Viva La Nails

I'm a bit late to the party here, as every other nail blogger on the planet has already long-since posted about Viva La Nails. This is the "Media Partner" sample pack they offered last year.

I was very impressed with the speed of shipping (9 days), from Latvia to Minnesota, USA. At the time, they didn't charge shipping for Media Partner packs, but I see that they do now (£2.95). Checkout was very easy, and they accept Paypal or credit cards.

I really like the variety they sent, featuring everything from rhinestones to water decals. The quality is topnotch, with vibrant colors and neat designs. I've spent hours looking at the pretty stuff I have, just planning manicures, and at the website, which is fun to wander around. They really have almost everything you could possibly want or need for nail art. And if you're like me, and need a little more inspiration and/or usage tips, they have some great video tutorials that are worth checking out.

Check out these awesome gold sequins! They're like little glowy gold mirrors on the nail. I used them a little too sparsely for my taste, because I'm a bit paranoid about using up all my awesome nail art supplies. I know, dumb, right? After all, they're supposed to be used! Next time, I won't skimp...

Here, I wanted to try the water decals, and I'm glad I did - these are awesome! They're really easy to use, and look great.

Disclosure: Product samples were provided by Viva La Nails.

Orange Crush

This is three coats of Rimmel Pop Apricot with one coat Hard Candy Hypnotic. Love this, despite the VNL (Visible Nail Line) with four total coats of polish! This combo reminds me of Rica, from the newest Zoya summer collection.♥ Awesome. No more words really needed. ♥

Confession, and One Hot Polish!

Okay, I can't hide it any longer! I had a major break a couple weeks ago, and I've been posting Vault 106 pics and anything else I could find since then! But I can't handle the lying and subterfuge anymore! My left pinkie nail is gone - beyond nubbin, right down to below the quick. Ouch! So today you're seeing my right hand (yup, I have one!), and what was left of my left nails. Sadly, since these pics, I've had more serious breaks on my left, so they're ALL down to nubbins. But, I will persevere - this polish is too hot not to share! Enough with the melodrama - behold!

Rimmel Hot Rock. Two coats. Hot orange-red (red-orange?) jelly with gold microglitter. Definitely click to see these full-size! This is so aptly named - it really looks like lava. Yum! It has so much glitter that I would almost classify it as a foil finish, but it doesn't apply like one, and I would say it was easier to remove, too. Oops, still a little VNL, so a good nude base or a third coat is recommended if that bothers you (as it does me). It reminds me of the swatches I've seen of Hard Candy Lava, so if you can't find this one, that might be a good substitute. 

Check out the gold glitter! AAAHHH! So beautiful! It doesn't all translate as gold on the nail, but it definitely adds depth and dimension. I love how it seems irregular, like glass fleck or teeny gold flakies.

To refresh this after a couple days, I added two coats of Orly Prisma Gloss Gold just for fun. Wow! Once again, you need to click to see this full-size. Love it!

Vault 106: Insane Neon Glitter!

Okay, so picture in your head mac n' cheese powdered cheese. Got it? Good. That's the exact color of the this Hot Topic polish:

Hot Topic Marigold. 4 coats. Eye-popping light orange neon. I should have put this over white, because 4 coats is always excessive to me - and, look! you can still see VNL! And do I need to mention the horrible mop that Hot Topic calls a brush? Yeesh. Too bad the bottles are so cute. This is not a unique color, so you can skip it in favor of one with better application.
This is shown with top coat, because it does dry matte, like all neons. I liked it matte, but after the fourth coat, it started to bubble - so I panicked and threw on Seche Vite, which does seem to cure bubbles handily. (I'm finally starting to get along okay with SV, learning its quirks and stuff. See, there's no shrinkage this time!)
So, what do you do when you have VNL, but you know another coat won't build up? Go for the bling, of course!

Sinful UFO. 2 coats. Sheer orange jelly with huge bling factor! Nice. It does bring the neon glow down a notch, but WOW. I loved this! So HAWT! I think this is what UFO was made for - these two together should have been one polish! I'll be doing this combo again this summer, for sure.

Here's a bonus sun pic, because it almost makes me look tan. LOL.