Milani Texture Nail Polish - Purple Streak

Hello Lovelies! It's already been on heckuva morning here at KLK. First of all I'm having a down kind of day. Sometimes the little things get to me, and today is one of those "sometimes". I think that we all forget how much work goes into blogging, and that there are actual people behind those pretty pictures. Then I opened up my comments, and the reason why I blog slapped me in the face again.  I blog because I love to share my love of all things nail polish, and my readers are pretty damned awesome. So thank you for being here, I appreciate each and every one of you. You guys rock!

Then I managed to kill my Flakie Friday Mani and had to start all over again. Needless to say Flakie Friday has been delayed until this evening.  But enough of the down stuff...let's see some awesome polish!

Today I have one of the new Milani Texture Polishes to share with you (Texture Creams? Texture Nail Lacquer? Texture Collection? I've seen all of these...I'm just gonna stick with Nail Polish for now!). I found these babies at Walgreens last week and have been dying to play with them. The other night I decided to take a break from just swatching and gave in to my need to play!

Purple Streak is a beautiful deep purple textured polish. The textured finish is so cool! It's different from the liquid sand polishes, yet has a similar texture. Check it out!

This is 2 coats of Milani Texture Nail Polish in Purple Streak, no top coat (please note that there are no irregularities in the texture IRL. The side that the light is strongest on tends to look less textured in these shots):

I am really loving these polishes. One thing that makes them stand out from the liquid sands (to me anyway) is that these are a solid color. I think these are also a bit m ore textured as well, although they weren't annoying at all. I played with the texture a bit, but I didn't have the urge to scrape this off my nails. I don't have any of the Zoya Pixie Dust polishes yet, but I think I need to grab some so I can compare.

Purple Srtreak's formula was excellent. Thin, yet not watery, it applied effortlessly with just the right amount of texture. I did find this to be streaky on the first coat, but the second coat evened things out beautifully. Dry time was very fast, and since this applied so well I barely had to worry about clean-up (and you know how OCD I am about my polish lines being perfect!).

I really need to mention the wear-time with this polish. The pictures you see here were taken a full 24 hours after application. At that point I had no tip wear and no chips, and the finish hadn't worn or dulled at all. I was worried that since I wasn't wearing top coat that this mani wouldn't hold up, but it held up incredibly well. I had even showered, bathed the baby, done some laundry, and household chores before taking photos. Impressive, right?

Milani Texture Creams can be found at select drugstores and online at Milanicosmetics.com. I grabbed mine for $3.99 each at Walgreens.

What do you think of the textured trend? Do you have any of the Milani Textured Polishes?

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for Flakie Friday!
-Kimber

The Impossible-Mariah Carey Liquid Sand OPI

Hola!!
Por fin sábado!! y yo les traigo mi manicura para el fin de semana, al principio no me interesaba mucho en la nueva tendencia en uñas de este 2013 la cual es las uñas con textura ''liquid sand'' pero después de ver en persona la colección de Mariah Carey de OPI supe que tenía que tener por lo menos uno, aunque corro el riesgo de que me guste tanto y los compre todos jaja soy compradora compulsiva!!

El esmalte que escogí es de los cuatro ''liquid sand'' que hay en la colección de Mariah y se llama ''The Impossible'' es un hermoso color rosa con glitter hexagonal del mismo tono de rosa pero metálico  y lo que mas me encanto fue que tiene glitter en forma de estrella!! por eso lo escogí jeje. Realmente le hace honor al nombre que OPI le puso a la nueva textura por que si parece que fuera arena.
Yo creía que la textura iba a ser molesta pero no, ya llevo 2 días usándolo y no me ha molestado en nada, lo único que no me gustó es que algunas estrellitas se calleron. Pero bueno creo que fue buena elección de color porque me encanta como se ve con mi tono de piel.

Ustedes han comprado alguno?? les gusta la nueva tendencia para el 2013?? A mi sii me gusto mucho y creo que seguiré buscando de otras marcas también.

ABC Challenge Letter "D": D is for DIY Liquid Sand

Hello lovelies! Happy Wednesday! Wednesday's at KLK mean it's another ABC Challenge day, and I have a really nifty mani to share today!

Today's letter is "D", and I chose another DIY nail art technique to share. DIY may be stretching it as far as the ABC Challenge guidelines go, but I couldn't resist sharing this technique with you. It's one of my favorite techniques so far.

I'm sure you've all seen the new OPI Liquid Sand polishes from the Mariah Carey Collection. I even have one that I need to share with you. If you're like me, you love the look, but your budget won't allow you to go out and buy all of them, and you may wish they came in more colors. I was blog surfing the other day, and came across this tutorial from The Daily Varnish. It did not take long for me to run out to Michael's and grab some supplies.

All you need for this look is nail polish, Matte Top Coat, and Embossing Powder. I picked up a few different colors of embossing powder for $3 each at Michael's, and they had a bunch on sale for $1.99 as well. I chose a blue embossing powder with silver holo for this manicure (although the matte top coat kills the holo!), and I love the result! I'm actually still wearing this! Let's take a peek at the mani...be sure to click to read more to find out how you can get this look!




This is Recollections Embossing Powder in Blue Blaze over 2 coats of Salon Perfect Berry Blue, topped with Warpaint Beauty Matte Top Coat:

I love love love this look!! I really dig the liquid sand polishes, but I wanted more color choices.  On top of that, when I went to pick some up, the colors I did want were sold out. This is a great way to get the liquid sand look for cheap!

How I did it:

I'll be posting a full tutorial on this look (along with the DIY black spotted tutorial) within the next week. Until then, here's a quick rundown of how I got this look.

1. Polish as usual. Start with your base coat, then polish, top coat, and clean up. I use a quick dry topcoat so that my polish dries faster, since you'll be using a matte top coat to finish.

2. After your basic mani is finished, apply a thin coat of your colored polish to the nail. I can't emphasize thin enough - if you go too thick, the entire layer will spread and create a thick, oddly shaped mess. Clean up isn't an option with this kind of mani, since the color in the powder will run all over your cuticles, and it's a pain to get off! Work on one nail at a time.

3. While your polish is still wet, take the Embossing Powder and either dip your finger into the container (easiest, with less mess), or sprinkle the powder in an even layer over your nail (if you choose this method, lay a piece of aluminum foil under your hand - you can pour the powder back into the container when you're finished.). Once your entire nail is covered with the powder, press the powder into the polish gently. Make sure you do this to the entire nail. Be careful not to press too hard, or your powder and polish will come sliding off.

4. Repeat on all 10 nails.

5. Once everything is reasonably dry, use either a fan brush or a fluffy powder brush to brush away the excess embossing powder.

6. Apply Matte Top Coat (this is what gives it the liquid sand finish) and allow to dry. Wash your hands and voila! Finished! I will mention that the embossing powder sticks to everything! You can see some of it on my hands in the photos!

Once everything is completely dry, you can wash your hands, oil, lotion, etc as usual. My matte top coat is wonderful and returns to a matte finish after oiling and washing, but if you have a finicky matte, it may take a good 20 minutes to return to the matte finish.

Sounds like a lot of steps, but it's really fast and easy. Not to mention cheap!

What do you think of the DIY Liquid Sand Mani? Will you be trying this?

Be sure to check out all the lovey ladies and their awesome "D" Manicures!





Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber