ABOP Franken - More sorbet please!

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: No
SOURCE: Franken made with Nina Ultra Pro - Tango and Out the Door Quick Dry topcoat.
COMMENTS: Another quick jelly/sorbet. I loved this orange the night before, but the next  day in natural light it was a bit too bright/garish. I'll use a less "red" orange if I happen to make another.

I decided to throw another rub-on under the jelly. Bzzzt!

Source color - Nina Ultra Pro - Tango.

I love making these with a quick dry topcoat - nice and shiny AND dries quickly. Mine's on the thick side, so I get nice thick squishy coats.

Oops, some dry skin from where I used acetone to clean up. Ah  well...

Are YOU making your own jelly/sorbet polish? Another excellent base for these is the LA Colors - Color Craze polishes. I'll try one of those soon.

ABOP Franken - Get Your Own Sorbet!

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: Not until after Nfu Oh - 59 flakies added.
SOURCE: Abop franken for the jelly, www.fabuloustreet.com for the Nfu Oh - 59.
COMMENTS: I've been seeing the OPI Texas collection around the nail blog world, and didn't feel I had to have any of the colors. Then I saw the sorbet/jelly ones in person. Gorgeous! And the store salesperson was wearing one of each of the red/coral/purple ones on her fingers. Want!!  At $8.50 each, that wasn't going to work for me, and I didn't have any JCP coupons. I told myself I would create my own sorbets - even if they weren't exactly the same, something with a similar squishiness and shine. So, here is the first one.

Made of two polishes - an old L'Oreal - Stroke of Midnight, and Out the Door topcoat. Simple, quick dry, shiny:

Started the mani by applying rub-ons directly onto base coat. Less waiting, and I knew they'd still show through:

Topped with Nfu-Oh 59 the next evening:

I haven't seen swatches of the OPI sorbets on longer nails yet, but I wonder how many coats those take to obscure the nail line...

Will the Real DS Original please stand up?

FEATURING: OPI - DS Original, Sally Hansen Prisms - Pink Rose Diamond (lighter version), Ulta - Celebutante, Quirius - News of the Beloved
COATS: See final photo with answers
TOPCOAT?: No
COMMENTS: I looked at these two holo polishes in the sun and realized they're both almost equally holo. So I set about the challenge of using the Sally Hansen to layer a DS-Original lookalike. One of them comes close - especially at certain angles! What do you think?

Ulta - Devious and Tutu Cute

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 1 thick coat of Ulta -Devious, drops of Ulta - Tutu Cute
TOPCOAT?: Yes, 1 Coat of Beauty Secrets Fast Finish
SOURCE: Ulta (both in-store and online)
COMMENTS: When I saw this post on Colette's blog, MySimpleLittlePleasures, I knew I HAD to try it. Please check out her blog if you haven't and ever need inspiration. In addition to other great nail art, she does the best water marbles ever - and posts video tutorials!
I fell in love with this look and will definitely be trying it again!

I'm so behind...

... in my walking, that is. I bought a bunch of polish downtown last night (haven't been there since September and had to seize the opportunity as I was there for work). Kleancolor - 12 for $8, how could I not? I spent $18. Why is that a problem? Because I made a $21 order from Golden Rose this past weekend!  As of this morning I had about $22 in my "walking bank", so now I'm in the negative.

So I'm walking right now. What? You don't believe me? Here's the evidence:

Ooh, now that I've uploaded the photo I'm up to 2.07 miles! I'm aiming for 2 miles a day now so technically I'm done.

I'll do a few more minutes then need to get ready for bed. I'm sooo behind! 
There, got that off my chest.

Golden Rose Swatches

COMMENTS: A few of you mentioned planning to purchase some of the polishes from this brand. There aren't a lot of swatches out yet, so I figured I'd do my bit of community service and swatch most of my collection. I swatched everything  but the smaller holos (sorry Enamel Girl, I did include photos though!)

Although disappointed that I ended up with so many frosty finish polishes, I can see how these could be stunning - when applied carefully they look like pearls!

All swatches are two coats without topcoat unless stated otherwise.

Golden Rose Paris:

Holographic - No. 113 worn in this post
No. 88 worn in this post

Golden Rose Paris No. 51:

Golden Rose Paris No. 37 (two coats on index and ring, three coats on middle and pinky):

Golden Rose With Protein:

No. 326 worn in this post

Golden Rose with Protein No. 213 (two coats on index and ring, three coats on middle and pinky) I like!:

Golden Rose with Protein No. 214 (two coats on index and ring, three coats on middle and pinky, not much difference) - I like this one too!:

Golden Rose with Protein No. 215:

Golden Rose with Protein No.  279
One coat at first - this would be a great sheer for a quick mani. It's gold-ish shimmer with specks of gold.

And 279 with two coats.

Golden Rose with Protein No.  309 - another one I liked, though it's certainly  not unique:

Golden Rose with Protein No. 325 (Compared to two coats of Paris - 88 on index, I like 325 more - one less coat but almost the same great jelly color, for less money!):

Golden Rose with Protein No. 327 (Compared to two coats of Fashion color - 52 on index. These are very similar, but you get much more for the same price from 327):

Golden Rose Fashion Color (minis)

Golden Rose Fashion Color No. 52 (used in previous comparison):

Golden Rose Holographic (minis)

The grey-ish ones are somewhat similar, so I used No. 108 to make frankens last year.

Golden Rose Holographic No. 102, 103, 107:

Golden Rose Holographic No. 119, 115, 114, 111:

Finally done swatching - some fun with the holos (119 and 115):

I may go back and swatch the holos, but I'm not making any promises!

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails - Plum

*Oops! Edited to fix my typos.
APPLICATION: A little messier than usual due to the polish being thinner than I'm used to. Otherwise smooth.
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: See photos
SOURCE: Local drugstore
COMMENTS: Someone on the MakeUpAlley nail board posted some bottles from this line in her recent purchase, and it reminded me of the many I have. I decided to pull one out and use it as a result. For the dots I used the colors Truffle and Terracotta from the same line.

With topcoat:

Without topcoat

With topcoat:

I tend to match my clothes to my mani, and the next morning, pulled this blouse out to wear.

UP NEXT: Some Golden Rose SWATCHES. Yes I actually swatched polishes, a rarity for me.