Let's Get Bronzed- Jessica Pumpkin Delight topped with Jordana Bronze Fest

Jessica Pumpkin Dreams in the bottle

You know how sometimes you get a new nail polish and you're almost obsessed with it? I have to be honest here- Jessica's new Pumpkin Delight (from their Fall 2012 Spicy Dreams collection) is one of those polishes for me. I've worn it twice, and I am absolutely in love with it!

This really is my sort of polish. It's a shimmery metallic bronzey golden duochrome that has flashes of red and gold and copper that's almost impossible to photograph. I finally managed a couple of decent photos, after taking probably 50 or more bottle shots alone!

Jessica Pumpkin Dreams in the bottle

This bottle shot gives you a slight idea of the complexity of this color. At the top of the bottle you can see reddish coppery tones with sparkles of red and green, while at the bottom of the bottle there are golden-greenish shades. If you never enlarge any other photo here, enlarge this bottle shot to the right. You'll be amazed at the flashes of color, and how stunningly beautiful this polish is!

Ah well, enough babbling about Pumpkin Delight. I love it, and it's obvious. Hopefully it's obvious why as well! But now I have to explain the next step I took. It was a rather odd one, but I think it worked out nicely...

If you've been a reader for very long, you probably know I have a thing for glitter. Big glitter, small glitter, holographic glitter... I love it all. So when I got the Jordana collection of special glitters I sort of lost my mind a bit. They're amazing, and I'm having problems picking a favorite. Heck, I don't think I can even pick five favorites... they're just that awesome!

Jordana Bronze Fest in the bottle

Enter Jordana Bronze Fest. Can you see that amazing collection of coppery, bronze, and gold glitters? There are large hexes and tiny microglitter, and flashes of so many shades... It's definitely one of my favorites.

As I was looking through the box I got to thinking... what if I did a gradient from Pumpkin Delight to Bronze Fest? They're very similar in tone, and I liked the idea of going from small shimmer to large glitter. Why not, right?

People? Let me just tell you that I fell in absolute LOVE. They aren't quite as close in color on the nail, but they look fantastic together. It's definitely a magpie heaven! Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried to photograph this, it just didn't work. I tried natural light, I tried flash, I tried in shade and full sun. I finally gave up and shot a video. Hopefully this can convey a bit of this polish combination's amazingness!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Hard Candy - Beetle

You may have noticed by now that I tend to be drawn to interesting polishes- duochromes, holos, things that don't look typical. I love iridescence, I love sparkle and glitter and shimmer. I am a total magpie, so when I saw Hard Candy's new polish Beetle in the display, I absolutely fell in love.

It's such a hard color to describe, for me. Depending on the angle of the light, I can see purple, magenta, green and gold in it at varying times. It's a beautiful foil polish that is absolutely stunning on the nail, and it wears like iron on me. These photos were taken 7 days after I applied the polish, and I hadn't even applied topcoat after that!

The photo to the left shows more of the variations of color that show up. I wore this the day of the impromptu polish party, and my nieces absolutely loved it. They gathered around while I was painting their nails and tried to decide how many colors they could find in it.

Then one niece asked why it was called Beetle. I loved this, because I was able to describe how beetles' wings are iridescent and reflect many colors, just like this polish. We also discussed the term "duochrome," and the roots of it- duo means two and chrome means colors.

Unfortunately, they then asked why this would be called a duochrome if more than two colors show up, and I had no answer for them. I think they forgave me for it, though. They certainly seemed happy enough with the holo polish on their own nails!

I had lots of fun wandering around my father-in-law's property looking for photo ops. He's got so many lovely flowerbeds, but almost nothing was in bloom this time of year! Of course, he did have some gorgeous pansies in the back yard that I didn't find until after I'd finished taking photos. That's ok, though... I'm happy with the shots I got.

What do you think of Beetle- is it your kind of polish, or do you tend to stick with more traditional colors?

Hard Candy Beetle was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

A picnic and a bargain... how much fun is that?

It's been a seriously wonderful few days here. I actually managed to get 5 or 6 hours of sleep in a row yesterday, and when I woke up my husband suggested we all go on a picnic! My husband, my son and I grabbed the frisbee and the camera and hopped in the car. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food and then headed to the local park.

I can't lie here, when I think "picnic," I often think snack foods. Gouda, crackers, popcorn, cookies... something nibbly and fun. As we walked through the store, my son grabbed the crackers, my husband wanted the ham and fresh french bread, and I wanted...

... the cookies! I have a serious sweet tooth, and when I saw these I got so excited! Unfortunately they didn't taste quite as good as they looked, but they were still pretty darn yummy! Oddly enough, both my husband and my son said they tasted coconut in the cookies! Weird people!

We sat at this cute picnic table that was right next to the play area. There was a family with a small boy, maybe 2 years old, and I really enjoyed watching him play. He was so cute!! He really enjoyed going up the slide instead of up the steps, but since there wasn't anyone else on the playground it was ok.

After we ate, the guys tossed the frisbee for a bit. I sat on the grass while they did, taking pictures and sketching, because my fibro was being a pain in the butt. Still, it was a lot of fun watching them. They really got into it, running and jumping to catch the frisbee. At one point my husband jumped, hit the ground and rolled, coming up after covered in dirt and grass bits. It scared me, I thought he'd hurt himself, but he was just chasing the frisbee.

