Hope that my readers south of the border had a great Thanksgiving. Haha, and I’m sure that many have been Black Friday shopping since the stroke of midnight.
Several years ago, I was in the States and experienced my first Black Friday. The deals were insane, but so were the crowds! (Good luck to those who are rubbing elbows with others to snag a deal. Just remember to be courteous!)
Today’s Green Fiend Nails were spontaneous. Go with the flow. Throw caution to the wind.
You see, a friend let me borrow 3 polishes from the brand-spankin’ new China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Collection – Running in Circles (glittery green), DEF Defying (snot green), and Creative Fantasy (purple)! I was so excited because green and purple are my favourite colours!
Sometimes I’m indecisive. I couldn’t decide which one to wear first. (Plus I don’t like to keep others’ polish with me for too long. Wearing each individually would take too long. Lacquers get homesick, I think. Although…if they met the numerous greens in my Helmer, I think they might make some friends, and it would escalate into something more – a relationship with long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners!) 😉
It hit me – why did I have to choose just one? This isn’t The Highlander! The more, the merrier, they say. The more greens, the “Mary-er”, I say!
The nail art you see was me trying to wear all the colours at once and still make it look somewhat cohesive and less like a mad person. 😉 (A little madness is good.)
Green Fiend Nail Art Swatches
All swatches have:
- CND Stickey Anchoring Base Coat
- Glittery Green (Middle & Pinkie)
- China Glaze Running in Circles
- Light Green Dots & Base for Striped Nails (Index & Thumb)
- China Glaze DEF Defying
- Purple Base for Dotted Nail (Index)
- China Glaze Creative Fantasy
- Stripes: Milani Nai Art Lacquer Black Sketch (Provided by PR)
- 1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
- Dotting Tool: Daniel Stone Nail Art Tool #3
Sunlight Photos
Natural Light Photos
Flash Photos
Yes, I still am not tired of doing the striped nail thang. 😉 Expect to see it again and again until I move onto my next obsession.
I didn’t bother doing a nail tutorial on this look because it’s very intuitive. Hope that you’ll try it out. It’s really fun to have dots, stripes, glitter, and a creme all in a single manicure. (In fact, I had so much fun with it that you can expect another manicure like this in the near future.)
Here’s my quick impression of each of the polishes, in case you’re curious and want a mini review. 🙂
China Glaze Running in Circles
This was the polish that I was most excited about in the Cirque du Soleil Collection. It’s super sparkly and veryyyy green. There seem to be dark green and light green glitter, so it catches the light beautifully.
The formula isn’t very gritty or sharp, and it’s so dense that you really only need 2 medium coats.
China Glaze DEF Defying
Haha, it’s a snot green, but I like greens like this. It reminded me of ‘snotty’ colours along the lines of Nicole by OPI Daffy Dill and OPI Who the Shrek Are You? that I reviewed back in the day. It’s a bright green, but it’s not loud like a neon or pale like a pastel.
You should only need to use 2 medium coats for full coverage of this green creme.
China Glaze Creative Fantasy
It surprised me because I was expecting it to be a plain creme. Yes, the purple is striking, but I thought the finish would be ordinary. It’s not. It has a jelly feel to it, except that instead of drying super shiny, it dries to what looks like a rubbery finish.
I found that 3 medium coats were needed to cover most of the visible nail line. Also, with the last coat, the purple looked darker on me than it did at 1 and 2 coats.
Readers who follow me on Instagram got a preview of this manicure yesterday. Follow me on there if you’re interested in seeing some manicures before they go up on the blog. I also post a lot of random photos. 🙂
Did you buy anything yet for Black Friday? (The only Black Friday deal I participated in was Garage Clothing’s 40% off sitewide and just $1 shipping promotion.)
I love this! I’m usually a silent stalker, but this is ace! And I’m even moe excited for when def defying comes through the door!
Hey helen!
Thank you! It hardly took any longer to do than a typical manicure, too! I was really happy with how it turned out, hehe, and for once it was okay to be ‘greedy’ and wear all the colours I wanted to at once. 😉
I’m in love with your mani!! And I also love the Cirque du Soleil Collection: there are so many awesome glitters and colors ^___^
Paola recently posted: ABC Challenge P – Accessorize Pink Spice
Hey Paola!
Glad you like it, too. It’s definitely one of my favourite simple nail designs. I’m always trying to think up easy designs to share with you all because I don’t believe that nail art should be intimidating. I like to encourage everyone to try their hand at it because you never know that you can do something until you try!
I loved this nail art! I especially liked the finger with the blue background and the green irregular dots! So beautiful! 🙂
Gelic’ nail art recently posted: Paper chasing trough flowers
Hey Gelic’ nail art!
That was my favourite design, too. 🙂 First I was just going to do a vertical line of dots, but then decided to add the little ones to ‘fill it out’ a little more. Glad you liked it, too!
What a fun manicure! I like how you’re not afraid to be a little adventurous. 😉 I especially enjoy your index finger- just enough dots to keep it quirky but not enough to be busy.
Hey Julia!
YAY! That’s exactly what I was going for with the dots on this one. Sometimes I like reallllly busy patterns, but this time, I thought to tone it down so each of the dots stood out more.
Not only do I love this skittles manicure, BUT the shades play so well together!!! I will also say that l am sooo impressed with the dot position on this one!!! looks sooo fun!
Marta recently posted: Elixir – What’s Your Poison?
Hey Marta!
It is VERY convenient that my two favourite colours (green and purple) just so happen to go well together. 😉
Aww…thanks! The dot pattern initially was just a vertical dotted line, but I felt like it needed a little something more without going over the top. Before my brain registered what I was doing, haha, I found myself placing 3 extra dots. (Dotting tools are quite fun to use, aren’t they? Like popping bubble wrap!)
I’m loving your site right now! I’ve just got out of hospital and I’m a bit groggy, so flicking through the archives of your cheeky reviews and colourful tutorials are keeping me at exactly the right level of entertained!
I just wanted to share my Mum’s description of that gorgeous ‘snot green’: she would call it ‘chartreuse’. Not sure how accurate that is, but certainly more ladylike (if we can call ourselves ladies!!)
I love your work! Thank you!
Hey Rachel!
Wow, thank you for leaving me such a touching comment. Not only is it encouraging, but it made me tear up a little.
Recuperating after coming out of the hospital can be quite a struggle, and knowing that I’m helping you (even just a little) makes me incredibly happy! While blogging brings me personal happiness (i.e. I’m very goal-oriented, so when I finished writing a post, I feel good about completing it.), blogging is so much more rewarding to me when I reach readers and I’m making some kind of difference.
I hope that your road to recovery goes smoothly. You sound like you’re taking it very well!
Please stop by again soon. I update daily, so there’s always something new on here. And I love putting together giveaways (some surprise ones and some planned ones). 😉
And…thank YOU! A blog is not as powerful without incredible readers.