Dragon Scale Nail Art with Chloe & Bella

There are some new polishes on the block and they are gor-geous! You may have tried ultrachrome flakies, but you haven't lived till you've tried them infused with platinum-silver reflective flakes. Indie brand Chloe & Bella has two variations on this formula, inspired by Dragon's Skin Ammolite and Dragon's Breath Opals. I've created some nail art with both lacquers, as well as swatched them individually for your viewing pleasure.

Seeing as both lacquers were inspired by dragon-related gems, it was only natural that I created a dragon scale pattern for my nail art!

I began by creating a full coverage gradient as my base. I've got Dragon's Skin closest to my cuticles, and Dragon's Breath on my free edge.

Then, I grabbed Chloe & Bella's black nail polish, Black Out. I painted black dragon scales, one by one, beginning at the cuticle and working my way to the tips.

While I'll never say no to nail art, these polishes can definitely stand on their own, as well.

Here is three coats of Dragon's Breath. You an see the ultra chrome flakies shift from pink to purple to gold to olive, while the silver flakes shine throughout. This polish is completely smooth and sits flat on the nail (I'm not even wearing topcoat here)!

Dragon's Skin tells the same tale: three easy, smooth coats. This one shifts from copper to gold to green.

So, I'm dying to know - are these your jam? Cause I sure enjoyed playing with them! Dragon's Breath has particularly captivated me. Swoon city.

These two shades are available from Chloe & Bella for $11.95 per polish. You can also keep up with the brand on Facebook and Instagram for more information.

P.S. If you are into bottle porn, be sure to check out the Chloe & Bella website, and if you wanna see more, check out additional swatches via Allie's Blog.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Chloe & Bella. All opinions are my own. 

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I Love Nail Polish Ultra Chrome Flakies - Complete Collection Swatch & Review

If you're a part of the nail polish community, no doubt you've heard and seen all of the hype around the I Love Nail Polish Ultra Chrome Flakies collection! Not only are these polishes stunning, but they come in a wide range of colors to satisfy all of your flakie needs.

All swatches show one coat of the flakie over a black base. Be sure to look towards the edges of my nails to check out some of the more dramatic color shifts, as I've shot my nails at an angle to show as much of the multichromatic effect in one photo as possible. I've also tried to arrange my pictures in color order, so you can easily compare some of the more similar shades. Happy viewing!

I Love Nail Polish - Atlantis

I Love Nail Polish - Luna

I Love Nail Polish - Metropolis

I Love Nail Polish - Phoenix

I Love Nail Polish - Supernova

I Love Nail Polish - Cold Fusion

I Love Nail Polish - Gaia

I Love Nail Polish - Success

I Love Nail Polish - Open Fields

I Love Nail Polish - Brilliance

I Love Nail Polish - Rapture

I Love Nail Polish - Electric Carnival

I Love Nail Polish - Neon Rosebud

The flakies are metallic instead of translucent, which means that they don't require a black/dark base to show off their colors, unlike other flakies you may be used to. Another effect of the metallic flakies is that on the nail, the flakies can look dark until they catch the light.

They apply smoothly and evenly, and sit flat on the nail. They are not hungry for multiple coats of topcoat like a glitter would be. They remove easily with regular nail polish remover (no foil method necessary).

My favorites are Neon Rosebud, Brilliance, and Metropolis.

Here are some additional swatch resources:
More Nail Polish shows Neon Rosebud sponged on for full coverage.
Coewless Polish shows Luna over a white base to demonstrate the opacity of the flakies.

I Love Nail Polish lacquers are available at www.ilnp.com. You can also keep up with the brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Serum No. 5 Fall 2014 Swatches and Review

Serum No. 5, a brand known for their glow in the dark shades, released a large lineup of polishes this fall. I've got swatches to share with you today, including glitters, holographics, shimmers, and of course, their signature glows.

I've also got a quick personal update at the end of this post, for any of you that are curious about what I've been up to lately.

A Class Act is a pinky holo. Unfortunately, my camera struggles with pinks, so it looks a bit redder here rather than pink. I really liked wearing this shade. It's flattering on the hands and work appropriate without being boring. Two coats with a nice formula.

Beam Me Up is a golden/tan glow in the dark shade with microshimmer. I needed three coats for the opacity shown here, plus two coats of topcoat to try to smooth out the roughness of the glow pigments. I don't think this shade is super flattering on me either, unfortunately.

Dark Matter has a olive-brown base with heavy orange/pink shimmer and it glows green in the dark. Like Beam Me Up, I needed three coats and two coats of topcoat to achieve the look below.

First Colors is a white semi-opaque base with blue, red, and yellow glitters. I used three coats of First Colors in my swatch, though next time I would probably layer one coat over white instead. I love that all of the glitters in this polish are on the smaller side, as I don't really find myself drawn to large glitters these days.