Sheesh, boys!!

As I was watching them, I realized that hey, I had awesome sun and I was wearing my Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, so I started taking pictures of my nails. At one point I had my hand up against the bright blue sky, and my husband laughed at me. He said, "You're taking the anti-MySpace pictures!"  You know, instead of having my camera in my hand and taking a picture of myself looking up at the camera, I had the camera on my face and was taking a picture of my hand!

I thought it was funny. And on to the nail polish...

This is amazing. I've gotten so many compliments on it since I've put it on! Not only am I in love with the color, but it seems to catch the attention of lots of people when I wear it! It's a vivid sapphire blue with a gorgeous violet shimmer or microglitter in the bottle. It also seems to have a bit of duochromey goodness, shifting between blue, purple, and magenta when I tilt the bottle in my hands.

I'd picked this particular polish up at least 20 times in the shops, wanting to buy it but being too darn frugal to do it. I was just blown away at how the colors shifted in the bottle. So when I found this one in the clearance bin at WalMart for $2, you can bet your bippy I grabbed it!

It applied like a dream for me, too, except that the brush is shedding. I had to pick out three separate strands of brush while applying it, and that made me a sad panda. But not for long... how could I stay sad looking at this? Seriously!!

Once it's on the nail, it's not quite as duochromey, but it's still breathtakingly beautiful. I wish these photos captured the true look of this polish, but as usual the camera refused to play nice with the gorgeous purples and magentas. The color is primarily that stunning sapphire blue, but from some angles there's a deep purple cast with flecks of magenta peeking through. It's just sublime... absolutely sublime. I love this polish!

Gee, do you get the feeling I like this one or something? I need to open up, holding my feelings inside like this is gonna cause me a stress disorder or something! ;)

Finally, we all ended up back at the picnic table and I sat and sketched while the guys talked. It's not the most accurate sketch, but I present to you... duckie, a still life.

 

I also wandered and took some photos, but I figure those can wait. Maybe I'll start a folder on Picasa for my photography, or a flickr or something. I just wanted to share my picnic with everyone. I hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine!

CND Effects Have Stolen My Heart!

Some of you may have realized by now that I really, really enjoy layering polishes to experiment with them, change their attitude, their vibe. Layering can take a totally demure polish and turn it into a showstopper, it can tone down an overly loud polish, and can make magic happen.

That's why I've had my eye on CND's Colour & Effects polishes. With 50 creme shades and 15 effects polishes, you have an enormous range for combinations. The effects include subtle pearl effects, saucy shimmers, and standout sparkles that bathe your nails in glittery sparks of light!

Imagine my surprise when I came out and found CND's Oil Slick and Sapphire Sparkle in my mailbox! I was so giddy that I could barely wait to get inside to open them and try them on. I tore into that box like a mad woman, and simply held the bottles for a few minutes, watching the light play across the Sapphire Sparkle.

Oil Slick didn't really excite me too much at first. I thought it was a deep rich black. That's good, I need a good black polish. (I know, what kind of polish-obsessed chick am I?) Sapphire Sparkle totally held my interest, though. It was odd because I could see so many different colors flashing in it. Obviously there was sapphire blue (which my camera absolutely refused to capture in the bottle), but there was also a lovely violet and sometimes even a hint of green.

I know! Green? But I swear, it was there. This stuff shifts colors in the most curious way, and the entire time I had it on, I couldn't stop looking at my nails, shifting my hands one way, then another. Even my husband looked on, intrigued by the changing colors!

I apologize, y'all... I took about a billion photos of these just to try and show some of the beauty. Some sort of capture it, so many fell short. I picked the best to share... Back to the nails!

Once I started applying Oil Slick, I got a huge surprise- it's not black! It's actually a deep teal blue, so deep that once you've got two coats on it looks like a deep inky black with blue tones. It's absolutely gorgeous, and a nice switch from straight black. On its own, it's beautiful!

I applied two coats of Oil Slick, and found that it applied like an absolute dream. It's such a rich, creamy opaque color that if I were better at painting my nails, I'd have been able to do a single coat and call it done. As it is, two coats was perfect, and worth wearing on its own.

But obviously, I didn't. I didn't even get any photos of just the Oil Slick on. I was just too excited! As soon as I applied the Sapphire Sparkle, things lit up. Honestly, do you see the sparkle? It's like a blue fire, catching the light, shifting and changing as the colors fade from blue to purple to pink to green...

It's absolutely magical. I cannot say it enough. I also wore this for three days before I photo'd it, simply because I was being scatterbrained. Note the tipwear... not that it matters. There was no real chipping or flaking, and I made the mistake of not wearing a base coat with this! I was only planning to swatch it, then only planning to wear it for a day. It wore well for that!

Finally, I have to show this last picture. You can see the purple and the pink that seem to show up in lower light from odd angles. Have I mentioned yet that I'm absolutely in love with how this polish changes color depending on the angle you view it from?

I know, I know. I'm being repetitive. I can't help it! I am absolutely smitten with this color! Instead of getting put away in the box of colors I've worn, this set got put aside in the favorites section. I'll be wearing it again!

First photo courtesy of http://www.cnd.com.
CND Oil Slick and Sapphire Sparkle were provided by CND for evaluation.