Orly Charged Up with Sticks 'n Stones

After wearing a lot of neutrals, it's nice to wear a bright saturated color for once.  Earlier this year when Orly changed their bottle/the logo on the front, the employees of Sally Beauty let everyone who purchased something select a bottle for free.  I picked this pretty purple called Charged Up from the 2008 Orly High Voltage Collection.

Here I'm using two coats of Orly Charged Up topped with a glitter topper: Cover Band Lacquers Sticks 'n Stones.  If I'm not mistaken, Cover Band Lacquers now goes by Ninja Polish and can be purchased on their site, NinjaPolish.com.  Sticks 'n Stones is similar (but not the same) to Lynnderella's Connect the Dots. When I first acquired Sticks 'n Stones, Connect the Dots was quite the pain to acquire but since since Lynnderella is now selling directly on her eBay store it's a lot easier to obtain.

This black and white glitter topper is a nice addition to any cream base and I enjoy the appearance it creates on the nail.  I fully understand why this is such a popular topper!

Week 26: Neon Manicure

Welcome to the challenge for Week 26 of the 52 Week Challenge.  This challenge was to create a neon manicure.  I've mentioned a couple of times that I absolutely love the China Glaze Summer Neons collection (here, here, and here) so for me it was a no brainer to incorporate them into this manicure.

I randomly sponged China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard and China Glaze Splish Splash all over my nails (word to the wise: Splish Splash stains).  To complete this design I added one coat of Cover Band Lacquers Sticks 'n Stones on top.  

I was inspired by this manicure from the Lacquerologist when I was creating this design.  I have a blue and green shirt that I was thinking of when I was coming up with polishes and I'm really pleased with my polish pick for this.  I'm with the Lifeguard and Splish Splash both have a bit of shimmer mixed in that I'm in love with.

Be sure to check out what others have done for this challenge by visiting their blogs:

LizMarie at I'm Simply Complex • Jenna at I'm Still Thinking... • Caitlin at Addicted 2 Nails • Sarah at PrncessSarah02 • Charlotte at Charlotte's Nails :) • Shally at Polished & Not Quite Put Together • Rachel-Karina at Polished Criminails • Liz at Nothing But Nail Polish • Fun With My Nail Polish • Operation: Nail It! • Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails • Square Polish • Only Always Soccermom  • Hurr Did, Nails Did • Olivia Writes • The Dragon Lady • Kaki at Glitter Obsession • Isa at IsaBella's World • Gypsy at Gypsy's Glitter • Jackie at MeMa's Mani's  • Lissa at Lissa's Nail Blog  •  Marie at Polish, Polish, Polish...  • ChiChi at... •  Esra at Oje Sihirbazi (Wizard of Polish) •  Nails, Actually • Treselaine at Tres Chic Nails • Carol at Nails by Carol

High Contrast Brights

I've been absolutely craving bright colors this season.  I've been craving bright colors so much so than on a recent trip to Walgreens for just cough drops I picked up Wet n Wild Lavender Crème.  I couldn't just leave this polish alone however, so I added two coats of Sticks 'n Stones from Cover Bands Lacquers.

I love the high contrast between the pink, white, and black.  I had trouble with the black square glitter staying attached to my nail (even with top coat) and ended up picking a couple off throughout the course of a day.  Using a cheaper polish (Wet n Wild) made me really appreciate the formula on more expensive polishes (example: Zoya) because by the end of one day of wearing this polish I had a lot of tip wear several large chunks of polish missing.