Fractured Rainbows is a glow in the dark opalescent flakie topper. I layered one coat over CND Vinylux Indigo Frock for the swatch below.

I had trouble deciding how to layer this one: do I go with a dark color to help the flakies show up better, or do I go with a light color to boost the glow in the dark effect? As you can see, I went with the dark base, which makes the flakies pop but does affect the glowiness.

Galactic Rainbow is a glow in the dark shade with a reddish brown base and blue/teal shimmer. I used three coats for the swatch below, and you may need two coats of topcoat as well. It flattered my skin tone nicely, I think.

Leaves You Breathless is a clear-base glitter topper in shades of autumn leaves. I layered one coat over CND Vinylux Rose Brocade. The glitter was plentiful and went on easily.

Light Speed is a glow in the dark shade with a grey jelly base and teal blue shimmer. I absolutely love the way this one looks and it seemed to be a bit less gritty than some of the other glows. Three coats shown.

Sleepy Holo is a charcoal grey shade with a scattered holographic finish. I like coarse holographics like this one, and it covered well in two coats.

Tassel's Worth the Hassle is a glow in the dark shade with a dark grey-brown jelly base and gold & silver glitter. I think this would be a lovely New Year's polish! Three coats shown.

Work Hard Play Hard is a brown semi-opaque polish with blue, fuchsia, and gold glitters. The final effect is pretty busy, though the color palette is nice and the glitters complement the base well. I used three coats for the coverage below.

My top picks from this lineup would be Light Speed, Galactic Rainbow, and A Class Act.

New buyers should keep in mind that one of the prices you pay for a glow in the dark polish is a bumpier, sometimes grittier finish. Though not all Serum glows are like this, you may need to add an extra coat of topcoat to smooth some of them out.

Serum No. 5 shades are available via www.serumno5.com. You can also catch the brand on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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I also want to take a quick moment to address the lack of posts from me lately. A lot of big things are happening in my life right now, not the least of which is a change in career! In January, I am going to begin nail school (more on this later). Right now, I'm busy at work with the regular Christmas season as well as trying to help the company transition, too.

In addition, I decided to MAKE all of my Christmas presents this year, which is no easy feat. Add that to all of the usual holiday festivities and get-togethers, and you end up with one busy gal. I hope to be able to pick up the post frequency at the end of the year, but for now, you can follow me on Instagram for some short tutorials and non-blog content.

Happy Holidays!

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Raindrops and Cloudy Bubbles, with Tutorial

I recently purchased and wore Illamasqua Raindrops, which used to be a cult favorite (and difficult to find, at that). It was lauded for it's soft shimmer and delicate flakes in a pale grey-blue base, and I loved a lot of the swatches that I saw of it online. Unfortunately, the polish fell flat for me. I didn't think it looked great on my nails, and I expected it to be a bit more soft and jelly-like vs. opaque. I decided to embellish it with some cloudy bubbles.

Though I think the technique has been tackled by a few people, I first saw this specific technique, with acrylic paint, on @madamluck's Instagram, though a few people have mentioned that nail artists may have been doing it for a while now. I filmed a video while I was doing this nail art, and the process is pretty easy.


Thin out acrylic paint with one part paint and one part water. Place a bead of the thinned paint on your nail and then use a dry brush to soak up the excess paint from the middle of the bead. This should leave a ring of paint on your nail like a bubble. Repeat as necessary, wiping off the brush in between bubbles. Finish with topcoat.

I do think the cloudy bubbles helped me enjoy this manicure a bit more, though probably not enough to make me keep this polish in my collection. Sorry Illamasqua! While I normally love your lacquers, this one just didn't do it for me.

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Different Dimension - I Only Have Ice For You

Different Dimension's I Only Have Ice For You is a holographic topcoat with metallic silver flakes. Though it is from the Happy Holly Days collection, it is still available for purchase (yay!). I don't often reach for holographic topcoats, but I found this one to be pretty enticing. The flakes are really pretty.

I layered one coat of this topper over Nicole by OPI This Blue Is So You. Shown first in direct light and second in indirect light (after the jump).

Different Dimension polishes are available at differentdimension.us. You can follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information on sales, new releases, and more.

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Blue to Green Flakie Gradient

Hey guys. Here's an old "Night of the Living Draft" post that had been sitting in my unpublished posts for a while!

This flakie gradient was made using Inglot 204 (the blue flakie) and Finger Paints Flecked (the green flakie) over a base of OPI Black Onyx. You may have seen a similar manicure on More Nail Polish -- I love her three color, mattified version!

This look is an easy one to achieve. You apply each flakie color like you would a glitter gradient, concentrating one flakie color at each end of the nail. After you have applied both colors, grab the one you applied first and add a couple of extra flakes to the middle of your nail. This helps to give the flakies a more "blended" look.

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