Let's Go Buf-falo!

Happy 2015, Phalange fans! I took an extended, unintentional hiatus to recharge my blogging batteries and enjoy the holiday season with my sister and my boyfriend. I received tons of new polishes that I can't wait to share with you guys, starting with tonight!

My sister and I went to a Buffalo Sabres game, last week and my lovely boyfriend gave me Gridlock Lacquer The Aud in my stocking. The Aud, short for Memorial Auditorium, was the original arena where the Sabres played. It also hosted concerts and I went to many showings of Disney on Ice with my family, when I was a kid. It was closed in 1997 and the First Niagara Center opened, not too far from the Aud. Demolition was completed on the Aud a couple years ago and a brand new open-air ice rink opened in it's place, with center ice of the rink over the location of center ice at the Aud. I decided that this game was the perfect place to use Gridlock Lacquer the Aud to add some extra sparkle. I also got to test out a new toy that the boyfriend gave me for Christmas.


Check it out!

To get this party started, I used NYX Ridge Filling basecoat. I used two coats of Sinful Colors Endless Blue and three coats of Sinful Colors Let's Meet! on my ring finger and topped my ring finger with two coats of Gridlock Lacquer The Aud. I topcoated and I was ready to roll.

And the new toy I got from Jeff was a clip-on macro lens for my iPhone 5c!! I was so excited!

 Gridlock Lacquer-The Aud (shade)

Gridlock Lacquer-The Aud (sunlight)

Just look at that!! This glitter has everything-different sizes of royal blue holographic glitters, and round, square AND hex holo glitters in different sizes. And it went on so easy! Just a little bit of dabbing and I got this great coverage. It just sparkled and shone. I'm in love. I can't wait to try more of Gridlock Lacquer's glitters under the macro lens. 

I've got some other things lined up for this space, so stay tuned. Now that I have this lens, I really feel like blogging and taking pictures and putting time into my  nails again.

xo, ali

Trick or Treat!

As promised, I have my final October entry for the Nail Challenge Collaborative. I wore this manicure for Halloween and it was all my boyfriend's idea. Let's look!

I started with three coats of Nicole by OPI Yoga then Yogurt and one coat of Funky Fingers Jawbreaker. Once that was dry, I taped off my triangles and free-handed the candy corn stripes in Sinful Colors Let's Meet (yellow), Ulta Bang! (orange) and Yoga Then Yogurt (white). I topcoated and then I was ready to hand out candy with my sister and my boyfriend. He also took the pictures you're seeing with his super-fancy DSLR! I'm a lucky lady :)

Be sure to check out the other (on-time) manicures that finished out October, below!

xo, ali

We're All Mad Here

Sunday! Long Weekend! I'm pumped-how about you guys?! I'm sharing my final NCC creation for August's theme of Tea Party and I decided to pay homage to a Disney classic, inspired by this:

[source]

I used a ton of polishes for the Red Queen's crown, the Mad Hatter's hat, the Cheshire Cat, and one of the Blue Caterpillar's mushrooms:

Nicole by OPI-Yoga then Yogurt (base)

Julep-Dawn (yellow)

Nicole by OPI-Challenge Red-y (red)

Icing-Jen's Pick (light green)

NY & Co.-Inverness (dark green)

Sinful Colors-Dream On (neon purple)

Sally Hansen CSM-Summer Lovin' (pink)

OPI-Sorry, I'm Fizzy Today (coral)

Everything was top-coated with Beauty Plus Salon quick-dry. I'm really glad I saved this one for last. It took a lot of time and patience to freehand each one and a lot of trial and error with which brush to use to give me the cleanest lines. My freehand game is not as up to snuff as some other nail artistes that I read, but I am working to strengthen my skills. I'm definitely looking forward to more freehand in the future!

Be sure to check out how everyone else in the Collaborative closed out the month, below!

xo, ali

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

Springtime Skittlette

Happy Monday! That really seems like an oxymoron to me, but I survived the day and I'm here to bring you a quick skittlette I did last week, while watching Frozen for the first time.

Why were lil Elsa and Anna so darn cute?!

Anyways. I was having a crappy night, one night last week and my friend brought me a little cheer-up gift, including a new polish. Let's take a look at how I used it.

This is the gifted polish-Sinful Colors Out of Bounds. This polish came out last spring, but it's dead on for Pantone's Color of the Year 2014: Radiant Orchid.

I also busted out China Glaze Fancy Pants, which was part of last spring's Avant Garden collection. Fancy Pants is a purple creme with pink and blue shimmer running throughout.

I also used Kleancolor Kiss Goodbye which is a mix of pink, blue, and gold microglitters in a clear base. It's got the typical Kleancolor smell but it's such a pretty mixture.

 I tried my best to channel the queen of Skittlettes-Marta from ChitChat Nails. Just look at any one of her posts. She's a master.

I did two coats of Out of Bounds and top coated. Then I took BM-404 and stamped my index and middle fingers with Fancy Pants. Kiss Goodbye was applied in one coat each on my pinky and thumb. A fimo bow from a Forever 21 wheel finished off the look.

What do you think? If only this would bring spring to Buffalo, really and truly!

xo, ali

Still Holding Onto Summer

Good evening, girlies! Welcome to the first post at Dancing Phalanges! I'm Ali and I'm a nail polish addict. I post nearly all of my manicures on Instagram (ali_golightly) and I thought I'd take the plunge and start this little blog. I hope you'll join me in my journey through nail polish!!

To start things off, I'm going to share with you my current mani. I'm not ready to let go of summer quite yet and I really don't believe in wearing certain colors in certain seasons so I'm still rockin' a neon.

This is Sinful Colors Bikini and I picked it up at Walgreens, from the Poolside Polish collection that was out over the summer, but it is a part of their core collection so you can still pick it up if you love it.

Sunlight

Shade

Flash.

Bikini is a bright pink, shot through with purple/blue shimmer. It absolutely glows in the sunlight. I cannot stop looking at it. It went on in three easy coats--no streaking, no bald spots or patchiness. I only used three coats to make it opaque. I could still see VNL (visible nail line) at some angles but you really have to look for it.

Sinful Colors retails for $1.99 and is available at drugstores and department stores such as Rite Aid, Walgreens, Target, and Wal-Mart.

Let me know what you think in the comments and I'll see you later this week with more nail polish goodness!

--ali