Cult Nails Manipulative with Seduction Accent Nail

Happy Sunday readers! I had a nice, quiet weekend that involved wine, shopping and a haircut. How was everyone else's weekend? Today has been rainy and cold for most of the day, so I've been finishing up Mad Men on Netflix and relaxing. For a Sunday, the pace has been nice and slow. I never want Sundays to end, so I'm enjoying it while I can.

Now onto the polish! I have yet another Cult Nails related post. Once I got my Divas and Drama collection, I had to put it on ASAP and this was the first mani I did with the collection. I started with two coats of Manipulative, which is a blue creme polish with a very subtle shimmer. Manipulative leans a little green as well. The color was a bit darker than I thought it would be after seeing Maria's swatches and pictures, but it's gorgeous anyway.

I also love Maria's swatches of Seduction over Enticing, so I recreated the layering combination as an accent nail on my ring finger. I used two coats of Enticing, which is a sheer baby pink creme polish. It's a gorgeous polish on its own and two coats provided great coverage. One of these days I'll have to wear Enticing without covering it up. 

After everything was dry, using Wicked Fast top coat of course, I added the accent nail of 2 coats of Seduction. I also used Cult Nails Get it On for the base coat. 

So there you have it, yet another gorgeous Cult Nails combination. I think what I love most about the Divas and Drama collection is that all of the colors go so well together. They're just made to be used together, whether it's layering, accent nails or nail art. It's a collection that I'm doubt I'll ever get tired of. 

The Divas and Drama collection from Cult Nails is available here for $40 or you can buy the individual polish colors for $10 each. 

Have you tried this combo yet? What have been your favorite manicures using the Cult Nails Divas and Drama collection? Let me know in the comments section!

Sookie St. James over Red

Hello lovely readers! Today I have a special layering combination for you. My first KelBel Cosmetics customer, Jason, had let me know that he layered over Sookie St. James over red and that the combination looked great. Since Sookie St. James is an orange polish, the combination would not have crossed my mind. I was intrigued and decided to finally try it myself.

For the base red, I decided to use China Glaze Poinsettia. I used two coats, which applied very well. After applying Seche Vite and waiting for it to dry, I applied two coats of Sookie St. James and another coat of Seche Vite. 

Let me just say, I absolutely love this combination! Sookie St. James covers well enough that you can't see much of the red base coat, but something about these two together just makes the color pop. I was just doing it as a swatch, so I only polished one hand and I did not want to take it off! It's probably one of my favorite layering manicures ever. Thanks Jason!

Sookie St. James is available in my Etsy shop, KelBel Cosmetics in both mini and full size. This polish is limited edition, so be sure to pick it up while it's still available if you want it!

What do you think of this combination? Is there anything else you'd like to see Sookie St. James layered over?

Lorelei's (Blue) Tiara

I doubt anyone has been keeping track, but I'm up to untrieds #8 and 9. Although I can't say that's great progress because my resolution completely went out the window and I've purchased even more nail polish lately. Sales are my weakness and that's what's gotten me. But I am resolving to do a no buy right now. Let's just see how long that lasts.

For this manicure I decided to do some layering. My base color was two coats of China Glaze Blue Year's Eve from my Christmas haul. Blue Year's Eve is a shimmery royal blue that I would classify as a jelly from the Let It Snow collection. I was really excited about this polish because I love the color blue, but ended up being a bit disappointed with the formula. In all fairness, Time Traveler was a tough act to follow. I found Blue Year's Eve to be a bit watery and definitely needs 2-3 coats if you want to wear it alone. Luckily I was covering up my two coats.

Next I layered one coat of China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara over Blue Year's Eve. Lorelei's Tiara is a glitter polish made up of small silver and light blue hexagon glitters from the Eye Candy collection. I also got this one for Christmas and I love the combination. I also can't help that it reminds me Lorelai from my favorite show, Gilmore Girls, so it automatically has an edge over other polishes. I thought I would need 2 coats of LT, but there is sooo much glitter in there. I'm pretty sure that Lorelei's Tiara could be opaque on it's own without any layering. 

I couldn't just stop there. On my ring fingers as an accent, I added one coat of OPI DS Coronation. The difference of my ring fingers to the rest of my nails is very subtle and didn't work as well as I would have liked. 

I'm not going to include DS Coronation as an untried just yet, because I think I need to give it it's own post. I finished off everything with a coat of Seche Vite and the glitter has smoothed out nicely. 

Layering with Blue Year's Eve

Layering with Lorelei's Tiara

I still can't help staring at this combo. It's glitter packed, but also has a wintry feel to it. Perfect for this time of year. Despite my minor troubles with Blue Year's Eve, I'm still a fan of these two China Glaze polishes. 

 

What do you think about this layering combination? Do you own both of these polishes too? Let me know in the comments section!

Untrieds #2 and 3: A Fiji Frenzy from Sinful Colors

I ended up wearing For Audrey for a full week because I loved it so much. Plus, there was hardly any tip wear and virtually no chipping. China Glaze is quickly becoming a favorite.

However, this is not a China Glaze post. I still have a bunch of untrieds to get through, so this week is a two-for-one mani. You may remember from my Christmas haul post that I got both Fiji and Frenzy from Sinful Colors. From the moment I saw them together, I knew they'd be a great layering combo.

I started off with a Seche Clear base coat, then two coats of Sinful Colors Fiji, which is a bright purple. I wasn't too thrilled with the coverage of two coats and the formula is a little watery. My ideal polishes are opaque in 2 coats, but Fiji would probably need 3 if worn alone. I left it at two coats though since it was a base for layering. Fiji is a pretty purple, but it didn't blow me away. Overall, it's a good color to have for layering.

On top of Fiji, I used one coat of Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat and then I applied two layers of Sinful Colors Frenzy. Frenzy is purple and light blue glitter in a clear base. After two coats, it really does look like a glitter frenzy! I finished off the mani with two coats of Sally Hansen No Chip Top Coat to smooth it all out.

As you can see, I tried something new and thought it might be a good idea to take my photos while holding a coffee cup. It didn't work as well as I would have liked. Holding a coffee cup in your hand, inside a light box while trying to take photos of your own manicure is awkward! 

It's hard to capture how sparkly this combo of Fiji and Frenzy really is. But I love it in person!

Overall I like this layering combo a lot. The purples in the two polishes compliment each other well and the light blue glitter adds that extra pop of color. This combo keeps catching my eye throughout the day and sometimes the combination even looks fuchsia out of the corner of my eye. I'm looking forward to using Frenzy for other layering combos in the future!

What do you think about this layering combo? What is your favorite shade from Sinful Colors? Do you like my (coffee) mug shot?