent manicure I did with Orly Orange Punch and OPI Extra-Va-Vaganza ring fingers.  I used four coats of the Orly and three of the OPI.

I got a close-up picture of the glittery ring finger for you.

 
Another recent accent manicure I liked consisted ofOPI Lincoln Park After Dark with OPI Mad As a Hatter thumbs.  I went with three coats of each for this one.

I even went with an accent nail manicure for Christmas last year.  I loved this one.  I went with (I think?) three coats of BB Couture Fairy Blood for the red and three coats of China Glaze Emerald Sparkle for the green.

This was one of my favorite accent manicures.  I went with four coats of Essie Marshmallow and four coats of Pure Ice Strapless.

Another favorite of mine is Essie Licorice with OPI Mad As a Hatter ring fingers.  I went with three coats of the Essie and four of the OPI.

Another one I did around the same time is OPI A Grape Fit! and Mad As a Hatter.  I did three coats of each.

I also love this combination and I've done it several times since.  This is three coats of OPI Dating a Royal with four coats of OPI Absolutely Alice.

And last, but not least, is a manicure I did with three (maybe four) coats of OPI Do You Lilac It? and Mad As a Hatter.

I know accent nails are everybody's cup of tea, but they sure are mine!

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Franken - Meteorite

I've been at it again, ladies. I just can't stop mixing! Here's a little lovely that I have named "meteorite" -



I started with a Maybelline Express Finish in Matte Grape and basically just dumped a bunch of gold and pink microglitter as well as some square gold glitter that I purchased in the craft section at Walmart. It was extremely bumpy, but I love the look! Here's a hand shot -


Here's the kicker, though - you know how every once in a while someone will mention an old polish smelling rather chemical-ly? Weeeeeeeell, let me just tell you, I couldn't even put my hands near my FACE, I felt like I had just mixed a chemistry experiment and added a little dab on my wrists for the evening. Seriously, did we really live with this stench for decades?

Two thumbs up for glitter... two thumbs down for chemical burns on this inside of my nose.

Have a great day, all!

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kittytokaren's Favourite Things GIVEAWAY - Pradman Jewelry & Essie!

Today I have the honour of sharing with you two of my top-favourite-number-1 picks for this season...and then giving them away to one lucky PoP reader!! Here's the coordinating combo:

The first item is my must-have nail polish pick of the season - Essie Smokin' Hot. Ever since the early promo pics went up, I've been excited for this polish - and it does not disappoint! It is the most perfect, luxurious, sultry grey that has a dash of violet which lends it an air of mystery. It feels soft and cozy like a cashmere sweater, but yet constructed with a bit of an edge, like a perfect tailored military jacket. (I've already worn this twice...and I can't see stopping now!)

The second item is the perfect companion piece to this smoky polish - an almond-shaped labradorite ring from Pradman Jewelry (see it here). I've owned this ring for a while now, and the stone is much like Essie Smokin' Hot - full of little complexities, but with an all-over mysterious and smoky result. I've been reaching for this almost every day lately, no lie. (Btw, it looks great stacked with the onyx ring...) Each stone is unique, and every one I've seen from Pradman has been amazing! Labradorite looks perfect nestled into this little gold band with a smooth bezel...just right for every day and won't catch on things, but special enough for night-time as well! (See that blue flash?!)

The fantastic Nicole of Pradman Jewelry saw that I put up a picture of her almond-shaped onyx ring in a recent post and wanted a way to say thank you to our wonderful readers for stopping by her site. She says thank you in the best of ways - with a gift! (Also, check out the Pradman Facebook page...they have great jewelry giveaways every month!) We wanted to give the readers a polish and ring set that will take them through fall and winter, for both day and night - and I insisted on giving you my personal favourite combo of two items that I can honestly highly recommend!

So readers of PoP, please enter our GIVEAWAY! The winner will receive 1 BRAND NEW bottle of Essie Smokin' Hot and 1 BRAND NEW Pradman Jewelry Labradorite Ring (in size 5, 6, 7, or 8).

GIVEAWAY RULES:

- One entry per person.

- Anyone in the world is allowed to enter.

- If you win, you will be contacted the next day for your address/ring size. If you do not respond after 7 days, a new winner will be chosen.

- Giveaway closes November 26 at 11:59pm EST.

The entry form is below, and will be in the sidebar of the site for the duration of the GIVEAWAY! All you need to do is fill out your name, email and tell us about your favourite Pradman piece! (My next purchase? Either the labradorite earrings to go with my ring, or this smoky quartz ring. Hmmm...decisions...)

Good luck & I hope you enjoy my favourite things,

kittytokaren

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Essie Wicked

It is what it says it is.




(2 coats)

My new favorite vamp.

Bless u, Essie.

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More Claire's foil swatches, Part II of II

The rest of the Claire's mini foil set. Again, these are unnamed.

Sheer champagne shimmer. This is four coats. Excuse the super yellowness of my nails. You can see the actual color of the polish closer to my cuticle. It's actually a very pretty polish for layering.

Pink foil. Eh. Three coats and still a whole bunch of VNL? No thanks.

Light blue foil. This one was SUPER BRIGHT and it didn't look like there was VNL when I put it on but it showed up in the pic. Make of that what you will. Two coats.

Verdict: wish I didn't buy these. Some of them are okay but I have no more room for polishes that I'm not over the moon for.

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