NCC Re-Creations #4

Happy Thursdayyyyy! We have almost made it to the weekend! And I just made it under the wire for July NCC manicure #4. Tonight, I'm recreating this easy-peasy Valentine's Day look:

Ch-ch-check it out!

To create this manicure, I started with Essie Grow Stronger basecoat. I followed that with three coats of Sinful Colors Prime Purple, which has a satin matte finish. This shade just hit shelves and I had to snap it up. This one was tricky because you have to let it dry fully. Once it did, I took one of my Migi Nail Art pens in a pearly lavender and free-handed a heart on the ring finger. To keep the contrast between finishes, I didn't topcoat this look. I wore it all day today, while typing away at work and it's good to go for tomorrow!

I can't wait for next month's theme. I'm starting to brainstorm and I absolutely can't wait to see what the other ladies dream up!

Be sure to check out what they re-created for their 4th mani of the month, below!

xo, ali

It Came From Beyond the Vault...

Happy Monday! I just have a quick post for you tonight, as I am getting ready for my older sister's wedding on Saturday. I'm bringing you a manicure from the vault tonight with some simple tape art.

Flash

Indirect Natural Light

Sunlight

This is three coats of Zoya Layla-an eye-searing neon pink creme. It dries to a satin-matte finish so you will need top coat to shine it up. This went on really easy and there were very few streaks. I used that third coat just to even everything out. When it was dry, I taped off the lower portion of my nails and used OPI's Love. Angel. Music. Baby. from the Gwen Stefani collection. That also dries to a satin-matte finish but I liked the contrast between finishes, so I left it as is.

What do you think? I can definitely see myself recreating this for summer!

xo, ali

The Never-Ending Pile Challenge:A Random Untried

Friday! Friday night is one of my favorite nights, but not because I go out and get crazy. Don't get me wrong-I do that, from time to time, but I love Friday nights because I get to chill out, maybe stay up a little bit past my bedtime, and go to sleep knowing that both my alarms are silenced....ahhhhh!

Tonight, I have another contribution to the Never-Ending Pile Challenge. It was created by Missy and the rest of the girls over at The Glittah Pirates, which is an awesome group on Facebook that I recently joined. If you want to join in the fun, just click the link and request to join :)

The theme today is "A Random Untried" and I chose Nicole by OPI Roughles in On What Grounds? I received this in my March Ipsy bag and I was really excited to try it. Let's see what I thought.

I top coated my index finger to see what it would look like.

Macro-index with top coat, middle with no top coat.

On What Grounds? is a matte aqua sprinkled with blue and brown. These sprinkles give it the finish of a robin's egg. There is no glitter to this polish so it does dry flat but the different colors mixed in give it some depth. However, I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. I applied this last night and this morning, when I was blow-drying my hair, my index finger got caught and a piece chipped off :( 

I'm disappointed because I loved the Gumdrops collection that NOPI came out with a while ago. My Cherry Amour is one of my favorite textured polishes. Sigh. Oh well, can't win 'em all! Maybe I'll give this another shot down the line.

Make sure you check out what the other rad girlies are showing off for their random untrieds today!

Have a great weekend!!

xo, ali

Tahitian Squares

Happy Tuesday!

I hope all of you are doing well, this evening. I'm refreshed and relaxed after a three-day weekend. Over this weekend the nail-blogging community just exploded into a lovefest. I don't know who started #sharethelove but it was amazing. That is why I love this community so much. We are all so supportive of each other. I'm proud to be part of this community! #sharethelove also led to me starting up a Facebook page for the blog. If you haven't already, go ahead and visit Ali's Dancing Phalanges on Facebook and give it a like!!

Tonight I'm sharing a really cool polish and some simple nail art, so let's get to it!

I really loved this mani so it's kind of photo-heavy. You've been warned :x

I started with two coats of Wet N Wild Megalast in Tahitian Pearl.

I believe this is one of the Dollar General-exclusive colors and it's definitely unique.

I mean, it dries matte. I was not expecting that!

Plus, it's LOADED with shimmer that really stands out once you top coat it, which I love.

The next day, I decided to spice it up a little bit and got out my Scotch tape. I taped off squares in different corners of each nail and applied one generous coate of Wet N Wild Wild Shine Black Creme.

Here's my thumb, for once!

I loved this and wore it for two more days before taking it off. All the polishes wore wonderfully, with only minor tipwear.

My Zoya order finally came in so I'm off to play. I'll be back on Thursday with some winter blues for the Crumpet's GOT challenge, week three!

xo, ali.

Revlon Elusive

Hey lovelies!
Let's hear it for internet/Photobucket issues!

I'm back, a week later with a new fall polish for you that I found last weekend. Let's take a peek!

Revlon-Elusive

OPI Nail Envy Matte 

3 coats Elusive

Beauty Plus Salon top coat

Elusive is a black jelly full of different sizes teal hex glitters and filled with a blue/purple iridescent shimmer. This would be a great base polish for a galaxy manicure. It applied easily and dries to a matte finish. Elusive required two coats of top coat to get a smooth and shiny finish.

I have a few more shots of this gorgeous polish for your viewing pleasure, showing both the shiny finish and the matte finish. 

Full sun, so you can see how sparkly it is.

Elusive is from Revlon's Evening Opulence collection by Gucci Westman. Check your endcaps at Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Wal-Mart. I don't believe this is part of Revlon's core line.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments :)

Hope to chat soon!!

-ali