the Never-Ending Pile Challenge: Textured

Hey! Happy Monday! I just have a quick post for y'all tonight. Of course, it's another installment to the Never-Ending Pile Challenge and today's theme is textured. I have quite a few textured polishes. I love how they look like the inside of geodes. I just never think to wear them! Tonight, I paired two of L'Oreal's textured polishes from their Gold Dust collection.

On my pointer and pinky fingers are three coats of Hidden Gems. For my double accent nail, I used three coats of Too Dimensional?

And some macro shots for good measure.

Overall, I really like these polishes but I favor Too Dimensional? over Hidden Gems, right now. While I love the darkened teal of Hidden Gems, I wish the purple flash you can see in the bottle shot would have translated better on the nail. I've seen Hidden Gems swatched on a few different blogs and that seems to be the general consensus.

Too Dimensional? is a beautiful dusty lavender and that gold shimmer makes it look so expensive. I'll definitely be wearing it as a full mani, soon!

What have been some of your favorite textured polishes since they've come out?

Be sure to check out the other sparkly ladies and their textured tips!

xo, ali

The Never-Ending Pile Challenge: Vampy

Happy Monday! I've got another swatch for the Never-Ending Pile Challenge! I really like this challenge! It's making me think outside the box and stick to a regular posting schedule. Plus, I'm trying to make sure I have manis prepared for upcoming challenges.

Tonight, I've got an old polish that I inherited from my mom when she cleaned out her stash after moving.

This is Avon Speed Dry Presto Plum (I think). Three coats with top coat. It's a pretty brown-toned plum. While there is nothing really special about this color, it's a great go-to for a grown up, sophisticated, work appropriate mani. I would definitely suggest a color like this for a job interview.

Be sure to check out the other untrieds from tonight's prompt, below!!

xo, ali

The Never-Ending Pile Challenge: As Many As You Can

Hi! Just a quick post for you guys tonight, from my parents' couch in Charlotte. I'm having a great time here; the weather has been perfect!

The theme for May 2nd was As Many As You Can and I figured there is no better way to get in a ton of untrieds than by doing a Waterfall mani, as made famous by Sammy from the Nailasaurus. You can find her easy-to-follow tutorial here.

I used Revlon Gray Suede for my base. It is nude polish with subtle silver shimmer running through it. It's great alone, as a palate cleanser, and quite work appropriate.

To create the waterfall mani, I used China Glaze Immortal as the gray, Revlon Brilliant Strength Beguile for the dark blue, and Color Club Catwalk Queen for the vampy purple. All three of these colors are shimmery beauties that are better suited for late November, rather than early May, but I still love how this turned out. I felt sophisticated, rocking this nail art at work. 

I don't think it turned out too bad for my first try at a waterfall. They are pretty straight-forward to do but take a little practice to get used to the brushstroke. 

What do you think?

Be sure to check out what the other Pirates used for this theme. I know some got as many as 15 or 20 untrieds in!

xo, ali