Liquid Sand Manicure

Hi there!  Hope everyone is well this evening.  Did anyone catch the Golden Globes?  All I ever think after award shows is how many movies I have yet to watch lol.  There were some gorgeous dresses on the red carpet and did anyone catch Zooey Deschanel's manicure?  So cute!  I love that nails are becoming such an accessory in the celebrity world, makes me feel a little less crazy in my obsession!

I managed a quick stop at Ulta this weekend and picked up a few things.  I was delighted to find Layla's Ceramic Effect in the clearance aisle but they were already out of the purple flakie I wanted.  I did pick up EL24 and am looking forward to swatching it in the near future.  Here's a quick pic of my small haul:

Left to right: China Glaze Cirque du Soleil in Get Carried Away, the O.P.I. Mariah Liquid Sand mini collection and the previously mentioned Layla EL24.  These are by no means the only polishes I've purchased this week...I made a quick stop at Walgreen's to pick up Girly and Heavenly by Revlon.  So be on the lookout for some swatches of those as well.

For today's manicure, I simply could not wait to try out the Liquid Sand collection.  I first saw these swatched over at  I Feel Polished! blog and knew I had to give them a try!  These polishes are packed with glitter and dry to a gritty finish, sort of like sandpaper or an emery board.  Here's my swatch with an accent nail thrown in for good measure:

This is Get Your Number from the collection; a royal blue polish with holographic glitter.  Once again, my camera really isn't able to capture all the sparkle here, but I think you can get the idea.  I used 3 coats for full coverage and I will say that I was disappointed in the color itself.  It just didn't get to the truly royal blue color that it appears to be in the bottle.  That said, it is a lovely color regardless.  Application was easy but do yourself a favor and wait a good few minutes between coats.  I waited about 5 minutes between and I wish I would have waited more like 10 or 15.  I've become spoiled with my Seche Vite and I get impatient waiting for things to dry now!  Do take your time with it though, as it will smudge a bit if you go too fast.  

The finish is definitely different and it's taking me awhile to decide if I like it or not.  I think the effect is nifty, but I miss the smooth shine of my topcoat.  It's a nice change for awhile though and I'm looking forward to trying out the other minis in the set.  For my accent nail, I started with 3 coats of Angel Wings by China Glaze and then taped off scallops to create the wavy look. 

Here's another look at the texture of Liquid Sand:

I am going to try this with a topcoat as well.  I may have to break down and buy some Gelous for this one.  Seems like Seche Vite might not cut it.

As a reminder, my giveway is still up and running.  I may end up extending it a bit as there haven't been too many entries yet.  I hope a few more folks will enter yet.  Feel free to share the giveaway on facebook or twitter, even if you don't want to enter yourself.  I know not everyone wants to sign up for blogger or to my blog specifically, but if you know someone who might be interested, feel free to spread the word! 

As always, thanks so much for reading!